Introduction
Rain Bird is an offensive rain based team which I built to counter or check most of the metagame. It centers around clearing scizor's counters so that scizor can get in a swords dance and sweep. Ive never been good with introductions so without more waiting here is the team:
Team Building Process
I started out with scizor as the main centerpoint of my team. Scizors counters can be grouped into 4 main categories: bulky waters (suicune/swampert/rotom-w), bulky grounds (gliscor/hippowdon), fire types (infernape/heatran) and steels without a fighting weakness (skarm/forretress/bronzong/jirachi). I therefore needed checks to all of these pokemon.
Magnezone came to mind as the perfect way to get rid of the steels in my path. It also counters some bulky waters like suicune and vaporeon as well as jellicent and tentacruel and forms part 1 of my volt switch core.
Politoed came to my team as a supporter. It halves the fire damage taken by my two steels and deals with the ground types that would stop scizor. In addition, politoed carries hp grass which helps me deal with opposing water types.
I needed something that could lure in scizor's counters. Staraptor fit the job well and forms part 2 of my volt switch core.
I now needed a stealth rock user as well as a special wall for my team, chansey came by as an excellent choice.
I realized I was very weak to fighting types especially that carried ice moves like ice punch so I added in a slowbro to help lessen that weakness
The Team
Pokemon #1
Staraptor
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Reckless
Item: Choice Band
EVs: 252 Atk/ 252 Speed/ 6 Hp
Moves: Brave Bird/ Close Combate/ Double Edge/ U-Turn
Why this pokemon: I simply needed a pokemon that could U turn out of physical threats to scout for scizor. Scizor is actually more commonly used as a u-turner but since he is my late game sweeper there had to be someone else to take its place. Staraptor fits the role well since even physical walls are hard pressed to survive a 2ko from its reckless based attacks.
Pokemon # 2
Magnezone
Nature: Timd
Ability: Magnet Pull
Item: Choice Specs
EVs: 252 Sp Atk/ 252 Speed/ 6 Hp
Moves: Volt Switch/ Thunderbolt/Hp fire/ Flash Cannon
Why this pokemon: I needed someone to trap the steels that give scizor problems. It forms part 2 of my volt switch core and also checks some of the bulky waters listed in the team building process. The evs are listed so that it outruns as much as it possibly can while the specs maintain high damage output to foes such as jirachi, ferrothron, forretress etc even in the rain.
Pokemon # 3
Politoed
Nature: Modest
Ability: Drizzle
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Sp Atk
Moves: Hydro Pump/Ice Beam/ Hp Grass/ Protect
Why this pokemon: Politoed acts as a weather changer and deals with the ground types like gliscor and hippowdon that give scizor trouble. Hp grass helps me get past some water types like quagsire/ gastrodon/ and swampert which would prevent scizor from sweeping. 3 Attacks toad has served me very well.
Pokemon # 4
Chansey
Nature: Bold
Ability: Natural Cure
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 Hp/ 252 Def / 6 Sp Def
Moves: Stealth Rock/ Thunder Wave/ Seismic Toss/ Softboiled
Why this Pokemon: I needed a defensive core that could set up at least one form of hazards. Chansey was selected for its versatilty being able to set up stealth rocks and support the team with Thunder Wave.
Pokemon# 5
Slowbro
Nature: Bold
Ability: Regenerator
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 6 Sp Atk
Moves: Psychic/ Surf/ Ice Beam/ Slack Off
Why this Pokemon: Originally I had a gliscor but gliscor fell to fighting types that carried ice type moves (Mienshao with hp ice/ machamp and toxicroak with ice punch) so I switched it out for a slowbro. Slowbro's job on this team is to tank physical hits for my team and checks threats such as dragonite, terrakion, and fighting types in general forming part 2 of my defensive core.
Pokemon # 6
Scizor
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Technician
Item: Life Orb
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 ATk/ 6 Def
Moves: Swords Dance/ Bullet Punch/ Bug Bite/ Brick Break
Why this Pokemon: Finally the last pokemon, scizor is my late game breaker. Once his counters and checks have been weakened, i send him in under rain, grab a swords dance boost and sweep.
