Gen 5 NAPALMREGEN

NAPALMREGEN



Servus,

I'm here to showcase another BW2 UU team. It's a rain team I made some years ago that has seen some success and with which I made rain, a rather forgotten play style, come back to shine in the rathe few tournaments in which BW2 UU is played. I'll be covering more than just the team I present here and mention more possible options for most pokemon that are used on this team.

I'll start now with the building process, which starts out rather simple.

Team building process

Two of the staples that every rain team should have are Tornadus and Kingdra. Tornadus serves as the guranteed way of the team getting rain up where as Kingdra is the best abuser that one can have access to in this tier.



The next step was to add two more rain setters to this team. I decided to go with Azelf and Raikou in these slots. Azelf provides a good speed tier and access to Stealth Rocks, which are necessary in this tier. Raikou could not only set up rain but also abuse it.


Now it's time to fill up the last two remaining slots with more abusers. I decided to go with Omastar and Ludicolo, both being decent rain abusers. I had the option to use Kabutops over Omastar but at the time where I built the team I felt Omastar to be the better option of the two.


It's time to now jump into the sets of the Pokemon I've used and comment as well on every possible option they could be run or what other pokemon could replace them.

I will start with the rain setters descriptions first and then go to the abusers.​



Tornadus (M) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Hurricane
- Tailwind
- Focus Blast \ Taunt

Tornadus is the best rain setter for every rain team due to it having Prankster as ability, which allows it to get rain up guranteed and it also has the ability to be an abuser of the weather thanks to it learning Hurricane. The last two moves you can run on Tornadus here matter a lot on what you prefer. Most of the time I personally am running Tailwind and Focus Blast, since the former helps my Pokemon to outspeed opposing rain teams under rain as well as Kingdras on non rain team, where as Focus Blast at least grants me the ability to deal damage to Empoleon as well as some other things that tend to come in like e.g. Rhyperior or Bronzong. Taunt can be used over Focus Blast too, since it allows me to shut down all Bronzongs that only carry Earthquake as attacking move. The EV spread is pretty simple, not much to explain here.

Other options:
  • If you really want to, you could drop Tailwind for Taunt, meaning you still have Focus Blast as attacking move to deal damage to the likes of Bronzong. I personally think Tail Wind is too good to give up on as it helps so much against Tail Wind HO as well as opposing Rain Teams.


Azelf @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
- Taunt

Azelf works not only as rain setter but also Stealth Rock setter for this team. Having a good speed tier allows it to be able to get rain almost guranteed up, with the few exceptions of Weavile, Crobat, Sableye and the likes of Scarf Krookodile preventing it from it, although you can run a specifci EV spread to avoid the OHKO from Scarf Crunch Krookodile. Another mention is Xatu, which has the ability to also deny it from getting Stealth Rocks up but can't prevent it from getting rain up. The last two moves are Explosion and Taunt, where the former one just tries to deal damage against a Blastoise that may try to spin off the Stealth Rocks and the latter being a way of denying hazards from your opponent if they led with one of their setters.

Other options:
  • Skill Swap -> Taunt: If you really want to get Stealth Rocks up against Xatu teams, you can Skill Swap over Taunt to ruin any Xatu teams that don't have a spinner in the back with it.
  • Different EV Spread -> There probably is an EV Spread out there that could make Azelf tank hits from certain things guranteed so it can at least get Rain or Rocks up 100%. I usually don't think it's really necessary but the option is there to go for it.
Before going to the next Pokemon I'll be going over some alternative options for Azelf. I did consider them in the past but my personal perference as well as opinion is Azelf is simply superior to them.


Uxie @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Memento

Uxie can be run over Azelf if you don't value the speed Azelf has to offer too much and want more bulk and access to Memento to have one of the rain abusers that can set up (Omastar, Ludicolo if it's SD, Kabutops if it's run over Omastar) to have a free set up turn on something with -2 Atk/SpAtk. It does pretty much the same as Azelf but with less speed and more bulk. That's probably the best thing to run instead of Azelf if you feel like you prefer bulk but I'll mention some other Pokemon I looked at when trying to make this team better.


Mew @ Damp Rock
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt / Tailwind
- Explosion

Mew is another substitution and can be used for almost the same reason as Uxie over Azelf. Better bulk but loss in speed. It can provide Tailwind as support move for the team, meaning that you could potentially set up rain with a Tailwind right after. It also could run stuff like Roost over Explosion to have some sorta long lasting rain setter, but usually rain aims to win by striking hard and not spamming Roost to heal up and waste your own turns.


