The rain pounds down heavily. [RMT]

[sidakarya]

Hello all. This is my second RMT - I've just started coming back to competitive Pokemon after not playing for a year or so. I've lurked for a while recently to see what the current metagames are like, and the one that most appealed to me was UU. It's a very fun tier to play, and a welcome break from what OU is these days...

This is actually a revamp of an experiment I did with rain dance in OU (more of a gimmick if anything, looking back on it), which I've found works much better in UU. It has been working quite well for me, though my team does have some glaring weaknesses that I would like to address. I would like some input on how to improve my team. Changes to the team I've made are in blue.

With that said, here is my UU rain team:

Team building!

I started my team around the same core as in my previous team: the classic rain trio of Kingdra, Kabutops and Ludicolo, all hard-hitting swift swimmers.

Of course, a rain dance team isn't one without some rain setters; without Drizzle and with the presence of hail, I need at least three rain supporters to keep the momentum. Bronzong from my old team is a great rain dancer, and as a bonus, it sets up hazards.

UU is a tier that's full of fighting types. Especially with Mach Punches thrown about everywhere and one of my sweepers weak to it, I needed a rain dancer that could also check fighting. Super-fast Crobat immediately came to mind.

And finally, my last rain supporter, and one that can also hit hard under the rain. Lanturn completes the valuable set of resistances - specifically, with its Electric immunity.

At silvershadow's suggestion, I've replaced Lanturn with Choice Band Snorlax. It patches up some weaknesses to common Pokemon.

Mugen (Bronzong) @Damp Rock
Trait: Levitate
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
IVs: 0 Spe
~Rain Dance
~Sneaky Pebbles
~Gyro Ball
~Earthquake​

One of my choices for the lead Pokemon. It sets up Rain Dance, Sneaky Pebbles to ensure KOs, and counters a lot of offensive threats like Flygon and Shaymin. Rain on the field removes its only weakness (Fire), making it a lot harder to take down.

Maelstrom (Kingdra, M) @Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
Nature: Naive
EVs: 252 Atk / 96 SAtk / 160 Spe
~Dragon Dance
~Waterfall
~Outrage
~Draco Meteor​

Kingdra, one of the best Pokemon in UU, and a monster under the rain. It hits everything except Empoleon for ridiculous amounts of damage with just its STAB attacks.

This mixed set is a surprise for people expecting the usual Special rain set. DD makes him even more blinding-fast (even faster than Scarf Raikou!) and powers up his attacks even higher. It also catches the usual special wall like Snorlax off guard - and if they switch to a physical wall like Slowbro, they eat a Draco Meteor instead!

Kingdra's nature is now [+Spe] to get the footing on other Kingdra. The 160 Speed EVs let it outspeed Modest/Adamant Kingdra (both in and out of rain), and I've put the rest in SAtk to power up Draco Meteor.

Reaper (Kabutops, M) @Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
~Swords Dance
~Waterfall
~Stone Edge
~Aqua Jet​

My second rain sweeper, a physical set-up sweeper. With a Swords Dance set up, it hits very hard with Waterfall and Stone Edge. Aqua Jet is always a great move to cover revenge killer and priority, and it lets him sweep even when the rain stops.

Kabutops is quite frail and priority-weak, so I usually don't use SD until late-game when his checks are worn down. Before that, he might be a revenge-killer, or a check for fast Fire-types if the rain is down.

Trompong (Ludicolo, F) @Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
~Rain Dance
~Hydro Pump / Surf
~Giga Drain
~Ice Beam​

My third Swift Swim sweeper, on the special side. Ludicolo counters most bulky waters in UU like Swampert, Suicune, or Empoleon in a pinch, and if the rain is up it can revenge-kill things like Scarf Flygon.

Hydro Pump vs. Surf is a coin-toss for me. I do like how insanely powerful rain-boosted Hydro Pump is, except it tends to miss at the most inopportune times, which is why Surf (still strong under rain) is there as an alternative. Giga Drain lets it last a bit longer, and Ludicolo can set up Rain Dance too, to keep the momentum going.

Nubes (Crobat, F) @Damp Rock
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 176 HP / 192 Atk / 4 SDef / 136 Spe
~Rain Dance
~Taunt
~Brave Bird
~Roost​

Besides Bronzong, this is my other choice for lead position. It sets up fast Rain Dances more than once since it has Roost for reliable recovery. It's also my main counter against Fighting- and Grass-types like Scrafty and Virizion. Taunt is for shutting down stall (important in a team that needs to count turns) and Brave Bird for hitting Fighting and Grass hard.

