Rain Warriors

[Elite 4 John]

Hey smogon community i bring ya a Rain Team i built and test about a week ago.As always hope u guys like it and Heres the rain Team I built.

TrollAndToad (Politoed) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Now dis is probably the heart and soul of any rain team outside of ubers.At first u might think politoed has crappy stats.Well its stats are workable but arent the best.I have a scarf toed cuz nobody expects it.I run surf over hydro pump cuz i hate missing.HP Grass 4 gastro and quagsire,Ice beam 4 coverage against dragons and focus blast 4 stuff like ferro.Its a decent set i think but u guys are the one who shud judge it cuz i just buily dis team a week ago

Windfall (Tornadus) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Psychic

Tornadus is a big threat in rain.With STAB Hurricane it hits like a truck and with specs well something dies.Focus blast 4 steel types,hp ice 4 lando and mence and psychic just 4 the heck of it.I prefer dis guy over dnite cuz of the speed and the sp attacking stat and the speed in general are a lot better dan dnite.Though i considered dnite 4 dis team a lot but since tornadus needs some love so why not put it in the team.And it has worked very very well

StripTease (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip

Now 4 the tank.Ferro is in my opinion one the best tanks in ou.It has decent hp 4 a tank and great defenses and very handy attack stat.This ferro does his job very well by settin up rocks and spikes,sapping the hp of my opponents and a powerful STAB Power Whip 2 eat gastro alive.Also gliscor fans ferro will wall u 2 the death really badly and plus ferro can easily take a fire hit in rain despite it bein 4x weak
2 fire

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

Well u though tornadus was a big threat already.Well keldeo is great in rian i have specs on it 2 ensure a ko.Hydro Pump 2 annihilate something,secret sword 2 hit blissey hard,hp ice 4 mence and garchomp and surf just in case.Its timid 2 ensure i outspeed terrakion and stuff with 100+ speed like terrakion,other keldeos,garchomp,salamence,starmie(if not speed ev'ed)etc.Keldeo actually got 2 be a suspect but thank god they didnt ban him otherwise i needed 2 run starmie

Koblenz (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Rotom always tend 2 be defensive but i wanted 2 try out and offensive one.Hydro Pump and Volt Switch are standard,thunder 2 abuse the rain and hp grass 4 the rather pesky gastrodon.Also i think rotom is a great poke in rain with lefties so it can hit and run but i considered scarfing my rotom.

Nipples (Toxicroak) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch

Toxicroak is beast.Dry skin+black sludge is 18% perecnt recovery after turns.Wow!!.Well I thought sub bulk up would work very well with dry skin along with drain punch 4 addicional hp recovery and sucker punch 2 hit lati@s in the face.Think dis set is solid but u guys are my judges so yeah.

So hope u guys like the team and if u have any suggestions or new ideas 2 make the team better.Just post it below.This team i think its decent if not flawless but i think its up 2 u guys.

 

[Sayonara]

I think you're pretty weak to stuff like Celebi, it pretty much walls every member of your team, aside from Tornadus, and since you have like 3 Choice users it will just constantly force you out. Without a Rapid Spin user, Tornadus gets a few switch-ins if Stealth Rock is up on your side and then dies, making it rather ineffective in a metagame where hazards are omnipresent. I don't really think you need a Choice Specs on Keldeo, since Politoed is already going to be spamming Choiced Hydro Pumps and Tornadus has Choice Specs already. I'd go with Expert Belt and give Hidden Power [Bug] a shot over Hidden Power [Ice] on Keldeo. With this, you can bluff the Choice set, as the opponent will be pretty sure you're Choiced if it sees you don't have Life Orb or Leftovers, then the Celebi thinking it's safe after you use Hydro Pump will be OHKO'd by Hidden Power [Bug], removing a big threat to your team. I also think that Tornadus is kind of useless, since you're not running a Rapid Spin user and you're pretty weak to Terrakion, as it just spams Close Combat or Stone Edge and you lose. So, I'd replace Tornadus by Landorus-T, with a moveset of Stealth Rock / Earthquake / Stone Edge / U-Turn, an EV spread of 200 HP / 64 Atk / 244 Def, with Leftovers and an Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA). By giving your offensive pivot Landorus-T Stealth Rock, it frees up a moveslot on Ferrothorn, so I'd replace Ferrothorn's Stealth Rock in favor of Protect, a useful move to stall with Leech Seed and scout, while getting a bit of Leftovers recovery by simply using it. Landorus-T gives you a useful Fight-resist that helps you deal with stuff like Terrakion, Scizor and others because of Intimidate, and U-Turn lets you pressure Celebi into switching as it fears the move and can't really do much to Landorus-T and Earthquake and Stone Edge are powerful useful coverage moves! Good luck, hope this helps.

