I'm going to rain you... like a Hurricane

[VictimSanctuary]

Hello Smogon fellow´s. For my first post I intodruce my first Raindance-Team.
For starters - pardon when my english may be wrong or wierd. I´m from Germany, so my english isn't really the best. But I´ll try my best for everyone to understand.

On the first look:

Politoed (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Def

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast


An absolute necessity for Rainteams.
I run this Ev-set on Politoed for hitting other Pokémon hard, but without being a frail. I dont run a Choice Item on him, to surprise my opponent pretty early fooling him I use a Choice item just to hit for example Toxicroak with Psychic after he switched into a Hydro Pump.

Dragonite (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Hurricane
- ExtremeSpeed
- Aqua Tail
- Roost


The powerhouse in my team. Might look wierd on the first place, because I play him without any Wish support or spinner. But with good prediction I can set this guy up and Roost. Due the quiet nature and the ev-split he can hit almost everything pretty hard what switches in a Hurricane for just ending up to get a x-speed for good. Aqua Tail is for bulky ground types and Heatran.

Vaporeon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Hydration
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Roar
- Rest
- Toxic
- Scald


Annoyer/Wall/Phazer. I like this guy - specially when it´s raining. He does a pretty good job on walling other Pokés. As example: he can survive a Latios' Draco Meteor (even with Choice Specs) and Rest, forcing Latios to switch out. Rotom-W's Volt-Switch is no problem either. The problem is, that Ferrorthorn can set up without any efforts against him. Therefore I have 2 predict well. Another option I consider would be Icebeam over Toxic to hit predicted Breloom switch-ins hard. Wish could do a good job too, for switching Dragonite at 100% in.

Ferrothorn (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 224 HP / 32 Def / 244 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock


Yep, this guys sets up my hazards. I play him over Skarmory because on the first hand I cannot afford any more electric weakness and because he makes up a great synergy with Vaporeon, Politoed and Rotom-W. I use Rocky Helmet to deal some signifant (especially Dragons that are using Outrage) damage. Plus I can cripple Tentacruel to death with Leech Seed, Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs, when he keeps on bouncing my hazards away.

I prefer Gyro Ball over Power Whip, because Gyro Ball can surprise many switch ins á la Terrakium and Tornadus.

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick


Because I´m lacking some speed, I decided to play him. His typing is just excellent. And scarfed he speeds at least everything out at +0.
Voltswitch works great with some hazards around.
I play HP [Ice] to threaten Dragonnite, Salamence, etc.
I´d say this set doesnt require more explanation, because everyone knows and loves it.

Genesect @ Life Orb
Trait: Download
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rock Polish
- Bug Buzz
- Thunder
- Ice Beam


My acepoké. He sweeped many teams. usually I set him up on a wall (for Download´s SpA boost) during the mid/endgame. With hazard support he can ohko almost everything. I dont play Flamethrower, because it gets obv weakened while it's raining. And imho the Bolt-Beam combo is too important. Bug Buzz is his STAB move and indispensable.



Overall this team is pretty solid. The problem´s I noticed during playing were that I struggle against electric attacks aka Jolteon (which speeds 5 of my Pokémon out and hits them pretty hard), since Ferrothorn is the only poké that can tank some.

Threats:

Yep, an electric Pokémon. He speeds almost everything out I have and is capacble to sweep my Team with just spamming Thunder, if I cant manage to K.O him with Dragonites X-Speed or Rotom-W.

Same goes for this guy - specially when my opponent runs Choicescarf on him. Volt-Turns can hit me really hard, when I cant switch Ferrorthorn in anymore.

I think that thing is a common threat to almost every team. To be frank I hate this ***** so much. His coverage Rock/Fighting Stabs hit all of my Pokémon really hard. The only options to get rid of it would be to predict a switch-in while Ferrorthorn is out and killing it with Gyro Ball. The other option would be revenging it with Rotom-W - but on this point I have to sacrafice one of my Pokés and my opponent switches him out anyways.

He speeds at least 5 of my Pokémon out plus Hurricane hit´s everything pretty hard. And if I switched to Rotom-W, Hurricanes hurts him too. Confuse hax and ending up Ko´ed would be the worst scenario.

​

 

[Asek]

Hey,

Cool rain team man, I like the use of Rock Polish Genesect

Psychic on Politoed isn't a very good option, as it doesn't really offer much targets to hit besides toxicroak, who isn't a highly used pokemon at all. I also saw that you like t bluff a choice set, but leftovers recovery coming up stops you from bluffing that. First off, try out Hidden Power [GRASS]/ Perish song > Psychic. This lets you lure in and dispatch of the troublesome Gastrodon, who can otherwise wall a fair portion of your team with his bulk and abilty. Perish Song on the other hand can stop set up sweepers cold, and can essentially force you the win once the opponent is down to their last pokemon. Also, try out Water Gem > Leftovers. Water Gem effectively allows you to bluff a choice set, so that Tyranitar and Ninetales will think your locked into a weak coverage move and they'll switch in, just to take an extremely powerful Water Gem Boosted Hydro Pump and you can win the weather war very easily using this bluff tactic.

