ORAS OU ORAS OU: Back to the Future [#71]

[GreenMonkey]

Hello everyone, this is my most successful ORAS OU team in the early metagame that I have made in the few weeks it's been out. I titled it 'Back to the Future' because it is essentially that, it is very similar to old Gen V rain teams. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks but you can give it some new toys. I've had some fun with this team but there are a few nuances that could be ironed out so here you are! My ORAS OU Rain Team!

Rating Proof

One of my Alts that I've been testing most of my ORAS teams on:

Teambuilding:

As far as this goes I didn't teambuild much except in my head bar few Ev/Move changes after a couple of games.

The only Rain setter that isn't Ubers. Opted for a defensive set to maximise the amount of times I can set the rain up, even if it only so that Excadrill doesn't smash my team.

I wanted to try an old favourite of mine, not the standard (well not this gen anyway) banded or DD set, I felt that bulky specially offensive Dnite would help immensely in keeping Politoed's two weaknesses at bay.

Most teams need a solid priority user in order to do well, Scizor came to mind as my first Dragon and Fairy check and with rain she lasts a little longer.

Mega Swampert like Scizor is blessed with a great ability and only one weakness, with the addition of his mega in ORAS he just had to be on my team, 150 base attack and coverage like it's nobodies business he can sweep turn one if the opponent has no answers.

Everyone knows how important rocks are. The only setter that made sense here was Ferrothorn along with rain he is a real pain for opposing teams and provides a mixed tank role for the squad.

Last but not least, is a toss up between the Eon twins but Latios won due to it's ability to hit harder and provide more offensive pressure than Latias. Not to mention defog support is almost mandatory in order to keep Dragonite's multiscale active.

The Team:

Ribbit (Politoed) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Encore
- Rest

Scald is a decent STAB in rain with a 30% chance to burn. Toxic is to help wear down threats with life orb like Greninja and to force chesto Rotoms to use rest later in the game and generally is useful for debulking walls such as Slowbro. Evs are fairly standard, 248 in HP for minimal entry hazard damage, max Physical defence because with the team support those are the only hits you'll want to be taking with ease. Also serves as an opposing Mega Pert check. Encore to grant free switches and to deter setting up. Rest is unbelievably useful for setting up rain multiple times as Politoed is easily worn down, as a psuedo status sponge and as a last resort Burn/Toxic staller. Damp Rock allows the team to benefit from rain more and is key because I have two 4x Fire weaknesses (even though I have 4 resistances :P).

Yoshi's Father (Dragonite) @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 168 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Draco Meteor
- Roost

Some of you may be wondering why Dnite over things like AV Tornadus who is faster and more powerful? Two words, Mulitscale + Roost. Lefties and max HP again for less SR damage, along with roost makes for a lot of recovery, couple it with multiscale and you have a dragon that rarely dies. 92 speed Evs are for Jolly Belly Drum Azumarill and below. Hurricane is an insane STAB which causes a lot of shuffling via confusion. And Thunder complements the very rare ParaFusion combo. Thunder allows Dnite to check many bulky water types like Mega Gyarados. Draco Meteor is a last resort nuke because you'll want Dnite in the rain for as long as possible to benefit from it before switching out. Dragon Tail is also an option instead of Draco and I often switch between the two depending on how I'm feeling (basically if I just got beat by a set up sweeper not named Clefable).

Felicia (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Superpower

Everyone knows this set. BP for revenge killing and strong priority for late game sweeping. U-turn for momentum and secondary STAB. Knock Off items. Superpower to crush steel type switchins. Scizor in the Rain is pretty deadly, mitigating it's 4x Fire weakness to a 2x allows this bipedal bug to get more hits in. Knock Off does about 40% to Skarmory and lessens its potential recovery especially after rocks. When you say Scizor I say Choice Band because It's the perfect user of it, Hit and Run or one big hit patches up my lack of physical attackers so far.

Hulk-Smash (Swampert-Mega) @ Swampertite
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Low Kick

Those big arms aren't just for show, I think Swampert ate too many steroids I mean err... mega stone. 100/150/110/95/110/70 these stats alone make MegaPert very bulky and strong but with Jolly Swift Swim he outspeeds ScarfChomp and KO's with Ice Punch. Low kick 2HKO's Ferrothorn after a small amount of prior damage. Waterfall in the rain becomes his go-to STAB and now the flinch chance is sort of relevant thanks to hitting 524 speed under rain. Ice punch allows Pert to hit flying types hard and is mainly for the 4x SE option vs dragons etc. I think that wasting a coverage slot on him for rocks is a waste as his main role is as a sweeper once all of the water resists are long gone.

