VGC final touch to my Rain team (assistance would be appreciated)

[arkailim]

FYI, Im on pokemon Y rated doubles, but im planning on buying AS and moving there soon. The biggest problem ive had so far is MSwampert, MBlastoise and MVenusaur. unfortunetly i have no reliable counter to venusaur. My team is focused around the rain aspect. politoad comes in with drizzle and ludicolo blows the enemy away with hydro pump. its pretty simple, but it can be more complex. the rest of the team is more or less, for type coverage against there weaknesses. ill take any suggestions i can get, whether it be moves, EV'S etc. honestly i havent decided on items yet. im looking for a pokemon that offers better flexibility than staraptor. staraptor covers the types my others don't. heres my team and what they do. P.S. i like sweeping mostly, but i love having tanky damagers as well. such as metagross.

Metagross @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Hammer Arm
Metagross is awesome, i use him against those op fairy types like sylveon. hes a sweeper.

Ludicolo @ Splash Plate
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fake Out
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Giga Drain
Ludicolo is almost always the lead pokemon along with politoad, i use him to deal massive amounts of damage to anything that doesnt resist water. hes meant to be a 1hit KO'er, but i dont want him dying in 1 turn either. i gave him fake out for when im swapping in other pokemon for type coverage. hydro pump to 1HKO, same with ice beam against dragon types. Giga drain is a life saver against swampert, and MBlastoise.

Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 144 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpA / 96 Spe
Calm Nature
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Helping Hand
- Protect
politoed is ludicolos right hand man, as well as MManectric's. his drizzle ability makes there attack move insane, and when he uses helping hand, theyre a force to be reckoned with. he can also take out things like MCharizard, and such. Politoad is mostly a distraction and a support. hes supposed to be bulky, but i dont know, i feel he would be better if he had a move like volt switch u turn, etc.

Staraptor @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Detect
- U-turn
- Close Combat
- Brave Bird
This pokemon is kind of a swing or a miss, and kinda throws my team up in the air, and for that reason i feel it needs to be changed, but unfortunetly, im new to competitive battles for the most part and i dont know all the new pokemon so i cant make an educated decision as of yet! assistance would be appreciated. Anyways staraptor is good for taking out pokemon that throw ludicolo or politoad under the bus per say. his close combat and brave bird have saved my team a few times but honestly, probably only 3 out of 7 times. this pokemon leaves me aching for something more trustworthy. i need something to take out my lead pokemon's weaknesses (ludicolo and politoed).

Manectric-Mega @ Manectite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 156 SpD / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Overheat
- Protect
- Volt Switch
I love this pokemon, its great for taking out rival rain teams, flying types etc, but we know this. however i still feel like its a swing or miss with him as well. hes been useful though, i cant deny it. i just feel like maybe his moves or evs could be tweaked. hes meant to be a sweeper, and hes alright on the team so i think ill keep him unless suggested otherwise.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpA
Naughty Nature
- Earth Power
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Superpower
I chose landorus as a filler to be honest, and i havent quite decided if he fits in. ill have to play around on showdown to find out if hes a relevent competitor. his evs need to be tweaked though, im sure of it, and im not so sure about his move list. ive played 3-5 matches with him in my team, and he always gets 1HKO'ed or does nearly no damage.

I struggle a lot against Amoonguss and Aegislash. im tempted to throw in aegislash intead of metagross but showdown says the blade form is illegal, even though i just fought one and lost to it. landorus equals the scales against him thankfully.

