ORAS OU Swampert-M: Rain team

[Swagzils]

This is the first team I’ve created a rain team from scratch myself, though I have been looking into various teams and constructing other teams for a while now . I’d like to ask for advice for this team: I’ve tried to strongly base it around the weather rain, through using rain based abilities (Hydration/Rain Dish/Swift Swim/Dry Skin), and giving boosted damage to the water sweepers. In my eyes, this is what weather teams are all about, and so far in OU Suspect test it has proved effective, though I’m not sure where to improve. However, most of the justification for my sets comes from the Battledex, and I’m attempting to make them fit together for maximum coverage.

Pudding (Goodra) (F) @ Assault Vest

Ability: Hydration

EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe

Modest Nature

- Draco Meteor

- Fire Blast

- Sludge Wave

- Thunder

With assault vest and Hydration, Goodra works as an amazing bulky special attacker. It can easily take hits and deal a significant amount of damage. Draco Meteor tears holes in nearly anything, with huge damage thanks to STAB. Fire Blast fills in as coverage, allowing it to super-effectively hit the otherwise resisted steel type. Thunder hits undoubtedly in the rain, notably hitting water & flying types effectively. 16 Speed EVs are used to outspeed Azumarill.

ButterGoods (Azumarill) (F) @ Sitrus Berry

Ability: Huge Power

Shiny: Yes

EVs: 228 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Aqua Jet

- Belly Drum

- Play Rough

- Knock Off

Belly Drum is used for boosting Azumarill's Attack to ridiculous levels. Aqua Jet is incredibly useful after a belly drum, as it allows Azumarill to ignore it’s low speed and hit faster sweepers, being STAB boosted, as well as finishing off weakened opponents. Play Rough is it’s main means of dealing damage, where Azumarill is able to either outspeed or at least take a hit, and provides at least neutral coverage with the rest of the set. Knock Off gives Azumarill the ability to consistently OHKO opponents (after belly drum), and at least removes items where OHKO does not occur.

The particular EV spread is taken from the Battledex: “maximizes Azumarill's Attack and overall bulk whilst also giving an even HP stat at level 50; this is important, as it puts it into Sitrus Berry's activation range after Belly Drum is used. “ The 4 speed EV investment allows Azumarill to outspeed uninvested Scizor, Tyranitar, Abomasnow, and Clefable.

RoidRage (Swampert) (M) @ Swampertite

Ability: Swift Swim

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Power-up Punch/Rain Dance

- Waterfall

- Earthquake

- Ice Punch

Swift Swim gives Swampert incredible speed in rain, allowing it to outspeed many in the tier. Waterfall is the main STAB move, and hits incredibly hard after the rain boost. Earthquake is the secondary STAB move, and enables Swampert to hit hard outside of rain. Ice punch provides excellent coverage, allowing it to hit a host of opponents that resist it’s STAB combination. Power-up punch lets Swampert get a decent damage boost while still finishing off weakened pokes. Stealth rock is under consideration because of a lack of entry hazards (asides from Toxic Spikes) but still not tested.

Fetish? (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge

Ability: Rain Dish

EVs: 248 HP / 244 SpD / 16 Spe

Careful Nature

- Rain Dance

- Toxic Spikes

- Rapid Spin

- Magic Coat

Tentacruel often functions as the lead. Rain Dish synergises excellently with Black Sludge to give Tentacruel great recovery under rain. Toxic spikes lets Tentacruel set up for the rest of the team, while Magic Coat has proved useful time and time again for reflecting pesky entry hazards or status conditions. Rain dance lets Tentacruel function as a secondary rain setter, and can get the momentum going for the team. Rapid Spin allows Tenacruel to dust off stray entry hazards.

HypnoToed (Politoed) (F) @ Damp Rock

Ability: Drizzle

Shiny: Yes

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

Bold Nature

- Scald

- Encore

- Rest

- Ice Beam

The primary rain setter. Scald is the obvious choice for nice STAB, chance to burn and boosted under rain. Encore prevents opponents from setting up on Politoed, and enables switch ins more effectively. Rest keeps Politoed alive long enough to continually set the weather. Ice beam provides nice coverage against Dragon and Grass, where needed. Damp rock is essential for ensuring max duration of rain.

Toxicroak (M) @ Life Orb

Ability: Dry Skin

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Gunk Shot

- Drain Punch

- Sucker Punch

- Swords Dance

Dry Skin alleviates Toxicroak’s Life Orb HP loss, and enables Toxicroak to absorb water moves. The fire damage boost is entirely alleviated under rain as well. The major threat to Toxic Croak is sun, but even under sun, Toxicroak is able to get off a Sucker Punch before going down. Gunk Shot provides significant STAB damage, and along with Swords Dance allows it to sweep effectively. Drain Punch is there if Toxicroak suffers too harshly under sun, and again alleviates the effects entirely. Sucker Punch prevents revenge killing and hits opponents who would otherwise outspeed.

 

[AD impish john]

Hi interesting Rain Team you have there but it could use some work as your question asks. I think Tornadus-T could work on this team as a Hurricane Spammer and could help your team from Grass Types that wall your team. You could Replace Goodra with it as Tornadus works well assualt vest and has its own recovery with its great ability regenerator. I think on Azumarill you should change knock off to Superpower to hit Ferrothorn. Hope I helped :]

Pokemon

Tornado (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 32 Atk / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Focus Blast
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Torandus-T your Hurricane spammer is great with Rain Teams. Focus Blast is for T-tars that block your Rain. Hurricane is STAB and hits 100% in Rain to hit Grass types such as Venusaur. Knock off is for getting rid of the opponents items such as chansey's evilolite. U-Turn is for Scouting and for safely switching into one of your mons.