Iron Man (Ferrothorn) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Gyro Ball

Ferrothorn serves many roles as a utility tank. Firstly he has access to rocks. Secondly the combination of Leech Seed, Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs stops physical scarfers dead especially with all the Lando-T leads going around. Thunder Wave is my preference over Power Whip because often a U-turn results in a non Ground type switch in and is excellent for making threats well...less threatening? And obviously Gyro Ball makes sure that Ferro is not complete set up bait, although Stallbreaker mew stomps all over him. Politoed usually handles Mew sometimes at the cost of the Damp Rock, but most times I can count on other members to weaken mew to the point that it is no longer a problem.

Neeeeoooow (Latios) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Surf / Recover

The final member is Latios. He's the secondary special attacker and only hazard control I have. Surf inside and outside of rain helps prevent Heatran from causing problems for my Scizor. However I often swap to Recover Inbetween games when I feel like Latios needs to be around longer. Surf also makes sure that Bisharp doesn't come in for "free". Timid LO makes Latios as fast and powerful as possible whilst being able to switch moves. Latios serves as my Keldeo and Mega Venu Counter amongst other things. Psyshock is there to hit hard on both sides of the spectrum. Latios is my main check to Rotom as it can severely dent it so that Swampert and Scizor have an easier time. He also checks Lando-I and slower dragons.

Last words:

At the moment I haven't any replays that are any good, most were just low ladder sweeps. I will begin to add more as I get more games in. Feel free to make any suggestions. I'm tired of this team, well mainly because it doesn't deal with ferrothorn/rotom cores well and always loses to them, thats why its here for people to learn from and improve! Oh and I hope Reverb doesn't mind me posting this close replay of another team that I made:
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/orasou-177274229

How to utilise rain properly: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/orasou-177625967
Balanced MegaMence: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/orasou-177627334
​

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Ribbit (Politoed) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Encore
- Rest

Yoshi's Father (Dragonite) @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 168 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Draco Meteor
- Roost

Felicia (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Superpower

Hulk-Smash (Swampert-Mega) @ Swampertite
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Low Kick

Iron Man (Ferrothorn) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Gyro Ball

Neeeeoooow (Latios) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Surf

 

[GreenMonkey]

Obligatory bump. I know the team is a bit standard...but is by no means perfect.

 

[Disciple_1]

Idk man I think your team handles everything pretty well. Once rain is set up swampert is unstoppable. It's a nice team imo.:D

 

[Stallion]

Your Swampert has no attack EV's in the importable file. Idk if you've been playing with it like that so I thought I'd point it out in case

 

[GreenMonkey]

Oh right...no i haven't must have been a typo.

 

[Togevoir]

Just started w/ the team, very solid. My first suggestion is to change M-Swampert's nature to Adamant as in rain the extra speed isn't really needed. I'll add more as I continue to play with it :]

Edit 1: You have no switch in to Greninja in a reliable way

 

[Eik00c]

Just started w/ the team, very solid. My first suggestion is to change M-Swampert's nature to Adamant as in rain the extra speed isn't really needed. I'll add more as I continue to play with it :]

Edit 1: You have no switch in to Greninja in a reliable way

When rain is up, Ferrothorn virtually counters Greninja; HP Fire does shit damage to it and it can't really touch it in any other way.

(I'm tired atm and I may or may not know what I'm saying, so plz bare with me while I rate this.)

Not only do I agree with changing Mega-Pert's nature to Adamant, but I say change the EV spread a little bit; change it from what you currently have to 96 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spe. Since w/ Swift Swim, you can easily outspeed anything in the rain, so investing in a little bit of bulk would be helpful for Swampert. I just found this spread in the Swampert thread, so I'm not too sure what each EV does and what not.

Also, I feel that Dragonite doesn't pack enough power; it's got the bulk but imo it seems underwhelming. Therefore, I suggest replacing it with Choice Specs Kingdra. Not only does it give your team a little more oomph, but it gives it another wallbreaker to work with and a possible new late game cleaner.

Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Surf / Scald
- Dragon Pulse / Sleep Talk

When taking rain into account, Hydro Pump is your most powerful move. It probably shouldn't be spammed too much though; its low PP isn't too much help for it. Draco Meteor is there mainly to smack Water-resistant mons such as Dragon types. The third slot will have a more spammable Water move; Surf has slightly more power than Scald, therefore making it better for late game cleaning as well. Scald can be used to fish for the burn on certain counters such as Ferrothorn and M-Venusaur (not that it'll be common since everyone's trying out their new megas). For the last slot, either Dragon Pulse or Sleep Talk can be used. Dragon Pulse will be your more reliable Dragon move, albeit quite a bit weaker than Draco Meteor; it's useful if you want to smack a Dragon without having to switch out. Sleep Talk can be used to absorb sleep for your team, though most sleep moves are Grass type and they can be covered by Ferrothorn. If you want, you can run Ice Beam in the last slot as well, cuz it can hit some Grass types like Chesnaught. Though birdspam forces them to be not used as much and the most common Grass types (bar Breloom) are neutral to Ice, so...yeah.

