Singing in the rain

[Finnithnel]

Hello everyone ! I'm french so i'm sorry for the mistakes i could make.
I want to present you my offensive team rain dance.

Team building process​

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First i need a lead. I don't have choice, politoed is the only rain inducer.

As second pokemon i want one who have a special ability which use rain. Therefore i choose vaporeon for hydration.

Next is scizor, i choose him because he loose a fire weakness with rain. And he is a physical monster.

I choose him for the stab with thunder, besides he is very powerful and fast.

He is an excellent wall under the rain because he don't have any weaknesses. And he can use stealth rocks.

First i choosed garchomp but he don't fit with my team. So i choose volcarona for the 100% accuracy of hurricane under the rain.

Team preview

Team balance

Now the detail of the team.

The team

Politoed

Ability : Drizzle
Evs: 252 HP/ 252 SpA/ 4 Spe
Nature: Modest (+Spa/-Atk)
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power Grass​

He is the only rain inducer and he don't have enormous stats but with a good build he can be useful. So i make him a choice specs, hydro pump for the double stab, with this he is a serial killer, and it's very useful against ninetales. Ice beam for the dragon and grass pokemon. Focus blast against ferrothorn and tyranitar. And HP grass agains the double type ground/water. Therefore he's my lead and he's a good anti-lead.

Vaporeon

Ability: Hydration
Evs: 248 HP/ 252 Def/ 8 Spe
Nature: Bold (+Def/-Atk)
-Scald
-Rest
-Toxic
-Roar​

He is a colossal wall, with hydration he isn't affect by status changes, so with rest i can heal 100% of my life without sleeping. Scald for the double stab and i can burn my adversary. Toxic is always useful and roar for phaze. He is my best wall, he have two weakness but i have scizor for the grass and jolteon for electrick.

Scizor

Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Atk/ 8 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk/-SpA)
-Bullet Punch
-U-turn
-Superpower
-Pursuit​

He is my best physical attackers. I choose him because i love this pokemon and with te rain he loose a weakness fire and now he can take one physical fire attack, and sometimes a fire special attack. The set is classic, bullet punch for the double stab and the priority, U-turn for the stab and the switch, Superpower for the types outreach and pursuit for the switch. He never betray me.

Jolteon

Ability: Volt absorb
Evs: 252 SpA/ 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe/-Atk)
-Thunder
-Signal Beam
-Shadow Ball
-Hidden Power Ice​

I choose him for thunder and i regret nothing. If the adversary don't have any ground pokemon i can kill all the adversary team just with him. I give him timid nature for the speed boost, with this i outspeed practically everyone. For the other attacks i take shadow ball for psychic and ghost pokemons, signal beam for grass and dark pokemons, and HP ice for the ground and dragon pokemons. But the ideal is thunder, he is the pokemon who kill the biggest quantity of adversaries.

Bronzong

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 Def/ 252 SpD ( 0 IVs Spe)
Nature: Careful (+Spd/-SpA)
-Stealth Rock
-Gyro Ball
-Earthquake
-Toxic​

With two immunities, 8 hardinesses and 0 weakness he is a great wall. Besides he put the stealth rocks. Gyro Ball is his best stab, it's a classic on bronzong. Earthquake for magnezone if he trap me, the other steel pokemons, and the electric pokemons. And toxic because it's useful.

Volcarona

Ability: Flame Body
Evs: 252 SpA/ 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe/-Atk)
-Quiver Dance
-Hidden Power Ground
-Bug Buzz
-Hurricane​

My first choice is garchomp for the immunity to electric, but he isn't very useful in my team. So i change him for volcarona because he is very powerful and he can use hurricane. First i gave him fire blast but under the rain it's not very useful so i change it for HP Ground because with this he can kill steel, rock, fire, poison and electric pokemons. Bug buzz is his principal stab, and hurricane, with 100% accuracy, is very useful againts fight and insect pokemons.

