my rain team

[shadow striker]

Hi everyone this is my ou rain team which is ok but its missing something and that's why i am here.I have tried politoed and to be honest i am not a fan of him. However if he is going to improve my team then i am opened to it :) . But anyway lets meet the team.

The Team​

​

​

​

​

​

Vaporeon @ Leftovers​

Trait: Water Absorb​

EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef​

Modest Nature​

- Hydro Pump​

- Ice Beam​

- Shadow Ball​

- Rain Dance​

​

​

so i basically use vaporeon to set up rain and then hydro pump everything. I have ice beam mainly for dragons . And shadow ball is just a filler move i was considering hidden power [electric].If i do put hidden power electric it might help it last longer but i might take it out completely and go with toxic. The problem i find with him is he does terrible out of the rain and quite frankly might need to be replaced .​

​

Magnezone @ Air Balloon​

Trait: Analytic​

EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef​

Modest Nature​

- Thunder​

- Flash Cannon​

- Tri Attack​

- Hidden Power [Rock]​

​

Magnezone comes in after the rain is up and thunders stuff that forced a switch out on vaporeon. Flash cannon is a good stab move. Tri attack is there for a status effect. hidden power [rock] is another filler move . However i think hidden power [ground] might be more useful in eliminating others that pose a threat to my team such as jolteon. I was also thinking about using thunder wave instead of hidden power [rock] but i dont know how effective it will be ​

​

Toxicroak @ Air Balloon​

Trait: Dry Skin​

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef​

Adamant Nature​

- Drain Punch​

- Ice Punch​

- Sucker Punch​

- ThunderPunch​

​

I am pleased with how easily toxicroak can sweep an entire team when the rains up. Drain punch is a great stab. Sucker punch is for psychics who try to switch in and psychic toxicroak. And thunder punch has its uses as well. I was also considering maybe gunk shot might work better. however i don't think i will use gunk shot that much.Maybe i should use bulk up but i am not sure ​

​

Tornadus (M) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Prankster​

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd​

Timid Nature​

- Rain Dance​

- Taunt​

- Hurricane​

- Focus Blast​

​

Tornadus is usually who i lead with sets up rain. use taunt if necessary and switch out. And whens hes the last one i have i have hurricane and focus blast. Tornadus makes dents with hurricane and focus blast. I was think about maybe u-turn to help him switch out. But maybe i should replace him entirely. ​

Dragonite @ Leftovers​

Trait: Multiscale​

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef​

Gentle Nature​

- Dragon Claw​

- Hurricane​

- ExtremeSpeed​

- Roost​

Dragonite extremes speeds when necessary then pretty much uses dragon claw and then hurricane when needed. And roosts to last longer.I was considering maybe thunder punch to help deal with threats or for things that resit dragon and flying such as skarmory. but i not likening extreme speed so maaybe i should replace it with thunder punch. ​

Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Cursed Body​

EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef​

Calm Nature​

- Shadow Ball​

- Water Spout​

- Will-O-Wisp​

- Recover​

jellicent is a wonderful staller with will-o-wisp and recover.Water sprout for a great stab. and shadow ball is also the stab of choice. i was also thinking about toxic insteead of will-o-wisp and hex instead of shadow ball but i dont think it will be as benifitcal as shadow ball. I am also thinking about scald so then that would elimate the need of will-o-wisp and replace it with toxic ​

The team again​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

[NightArch]

Err, where's politoed?

 

[Magcargo]

Your Descriptions need to be at least three lines long or a mod will lock this thread.

 

[shadow striker]

politoed is a maybe

 

[Yayoi Takatsuki]

But you can't do a rain team without Politoed... Or at least, with Tornadus.
If you mind me, I would suggest you switching Jellicent with Politoed (any variant found on Smogon).
Plus, give tailwind to Tornadus instead of Rain dance. Doing so, Magnezone will be able to recover on its slow speed. If you want a fast choice scarf opt for a modest Magneton. Plus, replace HP rock with HP ice. Which will hit dragons, grass and ground types, which will give Magnezone/Magneton a lot of trouble (especially Garchomp) About Toxicroak... Why did you give him the air balloon and not the leftovers/Black sludge/Life orb. With those, he'll perform even better. Also, I highly suggest you to change Vaporeon with Starmie. Doing so, you'll have a wonderful sweeper that can damage a lot of threats. Oh, and blew away Stealth rocks.
tl;dr:
Politoed > Jellicent
Tornadus: Tailwind > Rain dance
Magneton > Magnezone // Choice scarf, choice specs (if using tailwind on Tornadus), HP ice
Starmie > Vaporeon
Toxicroak > Black sludge/Life orb/Leftovers

 

[Stone Alchemist]

There's really no reason to run move-induced rain if you're not using Swift Swimmers. Having rain on the switch and having it permanent is far superior than wasting a turn setting it up and only having it last 5 turns. I suggest replacing either Jellicent or Vaporeon on your team for a Politoed (preferably a defensive one, seeing how much your team relies on the rain. Defensive Politoed is actually quite the annoying Pokemon when you play it right, and the ability to set up permanent rain is invaluable for your team. This or you could replace Vaporeon/Jellicent for Kabutops/Kingdra... But the lack of permanent rain arises again, especially against other weathers. As you said before, Vaporeon really is quite useless on your team.

