Making it Rain: Rain Hyper Offense at its Finest

[That Noob]

Rain Hyper Offense

I have always played HO teams, all the way from gen IV to gen V. I started battling around early gen 4, and quit a bit before mence was banned. I started up again roughly 1 month ago and have been unable to create a decent hyper offense. I finally tried a rain team, as even though swift swim + drizzle is banned, many devastating sweepers benefit from rain. The results have been pleasant, but I know the team can be improved. Withour further adieu, on to the team!
Team Overview:
Two pokemon in Politoed and Latios punch holes in the team, having the benefit of hazards from Deoxys-S. After the enemy team is suffeciently weakened, Toxicroak or Thundurus attempt to sweep. Sharpedo appears to clean everything up late-game.

Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
Modest
4 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power [Grass]
-Perish Song

General Overview:
C'mon, you know you can't have a rain team without Politoed! This is by far the most effective set for Politoed and the only viable one on a offensive team. Using this setup, Politoed reaches a decent 358 speed, and rain-boosted Surfs do a suprisingly large amount of damage.
EVs & Moveset:
The EVs are designed to maximize speed and power. Surf hits like a truck, and I don't have to worry about it missing unlike hydro pump. Ice beam is mandatory coverage, and HP [Grass] hits other waters and Gastrodon in particular. The last moveset is filler, so I decided on something to wreck set-ups and baton pass teams.
Considering Changes?
Changed to Scarf.

Deoxys-S @ Focus Sash
Trait: Pressure
Jolly
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
-Stealth Rock
-Taunt
-Superpower
-Spikes
General Overview: Man, I love Deoxys-S. This guy is a staple on all my teams, and in my opinion above and beyond the best hazardmon in the game. This guy is pretty much the only 'mon that can set up multiple hazards and retain offensive momentum. I pretty much always lead with this guy , and bring in Politoed when he dies.
EV's & Moveset:
On the evs, I decided to max speed and attack because Deoxys-S is rather frail, and if I'm attacking with him I want Superpower to do at least decent damage. SR and Spikes is a lethal combination, and in Team Preview if they have a Spinner I simply set up rocks first and go from there. Max Atk Superpower destroys T-tar, winning the weather war for me on turn 1. Taunt makes it suprisingly hard for the enemy to set up hazards, and having the fastest taunt in the game never hurts. I must be wary of Espeon and Xatu flipping my rocks to my side though.
Considering Changes: Nope!

Latios @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
Timid
252 Sp.Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
-Dragon Pulse
-Surf
-Thunder
-Recover
General Overview:
Latios was brought down to OU this gen, and hits like a truck on steroids. Even without Choice Specs, all three attacking moves put a large dent in anything not named Blissey or Chansey. Latios has a lot of opportunities to come in on resisted attacks, and is constantly in the game. Latios's primary purpose is to dent everything on their team.
EV's and Moveset:
Three attacking moves give me stellar coverage, along with Recover to heal off all the residual damage and weak resisted attacks. The spread is generic 252/252 for maximum speed and damage, seeing as I have no boosting move.
Considering Changes: Draco Meteor over Dragon Pulse, although that might be probably better suited to a choiced set.
TESTING Calm Mind over Thunder

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serence Grace
252 HP, 252 Speed, 4 Sp. Atk
Timid
-Substitute
-Calm Mind
-Thunder
-Water Pulse
General Overview:
After a suggestion from New World Order, I decided to use this Jirachi over Thundurus. This Jirachi is beast, and set-ups on a lot of things. Also, this guy is incredibly bulky and packs quite a punch after a couple CMs.
EVs & Moveset:
Max HP gives 101 HP subs, and max speed + timid is needed to get to 328 speed since Jirachi is only at base 100 speed. Thunder + Water Pulse both benefit from rain, and causes paraconfuse hax. The only downside is no STAB. Have to say ever since team rain man popularized this guy, he's been widespread and for good reason.
Considering Changes: Nope!

Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Trait: Dry Skin
Adamant
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
-Swords Dance
-Sucker Punch
-Cross Chop
-Ice Punch

General Overview: Toxicroak's Mynosim set is freakin' amazing. He is rarely seen and many teams lack a counter to him. SD once, and then pick your moves. LO + Dry Skin is an awesome combination; Toxicroak heals 2% every turn when he attacks, and 12% when he doesn't. Also, Dry Skin provides a neat Water immunity.
EV's and moveset: Yup, another 252/252, and Adamant nature makes sure Toxicroak packs a punch. Sucker Punch is awesome priority, but often causes guessing games. Cross Chop is the standard powerful STAB move, although the spotty accuracy can be offsetting. Ice Punch is the unexpected move here, destroying Gliscor and every dragon in existence.
With just 1 Swords Dance, Toxicroak can easily sweep a team.
Considering Changes: Nope, loving this set!

Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
Adamant
252 Attack, 200 Speed, 56 HP
-Waterfall
-Crunch
-Aqua Jet
-Protect
General Overview: Sharpedo is probably the most underrated and best late-game sweeper of all time. Once this thing gets going, its incredibly hard to stop. Usually by the time I reveal Sharpedo, nothing will stand a chance. Sharpedo has won me many matches in which the opponent has 4-6 pokemon left, and is shocked when Sharpedo sweeps the rest of their team.
EVs and Moveset: Not a 252/252, but tbh the 56 hp doesn't really help, lol. 200 Speed outspeeds Excadrill in sand after two boosts, which generally doesn't happen but has helped me in the past. Max attack and adamant for all the powah. Rain-boosted waterfalls decimate everything and Crunch is also a solid stab. Aqua Jet is here incase they have priority, and rain-boosted Aqua Jets are nothing to mess around with. Protect ensues a boost, and is probably the most important move on this set.
Considering Changes: Ice Fang/Earthquake over Aqua Jet, but thats it.

Conclusion: Here's my Rain HO team, it's a blast to play and it's been performing great, but I'm confident you fellow Smogonites will make it even better:naughty:.
BTW, thanks to pokemondb. net for the pics.

 

[New World Order]

Uhh... once again people do not know the difference between Hyper Offense and Heavy Offense. Heavy Offense is made up of Pokemon who have good offensive and defensive synergy. Hyper Offense on the other hand, involves having a suicide lead set up Dual Screens/ hazards, then using 5 sweepers with similar checks and counters. Either all 5 are predominantly physical or all 5 are predominantly special (mixed sweepers acceptable for either). This cuts down the number of walls that are relevant for checking your threats. The point of having either all physical or all special is that you sacrifice 2/3 sweepers to weaken the checks/ counters so that another sweeper can break through. There is absolutely no switching involved, just fight till you drop. Because switching can often mean a setup for the opponent, and if that setup is a rock polish, its usually game over.

 

[That Noob]

Uhh... once again people do not know the difference between Hyper Offense and Heavy Offense. Heavy Offense is made up of Pokemon who have good offensive and defensive synergy. Hyper Offense on the other hand, involves having a suicide lead set up Dual Screens/ hazards, then using 5 sweepers with similar checks and counters. Either all 5 are predominantly physical or all 5 are predominantly special (mixed sweepers acceptable for either). This cuts down the number of walls that are relevant for checking your threats. The point of having either all physical or all special is that you sacrifice 2/3 sweepers to weaken the checks/ counters so that another sweeper can break through. There is absolutely no switching involved, just fight till you drop. Because switching can often mean a setup for the opponent, and if that setup is a rock polish, its usually game over.

Heavy Offense is not this team, I do not have good synergy, and even in Hyper Offense when facing Scarfed pokes and such you switch on resistances. Sure this team isn't pure Hyper Offense, but its closer to that than Heavy Offense. Deoxys-S is a suicide lead who sets up hazards too.

 

[New World Order]

Heavy Offense is not this team, I do not have good synergy, and even in Hyper Offense when facing Scarfed pokes and such you switch on resistances. Sure this team isn't pure Hyper Offense, but its closer to that than Heavy Offense. Deoxys-S is a suicide lead who sets up hazards too.

