Hurricane Gerdy (OU Rain Team)

[Gerdy]

Hurricane Gerdy
A Rain Team By Gerdy​

Introduction​

Hello everybody first things first this team is NOT finalized and if you are just here to copy a team please don't because it is my team and I would like it if you would not copy it also it's not done yet. So now that that's out of the way I am not well known to the Smogon community considering I just joined 2.5 months ago. However, I do consider myself pretty good. And yes this is the first team I have ever made but don't worry I have tested it out many times and have been very successful with it. Even though I have had success with it every team has flaws and I would be greatly appreciated if you could help me patch them up and make this team as good as it can be. Also read the Threat List before posting a reply.​

Team-Building Process​

To start things off I wanted to use a Hydration Tank Vaporeon witch is very uncommon and the only way to use it to its full advantage is to have rain up hence Politoed is automatically on the team.

I decided to add Toxicroak on the team because he is able to ward off those pesky pink blobs which wall Vaporeon pretty easily. Also because in the rain he can last forever with Dry Skin, Leftovers, and Drain Punch.

I added Jirachi next because it has access to a 100% accurate Thunder in the rain to get rid of those bulky water types <ex. Jellicent> which can take HP Grass from Vaporeon and then recover back up. Also Jirachi makes a great Wish passer if Vaporeon doesn't have the time to rest.​

I put Gliscor on this team next because he is able to get rid of grass types well with Ice Fang and stall out anyone poisoned by Politoed. And can also get rid of electric types well with Earthquake. Plus look at him he is a total boss and has come in handy many times.

My last member of my team is Tornadus which can also help with getting rid of grass types with the almighty powerful 100% accurate STAB Life orbed Hurricane. Also getting rid of Ferrothorns with Focus Blast and OHKOing TTar easily. As well as HP Ice for 4x weak pokemon. However I found that I struggled greatly taking out Scizor and Forretress sometimes Ferrothorn if Focus Blast keeps missing.​

Which is why I decided to replace the regular Tornadus form with its Therian form. Allowing me to hit those Forretress, Scizors, and Ferrothorns hard before or after I set up rain.

I decided to replace Vaporeon with Latios because he is able to provide a nice check for my two major threats to my team. Even though HP Ice Thundurus-T is still a major threat Gastrodon was still not delivering as many wins and was easily killed in it's offensive form but was still not able to hit things as hard in its defensive form. So I decided Latios was the all around better choice.

In-Depth Look

Gerdy (Latios) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
Ev's: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
-Dragon Pulse
-Surf
-Psyshock
-Recover
Explanation: I replaced Latios with Vaporeon because Rotom-Wash and Thundurus-T would be able to blow through my team and Vaporeon seemed the most expendable since it only hindered my weakness to them. Now on to the actual set Dragon Pulse is able to hit any pokemon hard that doesn't resist. Surf is for coverage and it's boosted in the rain. Psyshock is for coverage and STAB. Recover is to heal up because he will be worn down quickly due to Life Orb recoil and taking hits every once and a while. Overall his addition to the team has brought more success to the team.

Bubblegum (Politoed) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
Ev's: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Nature: Bold
-Scald
-Toxic
-Perish Song
-Protect
Explanation: Politoed is here mainly to set up rain, poison people, and survive long enough to win the weather war(if needed). Scald is there because he needs one attacking move and can hopefully burn the target. Toxic is there to poison walls that I can't seem to break and the other players weather carrier. Perish song is to force a set up pokemon out or die. Protect is there to gain a little more leftovers recovery, scout, or stall out a toxic or burn. Overall incredibly hard to take out sometimes (once won a weather war when the other player had a Mamoswine, Abomasnow, and Tyranitar. And yes I won that battle) and can be very useful when poisoning walls and breaking up baton passers or a set up pokemon.​

