Rain Dance RMT

phoenix_master

Azelf @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs:252 HP: 252 Spe: 4 Atk
Nature: Jolly
- Rain Dance
- Taunt
- U-Turn
- Explosion

I decided on Azelf as my lead because of his ability to shut down slower leads, and having a fairly powerfull explosion. I dont really find myself using Stealth Rock very often, maybe i should move it to another pokemon? I guess it's not important for this team. Obviously vs slower leads i usually Taunt first, then Rain Dance/Stealth Rock. Againts leads like Metagross i usually go strait for the Rain Dance, seeing as they will see the Taunt comming a mile away, and Meteor Mash/Bullet Punch me to Kingdom Come.

Scizor @ Damp Rock
Ability: Technician
EVs:248 HP :252 Atk :8 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Bullet Punch
- Rain Dance
- U-Turn
- Roost

My T-tar/Abomasnow counter. I like him as a Rain replenisher because he is bulky, yet can hit pretty hard at the same time.
Plus he has a great U-turn to bring in my really hard hitters.
And obviously his fire weakness is inconsequential on this team.

Swampert@ Damp Rock
Ability: Torrent
EVs:252 HP : 194 Atk :62 Speed
Nature: Adamant
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock

I have gone with Swampert instead of Latias for now, because I really needed a T-wave Immunity. Plus he can set up Stealth Rock a lot more reliably than Azelf. The thing his, with him around, do I still need Scizor to counter T-tar? Seeing as apparently Swampert makes a pretty good T-tar counter. Also not too sure what EV spread i should go with here. I have gone with max HP for the oh so important bulk. Adamant Nature to make sure he can hit hard with Rain boosted Waterfalls. And the speed EV's just to outspeed stuff I guess (not too sure what though :P. Can someone please give me a good Speed EV number for him?

Now on to the sweepers

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs:60 HP :196 Spe :252 Spe Atk
Nature: Modest
- Surf
- Energy Ball
- HP Elec
- Ice Beam

My special sweeper. This guy is an absolute beast in the rain. He literally tears apart entire teams without a dedicated special wall.
HP Elec is there for Gyarados. And i chose Energy Ball over Grass Knot because Vaporeon is a royal pain in the backside
Decided on Surf over Hydro Pump because miss hax likes to rear it's ugly head way too often for my liking.

Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs:32 HP :224 Soe :252 Atk
Nature: Adamant
- X-Scizor
- Stone Edge
- Waterfall
- Swords Dance

Obviously he is my physical attacker.
Same as above, he will hit hard and fast in the rain. After a Swords Dance he is nigh unstoppable. However that happens very rarely, seeing as he is very fraill and the only thing i can switch him in to is a fire move (and it's not like my opponent is going to be using those freely against this team).
Aqua Jet is there to hit other frail priority users. I consider him to be the best of the swift swim physical attackers (not a very wide range of choice there).

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs:192 atk :72 Spe :240 Spe Atk
Nature: Naughty
- Waterfall
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Outrage

I am not entirely sure on what set to use on him.
At the momment i have Waterfall to hit the special walls, Hydro Pump to hit the physical walls, Draco Meteor to hit other waters with, and Signal Beam for Celebi.
I have used lots of sets for him, but i could never decide on what. Some tips on what works best for him would be greatly apreciated

As you might have noticed i took most of these sets from the Smogon Strategy Pokedex, but i am to lazy and i lack the creativity to come up with my own.

So please post your thoughts on this team.

Edit: Decided on Swampert over Latias for the momment, reasons stated above. Changed Kingdra Signal Beam to Outrage. Changed Kabutops Aqua Jet to X-Scizor.
 
Hey Phoenix master.

I like your Rain dance team but you might want to make some changes like change scizor into a better steel type that can set up rain much easier without 4x weakness to fire like Jirachi. You might want to try this set.

Jirachi @ Damp Rock
252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 Spe
Nature: Timid
Moveset:
~ Rain dance
~ Uturn
~ Wish
~ Thunder

For Kingdra you might want to do a minor thing change signal beam to Outrage so you can continue on attacking even if you have a special attack drop.

