Drizzle Swag

[Raikiri]

Introduction
So I got the team idea from my friend Reayah. The team is originally built around Starmie and Jirachi in the rain. I haven't tested it out too much but Thundurus might go Uber soon so I felt like posting this RMT. The team is appealing to the eye. 4 out of 6 of the pokes can sweep at any given time, which keep battles exciting because there are so many ways to win with this team. Not only is the team hyper offensive but it takes huge dumps all over offensive, stall, even baton pass teams. Now on to the team.

Celebi @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 232 HP / 240 SAtk / 36 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Leaf Storm
- Recover
- Stealth Rock

I usually lead with Celebi because people actually believe I'll lead with Politoed of course. So they will send in their Rotom-W, Ferrothorn or whatever and I can just get up some free rocks. I will try to keep Celebi around to deal with Gastrodon. This set does a nice 64.6% - 75.74% to max special defense Tyranitar which is always good. They never switch out either so too bad for them. The team is pretty Virizion weak so I chose Psychic to get good damage on it then revenge kill it later. Also it does a nice number on Dragonite.

Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Scald
- Perish Song
- Toxic
- Protect

Politoed gets the engine going. His teammates rely heavily on him to get the rain up so they can fight at their fullest potential. I chose this bulky spread to maximize survivability. Tyranitar doesn't have any safe switches to this entire team, so keeping sand off the field is pretty easy. Perish Song stops big plays from happening while Protect stalls for Leftovers recovery. Toxic hurts everything else. Not much else to say about this guy but he is never a drawback to this team.

Thundurus @ Lum Berry
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Nasty Plot
- Focus Blast

Thundurus was actually my last choice. The team was significantly Scizor weak so I threw in this guy who loves when the rain is up. I'm currently testing out Lum Berry over Leftovers right now to see which item would be better in common situations. The Lum Berry helps to get the jump on Blissey, Ferrothorn and Jirachi. Nasty Plot will boost his attack power since he doesn't carry a Life Orb. Hidden Power Ice and Focus Blast offers great coverage. His only counters are well covered on this team.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 28 SAtk / 232 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder
- Wish
- Calm Mind

I love CM Rachis. This one works really well in the rain, being able to set up without fear against Celebi (unless it has Earth Power). This set is also hard to deal with once he gets going. The EV spread I used lets me outspeed Haxorus who is a big threat and boost up faster than Celebi. Jirachi is also a team player, being able to take out Reuniclus for Toxicroak and passing Wishes to Thundurus. Thunder over Thunderbolt since we have rain up and better chances to get parahax. Flash Cannon handles Tyranitar and Latias as well.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Thunder
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam

Starmie is a beast in the rain OMG. Not much wants to take a double STAB Life Orb Surf but asks to get set up by something else on this team. No one really runs anything as fast as Starmie anymore because Excadrill ruins speed tiers, so Starmie is an immediate threat to anything that isn't named Blissey or Ferrothorn. I can abuse Thunder of course and Ice Beam rounds off that coverage. To support Thundurus I put Rapid Spin to get rid of rocks. Starmie makes great Pursuit bait for Toxicroak too.

Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Cross Chop
- Ice Punch
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch

Its amazing just how many teams are weak to this Toxicroak set. With Reuniclus gone its pretty much good game from there. Once I get up a Swords Dance, I can easily steam roll through teams. Ice Punch will OHKO Gliscor and Cross Chop will do 69.16% - 81.74% to a physical defensive Skarmory. Sucker Punch hits everything else that is too fast for me but gets the job done, he is usually the late game sweeper anyway. He pairs up nicely with Starmie because Blissey and sometimes Ferrothorn are set up fodder. Other than that, this team has way too much swag to lose easily.

 

[Raikiri]

Threats List:

Excadrill - When the sand is up he can kill just about everything on my team. Politoed is my only out for this so I need to keep him healthy. Jirachi often lures in Excadrill so I pass Wishes to Politoed.

Jirachi - No matter what set I think it is, I automatically switch to my own Jirachi and attempt to set up. A CM Jirachi of their own could sweep me unless it doesn't have Wish. If it's just a regular paraflinch Jirachi, Politoed could come in and try to burn it.

