Hello there! It has been a long time since I made an RMT and I think I finally have something cool to show off again. Now I love coming up with new, creative ways to beat my opponent. In this case, I tried making a Rain centered team which could Spam Surf with impunity. And yes, it sounds like a cheap, easy strategy until you check out the Pokemon that learn the abilities you will covet, starting by our obligatory Rain setter:
Politoed@Damp Rock
Bold
252HP/240Def/16Def
Surf
Rain Dance
Protect
Icy Wind
This is my own personal favorite way of using Politoed. I confess, my EV spread making is shoddy and I could use some advise, this just looked good and it has worked nicely. Surf is the STAB of choice on basically everything on the team, and Icy Wind pairs nicely while slowing my opponents. Protect is mainly there because of him being one of the few Pokemon on the team not immune to Surf. Rain Dance is almost necessary. Winning an early weather advantage, or outright winning a weather war with a well timed dance move is great. And since I am sporting a Damp Rock I get further use from that as well. But it makes Politoed into a much more reliable weather setter in my opinion.
Now, there are a handful of abilities that will grant you immunity to Surf. Water Absorb is the most widespread and straight-forward, Dry Skin has a similar effect with some added quirks and drawbacks, Storm Drain will grant you a boost to SpAtk and finally Telepathy will outright make it so your partner cannot hurt you. Storm Drain is of course the one I first jumped, eager to find myself a juicy sweeper.
Staring at my face was a choice between Gastrodon, Lumineon, Cradily and Maractus. Lumineon and Maractus are actually not very good because of their shallow offensive move pools. But Gastrodon and Cradily actually benefit greatly from the boost, and they both get Recover! They are bulky enough to get a hit then bear their fangs after a boost. Lastly, they are not obvious sweepers so people will usually fail to recognize the threat until it is too late. My sets of choice for my tanks is:
Gastrodon@Leftovers
Modest
148HP/112Def/248SpAtk
Surf
Earth Power
Recover
Ice Beam
Cradily@Leftovers
Modest
252HP/56Def/200SpAtk
Giga Drain
Recover
Ancient Power
Sludge Bomb
The thinking behind Gastrodon is to hit as hard as I can, get good coverage, and Recover when I have a chance(e.g., I know my partners Surf will K.O. both baddies). Moves are pretty standard. Again, if you about EV builds I am willing to take suggestions if you explain your reasoning. My numbers look pretty.
Cradily on the other hand is more straightforwardly a tank, staving off damage with boosted Giga Drains. I use Ancient Power because it hits Fire types pretty hard, invaluable in weather wars.The boost chance is worthless. Sludge Bombs for those pesky fairies and other grass types.
So we have three slots of the team filled up and we have our weather setter and set-up tanks. I looked at Dry Skin and Water Absorb and was appalled at the quantity of both. Water Absorb has a LOT of users, but most have better abilities or have sets that rely on said other abilities, or are outright bad Pokemon no matter how much I love them(Lapras, for example). Dry Skin on the other hand has but a handful of Pokemon, no very popular ones at that: Heliolisk, Toxicroak, Jynx and Parasect. Parasect has Spore...and that's it. The other three are much more interesting. Heliolisk is an obvious choice, having access to both Thunder and Surf, plus Grass Knot for the occasional Water/Ground. So my choice for 4th slot:
Toxicroak@Assault Vest
Adamant
248HP/252Atk/8SpDef
Fake Out
Poison Jab
Drain Punch
Sucker Punch
Wait, why? Some of you may flinch away at this choice. I say shame on you. There was a day when Toxicroak reigned alongside permarain setters. And for good reason, Dry Skin makes him a bit hard to bring down. And I just love an Assault Vest on a bulky all-out attacker. Thanks to Dry Skin, I still get recovery while the boost really helps him avoid croaking too son. Fake Out is great utility and is used for revenge kills alongside Sucker Punch. Drain Punch and Poison Jab are my stabs of choice, providing healing and a nice poison chance. Last but not least, this guy can semi-reliably take on Ferrothorn and come out alright under the rain, which is something Heliolisk has to rely on FocusBlast Miss and Fire moves(which are hampered by the rain).
