RainRoom team

[chaoguy]

Hey guys, trying to throw something together for the regionals coming up. I decided rain with trick room cause o its diversity and its natural counter to the other main weather teams (sun and sandstorm). Tell me what you guys think and how I can improve it.

Politoed (M) @ Iron Ball
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Encore
- Protect

The rain inducer. Usually open with him, except in cases where I might need Fake Out to set up TR. Not much to say about him... pretty standard.

Slowking (F) @ Mental Herb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Sassy Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Heal Pulse
- Protect
- Psychic

What a great TR set up man. Lots of bulk so OHKOs are very rare (so far only a bug bite from scizor has managed to one shot him). Debating between Protect and Disable on him... Protect is the safer/more proven play, but Disable might catch people off guard. Heal Pulse is outstanding on him. Especially now that I have Dragonite on my team, Multiscale every single turn anyone? I was on the fence about heal pulse, but boy is it good.

Dragonite (F) @ Haban Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect

This guy abuses rain so well, he adds a resistance to Electric that is always welcome. He can hit grass with Hurricane and other waters with Thunder. Dragon pulse is just strong stab coverage. This guy doesn't really synergize very well with anyone (outside of the rain support), he's more of a patch to cover some of the leaks on the team, and he fills this role very well.

Gastrodon (Gastrodon-East) (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Earth Power
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Recover

What a tank this guy is... Not much you can do to stop him. He wins against sand teams and makes it easier against other rain teams. The best part is that he hits very hard on top of his considerable bulk. Plus he gets a free SpA boost every time Politoed uses surf. This synergy turns him not only into a strong tank, but a dangerous sweeper.

Parasect (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 106 Atk / 152 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- X-Scissor
- Spore
- Seed Bomb
- Protect

I love this guy in the rain, he becomes so tanky and any pokemon with spore access is a friend of mine. Seed bomb beats Gastrodon easy, and X-Scissor destroys psychic types. To add to his bulk, every surf is healing him a considerable amount. Plus, when hes out with Gastrodon he covers the big grass weakness that is about the only thing that can threaten Gastro.

Hariyama (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 124 Def / 132 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Detect

Its always good to have a fake out on your trick room team, especially one that can handle hail teams with ease. Despite these useful tech roles, this guy hits hard anyway! I havent had a chance to test him out since I made this change, but he is a strong support that helps my team hard counter other weather.

 

[voodoo pimp]

Descriptions should probably be expanded a bit. In particular, you don't really say anything about how your Pokémon work together.

Four Water-types seems like overkill - you've got massive defensive weaknesses to Grass, Electric, and Bug. Keep in mind that there are other rain abusers like Thunder/Hurricane, Toxicroak, etc. that often work perfectly well in Trick Room.

I'm not really a fan of Heatran on this team, either - a bulky Fighting-type would work just as well against hail and sand without being totally crippled by your own weather.

 

[chaoguy]

Good idea... How about replacing Heatran with this:

Hariyama (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 124 Def / 132 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- ThunderPunch
- Detect

This would give me a fake out user I've been thinking about adding as well as some coverage against other waters in thunderpunch.

As far as a Thunder/Hurricane abuser... Is Dragonite worth using in trick room? Can he be slow enough to work in that? Or will he just be stuck in between speeds, too fast for TR and too slow for non.

 

[voodoo pimp]

On Hariyama, a neutral Close Combat hits harder than a super effective ThunderPunch, and a lot of the common Water-types are neutral/immune to Electric anyway, so it'd only be useful against stuff like Gyarados and Jellicent. Rock Slide might be a better option, especially with the flinch hax.

Dragonite hits 76 Speed minimum - not exactly a snail's pace, but it'll underspeed most non-TR Pokémon (for reference, neutral base 60 Pokémon have 80 Speed). It'd work perfectly well.

 

[chaoguy]

Thanks for the great input voodoo, updated the OP