I have no homework to do atm so that obviously means I'll do an rmt. Plus, I haven't done one in like 3 months. (I feel groggy though so this will probably be written badly e_e)
So this team is a rain team because I really just decided that everyone saying that rain is dead because it isn't permanent anymore is wrong and I wanted to see if I could prove it. Now I kinda did, but the only problems are that this team doesn't use Politoed and it isn't actually full-rain. 4/6 Pokemon use rain, the other 2 don't. Anyway here's the team:
This team is based pretty heavily on offense, with the only technical support Pokemon being Jirachi. However, Krookodile and Heracross clear out checks and counters to Heliolisk and Dragonite/Starmie pretty well respectively, so they essentially support those guys for a sweep in the rain.
Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
First to start off with the Pokemon who do not use rain, Heracross and Krookodile. Krookodile is the normal revenge-killer that you would expect, and it uses a set that is not much changed since Gen 5 UU. If I had to put an LVP for my team it would probably be Krookodile, but it's difficult to say that because my team needs physical attackers so much. While my team has an even split 3-3 in terms of physical and special attackers, all 3 special attackers do a lot of damage whereas only Heracross really does enough physical damage to KO lots of Pokemon; Krookodile just comes in and takes out the remains of Heliolisk or Dragonite. If Krookodile gets a good team match-up, though, it can really sure it's worth which is why I've kept it around. For example, Krookodile can take out Aegislash the majority of the time. It is great against Heatran, Charizard-X, Talonflame, Thundurus-I, Excadrill, Deoxys-D (kinda), Tyranitar/Tyranitar-Mega, Kyurem-B, Bisharp, (slightly weakened) Gyarados-Mega. And that's just A and S rank. Like I also said before, Krookodile supports Heliolisk well since there are several Pokemon in the tier who wall it pretty hard, e.g Charizard-X (bulk), Deoxys-D (also bulk), Chansey, Goodra, Zapdos, Zygarde, Manectric-Mega. All Pokemon which Krookodile can take out most of the time.
Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Bullet Seed
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
There is a long-going argument surrounding Mega-Heracross - is it the most underrated mega? Yeah, I would say that it is, despite most people saying it would be Medicham or maybe Manectric. The thing with Heracross-Mega which I absolutely love is just the raw power it has and also its multi-hit attacks. My annoyance with Heracross would be how slow it is for the current metagame but that's fairly understandable as it doesn't have terrible bulk and it is mainly used as a wall-breaker for me anyway, which is why I can say it supports Dragonite and Starmie very well. While Mega-Heracross does look extremely ugly, you can't say that it doesn't have a lot going for it as a physical attacker. This slot used to belong to a Tyrantrum until recently, where I just decided that without it's Custap Berry Tyrantrum just can't perform a well as before, when Custap still "existed". Upon giving Heracross it's spot I was immediately impressed and it's been there ever since.
Jirachi @ Damp Rock
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature
- Rain Dance
- Thunder Wave
- U-turn
- Meteor Mash
Everyone loves Jirachi.. when it's not a paraflinch set. A generic Rain Dance supporter doesn't quite do Jirachi justice, as it brings more to my team. It slows down other Pokemon with Thunder Wave, so that Dragonite doesn't need to invest in speed. Speaking of supporting Dragonite, it also uses Meteor Mash which takes out Fairy-Type Pokemon fairy reliably, and the attack is good in general as it can boost Jirachi's U-Turn to be pretty powerful, if something like Tyranitar comes in. That's... pretty much it...
Starmie @ Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
Rapid Spin on Starmie just didn't cut it, which is something that I sometimes regret not having on it, however generally my team is bulky enough as to not need it. Even Heliolisk doesn't mind the residual damage with Dry Skin. I also used to have Hydro Pump on Starmie but I rarely notice the difference now that I've replaced it with Surf, other than it hitting more, inside of rain. Always 100%. It has the standard BoltBeam combo except with Thunder as rain will usually be up, and Psychic has pretty great neutral coverage in the current metagame. My only quarrel with Starmie would be that it does kind of need the Rain Dance to be as powerful as I would like, and Thunder misses a lot outside of rain too, but really by the stage of the match where I can't set it up reliably Starmie should be able to pull off some kind of clean anyway. Probably my MVP.
Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Atk
Mild Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Rain Dance
- Dragon Pulse
- Hurricane
Dragonite would be my other contender for MVP, as it has the ever-important priority (forcing it to be mixed, though) but it also has Rain Dance for supporting Starmie and sometimes Heliolisk. Dragonite uses Hurricane most of the time, but Dragon Pulse is also pretty handy late-game and also just because Hurricane is walled by a lot of stuff. Something you will notice immediately is how walled by Steel-Type Pokemon Dragonite is which further improves on the synergy it has with Krookodile and arguably Heliolisk, but mainly Krookodile. An odd number in HP is simple logic in competitive so that's why it's HP is only at 248 letting it's Extreme Speed be about 0.0x more powerful! Mild Nature can be a nuisance but Dragonite is often bulky enough or just priority-revenge-killing anyway.
Heliolisk @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Focus Blast
- Surf
Heliolisk, the ultimate weather-user with few ways to take advantage of it. I really wanted to use a Heliolisk when building this team, and deciding on what weather to used really made it only rain-viable. Because Sand Veil is banned and Heliolisk doesn't even learn Sunny Day!
. Anyway Heliolisk in general is a consistent Pokemon. It is nothing extra-extraordinary but it is hardly something to scoff at, as it's Rain-Boosted Surfs and STAB-boosted Thunders really hurt coming off of that 317 attack stat. I've never really noticed a dip in power when using Timid Nature over Modest so I've left it like that, but I don't know if there is anything notable I should be using modest for... or for that matter timid. Dry Skin is actually really handy on such a frail thing, as it can heal off most residual damage like it is nothing. It has Rain Dance on it's own set because of Toxic, and being able to keep it's Dry Skin going against walls who would use Toxic on Heliolisk is very handy. Also Focus Blast misses all the time!
Importable:
So this team is a rain team because I really just decided that everyone saying that rain is dead because it isn't permanent anymore is wrong and I wanted to see if I could prove it. Now I kinda did, but the only problems are that this team doesn't use Politoed and it isn't actually full-rain. 4/6 Pokemon use rain, the other 2 don't. Anyway here's the team:
This team is based pretty heavily on offense, with the only technical support Pokemon being Jirachi. However, Krookodile and Heracross clear out checks and counters to Heliolisk and Dragonite/Starmie pretty well respectively, so they essentially support those guys for a sweep in the rain.
Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
First to start off with the Pokemon who do not use rain, Heracross and Krookodile. Krookodile is the normal revenge-killer that you would expect, and it uses a set that is not much changed since Gen 5 UU. If I had to put an LVP for my team it would probably be Krookodile, but it's difficult to say that because my team needs physical attackers so much. While my team has an even split 3-3 in terms of physical and special attackers, all 3 special attackers do a lot of damage whereas only Heracross really does enough physical damage to KO lots of Pokemon; Krookodile just comes in and takes out the remains of Heliolisk or Dragonite. If Krookodile gets a good team match-up, though, it can really sure it's worth which is why I've kept it around. For example, Krookodile can take out Aegislash the majority of the time. It is great against Heatran, Charizard-X, Talonflame, Thundurus-I, Excadrill, Deoxys-D (kinda), Tyranitar/Tyranitar-Mega, Kyurem-B, Bisharp, (slightly weakened) Gyarados-Mega. And that's just A and S rank. Like I also said before, Krookodile supports Heliolisk well since there are several Pokemon in the tier who wall it pretty hard, e.g Charizard-X (bulk), Deoxys-D (also bulk), Chansey, Goodra, Zapdos, Zygarde, Manectric-Mega. All Pokemon which Krookodile can take out most of the time.
Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Bullet Seed
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
There is a long-going argument surrounding Mega-Heracross - is it the most underrated mega? Yeah, I would say that it is, despite most people saying it would be Medicham or maybe Manectric. The thing with Heracross-Mega which I absolutely love is just the raw power it has and also its multi-hit attacks. My annoyance with Heracross would be how slow it is for the current metagame but that's fairly understandable as it doesn't have terrible bulk and it is mainly used as a wall-breaker for me anyway, which is why I can say it supports Dragonite and Starmie very well. While Mega-Heracross does look extremely ugly, you can't say that it doesn't have a lot going for it as a physical attacker. This slot used to belong to a Tyrantrum until recently, where I just decided that without it's Custap Berry Tyrantrum just can't perform a well as before, when Custap still "existed". Upon giving Heracross it's spot I was immediately impressed and it's been there ever since.
