Points to you if you get the reference. Arctic Monkeys ftw.
ANYWAYS.
For months I have cycled through different teams I've made in an effort to find one with quite a bit of success. I've used Hail, Drought, Non-Weather, a Sandstorm team early on... hell, I had a Hail/Trick Room team. And while they've each had various levels of success, they all failed when it came to the tough battles, especially against fellow clan members of mine.
This one, however, I'm hoping will change that. I finally jumped on the Drizzle bandwagon like this is Oregon Trail, and so far... I haven't sucked. Other than my own misplays, of course. But really, this team has definitely shown a marked, consistent improvement over my previous endeavors, and it still has potential I believe.
I still feel like there's something missing on this team, though, so let's go through the details and hopefully I'll see some suggestions from someone reading this/you!
Team Building Process
1. No duh I start with this amphibian. Politoed's the only choice for a OU Drizzle team, and starts me out with a pokemon with very nice coverage and of course the weather-setting.
2. Toxicroak was first on my list of pokemon to add to the team, partly because I needed a physical attacker, partly because I wanted something that went quite well with rain, and partly because I remember him being annoying as hell to face (which is also how I grew to love Techniloom, but that's a different story).
3. For my second physical attacker, I went with a pokemon who singlehandedly takes care of most Dragons, Psychics and pokes like Tyranitar and Terrakion. And adds even more badass-ness to the team.
4. Now I needed some defensive pokemon. I'd used Vaporeon to some success on another team, and the HydraRest combo was too great to pass up. One defender down, one to go.
5. My other wall, a more well-rounded one than Vappy for this team, is Dusclops. The first time I ran him was with Trick Room, but obviously not having that frees him up a bit more for me. In any case, a wall as bulky as him is always great to have.
6. Finally, I wanted mainly one thing: an immunity to Electric. My first thought was Electivire, but that would give me three physical attackers to one Special, and as such I decided on Jolteon. His great Special Attack and Speed (as well as his frailty) give me almost a complete counterpart/complement/other "C" word that works to Weavile, and STAB Thunder in Rain definitely hurts. A lot. I would know.
I have not made any changes to the team as of yet, as testing has thus far shown a pretty decent balance. Of course, I could definitely be missing something (and likely am, knowing me). Which is mainly why I'm posting this RMT.
Now for the team breakdown itself...
Politoed (Happy Froggy) @ Choice Specs
Nature: Modest
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power Grass
Standard Specs set, basically. Hydro Pump provides the obligatory STAB move, Ice Beam and Focus Blast do their jobs on DNite, Ferrothorn, etc. The final move hits Quaggy, Rotom-W, and the growing number of Gastrodons. Specs allows him to kill things, and the EVs are to aid him in said killing.
He's not a very nice frog.
But he does live up to his name. The one I gave him.
Toxicroak (Sad Froggy) @ Leftovers
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Cross Chop
-Sucker punch
-Swords Dance
-Ice punch
Yes, I named Politoed Happy Froggy and Toxicroak Sad Froggy. And yes, I opted for an extra coverage move over Substitute. Ice Punch has actually served him quite well and taken a couple foes by surprise.
Hi there, Gliscor. xD
Cross Chop is a great STAB move despite its inaccuracy, and Sucker punch is, well, Sucker Punch, with its priority and such. Swords Dance is if I can set up before wrecking people. The Lefties + Dry Skin combo helps that.
Weavile @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
Ability: pressure
EVs: 40 Hp / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
-Ice Shard
-Ice Punch
-Pursuit
-Low Kick
The standard set, but it does soooo well at what it's made to do. I sacrificed a bit of speed I didn't see needed to give Weavile a tad bit more bulk (Heh, Weaviles being bulky. That's a good joke). Ice Shard is valuable priority (which is a bit redundant), while Ice Punch is a more powerful STAB move that tears Dragons to shreds. Pursuit is a great counter to those weak to it and even otherwise can be valuable if I can guess the switch. Low Kick rounds out the set to handle the big guys, and OHKO's guys like Terrakion and Tyranitar with ease. plus, Weavile is just plain badass.
Vaporeon (Vappy) @ Leftovers
Nature: Calm
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 Hp / 50 Def / 204 SpD (I admit, there's no real calcs I did to get this spread. If anyone has an actual SpD spread that works then... yeah.)
