SS OU No Choice: Flip-Volt-Turn in the Rain [1800+]

ElStefano · Oct 19, 2020

Introduction

Welcome to my new RMT! I wouldn't say Rain is my favorite playstyle, and yet I somehow ended up with a good rain team again that I would like to share with you. To give it some kind of theme, I chose One Piece this time, because I really enjoy this anime since it came out. If you feel like it, listen to the soundtrack while reading the RMT ;)

Team concept

Since the indroduction of Flip-Turn, the new "watery U-turn", I wanted to build a Volt-Turn team that made good use of it.

The best user of that move, in my opinion, is Barraskewda. To be honest, I don't know why it isn't used on rain teams more frequently with its amazing speed and attack stats. Sure, it is frail as hell, but that doesn't matter if you intend to switch out anyway... So I wanted to build around banded Flip-Turn Barraskewda in Rain.

Since rain always struggles with Grass types, especially Rillaboom, I added Scizor as the second part of the Flip-Turn core. It shreds off Grassy Slides with ease, forces out Grass types and grabs momentum with a U-turn to bring in Barraskewda on incoming Fire types.

The second problematic type for Rain teams are bulky water types. I saw a lot of rain teams running Zeraora for that cause, but I don't like the redundancy in fast frail attackers. Due to the fast an powerfull swift swimmers rain offers, the playstyle has a good matchup vs other offense teams already, so it doesn't benefit from Zeraora all that much. A powerfull breaker like Toxtricity on the other hand threatens fatter teams, which Rain tends to struggle with. These three alone form a very powerfull Flip-Volt-Turn-Core, which many teams struggle with. Once trapped in the vortex, the opposition has no real choice any more - staying in means being KOed, switching to a counter just lets me bring in my counter. Hence the name of the team - No Choice.

The rest was easy: Pelipper is mandatory for rain, Ferrothorn helps to form a good defensive core and sets up Hazards, and finally the obligatory Kingdra to clean weakened teams. Standard rain recipe.

The Team

Ruffy (Toxtricity) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Punk Rock
Nature: Modest
EVs: 156 HP / 252 SpA / 100 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Moves: Volt Switch | Boomburst | Sludge Wave | Overdrive

Ruffy is the captain of the crew and the MVP of most battles. His powerfull attacks overwhelm the opponents.

Toxtricity is the key component of this team, since it destroys fatter teams with ease. It's typing makes it a switch in to everything that wants to paralyse or toxic my mons. I loves to come in on fat Fairies (Clefable), Waters (Toxapex), Grasses (Tangrowth), Flyers/Defoggers (Corvi and Mandi) and claim a kill or Volt-Switch to its friends.

Max Special Atk + Specs to get the most out of each Volt Switch, if the opponent has a ground type or a Zeraora, just click Boomburst once and then you are free to go. Exca takes two, but gives a free switch-in to Pelipper to reset the rain. Overdrive over Thunder since it's sound based, which means it bypasses the substitutes. Otherwise, Primarina can become a problem for the team! Boomburst is the strongest attack it hast to offer, and Sludgewave is nearly never used, but gets stab and hits stuff like Alolan Marrowak (which is immune to all other moves) for the most damage.

The Speed EVs outspeed even the strange Primarina set with 216 Speed EVs (since Primarina is a real threat), Crawdaunt and Mandibuzz.

Toxtricity saves vs Primarina

Zorro (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: ~~248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD~~ 119 HP / 252 Atk / 137 Spe
Moves: U-turn | Bullet Punch | Knock Off | Quick Attack

Zorro is the strongest attacker of the crew (besides our captain of course). His steel weapons are deadly.

Scizor is an excellent addition to rain. It offers a valuable second switch-in to Rillaboom, since Ferrothorn can easily be overwhelmed. Offensively, it not only offers one of the strongest U-turns in the game, but also valuable priority to finish off weakend foes.

Adamant Max Atk + Band help to get the most damage out of each U-turn. ~~The rest is put into HP, since Scizor doesn't have to outspeed anything specific.~~ The speed EVs are needed to outspeed Azumarill (and makes Zorro faster than e.g. Mandibuzz). The additional bulk helps him switch into Rillaboom and also Kyurem, which I have no other switch-in for.

U-turn and Bullet Punch are a given, I like Quick Attack to also have a strong priority move to use vs Water/Fire/Electric types, which resist Bullet Punch. Knock Off in the last slot helps to get rid of Rocky Helmets, to allow for endless Volt-Flip-Turn-Shenanigans.

