Intro:
Hi everyone, I'm 2sly4u bringing you an OU Rain Team. This is the first team I've built in a long time since I took a long hiatus from competitive battling, so it may not be up to snuff. Hopefully you guys can help me out and propel the team to new heights.
General Strategy:
While it wasn't designed with them in mind, Tentacruel and Raikou are the real stars of the team. The two complement each other's play styles extremely well, and add to this team's versatility. Depending on what team my opponent is running, I can approach the match in two very different ways: I can either go for a Thunder sweep with Raikou or attempt to stall my opponent out with Tentacruel's dual status and Rain Dish. If the opponent is running Sun, Sand, or Hail, things get a bit more complicated since Politoed becomes equally (if not more) important, but the general strategy stays the same. This doesn't mean that the other members are unimportant but this team is at its best when it can get one of those two's counters removed or weakened.
In-Depth Look: (Changes in Bold)
Politoed@Choice Scarf
Timid Nature, 252SpA/4Def/252Spe
Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Perish Song
Focus Blast
As much as I lauded Raikou and Tentacruel, Politoed may be the most important member of the team, providing much needed rain for my two studs, Tentacruel and Raikou. I decided to use a Scarf set because I find his defensive set underwhelming and his Specs set is far too slow. Timid Nature was suggested by a multitude of raters, and the ability to function as a more traditional revenge killer thanks to the added Speed is a huge plus. Hydro Pump is STAB and hits like a truck in Rain. Ice Beam provides amazing coverage with Water moves, and lets him decimate his would-be grass type counters such as Breloom and weakened Celebi. Perish Song was suggested by Honus, Omicron, and BKC, and it lets me deal with annoying setup pokemon, especially if they're one of the last pokemon standing. Lastly, Focus Blast nails Tyranitar and Abomnasnow who come in to change the weather. Polly is really the only member who can’t be switched out. Drizzle is absolutely vital for the team, so that means the giant happy frog is here to stay.
Tentacruel@Leftovers
Timid Nature, 252HP/240Def/16Spe
Substitute
Toxic
Scald
Rapid Spin
Tentacruel is my Bulky Water, chosen mainly for his resistance to Fighting. I decided to go with SubToxic set since I've hardly every seen it used and my team doesn't really need Toxic Spikes anyways. Substitute is the main move on this set, and is easy to set up on a wide variety of pokemon such as Forretress, Jelicent, and opposing Tentacruel. This is especially true if I haven't revealed the set yet, since many people lob a status move at him as he sets one up. Toxic forms the other half of the SubToxic combo, which lets me slowly whittle away pokemon as I simply set up more Substitutes with little net health loss thanks to Rain Dish. Scald is the obligatory STAB move, and is useful for fishing for Burns against pokemon I can't poison. Rapid Spin rounds out the set, letting me clear away hazards (which is important, since all of my pokemon are grounded). Tentacruel has proven to be one of the most important members of my team, complementing Raikou's raw speed and power. Like the Legendary Dog, 'Cruel can easily take out entire teams once his counters are weakened but does so deliberately and slowly instead of in a few turns. This is especially true when I can hide his set until mid to late game; most people automatically assume he's a standard TSpiker, and one opening is all he needs to start a deadly Substitute/Toxic chain.
Raikou@Choice Specs
Timid Nature, 252SpA/4SpD/252Spe
Thunder
Volt Switch
Shadow Ball
HP Grass
Raikou is my main sweeper and late-game cleaner, easily tearing through most of the metagame with his insanely powerful Thunder. With Choice Specs, almost nothing can safely take a 120 BP STAB move coming off a beastly 120 Special Attack. Volt Switch complements Thunder well, letting me wear down Raikou's non-Ground type checks while keeping momentum on my side. Shadow Ball mostly gets a slot by default thanks to Raikou's horrible movepool since I don't want to sacrifice max Speed for Aura Sphere. HP Grass provides coverage against a multitude of pokemon immune to Thunder and makes getting past walls such as Gastrodon much easier, paving my way to a late-game sweep. I also like to lead with Raikou since if he has a poor matchup, he can always Volt Switch out with his good Speed.