-Rest
-protect
-Toxic
-Surf
Ah, HyraRest Vaporeon. So fun. Or annoying. Your choice.
You know how it works: Once Vappy's health gets low, Rest back up and watch Hydration wake it like... *insert strained half of simile here.* Surf provides a good STAB move (and really, Vaporeon's Special Attack is pretty good to begin with), and Toxic is just great for stalling.
Dusclops @ Eviolite
Nature: Relaxed
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Hp / 176 Def / 80 SpD
-Pain Split
-Will-O-Wisp
-Night Shade
-Taunt
Dusclops is my main wall in terms of sheer defense, with, obviously, a slight leaning towards the Defensive side of things. Pain Split is his form of pseudo-recovery, while Will-O-Wisp is his status-inducer of choice, definitely harming physical attackers (in more ways than one). Night Shade provides consistent damage to all non-Normals, and Taunt can stop set-up sweepers like SD Scizor or pokes like Ferrothorn from pulling anything. I had Ice Beam in the last slot, but I was rarely using it, especially when four other pokemon have a move of that type.
...I don't like getting beaten by Dragons.
Jolteon @ Life Orb
Nature: Timid
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Thunder
-Charge Beam
-Shadow Ball
-Hidden Power Ice
Immunity to one of two Water weaknesses? Check, Volt Absorb. Benefits from the rain? Check, STAB Thunder. Fast and powerful? 300+ SpA and almost 400 Speed = check. Decent coverage? Check (though I'm pondering sticking Signal Beam in there over Charge Beam maybe, Dunno). Frailty to match Weavile? Check. Still, a great pokemon to do damage and/or nail a couple KO's, though his lifespan is short. At least he isn't weak to two different priority moves.
In any case, that's my team thus far. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's performed to a decent amount of success, and with a couple edits (and less sucky prediction on my own part) it could turn out to be quite a squad.
Any comments/suggestions/not-flames are welcome. Well, almost any. You know what I mean.
Hope you enjoyed/didn't hate reading this, and I do hope I get a decent suggestion or two or five to look into.
ANYWAYS.
For months I have cycled through different teams I've made in an effort to find one with quite a bit of success. I've used Hail, Drought, Non-Weather, a Sandstorm team early on... hell, I had a Hail/Trick Room team. And while they've each had various levels of success, they all failed when it came to the tough battles, especially against fellow clan members of mine.
This one, however, I'm hoping will change that. I finally jumped on the Drizzle bandwagon like this is Oregon Trail, and so far... I haven't sucked. Other than my own misplays, of course. But really, this team has definitely shown a marked, consistent improvement over my previous endeavors, and it still has potential I believe.
I still feel like there's something missing on this team, though, so let's go through the details and hopefully I'll see some suggestions from someone reading this/you!
Team Building Process
1. No duh I start with this amphibian. Politoed's the only choice for a OU Drizzle team, and starts me out with a pokemon with very nice coverage and of course the weather-setting.
2. Toxicroak was first on my list of pokemon to add to the team, partly because I needed a physical attacker, partly because I wanted something that went quite well with rain, and partly because I remember him being annoying as hell to face (which is also how I grew to love Techniloom, but that's a different story).
3. For my second physical attacker, I went with a pokemon who singlehandedly takes care of most Dragons, Psychics and pokes like Tyranitar and Terrakion. And adds even more badass-ness to the team.
4. Now I needed some defensive pokemon. I'd used Vaporeon to some success on another team, and the HydraRest combo was too great to pass up. One defender down, one to go.
5. My other wall, a more well-rounded one than Vappy for this team, is Dusclops. The first time I ran him was with Trick Room, but obviously not having that frees him up a bit more for me. In any case, a wall as bulky as him is always great to have.
6. Finally, I wanted mainly one thing: an immunity to Electric. My first thought was Electivire, but that would give me three physical attackers to one Special, and as such I decided on Jolteon. His great Special Attack and Speed (as well as his frailty) give me almost a complete counterpart/complement/other "C" word that works to Weavile, and STAB Thunder in Rain definitely hurts. A lot. I would know.
