Gen 7 [Monotype Water] Gen 7 OU for an event

[jjett01]

Pelipper (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Defog
- Surf
So I usually open with pelliper to get the drizzle going for 8 turns and depending on what my oponent opens with I either take the hit and u turn to a sweeper or a wall. As long as the target doesnt have a electric move this is generally the plan. Whenever rain stops falling ill usually try to switch back to pelipper and switch right back out as to not let him die since hes whatll drive my swift swimmers. I have hurricane for two reasons, it doesnt miss in rain it gets stab at 110 power which is strong and its super effective against grass which peliper isnt weak to since hes flying type. I took surf over scald since id probably have to take a hit before i get a scald that inflicts a butn and id need my pelipper healthy. Defog for hazards which im usually able to get off without getting him killed

Greninja (Greninja) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 1 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Extrasensory
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Greninja is the coverage sweeper that works out of rain which is important as a backup since he’s naturally fast and heavy hitting. Extrasensory for the poison and fighting type coverage that i dont otherwise have. Ice beam for grass types that threaten my water typing. Surf for extra damage in rain. HP fire specifically for a 1shot on ferrothorn which I otherwise litterally cant kill. the issue is if its raining I have to stall which is relatively easy with toxapex and wait till the rain goes away then switch to greninja and have a fire move that 1 shots ferrothorn works every time they never expect it. Hes kind of hard to switch into being immediately weak to alot of things aswell as not having alot of defensive capability. He usually comes in on a wall or through a U-turn/volt switch where my previous mon took the hit.

Swampert-Mega @ Swampertite
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Power-Up Punch
- Ice Punch
Physical sweeper Mega swampert with 212 speed just enough to outspeed Zeraora in rain because swift swim. Earthquake for the electric types waterfall for serious damage Power up punch for set up incase i expect the target to switch out to a flying mon to counter my earthquake or something like that and ice punch incase I can one shot a grass mon that threatens me but usually only works if its had prior damage. In the case that I cant kill the grass mon infront of me I can switch to most of my other mons with the exception of greninja and rotom wash

Toxapex (Toxapex) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Scald
- Haze
- Toxic
Toxapex is my physical wall with recover incase i cant yet switch out for regenerator to kick in. Scald to halve physical damage haze to counter setups toxic to force switches. His weaknesses include electric which is nulled with a swampert switch. Psychic which is nulled with a greninja switch. Ground which is countered with a pelipper or rotom wash switch

Rotom-Wash (Rotom-Wash) @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Rain Dance
- Defog
This is where I struggle, Ive switched this mon between araquanid ludicolo milotic and i ended up with rotom wash. I need a spec def wall that isnt weak to electric since my only real counter to it is swampert. Things like xurkitree has both grass and electric moves so if im in a situation where im weak to electric I cant safely switch to swampert without risking them predicting that and using grass move to 1 shot my swampert. these are the things that lose me games, whenever my swampert dies ive got 4 mons on my team that get wiped to electric. Araquanid was my best option for a spec def wall but gets obliterated by thunderbolt. Rain dish Ludicolo wasnt defensive enough to have an impact in my games since he needed a leech seed setup to be tanky though he wasnt weak to electric or grass which was fantastic. Milotic was mono water so that never helped my electric/grass problem. And then I settled for rotom wash as a pivot with volt switch and as a secondary defog/rain dance to pelliper. Since pelliper is weak to electric and rotom isnt I can still get rain with an electric target. Or if i have a grass target then j can switch to pelliper and get drizzle. I also have

Kingdra (Kingdra) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Flash Cannon
choice scarfed Special sweeper kingdra packs a serious punch with surf and dragon pulse. Ice beam exists for grass threats that I cant otherwise deal with my other sweapers since i can switch into kingdra on a grass attack if necessary. He can take an electric or grass hit and one shot if not two shot anything as long as its not too tanky. Flash cannon is a filler move and I dont know what else i would put in there. It counters fairy types which counter me but without stab it doesnt garuntee a 1 shot so its weird. One of my biggest threats that ive come by is choice scarf serperior. Kingdra is the only outspeed I have for it but ice beam only has a 56% chance of one shotting it. If it were to have like 5% previous damage its almost a garunteed 1 shot.

