Synergetic Rain

[tlyee61]

yo guys, tlyee61 here. I recently crafted a VGC rain team with some tight synergy and am looking for ways to improve it.

Scizor (F) @ Steel Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Protect
- Swords Dance

BB and BR are great STABs boosted by Technician and Scizor usually finds time to set up with Swords Dance with its typing in rain. Protect is extremely standard in VGC and I will most likely just have to include different adjectives just to make it seem interesting. The EVs also coincidentally like Cress' Max SpAtk modest HP Fire 3HKO Scizor in rain.

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Protect
- Rock Slide
- Quick Attack

Terrakion is usually not a Pokemon seen on rain teams, but I don't know why. It pairs up with many nice, common rain abusers. CC and Rock Slide are two fantastic STAB moves and QA provides nice priority. The EVs are standard to lets Terrakion move as fast as possible and kill off many Pokemon, even at full HP. Terrakion, Scizor and Thundurus-T all form a great offensive core.

Thundurus (Thundurus-T) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 160 HP / 248 SAtk / 100 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Volt Switch
- Thunder

(stolen from Mrbopper's team on NuggetBridge which can be read at http://nuggetbridge.com/reports/forming-igneous-rocks-nugget-bridge-major-team-analysis/)

Thundurus-T is one of the most common Pokemon in the VGC 2013 format, and for a good reason. With its monstrous SpAtk stat, firing off Thunders in rain is absolutely devastating. HP Flying gives a nice STAB move since most of my other Pokemon have Ice-type moves. The EVs allow Thundurus-T to outpace max speed Crobat and below. He also has great synergy with Terrakion and Scizor. Thunderbolt and Volt Switch are there because of the lack of a better movelpool.

Kingdra (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Muddy Water
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Kingdra has great synergy with Scizor and is my swift swim abuser. His draco meteor is great for denting opponents and wipes out opposing Dragons with unparalleled speed. Muddy Water is a great STAB. Most of my pokemon don;t enjoy getting hit but Surf so yeah... LO Muddy Waters boosted by politoed's HHs in rain hurt. Ice Beam is good for Chomp and others weak to ice.

Politoed (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 164 SAtk / 76 SDef / 12 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Helping Hand
- Icy Wind
- Hydro Pump
- Protect

Politoed is the main supporter of the team. HH and Icy Wind help boost moves and lower speed for the rest of the team. EVs tank dgem draco form timid latios. the rest is pumped into SpAtk. Hydro Pump is to get max power and still hits hard even without full investement.

Hitmontop (M) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Atk / 84 Def
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Detect
- Feint

Hitmontop is the member of the team that I'm most will to replace. Have 2 fighting-types didn't really sound appealing, but Thundurus-T enjoys Fake Out and they have great synergy. FO is to buy time for the other members to dish out the pain. CC is a great STAB boosted by FGem. Feint is the block Protects and allow more damage to be dealt.


Thanks for rating! :D

~Tommy

 

[PokeMaster366]

There's a lot of things I can point out that's wrong with the team, but let's start with the individual Pokemon.

First off, with Thundurus-T, you can get better stat numbers by using a Modest nature instead of a Timid nature and re-working the EVs a bit. It's also redundant to have 3 Electric attacks on one Pokemon like that.

Scizor's set is a bit standard, but don't depend on Rain to save him from Cresselia's HP Fire (did you factor in a LOrb or Expert Belt boost?). When you're going against other weather teams, don't be surprised if you find it hard to KO TTar or Abomasnow (I wouldn't leave them out to be slaughtered anyway). With that in mind, maybe use should put some EVs in Speed instead of HP so that you can abuse priority and get the first hit on regular Cresselia.

Not much to say about Kingdra except that it would be better with a Modest nature. Kingdra needs all the power he can get if he wants to kill opponents in time.

Hitmontop just seems weird to me. That's all I can really say, but if you're going to use him simply for defense, you might as well use Intimidate Scrafty. He has better defenses, a good Psychic immunity, and Drain Punch. The loss of Feint and other Priority moves outside of FO would be sad, but normally, Feint is situational anyway.

That's all I have to say for the individuals, but now for the team as a whole. It looks decent, but it's very weak to Trick Room and, as I said before, other weather teams. Opponents like Ferrothorn and Gastrodon are also going to dictate the pace of the battle. If you're going to replace Hitmontop or Terrakion, try someone that can switch into CC with impunity (Cresselia and Metagross are decent example).

 

[tlyee61]

There's a lot of things I can point out that's wrong with the team, but let's start with the individual Pokemon.

First off, with Thundurus-T, you can get better stat numbers by using a Modest nature instead of a Timid nature and re-working the EVs a bit. It's also redundant to have 3 Electric attacks on one Pokemon like that.

Scizor's set is a bit standard, but don't depend on Rain to save him from Cresselia's HP Fire (did you factor in a LOrb or Expert Belt boost?). When you're going against other weather teams, don't be surprised if you find it hard to KO TTar or Abomasnow (I wouldn't leave them out to be slaughtered anyway). With that in mind, maybe use should put some EVs in Speed instead of HP so that you can abuse priority and get the first hit on regular Cresselia.

Not much to say about Kingdra except that it would be better with a Modest nature. Kingdra needs all the power he can get if he wants to kill opponents in time.

Hitmontop just seems weird to me. That's all I can really say, but if you're going to use him simply for defense, you might as well use Intimidate Scrafty. He has better defenses, a good Psychic immunity, and Drain Punch. The loss of Feint and other Priority moves outside of FO would be sad, but normally, Feint is situational anyway.

That's all I have to say for the individuals, but now for the team as a whole. It looks decent, but it's very weak to Trick Room and, as I said before, other weather teams. Opponents like Ferrothorn and Gastrodon are also going to dictate the pace of the battle. If you're going to replace Hitmontop or Terrakion, try someone that can switch into CC with impunity (Cresselia and Metagross are decent example).

Thanks for the input. Thundurus' EV spread really helps now. Also, his movepool is really shallow and I used the moveset from TheMantyke's thread. my only other optionsare coverage moves like Psychic, Focus Blast, Grass knot etc. I'm not really depending on surviving Cress' HP Fire in rain because it survives it anyway outside of rain... Also, it was just a quirky thing I found out when fooling around in a damage calc. Also, why should I be concerned that it's standard? I will consider speed creeping. kingdra has been doing fine in terms of power because of its Life Orb, Rain and HH boosts from politoed. I like at least having a chance against opposing Timid Kingdras. Scrafty should work better as a bulky Fake Out user, thanks for that tip. I agree that this team is somewhat weak to TR, but hopefully Scrafty can fix that. Also, double targeting the TR user has saved me before. I've found that Ferrothorn isn't really a problem because of Terrakion and Hitmontop (or Scrafty)