Mesprit @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock
- Healing Wish
- U-turn

Mesprit offers like Uxie and Mew also more bulk than Azelf but has a significant loss in speed compared to the other two options. It also lacks access to Taunt, meaning it can't shutdown any hazard setter compared to the other options I listed here. It has access to Healing Wish, meaning in an end game scenario, if it should live long enough, it could rain and Healing Wish to a rain abuser in the back. The EV spread as well as the final move could be toyed around with, as for example you could run Psychic to hit Nidoqueen or Qwilfish hard or have Grass Knot as last move to make Rhyperior or Swampert take a lot of damage.


Aerodactyl @ Damp Rock
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Double-Edge / Stone Edge

If you really want to be able to get rain up against the likes of Weavile or Crobat, this is your best bet. It outspeeds both of these and thus gurantees rain to go up. Unfortunatley every single common Choice Scarf user in this tier, with the exception of Flygon, is able to OHKO Aerodactyl, meaning in some match ups it may not be wise to lead it. Double-Edge serves the purpose of suiciding itself when at low HP against spinners to keep Stealth Rocks up. The other option is running Stone Edge to be able to deal damage against Xatu or even take it out.



Raikou @ Damp Rock
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature / Rash Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Roar
- Hidden Power [Ice] \ Weather Ball

With Raikou we have our third rain setter of the team, being also able to abuser rain like Tornadus thanks to it's access to Thunder. The main reason for using Raikou on this team is to have an electric switch in or rather an answer to Sub Calm Mind Raikou, one of it's most threatening sets it can run in this tier. Roar gives it the ability to phaze these variants out to prevent them from having swept you right there. The last move is really a pick between what you want more: be consistent and hit the likes of Roserade and Nidoqueen for decent damage or have the ability to one shot a Rhyperior in rain with Weather Ball? For consistency reasons I have Hidden Power [Ice] as first slash but considering I always used Weather Ball, due to it hitting super hard, it deserves to be here. There are also some scenarios where Weather Ball can help out more than HP Ice, but only if rain is up. Also for the people who aren't aware of it: Weather Ball Raikou requires it to have a Rash Nature and be Shiny, since it was only distributed via an Event Raikou which had Weather Ball as move as well as it being shiny and locked into a Rash Nature.

Other options:
  • Thunderbolt > Thunder: If you don't want to rely on Thunder in scenarios where rain is not up, then you can run Thunderbolt instead. I've never been in a scenario where I didn't have rain up yet so I can't really say it's nececssary.
  • Always have Raikou be shiny please, as it helps you BLUFF Rash Raikou!
Since Azelf isn't the only Pokemon on the team that could run different options here are the ones for Raikou. Raikous slot is way more flexible since the options you have instead of it can be valid, especially the first two I will mention here.


Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb \ Damp Rock
Ability: Sheer Force \ Poison Point
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe - Anything you find optimal
- Earth Power
- Rain Dance
- Toxic Spikes
- Super Fang \ Taunt \ Toxic Spikes

Nidoqueen is a decent replacement for Raikou, since it's immunity to electric type moves allows it to pivot into the likes of Sub Calm Mind Raikou easy enough. What Nidoqueen really has going for it is the fact that you can either run an offensive set or be more defensive in nature. Rain Dance as well as Toxic Spikes are two staple moves on it in my opinion. T-Spikes can even give you the edge in a rain mirror if you manage to get them up. The last two moves are basically what works out the best for you. It can run just two attacking moves, it does have the ability to run Super Fang, it could run things like Taunt or Dragon Tail/Roar. It can also run Poison Point if you don't run an attacking move that lacks a secondary effect to gain the Sheer Force boost. I could have slashed way more moves to the set but it's just something that can be explored more.


Zapdos @ Damp Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe OR something offensive with bulk
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- Volt Switch / Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Grass] / Hidden Power [Flying]
- Thunder / Whirlwind / Tailwind

Zapdos is another option over Raikou but doesn't serve the same purpose as Raikou does. It works as a second ground immunity for this team and has the ability to Volt Switch into a rain abuser. It offers also a fighting and bug resistance (Heracross) for the team, although it may need to run a bit bulk to be able to safely switch into Heracross after Stealth Rocks. It doesn't have much going for it compared to Raikou and certanly does not stop Sub Calm Mind Raikou from setting up on it, but it could run Whirlwind to screw over it. Other than that it can be useful in certain match ups over Raikou, thanks to it's ground immnuity but for consistency reasons and covering a big threat in Sub CM Raikou, it's not that good.


