I Make it Rain! (Not your standard UU Rain Team)

[Nas]

Yeah that name has probably been taken before, but whatever. Anyways, this isn’t your standard UU Rain Dance team. Instead, I start off the match with rain and proceed to weaken down my opponent’s team until I can finish them off with Absol, while my defensive core deals with any threats they throw at me. This is probably the best UU team I’ve made so far, and it had no trouble reaching the leaderboard on the first day of testing. And now, the team.​

Changes are in Bold​

At a glance:​

​

The Lead​

Uxie @ Damp Rock
~Relaxed
~Levitate
EV’s: 252 Hp/252 Def/4 Sp.Def
-Stealth Rock
-Rain Dance
-Psychic
-U-Turn​

Description: Uxie is a great lead. With Crobat gone I don’t have to worry about Taunt so getting Stealth Rocks and Rain Dance up is relatively easy. Usually Uxie doesn’t suffer much damage during the beginning of the game, because my opponent will be busy setting up their own SR, so later in the game he can come back and serve as a counter to fighting types such as Hitmontop and Hariyama. Overall, a solid lead that rarely lets me down.​

EVs: The ev’s here are quite simple. Max Hp and Def ensure that Uxie can take quite a beating before going down, and the leftovers goes into Sp.Def.​

Team Work: Uxie sets up the rocks for the team, and then Rain Dances and U Turns out to either Ludicolo or Kabutops, to weaken my opponents team for the eventual Absol sweep. Damp Rock gets me eight turns of rain, which is more than enough time for my sweepers to get their job done. As previously mentioned, Uxie serves as a wall later in the game if needed.​

The Sweepers​

Ludicolo and Kabutops under the rain are huge offensive threats that are capable of ripping teams apart, and you’ll probably hear me saying that several times during this RMT. Once Uxie has finished setting up SR and Rain Dance, these two come in and do their thing.​

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
~Modest
~Swift Swim
EV’s: 4 Def/252 Sp.Atk/252 Spd
-Surf
-Energy Ball
-Ice Beam
-Rain Dance​

Description: For my two rain sweepers, I decided I wanted one to hit on the special side, and one on the physical side. After testing Ludicolo, Gorebyss, and Omastar, I decided Ludicolo would be my special attacker. Its main advantages over the others include its better typing, getting stab Energy Ball to hit Quagsire with, and its ability to switch in on Leech Seed for free. Once I’ve got a Rain Dance up, you can expect this guy to do some serious damage.​

EVs: Again, the ev’s here are quite obvious. Max Sp.Atk and Speed allow for maximum sweeping capabilities, and the 4 remaining ev’s go into defence​

Team Work: Ludicolo’s job is to weaken my opponent down to the point where Absol can clean up, and boy does he do his job beautifully. This thing averages about 2-3 kills a match, which is great. If my opponent tries to stall out Rain Dance with switching and Protect, I can always set it up again, though it’ll only last five turns.​

Kabutops @ Life Orb
~Adamant
~Swift Swim
EV’s: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge
-Swords Dance
-Aqua Jet​

Description: Kabutops is a beast under the rain. A Swords Danced Waterfall under the rain OHKO’s pretty much everything in UU, except for pokemon with Water Absorb or Dry Skin. (But I have answers to those) Stone Edge is a secondary stab that hits the things that Waterfall can’t, and lastly Aqua Jet is a good priority move to use if the rain runs out.​

EVs: 252 Atk is necessary in order to do as much damage as possible. 184 Spd ev’s gives me 242 speed, enough to outrun Honchcrow. Now that Honchcrow is banned, I might move some ev’s over to Hp, but this spread has been working well so far.​

Team Work: Kabutops job, like Ludicolo’s, is to weaken my opponent down for an Absol sweep. Unfortunately, Kabutops sometimes fails to do that and instead sweeps all on his own, not even giving Absol a chance to reveal itself. (Which I’m fine with) Unlike Ludicolo, this guy isn’t as easily stalled as Ludicolo, because if my opponent makes a bad move and switches or Protects while I Swords Dance, it’s usually gg.​

The Defensive Core:​

Registeel and Quagsire form the team’s defensive core, stopping over half of the UU metagame between them. You must be thinking why are such defensive pokemon on such an offensive rain team such as this? Well, without them my team would be torn apart by a lot of common UU sweepers.​

Registeel @ Leftovers
~Careful
~Clear Body
EV’s: 252 Hp/100 Atk/156 Sp.Def
-Thunder Wave
-Iron Head
-Explosion
-Thunder​

