Hello people of the Smogon Forum. I am somewhat new to Competitive battling having started a few months ago but I have played many matches and have watched many matches on youtube and have came up with a team of my own.
This team has worked very well for me, I haven't lost too many matches with it and have gotten alot of 5-0s and 4-0s with it but alot of my losses might be due to my predictions. -__- I've gradually built this team over time trying to fill as many gaps as possible and I have come up with this rain team:
To start off with:
Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp.Def
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Hypnosis
- Perish Song
- Protect
Pretty much everyone of you have seen a Politoed in a Wi-Fi battle and quite obviously since I am using a rain team, I need one. This set is quite self-explanatory. Scald is there to burn opposing foes to make Politoed an even more of a physical wall and also do a decent amount of damage with 180 base power. An opposing Ninetales is faster than Politoed and therefore has sun up first as I get rain up second forcing a switch or feeling the wrath of Scald. Hypnosis is here for those annoying Pokemon that threaten my Pokes and also to let one of my other Pokemon get a safe switch and set up. Perish Song is used over Encore because I find phazing Pokemon being much more important than Encoring them for three turns, this is because of CM Virizion who causes mad problems to my team as it can sweep freely, with Perish Song, it can only stay for three turns and it might cost my Politoed in the process but getting swept by Virzion does not feel great at all. And the last wonderful moveslot is dedicated to Protect, my team can support this really well since my team has things that cause residual damage like Toxic Spikes, Leech Seed so you will see Protect very often throughout my whole team. I do feel unsafe going into Politoed sometimes fearing the thought of it getting killed which means that the opponent can do whatever the hell they want with the weather. There is not much I can say about Politoed, it's hear for the weather and for occasional burn support.
Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spe
Nature: Naive ( +Spe, -Sp.Def)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power Ice
- U-Turn
You might be thinking, what on earth is a Landorus doing on a rain team? Well Landorus believe it or not actually plays a pretty good role in it, to scare of electric types. Because of Magnezone and some others having Air Balloon I usually have to U-Turn out but after that they'll be running away. My team used to have a huge weakness to Electric when I still had Skarmory, infact my first ever stage of this team had to Pokemon resistant I had to send in my Specially Defensive Jirachi all the time. But after adding Landorus, I had no problems. This Landorus also does not care what the weather is. If there is a sandstorm, Landorus becomes deadly and can sweep as a counter to Sand Teams. Sun Teams aren't much of a problem for me and I haven't lost to one. Earthquake and Stone Edge are obvious choices, they both gain a boost in Sandstorm but of course I don't need to rely on that. Hidden Power Ice is simply for Gliscor switch ins predicting the Earthquake only at the cost of losing their life. Because it is mixed it has a Naive nature and not Jolly (obviously). And lastly but not leastly, we have U-Turn which is to scout and hit "dem nasty psychic types". Typically what I do is I lead with Landorus, he is usually somewhere at the bottom of my party so people don't necessarily pay attention to Landorus and send out a counter to Politoed while I lead with Landorus and surprise them. I need a few pokemon in my team who does not rely heavily on rain to rescue them, Landorus is one of those few.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP/ 88 Def/ 168 Sp.Def
Nature: Relaxed (+Def, - Spe)
- Stealth Rock
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect
Moving on to Pokemon that actually benefit from the rain, we have Ferrothorn. It is pretty obvious why Ferrothorn benefits, FOUR TIMES WEAKNESS TO FIRE. Once the rain has washed away the flames, Ferrothorn can actually defeat Hidden Power Fire Magnezon. The reason why I point out Magnezone is because everyone sends out Magnezone whenever there is an opposing Steel type and trap it, whith Ferrothorn, it can Leech Seed and then take less than half damage from HP Fire and gain HP back, then it can proceed to protect and make Magnezone's life a living hell. This is the main reason why I have protect over Gyro Ball so that I can get somewhat of a mini free recovery with Leech Seed and Leftovers combined, Gyro Ball is not that great of an offensive move and Gastrodon is a pretty common switch in to my water types being able to grab a free +1. There are no other major problems to my team so there fore I use protect as a mini recovery option and it's even more fun when Blissey's out as Seismic Toss is doing nothing and I am gaining all of the HP back and more. Power Whip, as a hint given earlier is to scare of Gastrdon's who think they're so cool with their +1s. It's 94 base Attack is definitely something it can brag about. Apart from that, it's also for Rotom-W and other water types that are resistant to Electric type moves.
