So I'm pretty new to team building and really wanted to try a weather team and have always liked water pokes so rain dance it was! I've been playing about with this team for a few days now and have moved some pokes around but it's still not working as well as I'ld like it to. So here it is :D!
The Lead: Zapdos
Item: Damp Rock
Nature: Timid
Ability: Pressure
Evs: 248 HP, 224 Speed, 36 Special Attack
Moves: Rain Dance, Thunder, U-Turn, Roost
Well, as any typical rain dance strategy, the plan is to set up rain dance as soon as possible! So first turn is rain dance to get 8 turns of rain with the damp rock held. What I do next depends on the opponents lead. I will U-turn if its a psychic or grass or will make use of the 100% accuracy of thunder if it's a poke that's weak. Roost if required but I've found I don't use this much at the start of the game, but has helped later on once I've switched out and back later to Zapdos
The Physical Sweeper: Kingdra
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Swift Swim
Evs: 24 HP, 252 Attack, 232 Speed
Moves: Dragon Dance, Substitute, Yawn, Outrage
Now I know I'm playing this pokemon wrong. Kingdra hardly lasts when I've been playing it and I have no time to dragon dance at all. Maybe its my priorities in moves going wrong. I haven't once been able to affectively use outrage yet and very rarely use yawn. Any substitutes I put up instantly get broken. Now I know it's me and not the pokemon, because i've seen Kingdra been used really effectively. So it's something I'm doing, please help!
The Special Sweeper: Ludicolo
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Calm
Ability: Swift Swim
Evs: 204 HP, 104 Speed, 124 Special Defence
Moves: Ice Beam, Leech Seed, Grass Knot, Surf
I've enjoyed using Ludicolo on this team, but haven't had an amazing amount of success. Leech seed has done a nice bit of background damage but I find it hard defeating those with high special defences (I've spent ages trying to take down the likes of Porygon-Z) I haven't seen much special sweeping action from Ludicolo but I must say that it has taken opponents a long time to take it down.
The Supporter: Bronzong
Item: Damp Rock
Nature: Impish
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 252 HP, 128 Attack, 128 Defence
Moves: Rain Dance, Stealth Rock, Hypnosis, Explosion
I can't get enough of Bronzong, it seems to creep into every pokemon team I create! It's defences are excellent and its fire weakness is weakened by rain dance, enabling it to set up stealth rock and, depending on the threat, try hypnosis. When all else fails, use explosion. I've read a few peoples opinions on bronzong in a rain dance team and I've got the impression from them that bronzong isn't supposed to last long, while I seem to be using it to set up rain/entry/sleep then subbing to another poke, so that I can use it later. Am I playing the zong wrong? I also want to hold a different item on this poke as I don't like duplicating items, and already have my zapdos using a damp rock.
The Mixed Belt Striker: Swampert
Item: Expert Belt
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Evs: 252 HP, 6 Attack, 252 Defence
Moves: Waterfall, Earthquake, Superpower, Stone Edge
Now I'm not sure if this works. It gains very little help from rain dance other than the waterfall power increase, but then I should be using Kingdra for that anyway? I don't use waterfall a lot of Swampert when battling, I usually end up using earthquake and stone edge. Superpower was brought in to deal with Blissey, who my team was getting walled by. Initially this position was filled by a standard technician scizor. Now I'm wondering should I just be using a pokemon that covers a lot of types and isn't put out too much by rain? Initially swampert was also a stealth rock/roar user but since Bronzong already had stealth rock I didn't see the point.
The Mixed Supporter And Attacker: Gengar
Item: Black Sludge
Nature: Timid
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 4 HP, 252 Speed, 252 Special Attack
Moves: Rain Dance, Thunder, Shadow Ball, Hypnosis
I thought a third rain dancer was vital for the team and wanted to make more use out of the 100% thunder, but also thought I needed to cover other types. I thought a ghost would be most appropriate as that would stop any rapid spinning opponents from removing stealth rock and shadow ball STAB-bed would do a hefty amount of damage to a lot of opponents. I throw in a hypnosis against an opponent that I don't think I will be able to beat with gengar and it also helps set up rain dance without care. This place was initially a rain dance jolteon, who ran the same move set except used wish instead of hyposis. I found that jolteon could sweep 2 to 3 pokes with its speed at best of times but found as far as synergy went, I wasn't substituting jolteon into electric attacks to use its ability because not many people were using electric attacks on me...
Basically, I'm really stuck with this :(. My team is getting torn apart by most pokes that bring in or summon their own weather, my sweepers don't seem to get a chance to sweep and I seem to be depending on gengar and bronzong, who aren't my proper sweepers! I'm not that confident with any of my pokemon in the team so they are all changable. Please let me know what you think :)
Any criticism would be appreciated, thank you!
