Offensive Rain Team

Josemi · Aug 19th, 2012, 7:45:35 PM

Okay so I'd like someone to rate my team, just wondering if it has any glaring weaknesses or something. This is a rain/volt-turn team which I think packs a lot of power but it does't really have any walls.

Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

- Protect
- Toxic
- Scald
- Ice Beam

First up is Politoed, obviously for rain and also checks most physical attackers. Leftovers is for increased survivability, Protect is to scout, Toxic is to cripple walls and the like, Scald is for stab and burn chance, and Ice Beam is for Gliscor, Dragonite and Salamence.

Forretress @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def
Sassy Nature (+SpD, -Spe)

- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch

I decided to go with Specially Defensive Forretress because I don't really have anything else which could take a special attack and for rapid spin and entry hazard support. Stealth Rock and Spikes are to soften the opposing pokemon for my sweepers, Rapid Spin is extremely important since I have 2 pokes weak to SR, Volt Switch is to pivot ank keep the momentum, works well with the team seeing as I have 3 other pokemon with Volt Switch/U-turn.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)

- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-Turn
- Pursuit

Just standard CB Scizor, Technician boosts Bullet Punch's power, EV's and Nature are for maximum possible damage output. Bullet Punch is this team's only priority move so it is very important for taking out threats such as weakened Dragonite with a couple of Dragon Dances set up and faster, frailer pokemon. It also is good for late game sweeping. Superpower is for Blissey and Tyranitar and hits very hard; CB U-Turn is very strong and is good when you know the opponent is going to switch, it also has great offensive synergy with the other U-turn/Volt Switch users on this team. Pursuit is to trap weakened pokes which cant harm you such as Latios locked into Draco Meteor.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 12 HP / 244 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)

- Substitute
- Spore
- Focus Punch
- Seed Bomb

Standard SubPunching Breloom. It hits insanely hard with Stab Focus Punch and even resisted hits will put a major dent in anything. With Toxic Orb and Poison Heal you will be recovering a lot of HP. The strategy is simple. You switch into anything slower and proceed to either Spore or Substitute. Behind a sub you can fire off Focus Punches. Seed Bomb is secondary Stab and wrecks water types such as Politoed, Jellicent and OHKOs Gastrodon, Swampert, and Quagsire. However Breloom is very frail and cannot take a hit so you have to use it with care. It helps that most people nowadays expect Technician Breloom so they can be caught off guardwith the SubPunching set.

Tornadus-T @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe/ 4 Atk
Naive Nature (+Spe, -SpD)

- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane

This guy is my main sweeper. Life Orb gives it insane power behind its attacks, and regenerator increases its survivability a LOT, especially with its Stealth Rock weakness. The EVs are for max damage, and since it has both physical and special attack I decided for a Naive nature to not lower the damage of any attacks. U-Turn is for momentum and scouting, Superpower annihilates Tyranitar. Now Heat Wave may seem like an odd choice but very few people are expecting Tornadus-T to carry Heat Wave in the rain, and can do a lot to pokemon like Ferrothorn, Forretress, Scizor, and Skarmory who aren't expecting it. This is best used before setting up rain or even to counter sun teams using the sun against them. Hurricane is Tornadus-T's main attack, as 120 base power with Stab and Life Orb will destroy teams especially with Tornadus-T's blistering speed. The only thing is that it's very dependant on rain as Hurricane's accuracy is 100% in the rain but only 70 in clear skies.

Thundurus-T @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power[Ice]
- Focus Blast
- Thunder

The last member on this team is Thundurus-T. Coming off of a 145 base SpA Choice Scarfed Volt Switches are going to be taking huge chunks out of things. I decided to go with Choice Scarf because it needed a little boost in speed and it outspeeds a lot of +1 threats. Timid is for maximum speed. Volt Switch is good for scouting, does a lot of damage with Stab and has great offensive synergy with my other pokemon. Hidden Power Ice is great for ground types expecting the electric move (Gliscor especially) and for revenge killing dragons. Focus Blast is for steels, rock types and whatnot. Thunder is ridiculously powerful and the 30% paralysis chance is pretty nifty.

