Ever since I started playing pokemon, I've always liked Politoed, so when he got drizzle at the beginning of this gen I couldn't wait to use him in the ou. Throughout black and white's time I've made avoid amount of rain teams built around a number of sweepers, but none were as successful as this one. I made this team after I saw another RMT called King K. Rool's rainy day, which used Feraligatr and claimed that he was actually a surprisingly good ou sweeper. I decided to try out that team, but it didn't work out so well for me. So I made my own team around Feraligatr consisting of choice scarf Latios, choice specs Keldeo, standard Ferrothorn, defensive Politoed, and swords dance toxicroak. The team was alright at first, but I didn't do well initially partially because I just didn't know how to play Feraligatr. As I practiced with the team and changed it a little, I got a lot better with Feraligatr and I've actually swept good ou teams with decently high ratings with him. Eventually, I ended up replacing Toxicroak with Breloom. Toxicroak was good an all, but breloom could get me that key momentum at the beginning with spore + low sweep. This almost always works unless their lead is faster than breloom and could severely hurt him. In those cases I would simply switch breloom out and switch him back in on something slow of after a teammate faints later in the game. I made this team about 2 months ago, and it took me a while, but after playing with other teams I decided to switch Latios to choice specs and keldeo to choice scarf. Keldeo's surf was surprisingly powerful specs or no specs, and keldeo could sweep because surf/hydro pump doesn't lower his special attack like Latios's Draco meteor does. The specs also give latios the crucial power needed to turn some 2HKOs into OHKOs, something the scarf couldn't do. This team peaked at a 2061 acre on pokemon showdown and actually got me the requirements to vote on keldeo for the oucurrent, but without keldeo I barely missed getting the suspect requirements because starmie just simply isn't as good. Anyways, here is the whole team:
Politoed Leftovers
Bold (252hp 252 def 4 sp atk)
Drizzle
Scald
Protect
Perish Song
Toxic
We all know that using Politoed on rain teams is self explanatory, but using a defensive Politoed isn't as much as a given. I honestly don't know how defensive Politoed isn't listed first for his sets on smogon, I think it's easily the best and most used. Politoed is a great defensive and even offensive pivot, he can check common ou threats such as scizor, stop set up sweepers in their tracks and get rid of annoying substitutes with perish song, scout with protect (and a turn of free leftovers recovery can make a big difference), and cripple walls and other weather starters with toxic. When I'm not using breloom as a lead, I always go to Politoed. With these four moves he can bring the game in any direction I want as of turn 1. Secondly, while Politoed may have mediocre stats, and people often mock him (and Ninetails) by saying things such "See what happens when even bad pokemon such as Politoed and Ninetails get the ability to summon permanent weather", he is far from a bad pokemon without drizzle, there is a reason why he is better than tyranitar, Ninetails and others besides being able to summon rain, the superior weather. It's because he has no fatal flaw, a great support move pool, and well rounded stats, which are great assets to a weather summoner, someone who is meant to survive and support. Tyranitar gets maimed by common fighting moves and is also hurt by common water and ground attacks, Ninetails is weak to stealth rock, water, and ground moves, all of which are very common, and finally abamnsnow has a 4x weakness to fire and is weak to stealth rock on top of that. So while defensive Politoed isn't amazing in any category, he has well rounded stats and a good move pool that complements his job: being a weather starter. And as a weather starter Politoed is going to have to come in many times in a game, meaning he has to be able to do almost anything at any time, which he is completely built for, drizzle or no drizzle.
