OU Rain Team (new player)

[itnku]

Hi, so I just recently started playing competitively (after watching famous youtubers for months) and I decided to try starting out with a rain team. I've tested this team out for a couple of hours and won about 60% of the games but I was wondering if I could get any tips to improve it.

-Edit- I have moved the description of my original team to the bottom of this post.

My current team:

Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
-Scald
-Perish Song (replaced Protect)
-Encore
-Toxic

Originally used a Specs Politoed but I really like how well defensive Politoed can take hits (took an Electivire Thunderpunch very well late in a game to weaken it enough for a late game sweep). In the few test games I've played, Encore has already saved me against setup sweepers (SD Scizor, BU Toxicroak) and against annoyers (Prankster Sableye and Whimsicott). Toxic also gives me a better way to deal with walls and sweeps.

I recently replaced Protect with Perish Song to end potential sweeps since Protect isn't as useful on Politoed as it is on Tentacruel. Unfortunately, my Politoed, Keldeo, and Tentacruel are now completely walled by Jellicent...

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Hydro Pump
-Secret Sword
-Surf
-HP Ice

Not much to be said here. Keldeo is my primary rain abuser. Used to be my setup rain sweeper but became my scarfer after replacing scarf Latios with E-belt Thunderus-T.

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Icicle Spear
-Ice Shard
-Earthquake
-Superpower

Jolly to outspeed Jolly max speed Breloom. Picked Mamoswine over Scizor, Breloom, Donphan, Infernape for stab ice priority. Also picked Mamoswine over Weavile for better bulk (also in Thick Fat) and typing (electric immunity).

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
-Stealth Rock
-Leech Seed
-Power Whip
-Thunder Wave

Picked over Forretress for more reliable recovery, T-wave (which I tend to use a lot), Iron Barbs (for spinners and physical attackers), and for more rounded defenses.

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 248 HP /244 Def / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
-Rapid Spin
-Scald
-Toxic Spikes
-Protect

Love how annoying Tentacruel is in the rain. Also makes an excellent defensive core with Ferrothorn. Has toxic spikes to weaken opposing mons for a sweep or to cripple walls. Also survives well to spin away late game hazards.

Thunderus-T @ Expert Belt
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
-Thunder
-HP Ice (maybe looking for something else... Keldeo has it and I have Mamoswine)
-Superpower
-U-Turn

Provides excellent coverage, good use of rain, and also gives me a scout. Also deals with Celebi and Tyranitar. Superpower over Grass Knot since I have multiple ways of dealing with bulky waters (Gastrodon, Jellicent).

HP Ice gives good coverage but I already have it on scarf Keldeo (which has a better chance of surviving of outspeeding or surviving an attack) and I already have Mamoswine so I feel as if I should find something better?

My original team:

Hide

I've had a bit of trouble with sun teams and Jellicent (HP grass on Politoed doesn't help much). I also realize that I have a big weakness to electric attacks. I also find that I get easily swept by anything that is faster than my scarfed Latios (ex: chloryphyll users, mons after setting up a few times, focus sash sweepers) so maybe I need a phazer? (or maybe I just need more practice playing the game) Any tips for changes are appreciated.

Politoed @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252HP / 4Def / 252SpA
Modest Nature
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Focus Blast
-HP Grass

Of course for drizzle. Specs Hydro Pump in the rain does amazing things and HP grass over surf to help handle bulky waters (not as effective as I thought). I've considered doing a more defensive Politoed but I'm really impressed by how hard it hits.

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4HP / 252SpA / 252Spe
Timid Nature
-Calm Mind
-Hydro Pump
-Secret Sword
-Substitute

Chose Keldeo to be the rain abuser. At the moment he's completely walled by Jellicent so maybe I should swap substitute for HP Ghost?

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Icicle Crash
-Ice Shard
-Earthquake
-Superpower

I chose Mamoswine over Breloom and Scizor because of ice priority. Picked over Weavile because of electric immunity and slightly better bulk. Picked over Donphan for stab ice shard. Should I go Icicle Spear over Icicle Crash? Getting through a sub would be really handy for this team (no U-turn or Volt Switch users).

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
-Stealth Rock
-Leech Seed
-Power Whip
-Thunder Wave

Really difficult decision between Ferrothorn and Forretress because Forretress had rapid spin but ended up choosing Ferrothorn because of more rounded defences, Leech Seed recovery and T-wave which I've used a lot to cripple mons early-game (I often T-wave first so that I'm essentially guaranteed stealth rocks or leech seed next turn).

I find Ferrothorn gets targeted by Trick a lot (which is annoying) but not sure if anything can be done about it...

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 248 HP /244 Def / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
-Rapid Spin
-Scald
-Toxic Spikes
-Protect

I like the Ferrothorn-Tentacruel defensive core, and Tentacruel provides rapid spinning and toxic spikes for walls, and residual damage for late game sweeps.

