Hey, there, and thanks for taking the time to read my RMT. I'm not so good with names, but it's... Well... Pretty much your typical balanced Rain offense team with a few little quirks like weather trapper Tentacruel and Drizzle abuse Volcarona. I don't have a huge amount of experience competitively, and this is my first Rain team, so I'd appreciate any help from a more experienced community. ;)
At a glance
The team
Politoed @ Choice Specs
Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Attack)
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 HP, 4 Sp. Def
IVs: 31/30/31/30/31/31 (HP Grass)
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power (Grass)
I honestly hardly even need to explain this set, as I'm sure you've all seen it a hundred times before, but I will anyways. Politoed is the only thing in the OU metagame capable of summoning permanent rain. I thought about running a defensive/support set, but I prefer my weather starter to pose a bit more of a threat, plus the sheer power of his Specs boosted Hydro Pump is simply too good to pass up. Hydro Pump's awesome base 180 power (after STAB), boosted by the Rain and working off his usable 90 base Sp. Atk stat hits things really hard. In fact, if it's not a dragon or something like Gastrodon, I'll normally fire off a Hydro Pump even on resists. Ice Beam gets clean KOs on things like Dragonite, Salamence, Landorus, and Gliscor, but many of the things it hits are hit nearly as hard as Hydro Pump. It's also good for whenever I need to come in and knock that last bit of health off of a threat and I can't afford a Hydro Pump miss. Focus Blast is mostly filler, but it lets me win weather wars with Tyranitar. Well, it does when it hits. Hidden Power (Grass) is almost solely for Gastrodon switch-ins. Sure, it hits other Water-immune Pokemon, but not hard enough to warrant staying in on them.
Tentacruel @ Air Balloon
Nature: Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 Speed, 252 Sp. Atk, 4 HP
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31 (Flawless)
-Wrap
-Rain Dance
-Hydro Pump
-Rapid Spin
So here's a bit of an interesting set I made after using a weather trapper Heatran on a Sun team. The idea is basically the same, trap a Tyranitar or a Ninetales with Wrap (Whirlpool and Rain Dish are incompatible), and then use Rain Dance and kill it with Hydro Pump. Tentacruel also has great typing for the job, with an Air Balloon he really doesn't fear much that the other weather starters can throw at him, plus his STAB Hydro Pumps hit 3 of the 4 non-Rain OU weather starters super-effectively. Working off his passable base 80 Sp. Atk, he can easily dispatch opposing weather starters. Rapid Spin is used in the last slot because of the utility. For some stupid reason Ferrothorn doesn't get it, so I'm carrying it on Tentacruel instead. While it's not quite as effective as weather trapper Heatran, I think it's Rain's best option when it comes to weather trapping. I guess there's really nothing else to say here.
Toxicroak @ Black Sludge
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Sp. Atk)
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 HP, 4 Sp. Def
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31 (Flawless)
-Drain Punch
-Sucker Punch
-Substitute
-Sword's Dance
Toxicroak is a rather underrated threat in the Rain. With great recovery between Black Sludge, Dry Skin, and Drain Punch, he's also really hard to kill, easily capable of healing more than half of his health per turn on most threats. I went with a bulky spread because base 85 Speed doesn't outpace much even with a full investment and a positive nature. I'm still playing around with this a little, however, because I'm finding myself outsped by a lot of defensive threats which I could easily outrun with a bit of an investment. Anyways, Substitute eases prediction and blocks at status, and practically only costs about 6% of his life thanks to Black Sludge and Dry Skin recovery. In fact, he can actually stall out low-PP moves with this if he has to, albeit he rarely needs to. Sword's Dance doubles his already decent Attack and sets him up for a sweep. A Toxicroak in the rain at +2 can be very hard to deal with, especially when it's behind a Substitute. Drain Punch is a good STAB attack that heals even more of his life back. I'm using it over Focus Punch to increase longevity, but I'm open to trying Focus Punch if people generally think I should. Sucker Punch gives me great coverage and a priority move, if an unreliable one. Still, it lets me revengekill things like Lati@s from low health by baiting a Psyshock and taking off the last bit of its health with Sucker Punch. Also, he gives me a pretty sturdy check to Terrakion, since he packs a resistance to its STABs.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Nature: Careful (+Sp. Def, -Sp. Atk)
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP, 88 Defence, 168 Sp. Def
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31 (Flawless)
-Thunder Wave
-Stealth Rock
-Protect
-Leech Seed
Ferrothorn is something that loves the rain, because it alleviates one of its only two weaknesses. Plus, it brings some invaluable support to my team in the form of paralysis and Stealth Rock. Threats are a lot easier to deal with when they're taking damage each time I force them out. Thunder Wave is generally a reliable move to fire off on a predicted switch and possibly cripple something like Terrakion for the rest of the match. Leech Seed + Protect + Iron Barbs + Leftovers gives a general HP movement in my direction by putting a lot of passive damage on my opponent and giving me a lot of passive healing. While I normally don't like running Taunt bait, I generally see a predicted Taunt as a free switch to a counter (Politoed for Deoxys-D, Thundurus-T for Tornadus, etc).