The whole point of this team is to apply to be a water gym leader for this thing im in. Its rules are gen 7 OU only 1 legendary and only 1 ultra beast allowed per team. This is mostly why im worried about my grass electric counters that I otherwise wouldnt care about. People will come to me with teams that have a water counter plan. Im trying to cover my bases as much as possible and if anyone has a suggestion that would be fantastic. In case anyone was wondering the alternative i had to rotom wash was rain dish leftovers ludicolo max evs in spec def and hp, leech seed protect giga drain and rain dance.m

the biggest threats ive faced are ferrothorn serperior and xurkitree. My only counter to ferrothorn being a fire move from my greninja on a rain team... If my opponent opens with serperior Id have to open with pelliper make it rain take a hit, u-turn into kingdra and get a garunteed outspeeded 1 shot. The problem is if it switchs out on my kingdra and fights me somtime down the line Id have to switch to kingdra and take a hit from it to only have a 56% chance of one shotting it, if i dont kill it my kingdra dies and it will easily wipe my team with leaf storm and the +spec atk it gets. Xurkitree knows both grass and electric move. i cant switch into swampert without risking my opponent predicting my switch and using grass move to one shot me. If at any time i need to keep my kingdra alive for a different threat the way ive had to get around this is by sacrificing a mon and switching to swampert because otherwise I risk losing the whole game. Also freeze dry which is known by few mons including articuno. If my opponent has articuno im forced to open with greninja and hope my opponent opens with articuno for the unexpected HP fire one shot. If he doesnt open with articuno I cant function my team really without rain but once i rain HP fire doesnt kill articuno in one hit. The more I wrote this the more i considered using ludicolo again because of his typing but Id like to have feedback on what ive got first. Thank you to anyone who is kind enough to help my troubled self :D

 

[maroon]

Introduction
Hi jjett01, I have a few changes in mind for your team. Since I noticed that this was an OU-based Water team, I immediately took the opportunity to make that slot into Ash Greninja, as there really isn't a question as to which is a better rain-abuser. I also noticed that you said the team was weak to Serperior, Ferrothorn, and Xurkitree and took those threats and tried to find a way to give you an out against those Pokemon. Anyway, let's get into the actual rate!

Major Changes
Greninja>Ash Greninja

As I mentioned above, Ash-Greninja is just way too good to pass up. This also gives the team some priority, allowing it to outpace setup sweepers in an emergency check while hitting with devastating force under the rain. Examples of Pokemon that this can help revenge kill are +1 speed Xurkitree and Choice Scarf Kartana, both of which are devastating to deal with for the team. Ice Beam allows you to hit Grass-types like Serperior better. Spikes is an option over Ice Beam, allowing you to chip down the opponents, giving Ash-Greninja an easier time cleaning later; however, Ice coverage is invaluable to Water teams.

Rotom-W>Empoleon

Empoleon does a variety of things for the team, such as act a specially defensive tank, providing a solid dragon resist, and being able to spread Toxic. This Empoleon does wear down Choice Scarf Kartana; by EV'ing it always to live +1 Leaf Blade, it can fire back with Scald under the rain and leave Kartana in Greninja's range with Water Shuriken. Knock Off and Toxic is there for utility as Knock Off can remove opposing Toxapex's Black Sludge and Ferrothorn's Leftovers, making them easier to break in the long run. Toxic specifically puts Pokemon on a timer giving its offensive teammates an easier time breaking past their checks. Roar is simplify to phase out any setup sweeper.

Kingdra>Keldeo

While Kingdra is a decent rain Pokemon, it does not really fit on this team. Since you opted to go a more balanced route of rain, its just not as valuable. Keldeo is the far superior special attacker. With access to Secret Sword, it can do great damage against Ferrothorn, which is one of the things you wanted to have a better matchup against. Plus, with Waterium Z, Hydro Pump under the rain, especially if boosted by Calm Mind, becomes a major nuke that can break past a ton of Pokemon. Secret Sword can also hit specially defensive Pokemon, such as Chansey, for the team. Substitute allows Keldeo to set up on more passive Pokemon, without having to worry about status.

Minor Changes
Pelipper

The Pelipper became the Smogon dex; however, I made the main attack into Hurricane to better handle Grass-type Pokemon because this is a Water team. The EVs allow Pelipper to live +2 Acrobatics from Hawlucha, then fire back with Hurricane; the Special Defense investment better helps deal with opposing weather setters such as Mega Charizard Y. Roost was added to give Pelipper longevity over the match, letting it set rain multiple times.

