An unexpected team of Win (Peaked #3 on PO)

sliceofsweiss

One day, I was sick of being abused by weather teams and their perfect synergy, so I decided to make a rain team for the fun of it and test out a team with random EV spreads and use pokemon in new ways. And I had no clue that my team would dominate the way it did. The team you're about to view is one that shouldn't have done nearly as well as it did, but you can imagine how I could win some battles, as some of these pokemon were able to get in enough boosts to do their job well enough.


THE LEAD:

Politoed (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Scald
- Focus Blast
- Toxic
- Hypnosis

I've always loved politoed. It's just beastly, the way it has that adorable smile on all the time. Now that drizzle came around, I decided that I'd go for a stroll down memory lane with my favorite frog. This guy's mainly a gimmicky lead; I use him to toxic/sleep my unexpecting opponent with a base 100 speed stat lead who thinks they can just set up. Scald is for mandatory STAB, as well as the nice 30% burn chance. Focus blast is there because, well, it helps in a tight situation every once in a while.

Synergy: Ice (Zapdos), Fire (Scizor, Jirachi, and Toxicroak due to dry skin)


RAGE QUIT INDUCER:

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 36 HP / 96 Atk / 120 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Cosmic Power
- Water Pulse
- Thunder
- Iron Head

Can you say broken? With a couple of cosmic power boosts under its belt, Jirachi tanks like none other. Packing numerous resistances, Jirachi really does scream "BEAST". Only having trouble with grass+steel types when it comes to hitting hard, Jirachi's movepool is just too abusable. With serene grace as its ability, secondary effects are doubled. Now water pulse has a 40% confusion rate, thunder has a 60% paralysis rate, and iron head has a 60% flinch rate, completing the nice paraconflinch combo that cause so many ragequits, as when they attack, they most likely can't do much, as I have already received quite the large amount of defensive boosts thanks to cosmic power. Water pulse and Thunder are helped under the rain, as they now have boosted base power and 100% accuracy respectively, and Iron head is a solid STAB move. The main flaw jirachi has is the fact that its only way of recovery is leftovers, so if it's leech seeded by my team's main weakness, ferrothorn.... damn. In addition, while burn is not very bothersome, BEING PARALYZED is awful. Jirachi must then rely on paralyzing the opponent or its effectiveness drops. But despite these flaws, if you're not ready for this guy, you have my permission to rage quit. No biggie.

Synergy: Grass (Politoed, Azumarill), Psychic (toxicroak), Ice (Zapdos), Rock (Zapdos), Flying (Toxicroak)


THE STALLER

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 60 HP / 196 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Roost
- Toxic
- Thunder

:). Zapdos makes quite a few people start typing some hurtful stuff before they quit. Being able to come in on an electric attack, sub on the switch, poison, then stall? Priceless. Zapdos sorely misses a second attacking move to eliminate some threats, but that can be played around with the rest of the team. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's weak to stealth rock. But it's all good.

Synergy: Ground (Jirachi, Toxicroak), Electric (Azumarill, Politoed), Flying (Toxicroak), Grass (Politoed, Azumarill)


I DON'T REALLY LIKE SCIZOR BUT IT NEEDS TO BE ON THE TEAM

Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 10 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit

This is my main hope vs. Ferrothorn and Erufuun. This guy is your standard choice band scizor, with moves that help vs. some pokemon my team has a weakness to. It's kinda self-explanatory.

Synergy: Grass (Politoed, Azumarill), Ice (Zapdos). I think that's it..


RAIN ABUSER+RAGE QUIT INDUCER:

Toxicroak (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch

If I predict a switch, I sub up. If I know I can wall the pokemon that thinks it can break me down, I sub, then bulk up in its face as my opponent realizes what a huge mistake he/she just made. After a few bulk ups, you need a crit on your physical attack or a fast pokemon that resists the type combo toxicroak has in order to not lose. Ghosts like gengar come in thinking that they can just outspeed and let loose psychic in my face, but I just sucker punch them for the lol factor and the ko. This guy pretty much needs the rain up to have the most fun, as sludge+skin+drain=a ton of recovery.

Synergy: Rock (Zapdos), Grass (Politoed, Azumarill)


I STOP THREATS AND PUNCH HOLES IN UNEXPECTING TEAMS, BRO:

Azumarill (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Toxic (I feel like this should become ice punch)
- Superpower

"omg excadrill should be banned! I hate him! omg!" Azumarill's time to shine. With azumarill, I stop tyranitar, excadrill, hippowdon, you name it. With a choice band and huge power, this guy actually can 2HKO skarmory. That's how strong this guy is. If I predict a chandelure switch-in, I whip out azumarill and force a switch out, then pick the move i think will be the best to use on the switch in (usually waterfall), or if I think that the opponent thinks they can win by using shadow ball, I teach them a lesson about underestimating azumarill. Unfortunately, I lose vs dragons, and i should replace toxic with ice punch.

Synergy: (See politoed)



THREATS:

Chandelure: If it comes in on politoed while I'm using hypnosis: Wow. If my opponent's carrying calm mind? If azumarill's gone, it's game over. Even worse: if my opponent's a sun team, ninetales is still alive, and I'm stuck with poli? I'm in trouble.

