A Twist on a Classic - Dream World Rain Dance, minus the Drizzle

Professor Beef

Professor Beef

I'm back! First off, I want to thank everyone for their help in making my Sunny Day team as good as it can be. I'm not done testing it by any means, but making Sunny Day has brought back my itch for making weather teams.

Unfortunately, it seems that a couple of months ago Drizzle and Swift Swim are banned when used in the same team. While this may put a damper in my goal, it certainly does not stop what I am to do. So I dug back into my competitive past, and brought back Rain Dance anyways. After all, it worked before without Drizzle, and I'm sure it can do just as well in today's metagame. Without further ado, the lineup...

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Borutorosu (M) @ Damp Rock
Trait: Mischievous Heart
EVs: 8 HP / 252 SAtk / 248 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Mischievous Heart is quickly becoming one of my favorite abilities, aside from Swift Swim. Priority Rain Dance is something that I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams. It also helps that Boru is so freakishly strong and fast, he can sometimes end games by himself! Thunder is the obvious choice for STAB, and Grass Knot is for Ground-types that try and wall him. HP Ice rounds out the set by giving him a weapon against dragons.

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Queendra (Kingdra) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 208 Atk / 136 SAtk / 164 Spd
Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Rain Dance
- Draco Meteor
- Waterfall
- Hydro Pump

Kingdra (or Queen, in this case) is my absolute favorite Swift Swimmer. It resists so much thanks to it's Water/Dragon typing, reaches frightening speeds in the Rain, and becomes nearly impossible to stop once on a roll. This moveset is an exact copy of the set I used in the previous generation. The EVs are set to give her enough power for a mixed set, and allows her speed to grow to unreachable levels in the rain. Hydro Pump was chosen over Surf for more power, and Draco Meteor was chosen over Outrage because Waterfall has enough coverage in the rain to still be powerful, while not locking me into confusion.

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Dragonite (M) @ Leftovers (Updated)
Trait: Multi-Scale
EVs: 116 Atk / 4 Def / 136 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Brick Break
- Roost

At the suggestion of Benlisted, I decided to swap out Extremespeed for Roost. The opportunities that I have had to use ES have been few and far between, while Roost has been useful in most matches since I made the edit. Hurricane and Thunder still do their jobs well, and thanks to Boru, I don't have to worry nearly as much about the rain timer running out before I can continue sweeping with them. Brick Break nails Tyranitars, and can 2HKO Nattorei, factoring in Leftovers and Protect.

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Starwho (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam

Starmie is my spinner. Since hazards are more dangerous for Drizzle-less Rain Dance (as turns become even more important then normal), it was important to pack one, and Starmie does not disappoint. Thunder, Hydro Pump and Ice Beam offer perfect coverage against any conceivable threat, and severely wounds opponents who manage to survive a turn against it. Natural Cure is obvious, as it allows Starmie to...well, I don't really need to finish that, now do I?

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Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Rain Dance
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost

Zapdos is a Pokemon that I was skeptical of using in the past, but thanks to the improvements that Lightningrod has seen this generation I've decided to give it another try. Zapdos makes a good user of Rain Dance and is able to take immediate advantage of it with Stab'd fully accurate Thunders. HP Ice is for enemy dragons or whatever Thunder can't handle, and Roost allows it to heal up any damage it might've taken after a Rain Dance. Rain Dance teams in particular tend to summon all sorts of Electric moves, and Lightningrod is perfect for sucking them all up.

Zapdos' moveset is almost completely similar to Boru's, but with the obvious exception of Roost. The two are similar, but obviously do different things. I rely on Boru to set up the rain, and I rely on Zapdos for the sweep. Now the two can switch jobs of course, but I prefer to keep those jobs separate.

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Kabutops (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Low Kick

Kabutops is my only pure physical sweeper on the team, and it does a fine job at that. A +2, STAB'd, Life Orb-backed Waterfall is absolutely devastating in the rain, OHKOing everything but the hardiest of opponents. Stone Edge is for coverage, and Low Kick deals with Nattorei handily (although deciding when to switch in becomes extremely important against some sets).

