A Wifi OU Rain Dance Team in need of improvement

adman2

adman2

My ingame Rain Dance team was the first team I built that didn't consist of throwing 6 good Pokemon together and hoping for the best. I have had more success than ever, but I still have some major problems to work out.

Uxie @ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Bold, 252 HP, 104 Defense, 152 Speed

Trick
Memento
Rain Dance
Stealth Rock

Bloo's suggestion makes for a better suicide lead than Crobat, since it can set up an entry hazard to give my Rain sweepers the power to turn 2HKOs to OHKOs. Memento weakens the other Pokemon, allowing me to either sweep or set up Swords Dance on Qwilfish. Trick screws up other supporting leads.


Jolteon @ Life Orb
Volt Absorb
Timid, 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP

Charge Beam
Thunderbolt
Baton Pass
Hidden Power Grass

Jolteon is my Volt Absorber, and can hit hard in the Rain with Thunder. Hidden Power Grass hits Swampert, which would otherwise cause problems to my team since most Rain Sweepers cannot OHKO it. I can either dry pass to scout, or pass Special Attack to Ludicolo or Kingdra. Life Orb and a Charge Beam boost can benefit Jolteon more than Choice Specs can, without the problems of being locked into an Electric move. Volt Absorb can be used to heal some of the Life Orb recoil if Jolteon switches in later.

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Swift Swim
Lonely, 252 Attack, 240 Special Attack, 16 Speed

Rain Dance
Draco Meteor
Hydro Pump
Waterfall

After I won Lorelei's Kingdra in a giveaway, I was inspired to build this team. It can hit very hard in the Rain, even OHKOing Metagross with Hydro Pump some of the time. I love it when people switch in their Blisseys, only to be hit by Waterfall. It can set up Rain sometimes, since it's relatively sturdy for a Life Orb sweeper Its main downfall is that it's slow outside of Rain, and it's easily walled by the stuff that isn't OHKOd by Draco Meteor, es[ecially Suicune and Vaporeon.

Qwilfish @ Life Orb
Adamant, 252 Attack, 92 HP, 164 Speed

Explosion
Waterfall
Poison Jab
Swords Dance

Kabutops was an excellent Rain sweeper, but Qwilfish has some benefits. Since it is a grounded Poison type, it can deal with the uncommon Toxic Spikes that otherwise are the bane of Rain teams. I know how much Toxic Spikes hurt Rain teams, since a guy with a Tentacruel beat me badly once, and Life Orb recoil makes the sweepers go down even faster, and can stall out my defensive Pokemon. Poison Jab makes Celebi beg for mercy, and Explosion makes a great suicide move. The lack of Aqua Jet will be missed, but I guess priority on Scizor will more than make up for it.


Ludicolo @ Leftovers
Swift Swim
Calm, 200 HP, 80 Special Attack, 124 Special Defense, 104 Speed

Rain Dance
Leech Seed
Grass Knot
Surf

Ludicolo is great against other Water types because of Grass Knot and Leech Seed. Even if it turns into a stall war between them, Ludicolo can usually win out. The analysis recommends Ice Beam for Dragons, but Ludicolo often comes in when it's not raining (it's an auxilary Rain Dancer) and does not take Outrages well. I changed Ice Beam to Surf to prevent being totally walled by Steel types, especially Heatran. I'm considering replacing it with Substitute, though, since Subseeding is tempting, especially with Swift Swim.

Scizor @ Damp Rock
Adamant, 252 HP, 240 Special Defense, 16 Attack

Bullet Punch
Rain Dance
U-Turn
Roost

Hariyama, though it had its merits, was always a bit out of place on this team. Scizor can set up Rain for a long time, its priority is strong against both Tyranitar and Abomasnow, it can use a slow U-Turn to switch to bring in a sweeper, and can Roost off damage. It resists all of Abomasnow's usual moves save Earthquake, and can take Tyranitar's Dark moves. Bullet Punch can help pick off other threats if they are allowed to set up too much.