Well this is my team, I've been doing pretty well with it so I decided to get it rated to see what people think and opinions to make it better. Thanks!

afterburn · Aug 19th, 2012, 8:45:26 PM

Currently, Rotom-W, and Quiver Dance Volcarona look like the most problematic threats against your team. Offensive variants (Choiced / Bulky Attacker) Rotom-W under the rain is highly threatening, and can hit everything on your team hard with Hydro Pump, even Breloom can't take it in the rain, while Politoed dislikes repeated Volt Switches. (and it gets tons of opportunities to switch-in against all of your team members, i.e. choice-locked Scizor / Thundurus in a not very effective move). Although it's Fiery Dance is weakened in the rain, Volcarona has no trouble setting-up against your choice users stuck on an appropriate move or on Forretress, and proceed to sweep with Bug Buzz + HP Rock, and Fiery Dance for Forretress and Scizor.

I'd try out a Bulk Up Breloom over your current set. This Breloom set is designed to set-up on common walls to your current set such as Gliscor (Subtoxic variants may be annoying to your team, which Breloom can take) and also has an easy time against most Stall teams (Tornadus is currently your only real weapon against Stall). Rotom-W cannot KO you with any of its attacks due to the investment in Special Defense, which even allow you to survive Celebi's HP Fire and the standard Calm Mind Reuniclus. The Speed is enough to outrun the common defensive Pokemon such as Heatran, Tyranitar, and Skarmory. It plays similar to your current set, except it also has defensive capability to check threats such as Rotom-W, and can also pose an offensive threat due to boosts acquired by Bulk Up. This Breloom strives in rain, with -50% and the investment in Special Defense mitigating its Fire- type weakness, and being able to check common threats to rain such as opposing sandstorm teams. You may think the power is lacking, but it is worth being able to take on threats to rain teams such as Rotom-W and Gastrodon much easier, and you can boost your power with Bulk Up anyway, giving you power as well as defense high enough to tank things like Scizor's Bullet Punch or Mamoswine's Ice Shard. (so you stick around longer to handle the aforementioned threats with this set than your current).

Lastly, I would try a Choice Scarf Landorus over Thundurus to help with the Volcarona weakness. Both revenge similar threats (DD Dragonite, Moxie Salamence), but Landorus has the added benefit of reliably taking out Volcarona with Stone Edge and becoming an instant threat against Sand teams with Sand Force. Your Volt-turn combo with Scizor is still intact, and the synergy is definitely still there like it was with Thundurus. i.e. Landorus lures out things like Mamoswine for Scizor to switch into, while Scizor returns the favor by bringing out stuff like Heatran. Hidden Power Ice is in the last slot to help against Acrobatics + Swords Dance Gliscor and those carrying Taunt + Ice Fang, which Breloom can't handle. Feel free to use Hidden Power Flying in the last slot to have added insurance against Technician Breloom if you think you need it, or even Superpower with a Jolly nature for Air Balloon Heatran and Terrakion and you think you have Gliscor under control.

Movesets

GL

Nachos · Aug 19th, 2012, 9:43:05 PM

You'll probably be 6-0ed by any good player using SubCM Jirachi with Thunder and Water Pulse seeing as it sets up on quite a few things here quite easily, such as Scizor locked on BP, Forry and Thund-T locked on HP:Ice. For that reason, I agree with afterburn's suggestion of Bulk Up Breloom over your current set, just be careful not to let it get paralyzed before Poison Heal activates, or it's gg.

I think you should also maybe consider Rotom-W over Thundurus, possibly a scarf version. As it is, strong water mons with Choice Specs and Hydro Pump like Politoed, Keldeo and Starmie look like they could be troublesome, getting a KO everytime they switch in (I'd be willing to bet even breloom is 2hkoed). Dragonite and Salamence (mostly the former) do become slightly more annoying, but I believe Politoed can live an Outrage from both at max health, and you have Scizor and Forry for those locked on it anyway.

Josemi · Aug 19th, 2012, 10:31:55 PM

Thanks a lot for the suggestions I tried bulk up Breloom and I find it's revenge killed a little easily :/ but Rotom-W is really helping a lot!