Erufuun: I. Hate. You!!! Erufuun just loves to torture me with t-wave, sub, encore, and leech seed. Ruins toxicroak after a sub, ruins everyone with t-wave, ruins jirachi with leech seed, and sub just makes me want to kill it.

Ferrothorn: Being able to paralyze me and seed me makes me want to punch this thing. While I have pokemon that can take it, it's still a pain, as it typically comes in on jirachi, and likes to paralyze/seed the switch in.

Sun teams: Chlorophyll users can be dangerous, mainly venusaur, who, with a couple of growth boosts under the sun (+2 + 2 boosts when it's sunny), can dominate, as it outspeeds and wrecks with its moves.

I haven't had a problem with anyone else, really.

Other issues:

No Rapid Spinners!!
No Entry Hazards!


If you notice some other threats, plz tell me. I have some iffy EV spreads (Jirachi), and if you have any team suggestions, plz tell me as well. I hope you enjoyed my team! Please rate!
 
As much as I love that Jirachi it really needs some recovery or else it would be worn down fast. With all that hax Leftovers looks like enough though...but on paper it looks unsafe.
 
I have to agree with the above. Just to suggest a set I enjoyed:

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 112 SAtk / 80 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Substitute
- Wish
- Thunder
- Iron Head

Substitute plus Paralysis means you don't really need the speed or the Defence gains. you have Ground types covered by the rest of the team. Sorry about thew shitty rate.

GL
 
I'll try that out, although i don't really need the sub.. i usually just boost. I guess that could be useful.

Thanks for the rates!




A QUESTION: Does this team need entry hazards, or should I just leave it be? I mean, it did really well for some reason without EH's, but i feel like with hazards i could've forced my opponent to think twice before they switched.
 
hello sweiss,

this seems like a good concept for a team! this is a solid build and the only problem i see are solid cores such as gliscor/jellicent/blissey and such. those stallish type of teams! what i recommend is a swords dance scizor over your current one with the moveset swords dance / bullet punch / bug bite / roost. carry life orb now and watch your opponent crumble to this pokemon. it can lure in gliscor for the most part, deal the 2hko on gliscor while it barely musters the 2hko on you. remove gliscor and watch bulk up toxicroak do some work. this helps you switch into jellicent and accumulate bulk ups without worrying about gliscors. scizor can beat jellicent because you can 2hko it with a +2 bug bite, while at it has to combat with is a boil over to grab that burn. once you are able to penetrate through a solid defensive core, your team seems to functions much better from what i see, so give sd scizor a chance!

as for other options, pressure > lightningrod seems to be the better idea on zapdos. sub and waste blissey's seismic toss pp much faster. attacking moves get depleted faster in general and it will generally help zapdos be more annoying. but i'd go for thunderbolt > thunder to avoid that stupid paralysis rate because you want to toxic with zapdos afterall! lastly, drop the water pulse and add wish to your team to not only heal yourself to consistently cheeck latios, but to also heal your other members- most important politoad who needs it most to keep the rain puouring. overall gl
 
Wow, Thanks very much for that rate! I'll definitely try out the scizor set.

As for Zapdos, Vs blissey, I typically sub up to see what they're packing (most people don't expect lighningrod on zapdos, so if they t-wave, they power me up) first. If they seismic toss right away, then they don't really have a move that can damage zapdos, so I switch to toxicroak most of the time. I'll try out pressure, but keep that in mind.

Jirachi: I'm kinda reluctant to drop water pulse (I'll probably do it anyway) because Jirachi was meant to be able to tank on its own (at +6, paraconflinch is the cheapest way of grabbing wins (ragequits)).. but i'll try out jirachi without the sub, but with cosmic power... or that's what i think you meant.


NOTE: Tried out Sub+Wish:

Worked well vs. non-weather teams (which previous jirachi had some struggles with)
Worked awfully vs. Weather teams (which previous jirachi dominated all day, every day)
 
You say you don't need the Sub which I understand. But it's just so helpful when trying to avoid status and you'll never get Crit'd behind it. With Paralysis, Sub, Iron head and Wish I have beaten Magnezone. Give it a try before you say no.

Agreeing with the above as well. You will see alot more Stall at the top of Smogon's ladder than I ever did on PO.
 
I see some potential issues with strong physical attackers if Zapdos goes down as, using the same set on my current team, Toxicroak has pathetic physical bulk and can't keep a Sub up against strong physical attackers even at +6. Just something to keep in mind.
 
@SmileZ: I did try it out... it just didn't really work out all too well.

@Texas: That is a problem, actually. I lose to sand weather teams if poli goes down before tyranitar every time. Suggestions?
 
>24 Hour bump. More Rates would be greatly appreciated.

JIRACHI WITH WISH IS HELPFUL, BUT WITHOUT WATER PULSE, IT GETS WALLED TOO QUICKLY. I don't know what to do here.

I HAVE CHANGED MY SCIZOR TO A SWORDS DANCER. While it has not swept an opponent, i have gotten multiple kills that I couldn't get when i was locked into a +1 move. Having technician boosted moves at +2 really helps.

Item: Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
Moveset:
~ Swords Dance
~ Bullet Punch
~ Brick Break / Superpower
~ Bug Bite / Roost / Quick Attack

EVs: 6 (I like using all 510, even though the last 2 don't matter) HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
 
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