This is Take 2 of my Drizzle-less Rain Dance team, and it has been working like a charm. Aside from a few salty rage-quits that I've had to deal with before I could even get the team started, every single match has been a blast. I'm not sure what else could be used to improve the team for a third version, but that's what this sub-forum is for after all.
 
I quite like this team. HO Rain from 4th gen with added Dragonite goodness. However, have you considered what happens if your lead fails to get Rain up, which is increasingly likely given the rise of MH pokes and given team preview will easily give away what you aim to do? Leading with Zappy is a possibility when facing Tornadus or Thundurus, which is probably something you want to consider if you weren't already - to threaten them severely and hopefully get RD up. Investing a little in SpDef to take HP Ices more easily may help you in this role, as may running thunderbolt.

My main worry with Zong is that you have to either risk a blind double switch or come into something nasty with one of your pokes. Perhaps consider replacing him with an Azelf or even your own slightly suicidal Tornadus to get a fast RD up at the start of the game, whilst keeping access to U-Turn in Azelf's case to get a nice switch, or simply access to spammable insanely powerful moves in Tornadus' case. Defensive synergy seems less of an issue with such a HO style of Rain, so your lack of ability to take dragon hits would hopefully be less of an issue, though you could always add in say a Scizor over Kabutops or something if you really need one.

Consider Roost over Extremspeed on DNite to regenerate Multiscale, especially given you have Kabutops and Kingdra running at insane speeds already. Kabutops you could try Aqua Jet over Low Kick/SE if you use him as more of a late game sweeper and he only needs to finish off a few things.

Another reason a MH RD user like Tornadus may be of use is against SS. If you can get rid of TTar or Hippo, you can stop Dory's sweep short by changing the weather if need be.

Sorry this is a tad brief in parts, i'm short of time, but let me know what you think.
 
I'm liking it, especially after such a bad session yesterday. The initial practice sessions went well, but yesterday I stunk up the place. Bronzong didn't connect a single Hypnosis, and as a result, ended up losing me a lot of games. I suppose it's partially my fault, as I haven't properly researched dangerous leads in this new gen. Old dog, new tricks, etc.

I think I just might swap Bronzong for Tornadus. He seems like a great addition, and one that I had completely forgot existed. I'll definitely look into him. I'll think about replacing Kabutops' SE with Aqua Jet, but I'd like to do more testing with it before I make the switch.

I'll update my team once i get a chance to actually make said changes.
 
Bump for team update. Bronzong has been replaced with Borutorosu, and Dragonite's moveset has been updated. Kingdra's sprite color has also been updated, in case someone was curious.
 
Something I missed earlier was the Thunder on DNite. Essentially, because you already have the insanely poweful STAB Hurricane/Gale and 3 of your other mons have Thunder, you don't really need it to run an electric move too. I'd recommend a Dragon move, probably either Claw or Pulse but if you feel confident with getting rid of steels or crippling your other STAB, you could go with Outrage or DMeteor too. If you do so Kingdra and DNite can help pound away at opposing steels with spam of their STABs, which is always nice and makes it more likely one will sweep.

Currently the main worry I see for the team is TTar. It may not be able to switch into water moves, but it can take flying hits just fine, and come in upon kills to threaten your team. Currently Zappy and Thundurus are most threatend by him, as the other all stand a good chance of simply OHKOing him if he stays in. Consider Hammer Arm or Focus Blast on Thundurus (over HP Ice maybe since you have 2 other ice moves and it works quite nicely for lead TTar matchups too). Zappy is pretty screwed however you look at it though, so be careful with her when TTar is still around.

Finally, consider Volt Change on Thundurus to get another mon in safely - it weakens your STAB but may be worth it if you can set up a sweep.
 
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