Unsuspected Rain

At a glance:
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Jirachi @ Damp Rock
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 160 Def / 76 SpD / 32 Spe
Nature: Impish
~ Rain Dance
~ U-turn
~ Wish
~ Stealth Rock

Leads off with Rain Dance and/or Stealth Rock and scouts with U-turn to set one of my sweepers up early. Comes in on the fun later on to provide Wish support for my weakened sweepers.

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Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 240 SpA / 16 Spe
Nature: Lonely
~ Signal Beam
~ Waterfall
~ Hydro Pump
~ Draco Meteor

Mixed sweeper sans Rain Dance. Signal Beam prevents Celebi from stalling with Recover while Kingdra faints itself with Life Orb. Hydro Pump over Surf to OHKO (in the rain) physically defensive threats like max HP Zapdos, max HP Scizor, and max HP Metagross (75% chance).

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Bronzong @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 128 Def
Nature: Sassy
~ Light Screen
~ Reflect
~ Rain Dance
~ Explosion

Can set up eight-turn dual screens and restore the rain. Uses Explosion to put a dent into something and get a sweeper in unscathed.

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Starmie @ Damp Rock
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 40 SpA / 216 Spe
Nature: Timid
~ Rain Dance
~ Surf
~ Thunder
~ Recover

Summons rain for eight turns and sweeps if possible. It can get some use out of Recover with its heavy HP EV investment.

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Qwilfish @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Nature: Adamant
~ Swords Dance
~ Poison Jab
~ Waterfall
~ Explosion

Absorbs any toxic spikes upon its entry and sweeps if it can get a Swords Dance up, probably with the help of an appropriate screen from Bronzong. Explodes before the rain subsides to put a significant dent into just about anything, assuming it has a Swords Dance under its belt.

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Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
~ Surf
~ Energy Ball
~ Ice Beam
~ Rain Dance

Hopefully survives on the turn on which it uses Rain Dance (if necessary) and proceeds to sweep. One of my few answers to opposing bulky waters.


Thanks for suggestions in advance.
 
Well, what we need here is more things to abuse Rain Dance. I would definitely replace the Poliwrath for an actual sweeper, such as either Kabutops or Qwilfish for your physical needs.

A subtle change however is, if Gyarados is your lead (which I doubt or at least frown against) then Focus Sash would work so much better, seeing as how so many leads will just rather blow up on you. I might also say ditch the Taunt and add another attack for more coverage.

I would also change out Zen Headbutt on Jirachi. If you have a random turn to do w/e you want, just put in another Rain Dance. I would then take it off of Kingdra as it could use another attack, such as Ice Beam for the annoying grasses without having to fuck up your special attack.

And also, Bronzong can take all the statuses that are out there, it's not doing that much, so we can also ditch Porygon2. Just add another special attacker, whether it's Latias (who if is also using Rain Dance, will beat Tyranitar as it switches in like a lot!!!) or Ludicolo who abuses the rain to attack, but some special side spectrum to team up wtih Kingdra would be nice.
 
Adding to what Aeroblacktyl said, I would honestly replace Porygon2 as well. Rain Dance teams are generally offensive and taking the time to switch to counter a threat is REALLY useless. If you want to keep gyarados insurance I would try a Starmie in that spot. Not only does Starmie get a STAB Hydro Pump but Starmie also gets Thunder which allows you to do some massive damage in the rain. Ludicolo is another option as he destroys bulky waters that are the bane of every Rain Dance team's existence. Kinda common sense but why not Thunder on Jirachi? Paralysis is always nice since Swift Simmers generally aren't that fast outside of rain.
 
Starmie makes perfect sense over Porygon2, actually; I must have overlooked it. I am keeping Gyarados, though I am under the impression that it was a solid lead (emphasis on "was"; I'm not caught up to today's standard at all). Why is it that you frown against it, Aeroblacktyl? What would you recommend in its place (I am not removing Gyarados from the team, keep in mind)? Your Focus Sash theory sounds good, but its "bulky" EVs are set in stone and so I doubt a Focus Sash is the best use of them. I rather like the prospect of Taunt, too.

I considered Thunder over Zen Headbutt, but Rain Dance sounds good too. I'm not sure which to go with, actually.

If I go with Ice Beam over Rain Dance on Kingdra, should I try a different spread/nature? I was thinking a Choice Specs variant might be more destructive, though to be completely honest I'm not sure how useful Waterfall is (on the mixed sweeper).

I also considered Ludicolo, but I think I'll take Starmie over Porygon2 instead. As for Poliwrath, Kaputops or Qwilfish seems viable, yet the SubPunch strategy against an incoming Tyranitar seems like it would be really effective. I know Poliwrath isn't the best thing to take advantage of Rain Dance, but it at least grants a sort of unpredictability and what I can assume to be a free turn against Tyranitar. Also gives me some versatility with Fighting.

