Good poke to start the match in Raindanceteam(that uses raindance)

valir

I cant think of a good poke (besides kyogre) to lead with that would have damp rock Raindance (damp rock if possible) on a raindance team.
 
Bronzong
Swampert

Don't start off using Ludicolo, it gets walled too easily early game. The two named above are both sturdy and reliable. Though I would recommend Bronzong.
 
I start with Electrode @ Damp Rock: Rain Dance/Thunder/Thunder Wave/Light Screen.

Light Screen is a useful move and always help setting it up early in the match.
 
This might sound crazy, but Kingdra could do a decent job. With 75/95/95 Defences it's not being OHKOd any time soon, and it has a 4x resist to water, unlike Swampert and Bronzong who, by using rain dance, could well be risking grievous harm to their selves (especially the former, who is often countered by other bulky waters). Kingdra can also attack from both the physical and special side equally well, with Dragon Dance and Waterfall and Surf being available to him, as well as the (quite possibly useless) Draco meteor and the far more useful (for Kingdra) Dragon Pulse. This means that he is no longer so easily wallled by Blissey.
 
Consider this vote 3 for Kingdra.

Although honestly, you should have Bronzong on your team. Granted, he's not water-type, he can't learn any Water moves, and he can't learn Thunder, but with the cut to Fire attacks, he will be nearly impossible to Faint and definitely cause a lot of damage before he does.
 
I think Kingdra is too much of a liability. He basically screams "OI! I'M GONNA RAIN DANCE 'COS IT'S ALL I CAN REALLY DO!" Starting with something which isn't so obviously gonna use Rain Dance could be a big help.

I think Milotic.

The reason Bronzong might struggle is because Damp Rock means he loses Leftovers which is his only non Rest/Wish form of recovery. Milotic can set up the Rain Dance and use Recover to nullify the Leftovers loss, dealing out powerful boosted Surfs from a 100 Sp. Attk.
 
Lee said:
I think Kingdra is too much of a liability. He basically screams "OI! I'M GONNA RAIN DANCE 'COS IT'S ALL I CAN REALLY DO!" Starting with something which isn't so obviously gonna use Rain Dance could be a big help.
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Kingdra isn't a bad beefy water. I just wish he had better Physical moves so he could throw out an occasional Draco Meteor without really worrying about the Sp. Atk loss. Sadly his only really notable physical move is Waterfall.

Lee said:
The reason Bronzong might struggle is because Damp Rock means he loses Leftovers which is his only non Rest/Wish form of recovery. Milotic can set up the Rain Dance and use Recover to nullify the Leftovers loss, dealing out powerful boosted Surfs from a 100 Sp. Attk.
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Bronzong doesn't need Damp Rock. Heck, he might not even need Rain Dance. He's a good option because he brings valuable type diversity to a mostly-Water team and reaps notable benefits from it.
 
As true as that is X-Codes, I was keeping it in context.

I cant think of a good poke (besides kyogre) to lead with that would have damp rock Raindance (damp rock if possible) on a raindance team.
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Then a few people suggested Bronzong, so I assumed they were suggesting that Bronzong uses Rain Dance and Damp Rock.
 
Originally Posted by Fat Lee
Milotic can set up the Rain Dance and use Recover to nullify the Leftovers loss, dealing out powerful boosted Surfs from a 100 Sp. Attk.
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Good point. He can sleep too, and Hydro Pump from 100 Sp. Atack puts many more things in OHKO range then a Surf would.

Another idea is not even starting out with a rain dancer. Something like Dragonite can work like Specsmence; he can Draco Meteor and come back later with Spec-boosted Surfs and Thunders.

Don't forget electric types can work very well for rain dancing, and your opponent will definately switch out and reach for Blissey so you can plan your attack by switching to something else.

As for Kingdra, people overestimate his sturdiness. He is definately a sweeper for the late game. He packs 1 uncommon weakness, but he also has virtually no resistences to help his mediocre defenses (75 HP is not great, and people NEVER give him defense/special defense EVs).
 
A question to valir, why exactly do you want to set up rain dance?

I ask because the answer has a big impact on whose best to set it up, for instance if you were using it to set up Manaphy/Phione then you probably wouldn't want a pure water due to typing.
 
The problem with using Manaphy for Rain dance is that between Rest and Surf you get all of one other move. Play it like a Suicune if you will.
 
X-Codes said:
Kingdra isn't a bad beefy water. I just wish he had better Physical moves so he could throw out an occasional Draco Meteor without really worrying about the Sp. Atk loss. Sadly his only really notable physical move is Waterfall.
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Kingdra @ Damp Rock
- Rain Dance
- Return
- Waterfall
- Draco Meteor

Seems good to me no? Last time I checked Return was kind of reliable.
 
Lou Cypher said:
Kingdra @ Damp Rock
- Rain Dance
- Return
- Waterfall
- Draco Meteor

Seems good to me no? Last time I checked Return was kind of reliable.
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Water and Normal is actually a pretty decent combo offensively; water hits rock SE and steel and ghost neutral. I could see that kingdra as a good rain dance starter.
 
Firestorm's Butterfree worked wonders with his Bellyzard, and I'm currently testing it with a BellyWrath team. Pretty reliable so far (Stun or Sleep them, use Rain Dance, then U-Turn out of there) but I still need to finish EV training before I can really judge it.
 
I don't think Kingdra's a great starter in terms of using Rain Dance. In spite of all the excellent previously mentioned reasons to use him as the lead I can think of one excellent reason not to - Starter Specsmence with Drac Meteor is faster before the rain boost.

In the event that your opponent starts with 'mence (and lets face it, thats not likely to be a rare occurence) all turn one nets you is a powerful hit on your specsmence counter and then a chance to predict Sala's switch out. Plus cos its early game, you'll probably have to ice beam or heal anyway because you have no idea what they've got to switch in to your sala counter.
 
Don't write off Magnezone. ThunderDancing is sorta nice, and if you can predict the switch to 'Pert or any other ground type that comes your way, switch into Ludicolo.
Ludicolo is great at abosrbing a Swampert's Earthquake too.

Mind you, I've only tried this tactic on less experienced battlers
 
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