Amphibious Maelstrom

AMPHIBIOUS MAELSTROM


Introduction:

Well, this is my first RMT in over a year. After a lengthy break form competitive battling, I was drawn in again by the allure of 5th Gen OU, only to find myself in a completely different metagame. The advent of weather wars has completely shifted the landscape of OU. After a painful adjustment period whereby I had my @$$ handed to me, I believe I have finally grasped OU. With that, I decided to make this RMT, and what better than to base the team around everyone's new favorite toy, Politoed?


Team Building:


Politoed, of course, is the centerpiece of this team. Upon reviewing the plethora of rain abusers, I found the Thun-Tor combination the most effective. Not only do they boast perfect accuracy Thunder and Hurricane respectively in the rain. They also have near perfect offensive synergy. Hitting most of the metagame for a walk around the park between them.

Due to Thun-Tor's Stealth Rocks weakness, as well as Politoed's fear of Toxic Spikes, I decided to add Forretress to my team.

Since, Poltoed and Thun-Tor are bound to take a lot of residual damage throughout the match due to switching. I decided to add a Wish Passer, as it is imperative that they, especially Politoed during weather wars, stays alive. Not to mention the aforementioned trio appreciate parasupport. So I added Jirachi.

I had no clue what to put in the last spot at first. So I decided to slot Toxicroak temporarily.

It became immediately clear that I had trouble against Reuniclus, who I could not hit with anything. Having a Wish Passer already in Jirachi, I found Forretress redundant for preventing passive damage, as Jirachi could simply heal off the passive damage taken from entry hazards. So I replaced Forry with Scizor, same type, but different role.

The team also had problems against Rotom-W. So I decided to replace Toxicroak with Virizion, so as to not lose my ability to destroy steels like Ferrothorn.

Due to a lack of Fire resists. My team was weak to sun teams and therefore, I had to sacrifice Tornadus for Dragonite, who although does not wreak as much havoc offensively, provides more bulk and better defenses synergy. (credit Tomahawk9)

And Voila, there's my team.


The Team:


Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 SpD/ 252 SpA/ 252Spe
Modest Nature

Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Perish Song
Hidden Power Grass

Everyone's favorite zero to hero! Politoed! Hydro Pump under the rain allows it to leave a dent under any Pokemon without Water Absorb, Storm Drain, or Dry Skin. Politoed has become a Choice Scarf toed to allow for it to combat more dangerous threats. It can revenge kill Excadrill and numerous other threats with a Rain Boosted Hydro Pump, while still being able to hit its fellow weather bretheren under their respective weathers hard. Ice Beam gives me another way to revenge Landorus, Thundurus, Tornadus and dragons such as Haxorus. Hidden Power Grass for those pesky bulky waters. Perish Song is chosen as the last move to break Baton Pass chains, phase, and stop "last man comebacks". (credit AB2)

Thundurus @ Lum Berry
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Nasty Plot
Thunder
Hidden Power Ice
Focus Blast

Thundurus is arguably the most broken sweeper in the current metagame. Basically comes in on a resisted move or EQ aimed at Jirachi, set up and proceed to sweep. Lum Berry is used over Leftovers and Life Orb since Taunt is no longer on the set. It allows Thundurus to surviavoid status from Ferrothorn, the fat pink whore, or some random hax once. (credit TheMasterOfOZ) Basically spam Thunder against everything, and occasionally HP Ice against electric resists. Focus Blast is to help for weather wars, as it hits Tyranitar hard, as well as various other threats such as Heatran and Ferrothorn. This thing is so effective as a sweeper even without rain support. 111 troll speed, great coverage between electric and ice, the ability to avoid status. With a perfect accuracy 180BP thunder instead of thunderbolt, this thing goes from beast to, well, Zeus-lite. Not complaining about the 30% paralysis rate either. Coupled with his offensive synergy with Dragonite and this thing can put up a clinic against unprepared teams.



