Boiling Thunder Storm
 

Introduction
Well hi here I am making a random team with random guys while being competitive at the most level that I could reach. Balls to all people who can't have the slightest imagination 'cause I'm using a Volcarona in a friggin' rain team. YES A VOLCARONA IN A RAIN TEAM. And I don't have a Scarfer but my team isn't easily revenge killable so only suggest that when you see a necessary flaw that could only be fixed by using a Scarfer. Other than the said things, feel free to lash out everything you wanna say and I would like negative criticisms 'cause that way, I'll be able to see both my team's and my flaws. But that doesn't mean that positive criticisms aren't welcome.

P.S. Purple is the color cause I feel like I'm in deep shit for writing this.





Boiling Thunder Storm

http://www.smogon.com/download/sprites/bw/186.png
Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Nature: Modest
~ Hydro Pump
~ Ice Beam
~ Hidden Power Grass
~ Substitute








http://www.smogon.com/download/sprites/bw/667.png
Volcarona @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
~ Quiver Dance
~ Bug Buzz
~ Hurricane
~ Fire Blast








http://www.smogon.com/download/sprites/bw/682.png
Thundurus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
~ Agility
~ Thunder
~ Hidden Power Ice
~ Focus Blast








http://www.smogon.com/download/sprites/bw/121.png
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
~ Hydro Pump
~ Thunder
~ Ice Beam
~ Rapid Spin








http://www.smogon.com/download/sprites/bw/376.png
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Nature: Adamant
~ Stealth Rock
~ Meteor Mash
~ Ice Punch
~ Hammer Arm








http://www.smogon.com/download/sprites/bw/149.png
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
~ Dragon Dance
~ Outrage
~ Earthquake
~ Aqua Jet








Conclusion
Well here it is, the team. The sets you see are very standard but in this team, they have all been modified to support the other team mates. Besides, the ones written in the StrategyDex isn't really meant to be followed word-for-word. It was meant to be a guide. As for me, I really like using weird sets that aren't really used. Well some are not really common but not entirely uncommon. Sometimes I also like making custom sets but since I am not using my computer, I don't have a damage calculator so I don't know how to modify EVs. Well if you guys have a link for one, I would prefer that you post it as well as an actual rate. Thanks for taking your time reading this long RMT. I wish you all good day.







P.S. Whatever you do, do not suggest Garchomp. I do not know how to use it without Sand Veil.

Hi,
I don't like the usage of Substitute on Politoed and Volcarona. Politoed needs all the health it can get to aid in winning the weather war, and randomly losing 25% HP is not something you'll be glad to do. Status protection is nice and all, however is kinda unnecessary for an offensive set since you either deal a whole chunk of damage to your opponent, or just run away if you can't do so. For defensive sets, where status protection could work, you have Refresh as superior option, that counteract also TSpikes, and allows you to Toxic things as they status you and then laugh in their face and Refresh. So, in light of this I would change Politoed to a defensive variant. This will allow you to absorb more handily physical blows (and special too, thanks to Politoed's respectable base 100 SpD) while sticking around longer to aid in the weather war. Politoed can help your team a lot also with its supportive options: Perish Song is a full stop to Baton Pass teams, Refresh can work to stick around longer, Toxic and Protect can stall the opponent for a while, and the second is incredibly useful against Scarf Genesect leads. You won't miss the offensive prowess of your set too much, since Thundurus-T, Starmie and Volcarona will be always ready to wreck havoc in a now-longer-lasting Rain.



On the Substitute on Volcarona topic, yeah losing another 25% after taking 50% damage for SR, and not having reliable recovery seems a very bad option. Of course you are running a Spinner, however Starmie is not immortal and can be Pursuit trapped by TTar and Scizor (which can both survive a rain Hydro Pump barring crit, and OHKO with Pursuit). I'd suggest to run a third attack, namely Fire Blast, instead of Substitute, to help you killing Ferrothorn in rain, which would otherwise wall you indefinitely and Thunder Wave / Leech Seed / do some other nasty things. Fire Blast also allows you to hit hard Genesect, which would otherwise survive a +1 Hurricane and U-Turn out or kill you if you're weakened enough. Yeah, and you should run Timid too, since this allows to outrun ScarfSect at +1 and eliminate it, while outrunning all non-scarf Genesect regardless and OHKO them with Fire Blast.

