Rain Wrecking Ball (Smogon Top 10)

[Raj]

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Since Black and White's inception, I have nearly exclusively played only Drea World OU on Smogon University's Pokemon Online Server. For the past couple months, I've been all over Dream World's top 5 and often ranked #1. However, I've heard from people that Dream World is "too easy" and "uncompetitive". I disagree with those statements, but they got to me, and ever since I've moved to BW OU and have been experimenting to varying success. As of the 5th of July, it is ranked #10.​

I post this team because while I believe it is decent, it seems kind of unsteady. While rated highly, it does receive some trouble and losing a match or two has proven detrimental and hard to make up. Sets that I think particularly might need adjustment shall be noted in BOLD.
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Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/6 SP Def
Bold Nature (+Def/-Att)
~Scald
~Ice Beam
~Protect
~Perish Song​

I like Physically Defensive Toed alot. Politoed is known for soaking up Special Attacks, but with a Bold nature, this takes Physical hits better. I find that with its already high Special Defense, my distribution allows it to take hits from both sides. Before Garchomp was banned, this was surviving SD'd Outrages from full health. The new DD Nite has nothing on this Politoed. Scald has to be one of the best additions from Black and White. 30% Burn rate is nice off an 80 BP Water move, especially with STAB and Rain in effect. Ice Beam compliments Scald well and while not very strong is good for a jab when I predict a Grass switch-in. Protect scouts and provides a little extra Leftovers recovery. Perish Song rids the field of stat boosters, ruins Baton Pass chains, and forces switches to rack up Spikes damage. Oddly enough, a quarter of the time, my opponent doesn't bother switching and succumbs to Perish Song after the third turn.
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Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP/40 Def/216 Sp Def
Impish Nature (+Def/-Sp Att)
~Stealth Rock
~Spikes
~Thunderwave
~Power Whip​

Doesn't require much explanation here. Unless I have a feeling an immunity will switch in, I usually T-Wave each Pokemon right off the bat. After that, I Spike once, then Stealth Rock, and go back to Spikes. This can't always be accomplished in one sitting, but the order stands between switching in and out. Power Whip gives trouble to opposing Sandstream and Drizzoe teams, notably against Tyranitar, Politoed, Rotom-W, and Jellicent.
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Rotom-W @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 96 HP/252 Sp Att/160 Spe
Modest Nature (+Sp Att/-Att)
~Hydro Pump
~Volt Switch
~Hidden Power Fire
~Trick​

We don't use Scarf no mo', we Choice Specs that hoe. When I'm not leading with Politoed for whatever reason, I'm leading with this. Since Rain won't be up, HP Fire usually KOs Ferrothorn, and if it doesn't it's dead after switching in after Spikes. To be frank, I use Hydro Pump 80% of the time. 120 BP + Rain + Specs + STAB is mega damage, even on resists. It manages to do around 70% to opposing Rotom-W and even KOs Starmie. With full Spikes set up Hydro Pump becomes a clear 2HKO on Ferrothorn. Volt Switch is really only for predicted switches or guaranteed KOs over Hydro Pump. I don't get to use Trick very often, but I don't know what other move I'd use, plus as soon as I take it off I'll lose to a Quiver Dancing Volcarana because it was allowed to get too many boosts and not Tricked.​

This is one Pokemon I'm not sure about. I won't change Modest or Specs, but the EVs are kind of strange. It's EVd to 247 Speed to outspeed opposing speed creeping Rotom-W and Gliscor. Should I go to 252 Speed or what?
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Scrafty @ Leftovers
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 248 HP/8 Att/252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe/-Sp Att)
~Dragon Dance
~Hi Jump Kick
~Crunch
~Ice Punch​