Sanji (Barraskewda) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe
Moves: Aqua Jet | Psychic Fangs | Close Combat | Flip Turn

Sanji is the fastest member of the crew and also a very strong attacker. Together with Ruffy and Zorro, he forms the monster Trio.

Barraskewda is an underrated option for rain teams. He is often my lead, because even outside of rain, he outspeeds most of the meta. With rain up, he outspeeds even Hawlucha and +2 Volcarona, which Kingdra doesn't achieve.

Similar to Scizor's spread, Max Atk Adamand Band guarantees the hardest hits. I run enough speed to outspeed Jolly Hawlucha under Rain. I know that everybody runs Adamant on Hawlucha, but Sanji doesn't want to take attacks anyway, so he doesn't need more bulk. On the other hand, a Jolly Hawlucha would sweep my team.

Flip Turn is the most important move on this set. There are games where I only click Barraskewda's Flip Turn, Sizor's U-turn and Toxtricity's Volt Switch and the opponent can't do nothing but take more and more damage. Close Combat is the strongest non-water move and OHKOs Kyurem, Hydreigon and Urishifu (and does way over half to Ferrothorn). Psychic Fangs is solely used for Toxapex (2HKO) and to threaten the other, worse Urishifu (OHKO). On the last slot, Kaskade would be nice, but Aqua Jet has proven even more valuable in certain situations, e.g. play around Banded Urishifu's Sucker Punch (which kills from full) and outspeed other strong priority moves.

Aqua Jet deals with Urshifu

Lysop (Kingdra) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Moves: Hurricane | Surf | Hydro Pump | Draco Meteor

Lysop is the sniper of the crew. Aiming over its long nose, it snipes foes left and right once they are weakened enough by the heavy hitters of the crew.

Standard Kingdra set. 176 Speed outspeeds everything relevant in rain, the rest goes to HP, which lets Kingdra always survive Banded Rillaboom's Grassy Slide from full. Modest + Specs for maximum damage output; once Kingdra enters the field, it should claim a kill whenever it attacks.

Hydropump is deadly in Rain, Surf if you need more accuracy. Draco Meteor to get off strong hits on water resists. Can be exchanged for Dragon Pulse if you want a secondary, realiable cleaning move instead of breaking power. Hurricane is a solid Midground between the two, which OHKOs Tangrowth and other Grass types. I don't need Flip-Turn on this, since I got Barrawskeda for that cause. If the opponent has a Blissey, Kingdra won't come in until Blissey is dead anyway.

Kingdra in action

Nami (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Nature: Calm
EVs: ~~248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD~~ 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Moves: U-turn | ~~Scald~~ Hurricane | Defog | Roost

Nami is not only the Navigator of the crew, she also knows how to control the weather!

Pelipper is mandatory in every Rain team. Not much more to say...

Since Ferro runs a defensive set, I run full special defense on Pelliper. This help switch into things like Charizard, although Sun is not much of a problem for Rain anyway. It also lives 2 Shadow Balls from non-choiced Aegislash. Full Defense investment to deal with Urshifu better. Damp Rock keeps up the rain as long as possible.

Scald is the best attack Nami has to offer, a combination of her water and fire elemental control, but you mostly just want to click U-turn to bring in your sweepers and start the Vortex... Thus it doesn't need another water attack, but is free to run Hurricane as additional coverage for the team with can kill Urshifu and chunk unsupecting Grass types. Defog in case Ferro is dead, but more often than not I just set my Hazards and keep the opponents. Roost to prolong Nami's precious live...

Franky (Ferrothorn) @ ~~Rocky Helmet~~Chople Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Moves: Stealth Rock | Spikes | Gyro Ball | ~~Endure~~ Body Press

Franky is the tank of the crew. He prepares the battlefield with its hazardous toys and helps to decimate the health of the enemy crew!

Ferrothorn has perfect type synergy with Peli defensively and thus is another staple on rain teams.

He is my physical tank, simple Max HP Max Def spread. Ferro isn't supposed to live long on this team, but deal as much damage as possible. Rocky helmet and Iron barbs reduce the health of physical attackers to bring them in range of my sweepers.

Endure helps to get off another round of passive damage before Ferro dies. Chople Berry and Body Press let me deal with Urshifu Single Strike and help to threaten Excadrill, Ttar and the like. Double Hazards help the swift swimmers sweep and forces in Defoggers like Mandibuzz and Corviknight, which often lets me double to Toxtricity and wreck havoc. Gyroball to threaten out fast mons like Alakazam without the need to sack.