Aug 19th, 2012, 7:45:35 PM	#1
Josemi Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 11	Offensive Rain Team Okay so I'd like someone to rate my team, just wondering if it has any glaring weaknesses or something. This is a rain/volt-turn team which I think packs a lot of power but it does't really have any walls. Politoed @ Leftovers Trait: Drizzle EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Protect - Toxic - Scald - Ice Beam First up is Politoed, obviously for rain and also checks most physical attackers. Leftovers is for increased survivability, Protect is to scout, Toxic is to cripple walls and the like, Scald is for stab and burn chance, and Ice Beam is for Gliscor, Dragonite and Salamence. Forretress @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def Sassy Nature (+SpD, -Spe) - Stealth Rock - Spikes - Rapid Spin - Volt Switch I decided to go with Specially Defensive Forretress because I don't really have anything else which could take a special attack and for rapid spin and entry hazard support. Stealth Rock and Spikes are to soften the opposing pokemon for my sweepers, Rapid Spin is extremely important since I have 2 pokes weak to SR, Volt Switch is to pivot ank keep the momentum, works well with the team seeing as I have 3 other pokemon with Volt Switch/U-turn. Scizor @ Choice Band Trait: Technician EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA) - Bullet Punch - Superpower - U-Turn - Pursuit Just standard CB Scizor, Technician boosts Bullet Punch's power, EV's and Nature are for maximum possible damage output. Bullet Punch is this team's only priority move so it is very important for taking out threats such as weakened Dragonite with a couple of Dragon Dances set up and faster, frailer pokemon. It also is good for late game sweeping. Superpower is for Blissey and Tyranitar and hits very hard; CB U-Turn is very strong and is good when you know the opponent is going to switch, it also has great offensive synergy with the other U-turn/Volt Switch users on this team. Pursuit is to trap weakened pokes which cant harm you such as Latios locked into Draco Meteor. Breloom @ Toxic Orb Trait: Poison Heal EVs: 12 HP / 244 Atk / 252 Spe Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA) - Substitute - Spore - Focus Punch - Seed Bomb Standard SubPunching Breloom. It hits insanely hard with Stab Focus Punch and even resisted hits will put a major dent in anything. With Toxic Orb and Poison Heal you will be recovering a lot of HP. The strategy is simple. You switch into anything slower and proceed to either Spore or Substitute. Behind a sub you can fire off Focus Punches. Seed Bomb is secondary Stab and wrecks water types such as Politoed, Jellicent and OHKOs Gastrodon, Swampert, and Quagsire. However Breloom is very frail and cannot take a hit so you have to use it with care. It helps that most people nowadays expect Technician Breloom so they can be caught off guardwith the SubPunching set. Tornadus-T @ Life Orb Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe/ 4 Atk Naive Nature (+Spe, -SpD) - U-Turn - Superpower - Heat Wave - Hurricane This guy is my main sweeper. Life Orb gives it insane power behind its attacks, and regenerator increases its survivability a LOT, especially with its Stealth Rock weakness. The EVs are for max damage, and since it has both physical and special attack I decided for a Naive nature to not lower the damage of any attacks. U-Turn is for momentum and scouting, Superpower annihilates Tyranitar. Now Heat Wave may seem like an odd choice but very few people are expecting Tornadus-T to carry Heat Wave in the rain, and can do a lot to pokemon like Ferrothorn, Forretress, Scizor, and Skarmory who aren't expecting it. This is best used before setting up rain or even to counter sun teams using the sun against them. Hurricane is Tornadus-T's main attack, as 120 base power with Stab and Life Orb will destroy teams especially with Tornadus-T's blistering speed. The only thing is that it's very dependant on rain as Hurricane's accuracy is 100% in the rain but only 70 in clear skies. Thundurus-T @ Choice Scarf Trait: Volt Absorb EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk) - Volt Switch - Hidden Power[Ice] - Focus Blast - Thunder The last member on this team is Thundurus-T. Coming off of a 145 base SpA Choice Scarfed Volt Switches are going to be taking huge chunks out of things. I decided to go with Choice Scarf because it needed a little boost in speed and it outspeeds a lot of +1 threats. Timid is for maximum speed. Volt Switch is good for scouting, does a lot of damage with Stab and has great offensive synergy with my other pokemon. Hidden Power Ice is great for ground types expecting the electric move (Gliscor especially) and for revenge killing dragons. Focus Blast is for steels, rock types and whatnot. Thunder is ridiculously powerful and the 30% paralysis chance is pretty nifty. Well this is my team, I've been doing pretty well with it so I decided to get it rated to see what people think and opinions to make it better. Thanks!

