Tidal Wave, an OU Rain Team

[Imdumbirl]

Politoed (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Toxic
- Perish Song
- Protect


I needed someone to set up the rain, and Politoed does the job.Protect is to help gain Leftovers hp and rack up Toxic Damage. Hydro Pump is stronger than Surf or Scald, and hopefully should let me do a lot of damage. Toxic is for special attackers. Perish Song is a neat move. I use it to kill threats, and normally it is not noticed, and scores me a kill. I also like to use it to force switches.
He's a little bit frail and slow, but I don't have any other choices to replace with him.

Vaporeon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Hydration
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 36 SAtk / 96 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Surf
- Roar
- Toxic


She is the core of my team. Hydration cures status, so as long as she doesn't get dealt more than 50% damage in one hit, she should be fine. Toxic is self explanatory, and I chose Surf over Scald for more power. Roar is for a general phaser.

Donphan (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake




Donphan is my rapid spinner. He is also packing stealth rock in case Skarmory can only put up Spikes and/or dies. Stone Edge is to provide more coverage so he doesn't get walled by Levitate or flying type pokemon. Earthquake is great for STAB. I originally had Tentacruel here. I replaced Tentacruel with Cryogonal, but he had incredibly weak defence and died often. I will be trying with Donphan for a few battles and I will report back to tell you how he does.

Dusknoir (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp
- Focus Punch
- Substitute

Dusknoir is used primarily as a spin blocker. Will-O-Wisp takes care of physical attackers, and he can dish out some damage too with Substitute and Focus Punch. Pain Split takes advantage of his low Hp and heals him well. I originally had jellicent here, but his water typing was responsible for my big grass and electric weakness. So, I replaced him with Dusknoir.

Skarmory (M) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost


This is a standard Skarmory. Spikes are to help deal with the likes of Ninetales and Magnezone, and Whirlwind is a good phasing move. Roost is for recovering damage easily. Rain helps him out a lot, because it weakens down the fire moves that hurt him a lot. He is very weak to Thunder though, which often causes him to only set up rocks before he dies. I also put on Brave Bird so he is not complete Taunt bait.

Jolteon (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 255 SAtk / 255 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Shadow Ball
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Ice


I originally had Celebi here, but I replaced it with Jolteon. Electric types rip through my team too easily, so I put him there. Life Orb is on there so he scores decent damage. Thunder is for STAB, Volt Switch is for a quick getaway, and Shadow Ball is for coverage. Hidden Power Ice is to deal with Gliscor.




I have had mixed success with this team. On one hand, I have an extreme weakness to grass and electric types, and I even get swept with Starmie that pack Thunderbolt and Psychic. I am not very good at EV spreads
( I mostly use the Standard sets) and altogether I am a rookie. However, I do very well against teams that aren't prepared for weather.



I am looking forward to all of the criticism that you guys have to give me.
Thanks!

 

[morningsun]

You seem to be well aware of what your weaknesses are so why don't you have any counters to pokes that rip through your team? For example starmie. Almost every team in the meta game has some water counter on it. Replace some of your waters with good electric and grass counters. Mamoswine or donphan for example could work wonders against electric types. SD Gliscor or Hurricane users such as Dragonite and Tornadus would also be great, eliminating grass types. Most teams won't pack more than two water counters unless they're made as anti-weather teams. Take advantage of that.

 

[Episode36]

So, you have 4 Pokemon weak to electric and 3 Pokemon weak to grass and you think the frail Jolteon will be your saving grace? With the amount of scarves and priority out there, Jolteon is relatively easy pickings, and once it's gone, your whole team is gone by something like Thundurus-T. And Thundurus-T craps all over that Jolteon set. Not even HP Ice to at least do something to it. At least have a counter or two for such a complete and total crippling team weakness. I'd be happy to give a more in depth rate then.

 

[Imdumbirl]

Thank you both for your comments! I changed my team around to deal with the weaknesses while maintaining a spin blocker and spinner.

 

[Wolfheart]

Having a nature that doesn't raise or lower any stats, like Hardy, is never beneficial. Jolteon would benefit more from having a nature such as Timid (+Spd, -Atk) or Modest (+SpA, -Atk). Having Rain Dance on Politoed is a waste of a moveslot, the key to playing against weather teams is to wait until you can eliminate your opponents weather summoner or use yours to disrupt their combos. Raind Dance on Jolteon is also not needed and could be replaced with another attacking move such as Hidden Power [Ice] / [Grass].

 

[Imdumbirl]

Sorry, that was a typo. Jolteon has Timid. I think I will give Jolteon Hidden
power ice actually, thanks!

 

[Valhalla]

I agree that you need to get rid of Rain Dance. While this may seem like a clever counter to opposing weather starters, this is, sadly, not a viable option, as opposing weather starters can often outspeed you or outlast you with Toxic. Basically, Politoed's main role should be to set the rest of your team up for victory, relying on the others for support in winning weather wars.

Change Rain Dance to Protect. It allows you to anticipate your opponent's next move, and scout for incoming Electric type attacks--particularly Volt Switch--so that you can switch in Jolteon more liberally. It also helps you Toxic stall and gives you a free turn of Leftovers recovery. You should be hitting opposing weather starters with Toxic--->Protect, and then Getting TFO to a counter.

Also, get rid of Stealth Rock on Skarmory for either Taunt or Brave Bird. You don't need two Stealth Rockers. Donphan does an excellent job of getting up rocks thanks to his ability Sturdy. Taunt allows you to set up on Ferrothorn while Brave Bird wrecks fighting types like Breloom.

Also, get rid of Air Balloon on Jolteon. Your team lacks a lot of power at the moment, and Jolteon has no business staying in on strong attackers with EQ, Nature Power or Earth Power anyway. It's far too frail to not use an all out attacking set with an item that boosts its power, like Choice Specsor Life Orb. In addition, it should have an EV spread of 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe. The current spread wastes four EVs, which waste an additional HP.

Also, I reccomend that you get rid of Dusknoir. It's not really doing much for your team, which really lacks raw power. Perhaps you could try out Dragonite instead.

Dragonite (M) @ Choice Band Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe Adamant Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Superpower
- Extremespeed

This set has excellent coverage and hits like a truck. It also allows you to better handle speedy threats, as Jolteon is simply not fast enough to handle all OU Choice Scarfers. Extremespeed bypasses this. Fire Punch destroys Ferrothorn. Superpower is so Air Baloon Heatran won't wall you, and still destroys Ferrothorn. Outrage will pretty much KO everything tha t doesn't resist it once Stealth Rock and Spikes are up.

Dragonite tends to do well against opposing weather teams, and is merely tickled by Grass types.

 

[Imdumbirl]

Thank you very much! I put Hydro Pump and Protect on Politoed. I also took your advice for Jolteon. I'll try out Dragonite, but it kinda stinks not having a Spin blocker.