Rotom-Mow @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Rain Dance
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Will-O-Wisp

The very rare Rotom-Mow is another option over Raikou. It does more or less the same as Zapdos does with the differnce in it having a 4 times resistance to electric, meaning that Sub CM Raikou is still setting up on it but it has to HP Ice it, and if it's HP Grass Raikou you may not be screwed too much yet! Not much to say here due to it being very similiar to Zapdos but with the downside of it not being able to switch into fighting types at all like Zapdos could.


Cresselia (F) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Lunar Dance
- Psyshock
- Magic Coat \ Trick Room \ Gravity

Cresselia is another interesting option over Raikou. It has massive bulk, decent speed actually, Lunar Dance letting it get something in safely and Psyshock, letting it break Sub CM Raikous substitute, which is pretty big. The last move can be anything really, Magic Coat to help annoying opposing hazard setters or taunt users, Trick Room for the very rare occassion of running into an actual Trick Room team or Thunder Wave. Gravity works also on Cresselia, since it allows to have your rain abusers have 100% accurate Hydro Pumps which is for Kingdra great. There probably are more moves that could be toyed around with, the only exception is Moonlight since it is not healing what one is used to see when rain is up. Gravity can be also an option on it, as if you somehow do get the set up of Rain Dance + Gravity + Lunar Dance you will have for 3 turns a rain abuser that is guranteed to hit it's move.

Now it's finally time to move onto the rain abuser of the team.

Swift Swim Users


Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Ice Beam / Draco Meteor

Kingdra is the staple of any rain team. You can probably run a rain team without it but that's just handicapping yourself so badly. With base 85 speed and max speed EV's and a positive speed nature it hit's 295, which is when Swift Swim doubles it speed 590. No common scarfer can outspeed this, not even the absolute rare Scarf Raikou! Most people have seen me use Choice Specs actually but Life Orb is the superior choice here. Having the ability to switch moves with Kingdra is so good under rain. I run Rain Dance on Kingdra as well in case there is a situation where setting up with one of the main rain setters isn't as easy as it would be with Kingdra and that can catch the opponent off guard too. The issue is rain is only lasting for 4 turns here but that's better than nothing and is still more useful than running 4 attacks on Life Orb. The others moves are pretty self explantory. Hydro Pump as stab and hard hitting move, Dragon Pulse as stab to hit stuff like Druddigon for decent damage, Ice Beam for the likes of Roserade and Shaymin.

Other Options:
  • Modest > Timid: If you believe you are not running into a Kingdra you can run a Modest nature to increase it's damage output. Losing the ability to outspeed opposing Kingdras in rain sucks a lot.
  • Draco Meteor > Dragon Pulse or Ice Beam: If you want a good nuke move for some situations and don't think you will be using Dragon Pulse or Ice beam at all, Draco Meteor is a good substitution for that.
  • Surf > another attacking move: If you don't want to risk the chance of missing, you can just run Surf over Hydro Pump. Optionally you run it over Dragon Pulse or Ice Beam if you want to run dual water STAB.
  • Choice Specs > Life Orb: If you want even more power you can run Choice Specs. That's what I've been running all the time, with the exception of Ark having used Life Orb in his UUWC 2 game. Choice Specs is due to being locked into a move slightly inferior to LO as item, but the power difference is there and can maybe matter.


Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Seed Bomb
- Ice Punch

Ludicolo was usually seen as a special attacker in the past (at least from what I remember form the BW2 UU days) but I decided to go with a physical set here. The main reason being that I wanted a way of not getting owned badly by stuff like Calm Mind Suicune or bulky waters in general that could somehow set up. Ludicolo could attempt to set up SD against them, assuming no Scald burn or something like that, and threaten them out. It also does more damage to certain other things like offensive Roserade which ends up being OHKO'd by Ice Punch after taking Stealth Rock damage. The Jolly nature is necessary, because Adamant at +2 speed get's outsped by Scarf base 100's (Victini, Flygon) and Scarf Mienshao.

Other options:
  • Jolly -> Adamant: If you value damage over outspeeding the stuff I mentioned, you can run Adamant. I don't recommend it though, since outspeeding these things IS necessary.
  • Lum Berry > Life Orb: If you don't enjoy having to gamble against a Suicune maybe attempting to Scald you thinking it is safe from Giga Drain at +1 SpDef, you could run Lum Berry. It does miss out on KO's with LO. The prime example would be the OHKO after Stealth Rocks with Ice Punch against Roserade.
  • Special > Physical: I don't recommend a special set on this team with the set's I've been running but if Kabutops is run by any chance over Omastar it is worth considering going special Ludicolo instead.