Threat List: I may edit in more, but I'll list most dangerous ones to my team first.

Breloom: Still tricky. Qwilfish outspeeds and can threaten with Poison Jab, but it takes lots of damage from its attacks. My least valuable Pokemon will have to absorb sleep.

Salamence: Bullet Punch can finish it off if needed, especially when it's locked into Outrage. I'll have to beware Fire Blast.

Heatran: Ludicolo can take its attacks and use Surf.

Tyranitar: Scizor can Bullet Punch, set up Rain, Roost off damage, and U-Turn. Ludicolo can handle the rare special-exclusive version.

Vaporeon: Qwilfish can blow it up, and Ludicolo can stall it out with Grass Knot and Leech Seed.

Suicune: Calm Mind makes it even tougher to take out, and I can't even use a status ailment because of Rest. Ludicolo can manage well, but it still turns into an ugly stall war. If Jolteon survives long enough to get a Charge Beam boost, Thunderbolt will take it down. Qwilfish can blow it up, too. I know I'm fond of using Qwilfish's Explosion as an example, but nobody uses both Vaporeon and Suicune on the same team. Having more than one bulky Water (unless Swampert is involved) is usually redundant.

Empoleon: It can still wall many of my Pokemon, though it won't like Jolteon. I may have to stall it out with Ludicolo's Leech Seed.

Swampert: Jolteon can OHKO it if it switches in with HP Grass, and Ludicolo can Grass Knot.

Jirachi: Jirachi is a little bit tricky to face. I guess Uxie can Trick Scarf it, or I can wear it down with my sweepers.

I know I should probably have a Stealth Rock user, but I don't know where to include one right now. Suggestions would be welcome.

To sum up my topic, my Rain team can tear apart teams that do not prepare (you'd be surprised how many teams have no Water resist), but any team that is prepared gives me a big disadvantage. I hope I gave enough information to give a good rating for now. When rating, keep in mind that this team is Wifi, not Shoddy. I have a few other Pokemon that I sometimes switch in and out of my team, so don't be surprised if you suggest something I already have. Thanks!
 
Bronzong @ damp rock could work in your team, possible move set:
rain dance
hypnosis
stealth rock
explosion

For kabutops the only recommendation i have would be maybe this:
Kabutops @ mystic water
swords dance
aquat jet
stone edge
water fall / x-scissor

Your team was the first weather team i've ever played, and it's awsome.

For my trick room team i use the same move set except for trick room instead of rain dance and it is always very effective.
 
TheSioux said:
Bronzong @ damp rock could work in your team, possible move set:
rain dance
hypnosis
stealth rock
explosion

For kabutops the only recommendation i have would be maybe this:
Kabutops @ mystic water
swords dance
aquat jet
stone edge
water fall / x-scissor

Your team was the first weather team i've ever played, and it's awsome.

For my trick room team i use the same move set except for trick room instead of rain dance and it is always very effective.
Click to expand...

I mentioned in my post that I've used Damp Rock Bronzong for some time, but with Reflect instead of Hypnosis. I don't want two suicide Pokemon on my team. Bronzong is not a wall without its Leftovers, before anyone asks why I consider it a suicide Pokemon.

In my experience, Kabutops has never been able to set up. It's either OHKO or die because Rock/Water is such a crummy defensive typing. Occasionally he can take one hit, but that's rare enough not to make Swords Dance worth the risk.

Thanks for the suggestions! I want a bulky Stealth Rock user, which will probably replace Crobat. Perhaps this Swampert will do, after I finish breeding it?

Swampert @ Leftovers
Relaxed, 252 Defense, 252 HP, 6 Special Attack

Hydro Pump
Earthquake
Stealth Rock
Rain Dance

I may need a Steel type to fix my obvious Outrage and Draco Meteor weakness, but as I've stated, the Bronzong is like a suicide lead, and I want one that will stick around a while. Suggestions would be welcome.

