OU Balanced Rain Team

[SaveMeJebus]

This is my OU balanced rain team. It is the only team I use in the Smogon ladder and I feel I do decent with it. I am currently in the top 40 with this team (which isn't saying much since the ladders got reset). I built this team around Heracross since he's my favorite Pokemon in the game and I always felt like he was very underrated in B/W. If you guys have any ideas or tips on how to improve my team, I would like to hear them.

Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Toxic
- Perish Song

I use Politoed for the same reason almost everybody uses Politoed. To set up rain. This does three things for my team. It gets rid of other weather, It lowers the amount of super effective damage my bug type pokemon receive and it makes my Rotom's Thunder 100% accurate. The set, stats and nature were chosen because I felt it was the set that would work best for my team. I needed an extra pokemon with bulk since my Donphan is running a more offensive set. This Politoed is a good emergency counter to Gyarados if my Rotom faints and does pretty well against Ninetails and Tyranitar.

Donphan (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 84 Def / 172 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin

Sets up stealth rock, Rapid spins, revenge kills weakened dragons and destroys stuff with Earthquake. This guy does so much for my team. Sturdy is such a great ability and when paired with Blissey's Wish, it makes it impossible to 2HKO him on the switch without the aid of entry hazards. With these stats, he outruns certain pokemon that might give him trouble and gets some surprise KOs on players who think that their pokemon can outrun him.

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Icy Wind

A lot of people may think this is a weird set for Blissey, but it works. There aren't enough slots in my team for a wish passer and a healer so I chose to give Blissey both attacks. Icy Wind is there for pokemon who think that Blissey means a free set up. After one Icy wind, most Pokemon have to switch if I safely switch in Heracross or Scizor and thanks to Wish, switching becomes a lot safer.

Heracross (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk

Heracross is so awesome! With proper prediction, very few Pokemon can safely switch into His insanely powerful attacks. Most teams only carry one Heracross counter and some teams don't even carry a counter at all. This means that every time you safely switch Heracross into an unprepared team, something is going to get knocked out. Heracross is also a great status absorber and with sleep talk, becomes a great Breloom check.

Scizor (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Technician
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Atk / 16 SDef / 16 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

This is a great Scizor set. I can't even count the amount of surprise KOs I've gotten with it. This set destroys many Pokemon that would otherwise counter it's more popular sets. This is because it does such a good job at disguising itself as choice band Scizor. However this set does come with the downside of doing significantly less damage than the choice band set (especially if the attacks are not super effective). Also, half of the famous Volt-Turn strategy.

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Trick

The other half of the famous Volt-Turn strategy. This guy is mostly just here to spam his thunder attacks, boosted Hydro Pumps and mess up Pokemon with Trick. Thunder is there to destroy Jellicent since it causes my team a lot of problems. If there is no need to use trick, it does a great job at sweeping in the late game.

My team has problems with the SkarmBliss+Jellicent combo. Other than that, I don't seem to have many problems. So, that's my team. Hope to hear from you guys and hope to see you in the ladder.

 

[KorKonT]

Some of your descriptions could use a little more thorough explanation, but that's my only complaint.
-This team will have a severely hard time with sun teams. The reason is its critical weaknesses to both grass and fire. If your own weather isn't kept up, you could have severe issues with it. For example, a Pokemon that could easily sweep would be Sawsbuck. Sawsbuck has the ability to KO Blissey, Rotom-W, Politoed, Heracross, and Donphan if left unattended.
-Countering Breloom with Sleep Talk is hardly viable, as it wastes a move slot. My recommendation is simply to switch when it puts one to sleep, or to add a viable taunter to the team. Breloom isn't terribly fast, so it shouldn't be too bad.
-Donphan isn't terribly viable in the current OU metagame. I would suggest using Toxic Spikes Tentacruel, especially because this is a rain team. It would really help.
-Blissey has lost some of its luster over the years, too. While still a pretty nice wall, it doesn't seem to suit this team. I would suggest a Rain Abusing Tornadus set to take an offensive rain role on the team. Just make sure you use Hidden Power Ice over Rain Dance if using the Smogon set.

Hope I helped!

 

[SaveMeJebus]

Most sun teams won't get passed Blissey and Politoed. Grass is pretty much covered by Scizor and Heracross. Sawsbuck can pose a threat, Heracross can beat it if he switches in safely. There are no other real options for Heracross's 4th slot other than sleep talk and without Sleep talk, breloom gives this team trouble.

 

[KorKonT]

Most sun teams won't get passed Blissey and Politoed. Grass is pretty much covered by Scizor and Heracross. Sawsbuck can pose a threat, Heracross can beat it if he switches in safely. There are no other real options for Heracross's 4th slot other than sleep talk and without Sleep talk, breloom gives this team trouble.

Breloom shouldn't give this team trouble, as it is very uncommon to see in the current metagame. I would put Pursuit in the Sleep Talk slot on Heracross. Also, Heracross is NOT a good counter to Sawsbuck, due to its ability; Chlorophyll. Even outside of Sun, a Jolly Sawsbuck will outpace your current Heracross. Sawsbuck is often seen using Swords Dance and a Choice Band/scarf, further showing its danger to the team. It's a threat that should not be underestimated. Another thing is that Blissey won't have any affect on a proper Sun team due to them often having Dragonite, Volcarona, and others on them. This doesn't even include stalling teams.

Food for thought.