Vaseline (Toxicroak) @ Leftovers
Trait: Dry Skin
Ev's: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def
Nature: Adamant
-Bulk Up
-Substitute
-Drain Punch
-Sucker Punch
Explanation: Pretty much what this set does is you switch in this guy on a pokemon that can't do anything to him on the switch set up a sub then bulk up and you can keep doing that until you feel you are good and now he is hard to take down and has amazing attacking power. Drain Punch lets you regain health fast if needed along with the 18% at the end of each turn with the dry skin leftovers combo. Sucker Punch is there for coverage and you move before the target as long as they attack you. This set is especially nice because once you have set up a few bulk ups an EQ from a Hippowdon won't OHKO allowing you to regain lost health with Drain Punch leaving your opponent scrambling. Overall once set up a few times things will get nasty.​

Ouch (Tornadus-Therian) @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
Ev's: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
-Hurricane
-Focus Blast
-U-Turn
-Heat Wave
Explanation: Where do I start with this monster well, the reason I changed from regular form to Therian form was because he gains Heat wave and by moving the stats around everything is the same except for defense and special defense which went up. Hurricane with 100% accuracy in the rain is devestating to pretty much any pokemon and allows me hit those grass types that go through Vaporeon and Politoed. Focus Blast is to hit Ferrothorns with and for coverage. I replaced HP Ice with U-Turn because even if HP Ice is super effective on a pokemon Hurricane will still do more damage. U-Turn also allows me to escape unwanted situations. Heat Wave is there because I needed a fire move to hurt Scizor, Forretress, and Ferrothorn. Heat wave OHKO's some Scizors in the rain at least comes pretty close as well as Ferrothorn and Forretress. However if I see one of them on the team I will start out with Tornadus so I can OHKO them before I put the rain up. Overall an amazing pokemon with an awesome move pool.​

Biatch (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
Ev's: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
Nature: Bold
-Wish
-Calm Mind
-Thunder
-Water Pulse
Explanation: Jirachi is here to heal up Vaporeon and Tornadus when needed by passing Wish. With Wish and Calm Mind Jirachi can become a Wish Support and a Bulky Sweeper. Thunder is able to hurt most pokemon respectively well and hurt other water types trying to benefit from the rain. Water Pulse is an unexpected and deadly move especially when paired with Thunder. Water Pulse does do more damage when it's in the rain and has a 20% chance to confuse while Thunder has a 30% to paralyze the target. Once the opponent is either paralyzed or confused use the other move so they will be paralyzed and confused allowing you to sweep up.(I would know I was at low health with this pokemon paralyzed and confused the opposing Latios which was at 100% health and was able to take it out while allowing my HP to return to a hefty 75%) Overall a great pokemon that provides wish support and can be used as a sweeper.​

Chea (Gliscor) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
Ev's: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Nature: Impish
-Substitute
-Protect
-Earthquake
-Ice Fang
Explanation: A pretty standard Poison Heal set the most used on Gliscor these days. However, I have changed it slightly most people running this set has sub, protect, toxic,attacking move. However I decided that I don't need Toxic for two reasons. One, Politoed has Toxic so he can poison them then this guy shows up and stalls them out. Two, I can do just fine even if they are not poisoned. Gliscor is a relatively bulky pokemon so once he is behing a sub he can hit you with at least two attacks before having to set up again. He allows me to hit grass types and ground types hard along with other Gliscors and Dragons. Most people only expect one move so I can reveal one but not the other example show I have EQ they switch in Dragonite it is OHKOed. Overall, a pretty broken set but is still very useful in stalling people out one of my favorites. *Update* I did put Stealth Rocks instead of Substitute to give it a try but I found that if I were to get Stealth Rocks up it would be late game because I would lead with either Politoed or Tornadus so I kept Substitute.​

