ORAS OU Fun Rain Team (Currently at 1450+ ELO)

[JackTheGordie]

So I hadn't done any type of serious battling, whether it be Wi-Fi or Showdown!, for a couple of months prior to hopping back on Showdown! about a week ago. Didn't really know any of the standard, cookie cutter type of teams that I could use easily and do well, so I decided to use something a bit unorthodox and try to see how well I could do with it. Here's the team:

Politoed @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Spe Def / 8 Spe
Nature: Calm
Scald
Encore
Perish Song
Toxic

If you want to use a rain team, you obviously need rain setters, and Politoed was the first one I decided to use for the obvious reasons. Drizzle automatically sets rain without the need to waste a move slot, and the Damp Rock extends it's length an extra three turns. Scald as a standard attacking move to spread burn and not be completely stopped by Taunt. Encore+Perish Song is a good combo to stop slower set up sweepers cold(Clefable comes to mind), and they have their individual uses. Toxic is there for bulkier 'mons that burning doesn't effect greatly, and can also be used in conjunction with Encore

Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 Spe Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
U-Turn
Knock Off
Hurricane
Focus Blast

Tornadus-T is a great Pokemon in OU on it's own, so the fact that rain does nothing other than help it makes it an easy choice to use as a special attacker. U-Turn is used to gain momentum on switch-ins and to deal chip damage with the Life Orb boost before gaining it back with Regenerator. Knock Off is a generally useful move in almost any situation, and allows Tornadus another accurate option against switch-ins. Hurricane is Torn-T's main STAB, and when used in the rain it gains 100% accuracy, although it's still a risky move outside of Rain. Focus Blast is used for coverage over Heat Wave on this team for both incoming Tyranitars and just for the fact that it's a rain team and Fire moves on a rain team isn't ideal.

Swampert @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp--->Swift Swim
EV's: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
Waterfall
Earthquake
Ice Punch
Stealth Rock

Now that I had a special attacker who excelled in the Rain, I need a physical attacker. With it's strong defensive typing and respectable bulk allowing for multiple switch-in opportunities to Mega Evolve safely, Swampert seemed like a solid choice as a deadly sweeper once I'm set up. Waterfall and EQ are powerful STAB moves, with Waterfall being boosted when the Rain is up. Ice Punch is used for Dragon and Flying switch-ins that could take either Waterfall or EQ, such as Latios and Latias, Garchomp, and Landorus-Therian. Stealth Rock is used since there was no 4th move that really jumped out at me that Swampert desperately needed, and my other possible Stealth Rockers can't afford to use up a move slot.

Thundurus @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EV's: 4 Def / 252 Spe Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
Taunt
Volt Switch
HP Ice
Rain Dance

Having Politoed as my only Rain setter didn't seem like a good idea, so I decided on adding another one to the team. But I preferred a Pokemon with more offensive presence and general utility than Politoed provides, so I settled on Thundurus. Taunt+Volt Switch makes for a good lead combo, going for priority Taunt if the opponent leads something looking to set up Rocks or some other hazard, followed by Volt Switching out for chip damage on the incoming Pokemon and allowing me to gain momentum. HP Ice is used to hit 'mons such as Landorus-Therian, Serperior, and Dragons that may not be expecting it. Rain Dance is generally only used as a last resort, but if Thundurus is on the verge of fainting, and it can set it up as a last ditch move to allow Swampert more time to cause havoc. And due to Prankster, Thundy's RD beats most other priority moves from Pokemon looking to knock it out beforehand

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EV's: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Nature: Relaxed
Leech Seed
Power Whip
Gyro Ball
Spikes

Another strong Pokemon that only gets better in the Rain, Ferrothorn seemed like a good fit for my team's defensive wall. It has good synergy with several of the other team members due to it's strong defensive typing, serving as a good switch in to foes that Swampert, Politoed, and Tornadus might struggle with. Leech Seed allows for more recovery, and can stack up quickly when paired with Iron Barbs against a physical attacker. Power Whip and Gyro Ball are both sneaky powerful STAB moves, with Gyro Ball specifically allowing Ferrothorn to hit most of the Pokemon and doesn't resist hard. Spikes is used to cause more hazard damage on switch-ins, and is used over other utility moves such as Thunder Wave due to my reliance on my main attackers already being speedy under the right conditions

