Hey everyone! I've tried my hand at other teams before but this is the first Rain Team I am taking a shot at making with OR/AS finally in full swing. Mega Swampert is a BEAST and it was way to tempting not to try and make a team with him. Just a few quick notes before I get into it, I am attempting to abide by what I am guessing will be the PAX Pokemon League Rules (see here for full rules: http://paxpokemonleague.net/rules/ ) as well as using the current OU rules following the Mega Salamance ban. I am trying to get this team in game so please keep that in mind and the main rule of note that PAX Poke League has which is different from OU is that I cannot use the same item more than once. They also frown upon really long stall tactics so I've tried to avoid that as well. (Because it's an event that they are attending for fun too and they don't want the battles to take all day. However this also makes testing on OU more difficult but as long as I have a balanced team that can take care of the OU ladder I feel pretty confident taking that team to PAX) It's made the team building process harder but I wanted to be able to bring a team in game that I could really do well with. Defog has also been a pain in my butt since its really difficult to get it on certain pokes in OR/AS game. Please feel free to tear my team apart if that will make it better haha I want to make the best team possible following these guidelines. And so we begin! Here is a quick rundown of the pokes on this team (Politoed, M-Swampert, Ferrothorn, Tornadus-T, Tentacruel, Landorus-T)
Frogger (Politoed) (F) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Protect
First of all, Politoed is the only green frog in pokemon lol how is that possible? (correct me if im wrong though haha) so I had to name him Frogger because of the classic computer game that I am sure most of us played. There are so many sets for Politoed but Damp Rock and Drizzle were obviously essential for a rain team. I wanted the burn chance on scald for the burn since this is a defensive toad and I felt the best way to keep him alive was to use rest and sleep talk. I have debated using Toxic instead of protect but it helped me see if some different pokes were running grass knot since that is death for swampert and if the opposing poke is burned while I sleep talk and I use protect it only helps me. Now onto the star of this team...
Steroids (Swampert-Mega) @ Swampertite
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Low Kick
I always have a hard time picking a starter for each game, especially for the first 3 gens but when I saw the mega evolutions for these guys I couldn't help but take Mega Swampert and I felt I needed to make a team around him. (Side note: I actually named him Jay Cutler in my game as a gag XD after the body builder, not the Bears QB for those sports fans out there haha) Waterfall and Earthquake felt like no brainers as STAB's for Swamp, I was going to go Avalanche until I was able to find out that I could get Ice Punch on him in game and this covers the pesky grass types that plague Swampert since I outspeed pretty much every poke in the rain. Low Kick is to take care of Ferrothorn who is a pain in the rain. I don't like Superpower due to the stat decreases after use especially because I have been trying to use Swamp as a late game sweep. I let him juice up as the rest of my team does the work to take out his main threats.
Maokai (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
I am a big League of Legends guy and love to use the champions as nickname inspirations for my pokes. Maokai seemed to fit best for Ferro. I have used ferro before on other teams but for a rain team utility I felt like this set best fit my needs. I wanted him to be a defensive tank since fire is weakened the main threat is a fighting type attack which are typically physical. If a fire attack is thrown at me I have guys like Tentacruel, Landorus and even Politoed if need be to switch in a take the hit. I wanted Knock Off to focus on taking away pokes that try to stall out my rain like leftovers rotom-w for example. (Knock Off is on a few other pokes as well to ensure that) Power Whip is his main stab attack so that water types have a hard time taking advantage of the rain. Stealth Rocks to set up and leech seed to pressure set up pokes.
Azir (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Mild Nature
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Knock Off
- U-turn
How does this thing not look like Azir when it does it dance in League lol I may play around with these last three nicknames who knows haha. I wanted another poke that had some decent SpD to switch in to fire and Tornadus-T fit the bill because it also helped take care of the fighting threat that is posed to ferro. Hurricane doesn't miss in the rain and is still decent percentage out of rain. Focus Blast is another item to take care of opposing ferrothorns as well as other steel, normal, rock and dark types. (Slow Ice types like avalug are hit hard by this as well.) Knock Off again to help prevent stall tactics as well as some dark type coverage against Mega Slowbro who walls this team pretty good. U-turn as a bug coverage and a way to get some damage off to activate regenerator (which I love as and ability by the way haha).
Oh So Cool (Tentacruel) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 100 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Sludge Bomb
- Scald
- Rain Dance
After the first four pokes shown I still didn't have a way of dealing with Fairy type pokemon plus I needed a rapid spinner. I was having such a hard time finding a poke until I came across Tentacruel, the zubat of the ocean routes. It was so perfect because not only could it learn rapid spin but it could also learn rain dance so that I didnt rely on Politoed as much. Mr. Oh So Cool also has a cool 120 base SpD but only 65 base Def so I wanted to give a little extra to the SpD but bulk up his Defense as well. Sludge Bomb is a STAB poison type to take care of Fairy's and STAB Scald in the rain with the burn potential was just too good to pass up. I really liked the addition of Tenta oh so cool to this team :)
Walks on Water (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
I had no idea how to round out this team. When testing previous teams I felt like I needed a pivot poke as well as someone who could work without the rain when it goes down. I have a 3 poke weakness to Electric and yes I could switch swampert in but Tentacruel presented a Ground weakness. The Ground/Flying type kept me immune to ground type attacks that swampert would end up getting hit by, while being immune to electric the flying type cuts my grass weakness to normal effectiveness. U-turn and Knock off were for psychic coverage that plagues Tentacruel as well (Slowbro/mega), Earthquake is his main STAB attack and Stone Edge was some flying coverage and hits bug, fire and ice as well. I was thinking of going Choice Scarf instead of choice band? or maybe go jolly for the extra speed and let the band give me the extra power? Wasn't sure about that. The Intimidate was another key factor in bringing Landorus in because it was just another trick up the sleeve to help slow down physical attackers.