Latias - Only the CM set can threaten this team. She can litterally set up on about everything on my team. As soon as I see a Latias with Leftovers, I automatically switch to Politoed to Toxic it. If it runs Substitute or randomly runs Refresh, Jirachi can CM up with Latias and eventually win with Flash Cannon and special defense drops.

Latios - He hits way too hard for everything on my team and technically nothing is safe to switch in because Jirachi fears boosted Surf. I normally just sac Celebi or Politoed to a Draco Meteor so Toxicroak, Jirachi, or Thundurus can set up and sweep.

Ninetales - Not much of a threat if I keep Politoed around, but with a well balanced team this fox can give me problems. Most of my team rely on the rain to function. Water moves will be reduced by 50% and Thunder's accuracy will be reduced to 50%. This thing doesn't live long enough to cause major problems thanks to rocks and Politoed.

Scizor- Not too much fears Scizor on this team but Celebi is a sitting duck. If I really need Celebi to counter something on my opponent's team I'm forced to switch out. First I'll go out to Thundurus to scout what set it is. If its Swords Dance, that's not so bad. If Choice Band, Thundurus can only switch in once. Then I'll just pivot from Celebi to Toxicroak because they always go for U-Turn. Other than that I might have to sac something in worst case scenario.

Rotom-W - Annoying along with Scizor. Celebi is my best check to this guy but they can just Volt Switch out to Scizor, rinse and repeat. I hate it!

Toxicroak - He can set up Swords Dance in front of Starmie and threaten with Sucker Punch. In this situation I would normally go to Politoed immediately and Perish Song. Other than that, he can't threaten the rest of the team directly.

 

[Mike Legend]

Hey cool team! It's pretty solid, so there's not much to say. I wonder why you don't run a Specially Defensive spread on Jirachi, though. I don't think the speed's doing that much for you, (other than outrunning Toxicroak who wins anyway) especially since you lose to Excadrill regardless. You don't really have a solid switch-in to Latios' Draco Meteor, and it is able to get free switch-ins on Politoed and Celebi. This also helps with threats like Reuniclus whose Trick Room set can do a lot of damage, Virizion, who is trouble for most Drizzle teams, and various other special attackers. Just run 252 HP / 216 Special Defense / 40 Spe, Calm if you make this change.

Another small change is max defense on Politoed since you will absolutely have to bring it in on Excadrill to get the weather in your favor as you rely on revenge killing it. Max defense has the benefit of living a +2 Balloon Excadrills Earthquake, and never being 2HKOd by Landorus' unboosted Earthquakes. Psychic over Perish Song might also be a good change if you find Toxicroak to be a problem. Politoed can take any of its hits, while you have most of the uses of Perish Song covered by other members of your team. Anyway this is a really cool team and good luck!

luvdisc'd

 

[Pocket]

I would recommend Grass Knot > Thunder on Starmie to smack around Gastrodon that can potentially hinder your Thundurus and Jirachi's sweep. Celebi will only force Gastrodon out, and Politoed's Toxic is a slow solution in getting rid of Gastrodon. I also agree with Fried Rhys's suggestion to make Jirachi specially defensive, since the Speed isn't really helping Jirachi much, and the special defense would be most welcome for this team.

Personally, I prefer Lum on Thundurus, so it wont be afraid of setting up on things like Jirachi. Thundurus shouldn't really be taking hits from Scizor anyways.

 

[Howard]

A couple of quick things I noticed. Your team is a bit heavy on the special side, which is not in it's entirety a bad thing, it could just cause some problems for you. You also have a couple of sets I think could use some tweaking. As mentioned before, the switch to SpD Rachi will really help you out in some less than desirable situations. Another suggestion is to switch Flash Cannon to Water Pulse. Water Pulse is an invaluable move in rain, with an increased chance to confuse due to Serence Grace. If there was one pokemon on this team I would say you could switch out, it would be Celebi. You said you use it to take out Tyranitars and Virizion, when in actuality, neither of those are particularly favorable matchups. I suggest switching Celebi to a Choice Band Dragonite. Dragonite can come in late game and wreak havoc, resists both of Virizion's STAB and can OHKO Tyranitar with a well timed Earthquake. It's also a good check to Volcarona, who, even in Rain, can cause problems for a lot of your team, especially in it's current form. It also has the ability to demolish Gastrodon with a well placed Outrage. Hope I helped, GLB.