Omastar @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 3 Atk / 30 SpA
- Shell Smash
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Omastar is such a massive threat under rain and the only thing that really holds it down is it's speed tier. At +2 speed it still get's outsped by most Choice Scarf users in the tier but that's not the reason for why you should run Omastar. It's main reason is to break defensive teams that Kingdra or Ludicolo may struggle to break on their own. The best example is it's ability to freely set up against Umbreon, which only can Foul Play it or switch out that turn. Hydro Pump serves as the STAB it uses and main move to break, Ice Beam is there so you can touch grass types and as a little bonus you don't need to hit it against flying types. HP Electrics purpose is to be able to hit bulky waters, the biggest target out there being Empoleon. It is one of the most annoying users for Omastar to run into, since it resists both Hydro Pump and Ice Beam. To sum it up here: Omastar is an amazing breaker but only as long as Hydro Pump hits.

Other Options:
  • There simply isn't anything I would consider to be a different option on Omastar. At best I would say maybe consider running Mystic Water but then Ice Beam as well as HP Electric lack a bit of punch which can be crucial if Omastar doesn't get to set up and just needs to dish out damage.

Other Swift Swim Users
There is one more Swift Swim User that is good but just didn't make it onto the team due to my preference for Ludicolo as well as Omastar, which I will cover now as a potential replacement for either of the two, most of the time you will find yourself running it over Omastar, since both sharing a ground weakness can hurt.


Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge


Kabutops is in my opinion the second best rain abuser in the tier. Being a physical attacker with Rock as second STAB move makes it a big threat under rain. It can either use a CB set or as I listed here a LO set with SD. Waterfall and Stone Edge are pretts much self-explanatory but Aqua Jet may not be for everyone. It's a good move to have in case rain runs out and you want to deal some last turn damage and it is incredibly good against Sableye. Without Aqua Jet Sableye just get's a free burn on Kabutops and cripples it. You can also tweak the LO set more, by either neglecting to run SD and run a filler move like Superpower (more useful on CB in my opinion) or have something unique like Rapid Spin to help against hazards in case they got up.

Now the question is why am I not running Kabutops over either Omastar or Ludicolo? In the current state of the team as I am running it, I don't think Ludicolo can be changed since it offers not only a quad grass resistance but also a ground resistance that actually can attempt to switch into them. Kabutops cannot do that.

So this leaves us with Omastar. The main thing you should be asking yourself: Do you prefer to have a strong special attacker to break thru stall or a strong physical attacker? That's really it what it is about here. I preffered Omastars high special attack over Kabutops physical traits way more, as it allows me to Shell Smash against an Umbreon, which Kabutops cannot really do with SD (Foul Play just KO's it).

To sum this up: Personal preferance comes into play here for which one you choose.

That's it for the team as well as everything I considered that would be valid to run on a rain team, with the exception being some of the other Swif Swim users which I simply believe don't ever make the cut and are just inferior to the 4 common ones that can be run. So people don't have to look them up themselves it would be Seismitoad, Qwilfish and some really odds one like Poliwrath, Gorebyss. Gorebyss does have access to Shell Smash but Omastar is a tiny bit faster and can also attempt to set up one something like a CB Snorlax locked into Frustration or even Body Slam if it wants to take the gamble on dodging the paralysis.

Replays
vs. bugzinator for one of the many CPL's
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-488790
This replay just shows how easy it can be to win from just turn 1 with rain.

ninjadog vs. Nalorium for UUSD 2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-594856
This game is a perfect example of rain not being an auto win.

vs. watashi for a UUPL
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-489971
The best example of why LO Kingdra is better, with it I wouldn't have had to gamble on Weavile being CB to win.

Ark using it in UUWC 2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-577553
This games show how important it was for Ludicolo to be jolly actually as well as Kingdra being LO.

There are more replays out there by many users using this team or a variation of it or their own take on rain so if you need more (there are also enough where it loses) you will find them easily. I just thought I would post these 4 since they underline some stuff as of why I went for certain sets or natures etc.

Closing Words
I don't have much to say except that rain isn't as broken as some people may believe it to be and not even that much of a "cheese" team, since if you don't know how to actually play this team in certain scenarios you will be finding yourself way faster in a losing position than you may have expected it. I had fun making this team as well as using it and see others also win with it.

Also thank you Pak for taking your time and reading over my RMT!

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