I disagree, Toxicroak and Thundurus are a very popular combination because of their synergy together. Yes, you would sometimes switch in hyper offense if you're feeling brave, but thats to get someone in who can continue the rampage of the previous poke. Hyper Offense doesn't care about offensive momentum, it focuses only on keeping offensive pressure and forcing the opponent to keep the same walls in all the time, and not giving them a chance to heal. By going from a special attacker to a physical attacker, that offensive pressure instantly disappears, as your opponent can switch out the worn out Jirachi for a perfectly healthy Gliscor.

 

[That Noob]

I disagree, Toxicroak and Thundurus are a very popular combination because of their synergy together. Yes, you would sometimes switch in hyper offense if you're feeling brave, but thats to get someone in who can continue the rampage of the previous poke. Hyper Offense doesn't care about offensive momentum, it focuses only on keeping offensive pressure and forcing the opponent to keep the same walls in all the time, and not giving them a chance to heal. By going from a special attacker to a physical attacker, that offensive pressure instantly disappears, as your opponent can switch out the worn out Jirachi for a perfectly healthy Gliscor.

Alright, you won. Wanna rate now?

 

[New World Order]

Aight. First off, this team seems to have trouble against dragon types. I suggest using a SubCM Jirachi, who can take Draco Meteors, set up, and proceed to wreak havoc with parafusion. It seems that Latios is the most expendable member of your team. So I guess that would be the most appropriate change.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
Timid
252 Hp/ 252 Spe/ 4 SpA
Substitute
Calm Mind
Thunder
Water Pulse

This leaves your team, slightly Rotom-W weak. Which can be alleviated by switching Toxicroak to a Bulk Up variant. Essentially come in on anything except Trick, get a sub up as they switch out. And proceed to plow their team accordingly.

Toxicroak @ Leftovers
Dry Skin
Adamant
244 Hp/ 252 Atk/ 12 Def
Substitute
Bulk Up
Drain Punch
Sucker Punch

I'd also consider swapping Politoed to a choice scarf variant. Currently your best way to deal with Excadrill is Sharpedo, and lets be honest, thats not a very good way.

 

[RhyssaFireheart]

Nice team and I find it winning matches very well I must say having calm deoxys instead?

 

[AB2]

Nice team here. Although I can see a problem in that you have zero dragon resistances. This leads to your team having major problems with threats such as Latios and Dragonite as they can simply come in and click any powerful choice locked dragon move and ko most anything on this team. Thundurus is pretty troublesome to this team as well. With its nasty plot boosted moves, it can pretty easily destroy most of the members on this team only fearing your priority moves really. Your team really needs at least one steel type. I would try and run Ferrothorn over Deoxy-S to fix problems against some dragons. Ferrothorn is excellent on drizzle teams as it still allows you to get hazards up while checking bulky waters and switching into dragon types. A set with stealth rock / leech seed / power whip / gyro ball, leftovers, sassy nature, and a spread of 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpDef would work pretty well.

This team would do really well with Magnezone support. Skarmory can be kind of annoying especially since it spikes on a lot of things especially if you decide to test Ferrothorn. Magnezone can also benefit Sharpedo and Toxicroak really well by eliminating steels such as Skarmory and Ferrothorn making it much easier for them to clean up later in the match. I would simply run Magnezone over Thundurus as if you try and put it over any other slot such as Latios, you may open yourself up to more holes. With this change, I would try running scarf Politoed over your current variant. Scarf Politoed can provide you with at least a decent Thundurus check if you pack other priority moves on this team which you have a few of them. Not only that, but scarf toed will really do well against sandstorm sweepers that this team may have trouble against such as Excadrill and Landorus in a pinch. gl.

Sets

Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Modest 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Drizzle
Surf / Ice Beam / Hidden Power [Grass] / Perish Song

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Modest 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Thunderbolt / Hidden Power [Fire] / Flash Cannon / Substitute

 

[That Noob]

Thanks for the rates, yeah usually dragons locked in outrage are revenge killed by either Thundurus's HP Ice + Toxicroak's Sucker Punch or Latios's Dragon Pulse, but they do KO at least 1 member. I was thinking of that SubCM Jirachi, and I'll test it. Also, subBulkup toxicroak is completely walled by a lot more stuff, but I will test it
@AB2 I don't want to use Ferrothorn to kill all my offensive momentum. I will however test Magnezone + Scarfed Toed.

