Rain Team

Hey everyone I'm new to Smogon and was wondering how to make a good rain team. I know it's gonna suck but that's kinda why I'm posting here. I'm willing to adjust my team for any situation as the only Pokemon I really want to keep is Politoed.



Politoed @ Choice Specs
Modest
4HP/252SA/252Spe
Drizzle

Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Focus Blast
Perish Song

The Drizzler. I usually like to lead off with Politoed, and I know a lot of people use it defensively. Choice Scarf gives me reliable speed and could outspeed a lot of things and Hydro Pump is surprisingly powerful, even if it is STAB. Ice Beam is good for taking down Dragons and others that are 4X. Focus Blast is useful against the Tyranitar counter/Normal walls that Choice Scarf help a lot. Perish Song is for those stat annoyers that I can't take out any way else.


Azumarill @ Leftovers
Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/ 4 Spe
Huge Power

Aqua Jet
Waterfall
Return
Focus Punch

The Physical Brute. Man, I love Azumarill's huge Attack stat. Add Waterfall to rain, and you've got yourself a crazy amount of attack power. Aqua Jet is for priority, Waterfall is a boss, Return is for Water-type resisters, Focus Punch is a nice touch I added in to get rid of some of the Steel type stallers out there (I'm looking at you, Ferrothorn xD). But yea, no team is complete without an all-out attacker, and Azumarill is my guy.





Dragonite @ Leftovers
Rash
252 Atk / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Multiscale

Earthquake
Hurricane
ExtremeSpeed
Aqua Tail

The Hurricaner. Dragonite is a great versatile performer, and I can use either physical or special attacks, depending on who I'm facing. Stealth Rock hurts, but STAB Hurricane and the chance of confusion in rain is just golden. Extremespeed for some reason no one sees coming, and an unsuspecting opponent who thinks they can 2KO me will get hit with a surprise. Aqua Tail is great in rain, and I'm debating replacing Earthquake with Thunder or something else but we'll see. I could choice item it instead of running Leftovers too.










Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Sassy
252 HP / 88 D / 168 SD
Iron Barbs

Leech Seed
Stealth Rock
Spikes
Power Whip

Staller/Hazarder. Ferrothorn is useful on this team because Fire is weakened by the rain, and Leech Seed forces many Pokemon to switch, and then I can set up Spikes. Its EVS I feel like are in the right place, and Power Whip is a good move once Spikes/Rocks are set up.



Jirachi @ Leftovers
Modest
252 HP / 252 SA / 4 SpDf
Serene Grace

Wish
Psychic
Thunder
U-Turn

The Healer/Variety Player. Jirachi is a jack-of-all trades right now. He could hit you with 100% accuracy Thunder in rain, could STAB Psychic you and lower your SpD, or could Wish its way out of there with U-Turn. The thing I love most about this Jirachi is that since Jirachis run so many different sets, people would overpredict and think I'm a certain set when I really can do anything.




Conkeldurr @ Leftovers
Brave
252 A / 252 HP / 4 D
Guts

Bulk Up
Drain Punch
Mach Punch
Stone Edge

The Physical Attacker. Bulk Up plus this amount of attack can make Mach Punch even be threatening. The only physical specialist on the team, I feel like I get in trouble sometimes when Conkeldurr gets taken out. Drain Punch is for living through tough scenarios, and many times I find Conkeldurr ending up to be one of my last Pokemon.

Weaknesses:

Ground/Electric type moves
I rely on Rain quite a bit....weather wars are tough
I need more speed but I love everything that's out there...I kinda cheat with priority moves (Extremespeed, Aqua Jet, Mach Punch)


Thanks, please rate, I'm opening to everything :P

hey,

I noticed your team has a pretty serious weakness to Fighting-types in general, not just Conkeldurr but Terrakion and Breloom too. Thundurus-T isn't enough (as you no doubt have noticed) and it gets steam rolled by Terrakion / Breloom when weakened. You can remedy this issue by switching into the grand Flyer himself, Tornadus-T. Not only does Tornadus-T provide with a much needed flying resist, but it's a lightning fast, strong attacker that is just difficult to counter on average.

========================
========================
name: Life Orb
move 1: Hurricane
move 2: Superpower
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Taunt
item: Life Orb
ability: Regenerator
nature: Naive
29 Def IVs:
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
=========================
=========================

This is pretty much your standard special attacking Tornadus-T. Equipped with the ability to reliably beat everything in OU sans Jirachi. You should have no problem dealing with stall with Tornadus-T in tow. Tornadus-T can go over Ferrothorn for reasons which I elaborate on later. It's also your only check to Keldeo who pretty much rolls over this team when given the chance to sweep.

Your team could use more speed, so I recommend switching to Choice Scarf Politoed over Specs. Specs is clutch, but I find that Scarf is more useful for this team. It comes in handy as a secondary revenge killer when Tornadus-T goes down and it covers a bunch of threats on its own (Terrakion, Thundurus-T, etc). Its moveset is up to you, but personally i'm a fan of Hydro Pump / Surf (for those times where you NEED surf to hit) Ice Beam / Perish Song.

