Yes; this is another generic rain team RMT, and I'm honestly sorry, but I figure rain will be banned (in full) eventually, and I may as well see if I can get some help to push into the top 100 for the ladder (peaked ~1300 / 110th). So, without further ado, I give you: "Team Winning"
Team Building Process:
The original rain team I ran was based around spamming Swift Swimmers, thus the reform to another generic team. The core and original idea of this team are two hard hitting rain abusers: Specs Tornadus and Band Gyarados.
Then I looked for the best (read: most generic) ways to support these two choice locked beasts, and noticed firstly, the lack of speed, and secondly, the common electric and rock weaknesses. Thus I chose a defensive core of possibly the most used BW 'mon Ferrothorn and everybodys best friend, Blissey. These two synergised fairly well (other than that glaring fighting weakness, but Gyra handles that OK) and acheived the purpose of covering my two Choiced sweepers weaknesses and supporting with paralysis.
Next I added a general failsafe to most fuck ups, and also another Thunder Wave'er: Prankster T-Wave Thundurus. This guy is a premier rain abuser with his massive 100% accurate Thunders, and most useful; that priority T-Wave for when things get a little too set up. .
So now I had my Genie Bros, and two fairly solid defensive supporters along with a physical attacker... what else needs to go on a rain team.. oh wait. Politoed! Alot of people really hate seeing this on a team preview these days, and that's probably fairly warranted. Anyway, on with the team.
Then I looked for the best (read: most generic) ways to support these two choice locked beasts, and noticed firstly, the lack of speed, and secondly, the common electric and rock weaknesses. Thus I chose a defensive core of possibly the most used BW 'mon Ferrothorn and everybodys best friend, Blissey. These two synergised fairly well (other than that glaring fighting weakness, but Gyra handles that OK) and acheived the purpose of covering my two Choiced sweepers weaknesses and supporting with paralysis.
Next I added a general failsafe to most fuck ups, and also another Thunder Wave'er: Prankster T-Wave Thundurus. This guy is a premier rain abuser with his massive 100% accurate Thunders, and most useful; that priority T-Wave for when things get a little too set up. .
So now I had my Genie Bros, and two fairly solid defensive supporters along with a physical attacker... what else needs to go on a rain team.. oh wait. Politoed! Alot of people really hate seeing this on a team preview these days, and that's probably fairly warranted. Anyway, on with the team.
Winning:
3 affected by Spikes, 3 immune.
3 weak to Stealth Rock, 2 neutral, 1 resistant.
2 affected by Toxic Spikes, 4 immune.
In Depth:
Sheen (Politoed) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Perish Song
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hypnosis
Set overview:
You can't have a rain team without a rain inducer... Right? Well, Toed is probably one of the more unusual sets on the team, as it is used to counter a wide variety of opposing weather based threats such as Landlos, Excadrill and 'Chomp by killing their power, speed and hax respectively and KO'ing right back. He also serves as the teams best method of beating difficult last pokemon like Pringles and a form of phazing in Perish Song.
EV corner:
A simple spread of 252/252 to ensure he can counter the afformented 'mons and maximize the ability to fill in as a revenge killer if needed. Timid over Modest in this speed based metagame to let Toed outspeed base 130's such as Jolteon and hit them with a hard Hydro Pump.
Playing style:
Most weather starters are played very conservitely, but I break the mold with this one. I usually end up doing lots of reckless double switches into hazards to get the weather back. I think the best moments Toed sees are when people put their Breloom in the lead spot to deal with Toed, and end up getting slept rather than sleeping me. I've considered changing him to a standard bulkytoed set so he can stick around longer to rain on peoples parades, but having him really offensive helps keep alot of momentum, which is quite important for the flow of the team.
-Changed Toxic to Hypnosis
-Changed Hidden Power [Electric] to Ice Beam
-Changed Hidden Power [Electric] to Ice Beam
Goddess1 (Blissey) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 200 HP / 224 Def / 84 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
Set Overview:
Ahh, Blissey, the undisputed number one special wall in the game... other than her 'little-no-more' sister, Chancey. Though I still prefer Blissey for that very valuable leftovers recovery that works well with Protect. All this praise is for a reason, base 255 HP, 135 SpD and a typing that gives virtually no weaknesses on the special spectrum, and the cherry on top: the ability to pass the biggest Wishes in the game. I've previously used a Softboiled Blissey, but Wish helps Gyra counter some of the fighting threats to Blissey like Concledurp and Scrafty. Blissey is the main Thunder Wave-er of the team, spreading paralysis like a champ. SR, while not as dominant as it was last Gen, can still, arguably, put its hand up for best move in the game, crippling many top threats in todays metagame such as the Genies and Ulgamoth, while also destroying Sun teams.
EV Corner:
Blissey runs a fairly standard "physically defensive" varient, which adds a ton to her overall bulkiness, She can now stay in to T-Wave things like Gyra and DNite for a turn with out the same fear of being OHKO'd.
Playing Style:
Blissey has, and always will be the closest thing to a full stop for special attackers. Sure, there are things like Hammer Arm Thunderus that make her wee her pants, but given the right support she can sit there and take them any day.