And if you want to try it:

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Politoed (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Grass

Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Volcarona (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Timid Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Hidden Power Grass
- Hurricane

Vaporeon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Hydration
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Rest
- Toxic
- Roar

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def
0 IV Spe
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Jolteon (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Absorb Volt
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Thunder
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Conclusion​

It's finish, this team have good results on showdown but i know i can improve it. I hope you would like it, and i'm sorry for all my language mistakes!

 

[dragonuser]

Hey there,

This team looks pretty cool, but there are some weaknesses. To start off, opposing Thundurus-T's look very deadly. Sure you have Jolteon, but a mispredict into Focus Blast could really hurt. Agility Thundurus, if it sets up on jolteon/scizor locked into the wrong move, has a chance to do a lot of damage to your team. To help with this, I would suggest running Gastrodon > Vaporeon. With a set of Earthquake / Ice Beam / Toxic / Recover and a Physically bulky tank set. Gastrodon does a lot that Vaporeon does, but is a much better check to Thundurus-T. It is a pretty hard stop to setup sets, and the only thing it ever has to fear is the rare Grass Knot. Gastrodon still gives you a solid rain switch in, and it can still spread status. By running a phys def Gastrodon set, it is also a solid check to Scarf Keldeo. Anyways, cool team gl.

 

[Finnithnel]

When i say "Double stab" it's when for example with politoed i use hydro pump, i have the water stab and the rain stab, so i have a double stab on this attack.

Thanks for your advice, i will try it. But why gastrodon don't have a water attack in the set you propose to me ?
And what do you think if i change jolteon with thundurus-T ? Because i loose a ground weakness for an immunity and thundurus have a more varied movepool than jolteon.

 

[Gary]

When i say "Double stab" it's when for example with politoed i use hydro pump, i have the water stab and the rain stab, so i have a double stab on this attack.

Thanks for your advice, i will try it. But why gastrodon don't have a water attack in the set you propose to me ?
And what do you think if i change jolteon with thundurus-T ? Because i loose a ground weakness for an immunity and thundurus have a more varied movepool than jolteon.

I used Jolteon for a while on one of my older teams, and found Thundurus-T much more successful. However, their difference in speed is great, and you'll find yourself being out sped quite frequently. If you want a remedy to this, and still use Thundurus, have a go at the Agility set:

Thundurus-T @ Life Orb/Expert Belt
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Agility
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

Lastly, if you want to make him faster then Jolteon right off the bat you can give him a Choice Scarf. This set is the same as the agility set, except with Volt Switch instead of Agility for scouting, and a Timid Nature instead of Modest. Besides, your team lacks a solid Choice Scarfer, so I would prefer the Scarf set due to it's blazing speed and great fire power. Choice is your though.

I also second dragonuser's Gastrodon > Vaporeon. Sure he lacks a Water STAB, but Politoad doesn't, and with Gastrodon you have even a lesser problems with Electric, having two members of your team immune to it. Gastrodon also checks dragons much better, and can even check electric types unlike Vaporeon.

 

[PDC]

Hey, cool team.

For the most part this team is pretty solid. The unique choices like Bronzong and Jolteon are nice to see due to the creativity they bring. Bronzong fills a very unqiue niche and does it very well. Most people opt for Jirachi, but Bronzong is really a cool and great Pokemon. It is for this reason I suggest you make some minor changes to it's set so you can get the most out of it. To maximize the power of Gyro Ball I suggest using a Sassy Nature. Careful is a bit redundant, and it's not like Bronzong will outspeed much anyway. Jolteon I also believe should change up a move for the better. Shadow Ball honestly was always a little redundent and not effective in my opinion. It is for this reason I suggest using Volt Switch on Jolteon instead. Volt Switch grabs momentum and also gives you a way to get out of unfavorable situations while still dealing damage. Jolteon is a cool Pokemom, and Volt Switch is a move it almost always should be using.

