Team Concept: I swore to myself during BW I'd never make a rain team because of how centralizing they were during that metagame. Times have changed though and now that rain teams are relatively underutilized I've decided to wake people back up to how powerful they still can be in ORAS. Pretty much all my sets are straight up copied from the suggestions off smogon which might seem boring but I find them to be very effective and well suited for the composition.
Team:
Politoed @ damprock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 164 SpD / 96 Spe
Calm Nature
- scald
- toxic
- rest
- encore
Obviously the best place to start a rain team is with Politoed! Aside from being a weather bot he can be used as an effective switch to save the damage dealers from taking unneeded hits. Spamming scald is always effective and can land some surprise damage if the opponent overpredicts and switches to something that is intended to counter what they think I will be switching to. Encore has gotten me out of hot water before as well making sure set up sweepers can't get out of control on my Ferrothorn and toxic helps get rid of stall or can get a surprise status on water or grass types switching in.
Swampert @ swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- waterfall
- earthquake
- icepunch
- lowkick
Mega Swampert is definitely the most underrated mega in ORAS OU. With him, my mainly water and flying team gets a nifty immunity to electric type attacks and he functions as a great cleaner/wallbreaker. His coverage is great and he provides the attack power I need to get past really specially defensive teams.
Ferrothorn @ leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- gyroball
- leechseed
- powerwhip
- stealthrock
Another staple to rain teams we have Ferrothron. Going Specially Defensive really gives Ferrothorn a lot of room to survive fire attacks with the additional rain dampening. He can function as a nice switch into things like Raikou or the Latis that would otherwise be landing hard hitting attacks. His typing and natural defensive bulk also allows him to switch into most physical attackers as well outside of very powerful fighting types like Keldeo. But that's why we have our next mon!
Tornadus-Therian @ assaultvest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 132 HP / 160 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- hurricane
- focusblast
- knockoff
- uturn
As soon as I started using this guy I knew that he would be rising on the OU ranking thread. Sure enough what many thought of as only a B mon soared into A+. Tornadus-T is quite scary with how well he works. He checks the fighting types and grass types that would otherwise rock my team while providing additional utility with knock off and u-turn coupled with regenerator and additional power with 100% accurate hurricanes and specially offensive fighting coverage. He truly is a key mon to the team as he is usually the best switch in to whatever the opponent has to counter the rest of the team.
The set I'm using has changed see Updates.
Kingdra @ choicespecs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- dracometeor
- icebeam
- hydropump
- scald
I was unsure if I wanted to add another swift swimmer on the team but Kingdra has proved to be a great win condition. If the other mons can stall or breaks the walls Kingdra can't and rain is still on the map Kingdra can usually close relatively easily. Although mons like Azumarill, Clefable, and Ferrothorn can be tough customers to Kingdra, the sheer power of Choice specs rain boosted hydropumps or scald can really put pressure even on those hardest of counters. The only struggle I've incurred using it is bringing it out too early for a kill only to be revenged or worn down too early. Kingdra has been cut in place of Manaphy see Updates.
Thundurus @ damprock
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- thunder
- hiddenpowerice
- thunderwave
- raindance
Probably the only "unconventional" set I have is this great Thundurus set I got from the next best thing thread. I wanted a way to ensure that rain would be set up 24/7 on the field and make it seem like BW never left and that swift swim and Tornadus-T should be banned for being this powerful. Thundurus can take care of the opposing water types that could otherwise take advantage of the rain going around and simultaneously can stop all other speedsters that could oppose my team not named Sand Rush Excadrill, Choice Scarf Landorus-T, and opposing M-Swamperts. However none of those are really a threat to my team.
Problems with the team: The most glaring issue is I have no hazard removal. So far this has been mitigated by the resistance Swampert and Ferrothorn have to stealth rock and Tornadus-T's regenerator and simply keeping Thundurus and Kingdra off the field most of the time and not pivoting around them. Spikes/Toxic Spikes similarly don't affect two and three members respectively and Politoed can Rest it off.
Second biggest problem is opposing weather or worse opposing rain teams. They're semi rare but they provide a challenge as the advantage I get from creating rain can give my opponent equal power or greater power if say they start their swimmer out against Politoed or Swampert hasn't mega evolved and they have a Kabutops who has the immediate power.