-None
Goddess2 (Ferrothorn) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes
Set Overview:
One of the most popular contenders of the fifth gen, everybody's favorite little iron plant joins my team in an effort to combat the over abused and very effective play style we all call rain.... As he is replacing Forretress, Ferrothorn serves as a hazards platform that help with wearing down opposing weather changers and limit double switches, thus letting me win the weather war. Gyro Ball replaces Thunder Wave so as to not be Taunt bait and to counter opposing threats such as Gengar and other fast, frail sweepers. Leech Seed used in tandem with Protect and rain support make this peice of steel-plant-mush a pain in the ass to take down, as something as powerful as Latios' and Magnazone's HP [Fire]'s can be outstalled. Stupid, right?
EV Corner:
128 Def / 128 SpD and a Sassy nature gives perfectly balanced defences of 330 Def, 330 SpD. allowing Ferrothorn to counter a variety of threats.
Playing Style:
Just like the rest of the team, I probably play Ferrothorn over aggressively, often leaving him in to Leech Seed basically anything so as to pass that extra healing onto a counter.
-Used to be:
Goddess2 (Forretress) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 214 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes
-Changed Thunder Wave to Gyro Ball
Goddess2 (Forretress) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 214 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes
-Changed Thunder Wave to Gyro Ball
Winning1 (Tornadus) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hurricane
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Dark Pulse
Set overview:
Who doesn't love a 100% accurate, 120 BP, STAB, 30% chance of confusion attack that has lovely neutral coverage? Why not throw in 125 base SpA, a Modest nature and Choice Specs to boot. Basically, switch Tornadus in and start clicking the Hurricane button as fast and as hard as you can till the opponents ragequit. Focus Miss and Dark Pulse give the unnessacary yet 'perfect' neutral coverage when combined with Flying-STAB, though they do see some use against the occasional Ferrothorn/Jellicent/Rank when I don't want to risk a non-Rainy Hurricane. Not sure if i've ever used psychic.. Considering replacing with Hammer Arm for something else to hit the predicted Blissey switch with, though, once again, Hurricane takes a nice chunk anyway!
EV Corner:
Too frail to consider investing in any defensive stats, so max SpA and Spe for this Bro. Modest over Timid mostly for the surprise power. People don't like it when their Ferrothorn gets 2HKO'd with some previous hazards damage.
Playing style:
Following the mould of many Specs sweepers, I try and get Tornadus in early game as much as possible (especially before rocks are up), with rain up, to punch huge holes and force switches in the opposition. Because of his epic power, often a resist is 2-3HKO'd where they expect a switch. The occasional confusion hax also add to this cause.
-None
Winning2 (Gyarados) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Bounce
Set Overview:
Gyarados usage is finally rising again in the BW metagame after taking a brief hiatus from ruling GenIV, while people played with their new BW toys. With perma rain giving a pseudo CB to Waterfall, and an actuall CB boosting that, and all his other moves, a Band Gyra is actually quite a good alternative to the more traditional DD and Bulky DD/DTail sets. Waterfall for Double STAB, CB'd goodness with Bounce offering a secondary STAB. QuakeEdge rounds out the coverage and gives the ability to hit other (generally para'd) Gyarados' and a suprising threat in Toxicroak super effectively.
EV Corner:
Some more bland, predictable 252/252 EV's. I have been considering moving some EV's to HP/Def in order to help counter Fighting types, but max offensive stats are just too good to pass up on at the moment.
Playing Style:
Gyarados probably sees the most use on the team, and thus often dies first (or second behind the suicidal Thunderus). My two defensive pokemon share a common weakness and offer the opportunity for Fighting types to come in and set up. Enter: a flying type with Intimidate (yay for CaP's Tomohawk!). Win. If more Concledurp's ran SE, he wouldn't be nearly as good a counter, but at the moment, my rain boosted Waterfall's out damage their +0 paybacks. PS: I've learnt the hard way that a Gyra DOES NOT counter a Terrakion. Sad panda.
-None
Winning3 (Thundurus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 88 Atk / 168 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Thunder
- Thunder Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Hammer Arm
Set Overview:
Added as a catch all revenge T-Wave-er, Thundurus servers the job admirably, often coming in on a set up 'mon and sacrificing himself in order to Paralyse so that Gyra/Tornado Bro can come in and revenge. Thunder, in the same vein as Hurricane on Tornadus, is that beautiful 100% accurate, 120 BP, STAB'ed, nice side effect move that makes Thundurus such a good rain abuser. HP [Ice] gives BoltBeam coverage and OHKO's Gliscgor and co. Hammer Arm is my best answer to Ferrothorn and Blissey/Chancey.
EV Corner:
Max Speed (Naive over Timid so as to not hinder Hammer Arm's output) for the best sweeping capabilities. 88Atk EV's gaurantee the 2HKO on blissey with Spike/SR support.
Playing Style:
I often find that I lead with Thundurus and end up wearing him down via LO without even having started rain. He just leaves such large holes in so many teams that aren't prepared to handle the coverage and power. As I said before, he is often KO'd first via suicide Paralysing.
-Changed Focus Blast to Hammer Arm
-Changed Timid Nature to Naive Nature
-Changed 252 Spe / 252 SAtk / 4 HP to 252 Spe / 88 Atk / 168 SAtk
-Changed Timid Nature to Naive Nature
-Changed 252 Spe / 252 SAtk / 4 HP to 252 Spe / 88 Atk / 168 SAtk
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In Conclusion:
This team has many flaws, but the one thing it excels at is abusing it's strengths. Hopefully you guys enjoyed.