Welcome to this RMT thread. For those of you who do not know me, I go by DuckTux in most places and Vanilldux on PO (Feel free to call me Duck, Dux, Vani, or whatever else you prefer). You may recognize me as the guy who enters the occasional Tournament and swears profusely when getting haxed to all bloody hell. I'm not proud of the latter. Anyways, This is my rain team. It has served me extremely well over the last two months. Unfortunately, I only laddered to #89 with it. Hopefully that will change with this. And so, we move onward to the actual team. Also, the nicknames are all from FE7 :D
Overview of Team:
Erk (Politoed) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 224 HP / 32 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Ice Beam
- Surf/Focus Blast
A necessity for any rain team. I went with an offensive set because between Ferrothorn and Xatu I really didn't need the defensive presence. And man does modest choice specs hydro pump hurts. It 2HKOs everything that does not resist. Everything. Hidden power grass is for the occasional Gastrodon or a lead starmie that thinks it can thunderbolt me. Ice beam is for dragons. For the fourth move, I used to have Focus Blast. However, after you factor in STAB and the rain boost, a resisted Hydro Pump does the same damage as a neutral Focus Blast, so I decided to forebear instead for Surf when I cannot risk missing a Hydro Pump. The EVs give me the least overall harm with what is leftover after max Special Attack. It does a pretty decent job of putting out massive damage while still having some longevity to win weather wars and tank hits when I need it to. Bulky Specs politoed is by far my favorite set for this and is has won me many many matches.
Ninian (Gyarados) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 56 HP / 248 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
The primary sweeper of the team. The goal is fairly obvious I think. Get a safe switch in by foddering off something else or forcing an obvious move like rapid spin. Then proceed to sub and DD. The speed EVs let me outspeed all positive nature base 115 pokemon. Which really only includes Starmie and the random Azelf, so I might consider using a bulkier spread over this. Even at just +1 a STAB rain boosted waterfall does massive damage to things that don't resist it. I run earthquake over bounce because Toxicroak was giving me a few problems. It is a bit more troublesome to take out Ferrothorn, however, I also have a much easier time dealing with sun teams if I lose the weather war and hit a few other random things pretty nicely. As a final perk, I don't have to rely on the accuracy of Bounce. Because 95% is definitely not how often it actually hits.
Nills (Salamence) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 216 Atk / 40 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Outrage
- Hydro Pump
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Salamence is my scarf Pokemon and dragon killer. I know exactly what you're thinking. Intimidate on a scarf mence?! Let me explain. Dragon Claw is for finishing weakened opponents when I don't want to be locked into outrage. Outrage is obviously for sheer power it provides. Earthquake lets me hit those steel types that are so annoying. and then there is Hydro Pump. Because I am running a rain team, Fire blast is unfortunately not an option. It is counter-intuitive. To alleviate this problem, I put so that I may still have something to combat Skarmory and Gliscor that will with with the upmost certainty be switching thinking that they can wall me. In the rain, Hydro Pump OHKOs Gliscor and does over half to standard Skarmory. Unfortunately, I cannot have Moxie, Outrage, and Hydro Pump all on the same set. That is not to say that I am saddened by this. Moxie is rather situational. And I have won many matches by abusing both intimidates, the other being Gyarados. Intimidate is a wonderful ability and can actually be used to give myself a safe switch in to many things. After intimidate I can take things like Ice Shard and KO back with the appropriate move. I am not saddened by Salamence's lack of moxie at all.
Guy (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- U-turn
Standard Choice Banded Scizor. It serves a second revenge killer as well a scout with U-Turn and pusuit trap things like latios. Not much to say about this. Typically what I'll do is paralyze something with either Xatu or Ferrothorn and then switch to Scizor and go for the U-turn. This strategy works especially well with Pokemon like Celebi and Tyranitar. It becomes a win win situation for me. If they stay in, I outspeed and they die to U-Turn. If they switch, I get switch initiative. There is really no downside to it as long as I can predict correctly. I can usually live a Hidden Power Fire thanks to the rain and Scizor's somewhat respectable bulk. Not much else to say about this. There's a reason it's one of the most used Pokemon. It does its job and it does it well.
