Proof of Peak:
Changes will be in bold
Introduction:
Hello everyone and welcome to my very first RMT. I've been into competitive battling since close to the beginning of Generation 5 and Rain teams have been my favourite play style. After a while of playing Pokemon Online and now, Pokemon Showdown, I decided to take some time to build a strong competitive team. I decided to base this team around Shedinja, who covers many threats in todays metagame. But without further ado, let's get into the team building process.
Team Building:
I started off with Shedinja, and immediately realised how weak it was to residual damage such as sand, hail and hazards.
And so I added a weather inducer. Politoed was the obvious choice here considering Rain is my favourite play style, and Sun would just bring out more of a Fire weakness. Tentacruel was also added as he is one of the 2 best spinners in todays metagame. (The other being Starmie) I decided to go with the Sub-Toxic variant to better deal with Jellicent.
Next Pokemon to be added was Ferrothorn because there's always the possibility where sometimes I won't be able to spin away the hazards immediately, and can't rely on Shedinja to take all the Dragon type attacks. Not to mention Ferrothorn also deals with my glaring weakness to Electric types as well. Ferrothorn was also a good addition because Shedinja is able to spin block.
For the next pokemon, I knew it had to be something that got rid of stuff that Shedinja straight up loses to, stuff such as Heatran, Tyranitar and most Fire types in general. Dugtrio fit this role perfectly, being able to trap Tyranitars and Ninetales for an easy Weather War win, while also being my Stealth Rocker, allowing Ferrothorn to act as a spiker.
I knew the next pokemon I added had to stop the momentum of Ferrothorn bringing spikes to the feild, while also acting as a lure to Tyranitar and Heatran to allow obvious double switching for Dugtrio. Xatu was a perfect fit for that role, while also being able to pack U-Turn to allow for less double switching and easier predicting.
Unfortunately, Xatu had to be replaced because even though it was doing it's job extremely well, it kinda felt like the game was lost once I lost my Shedinja. I knew I needed a set-up sweeper that can also lure in Tyranitar and Heatran. Sub CM Latias was perfect for this role, while being able to abuse Dugtrio's trapping ablities.
A Closer Look:
Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 Speed/252 Special Atack/4 HP
Moves:
-Scald
-Ice Beam
-Encore
-Psychic
So yeah, this is my Rain starter. I decided to go with the Scarf version because it's the best set in my opinion. Being able to encore stuff like Toxicroak into swords dance is just amazing. He's also very good at revenge killing the likes of Dragonite and other Dragons with Ice Beam. I decided to go with Scald to be able to burn stuff like Ferrothorn which this team struggles against. I also went with Psychic to be able to revenge kill non Scarfed Keldeo (I've been seeing a lot of Expert Belt sets lately) and also Toxicroak which is pretty useful. The EV spread is pretty standard for a Scarfed Politoed while Timid nature is to outspeed Adamant D-nite at plus one.
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
IVs: 20 HP/ 0 Defense/ 0 Special Defense
Ability: Arena Trap
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Speed/ 252 Attack/ 4 HP
Moves:
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Reversal
-Stone Edge
Say Hello to a VERY important member of my team; Dugtrio. His ability to trap Heatran, Tyranitar, Ninetales, and sometimes even Blissey is just AMAZING. Not only for a Latias sweep, but for the whole team in general. Being able to trap Tyranitar or Ninetales wins me the weather war which is awesome, while being able to trap Heatran is very helpful for Shedinja. The moves are pretty standard. Stealth Rock because it's the best move in the game and also allows me to run spikes on Ferrothorn without having Stealth Rock for an open move of my choice. Earthquake is a powerful STAB that gets rid of many threats such as Heatran and a weakened Tyranitar. Reversal helps a lot against Tyranitars who bring me down to my sash and then die to a Reversal from full HP. It's also helpful against things like Kyurem-B which gets destroyed by a Reversal when I'm at just 1 HP. Finally, Stone Edge is helpful against things like Dragonite, Volcarona and Thundurus-T who can resist all my other moves without Stone Edge. Once again another standard EV spread. The IVs are fairly simple. 0 Defense and Special Defense to bring me down to my sash quicker, and 20 HP because in conjuction with 4 HP EVs it allows Dugtrio to have 201 HP, being brought to it's Focus Sash after 2 seismic tosses. Thanks to ShellShocker for the idea.
Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
Nature: Timid
EVs: 16 Speed/ 252 HP/ 240 Defense
Moves:
-Scald
-Substitute
-Toxic
-Rapid Spin
Ahh, good ol' reliable Tentacruel. This pokemon acts as my spinner which is crucial for Shedinja. Because of this I went with the Sub Toxic variant, to be able to get past Jellicents, and any other spin blocker. Tentacruel is also very helpful for dealing with Scizor which this team struggles against without Tentacruel. It's also very helpful against Keldeo and Volcarona which this team would be very weak to without it. Overall I like Tentacruel over Starmie for these reasons. As for the moves go, Scald is the primary attacking move which is honestly so broken. It can burn incoming switch-ins such as Ferrothorns, Dragonites, and even Gyarados. Substitute is helpful against Jellicent, Politoed and even Rotom-Wash who tries to Will-O-Wisp something, or Volt Switch against me but loses momentum. Toxic is VERY useful for burning Rotom-Washes. This EV spread actually allows me to outspeed neutral base 80s such as Gyarados, and being able to toxic that is perfect. This EV spread allows me to outspeed stuff like some Rotom-Washes and neutral base 80s, as I said before. Max HP to take hits better and the rest of the EVs go into defense to better deal with Scizor.
Shedinja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonderguard
Nature: Adamant
IVs:0 Defense
EVs: 252 Attack/ 252 Speed/4 Special Defense
Moves:
-Shadow Sneak
-X-Scissor
-Will-O-Wisp
-Baton Pass
Shedinja, Oh my lord. This thing is honestly just amazing. It can just stop threats such as Jirachi, Celebi Keldeo (Without HP Ghost), Toxicroak, Garchomp, Breloom, Specs Politoed, Conkeldurr with Ice Punch, Latios, Latias, Mamoswine, Magnezone, Scizor without Pursuit/Aerial Ace, Starmie and Thundurus-T and the list goes on. What makes Shedinja special, is it's ability to spin block. Starmie is the most used pokemon to Rapid Spin and it just simply cannot touch Shedinja. The moveset is pretty interesting. I could've easily used protect over X-Scissor but the ability to hit Celebi and almots OHKO it was what stood out to me. Baton Pass is very useful in the concept of my opponent having a Tyranitar or even just Heatran. Will-O-Wisp is very useful against stuff like Toxicroak, who I can then baton pass into Politoed and Encore him into Sucker Punch or Swords Dance. Shadow Sneak is very useful against weakened threats and priority against things like Alakazam. EV Spready is very simple, Max Speed and Attack because there's no reason to run max Defense or HP. But 0 IVs in Defense for facing download users such as Porygon-2, who then raise there attack stat. Thanks to ShellShocker who suggested this. Finally, Adamant Nature to hit as hard as possible.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Relaxed
IVs: 0 Speed
EVs: 252 HP/ 88 Defense/ 168 Special Defense
Moves:
-Spikes
-Leech Seed
-Gyro Ball
-Power Whip
Ferrothorn acts as my Dragon check, Bolt-Beam checker, and all around mixed wall. It switches into so many things in this metagame at the moment. I could list them all but that would be too long. Ferrothorn's typin is honestly amazing, and is very standard on most rain teams. Spikes is so helpful on Ferrothorn, as this team causes a lot of switches. Not to mention Shedinja can easily spin block against most spinners. Leech Seed is such a good move on Ferrothorn, because as soon as my opponent thinks they can get rid of Ferrothorn, Leech Seed just brings back my HP to very high levels after a few turns. I chose Gyro Ball over Protect or Thunder Wave because Sub-Roost Kyurem-B is a serious threat to this team. Finally Power Whip is actually very powerful on Ferrothorn and can straight up KO some threats who surprisingly switch into Ferrothorn often. Stuff like Keldeo and Terrakion. These Ferrothorn's EVs come from the standard Smogon site. It's a mixed wall so it can be used to take Latios' Draco Metoers, Dragonite's Outrages and Stoutland's Returns.
Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EV Spread: 252 HP/ 252 Speed/ 4 HP
Moves:
-Calm Mind
-Substitute/Reflect Type
-Recover/Roost
-Dragon Pulse
Alright, guys this RMT's close to an end. And so is my opponents team as soon as this thing comes out. I usually bring this thing in early game to take a hit from Keldeo, or mid game to set up on stuff like Celebi, Keldeo, Breloom and lot's of other Pokes due to the burn support from Shedinja. It's Blazing speed is also very helpful in revenge killing non scarfed Dragons if I have the chance. Sub CM Latias is probably one of the best sweepers in the metagame atm. And once Tyranitar and Heatran (Possibly even Jirachi) because of Dugtrio, this thing can come in late game and sweep without a problem, as once it gets up one Calm Mind, this Latias is extremely bulky. It allows Latias to Sub up and weak Ice Beams coming from stuff like Gastrodon won't even break the Subtitute. Substitute is also very happy to protect us from all sorts of Status'. (Spore from Breloom, Will-O-Wisp from Ninetales and Rotom-Wash, and Thunder Wave from Ferrothorn) Another option to try out is Reflect Type which is pretty unique and allows you to get by Ferrothorn as Gyro Ball will be doing very little. But with all these burns flying around I still think Substitute is superior, although reflect type is worth trying out just because of the fact of how threatening Ferrothorn is. Recover or Roost is helpful to increase Latias' survivability and finally Dragon Pulse as a mono attacking STAB which nothing is immune to, making it a good STAB option. The EV spread is once again very standard, max Speed to outspeed non scarfed base 108s and HP Fire Latios/Gengar while also being able to speed tie with other base 110s. Max HP To take hits better and 4 Special Attack for a bit more power.
Threats:
I'm not gonna list the whole threatlist as I'm too lazy to do all of that but I'll just list some threats that stand out the most.
Ferrothorn is probably the pokemon that sticks out the most as a threat to this team. It wasn't a threat at all when I had Xatu, but since I removed it, it's been a lot harder to deal with, and one of the main reasons I use Scald over Hydro Pump or Surf on my Politoed. My main way of dealing with this thing is to hopefully burn it, and maybe stall it with Latias' substitutes. If all else fails Dugtrio's Reversal can do a lot as well.
Hippowdon is mainly a threat because it can get rid of Shedinja without being trapped by Dugtrio. And also because it's so damn bulky. I can get my way around this with lot's of hazards support. Especially when it's paired up with Jellicent. Latias can deal lot's of damage to teams with Hippowdon, so It's not too hard to deal with.
Conclusion:
This has been one of my more succesful teams I've created and I'm pretty proud of it. When using this team, I usually make some double switching into Dugtrio, so I guess you could say this team requires prediction to be succesful, but most teams are like that. So I'm excited to hear some suggestions from you guys and I'm ready to test them too. I hope you guys enjoyed this pretty long RMT :]
Importable:
PoliSwag (Politoed) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Encore
- Psychic
Squidward (Tentacruel) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Timid Nature
- Toxic
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Substitute
Thorny (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
Wonderous (Shedinja) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
IVs: NaN Def
- Shadow Sneak
- X-Scissor
- Will-O-Wisp
- Baton Pass
Rose (Latias) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
Duggy (Dugtrio) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
IVs: 20 HP / 0 Def / 0 SDef
- Earthquake
- Reversal
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
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