Now I can tell you have quite a few issues petaining to threats like Thundurus - T, stall, and opposing Rotom-W. It is for this reason I am backing up dragonuser's suggestion of using a Gastrodon over Vaporeon as they both fill similar roles.

Good luck!

 

[Leftiez]

Hmm there is not enough explanation I find, then agility Thundurus/Rotom rapes all the team as well as Genesect, me you advice to put gastrodon on vapoeron with a repart' made by me:

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Gastrodon (Gastrodon-East) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 164 HP / 208 Def / 136 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover

GG for the rest ^^ Original team :)

 

[Finnithnel]

Thanks everyone, i will test all your advices and i will let you know the results.

Leftiez could you explain me why you choose this EVs repart' ? For Genesect it's not a problem, politoed OHKO him with hydro pump but it's true Thundurus is a real threat for my team. So i will test the two set of Gastrodon which are propose to me.

 

[Jirachee]

Hi

I think you're going to have issues against Fighting typed Pokemon, especially Keldeo and Terrakion. Your only Fighting resist is Volcarona, but you don't even have a Rapid Spinner, meaning that if the opponent has Stealth Rock, your Fighting resist starts at 50%, which simply isn't enough to stop powerful threats like Keldeo to destroy you. Keldeo's and Terrakion's secondary STABs also hit Volcarona for super effective damage so you don't really want to switch into them. Also, like others said, Thundurus-T looks very dangerous for your team, as your only Pokemon that isn't complete bait to it is Jolteon, and if you end up choice locked into Thunder you're giving it free set up. I think that you could replace Vaporeon with Life Orb Latias. Latias is able to take on both Fighting types and Thundurus-T, fixing many weaknesses for your team, making it more solid. Overall, I don't see a lot of things that can make this change bad for your team.

Volcarona is going to live like 3 seconds with your current team. LO recoil, Stealth Rock and possibly Spikes damage, needing to set up before doing anything, this is a good way to lose a Pokemon quickly. I think you should AT THE VERY LEAST try out Roost instead of Hidden Power Ground on it. Roost allows you to recover back possible entry hazard damage, as well as allowing Volcarona to set up more Quiver Dances against Special attackers. Losing on Hidden Power Ground isn't cool but it's certainly better than missing on an entire Pokemon slot. I also think you should try out Leftovers instead of Life Orb because while the extra power is good, the recoil is just too much for Volcarona to handle.

Here's the set you should use:

Latias

Latias @ Life Orb
Levitate
Timid
EVs: 72 HP / 180 SpA / 252 Spe
~Draco Meteor
~Surf
~Psyshock
~Recover

Good luck!

 

[Finnithnel]

Thanks for your advices. Yes i have a problem with fighting typed pokemon but no terrakion and keldeo. Terrakion is also rock typed and with bullet punch, superpower, focus blast, earthquake, hydro pump i can kill him easily. About Keldeo i have thunder, HP grass and hurricane. But conkeldurr and machamp could be very lethal for my team. Therefore i will test latias and change HP ground with roost.

 

[Finnithnel]

Then, after many test i conclude on Gastrodon>Vaporeon>Latias. Latias is good but he don't fit with my team, and i prefer the others. I confirm that gastrodon is better than vaporeon, but sometimes i miss roar, especially agains dragon dancer and rock polisher because i can't outspeed them.. For gastrodon i prefer a classical EVs set than leftiez set because against dragon typed pokemon and thundurus it's more effective than scald.


For jolteon and thundurus i'm hesitant.. Jolteon choice specs is more powerful and he is better against special attackers but he is slower than thundurus choice specs. Thundurus have an other problem he takes 25% against stealth rocks, however he's immune to spikes and toxic spikes. Therefore i will do more tests to choose who i keep.


Finally, Jirachi i give leftovers to volcarona and i put roost on HP ground. With this volcarona gain a better staying power, he loose the capacity to OHKO heatran but he isn't a problem against a rain dance team.

Thanks for all your advices, and if you have others i am all ears ! :)