Latios @ Choice Scarf
EVs: 252 SpA /4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Draco
Psyshock
Surf
Trick

I thought Latios would be a good revenge killer and has a handful of resistances. Also packs a harder punch than its sister. So far, he seems to net most of my KOs and I've found him to be especially useful in the late-game. I also find I don't use trick that much because I'm afraid of losing his scarf capabilities near end-game but I keep thinking that it will be useful in the future.

 

[ZeroTheEmperor]

1. You said that HP grass on politoed doesn't help much, so why bother putting it there? Seeing how you already have 3 attackers (excluding Politoed), I think you might want to run another variant of Politoed. I think running a Defensive Politoed is more practical in this team. You'll want to keep Politoed alive as long as possible in this current metagame.

2. Keldeo with Max SpA Ev's using HP Ghost on Jellicent with Zero SpD EV's is gonna be a 3OHKO.

3.Put Toxic on the Defensive Politoed that I mentioned earlier OR replace a Poke with Rotom-W. Either of them will check Jellicent

4. If you decided to put Rotom-W on there then keep Icicle Crash, otherwise switch to Spear.

5. The only way to counter trick is by pretecting, keep Ferrothorn like that.

6.Latios should keep trick to break Setup Sweepers/ Walls. But if you have toxic on Politoed, you may want to give him Thunderbolt over Trick.

 

[Soulfly]

Hey there, nice team!
I think this team could struggle with technician breloom. Your only check is latios and you'll most likely switch him in to the spore. Since breloom is so powerfull i tend to give my latios sleep talk as a last move, this absolutely ruins a breloom. Right now you could probably live trough his boosted bullet seed for a turn or two but you never know when you wake up. Also since you said yourself that latios gets most of the KO's in your team, you wouldnt want him to be weakened too much by sitting trough a sleep session.

As mentioned above i would also switch politoed to a bulky variant. With encore you can create many oportunities for keldeo to switch in and set up. This will also partially solve your sun problems because you'll have a better chance at winning the weather wars.

As for your 'Electricity weakness', i wouldn't see it as a problem since you have 1 immunity and 2 resists to it aswell.

Here you'll find the sets that i used.
(I also suggest formatting your sets like mine seeing as the abilities of your pokemon arent showing at the moment except on tentacruel.)

sets

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

Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sleep Talk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf/HP fire

 

[ShootingStarmie]

Hi there, so I'm here to rate your team! By the looks of it, this is a pretty offensive rain team utilizing the Ferrothorn + Tentacruel core, which is near unbreakable in rain. However, I feel I have a few suggestions to make your team slightly better.

So my first suggestion is to change Keldeo to Choice Scarf. Keldeo is a great revenge killer and late game sweeper in the rain, and I feel it's a much better option for your rather offensive team. Here's the set.

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]

So with Keldeo you want max speed and max special attack. A Timid nature is used to allow you to revenge kill Salamence, Thundurus-T, and speed tie with opposing Keldeo and Terrakion. Surf is Keldeo's STAB and hits very hard with rain boosting it's power. It's your main option as with Spikes and SR, you probably won't need to power from Hydro Pump, as Surf is much more consistent in accuracy. Secret Sword is your second form or STAB, and allows Keldeo to be one of the few special attackers to get past Blissey, Ferrothorn, and Tyranitar. Hydro Pump is used for when you need to extra power to net a KO, but Surf is generally the better option if you don't need it. Finally HP Ice is coverage, and allows you to revenge kill sweepers like Dragonite, Salamence, and other Dragon types.


So my first suggestion is to change Latios to Garchomp. I feel like you lack a way to hit Jellicent for solid damage, and Keldeo really appreciates Garchomp's wall breaking capabilities. Here's the set.

Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Aqua Tail

So Garchomp is used mainly to wall break, enabling Keldeo to sweep late game. Garchomp wears down Rotom-W, Jellicent, and other Keldeo checks. So you're going to want to use Jolly nature to out speed Thundurus-T, Salamence, and Hydreigon, while the rest of the EVs are dumped into attack. Swords Dance boosts your attack to great levels, allowing you to easily wall break. Outrage is STAB and hit's extremely hard at +2. Earthquake is also STAB and offers coverage with Outrage, hitting Steel types that resist Outrage, like Jirachi, Heatran, and Scizor. Finally, Aqua Tail is used to hit Skarmory and Bronzong, both of which resist your STAB attacks. It's boosted by the rain, which is why I think it's the best option for you.

A few small nitpicks. Ferrothorn should be running a spread of 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SDef. It's a much better spread for Ferrothorn. Politoed could run Toxic over HP Grass to nail Jellicent on the switch, as you don't seen weak to Gastrodon with Ferrothorn around. You could also change your Tentacruel set so Toxic Spikes / Protect > Substitute / Toxic. This lures in Jellicent and beats it one on one, and Toxic Spikes aren't great in the metagame at the moment.

