I've only started playing a few months ago and even less with 5th gen. I've have developed a dream world rain team to some small success and I wish to have it rated.
Re (Edit): Of course with the recent, or not so recent, ban of Drizzle and Swift Swim, I was forced to re-edit my team.
I appreciate any tips, criticism and suggestions and will consider them when I adjust my team.
Lead: Politoad @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 SpA /4 SpD /252 Spd
Nature: Timid
Ability: Drizzle
Scald
Ice Beam
Toxic
Focus Blast
Let me explain. First I made Politoed more like a sweeper so it could kill more things. Running a Timid nature gives him a respectable 262 speed. It’s not amazing but most people envision Politoed as a wall for special attacks. Boil Over is obviously first choice backed with STAB, rain boost and a 30% chance to burn to boot. Ice beam is for dragons like Salamence who want to DD expecting a switch. It does nothing for Multiscale Dragonite though. Toxic is for breaking through walls though alot of them are steel anyway and it does nothing. Last is Focus Blast, it makes Ttar (tyranitar) think twice before ruining drizzle, not to mention they are common sand team leads too. It does damage to Natterei but only a meager 3HKO while Natterei can devastate with a clean OHKO with Power Whip.
2: Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
EVs: 252 HP /120 Def /136 SpD
Nature: Calm
Ability: Rain Dish
Rapid Spin
Toxic Spikes
Scald
Acid Bomb
Thanks to Dream World, Tentacreul has rain recover via Rain Dish which works great as a Spinner and Toxic Spikes supporter. Being part Poison allows the jellyfish to absorb Toxic Spikes without poison. This is the sole reason I chose it over Blastoise. This means Tentacruel can be more bulky than before. Black Sludge is used over leftovers as a safeguard against Trick. Obvious moveset and the same set from 4 Gen. Switch into an attack that merely tickles Tentacruel and proceed to clearing entry hazards and placing Toxic Spikes. Scald may be weaker than Surf, but it can provide burn support which can be useful against powerhouses that don’t have Guts. Acid Bomb and Slime wave were a tough choice but I like that guaranteed SpD drop even though it has a BP of 40. This is useful to pick at opponents defense. Allowing a switch or in some cases KOs with resisted moves. Of course, Tentacruel is meant for support so it’s unlikely it will kill anything anyways.
3: Toxicroak @ Black Sludge
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Dry Skin
Cross Chop
Sucker Punch
Bulk Up
Substitute
With the introduction of Drizzle Politoed, Toxicroak can now use Dry Skin in the rain and yes, Toxicroak’s Defense is appalling, the point is to switch on something weak like Grass Knot, force the switch and set up a sub then proceed with Bulk Up to make his Defense boost and the Attack up doesn’t hurt either. Recover ¼ of health helps create more subs for scouting and to keep status away. That leaves Toxicroak with two moves, Cross Chop provides STAB and does hefty damage, which should be the main source of offense while Sucker Punch offers priority and hits frail Psychics looking to exploit his 4x weakness though it can pick off frail sweepers or weakened Pokemon.
4: Raichu @ Life Orb
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
Ability: Lightening Rod
Thunder
Grass Knot
Hidden Power Ice
Encore
Granted, there many better sweepers out there than Raichu that has the same or more speed and higher than 90 Base Stat offenses. Not to mention stiff competition from the likes of Manetric and Zapdos who also Lightening Rod. Those who played 3 and 4 Gen remember that Lightening Rod was just a crap ability that drew Electric moves to that Pokemon. Not useful except with ground types on 2 vs. 2 battles. But now the new generation changed Lightening Rod among other abilities. Now it provides Electric immunity while boosting the SpA of that Pokemon. Now what sets Raichu from Zapdos (the primary contender) and Manetric is Encore and Grass Knot. Switch Raichu into a predicted Electric attack and get the boost, fire one of the three attacks you predict the switch or encore if they stay in which would give you more boost. In the rain, 100% accuracy Thunder hits hard with the boost and STAB. Grass knot hits bulky waters and heavy ground types. Raichu tends to attract a lot of Swampert and Hippowdon. HP Ice gives the infamous BoltBeam coverage and hits off Gliscor who would completely wall the rat. Beware of Landlos who can outspeed Raichu if running a speed positive nature and max EV investment. Of course prediction is key; this thing dies in a heartbeat.
