Rate my Rain Dancers!

Legend Leaguer

Hey, I'm new to Smogon and I decided to make my first post about this Rain Team I've been testing out a lot on Showdown. Please rate it honestly and give me some positive criticism!
Blue Text = Updates

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Politoed (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Defense / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature (+Defense, -SpA)
- Scald
- Hypnosis
- Encore
- Protect


The Famous Rain Lead. I use a defensive set so that It can last extremely long (Which always helps in Weather Wars). I chose Hypnosis over Toxic so I can put leads to sleep and set up with my Tentacruel. And Protect is there because after testing it, its way more useful then Refresh on my Poli
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Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 32 SpD / 15 Spe / 36 SpA
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Rain Dance
- Ice Beam


My strategy with this Tentacruel is too basically send it in once Politoed got the rain in. I set up Toxic Spikes and Spin away any Rocks or Spikes. Rain Dance is there in case I lose weather wars but the opponent's Weather Lead is gone too. Then Ice Beam is there to stop Grass types (Who I cant do much to on this team). But to make Ice Beam actually do anything I sadly had to take some Defense EVs out. But never the less the more powerful Ice Beam is glady accepted for losing some Defense.
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Rotom Wash (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 220 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 32 Spe
Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Trick
- Hydro Pump


This is a Scarfed Rotom Wash Form, so I dont need to explain much. Trick is there to stop Physical attackers and Tanks. Hydro Pump is there for a great Water STAB Move, and I put Thunder instead of Thunderbolt because of the Rain. And with Volt Switch I can switch and "scout" in a sense when I trick. Plus I can even 'kind of' scout anyways with it on, but I think it'll be more useful without the Scarf
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Dragonite (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 76 Atk / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Mild (+SpA, -Def)
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Flamethrower
- Roost


This Dragonite is a kinda odd Special Attacker Set. It works pretty well and can take on any type. Hurricane espicially makes this Dragonite dangerous. And flamethrower is there for Grass and Ice Types (Which as I said before, I have trouble beating). Thunder is there for other water types (Obviously), and Roost is there to heal, and to gain Multiscale back when I go back to full!
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Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
- Thunder
- Weather Ball
- Rain Dance
- Calm Mind


Raikou is my mix between a Special Attacker and a Rain Setter, kinda. With Thunder and Weather Ball (Which becomes Water Type), he can hit everything for at least Neutral Damage. And if it gets a Calm Mind up, it can become EXTREMELY dangerous! Plus if I lose a Weather War, my Tentacruel is dead, but the other Weather Starter the opponent has is dead, it can easily put the rain up. Unforunatly though, It doesnt have the bulk to do it, so I have to do it when I predict switches
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Toxicroak (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
- Swords Dance
- Cross Chop
- Ice Punch
- Sucker Punch


This Toxicroak purely hits everything hard before being destroyed by dreaded Psychics (Which always seems to happen,). But when it is on the battlefield, prepare for destruction...It has the moves to hit everything super effectively, and if you let this thing put a Swords Dance up. Well, Rest. In. Piece...Thats all I need to say,


Final Thoughts: Though this team cant do too much to Grass (The best thing I can do is Hidden Power Fire, which is pretty weak honestly). When I do take out the opponent's grass pokemon, this team easily sweeps everything. And I hope you guys like this team and give fair ratings
 
I dont have much time btw but ill do a quick rate.
On poli, id go for Protect > Refresh. Protect stops the toxic that refresh cures. Meaning that with decent play, you get more recovery from leftovers, and get to see what play the opponant is making. It is especially usefull againsted choiced pokes.
All decent teams have a bulky steel atm. So im suggesting a spdefensive jirachi over raikou. This gives you a switch in when you just dont know what to do.
Got to go so i hope this helped!
Gl
 
EnterRAYZORS said:
I dont have much time btw but ill do a quick rate.
On poli, id go for Protect > Refresh. Protect stops the toxic that refresh cures. Meaning that with decent play, you get more recovery from leftovers, and get to see what play the opponant is making. It is especially usefull againsted choiced pokes.
All decent teams have a bulky steel atm. So im suggesting a spdefensive jirachi over raikou. This gives you a switch in when you just dont know what to do.
Got to go so i hope this helped!
Gl
Click to expand...

Well I have to say having Protect over Refresh has actually been helping me quite a bit (At least more then Refresh), And though a Steel type will help, I'm not sure about replacing Raikou with Jirachi, maybe something else (But I cant thing of what really,). But without Raikou nothing can resist Electric moves on my team. But, I am thinking of replacing my Toxicroak on my team so that'll probably be where Jirachi steps in!
 
You don't need HP Fire (even though Fire Blast or Flamethrower are much better options anyway) on Dragonite to beat Grass-types as you have STAB Hurricane which hits them harder then Fire attacks in the Rain. Since you're using Atk EVs while you have no physical attacks, perhaps you can try Superpower instead. This beats special walls like Blissey and Tyranitar who love to switch in when they notice you're special. And it also hits Ferrothorn harder then Hurricane (which I assume is the reason you ran a HP Fire in the first place).

The lack of a Steel-type on your team leaves you open for Dragon Spam. To keep the same idea, what do you say about CM Jirachi instead of Raikou. This way you keep your Calm Mind sweeper, but you also get something to take on Dragon-type attacks much easier. I'd say a somewhat bulkier set might fit best (especially with Toxic Spikes support), so something like 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe with a Bold nature and a moveset of Calm Mind / Thunder / Flash Cannon / Wish can work. You can play around with the moveset if you want, Water Pulse or Psyshock are good alternatives to Flash Cannon. Thunder's 60% paralysis rate can be useful for your other sweepers, Dragonite and Toxicroak, who aren't all the fast and Wish-support is just overall helpful for your team. Jirachi has good synergy with Dragonite as well.

Last but not least, Toxicroak can now run Drain Punch in combination with Ice Punch. You can use it over Cross Chop if you want. Drain Punch has perfect accuracy and restores health, and after an SD or two, you won't notice a drop in power.
 
If you don't want to run WoW on your Rotom-W, I suggest Volt Switch. It's a great move, especially in combination with a scarf.
 
How exactly is your Dragonite mixed if it doesn't have any physical attack, and then why would it need the Atk EVs? I'd say go with Delko's suggestion of Superpower over HP[fire] if you wanna keep the EVs.

If you don't want to take Raikou out for Jirachi (which has the same coverage with Thunder and Water Pulse) than put in Rotom's place, which also has the same coverage, only stronger. The point is, what you need is a bulky Steel-Type, and Jirachi grants you that while also keeping what you already have.

On Raikou, I'd suggest Aura Sphere over Calm Mind, as you better off hitting everything right away than setting up. This also helps you against Tyranitar and Hydreigon, by the way.

One Rain Dancer is more than enough, and Raikou has the speed to cause switches , so you can have Scald over it on Tentacruel.

Your team relies too much n Toxicroak as a Physical attacker,so if you want to replace it, you may want to test other physical sweepers in his place, like Lucario,Terrakion, Breloom, Gyarados or Feraligatr.
 
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