^^^To all of you he spoke to, read the actual post before you go "OMG LOOK AT HOW MUCH I KNOW LOL HURRDURR".^^^
Basically, this is a rain team I built waaaaay back in they heyday, long before the first suspect tests. It peaked at number 3, which for someone who never gets to ladder, was a fairly large accomplishment.
Team at a Glance:
I don't remember my building process exactly, but I do remember being fascinated by Parasect (IT'S UBER STRONG!). So I wanted to use it, and therefore ran Politoed. When building the team, I also wanted to abuse the offensive power of Rain, so I threw on Kingdra. Starmie took advantage of Thunder, while Terakion was my "Nattorei breaker", along with a seriously good sweeper. Nattorei was a defensive pivot that rounded out my resistances, along with being my hazard layer. I played this team several ways, occasionally a slow SubSeed stall with Parasect, sometimes a balanced offensive match, but usually a fast-paced sweep-a-thon. At the time, I played a lot faster than the other teams I faced, so I had some very short matches (Win or lose). The metagame caught up really quickly though, so by the end of this team's life I was just another Rain user who happened to run Parasect and DD Kingdra.
Here's the in-depth look:
Nattorei w/ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
252 HP/176 Def/80 SpD
Impish
Power Whip
Stealth Rock
Leech Seed
Thunder Wave
Nattorei is an excellent hazard Pokémon, even if it’s only setting up one hazard. It also provides a solid defensive pivot and general supporter for my team.
Stealth Rock does a real number to my opponent’s Pokémon, crippling some of the most threatening (Ninetails and Abomasnow) while also netting me key KOs on other important Pokémon like Hippowdon and Skarmory. Leech Seed provides me with my sole source of recovery, since I used run Shed Shell to escape from any Shanderaa that might come in when I played on the PO server. Thunder Wave is what allows Nattorei to complement Kingdra so well. I can set up with Kingdra without fear of Ditto owning my face later, since Nattorei resists all of my Kingdra’s attacks and can T-Wave Ditto into uselessness. The EV spread I’m not 100% sure of. I really wanted it to take physical attacks well, but I threw some EVs in SpD to soften the blows of the Electric and Water attacks its taking.
Nattorei is weak to Fighting and Fire. The Fire weakness is mitigated by the Rain, and actually helps my team by opening up many opportunities for Kingdra and Terakion to switch in. The Fighting weakness is covered by Starmie and Parasect, both of whom can counter Roopushin fairly well. It’s also worth noting that Nattorei is my only Toxic Spikes immunity, which is pretty important on an otherwise Toxic-weak team.
Politoed w/ Leftovers
Drizzle
252 HP/56 Def/200 SpD
Calm
Hydro Pump
Toxic
Perish Song/Ice Beam/???
Refresh
Politoed is required on any Rain team, since his ability brings in the permanent Rain required to start the fun. Without him, this team couldn’t exist.
I arranged his EVs for general bulk, taking advantage of his Special Defense and cushioning his Defense. The move-set is fairly straight-forward. Toxic poisons stuff like Burungeru who try to switch into Hydro Pump. Refresh cures me of my own status, and Perish Song is for phazing. I’m considering adding a different move on though, like Ice Beam for better coverage. Hydro Pump is my attacking move for the raw power it provides. It’s proven far more useful than burning something with Boiling Water. I’d much rather KO Tyrannitar/Hippowdon than burn them.
Politoed’s main purpose is, of course, setting up the weather, but he provides certain utility too with Toxic and the powerful Hydro Pump. He doesn’t specifically counter anything, but acts as a general defensive pivot.
Kingdra w/ Leftovers
Swift Swim
252 Atk/120 SpA/136 Spe
Hasty
Outrage
Waterfall
Hydro Pump
Dragon Dance
Dragon Dance Kingdra is far more threatening in the rain. I’ve surprised myself several times by sweeping right off the bat with this guy, early game. He typically sets the pace for the entire match, and acts as a revenge killer and game breaker all in one.
Obviously, I run a mixed set. Hydro Pump and a few EVs in Special Attack let me do some serious damage to Skarmory, Hippowdon and other physical walls. The Speed EVs are enough to let me out-speed and revenge +2 Cloyster in the rain, but I’ve considered raising it to beat neutral-natured opposing Kingdra. The Hasty nature prevents a drop in my SpD, which is important since I’m often switching Kingdra into special attacks like Fire Blast and Surf.
After a Dragon Dance, I’m literally untouchable by anything other than priority and Scarf Ditto who switch in. Kingdra also has some decent bulk, which I capitalize on with Leftovers. I’m absolutely in love with this set, which is weird because I was disappointed in Kingdra last gen. As for why I chose this particular Pokémon, he has excellent synergy with Parasect, 4x resisting Fire and setting up on many of Parasect’s counters.
Starmie w/ Life Orb
Natural Cure
252 SpA/252 Spe/4 HP
Timid
Surf/Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Thunder
Recover
Hooray for Starmie! He provides a lot of extra power for me, both in the rain and out. His Speed is as good as ever, and he packs plenty of power.