I was really unimpressed by the rest of the Pokemon who boasted immunity to Surf. Don't get me wrong, they did well. But they failed to exploit the theme of surfs and rainlike the four so far. So I set my eyes to Pokemon with useful abilities like Swift Swim and Prankster. I also looked at Pokemon who boasted 4X resistance to water, to better take on Surfs. I finally settled for my revenge killers, who also boast acceptable bulk while managing to be faster than most threats. Best part, they both also have the 4X resistance. To round up my team:
Ludicolo@Life Orb
160HP/252SpAtk/96Spd
Modest
Giga Drain
Fake Out
Ice Beam
Surf
Kingdra@Assault Vest
Modest
160HP/252SpAtk/96Spd
Dragon Pulse
Flash Cannon
Surf
Clear Smog
Ludicolo is a great rain Pokemon. He needs the Life Orb to deal enough damage, but he can do some recovery with Giga Drain. Ludicolo was having trouble against some faster threats, but he really was using the extra bulk. Some things I just outright could not out speed I could revenge kill instead. Kingdra picks up the slack with n higher base speed. This two have great typings, and it serves them well. They each have an utility move, and they help diffuse threats to my own sweepers.
The team works quite straightforwardly. Try to establish a weather advantage, spam surf to grab boosts and heals. You can use a swift swimmer and a booster to soften them, grab a boost then wipe something with the slower one. Toxicroak is better left for surprise attacks and to pick off weakened foes. You can use your tanks to batter up your opponent and send them in disarray then revenge kill them into infinity. Politoed is the weakest link sadly, but he can literally turn the tides in your favor. Weather teams are very popular, and this Pokemon have less than stellar offenses so they really appreciate the boost in power. Anyhow that is my team, let me know what you guys think and suggest anything. I will try to debate each suggestion, but if you can't defend why I should make a change I don't want to hear it. I will be very respectful I promise, but I am also really strict sometimes.
Politoed@Damp Rock
Bold
252HP/240Def/16Def
Surf
Rain Dance
Protect
Icy Wind
This is my own personal favorite way of using Politoed. I confess, my EV spread making is shoddy and I could use some advise, this just looked good and it has worked nicely. Surf is the STAB of choice on basically everything on the team, and Icy Wind pairs nicely while slowing my opponents. Protect is mainly there because of him being one of the few Pokemon on the team not immune to Surf. Rain Dance is almost necessary. Winning an early weather advantage, or outright winning a weather war with a well timed dance move is great. And since I am sporting a Damp Rock I get further use from that as well. But it makes Politoed into a much more reliable weather setter in my opinion.
Now, there are a handful of abilities that will grant you immunity to Surf. Water Absorb is the most widespread and straight-forward, Dry Skin has a similar effect with some added quirks and drawbacks, Storm Drain will grant you a boost to SpAtk and finally Telepathy will outright make it so your partner cannot hurt you. Storm Drain is of course the one I first jumped, eager to find myself a juicy sweeper.
Staring at my face was a choice between Gastrodon, Lumineon, Cradily and Maractus. Lumineon and Maractus are actually not very good because of their shallow offensive move pools. But Gastrodon and Cradily actually benefit greatly from the boost, and they both get Recover! They are bulky enough to get a hit then bear their fangs after a boost. Lastly, they are not obvious sweepers so people will usually fail to recognize the threat until it is too late. My sets of choice for my tanks is:
Gastrodon@Leftovers
Modest
148HP/112Def/248SpAtk
Surf
Earth Power
Recover
Ice Beam
Cradily@Leftovers
Modest
252HP/56Def/200SpAtk
Giga Drain
Recover
Ancient Power
Sludge Bomb
The thinking behind Gastrodon is to hit as hard as I can, get good coverage, and Recover when I have a chance(e.g., I know my partners Surf will K.O. both baddies). Moves are pretty standard. Again, if you about EV builds I am willing to take suggestions if you explain your reasoning. My numbers look pretty.
