A Rainy Day

BlueSuperSonic1

BlueSuperSonic1

Hello! So I decided that I wanted to make a rain team. This is because I like using it and because it's also considered one of the best team types. I think my team so far is pretty good, but it can probably be improved, so comments and criticism would be appreciated!

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@ Choice Specs
Modest/Drizzle
126 HP/252 SpAtk/132 Speed
Surf
Hidden Power Grass
Focus Blast
Ice Beam

First of all, there's Specs Politoed. This guy is pretty much needed for the team as he sets up permanent rain with his ability. I run Choice Specs in order to maximize power and make those STAB Rain-boosted Surfs hurt even more. Politoed's rain supports the rest of the team immensely, and his sheer power makes switching in with something that doesn't resist water extremely difficult.

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@ Life Orb
Naive/Regenerator
4 Atk/252 SpAtk/252 Speed
Hurricane
Superpower
U-Turn
Taunt

Next, I have Tornadus-T. This guy is simply amazing. His high speed and Regenerator are incredibly useful. When rain is up, this guy can easily abuse 100% accurate Hurricanes, which hurt a lot. U-Turn also allows him to switch out of slower checks/counters without much problems. Superpower is for coverage against stuff like Chansey/Blissey and Taunt also helps against some checks. Regenerator also makes Life Orb an easy choice for an item.

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@ Choice Scarf
Timid/Justified
252 SpAtk/4 SpDef/252 Speed
Hydro Pump
Surf
Secret Sword
Hidden Power Ice

Keldeo is another excellent rain abuser on this team. Just like with Politoed, rain-boosted Hydro Pumps and Surfs will put a dent in opposing Pokemon. However, Keldeo also has excellent speed, especially with a Choice Scarf. This allows it to revenge and check things much more easily, as well as allowing it to clean up late game with Surf/Hydro Pump. Secret Sword is another excellent STAB move on Keldeo and also hits some threats, such as Ferrothorn. Hidden Power Ice gives Keldeo an edge against Dragons and, because of the Scarf, makes revenging stuff like +1 Salamence or Dragonite relatively easy. Keldeo even works well when I don't have rain set up yet, making it an excellent Pokemon on this team.

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@ Black Sludge
Bold/Rain Dish
252 HP/236 Def/20 Speed
Rapid Spin
Toxic
Scald
Protect

Tentacruel is also really good. He provides Rapid Spin support for Tornadus-T, making Stealth Rock less of an issue to him. Tentacruel also has great livability with its excellent defenses, coupled with Rain Dish/Black Sludge recovery and Protect. Toxic is there as opposing Tentacruels would easily get rid of Toxic Spikes. Scald provides a solid STAB option that can also burn opponent's Pokemon. Protect allows for extra recovery and scouting for Choice items.

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@ Focus Sash
Jolly/Arena Trap
4 HP/252 Atk/ 252 Speed
Earthquake
Stealth Rock
Toxic
Stone Edge

Dugtrio supports the team by trapping opposing threats and also by setting up Stealth Rock. It traps threats such as Jirachi and opposing weather starters and eliminates them rather easily. Eliminating these makes it a lot easier for Tornadus-T to cause a lot of damage to opposing teams, as different weather and Jirachi all get in Tornadus' way. Focus Sash allows Dugtrio to take a hit, making switching into things a lot easier.

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@ Leftovers
Calm/Serene Grace
252 HP/220 SpDef/ 36 Speed
Thunder
Flash Cannon
Protect
Wish

Jirachi gives me a safe switch in to opposing Dragons and Tornadus, as its steel typing and great defenses resist those. Thunder is a great move, as its 100% accurate in the rain and, with Serene Grace, has a 60% chance of inducing paralysis, crippling enemy Pokemon. Psyshock is a good STAB option, while Protect and Wish allow Jirachi to heal itself, scout enemy attacks, and also heal the rest of the team.

Thanks for reading this! As said before, comments and constructive criticism would be appreciated so I can make this team better. Once again, thanks!
 
Hello,

This is a nice team you got here, a standard but fairly solid rain offense team which portrays a very solid offensive build with two of the most common sweepers in the game under rain. Considering the build of this team there is not much to actually change as there is not much wrong with the team in the first place. It is overall very solid and I can see you have most your bases covered against offensive rain teams alike. However, you do have major problems with Rotom-W which your team cannot handle in the slightest, having no Pokemon that can safely switch into it. Now I don't want to alter this team too much, so I will not be suggesting an entire change to fix it.

