My first rain team and also my first RMT!

[haunted2]

Introduction
Hello. This is my first RMT in smogon. I just started playing pokemon competitively not long ago. I hope I didn't make any mistakes while creating this thread. After testing other weathers out there I find myself liking rain more than the other weathers hence leading me to build this team.

Team building process

Like all drizzle rain teams we need a Politoed to get in the permanent rain.

Then I need something to abuse the rain. I decided on Jirachi because it is my favourite pokemon and it is able to abuse the rain because the weakness to fire is removed by the rain. At this point in time I haven't really decide what build my Jirachi will be going for.

I realised that I need a lead pokemon for the battle which is able to phaze and set up stealth rock. I finally decided on a Swampert which would able to do both the tasking. Also with its typing it is also immune to electricity which will destroy most of the water types in my team. Hence it also able to switch in when i need something to absorb electric attacks.

Next I wanted a special sweeper which I would be able to rely on most of the time and most importantly it must be able to cover the types which the rest of my team isn't able to cover. Hydreigon was the best choice. It has a large movepool and good special attack stat.

After that I wanted something that can break the opponent's wall. I then found out about this pokemon, Jellicent. Most of the time it is used as a utility and wall. However with water spout and a modest nature this pokemon can really rip through my opponent's wall when it is at full health. It can also help me with absorbing water attacks.

At this stage I realised that I had too many special attackers. I need a physical sweeper. Without ice type moves on my team with the exception of my Swampert I needed one desperately to take down dragons. I chose Cloyster for the job.

Here without further ado here is the team.

StepHopJump (Politoed) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Refresh
This is the key piece in the rain team. Without Politoed this team wouldn't even have existed in the first place. This Politoed is made as a wall. I wouldn't want my Politoed to die halfway in the battle especially weather wars. Being out of weather would mean that I would most likely lost the game. Scald is there for a STAB which can also burn the opposing pokemon. Toxic is there to take down walls. Protect to grab free heal from leftovers and free damage from toxic if the opponent don't switch out. Refresh is there to increase the survivability of my Politoed.

ShootingStar (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
- Water Pulse
My main rain abuser for the team. This is basically a WishCM Jirachi which is out to abuse the rain. Thunder with 60% paralysis rate and Water Pulse with 40% confusion rate helps to slow down my opponent's pokemon while I set up. Wish is there to help Jellicent sweep with water spout again if it got hit by an attack. Wish can also be passed to other pokemon to keep my team healthy.

Scream (Swampert) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 52 Def / 216 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Avalanche
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Stealth Rock
This is my lead pokemon also my bulky water. I made it specially defensive because I needed a special wall since I already have Politoed and Jirachi to wall most physical attacks. Stealth rock is there for me to set up. Roar to phaze baton passers and pokemon which wants to set up on my Swampert. Earthquake is there for STAB and it is my only earthquaker on my team. Avalanche to hit pokemon harder rather than Ice beam. Especially this is specially defensive it can take dragon pulse from latias or hydreigon and hit them harder with my avalanche.

Medusa (Hydreigon) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
This Hydreigon has moves to cover types which I do not have on my teams. Flamethrower in a rain team? Yes it is there to take out opposing scizor or ferrothorn. If they do hold those pokemon I would not bring in the rain unless I really need to just to bring those down. Draco Meteor is there to KO almost everything else. Dark Pulse is there for STAB without cost. I use U-turn because I can swap out my Hydreigon after a Draco Meteor.

Bubbles (Jellicent) (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SAtk / 84 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Water Spout
- Surf
- Energy Ball
- Shadow Ball
Wallbreaker Jellicent. Helps alot when my opponent thinks that it is a special wall and attempts to switch out and find out it isn't after taking a water spout under rain. It can KO most walls with 2 hits water spout at full life with stealth rock setted up. Surf is an alternate STAB move when my hp is low. Energy ball and Shadow ball is there for type coverage. Jellicent also helps in absorbing water attacks to recover hp for more sweeping with Water Spout. 84 speed EVs to outrun base unboosted 70 speed stat which most walls have like Skarmory.

Pearly (Cloyster) (F) @ White Herb
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 208 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Razor Shell
Main physical sweeper I have. Also my main dragon counter. This Cloyster can OHKO a dragonite without a shell smash with Icicle Spear. With 48 EVs in hp it can survive a physical attack more often. Rock Blast and Razor Shell is there for type coverage. This build can sweep almost everything after a shell smash.

THREAT LIST

Offensive Threats

Tyranitar - 2HKO with Jellicent under sand most of the time.

Rotom-W - Hydreigon can OHKO with Draco Meteor

Scizor - Any special attackers can kill it easily. Politoed can take a hit before hitting it with a scald.

Dragonite - Any build can be taken care by cloyster

Jirachi - Swampert can EQ or roar if it trys to set up.

Latios - Cloyster can OHKO it with Icicle Spear. It can be a problem if I don't set up first. However I always have my Swampert's avalanche

Reuniclus - Hydreigon OHKO with dark pulse or draco meteor

Ninetales
Nasty Plot - Water attacks works
Special Attacker - Same as above

Conkeldurr - Jellicent

Celebi - I have a problem with this.

Gyarados - Thunder from Jirachi

Volcarona - Water attacks tears through it

Magnezone - EQ from swampert or Flamethrower from Hydreigon

Salamence - Icicle Spears saves the day again.

Hydreigon - Icicle Spears

Latias - Abit of problem

Toxicroak - Jellicent can shadow ball it.

Lucario - EQ from swampert or wall with Jirachi.

Scrafty - Some problems.

Cloyster - Hydreigon is faster

Defensive Threats

Rotom-W - Draco Meteor hits hard enough

Ferrothorn - Flamethrower.

Politoed - Toxic it with my own.

Gliscor - Special water attacks. (Scald/water spout/surf)

Skarmory - Thunder with Jirachi

This comes to the end of my first RMT. Hope you guys can help me improve my team!

 

[King John]

You could give Cloyster a Life Orb to cause more hurt against the various threats, since it's EV spread tells me it can take a few hits. Otherwise, good team.

 

[Aberrant17]

1. Grass-types hit 2/3 of your team for super effective damage. Drop a few Water-types for Bugs, Flying-types, or Steels. Toxicroak is also an option, with the added benefit of being able to absorb Toxic Spikes.

2. I'd drop Jirachi and Hydreigon for Ferrothorn and Dragonite. Ferro and Nite have far better synergy with Politoed, making an excellent defensive team core (Ferro also works well with Jellicent). I think the issue 17 of The Smog should have more info. Look for the article "Core Crisis II: Tiers of Joy."

3. You don't have a spinner. Starmie, Forretress, and Tentacruel all work well as spinners in OU, and thrive in the rain.

4. Don't use Fire-type moves in the rain. Use Fighting-type attacks for enemy Ferrothorn, and special attacks for opposing Forretress. Fire and rain don't mix.

 

[haunted2]

Ok i'll take note and do some testing with D-nite and Ferro

 

[Wolf-O-Donnel]

You could Scarf Hydreigon in order to combat the dragons that you have problems with, as the common ones don't typically carry choice scarfs anymore. That was you can put in a more reliable physical sweeper than Cloyster such as Scizor.