Hyper Offense Rain

[poison103]

Hi guys. This is my first OU RMT and it is an offensive rain team. Before this team, I've never been able to ladder well on the OU ladder but something with this team clicked.

Team Building Process:
I wanted to make a rain team so of course Politoed was naturally my first Pokemon.
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I really liked the buffs that gen 5 bestowed upon the original dragon and it worked so well in rain so I added Dragonite to the team.
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For Dragonite to keep its Multiscale, I needed something to keep hazards off the field. I chose Forretress because it could spin and keep my own hazards up. That nasty 4x weakness to fire was reduced by the everlasting rain given by Politoed.
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BW is the fighting metagame and to not have a fighting type would be treasonous. I slapped on Toxicroak because Dry Skin really helped it survive in rain and come in on any boosted water attacks aimed at my other Pokemon.
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One of my main goals with the original team was to keep Dragonite alive to pull off a sweep so I added Blissey to the mix to Wish pass to Dragonite to renew its Multiscale if necessary. I also ran stealth rock on it so it could come in and set up rocks on any special sweeper
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My final member of the team was Celebi. It has good synergy with Toxicroak and get rid of threats to the rain.
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I didn't do very well with this team and I realized I didn't have a dedicated goal with this team after Dragonite was KOed. I decided to shift towards a more offensive style of play. I replaced Forretress with Life Orb Starmie as a more offensive rapid spinner and Blissey with specially defensive Jirachi.
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It seemed to me that Toxicroak was failing to pull its weight and so I replaced it with Breloom and immediately the team started doing better. Breloom was a monster late game, cleaning up so well after diabling something with spore then firing away LO technician boosted mach punches.
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I still felt that I lacked offensive presence even with these monsters on my team. Also I still had some trouble with psychics and ghosts that hurt Breloom's cleanup. Scizor came into play here and he was a monster. His choice banded bullet punches have saved me in many a pinch often turning a bad situation into a win. Together with Breloom, these two can clean up late game once their threats are gone.
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Due to the suggestions that were made, I replaced Dragonite with Life Orb Latias in order to cover the threats that could dismantle my team (f u rotom)
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After Dragonite was removed, a lot of the pressure to keep off entry hazards was removed. I was able to replace Starmie with a much greater offensive threat - Rotom-W
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Politoed @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Choice specs Politoed is a monster under rain. It has enough coverage to handle many threats in the metagame and its rain boosted hydro pumps are strong enough to OHKO or 2HKO almost everything in the metagame. Choice specs boosts its power to unimaginable levels and even uninvested, it has enough bulk to tank many attacks.
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Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Recover

LO Latias is extremely powerful and checks threats that I would otherwise be unable to answer properly. It allows me to stop relying on priority and entry hazard damage to hopefully remove dangerous threats such as Thundurus-T and Rotom-W from the field. Furthermore, it can recover off any damage from Life Orb with Recover, giving it much more staying power.
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Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 56 SAtk / 220 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SDef
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split

Rotom-W synchronizes so well with Scizor. The VoltTurn combination provided by these two forces so many switches as I am able to keep up the offensive momentum generated by the continuous switching. Ground types dare not come in to stop Volt Turn for fear of rain boosted Hydro Pump. Jirachi also becomes a great asset to this core because it keeps Rotom and Scizor alive with Wish while Stealth Rocks help to build up the continuous damage. Pain Split gives Rotom-W a form a recovery and better yet, allows it to heavily damage Chansey and Blissey.
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Scizor @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Spd
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower

This thing is so ridiculously powerful its not even funny. With Technician and Choice Band, Scizor can beat so many things with priority Bullet Punch. Provided I predict correctly, it can even get out of Magnezone's trap and escape to fight another day with U-turn. At the end of the game, Scizor can KO almost every weakened Pokemon with it's priority Bullet Punch. Having no speed EV's and one less speed IV lets it beat opposing Scizor. In Scizor vs Scizor matchups, the move of choice is Superpower. However, Scizor can survive a CB Scizor's Superpower and proceed to KO the opposing Scizor with its own Superpower after the defense drop. The one less speed IV ensures that my Scizor will move after the opposing Scizor, letting me get the KO.
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Breloom @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Low Sweep
- Spore

Spore is probably the most broken move in existence. I can come in on something that I beat, proceed to spore whatever Breloom counter they have and begin pounding away. Even if they leave in their pokemon to become spore fodder, they risk switching into a low sweep that will cripple their Breloom counter. This almost guarantees I can get a kill with Breloom or at least put something out of commission with sleep. Gliscor that do not pack Acrobatics or Ice Fang cannot completely wall Breloom either as with some luck, Bullet Seed can break through the sub and proceed to KO.
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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Thunder
- Wish

One of the most annoying things in existence. Sp. defensive Jirachi has the bulk to come in and set up rocks on most pokemon due to its typing and bulk. Rain makes fire moves that much weaker and easier to deal with. With Thunder having perfect accuracy under rain, Jirachi has a 60% chance of paralyzing something after which it can flinch it to death with Iron head. Wish allows me to bring in a new threat and revitalize it so that it can wreck again. My team lacks a spinner, so it is vital for Wish to allow me to switch in more often.

