Sweeping in the Rain

[Corvine666]

So I'm totally new to competitive battling & have only managed ~1500 rating (mostly with other people's RMT's). This is my first attempt at putting together a coherent & semi-unique team: I haven't met another team quite like mine. That said, much/most/all of the interesting ideas arise from an excellent thread:

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/rain-in-ou.3502326/

- so this is mostly asking more practised battlers to critique my attempt to combine the different elements into a viable 6 pokemon team. Without further ado...I'm sweeping in the rain :-)


Deoxys-Speed @ Damp Rock
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Superpower / Psycho Boost

Shamelessly pilfered from the aforementioned thread. This lead transformed my attempt to play fast offensive rain teams. His incredible speed + taunt makes a first 8 turn rain dance almost inevitable. Also he gives great hazard control; setting up SR & taunting obvious SR users/defogers who try to switch in opportunistically. After accomplishing this, I try to get him killed so as to get a free switch in to one of my rain sweepers. Compared to this, my previous strategy of staring Politoad & switching out (losing momentum, health & hazard control) seems pathetic.

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam

The first of my SS pokemon & my primary special sweeper. Great STABS, solid coverage & an ability to be somewhat self-sufficient & set up his own rain, all combine to make this cute 'mon a serious threat. EV's self explanatory & barring the occasional missed Hydro Pump, Ludicolo is one of my most consistent team members & certainly the one I'm most attached to. The Life Orb is there to help him sweep as he doesn't take a hit particularly well so killing fast is a priority (though it's worth noting he has great defensive typing).

Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall

The second SS user & the team's main/only real physical threat. All my EV's are simple-minded as I'm not practised enough to know specific cut off points...ergo I just overcommit to whatever I want the pokemon in question to be good at. He is truly formidable with a SD up - though this isn't easy to set up as he lacks bulk/has multiple defensive weaknesses - but even without it Kabutops hits HARD!!! Aqua Jet for a little priority & to kill Talonflame. Obviously Stone Miss will cost games from time to time, though it hasn't crippled me yet. I'm open to a suggestion of a more consistent move.

Thundurus-Therian (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Hp
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Volt Switch
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

This guy always puts in work even though he was added as an afterthought. Originally went scarfed but too many bad predictions between Thunder & HP Ice meant he became yet another Life Orb user (I'm open to some help in finding alternative items). FB is my only real answer to Ferrothorn (the most consistent threat I face) & Volt Switch can be great in getting Poli in & thus rain back up. Obviously his ability is very valuable as it constrains electricity spammers somewhat.

Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Rain Dance

Very inconsistent for me but at the same time gives much needed flying STAB (megasaur/conk/bugs). Also can set up his own rain & then u-turn out to recover decent HP. Superpower gives another answer to steel types...though not Scizor (he does take decent damage from Hurricane + the confusion can be great against this threatening 'mon). Life Orb just because I can't think of anything better & I don't mind the damage due to Regenerator.

Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Bug]

Lastly my toad. As I mentioned, he doesn't fill the role of primary rain bringer but rather he keeps the rain 'topped up'. Generally he comes in after one of my sweepers dies & so the scarf gives him a decent chance of revenge killing a weakened opponent & scald is never a bad thing to force an opponent to switch-in to. I know that more bulky sets are the norm, but this team is about doing as much work as possible in the few turns of rain & so he needs to be a threat in his own right (this is compounded by effectively sacking Deoxys S & so I can't really afford to lose any more 'firepower').

My own impressions of the team is that it works quite well - but I'm not certain that my meagre talents / somewhat sub-par opponents, have explored the possibilities/problems fully. Strong steel types are a little tricky; ferrothorn takes a bit of playing around & Scizor just has to be whittled down. Chari Y is very annoying as it upsets my strategy of sacking Deoxys - however this can be played around by switching Poli in & stealing his sun. More broadly I feel that I'm lacking true wall breakers & this could cripple me vs. true stall - but nobody plays stall well around my level.

Here are two replays that illustrate how things work when they work:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-99319056
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-99352693

I'm entirely open to any suggestion for how to improve the team. Also if anyone knows any solid rain teams that I could learn from (genuinely love the idea of weather teams) I'd be much obliged. So with all that said, I commend this team to your scrutiny.

 

[Martijn]

If i where you i wouldnt have (almost) a whole team addicted to Life orb. I would get some items like leftovers etc on some mon.
I recently made a rain dance team myself for OU you might want to have a look in there http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/first-rain-dance-team.3501962/
You also lack a spinner or defog user to get rid of a really common entry hazard: Stealth rock.
To go with your team i suggest you to use a tentacruel, ut its up to you to choose what build and moveset to use but i suggest the one i use in the topic i posted above.

 

[Corvine666]

Thanks for the advice. My attempt to generate some decent replays today have confirmed much of what you said. I tended to survive SR weakness by 'winning' the opening game with Deoxys & then putting so much quick pressure on with Ludicolo & Kabutops that my opponent couldn't easily find the time to set up rocks (or get much value out of them when they did). This relies on Deoxys doing his job - which to be fair he almost always has - but also it requires the SS guys to hit whatever comes next hard. If they don't, say a Clefable switches into Ludicolo, then much of the value of this opening gambit is lost & I end up in equal position but with a one 'mon disadvantage.

Also so much speed & power but such frailty makes me horrifyingly weak to priority users (this might nail the coffin tbh). Aegislash has zero good checks as neither Ludicolo or Kabutops can do much vs. him. This obliges a switch into Thundy who can't survive a Shadow Ball + Shadow Sneak from a life orb set. I think a weakness to maybe the best pokemon in the tier needs to be addressed but I'm not certain how as rain removes fire from the aegislash counters (I was thinking about running a heatwave Zapdos) & I can't decide on a good EQ user to put in. How do you handle Aegislash?

I have looked at your team but I don't feel I can really offer much by means of a critique as I'm very inexperienced. I was wondering how you handle something like Skar? I might try a similar set-up but with Toxicroak swapped for Ludicolo/Kingdra - how much work do you find Toxicroak puts in for you?

I'm probably going to switch my time between working out a hyper-offence rain team based on playing around Deoxys lead & working on a properly bulky rain team with Goodra, Suicune, Zapdos, Tentacruel etc. I really enjoy the strategic element to playing with weather teams but I do wonder if I'm biting off a bit too much.

Anyway, thanks for the advice & I'll give your team a try + see if I can offer anything intelligent to say about it.

 

[ImDes]

I think a better option for Torn would be knock off over rain dance since you have a politoed and a rain dancer in Deo already. Knock off is one of the best utility moves in the game right now, as well as it neuters Chansey/ Other walls by taking away their eviolite/lefties. The lack of spinner only really hurts your Thundurus (since Torn doesn't really mind SR because of Regenrator) but if Thundurus goes down then your opponent is free to spam electric moves which do work to the rest of your team. Maybe consider rapid spin over SD on kabutops?

 

[Martijn]

I think a better option for Torn would be knock off over rain dance since you have a politoed and a rain dancer in Deo already. Knock off is one of the best utility moves in the game right now, as well as it neuters Chansey/ Other walls by taking away their eviolite/lefties. The lack of spinner only really hurts your Thundurus (since Torn doesn't really mind SR because of Regenrator) but if Thundurus goes down then your opponent is free to spam electric moves which do work to the rest of your team. Maybe consider rapid spin over SD on kabutops?

tbh i prefer rapid spin on more bulky pokemon sheer for the fact rapid spin isnt really a heavy attack. And a misplay can cost you your kabutops.