Dragonite @ Life Orb
Trait: Multi Scale
EVs: 252 Atk/ 252 SpA/ 4 Spe
Rash Nature

Hurricane
Aqua Tail
Brick Break
Roost

Dragonite has replaced Tornadus on this team as a secondary weather abuser behind Tornadus, simply because of his ability to take on Sun Teams. (Partial credit given to Tomahawk9 for giving me the idea of using Dragonite) First of all, Dragonite is blessed with a gift in the form of Multiscale to finally give it an advantage over Salamence. Coupled with D-Nite’s incredible bulk, gives him divine level survivability. A perfect accuracy 180 BP Hurricane can hit even resist that come in hard. The 30% chance of confusion can sometimes allow Dragonite to defeat would be checks and counters. Aqua Tail hits Jirachi, a common switch in to D-Nite, for a 2HKO, as well as numerous other steel types such as Skarmory and Heatran. Brick Break performs multiple roles, allowing him to break Espeon and Latias’ dual screens. While Extremespeed is helpful for hitting Latios and Thundurus, I already have Jirachi to deal with those two. Brick Break allows Dragonite to OHKO Tyranitar. Roost is also used over Extremespeed in the last slot to give D-Nite better survivability as he is essentially my only answer to a sun team. I am still not sold on Dragonite, but since everyone seems to like it, I've decided its worth giving it a shot.


Scizor @ Life ORb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Adamant Nature

Swords Dance
Bullet Punch
Superpower
Bug Bite

Ahh, the steel bug that reigned atop the zenith of 4th Gen OU still remains as powerful a threat as ever, although now when you see Scizor, you don't immediately think "Choice Band Bullet Punch U-turn". Although offensive SD Scizor is unable to come into Latios' DM's, Scizor is not needed with the presence of Jirachi, he is actually more effective for the role I have designated than bulky SD Scizor. Bug Bite to deal with Reuniclus, Bullet Punch to revenge Terrakion and dragons. It also allows me to pull off a late games sweep. With team preview, you can see a Magnezone or Heatran from a mile away. Since Jirachi is arguably the most valuable member of my team, I do not want it getting slain by a Magnezone. Offensive Scizor acts as a lure to dispatch Zone or Heatran on the switch in, giving Jirachi, and indirectly, the rest of my team, more survivability. Since Scizor is not bulky, turning 3HKOs into 2HKOs and 2HKOs into OHKOs is even more important. Therefore, Life Orb is the preferred item. Another bonus from the rain is that Fire+Scizor does not equal an instant death anymore. Hence, Scizor successfully acts as a secondary sweeper, revenge killer, and lure all in one package.


Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Hp/ 224 SpD/ 32 Spe
Careful Nature

Iron Head
Thunder
Wish
Stealth Rock

There is one pokemon on this team that must survive at all costs, above every other member, and that is Jirachi. Even during weather wars, it is more imperative to keep Jirachi healthy than Politoed. Why? Because Jirachi can simply heal off that 20% Politoed later with Wish, it is easily the glue that holds the team together. Not only does it check dangerous threats such as Latios and Thundurus, but it also offers valuable support, about 50% of games, Jirachi emerges as MVP. Due to the heavy hitting, high octane offense of this team, it is bound to force a lot of switches. Stealth Rocks damage builds up throughout the game and allows for Thundurus, Dragonite and even Scizor or Virizion to sweep more easily. Both Thundurus and Dragonite are Stealth Rocks weak, and Scizor doesn't fare much better against entry hazards. Politoed doesn't exactly appreciate them either. Furthermore, Thundurus, Dragonite and Scizor are bound to take a lot of LO recoil damage throughout a match. Wish is therefore an extremely valuable move, keeping these three sweepers healthy late game should they hit an obstacle mid-game. More importantly, Wish can keep Politoed healthy for weather wars. Due to Politoed's low speed Parasupport allows him to nuke opponents with Hydro Pump, it also allows Thun-Tor to bypass revenge killers, other than Starmie, there aren't many revenge killers that can outspeed them w/o a Choice Scarf. Thunder is chosen over Thunder Wave to handle Thundurus more easily. (credit Eternal) It is also important to mention that Jirachi's fire weakness is no longer present due to the rain nerf (unless fighting a sun team)


Virizion @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 Hp/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Calm Mind
Giga Drain
Focus Blast
Hidden Power Ice