 

[RhyssaFireheart]

WoW this team is very solid I am using a very similar team to this and it has great ways of finishing games.

Can I suggest Technician Breloom instead of Celebi? It is a awesome sweeper and does great early,mid and late.

 

[November Blue]

TechLoom is currently unreleased, but you're on the right track. My first thought was a Choice Band Conkeldurr in Celebi's place. Banded Mach Punch is a good failsafe for Excadrill.

If you have Conkeldurr and Toxicroak, it might be a good idea to switch Focus Blast for Grass Knot on Thundurus. Gastrodon will give you trouble without Celebi.

 

[HBK]

Hey there! Pretty solid team you have here.However,it's quite weak to Specsrotom.Yes you have celebi but the evs don't make it very strong on the special side and to make things worse it carries LO.This means it can be easily 2HKO'ed with SR and spikes by standard Specsrotom under rain who can then screw your whole team.I suggest giving celebi a more defensive spread with leftovers and making it an NP variant so it can still hurt opposing Tyranitars that stay in to pursuit.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hey there.

Alright, there are a couple threats that can cause your team major problems: SD Toxicroak, DD Dragonite (with Aqua Tail / Earthquake), CB Terrakion, SD Lucario.

Now, to remedy all three of these threats, I suggest that you replace Starmie with a Slowbro. I don't think that Rapid Spin support is that necessary for your team; Toxicroak, and Thundurus can do great damage to opposing stall teams (Jirachi helps out with Thunder) and Toxic Spikes are handled by Toxicroak.

Defensive Slowbro

Hide

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
-Slack Off
-Ice Beam
-Psychic
-Scald

With Regenerator, Slowbro can take a hit from CB Terrakion and come back in with a high amount of health. Psychic lets Slowbro destroy Toxicroak, who doesn't even come close to OHKO'ing with +2 Sucker Punch. Ice Beam lets it destroy Dragonite, as well as deal major damage to switch-ins such as Latios.

Also, change your Jirachi to a specially defensive build. You need this in order to take powerful Draco Meteors and Surfs from the likes of Latios, who can otherwise do great damage to your team. The new EV spread is 252 HP / 240 SDef / 40 Speed with a Calm nature.

Overall, solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!

 

[Pocket]

Just a nitpick; Hidden Power Grass will do more than Grass Knot to both Gastrodon and Rotom-W:
298 Atk vs 286 Def & 426 HP (70 Base Power): 272 - 324 (63.85% - 76.06%) (Hidden Power vs Gastrodon)
298 Atk vs 286 Def & 426 HP (60 Base Power): 236 - 280 (55.40% - 65.73%) (Grass Knot vs Gastrodon)
298 Atk vs 250 Def & 269 HP (70 Base Power): 316 - 372 (117.47% - 138.29%) (Hidden Power Grass vs Rotom-W)
298 Atk vs 250 Def & 269 HP (20 Base Power): 92 - 112 (34.20% - 41.64%) (Grass Knot vs Rotom-W)

I recommend Grass Knot, because otherwise Jellicent can simply stall Starmie out, preventing it to spin. Grass Knot is a 2HKO on Gastrodon, which should be enough.

 

[Raikiri]

Hey cool team! It's pretty solid, so there's not much to say. I wonder why you don't run a Specially Defensive spread on Jirachi, though. I don't think the speed's doing that much for you, (other than outrunning Toxicroak who wins anyway) especially since you lose to Excadrill regardless. You don't really have a solid switch-in to Latios' Draco Meteor, and it is able to get free switch-ins on Politoed and Celebi. This also helps with threats like Reuniclus whose Trick Room set can do a lot of damage, Virizion, who is trouble for most Drizzle teams, and various other special attackers. Just run 252 HP / 216 Special Defense / 40 Spe, Calm if you make this change.