I haven't been able to test this team too much but from what I have tested compared to my other attempts at rain teams have been much more successful with this team. I felt more confident putting this team up on the RMT forum and wanted to see if I could get some feedback on how to make it better! Again feel free to rip it apart haha I know I am not the best at making teams and appreciate any and all advice that will help me become better :) Thanks again for all the help in advance and I look forward to hearing from you all!
Also, I will try to throw in links of my play with this team as I go along to show how I am using it and will update as per suggestions as well:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188462960
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188540618
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188539255
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188538408
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188462960
Frogger (Politoed) (F) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Protect
First of all, Politoed is the only green frog in pokemon lol how is that possible? (correct me if im wrong though haha) so I had to name him Frogger because of the classic computer game that I am sure most of us played. There are so many sets for Politoed but Damp Rock and Drizzle were obviously essential for a rain team. I wanted the burn chance on scald for the burn since this is a defensive toad and I felt the best way to keep him alive was to use rest and sleep talk. I have debated using Toxic instead of protect but it helped me see if some different pokes were running grass knot since that is death for swampert and if the opposing poke is burned while I sleep talk and I use protect it only helps me. Now onto the star of this team...
Steroids (Swampert-Mega) @ Swampertite
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Low Kick
I always have a hard time picking a starter for each game, especially for the first 3 gens but when I saw the mega evolutions for these guys I couldn't help but take Mega Swampert and I felt I needed to make a team around him. (Side note: I actually named him Jay Cutler in my game as a gag XD after the body builder, not the Bears QB for those sports fans out there haha) Waterfall and Earthquake felt like no brainers as STAB's for Swamp, I was going to go Avalanche until I was able to find out that I could get Ice Punch on him in game and this covers the pesky grass types that plague Swampert since I outspeed pretty much every poke in the rain. Low Kick is to take care of Ferrothorn who is a pain in the rain. I don't like Superpower due to the stat decreases after use especially because I have been trying to use Swamp as a late game sweep. I let him juice up as the rest of my team does the work to take out his main threats.
Maokai (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
I am a big League of Legends guy and love to use the champions as nickname inspirations for my pokes. Maokai seemed to fit best for Ferro. I have used ferro before on other teams but for a rain team utility I felt like this set best fit my needs. I wanted him to be a defensive tank since fire is weakened the main threat is a fighting type attack which are typically physical. If a fire attack is thrown at me I have guys like Tentacruel, Landorus and even Politoed if need be to switch in a take the hit. I wanted Knock Off to focus on taking away pokes that try to stall out my rain like leftovers rotom-w for example. (Knock Off is on a few other pokes as well to ensure that) Power Whip is his main stab attack so that water types have a hard time taking advantage of the rain. Stealth Rocks to set up and leech seed to pressure set up pokes.
Azir (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Mild Nature
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Knock Off
- U-turn
How does this thing not look like Azir when it does it dance in League lol I may play around with these last three nicknames who knows haha. I wanted another poke that had some decent SpD to switch in to fire and Tornadus-T fit the bill because it also helped take care of the fighting threat that is posed to ferro. Hurricane doesn't miss in the rain and is still decent percentage out of rain. Focus Blast is another item to take care of opposing ferrothorns as well as other steel, normal, rock and dark types. (Slow Ice types like avalug are hit hard by this as well.) Knock Off again to help prevent stall tactics as well as some dark type coverage against Mega Slowbro who walls this team pretty good. U-turn as a bug coverage and a way to get some damage off to activate regenerator (which I love as and ability by the way haha).
Oh So Cool (Tentacruel) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 100 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Sludge Bomb
- Scald
- Rain Dance
After the first four pokes shown I still didn't have a way of dealing with Fairy type pokemon plus I needed a rapid spinner. I was having such a hard time finding a poke until I came across Tentacruel, the zubat of the ocean routes. It was so perfect because not only could it learn rapid spin but it could also learn rain dance so that I didnt rely on Politoed as much. Mr. Oh So Cool also has a cool 120 base SpD but only 65 base Def so I wanted to give a little extra to the SpD but bulk up his Defense as well. Sludge Bomb is a STAB poison type to take care of Fairy's and STAB Scald in the rain with the burn potential was just too good to pass up. I really liked the addition of Tenta oh so cool to this team :)
Walks on Water (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
I had no idea how to round out this team. When testing previous teams I felt like I needed a pivot poke as well as someone who could work without the rain when it goes down. I have a 3 poke weakness to Electric and yes I could switch swampert in but Tentacruel presented a Ground weakness. The Ground/Flying type kept me immune to ground type attacks that swampert would end up getting hit by, while being immune to electric the flying type cuts my grass weakness to normal effectiveness. U-turn and Knock off were for psychic coverage that plagues Tentacruel as well (Slowbro/mega), Earthquake is his main STAB attack and Stone Edge was some flying coverage and hits bug, fire and ice as well. I was thinking of going Choice Scarf instead of choice band? or maybe go jolly for the extra speed and let the band give me the extra power? Wasn't sure about that. The Intimidate was another key factor in bringing Landorus in because it was just another trick up the sleeve to help slow down physical attackers.
I haven't been able to test this team too much but from what I have tested compared to my other attempts at rain teams have been much more successful with this team. I felt more confident putting this team up on the RMT forum and wanted to see if I could get some feedback on how to make it better! Again feel free to rip it apart haha I know I am not the best at making teams and appreciate any and all advice that will help me become better :) Thanks again for all the help in advance and I look forward to hearing from you all!
Also, I will try to throw in links of my play with this team as I go along to show how I am using it and will update as per suggestions as well:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188462960
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188540618
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188539255
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188538408
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-188462960
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