Offensive Rain
Politoed (Leftovers)
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Nature: Bold
- Scald
- Protect
- Substitute
- Refresh
Primary purpose is to summon rain. Protect allows me to scout the opponents move sets so that I do not accidentally switch one of my pokemon into a super effective move at the start of the game. I am more concerned about this poke'mons longevity, out of all my other pokemon this is the only one I focus on bulk for, thus the leftovers and refresh. Still Scald behind a substitute with rain boost is a great way to hit and take out poke'mon who get hit with neutral damage or super effectively from water type moves.
Starmie (Choice Scarf)
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
- Thunder
- Blizzard
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
Revenge Killer, All out Attacker and Rapid Spin Support, and a special sweeper. With Choice scarf I can assure Starmie will get that first hit on the opponent while out speeding quick offensive threats.
I use to run trick, but found that due to my other teams members have a great coverage for bulky special walls, it was kind of useless. The only exception is ferrathorn. Which giving him choice scarf just to hit starmie with a power whip was not the best idea. Starmie cleans up a lot of kills on this team and plays a vital role. Starmie usually accounts for at least 2 kills a game. Letting that go to waste just to trick ferrathorn is not worth it.
Ice beam just was not cutting it, with all the powerful dragon types ice beam was not enough to finish them off most of the time. Starmie is a glass cannon, and cannot take a hit from a powerful dragon type attack. Not killing in one hit is starmies problem and ice beam did not give me that. Sacrificing the accuracy for power ended up working much better
Keldeo (Leftovers)
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Rain Dance
Pony can serve many different roles on this team and ends up being a live saver most of the time.
Keldeo is also great for fighting weather wars. Combining SS with Rain dance helps deal with Tyranitar with is a threat to multiple poke'mon on my team (Dragonite, Starmie, and possibly Scizor). Allowing SS to hit Tyranitar hard, then rain dance to cancel his sand storm. Keldeo also work great for canceling Sun, hitting fire types like Ninetails hard.
With a surprise Hidden power grass Keldeo Can also take on Rock/Water Types who are absorbing my water and electric attacks. Hidden power grass also helps deal with Rottom-W, not a sure fire counter but it can be used as a surprised clean up kill against a big threat to my team.
Leftovers gives Keldeo a little bit more longevity which is often a great help, it also helps deal with sand storm damage as well as poison.
Dragonite (Leftovers)
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 108 SAtk / 148 Spd
Nature: Jolly
- Dragon Tail
- Hurricane
- Earthquake
- Roost
Dragonite is another pokemon that can play multiple roles on the team. It can scout, switch into electric and Grass moves, hit potential threats hard and also wins in a straight up fight against ferrathron if rain is active.
Dragon Tail allows me to shuffle up my opponents pokemon, removing current threats from the field including baton passers, and pokemon I would have trouble switching into at the time but could deal with at a later time with better set ups. This also allows me to do some scouting on my opponents team.
Hurricane and Roost allow dragonite to take out the biggest threat to my team, Ferrathorn. If rain is active Dragonite will win absorbing all of Ferrothorns attacks and recovering from Poison or Leech seeds. The one problem is if Ferrothorn is running both Toxic and Leech Seed, in this case it still lets dragonite put out a lot of damage on ferrothorn before dragon tailing it away allowing other pokemon on my team to clean up ferrothorn.
Scizor (Leftovers)
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Atk
Nature: Adamant
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Pursuit
As most say Scizor works great on almost every team, this one is no exception. Scizor also works great with Starmie, Absorbing Dark and most grass type moves. Bullet punch is great for finishing off pokemon that would otherwise be a threat to the rest of my team.
U-turn does a far amount of damage to Ferrothorn allowing me to clean it up or put substantial damage to it so I can set up another pokemon to finish it. It also helps for set ups on other pokemon and clean ups. It is also a great response to Psychic types and Dark types that threaten my powerful sweepers Starmie and Keldeo.
Sword stance allows me to set up to hit pokemon like ferrothorn hard, with poison resistance it can sword stance a couple times than hit ferrothorn hard with u-turn then clean it up with another pokemon. If I have the time I can give Scizor some extra power to his moves which is worth it most of the time.
Swampert (Leftovers)
Trait: Damp
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail
- Superpower
Even though it is not in OU tier it is an amazing asset to my team and actually takes out a lot of big OU threats with ease. It also absorbs electric attacks, which is extremely useful needless to say.
The first question is why Swampert over Gastrodon? well Gastrodon does not offer the offensive power that my team needs. Swampert also helps deal with threats to my team way better than Gastrodon. It also can fight against one of the biggest threats to my team Rottom-w and win. Absorbing electric attacks, water and ice attacks that could really damage the rest of my team, and unlike Gastrodon, Swampert can hit back hard.
Earthquake hits Tyranitar hard, allowing me to keep dragonite safe without risking a hit from it, it also helps deal with a bulky healing Jirachi which can be very hard for my team to deal with. Once again, dragonite can be saved from a hard Stone edge from Jirachi. This also hits threats like Jolton hard, absorbing most of its attacks. Not to mention that it hits many electric types hard. ( with 3 pokemon who get hit with electric attacks hard this is very important )
With Stone Edge, and Earthquake Swampert can take out many electric types that would other wise be a huge threat to my team. Swampert covers a lot of huge threats and can be a real game changer on my team.