Another interesting option is running Recover on Starmie. While an offensive set is awesome in rain, your team is extremely weak to Rocks, thus Rapid Spin support is vital. I won't recommend outright a defensive set since you seem to like Offensive Starmie a lot, however giving up Ice Beam for Recover seems a reasonable choice, letting you hit hard all the spinblockers anyway with Thunder / Hydro Pump and allowing to recover health lost for hazards, Iron Barbs and other sources of residual damage. Losing the ability to hit Dragons is indeed annoying, however with the combination of Defensive Toed, priority from Dragonite (on that topic, while your justification for Aqua Jet is indeed interesting, you should at least use something else to gain more coverage instead of Waterfall, since two Water attacks are extremely redundant; Superpower allows you to not get completely walled by Ferrothorn, for example, and at +1 in rain you 2HKO Genesect anyway with Aqua Jet alone after SR, or Superpower + Aqua Jet regardless of stat drops) and useful resistances from Metagross, you shouldn't have too much hassle checking them anyway.

Hope I helped somewhat. Good luck for your team.

I have read the sets you've mentioned however the Politoed and Starmie sets are vital for the team's success and the defensive sets just don't work for me as this is an HO team. Starmie needs all the coverage it can get to remove things that wall Metagross. For Volcarona, it is indeed annoying to have Substitute sometimes. I'll try out Fire Blast however, I won't change the nature as like I stated, the set isn't meant to sweep. Modest grants me the ability to 2HKO TTar with a +1 Bug Buzz and should I run Fire Blast, it will also give me the chance to OHKO Ferrothorn.

Dragonite is the biggest question though. Running Superpower is kinda counter productive to the set since I need the stats that Dragon Dance provides. Having said that Aqua Jet 2HKOes Genesect after Stealth Rock, I might change Waterfall into something else. Any suggestions? I'm open for Earthquake or something else to hit Jirachi and Ferrothorn. I mean with the current set, indeed I am walled by Ferrothorn but I have way too many ways to get rid of it. And I mainly use Dragonite as a late-game sweeper once the walls have been removed or are weakened.

Anyway, if you're still questioning why I choose not to have Recover on Starmie, here's my strategy: I get rid of Stealth Rock users as quick as possible as most of them are threatened by either Metagross or Starmie. The case with Starmie however is different. Once the SR mons are out, I can freely Rapid Spin and bring out my sweepers. Though I respect your opinion (as I find myself in a tough situation without Starmie), I will still choose to run Ice Beam.


EDIT: also on the Genesect part of the Volcarona rate, I don't need to outrun it since at +1 SpD, it can't touch me and I can simply OHKO in return with Hurricane.

Okay, but you shouldn't really run Sub on Politoed even on offensive sets. Go for 3 attacks + Perish Song as listed onsite, but really, giving away 25% of your health for free and being met with something that force you out (Breloom, Celebi, Jellicent (yeah HP Grass does nothing), Latias (252+ Ice Beam does not even 3HKO after a CM) and the list is veeery long). A 3 attacks + Lefties Politoed is possible, but you should run something like Hydro Pump | Ice Beam | Focus Blast / HP Grass | Perish Song without bothering with Substitute.

As for the Volcarona rate, yeah Timid is not strictly necessary, however +1 Fire Blast OHKOs Ferro regardless of Modest or Timid, while +1 Bug Buzz requires a very very minimal residual damage to OHKO Tyranitar anyway after SR (+1 252 SpA Volcarona Bug Buzz vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tyranitar: 326-386 (80.69 - 95.54%) -- 56.25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock). It's up to you to consider if that slight boost in power is worth missing the speed tie with ScarfMoxieMence, and allowing Genesect to run away (+1 U-Turn still deals a respectable 30%, and Hurricane does not OHKO even at +1, if Rocks aren't on the field).

apparently after testing for a while, I'll keep sub on Politoed as the insurance from Toxic is way better than Perish Song. As for Volcarona, I'll go for Fire Blast

I've used Volca in Rain teams before, and found it nearly useless if stealth rock manages to budge in.

I now use Thunder/Hurricane/DT/Roost on Dnite, the rain abuser of the game.

Then use something that can take all rain-threatning things neutral. I use Porygon2 and Espeon. it doesn't seem to fit in, but it's the only thing that can...

1. wall almost everything 2. heal 3. block hazards 4. spread para over the opposimg team. 5 baton pass CM

so, if you want to ask more about Rain members, tell me.

pwnage, I find the Aqua Jet an interesting choice, but I recommend Earthquake/Roost > Waterfall. Earthquake gives Dragonite more coverage on Pokemon like Jirachi (and it does not cause direct damage to Ferrothorn), but Roost can allow Dragonite to heal itself and potentially restore its Multiscale. Aqua Jet, fine. Waterfall, remove.

Hey, what a fine team.