My first solution is placing Toxic on Dugtrio over Reversal. Reversal does not work well without Substitutue and with Toxic you can place the opponent in an unfavorable position when his Rotom-W is badly crippled by surprise. This way you have two ways to wear it down as the game goes on, instead of just focusing on useless U-Turns to nowhere and Scald burns. My second suggestion is altering Politoed's spread a bit to outpace the standard Specially Defensive Rotom-W. Altering the spread to one of 126 HP / 252 SAtk / 132 Spe Modest with the addition of Hidden Power Grass over Hydro Pump gives you the ability to damage Gastrodon and Rotom-W alike. This may seem a bit too much, but I can assure you that you will be easily damaging Rotom-W after Stealth Rock by pummeling it with a Specs boosted Hidden Power Grass to it's surprise.

Good luck!
 
This is nearly the exact same team that I have been running for quite a while, and I think it's really solid. However, I've found some problems with special sponges, and while you can certainly overload them with you power, they can prove to be too much to handle.

While they don't look like it on paper, Hippowdon teams are a pretty big weakness, and they are especially hard to beat if they carry Ferrothorn as well. You'll never be able to take advantage of Ferrothorn because you would normally switch Jirachi in and set up, but with Hippowdon in the midst, you can't actually do anything other than take hazards damage and get phazed out. Your carrying Dugtrio also makes these teams hard to face, as it does next to nothing against them. I think a better choice would be using Mamoswine instead, as it provides Stealth Rock, provides attacking power, and checks a lot of threatening Pokemon. For one, Mamoswine beats down Thundurus-T, who currently has a field day if it packs Agility. Mamoswine is also decent for taking out Dragons, as most will have no problem running through a Jirachi. A set with a Life Orb, a Jolly nature, a spread of 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe, and a moveset of Stealth Rock / Earthquake / Ice Shard / Icicle Spear should fit well here.

You might want to consider running a spread of 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe with a Timid nature on Jirachi so that you can sweep much more easily. This especially helps against common Pokemon like opposing Mamoswine, and it's very useful against Toxicroak as well, as you don't want to find yourself down a Jirachi should Toxicroak ever get to +2 (and it can do this against a few of your team members). Definitely try Hidden Power Grass over either Surf or Hydro Pump on your Politoed, as your team is fairly weak to Gastrodon, and catching it on the switch with Politoed will help your team immensely. Finally, you may want to consider running Flash Cannon on Jirachi to hit Tyranitar early on, but that's complete preference. Cool team and good luck. I hope I helped.
 
Thanks for the comments so far! I'll try out these changes, although I'm not quite sure about Mamoswine, but I guess I'll try it nonetheless. Gastrodon and Rotom-W are certainly problems, so Hidden Power Grass definitely seems like a good idea. A faster Jirachi also seems like it would be useful so I'll test that out as well.
 
Hey BlueSuperSonic1, nice team!

After looking through your team, I noticed that you have a huge Lati@s problem, after a little prior damage LO / Specs variants OHKO your entire team other than Jirachi, who lacks recovery, so it's easily worn down. Most of your team really can't do much to Lati@s, they resist Keldeo's dual STABs, Politoed's STAB, Tentacruel's STAB, and they're immune to Dugtrio's STAB, so switch in oppurtunities aren't uncommon. Once your Jirachi is worn down a bit, which is very easy to do, Lati@s can just switch in, fire off a Draco Meteor and OHKO something, then switch out again, rinse and repeat. This is a recipe for disaster. There's enough pressure on Jirachi as it is, it's the only thing that can really absorb special hits on your team, but it has no recovery or Special Defense investment. To help remedy this situation, I suggest running a WishCM Jirachi over your current SubCM variant. Now that you have recovery, Jirachi isn't worn down anywhere near as easily, Making Lati@s and special attackers in general much easier to deal with. I could have suggested a full on Specially Defensive variant, but this WishCM variant plays a much more similiar role to your SubCM Jirachi, and it takes hits from the likes of dragons, much, much better.

Anyway, I hope this rate helped and GL with the team :)

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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spd
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Wish
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder
 
Okay updated my original post with some changes suggested in this thread:
Replaced Reversal for Toxic on Dugtrio
Updated Politoed's EVs to 126 HP/252 SpAtk/132 Speed
Replaced Hydro Pump for Hidden Power Grass on Politoed.
Changed Jirachi's EVs to 252 HP/ 220 SpDef/ 36 Speed
Changed Jirachi's Nature to Calm.
Replaced Substitute, Calm Mind, and Psyshock for Protect, Wish, and Flash Cannon.

Once again, thanks for the feedback! The team is doing great so far.
 
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