Let's talk about Rain in Gen 7, a consistent archetype that blends the versatility of Balanced Offense with the brute force of Hyper Offense, all while enabling it's teams to outrun metagame threats like Choice Scarf Kartana and Landorus-T, I don't see this nearly enough on Ladder so I figured I would write up a guide for both newer players and players looking for a new way to play OU.
Let's start with a checklist for building rain:
- Pelipper- Self explanatory, the premier rain setter of this generation, and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon; generally the first thing you should put in your builder
- Mega Swampert- Another staple of rain, Swampert is the highest ranked rain abuser for a simple reason, in the rain, Mega Swampert cannot be easily outsped, and it has respectable natural bulk, meaning that even if you do manage to outspeed it, you’re most likely not killing it in one hit
- Steel Type- While Steel types generally have higher bulk than the average mon, they certainly don’t turn down the extra survivability being in rain gives them. Take this damage calc for instance:
252 SpA Heatran Inferno Overdrive (180 BP) vs. 248 HP / 224+ SpD Assault Vest Magearna in Rain: 132-156 (36.3 - 42.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Now without rain:
252 SpA Heatran Inferno Overdrive (180 BP) vs. 248 HP / 224+ SpD Assault Vest Magearna: 264-312 (72.7 - 85.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
That kind of extra bulk can be the difference between you winning and losing your matches, as after taking said Z-Move, you’ll be able to switch in to tank moves for your less bulky team mates
- Tornadus- The last (in my opinion) strictly required mon for rain, Tornadus is an important tool against harder matchups for rain, notably Ferrothorn (Being able to 2HKO it after chip), Chansey (Threatening Knock Off), and Being able to pressure opposing weather setters like Tyranitar and Hippowdon with All-Out Pummeling and Hurricane respectively while also serving as your Defogger and ground resist, and even if your Z-Move slot is already taken, it can also serve as a Rocky Helmet user to discourage Volt-Turn strategies that attempt to wear down your team
- Special Rain Abuser- A necessary part of any rain team, it’s important to have a balance to your offense to make sure you don’t get walled by mons that are especially bulky on the physical side or vice versa. While I usually give this spot to Kingdra for it’s ability to pressure everything that doesn’t resist it’s water stab, and even deal respectable damage with it’s non STAB moves because of Choice Specs, this role can also go to different mons that hit on the special side, when deciding how to fill this role, I recommend you think about what your team needs in regards to coverage, as this can sometime be the deciding factor in your matches
- Hazard Setter- While rain is a powerful archetype, something it can never overcome is the meta,and at this point in USUM’s lifespan, just about every team has hazards, be it Stealth Rock, Spikes, or even both, and you’re not going to be an exception just because you’re playing the greatest archetype of all time, generally this spot goes to Ferrothorn automatically, since it’s 4x weakness to fire is lessened in the rain and as a check to Ash Greninja, which can gain momentum against rain teams if not properly dealt with, however a substitution of Chesnaught can be made in order to give an opposing Ferrothorn a harder time in the Hazard war, as Chesnaught is immune to Leech Seed and resist both of Ferrothorn’s go to offensive moves, being Gyro Ball and Power Whip. Although you will need to be cautious of a toxic or Thunder Wave, as that can hamper your ability to keep Hazards on the field should you consider to go this route
- Other Options: While the usual formula for Rain is generally standard, players have innovated in the past; using a combination of Tapu Koko and Hawlucha allows the team to easier break past Tyranitar and Ferrothorn, two difficult mons to push past for certain builds. Other Swift Swim users can be used in the place of Kingdra if you believe your team has the tools to fulfill it’s role,and while a very niche role, Klefki has access to a Prankster boosted Rain Dance to supplement Pelippers Drizzle
General Gameplan:
While on the surface Rain may seem like nothing more than “set up rain & try to win”, Rain in reality needs to try just as hard as other archetypes (if not harder, in some cases) in order to win it’s games. Often you’re going to have to play around a specific mon that either gives your sweepers a reason to stay in their balls and never come out (Scarf Kartana, for instance) or can simply stop all your momentum (Ferrothorn, Chansey), so this section will go through the average setup required for a victory.
The Early Game: While you’ll usually lead Pelipper against teams that have Lando, Heatran or any mon that Pelipper doesn’t want to stay in and Scald against, Matchups like lead Ferrothorn or Tapu Koko should be handled differently, generally if your opponents lead mon appears to be Ferrothorn or Tapu Koko (or Smeargle for that matter, although Smeargle doesn’t seem to be as prevalent as of the writing of this guide) leading Tornadus or Swampert to force out problematic leads is always a good option. This phase usually ends after you get up Stealth Rock with Swampert and Rain with Pelipper, to enable you to get early game chip on problematic tanks, or spreading hazard chip with your sweepers.