Politoed (Leftovers)
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Nature: Bold
- Scald
- Protect
- Substitute
- Refresh
Primary purpose is to summon rain. Protect allows me to scout the opponents move sets so that I do not accidentally switch one of my pokemon into a super effective move at the start of the game. I am more concerned about this poke'mons longevity, out of all my other pokemon this is the only one I focus on bulk for, thus the leftovers and refresh. Still Scald behind a substitute with rain boost is a great way to hit and take out poke'mon who get hit with neutral damage or super effectively from water type moves.
Starmie (Choice Scarf)
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
- Thunder
- Blizzard
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
Revenge Killer, All out Attacker and Rapid Spin Support, and a special sweeper. With Choice scarf I can assure Starmie will get that first hit on the opponent while out speeding quick offensive threats.
I use to run trick, but found that due to my other teams members have a great coverage for bulky special walls, it was kind of useless. The only exception is ferrathorn. Which giving him choice scarf just to hit starmie with a power whip was not the best idea. Starmie cleans up a lot of kills on this team and plays a vital role. Starmie usually accounts for at least 2 kills a game. Letting that go to waste just to trick ferrathorn is not worth it.
Ice beam just was not cutting it, with all the powerful dragon types ice beam was not enough to finish them off most of the time. Starmie is a glass cannon, and cannot take a hit from a powerful dragon type attack. Not killing in one hit is starmies problem and ice beam did not give me that. Sacrificing the accuracy for power ended up working much better
Keldeo (Leftovers)
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Rain Dance
Pony can serve many different roles on this team and ends up being a live saver most of the time.
Keldeo is also great for fighting weather wars. Combining SS with Rain dance helps deal with Tyranitar with is a threat to multiple poke'mon on my team (Dragonite, Starmie, and possibly Scizor). Allowing SS to hit Tyranitar hard, then rain dance to cancel his sand storm. Keldeo also work great for canceling Sun, hitting fire types like Ninetails hard.
With a surprise Hidden power grass Keldeo Can also take on Rock/Water Types who are absorbing my water and electric attacks. Hidden power grass also helps deal with Rottom-W, not a sure fire counter but it can be used as a surprised clean up kill against a big threat to my team.
Leftovers gives Keldeo a little bit more longevity which is often a great help, it also helps deal with sand storm damage as well as poison.
Dragonite (Leftovers)
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 108 SAtk / 148 Spd
Nature: Jolly
- Dragon Tail
- Hurricane
- Earthquake
- Roost
Dragonite is another pokemon that can play multiple roles on the team. It can scout, switch into electric and Grass moves, hit potential threats hard and also wins in a straight up fight against ferrathron if rain is active.
Dragon Tail allows me to shuffle up my opponents pokemon, removing current threats from the field including baton passers, and pokemon I would have trouble switching into at the time but could deal with at a later time with better set ups. This also allows me to do some scouting on my opponents team.
Hurricane and Roost allow dragonite to take out the biggest threat to my team, Ferrathorn. If rain is active Dragonite will win absorbing all of Ferrothorns attacks and recovering from Poison or Leech seeds. The one problem is if Ferrothorn is running both Toxic and Leech Seed, in this case it still lets dragonite put out a lot of damage on ferrothorn before dragon tailing it away allowing other pokemon on my team to clean up ferrothorn.
Scizor (Leftovers)
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Atk
Nature: Adamant
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Pursuit
As most say Scizor works great on almost every team, this one is no exception. Scizor also works great with Starmie, Absorbing Dark and most grass type moves. Bullet punch is great for finishing off pokemon that would otherwise be a threat to the rest of my team.
U-turn does a far amount of damage to Ferrothorn allowing me to clean it up or put substantial damage to it so I can set up another pokemon to finish it. It also helps for set ups on other pokemon and clean ups. It is also a great response to Psychic types and Dark types that threaten my powerful sweepers Starmie and Keldeo.
Sword stance allows me to set up to hit pokemon like ferrothorn hard, with poison resistance it can sword stance a couple times than hit ferrothorn hard with u-turn then clean it up with another pokemon. If I have the time I can give Scizor some extra power to his moves which is worth it most of the time.
Swampert (Leftovers)
Trait: Damp
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail
- Superpower
Even though it is not in OU tier it is an amazing asset to my team and actually takes out a lot of big OU threats with ease. It also absorbs electric attacks, which is extremely useful needless to say.
The first question is why Swampert over Gastrodon? well Gastrodon does not offer the offensive power that my team needs. Swampert also helps deal with threats to my team way better than Gastrodon. It also can fight against one of the biggest threats to my team Rottom-w and win. Absorbing electric attacks, water and ice attacks that could really damage the rest of my team, and unlike Gastrodon, Swampert can hit back hard.
Earthquake hits Tyranitar hard, allowing me to keep dragonite safe without risking a hit from it, it also helps deal with a bulky healing Jirachi which can be very hard for my team to deal with. Once again, dragonite can be saved from a hard Stone edge from Jirachi. This also hits threats like Jolton hard, absorbing most of its attacks. Not to mention that it hits many electric types hard. ( with 3 pokemon who get hit with electric attacks hard this is very important )
With Stone Edge, and Earthquake Swampert can take out many electric types that would other wise be a huge threat to my team. Swampert covers a lot of huge threats and can be a real game changer on my team.