That's all I can think of atm; will think of some more suggestions when I'm not half-asleep. :P

 

[Togevoir]

When rain is up ninja's hp fire still does about 70% and ice beam does 52% but besides that I defenitely agree

 

[GreenMonkey]

Hi guys thanks for your input! Togevoir , Run jolly because ScarfChomp reaches 500 speed Jolly and Pert gets 524 under rain, changing this to Adamant means that ScarfChomp would outspeed my whole team, in fact I changed it to Jolly in the first place because of that.

Eik00c , I like your suggestion for running dual swift swimmers, especially when Kingdra is special as opposed to others like Kabutops, however the team is not meant to be super fast. Dragonite is a bulky attacker so that multiscale can act as a win condition against teams that cannot easily break it without rocks. And he benefits in terms of move accuracy, although not power, more than Kingdra. Not to mention I feel that placing extra water and dragon coverage would just weaken me to ferro/rotom cores.

About the whole Greninja team, Ferro can handle it in rain which unless there is a weather war will be assumed as up. Greninja does not threaten this team as much as other ORAS teams with its fairy killing powers (Gunk Shot + 3 Attacks) because I end up getting a toxic or gaining hazard advantage by using encore. And well if they go for Hp fire in rain...swampert has something to say about that.

Eik00c you also make the point of the last moveslot on Kingdra being to check grass and flying types but Dnite does that already with his bulk alone, not necessarily needing multiscale up because he can roost off the damage that other, frailer members don't want. I think the reason I did fairly well with this team was my access to unique coverage that most teams do not expect on dragonite e.g thunder to hit skarmories and not being walled by ferrothorn. As always thanks for the suggestions, I haven't tried out Kingdra yet so i may be baised on paper so ill let you know how it goes.

Thanks.

 

[Shurtugal]

Hello there!

I feel like, what with that retarded Smeargle Pass team (the one Denniss uses with Whismicott and Espeon, the same one that makes people want to ban Baton Pass), that you might want to consider running Perish Song over Toxic while laddering, if only to make playing against it easier.

I'm struggling to identify what Scizor does for this team. While it doesn't need to perform a role where it can beat rain counters (Rocky Helmet Ferrothorn is a pretty solid answer to Talonflame, Manaphy and Greninja), I don't like the fact that Scizor itself is weak to Thundurus, Talonflame, Manaphy, and Greninja in general. I just don't see what it's doing--isn't Swampert the revenge killer? I feel like a team like this is really lacking in answers against stall teams. Swampert can't really hit it, neither can Latios, or Ferrothorn, or Politoed, and Dragonite just looks like something Chansey would wall to death. I feel like the best answer would be to replace Scizor for Calm Mind Landorus. A boosted Focus Blast is a solid 2HKO on Chansey, while boosted CMs can pretty much tear stalls to shreds. I'd run Calm Mind / Earth Power / Focus Blast / Psychic | Hidden Power [Ice] -- Hidden Power [Ice] gets a mention because Knock Off Gliscor is the biggest answer stall has for it, but otherwise--if you don't find it problematic--you can just keep Psychic.

I'm not sure how Dragonite works with Latios as the defogger on such a . . . balanced rain team. I feel like a different Deffoger would work better, something like SpD Zapdos. It checks Talonflame and Thundurus, can easily defog hazards away, checks Manaphy and Azumaril. I feel like this team plays rather like a balanced rain team, so I'm not sure how Latios has been working out anyway.

I'm not sure how useful something like Thunder Wave Ferrothorn can be on a rain team? It's also a contrasting move when you also carry Gyro Ball. Ferrothorn has all sorts of other things it can be doing: Spikes, Power Whip, Knock Off, and Protect to name a few. I'd recommend Protect, though, since it works well in conjunction with Leech Seed. I feel like Adamant Swampert is probably going to be the most effective (miss KOs in exchange for hitting Scarf Garchomp? Just run Hidden Power [Ice] on Zapdos or more physical defense on Ferrothorn imo -- the power is needed).

Finally, I don't believe it requires that much speed effort values to jump a few speed tiers with Politoed (i.e. 158, 170, and 196 are a few benchmarks to consider: the 196 especially for Azumaril, iirc 158 gets Chansey, and 170 is old BW knowledge for band Scizor lol but I wonder if that's worth hitting anymore).

Good luck.

EDIT: Hidden Power [Ice] Zapdos is a smart way to beat Gliscor as well.