Rotom-W is infamous for being the bane of rain teams. As a result I decided to employ Virizion to deal with this malevolent, lurking washing machine... yeah that didn't sound cool at all... With its superior special defenses, Virizion shrugs off Rotom-W's attacks with contempt. Hydro Pump, despite the rain boost, still does pathetic damage to Aramis, thunderbolt even more futile, HP Fire is nerfed by the rain, so it actually does even less than Hydro Pump. Virizion on the other hand, can simply CM, and heal itself with Giga Drain. Focus Blast and HP Ice give Aramis fantastic coverage, and while none of them are particularly sharp rapiers, they allow Virizion to hit most of the metagame, most notably the increasingly common Ferro R-W Gliscor defensive cores. Despite being overly religious, this adaptation of the third musketeer is perfect anchor for this team, and now that I have made you all suffer through a number of bad three musketeer jokes, I guess thats it with my team. :D

Retired Members:

Tornadus @ Life Orb
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 32 Atk/ 224 SpA/ 252 Spe
Naive Nature

Hurricane
Hammer Arm
Hidden Power Ice
Taunt

Tornadus is a freaking beast under the rain. While it is usually overshadowed by its electric and ground genie brethren, under the rain, the opponent can absolutely not afford to underestimate this monster. A perfect accuracy with 120 BP STAB is no laughing matter. Hurricane can put a dent even into pokemon that resist it, courtesy of the 180 BP coupled with LO, not to mention it hits arguably the most dominant type in the metagame, fighting, for SE damage. The fact that it also has a 30% confuse rate makes the attack even more effective, sometimes capable of destroying its checks simply through hax. Hammer Arm is designed exclusively for Tyranitar, although it can be used to finish off weakened steels. HP Ice is to hit the likes of Gliscor, Landorus, and the dragons hard, especially if the opponent manages to get rid of rain. Taunt is to protect him from status from the likes of Blissey, although Blissey is 2HKOd anyways by Hammer Arm. LO recoil is no issue, as Jirachi is always there to provide insurance healing. The sheer power of Hurricane, combined with his twin's Thunder is enough to rip a gaping hole through any team. Thun-Tor together form the "maelstrom" of this team.

a problem with this team is that your only way of beating sun is politoed and if you lose him, youll almost always lose. A way of fixing this is using a dragonite over tornadus. Dragonite resists fire, grass, ground and fighting moves and is neutral to poison, so sun is never going to break dragonite with roost, leftovers and multiscale. Dragonite still keeps that powerful hurricane, but also gains thunder and surf. The set is:

Dragonite @ Leftovers | Multiscale
Modest | 224 HP / 252 SpA / 32 Spe
Hurricane / Thunder / Surf / Roost

On top of beating rain teams, dragonite also fixes your sd lucario and toxicroak weakness, who can ohko every single member of your team (and espeed / sucker punch thundurus / tornadus).
Gl

I really like this team. I love Jirachi's Wish and Paralysis support, as well as the use of Virizion. There's not much to fix as the team seems to have very good synergy. The only change I would suggest is maybe switiching giving Dragonite ES instead of Roost to deal with faster threats like Thundurus and Starmie.

Hey there, nice team.
On Jirachi, I recommend body slam over thunder wave as it lets you paralyze switch ins like Excadrill, and can also be used to break substitutes where thunder wave cant. A 60% chance is usually good enough anyway. On Thundurus, I dont think you need taunt, as it hinders it's sweeping capability. Run lum berry over leftovers, as it lets you set up a free nasty plot on Jirachi/Blisseys that want to switch in. Run Focus Blast over Taunt.

Hi, this is a pretty solid team but Return Excadrill can really give you some problems. Return / Frustration Excadrill is really hard to deal with for this team since if your opponent has the weather advantage then your entire team will get destroyed. Gliscor would probably make the best pokemon for the job on this team as it has the ability to switch into Excadrill very easily and keep threats such as Conkeldurr, Breloom, and Terrakion at bay. Scizor seems to be the weakest link in this team because most of the roles it can fulfill, Jirachi can do as well. Although it may not make much sense to use Gliscor in the rain, being able to check threats such as Excadrill is invaluable to any type of offensive team such as this. A set with swords dance | earthquake | ice fang | taunt would work excellently with a toxic orb on Gliscor. An impish nature is needed, and you will have to put in some speed investment to hit a benchmark of outrunning adamant Breloom and stallbreaker Mew. A spread with 252 HP | 176 Def | 80 Spe will be necessary to achieve this.

