Offensive Rain Team (1st RMT)

[TwinkyFist]

The Team
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I've done some testing with this team in PO and have gotten some pretty positive results. I'd like to make this team in the actual game but I figured I'd have the Smogon community tell me what they think first.


Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
Nature: Timid [+Spe -Atk]
EV's: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Ice Beam
-Scald
-Focus Blast
-Hypnosis
Very standard scarf Politoed set. Loves putting opposing leads to sleep (although the accuracy is shaky) and can work as a potent revenge killer, I've even managed to do some late game sweeping with him on rare occasion. Obviously sets up rain, the crutch of this team. The biggest problem I've seen is him leading against an opposing weather starter. He is almost always faster with his scarf, making the opposing weather effect go up 2nd.


Accelgor @ Mental Herb
Ability: Hydration
Nature: Jolly [+Spe -SpA]
EV's: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spe
-Rest
-Agility
-Acid Armor
-Baton Pass
The ninja bug serves me perfectly as a baton passer. His ability Hydration and his Mental Herb together in the rain keep any condition from interrupting his passing. Every member of my team greatly appreciates +2 speed or +2 Defense, or sometimes both. The HP EV's allow him to actually take 1 or 2 hits before he passes and any damage can be easily remedied with Rest, which he wakes up from immediately if rain is up. I ran Substitute on him for a while, but it was almost never actually beneficial, as it would usually get broken before he could pass it, or right as he passed it, making it a wasted turn.


Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Nature: Timid [+Spe -Atk]
EV's: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Thunder
-Earth Power
-Ice Beam
-Surf
Nidoking is my favorite recipient of Accelgors boosts. With access to a Sheer Force/Life Orb boosted Thunder, Earth Power, and Ice Beam (Thunder being 100% accurate in the rain) he has been known to sweep through entire teams. Surf is actually his most powerful attack when boosted by the rain, although it does not receive a boost from Sheer Force and thus you take Life Orb damage from it. He's also immune to Thunder Wave and Toxic and burns don't hurt his attack. Any water attack tears through him, but if he's gotten an Agility boost he can usually take out water types with Thunder, otherwise I can just switch to my next poke.


Toxicroak @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
Nature: Jolly [+Spe -SpA]
EV's: 4 HP/252 Atk/ 252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Drain Punch
-Sucker Punch
-Stone Edge
As every rain team knows, Dry Skin Toxicroak is very tough to take down when used correctly. Drain punch only adds to his durability, while doing decent damage at the same time (especially after a Swords Dance). The set overall is pretty standard. I ran Substitute on him for a while, but the coverage that Stone Edge offers has benefited me in many more scenarios.


Scizor @ Occa Berry
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant [+Atk -SpA]
EV's: 252 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Bullet Punch
-Bug Bite
-Brick Break
Occa Berry + Rain has Scizor happily boasting no weaknesses. A nasty surprise for anyone trying to throw a fire attack at him as he chuckles and SD Bullet Punches. Bug Bite and Brick Break are mainly for coverage, although their secondary effects can come in great handy in rare situations.


Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Modest [+SpA -Atk]
EV's: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Hurricane
-Thunder
-Dragon Pulse
-Roost
Dragonite loves Accelgors boosts almost as much as Nidoking. Multiscale and Roost make Dragonite very bulky and firing off 100% accurate Hurricanes and Thunders is no joke. He can also serve very well as a dragon killer with his ability multiscale. If he is at 100% HP, few dragon attacks can OHKO him (aside from Haxorus with his ability Mold Breaker) and he can kill back with Dragon Pulse (This works especially well on any opposing Kingdra trying to take advantage of the rain).



There are a few obvious flaws to the team. There is no grass or fire move on the team to speak of. I have no way of getting rid of entry hazards (Although I feel it should be mentioned that 5 out of my 6 are immune to Toxic Spikes). I also don't have a way to set up my own entry hazards, but I feel like that isn't as much of an issue. Opposing weather teams have caused a few problems for me before. For this reason I tried including a Lickilicky designed to take out other weather users, but he was mostly dead weight on the team against anything else. Hope I formatted everything correctly, if I didn't, just let me know. Happy rating!

 

[Jaxx]

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My comments are in red.

Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
Nature: Timid [+Spe -Atk]
EV's: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Ice Beam
-Scald
-Focus Blast
-Hypnosis
Very standard scarf Politoed set. Loves putting opposing leads to sleep (although the accuracy is shaky) and can work as a potent revenge killer, I've even managed to do some late game sweeping with him on rare occasion. Obviously sets up rain, the crutch of this team. The biggest problem I've seen is him leading against an opposing weather starter. He is almost always faster with his scarf, making the opposing weather effect go up 2nd.

As much as I like the idea of scarfed politoed it just doesn't seem to hit hard enough to be a scarfer. I would recommend Specs over Scarf just because as a revenge killer, you won't be killing much.


Accelgor @ Mental Herb
Ability: Hydration
Nature: Jolly [+Spe -SpA]
EV's: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spe
-Rest
-Agility
-Acid Armor
-Baton Pass
The ninja bug serves me perfectly as a baton passer. His ability Hydration and his Mental Herb together in the rain keep any condition from interrupting his passing. Every member of my team greatly appreciates +2 speed or +2 Defense, or sometimes both. The HP EV's allow him to actually take 1 or 2 hits before he passes and any damage can be easily remedied with Rest, which he wakes up from immediately if rain is up. I ran Substitute on him for a while, but it was almost never actually beneficial, as it would usually get broken before he could pass it, or right as he passed it, making it a wasted turn.

One word: Taunt.

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Nature: Timid [+Spe -Atk]
EV's: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Thunder
-Earth Power
-Ice Beam
-Surf
Nidoking is my favorite recipient of Accelgors boosts. With access to a Sheer Force/Life Orb boosted Thunder, Earth Power, and Ice Beam (Thunder being 100% accurate in the rain) he has been known to sweep through entire teams. Surf is actually his most powerful attack when boosted by the rain, although it does not receive a boost from Sheer Force and thus you take Life Orb damage from it. He's also immune to Thunder Wave and Toxic and burns don't hurt his attack. Any water attack tears through him, but if he's gotten an Agility boost he can usually take out water types with Thunder, otherwise I can just switch to my next poke.


Toxicroak @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
Nature: Jolly [+Spe -SpA]
EV's: 4 HP/252 Atk/ 252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Drain Punch
-Sucker Punch
-Stone Edge
As every rain team knows, Dry Skin Toxicroak is very tough to take down when used correctly. Drain punch only adds to his durability, while doing decent damage at the same time (especially after a Swords Dance). The set overall is pretty standard. I ran Substitute on him for a while, but the coverage that Stone Edge offers has benefited me in many more scenarios.

Just a small change here. I'd change lefties to LO to make Toxicroak hit that little bit harder. Also consider giving Toxicroak a little bulk to help live longer.

Scizor @ Occa Berry
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant [+Atk -SpA]
EV's: 252 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Bullet Punch
-Bug Bite
-Brick Break
Occa Berry + Rain has Scizor happily boasting no weaknesses. A nasty surprise for anyone trying to throw a fire attack at him as he chuckles and SD Bullet Punches. Bug Bite and Brick Break are mainly for coverage, although their secondary effects can come in great handy in rare situations.

Occa seems like a waste seeing as people will avoid using fire attacks at all costs in the rain. Lefties or LO would probably be a better choice.


Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Modest [+SpA -Atk]
EV's: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Hurricane
-Thunder
-Dragon Pulse
-Roost
Dragonite loves Accelgors boosts almost as much as Nidoking. Multiscale and Roost make Dragonite very bulky and firing off 100% accurate Hurricanes and Thunders is no joke. He can also serve very well as a dragon killer with his ability multiscale. If he is at 100% HP, few dragon attacks can OHKO him (aside from Haxorus with his ability Mold Breaker) and he can kill back with Dragon Pulse (This works especially well on any opposing Kingdra trying to take advantage of the rain).

What can I say about Dragonite? Well.. You mentioned Dragonites Multiscale ability helps greatly when dealing with over Dragons. You should consider a spinner for this team just to make sure SR doesn't ruin this for you and potentially leaving you open for Dragon sweeps.

Maybe a Forretress? Seeing as the rain will nerf fire attacks aimed at it, it can rapid spin with ease and even set up some SR for you as your team is lacking its support.


