Rain Dance Mantine (QC 3/3) (GP 2/2)

(Zebraiken approved that I could post this despite having a few other analyses still in c&c because the GP team is taking a while to GP Musharna. (No offense to them; I realize that they're busy.)



Best Mantine set.

[SET]
name: Rain Dance
move 1: Rain Dance
move 2: Hydro Pump
move 3: Air Slash
move 4: Ice Beam
item: Life Orb / Damp Rock
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Modest
evs: 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Rain Dance Mantine is a fantastic sweeper and team supporter. At first, it might seem as if it is outclassed by other rain sweepers such as Seismitoad and Ludicolo because of its lower Special Attack. However, Mantine has other desirable traits. It has a very easy time setting up Rain Dance due to its amazingly high Special Defense, and Mantine's Flying typing actually has its uses. While the additional Flying typing makes Mantine weak to Stealth Rock, it also gives Mantine more setup opportunities, as it gives Mantine a resistance to Ground-, Fighting-, and Bug-type attacks. Mantine also gets STAB Air Slash, allowing it to break through Ludicolo and Shedinja, who are otherwise gigantic threats to rain teams that lack something such as Swift Swim Armaldo. Ice Beam is useful for hitting the Dragon-types that resist Hydro Pump, especially Altaria.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>With 192 Speed EVs, Mantine can outspeed Choice Scarf Rotom-S in the rain. Less Speed EVs can be used to make Mantine more of a bulky supporter rather than a sweeper, but if Mantine is used purely for standalone sweeping, it should have enough Speed to outspeed Choice Scarf Rotom-S in the rain. Life Orb is the preferred item to give Mantine the extra power that it needs. Despite this, only having four turns to sweep isn't exactly that much; Damp Rock is a good option over Life Orb, but the power drop will be noticeable. Leftovers can be used over Life Orb or Damp Rock for some sort of recovery, which is useful when Mantine is trying to check certain threats such as Charizard, but Leftovers doesn't aid Mantine at all when it comes to sweeping.</p>

<p>Using multiple rain sweepers with Mantine is a good strategy. Mantine can act as the bulky supporter that can also sweep in a pinch while Seismitoad, Ludicolo, or some other Swift Swim user can sweep. Seismitoad synergizes the best with Mantine, as it resists Rock- and Electric-type attacks for Mantine, while Mantine can easily beat the Grass-types that threaten Seismitoad. In addition, Seismitoad can set up Stealth Rock. Fighting-types such as Gurdurr and Sawk can beat many Pokemon that threaten rain sweepers, such as Lickilicky, Audino, and Regice, making them good partners as well.</p>

I believe Life Orb has to be the main slash, without it MANtine is just to weak. I've played with this set extensively and it is very, very good.

This is a pretty good set, and I've seen it used quite well on the ladder. MANtine deserves more praise than it gets.

• Mention that Mantine is more of a supporter than a standalone sweeper; it's not got a lot of power compared to its competition, but is much easier to switch in and set up with.
• Mention that while Water-types can tank hits quite easily, especially if Mantine uses Damp Rock, not many of them can actually do anything to Mantine unless they run Hidden Power Electric, so Mantine can afford to 2HKO and 3HKO them most of the time. The scarcity of Hidden Power Electric makes Mantine much better at beating these targets down with Air Slash.
• Mention that it beats Shedinja, which is actually a legitimate obstacle for full Rain Dance teams that don't use Armaldo.
• I would also make Life Orb the primary slash, as the extra Rain isn't necessary to sweep with, while the power boost makes the difference between a lot of 2HKOs and 3HKOs. Damp Rock's the better option if you're running multiple sweepers, however.

QC APPROVED 1/3

The only thing erisia posted that I disagree with is that MANtine is more of a supporter, I used it as a standalone sweeper many times to success. It can work alone or with another Rain Sweeper like Ludicolo equally well

[QC]2/3[/qc]

stampy stampy

QC APPROVE 3/3

Alright, I made Life Orb the main item. Thanks for the QC checks. I'll write this soon.

[gp]1/2[/gp]

Amateur check
REMOVE CHANGE COMMENTS

[SET]
name: Rain Dance
move 1: Rain Dance
move 2: Hydro Pump
move 3: Air Slash
move 4: Ice Beam
item: Life Orb / Damp Rock
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Modest
evs: 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Rain Dance Mantine is a fantastic sweeper and team supporter. At first appearance, it might seem as if it is outclassed by other rain sweepers such as Seismitoad and Ludicolo because of its lower Special Attack. However, Mantine has other desirable traits. First of all, iIt has a very easy time setting up Rain Dance due to its amazingly high Special Defense. Second of all,, and Mantine's Flying typing actually has its uses. While the additional Flying typing makes Stealth Rock super effective against Mantine, the typing is more useful than crippling; itMantine weak to Stealth Rock, it also gives Mantine more setup opportunities, as it gives Mantine a resistance to Ground-, Fighting-, and Bug-type attacks. Mantine also gets STAB Air Slash, allowing it to break through Ludicolo and Shedinja, who are otherwise are gigantic threats to rain teams that lack something such as Swift Swim Armaldo. Ice Beam is useful for hitting the Dragon-types that resist Hydro Pump, especially Altaria.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>With 192 Speed EVs, Mantine can outspeed Choice Scarf Rotom-S in the rain. Less Speed EVs can be used to make Mantine more of a bulky supporter rather than a sweeper, but if Mantine is used purely for standalone sweeping, it should have enough Speed to outspeed Choice Scarf Rotom-S in the rain. Life Orb gives Mantine the extra power that it needs for sweeping. Asis the preferred item to give Mantine the extra power that it needs. Despite this, only having four turns to sweep isn't exactly that much,; Damp Rock is a good item option over Life Orb, but the power drop will be noticeable. Leftovers can be used over Life Orb andor Damp Rock for some sort of recovery, which is useful when Mantine is trying to check certain threats such as (example), but Leftovers doesn't aid Mantine at all when it comes to sweeping.</p>

<p>Using multiple rain abussweepers with Mantine is a good strategy. Mantine can act as the bulky supporter that can also sweep in a pinch while Seismitoad, Ludicolo, or some other rain sweepSwift Swim user can sweep. Seismitoad synergizes the best with Mantine, as it resists Rock- and Electric-type attacks for Mantine, while Mantine can easily beat the Grass-types that threaten Seismitoad. In addition, Seismitoad can set up Stealth Rock. Fighting-types such as Gurdurr and Sawk can beat many Pokemon that threaten rain abussweepers, such as Lickilicky, Audino, and Regice, making them good partners as well.</p>

Click to expand...

Mostly worked over GatoDelFuego's check. However, note that referring to rain sweepers as "abusers" is frowned upon; this post explains it.

[GP]2/2[/GP]

would have been nice to have been alerted that this was done :(

Omi Edit: i did alert you noob