Tiny (Snorlax, M) @Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 56 Def / 200 SDef
~Return
~Earthquake
~Crunch
~Pursuit​

Silvershadow234 suggested this set, and I think it works better as the last party member. Snorlax actually counters the Electric-types more efficiently than Lanturn, and besides that, it hits things hard with Band-boosted attacks. It also helps out against OTR Cofagrigus, thanks to being so slow and having the Crunch/Pursuit fork.

Retired Pokemon:

Apollo (Lanturn, M) @Damp Rock
Nature: Modest
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SAtk / 216 SDef
IVs: 0 Atk
~Rain Dance
~Hydro Pump / Scald
~Volt Switch / Thunder
~Heal Bell​

Lanturn is my main Electric resist. It counters the two big Electric-types (Zapdos and Raikou) and soaks up Thunderwaves directed at sweepers. Its other big selling point is healing status for everyone, which makes Toxic poison and burn a bit less painful.

For the Water STAB, I could use Hydro Pump (again, for the power) or Scald for the burn chance. The slow Volt Switch lets sweepers in unharmed after the dance, or it can use 100%-accurate Thunder for paralysis support.


Pokemon that make this team unhappy:

Abomasnow: The mortal enemy of rain teams. Hail teams in general are something I don't have an answer to at the moment. Bronzong could try taking it down, but it's slow and vulnerable to subseed. Snorlax can OHKO it with Return with Stealth Rocks up; might still not like Leech Seed though...

Cofagrigus: Huge pain for this team. Sure, Ludicolo could 1HKO it with rain-boosted Hydro Pump, but if it sets up Trick Room even once, my whole strategy is basically void and all I can to is try stalling for four turns after it dies, which I'm not equipped to do. Mummy is a problem too for Kingdra and Kabutops. I've replaced Lanturn with Snorlax, which helps counter at least the common OTR version.

Kingdra: Not surprisingly, since it's just as deadly to my side in the rain, if not more. It's a good thing that some Kingdra don't carry Swift Swim, rain teams being uncommon as they are. This isn't as dire of a problem with a speed-boosting nature on my own Kingdra and having Snorlax as a special wall.

Impostor Ditto: It's quite rare, but it's a problem in the same way as Kingdra. At least I can revenge it if it copies a slower Swift Swimmer.

 

[afromann21]

I think if you replaced Crobat for blastoise your team would do amazing. Blastoise absolutely walls Kingdra as it can take a three turn outrage and still survive (Max Def Max HP). It can also ustilize rapid spin to get rid of that pesky toxic spikes weakness. Plus with Scald he can burn a majority of the physical sweepers he so easily switches in on. Furtherly blastoise could deal with cofagrigus as cofagrigus ain't too big on the SpD side. Blastoise with ice beam can deal with roselia and scald easily takes out nidoqueen. A Max HP Max+ Def 4 SpA with rapid spin ice beam scald and rain dance can be used to truly make use of blastoise on a team like this

 

[ss234]

blastoise can't counter Kingdra-specs draco does a fuckton, and all it can do is phaze Kingdra out, so it doesn't help at all as if it is last mon then it will still wreck him.

Anyway, this looks like a pretty solid rain team, however there are some large flaws.

Firstly, Raikou straight up wrecks you, as it simply sets up on Lanturn and 1HKO's pretty much everything else. Bronzong also can't do all that much to it, since it is 2HKO'd by Tbolt as well iirc.

Therefore, I recommend that you run Snorlax over Lanturn. Lanturn isn't really contributing that much, and just compounds to your raikou weakness rather than fixing it. Snorlax is an excellent answer to Raikou, as it isn't 2HKO'd by tbolt and can 1HKO with a CB eq. Snorlax is also a pretty good answer to Abomasnow, and can at least take Blizzards quite easily.

Honestly, I don't see Toxic Spikes even being an issue-crobat can taunt the vast majority of toxic spikers early game, and none of them can set-up ts when the rain is up because the pressure is simply too huge.

To fix your kingdra weakness, you could run a speed boosting nature on your own kingdra. Pretty much every single kingdra runs either modest or adamant, so with a speed boosting nature you are very likely to be able to outspeed and kill it.

Also what are sneaky pebbles?

Here is the lax set:

Hide

Snorlax @ Choice Band
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 200 SDef / 4 Spd / 52 Def
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Pursuit

GL and I hope I helped

 

[sidakarya]

Thanks for the help. I really like that Snorlax set; it might give some safety against OTR Cofagrigus, too.

Also, sneaky pebbles are stealth rocks.