There are a few obvious flaws to the team. There is no grass or fire move on the team to speak of. I have no way of getting rid of entry hazards (Although I feel it should be mentioned that 5 out of my 6 are immune to Toxic Spikes). I also don't have a way to set up my own entry hazards, but I feel like that isn't as much of an issue. Opposing weather teams have caused a few problems for me before. For this reason I tried including a Lickilicky designed to take out other weather users, but he was mostly dead weight on the team against anything else. Hope I formatted everything correctly, if I didn't, just let me know. Happy rating!

Overall it looks like the a offensive rain team and although I only gave minor changes I feel they will help things run a little more smoothly for you.

 

[AntiMetaGame]

I'm no team rater, but am also currently building an offensive rain team. so I'll add my own 2 cents. Most pokes I know that set up weather are faster than politoed for matchups against other leads. I could be wrong, but most Ttars I see run speed. You can change the problem by making Politoed a bulkier with a defensive nature ie
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
- Scald
- Perish Song
- Toxic
- Hypnosis
This can help you win the war set up against all leads with maybe some loses against specially/defensive Ttars (but you still always lose to hippo). I also think that politoed shouldn't be scarfed because you have Scizor who also happens to have 252 extra EVs.

I'm not a big fan of custom spreads, but I suggest that you run some
252 Att / 252 Spe / 4 Def since the berry and rain make any fire attack useless while you bullet punch them.

I also suggest rocks too, but you might not need them since +2 is AWESOME from Accelgo. Also, you don't have to worry about the Taunt comment from Jaxx due to the mental herb.

As for grass moves, you could try Grass Knot on Nidoking to beat pert and buru although Thunder probably beats buru. Not sure which move though, maybe Thunder

 

[TwinkyFist]

As much as I like the idea of scarfed politoed it just doesn't seem to hit hard enough to be a scarfer. I would recommend Specs over Scarf just because as a revenge killer, you won't be killing much.

I'll usually only send him against something that he can hit for super effective damage with, which unless the opponent is built to be bulky, he can nab a kill out of it. Plus the scarf really makes Hypnosis useful (Well, 60% of the time :P). But I'll try a Specs set on him to see if I get better results.

One word: Taunt.

Whoops, forgot to include this detail. With his Mental Herb, he can't be Taunted. Although it only works once, it's a nice surprise to opposing taunters and gets him a free turn.

Just a small change here. I'd change lefties to LO to make Toxicroak hit that little bit harder. Also consider giving Toxicroak a little bulk to help live longer.

I could probably trade off some attack EV's for bulk if I used a Life Orb, any suggestions for a spread?

Occa seems like a waste seeing as people will avoid using fire attacks at all costs in the rain. Lefties or LO would probably be a better choice.

You would actually be surprised at how much he still acts as a fire attack tractor beam, even in the rain he's still 2x super effective. I ran Life Orb on him for a while but I found him to be dying a bit too easily (especially after the recoil)

Also Fortress would be quite the welcome addition to the team, however I'm not sure who I'd drop for him.

 

[Jaxx]

Whoops, forgot to include this detail. With his Mental Herb, he can't be Taunted. Although it only works once, it's a nice surprise to opposing taunters and gets him a free turn.

Thats interesting, thanks for the heads up. The only problem I'd see you having is with Prankster taunt users.

I could probably trade off some attack EV's for bulk if I used a Life Orb, any suggestions for a spread?

The set I found most successful is this:

Toxicroak @Life orb
Dry skin Jolly
252 atk 200 spe 52 def
- Swords dance
- Drain punch
- Stone edge
- Sucker punch

It may not seem like a lot but it can be a life saver.

Also Fortress would be quite the welcome addition to the team, however I'm not sure who I'd drop for him.

That is a tough one. I'd say either Scizor or Accelgor.
Scizor because you'd have two x2 Fire weak Pokemon.
Accelgor because both Pokemon would set up and Taunt would destroy you.

Again hope this helped.

 

[Shiny Miju]

With Toxicroak, maybe changing Lefties for Black Sludge? They have the same restoration amount, but it's good for any non-Poison Trickers who will be taking 1/16 of their HP every turn instead of restoring it with Leftovers. It's what I have on my Rain Dance team, and it works out pretty well.