Feraligatr Mystic Water
Adamant (252atk 184hp 72spe)
Torrent
Waterfall
Aqua Jet
Swords Dance
Crunch
Feraligatr is probably one of the most underrated sweepers in the ou metagame, in the rain aqua jet is just as powerul as it would be if Feraligatr had technician and no rain. The goal for Feraligatr is usually to come in mid to late game on something that can't do much against him, and set up swords dance. When I bring in Feralgatr on something that can't do much to him the opponent sometimes either underestimates Feraligatr or has no idea what I'm doing. So the try and hurt him, realize that they're getting nowhere, and by the time they switch out I have 2 swords dance boosts and I'm ready to spam aqua jet. Besides aqua jet and swords dance I have waterfall on Feraligatr for slower pokemon I need to muscle through like ferrothorn or forretress. Crunch is used to hit jellicent almost exclusively, and other things for neutral coverage. If I ran superpower over crunch, I would be screwed by jellicent, something that my Feraligatr faces a lot. Ice punch over crunch would result in me being walled by jellicent again, or any water type. I went with the Evs because thats what serebii recommended and the max attack plus bulk is really necessary, while speed is not becuase of aqua jet. I would suggest trying out Feraligatr before the end of the generation, he is really underestimated and can be quite good on a rain team. To prove it look below (some of these battles are older versions of my current team).
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oucurrent-45079293
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oucurrent-47606433
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-53319288
Keldeo-Resolute Choice Scarf
Timid (252spe 252sp atk 4hp)
Justified
Hydr Pump
Surf
Secret Sword
Hidde Power Ice
Keldeo's suspect test just proves how good it really is, even though it was banned in the end. For a while I was using choice specs on keldeo instead of a choice scarf, but after using scarfed keldeo on my other teams I realized how good it was so I gave Latios the specs instead. I don't really think the rest of this needs much of an explanation, I mean using keldeo on a rain team is far from original but the main reason I chose to use keldeo as my scarfer over Latios is because keldeo can spam more powerful water moves because of the rain than Latios and it can sweep with its best move (Latios's power drop from Draco meteor hurts). Besides that Keldeo also isn't pursuit trapped or weak to u-turn, which is probably Latios's biggest flaw after Draco Meteors power drop.
Ferrothorn Leftovers
Impish (252hp 168 sp def 88def)
Iron Barbs
Power Whip
Stealth Rock
Spikes
Thunder Wave
This is a pretty standard set for ferrothorn, but I chose to run spikes over gyro ball or leech seed because there are many oppurtunities for Ferrothorn to stack spikes, which can be incredibly useful. I'm having second thoughts about thunder wave, I originally put it there so specs keldeo could outspeed faster pokemon, but it's getting less useful. I've been considering putting gyro ball or leech seed on over thunder wave, but I don't know, thoughts? Anyways Ferrothorn and Politoed together make up a defensive core, similar to a jellicent-ferrothorn core, Politoed supplies rain and effectively takes 0.25 from fire attacks. He has good defense and overall bulk allowing him to tank fighting moves, most of which are generally physical. Ferrothron resists grass and electric and can general switch in on any pokemon that threaten Politoed, especially in the case of weather wars.
Latios Choice Specs
Timid (252spe 252sp atk 4hp)
Levitate
Draco Meteor
Psyshock
Surf
Trick
Latios was one of the original pokemon I put on this team and like I've stated before he used to have a choice scarf, but I switched him to specs in the end, I can say tha specs is certainly move effective, and it allows latios to play a role almost a a bulky sweeper but with speed. I switch him in on fire, electric, grass, or fighting moves aimed at Ferrothorn or Politoed, and even Keldeo and Feraligatr. From there he can get a Draco meteor off, maybe even 2 because the power from the specs makes the second decently powerful too. The specs allow Latios to play a completely different and better role for my team that I appreciate a lot.
Breloom Life Orb
Jolly (252 spe 252 atk 4hp)
Technician
Bullet Seed
Low Sweep
Mach Punch
Spore
Adding Breloom to my team was probably one of the best moves I've made, he just gives me such a good start to battles. As long as the other pokemon can't outspeed and OHKO breloom, I can spore them and start a deadly low sweep rampage, which lowers their speed allowing breloom to outspeed most pokemon. Generally after I spore them, they switch to a faster threat who is now slower and hurt by low sweep, something they weren't expecting and allowing me to keep up the vicious cycle. Even when breloom isn't my lead or is threatened by their lead, I can bring him in later on the game and do the same thing. Also the powerful priority moves is big for some revenge kills against boosting threats or when keldeo is gone.