5: Jynx @ Life Orb
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
Ability: Dry Skin
Nasty Plot
Ice Beam
Substitute
Lovely Kiss
Of course Dry Skin helps with health, subs and switching in so the goal is to switch in on a water attack, sleep it with Lovely Kiss, sub on the switch and set up. Of course Ice Beam is the only choice of attack with all these moves. Maximum Speed investment is required as Jynx’ speed is rather average. It has an average SpD so it might survive a weak neutral hit here and there but beware of its crapsack Defense. No lie, its defense Base Stat is worse than Sharpedo’s. It’s a whopping 35. In terms of Physical Defense, it feels like using Pikachu all over again. Dies to resisted priority moves which the only one is Ice Shard. A very risky Pokemon, but I’ve swept whole teams with just Jynx. Dry Skin gives almost free rein on Substitute so it actually works quite well in the rain.
6: Parasect @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
Nature: Careful
Ability: Dry Skin
Spore
Stun Spore
Leech Seed
X-Scissors
To think, someone using Parasect in an OU match. Parasect had been dismissed from competitive gaming since the early days of Red and Blue. The reason is always the same, 4x weakness to Fire and Flying and a plethora of other weakness made switching much less tanking virtually impossible and its terrible, terrible speed means it has trouble outspeeding the likes of Slowbro and Steelix. Stealth Rock in 4 Gen didn’t help either making it chances of taking hits even more of a pipe dream, but with the popularity of rain teams in 5 gen, this all changed. Yes Parasect has SR weakness but Spin support remedies this problem. Pokemon like Blastoise and Tentacruel are friends. Now with rain the opponent is hesitant to use fire Pokemon. Now maxing out Parasect’s bulk allows to sponge a few hits. Note the 4x resistance to the ever present Earthquake. Switch to that, water attacks, grass, electric or fighting (which is ever popular) and do what Parasect does best, Spore! Suspect a switch, hit the fire/flying sweeper (probably) with Stun Spore and cripple them. If not, then Leech seed and switch to a set up Pokemon or just switch to a Pokemon that can kill it. Of course Parasect requires a great amount of prediction for it to pay off but when it does, it will do its job well, annoy the hell out of your opponent. No, Parasect isn’t going rule the whole metagame but with support and prediction it can be a prick.
RE (Edit): Remove Blastoise, Kingdra, Cresselia and Armaldo.
Edit: Parasect
Add: Toxicroak, Tentacruel, Raichu and Jynx
Obviously this isn’t the best team, maybe not even a good team but yeah. Some problems I’d like to address are:
· The lack of speed on my team. I often find myself outsped by something and losing like three of my Pokemon before I finally kill the other Pokemon, so any way to boost speed is great.
· Defenses, I find most of Pokemon even the more bulky one are OHKOed or 2HKOed by strong hitters so any way to boost defenses would be great as well.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Re (Edit): Of course with the recent, or not so recent, ban of Drizzle and Swift Swim, I was forced to re-edit my team.
I appreciate any tips, criticism and suggestions and will consider them when I adjust my team.
Lead: Politoad @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 SpA /4 SpD /252 Spd
Nature: Timid
Ability: Drizzle
Scald
Ice Beam
Toxic
Focus Blast
Let me explain. First I made Politoed more like a sweeper so it could kill more things. Running a Timid nature gives him a respectable 262 speed. It’s not amazing but most people envision Politoed as a wall for special attacks. Boil Over is obviously first choice backed with STAB, rain boost and a 30% chance to burn to boot. Ice beam is for dragons like Salamence who want to DD expecting a switch. It does nothing for Multiscale Dragonite though. Toxic is for breaking through walls though alot of them are steel anyway and it does nothing. Last is Focus Blast, it makes Ttar (tyranitar) think twice before ruining drizzle, not to mention they are common sand team leads too. It does damage to Natterei but only a meager 3HKO while Natterei can devastate with a clean OHKO with Power Whip.
2: Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
EVs: 252 HP /120 Def /136 SpD
Nature: Calm
Ability: Rain Dish
Rapid Spin
Toxic Spikes
Scald
Acid Bomb
Thanks to Dream World, Tentacreul has rain recover via Rain Dish which works great as a Spinner and Toxic Spikes supporter. Being part Poison allows the jellyfish to absorb Toxic Spikes without poison. This is the sole reason I chose it over Blastoise. This means Tentacruel can be more bulky than before. Black Sludge is used over leftovers as a safeguard against Trick. Obvious moveset and the same set from 4 Gen. Switch into an attack that merely tickles Tentacruel and proceed to clearing entry hazards and placing Toxic Spikes. Scald may be weaker than Surf, but it can provide burn support which can be useful against powerhouses that don’t have Guts. Acid Bomb and Slime wave were a tough choice but I like that guaranteed SpD drop even though it has a BP of 40. This is useful to pick at opponents defense. Allowing a switch or in some cases KOs with resisted moves. Of course, Tentacruel is meant for support so it’s unlikely it will kill anything anyways.