Mega Swampert

This change was mainly based on your Xurkitree comment. This new spread will allow you to outpace +1 Xurkitree and OHKO it with Earthquake. I took out some HP for Speed. However, you didn't list a specific reason for that spread aside in the Speed, and Mega Swampert is bulky enough, so this wouldn't change much.

Toxapex

I made Toxapex into an Eject Button set. This allows it to bring in a teammate with extreme ease and take advantage of the rain turns. Toxapex also does not mind coming in to tank an attack because it has Regenerator.

Conclusion

{click the sprites above for an importable of the team!}
This is your team's final version after I tweaked it around a bit to play more easily. Anyway, good luck with the team, and I hope you enjoy playing with my version of the team. If you have any questions, let me know, I'm maroon on PS! and maroon#1999 on discord and wouldn't mind answering any potential questions, comments, or concerns!

 

[jjett01]

Conclusion

{click the sprites above for an importable of the team!}
This is your team's final version after I tweaked it around a bit to play more easily. Anyway, good luck with the team, and I hope you enjoy playing with my version of the team. If you have any questions, let me know, I'm maroon on PS! and maroon#1999 on discord and wouldn't mind answering any potential questions, comments, or concerns!

See the thing with empoleon is hes weak to electric which makes both of my tanks weak to electric. In sticky situations where i cant switch to swampert safley without risk I need something else to fall back on, and thatd make all 5 of my other mons weak to electric. I like the eject button idea and ill probably give that a shot as well as taking up toxic spikes over toxic. Keldeo needs a calm mind before he can out perform kingdra and even then things like scarf garchomp will outspeed me so thats partially why I have kingrda, his swift swim makes him seriously fast which i think is kind of a necessary saftey net that im not too sure if i can sacrifice for some extra damage when im already 1 shotting. I considered Keldeo alot but im just not sure about him still and I was wondering if you could describe another benefit to me that im missing. Battle bond greninja is really good but id need to drop kingdra to give him choice specs over life orb for the 20% extra damage that pushes him over that threshold. I can switch up the pelipper to your idea for it without a problem i dont see a downside to that at all. Same thing with swampert, the extra speed over health wont be a problem

 

[jjett01]

See the thing with empoleon is hes weak to electric which makes both of my tanks weak to electric. In sticky situations where i cant switch to swampert safley without risk I need something else to fall back on, and thatd make all 5 of my other mons weak to electric. I like the eject button idea and ill probably give that a shot as well as taking up toxic spikes over toxic. Keldeo needs a calm mind before he can out perform kingdra and even then things like scarf garchomp will outspeed me so thats partially why I have kingrda, his swift swim makes him seriously fast which i think is kind of a necessary saftey net that im not too sure if i can sacrifice for some extra damage when im already 1 shotting. I considered Keldeo alot but im just not sure about him still and I was wondering if you could describe another benefit to me that im missing. Battle bond greninja is really good but id need to drop kingdra to give him choice specs over life orb for the 20% extra damage that pushes him over that threshold. I can switch up the pelipper to your idea for it without a problem i dont see a downside to that at all. Same thing with swampert, the extra speed over health wont be a problem

Im actually going to play some matches with your team to see how I fair to see if the issues i see are real issues in practice

 

[maroon]

See the thing with empoleon is hes weak to electric which makes both of my tanks weak to electric. In sticky situations where i cant switch to swampert safley without risk I need something else to fall back on, and thatd make all 5 of my other mons weak to electric. I like the eject button idea and ill probably give that a shot as well as taking up toxic spikes over toxic. Keldeo needs a calm mind before he can out perform kingdra and even then things like scarf garchomp will outspeed me so thats partially why I have kingrda, his swift swim makes him seriously fast which i think is kind of a necessary saftey net that im not too sure if i can sacrifice for some extra damage when im already 1 shotting. I considered Keldeo alot but im just not sure about him still and I was wondering if you could describe another benefit to me that im missing. Battle bond greninja is really good but id need to drop kingdra to give him choice specs over life orb for the 20% extra damage that pushes him over that threshold. I can switch up the pelipper to your idea for it without a problem i dont see a downside to that at all. Same thing with swampert, the extra speed over health wont be a problem

Im actually going to play some matches with your team to see how I fair to see if the issues i see are real issues in practice