Thundurus-T @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Attack)
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Speed, 252 Sp. Atk, 4HP
IVs: 31/30/30/31/31/31 (HP Ice with untouched Speed)
-Volt Switch
-Thunder
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Focus Blast
Thundurus-T glues my team together as a reliable revenge-killer, taking out problematic sweepers and grabbing momentum with Volt Switch. Being a Scarf user, Volt Switch is practically standard, letting me scout switches and buy momentum. While it's not quite as reliable as U-Turn, with a decent base power working off of Thundurus-T's huge Sp. Atk, it hurts a lot. Thunder is a great STAB with perfect accuracy under the rain, and a 30% paralysis chance to boot. Hidden Power (Ice) completes a pseudo-BeamBolt combo, hitting nearly everything for at least neutral damage, and also hurting things like Landorus, Tornadus, Salamence, etc. Focus Blast is mostly filler, but it lets me lead with him against Sand teams and often end the weather war before it even starts.
Volcarona @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed, 4 Defence
IVs: 31/31/31/30/30/31 (HP Ground)
-Quiver Dance
-Giga Drain
-Hurricane
-Hidden Power (Ground)
Here's the Volcaron I mentioned earlier. I use him as a late-game sweeper after threats have been weakened and hopefully paralyzed by Ferrothorn and my other sweepers. Quiver Dance is arguably one of the best boosting moves in the game, making him faster, harder hitting, and bulkier all at the same time. After a few Quiver Dances he's set to sweep with his decent coverage. Giga Drain deals hard damage to Water-typed switchins and also heals off any damage he might take while setting up. Hurricane makes full use of the Rain getting 100% accuracy and a decent Confusion rate, which could completely shut down a threat switching in. It's also got a great 120 base Power, which hurts pretty bad after a couple boosts. Hidden Power (Ground) hits Steel types hard, but I'm considering Bug Buzz or Hidden Power (Water) for more power/coverage.
Concerns:
Well, my main concern is my own lack of experience. I'm sure there's a lot of potential threats I'm not anticipating, so I'd like to get opinions and advice from much more experienced players. My other concern is that I'm perhaps a little too reliant on weather. If I lose the weather war, I've essentially lost the match. Using Tentacruel certainly helps, but if I get an unlucky Stone Edge crit or a particularly smart player who anticipates what I'm doing, I might lose the weather war.
Okay, that's it. Thanks again!
The team
Politoed @ Choice Specs
Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Attack)
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 HP, 4 Sp. Def
IVs: 31/30/31/30/31/31 (HP Grass)
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power (Grass)
I honestly hardly even need to explain this set, as I'm sure you've all seen it a hundred times before, but I will anyways. Politoed is the only thing in the OU metagame capable of summoning permanent rain. I thought about running a defensive/support set, but I prefer my weather starter to pose a bit more of a threat, plus the sheer power of his Specs boosted Hydro Pump is simply too good to pass up. Hydro Pump's awesome base 180 power (after STAB), boosted by the Rain and working off his usable 90 base Sp. Atk stat hits things really hard. In fact, if it's not a dragon or something like Gastrodon, I'll normally fire off a Hydro Pump even on resists. Ice Beam gets clean KOs on things like Dragonite, Salamence, Landorus, and Gliscor, but many of the things it hits are hit nearly as hard as Hydro Pump. It's also good for whenever I need to come in and knock that last bit of health off of a threat and I can't afford a Hydro Pump miss. Focus Blast is mostly filler, but it lets me win weather wars with Tyranitar. Well, it does when it hits. Hidden Power (Grass) is almost solely for Gastrodon switch-ins. Sure, it hits other Water-immune Pokemon, but not hard enough to warrant staying in on them.
Tentacruel @ Air Balloon
Nature: Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 Speed, 252 Sp. Atk, 4 HP
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31 (Flawless)
-Wrap
-Rain Dance
-Hydro Pump
-Rapid Spin
So here's a bit of an interesting set I made after using a weather trapper Heatran on a Sun team. The idea is basically the same, trap a Tyranitar or a Ninetales with Wrap (Whirlpool and Rain Dish are incompatible), and then use Rain Dance and kill it with Hydro Pump. Tentacruel also has great typing for the job, with an Air Balloon he really doesn't fear much that the other weather starters can throw at him, plus his STAB Hydro Pumps hit 3 of the 4 non-Rain OU weather starters super-effectively. Working off his passable base 80 Sp. Atk, he can easily dispatch opposing weather starters. Rapid Spin is used in the last slot because of the utility. For some stupid reason Ferrothorn doesn't get it, so I'm carrying it on Tentacruel instead. While it's not quite as effective as weather trapper Heatran, I think it's Rain's best option when it comes to weather trapping. I guess there's really nothing else to say here.