Cradily on the other hand is more straightforwardly a tank, staving off damage with boosted Giga Drains. I use Ancient Power because it hits Fire types pretty hard, invaluable in weather wars.The boost chance is worthless. Sludge Bombs for those pesky fairies and other grass types.
So we have three slots of the team filled up and we have our weather setter and set-up tanks. I looked at Dry Skin and Water Absorb and was appalled at the quantity of both. Water Absorb has a LOT of users, but most have better abilities or have sets that rely on said other abilities, or are outright bad Pokemon no matter how much I love them(Lapras, for example). Dry Skin on the other hand has but a handful of Pokemon, no very popular ones at that: Heliolisk, Toxicroak, Jynx and Parasect. Parasect has Spore...and that's it. The other three are much more interesting. Heliolisk is an obvious choice, having access to both Thunder and Surf, plus Grass Knot for the occasional Water/Ground. So my choice for 4th slot:
Toxicroak@Assault Vest
Adamant
248HP/252Atk/8SpDef
Fake Out
Poison Jab
Drain Punch
Sucker Punch
Wait, why? Some of you may flinch away at this choice. I say shame on you. There was a day when Toxicroak reigned alongside permarain setters. And for good reason, Dry Skin makes him a bit hard to bring down. And I just love an Assault Vest on a bulky all-out attacker. Thanks to Dry Skin, I still get recovery while the boost really helps him avoid croaking too son. Fake Out is great utility and is used for revenge kills alongside Sucker Punch. Drain Punch and Poison Jab are my stabs of choice, providing healing and a nice poison chance. Last but not least, this guy can semi-reliably take on Ferrothorn and come out alright under the rain, which is something Heliolisk has to rely on Focus
I was really unimpressed by the rest of the Pokemon who boasted immunity to Surf. Don't get me wrong, they did well. But they failed to exploit the theme of surfs and rainlike the four so far. So I set my eyes to Pokemon with useful abilities like Swift Swim and Prankster. I also looked at Pokemon who boasted 4X resistance to water, to better take on Surfs. I finally settled for my revenge killers, who also boast acceptable bulk while managing to be faster than most threats. Best part, they both also have the 4X resistance. To round up my team:
Ludicolo@Life Orb
160HP/252SpAtk/96Spd
Modest
Giga Drain
Fake Out
Ice Beam
Surf
Kingdra@Assault Vest
Modest
160HP/252SpAtk/96Spd
Dragon Pulse
Flash Cannon
Surf
Clear Smog
Ludicolo is a great rain Pokemon. He needs the Life Orb to deal enough damage, but he can do some recovery with Giga Drain. Ludicolo was having trouble against some faster threats, but he really was using the extra bulk. Some things I just outright could not out speed I could revenge kill instead. Kingdra picks up the slack with n higher base speed. This two have great typings, and it serves them well. They each have an utility move, and they help diffuse threats to my own sweepers.
The team works quite straightforwardly. Try to establish a weather advantage, spam surf to grab boosts and heals. You can use a swift swimmer and a booster to soften them, grab a boost then wipe something with the slower one. Toxicroak is better left for surprise attacks and to pick off weakened foes. You can use your tanks to batter up your opponent and send them in disarray then revenge kill them into infinity. Politoed is the weakest link sadly, but he can literally turn the tides in your favor. Weather teams are very popular, and this Pokemon have less than stellar offenses so they really appreciate the boost in power. Anyhow that is my team, let me know what you guys think and suggest anything. I will try to debate each suggestion, but if you can't defend why I should make a change I don't want to hear it. I will be very respectful I promise, but I am also really strict sometimes.
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