Eliwood (Xatu) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave
- Night Shade
- Roost
Ah Xatu. I love this Pokemon so much. I honestly cannot fathom why it is UU. It has a great typing (4x resist to fighting), great ability, and one of the best support movepools around. I chose this set because it literally solved every single problem I was having before. This thing serves so many roles it's ridiculous. Because I don't have a spinner, really needs to keep hazards off the field as long as possible. Especially seeing Gyarados and Salamence are both Stealth Rock weak. Second, this thing serves as a hard counter to quite a few things that threaten this team. Breloom is completely stopped (4x resist STAB, immune to Spore, can set up Reflect, and breaks subs with Nightshade), Sableye is stopped for similar reasons, Mew, Ferrothorn, and barring any hax, even Tyranitar, I outspeed standard Tyranitar. Set up a reflect and Crunch does about 33% (although they usually go for pursuit for some reason expecting my switch out). I can then proceed to t wave, roost, and then alternate between night shade and roost until they either switch or die. Thunder wave is for crippling other pokes so that my Gyarados and Scizor can come in and immediately outspeed and get a KO or force a switch. Reflect, just like with ttar, lets me beat things like Landorus and Terrakion. Stone edge does less than 50% if I have reflect up, which lets me t wave Terrakion. Afer that, I can just roost to lose my flying type and take neutral damage from it, completely alleviating the problem. Dragonite and Salamence that try it set up on it also do less than 50% with d claw at +2. The only downside is I am sometimes forced to be a bit wreckless with poor Xatu. However, I honestly believe that the benefits it gives me far outweigh any cons. It is a great pokemon.
Oswald (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Thunder Wave
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
The final member of my team. Ferrothorn is such a solid wall. I opted for Careful because Xatu is already a physical wall and Ferrothorn gets called in on Latios and Rotom W more than any other pokemon. Stealth Rock is for hazards incase I don't bounce them back with Xatu. Leech Seed is for more recover outside of leftovers because I generally need this thing the entire game to take the relentless onslaught of Volt switches. Thunder wave, just like with xatu, is to cripple the other pokes so the rest of my team can come in and lay down some major damage. Power Whip is just there for coverage. Politoed has HP grass, but even with specs it does barely 50% to Jelllicent, which is something I like to get out of the way sooner rather than later. They generally go for taunt first so I can get off a massive hit on them. Ferrothorn does it's job very well. Leech seed and t wave to cripple pokes and take volt switch and Draco Meteors for days. Another great pokemon.
Top Threats to this team and how I work around them:
sub cm jirachi:man I hate this thing so so so much and it really threatens this team a ton. What I generally have to do is switch on the predicted Calm Mind. Go into Scizor and just U-Turn to break the sub and get a free switch into Salamence who can then just Earthquake it.
Scarf Terrakion:Countering this thing is 100% prediction and skill. No other way around it. I've got things to take close combats in 2 pokemon with intimidate and a Xatu with x4 resist, and i've got things to take Stone Edge in Ferrothorn. Beating this is just a matter of analyzing teh situation and making a safe play. Often what I'll do is sack something like Poli once I have won the weather war and see what he locks himself into and then make the appropriate play.
Sub Magnezone:Another extremely annoying poke to deal with, especially having both scizor and ferro. Essentially with Ferrothorn I have to t wave on the switch. After T wave I outspeed so I can safely go for the leech seed. After factoring in the reduction in power of hp fire, lefties recover, and leech seed recover, Ferro really does not lose that much health at all. If my opponent is bad and doesn't realize they need to switch out I can actually beat it one on one as long as it is running and they are not specs.
TR Reuniclus:another extremely annoying Poke to deal with. The idea here is essentially the same as most Reuniclus. However, I instead have to fodder off something first So i can get a safe switch into Scizor and U turn. After this, they are either going to die, switch, or recover. All 3 scenarios involve my opponent wasting a turn of TR so they are all fine by me. After the U turn I generally go into Gyarados because, assuming they survive the U-Turn, Gyarados can then come in, tank a hit, and then waterfall for the KO or lay massive damage on their switch.