 

[Alfalfa]

Hi interesting Rain Team you have there but it could use some work as your question asks. I think Tornadus-T could work on this team as a Hurricane Spammer and could help your team from Grass Types that wall your team. You could Replace Goodra with it as Tornadus works well assualt vest and has its own recovery with its great ability regenerator. I think on Azumarill you should change knock off to Superpower to hit Ferrothorn. Hope I helped :]

Pokemon

Tornado (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 32 Atk / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Focus Blast
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Torandus-T your Hurricane spammer is great with Rain Teams. Focus Blast is for T-tars that block your Rain. Hurricane is STAB and hits 100% in Rain to hit Grass types such as Venusaur. Knock off is for getting rid of the opponents items such as chansey's evilolite. U-Turn is for Scouting and for safely switching into one of your mons.

(to clarify, Torn T in place of Tentacruel, which is a momentum killer for rain offense)

Also, Fire Blast on Goodra is really weak in the rain, it gets Focus Blast, which still nails Ferrothorn. I am not sure if Goodra is the right choice for this team, but Fire Blast has no place on it, given the team.

 

[Disciple_1]

It's been some time since I rated a rain team. However, I would recommend switching Goodra for manaphy. TG + Rest is one of the Most powerful combos rain teams can abuse. I really don't see why you Goodra is even on the team. Or instead of manaphy you could use Kingdra or Kabutops to abuse swift swim. My advice is kabutops over kingdra since it provides rapid spin support and this will allow you to replace tentacruel with a more reliable rain dance setter. To replace tentacruel, you could go with either klefki or thunderus. However I would recommend klefki over thunderus because it completely shuts down mega venusaur which otherwise runs through the tram with minimal resistance.

Sets

Manaphy @ Leftovers
Ability : Hydration
EVs : 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Psychic / Ice Beam
- Rest


Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability : Swift Swim
EVs : 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Stone Edge
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet / Swords Dance

If you do use Swords Dance over aqua jet, then use a jolly nature.


Klefki @ Leftovers / Air Balloon
Ability : Prankster
EVs : 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Thunder Wave / Taunt
- Spikes
- Draining Kiss

Hope I helped :)

 

[Tricking]

Hello, when you build a Rain team, you shouldn't use so many Pokemon depending on Rain, otherwise you lose to some defensive and offensive core that check your whole team. Then you are playing without Stealth Rock which is necessary in this metagame.

So first of all you should put Ferrothorn over Tentacruel.

Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 192 HP / 148 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Protect / Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

Then you should fix Azumarill's EV spread like this:
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 44 SpD / 136 Spe

Then put Tornadus-T over Goodra as the other people who rated this team had suggested.

 

[styie]

Hey man, very cool rain team!

Few things I noticed your team had problem(s) with were the following reason(s) listed below:

• Dedicated Stealth Rocker
• Any means of beating bulky grass types

So, I was thinking maybe try to add Ferrothorn as it helps beat Talonflame and other physical attackers and he also acts as nice stealth rocker. Try this set:


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 192 HP / 148 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball

I chose Stealth rock for an obvious reason. Next we have leech seed, this is just a great means of recovery and a momentum killer for opposing teams. Protect is to get as much recovery back as possible. And the last move I chose is gyro ball, this move is great for faster mons. This move hits a lot of common threats pretty hard. 2HKO on the Lati twins is also really good. So I would replace Ferrothorn with Tentacruel because let's face it, TSpikes aren't useful in this current metagame due to all the levitate pokemon/flying types/and steel types. Not to mention Every team has a defogger/spinner so you lose momentum and rain turn going for these and honestly, Ferrothorn is a much better fit for this team.

Next we have, Goodra. tbh you can replace Goodra with a much more threatening and better fit to the team. Such as Tornadus-T. Not a lot of things want to switch-in to this beast with STAB Hurricane for grass types and just about any neutral based mons. Try this set:


Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 76 Atk / 216 SpA / 216 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Taunt

Here's why I specifically picked this set, 76 EVs go into Attack to allow Tornadus-T to specifically OHKO Tyranitar and Excadrill with Superpower and to be able to deal some damage with its other physical move, U-turn. 216 Speed investment with a Naive nature is all it needs to outspeed Pokemon that are base 115 Speed and under, such as Choice Scarf Tyranitar. The rest is dumped into Special Attack so that Hurricane can hit as hard as possible. Finally, Life Orb is the item of choice, as it hits like a tank and increases attacking power, and the recoil isn't much of a problem due to Regenerator.

Finally, I don't know much that Azumarill set would help you, nor benefit you. Try this set:


Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Waterfall

Once you belly drum you go on your rampage with this beast. I know the set told you those EVs but you need power and speed with this thing.


Lastly, you're going to need a defogger, try Latias for example, it gives you a nice keldeo switch-in try this set:

Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Timid Nature
- Healing Wish
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power Fire

180 Speed EVs and a Timid nature allow Latias to outspeed max Speed base 100s accounting for the IV drop from using Hidden Power Fire. This is an offensive set, 252 Special Attack EVs are used to maximize damage output. The additional EVs go into HP to help Latias take priority and attacks in general better. Max Speed is an option to Speed tie with other max Speed base 110s, but because Hidden Power requires an IV drop in Speed, only use max Speed with Roost.


anyway, that's my outlook on your team. Hope you consider these changes as it might help your overall team performance, good luck.

Hope I helped :]