Thundurus-T wants Lum Berry over Life Orb. The ability to temporarily dodge status and lack of LO recoil is more useful than the inconsequential boost in power.

I actually think that Jirachi is more valuable for your team than Ferrothorn. It provides your team with a crucial flying resist that allows it to check to Tornadus-T, and its one of the best Dragon-type checks around. If you're in desperate need of a SR user, you should place it on Jirachi.

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Jirachi @ Leftovers
252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder
- Wish
- U-turn
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==============

It's your standard utility Jirachi. It comes in, walls stuff, SRs when it gets the chance and/or wishes and U-turns from there. It's an incredibly easy and simple Pokemon to use that does wonders for your team. I don't see the overwhelming need for Vaporeon to be honest, especially now that you have Wish on Jirachi.

You should use Rotom-W in it's place. It provides your team with a crucial ground resist, Volt Switch (who doesn't love volturn) and is more effective on this team. Vaporeon is too much of a generalist, and while it may be more effective checking "more" threats, it more or less crumbles to some key threats like Landorus (Landorus tears this team apart.)

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===================
Rotom-W @ Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold
-Hydro Pump
-Volt Switch
-Will-o-Wisp
-Pain Split
===================
===================

Rotom-W and Jirachi more or less cover everything Ferrothorn did on its own. If you aren't comfortable with Rotom-W's SpD, you can invest in it (max hp / max SpD calm) to take on threats like Starmie in the rain and Keldeo a little better.

Summary (open) Summary (close)

Ferrothorn ==> Tornadus-T
Change Jirachi's set
Vaporeon == > Rotom-W

And that about covers it. Hope I helped, and good luck :)

Thanks for the help! All comments and suggestions are helpful, and I made some changes on my team because of what you said.

Instead of using Tornadus-T, I ended up running a Mixed-Rain Dragonite. I love its versatility and since a lot of my team is resistant to Ice anyways, its 4x Ice weakness wouldn't be a problem. It also fits into the Rain-Bulky set I have here. I've never been a huge fan of the Life Orb and I didn't really want another Pokemon on my team weak to Electric moves like Thunder and Volt Switch, especially if I'm going to take Ferrothorn out of the roster.

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Rash Nature
- Focus Blast
- Hurricane
- ExtremeSpeed
- Aqua Tail

I did change Choice Specs to Choice Scarf on Politoed. My team doesn't rely too much on speed, but you need a good revenge killer once in a while. I decided to run Focus Blast instead of Surf, mainly because you always need Focus Blast for Tyranitars, etc.

I liked the idea also of taking out Vaporeon and turning Jirachi into a Wisher and a Rocker. It combines the old roles of Ferrothorn and Vaporeon and turns it into a super-bulked Jirachi. Sure I might not have the Calm-Minded Psychic to rely on sometimes but I feel like Jirachi has found its niche.

Rotom-W I'm kinda iffy about. I put him on my team to try him out, but I feel like Pain Split might not do too much even in a pinch, and I have a lot of bulky attackers already on my team. I like the Ground resist, but I already have Dragonite and Thundurus-T. I might just put Ferrothorn back in now that I think about it for Leech Seed, but I'll try this guy out.

Your Dragonite is a good idea. However, if you are going for a drizzle set, I suggest you give it Thunder as well. If you want type coverage, then you should stick with Hurricane. Since your Dragonite happens to hav Multiscale, you could give it Dragon Dance and Roost, if you want. That way, you can use Dragon Dance, take the hit from the opponent easily with Multiscale, then use Roost to restore your health and take less damage with Multiscale again. But it is your choice on how you want to use it, and the Dragonite you are using now is great too.

On specs poli, i wouldnt use persish song as you might not outspeed their sweeper, and get a chance to fire it off. If you do like the perish song then id recomend scarf over specs. 8ut personally id just lose perish song for hidden power grass.
Just a tip

Hey there,

This is a pretty cool rain team, and I am a huge fan of using Azumarill in this metagame. Your team looks pretty solid, but I think a few moveset optimizations could help a lot. Before I go into movesets, I am just a bit confused on whether you are using Choice Scarf or Choice Specs Politoed (comments/OP contradict), if you aren't already, I would recommend switching to a Choice Scarf. Anyways, your Jirachi seems really interesting, but I think running a WishCM set would benefit you a lot more. WishCM still provides wishes that your team can benefit from, but also utilizes the offensive elements that you seem to be attempting with your Jirachi. I also think changing Dragonite's moveset to a different Rain Nite would help a lot. Your current set lacks longevity, and can be heavily neutered by just switching into hazards. Also speed is pretty important on Rain Nites atm, so I would recommend a faster spread. A Life Orb is used to help him hit much harder, but Leftovers can be used if the recoil proves to be too much.

sets (open) sets (close)

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Wish
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Thunder


Dragonite (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 64 Atk / 192 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Aqua Tail / Thunder
- ExtremeSpeed

Also an interesting set to test for Azumarill could be: Substitute / Aqua Jet / Ice Punch / Focus Punch. Its up to your discretion, but I have found the most success with that set while using non-choiced Azumarill's. Anyways cool team and GL!