Stealth Rock is pretty self-explanitory, I'd rather get a sliver of HP damage on anything rather than nothing at all on a Flying/ Levitating Pokemon since those Pokes are pretty Common.
Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Sp.Atk/ 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe,-Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power Ice
- Trick
Here I have my next Pokemon in line, Rotom Wash. With the rain up Rotom is able to fire off impressive BP Hydro Pumps and Volt Switch to keep the momentum in my team. 2 Scarfed Pokes on the same team seems odd but it has worked wonderfully for me as it has the VoltTurn combo and Landorus and Rotom Wash has very good Coverage together. Hydro Pump is it's main stab and probably one of it's only water type stabs if I'm not mistaken. Volt Switch is as I explained earlier to keep the momentum on my side and my last attacking move is HP Ice. I have HP Ice over Fire obviously do to rain and also to stop Dragon Dancing Dragonites and other base 85 and lower Pokemon from sweeping my team. The last moveslot is Trick which is indeed a very tricky move too use and an even more tricky move to play against. It's for crippling walls as well as making Eviolite users like Chansey and Porygon2 suffer as well as pokemon that are much slower or just Pokemon that gain no benefit from it like Trick Room Pokemon. There isn't much to say about Rotom-W, it with Landorus makes a very Dangerous Combo.
Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP/ 240 Def/ 16 Spe
Nature: Calm (+Sp.Def,-Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
Tentacruel is another pokemon that is benefited by the rain. With rain dish it regains 12.5 HP every turn and can act as a mini recovery in conjunction with Protect making 2HKOs turn into 3HKOs and etc. The main reason for using Tentacruel is for using Toxic Spikes which has helped me many times to win matches and personally I feel lost without toxic spikes support on any team. Apart from that, the other reason why I use Tentacruel is because of Rapid Spin as it can get rid of entry hazards and set it's own. Scald is the main attacking move since it has a chance of burning the opponent so it aids Tentacruel's low 65 base defense stat and also being boosted by rain it can actually do considerable amount of damage on foes. Protect works perfectly on this set allowing it to gain HP making it's ability to stay alive increase. Tentacruel is weak to Earthquake but I think the opponent would think twice about using that since I have 3 pokemon immune to it. Tentacruel's other weakness is Electric and can be taken care of with Landorus or Ferrothorn respectively. FerroCruel defensive core also works very well as Tentacruel resists Ferrothorn's Fire and Fighting type attacks and Ferrothorn resists Electric types and Psychic type moves and can take Ground type attacks rather well but I could always switch out into one of my floaters.
Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Sp.Atk/ 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Sp.Atk,-Atk)
- Substitute
- Disable
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
Probably the oddest pick for my team you might think, but regardless of what team you have, every team needs a Gengar. I might need to do alot of explaining why I am using it. Well, Gengar has gotten me out of many tight positions being able to safely do massive amounts of damage on switch ins and with the rain letting it safely get Leftovers recovery without getting pelted back hindering it's stalling capabilities. However, Gengar doesn't need to rely on the rain at all. It can come in what ever the weather it is and under a sub it can try defeating other opposing weather makers with team support with it's two coverage moves. Substitute is obviously a way to scout for dangerous moves and then proceed to Disable if Gengar does not like it. Gengar is an excellent counter to Toxicroak who tries to abuse my weather, I can easily set up in front of it and as Sucker Punch only hits if Gengar was going to attack and then I can either Disable another predicted Sucker Punch or stall out the low PP of it. Like I said it's two coverage moves are very important for landing damage on things. If I Disable a pokemon who has only one move that can harm Gengar then it forces a switch out which aids my Entry hazards damage pecking through the opponents HP and Gengar as well weakening foes so that I can send out either one of my Scarfed Pokemon to revenge kill everything. Gengar has on numerous occasions gotten rid of half of an opponents team safely. Gengar also works as a Spin Blocker being a Ghost since my team Heavily relies on it to do weaken foes, the only problem is that Gengar is frail and the common spinners like Starmie is faster then Gengar and next turn can fire off a Double Stab HydroPump so I am forced to switch out next turn anyway, therefore, for dealing those foes, I go into Ferrothorn so that they actually take damage from Iron Barbs and Life Orb as well Ferrothorn can actually wall their attacks. However, that is the only Spinner that Gengar fears. Other Spinners like most Tentacruels and some Donphans only have one attack to hurt Gengar, most Donphans have nothing. Overall, Gengar plays as a big part of my team scouting out for moves, SpinBlocking, phazing, and safely defeating foes.