Conclusion:
This is the team in a nutshell. The team definitely takes a certain degree of skill to use. Using 3 choiced pokemon on a single team is a bit unusual, but it has served me very well. Although it's nothing jaw-dropping or spectacular, I think reaching #89 on the ladder is still somewhat decent. Please feel free to leave any suggestions or helpful criticism. I am all ears.
Overview of Team:
Erk (Politoed) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 224 HP / 32 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Ice Beam
- Surf/Focus Blast
A necessity for any rain team. I went with an offensive set because between Ferrothorn and Xatu I really didn't need the defensive presence. And man does modest choice specs hydro pump hurts. It 2HKOs everything that does not resist. Everything. Hidden power grass is for the occasional Gastrodon or a lead starmie that thinks it can thunderbolt me. Ice beam is for dragons. For the fourth move, I used to have Focus Blast. However, after you factor in STAB and the rain boost, a resisted Hydro Pump does the same damage as a neutral Focus Blast, so I decided to forebear instead for Surf when I cannot risk missing a Hydro Pump. The EVs give me the least overall harm with what is leftover after max Special Attack. It does a pretty decent job of putting out massive damage while still having some longevity to win weather wars and tank hits when I need it to. Bulky Specs politoed is by far my favorite set for this and is has won me many many matches.
Ninian (Gyarados) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 56 HP / 248 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
The primary sweeper of the team. The goal is fairly obvious I think. Get a safe switch in by foddering off something else or forcing an obvious move like rapid spin. Then proceed to sub and DD. The speed EVs let me outspeed all positive nature base 115 pokemon. Which really only includes Starmie and the random Azelf, so I might consider using a bulkier spread over this. Even at just +1 a STAB rain boosted waterfall does massive damage to things that don't resist it. I run earthquake over bounce because Toxicroak was giving me a few problems. It is a bit more troublesome to take out Ferrothorn, however, I also have a much easier time dealing with sun teams if I lose the weather war and hit a few other random things pretty nicely. As a final perk, I don't have to rely on the accuracy of Bounce. Because 95% is definitely not how often it actually hits.
Nills (Salamence) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 216 Atk / 40 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Outrage
- Hydro Pump
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Salamence is my scarf Pokemon and dragon killer. I know exactly what you're thinking. Intimidate on a scarf mence?! Let me explain. Dragon Claw is for finishing weakened opponents when I don't want to be locked into outrage. Outrage is obviously for sheer power it provides. Earthquake lets me hit those steel types that are so annoying. and then there is Hydro Pump. Because I am running a rain team, Fire blast is unfortunately not an option. It is counter-intuitive. To alleviate this problem, I put so that I may still have something to combat Skarmory and Gliscor that will with with the upmost certainty be switching thinking that they can wall me. In the rain, Hydro Pump OHKOs Gliscor and does over half to standard Skarmory. Unfortunately, I cannot have Moxie, Outrage, and Hydro Pump all on the same set. That is not to say that I am saddened by this. Moxie is rather situational. And I have won many matches by abusing both intimidates, the other being Gyarados. Intimidate is a wonderful ability and can actually be used to give myself a safe switch in to many things. After intimidate I can take things like Ice Shard and KO back with the appropriate move. I am not saddened by Salamence's lack of moxie at all.
Guy (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- U-turn
Standard Choice Banded Scizor. It serves a second revenge killer as well a scout with U-Turn and pusuit trap things like latios. Not much to say about this. Typically what I'll do is paralyze something with either Xatu or Ferrothorn and then switch to Scizor and go for the U-turn. This strategy works especially well with Pokemon like Celebi and Tyranitar. It becomes a win win situation for me. If they stay in, I outspeed and they die to U-Turn. If they switch, I get switch initiative. There is really no downside to it as long as I can predict correctly. I can usually live a Hidden Power Fire thanks to the rain and Scizor's somewhat respectable bulk. Not much else to say about this. There's a reason it's one of the most used Pokemon. It does its job and it does it well.
