Hi there! This is my take on the SS OU Rain team. After being swept way to many times and seeing all of the different ways to play the key players in the team, I came up with this. Most rain teams rely on pelipper to be the main rain setter. It's a very predictable pokemon and it's the reason why most people don't like playing rain in the first place. For this rain team I didn't want that. The challenge of this team was to make the opponent seem to know all of the roles of my pokemon, only to be surprised.
So to start of I chose Swampert. Pert is a very reliable mon and is also the main electric counter, but pert also has a very important other role in my team. As you can see he is equipped with the damp rock and has rain dance. I can't stress how much i like the combination of damp rock, rain dance and slow flip turn. This is my main way of setting rain and is my go to early game rain setup. This due to the fact that nobody leads their grass types because of them predicting pelipper. This is my main shenanigan and is so effective. I would prioritize rain over rocks, but it's there for more bulky builds. I just took the standard EV spread
surprise (Swampert) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Atk / 224 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rain Dance
- Flip Turn
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Next up: the real reason I wanted to make a rain team. I've always loved zapdos but always felt it lacked real offensive usage (in gen 8). It's highly unaccurate moves are very unreliable but have the power everybody wants/needs. This set is made for exactly that. Weather ball is another major upgrade to the set and almost fills the hole in my heart that is the removal of HP ice. This mon shreds through mons and is one of my many ground resistances. Zapdos is also the main counter to rain counters (pex, boom etc.). I chose static over pressure to be able to switch into a predictable u-turn. Ev spread is full modest max max. Don't really need speed control on this mon. It takes almost all hits but really needs the extra power. Roost is on there for longevity.
mr. blue sky (Zapdos) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Thunder
- Roost
The third mon on the team is the obvious rain setter: Pelipper. Pelipper is really nice for late game usage, setting easy rain and maybe getting a few kills on chipped down mons. I really like scarf on pelipper because it outspeeds cinderace and some other mons (mainly cinderace). This can be really annoying and is the main reason people forfeit on me. As I mentioned earlier people think playing rain is a very skill-less way of playing so they think they can outpredict your switch to pelipper. My advice is to be really ballsy around the obvious pelipper switch in. Don't be afraid to switch into an alternative mon. People thinking rain is predictable makes them predictable (learned that in econ1).
dripdrip (Pelipper) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Weather Ball
- Hurricane
- Scald
- U-turn
Next up is the coolest addition to rain this gen. In the beginning I hated the mon and still almost never use it. But the first time I used it in the rain and I saw 500+ attack and 700+ speed I was hooked. Stab, band and rain boosted liquidation and flip turn are savage. Love the mon and hate the fact I was a sceptic. It's a really straight forward set so I don't really feel like I need to explain more about it.
rotorgoesbrrrr. (Barraskewda) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Flip Turn
- Aqua Jet
Melmetal is the steel type abusing the rain. With so many ground resistances and rain up almost all of the time melmetal hardly takes any super effective hits. With it's massive attack it can dish out good hits. Protect and toxic are there for setup sweepers and when I may need to stall a turn of rain myself. People underestimate how often the rain user might want to do this. Keep this mon for getting rid of rillaboom if they have it.
stronk (Melmetal) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Toxic
Hydreigon is my mandatory dark type on the team (as long as spectrier is still around). It also has defog and is my grass/electric resist. Aside from these roles it doesn't do much. I really like this more bulky set because it hydreigon likes to stick around in games. Aside from that this mon is also a great counter to the slowbro's/kings running around. All around cool mon and great addition to the team. The set is just the standard set from smogon aside from flamethrower (for ferro).
puppetmaster (Hydreigon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Roost
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
This team is just great fun and I love the way it works. Many thanks to all the guys that helped build it. Would love to hear your feedback.
User: Kalty
So to start of I chose Swampert. Pert is a very reliable mon and is also the main electric counter, but pert also has a very important other role in my team. As you can see he is equipped with the damp rock and has rain dance. I can't stress how much i like the combination of damp rock, rain dance and slow flip turn. This is my main way of setting rain and is my go to early game rain setup. This due to the fact that nobody leads their grass types because of them predicting pelipper. This is my main shenanigan and is so effective. I would prioritize rain over rocks, but it's there for more bulky builds. I just took the standard EV spread
surprise (Swampert) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Atk / 224 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rain Dance
- Flip Turn
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Next up: the real reason I wanted to make a rain team. I've always loved zapdos but always felt it lacked real offensive usage (in gen 8). It's highly unaccurate moves are very unreliable but have the power everybody wants/needs. This set is made for exactly that. Weather ball is another major upgrade to the set and almost fills the hole in my heart that is the removal of HP ice. This mon shreds through mons and is one of my many ground resistances. Zapdos is also the main counter to rain counters (pex, boom etc.). I chose static over pressure to be able to switch into a predictable u-turn. Ev spread is full modest max max. Don't really need speed control on this mon. It takes almost all hits but really needs the extra power. Roost is on there for longevity.
mr. blue sky (Zapdos) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Thunder
- Roost
The third mon on the team is the obvious rain setter: Pelipper. Pelipper is really nice for late game usage, setting easy rain and maybe getting a few kills on chipped down mons. I really like scarf on pelipper because it outspeeds cinderace and some other mons (mainly cinderace). This can be really annoying and is the main reason people forfeit on me. As I mentioned earlier people think playing rain is a very skill-less way of playing so they think they can outpredict your switch to pelipper. My advice is to be really ballsy around the obvious pelipper switch in. Don't be afraid to switch into an alternative mon. People thinking rain is predictable makes them predictable (learned that in econ1).
dripdrip (Pelipper) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Weather Ball
- Hurricane
- Scald
- U-turn
Next up is the coolest addition to rain this gen. In the beginning I hated the mon and still almost never use it. But the first time I used it in the rain and I saw 500+ attack and 700+ speed I was hooked. Stab, band and rain boosted liquidation and flip turn are savage. Love the mon and hate the fact I was a sceptic. It's a really straight forward set so I don't really feel like I need to explain more about it.
rotorgoesbrrrr. (Barraskewda) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Flip Turn
- Aqua Jet
Melmetal is the steel type abusing the rain. With so many ground resistances and rain up almost all of the time melmetal hardly takes any super effective hits. With it's massive attack it can dish out good hits. Protect and toxic are there for setup sweepers and when I may need to stall a turn of rain myself. People underestimate how often the rain user might want to do this. Keep this mon for getting rid of rillaboom if they have it.
stronk (Melmetal) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Toxic
Hydreigon is my mandatory dark type on the team (as long as spectrier is still around). It also has defog and is my grass/electric resist. Aside from these roles it doesn't do much. I really like this more bulky set because it hydreigon likes to stick around in games. Aside from that this mon is also a great counter to the slowbro's/kings running around. All around cool mon and great addition to the team. The set is just the standard set from smogon aside from flamethrower (for ferro).
puppetmaster (Hydreigon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Roost
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
This team is just great fun and I love the way it works. Many thanks to all the guys that helped build it. Would love to hear your feedback.
User: Kalty
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