I have not made any changes to the team as of yet, as testing has thus far shown a pretty decent balance. Of course, I could definitely be missing something (and likely am, knowing me). Which is mainly why I'm posting this RMT.
Now for the team breakdown itself...
Politoed (Happy Froggy) @ Choice Specs
Nature: Modest
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power Grass
Standard Specs set, basically. Hydro Pump provides the obligatory STAB move, Ice Beam and Focus Blast do their jobs on DNite, Ferrothorn, etc. The final move hits Quaggy, Rotom-W, and the growing number of Gastrodons. Specs allows him to kill things, and the EVs are to aid him in said killing.
He's not a very nice frog.
But he does live up to his name. The one I gave him.
Toxicroak (Sad Froggy) @ Leftovers
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Cross Chop
-Sucker punch
-Swords Dance
-Ice punch
Yes, I named Politoed Happy Froggy and Toxicroak Sad Froggy. And yes, I opted for an extra coverage move over Substitute. Ice Punch has actually served him quite well and taken a couple foes by surprise.
Hi there, Gliscor. xD
Cross Chop is a great STAB move despite its inaccuracy, and Sucker punch is, well, Sucker Punch, with its priority and such. Swords Dance is if I can set up before wrecking people. The Lefties + Dry Skin combo helps that.
Weavile @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
Ability: pressure
EVs: 40 Hp / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
-Ice Shard
-Ice Punch
-Pursuit
-Low Kick
The standard set, but it does soooo well at what it's made to do. I sacrificed a bit of speed I didn't see needed to give Weavile a tad bit more bulk (Heh, Weaviles being bulky. That's a good joke). Ice Shard is valuable priority (which is a bit redundant), while Ice Punch is a more powerful STAB move that tears Dragons to shreds. Pursuit is a great counter to those weak to it and even otherwise can be valuable if I can guess the switch. Low Kick rounds out the set to handle the big guys, and OHKO's guys like Terrakion and Tyranitar with ease. plus, Weavile is just plain badass.
Vaporeon (Vappy) @ Leftovers
Nature: Calm
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 Hp / 50 Def / 204 SpD (I admit, there's no real calcs I did to get this spread. If anyone has an actual SpD spread that works then... yeah.)
-Rest
-protect
-Toxic
-Surf
Ah, HyraRest Vaporeon. So fun. Or annoying. Your choice.
You know how it works: Once Vappy's health gets low, Rest back up and watch Hydration wake it like... *insert strained half of simile here.* Surf provides a good STAB move (and really, Vaporeon's Special Attack is pretty good to begin with), and Toxic is just great for stalling.
Dusclops @ Eviolite
Nature: Relaxed
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Hp / 176 Def / 80 SpD
-Pain Split
-Will-O-Wisp
-Night Shade
-Taunt
Dusclops is my main wall in terms of sheer defense, with, obviously, a slight leaning towards the Defensive side of things. Pain Split is his form of pseudo-recovery, while Will-O-Wisp is his status-inducer of choice, definitely harming physical attackers (in more ways than one). Night Shade provides consistent damage to all non-Normals, and Taunt can stop set-up sweepers like SD Scizor or pokes like Ferrothorn from pulling anything. I had Ice Beam in the last slot, but I was rarely using it, especially when four other pokemon have a move of that type.
...I don't like getting beaten by Dragons.
Jolteon @ Life Orb
Nature: Timid
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Thunder
-Charge Beam
-Shadow Ball
-Hidden Power Ice
Immunity to one of two Water weaknesses? Check, Volt Absorb. Benefits from the rain? Check, STAB Thunder. Fast and powerful? 300+ SpA and almost 400 Speed = check. Decent coverage? Check (though I'm pondering sticking Signal Beam in there over Charge Beam maybe, Dunno). Frailty to match Weavile? Check. Still, a great pokemon to do damage and/or nail a couple KO's, though his lifespan is short. At least he isn't weak to two different priority moves.
In any case, that's my team thus far. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's performed to a decent amount of success, and with a couple edits (and less sucky prediction on my own part) it could turn out to be quite a squad.
Any comments/suggestions/not-flames are welcome. Well, almost any. You know what I mean.
Hope you enjoyed/didn't hate reading this, and I do hope I get a decent suggestion or two or five to look into.