Looking at your threats, I saw that 3 out of 4 of them could be solved by adding a certain pokemon to your team. Looking at vaporeon, I thought it didn't really do much for your team that this guy could. Vaporeon really just contributes to your nasty Volt-Turn weakness, most notably the dreaded ScroTom combination. I thought by replacing your Vaporeon with a Specially defensive Gastrodon could help your team out immensely. Gastrodon retains the defensive water type role in your team, while also adding 2 very cool immunities as well. He can still spread around Toxic and can Scald Physical attackers, but he can break down Volt-turn and also gives you those 2 very cool immunities that work wonders against opposing rain teams, and he can also help win the weather war, especially against sand with his convenient ability to beat the standard Specially Defensive Tyranitar and also switch into any Ninetales variant which doesn't carry a grass move, which is about 80% of them anyway

I would also recommend the standard Ferrothorn spread of 252HP/ 88Def/ 168SpD with a relaxed nature. This spread allows you to take the most hits from both sorts of attacks better and increases your walling potential by a fair amount.

GL with the team

Specially Defensive Gastrodon

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Nature: Sassy (+SpD -Spe)
Trait: Storm Drain
EV's: 248HP/ 8SpA/ 248SpD
Scald/ Earthquake/ Toxic/ Recover

 

[Joeyboy]

Cool team man! So the first thing I notice is while I understand your Politoed set the fact is that you say you rely on your opponent believing youre choiced but your leftovers would reveal your bluff.

The first change I would like to recommend you trying is Gliscor over Vaporeon. The set I recommend is:

Hide

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Protect
- Earthquake

This set will help immensely with your Terrakion weakness, as it can take any of Terrakion's moves while retaliating with a super-effective Earthquake or setting up a Substitute on the switch. This 'mon will also help you with another threat that I see, Jirachi. It looks like your team would have trouble breaking its SpDef set and its CM sets look like it could do a lot of damage to your team.

The second change I'd like to suggest is changing your Rotom-W to Specially Defensive Set. The set is:

Hide

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SDef / 144 Spd
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

This set will solve your problem with Tornadus and its Therian Forme. It can take the powerful Hurricane and threaten a Volt Switch.

My final change is based on the lose of your Choice Scarfed Revenge killer; I suggest changing Genesect to a Choice Scarf Variant. The set I recommend:

Hide

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 164 Spd / 252 SAtk / 92 Atk
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz
- Ice Beam

The EVs may seem weird but max Speed only allows you to outspeed Timid Scarf Hydreigon(very rare) and speed tie with other Genesect(shouldn't really be doing this anyway, who likes 50/50s). The spare EVs are put in Attack to beef up U-Turns damage.

Hope you try these suggestions out! Good Luck!

 

[VictimSanctuary]

Thanks for your rates, guys!

@ Asek

I really do like your Politoed set. I catched a lots of threats on surprise with Hydropump. Perish Song makes up a quite good synergy as well, because I often switch Genesect at 2 counter´s in after I used it on a wall in order to boost my speed up when my opponent is forced to switch out.

I tried out Gastrodon as well, but I´m not quite satisfied yet. And actually I miss some kind of status absorb after I kicked Vapporeon.

I use your recommended EV:Split on Ferrorthorn too - it really works a LOT of better, this far.

@Joeyboy

I played Leftovers on Politoed, because I used to set up Politoad pretty early - without any hazards around. Well, it was rather meh. I prefer Asek´s set.

In fact I really didn't consider Jirachi as counter. It was rather annoying, since he walled many Pokémon in my team. But yes, in fact he counters my team.

Gliscor sounds pretty good. I will play him over Gastrodon, since I really miss some kind of status absorb and he is able to counter my threats more consequent. The only problem I recognize be my sparsely options to wall a predicted water attack. Ferrothorn could take some, but I´m not quite sure, if that goes well to the very end. Dragonite resists them too - but I dont really like him tanking.

I´m not quite sure, about switching Genesect´s set. That guy won plenty of matches for me. Scarf might be more consistent and the Volt-Turn combo hella annoying for my opponent when hazards are up, but the Rock Polish Set has quite potential of sweeping whole team, if I set it up well.

Due that fact I really dont feel like changing Rotom´s set as well, because as you pointed it out, I´d lose my one and only Scarfer, if I did so.

Perhaps I´ll swap the sets if I know that I´ll face an opponent who knows my team on somekind of tournament. But I will try it these rates at least.


I just realzied an offensive Starmie would be somekind of threat too. But yet I haven't faced one.