Perhaps I should change Hariyama's moveset to Rain Dance, Close Combat, Stone Edge, and Whirlwind? Knock Off seems superfluous, when I think about it.
 
Wow, a rain team without electrode! I like it already lol. Anyway, since metagross and aero are so common, him blowing up will likely be wasted. I like that you went with crobat, hes a bit bulkier.

I ran sub on my ludicolo and he causes more people to quite by himself than any other poke I've ever used. Maybe take out an attack for sub because it also allows you to set up the rain in a more safe way.
since kingdra is so slow and you need him alive, Maybe consider dropping rain dance and adding a move to at least dent the pokes that wall kingdra, because they can also deal with kabutops. I ran rain dance on my kabutops who was a sweeper, and I never use it on him (only ludi and electrode).

The hariyama does look a little out of place, however tyranitar can give you problems otherwise. in UU I ran parasect to absorb rain and grass, electric, and even in some cases water, but you already have volt absorb. However he still does provide sleep support and aromatherapy for the team. Though Ludi would deal with threats like suicune better than him anyway because nearly any ice beam from any poke is a ko.
Just a question, what is your first switch into a suicune? jolteon or ludicolo?
 
One weakness that many Rain Dances teams have is Toxic Spikes, and this team seems like it has the most problems in the world if those things come out. The best solution to this problem would be to use Qwilfish over Kabutops. Qwilfish is part Poison, so your Toxic Spikes problem is taken care of, but it also functions as an extremely powerful Swift Swim sweeper along with Water/ Poison STAB, which actually has decent coverage. The thing I like about Qwilfish is its ability to Explode, which can really help speed up your team and help you get a faster transition from sweeper to Rain Dancer.

For Qwilfish I would just run 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe, and give it Swords Dance, Waterfall, Poison Jab, Explosion, Life Orb. The speed lets you outrun +1 +speed base 100s and +1 neutral base 115s in the rain. The small HP investment gives Qwilfish some extra insurance if you ever feel the need to SD up to take on a threat.

adman2 said:
I may need a Steel type to fix my obvious Outrage and Draco Meteor weakness, but as I've stated, the Bronzong is like a suicide lead, and I want one that will stick around a while. Suggestions would be welcome.
Click to expand...

Okay, I agree that a Steel type would be very useful for this team. However, what Steel type can you use? The Pokemon I'm thinking of is Scizor. Scizor is an excellent supporting Pokémon on rain teams. Pokemon that change the weather on the feld such as Tyranitar and Abomasnow are the bane of Rain Dance teams. Scizor can deal with Tyranitar and Abomasnow with ease using its strong Bullet Punch to take both of them out. Scizor also has excellent defenses and typing, allowing it to take out many other threats to rain teams such as Celebi and Blissey. Scizor's only weakness (Fire) is weakened in the rain, and usually a rain team has many fire resists to switch in on Scizor's counters. While Rain is in plya, Scizor can survive attacks it will normally not survive such as Zapdos' Heat Wave and Magnezone's HP Fire. Scizor can also heal with Roost and set up Rain Dance quite easily thanks its great typing. It can use U-turn to scout for counters and get frail Swift Swimmers in with little risk. Scizor can also come into a locked Outrage from Salamence and hit it back hard with Bullet Punch. I would suggest using Rain Dance, U-turn, Bullet Punch, Roost, 252 HP/16 Attack/240 Special Defense, Adamant Nature, Damp Rock. Use Scizor over Hariyama. Hariyama was being used to take care of Abomasnow and Tyranitar, however, Scizor brings much more to the table. It has excellent typing, gives you your Dragon resist, and can take care of Abomasnow and Tyranitar all at the same time! Scizor can also serve as a late game sweeper with Bullet Punch.

adman2 said:
I want a bulky Stealth Rock user, which will probably replace Crobat. Perhaps this Swampert will do, after I finish breeding it?
Click to expand...

