National Dex First Rain Team

[SeaSideSylveon]

Looking at the diverse pool of Pokémon that can successfully be included in this team type, I’ve decided to make a rain team. I’ll try out the other weather types but rain will be first up.

Pelipper
Pelipper (M) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Weather Ball
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Seed Bomb
Pelipper is a great lead for the team. It’s male because I happen to like giving my Pokémon genders to make them feel like individuals, instead of having it randomized. With its Damp Rock it can keep the rain going for 8 turns instead of 5. It has the Quiet nature to boost its SpA but lower its speed. We really don’t need Pelipper to be fast, as long as he can set the rain and last out on the battlefield if need be. I gave him 252 EVs in HP and SpA to make sure that he can both tank some hits and deal some rain boosted attacks. I gave him 4 in Atk so he can get some extra power in Seed Bomb. Now let’s talk movesets. Weather ball is first up. It’s a base 50 power special move that will change type in weather, as well as getting its power doubled. Pair that with 252 SpA EVs and you have a beast of a move, plus Water-type STAB in the rain. Air Slash is there for a Flying-type STAB move. Hidden Power Ground is my counter to the team’s main enemy, Electric-types. Sure, HP Ground isn‘t the strongest Ground-type move out there, but it’s all Pelipper has. Seed Bomb is a counter to Pelipper’s other weakness, Rock-types. Pelipper already has rain-boosted Weather Ball, but in the case the rain goes out and Pelipper is left defenseless Seed Bomb will come in handy. This is the reason I added 4 to Atk.

Kingdra
Kingdra (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Mild Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Rain Dance
- Outrage
- Hydro Pump
Every rain team has to have a Swift Swim sweeper to be successful, and Kingdra is probably the only one in OU. It’s easy to see why Kingdra is OU, with its balanced base stats and strong attacks allowing it to be a successful sweeper, throwing many teams into a nonstop cycle of KOs. It’s Focus Sash is there to make sure that if it runs into a Pokémon it can’t easily handle (AKA Dragon- and Fairy-types) it can continue to live, although it will be a lot harder to sweep with considering it needs to go untouched. I gave it 252 Atk and SpA EVs to make sure it could fully use Outrage and Hydro Pump. The 4 Spe EVs are to boost its Spe up even more. I gave it a Mild nature to raise its SpA even more. I gave it Dragon Dance to boost its stats if it can get into a safe spot where it does not need to attack, and Rain Dance to make sure it could still sweep if Pelipper’s rain stopped. Outrage and Hydro Pump are two useful moves on Kingdra to make sure it utilizes its balanced stats to the fullest. Both moves are powerful STAB attacks that could easily sweep an unprepared team.

Starmie
Starmie @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Rain Dance
- Psycho Cut
Starmie is uncommon on rain teams, to say the least. Despite that, it is still a valuable partner for our sweepers, acting as fast entry hazard stopping support. Sweepers can be easily stopped dead in their tracks by entry hazards, which is why Starmie is such a valuable support Pokémon. I gave it Heavy-Duty boots to make sure that when it comes in to stop entry hazards it won’t be affected itself. It’s role can be easily worn down by the entry hazards they’re trying to stop. I gave it the Natural Cure ability because Illuminate is completely useless in the competitive scene and Analytic wouldn’t work for Starmie‘s job as a fast Rapid Spinner. It has 252 HP and Spe and 4 Atk EVs to guarantee it’ll be alive and stopping entry hazard setters in their tracks for the whole battle. It also has a Jolly nature to add to this. Rapid Spin is a must have for Starmie’s role. It removes the entry hazards as well as dealing some decent damage. Scald is to help do some more damage if Starmie must become a sweeper, probably getting boosted by the rain. Rain Dance is to make sure Starmie can be of more usage by acting as a rain setter in case Pelipper or some other Pokémon’s rain runs out. Psycho Cut is to deal some STAB damage and make the most of Starmie’s typing.

Jolteon
Jolteon (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Rain Dance
- Agility
- Toxic
It’s fast. It’s furious. It’s Jolteon! Welcoming a valuable Electric immunity to the team, Jolteon makes full advantage of the fact Thunder never misses in the rain. It has a Focus Sash to stay on the field longer and the Volt Absorb ability to force out pesky Electric-types coming to take advantage of the rain and abundant Water-types. It has 252 SpA and Spe EVs to take full advantage of its crazy Speed stat and make sure it’s Thunder is even stronger, plus 4 SpD EVs. It has a Modest nature and 0 Atk IVs to minimize Foul Play damage. Thunder is first up in its moveset and insures that Jolteon will be one of the scariest Pokémon on the field. Thunder will be boosted by Jolteon’s SpA EVs and STAB. It’s 100% accurate in the rain, so this makes Jolteon extremely scary. Jolteon has Rain Dance to make sure it can keep the rain going, and Agility to make it even faster. Toxic is there as an unexpected status move to help inflict more damage.

Swampert
Swampert (M) @ Swampertite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rain Dance
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Bulk Up
Swampert is the team’s second answer to Electric-types. He’s the team’s Mega Evolution and boy, does he pack a punch! His EV spread makes him a strong, bulky physical sweeper, plus his Adamant nature. He has Rain Dance to make sure the rain is always there, Earthquake to make sure most dangerous Pokémon stay out of the field, Ice Punch to make sure even Ground-type Pokémon go running back to their Pokeballs and Bulk Up to make Swampert even more deadly. Jolteon and Swampert work hand in hand; Swampert deals with Ground-types, Jolteon’s one weakness, while Jolteon lures Grass-types for Swampert to freeze over with Ice Punch. Swampert‘s one weakness, Grass, can be easily dealt with by Ice Punch. Swampert is truly a monster.

