SM OU Araquanid Trickrain [1900+, peaked 21st]

ElStefano · May 2, 2019

Introduction

Today in my new series of "Teambuilding around underestimated bugs": Araquanid! If you occasionally encounter this tiny fellow in OU, 99% of the time, it is only used as a suicide lead to set up Webs. Shoutout to Crawsushi, who made very creative use of Araquanid to deal with stall as a Spider Web-trapper in his RMT (https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/iron-and-reptiles-1700-sr.3649067/).
In my opinion, the most amazing thing about Araquanid is its ability, Water Bubble. It prevents our swimming spider from being burned and halves the damage of opposing fire type attacks, but most importantly: Water Bubble doubles the power of Araquanids water type attacks, acting as a pseudo Huge Power. When equipped with a choice band and in rain, Liquidation therfore kills about anything switching in. Here are some calcs to show you the absurd power of the amazing spider:

252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 24 Def Ferrothorn in Rain: 178-210 (50.5 - 59.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Toxapex in Rain: 160-188 (52.6 - 61.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Tapu Fini in Rain: 202-238 (58.8 - 69.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 200+ Def Rotom-Wash in Rain: 164-194 (53.9 - 63.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey in Rain: 606-714 (86.2 - 101.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Magearna in Rain: 330-390 (90.9 - 107.4%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory in Rain: 260-308 (78 - 92.4%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 248 HP / 28 Def Celesteela in Rain: 434-512 (109.3 - 128.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Araquanid Leech Life vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Tangrowth: 236-278 (58.5 - 68.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Araquanid is also relatively bulky, especially on the special side (pun intended), which in combination with its typing lets it act as good check to Ash-Greninja and Keldeo, which every Rain-Team appreciates.
However, the amazing spider comes with two big flaws:
- Its typing makes it very vunerable to entry hazards (-25% from Stealth Rocks on each switch).
- Araquanid is slow as hell.
That's why I decided to build this team as a combination of Rain and Trickroom - Here comes Araquanid Trickrain!

Teambuilding Process

I chose Araquanid as my Breaker/Trickroom-sweeper because it hits like a truck in rain (I finally had to use this metapher, which seems to appear more often within the RMT-thread than Landorus appears in OU ladder games...).

To give Araquanid extra power, I added the one and only Rain-setter.

Mega-Swampert is a given for me in every Rain-team, since the combination of electric resist, stealth rock setter and rain sweeper is too good to give up.

I actually like Magearna on rain teams to check grass types and Mega-Alakazam tracing swift swim, as shown in my previous RMT, but here it was added for another important reason: To set the Trick Room for Araquanid (and itself).

Tornadus-Therian is also a staple on rain teams: It offers another (more reliable) grass resist, a reliable Defogger and profits nicely from the rain, which gives its Hurricanes 100% accuracy.

After experimenting a bit with the last slot, I finally settled on Mimikyu as my second Trickroom-Setter. Its Disguise-ability guarantes me a safe Trickroom vs anything that doesn't carry Taunt, which turns the tables vs strong speed boosting opponents.

The Team

Lord Weber (Araquanid) @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Bubble
Nature: Brave
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Moves: Liquidation | Leech Life | Toxic | Sleep Talk

As shown with the calcs in the Introduction, Banded Araquanid is the perfect tool to abuse Trickrain. It switches into Scalds aimed at Mega-Swampert without fearing a burn, checks troublesome mons like Ash-Greninja and Mega-Gyarados, and dishes out damage left and right.
The spread is pretty simple: Maximum attack and bulk. Uneven number of HP to gain one more Stealth Rock switchin. Liquidation is the main reason to use the amazing spider, it 2HKOs about every defensive switch-in in rain. The few Grass types that avoid the 2HKO are hit by Araquanid's secondary stab Leech Life, which has the nice side effect of recovering some health. Toxic is only needed to poison water immunities like Mantine, and I actually never used the last slot (I put Sleep Talk if I ever face the situation of having to choose a sleep fodder).

Rainman (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Def / 228 SpA
Moves: Scald | U-turn | Roost | Hurricane

Pelipper's choice is obvious. Although in this team, it can also function as a strong sweeper under Trickroom.
I decided on the Damp Rock set to keep the rain up as long as possible. My little spider needs the extra turns, because setting the Trickroom and switching out wastes at least two rain turns!
I changed the standard defensive spread by putting all SpDef EVs into SpAtk. I feel like I have enough on this team to cover opposing special attacks, and with the given investment, Pelipper's attacks actually do some damage! Scald, U-turn and Roost are a given, and I prefer Hurricane on the last slot to hit grasses and waters if I try to sweep with Pelipper under Trickroom.

Mr. Muscle (Swampert) @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moves: Waterfall | Earthquake | Ice Punch | Stealth Rock

I guess I don't have to explain Mega-Swampert. Adamant over Jolly because it hits harder and I have multiple switch-ins to cover Choice-Scarf-Kartana (Tornadus & Magearna) and Choice-Scarf-Keldeo (Araquanid & Pelipper), which are the only reasons I can think of to run Jolly.
Waterfall and Earthquake are the obvious stabs, Stealth Rocks because I don't have another setter, and Ice Punch is prefered over other coverage options (like Superpower and Stone Edge) to weaken grasses for Araquanid, so it can spam Liquidation. Don't get me started on Substitute ;).