As you have said, Starmie can be a nasty pokemon against this team. It has the ability to outrun and pretty much 2HKO this entire team. A more defensive grass type such as Ferrothorn would work perfectly over Virizion as it allows you to take down Starmie and the occasional Kingdra who can be a huge nuisance to this team. A set with stealth rocks | gyro ball | leech seed | power whip would work really well, but make sure to run a 0 speed iv to insure that gyro ball is at its maximum power. An ev spread of 252 HP | 48 Def | 208 SpD with a sassy nature and leftovers would work very well in order to keep those annoying bulky water types in check.

Like most drizzle based teams, Thundurus is a huge problem. If you do not want to change your team around much more, I would suggest that you run a scarf on your Politoed as opposed to specs. Choice scarf Politoed gives you a quick check to threats such as Thundurus and a backup check to Excadrill if you need it. A modest set with hydro pump | ice beam | hidden power [grass] | perish song would work pretty well. Perish song works as more of a last ditch move versus annoying set up sweepers and saves you from last mon sweeps. Finally, I would consider running a set of wish | protect | body slam | iron head on your Jirachi. Body slam hits ground types such as Excadrill and Landorus on the switch in and if you decide to run Ferrothorn with stealth rocks, protect is an excellent alternative for Jirachi's durability.

That is about it. This is quite a solid team, good luck.

Your team seems to be lacking a crucial member that kinda holds the team together.

You have at least 3 offensive threats that could be bad for you as you listed, which is never good. Chansey can handle a couple of these, so I suppose it could work.

Making your Toed Specially Defensive doesn't really hurt your team too much, and it also helps vs. Electivire and especially Starmie and most Nidoking.

But...looking at the team, I can't see anything to necessarily change, but just keep working on it, finding the proper mon with correct synergy with the rest of your team, and GL.

Cloisonne said:

2 legendaries dude you're totally a cheater. I call lame.

Click to expand...

Your the lame one here. Your problaby the same guy who postedthis

Hello integral1993, good job at making a pretty solid rain team. Though one thing still bothers me, the team still has problems being able to take on Thundurus, Starmie, and Rotom-W. A common Thundurus carrying Life Orb and Thunder will deal 44.55% - 52.23% damage onto your Jirachi, with a Nasty Plot that's 88.37% - 103.96%. With Stealth Rock up, that's a 58.97% chance of OHKO'ing your Jirachi. While even if you live after switching it in, you'll have to rely on a 60% chance of paralysis from Body Slam. I guess it's fine as long as you don't mind taking the chance. A Lum Berry Thundurus would deal 67.82% - 80.2% damage to your Jirachi after a Nasty Plot and you would have a 0% chance of paralyzing that, while it scores a 2HKO on your Jirachi and finds itself a clear sweep through your team. Starmie, as you've listed on your threat list, is a very troublesome Pokemon to deal with, with your team lacking anything to come in safely. A Life Orb'd Ice Beam attack will deal 56.17% - 66.05% to your Virizion, which is your best counter for Starmie. While a standard Rotom-W's Hydro Pump in the rain will deal 34.26% - 40.74% damage to Virizion. Rotom-W can also inflict Will-o-wisp onto Virizion, crippling it even further and having a harder time efficiently stopping Rotom-W because it lacks an efficient way of recovering its HP. Giga Drain isn't always the best method to recover HP and usually doesn't earn you much recovery. One option I have found that could help alleviate all three threats is using Gastrodon in place of Virizion. Gastrodon is able to easily wall Starmie and Rotom-W (only fearing Will-o-wisp) and is one of the best counters to Thundurus in the current metagame. Most of the roles that Virizion already plays in handling threats of the team is also taken of Gastrodon, like Azumarill, Electivire, Tyranitar (better switchin to take Ice Beam), etc. So swapping Virizion for Gastrodon would be the best idea here. Here's the Gastrodon set:

Gastrodon @ Leftovers -- Storm Drain
Nature: Calm - EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
- Toxic
- Recover
- Scald
- Earth Power

Another fixture you could add to this team is using Choice Scarf on Politoed instead of Choice Specs as AB2 mentioned. A Choice Scarf Politoed would make a great revenge killer for many threats like Excadrill, Thundurus, Infernape, Lucario, Terrakion, and many other fast sweepers.

