INTRODUCTION: (Feel free to skip)
I'm not new to the Pokemon scene by any means, I've been playing the cartridge games since I was 5 (now 19), and I've been competitively playing for around 3-ish years.
I started when Black and White was new, and I quickly learned the metagame. Weather. I however enjoyed playing what was counter-meta, having more fun with that than what was standard, and rose well with it. I played on Pokemon Online at the time (Showdown wasn't a thing if I recall right), and I at one time peaked top 400 out of 100,000.
This Gen I've been struggling to find out the metagame, because all I understood was weather or counter-weather. Finally I figured it out, but I decided to incorporate what I knew from last Gen, with some of the new themes of this Gen.
I actually stumbled upon this team sorta accidentally. I had been toying with a Rain Team with great success, only to find I needed a strong powerhouse. I found most teams weren't ready for a full-on weather team built right, as most people abandoned that strategy. Meanwhile, I had been testing out the different Megas: Mega Pinsir was a favorite of mine, but it's hard to set up, and if Talonflame is alive/healthy you can't use it period. Mega Medicham was another, but it was too unreliable (I loved Baton Passing to it). Finally I found one I enjoyed: Mega Mawile. It's strong, beats faster threats with priority, and beats bulkier threats with immense power. There's multiple movesets so there's outplay potential, and it's seen less than Mega Lucario (this thing better be banned soon >.>), Mega Charizard, Mega Venasaur, and Mega Pinsir (I believe)? Interestingly enough, the two work well together! Rain teams tend to destroy Ground/Fire types, which Mawile fears, making things a lot easier for it (in particular, Heatran, Entei, and Talonflame).
The Team:
Hyetal (Politoed) (F) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Toxic
Practically mandatory, Politoed is a staple of my team, bringing in weather automatically. It's surprisingly bulky with these EVs, and even with a Damp Rock, it's able to take a Genesect's (Scarf, +1 Att) Thunderbolt, and nail it back with a Hydro Pump doing well over 75%, making it an easy revenge kill-- just to put it in terms of power and bulk. Ice Beam and Focus Blast are for niche coverage (getting Dragonite ready for a revenge kill, dealing with Ferrothorn later in the game, etc). Toxic has rare use, but does put pressure and has helped secure KO's for me before.
Simply put, it's here to bring in the Rain. Depending on the game I might make it a suicide lead (if I'm facing a team I feel I can immediately sweep and KO, just trying to get out as much damage ASAP possible, or if I need to waste a turn of Rain to bring it back later). No matter what, it never feels useless, once again, being a staple.
Mist (Goodra) (M) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Hydration
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Rain Dance
- Rest
- Thunder
- Dragon Pulse
This set works interestingly, and I use Goodra as multiple things, altogether. It's a tanky, bulky "pivot" if you will, forcing most opponents into a stall fest, until a favorable switch comes out. It runs the risk of being set up on, but that's a lot of tanky Pokemon in general.
The idea is to work as a Support for the team-- it can be sacrificed if need be, though its main purpose is to bring the Rain back. After that, it can Hydro-rest to ease prediction for the switch, and prepare itself to be switched back to later, to re-set up Rain (in a more lengthy battle). It's also able to eat obvious status for the team (i.e. Klefki, save for Swagger+Foul Play, to a small extent), and it can attempt to Paralyze with Thunder, or dent with Dragon Pulse. Without any Sp. Att investment, it isn't able to touch walls, but it's able to stall them out anyways. More frail Pokemon are set up for revenge killing by the rest of the team.
Overall it's just a support, re-setting up Rain later in the game. Another unique quality, to note, is that this set counters Mega Charizard Y roughly (which in turn can be a threat to my Politoed).
Purity (Ludicolo) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
I love this thing. It's blazing fast with Swift Swim, beating most Scarf'd Pokemon along with several others, and it has AMAZING coverage. Giga Drain helps me deal with Bulky Waters that tend to be a problem (most Rotom-Ws, the rare Mega Blastoise, etc). Hydro Pump has enormous power (albeit sad accuracy, but the power makes it arguably better than Surf), and Ice Beam and Focus Blast provide coverage.
Normally seen in... RU? I believe? (I never cared for the lower tiers of the metagame much)... It's actually surprisingly good at dealing with a large portion of the game, with just the sheer power and coverage it has.
Typically it's a mid game sweeper, though it can function as a revenge killer as well.
Brashy (Kabutops) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
Another Swift Swimmer because Swift Swim and Drizzle is amazing (there's a reason why it was banned last Gen), Choice Band grants Kabutops amazing sweeping potential.
Typically I use it as a revenge killer, or mid to late game sweeper, depending on what's needed on the flow of the match.
