*~*Counting Stars / Bugs From The Deep - An Unusual Rain Team*~*


Ni Hao whoever may fall upon this thread. Well, this thread is yet another Rain Team - Yes I know, you may have just clicked away there. But this team is different, it uses two stars of RU. Together these Bugs have combined to form a dual Bug core that can handle many threats. I've recently fallen in love with the song Counting Stars by OneRepublic, so I decided to make this team with a Pokemon that I have never really been too fond off - Jirachi. I couldn't decide on a name for it, so I just chose to mix the two lol. Well, onto the team~
At A Glance:


In-Depth:


Drizzlen (Politoed) @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Encore
- Protect
- Perish Song
Politoed has never really been my favorite Pokemon to use, but it does a nice job with Drizzle. It was mandatory as I am using Pokemon that can abuse Thunder and enjoy having their Weaknesses removed. Scald does a nice job of crippling physical attackers, in conjunction with max Defense investment, makes it nearly impossible to break through after a burn on the Physical side. Encore is for the Pokemon that think they can set up on me, to which I tell them to set up all they want, they'll die very soon thanks to the combination it creates with Perish Song. Protect is to aid Burn stall and slowly count down the timer of Perish Song. If I could, I would replace Politoed with any other Water-Type, but I must use it for Drizzle.


Hustlen (Durant) @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- Iron Head
- Superpower
- Thunder Fang

Durant is by far my favorite Pokemon from Generation Five and also my favorite Bug-Type. It is so underappreciated and forgotten smh. It sits at a nice Speed tier of 109, outspeeding and OHKO'ing Terrakion and Keldeo, two very prominent threats of OU. The Lati Twins do outspeed it by one point, however, if they decide to run 240 EV's or less, then Durant can outspeed and OHKO. While this situation is rare, it is possible. The Lati Twins however can only 2HKO Durant with Draco Meteor, meaning it can retaliate after the first hit and proceed to pick them off. Hone Claws isn't used really, but on Durant it works. It appreciates the boost and mitigation of Hustle's accuracy drop. Iron Head hits hard, with Superpower complementing it nicely. Thunder Fang is weak, but with a boost it is powerful, and mandatory to kill off Gyarados and Keldeo.


Zappen (Galvantula) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Compoundeyes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Giga Drain
- Bug Buzz
The other Bug on the prowl, Galvantula. Galvantula is the other unappreciated Pokemon on this team. Together with Durant, the "puny" bugs can destroy anyone that ever decided to call them puny. I chose to form them into a powerful core because of how often I play RU. Together they can break through walls, with Galvantula beating Physical walls such as Skarmory, Tentacruel, and Forretress that Durant cannot beat, with Durant picking off the Special Walls such as Blissey and Chansey that Galvantula cannot muscle past. Galvantula also sits a nice speed tier of 108, having the chance to speed tie with the many other 108's such as Terrakion and Keldeo. Volt Switch is an awesome move that hits hard and keeps up momentum. Thunder is so powerful with a Choice Specs and STAB boost it isn't even funny. Giga Drain beats Gastrodon, a huge threat to any Rain team. Bug Buzz is great to beat any Grass-types such as Celebi that can be problematic.


Spinnen (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Ice Beam

Starmie is one of my favorite Pokemon to use on Rain teams. It spins away the hazards, which I needed gone because of my dual Bugs, and enjoys having Hydro Pump boosted to very high levels. It really enjoys nailing Ferrothorn on the switch thanks to Analytic. Thunder gains 100% Accuracy, which is always nice. Ice Beam rounds it off and gives it great coverage. Starmie is great, I just find that it being weak to Pursuit and U-Turn really hurts it with Scizor being so prevalent. It also doesn't enjoy having frail bulk.


Shootin' Star (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 224 Def / 252 HP / 32 Spd
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Calm Mind
- Flash Cannon
- Psyshock
Jirachi is such a cutie :3. Jirachi is sort of the wall for this team, while also being offensive at the same time. Wish and Calm Mind make it somewhat difficult to bring down. This set has problems with Steel types that wall both of it's STABs, so I have to remove those before setting up. Jirachi's typing is so nice, too bad it will gain two more weaknesses in two more days. I wanted to make use of it one final time before it inevitably drops in usage. Psyshock muscles past the blobs, with Flash Cannon giving it a secondary STAB.


Tusken (Mamoswine) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Mamoswine made it onto my team because it can reliably set up Stealth Rock. I love using it as a lead as it can reliably beat all the other weather setter that normally lead, with the exception of Hippowdown. Ice Shard beats the Dragon-types that could potentially break through my softened up team. Earthquake is very powerful and will scare away the Fire-Types that trouble Jirachi. Mamoswine really is one of my favorite OU Pokemon and for a good reason.
Importable:
Code:
Drizzlen (Politoed) @ Leftovers[/FONT][/LEFT][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/LEFT]
[SIZE=7][SIZE=4][SIZE=4][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=4][FONT=Trebuchet MS][LEFT][FONT=Trebuchet MS]
[LEFT]Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Encore
- Protect
- Perish Song

Hustlen (Durant) @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- Iron Head
- Superpower
- Thunder Fang

Zappen (Galvantula) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Compoundeyes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Giga Drain
- Bug Buzz

Spinnen (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

Shootin' Star (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 224 Def / 252 HP / 32 Spd
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Calm Mind
- Flash Cannon
- Psyshock

Tusken (Mamoswine) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

 
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-Got permission to bump by Delko-

Ok, I'm bumping because I never got anything back on this! This is where I've gotten so far:

I'm honestly not sure what that means, but I know 2001 is good! So, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions?
 