Eliwood (Xatu) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave
- Night Shade
- Roost
Ah Xatu. I love this Pokemon so much. I honestly cannot fathom why it is UU. It has a great typing (4x resist to fighting), great ability, and one of the best support movepools around. I chose this set because it literally solved every single problem I was having before. This thing serves so many roles it's ridiculous. Because I don't have a spinner, really needs to keep hazards off the field as long as possible. Especially seeing Gyarados and Salamence are both Stealth Rock weak. Second, this thing serves as a hard counter to quite a few things that threaten this team. Breloom is completely stopped (4x resist STAB, immune to Spore, can set up Reflect, and breaks subs with Nightshade), Sableye is stopped for similar reasons, Mew, Ferrothorn, and barring any hax, even Tyranitar, I outspeed standard Tyranitar. Set up a reflect and Crunch does about 33% (although they usually go for pursuit for some reason expecting my switch out). I can then proceed to t wave, roost, and then alternate between night shade and roost until they either switch or die. Thunder wave is for crippling other pokes so that my Gyarados and Scizor can come in and immediately outspeed and get a KO or force a switch. Reflect, just like with ttar, lets me beat things like Landorus and Terrakion. Stone edge does less than 50% if I have reflect up, which lets me t wave Terrakion. Afer that, I can just roost to lose my flying type and take neutral damage from it, completely alleviating the problem. Dragonite and Salamence that try it set up on it also do less than 50% with d claw at +2. The only downside is I am sometimes forced to be a bit wreckless with poor Xatu. However, I honestly believe that the benefits it gives me far outweigh any cons. It is a great pokemon.
Oswald (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Thunder Wave
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
The final member of my team. Ferrothorn is such a solid wall. I opted for Careful because Xatu is already a physical wall and Ferrothorn gets called in on Latios and Rotom W more than any other pokemon. Stealth Rock is for hazards incase I don't bounce them back with Xatu. Leech Seed is for more recover outside of leftovers because I generally need this thing the entire game to take the relentless onslaught of Volt switches. Thunder wave, just like with xatu, is to cripple the other pokes so the rest of my team can come in and lay down some major damage. Power Whip is just there for coverage. Politoed has HP grass, but even with specs it does barely 50% to Jelllicent, which is something I like to get out of the way sooner rather than later. They generally go for taunt first so I can get off a massive hit on them. Ferrothorn does it's job very well. Leech seed and t wave to cripple pokes and take volt switch and Draco Meteors for days. Another great pokemon.
Top Threats to this team and how I work around them:
sub cm jirachi:man I hate this thing so so so much and it really threatens this team a ton. What I generally have to do is switch on the predicted Calm Mind. Go into Scizor and just U-Turn to break the sub and get a free switch into Salamence who can then just Earthquake it.
Scarf Terrakion:Countering this thing is 100% prediction and skill. No other way around it. I've got things to take close combats in 2 pokemon with intimidate and a Xatu with x4 resist, and i've got things to take Stone Edge in Ferrothorn. Beating this is just a matter of analyzing teh situation and making a safe play. Often what I'll do is sack something like Poli once I have won the weather war and see what he locks himself into and then make the appropriate play.
Sub Magnezone:Another extremely annoying poke to deal with, especially having both scizor and ferro. Essentially with Ferrothorn I have to t wave on the switch. After T wave I outspeed so I can safely go for the leech seed. After factoring in the reduction in power of hp fire, lefties recover, and leech seed recover, Ferro really does not lose that much health at all. If my opponent is bad and doesn't realize they need to switch out I can actually beat it one on one as long as it is running and they are not specs.
TR Reuniclus:another extremely annoying Poke to deal with. The idea here is essentially the same as most Reuniclus. However, I instead have to fodder off something first So i can get a safe switch into Scizor and U turn. After this, they are either going to die, switch, or recover. All 3 scenarios involve my opponent wasting a turn of TR so they are all fine by me. After the U turn I generally go into Gyarados because, assuming they survive the U-Turn, Gyarados can then come in, tank a hit, and then waterfall for the KO or lay massive damage on their switch.
Conclusion:
This is the team in a nutshell. The team definitely takes a certain degree of skill to use. Using 3 choiced pokemon on a single team is a bit unusual, but it has served me very well. Although it's nothing jaw-dropping or spectacular, I think reaching #89 on the ladder is still somewhat decent. Please feel free to leave any suggestions or helpful criticism. I am all ears.