Waterfall is the move of choice, hitting HARD with STAB Rain, and Choice Band. Even Rotom-W (bulky sets) tends to take around 45-47%-ish (off of memory, too lazy to do calcs at the moment) from it. Stone Edge is for coverage and STAB, and Knock Off is a niche move as Kabutops doesn't need, nor have, many other options anyways. Aqua Jet is for revenge-killing threats with priority, again rarely used, but useful when needed.
Mystic (Mawile) (F) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
My team has felt so much better, so much stronger, ever since I put this little monster on the roster.
This thing is a beast! Except... Against Heatran, Talonflame, Entei, Garchomp... Which my team handles fine! Rain teams counter those! So it has little to fear. Ideally I'd send it out on something that can't hurt it, say, a Breloom (post-spore), a Ferrothorn (more common example), Deoxys-D (assuming no Taunt), or even a few offensive threats with Intimidate. Then it's time to out-predict. Usually I lead with a Substitute, to ease prediction, ensuring at least one Play Rough, or Sucker Punch. However, often enough I'm able to get a Swords Dance off too (or just instead of using Sub to begin with), and then Sucker Punch to victory.
I've been enjoying this set, as I find Substitute helps put far more pressure than with others. Another common occurrence is for Ferrothorns/Chansey's/etc to attempt to Thunder Wave (or Leech Seed) my Mawile-- only to find a Substitute, a wasted turn, and more effort being forced on them as I set up and sweep.
It's less so that this helps the team, that the team is just perfect for helping it.
Breeze (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Heat Wave
- Superpower
I remember when this was banned last Gen-- or was it banned here? It was on PO at least. It took a long time, but people finally realized it 2HKO'd or 1HKO'd everything with Hurricane.
With the weather nerf, this set and Pokemon is no longer as feared or powerful-- but, my team supports it and it's still very strong.
The main reason I put it in (as of today actually), is to deal with Mega Venusaur. I've been struggling to deal with it, as it's an S-tier counter to most of my team (Thick Fat is a pain). However, with this around, it's much harder for Mega Venusaur to have an impact on my team. I'm not sure if there's anything that could deal with it better?
Conclusion:
As a player I feel that full-weather is still viable, with proper planning, and on top of that supports Mega Mawile extremely well. I've been having success with this team, though I have been experimenting a lot with it, and only as of today have I completely finished it... For now.
I'm currently attempting to ladder with it, but I am sure there are flaws in it that my eyes cannot see, that others can. I am looking for any improvements, minor or major, that can be made to my team.
Thank you very much.
As a final note, my 3 favorites on the team: Kabutops, Ludicolo, and Politoed. Just thought I'd share~
I'm not new to the Pokemon scene by any means, I've been playing the cartridge games since I was 5 (now 19), and I've been competitively playing for around 3-ish years.
I started when Black and White was new, and I quickly learned the metagame. Weather. I however enjoyed playing what was counter-meta, having more fun with that than what was standard, and rose well with it. I played on Pokemon Online at the time (Showdown wasn't a thing if I recall right), and I at one time peaked top 400 out of 100,000.
This Gen I've been struggling to find out the metagame, because all I understood was weather or counter-weather. Finally I figured it out, but I decided to incorporate what I knew from last Gen, with some of the new themes of this Gen.
I actually stumbled upon this team sorta accidentally. I had been toying with a Rain Team with great success, only to find I needed a strong powerhouse. I found most teams weren't ready for a full-on weather team built right, as most people abandoned that strategy. Meanwhile, I had been testing out the different Megas: Mega Pinsir was a favorite of mine, but it's hard to set up, and if Talonflame is alive/healthy you can't use it period. Mega Medicham was another, but it was too unreliable (I loved Baton Passing to it). Finally I found one I enjoyed: Mega Mawile. It's strong, beats faster threats with priority, and beats bulkier threats with immense power. There's multiple movesets so there's outplay potential, and it's seen less than Mega Lucario (this thing better be banned soon >.>), Mega Charizard, Mega Venasaur, and Mega Pinsir (I believe)? Interestingly enough, the two work well together! Rain teams tend to destroy Ground/Fire types, which Mawile fears, making things a lot easier for it (in particular, Heatran, Entei, and Talonflame).
The Team:
Hyetal (Politoed) (F) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Toxic
Practically mandatory, Politoed is a staple of my team, bringing in weather automatically. It's surprisingly bulky with these EVs, and even with a Damp Rock, it's able to take a Genesect's (Scarf, +1 Att) Thunderbolt, and nail it back with a Hydro Pump doing well over 75%, making it an easy revenge kill-- just to put it in terms of power and bulk. Ice Beam and Focus Blast are for niche coverage (getting Dragonite ready for a revenge kill, dealing with Ferrothorn later in the game, etc). Toxic has rare use, but does put pressure and has helped secure KO's for me before.
Simply put, it's here to bring in the Rain. Depending on the game I might make it a suicide lead (if I'm facing a team I feel I can immediately sweep and KO, just trying to get out as much damage ASAP possible, or if I need to waste a turn of Rain to bring it back later). No matter what, it never feels useless, once again, being a staple.