I also support Delko's idea of using Thunder on Jirachi over Body Slam for being able to hit Skarmory and Jellicent as well as keeping the 60% chance of paralysis. Though wanting to use both Atk and SpAtk with bulk does come at a cost. I prefer using Sassy Nature on the Jirachi as that seems to be the best option to downgrade Jirachi's stat. Jirachi is still able to out speed uninvested Speed EVs on Pokemon like Rotom-W, Suicune, and Cresselia. While the main reason to give a specially defensive Jirachi speed is to out speed Jolly Tyranitar and Adamant Breloom, which you really don't need to do. Here's the set:

Jirachi @ Leftovers -- Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Iron Head
- Thunder
- Wish
- Stealth Rock

Give them a try. Good luck.

Hi

I agree with AB2 about his Gliscor > Scizor and Ferrothorn > Virizion suggestions. Taunt + Sword Dance Gliscor still beats Calm Mind Reuniclus with Psyshock, so don't worry about that. But since you are using Stealth Rocks on Jirachi already, you could go with Spikes on Ferrothorn instead, or use Protect in Jirachi instead so it has an easier time against special attackers and this way you are certain to get Wish recovery, which makes it easier to take on the likes of Trick Room Reuniclus.

Other little things you can consider to change is Thunder on Jirachi instead of Body Slam. Thunder lets you hit Skarmory and Jellicent, 2 common Jirachi switch-ins, much harder. Another thing you could try it Focus Blast on Thunderus. This allows you to take out Tyranitar much easier so you win the "weather war". Also try Leftovers on Thunderus instead of Life Orb. With no Rapid Spin support coupled with Life Orb recoil Thunderus will die fast. After a Nasty Plot or two you don't need the extra boost in power to net a KO. If you want to outspeed Starmie with Politoed I suggest I slightly different EV spread. 76 HP / 252 SAtk / 180 Spe with a Timid nature allows you to outspeed all base 115's like Starmie.

Hey,

So the defensive duo of Gastrodon and Jirachi pretty much patches up all of the teams weaknesses to special attackers. I don't think your team requires other changes as it's quite solid, but your EVs and movesets could use a bit of work. You are much better off with a Lum Berry on Thundurus and Focus Blast over Taunt. Lum Berry works much like Taunt in preventing status allows Thundurus to defeat it's biggest counters such as specially defensive Jirachi and Blissey. The coverage provided by Focus Blast is much needed against foes like Tyranitar, specially defensive Heatran, and Ferrothorn.

You say Dragonite provides your team with more bulk, but you aren't taking any advantage of that bulk or Multiscale with a defense hindering nature and Life Orb. So, what I'd suggest is running a bulkier offensive set that makes it a much better check to Volcarona, and that allows it to retain the amazing bulk it attains with Multiscale through Leftovers. Here's the set:

Dragonite@Leftovers
224 HP | 252 Sp Atk | 32 Speed
Quiet
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Brick Break/Aqua Tail
- Roost

The speed EVs can be adjusted as you like to outspeed what you need. This set provides far more bulk and grants Dragonite much more survivability. Now I dont see why you're running all that speed on Scizor just for Magnezone, as Heatran will be faster than Scizor even with max speed. Instead, you should utilise it's respectable bulk that will aid it in taking on Terrakion, Excadrill and Reuniclus. It's much better off running a specially defensive set to make it a more reliable check to Reuniclus since your current spread takes a lot of damage from Focus Blast. Keep the Life Orb, but try EVs of 252 HP | 40 Atk | 216 Sp Def. It's also worth trying Roost over Superpower.

Good luck!