Aug 19th, 2012, 8:45:26 PM	#2
afterburn Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 627 Macedonia	Currently, Rotom-W, and Quiver Dance Volcarona look like the most problematic threats against your team. Offensive variants (Choiced / Bulky Attacker) Rotom-W under the rain is highly threatening, and can hit everything on your team hard with Hydro Pump, even Breloom can't take it in the rain, while Politoed dislikes repeated Volt Switches. (and it gets tons of opportunities to switch-in against all of your team members, i.e. choice-locked Scizor / Thundurus in a not very effective move). Although it's Fiery Dance is weakened in the rain, Volcarona has no trouble setting-up against your choice users stuck on an appropriate move or on Forretress, and proceed to sweep with Bug Buzz + HP Rock, and Fiery Dance for Forretress and Scizor. I'd try out a *Bulk Up Breloom* over your current set. This Breloom set is designed to set-up on common walls to your current set such as Gliscor (Subtoxic variants may be annoying to your team, which Breloom can take) and also has an easy time against most Stall teams (Tornadus is currently your only real weapon against Stall). Rotom-W cannot KO you with any of its attacks due to the investment in Special Defense, which even allow you to survive Celebi's HP Fire and the standard Calm Mind Reuniclus. The Speed is enough to outrun the common defensive Pokemon such as Heatran, Tyranitar, and Skarmory. It plays similar to your current set, except it also has defensive capability to check threats such as Rotom-W, and can also pose an offensive threat due to boosts acquired by Bulk Up. This Breloom strives in rain, with -50% and the investment in Special Defense mitigating its Fire- type weakness, and being able to check common threats to rain such as opposing sandstorm teams. You may think the power is lacking, but it is worth being able to take on threats to rain teams such as Rotom-W and Gastrodon much easier, and you can boost your power with Bulk Up anyway, giving you power as well as defense high enough to tank things like Scizor's Bullet Punch or Mamoswine's Ice Shard. (so you stick around longer to handle the aforementioned threats with this set than your current). Lastly, I would try a *Choice Scarf Landorus over Thundurus* to help with the Volcarona weakness. Both revenge similar threats (DD Dragonite, Moxie Salamence), but Landorus has the added benefit of reliably taking out Volcarona with Stone Edge and becoming an instant threat against Sand teams with Sand Force. Your Volt-turn combo with Scizor is still intact, and the synergy is definitely still there like it was with Thundurus. i.e. Landorus lures out things like Mamoswine for Scizor to switch into, while Scizor returns the favor by bringing out stuff like Heatran. Hidden Power Ice is in the last slot to help against Acrobatics + Swords Dance Gliscor and those carrying Taunt + Ice Fang, which Breloom can't handle. Feel free to use Hidden Power Flying in the last slot to have added insurance against Technician Breloom if you think you need it, or even Superpower with a Jolly nature for Air Balloon Heatran and Terrakion and you think you have Gliscor under control. Movesets Breloom @ Toxic Orb Ability: Poison Heal EVs: 236 HP / 212 SpD / 60 Spe Nature: Careful - Bulk Up - Spore - Seed Bomb - Drain Punch --- Landorus @ Choice Scarf Ability: Sand Force EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe Nature: Naive - Earthquake - U-turn - Stone Edge - Hidden Power [Ice] --- GL Last edited by afterburn; Aug 19th, 2012 at 9:03:58 PM.

Aug 19th, 2012, 9:43:05 PM	#3
Nachos The Extreme Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,352	You'll probably be 6-0ed by any good player using SubCM Jirachi with Thunder and Water Pulse seeing as it sets up on quite a few things here quite easily, such as Scizor locked on BP, Forry and Thund-T locked on HP:Ice. For that reason, I agree with afterburn's suggestion of Bulk Up Breloom over your current set, just be careful not to let it get paralyzed before Poison Heal activates, or it's gg. I think you should also maybe consider Rotom-W over Thundurus, possibly a scarf version. As it is, strong water mons with Choice Specs and Hydro Pump like Politoed, Keldeo and Starmie look like they could be troublesome, getting a KO everytime they switch in (I'd be willing to bet even breloom is 2hkoed). Dragonite and Salamence (mostly the former) do become slightly more annoying, but I believe Politoed can live an Outrage from both at max health, and you have Scizor and Forry for those locked on it anyway. __________________ You Only Stack Once

Aug 19th, 2012, 10:31:55 PM	#4
Josemi Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 11	Thanks a lot for the suggestions I tried bulk up Breloom and I find it's revenge killed a little easily :/ but Rotom-W is really helping a lot!