In conclusion, this is easily my best team and since the generation is ending I'm deciding to share it. I hope to use this team in gen 6, but who knows what will happen with mega evolutions, fairy types, and other miscellaneous changes to the game.
Here is the importable below, if someone could tell me how to make it into a tab that would be appreciated. Also while your at it, could you tell me how to add moving sprites of my team to this post? Keep in mind that I'm using an iPad for this, and thanks in advance.
Also in the original post I put keldo resolute's item as choice spec, it is really a choice scarf, not specs, sorry for the confusion.
Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Protect
- Perish Song
- Toxic
Feraligatr @ Mystic Water
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk / 184 HP / 72 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Crunch
- Swords Dance
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 88 Def / 252 HP / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Trick
Keldeo-Resolute @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Breloom @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Low Sweep
- Mach Punch
- Spore
Politoed Leftovers
Bold (252hp 252 def 4 sp atk)
Drizzle
Scald
Protect
Perish Song
Toxic
We all know that using Politoed on rain teams is self explanatory, but using a defensive Politoed isn't as much as a given. I honestly don't know how defensive Politoed isn't listed first for his sets on smogon, I think it's easily the best and most used. Politoed is a great defensive and even offensive pivot, he can check common ou threats such as scizor, stop set up sweepers in their tracks and get rid of annoying substitutes with perish song, scout with protect (and a turn of free leftovers recovery can make a big difference), and cripple walls and other weather starters with toxic. When I'm not using breloom as a lead, I always go to Politoed. With these four moves he can bring the game in any direction I want as of turn 1. Secondly, while Politoed may have mediocre stats, and people often mock him (and Ninetails) by saying things such "See what happens when even bad pokemon such as Politoed and Ninetails get the ability to summon permanent weather", he is far from a bad pokemon without drizzle, there is a reason why he is better than tyranitar, Ninetails and others besides being able to summon rain, the superior weather. It's because he has no fatal flaw, a great support move pool, and well rounded stats, which are great assets to a weather summoner, someone who is meant to survive and support. Tyranitar gets maimed by common fighting moves and is also hurt by common water and ground attacks, Ninetails is weak to stealth rock, water, and ground moves, all of which are very common, and finally abamnsnow has a 4x weakness to fire and is weak to stealth rock on top of that. So while defensive Politoed isn't amazing in any category, he has well rounded stats and a good move pool that complements his job: being a weather starter. And as a weather starter Politoed is going to have to come in many times in a game, meaning he has to be able to do almost anything at any time, which he is completely built for, drizzle or no drizzle.
Feraligatr Mystic Water
Adamant (252atk 184hp 72spe)
Torrent
Waterfall
Aqua Jet
Swords Dance
Crunch
Feraligatr is probably one of the most underrated sweepers in the ou metagame, in the rain aqua jet is just as powerul as it would be if Feraligatr had technician and no rain. The goal for Feraligatr is usually to come in mid to late game on something that can't do much against him, and set up swords dance. When I bring in Feralgatr on something that can't do much to him the opponent sometimes either underestimates Feraligatr or has no idea what I'm doing. So the try and hurt him, realize that they're getting nowhere, and by the time they switch out I have 2 swords dance boosts and I'm ready to spam aqua jet. Besides aqua jet and swords dance I have waterfall on Feraligatr for slower pokemon I need to muscle through like ferrothorn or forretress. Crunch is used to hit jellicent almost exclusively, and other things for neutral coverage. If I ran superpower over crunch, I would be screwed by jellicent, something that my Feraligatr faces a lot. Ice punch over crunch would result in me being walled by jellicent again, or any water type. I went with the Evs because thats what serebii recommended and the max attack plus bulk is really necessary, while speed is not becuase of aqua jet. I would suggest trying out Feraligatr before the end of the generation, he is really underestimated and can be quite good on a rain team. To prove it look below (some of these battles are older versions of my current team).