Another small change is max defense on Politoed since you will absolutely have to bring it in on Excadrill to get the weather in your favor as you rely on revenge killing it. Max defense has the benefit of living a +2 Balloon Excadrills Earthquake, and never being 2HKOd by Landorus' unboosted Earthquakes. Psychic over Perish Song might also be a good change if you find Toxicroak to be a problem. Politoed can take any of its hits, while you have most of the uses of Perish Song covered by other members of your team. Anyway this is a really cool team and good luck!

luvdisc'd

Thank you! I agree with you on max defense on Politoed. Tyranitar doesn't have any safe switches on this team and when he does get the sand up I need to be able to take Excadrills attacks since that is the only threat at that point. (To Everyone) Yes Latios is probably the biggest threat to this team, but believe me or not I would sac something I don't need just to set up with the appropriate sweeper at the time. If I use a special defensive Jirachi, I'll be completely defenseless against other CM Jirachi. But other than that Latios can easily be revenge killed, thats about all I can do. In the long run Latios can't sweep my whole team but Jirachi can is what I'm getting at. The speed on Jirachi is meant to outspeed crucial threats like Haxorus, speed tie with Salamence(if i see any). Also this allows me to boost up before Celebi because Earth Power can be annoying at times.

I would recommend Grass Knot > Thunder on Starmie to smack around Gastrodon that can potentially hinder your Thundurus and Jirachi's sweep. Celebi will only force Gastrodon out, and Politoed's Toxic is a slow solution in getting rid of Gastrodon. I also agree with Fried Rhys's suggestion to make Jirachi specially defensive, since the Speed isn't really helping Jirachi much, and the special defense would be most welcome for this team.

Personally, I prefer Lum on Thundurus, so it wont be afraid of setting up on things like Jirachi. Thundurus shouldn't really be taking hits from Scizor anyways.

I'll try this out since Gastrodon can be a pain. Jirachi isn't defenseless to Gastrodon though, he gets set up on. Serene Grace gives me possible special defense drops too so it can't stall me out either. I'm liking Lum Berry right now too.

A couple of quick things I noticed. Your team is a bit heavy on the special side, which is not in it's entirety a bad thing, it could just cause some problems for you. You also have a couple of sets I think could use some tweaking. As mentioned before, the switch to SpD Rachi will really help you out in some less than desirable situations. Another suggestion is to switch Flash Cannon to Water Pulse. Water Pulse is an invaluable move in rain, with an increased chance to confuse due to Serence Grace. If there was one pokemon on this team I would say you could switch out, it would be Celebi. You said you use it to take out Tyranitars and Virizion, when in actuality, neither of those are particularly favorable matchups. I suggest switching Celebi to a Choice Band Dragonite. Dragonite can come in late game and wreak havoc, resists both of Virizion's STAB and can OHKO Tyranitar with a well timed Earthquake. It's also a good check to Volcarona, who, even in Rain, can cause problems for a lot of your team, especially in it's current form. It also has the ability to demolish Gastrodon with a well placed Outrage. Hope I helped, GLB.

Water Pulse+Thunder is a great (annoying) set but Celebi can still be a problem from there. STAB moves are the way to go, I need to hit Dragons harder too. Actually if Tyranitar can live a Leaf Storm from Celebi I feel pretty safe staying in against Tyranitar because it is bulky instead of offensive and won't kill me. I'm only using Psychic because nothing on my team can directly take out Virizion so I depend on as much damage on it as possible and revenge it. I don't know about Dragonite fitting into this team with Rotom-W being a problem already. A Hidden Power Ice or Will-O-Wisp will be bad.

TechLoom is currently unreleased, but you're on the right track. My first thought was a Choice Band Conkeldurr in Celebi's place. Banded Mach Punch is a good failsafe for Excadrill.

If you have Conkeldurr and Toxicroak, it might be a good idea to switch Focus Blast for Grass Knot on Thundurus. Gastrodon will give you trouble without Celebi.

Ehh Rotom-W will wreak me if I do that. I'll probably be trying Grass Knot/Hidden Power Grass on Starmie.

Hey there! Pretty solid team you have here.However,it's quite weak to Specsrotom.Yes you have celebi but the evs don't make it very strong on the special side and to make things worse it carries LO.This means it can be easily 2HKO'ed with SR and spikes by standard Specsrotom under rain who can then screw your whole team.I suggest giving celebi a more defensive spread with leftovers and making it an NP variant so it can still hurt opposing Tyranitars that stay in to pursuit.