Originally I was using this with 252 Attack and a Life Orb, but I found that it died too easily. Now it's EV'd to have considerably more bulk and survuves alot better. Multiple boosts with this set is not a problem. With Moxie, my attack raises for each Pokemon I kill. Well, with great STAB options and Ice Punch for Dragons and Gliscor, it's all too easy to get to at least +3 and sweep a team if nothing outspeeds me. Crunch is a necessity for eliminating Psychic Pokemon that could give my team trouble, while Hi Jump Kick just fucks up the rest. It threatens Ferrothorn and Tar out, usually only to bring in something else I can KO, just giving me another boost.​

I feel Scrafty may need some adjustment, too. Again, I won't stray from Dragon Dance and Moxie. Instead, I'm looking of some kind of in-between the bulk it has now and more attacking power. If there's a better EV spread that gives me more power, but doesn't give way to attacks it would have otherwise survived.
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Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 6 Def/252 Sp Att/252 Spe
Modest Nature (+Sp Att/-Att)
~Earth Power
~Sludge Wave
~Thunder
~Ice Beam​

In many of my Rain teams, I'm hard pressed to make room for a much needed Ground type and forego it altogether. This however, is monstrous.
Each attack gets a 1/3 boost from Sheer Force. With Sheer Force and Life Orb, Nidoking's Special Attack is 481.5 with great coverage moves. Plus, he doesn't take any damge from Life Orb, which is always cool. Earth Power is Nido's obligatory STAB move, but I also use Sludge Wave, which is even more powerful. Poison is one of my favorite attack type because it's not expected. Ever. Thunder gains 100% in the Rain, which really helps against Pokemon like Skarmoey and Jellicent. Ice Beam KOs anything that's weak to it and if it doesn't, then Sludge Wave does.​

I've been considering Timid over Modest, but I don't think Nido would gain any ground by doing so. Also, I've been wondering of fitting perhaps Surf or Focus Blast into the moveset somehow. Is there any merit to either of these over the options I already have?
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Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/6 Def/252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe/-Att)
~Calm Mind
~Recover
~Reflect Type
~Dragon Pulse​

This set is my baby. Nearly everyone WTFs at the sight of this. For those who have never heard of Reflect Type, it is a non-attacking move that copies your opponent's typing. You may be thinking, why the hell would I give up my Dragon typing? For one, you can stop Latias's primary counters dead. Ferrothorn cannot Leech Seed you, or hope to kill you with Gyro Ball, wall you get to set up. You can copy Scizor's typing as it U-turns to take a NVE hit. Crunch/Pursuit Tar can do nothing to you unless it's carrying Superpower. Excadrill can't EQ, Rock Slide, or X-Scissor for good damage, even with a boost. It's always good to know your opponent's team fully before attempting this though. That Superpower Tar could just ruin your day. The great thing is that you can change your typing at will, whenever a new threat comes in. I have shut down some of the players in the top 5 with this Pokemon alone; I love it.​

What I'd really like for this is a more efficient moveset. Is max HP/ Speed necesarry? Where could I take EV's from to put into Defense, considering that this gets many Calm Minds very easily.
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[Ninjadolphin]

I think you should take off sludge wave for surf/ focus blast, poison is a horrible attacking type.
Latias seems fine, reflect type is pretty cool
On scrafty, a bulky dd set with adamant and 200 hp, 244 atk, and 64 speed might work well
You might as well go to 252 speed on rotom, the small bulk probably isn't that helpful

 

[Raj]

Sludge Wave gets great neutrality despite the steel resistance and KOs nearly any Grass type that could ever threaten a rain dance team. Also, Scrafty must be Jolly 252 Spe to be able to outpace Thundurus and it's brother, which is pretty important because it can wreck a rain team pretty easily.

 

[Ewil]

Good team, i wanna try that Latias Reflect type.
The only suggest i can give to you is to run Lum Berry on Scrafty, 'coz any status can cripple him (Toxic is the less dangerous, but -50% on ATK or SPD really hurts), thanks to Lum Berry you can get a free DD setup and possibily kill the status inducer.

 

[Itachi Uchiha]

I faced this team yesterday, and reflect type is really great.


Congratulations, very good team.