The only reason for Magnezone's placement on a team is to trap pesky Steel types and kill them. Therefore, Magnet Pull outclasses Analytic. With the note that you lack a scarfer on your team, you should replace your current set with a Choice Scarf set with HP Fire. This helps eliminate Steel types, get surprise kills on certain Pokemon, and overall help you loads.

Your Dragonite set works, but I just need to elaborate on it. Extremespeed doesn't help it much because it's a specially defensive set. Because this IS a rain team and Extremespeed is pretty useless, I suggest changing it to Thunder to take full advantage of the rain, and kill of Skarmory's looking to wall you. Also, Dragon Tail or Dragon Claw to force away bad matchups and help Dragonite stall out a shitload of threats.

I'll write more later since I have buisness to attend to.
~Hugo

 

[shadow striker]

My up dated team

Kingdra @ Leftovers
Trait: Sniper
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Dragon Dance

Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Encore

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Dragon Pulse
- Roost

Toxicroak @ Black Sludge
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Sucker Punch
- ThunderPunch

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Wave
- Hydro Pump

 

[Goddess Briyella]

Hi shadow striker!

This is a pretty cool Rain team you have here, but there are a few suggestions I'd like to add which should help your team improve. Firstly, I'm glad you added Politoed to your team as part of your update. Although you were iffy about using it, let me assure you that OU Rain without the enormous benefit of having Drizzle should be a crime. You get several positives from it, and the only reason you wouldn't run Politoed is if you're going to try running manual rain (Rain Dance, Damp Rock) with Swift Swimmers such as Kabutops and Ludicolo, and even then, Drizzle is more widely beneficial in most cases. You don't have to use up a turn to get rain up, and you don't have to keep using turns to restore it after its 5-8 turns are up. So now I'm going to look at points that I feel should be made in regards to your updated team, and I will list suggestions for improvements so that you may try them out.

First of all, Kingdra. There is no need to run Dragon Dance on a Modest specially offensive set. Your current set has no physical moves and therefore can do nothing with the Attack boosts granted by Dragon Dance. Also, Kingdra is outclassed by other mons in OU even despite its lack of weaknesses. I would like to suggest replacing this with Gyarados, so that you can perform a setup sweeping role in Rain while also being able to more easily deal with key OU threats such as Scizor and Volcarona. The set I'd like to recommend for this is as follows:

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 88 HP / 248 Atk / 4 Def / 168 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Bounce
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance

Next, I'd like to note that Toxicroak's consistent healing through both Black Sludge/Leftovers and Dry Skin in Rain should be taken advantage of by utilizing a set that contains a Substitute and conservative setup. Also, while Black Sludge sounds like a good idea since Toxicroak is a Poison type, there is an important circumstance that can be avoided by running Leftovers instead. You might be thinking that a Trick user will find itself punished for using Trick and thereby gaining Black Sludge as a hurtful held item. But if you look at the bigger picture, it gives the Trick user a means of crippling one of your other Pokemon later in the game and this can be capitalized on, to your disadvantage. Having your Leftovers replaced with a Choice item is a lot easier to deal with than obtaining a Choice item and ALSO having another of your mons deprived of their preferred item and now crippled with one that hurts them every turn. For these reasons, I'm suggesting that Black Sludge be replaced with Leftovers and also I have in mind a set that will help take advantage of Toxicroak's typing and multiple sources of recovery, and it is as follows:

Toxicroak @ Leftovers
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 244 HP / 132 Atk / 120 Def / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Substitute

Magnezone stuck out to me the moment I looked at the team. Running Thunderbolt instead of Thunder, and running HP Fire, while on a Rain team, are not the best of ideas. It won't be doing its job of trapping Steels to kill them with HP Fire very well while its own team provides a weather that cuts Fire damage. It's not a bad idea as a Scarfed Volt Switch pivot, but it would want HP Ice and Thunder for this team. However, I would like to suggest running a less offensive, more supportive pivot that can also function in Rain. I also noticed this team does not carry Stealth Rock, and in the fast paced offense-driven OU metagame, it's very ideal to have. With these thoughts in consideration, I recommend replacing Magnezone with Jirachi, and the set I have in mind for it is as follows:

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 236 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Thunder
- Wish
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock

Tentacruel is a great support mon for a Rain team that is very resilient and hard to take down. As such, I would like to suggest we give it an EV spread that appropriately reflects this attribute. 252 Special Attack and 252 Speed really hampers what could potentially be the most notable and annoyingly good bulk on the team. Also, going back to my point about Black Sludge, I recommend swapping the held item to Leftovers for my aforementioned reasons. Having Poison STAB via Sludge Wave may seem like a good idea, but really, it's not going to be useful for hitting much. Even Ice Beam is better for the coverage it provides. But I would like to recommend we take out Sludge Wave for Knock Off, to have the ability to remove the foe's held item entirely, which adds to the overall support of the team. Also, I would like to recommend replacing Hydro Pump with Scald, as the sheer utility of the move, and its generous 30% Burn rate, will often be a lot more useful on a support mon like Tentacruel than a powerful attack with a shaky accuracy. The new set I have in mind is as follows:

Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spd
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin


I find Politoed and Dragonite pretty okay for this particular team. You might swap Politoed's Encore for Perish Song, to screw setup sweepers and Baton Pass chains, but that's up to you. Well, I hope you find my suggestions helpful or at least thought-provoking! I wish you luck with your team! ^_^

 

[shadow striker]

hi Goddess Briyella I have been so busy this past week but I have some free time now I will test your suggestions and come back with an updated list.