Toxicroak @ Black Sludge
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Sp. Atk)
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 HP, 4 Sp. Def
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31 (Flawless)
-Drain Punch
-Sucker Punch
-Substitute
-Sword's Dance
Toxicroak is a rather underrated threat in the Rain. With great recovery between Black Sludge, Dry Skin, and Drain Punch, he's also really hard to kill, easily capable of healing more than half of his health per turn on most threats. I went with a bulky spread because base 85 Speed doesn't outpace much even with a full investment and a positive nature. I'm still playing around with this a little, however, because I'm finding myself outsped by a lot of defensive threats which I could easily outrun with a bit of an investment. Anyways, Substitute eases prediction and blocks at status, and practically only costs about 6% of his life thanks to Black Sludge and Dry Skin recovery. In fact, he can actually stall out low-PP moves with this if he has to, albeit he rarely needs to. Sword's Dance doubles his already decent Attack and sets him up for a sweep. A Toxicroak in the rain at +2 can be very hard to deal with, especially when it's behind a Substitute. Drain Punch is a good STAB attack that heals even more of his life back. I'm using it over Focus Punch to increase longevity, but I'm open to trying Focus Punch if people generally think I should. Sucker Punch gives me great coverage and a priority move, if an unreliable one. Still, it lets me revengekill things like Lati@s from low health by baiting a Psyshock and taking off the last bit of its health with Sucker Punch. Also, he gives me a pretty sturdy check to Terrakion, since he packs a resistance to its STABs.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Nature: Careful (+Sp. Def, -Sp. Atk)
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP, 88 Defence, 168 Sp. Def
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31 (Flawless)
-Thunder Wave
-Stealth Rock
-Protect
-Leech Seed
Ferrothorn is something that loves the rain, because it alleviates one of its only two weaknesses. Plus, it brings some invaluable support to my team in the form of paralysis and Stealth Rock. Threats are a lot easier to deal with when they're taking damage each time I force them out. Thunder Wave is generally a reliable move to fire off on a predicted switch and possibly cripple something like Terrakion for the rest of the match. Leech Seed + Protect + Iron Barbs + Leftovers gives a general HP movement in my direction by putting a lot of passive damage on my opponent and giving me a lot of passive healing. While I normally don't like running Taunt bait, I generally see a predicted Taunt as a free switch to a counter (Politoed for Deoxys-D, Thundurus-T for Tornadus, etc).
Thundurus-T @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Attack)
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Speed, 252 Sp. Atk, 4HP
IVs: 31/30/30/31/31/31 (HP Ice with untouched Speed)
-Volt Switch
-Thunder
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Focus Blast
Thundurus-T glues my team together as a reliable revenge-killer, taking out problematic sweepers and grabbing momentum with Volt Switch. Being a Scarf user, Volt Switch is practically standard, letting me scout switches and buy momentum. While it's not quite as reliable as U-Turn, with a decent base power working off of Thundurus-T's huge Sp. Atk, it hurts a lot. Thunder is a great STAB with perfect accuracy under the rain, and a 30% paralysis chance to boot. Hidden Power (Ice) completes a pseudo-BeamBolt combo, hitting nearly everything for at least neutral damage, and also hurting things like Landorus, Tornadus, Salamence, etc. Focus Blast is mostly filler, but it lets me lead with him against Sand teams and often end the weather war before it even starts.
Volcarona @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed, 4 Defence
IVs: 31/31/31/30/30/31 (HP Ground)
-Quiver Dance
-Giga Drain
-Hurricane
-Hidden Power (Ground)
Here's the Volcaron I mentioned earlier. I use him as a late-game sweeper after threats have been weakened and hopefully paralyzed by Ferrothorn and my other sweepers. Quiver Dance is arguably one of the best boosting moves in the game, making him faster, harder hitting, and bulkier all at the same time. After a few Quiver Dances he's set to sweep with his decent coverage. Giga Drain deals hard damage to Water-typed switchins and also heals off any damage he might take while setting up. Hurricane makes full use of the Rain getting 100% accuracy and a decent Confusion rate, which could completely shut down a threat switching in. It's also got a great 120 base Power, which hurts pretty bad after a couple boosts. Hidden Power (Ground) hits Steel types hard, but I'm considering Bug Buzz or Hidden Power (Water) for more power/coverage.
Concerns:
Well, my main concern is my own lack of experience. I'm sure there's a lot of potential threats I'm not anticipating, so I'd like to get opinions and advice from much more experienced players. My other concern is that I'm perhaps a little too reliant on weather. If I lose the weather war, I've essentially lost the match. Using Tentacruel certainly helps, but if I get an unlucky Stone Edge crit or a particularly smart player who anticipates what I'm doing, I might lose the weather war.
Okay, that's it. Thanks again!
