Here Comes the Rain (and I say it's alright)

crispycanuck

Here comes the Rain (doo doo doo doo). I'm new to the whole competitive Pokemon scene. Being a new player, I tried all the gimmicky teams. Well, they are gimmicks for a reason :P. Finally made a legitimate rain team, and so far I've won probably around 50-60% on PO for the past week-ish. Being new, I have yet to see many threats. I would definitely appreciate any suggestions for changes on my team.

Team At A Glance
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Analysis
(red marks the changes)
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Yellow Sub (Politoed)
Item: Choice Specs
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Ability: Drizzle
Moves: Surf / Ice Beam / Focus Blast / HP Electric

Since this is a rain team, I needed a Drizzle Politoed. In the past, my Politoed would have just set up rain and be death fodder later on. However, it is now an offensive killer/revenge killer with his above average speed (with its Choice Scarf and Speed EVs). It will usually lead to set up rain, but can be used to kill the opponent's lead. Scald is used against most Pokemon due to the boost from STAB and Rain, but especially against Ninetales, Hippowdon and Aerodactyl. Focus Blast is used against Tyranitar and Abomasnow. HP Electric is there to deal with bulky Water Types and with the occasional Gyarados lead.

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OctopusGardn (Ferrothorn)
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 248 SpD
Ability: Iron Barbs
Moves: Leech Seed / Thunder Wave / Power Whip / Stealth Rock

Ferrothorn is an EXTREMELY bulky Pokemon that can wall most moves. Leech Seed is used for HP regeneration. Thunder Wave is used to cripple fast Pokemon. Stealth Rock is there for support. Power Whip is there as a reliable STAB attack that can put a serious dent in bulky Water Types. EVs are spent to make Ferrothorn equally Defensive and Specially Defensive. It's Leech Seed/Leftovers combo for regen can really destroy some Pokemon when they realize they aren't damaging Ferrothorn while slowly dying.

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Hey Jude (Vaporeon)
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160SpA
Ability: Hydration
Moves: Rest / Acid Armor / Scald / Ice Beam

Vaporeon is one of my favorite Pokemon (which is one reason I'm using this instead of Jellicent). In addition, it works very well with Ferrothorn. Fire attacks are nothing for Vaporeon. Vaporeon is not only a great tank, but also a decent Special Attacker. Scald is used to destroy Fire Pokemon with a rain boosted STAB move. It can also cripple strong attack based Pokemon with its burn hax. Ice Beam is used for coverage (especially on Dragons and Grass Pokemon). Rest, in conjunction with its Hydration ability, brings Vaporeon to full health without sleep. Hydration also heals it from statuses. The ability makes Vaporeon better than Jellicent in most situations.

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AmIDaWalrus? (Swampert)
Item: Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 72 Spe
Ability: Torrent
Moves: Earthquake / Ice Punch / Waterfall / Stone Edge

Swampert is my anti-electric Pokemon and physical attacker. It is used mostly to switch into electric moves (esepcially from Thunderous and Rotom-W). Earthquake and Waterfall are used to deal STAB damage. Ice Punch and Stone Edge are used as coverage. I love how most people underestimate and stay-in on Swampert only to get destroyed by its attacks. With a 350 attack stat before Choice Band, it can easily destroy non-defensive pokemon. Swampert also has some decent bulk to tank a few hit.

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LucyInTheSky (Latias)
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Ability: Levitate
Moves: Calm Mind / Recover / Dragon Pulse / Roar
This is a typical Calm Mind set. I chose Latias over Latios because of the extra SpD bulk that is needed on my team. Dragon Pulse is taken over Draco Meteor because of the consistent damage. Recover is used for HP regeneration, which is especially useful since Latias will be taking hit while using Calm Mind. Hidden Power Fire is used to take down annoying Steel Pokemon (especially Scizor).

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Sgt. Pepper (Gliscor)
Item: Toxic Orb
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 Spe
Ability: Poison Heal
Moves: Earthquake / Swords Dance / Ice Fang / Taunt

My last addition to my team. This is my anti-Fighting Pokemon (especially Conkeldurr and Lucario). Fling/Acrobatics is used to deal with those extremely annoying Fighting Pokemon. Earthquake is for STAB damage. Protect is used for an extra turn of healing. EVs are put into HP and Def for bulk, and into Speed to outspeed bottom tier threats. Obviously Poison Heal is used, as this is not a sand team.

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When looking at my team, I have a few questions. Should I replace Protect on Vaporeon with Toxic (or a Hidden Power move)? Also, would having another typed Hidden Power (Fighting?) on Latias be more beneficial (since Fire is less powerful in rain)?

