SM OU How do I counter rain teams with my team?

[leonndp]

I play a lot of Showdown and one particular set that wrecks the shit out of me 9/10 times is the Pelipper/Swampert/Kingdra rain team. The main reason I've found is that Pelipper takes 0 effort to set rain, and it's hard as hell for me to catch off-guard even though I have Stealth Rock and moves that can one-shot it. All it needs to do is switch in and then leave me to deal with a 2x speed Kingdra or Mega Swampert, at which point it's damn near impossible to force a switch from either of them, let alone revenge kill them.

edgy boi (Kartana) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike

I typically use Kartana to poke holes in the enemy team's defense so that my scarfed Garchomp has an easier time sweeping late-game. Sometimes I do it the other way around, too. Speed's decent but not enough to outspeed Kingdra in rain. This is pretty much my only answer to Swampert but I usually can't the drop on him on switch or before rain sets.

Ballsack (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch

I use Magearna as a special wall and defensive pivot in conjunction with Rotom-W, but it's a really dangerous matchup against Mega Swampert who can switch in perfectly safe because not only can he kill it with 2x speed Earthquake, but he's immune to Volt Switch as well.

George Washington (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Defog

Works really well as a defensive pivot with Magearna as the two resist each others' weaknesses, but his water resistance means nothing in the face of a STAB and Rain Dance-boosted water attack.

Mirror Force (Diancie) @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Stealth Rock

My idea when I first built this team was to use Mega Diancie's magic bounce to discourage enemies from setting hazards or status moves while setting up my own, but that hasn't worked out too well. I've found that Stealth Rock does little to discourage Pelipper from setting up rain (2x weakness still means it gets to set rain for 20 turns total at most) and though Diamond Storm's a great move I rarely ever get the drop on him; choosing him as my lead means I risk matching against Swampert and wasting a turn.

Sharknado (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Claw

This is my best revenge killer and often my late-game sweeper after Kartana busts up the enemy team. Again, though, scarf isn't enough to outspeed Kingdra in the rain, and its attack is not enough to kill Swampert.

I ran out of jokes tbh (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
- Roost

I use Zapdos for special coverage. He's my second answer to Pelipper with Discharge, but has the same problem as Diance where I can rarely get the drop on him since the enemy can just switch to Swampert.

What strategies can I use to counter rain teams, or what pokemon should I switch out?

 

[Meliodafu7]

Well, this won't be a rate but you can swap garchomp as a SD breaker with a Z move and then, using Scarf Kartana, you Will be able to outspeed Swampert, but still losing to Kingdra, in this regard, you need to play with your magearna pretty conservative.

 

[Chokepic]

You really dont have a bad mu vs rain lol, not a good mu but you dont autolose to it. You have rotom-wash for swampert and magearna for kingdra. I think I would lead with diancie and click sr in front of pelipper because it is not going to stay, then the match will probably be easier tho kingdra is a bit problematic.

I don't have a rate, sorry. I would change chomp to scarf lando-t, and zapdos to specs koko, but if you are so afraid of rain...

 

[XxDreamShadexX]

Most rain teams carry a Koko Lucha core, so I'd change your zapdos set to a defensive set to handle Lucha.

I ran out of jokes tbh (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
- Roost

Your magearna can beat kingdra so leave that.

And as pride mustang said above, Scarf Kart can outspseed pert so Give him the scarf.

 

[HCJB]

I run this to deal with rain:

Greninja (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 236 Atk / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot
- Grass Knot

Faster than Swampert and Koko, and OHKOes both. Can soft counter Ash-Greninja after rocks outside of rain (one or two switch-ins) and check it in the rain. Also gets Scarf Lele and Mega Alakazam (both clean OHKOes), and can discourage Lucha from boosting so you can check it with Magearna. Ice Beam gets things like Zygarde at the +1.

It is in general a good pivot. I would recommend this over Garchomp as your revenge killer of choice.

 

[ImBackBoizz]

Freeze dry alolan ninetales easily defeats pelipper, swampert, and kingdra. All 4x weakness.

 

[AeBi]

Easy. Run will-o-wisp on rotom with an iapapa berry. Drop pain split as it's a trash move in general imo. Also, rain boosted hydro does a lot to mega pert. Rotom-W is literally the strongest counter to m-swampert.

 

[LandoLando]

Easy. Run will-o-wisp on rotom with an iapapa berry. Drop pain split as it's a trash move in general imo. Also, rain boosted hydro does a lot to mega pert. Rotom-W is literally the strongest counter to m-swampert.

way youre the guy i saw on youtube who found m83 midnight city and then commented on how i knew you from smogon

why the revival

 

[Mudkip727]

You could drop hp fire/diamond storm on diancie(you already have one on mag) and adopt protect on your move set to better utilize diancie as a lead. Protect against SR users that immediately pose a threat to diancie like ferro/lando/pert/heatran(if you don't have earth power) etc. You also have the benefit of stalling out rain turns.

Your team prob suffers from kingdra more than pert tho. With pert, you have a hard counter named rotom that also has access to recovery. Zap 'theoreticaly' can soft-check it with enough defense investment with static shenanigans, and so does kart. Kingdra, however, you need to play around it well, as your counter, mag, has no real means of recovering.

But if you want a single mon that counters both pert and kingdra, I'd recommend bulu/tangrowth or mantine. Either give defog to zapdos and drop rotom for bulu, or choose mantine as your defogger.