Damp Rock on the prospective Rain Dance/Thunder/Surf/Recover Starmie sounds as viable as it does on Bronzong. I suppose if I got rid of Poliwrath for Choice Band Kabutops/Qwilfish I could just slap the Leftovers on Bronzong.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Hey there,

I'm also opposed to the Gyarados lead. BulkyGyarados is no longer a good lead like it was in early-mid D/P. Hard hitting leads screw it up easily, but those aren't common thankfully. The most common lead, Metagross suppresses Intimidate and you can't really hurt it enough before it kills you. Jirachi might carry ThunderPunch. I doubt BulkyGyara. likes taking a Scarf from a Tricker either. A whole lot of Suicide Leads are faster than Gyarados (Aerdactyl, AZELF, ScarfRachi, etc.) and will get up Rocks AND OHKO with Explosion. To be honest, I'd prefer to see Bronzong as your lead. It seems to cover more grounds and give you a quick advantage.

Also, Jirachi should keep Thunder over Zen Headbutt. 60% Paralysis and 100% Acc. with 120 base power is awesome.

IDK if you NEED Poliwrath as your Tyranitar counter. Bronzong seems to be your best switch-in at the moment. If you have no big Ty issues, I'd recommend switching to a Ludicolo.

Porygon2 is necessary for this team because it covers +1 Salamence. If Rain isn't up, you really can't revenge it. (I don't think Gyarados should be a safe bet.) I wouldn't switch it as a matter of fact.

Lastly, it seems kind of pointless to me to have Light Clay on Jirachi when it only has one screen. Why not make Bronzong or Jirachi a Dual Screener and make the other have Rain Dance / SR? That's more productive IMO.

Other than that, most threats seem covered well, so nice job.
 
Hey there,

I'm also opposed to the Gyarados lead. BulkyGyarados is no longer a good lead like it was in early-mid D/P. Hard hitting leads screw it up easily, but those aren't common thankfully. The most common lead, Metagross suppresses Intimidate and you can't really hurt it enough before it kills you. Jirachi might carry ThunderPunch. I doubt BulkyGyara. likes taking a Scarf from a Tricker either. A whole lot of Suicide Leads are faster than Gyarados (Aerdactyl, AZELF, ScarfRachi, etc.) and will get up Rocks AND OHKO with Explosion. To be honest, I'd prefer to see Bronzong as your lead. It seems to cover more grounds and give you a quick advantage.

Also, Jirachi should keep Thunder over Zen Headbutt. 60% Paralysis and 100% Acc. with 120 base power is awesome.

IDK if you NEED Poliwrath as your Tyranitar counter. Bronzong seems to be your best switch-in at the moment. If you have no big Ty issues, I'd recommend switching to a Ludicolo.

Porygon2 is necessary for this team because it covers +1 Salamence. If Rain isn't up, you really can't revenge it. (I don't think Gyarados should be a safe bet.) I wouldn't switch it as a matter of fact.

Lastly, it seems kind of pointless to me to have Light Clay on Jirachi when it only has one screen. Why not make Bronzong or Jirachi a Dual Screener and make the other have Rain Dance / SR? That's more productive IMO.

Other than that, most threats seem covered well, so nice job.

Thanks for the tips; I'll update the team later with some of them.

Aeroblacktyl: I've looked at Latias (OU now, eh?) and I'm imagining a lot of options. I'm not really sure what nature/spread to settle on if I'm going with something unconventional like Rain Dance but I was thinking a slight variation of the Offensive Calm Mind set:

~ Calm Mind
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Surf
~ Rain Dance

BlueCleric's Porygon2 reminder makes sense, and I noticed that Pursuit would hurt me if I was running both Latias and Starmie (well, at least Starmie).

The only problem that I have with making Jirachi a dual-screener is that its other moves seem critical. I'll leave its and Bronzong's sets unchanged for now, although I do like your suggestion.

As of now I'm split between Gyarados and Poliwrath for Latias and Qwilfish (Kabutops? Absorbing poison spikes a la Qwilfish sounds really good, though). I would rather not get rid of Gyarados, but right now it just doesn't seem to play too integral of a role in this team. I'm not sure how I would exactly counter DD'd Tyranitar without Poliwrath. Latias with Rain Dance sounds like an awesome lure and all, but there's not much I can see myself doing if Tyranitar sets up a Dragon Dance.
 
I've really looked the team over due in part to some suggestions and have since made some massive changes. Read the original post for more details.

Note that both Kingdra and Ludicolo have a Life Orb, so I'd like to do something about that. I can't think of anything besides changing one of them to a Choice Specs user, but I can't decide which. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Choice Specs, but if it is recommended on either of them, there's not much to argue about.
 
Item clause is silly, you need your damp rocks and life orbs on a successful rain team =/. Iirc, most people on wifi don't play by item clause anyway, they just have that 'no more than 2 focus sash' rule, so you should be fine. If not, try and get matches with people who don't play by the clause. There's no point in disadvantaging yourself and ruining a perfectly good strategy for an arbitrary non-standard clause.