 

[Souf]

Hey there,

Nice team. Getting right into it, on top of the threats you listed, you really don't have a reliable switch-in to Thundurus-T. To help with this issue and the ones you listed, I recommend using a Life Orb Latias over Dragonite. Latias is an excellent Pokemon in the current metagame, being able to take care of many water or electric types. Defensively and offensively, it gets the job done. While Dragonite is quite the offensive powerhouse, Latias can hit hard, too. Latias, unlike Dragonite, handles the threats you listed, Rotom-W and Keldeo, quite well, making it a nice switch-in to those. Also, Latias adds a bit of speed to this team, which is rather slow, and gets a boost from your rain on its Surf. Next, I recommend using Wish > Water Pulse on Jirachi. Since you are using a defensive set, you really want Wish on your set since Jirachi is the main thing on this team to take hits. Being unable to heal itself will cause it to faint too often and could ultimately be a downfall for your team. Also, using Wish allows Jirachi to support its teammates, healing them up in a pinch. Water Pulse, while a great chance of confusion may seem nice, it really isn't for this team and Wish has more benefit to its use. Lastly, I recommend using Perish Song > Focus Blast on Politoed. Perish Song helps with forcing out a boosting sweeper or stopping a Baton Pass chain. While Focus Blast helps hit Ferrothorn your team has Breloom and Scizor for Ferrothorn, so it really isn't need on your moveset. Also, Hydro Pump still does a ton to Ferrothorn despite it being resisted. With all this said, nice team and good luck!

Sets

Politoed
Focus Blast --> Perish Song

Jirachi
Water Pulse --> Wish

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Recover

 

[poison103]

@Funkasaurus

I'll def try out Latias as an answer to the threats but I'm not so sure about running Perish Song on Politoed. While I do agree that Perish Song will stop boosters in their tracks, it really isnt a move I'd want to be locked in with Choice Specs. Once I use it I will be forced to switch out or stay locked into perish song which I might not enjoy. As for wish, I feel that water pulse helps me against the pesky ground types that come in on thunder and want to earthquake/earth power me. It also hits heatran and other fire types harder than my other moves. I do appreciate your input and I will try the changes you suggested out.

 

[TUO]

Alright cool team man! I really like the way the team works in general. However, it does suffer losing to two major threats in the metagame -- Keldeo and Landorus-I. If Landorus is able to net a single boost, it forces you to sack a lot of pokemon forcing you to rely on priority. It can set up on you given Politoed or Scizor is locked into a move it can easily take. Thankfully, there is a great pokemon to stop those two threats while maintaining offensive pressure -- LO Latias. You really need to fit this thing into the team, it seems like the best thing you can fit over it is Dragonite thanks to the similar resistances and typing they share. So I'll be echoing Funkusaurus here with this idea actually and say LO Latias >Dragonite

Now let's go for the optional stuff. With Dragonite gone, you might not have a need for a spinner. Starmie's main support on that team is to deal with SR for Dragonite so i'm not particularly sure how important a spinner would be at this point. This makes me think you might want to add a strong set-up sweeper to add to your team to clean up on the mess that Breloom causes. With Jirachi and Scizor harassing Lati@s and Celebi, I think a decent choice to your team would be CM Keldeo > Starmie Keldeo gives you a stronger late-game presence to deal with and can hurt a lot in the rain. It even is so powerful in the rain that if you opt for Hydro Pump, it can kill most dragon types allowing you to opt for HP Ghost to hit Jellicent.

Now for some minor nitpicks. Moveset changes i would really recommend would be Politoed to have a faster Spread. a 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP Modest spread would work fine for you. I really don't see much need in 252 HP. Jirachi should also have Wish> Water Pulse. Wish allows you to put back a major threat (or Politoed for weather) back in the game to dish out more damage, this is the best Jirachi can do to keep offensive pressure.

Hope I helped!

 

[poison103]

@the unlucky one

thanks for your input. since both u and funk have recommended LO latias and wish jirachi ill def try those changes out but i dont know if not having a spinner is the best idea. While i do agree that keeping stealth rock off the field was mainly important to keep dnite's multiscale up, most of my pokemon are still weak to hazards. Without tentacruel on my rain team, i am unable to absorb toxic spikes and most of my pokemon bar latias will take damage from spikes. Something like ferrothorn can basically come in agaisnt my toed and set up spikes if im locked into hydro pump or hp grass or something. i still feel that a spinner is a valuable member of my team and i still feel like i need something to keep hazards off my field. Also toed's EV spread allows it to tank most hits bar a few and hit back for really heavy damage. It was even able to OHKO metagross with hydro pump.

 

[poison103]

Also what moveset and EV's would you reccomend on Keldeo were i to swtich out starmie for it?

 

[Shurtugal]

You look quite sun weak. Especially since that Dragonite is so reliant on your rain setting, even though it should be the one dismantling those type of teams. Chloro sweepers run through you. Rock Polish Landorus-I is quite a huge threat, seeing how you don't really have anything that can beat +2 at 100% HP. Stall teams in general will probably be a pain since you don't really have anything that can break them down either.