To Finish off here is a little chart to show you guys what my Pokes are weak to and how who on my team I can switch into to take them
Pokemon Weaknesses and and Pokes who resist it
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Politoed Electric Grass
[Ferrothorn ÷2, Landorus 0] [Ferrothorn ÷4, Gengar ÷2]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Landorus Ice Water
[Politoed ÷2, Tentacruel ÷2, Rotom-W ÷2][Politoed ÷2, Tentacruel ÷2, Rotom-W ÷2]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ferrothorn Fire[hindered by rain] Fighting
[Politoed ÷2, Tentacruel ÷2, Rotom-W ÷2][Gengar 0, Landorus ÷2, Tentacruel ÷2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rotom-W Grass
[Ferrothorn ÷4, Gengar ÷2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tentacruel Electric Ground
[Ferrothorn ÷2, Landorus 0] [Landorus 0, Rotom-W 0, Gengar 0]
Psychic
[Ferrothorn ÷2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gengar Dark Psychic Ghost
[Ferrothorn ÷2] [Ferrothorn ÷2] [Ferrothorn ÷2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coverage:
Dark- Gengar's Focus Blast if it can get a free sub up.
Dragon- Landorus and Rotom-W's HP Ice.
Ice- Gengar's Focus Blast, Landorus' Stone Edge, Stealth Rock
Psychic- Gengar's Shadow Ball, Landorus's U-Turn
Electric- Landorus' Earthquake
Grass- HP Ice, Landorus' U-Turn.
Water- Rotom-W's Volt Switch, Ferrothorn's Power Whip
Fire- EVERYTHING.
Steel- Gengar's Focus Blast, Landorus' Earthquake
Ghost- Gengar's Shadow Ball
Bug- Stealth Rock, Landorus' Stone Edge
Rock- EVERYTHING. LITERALLY.
Ground- Almost everything.
Poison- Landorus' Earthquake
Flying- Rotom-W's Volt Switch, Landorus' Stone Edge, Stealth Rock
Fighting- Nothing. Best bet Tentacruel to resist the attack and try to burn with scald.
Please feel free to comment or suggest anything at all, I'd accept anything to improve my team. I have done well with it and I'm feeling like I haven't explained everything so if you have a question please ask. All right then.
This team has worked very well for me, I haven't lost too many matches with it and have gotten alot of 5-0s and 4-0s with it but alot of my losses might be due to my predictions. -__- I've gradually built this team over time trying to fill as many gaps as possible and I have come up with this rain team:
To start off with:
Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp.Def
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Hypnosis
- Perish Song
- Protect
Pretty much everyone of you have seen a Politoed in a Wi-Fi battle and quite obviously since I am using a rain team, I need one. This set is quite self-explanatory. Scald is there to burn opposing foes to make Politoed an even more of a physical wall and also do a decent amount of damage with 180 base power. An opposing Ninetales is faster than Politoed and therefore has sun up first as I get rain up second forcing a switch or feeling the wrath of Scald. Hypnosis is here for those annoying Pokemon that threaten my Pokes and also to let one of my other Pokemon get a safe switch and set up. Perish Song is used over Encore because I find phazing Pokemon being much more important than Encoring them for three turns, this is because of CM Virizion who causes mad problems to my team as it can sweep freely, with Perish Song, it can only stay for three turns and it might cost my Politoed in the process but getting swept by Virzion does not feel great at all. And the last wonderful moveslot is dedicated to Protect, my team can support this really well since my team has things that cause residual damage like Toxic Spikes, Leech Seed so you will see Protect very often throughout my whole team. I do feel unsafe going into Politoed sometimes fearing the thought of it getting killed which means that the opponent can do whatever the hell they want with the weather. There is not much I can say about Politoed, it's hear for the weather and for occasional burn support.
Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spe
Nature: Naive ( +Spe, -Sp.Def)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power Ice
- U-Turn
You might be thinking, what on earth is a Landorus doing on a rain team? Well Landorus believe it or not actually plays a pretty good role in it, to scare of electric types. Because of Magnezone and some others having Air Balloon I usually have to U-Turn out but after that they'll be running away. My team used to have a huge weakness to Electric when I still had Skarmory, infact my first ever stage of this team had to Pokemon resistant I had to send in my Specially Defensive Jirachi all the time. But after adding Landorus, I had no problems. This Landorus also does not care what the weather is. If there is a sandstorm, Landorus becomes deadly and can sweep as a counter to Sand Teams. Sun Teams aren't much of a problem for me and I haven't lost to one. Earthquake and Stone Edge are obvious choices, they both gain a boost in Sandstorm but of course I don't need to rely on that. Hidden Power Ice is simply for Gliscor switch ins predicting the Earthquake only at the cost of losing their life. Because it is mixed it has a Naive nature and not Jolly (obviously). And lastly but not leastly, we have U-Turn which is to scout and hit "dem nasty psychic types". Typically what I do is I lead with Landorus, he is usually somewhere at the bottom of my party so people don't necessarily pay attention to Landorus and send out a counter to Politoed while I lead with Landorus and surprise them. I need a few pokemon in my team who does not rely heavily on rain to rescue them, Landorus is one of those few.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP/ 88 Def/ 168 Sp.Def
Nature: Relaxed (+Def, - Spe)
- Stealth Rock
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect
Moving on to Pokemon that actually benefit from the rain, we have Ferrothorn. It is pretty obvious why Ferrothorn benefits, FOUR TIMES WEAKNESS TO FIRE. Once the rain has washed away the flames, Ferrothorn can actually defeat Hidden Power Fire Magnezon. The reason why I point out Magnezone is because everyone sends out Magnezone whenever there is an opposing Steel type and trap it, whith Ferrothorn, it can Leech Seed and then take less than half damage from HP Fire and gain HP back, then it can proceed to protect and make Magnezone's life a living hell. This is the main reason why I have protect over Gyro Ball so that I can get somewhat of a mini free recovery with Leech Seed and Leftovers combined, Gyro Ball is not that great of an offensive move and Gastrodon is a pretty common switch in to my water types being able to grab a free +1. There are no other major problems to my team so there fore I use protect as a mini recovery option and it's even more fun when Blissey's out as Seismic Toss is doing nothing and I am gaining all of the HP back and more. Power Whip, as a hint given earlier is to scare of Gastrdon's who think they're so cool with their +1s. It's 94 base Attack is definitely something it can brag about. Apart from that, it's also for Rotom-W and other water types that are resistant to Electric type moves.
Stealth Rock is pretty self-explanitory, I'd rather get a sliver of HP damage on anything rather than nothing at all on a Flying/ Levitating Pokemon since those Pokes are pretty Common.
Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Sp.Atk/ 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe,-Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power Ice
- Trick
Here I have my next Pokemon in line, Rotom Wash. With the rain up Rotom is able to fire off impressive BP Hydro Pumps and Volt Switch to keep the momentum in my team. 2 Scarfed Pokes on the same team seems odd but it has worked wonderfully for me as it has the VoltTurn combo and Landorus and Rotom Wash has very good Coverage together. Hydro Pump is it's main stab and probably one of it's only water type stabs if I'm not mistaken. Volt Switch is as I explained earlier to keep the momentum on my side and my last attacking move is HP Ice. I have HP Ice over Fire obviously do to rain and also to stop Dragon Dancing Dragonites and other base 85 and lower Pokemon from sweeping my team. The last moveslot is Trick which is indeed a very tricky move too use and an even more tricky move to play against. It's for crippling walls as well as making Eviolite users like Chansey and Porygon2 suffer as well as pokemon that are much slower or just Pokemon that gain no benefit from it like Trick Room Pokemon. There isn't much to say about Rotom-W, it with Landorus makes a very Dangerous Combo.
Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP/ 240 Def/ 16 Spe
Nature: Calm (+Sp.Def,-Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
Tentacruel is another pokemon that is benefited by the rain. With rain dish it regains 12.5 HP every turn and can act as a mini recovery in conjunction with Protect making 2HKOs turn into 3HKOs and etc. The main reason for using Tentacruel is for using Toxic Spikes which has helped me many times to win matches and personally I feel lost without toxic spikes support on any team. Apart from that, the other reason why I use Tentacruel is because of Rapid Spin as it can get rid of entry hazards and set it's own. Scald is the main attacking move since it has a chance of burning the opponent so it aids Tentacruel's low 65 base defense stat and also being boosted by rain it can actually do considerable amount of damage on foes. Protect works perfectly on this set allowing it to gain HP making it's ability to stay alive increase. Tentacruel is weak to Earthquake but I think the opponent would think twice about using that since I have 3 pokemon immune to it. Tentacruel's other weakness is Electric and can be taken care of with Landorus or Ferrothorn respectively. FerroCruel defensive core also works very well as Tentacruel resists Ferrothorn's Fire and Fighting type attacks and Ferrothorn resists Electric types and Psychic type moves and can take Ground type attacks rather well but I could always switch out into one of my floaters.
Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Sp.Atk/ 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Sp.Atk,-Atk)
- Substitute
- Disable
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
Probably the oddest pick for my team you might think, but regardless of what team you have, every team needs a Gengar. I might need to do alot of explaining why I am using it. Well, Gengar has gotten me out of many tight positions being able to safely do massive amounts of damage on switch ins and with the rain letting it safely get Leftovers recovery without getting pelted back hindering it's stalling capabilities. However, Gengar doesn't need to rely on the rain at all. It can come in what ever the weather it is and under a sub it can try defeating other opposing weather makers with team support with it's two coverage moves. Substitute is obviously a way to scout for dangerous moves and then proceed to Disable if Gengar does not like it. Gengar is an excellent counter to Toxicroak who tries to abuse my weather, I can easily set up in front of it and as Sucker Punch only hits if Gengar was going to attack and then I can either Disable another predicted Sucker Punch or stall out the low PP of it. Like I said it's two coverage moves are very important for landing damage on things. If I Disable a pokemon who has only one move that can harm Gengar then it forces a switch out which aids my Entry hazards damage pecking through the opponents HP and Gengar as well weakening foes so that I can send out either one of my Scarfed Pokemon to revenge kill everything. Gengar has on numerous occasions gotten rid of half of an opponents team safely. Gengar also works as a Spin Blocker being a Ghost since my team Heavily relies on it to do weaken foes, the only problem is that Gengar is frail and the common spinners like Starmie is faster then Gengar and next turn can fire off a Double Stab HydroPump so I am forced to switch out next turn anyway, therefore, for dealing those foes, I go into Ferrothorn so that they actually take damage from Iron Barbs and Life Orb as well Ferrothorn can actually wall their attacks. However, that is the only Spinner that Gengar fears. Other Spinners like most Tentacruels and some Donphans only have one attack to hurt Gengar, most Donphans have nothing. Overall, Gengar plays as a big part of my team scouting out for moves, SpinBlocking, phazing, and safely defeating foes.
To Finish off here is a little chart to show you guys what my Pokes are weak to and how who on my team I can switch into to take them
Pokemon Weaknesses and and Pokes who resist it
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Politoed Electric Grass
[Ferrothorn ÷2, Landorus 0] [Ferrothorn ÷4, Gengar ÷2]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Landorus Ice Water
[Politoed ÷2, Tentacruel ÷2, Rotom-W ÷2][Politoed ÷2, Tentacruel ÷2, Rotom-W ÷2]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ferrothorn Fire[hindered by rain] Fighting
[Politoed ÷2, Tentacruel ÷2, Rotom-W ÷2][Gengar 0, Landorus ÷2, Tentacruel ÷2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rotom-W Grass
[Ferrothorn ÷4, Gengar ÷2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tentacruel Electric Ground
[Ferrothorn ÷2, Landorus 0] [Landorus 0, Rotom-W 0, Gengar 0]
Psychic
[Ferrothorn ÷2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gengar Dark Psychic Ghost
[Ferrothorn ÷2] [Ferrothorn ÷2] [Ferrothorn ÷2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coverage:
Dark- Gengar's Focus Blast if it can get a free sub up.
Dragon- Landorus and Rotom-W's HP Ice.
Ice- Gengar's Focus Blast, Landorus' Stone Edge, Stealth Rock
Psychic- Gengar's Shadow Ball, Landorus's U-Turn
Electric- Landorus' Earthquake
Grass- HP Ice, Landorus' U-Turn.
Water- Rotom-W's Volt Switch, Ferrothorn's Power Whip
Fire- EVERYTHING.
Steel- Gengar's Focus Blast, Landorus' Earthquake
Ghost- Gengar's Shadow Ball
Bug- Stealth Rock, Landorus' Stone Edge
Rock- EVERYTHING. LITERALLY.
Ground- Almost everything.
Poison- Landorus' Earthquake
Flying- Rotom-W's Volt Switch, Landorus' Stone Edge, Stealth Rock
Fighting- Nothing. Best bet Tentacruel to resist the attack and try to burn with scald.
Please feel free to comment or suggest anything at all, I'd accept anything to improve my team. I have done well with it and I'm feeling like I haven't explained everything so if you have a question please ask. All right then.