Ferrothorn kills Urshifu with passive damage

Conclusion

I know what most of you think now. FOUR Choice-item-users? This can't work. That must lead to a situation where you have No Choice way to often!
But in combination with all the Volt-Flip-Turn-stuff, it actually works out quite nicely, since more often than not, you switch anyway after the attack. Just make sure to never let a heavy hitter in for free. Worst case, you can get momentum back by sacking Ferrothorn, set up a few hazards and rack up passive damage in the progress, or sack Pelipper to get rain back up one last time if you are ready to sweep with Kingdra. With so much Volt-Flip-Turn, only running Pelipper as a Defogger also seems counterintuitive, but with two swift swimmer + strong priority in Scizor, it's always in your favor to trade hazards with your opponent, so he will be inclined to defog for you =).

Vs offensive teams, try to clean the path for your rain sweepers.
Vs Balance, Toxtricity does most of the work. Bring him in as often as possible.
Vs Stall, just Volt-Flip-Turn patiently until you wore everything down enough to win.

There are certain mons that can become problematic defensively due to the many choice locks.
- Ground types/Zeraora: Block Volt Switch. Try to catch them with a Boomburst.
- Ghost types/Steel types/Chansey: Block Boomburst. Always Volt Switch.
If the opponent has both, it becomes a 50 50, try to catch the mon for which you have no switch-in! If e.g. Excadrill comes in on a Volt Switch it's not a big deal, just go Pelipper and start again.
- Fairy types: Blocks Kingdra's Draco Meteor. Don't switch to Kindra if there are also water resists left.
- Water resists: Block Kingdra sweep. Once they are gone, you win!

Some more annyances
- Rocky Helmet mons (e.g. Toxapex): Punish your Flip- and U-Turns. Knock them off with Scizor .
- Hazards: Punish your Flip- and U-Turns. Lay down your own Hazards and focus on a Kingdra sweep.

Nami (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- U-turn
- Scald
- Defog
- Roost

Franky (Ferrothorn) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Endure

Sanji (Barraskewda) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Psychic Fangs
- Close Combat
- Flip Turn

Lysop (Kingdra) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Surf
- Hydro Pump
- Dragon Pulse

Zorro (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Quick Attack

Ruffy (Toxtricity) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Punk Rock
EVs: 156 HP / 252 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Boomburst
- Sludge Wave
- Overdrive

Nami (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- U-turn
- Hurricane
- Defog
- Roost

Franky (Ferrothorn) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Body Press

Sanji (Barraskewda) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Psychic Fangs
- Close Combat
- Flip Turn

Chopper (Urshifu) @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wicked Blow
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
- U-turn

Zorro (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 119 HP / 252 Atk / 137 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Quick Attack

Ruffy (Toxtricity) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Punk Rock
EVs: 156 HP / 252 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Boomburst
- Sludge Wave
- Overdrive

M4RK5M4N · Oct 19, 2020

Does this team struggle with sand teams at all?

ElStefano · Oct 20, 2020

M4RK5M4N said:
Does this team struggle with sand teams at all?

Actually, sand is not as easy of a matchup as it might seem. Every good sand team features a bulky grass type, which I have to get rid of first before my swift swimmer may succeed. Toxtricity has a hard time: Exca blocks Volt Switch and in combination with TTar also makes Boomburst less of an option, even more so if there is a ghost type. Scizor is often the MVP in those matchups, since most sand teams lack a good switch in to Sciz.

TheDucky · Oct 21, 2020

Good team. Just want to point out that maybe you can try superpower for Scizor instead of quick attack. And also put 44spe evs to make sure it is faster than 0 evs 70spe Species strength pokemons such as Skarmory

RaikouLover · Oct 22, 2020

I’ve used and faced this exact team archetype several times. IMO Kingdra + Barraskweda is redundant. Liquidation > Aqua Jet on Barraskewda and replacing Kingdra with either Crawdaunt or Watershifu creates better matchups vs. fatter teams. Barraskewda can solo most offensive builds as is.

The play for opposing Urshifu is to make Pelipper full physical defense with Hurricane and Chople Berry + Body Press on Ferro. Urshifu doesn’t switch in on anything else once the flip chain gets going.

Also to note, setting Scizor’s speed at 200 (136 EVs) lets you out-priority BD Azumarill.