Jirachi @ Damp Rock
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature
- Rain Dance
- Thunder Wave
- U-turn
- Meteor Mash
Everyone loves Jirachi.. when it's not a paraflinch set. A generic Rain Dance supporter doesn't quite do Jirachi justice, as it brings more to my team. It slows down other Pokemon with Thunder Wave, so that Dragonite doesn't need to invest in speed. Speaking of supporting Dragonite, it also uses Meteor Mash which takes out Fairy-Type Pokemon fairy reliably, and the attack is good in general as it can boost Jirachi's U-Turn to be pretty powerful, if something like Tyranitar comes in. That's... pretty much it...
Starmie @ Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
Rapid Spin on Starmie just didn't cut it, which is something that I sometimes regret not having on it, however generally my team is bulky enough as to not need it. Even Heliolisk doesn't mind the residual damage with Dry Skin. I also used to have Hydro Pump on Starmie but I rarely notice the difference now that I've replaced it with Surf, other than it hitting more, inside of rain. Always 100%. It has the standard BoltBeam combo except with Thunder as rain will usually be up, and Psychic has pretty great neutral coverage in the current metagame. My only quarrel with Starmie would be that it does kind of need the Rain Dance to be as powerful as I would like, and Thunder misses a lot outside of rain too, but really by the stage of the match where I can't set it up reliably Starmie should be able to pull off some kind of clean anyway. Probably my MVP.
Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Atk
Mild Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Rain Dance
- Dragon Pulse
- Hurricane
Dragonite would be my other contender for MVP, as it has the ever-important priority (forcing it to be mixed, though) but it also has Rain Dance for supporting Starmie and sometimes Heliolisk. Dragonite uses Hurricane most of the time, but Dragon Pulse is also pretty handy late-game and also just because Hurricane is walled by a lot of stuff. Something you will notice immediately is how walled by Steel-Type Pokemon Dragonite is which further improves on the synergy it has with Krookodile and arguably Heliolisk, but mainly Krookodile. An odd number in HP is simple logic in competitive so that's why it's HP is only at 248 letting it's Extreme Speed be about 0.0x more powerful! Mild Nature can be a nuisance but Dragonite is often bulky enough or just priority-revenge-killing anyway.
Heliolisk @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Focus Blast
- Surf
Heliolisk, the ultimate weather-user with few ways to take advantage of it. I really wanted to use a Heliolisk when building this team, and deciding on what weather to used really made it only rain-viable. Because Sand Veil is banned and Heliolisk doesn't even learn Sunny Day!
. Anyway Heliolisk in general is a consistent Pokemon. It is nothing extra-extraordinary but it is hardly something to scoff at, as it's Rain-Boosted Surfs and STAB-boosted Thunders really hurt coming off of that 317 attack stat. I've never really noticed a dip in power when using Timid Nature over Modest so I've left it like that, but I don't know if there is anything notable I should be using modest for... or for that matter timid. Dry Skin is actually really handy on such a frail thing, as it can heal off most residual damage like it is nothing. It has Rain Dance on it's own set because of Toxic, and being able to keep it's Dry Skin going against walls who would use Toxic on Heliolisk is very handy. Also Focus Blast misses all the time!Importable:
Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SAtk
Mild Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Rain Dance
- Dragon Pulse
- Hurricane
Starmie @ Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
Jirachi @ Damp Rock
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature
- Rain Dance
- Thunder Wave
- U-turn
- Meteor Mash
Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Bullet Seed
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
Heliolisk @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Focus Blast
- Surf
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SAtk
Mild Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Rain Dance
- Dragon Pulse
- Hurricane
Starmie @ Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
Jirachi @ Damp Rock
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature
- Rain Dance
- Thunder Wave
- U-turn
- Meteor Mash
Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Bullet Seed
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
Heliolisk @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Focus Blast
- Surf