Major Threats (Read to Rate)​

This is what I really want you to focus on as a rater I need help getting rid of these threats and others so if this could be the main focus of your response that would be awesome. From what I have done testing and you guys may have seen by now is that Rotom-Wash plows through most of my team easily. Using Volt switch or Thunderbolt to hit Politoed, Tornadus, and Vaporeon and if I switch in to Gliscor to take it he takes him out with a scald or hydro pump. Leaving Only Jirachi and Toxicroak left who really can't do much to him. This has made me think about a Breloom or Ferrothorn on my team because they can take whatever they want from him and hit him hard with a grass type move. However, the thing stopping me from making this change is I don't know who to replace on the team. Also Thundurus-Therian devestates my team. Taking out Vaporeon, Politoed, and Tornadus with an electric move. Whenever I switch Gliscor in on this guy he always takes me right out with an HP Ice. Once again Leaving Jirachi who can only hit him with Water Pulse because of Volt Absorb and Toxicroak who is easily outsped at 2HkOed and possibly OHKOed. Once again putting me in an awkward position in which I'm thinking I could give Jirachi HP Ice instead of Calm Mind but honestly I dunno can you please try and help me be able to handle these terrible threats to my team along with others that I have possibly missed. And please don't just tell me what pokemon to use also tell me which one I should replace it with and why. *UPDATE* Rotom-Wash is no longer a major prblem to my team however I am still having troubles with HP Ice Thundurus so if you could tell me a possible way to handle it and point out anyother flaws my team has and how to prevent it that would be awesome.​

Closing Words​

This team at least in my eyes is a pretty good team and so far I am happy with it however it can be much better I would like to improve this team as much as possible so it can be the best it can possibly be. I cannot wait to see what improvements you can make to my team and thank you for reading my first ever RMT. :)​

 

[TGMD]

Hey Gerdy,
as you have said, you have a pretty large problem with Rotom-W, Thundurus Therian, and strong Electric types in general, the easiest fix I can think of is an Offensive Gastrodon over Vaporeon. They pretty much do the exact same job but Gastrodon is one of the best answers to electric types unless they carry Hidden Power [Grass] (so they wont have Hidden Power [Ice] and then they dont really have anything to hit Gliscor with.) Gastrodon has a few added bonus' over Vaporeon other than the Electric immunity such as; STAB Earth Power, Storm Drain and overall far better defensive synergy with the rest of your team. You can use Gliscor to bait in Water type moves then go out to Gastrodon, raising it's SAtk by 1, giving you a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately Gastrodon can't heal it's status like Vaporeon can, but that's a small price to pay in return for not being so weak to such common pokemon.

You pretty much need Stealth Rocks over one of Gliscor's moves, Stealth Rocks are extremely important in the current metagame. This is because of the damage opposing pokemon will have to take every time you force a switch, as well as the ability to turn 3HKOs / 2HKOs into 2HKOs / OHKOs.

A Timid nature is alot better than Modest on Tornadus-t. With a Timid nature Tornadus-t is faster than everything in OU other than Jolteon, you miss out on alot of speed with Modest and you're powerful enough as it is already. Hidden Power [Ice] dosen't really net you any KOs you cant get with Hurricane, considering neutral Hurricane is stronger than super effective Hidden Power [Ice], Hurricane does enough to anything you're trying to hit with Hidden Power [Ice]. So I suggest U-Turn over Hidden Power [Ice], U-Turn is great for scouting and is much better than Hidden Power [Ice] in every way. You could alternatively try Rain Dance over Hidden Power [Ice] if you want a backup plan if you lose the weather war earlier on in the game.

Anyway, I hope this rate helped, and GL with the team :)

Offensive Gastrodon

Gastrodon (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Surf
- Recover

 

[Valhalla]

This team seems to have, on paper, a significant weakness to Thundurus-T--particularly Agility and Nasty Plot Variants. After a Nasty Plot, I'm fairly certain Thundurus can sweep your entire team. Thunder OHKOes everything bar perhaps Jirachi, who is running a Defensive spread rather than the standard Specially Defensive spread. If it gets off an Agility boost, Tornadus won't even be able to soften it up with HP Ice.

I recommend that you use a more Specially Defensive Jirachi set, moving the EVs you have invested in Defense to Special Defense, and changing its nature to Careful. You have Gliscor and Toxicroak to eliminate Physical Attackers for Jirachi.

Also, if you find Vaporeon isn't working well, you could try swapping it for a Life Orb Starmie or Choice Scarf Starmie (both of which can beat the aforementioned threats handily), trading some bulk for much needed speed.