I don't believe in Modest Politoed on the specs variant. You should try Timid instead, and try 80 Hp / 252 SpA / 176 Spe, allowing you to hit 242 speed (so you can outpace Adamant Breloom and OHKO with either Hydro or Ice Beam, while maintaining as much bulk as possible).

To fix the sun issue, I would change your Dragonite into a Dragon Dancing variant, since this version allows you to beat sun teams much more easily. I don't really like Rain MixNite this metagame since its way too heavily realied upon rain, which isn't too easy to keep up (or is it really worth keeping when it doesn't accomplish anything the DD set can't do better. DD checks Breloom, Keldeo, etc. a whole lot better. The only thing your Dragonite is doing better is beating other rain teams, but you have Breloom and so I digress. And MixRain Nite really hates fighting rain stall).

With this issue fixed, you should have an easier time with stall. However, a very minor change from Low Sweep to Swords Dance on your Breloom allows you to easily beat Sand and Rain stalls / balanced much more easily while Dragonite should be able to defeat any sun based team using its Dragon Dance variant. I would also try using 66 Hp / 252 Atk / 192 Spe effort values on Breloom to make it a bit bulkier (fuck you Rotom-W).

On Starmie, by replacing Thunder with Recover and Ice Beam for Psyshock, I feel it can better be of use to you. Psyshock is hurting SpD Rotom-W and OHKO'ing Keldeo, and recover allows it to completely wall Keldeo (a threat you mentioned). Psyshock with Recover also help check Terrakion (since those can also be quite annoying to you). On Jirachi, I would use Iron Head / Body Slam / Stealth Rock / Wish, which would aid you quite more than your current set, being able to paralyze incoming Landorus-I.

Hope I helped. Normally I'd suggest LO Latias over DD Dragonite, but LO Latias still loses to +2 Venu this meta so I feel that Dragonite is a safer bet when you can play around Rotom-W, and you can still wall Keldeo with Starmie respectively. That might just be me making do with what I have, but whatever. GL

 

[poison103]

@Shurtugal

Actually, against sun teams it is a simple way of basically winning the weather war. While this does kind of suck for me if I lose the weather war, I usually win quite easily. There is a reason why rain is the most dominant weather in the metagame - it can beat other weathers. i will consider your EV spread on politoed however, because I do like you idea of maximum bulk with enough speed to beat loom but i see jolly looms more often than adamant so I think i will use a slightly different EV spread than what you have suggested. I feel that DDNite loses much of what makes it great under rain without hurricane and thunder. I have already decided to replace it with LO Latias because as other commenters as well as yourself have said, it checks a lot of what threatens my team, landorus i, thundurus t, keldeo, rotom w and still provides great offensive presence and enjoys boosted surf under rain. As a previous commenter has said, without dnite, i lose much of why i needed starmie in the first place and have replaced it with keldeo which can muscle thru special walls with secret sword(fighting version of psyshock) and provides more of a late game offensive presence. As for breloom, it doesnt need swords dance really to break through stall teams. LO bullet seed is usually enough to break through a lot of stall teams. Also, stall is very rarely seen nowadays and with some good outplaying I can beat them. Low sweep is an important move because it lets me snag speed drops off pokemon that would otherwise beat breloom. While the +2 atk is nice, i feel it is unecessary for breloom as it dies to nearly all priority attacks and things like starmie can easily KO unless i get that speed drop. I really appreciate your feedback :)

 

[Shurtugal]

:) No problem. As for breloom and swords dance, I just see that (especially with keldeo and latias) that you're really weak to rain stall. I don't see the need of Low Sweep if SD can help you beat it ;] SD makes it quite easier to beat stall cores (+2 Breloom can muscle through Skarmory, just saying).

 

[poison103]

Haha thanks but if I'm not facing a rain stall team, then breloom seems to become a liability if I run SD because it gets such few opportunities to set up. Also do you have any advice on how my team can stop setup sweepers like DDnite or Quiver Dance Volcarona? I lost once because i faced a team with both QD Volcarona and Roost DDnite. I tried using priority but scizor got burned after it uturned out of volcarona :( so it didnt have the power necessary to bullet punch through Dnite.

 

[poison103]

Hey everyone thanks for all the input. It has really helped my team out a lot. I feel that with all these new threats, Jirachi is the weakest link on my team. Do you guys have any suggestions for maybe something I could either replace it with or improve on it with?

 

[Shurtugal]

Stealth Rock and Specs Politoed should be enough to check both of them (alongside Scizor for walling Outrages from Dragonite). You could use Quick Attack over Pursuit on Scizor to hit Volcarona for around 40% if you truly need a stronger hit, but being burned in general is just a hax loss anyway. Physical Jirachi should be able to wall any rain Dragonite (bar the EQ variants, but +0 EQ is quite weak from Dragonite) while Volcarona won't be doing much with its attacks in rain and you can catch a paralysis.

Its playable, in the least :P