Miss Steele (Magearna) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
Nature: Quiet
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk
Moves: Trick Room | Thunderbolt | Focus Blast | Ice Beam

Magearna is primarly on the team to set the Trickroom for Araquanid, but also capable of sweeping itself. It adds valuable resistances to grass,fairy and psychic types and benefits from the rain weakening fire type attacks.
I chose Fightinium Z to lure and kill Ferrothorn. Bolt Beam gives nice coverage alongside Focus Blast (Thunderbolt is needed to hit fat waters like Toxapex). Max HP to safely set the Trickroom vs most non-ground-types and max SpAtk to sweep. Nothing special here.

Stormy (Tornadus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP / 88 SpA / 168 Spe
Moves: Hurricane | Taunt | U-turn | Defog

Tornadus offers valuable speed outside of Trickroom, a safe way to remove Stealth Rocks for Araquanid (and Pelipper) and on top of that, Torn threatens out annoying grass types.
I run Rocky Helmet and max HP, since this is my primary switch-in to Kartana. Hurricane is very spammable under rain. I wanted U-turn to bring Araquanid in safely. Taunt in combination with Defog guarantees that my side is free of hazards most of the time.

Pikachu? (Mimikyu) @ Life Orb
Ability: Disguise
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Moves: Trick Room | Swords Dance | Shadow Claw | Wood Hammer

Trickroom Mimikyu is a very nice safety net to stop setup sweepers that got out of hand. Just Trickroom up while they destroy your disguise, and you're safe to go. This is my counter to Hawlucha and the likes. If it dies, Araquanid, Pelipper and Magearna profit of the remaining Trickroom turns.
I run max Atk and a Life Orb to hit as hard as possible, the nature lowers speed to underspeed the opposition under Trickroom. The remaining EVs are put into HP since they are not needed elsewhere.
Besides Trickroom and Shadow Claw, I run Woodhammer, which is a nice tech that let's me achieve a few thing: It suprises and OHKOs Water immunities like Gastrodon and Seismitod, which never expect this move on Mimikyu (good for Araquanid). It gives me a safe move to revenge mons like Ash-Gren or do a chunk to other waters without the fear of missing (which comes with Play Rough). And last but not least, the recoil in combination with the life orb recoil often acts as a pseudo-Explode, killing Mimikyu to bring in my little spider to wreck havoc under Trickroom. ("To wreck havoc" is another one of these phrases that you simply have to use at least once when doing an RMT.) On the last slot, I use Swords Dance to have setup vs very defensive teams, although situations in which Mimikyu wants to set up are rare.

Conclusion

This team started as a funny idea and surprisingly turned out to be doing really well. It carried me to 1886 without any real effort on the first day I used it (11.04.19) and I peaked 21st with it during the time Redemption ruled the ladder with his Kommo-o team (that is now spammed by everyone).
Trickrain is actually a really viable playstyle, I regard it as the climax of speed control. Maybe I'm exeggarating a little, but i can assure you, if you look for a team that carries you up the lader easily, think about trying this one here ;)
Shoutouts to "duck noob", a guy who I played on the ladder who came up with the Trickrain idea before I did (The replay was posted in my previous RMT). His very creative team inspired me to build this team around Araquanid!

Lord Weber (Araquanid) @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Poison Jab
- Sleep Talk

Rainman (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Def / 228 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- U-turn
- Roost
- Hurricane

Mr. Muscle (Swampert) @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock

Miss Steele (Magearna) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam

Stormy (Tornadus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 88 SpA / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Defog

Pikachu? (Mimikyu) @ Life Orb
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Trick Room
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw
- Wood Hammer

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/beedrill-voltturn-1700.3649372/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/scolipede-rain-1800.3648865/

RaikouLover · May 3, 2019

This is a real cool team and concept. Can’t wait to test this out!

For Araquanid, how often do actually use the other moves? IMO Lunge and Waterfall > Leech Life and Toxic. It becomes a sure bet of huge damage or an attack drop in the rare case you utilize Sleep Talk.

ElStefano · May 3, 2019

Thanks a lot, glad to hear that =) I would love to see some replays if you manage to climb the ladder with this team, in the hands of a skilled player it might even reach top 10! =)

Lunge over Leech Life is an interesting idea I never came up with. I think it's hard to say whats better, I mean an attack drop is always nice, but the recovered health vs stuff like Tangrowth and Slowbro sometimes also comes in handy.
Taking into account your Sleep Talk argument, I think the best way is to go with only 3 moves (Liquidation, Lunge/Leech Life, Sleep Talk) and simply drop the fourth.

However, most of the time (like 95 % or so), you will only be clicking Liquidation ;)

mikekap · May 7, 2019

I haven't played a lot of matches with this team, because I'm trying now the Torkoal Trick Room Team. In the few matches, that I have played with this team, I find it incredibly creative and effective. Araquanid is really powerful, it is the first TrickRoom I've seen that affords to run effectively a defogger, and Mimikyu guarantees a Trick Room setup, like no one's business (ok second best after Cresselia). I'll make sure, to try this team more. Congrats again!

SM OU Araquanid Trickrain [1900+, peaked 21st]

ElStefano

RaikouLover

ElStefano

mikekap

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