 

[SaveMeJebus]

From what I've seen, Breloom is much more common than Sawsbuck. Who would you recommend as a Sawsbuck counter? Also, I feel that locking heracross onto pursuit is a very bad idea.

 

[KorKonT]

From what I've seen, Breloom is much more common than Sawsbuck. Who would you recommend as a Sawsbuck counter? Also, I feel that locking heracross onto pursuit is a very bad idea.

Well, Sawsbuck is the most common physical sun attacker, so basically its just a 'just in case warning'. Breloom also, once again, shouldn't really be that big of an issue. I know spore's annoying, but the best thing to do is to just let it get its spore out, and switch to something that can kill it(just pray it isn't a subpunch).

The most basic way to handle Sawsbuck and Breloom is simply priority. Find somewhere to put say, something with Mach Punch or Extremespeed and it should help a bunch. Proper entry hazards and phazing could help too.

 

[SaveMeJebus]

Well, Sawsbuck is the most common physical sun attacker, so basically its just a 'just in case warning'. Breloom also, once again, shouldn't really be that big of an issue. I know spore's annoying, but the best thing to do is to just let it get its spore out, and switch to something that can kill it(just pray it isn't a subpunch).

The most basic way to handle Sawsbuck and Breloom is simply priority. Find somewhere to put say, something with Mach Punch or Extremespeed and it should help a bunch. Proper entry hazards and phazing could help too.

Donphan has Ice Shard and I have Scizor to finish it off

 

[KorKonT]

Yeah, that is true. It looks like you are all set in that department, then.
Hope I was of at least a little help! =)
PS: Locking Heracross into Pursuit won't be too bad if you use it at the right time. For example, if a Starmie comes in to spin away your entry hazards, you can lock it in for an easy kill. This doesn't always work, as many psychics will be able to kill Heracross before it has the chance. But, it covers more threats than just Breloom, so in my opinion it would be worth it.

 

[labarith]

Why Blissey over Chansey?

Icy wind is interesting, but I can't help but think that they'll hit your counter on your switch in, and then switch out if need be then.

Also, Icy Wind pretty much means that Chansey will never be killing much of anything ever.

 

[SaveMeJebus]

If the opponent switches out after boosting a few times, then Icy wind would have done its job

 

[ganj4lF]

Hi. Your team seems weak to Keldeo, especially Specs, but also CM versions. Specs can 2HKO everything with the correct move (Rotom-W is OHKO'd by Specs Rain Hydro Pump), and CM can get a +1 on something, then achieve the exact same 2HKos of the Specs versions, however not even being OHKO'd by Thunder from Rotom-W (max 99% after a CM). Even SpecsToed can be quite threatening, since after some residual damage, Blissey becomes unable to reliably handle it, and must rely on Hydro Pump misses or something like this. I know that you love Heracross, I like it myself, but it looks like the weakest link here; I tried messing with your Donphan / Blissey core to avoid replacing it, but didn't get anything satisfying. So my suggestion is to remove Heracross and use a Life Orb Latias. LO Latias is a great offensive pivot, can take Water, Fighting, Electric attacks from Keldeo with ease and KO it with Psyshock. It also retains the same role of Heracross, namely Breloom check and wallbreaker (sorta). It even carries reliable recovery to compensate LO recoil and, although it requires careful prediction, can kill or severely damage all the SkarmBlissCent core that troubles you so much (Skarmory dies to Surf, Blissey has a good chance to be 2HKO'd by Psyshock, and Jellicent is almost always OHKO'd by Psyshock + Draco Meteor).

Latias

Latias @ Life Orb | Levitate
Timid | 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Roost

Now, on the rest of your team.

I dislike your Blissey set - any Substitute user is free to set up on it, switching into a predicted anything but Icy Wind, and then proceed to Sub and start boosting (yeah, I'm thinking about SubCM Jirachi, but heck even Terrakion has a Sub bulky enough to not be destroyed by TWO of them most of the times. Not that you want to stay in on Terrakion, but I guess you got the point). I suggest changing the moveset to Seismic Toss | Thunder Wave | Wish | Protect. Blissey is a status abosrber by itself, so Heal Bell is redundant as long as you outsmart your opponent while it tries to Spore something, and Thunder Wave is infinitely more useful than Icy Wind, permanently crippling sweepers like Venusaur, Terrakion, and the likes. I also suggest a 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD Calm spread, which is better to take powerful Water attacks while retaining almost all of the physical tankiness, thanks to Blissey's huge HP stat.

I'd also suggest a bulkier spread for Donphan. I used 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def in the past and I always liked it. Although it's kinda bashed upon these days, I still believe it can work quite well, especially since your Politoed already covers the role of physical "tank". If you're trying to outspeed something particular, would you mind sharing what you're trying to outrun?

On Politoed, HP Electric is pitifully weak and not worth the moveslot IMHO. You have two great moves for that slot in Protect and Refresh. Choose the one that best suits your playstyle (Refresh would be my favourite to be honest, but I used Protect for months and never disliked that, too). Using Rest and a Chesto Berry is an alternative, too, and makes your Toed a mini-Status absorber, although it feels a bit redundant if you have a Wish passer.

Also, another thing I would think about is to use Swords Dance and a Iron Plate somewhere on your Scizor. Right now, you completely lack set-up sweepers, and that may be a problem if you're required to go past sturdy pokes like Gliscor or Lando-T. However, I see what you're trying to achieve with your current set, and SD Scizor can't really obtain that effect, so I'm not suggesting that precise change, just suggest you to think about it.

Hope I helped somewhat, good luck.