 

[Ewil]

If you can list the good types/pokemon that Latias can reflect for being hitten NVE, you can try to remove EV from the HP and take them to SPA for a more aggressive set

 

[PI-Dimension]

128 HP/128 Def/252 Spe on Latias is probably better. That was standard for Defensive CM Latias in gen 4. I absolutely LOVE reflect type.

For Scrafty, maybe try Life Orb/Drain Punch? 75*1.3 = 97.5 so its significantly weaker than HJK but gives a boost to other moves and also has recovery

252/48/208 +def is better for ferrothorn, but only marginally

You don't outrun much with timid on Nidoking. Nowadays, stuff is either in the 350s or the 240s, which far less inbetween.

very solid team.

Thundurus can be annoying - if your ferrothorn and nidoking are weakened and he's running subplot its gg, and if he's running focus blast its a bit harder to set up but only nidoking is an issue then. MAYBE scarf Nidoking, although I wouldn't advise it - subplot thundurus can only setup on ferrothorn/latias and LO-3 attacks can ONLY setup on latias - and it takes a huge chunk of damage from dragon pulse

 

[molo]

The one thing about reflect type, though is that dragon pulse will lose it's stab. Also, SD Scizor is increasingly popular, meaning that 1 on 1, it will beat latias any day. I can't really think of any better move to put on the mirror type set, since dragon is only resisted by steel, but I was just thinking out loud.
maybe if you forego calm mind for some Sp. Atk EVs and an extra attack for coverage...

 

[IronBullet]

Hey,

The team is pretty solid, but you have a pretty huge weakness to offensive TR Reuniclus. It 2HKOs your whole team with a combination of Psychic, Focus Blast and Shadow Ball, and if Rotom-W is sufficiently weakened to be KOed by Psychic, it pretty much wreaks havoc till TR wears off. You also have a problem with double dance Terrakion. You can only beat it with Nidoking if it hasn't boosted up, and at +2 it pretty much OHKOs your whole team. So, what I'd suggest it trying out a Scizor over Scrafty. Scizor is one of the best Reuniclus checks in the game, and easily revenges Terrakion. Now, it is important to carry a second Dragon resist as Ferrothorn has no forms of recovery and it can easily be worn down by repeated Draco Meteors from the likes of Latios. So, Scizor also helps out in that regard. Scizor can also set up sweeps for itself late-game, with its main counter, Skarmory, being lured out and KOed by Nidoking. Here is the set:

Scizor@Leftovers
252 HP, 40 Atk, 216 Sp Def
Adamant
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Good luck!

 

[Ames]

Nice, I thought I was the only one to use reflect type latias. It truly is awesome and a lot of fun to fuck with people with. When I first realised it was a move at the beginning of the BW meta, I ran a set similar to yours. Since then though I decided that the speed wasn't really necessary seeing as even with no speed investment it could still outrun the only things you need to reflect type asides from excadrill and it will be outrunning you anyway.

My own set looked more like this in the end:

Bold, 252 def, 252 hp.

Reflect type
Calm Mind
Surf/Dragon Pulse
Thunder/Psycho Shock

Not having Recover always sucked, but I can't stand only having one attacking move.

 

[Trinitrotoluene]

Nice team Raj! Here's my small rate. Note that everything listed is just mere suggestions.

Politoed: Have you tried Encore over Protect? It really messes with set-up strategies when used with Perish Song.

Ferrothorn: Can't say much. It works, and it works.

Rotom-W: I'd recommend just going to the max in Speed. Nothing much else can be said, but HP Ice should be considered.

Scrafty: There's a bulky spread on the Scrafty analysis. If I recall correctly, it was 140 HP / 176 Atk / 192 Spd (credit for that spread goes to Ballabrown24). Try Lum Berry over Leftovers.

Nidoking: You'll lose some power, but try Timid over Modest. You'll outspeed more and KO what you need to KO with Nidoking.

Latias: That is a cool, unique Latias set. I'll try it out soon and give you credit for it if I make an RMT featuring it.

This is a very cool team overall. Good luck, and keep on using that Latias!