 

[BTzz]

Hey, excellent team you have here. Not much to add from AB2's rate. You seem to have a lot of stuff covered, however I'm noticing weaknesses to dragons like others have said before me along with Thundurus and sun teams. First off, I highly support AB2's suggestion of Magnezone over Thundurus. Getting rid of Skarm + Ferro will do wonders for your team. Right now it's seems like you'd struggle against standard sun teams. If Dugtrio traps your Politoed, you'll have a tough time stopping Clhorophyll/Fire sweepers. To help with this, I recommend using Scarf Landorus over Deoxys-S. You lose your Spiker which is pretty controversial, but with Landorus you can pick of Thundurus along with dragons. Landorus is also a nightmare to standard sun teams. It out-speeds common Chlorophyll sweepes/scarf Fire types like Victini/Darmanitan and nails them with Earthquake or Hidden Power Ice. Landorus's U-Turn will also get your team some offensive mommentum. I also recommend using CM Latios over your current set. Right now Latios is the only thing you have to take on Calm Mind Reuniclus and this set will help with that. All the set your using can do is spam Dragon Pulse at CM Reuniclus, Reuniclus will eventually will if you do this. Latios always beats Reuniclus in a CM war. CM Latios also makes youe team less reliant on having rain up which is always good. Finally, I recommend using Focus Blast over HP Grass. Your team doesn't hate Tyranitar/Ferrothorn enough, Focus Blast will do big damge to them considering te amount of times they'll have to switch in to Toed.

Set(s)

Landorus (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naive nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power Ice
- U-Turn

Latios (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Recover
- Calm Mind

gl!

 

[That Noob]

Hey, excellent team you have here. Not much to add from AB2's rate. You seem to have a lot of stuff covered, however I'm noticing weaknesses to dragons like others have said before me along with Thundurus and sun teams. First off, I highly support AB2's suggestion of Magnezone over Thundurus. Getting rid of Skarm + Ferro will do wonders for your team. Right now it's seems like you'd struggle against standard sun teams. If Dugtrio traps your Politoed, you'll have a tough time stopping Clhorophyll/Fire sweepers. To help with this, I recommend using Scarf Landorus over Deoxys-S. You lose your Spiker which is pretty controversial, but with Landorus you can pick of Thundurus along with dragons. Landorus is also a nightmare to standard sun teams. It out-speeds common Chlorophyll sweepes/scarf Fire types like Victini/Darmanitan and nails them with Earthquake or Hidden Power Ice. Landorus's U-Turn will also get your team some offensive mommentum. I also recommend using CM Latios over your current set. Right now Latios is the only thing you have to take on Calm Mind Reuniclus and this set will help with that. All the set your using can do is spam Dragon Pulse at CM Reuniclus, Reuniclus will eventually will if you do this. Latios always beats Reuniclus in a CM war. CM Latios also makes youe team less reliant on having rain up which is always good. Finally, I recommend using Focus Blast over HP Grass. Your team doesn't hate Tyranitar/Ferrothorn enough, Focus Blast will do big damge to them considering te amount of times they'll have to switch in to Toed.

Set(s)

Landorus (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naive nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power Ice
- U-Turn

Latios (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Recover
- Calm Mind

gl!

Thanks for the rate. First of all, I am editing changes into the team as I speak. I have replaced Thundurus for SubCM Jirachi. I've tried 'Zone but the ground weakness he adds becomes overpowering. Also, Ferro is OHKOed or easily 2HKOed by 'Croak's CC and ferro is setup fodder for jirachi. Skarm is dented by pretty much everything on this team. This team loves hazards, so also I'm keeping deoxys-S. I will be using CM latios there and 'Toed is scarfed and HP grass is necessary so gastrodon doesn't completely wall me. Ty =)