Other than that, I think this is a solid team. Good luck in the future and congrats on making a cool team.

 

[ogasian]

Anyway, since most of the major things have been covered by the oher raters, I only have a few nitpicks. First, change Mamoswines nature to Jolly. It allows you to outspeed JollyLoom and OHKO with Ice Shard. Also, use Icicle Spear over Icicle Crash. Destroying subs is IMO pretty useful in this meta. Another thing you might want to consider is to use E-Belt Thunderus T over Latios. It destroys both Celebi and Jellicent, two of Keldeo's biggest counters. It also checks SD Toxicroak, a big threat to your team.

Thunderus T@Expert Belt
Trait: Volt Absorb
252 spattck/252 speed/4 attck
Naive

Thunder/Thunderbolt
Hidden Power Ice
Superpower/Grass Knot
U-Turn

Yes. The all powerful E-Belt Thundurus T. Be careful not to reveal U turn too early against teams with Celebi tho, as they will be wary of switching in. Thunder breaks down walls not named Ferrothorn, and Hp Ice is just for pesky dragons. Grass Knot can be used to take down Gastrodon and Hippowdon, but Superpower can OHKO Tyrantitar and dent Ferro.

Yeah definiely give Keldeo a Scarf and cahnge it to SS's set.

Edit: gl witht he team!

 

[itnku]

ZeroTheEmperor
Thanks for your help. I'll swap out HP Ghost probably for HP Bug. I think I'll also try a defensive Politoed. I considered Rotom-W as well but I have no idea who I'd take out for it. I'll try more games without swapping mons for now.

Soulfly
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try sleep talk on Latios if I don't like Thunderus. In the past what I used to do with spore users is let Ferro go to sleep and just spam T-Waves to cripple whoever tries to set up. So far it has worked fine but the issue with that is that I end up having no mons sleeping again, allowing for pokemon to be spored later in the game.

ShootinStarmie
Thanks for your input. The reason why I picked Latios over Keldeo as my Scarfer is because of his slightly higher speed, allowing me to switch in and reliably OHKO the 108 Speed class (that Keldeo is a part of). I also feel that I can more reliably get off a kill with a Scarfed Draco as opposed to a Hydro Pump due to Draco's better accuracy and higher power outside of rain (especially with all the weather teams around). But I'll try scarfed Keldeo out.

Garchomp is excellent too but I think Thunderus will provide me with more coverage. I may try Garchomp out in the future if I don't like Thunderus (Garchomp does give me a good way to threaten both Ninetails and Tyranitar).

I considered that Ferrothorn spread but I really wanted him to be able to take more physical hits too since I don't really have anyone else to take multiple Outrages. Do I really lose much Def with that spread? Cause if the difference isn't that big, I may try switching it up.

I don't want Tentacruel to be shut down by Taunt and I like Scald's chance of a burn (especially since no one keeps their Ferrothorn in on my Keldeo so Tentacruel is usually my best way to cripple it).

ogasian
Thanks for your suggestions. Jolly sounds good but I don't like losing power against Dragonite and Garchomp who switch into SR at full health. I will try it out for now that. Also, I think I'll also try the Thunderus although I don't like how LO Mamoswine has almost guaranteed OHKO after SR. Thunderus is also slightly lacking in the speed area IMO.

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[itnku]

*changed Protect on Politoed to Perish Song to end sweeps or force walls out*

I find I have some trouble with Chlorophyll Venusaurs and Bronzong. I also find that Thunderus is quite frail (useful but can't take hits nor too many SR switch-ins. I've been considering swapping him out for Landorus-T. I like the immunity to electric and ground (EQ from Bronzong), intimidate, non-weakness to SR. He can also consistently dent physical walls better (Superpower just doesn't cut it with the ATK drop) and also gives me a setup sweeper (which I currently don't have). Another huge advantage is that I get someone who threatens Ninetails and T-tar. Landorus-T is also bulkier and not weak to Mach Punch or Bullet Punch (and with intimidate, can take hits/force Pokemon out unlike Thunderus-T)

What are your thoughts on this, cause I don't like the drop in speed...

I've been thinking of a possible moveset:
-Rock Polish: main purpose is to have someone to threaten sun team Venusaurs. Landorus-T is slightly bulkier than Thunderus-T and can take a hit (assuming no SpA boosts), then get off a Rock Polish and hit with EQ
-EQ & Stone Edge for damage
-Swords Dance/U-Turn: SD for double boosting and more options when setting up, U-turn for scouting which Thunderus did so well (I often led with him over Poli or Ferro since it was usually the safest)

Also what should I run for speed EVs? I'm leaning more towards the investment for a double booster. That means 208 which outspeeds sun Venusaur at +2 but that's assuming that the Venusaur is only running 180. Does sun Venusaur ever run max speed?

 

[itnku]

Bump

I've been playing with just Thunderus and he's netted a few KOs but I'm still wondering if Landorus will help me out more.