 

[MrChar]

Hey John, I'm watching your team, and at first glance, I would say that there may be a bit of things to change.
Would start from the fact that I see a little weak Thundurus (especially with the presence of Hazard) I advise you to Change Toxi with a Latios that I will post below.
In addition you should put Perish Song> Hidden Power of Politoed see it as a better choice. Then I would put U-turn> Hidden power, and Rain Dance (really useful, if predict against other weather), (or Sleep Talk if you believe that Breloom bother you) on Tornadus (right these days I'm delving into Tornadus as treath). Moving on I'd say Gyro ball on leach seed in Ferrothorn (but this is at your discretion). Keldeo would see much better scarfer under rain is still high damage. ll set rotom I do not like you, I post another, try it and let me know, with TW is that you could help with the sweep.
Finally, as mentioned would replace Toxi with Latios.
To finish I would recommend you try the changes you advice and let me know, certainly Latios and Ferrothorn are a good combination, and the various Hazard placed by this pixel will help with the sweep more broadly. Good luck.

Hide

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf / Thunder
- Recover

Tornadus (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- U-turn
- Rain Dance / Sleep Talk

Rotom-W @ Leftovers / Chesto Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 56 SAtk / 220 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder Wave
- Pain Split / Rest

one more thing, rotom does not convince me that much, maybe it would be better to change it to something like Scizor (if you want priority user) or Starmie (if you want a spinner)

 

[Jimbon]

Hi there,

Pretty solid Rain build you got here, but there are a few problems I can see with it. Right now your team looks based around spamming Hurricanes / Hydro Pumps to remove physical walls and then sweeping with Toxicroak, however I imagine you have a difficult continually getting Tornadus in safely due to its relative frailty and the fact you lack a safe switch into a lot of the metagame [Scizor, Terrakion, other physical attackers]. I'd consider dropping Rotom-W in place of Tentacruel as right now, Rotom-W looks incredibly redundant on this team. You've already got two special attacking water types that perform that role better, while Rotom as a whole doesn't really add anything to the team. Tentacruel provides you with Rapid Spin support for Tornadus / Keldeo / Politoed, as with many choiced users you will be forced to switch a lot, racking up unnecessary hazard damage. Tentacruel also provides you with an answer for the aforementioned physical attackers, as well as an additional check to Mamoswine, which is huge given the threat that Mamoswine poses to this team. Between Tentacruel, Keldeo and Scarf Politoed you should have these threats covered well enough.

Now that you have Tentacruel for your physical wall, I don't think you need Ferrothorn to cover that physically defensive Pokemon spot. I think you could do the opposite -- try an EV spread of 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef with a Sassy Nature. One of the main merits of Specially Defensive Ferrothorn is how easily you can switch into Scalds, whereas I find Physically Defensive Ferrothorn underwhelming, given that the most common physical typing you're going to find is Fighting, which you're not going to be taking well regardless of investment. I'd also consider dropping Leech Seed in place of Thunder Wave on Ferrothorn, as I think on a team like this where Ferrothorn is going to be your initial switch-in to most of the metagame, you'd want to cripple the switch-in. This is especially important on such an offensive team as this where you're not going to have an answer for Scarfers that outspeed Politoed. I'd argue Leech Seed doesn't warrant a moveslot either, as you shouldn't be staying in long enough with Ferrothorn to continuously be at a high amount of health. This becomes especially important if you go with the Tentacruel suggestion because removing hazards means Ferrothorn isn't taking Spikes damage upon switching in, which compensates for the lack of Leech Seed recovery.