Here’s a replay vs what should have been a bad sand match up:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1173679811

ElStefano · Oct 22, 2020

TheDucky said:
Good team. Just want to point out that maybe you can try superpower for Scizor instead of quick attack. And also put 44spe evs to make sure it is faster than 0 evs 70spe Species strength pokemons such as Skarmory

RaikouLover said:
I’ve used and faced this exact team archetype several times. IMO Kingdra + Barraskweda is redundant. Liquidation > Aqua Jet on Barraskewda and replacing Kingdra with either Crawdaunt or Watershifu creates better matchups vs. fatter teams. Barraskewda can solo most offensive builds as is.

The play for opposing Urshifu is to make Pelipper full physical defense with Hurricane and Chople Berry + Body Press on Ferro. Urshifu doesn’t switch in on anything else once the flip chain gets going.

Also to note, setting Scizor’s speed at 200 (136 EVs) lets you out-priority BD Azumarill.

Here’s a replay vs what should have been a bad sand match up:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1173679811

Hey, thanks a lot for the rates =)

I'm a little sad that I am not as original as I thought since the guy in your replay runs a very similar team, but hey, at least that means the idea is good :D On to your suggested changes:
- The Speed EVs on Scizor totally make sense. Thanks to both of you. I wanted to have as much bulk as possible to deal with Rillaboom better, since he is really problematic to my team and rain in general. But outspeeding Azu is key if I replace Kingdra, Ferro's Helmet and Aqua Jet. Althought Superpower would be great to OHKO Ferro, I think Quick Attack offers more overall utility and the last change I will talk a about later also lets me deal with ferro much better now. Or did you have other targets in mind I need Superpower for?
- Ferrothorn with Chople and Body Press is a much better set, changed it immediately (I somehow forgot about Body Press).
- Pelipper's Sp Def EVs aren't really needed and your change gives me a much better Urshifu matchup.
- Kingdra indeed felt like the weakest link of the team, Urshifu seems like a good replacement since it can even run U-turn, I come to this slot later.
- With Kingdra gone, changing Barraskewda's Jet to Liquidation is a must (although I will miss Jet sometimes, but still, Liquidation is the better choice).
So your rate really brought a multitude of improvements, the team runs much smoother now =)

Now lets come to another point. The old team struggled vs Dragapult for multiple reason:
- Nothing wants to lead vs it (outspeeds everything, could be running Flamethrower for Ferro or Thunderbolt for Pelipper.
- Even under rain, only Kingdra forced it out reliably, but doesn't want to be locked into Draco (every team has a fairy).
- It keeps Toxtricity from using Boomburst. That's also the main point why the guy in your replay did so well vs the sand team: Tox could spam Boomburst and wasn't punished in return by a Ghost type claiming a kill afterwards.
- The multitude of sets it can run makes it hard to counterplay correctly. I was once swept by a physical variant running Sucker Punch and Flamethrower; first killed Ferro and after one DD it killed everything else easily.

To deal with that, I will follow your advice and change Kingdra to a physical breaker. But instead of using Urshifu Rapid Strike, I will first test out Urshifu Single Strike. I run the unpopular Jolly set. This helps with opposing Dragapult a lot and even offers a switch-in, offers another way to kill opposing Urshifus even after a Bulk Up (takes Sucker easily) and offers breaking potential and U-turn outside of that. Also doesn't add a Rillaboom weakness. And everyone will expect the other form on team preview :P I'm not sure wether this will work out, I will do some testing and tell you later on.

Thanks again for your rates, you really helped me a lot!

RaikouLover · Oct 22, 2020

Hi, glad I could help!

Dragapult is tough for rain but not impossible. The best counter plays Knock Off on Ferro (which breaks the sub even if it gets burned) and the teams speed with priority. Barraskewda 2HKOs with Flip Turn + Liquidation. IIRC Scizor’s Bullet Punch does quite a bit as well. The important thing is to just chip Dragapult into range of either of those attacks by hitting it once with Aqua Jet, Hurricane, Knock Off, Volt Switch, or Flip Turn.

The breaker slot really is up to you. Regular Urshifu I’m sure works fine! Enjoy!

TheDucky · Oct 22, 2020

I used superpower to deal with the Steel type pokemon since Bullet punch and U-turn are not effective. But I think quick attack is also a reasonable idea. I haven't tried your team yet, I will see which one is better. xd thank u

boss pose · Oct 22, 2020

I know this is late, but I like the general principles you built this team on and want to try and adapt it to DLC 2.