Lastly the only thing I find that doesn't fit in is the Latias it doesn't even have wish so you might want to change it to Rotom-W because it has Hydro pump and also just a better in rain rather then Latias.

Rotom-W@ Damp Rock
252 Speed 252 Sp.att 6 HP
Nature: Timid
Thunder
Hydro Pump
Rain Dance
Shadow Ball

For Ludicolo you might want to change HP Elec to Rain dance, because you want as much things to run rain.

Good luck.
 
Nice team, but I can see a few changes that might help.

First of all, if you are unsure about Latias, why not try Zapdos or Jirachi instead? Both have access to Thunder and U-turn, as well as having useful resists and in the case or Zapdos, an immunity to one of the more common attacking types. I suggest you use Zapdos, as it gives more resitances for your sweepers weaknesses, and doesn't open a nasty Ground weakness.

Zapdos @ Damp Rock
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Bold
248 HP / 228 Def / 32 Spe
~ Rain Dance
~ Thunder
~ Roost
~ U-turn

I also suggest you take Signal Beam off and use Outrage on Kingdra, and for a way to remove Celebi, change Aqua Jet to X-Scissor on Kabutops.

Hope this helps.
 
If you are really looking for a Kingdra set, the most destructive I would say is the Specs set complimenting Kabutops perfectly with the ability to 2KO Celebi (probably the most common switchin) in the rain with Hydro Pump. With 26 HP/252 Sp. Atk/232 Spd and a Modest nature you also 2KO so many other pokemon that resist this attack such as Suicune. Easily, I'd say that is the most destructive set with the only drawback being its mediocre 80% accuracy. When the rain is down, Kabutops can clean up with Celebi and other enemies out of the way.
 
MetaGross66 said:
If you are really looking for a Kingdra set, the most destructive I would say is the Specs set complimenting Kabutops perfectly with the ability to 2KO Celebi (probably the most common switchin) in the rain with Hydro Pump. With 26 HP/252 Sp. Atk/232 Spd and a Modest nature you also 2KO so many other pokemon that resist this attack such as Suicune. Easily, I'd say that is the most destructive set with the only drawback being its mediocre 80% accuracy. When the rain is down, Kabutops can clean up with Celebi and other enemies out of the way.
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A Choice item isn't often recommended for a weather team, simply because if you Hydro Pump into something like Vaporeon or Blissey, you would have to switch, wasting precious turns of rain.

So OP, stick with LO Kingdra.

I see that ScarfLatias can be very problematic for your team, as she can outspeed everything on your team even after rain, Draco Meteor/Thunderbolt anything on your team and kill it, switch out, and come back later when she needs to. I'd suggest running a different EV set for Kabutops, going to Adamant to a Jolly nature, with EVs of 32 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Def / 204 Spe, and this lets you outspeed up to ScarfStarmie, another thing that can cause you problems. The power drop from Adamant to Jolly isn't really significant, you still OHKO or 2HKO most things in the rain anyway after a Swords Dance. Since you are running extra speed, Aqua Jet isn't needed anymore, so replace it with X-Scissor.
 
You're really underestimating its power....Vaporeon does nothing to a SubDD set and so it's more than likely not to switch in. Blissey fears Outrage. Besides, they both take heavy damage from the correct move. Obviously, SR pushes them both closer to being 2KOd. Draco Meteor does more to Vaporeon, but still 2KOs if Vaporeon is at full health. It misses the OHKO by a small margin, but constant switching will wear it down.

252 Modest Choice Specs Kingdra Hydro Pump in the rain
vs. 24/232 Calm Leftovers Blissey : 34.9% - 41.1%

252 Modest Choice Specs Kingdra Dragon Pulse
vs. 188/0 Bold Leftovers Vaporeon : 45.5% - 53.6%

Oh, and with the given EVs, you outspeed Timid Scarf Latias and 2KO with Hydro Pump. Obviously, Dragon Pulse also OHKOs. So, you don't have to compromise power for speed on Kabutops.
 
If i made Kingdra a purely special attacker, wouldn't that make Ludicolo kind of redundant? I thought the great thing about Kingdra was he could hit really hard from both ends of the spectrum.
 