Description: You’d think that with the banning of Shaymin and Crobat, Registeel’s usefulness would have gone down, but it is because of their banning that he’s needed more than ever. With Crobat gone, Mismagius, Yanmega, and Roserade are becoming incredibly common, and Registeel is probably the best counter to all of them. Quagsire tends to draw in grass types, so Registeel makes a good switch in, and I can usually get a free Twave on something. Iron Head is for stab and is generally my most powerful option against, well, everything. When I’m low on health and can no longer wall anything, I click Explosion and watch something go down. The last slot was mostly filler but I figured I might as well have something to hit Ludicolo with, and I have Rain on my team anyways so it’s usually 100% accuracy.​

EVs: The EV spread allows me to take multiple hits from special attackers while still allowing my attacks to pack some punch. 100 attack ev’s are necessary to 2hko Mismagius after one substitute, and 2hko Espeon after LO recoil.​

Team Work: Registeel is really the only thing keeping me from being ripped apart by special sweepers such as Mismagius, Espeon, and Yanmega. He also provides paralysis support which helps Absol, who isn’t very fast. When Rain Dance teams face other Rain Dance teams, it usually becomes a matter of speed ties and you can’t be guaranteed a win. However, my team has an advantage over standard rain teams because Quagsire handles Kabutops/Quilfish with ease, and Registeel makes a fine switch into Ludicolo and Gorebyss, which will usually come in to KO Quagsire with their grass moves.​

Quagsire @ Leftovers
~Impish
~Water Absorb
EV’s: 252 Hp/160 Def/96 Sp.Def
-Earthquake
-Waterfall
-Rest
-Sleep Talk​

Description: Part two of my defensive duo. My team is pretty slow outside of the Rain, which means I’m vulnerable to Drapion/Toxicroak/Azumaril, all dangerous sweepers. Quagsire however, does a good job of countering all of these. Rest and Sleep Talk allow me to recover health outside of Water Absorb, as well as absorb status. I’m considering replacing Ice Beam for Waterfall, so I can counter Stalltres more effectively. Ice Beam doesn’t really do anything other than hit Altaria, which isn’t very common.​

EVs:This guy had to be able to take repeated abuse from fighting types such as Toxicroak and Hariyama, so 252/160 with a Relaxed nature gave him the defensive capabilities I felt he needed. The remaining 96 EV’s were originally in attack, but I felt they’d serve better in Sp.Def to help take hits from NP Toxicroak and Yanmega.​

Team Work: Quagsire works well with Registeel, handling the Fire types that love to switch in on him, as well as threatening fighting types such as Toxicroak with Earthquake. However, the main reason he’s on my team is his ability; Water Absorb. This gives me the edge against other Rain teams and if Ludicolo comes in, then Registeel gets a free switch to paralyse something. Quaggy also serves as the sleep absorber for the team, although switching him in on a grass type such as Roserade can be risky.​

The Standalone Sweeper​

"The Lone Wolf”

Absol @ Life Orb
~Jolly
~Super Luck
EV’s: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
-Swords Dance
-Sucker Punch
-Superpower
-Night Slash​

Description: “The Disaster Pokemon” pretty much says it all. Once all my opponents fighting types are out of the way this guy is capable of ripping through teams. Super Luck and Night Slash abuses luck to the fullest. I will not replace Night Slash with Psycho Cut because then my only way of hitting psychics and ghosts will be Sucker Punch, and Tomb/Clops will often go for a Will-O-Wisp rather than attack, and Uxie will Thunder Wave me.​

EVs: Pretty straightforward ev’s. Jolly and max speed ensures I’ll at least tie with other Absol, and attack is maxed out for maximum power.​

Team Work: Teamwork? The Lone Wolf rides alone. In short, he lets the rest of the team do the dirty work for him and then he cleans up.​

 

[Nas]

Threat List

Mismagius – Not getting past Registeel any time soon, but if it does Absol or Kabutops can revenge kill it.

Blaziken – Quagsire handles it. If it’s running HP Grass then I’ll have to hope Uxie’s at enough health to take a hit and Psychic it. Kabutops can also revenge kill with Aqua Jet.

Roserade – These require a bit more prediction to beat, as my sleep absorber is 4x weak to ground, but so far Quagsire has never been killed by one of these. If the grass attack is obvious then I’ll bring in Registeel, and then switch to Quaggy to absorb the sleep. After that Registeel walls it. If I know its going to use Sleep Powder right away, then I’ll just switch to Quagsire to absorb it. This method is risky but it almost always works.