Next is the problem of setup sweepers. The only true options I have against setup sweepers atm are getting a form of status (thunder wave, toxic, scald burn, hurricane confusion), getting an encore off, or having a mon counter their power (outsped by the swift swimmers, having the bulk on Ferro to tank/stall them). I don't have an opposing setup mon or any sort of stat removal (phasing, taunt).
The last problem simply stems from the team concept itself. This problem is apparent in all teams but especially this one because this team heavily relies on the ability of all the pokemon synergizing with each other and keeping rain on the field. If both Politoed and Thundurus hit the floor and I don't have rain trickling from their dying breath I may be SOL. The team relies a decent bit on prediction as well so that what my opponents bring into counter can be properly checked by another mon.
Threats: Ferrothorn/Manaphy/Keldeo/Terrakion/Rotom-W
Ferrothorn is the main threat because he walls both my swift swimmers outside of Swamperts Low Kick which doesn't OHKO. So far getting past him has been slowly wearing him down or getting good reads. If he is physically defensive, Tornadus-T gets past him fairly easily either by spamming Hurricane for the switch or Focus Blast. If he is specially defensive it gets tricky. I can really only hope he doesn't set up spikes and bore him by opposing him with my Ferrothorn (which lets him get a good switch into my Ferro) or get a good prediction with Low Kick from Swampert or Low Kick and sac Swampert for a revenge kill and hope that was the last big wall to take down.
Manaphy is the other big threat as it is nigh on unstoppable under the rain which I provide for it. Getting on encore on it during set up is usually the big move or getting Thundurus/Kingdra to hit it hard with Thunder/Draco Meteor respectively. Ferro can also stall it if it doesn't have Ice Beam.
Keldeo is a threat mainly because Ferro is specially defensive so secret sword is gonna hurt hard and otherwise its water move is going to put hurt on my team. Torn-T is the best answer but will still get hurt badly if it predicts with a water move during rain. Thundurus can also stop him with a Thunder but Keldeo is normally faster so he might have to put on Thunder Wave and hope for a proc otherwise Keldeo can take him out too. Ferro is a last ditch answer as he can take one secret sword usually and many times the opposing player will assume Ferro is defensive and will opt for a switch instead.
Terrakion again threatens the fact Ferro is SpDef so he can get past him with Close Combat and checking him with Torn-T is risky due to his Stone Edge. Swampert is decent at taking a resisted Stone Edge and oustspeeding in rain. Ferro can get predicted kills with either Gyro or Power Whip. Otherwise he's really easy to revenge kill.
Rotom-W is a threat because he can still cripple Ferro even though Ferro hard counters him and threatens the rest of the team if he has good predictions. Swampert obviously can switch into Volt Switch but under rain Hydro Pump can be devastating and again burn will cripple him badly. Also Swampert can't get a clean KO on him. Kingdra would be a good switch if it weren't so frail, it takes a good chunk from either rain boosted Hydro or Volt Switch and even though it isn't crippled by burn it doesn't enjoy the chip damage. Both Thundurus and Kingdra can kill him otherwise if they can freely switch in however.
That's about it hopefully you enjoy the team and please leave me any feedback mainly about how the problems I listed can be solved. I am not very good at stats so if you have more optimal ev's to suggest please do so. If you suggest a mon replacement please consider the importance of synergy to the team so that whatever mon is brought in offers a similar role and provides greater strengths or less weaknesses to the previous mon.
Updates: Thanks to the suggestions by J_Hatfield_007 and fleggumfl, I have followed up on their suggestions of changing Torn-T to a Life Orb set and switching from Kingdra to Manaphy. Since Manaphy is new I will do a little write up on his role.
These are the new sets:
Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 40 Atk / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Manaphy @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs:4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe> 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Tail Glow
- Ice Beam
-Energy Ball> Rest
Manaphy has been more beneficial than Kingdra for several reasons. While it lacks to immediate power and speed as Kingdra, Manaphy more than makes up for it. Manaphy has more power after a turn and more longevity overall. It has better coverage as well with energy ball and it can soak status, plus it is not locked into choice specs. Finally the most important pro it has is that it is useful outside of rain. All of it's moves still hit hard with tail glow outside of rain and it has a better speed tier outside of rain as well.
I experimented with Starmie a little as well but with this team I peaked the highest crossing 1700 elo. Thank you so far for all the helpful suggestions!