The Mid Game: This is the portion of the match where you’ll be setting any additional hazards you have where you can, using proper prediction to secure KOs, and setting an endgame for one of your mons; for example, is your opponents Zapdos now down for the count, leaving the opposing team grounded? That’s the ideal endgame for Swampert (with Tornadus assuming your opponent has grass types that can force out Swampert. No water resists left to stop Kingdra from clicking Surf or even (if you’re feeling lucky) Hydro Pump? Send that thing in and get ready to drown your opponent in the raw power of The King.
The EndGame: The endgame is where Rain functions the strongest, your opponents team is weakened, and you’ve exhausted your opponents options to force you out or attempt to wall you, you set up your final wave of Rain, and send in your sweeper one final time to clean up the rest of your competition, by this point you should be aware of your opponents sets, and by extension, his/her potential comeback options, if there’s one thing that never changes with Pokemon, it’s the fact that at any time, your victory could be snatched from you if you don’t respect your opponents options.
Matchups:
As we come to the close of this guide, let’s discuss matchups, required knowledge for any player. I will be breaking this section down by archetypes, specifically Stall, Balanced Offense, and Hyper Offense.
Stall: Stall has always been and always will be the least favorite matchup for a majority of players, due to how time consuming matches can be against smart stall players, and how even bad players can net free wins due to how frustrating the playstyle can be. In my opinion, a smart Rain player will have a positive matchup against a majority of Stall teams if they play smart and safe, making sure to keep their win conditions healthy and pressuring the mons primarily standing in the way of their win condition.The Stall matchup is another reason to have a Steel type on your team, such as magearna, as magearna is able to force out mons like Mega Sableye with the threat of Fleur Cannon and has a variety of sets to help fit onto a number of teams, while acting as a status absorber against more defensive builds.
Problematic Mons:
Chansey
Avalugg
Zapdos
Jirachi
Balanced Offense: Balanced Offense is my favorite matchup to go against when I use Rain, as it’s usually quite enjoyable and demands your best effort to do well in, as dealing with offensive threats while trying to deal with the opposing walls requires both players to be on their toes, usually with Rain as the more aggressive of the two due to its need to keep rain up and get important KOs. Tangrowth is usually the most annoying mon to deal with when it comes to BO, as it can’t be worn down as much as other walls due to regenerator, and your goto way of dealing with it will generally be Tornadus, which can be difficult depending on the presence of Stealth Rock and how well your opponent can predict you. The same can be said for Toxapex, although how annoying it is generally depends on what tools your team have to deal with it, i you have Spikes, you’ll usually be doing enough damage to Pex each time it switches in to one of your moves that eventually it’ll need to Recover, Swampert is also a reliable way to force it out, due to Earthquake, and if you have a Thunder abuser, you’ll generally have a good matchup against Pex depending on its partners.Chansey is the final mon to worry about when against balanced or defensive builds, as Chansey can sit in on a lot of your team while trying to wear them down, I would advise getting up hazards to wear it down and running Knock Off on Tornadus to make it more manageable.
Problematic Mons:
Tangrowth
Toxapex
Chansey
Other Defensive Stops
Hyper Offense: Hyper Offense is a relatively annoying matchup, depending on what the opposing team uses to enable it’s sweepers, with Webs, getting in Tornadus to Defog is a top priority due to your sweepers enjoying being the fastest mon on the field in Rain. Against Aurora Veil, get ready for some hard times, because just by having access to Freeze Dry, Alolan Ninetales can pose a threat to up to half your team, assuming you’re using the classic core of Pelipper + Mega Swampert + Kingdra, threatening to cut their opportunities to enable your team by wallbreaking or setting rain. Against Ninetales and Friends, your top priority is forcing out Ninetales and getting up rocks in her absence ASAP you’re going to need her low enough to where you can knock her out or bring her to the brink of being KO’d if she switches in to set hail on your sweepers or even Pelipper. Once the enablers are gone, however, you’re free to choose which sweeper you’d like to close out the game with and proceed to deliver a world of hurt on your opponent for daring to bring another type of Weather to your game.The advice for dealing with Ninetales is also a general way of dealing with opposing Weather setters.
Problematic Mons:
Kartana
Ninetales
Smeargle (with Spore)
Tapu Koko (if Specs)