What the hell, even this team deserves a rate , i like the fact that you use 2 of the most RU prominent bug types they keep the team original and thats cool, altrough galvatula might also take the boot , i mean how can you even overlook thundurus or even jolteon for this bug , you can also switching thunder fang for x scizor without much thinking on the durant , it gives some nice SE coverage against staff that thunder fang wont while it hits almost as hard as tf even if the later hits for SE damage (65*2)Vs(80*3/2)

Other than that you should try a choice specs on poli because its a shame that you summon rain but you dont abuse it as much as you should.

sorry fo my english im european
 
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Grey Knight, I've tested both of those and I still prefer Galvantula honestly. And on Durant, I am then walled by Gyarados and Keldeo, which I don't want. And what moves on the Choice Specs set? I've tried it before, but I don't really remember and I don't remember liking it very much...
 

fleurdyleurse

nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Hi, nice team you have here! The thing about your team is that it is too reliant on rain. Therefore, if you lose Politoed, your team is easily decimated. Your team will enjoy Dnite over Galvantula as it can take hits for it's team members and has excellent synergy with Durant. It also has that helpful Ground immunity and abuses rain very well.
Overall, this is a great team :)
tl;dr:
Galvantula => Dragonite

Set:
Code:
Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 76 Atk / 252 SAtk / 180 Spd
Mild Nature
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Aqua Tail / Superpower
- Roost / Earthquake / ExtremeSpeed
Hope I helped!
 
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Hi Chesnaught,

This a really interesting team using two RU Pokemon. I think the largest problems are the lack of a revenge killer and only having two water resists, one of which will be worn down really easily due to Life Orb. For example, Scarf Keldeo can easily switch into a Ice Shard from Mamoswine (assuming the sash is broken) and can easily 2HKO 5/6 of your Pokemon with Surf/Hydro Pump, forcing you to switch to Politoad. Starmie is also another problematic Pokemon, as with Life Orb and Analytic, you don't really have safe switch-ins to a rain-boosted Hydro Pump. Even Politoad takes a minimum of 49% from Hydro Pump and is easily dispatched the next turn by Thunder/Thunderbolt.

Another threat I noticed was Volcarona. Although it doesn't have a lot of set-up opportunities, Volcarona still Quiver Dance on Galvantula locked into Bug Buzz or Giga Drain, and proceed to heavily damage your team with a combination of Fiery Dance, Giga Drain, and Bug Buzz.

With these ideas in mind I have a few suggestions:

On Politoad, I recommend that you run Toxic over Encore. Although Encore helps against set-up sweepers, Politoad already has Perish Song to force set-up sweepers out. Toxic allows Politoad to hit common switch-ins such as Latias, Jellicent, and Gastrodon on the switch and works well in conjunction with Protect to stall for poison damage.

On Jirachi, I think you should use Thunder over Flash Cannon. Although Flash Cannon gets STAB, Thunder is more useful because it allows Jirachi to spread paralysis and generally gets better coverage when using with Psyshock, allowing you to hit Pokemon like Skamory, Politoad, and other water-types for heavy damage. Thunder is especially useful for paralyzing Volcarona, which then allows you to revenge it with Mamoswine's Stone Edge or Earthquake.

On Mamoswine, I feel that you should use Life Orb instead of Focus Sash. (This is mostly a personal preference though.) Although Focus Sash is great for allowing Mamoswine to reliably set-up Stealth Rocks, I think the the power gained from using Life Orb will be much more useful. In addition, if not using Mamoswine as a lead, Focus Sash requires that you spin away any hazards to let it be used for it to be useful. With Life Orb Mamoswine can 2KHO most Ferrothorn with Earthquake, and helps in ensuring a KO against Thunderus-T with Ice Shard after Stealth Rocks.

Lastly, I think you should use a Choice Scarf Latios with Draco Meteor, Psyshock, Surf and Trick. instead of Galvantula. Latios gives you a water-type resist, as well as a fire-type resist that can be very useful against sun types. More importantly, Latios allows you to revenge kill threats like Scarf Keldeo, Starmie, SD Terrakion, as well as weakened Volcarona. Draco Meteor and Psyshock form Latios's STABs, Surf has good coverage and gets boosted by the rain, and Trick helps out a lot against stall teams.

Hope this helps!

Sets:
Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Trick


Test testing: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5ou-79439710
 
Compound eyes is useless on galvantula since thunder never misses in the rain, so swarm might be a prefered choice for the boost in bug buzz, unnerve can take care of harvesters and liechi berries, but I would prefer swarm personally
 
Compound eyes is useless on galvantula since thunder never misses in the rain, so swarm might be a prefered choice for the boost in bug buzz, unnerve can take care of harvesters and liechi berries, but I would prefer swarm personally
It's still better for if Politoed gets KOed.
 
It's still better for if Politoed gets KOed.
Alright, and also starmie would probably utilize natural cure better than analytic, because Starmies pretty speed would not be likely to hit second, and its low HP may make it not able to withstand an attack if it was slower, and natural cure would be good for getting rid of poison and paralysis
 

fleurdyleurse

nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Alright, and also starmie would probably utilize natural cure better than analytic, because Starmies pretty speed would not be likely to hit second, and its low HP may make it not able to withstand an attack if it was slower, and natural cure would be good for getting rid of poison and paralysis
Analytic is for hitting on the switch as it forces many switches. It's not for if Starmie hits last. ^.^
 

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