Trait: Reckless
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Double-Edge
- Close Combat
- U-turn
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Brick Break
Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 6 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Protect
Slowbro (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Slack Off
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Seismic Toss
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Softboiled
Rain Bird is an offensive rain based team which I built to counter or check most of the metagame. It centers around clearing scizor's counters so that scizor can get in a swords dance and sweep. Ive never been good with introductions so without more waiting here is the team:
Team Building Process
I started out with scizor as the main centerpoint of my team. Scizors counters can be grouped into 4 main categories: bulky waters (suicune/swampert/rotom-w), bulky grounds (gliscor/hippowdon), fire types (infernape/heatran) and steels without a fighting weakness (skarm/forretress/bronzong/jirachi). I therefore needed checks to all of these pokemon.
Magnezone came to mind as the perfect way to get rid of the steels in my path. It also counters some bulky waters like suicune and vaporeon as well as jellicent and tentacruel and forms part 1 of my volt switch core.
Politoed came to my team as a supporter. It halves the fire damage taken by my two steels and deals with the ground types that would stop scizor. In addition, politoed carries hp grass which helps me deal with opposing water types.
I needed something that could lure in scizor's counters. Staraptor fit the job well and forms part 2 of my volt switch core.
I now needed a stealth rock user as well as a special wall for my team, chansey came by as an excellent choice.
I realized I was very weak to fighting types especially that carried ice moves like ice punch so I added in a slowbro to help lessen that weakness
The Team
Pokemon #1
Staraptor
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Reckless
Item: Choice Band
EVs: 252 Atk/ 252 Speed/ 6 Hp
Moves: Brave Bird/ Close Combate/ Double Edge/ U-Turn
Why this pokemon: I simply needed a pokemon that could U turn out of physical threats to scout for scizor. Scizor is actually more commonly used as a u-turner but since he is my late game sweeper there had to be someone else to take its place. Staraptor fits the role well since even physical walls are hard pressed to survive a 2ko from its reckless based attacks.
Pokemon # 2
Magnezone
Nature: Timd
Ability: Magnet Pull
Item: Choice Specs
EVs: 252 Sp Atk/ 252 Speed/ 6 Hp
Moves: Volt Switch/ Thunderbolt/Hp fire/ Flash Cannon
Why this pokemon: I needed someone to trap the steels that give scizor problems. It forms part 2 of my volt switch core and also checks some of the bulky waters listed in the team building process. The evs are listed so that it outruns as much as it possibly can while the specs maintain high damage output to foes such as jirachi, ferrothron, forretress etc even in the rain.
Pokemon # 3
Politoed
Nature: Modest
Ability: Drizzle
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Sp Atk
Moves: Hydro Pump/Ice Beam/ Hp Grass/ Protect
Why this pokemon: Politoed acts as a weather changer and deals with the ground types like gliscor and hippowdon that give scizor trouble. Hp grass helps me get past some water types like quagsire/ gastrodon/ and swampert which would prevent scizor from sweeping. 3 Attacks toad has served me very well.
Pokemon # 4
Chansey
Nature: Bold
Ability: Natural Cure
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 Hp/ 252 Def / 6 Sp Def
Moves: Stealth Rock/ Thunder Wave/ Seismic Toss/ Softboiled
Why this Pokemon: I needed a defensive core that could set up at least one form of hazards. Chansey was selected for its versatilty being able to set up stealth rocks and support the team with Thunder Wave.
Pokemon# 5
Slowbro
Nature: Bold
Ability: Regenerator
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 6 Sp Atk
Moves: Psychic/ Surf/ Ice Beam/ Slack Off
Why this Pokemon: Originally I had a gliscor but gliscor fell to fighting types that carried ice type moves (Mienshao with hp ice/ machamp and toxicroak with ice punch) so I switched it out for a slowbro. Slowbro's job on this team is to tank physical hits for my team and checks threats such as dragonite, terrakion, and fighting types in general forming part 2 of my defensive core.
Pokemon # 6
Scizor
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Technician
Item: Life Orb
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 ATk/ 6 Def
Moves: Swords Dance/ Bullet Punch/ Bug Bite/ Brick Break
Why this Pokemon: Finally the last pokemon, scizor is my late game breaker. Once his counters and checks have been weakened, i send him in under rain, grab a swords dance boost and sweep.
Exportable
Staraptor (M) @ Choice BandTrait: Reckless
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Double-Edge
- Close Combat
- U-turn
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Brick Break
Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 6 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Protect
Slowbro (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Slack Off
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Seismic Toss
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Softboiled