Mist (Goodra) (M) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Hydration
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Rain Dance
- Rest
- Thunder
- Dragon Pulse
This set works interestingly, and I use Goodra as multiple things, altogether. It's a tanky, bulky "pivot" if you will, forcing most opponents into a stall fest, until a favorable switch comes out. It runs the risk of being set up on, but that's a lot of tanky Pokemon in general.
The idea is to work as a Support for the team-- it can be sacrificed if need be, though its main purpose is to bring the Rain back. After that, it can Hydro-rest to ease prediction for the switch, and prepare itself to be switched back to later, to re-set up Rain (in a more lengthy battle). It's also able to eat obvious status for the team (i.e. Klefki, save for Swagger+Foul Play, to a small extent), and it can attempt to Paralyze with Thunder, or dent with Dragon Pulse. Without any Sp. Att investment, it isn't able to touch walls, but it's able to stall them out anyways. More frail Pokemon are set up for revenge killing by the rest of the team.
Overall it's just a support, re-setting up Rain later in the game. Another unique quality, to note, is that this set counters Mega Charizard Y roughly (which in turn can be a threat to my Politoed).
Purity (Ludicolo) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
I love this thing. It's blazing fast with Swift Swim, beating most Scarf'd Pokemon along with several others, and it has AMAZING coverage. Giga Drain helps me deal with Bulky Waters that tend to be a problem (most Rotom-Ws, the rare Mega Blastoise, etc). Hydro Pump has enormous power (albeit sad accuracy, but the power makes it arguably better than Surf), and Ice Beam and Focus Blast provide coverage.
Normally seen in... RU? I believe? (I never cared for the lower tiers of the metagame much)... It's actually surprisingly good at dealing with a large portion of the game, with just the sheer power and coverage it has.
Typically it's a mid game sweeper, though it can function as a revenge killer as well.
Brashy (Kabutops) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
Another Swift Swimmer because Swift Swim and Drizzle is amazing (there's a reason why it was banned last Gen), Choice Band grants Kabutops amazing sweeping potential.
Typically I use it as a revenge killer, or mid to late game sweeper, depending on what's needed on the flow of the match.
Waterfall is the move of choice, hitting HARD with STAB Rain, and Choice Band. Even Rotom-W (bulky sets) tends to take around 45-47%-ish (off of memory, too lazy to do calcs at the moment) from it. Stone Edge is for coverage and STAB, and Knock Off is a niche move as Kabutops doesn't need, nor have, many other options anyways. Aqua Jet is for revenge-killing threats with priority, again rarely used, but useful when needed.
Mystic (Mawile) (F) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
My team has felt so much better, so much stronger, ever since I put this little monster on the roster.
This thing is a beast! Except... Against Heatran, Talonflame, Entei, Garchomp... Which my team handles fine! Rain teams counter those! So it has little to fear. Ideally I'd send it out on something that can't hurt it, say, a Breloom (post-spore), a Ferrothorn (more common example), Deoxys-D (assuming no Taunt), or even a few offensive threats with Intimidate. Then it's time to out-predict. Usually I lead with a Substitute, to ease prediction, ensuring at least one Play Rough, or Sucker Punch. However, often enough I'm able to get a Swords Dance off too (or just instead of using Sub to begin with), and then Sucker Punch to victory.
I've been enjoying this set, as I find Substitute helps put far more pressure than with others. Another common occurrence is for Ferrothorns/Chansey's/etc to attempt to Thunder Wave (or Leech Seed) my Mawile-- only to find a Substitute, a wasted turn, and more effort being forced on them as I set up and sweep.
It's less so that this helps the team, that the team is just perfect for helping it.
Breeze (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Heat Wave
- Superpower
I remember when this was banned last Gen-- or was it banned here? It was on PO at least. It took a long time, but people finally realized it 2HKO'd or 1HKO'd everything with Hurricane.
With the weather nerf, this set and Pokemon is no longer as feared or powerful-- but, my team supports it and it's still very strong.
The main reason I put it in (as of today actually), is to deal with Mega Venusaur. I've been struggling to deal with it, as it's an S-tier counter to most of my team (Thick Fat is a pain). However, with this around, it's much harder for Mega Venusaur to have an impact on my team. I'm not sure if there's anything that could deal with it better?
Conclusion:
As a player I feel that full-weather is still viable, with proper planning, and on top of that supports Mega Mawile extremely well. I've been having success with this team, though I have been experimenting a lot with it, and only as of today have I completely finished it... For now.
I'm currently attempting to ladder with it, but I am sure there are flaws in it that my eyes cannot see, that others can. I am looking for any improvements, minor or major, that can be made to my team.
Thank you very much.
As a final note, my 3 favorites on the team: Kabutops, Ludicolo, and Politoed. Just thought I'd share~