 

[lllg17]

You might want to make your descriptions a bit more in-depth so a mod doesn't lock this thread.
Example: for your Metagross description, this would be suitable:

Normal Metagross is a really cool Pók. With great pseudo-stats and a cool ability, it becomes an awesome tank designed to shut down fairies and destroy offense. It doesn't really synergies with the rain aspect of my team aside from its weakness to Fire, but it handles sylveon extremely well which can rek against specially offensive teams like mine. It also helps against M-Gard and Kang. The move set is pretty standard for offensive Gross. BP for priority, Hammer Arm to destroy Kang and help against TR teams that think they're cool, Monster Meteor Mash for strong STAB and pseudo-boosting, and Zen Headbut to help against common threats like Amoongus. The item and EV spread are a bit odd. I ran near-max HP with rocky helmet to help against Kang and maximise my steeltype-ness. I considered running LO or CB or CS with max speed to maximise sweeper-like priorities, or Safety Goooooogles with a mixed off/def spread to help against Amoongus which I have no other way of beating save Overheat out of rain or BraveBird. Any help is great

See what I mean? Best of luck!

P.S. Switch out earth power with earthquake on lando.

 

[arkailim]

dude thanks! like i said im new, so i dont have all the knowledge to make a description such as that, but that was helpful. i dont know what LO CB or CS is. also does anyone know anything that can help with synergy, or do you think its decent?

 

[shaian]

Sup buddy, since you're new I recommend you check out the VGC subforum and NuggetBridge to get a better grasp of what the VGC 15 metagame is like, and to better understand teambuilding for the metagame. Anyway, as for my rate, here are a few suggestions:

1. Mega Manectric: There is almost no reason for you to be using that spread on Manectric, so I would just shift it back to 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Timid set. If you want to add a bit of bulk, you could go 28 HP / 252 SpA / 228 Spe Timid, which outruns 130's and things creeping 130's by 1 point. This helps out versus the likes of Mega Salamence as you can Volt Switch pivot on them to get Intimidate drops a lot easier since you outrun the max speed variants, which your current spread does not. I would also suggest breeding for a Hidden Power Ice Manectric, but that can be time consuming.

Also, an aside for a later part of my rate, I would swap out Manectric for Thundurus-I, as it gives you a bit more flexibility with your team-building since it doesn't use up a Mega stone, and can run a medley of sets. I think the offensive set would be a good fit for your team as a LO backed Thunder is nothing to sneeze at, and it can still provide team-support with Thunder Wave, Swagger, Taunt on the bulky set.

2. Landorus-T: Assuming you're willing to re-roll that nature on that Landorus-T, you could always shift to a Jolly Band set, but even if you're not, for a Naughty Lando-T, you should just run max Atk / Spe because it lets pivot a lot easier and it /sorta/ mitigates the - SpD nature since you can just pivot out on Special Attackers before they attack.

As for an alternative, a huge issue with your team is the triple Intimidate stack (which isn't necessarily a bad thing tbh), but it leaves you really weak to Bisharp / Milotic. I recommend swapping it out for a Substitute Heatran or Wide Guard Aegislash at that slot, as both fix a few of your problems, such as 1) a weakness to Fairy-spam, 2) a way to handle bulky Grasses such as Ferrothorn, Amoonguss, and Venusaur more consistently.

3. Staraptor: For Staraptor, I recommend swapping to a 3 attacks Hydreigon set, as it can provide some utility at wearing down a multitude of Pokemon, including the Blastoise, Venusaur, and Swampert that you seem to be having issues with. It also gives you an easier time versus Aegislash, Charizard, and Heatran, can OHKO Metagross and Landorus-T, and alleviates a bit of the pressure that Bisharp and Competitive Milotic put on your team. You might miss Close Combat, but the flexibility of either Earth Power or Fire Blast should provide more than enough coverage depending on how you adapt the team later on.

4. Metagross: I would suggest switching it to a Mega Metagross (Jolly or Adamant, depending on which you find yourself more comfortable with), with a standard moveset (Iron Head / Meteor Mash, Zen Headbutt, Protect, Hammer Arm). This gives you an easier time versus opposing Dragons (notably Hydreigon), but also versus non-Scarf Tyranitar, Landorus-I, Amoonguss and Venusaur, faster Fairies, and a few other relevant metagame threats.

That's all from me right now, good luck : )