3: Toxicroak @ Black Sludge
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Dry Skin
Cross Chop
Sucker Punch
Bulk Up
Substitute
With the introduction of Drizzle Politoed, Toxicroak can now use Dry Skin in the rain and yes, Toxicroak’s Defense is appalling, the point is to switch on something weak like Grass Knot, force the switch and set up a sub then proceed with Bulk Up to make his Defense boost and the Attack up doesn’t hurt either. Recover ¼ of health helps create more subs for scouting and to keep status away. That leaves Toxicroak with two moves, Cross Chop provides STAB and does hefty damage, which should be the main source of offense while Sucker Punch offers priority and hits frail Psychics looking to exploit his 4x weakness though it can pick off frail sweepers or weakened Pokemon.
4: Raichu @ Life Orb
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
Ability: Lightening Rod
Thunder
Grass Knot
Hidden Power Ice
Encore
Granted, there many better sweepers out there than Raichu that has the same or more speed and higher than 90 Base Stat offenses. Not to mention stiff competition from the likes of Manetric and Zapdos who also Lightening Rod. Those who played 3 and 4 Gen remember that Lightening Rod was just a crap ability that drew Electric moves to that Pokemon. Not useful except with ground types on 2 vs. 2 battles. But now the new generation changed Lightening Rod among other abilities. Now it provides Electric immunity while boosting the SpA of that Pokemon. Now what sets Raichu from Zapdos (the primary contender) and Manetric is Encore and Grass Knot. Switch Raichu into a predicted Electric attack and get the boost, fire one of the three attacks you predict the switch or encore if they stay in which would give you more boost. In the rain, 100% accuracy Thunder hits hard with the boost and STAB. Grass knot hits bulky waters and heavy ground types. Raichu tends to attract a lot of Swampert and Hippowdon. HP Ice gives the infamous BoltBeam coverage and hits off Gliscor who would completely wall the rat. Beware of Landlos who can outspeed Raichu if running a speed positive nature and max EV investment. Of course prediction is key; this thing dies in a heartbeat.
5: Jynx @ Life Orb
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
Ability: Dry Skin
Nasty Plot
Ice Beam
Substitute
Lovely Kiss
Of course Dry Skin helps with health, subs and switching in so the goal is to switch in on a water attack, sleep it with Lovely Kiss, sub on the switch and set up. Of course Ice Beam is the only choice of attack with all these moves. Maximum Speed investment is required as Jynx’ speed is rather average. It has an average SpD so it might survive a weak neutral hit here and there but beware of its crapsack Defense. No lie, its defense Base Stat is worse than Sharpedo’s. It’s a whopping 35. In terms of Physical Defense, it feels like using Pikachu all over again. Dies to resisted priority moves which the only one is Ice Shard. A very risky Pokemon, but I’ve swept whole teams with just Jynx. Dry Skin gives almost free rein on Substitute so it actually works quite well in the rain.
6: Parasect @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
Nature: Careful
Ability: Dry Skin
Spore
Stun Spore
Leech Seed
X-Scissors
To think, someone using Parasect in an OU match. Parasect had been dismissed from competitive gaming since the early days of Red and Blue. The reason is always the same, 4x weakness to Fire and Flying and a plethora of other weakness made switching much less tanking virtually impossible and its terrible, terrible speed means it has trouble outspeeding the likes of Slowbro and Steelix. Stealth Rock in 4 Gen didn’t help either making it chances of taking hits even more of a pipe dream, but with the popularity of rain teams in 5 gen, this all changed. Yes Parasect has SR weakness but Spin support remedies this problem. Pokemon like Blastoise and Tentacruel are friends. Now with rain the opponent is hesitant to use fire Pokemon. Now maxing out Parasect’s bulk allows to sponge a few hits. Note the 4x resistance to the ever present Earthquake. Switch to that, water attacks, grass, electric or fighting (which is ever popular) and do what Parasect does best, Spore! Suspect a switch, hit the fire/flying sweeper (probably) with Stun Spore and cripple them. If not, then Leech seed and switch to a set up Pokemon or just switch to a Pokemon that can kill it. Of course Parasect requires a great amount of prediction for it to pay off but when it does, it will do its job well, annoy the hell out of your opponent. No, Parasect isn’t going rule the whole metagame but with support and prediction it can be a prick.
RE (Edit): Remove Blastoise, Kingdra, Cresselia and Armaldo.
Edit: Parasect
Add: Toxicroak, Tentacruel, Raichu and Jynx
Obviously this isn’t the best team, maybe not even a good team but yeah. Some problems I’d like to address are:
· The lack of speed on my team. I often find myself outsped by something and losing like three of my Pokemon before I finally kill the other Pokemon, so any way to boost speed is great.
· Defenses, I find most of Pokemon even the more bulky one are OHKOed or 2HKOed by strong hitters so any way to boost defenses would be great as well.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