Not really, if you look at it in the HO perspective which most Rain teams are. Ludicolo also walls Vaporeon for Kingdra if it does get locked into Hydro Pump.
 
phoenix_master said:
Pardon my Nupidity, but what is HO?
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HO = hyper offense. Hyper offense usually consists of 5 sweepers and a support mon, usually dual screen azelf or whatever.

I really suck at rating rain dance teams, but i know you can get away with 2 Rain Dance set up mons and you can add another sweeper in that previously occupied space. Something like SD Quilfish over Latias, which gives you Toxic Spikes immunity and a super fast Swords Dance boosted Explosion, Waterfall, and Poison Jab, would look pretty cool on your team as it really destroys Celebi and other offensive based mons for the rest of your team to have an easier time with.
 
MetaGross66 said:
phoenix_master said:
If i made Kingdra a purely special attacker, wouldn't that make Ludicolo kind of redundant? I thought the great thing about Kingdra was he could hit really hard from both ends of the spectrum.
Click to expand...

Not really, if you look at it in the HO perspective which most Rain teams are. Ludicolo also walls Vaporeon for Kingdra if it does get locked into Hydro Pump.
Click to expand...

Without a mixed attacker (which is like a stallbreaker pretty much), the SkarmBliss combo will stop your rain sweep...
 
Do not change to a Specs Kingdra, as with Life Orb, a Hydro Pump, Rain boosted Hydro Pump still does 37.9% - 44.6% to Defensive Celebi, and Draco Meteor does 58.7% - 69.3%, making it a simple 2HKO with Stealth Rock, and a fairly certain KO without.

And of course, the fact Kingdra is mixed really helps the team against SkarmBliss, so do not change it.
 
lol, the skarmbliss combo will definitely stop your rain sweep, but you have a higher chance of breaking through it with Specsdra: the only obstacle being Blissey who has a chance to be 2KOd if at around 70% health which isn't all that hard to get it at with Kabutops. You're forgetting that Draco Meteor lowers special attack. Just switch a Skarmory in on that and take a Hydro Pump or whatever. Just because a Pokemon is mixed doesn't mean it is any more effective as a wall breaker than a choiced Pokemon. Seriously, I would expect people at Smogon to know this...

Basically, you're leaving everything up to prediction by making it mixed. If he didn't even know what HO meant (sorry just using this as an example), do you really think he can handle the prediction required to successfully use Mixdra? Honestly, I'd rather just be able to punch holes with one move. Everything in OU is 2KOed by a Specsdra's Hydro Pump in the rain, including Pokemon that resist it like Suicune and Latias; the only exceptions being Blissey, Vaporeon, and Tentacruel. With Specs you won't have to worry about prediction and can just punch large holes in the opponent's team with a single move. Also, no drawbacks like Draco Meteor's Special attack drop. The only worry is accuracy which isn't all that bad either at a nice 80% (seriously, people used Hypnosis at 70%...).
 
Basically, you're leaving everything up to prediction by making it mixed.
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By using a Choiced item, your prediction would have to be even better, as a wrong move would mean you have to completely stop, unlike if you're holding Life Orb. Picture this, if you're running Specs, the first thing you're going to do when you switch Kingdra into the rain is to spam Hydro Pump. Once your opponent realises its Specs'd (By looking at damage output and stuff), they'd bring in Vaporeon or Blissey to wall Kingdra and waste rain turns. They waste at least two turns by walling you and forcing you out, so that is 1/4 of your Rain turns gone. That is possibly two Pokemon on your opponent's team that you could have swept. The best of beating a Rain team is to stall out the rain (Or bring in TTar, I guess) and absolutely beat the shit out of it while its vulnerable, and by making one wrong prediction, you help achieve that goal for your opponent.
 
That's two out of all the pokemon available in OU play. ;) It's possible to KO them with the correct move. I already showed that Vaporeon is 2KOed by Dragon Pulse, and it's easy to bring the rain back with his rain supporters. That's why they're there.

Besides, once you use DM with Kingdra you'll have to switch out as Outrage isn't touching the steels, so your point doesn't make any sense. You'd need more prediction with anything spamming DM as a first move.
 
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