 

[Jirachee]

Hi

Well to start things off perhaps you should be using a Timid nature on Tornadus-T. Tornadus-T's main advantage over its other form is its absolutely fantastic base 121 Speed, which allows it to outrun many common threats such as Terrakion and Latios who otherwise outspeed and OHKO you with their Rock/Dragon STAB. Tornadus-T is still extremely powerful without a Modest nature, thanks to Life Orb and the good coverage of Hurricane, which is a pretty powerful move on its own. Basically you aren't going to beat much more stuff with a Modest nature while Timid allows Tornadus-T to be much more menacing to potential revenge killers like Starmie, who can be OHKOed. You won't lose ANYTHING with this change, so I strongly recommend doing it.

You are also, like you say, pretty weak to threats such as Rotom-W and Thundurus-T, and the main reason for this is that your only Electric immunity or resistance, Gliscor, gets hammered by Hidden Power Ice from Thundurus-T or Hydro Pump from Rotom-W. This allows them to spam their Electric moves like Thunder(bolt) and Volt Switch, which will weaken your whole team very quickly. Jirachi won't enjoy eating Rain boosted Hydro Pumps either, and really hates Will O Wisp. A good way to fix that weakness is to use Latios instead of Vaporeon. While Latios can't really OHKO Scizor with Hydro Pump, it will be able to take on Rotom-W very well, resisting every common attacks and not really minding Will-O-Wisp, while also being able to deal with Thundurus-T as it outspeeds it and crushes it the all powerful Draco Meteor. It can take a Thunderbolt too so that's nice. Latios and Vaporeon kind of fill the same role so that's cool, as Latios hits pretty hard with Draco Meteor too, except it's a lot faster, but won't be as good versus Steels like Scizor, but Politoed and Gliscor do fine against it and leaves you a bit more open to Specially Defensive Jirachi but as long as Gliscor has Poison Heal that should be fine. Latios also helps you against Sun teams in case they carry something like Sunny Day Ninetales to win the weather war easier, you could have problems with Chlorophyll sweepers like Venusaur.

You should definetly use Stealth Rock over either Substitute or Ice Fang on Gliscor. Stealth Rock support is just necessary for nearly any team in the current metagame, because it allows you to deal with major threats such as Ninetales, Volcarona and Dragonite really easier. It also punishes switches by making the opponent take a little extra damage which makes it easier for like Tornadus-T to 2HKO and OHKO stuff with Hurricane, which puts a lot of pressure on the opponent and makes them think twice before switching in. This makes you lose an useful move but, you gain the ABSOLUTE MOST useful move in the game, which honestly, seems to be quite a good tradeoff. Gliscor is one of the two Pokemon capable of learning Stealth Rock on this team, the other being Jirachi, which doesn't have the room to fit it in, hence the reason why I think Gliscor is the one who should use it.

Lastly, Tornadus-T could really benefit from having U-turn instead of Hidden Power Ice. The reason is, Hidden Power Ice is actually weaker than Hurricane against opposing Tornadus-T (180 power for Hurricane versus 140 for Hidden Power Ice, so it's significantly weaker). Hidden Power Ice is only useful against Dragons, which have no business switching into Tornadus-T because it's faster and can take them down with Hurricane anyway, since it's a very strong move. If you have to switch into Dragons, odds are they will either OHKO you with their powerful Dragon STAB moves or will use Dragon Dance, which means that the next turn they will outspeed you and OHKO you with their Dragon STAB. U-turn, on the other hand, is very useful. It allows you to scout enemy switches and lets you have a favorable match up the next turn, which is fantastic. It works extremely well with Regenerator as an added bonus, so I don't see any downside to it.

After that, cool team. Here's the set you should use:

Latios

Latios @ Choice Specs
Levitate
Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~Draco Meteor
~Surf
~Psyshock
~Trick

Good luck!

 

[chimpact]

you need to replace Vaporeon immediately. It's only augmenting your weakness to SubCM Jirachi, RotomW, and thundurus-t. Lati@S and Gastrodon are the only pokemon that can effectively combat them (if Rotom and thundurus do not have HP Grass or grass knot respectively).