2nd Update: I've been climbing nearly to 1800 elo at this point and have changed Thundurus HP Ice to HP Water. HP Water boosted by rain allows Thundurus to 2HKO Excadrill which means it can kill with a predicted switch. HP Water also does more damage to Heatran, Hippowdon, Tyranitar, etc. I figure I already had enough Ice coverage amongst Manaphy and Swamp.
3rd Update: This team has climbed as high as 1900 elo now and has been in the top 50 on the ladder at certain points. Manaphy has been using Rest instead of energy ball and has changed to full HP instead of speed.
Team:
Politoed @ damprock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 164 SpD / 96 Spe
Calm Nature
- scald
- toxic
- rest
- encore
Obviously the best place to start a rain team is with Politoed! Aside from being a weather bot he can be used as an effective switch to save the damage dealers from taking unneeded hits. Spamming scald is always effective and can land some surprise damage if the opponent overpredicts and switches to something that is intended to counter what they think I will be switching to. Encore has gotten me out of hot water before as well making sure set up sweepers can't get out of control on my Ferrothorn and toxic helps get rid of stall or can get a surprise status on water or grass types switching in.
Swampert @ swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- waterfall
- earthquake
- icepunch
- lowkick
Mega Swampert is definitely the most underrated mega in ORAS OU. With him, my mainly water and flying team gets a nifty immunity to electric type attacks and he functions as a great cleaner/wallbreaker. His coverage is great and he provides the attack power I need to get past really specially defensive teams.
Ferrothorn @ leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- gyroball
- leechseed
- powerwhip
- stealthrock
Another staple to rain teams we have Ferrothron. Going Specially Defensive really gives Ferrothorn a lot of room to survive fire attacks with the additional rain dampening. He can function as a nice switch into things like Raikou or the Latis that would otherwise be landing hard hitting attacks. His typing and natural defensive bulk also allows him to switch into most physical attackers as well outside of very powerful fighting types like Keldeo. But that's why we have our next mon!
Tornadus-Therian @ assaultvest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 132 HP / 160 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- hurricane
- focusblast
- knockoff
- uturn
As soon as I started using this guy I knew that he would be rising on the OU ranking thread. Sure enough what many thought of as only a B mon soared into A+. Tornadus-T is quite scary with how well he works. He checks the fighting types and grass types that would otherwise rock my team while providing additional utility with knock off and u-turn coupled with regenerator and additional power with 100% accurate hurricanes and specially offensive fighting coverage. He truly is a key mon to the team as he is usually the best switch in to whatever the opponent has to counter the rest of the team.
The set I'm using has changed see Updates.
Kingdra @ choicespecs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- dracometeor
- icebeam
- hydropump
- scald
Thundurus @ damprock
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- thunder
- hiddenpowerice
- thunderwave
- raindance
Probably the only "unconventional" set I have is this great Thundurus set I got from the next best thing thread. I wanted a way to ensure that rain would be set up 24/7 on the field and make it seem like BW never left and that swift swim and Tornadus-T should be banned for being this powerful. Thundurus can take care of the opposing water types that could otherwise take advantage of the rain going around and simultaneously can stop all other speedsters that could oppose my team not named Sand Rush Excadrill, Choice Scarf Landorus-T, and opposing M-Swamperts. However none of those are really a threat to my team.
Problems with the team: The most glaring issue is I have no hazard removal. So far this has been mitigated by the resistance Swampert and Ferrothorn have to stealth rock and Tornadus-T's regenerator and simply keeping Thundurus and Kingdra off the field most of the time and not pivoting around them. Spikes/Toxic Spikes similarly don't affect two and three members respectively and Politoed can Rest it off.
Second biggest problem is opposing weather or worse opposing rain teams. They're semi rare but they provide a challenge as the advantage I get from creating rain can give my opponent equal power or greater power if say they start their swimmer out against Politoed or Swampert hasn't mega evolved and they have a Kabutops who has the immediate power.
Next is the problem of setup sweepers. The only true options I have against setup sweepers atm are getting a form of status (thunder wave, toxic, scald burn, hurricane confusion), getting an encore off, or having a mon counter their power (outsped by the swift swimmers, having the bulk on Ferro to tank/stall them). I don't have an opposing setup mon or any sort of stat removal (phasing, taunt).
