Getting Drenched... Or Dancing In The Rain

Celever

Celever

the bear becomes the ringleader
is a Forum Moderatoris a Top Community Contributor
Rain has always been a strong playstyle in RU (at least since I joined smogon almost a year ago) but IMO now it is even stronger. People talk about hail getting completely destroyed if their permanent weather is gone, and rain does just that. One of the great things about rain is that it has fallen into the shadows, and is no longer considered a viable playstyle, this leaves teams completely unprepared for rain teams -- especially if you use under rated and unseen threats.
The main poken a rain team would use are water types. This is great, since their only weaknesses, grass and water, are easily accounted for by rain abusers. Pokemon such as Moltres and volt absorb Lanturn are amazing at countering both types respectively, and with hurricane moltres loves the rain, despite its primary STAB being weakened by it. Lanturn is also a fabulous rain setter being able to abuse STAB 100% Thunder and water boosted STAB Hydro Pump all the while having a fabulous HP stat.

~~Rain Abusers~~
Galvantula
Kabutops
Lanturn
Magneton
Manectric
Mesprit
Moltres
Omastar
Quagsire
Rotom
Rotom-C
Ampharos
Articuno
Beartic
Carracosta
Floatzel
Golduck
Gorebyss
Lapras
Ludicolo
Mantine
Pelipper
Raichu
Regice
Relicanth
Samurott
Swanna
Wartortle
Zebstrika
And Even
Wiscash

Rain is incredibly diverse. I haven't just thrown a bunch of pokemon with some kind of ability that is boosted with rain dance on the list, I have spent my time testing out every pokemon on this list and every one of them has successfully abused rain one way or another.

My personal favorite rain abusers are Ludicolo, Lanturn, Mesprit, Pelipper, Swanna and Ampharos. How about you? Is there a rain abuser I forgot about testing that you have used to great success? Comment here! I will be adding a "countering rain" section soon, ideas for that?

As I said, rain is fabulous, I hope I have inspired some of you to try it out.

(It also wrecks Entei)

Replays
(ask to be added to the OP!)
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/rususpecttest-42945084 - Swanna doing massive power and Ludicolo winning the match for me in a 1 v 1.
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/rususpecttest-42921617 CB Tops Sweep :D

Old rain RU thread, although a challenge rather than discussion thread http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/it-will-rain-ru-collab-challenge.3473183/
 
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I started to use rain a few days ago, and I must say I really like it, just because there are so many Pokemon that can benefit from it, from abilities like Swift Swim and Rain dish to just water types that can deal a shitton of damage due to rain to Pokemon who have their Fire Weakness lowered(Escavalier is a good example)
The best abusers IMO are Kabutops, Seismitoad and Moltres. Moltres might be a weird Rain Abuser due to the fact thats it's part Fire, but it's main use is to launch Specs boosted Hurricanes under rain, having a perfect accuracy.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/rususpecttest-42921617 CB Tops Sweep :D
Well, I'll post some replays soon ^^

And you forgot to mention Lapras as an Abuser, since the HydraRest combination works really well under Rain.
 
I don't have much experience with rain, so I'm not going to comment on the weather itself. Instead I'm bringing up an abuser you forgot to mention: Swift Swim Qwilfish. Yeah, this annoying motherfucker can go offensive, and when it does, you can guarantee something's going to get hurt. With a Life Orb, Qwilfish can do massive damage to any unprepared team, and even to prepared ones. Just thought I'd recommend that as a good abuser.
 
Ludicolo, is a spectacular sweeper. It has great coverage and can dish out massive damage with Hydraulic Hydro Pump
 
I've been using a rain team for the past week and I've found that swift swim belly drum poliwrath smashes stall teams and any team without priority. With rain and memento support from uxie you can set up on any resist hits and even some neutral ones. Banded Entei's espeed also does around 45% so you will be able to live that after a turn of lefties if there's rocks. The set:
Poliwrath @ Leftovers
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Belly Drum
- Ice Punch
- Brick Break

Edit: Heres a replay: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/rususpecttest-43194635
and also if that typhlosion was a normal choice scarf set: 252 SpA Typhlosion Hidden Power Grass vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Poliwrath: 74-88 (23.05 - 27.41%) -- possible 4HKO
 
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I like that set KidTheDeath.

Also, Accelgor is also a rain abuser, as it has Hydration and can make good use of it since it baits paralysis.

If you want a more situational option, mixed Rampardos is also technically a rain abuser:

Rampardos (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk/4 SpA/252 Spe
Nature: Hasty
-Head Smash/Rock Slide
-Earthquake
-Thunder
-Crunch/Surf

I haven't tested this, but it is a rain abuser with a fairly powerful, 100% accuracy Thunder.
 
Updated the OP with everything but I would like everyone to know about a core I have loved using recently, eroticllamas joined one of my matches yesterday and discovered just how good it is.

Ludicolo @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Calm Nature
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Rain Dance
- Protect
Pelipper @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Rain Dance
- Hurricane
- Toxic
- Protect

I plan on trying out Wartortle as a third member soon, making a special, physical and mixed wall core where all of them have rain dish and toxic stall the opponents. This could be fabulous with a hazard setter and I will be making this team soon.
 
I would suggest using Ferroseed as your hazard setter because it has excellent synergy with the Water-types that abound your team. Lanturn might also be a good partner because it gets an Electric immunity, the momentum-grabbing Volt Switch, and the ever-important Heal Bell.

Also, this is a worthwhile replay, showing two rain teams battling each other. I find Amoonguss to be an excellent rain check.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/rususpecttest-43622749
 
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