Registeel – They’ll usually end up significantly weakened or dead in the beginning of the match in their attempt to stop my rain dancers from sweeping. If not, then Quagsire walls it and can hit it with a SE Earthquake. Absol’s Superpower is going to hurt too.

Milotic – Ludicolo’s Energy Ball 2hko’s, as well as Kabutops’ Stone Edge. (Sometimes it can OHKO after a SD) Quagsire does a good job of walling it if I need him to, but he can’t really take Milo down. Really, all I need to do is weaken it enough for Absol to finish it off.

Steelix – Absolutely not a threat at all. Kabutops and Ludicolo both make short work of him, Quagsire can hit it with EQ and rest off any damage, and Absol does huge amounts of damage with Superpower. It’s really only a threat to Registeel.

Ambipom – Registeel walls it and can paralyse or kill it. It’s not doing much to Uxie or Quagsire, and both of them can nail it with their stab attacks. Lastly, Absol and Kabutops can hit it with their priority attacks.

Hitmontop – Uxie can 2hko with Psychic and takes little from its attacks. The rest of my team has to be careful of him, though Quagsire can act as a good back up counter if Uxie is gone.

Spiritomb – It gets decimated by Ludicolo and Kabutops during the rain, and Absol has no problem ohko’ing it after a Swords Dance.

Arcanine – Same as Blaziken.

Clefable – All of my sweepers are capable of either ohko’ing it or 2hko’ing it. Registeel can explode on it if I don’t want to risk switching in on a CM boosted T Bolt.

Azumarill – Quagsire is my primary counter, and Absol and Ludicolo can revenge kill it.

Claydol – Absol rips through it with Night Slash and a rain boosted Waterfall/Surf can ohko it. Quagsire doesn’t have much trouble handling it either.

Espeon – Again, it’s not getting past Registeel any time soon, and Kabutops/Absol can revenge kill it.

Regirock – My Rain sweepers make short work of it, Quaggy handles it, and Absol can finish off a weakened one.

Uxie – Absol says hi. Really, Uxie can’t kill anything on my team.

Yanmega – Registeel handles this nicely, and Quagsire is capable of taking a few hits and hitting back with a super effective Ice beam. (If Yanmega switched into SR, Ice beam KO’s)

Slowbro – Pretty much the same as Milotic, though Ludicolo and Absol
have a much easier time taking it out because of its lower Sp.Def and psychic typing.

Chansey – Kabutops, Absol, and Registeel are all threats to Chansey.
Quaggy can stall it out if I’m in a tight spot.

Absol – Ironically, my team is somewhat weak to SD Absol. However, Quagsire can usually take a Swords Danced Night Slash and hopefully KO back with Earthquake, unless I get critted.

Umbreon – Haven’t faced one yet, but it looks like it won’t be too much of a problem. Absol can switch in on a Payback and threaten a KO with Superpower, or just SD up.

Hariyama - Uxie can 2hko with Psychic and takes little from its attacks. (Except for Payback) The rest of my team has to be careful of him, though Quagsire can act as a good back up counter if Uxie is gone.

Feraligator – Quagsire again is my best bet here; these aren’t too common anyways so I don’t think I have much to worry about.

Toxicroak – Probably the biggest threat to my team. Unlike its other fighting type brothers, this thing is capable of destroying Uxie through Swords Danced Sucker Punches or Nasty Plotted Dark Pulses. As well as that, it does a good job of stopping Ludicolo and Kabutops in their tracks because of Dry Skin. It’s not impossible to beat, but it usually leaves a big impact on my team before going down.

 

[Nas]

Updated with threat list.

 

[Darkartisan]

I thought this wasn't standard rain dance? Whatever.

Uxie wants an offensive special attacking spread. 252 SpA/252 Spe/6 Hp should be fine. Defensive spreads are cool and all, but they don't work nearly as well as the offensive Uxie. Psychic/Thunder Wave/rain dance/Stealth Rock. This breaks through so many leads that I don;'t even have time to list them all. The defensive spread can take hits, but regardless you're dying anyways, and Yanmega leads walk all over Uxie's defensive set, which brings me to my next point.