One thing I noticed was that Scarf salamence could be a real problem for this team as it can revenge all your pokes and outspeed +1 Dnite. A small thing to do could be to just swap Metagross' item to Air ballon and swap either Hammer Arm or Bullet punch to Ice punch to help OHKO it and OHKO Garchomp too. You could also try using Superpower>Focus Blast if you hate the shaky accuracy and it still hits everything you need it to. I'd also have to agree that Substitute isn't too good of a move on Politoed, you should definitely either try Perish song or Toxic instead. With all the subs you're going to have to make, you'll end up taking more damage from it than you would with being toxic'd, you also become extremely easy to kill for other weathers to ruin your day. Also on the Dragonite set, Fire Punch still OHKOs Genesect in rain at +1 you know so you could try that over Waterfall if you really need to hit it. Also +1 Ice beam from Genesect OHKOs Dnite just in case you were wondering.

Tl;dr Keep in mind these are just suggestions.
http://pldh.net/media/pokemon/gen4/o.../front/376.pngMetagross:
Hammer Arm or bullet Punch--->Ice Punch
Leftovers--->Air Balloon

http://pldh.net/media/pokemon/gen4/o.../front/186.pngPolitoed:
Substitute-->Perish Song/Toxic

http://pldh.net/media/pokemon/gen4/o.../front/149.pngDragonite:
Waterfall--->Fire Punch

@A dude: Yea waterfall's been a problem recently and I've been spamming Aqua Jet all over the place lol. I'll try out Earthquake.

@Aquaaa: Like I said on my previous comment, I'll keep Sub on Politoed since Perish Song doesn't really do me good. In Metagross however, I'll go for Ice Punch over Hammer Arm as Meteor Mash + Bullet Punch KOes most leads and I sometimes need extra priority. However I'll try it out over Bullet Punch as well and see which is better. Salamence is indeed a problem. As for Nite, I'll go for Earthquake since Fire Punch only hits those who are 4x weak to it under the rain and either way, Ferrothorn would wall me while Genesect gets KOed by either Waterfall + Aqua Jet or Earthquake + Aqua Jet as long as Stealth Rock is up. Also could you pm to me the link on where you got those images? I'd like to use them sometime.

@bkt0731: I didn't notice your comment right away. Anyway seems like you're using a weird rain team as well. Don't worry I've been abusing rain since it came out so I don't really need much help from it. But if you like, you could pm me and let's talk there. As for your rate about Volcarona, in any team it is in, it'll be near useless when SR is up and I am very much aware of that. That's the reason why Starmie is there. Also, if you could share tips on how to fully abuse a legit Rain Dance team, feel free to pm me. I like using Kingdra.

p.s. To everyone: I might not test anything this coming week since my computer is under repair so I really can't do anything. I am using someone else's computer as of the moment.

bump. why are my rmts always dead -.-

Hey man this is a really well thought out offensive team, and I am just going to be nitpicking here. There are some Pokemon that look threatening, but most can be played around with smart plays. Frankly the only Pokemon I can think of that looks exceptionally dangerous is an opposing non choiced Thundurus-T. Your team can fall to it pretty easily, with Starmie being the only Pokemon that outspeeds and KOs. Although smart playing can beat it, one bad prediction can ruin the match. For this reason I am going to make a rather unorthodox recommendation of a Yache Berry on Thundurus-T. With Modest, Thundurus has no chance to outspeed opposing Thundurus-T's, but with a Yache Berry it can live a Hidden Power Ice and KO back. Of course this is slightly situational, but it does serve as a semi-reliable check. Yache Berry also gives Thundurus-T more longevity, albeit slightly less power.

Also like other have said, I am not the biggest fan of Substitute on Politoed. Like others I have a moveset replacement for it, but I think this replacement will suit your team a little bit better. I recommend a ChestoResto set on Politoed. With this set, Politoed can feign a choiced item, possibly scoring a ko against opposing boosters, while still giving it good offensive prowess + toxic immunity. The set is listed below. Anyways, great team and hope I helped!

Aqua Jet is really inferior to Espeed. There are only a few instances where it is the better move, but those are rare. an aqua jet in rain against a steel type does more than a NVE Espeed, but you won't always be in rain. Espeed is extremely vital against sun teams and if you're up against a venusaur in the sun, I'm sure you would rather have a Espeed as well. It's also useful to outspeed prio + 1 moves like Weavile/Mamo ice shards or Tornadus-I's tail wind.

additionally, I agree with the above posters that substitute is not the best idea on politoed. it lowers your longevity and your opponent could always force you out two turns later with a pokemon like latias, celebi, or jellicent. If you want a little insurance from burns and toxic, just run refresh on it.

@dragonuser: I'll try out Refresh first since everybody's been banging me with that, then Rest if Refresh doesn't do. Anyway, I'll keep Life Orb thanks as it allows me to 2HKO SpDef Jirachi which is vital.

@Chinpakt: Like I said, I'll try out Refresh but not this week, sadly. As for the Aqua Jet issue, I'll keep it thanks to Genesect being a huge threat to this team. If you have noticed, it hits everything in my team for super effective damage and could threaten a sweep if it gets a +1 boost