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EV's: 248 HP / 252 Spe Def / 8 Spe
Nature: Calm
Moonblast
Aromatherapy
Wish
Protect

This slot was originally a specially defensive Jirachi, but I changed it due to a need for a bulky cleric of some sort that could also pass wishes. With Magic Guard, Clefable is unharmed by any type of entry hazard or status, allowing it to switch in and pass Wishes as much as necessary. Moonblast is used as it's the strongest attacking move Clefable has access to. Aromatherapy is useful due my team not having any Pokemon who can take a burn well other than Politoed, while also helping against Paralysis and Sleep when those come up. Wish+Protect works as a combo for obvious reasons, while also creating a bit of a guessing game in certain scenarios where multiple Pokemon could benefit from receiving a Wish.

The most obvious weaknesses on this team seems to be not having any type of hazard removal. I'd like to find a way to work it into the team, but I haven't found a way to do it without messing up the team as a whole. Some particular Pokemon that seem to give my team trouble are set up sweepers (once Politoed is gone), Mega-Lopunny, Mega-Scizor, Volcanion (if Swampert is gone or I can't get Rain set up), and Ferrothorn (once Torn-T is gone and I don't have hazards up). Any suggestions on what to tweak or outright change would be greatly appreciated.

 

[zbr]

hello there! it's been a while since i've seen rain teams on rmt because rain teams are pretty much very similarly structured and don't often need much tweaking. but! looking at your team, your rain squad operates on much more different scale compared to others so it's probably worth to rmt it. anyway, your rain balance-esque team is kinda awkward because your only rain abuser is also your rocker. normally, rain teams want to be as evil as possible by having multiple rain abusers so that we can break past opposing teams with relative ease.

first off, i don't honestly think you need wish passing on this team at all. yes it is a good way to heal up your pert so that it can go on a rampage again but it just wastes away your rain turns. my first suggestion here is to go on the offensive and use mixed offensive LO kingdra over clefable. why this change is good is because it gives you an alternate rain abuser that you can use to smash past opposing teams so that you have zero problems sweeping with pert later on in the game. rain teams often want games to end quickly so having a clefable on the team wont do you any good.

thundy-i is interesting but it's not as good as when rain was permanent in bw2. considering you have thundy-i and torn-t, my suggestion is that you drop one of them. personally, i would drop tornadus-therian for lo latias. this is a great change as ironically rain teams are weak against opposing rain teams and having latias there to semi check water types is an amazing boon to have on the team. also, considering that you would now have a defogger, a hwish user and a water resist all rolled into one is great so that you can revive one of your rain sweepers or even your politoed so that it come in later and set up again.

here are some minor tweaks i suggest so that your team becomes a bit more efficient at breaking past teams. first off, i think ferro should opt for the spread 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD with Relaxed Nature. this way you dont have to worry about random things like +3 mana ice beaming + energy balling your team to death. also, stealth rocks over spikes should be the next change since you don't want your pert to be your hazard user and for your variant of rainspam, you don't rly need spikes up to break past opposing teams since kingdra + pert alr does that. now that rocks are on ferro, superpower over stealth rocks should be the next change on pert because now it gives you a solid way of breaking past ferros that have been weakened by either your kingdra or thundy-i.

speaking of thundy-i, i think running nasty plot , psychic , thunderbolt and fblast on it is a more optimal moveset. this is because even though you have latias to break past mons like mvenu and amoong, it is always optimal to have a backup against them since they are capable of walling rain teams to death. if you feel that you have zero issues with above mentioned grass types, you can opt for knock off over psychic if you feel that you can deal with mvenu and amoong so that you can break past chansey and stall squads.

lastly, politoed should run 248 HP / 164 SpD / 96 Spe with Calm Nature and Rest to outspeed max Speed Azumarill and lock it into Belly Drum with Encore. rest is there to outlast other weather setters such as zard y and ttar so that you can have more advantage if the game become grindish.

hopefully my suggestions help you climb up the ladder more and improve your team so that it rectifies some of the weaknesses that are present. good luck and have fun in the game! /cheers/