Without the Uxie set I mentioned, Yanmega completely sweeps this team, especially if it carries HP ground (which it will). To fix this, Uxie needs to use the above set. It's alot easier than moving 2 or 3 pokemon because you'll end up having more weaknesses. Yanmega drops in on Uxie when the game starts, scouts the protect(where you stealth rock) then drop the Thunder wave, or else Yanmega will Bug buzz, knocking out Uxie. Then you bring in Kabutops, who is wrecked by Yanmega's Hp ground. Then you can try Ludicolo, but Air slash turns the dancing duck into shit. Registeel comes in, and maybe he can stop him for one or two turns, but nothing more. The only way Registeel will beat Yanmega is if he explodes, which is already too late because Yanmega could Protect to stop it, or Hp ground and wreck you. Quagsire? Don't make me laugh. Yanmega dominates Quagsire, and Absol, you can predict, and if you predict wrong, you just got 6-0'd

Your Kabutops set is completely flaw. The standard spread is the complete best, 252 Speed/252 Atk/6 Hp. Fix it, because you need to outspeed everything, since Kabutops is incredibly frail. Random choice scarfers will bully you anyways, and if Kabutops even gets hit, he's 9 times out of 10 OHKO'd, so the HP evs are pretty pointless anyways. I also suggest Aqua Tail oevr Waterfall. Waterfall has a better chance of hitting the opponent, as well as a 20% flinch rate, although Aqua Tail hits extremely hard, which brings valuable OHKOs, which Rain dance needs to be effective. Same goes for Ludicolo. You could try Hydro pump, as it hits waay harder and is alot better for the whole team. You save turns by OHKOing pokemon, instead of wasting 2 valuable turns of rain dance just so you can take damage and knock something out. You need to be unscathed, which Hydro pump will help you do. You could also try Focus Punch to scare out Chansey, who seems to be a big problem for rain dance in UU in general.

Quagsire seems like a wasted moveslot. He doesn't abuse the rain, he doesn't hit hard, and with Crobat gone, so many things walk all over him, especially Shaymin. You say that you can't stop fire types, or at least, you imply that. What cant you stop with rain dance? That's a bit sad. Why don't you abuse the rain some more with something like Qwilfish?

Qwilfish is pretty much necessary on every rain danc eteam, as Toxic Spikes wreck rain. This is where Qwilfish comes in. Deal damage while they get up 3 layers of Toxic Spikes, then just drop in Qwilfish, who sucks them up, not to mention is basically a faster, but slightly less powerful version of Kabutops. Qwilfish runs a standard 252 Spe/252 Atk/6 Hp EV spread with the moves Waterfall/Poison Jab/Explosion/Swords Dance. this gives you another exploder, and exploding in the rain generally gives you a choice at who you want to boom on. Poison jab gives you a better answer to the likes of Shaymin, who can make Rain dance look like pussy dance, and since Poison Jab gets STAB, it OHKOs Shaymin(or filler grass pokemon), which is extremely useful.

EDIT: This team proves how easy it is to top the UU leaderboards

 

[Nas]

I thought this wasn't standard rain dance? Whatever.

Uxie wants an offensive special attacking spread. 252 SpA/252 Spe/6 Hp should be fine. Defensive spreads are cool and all, but they don't work nearly as well as the offensive Uxie. Psychic/Thunder Wave/rain dance/Stealth Rock. This breaks through so many leads that I don;'t even have time to list them all. The defensive spread can take hits, but regardless you're dying anyways, and Yanmega leads walk all over Uxie's defensive set, which brings me to my next point.

Without the Uxie set I mentioned, Yanmega completely sweeps this team, especially if it carries HP ground (which it will). To fix this, Uxie needs to use the above set. It's alot easier than moving 2 or 3 pokemon because you'll end up having more weaknesses. Yanmega drops in on Uxie when the game starts, scouts the protect(where you stealth rock) then drop the Thunder wave, or else Yanmega will Bug buzz, knocking out Uxie. Then you bring in Kabutops, who is wrecked by Yanmega's Hp ground. Then you can try Ludicolo, but Air slash turns the dancing duck into shit. Registeel comes in, and maybe he can stop him for one or two turns, but nothing more. The only way Registeel will beat Yanmega is if he explodes, which is already too late because Yanmega could Protect to stop it, or Hp ground and wreck you. Quagsire? Don't make me laugh. Yanmega dominates Quagsire, and Absol, you can predict, and if you predict wrong, you just got 6-0'd