I feel like you need to get rid of Toxtricity because I simply don't see it being useful in a meta where checks like Landorus and Co exist, and I also think that it fulfills a niche that is already occupied by breakers like Kingdra. I think that you should replace it with Zapdos as a check to hard hitting physical attackers that Ferrothron can't deal with (the Shifus, some unlucky Pheromosa sets, Bulu etc).

I also think that you can swap Scizor for Urshifu. This may be personal preference, but I think Urshifu will give you options that Scizor can't. Access to poison jab, CC, and a strong dark type STAB crit (wicked blow) will be a powerful way to handle other threats. This makes you team more Clef-weak, which can be fixed through a gyro ball on Ferro.

I really think rain teams will be the FOTM this DLC, so excited to see what happens.

dragonclaw723 · Oct 22, 2020

So I have been playing the first version of the team, I really don't have much to add just wanted to say that I like it a lot although I feel like without superpower on scizor ferrothorn is almost impossible to deal with lol. Also love the straw hat theme :)

RaikouLover · Oct 22, 2020

dragonclaw723 said:
So I have been playing the first version of the team, I really don't have much to add just wanted to say that I like it a lot although I feel like without superpower on scizor ferrothorn is almost impossible to deal with lol. Also love the straw hat theme :)

Good play for Ferrothorn is Knock Off + Body Press on your own Ferrothorn. After a Knock off it is basically 2HKOed by Kingdra. Ferrothorn vs. Ferrothorn battles usually end up as a trade which you should be more than happy to make!

M4RK5M4N · Oct 26, 2020

Just wondering, is it me because I tried this team and I am unable to get past 1300. Is it just my mindset and how I play? I doubt it is the team because you used it and got relatively far.

ElStefano · Oct 26, 2020

M4RK5M4N said:
Just wondering, is it me because I tried this team and I am unable to get past 1300. Is it just my mindset and how I play? I doubt it is the team because you used it and got relatively far.

If you can provide replays I can try to tell you how to play differently =) But anyway, I doubt this team performs as good as before the new DLC..

M4RK5M4N · Oct 26, 2020

Ah that must be it from the new DLC

Sdor16 · Nov 3, 2020

I’ve been trying this team I found that choice specs regileki is a great replacement for toxtricity. He outspeeds the entire meta game not even full speed invested so you can run a modest nature and slightly more bulk. That along with his ability and specs makes for a devastating volt switch. I also run thunder in rain just in case I don’t need to switch out right away or to just end the game. There is less coverage but with the urshifu - kingdra switch I think it makes up for it and the electric power is just too much to handle. Ground types are a menace but with such little coverage options from regileki I always just switch into either pelipper or barraskewda since they will switch every time lol.

RaikouLover · Nov 3, 2020

This team likely still works and I will give this another go. Due to meta game shifts I’m thinking of Flip Turn CB Swampert over Kingdra. The rest of the team can be preserved. Will report back!

Twinkie3792 · Nov 4, 2020

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1216403591 awkward match, it was a mirror battle. Also great deck.

ElStefano · Nov 5, 2020

Twinkie3792 said:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1216403591 awkward match, it was a mirror battle. Also great deck.

Old version vs new version :D Thanks for using my team and posting this replay! It's great to see that my team is well received and used by others! And I especially love that you kept the one piece nicknames. Thanks you!

Twinkie3792 · Nov 5, 2020

ElStefano said:
Old version vs new version :D Thanks for using my team and posting this replay! It's great to see that my team is well received and used by others! And I especially love that you kept the one piece nicknames. Thanks you!

Hey man, if you could update the team or make variants adjusting to the meta, I will gladly use the deck. Also just a general thanks for getting me to my highest elo yet (which isn't that high compared to others). I just really like rain/sun decks. Again, thanks alot man.

TsujiAV · Nov 14, 2020

Twinkie3792 said:
Hey man, if you could update the team or make variants adjusting to the meta, I will gladly use the deck. Also just a general thanks for getting me to my highest elo yet (which isn't that high compared to others). I just really like rain/sun decks. Again, thanks alot man.

Seconded, I‘ve always loved the whole concept of Flip-Volt-Turn moves since U-Turn was introduced in Gen IV, and I’d love to build a team around those now that I’m getting into competitive - tips and updates to the team would be most appreciated!

Thank you for the great job with this!