The Lead: Zapdos
Item: Damp Rock
Nature: Timid
Ability: Pressure
Evs: 248 HP, 224 Speed, 36 Special Attack
Moves: Rain Dance, Thunder, U-Turn, Roost
Well, as any typical rain dance strategy, the plan is to set up rain dance as soon as possible! So first turn is rain dance to get 8 turns of rain with the damp rock held. What I do next depends on the opponents lead. I will U-turn if its a psychic or grass or will make use of the 100% accuracy of thunder if it's a poke that's weak. Roost if required but I've found I don't use this much at the start of the game, but has helped later on once I've switched out and back later to Zapdos
The Physical Sweeper: Kingdra
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Swift Swim
Evs: 24 HP, 252 Attack, 232 Speed
Moves: Dragon Dance, Substitute, Yawn, Outrage
Now I know I'm playing this pokemon wrong. Kingdra hardly lasts when I've been playing it and I have no time to dragon dance at all. Maybe its my priorities in moves going wrong. I haven't once been able to affectively use outrage yet and very rarely use yawn. Any substitutes I put up instantly get broken. Now I know it's me and not the pokemon, because i've seen Kingdra been used really effectively. So it's something I'm doing, please help!
The Special Sweeper: Ludicolo
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Calm
Ability: Swift Swim
Evs: 204 HP, 104 Speed, 124 Special Defence
Moves: Ice Beam, Leech Seed, Grass Knot, Surf
I've enjoyed using Ludicolo on this team, but haven't had an amazing amount of success. Leech seed has done a nice bit of background damage but I find it hard defeating those with high special defences (I've spent ages trying to take down the likes of Porygon-Z) I haven't seen much special sweeping action from Ludicolo but I must say that it has taken opponents a long time to take it down.
The Supporter: Bronzong
Item: Damp Rock
Nature: Impish
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 252 HP, 128 Attack, 128 Defence
Moves: Rain Dance, Stealth Rock, Hypnosis, Explosion
I can't get enough of Bronzong, it seems to creep into every pokemon team I create! It's defences are excellent and its fire weakness is weakened by rain dance, enabling it to set up stealth rock and, depending on the threat, try hypnosis. When all else fails, use explosion. I've read a few peoples opinions on bronzong in a rain dance team and I've got the impression from them that bronzong isn't supposed to last long, while I seem to be using it to set up rain/entry/sleep then subbing to another poke, so that I can use it later. Am I playing the zong wrong? I also want to hold a different item on this poke as I don't like duplicating items, and already have my zapdos using a damp rock.
The Mixed Belt Striker: Swampert
Item: Expert Belt
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Evs: 252 HP, 6 Attack, 252 Defence
Moves: Waterfall, Earthquake, Superpower, Stone Edge
Now I'm not sure if this works. It gains very little help from rain dance other than the waterfall power increase, but then I should be using Kingdra for that anyway? I don't use waterfall a lot of Swampert when battling, I usually end up using earthquake and stone edge. Superpower was brought in to deal with Blissey, who my team was getting walled by. Initially this position was filled by a standard technician scizor. Now I'm wondering should I just be using a pokemon that covers a lot of types and isn't put out too much by rain? Initially swampert was also a stealth rock/roar user but since Bronzong already had stealth rock I didn't see the point.
The Mixed Supporter And Attacker: Gengar
Item: Black Sludge
Nature: Timid
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 4 HP, 252 Speed, 252 Special Attack
Moves: Rain Dance, Thunder, Shadow Ball, Hypnosis
I thought a third rain dancer was vital for the team and wanted to make more use out of the 100% thunder, but also thought I needed to cover other types. I thought a ghost would be most appropriate as that would stop any rapid spinning opponents from removing stealth rock and shadow ball STAB-bed would do a hefty amount of damage to a lot of opponents. I throw in a hypnosis against an opponent that I don't think I will be able to beat with gengar and it also helps set up rain dance without care. This place was initially a rain dance jolteon, who ran the same move set except used wish instead of hyposis. I found that jolteon could sweep 2 to 3 pokes with its speed at best of times but found as far as synergy went, I wasn't substituting jolteon into electric attacks to use its ability because not many people were using electric attacks on me...
Basically, I'm really stuck with this :(. My team is getting torn apart by most pokes that bring in or summon their own weather, my sweepers don't seem to get a chance to sweep and I seem to be depending on gengar and bronzong, who aren't my proper sweepers! I'm not that confident with any of my pokemon in the team so they are all changable. Please let me know what you think :)
Any criticism would be appreciated, thank you!