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oucurrent-45079293
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oucurrent-47606433
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-53319288
Keldeo-Resolute Choice Scarf
Timid (252spe 252sp atk 4hp)
Justified
Hydr Pump
Surf
Secret Sword
Hidde Power Ice
Keldeo's suspect test just proves how good it really is, even though it was banned in the end. For a while I was using choice specs on keldeo instead of a choice scarf, but after using scarfed keldeo on my other teams I realized how good it was so I gave Latios the specs instead. I don't really think the rest of this needs much of an explanation, I mean using keldeo on a rain team is far from original but the main reason I chose to use keldeo as my scarfer over Latios is because keldeo can spam more powerful water moves because of the rain than Latios and it can sweep with its best move (Latios's power drop from Draco meteor hurts). Besides that Keldeo also isn't pursuit trapped or weak to u-turn, which is probably Latios's biggest flaw after Draco Meteors power drop.
Ferrothorn Leftovers
Impish (252hp 168 sp def 88def)
Iron Barbs
Power Whip
Stealth Rock
Spikes
Thunder Wave
This is a pretty standard set for ferrothorn, but I chose to run spikes over gyro ball or leech seed because there are many oppurtunities for Ferrothorn to stack spikes, which can be incredibly useful. I'm having second thoughts about thunder wave, I originally put it there so specs keldeo could outspeed faster pokemon, but it's getting less useful. I've been considering putting gyro ball or leech seed on over thunder wave, but I don't know, thoughts? Anyways Ferrothorn and Politoed together make up a defensive core, similar to a jellicent-ferrothorn core, Politoed supplies rain and effectively takes 0.25 from fire attacks. He has good defense and overall bulk allowing him to tank fighting moves, most of which are generally physical. Ferrothron resists grass and electric and can general switch in on any pokemon that threaten Politoed, especially in the case of weather wars.
Latios Choice Specs
Timid (252spe 252sp atk 4hp)
Levitate
Draco Meteor
Psyshock
Surf
Trick
Latios was one of the original pokemon I put on this team and like I've stated before he used to have a choice scarf, but I switched him to specs in the end, I can say tha specs is certainly move effective, and it allows latios to play a role almost a a bulky sweeper but with speed. I switch him in on fire, electric, grass, or fighting moves aimed at Ferrothorn or Politoed, and even Keldeo and Feraligatr. From there he can get a Draco meteor off, maybe even 2 because the power from the specs makes the second decently powerful too. The specs allow Latios to play a completely different and better role for my team that I appreciate a lot.
Breloom Life Orb
Jolly (252 spe 252 atk 4hp)
Technician
Bullet Seed
Low Sweep
Mach Punch
Spore
Adding Breloom to my team was probably one of the best moves I've made, he just gives me such a good start to battles. As long as the other pokemon can't outspeed and OHKO breloom, I can spore them and start a deadly low sweep rampage, which lowers their speed allowing breloom to outspeed most pokemon. Generally after I spore them, they switch to a faster threat who is now slower and hurt by low sweep, something they weren't expecting and allowing me to keep up the vicious cycle. Even when breloom isn't my lead or is threatened by their lead, I can bring him in later on the game and do the same thing. Also the powerful priority moves is big for some revenge kills against boosting threats or when keldeo is gone.
In conclusion, this is easily my best team and since the generation is ending I'm deciding to share it. I hope to use this team in gen 6, but who knows what will happen with mega evolutions, fairy types, and other miscellaneous changes to the game.
Here is the importable below, if someone could tell me how to make it into a tab that would be appreciated. Also while your at it, could you tell me how to add moving sprites of my team to this post? Keep in mind that I'm using an iPad for this, and thanks in advance.
Also in the original post I put keldo resolute's item as choice spec, it is really a choice scarf, not specs, sorry for the confusion.
Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Protect
- Perish Song
- Toxic
Feraligatr @ Mystic Water
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk / 184 HP / 72 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Crunch
- Swords Dance
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 88 Def / 252 HP / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Trick
Keldeo-Resolute @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Breloom @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Low Sweep
- Mach Punch
- Spore
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