The last problem simply stems from the team concept itself. This problem is apparent in all teams but especially this one because this team heavily relies on the ability of all the pokemon synergizing with each other and keeping rain on the field. If both Politoed and Thundurus hit the floor and I don't have rain trickling from their dying breath I may be SOL. The team relies a decent bit on prediction as well so that what my opponents bring into counter can be properly checked by another mon.
Threats: Ferrothorn/Manaphy/Keldeo/Terrakion/Rotom-W
Ferrothorn is the main threat because he walls both my swift swimmers outside of Swamperts Low Kick which doesn't OHKO. So far getting past him has been slowly wearing him down or getting good reads. If he is physically defensive, Tornadus-T gets past him fairly easily either by spamming Hurricane for the switch or Focus Blast. If he is specially defensive it gets tricky. I can really only hope he doesn't set up spikes and bore him by opposing him with my Ferrothorn (which lets him get a good switch into my Ferro) or get a good prediction with Low Kick from Swampert or Low Kick and sac Swampert for a revenge kill and hope that was the last big wall to take down.
Manaphy is the other big threat as it is nigh on unstoppable under the rain which I provide for it. Getting on encore on it during set up is usually the big move or getting Thundurus/Kingdra to hit it hard with Thunder/Draco Meteor respectively. Ferro can also stall it if it doesn't have Ice Beam.
Keldeo is a threat mainly because Ferro is specially defensive so secret sword is gonna hurt hard and otherwise its water move is going to put hurt on my team. Torn-T is the best answer but will still get hurt badly if it predicts with a water move during rain. Thundurus can also stop him with a Thunder but Keldeo is normally faster so he might have to put on Thunder Wave and hope for a proc otherwise Keldeo can take him out too. Ferro is a last ditch answer as he can take one secret sword usually and many times the opposing player will assume Ferro is defensive and will opt for a switch instead.
Terrakion again threatens the fact Ferro is SpDef so he can get past him with Close Combat and checking him with Torn-T is risky due to his Stone Edge. Swampert is decent at taking a resisted Stone Edge and oustspeeding in rain. Ferro can get predicted kills with either Gyro or Power Whip. Otherwise he's really easy to revenge kill.
Rotom-W is a threat because he can still cripple Ferro even though Ferro hard counters him and threatens the rest of the team if he has good predictions. Swampert obviously can switch into Volt Switch but under rain Hydro Pump can be devastating and again burn will cripple him badly. Also Swampert can't get a clean KO on him. Kingdra would be a good switch if it weren't so frail, it takes a good chunk from either rain boosted Hydro or Volt Switch and even though it isn't crippled by burn it doesn't enjoy the chip damage. Both Thundurus and Kingdra can kill him otherwise if they can freely switch in however.
That's about it hopefully you enjoy the team and please leave me any feedback mainly about how the problems I listed can be solved. I am not very good at stats so if you have more optimal ev's to suggest please do so. If you suggest a mon replacement please consider the importance of synergy to the team so that whatever mon is brought in offers a similar role and provides greater strengths or less weaknesses to the previous mon.
Updates: Thanks to the suggestions by J_Hatfield_007 and fleggumfl, I have followed up on their suggestions of changing Torn-T to a Life Orb set and switching from Kingdra to Manaphy. Since Manaphy is new I will do a little write up on his role.
These are the new sets:
Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 40 Atk / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Manaphy @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs:
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Tail Glow
- Ice Beam
-
Manaphy has been more beneficial than Kingdra for several reasons. While it lacks to immediate power and speed as Kingdra, Manaphy more than makes up for it. Manaphy has more power after a turn and more longevity overall. It has better coverage as well with energy ball and it can soak status, plus it is not locked into choice specs. Finally the most important pro it has is that it is useful outside of rain. All of it's moves still hit hard with tail glow outside of rain and it has a better speed tier outside of rain as well.
I experimented with Starmie a little as well but with this team I peaked the highest crossing 1700 elo. Thank you so far for all the helpful suggestions!
2nd Update: I've been climbing nearly to 1800 elo at this point and have changed Thundurus HP Ice to HP Water. HP Water boosted by rain allows Thundurus to 2HKO Excadrill which means it can kill with a predicted switch. HP Water also does more damage to Heatran, Hippowdon, Tyranitar, etc. I figure I already had enough Ice coverage amongst Manaphy and Swamp.
3rd Update: This team has climbed as high as 1900 elo now and has been in the top 50 on the ladder at certain points. Manaphy has been using Rest instead of energy ball and has changed to full HP instead of speed.
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