Don't Rain On My Parade [A Battle Subway Doubles Rain Dance Team]

[foxyman1167]

Overview

Seeing as this is my first foray into Rain and Double battles,
I wanted to make sure I did it right, the only reason being I need a 49 win
streak for my Trainer Card Star. I'm not there yet in Singles,
not even close, but that's another story.​

With the exception of Raikou, being an Event Raikou,
everyone else can change. Raikou has already been EV trained,
so the only thing that can be changed easily is the moveset.​

Lead #1

Politoed @ Bold
Drizzle @ Wacan Berry
31/x/31/22/31/x
252 HP/252 Def/6 Sp. Def
-Scald
-Ice Beam
-Encore
-Protect​

My first lead, used to start Rain, and get the party started.
Scald > Surf to protect teammates (really Raikou) from boosted Surfs.
Scald is also nice for the possible burn, slow down Physical sweepers,
help others set up. Encore to slow them down some more, Ice
Beam to take care of pesky Grass types. Protect to scout and Toxic stall.​

Lead #2​

Ferrothorn @ Sassy
Iron Barbs @ Leftovers
31/12/31/x/31/x
252 HP/252 Sp. Def/6 Def
-Gyro Ball
-Curse
-Leech Seed
-Toxic​

My second lead, takes advantage of the rain to set up.
Uses Leftovers and Leech Seed to stay healthy and set up Curse,
boost the power of Gyro Ball and Toxic for more damage.​

Physical Sweeper

Kingdra @ Adamant
Swift Swim @ Chesto Berry
31/31/12/x/31/31
174 HP/252 Attack/84 Speed
-Waterfall
-Outrage
-Rest
-Dragon Dance​

According to a list posted on Smogon, the magic number for the fastest
pokemon in the Battle Subway is Manectric, at 258 with a Choice Scarf.
According to Serebii's IV Calculator, with a Speed IV of 31
and the allotted Speed EVs, in the Rain, Kingdra will hit a minimum
Speed of 232. Here's the math:​

Adamant nature, 74 Speed EVs, Speed IV of 31
Minimun Speed stat of 116
Swift Swim boost = 2.0x
116 x 2.0 = 232​

With this combination of EVs in Speed and Swift Swim, Kingdra will
jump ahead of the fastest threat to its health, and frankly Raikou:
ScarfChomp. According to Smogon, ScarfChomp sits at 231 after
the Scarf boost.​

Dragon Dance until the HP gets low, Rest off the damage,
waking up with the Chesto Berry. Use Waterfall as main STAB,
with Outrage as a backup to cover any Water/Grass/Dry Skin/Water
Absorb, and of course the Dragon type weakness.​

Special Sweeper

Raikou @ Rash
Pressure @ Shell Bell
31/x/31/31/31/30
252 Sp. Attack/252 Speed/6 HP
-Thunder
-Aura Sphere/HP [Ice]
-Weather Ball
-Calm Mind​

Reminder! This is the Event Raikou for the 13th Movie,
and therefore is unable to be changed easily, with
the exception of the moveset, everything else
cannot be changed.​

Decided to use Raikou, give me a somewhat
durable Electric type capable of shrugging off Special Electric
moves Ferrothorn can't deal with well, while Ferrothorn will deal
with the Physical Electric attacks, due to Iron Barbs and Curse.
Thunder is the main STAB attack, accuracy boosted by Rain.
Weather Ball gets a nice power boost in the rain, 150 BP, which
will be used to murder any Ground types that threaten him with
SE attacks. Calm Mind in the last slot to boost Special stats.​

Can't decide between HP [Ice-70] and Aura Sphere.
Aura Sphere is a safe fall back move for Double Team/Evasion
Hax, while HP [Ice] murders Dragon types that scare Kingdra,
and Grass types that scare Politoed.​

Closing Comments​

~Fighting types are a worry, as no one on the team resists Fighting.
Ferrothorn can try and deal with Physical Fighting types,
with help from Politoed's Scald burn, and a couple of Curses.
If Raikou gets a Calm Mind or two, he could try and take
Special Fighting attacks, though there are a lot less of those.​

 

[Saboros]

If you're interested in doubles, and really think you are a better double battler than a single battler, you should think of entering this years Pokemon Video Game Championships, or VGC, which is played in a double battle,bring 6 use 4 format.

 

[Saboros]

If you're interested in doubles, and really think you are a better double battler than a single battler, you should think of entering this years Pokemon Video Game Championships, or VGC, which is played in a double battle,bring 6 use 4 format.

Especially if all the pokemon you talk about have already been made.

 

[R Inanimate]

At a glance, I feel like this team suffers from "using single battle strategies in a double battle metagame". 3 of your Pokemon run some sort of set up, but Double Battles are very fast paced. Most of the time, you will probably find that it's very hard to get much more than one stat boost in before running risk of being KO'd.

Controlling the battle by being able to outspeed the opponent is also very important, especially since most Pokemon in the Subway do not run Protect. Unless you have a Trick Room plan, leading with two slow Pokemon is probably a bad idea, as it leaves you open to all sorts of nasty hax that the CPU loves to pull on you. After all, easiest way to avoid Flinches, Confusion, 10% Statuses, and Criticals is to KO them before they have a chance to do anything.