Ludicolo
Ludicolo (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 60 HP / 252 SpA / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Energy Ball
- Ice Beam
- Rain Dance
Ludicolo is a late-game finisher for this team. He has 60 HP, 252 SpA and 196 Spe EVs to power up his moveset of Special moves. He has Surf, a common move for sweepers and finishers on rain teams that does considerable damage, not counting rain, STAB and Ludicolo’s EVs. He has Energy Ball to deal with opposing bulky Water-types thriving in your rain, and Ice Beam to make Ground- and Grass-types think twice. Finally is Rain Dance, which basically every Pokémon on this team that doesn’t have Drizzle has. Nothing much to say here except that he’s quite the useful Pokémon, even as a general fighter.

So that’s my team. That. Was. A. Lot. I tried to make sure that most common threats to rain teams were countered, such as Tyranitar and Gyarados. Hope you like this!

 

[TailGlowVM]

Well, this is an interesting rain team that includes some less used rain sweepers like Ludicolo and Starmie. However, it has some major problems:
1. No grass resistance. This means Rillaboom can click Grassy Glide unpunished and sweep your team, and you'll have a horrible time against Kartana, Tangrowth and Ferrothorn too.
2. No Stealth Rock. This is mandatory for every competitive singles team, and there are Pokemon that work on rain that can use it.
3. Five of your Pokemon do very similar things. While teams like rain that use multiple Pokemon with similar coverage to wear down shared checks can work, five water types is overkill.

I would make these changes:

Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost

This Pelipper is a more reliable rain setter due to reliable recovery and more bulk investment, it provides a slow pivot into your rain sweepers with U-turn, and provides Defog support. Whilst you lose offensive power, you have other hard-hitting Water types and Pelipper's main job is to get up rain to support them.


Swampert @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall / Liquidation
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Flip Turn / Stealth Rock

Now that your Pelipper can consistently set rain, you can ditch Rain Dance for a Water STAB to take advantage of the rain. Mega Swampert has sufficient bulk for an offensive Pokemon uninvested, so you are far better off with max speed over max HP to outspeed Choice Scarf Kartana, +1 Garchomp, +1 Mega Charizard X and +2 Magearna in rain. Flip Turn allows you to pivot out of bad matchups like Ferrothorn, while Stealth Rock is mandatory for any team.

Replace one of your other Water types (probably Starmie, as Pelipper now has Defog) with this:

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes / Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip

Ferrothorn is invaluable to Rain teams as it prevents you from being 6-0d by any Grass type. It provides entry hazard support (use Stealth Rock if running Flip Turn on Swampert, and Spikes otherwise) and it can damage opposing Water types that a team full of Water types would otherwise struggle with. It also gets Knock Off, arguably the best move in the game which should probably be on every team.

Replace Jolteon with this:

Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 108 SpA / 148 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Roost

I know you wanted to use obscure stuff, but Jolteon is awful. As you probably realised when building that set, it has abysmal offensive coverage leaving it walled by anything that resists Electric, and it's very frail and quite weak. In fact, your set is completely walled by Excadrill. Zapdos is stronger, has much better coverage with 100% accurate Hurricanes, is bulkier and can be a secondary switch in to Grass types. Whilst you lose Volt Absorb, Swampert and Ferrothorn should cover Electric types fine, and with multiple Swift Swimmers, the extra speed isn't needed. If you want the speed, use Choice Specs Tapu Koko instead, but I think Zapdos is better for rain in general, and you wanted to make the team involve stuff that really benefits from rain.

If you keep Kingdra, use:

Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Hurricane
- Surf / Flip Turn

Focus Sash is a terrible item in singles for anything except suicide leads as it doesn't work with Stealth Rock up. The best Kingdra can do is fire off fast, powerful attacks in rain and this is much better for that as you need no setup, you are faster, and you have better coverage.

I know I've made quite a few changes, but I think this would keep most of the originality of your team whilst making it more efficient so you win more (and don't lose to any team with a Grass type).

 

[Optify]

I like the idea of the team, but some of these mons are unviable in the national dex metagame, I would suggest doing some of the movepool / pokemon changes below:

Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Scald
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

This is the optimal set, it provides utility in the rain itself and in defog / scald.

I would replace kingdra with manaphy, manaphy is about the only thing making rain good in national dex, as it provides a crucial stall matchup, as well as breaking the common balance teams with the tail glow waterium-z set:

Manaphy @ Waterium Z
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 HP / 180 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Psychic / Energy Ball
- Rest
- Tail Glow

I would replace starmie with another hard hitting water type, in greninja-ash, it gives rain a great matchup against offensive teams, with its speed tier and priority.

Greninja-Ash (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes / U-turn

Jolteon I would replace with zapdos, as we already have speed control, and zapdos has a better movepool / general attacking stats.

Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 112 SpA / 148 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Weather Ball

Swampert should have 252 attack EV's and 252 speed EV's, as to once again maximize swamperts efficiency as a sweeper. And the moveset should be Waterfall / Earthquake / Flip turn / Ice Punch.

To replace ludicolo, I would use a specially defensive ferrothorn as a back-up check to most offensive teams

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Power Whip
- Toxic
- Leech Seed
- Spikes

I know this is very similar to the rain sample team, and that I made a lot of changes, but the sad truth is that rain doesn't have much breathing room in the current metagame, due to 2 of its greatest assets in tornadus therian and dracovish are banned, hope this helps!

 

[SeaSideSylveon]

THANK YOU TAILGLOWVM
I will definitely put those changes in and edit the team and the post (with new descriptions). Thank you so much!

 

[SeaSideSylveon]

THANK YOU OPTIFY
Not all of your changes will be implemented; I got to TailGlowVM’s first, so I will have already replaced some Pokémon. Thanks for your help, though! It is very appreciated.