For some minor changes, I'd suggest dropping Psychic and Hidden Power [Ice] on Tornadus in place of Sleep Talk and Tailwind. When using Specs Tornadus, I've found that coverage moves really don't help you too much as Hurricane is going to be hitting harder 90% of the time. The fact that there are very few Flying resists in OU means that you're rarely going to find yourself using either of these, whereas Hurricane means you're never risking yourself being turned into setup fodder thanks to the confusion chance. Sleep Talk is a must on Tornadus, as you can abuse this very easily thanks to Prankster, which will give you the jump on other Scarfers, which is very important as outside of Politoed, you don't have a lot in terms of revenge killers. Sleep Talk also gives you an additional check for Breloom, while Tailwind is great when you have hazards up and you feel you can sweep with either of your supporting sweepers -- it doesn't even have to be a sweep, but to get the first Bulk Up against your opponent can be gamechanging.

As a strong advocate of Scarf Politoed, I can say it is probably one of the best Pokemon in the metagame. When running Scarf Politoed, I'd always advise running Surf and Hydro Pump in your moveset -- you might think this is a little redundant in terms of coverage, but to have the choice of power vs accuracy is invaluable and the extra power that Hydro Pump brings can turn a 2HKO into an OHKO. I'd also support the suggestion of Perish Song for Politoed too [if you want to go with these moveset changes, then replace Focus Blast and Hidden Power Grass], as it is very good at creating a set up opportunity for Toxicroak and forcing out opposing stat boosters such as Calm Mind Jirachi / Latias, both of which look very annoying given their resistances and the abundance of choice users on this team.

Also supporting Sayonara's suggestion of Expert Belt Keldeo.

Good luck!

tentacruel

Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 208 HP / 204 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Protect

 

[Halcyon.]

Hi, this is an interesting rain team, and I like seeing the use of Tornadus, as it is an extremely underrated threat in this metagame. Because it seems like your strategy is to break major holes in your opponent's defrnsive cores with Specs Hydro Pumps and Hurricanes all over the place, and then sweep with Toxicroak, I would suggets a few changes to ease that strategy. First of all, as others have mentioned, you should probably have a spinner on this team to allow Tornadus to switch in more easily. I would switch Rotom-W to Tentacruel as suggested by Jimbon. Tentacruel not only has the ability to spin away hazards, but also has great defensive synergy with Ferrothorn. Next, on Ferrothorn, I would switch Leech Seed for Thunder Wave. This will make it easier for Keldeo, Politoed, and Tornadus to spam their ridiculously strong attacks, because they will be able to outspeed any paralyzed foe. I agree that Keldeo should be an Ebelt set with HP Bug and Icy Wind. Expert Belt Keldeo can get the jump on many unsuspecting opponents (especially Celebi, which gives your team some trouble). On Politoed, change Surf to Hydro Pump and HP Grass to Perish Song. Your team has major problems with Sub CM Jirachi, but with Perish Song on Scarf Politoed, you can outspeed and ensure that Jirachi cannot set up on you. Finally, you have a serious weakness to Thundurus-T. With an Agility boost, it's game over for you, and he can easily set up on either Toxicroak or Ferrothorn. Normally I would suggest something like Celebi or Latias as a check to him, but neither of those fit very well on your team. I know you want to keep Toxicroak, but I just don't think he adds much to the team. Instead, I would suggest YacheChomp over Toxicroak. With a Swords Dance set and Yache Berry, Garchomp becomes your team's new win condition. He can live even Modest Life Orb HP Ice from Thundurus-T with Yache Berry and OHKO with Outrage after Stealth Rock, ensuring that your team doesn't get swept. Hopefully I was of some help! The sets are bellow, and good luck with the team!

Sets

Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Perish Song

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect

Keldeo @ Expert Belt
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Bug]

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip

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