I know this is for wifi, so you can't help having an Impish Jirachi, but I would recommend you replace Thunder with Stealth Rock. Bronzong is possibly the best user of Rain Dance in OU, and yet you have him using rocks instead or rain. A rain team wants its rocks right at the start of the match, and having a bulky replenisher like Bronzong will be really helpful for your team. So here, go for Stealth Rock > Thunder on jirachi, and Rain Dance > Stealth Rock on Bronzong. A non-STAB Thunder off a -SpA natured Jirachi with little investment won't be hurting much anyway; best let Jirachi do all your supporting needs at the start of the battle and then have it simply U-turn out.

If you are using Ice Beam on Kingdra for Grass-types, there's little point in keeping it over Signal Beam. Celebi is really the only OU Grass type that requires a special move to deal with it, and so hitting it 4x effective with Signal Beam will help you out a lot, since right now, Ice Beam only does 52-63%, which is low enough for Celebi to Recover stall you out of rain and wear you down with your own Life Orb. I would also strongly consider replacing Surf with Hydro Pump. The added power of Hydro Pump is really helpful in getting some key KOs in the rain, since you are not running a +SpA nature. For example, in the rain, Hydro Pump will always OHKO max HP Zapdos with SR whereas Surf would never, Hydro Pump has a 75% chance to OHKO max HP Metagross with SR whereas Surf has none, and Hydro Pump will always OHKO max HP Scizor whereas Surf falls just short. It's on Pokemon like these, who have much higher physical defense or invest in it much more, that you wouldn't use Waterfall (your main sweeping move in the rain), and so Hydro Pump's additional power is really welcome in getting these crucial KOs.

Don't waste time using Earthquake with Bronzong. You really want Explosion in there, so that Bronzong can set up the support needed then quickly get out of the way and get a sweeper in for free, hopefully blowing a hole in an opposing wall while its at it. Rain teams play far too fast for Earthquake to be of any use - it's not like Heatran is threatening you anytime soon anyway. You've been considering it, and I'd definitely recommend it. Explosion is a great move to have on a rain team.

While Scizor is a cool Pokemon to have set up Rain Dance, I think you would be better off dropping it for another type. Having three Steel-type replenishers might not be the best idea - it means that if the opponent gets Infernape in while you have no rain, you won't be given a chance to get your rain replenished, and you will therefore most likely lose. Jirachi and Bronzong are better users of rain dance because of their bulk, and serve this team better, so Scizor is the one that should go. Starmie has been suggested already I think, and I'd have to agree here. Starmie would fit into this team very well over Scizor:

Starmie @ Damp Rock; Timid; 252 HP / 40 SpA / 216 Spe
Rain Dance / Surf / Thunder / Recover

With Recover it has a fair bit of survivability too, and in the rain it can really make use of double STAB Surf and fully accurate Thunder. With the HP EVs and Recover, it can stick around a while, and set up rain more than once if you need it to.

Obviously, replacing Scizor makes you a bit weaker to Latias. Azumarill isn't doing much for the team here. It is slow even in the rain, and Substitute is clumsy and wastes turns. Drop Azumarill here for a Qwilfish:

Qwilfish @ Life Orb; Adamant; 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Swords Dance / Poison Jab / Waterfall / Explosion

Currently, if your opponent is running a Tentacruel, you will find it quite hard to win. Tentacruel can come in on both Ludicolo and Kingdra and start setting up deadly Toxic Spikes. T Spikes are probably the surefire way of beating a rain team if they go up early enough - the rain sweepers won't be around long enough to do threatening damage when they are losing health to both poison and LO. Qwilfish helps you out greatly simply because of its Poison typing, which will soak the spikes up for you on entry. With the screens up, Qwilfish shouldn't find it too hard to get a Swords Dance in, as long as you don't try to SD up on something that can hit you super effectively. Once it's danced up, very little stands in its way. Standard 148/0 Latias is OHKOed by Poison Jab, as is Celebi, and really everything else dies to double STAB Waterfall. Count your turns of rain, and just as it's about to run out, you can go Boom with Qwilfish and be free to bring in your fast Starmie to replenish rain once again. Azumarill simply does not have the immediate power that Qwilfish brings to the team, and can't deal with Latias. Qwilfish will fit in here great.

That's all I have to recommend for now. I hope some of my suggestions help, good luck with your team =).
 
Thanks for the valuable input.

I agree with your suggestions and have made the necessary changes, even though Tyranitar will bother me more now, from what I can see. I'm not exactly sure the degree to which he and Gengar will be more difficult without Scizor, but overall the change to Starmie makes sense.

Replacing Stealth Rock with Rain Dance on Bronzong will make it easier to make the decision to set up a screen, which was one of my qualms with it initially.
 
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