Your Kabutops set is completely flaw. The standard spread is the complete best, 252 Speed/252 Atk/6 Hp. Fix it, because you need to outspeed everything, since Kabutops is incredibly frail. Random choice scarfers will bully you anyways, and if Kabutops even gets hit, he's 9 times out of 10 OHKO'd, so the HP evs are pretty pointless anyways. I also suggest Aqua Tail oevr Waterfall. Waterfall has a better chance of hitting the opponent, as well as a 20% flinch rate, although Aqua Tail hits extremely hard, which brings valuable OHKOs, which Rain dance needs to be effective. Same goes for Ludicolo. You could try Hydro pump, as it hits waay harder and is alot better for the whole team. You save turns by OHKOing pokemon, instead of wasting 2 valuable turns of rain dance just so you can take damage and knock something out. You need to be unscathed, which Hydro pump will help you do. You could also try Focus Punch to scare out Chansey, who seems to be a big problem for rain dance in UU in general.

Quagsire seems like a wasted moveslot. He doesn't abuse the rain, he doesn't hit hard, and with Crobat gone, so many things walk all over him, especially Shaymin. You say that you can't stop fire types, or at least, you imply that. What cant you stop with rain dance? That's a bit sad. Why don't you abuse the rain some more with something like Qwilfish?

Qwilfish is pretty much necessary on every rain danc eteam, as Toxic Spikes wreck rain. This is where Qwilfish comes in. Deal damage while they get up 3 layers of Toxic Spikes, then just drop in Qwilfish, who sucks them up, not to mention is basically a faster, but slightly less powerful version of Kabutops. Qwilfish runs a standard 252 Spe/252 Atk/6 Hp EV spread with the moves Waterfall/Poison Jab/Explosion/Swords Dance. this gives you another exploder, and exploding in the rain generally gives you a choice at who you want to boom on. Poison jab gives you a better answer to the likes of Shaymin, who can make Rain dance look like pussy dance, and since Poison Jab gets STAB, it OHKOs Shaymin, which is extremely useful.

First off, Shaymin is banned. Second, it's not standard Rain Dance because most standard Rain teams I've seen so far just run 2 pokemon with Rain Dance and then 3-4 Rain Sweepers, which is really easy to break. Replacing Quagsire with Qwilfish would ruin any defensive synergy my team had, and then I'd pretty much just be making it like any other rain team. Your Yanmega theory is seriously flawed. Quagsire is 3hko'd by Bug Buzz, so I don't see how Yanmega "dominates" it. Registeel takes nothing from Bug Buzz/Air Slash, and I've yet to see a UU Yanmega with Hp Ground. Even if it does have Hp Ground, Registeel is bulky enough to take it and hit it with a Thunder Wave, Iron Head, or Thunder. Explosion is in no way my only option. Next, Kabutops has Aqua Jet, if for some reason Yanmega does get past Registeel and Quagsire.

Now, as for Kabutops, I changed the EV spread to 252/252, so he's fixed. If Qwilfish is really that important, then maybe I can use him over Ludicolo or Kabutops? I'd be more comfortable replacing one of them instead of Quagsire.

 

[Nas]

Any other comments?

 

[Folgorio]

Dark artisan....what are you smoking man...? Since when is kabutops frail? and how does yanmega run through registeel...? Really your post seemed to imply that you know absolutely nothing about this team. Regardless i do see a small problem against 2 pokes.

The first is poliwrath; He can switch in on kabutops and set up
a sub with incredible ease. If you rely on quagsire he'll eat a focus punch which will most likely 2HKO. The other possible counter, uxie, won't stand long against boosted waterfalls thanks to your rain. Focus punch will do a huge deal of damage to the rest of your pokes too.

The second poke is easier to counter but far more common. A sub-punch azumarril. He can't affort to set up a sub as easily but its focus punches hit extremely hard and with the rain boosting its waterfalls...well it may pose a problem.

Also I wouldnt run max speed on kabutops. Just give it enough speed to outrun base 95 scarf pokes which shouldnt be too much. You should just invest the rest in hp to take random stuff like vacuum waves and mach punches better.

 

[Nas]

Well, I've retired this team now but I'll address your points anyways.

Yes, looking at my team I do have a bit of a Poliwrath weakness, but I actually never faced one while using this team. Lucky me lol.

As for Azu, I faced a lot of these but I never had any problems, Quagsire always beat it and Ludicolo isn't bothered by it.

 

[Cshadow]

Careful reduces thunders power, you'll want to run a Sassy nature for Registeel. And since he's using thunder wave, the speed lowering nature won't make a difference.