Hi, so here is the thing. You are using a full water-based team and not on a full balance, but a swift swim archetype, which means that your electric immunity will always be Mega Swampert. The two tanks resist grass attacks, which is useful for you. Mega Swampert + Ash-Greninja should be able to deal with most Electric-types especially if they have been affected by Toxic. Kingdra is fast under the rain, yes, but you have Water Shuriken Ash-Greninja now and a proper defensive backbone, so that won't be missed. Your team can also wall Choice Scarf Garchomp by switching to Toxapex, then to a better teammate. This allows you to scout which attack then, recover health to Regenerator, and pick which defensive Pokemon handles that attack the best. Keldeo's fighting coverage helps with Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Chansey, which are annoying to deal with for your team, and provides a nuke with Waterium Z under the rain, so its not like its missing power. Also, Ash-Greninja and Keldeo form a good offensive core together due to their Fighting- and Dark-type STABs, allowing them to wear down the other checks. I made all of these changes with this in mind; I truly believe every change listed above is a big positive for your team. Let me know how it goes with the laddering, and if you want to change something, you can PM me about what you are struggling with, and I will help you fix it.

 

[jjett01]

Hi, so here is the thing. You are using a full water-based team and not on a full balance, but a swift swim archetype, which means that your electric immunity will always be Mega Swampert. The two tanks resist grass attacks, which is useful for you. Mega Swampert + Ash-Greninja should be able to deal with most Electric-types especially if they have been affected by Toxic. Kingdra is fast under the rain, yes, but you have Water Shuriken Ash-Greninja now and a proper defensive backbone, so that won't be missed. Your team can also wall Choice Scarf Garchomp by switching to Toxapex, then to a better teammate. This allows you to scout which attack then, recover health to Regenerator, and pick which defensive Pokemon handles that attack the best. Keldeo's fighting coverage helps with Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Chansey, which are annoying to deal with for your team, and provides a nuke with Waterium Z under the rain, so its not like its missing power. Also, Ash-Greninja and Keldeo form a good offensive core together due to their Fighting- and Dark-type STABs, allowing them to wear down the other checks. I made all of these changes with this in mind; I truly believe every change listed above is a big positive for your team. Let me know how it goes with the laddering, and if you want to change something, you can PM me about what you are struggling with, and I will help you fix it.

So I played something like 30 matches with it and heres what I found, Its really hard to pull off keldeo with all his different weaknesses. For him to setup, his substitute has to last more than 1 hit which it hasnt been since 50% of the mons i face have some supper effective move against him or are just able to do 25% of his health in 1 hit. however in the 4 or 5 games where i did get him set up he became a team wiper. As a gym i expect people to come with electric/grass mons so i really dont think he will fair too well in any situation like that. Ash greninja is working out better I just dont have an ice beam stab for my grass targets but it hasent proven to be a big issue yet. Toxapex is good but I opted back for toxic over toxic spikes just because my targets have been able to avoid poison more than i thought. Eject button really helps for pivoting my team there have been some great situations for it. Empoleon's roar is fantastic though i never found myself using toxic, knock off has had its uses and same with scald but its usually had to burn specatk targets which doesnt make use of the burn so Im considering changing it to surf. I think power up punch has done me more good than stealth rocks has since with just stat boost im able to outspeed and basically obliterate most mons with a 657 atk stat plus stab plus rain, and ice punch kills more grass mons in 1 hit so i dont even have to switch out for them.

The electric issue came back though. I cant use my swampert until the mon with an electric move is in play in which case its super easy for my target to predict my switch to swampert and use a different move. That happens all the time and it gets my swampert killed, the only way ive been able to avoid situations like that is to predict their prediction of my prediction which just almost feels like luck after a point on what my opponent uses. If theres another sweeper or spec tank that can take an electric hit, i think my team would seriously be good to go. A similar issue to this has been earthquake, both my tanks are weak to earthquake and my immunty is pelliper but i dont like having to risk pelipper the same way i risk swampert. When i had ludicolo or rotom wash i was able to have an alternative rain dance and earthquake immunity/resistance and they werent weak to electric.

my last issue is weird, so my original threats that were in my post ive learned how to deal with and they havent been a real problem. however, a new threat i havent fought before has come up. Rotom wash. hes electric/water with levitate and so i have to switch to swampert because thunder and volt switch but all my swampert's moves are ineffective against him, earthquake does nothing, ice punch and waterfall are ineffective. its sort of solved with power up punch, with one stat raise im able to do 30% of its health with a rain waterfall but thats still really rough when its blasting me with hydro pumps that dont miss. any other mon i move to deal with rotom wash gets killed in 1 shot with thunderbolt/thunder or a giant chunk of their health disappears with volt switch.