Thanks so much for reading! Any suggestions are welcomed!

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hi crispycanuck you have a really nice team here so congrats on that. You have a few questions on your movesets so ill try and fix them up.

Firstly on Latias I suggest running Substitute over HP Fire. HP Fire gets halved in damage under Rain so its not going to be doing much damage to Ferrothorn (or Scizor I guess). If Scizor really is a problem I guess runing Surf would patch that up although personally I prefer Substitute to set up on Ferrothorn much more easily.

Regarding Vaporeon weird as it is I would suggest you running a LO set on it. You seem to be trying to abuse Hydration and Rest. A LO set lets Vaporeon hit extremely hard while still having the ability to Rest off LO damage. LO also helps differentiate itself from Jellicent which can still pull off a similar set to your own Vaporeon.

Lastly I would support a change to Swords Dance Gliscor over your current set. Swords Dance Gliscor (with a set of Swords Dance/Earthquake/Taunt/Ice Fang) still checks opposing Conkeldurr. As a bonus it also Taunts Skarmory and can boost on it which is fairly useful to your team as Skarm can set up on Ferrothorn, Latias (and your current Gliscor set)

GL with the team

EDIT nitpicking at below

To counter attack it, you have nothing.
Click to expand...

Don't want to sound mean but

His Swamperts Waterfall vs that Reuniclus: 58.73% - 69.34%
Reuniclus gets flat out 2KOed and also risks that 20% chance of a Waterfall Flinch. Switching to SD Gliscor also helps patch it up anyway.
 
Hey there,

Nice team. However, Reuniclus gives it problems. It is a very big threat in today's metagame (I think it's the 13th most used pokemon), and the Calm Mind version with Psyshock is a very big threat for this team. Due to its amazing physical bulk, it can set up its Calm Minds on Swampert's coverage moves and Gliscor, thanks to Magic Guard it will easily set up on Ferrothorn and due to Politoed's weak attacking powers it will set up easily on it. To counter attack it, you have nothing. Nothing can take its Psyshocks and Focus Blast, bar Latias, who is just set-up fodder and once it gets to +6, Psyshock 2HKOes. This is rather bad for such a popular thing. However, you can use this situation at your own advantage and use it as set-up fodder for your Latias, simply by swapping Hidden Power Fire for Roar. It will usually try to set up on you, and when you get to +6, Roar it, and you've practically won the battle.

In short Roar>HP Fire
 
Hey. Nice team, but I would advise running hydro pump over scald on politoed, and perish song over hp electric. Hydro pump hits much harder, and can stop reuniclus from setting up on you so easily. If the 80% accuracy is a let down for you, use surf. Scald should really only be used on walls/tanks. I also agree w/ the 2 people that posted above me, and try roar on latias over hp fire. For the LO vaporeon set that was mentioned, run a spread of 252 HP / 252 Sp.Atk modest nature. I don't think your team needs the extra bulk, as your vaporeon is not a wish passer.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. Testing everything now!

Politoed -> Changed to Surf. I did less than half to Tyranitar in a Sandstorm with Scald. This should put it over half.

Latias -> Changed to Roar. HP Fire didn't really do much anyways. My Latias in the past was either hit or miss. It either was stuck, ready to die, or it would sweep. Putting Roar should phase out threats. (First game testing, just got a Latias sweep (even after surviving 2 Freezes), since I was able to phase his Ferrothorn away)

Vaporeon -> Life Orb/Offensive Set. Another fault was that I didn't have enough strong special attackers. This should solve that. I replaced Protect with Acid Armor (no use for Protect without Leftovers), since I was concerned over the lack of Defense the Vaporeon has. (Acid Armor saved me from a 6-0. I was down 5 Pokemon to 0. +6 Defense saved me. Vaporeon went to kill 3 pokemon while stalling with Rest/Scald before he rage quit!)

Gliscor -> Swords Dance Set. I think I have enough Defense with Ferrothorn. Gliscor should still be able to take Fighting attacks quite well. (Set up Swords Dance against Conkeldurr, while taking Guts Drain Punches extremely well, swept the rest of his team :D)
 
Don't you think you should change Politoed's Choice Scarf to Choice Specs? Although that it's Speed is not high due to the lack of Choice Scarf, Choice Specs boosts its SpA making it a harder opponent to deal with it. Since that Rain is out on the field, Politoed benefits from this immensely.

SpA > Spd?
 
My Politoed has Choice scarf instead of specs for the on the run damage. It also catches people off guard when they see that my Politoed out sped their Pokemon.

I'm going to try out Specs. Scarf increases survivability, but with the bulky team I have, and the lack of good Special Attackers, it's worth a try.
 
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