I agree. Sweepers need the maximum amount of residual damage on the opponent when they have to take them on, so a Pokemon that can set up Stealth Rock for your team will be beneficial. A good lead that can set up Rain Dance, Stealth Rock, and support the team in addition to being bulky is Uxie! Uxie's excellent defenses allow it to set up Stealth Rock and Rain with ease. It can also use Momento to allow one of your sweepers to come in and start sweeping. A set of Trick, Memento, Rain Dance, Stealth Rock, Choice Scarf, 252 HP, 104 Def, 152 Spe, Bold Nature should work out over Crobat. Uxie outspeeds base 130s (Aerodactyl leads) thanks to Choice Scarf and cripples them with Scarf after you have Tricked the Choice Scarf onto them. You also cripple leads such as Hippowdon, Bronzong, Metagross. Memento is there to reduce both the attacking stats of the opposing Pokemon significantly. What does that mean? It means that you can then switch in Qwilfish if you decide to use it and set up a Swords Dance quite easily since a Pokemon with reduced attack stats will not be hurting Qwilfish thanks to Uxie's Memento. Stealth Rock and Rain Dance are there for support.

Now onto Jolteon. I would consider using a Charge Beam + Life Orb version on Jolteon over Choice Specs. Why? The biggest problem Jolteon faces when using Choice Specs is being locked into an attack, a very dangerous situation if Dugtrio or other Ground-types switch into ThunderBolt. Life Orb helps fix this problem as it grants Jolteon freedom when using its moves. When you combine LO + the boosts from Charge Beam, you will be hitting harder than Specs when you receive those boosts which actually happen very often, and you won't have to worry about anything coming in and setting up on you. Life Orb, Hidden Power Grass, Charge Beam, Thunder, Shadow Ball, 252 Speed/ 252 SpA/ 6 HP, Timid Nature. Charge Beam has a 70% chance to boost Jolteon's Special Attack by 1.5, making it a very potent sweeper. After a boost, Jolteon can 2HKO Pokemon such as Scizor, Metagross, Lucario, Salamence, with or without Stealth Rock support. Hidden Power Grass is picked over Hidden Power Ice because after a boost, Thunder has a very high chance of OHKOing Salamence. Hidden Power Grass allows you to deal with Swampert and Dugtrio switch-ins. Shadow Ball hits the previously mentioned Celebi and Ghost types for hard damage, 2HKOing both. This Jolteon will serve as an excellent clean up Pokemon late game. Thunder is over ThunderBolt because you have Rain to increase Thunder's accuracy to 100%. I know getting specific Hidden Powers on Wi-fi is difficult, so if you cannot get Hidden Power Grass, you can either use Thunderbolt or Baton Pass. Baton Pass is an interesting option since Jolteon can pass the Charge Beam boosts to one of your sweepers that use Special Attacks such as Kingdra and Ludicolo. With a couple of boosts, not many Pokemon will enjoy taking boosted Draco Meteor's or Hydro Pump's from Kingdra. You can also use ThunderBolt so you do not have to rely on Thunder's accuracy when Rain is no longer in play.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, Bloo! However, it will be tricky implementing them.

I have a Qwilfish, but I found to my horror that I could only have taught it Swords Dance if it was in the 3rd gen (I do not have Emerald, but good luck breeding anything good on Fire Red!).

I have a similar problem with Uxie. I got the Uxie well before I even cared about IVs or using Uxie, since in very early DP, people just considered it a bad Cresselia. I therefore would need to trade for one like with the Qwilfish.

Though I have only Pearl, the situation is easily remedied when it comes to Scizor. I can simply use the Simple Requests topic to ask someone to teach it Bullet Punch for that.

HP Grass Jolteon will be a strange breeding project (I never bred specifically for a 30 IV before), though I can get that done with some effort on my part.

I'll edit your suggestions in with bold print, and I'll ask for a rate on the new team.

EDIT: I edited the new stuff in with bold print.
 
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