Surf is for STAB (I’m considering Hydro Pump, though, for that intense 120 Rain-boosted STAB), whereas Ice Beam provides coverage. Thunder is a much better move on a Rain Team, since it has perfect accuracy and even hits through Protect once in awhile. Life Orb boosts Starmie’s power and Recover allows him to heal.
Despite originally being on the team exclusively to spin, I find him much more useful as a pure attacker. Starmie can actually check opposing bulky rain teams, with his great Speed and powerful Thunder. He’s a long-lasting Pokémon, which is very important to any team I make.
Terakion w/ Leftovers/Balloon/Resist Berry
Justice Heart
252 Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
Adamant
Close Combat
Stone Edge
Swords Dance
Rock Polish
Terakion is simply amazing. I heard about this set on the Smogcast. Seven Deadly Sins was hyping it as “The perfect physical sweeper”. Although I think “Perfect” is a little much, the hype was mostly true. He’s such a powerful sweeper, and with two boosting moves on one set he can be difficult to predict.
Against offensive teams, I boost my Speed to +2 and proceed to rape everything. Against defensive teams, I can raise my Attack to +2 and smash crap apart. Rock/Fighting STAB provides phenomenal coverage, resisted by very few Pokémon. They also let me break through several Pokémon that would give Kingdra trouble, most importantly Nattorei. Terakion also gives me resistances to Bug, Rock and Dark, which are very handy on this team and give Terakion plenty of opportunities to switch-in from Parasect or Starmie. It might seem strange to run a Rock-type on a Rain Team, but his Water weakness provides plenty of other Pokémon to switch-in on resists or even immunities when an opponent tries to take advantage of it. The Team Preview is probably the best thing that could’ve happened for Terakion, since I know ahead of time which boosting move I need to use.
The hold item is really a toss-up. I ran all of them at some point or another, and I don't remember any test results. This team is just too old.
Parasect w/ Leftovers
Dry Skin
252 HP/176 Def/80 SpD
Impish
Spore
Leech Seed
Substitute
X-Scissor/Aromatherapy
My inspiration! Parasect is a severely underrated Pokémon this generation. It has its still awesome type-synergy with Rain Teams, but this time has permanent rain to work with and Leech Seed for additional recovery. It’s actually a very capable threat.
Spore is obviously the reason why Parasect is even looked at. The ability to instantly shut down a member of your opponent’s team is simply amazing. Dry Skin provides 12.5% recovery per turn, which is 18.75% total with Leftovers included. Leech Seed adds up for over 30% of recovery every turn (Since, honestly, most Pokémon have more HP than Parasect). It also allows Parasect to switch in to other Rain teams trying to nail me with boosted Water-type attacks, and gives him excellent synergy with Terakion. Once a counter has been Spored, I can Leech Seed and sub up. I can out-stall a Pokémon as long as I don’t drop below the 25% mark required to make a sub when I’m first hit, since Parasect gains enough HP back every turn to turn a profit. The final move is, honestly, a toss-up. X-Scissor brings the pain on Grass-types thinking they can switch in on Leech Seed, while Aromatherapy is more of a supporting move. I’ve used both with equal success. X-Scissor is nice because it OHKOs or 2HKOs that Psychic jellything, depending on the set. I’ve actually considered running Aerial Ace to nail SubPunching Breloom, but I’m not sure.
Annoying Stuff:
Teams That Knew How to Use Toxic Spikes: I don't mean the joes who just throw them on because they're cool. I mean the people who knew how to lay them down and make the most of them. The guys who forced me to bring in something too early to get it Toxiced. The guys who could keep your prize Pokemon off the field until BOTH layers were down. Those players earned my frustration, hatred, and most of all: respect. Toxic was a huge thorn in my side. Thankfully, I played fast enough to break through most of the time.
Nattorei: If Terakion went down, Nattorei was a beeotch. Luckily, could I lure it with Parasect, Sleep it and hopefully just muscle through it with Kingdra. There are logs of me Paralyzing it with Starmie and then paraflinching it to death with Waterfall, so... But yeah, other than luck, I was NOT breaking this thing without Terakion.
SubSeed Breloom: Not really a "threat", but REALLY annoying if the set was Sub/Spore/FPunch/Stone Edge with Poison Heal. I preferred not encountering these things, since I usually had to sack SOMETHING to kill it. Gayness.
Shaymin/Darkrai: Yes I'm counting them both as one, since they were so ridiculously annoying and dangerous.
Inconsistent: Not really a threat, per say, but again, annoying.
Anyway, that's about all that gave me trouble. There were a few situations where the right combination of stuff caused trouble, but a this is about individual Pokemon, not combinations. There's also the Pokemon that became a threat if the right (or wrong) Pokemon went down on my side, but again, that's not what this is about.
Fun Facts (My Attempts at Bragging):
DD Kingdra in the rain wasn't really mentioned until I started running this team, so it's possible I started a trend. :D
It was a lot of fun bringing in Parasect to cheers and jibes, then wrecking their whole team. After a month or so of using this team, people started to groan when I switched it in. Parasect was never popular, but at least I made people aware.
In all, this team had a great run. I'm proud of it, and I don't mind retiring it after the ban (It was losing it's punch anyway).
P.S Cowboy Bebop reference anyone?