I know im blasting you with a lot of nit picky problems so I cant express to you how much I actually appreciate you helping me out here, this was really weird for me when i was doing it on my own

 

[maroon]

So I played something like 30 matches with it and heres what I found, Its really hard to pull off keldeo with all his different weaknesses. For him to setup, his substitute has to last more than 1 hit which it hasnt been since 50% of the mons i face have some supper effective move against him or are just able to do 25% of his health in 1 hit. however in the 4 or 5 games where i did get him set up he became a team wiper. As a gym i expect people to come with electric/grass mons so i really dont think he will fair too well in any situation like that. Ash greninja is working out better I just dont have an ice beam stab for my grass targets but it hasent proven to be a big issue yet. Toxapex is good but I opted back for toxic over toxic spikes just because my targets have been able to avoid poison more than i thought. Eject button really helps for pivoting my team there have been some great situations for it. Empoleon's roar is fantastic though i never found myself using toxic, knock off has had its uses and same with scald but its usually had to burn specatk targets which doesnt make use of the burn so Im considering changing it to surf. I think power up punch has done me more good than stealth rocks has since with just stat boost im able to outspeed and basically obliterate most mons with a 657 atk stat plus stab plus rain, and ice punch kills more grass mons in 1 hit so i dont even have to switch out for them.

The electric issue came back though. I cant use my swampert until the mon with an electric move is in play in which case its super easy for my target to predict my switch to swampert and use a different move. That happens all the time and it gets my swampert killed, the only way ive been able to avoid situations like that is to predict their prediction of my prediction which just almost feels like luck after a point on what my opponent uses. If theres another sweeper or spec tank that can take an electric hit, i think my team would seriously be good to go. A similar issue to this has been earthquake, both my tanks are weak to earthquake and my immunty is pelliper but i dont like having to risk pelipper the same way i risk swampert. When i had ludicolo or rotom wash i was able to have an alternative rain dance and earthquake immunity/resistance and they werent weak to electric.

my last issue is weird, so my original threats that were in my post ive learned how to deal with and they havent been a real problem. however, a new threat i havent fought before has come up. Rotom wash. hes electric/water with levitate and so i have to switch to swampert because thunder and volt switch but all my swampert's moves are ineffective against him, earthquake does nothing, ice punch and waterfall are ineffective. its sort of solved with power up punch, with one stat raise im able to do 30% of its health with a rain waterfall but thats still really rough when its blasting me with hydro pumps that dont miss. any other mon i move to deal with rotom wash gets killed in 1 shot with thunderbolt/thunder or a giant chunk of their health disappears with volt switch.

I know im blasting you with a lot of nit picky problems so I cant express to you how much I actually appreciate you helping me out here, this was really weird for me when i was doing it on my own

yes, all water teams are weak to electric. i don't think I should really have to stress that, you cant say Keldeo is bad because its weak to Electric, when in reality that's most Water-types. Toxic can wear down Rotom-W, if you want to make Mega Swampert Toxic over Stealth Rock and Empoleon Stealth Rock over Toxic, that can lure Rotom-W into Mega Swampert, and then it can nail it with Toxic, making it much much easier to beat. Ground immunity should not be an issue between Defensive Pelipper and your Swift Swim abuser. I don't really have much more to say, I know Monotype in and out, not much more you can do here aside learn to play the team better.

 

[jjett01]

yes, all water teams are weak to electric. i don't think I should really have to stress that, you cant say Keldeo is bad because its weak to Electric, when in reality that's most Water-types. Toxic can wear down Rotom-W, if you want to make Mega Swampert Toxic over Stealth Rock and Empoleon Stealth Rock over Toxic, that can lure Rotom-W into Mega Swampert, and then it can nail it with Toxic, making it much much easier to beat. Ground immunity should not be an issue between Defensive Pelipper and your Swift Swim abuser. I don't really have much more to say, I know Monotype in and out, not much more you can do here aside learn to play the team better.

Im glad you said that, i kind of got lost in all the trying to cover every single base possible. I worked around it more and right now as it is i think what I have is the best its going to be thanks bro