Since comparisons are inevitable, I've decided to explain why I've chosen Raikou over the generally superior Jolteon. The main reason was for added bulk; in an ideal world, I'd never need to switch in one of my main sweepers into an incoming attack. Unfortunately, this isn't an ideal world and Raikou's extra bulk is notable, especially on the physical side. Secondly, I felt Jolteon's two main advantages over Raikou (Volt Absorb and 130 Base Speed) weren't overly helpful for my team. Ferrothorn can tank Electric moves all day and doesn't mind Thunder Wave, while Raikou already outspeeds most of the threats I wanted to cover, most notably Terrakion. The slight edge in power helps too; he can OHKO standard Rotom-W with Thunder after Stealth Rocks.
Since comparisons are inevitable, I've decided to explain why I've chosen Raikou over the generally superior Jolteon. The main reason was for added bulk; in an ideal world, I'd never need to switch in one of my main sweepers into an incoming attack. Unfortunately, this isn't an ideal world and Raikou's extra bulk is notable, especially on the physical side. Secondly, I felt Jolteon's two main advantages over Raikou (Volt Absorb and 130 Base Speed) weren't overly helpful for my team. Ferrothorn can tank Electric moves all day and doesn't mind Thunder Wave, while Raikou already outspeeds most of the threats I wanted to cover, most notably Terrakion. The slight edge in power helps too; he can OHKO standard Rotom-W with Thunder after Stealth Rocks.
Ferrothorn@Leftovers
Careful Nature, 252HP/88Def/168SpD
Stealth Rock
Power Whip
Bulldoze
Leech Seed
Ferrothorn is my defensive pivot and hazard setter and he does the jobs well. I needed a mixed wall, and Ferro’s bulk, especially in rain, was too good to pass up. I won't go too in depth on the set since everyone's seen it a thousand times. Stealth Rocks are entry hazards which are important for Raikou's sweep, Power Whip is STAB and packs quite a punch, even with no EVs. Bulldoze was suggested by BKC, and replaces the unnecessary Thunder Wave while letting me surprise Magnezones and Heatrans on the switch. Leech seed provides some extra residual damage and is my only form of active recovery on the team. Ferrothorn is important because he's the only truly bulky pokemon besides Tentacruel on my team, and I prefer to keep the latter tucked away until later in the match. Nothing else on my team likes taking a hit (though most of them can in a pinch), which means I count on him to take a lot of punishment.
Alakazam@Focus Sash
Timid Nature, 252SpA/4SpD/252Spe
Psyshock
Shadow Ball
HP Ice
Focus Blast
Sash 'Zam was recently featured in the Smog, but I've been playing around with him for awhile. The benefits of this set are obvious: thanks to Magic Guard, Alakazam can always survive at least one hit. This essentially lets him act as a catch-all for my team. Be it a pokemon who managed to set up some boosts or a surprise Choice Scarf user, Alakazam does a great job at eliminating one key threat every game. As for the moves, I picked Psyshock since the rest of my team is mainly Specially-based, so I wanted some extra power on the physical side. Shadow Ball and Focus Blast have perfect neutral coverage together and do a good job of nailing 'Zam's counters, mainly Ghost and Dark types. HP Ice replaces Energy Ball at Omicron's suggestion, as with a Sash and Alakazam's monstrous Special Attack it lets me defeat threats I had trouble with before, such as Gliscor and Landorus.
Scizor@Choice Band
Adamant Nature, 244HP/252Att/8Spe
Bullet Punch
U-Turn
Superpower
Quick Attack
Scizor is my main physical attacker and also revenge kills along with Politoed and Alakazam. He also forms a decent VolTurn core with Raikou, though admittedly it’s not as good as ScRotom. Again, this set is pretty much the standard so I’m not really going to go into it. Superpower was chosen over Brick Break for the extra power, and Quick Attack (Thanks T.P.D.B) is mostly filler, but has more utility than Pursuit and lets me revenge pokemon who resist Bullet Punch. Scizor helps the team by answering the bell when my opponent has a pokemon faster than everything else on my team, such as +1 Salamence or Scarf Terrakion. Because my only Scarfed pokemon is still pretty slow, this can happen frequently. Luckily, Scizor’s Steel typing and HP investment means he can tank a few hits and retaliate, often saving me the match.
Conclusion:
That's my team! I hope you all found it interesting. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks for all the help in advance!