I will look into that. Oh and here are some calcs for you:

240 SpAtk Life Orb Celebi Leaf Storm vs 252 HP/252 SpDef Tyranitar: 64.6% - 75.74%
240 +2 SpAtk Celebi Giga Drain vs 252 HP/252 SpDef Tyranitar: 53.47% - 63.12%
240 +2 SpAtk Life Orb Celebi Giga Drain vs 252 HP/252 SpDef Tyranitar: 69.06% - 81.68%

Alright, there are a couple threats that can cause your team major problems: SD Toxicroak, DD Dragonite (with Aqua Tail / Earthquake), CB Terrakion, SD Lucario.

Now, to remedy all three of these threats, I suggest that you replace Starmie with a Slowbro.

This is good feedback, unfortunately I already have a bad time with Scizor. What I could do is try to Perish Song Toxicroak, but that wont solve the problem. I would have to have Thundurus or Jirachi already out to deal with it. Its tough but I try to play around it. A +2 Sucker Punch even does 83.21% - 98.25% to my Celebi but of course I wouldn't let it set up. I have a few outs to it but Scizor will wreak my team pretty bad if I need to keep Celebi or Slowbro. Other than that, Starmie can sweep all those other theats just fine.

 

[Raikiri]

+1 Dragonite can outspeed Starmie and kill your whole team with Aqua Tail though. LO Lucario with a Swords Dance up can devastate Starmie with Extremespeed; you simply have no safe switch-in to Cb Terrakion as everything on your team will either get 1 or 2HKO'd. Starmie can kill them but you are still weak to them; you'll have to play in a very risky manner in order to stop Lucario, Dragonite, and Toxicroak from setting up, which could ultimately lose you the game if your opponent just plays it safe and decides not to switch out.

All of them can't set up on my team though...Again I would probably sac something seeing how Terrakion teams can't deal with Starmie.

 

[Raikiri]

Toxicroak sets up on Starmie quite easily. And as I mentioned, you're going to have to play in a risky manner to stop the other pokemon from setting up. Ie: Starmie is low on health and your opponent brings in Lucario; you're basically going to be forced to sacrifice Starmie seeing as you cannot switch out for fear of a Swords Dance, which could ultimately cause you to lose the game since Starmie is your rapid spinner. Dragonite can set up on Celebi easily as well, and CB Terrakion doesn't need setting up.

Not too risky. I do have outs weather it's Politoed, Thundurus or Jirachi. Toxicroak will find a hard time to get through the whole team. Celebi's Psychic does (66.56% - 73.99%) after rocks to offensive Dragonite. By then he is susceptible to Sucker Punch or Jirachi if he goes for Outrage, which he will have to do. Lucario isn't common at all, and what on my team lets Lucario set up and then sweep me?

 

[Pocket]

You misunderstood when we suggested specially defensive Jirachi. We're not telling you to remove Calm Mind and Flash Cannon for Iron Head and Protect. You still keep Calm Mind so you can beat other Jirachi and CMers, but to remove all those speed EVs into special defense. This will actually help your team deal with not only Latios and Virizion better, but you will have an edge against other Sub Jirachis, because now you can take their hits way better.

252 HP | 240 SDef | 16 Spe | Calm
Psyshock | Thunder | Calm Mind | Wish

I would recommend Psyshock > Flash Cannon, because otherwise you wont be breaking through Latias.

 

[Raikiri]

You misunderstood when we suggested specially defensive Jirachi. We're not telling you to remove Calm Mind and Flash Cannon for Iron Head and Protect. You still keep Calm Mind so you can beat other Jirachi and CMers, but to remove all those speed EVs into special defense. This will actually help your team deal with not only Latios and Virizion better, but you will have an edge against other Sub Jirachis, because now you can take their hits way better.

252 HP | 240 SDef | 16 Spe | Calm
Psyshock | Thunder | Calm Mind | Wish

I would recommend Psyshock > Flash Cannon, because otherwise you wont be breaking through Latias.

That is a very odd set lol but I'll give it a try.

 

[Disibio]

Any fear of Espeon bouncing back your Stealth Rock lead? But actually, when I think about it, Thundurus is the only one who is too affected by it anyway.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Any fear of Espeon bouncing back your Stealth Rock lead? But actually, when I think about it, Thundurus is the only one who is too affected by it anyway.

He has a rapid spinner. Celebi can basically murder Espeon with Leaf Storm regardless.