They both have their pros and cons, Lati's do very well against sun teams, but don't have success in sand unless tyranitar is at a low % or gone. While gastro can't do much to sun, but does pretty good against sand.

Hide

Gastrodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def
Sassy (+SpD, -Spe)
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Recover

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid (+Spe, - Atk]
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Recover

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid (+Spe, - Atk]
- Dragon Pulse
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Recover

Just choose whichever one you feel most comfortable with. Test out each one :].

In addition I have some moveset and EV changes for your team. Jirachi is a common pokemon that a lot of teams just aren't prepared for. I would definitely make it the SUB CM sweeper. Timid with max speed and Calm Mind over Wish. Wish doesn't help vaporeon much and tornadus has regenerator anyway.

In addition, Tornadus should be Naive or timid and give it U-turn over HP Ice. It's really not necessary as hurricane does enough damage to whatever you want to HP Ice. In addition U-turn into toxicroak can give you a little extra HP that could be crucial later on in the game.

 

[Gerdy]

Thank you so much guys I have made some changes and are testing them out to see which is the best and will update the team in the next few days

 

[Arcticblast]

Hello Gerdy, and welcome to Smogon!

It looks like you have a pretty solid team here. You stated yourself that you have problems with Thundurus-T and Rotom-W, so The Great Mighty Doom's recommendation of Gastrodon is an excellent one. However, it might be best to make it a Specially Defensive variant, as this way it will better be able to combat Thundurus-T and other powerful Special attackers (including the notoriously hard to kill SubCM Jirachi). Gastrodon has a minor case of Four Moveslot Syndrome (4MSS) in that it can't run all of Earth Power, Ice Beam, Scald, Recover, Toxic, Earthquake and Yawn. I've given you the best moveset it can run, with the choice of Earth Power, Ice Beam or Scald for its two attacking moves, and Recover and Toxic.

This team also lacks something that many other teams have - entry hazards. I know you like that Gliscor, but perhaps it would be in your best interest to change it to a Ferrothorn. This change will not only provide you with hazards, but a sturdy physical wall whose biggest weakness is somewhat neutered in the Rain! You will also have a solid switch-in to OU's numerous Dragon-types and Rotom-W without Will-O-Wisp.

The last change to make is a minor one - Give Tornadus-T Superpower over Focus Blast and a Hasty nature over Modest. This minor change will allow you to hammer Tyranitar, Specially Defensive Heatran and Blissey even harder than with Focus Blast. While the Hasty nature might seem really bad, it's better than giving Genesect a Download boost!

Finally, a bit of advice - play Tornadus-T carefully and use Sucker Punch liberally. Tornadus-T with a Hasty nature is not only rather frail, but incredibly weak to priority and Pursuit. Meanwhile, Sucker Punch is an incredible revenging tool, and in many of your matches against Thundurus-T and similar fast sweepers may be your best shot at stopping them.

Sets (importable format)

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Earth Power / Scald
- Ice Beam / Scald
- Recover
- Toxic

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 88 Def / 252 HP / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock / Spikes
- Thunder Wave / Protect
- Power Whip / Gyro Ball

Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- Heat Wave
- U-turn / Hidden Power [Ice]

Good luck with the team!

 

[Dumbdeer]

ferrothorn is a coreee

 

[Gerdy]

I made some changes to the team please give me some feedback on any changes you think I should make

 

[doublenikesocks]

Hi there. I don't think your Tornadus set is as efficient as can be, I suggest switching to
Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 atk / 252 spa / 252 spe
Naive Nature
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Ground]


This set allows you to hit Blissey, Heatran, and Tyranitar hard. It also can help against some forms of Jirachi and Heat Wave in the rain is a really weak move. Especially un-STABed.

 

[Boondocker]

Use Dugtrio over Gliscor. Your team really apreciates Ninetales and Tyranitar being gone, and Tornadus apreciates Jirachi and Blissey being gone. Nice team