Monotype Offensive Rain Water

[Daan_14]

This is my first try ever on building a (semi-)competitive team, and I decided to go for MonoWater because I liked the idea of a fast and offense-oriented rain team. I'm sure there are still many flaws or weaknesses I haven't covered yet, so any suggestions are very much appreciated.
I'm also going to try out this team in double battles against some friends (we all chose one particular type), so all help for that matter is also more than welcome :)

Pelipper @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Hurricane
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn

Pelipper is the standard lead to set up the rain and then use a slow U-Turn to bring in a teammate unharmed, or do some damage on its own with 100% Hurricane. It's also the Defogger of the team, and with its physical bulk in combination with Roost and Leftovers, it's my best physical check.

Gyarados @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Bounce
- Taunt
- Dragon Dance

Gyarados is one of the two physical sweepers on this team, and after a Dragon Dance it can start snowballing the opposing team with Moxie. Waterfall is of course its primary attack, and with Supersonic Skystrike it can usually guarantee itself at least one knock-out to raise its attack. Taunt gives him the option of countering opposing setup-leads who he outspeeds.

Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature (IVs: 0 Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
- Surf

Kingdra is the primary special sweeper/wallbreaker of the team, with its powerful Choice Specs Hydro Pump in the rain and Draco Meteor and Ice Beam for some coverage. Surf is more suitable for late-game cleaning or a nice doublekill when possible.
Because of its Dragon-typing, it can withstand Electric and Grass attacks more often, which is a nice bonus.

Swampert-M @ Swampertite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock

Mega-Swampert is probably the most powerful pokemon on the team, because of its nice bulk in combination with its extremely high Attack and Swift Swim. Because of its Ground-typing, it has excellent synergy with both Pelipper and Gyarados who tend to draw in Electric pokemon, which it can then destroy with Earthquake. Waterfall just hits very hard in the rain and Ice Punch is there for more coverage. In double battles, I often use Swampert as a second lead next to Pelipper because of Stealth Rock.

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Extrasensory
- U-turn

I use Greninja a lot during battle, because it often deals supereffective damage on a foe, in combination with STAB on all of its moves. I decided to focus on special attacks, because I already had two strong physical sweepers. I did give it U-Turn though, just to make sure it can hold on momentum if it feels threatened. U-Turn also lets it take on the role of an early-game scout.
Life Orb makes sure that all of its attacks hit as hard as possible.

Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 128 HP / 128 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature (IVs: 0 Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Heal Bell
- Volt Switch

Lanturn is the cleric/special check of the team, because of its nice bulk and Heal Bell. Heal Bell is very useful because Kingdra and Greninja can't afford to get paralyzed, while Gyarados and Swampert-M are pretty much useless after a burn. Toxic lets it spread status itself, which is helpful against bulkier pokemon that could pose a problem. Just like Pelipper, it can function as a slow pivot with Volt Switch to bring in a teammate unharmed. Scald is there so it still adds some offensive pressure to the team.

 

[Eien]

Hey nice rain team! I have two ideas that should help you take out some key problems for your team right now.

First, I think Lanturn should go. Rain teams are typically very offensive, and Heal Bell is just not worth the teamslot for most rain teams even if the user has Volt Switch. Importantly, your team is currently lacking an answer to Normal's formidable Chansey + Porygon2 + Staraptor defensive core. As such, I believe you should use a Keldeo instead of Lanturn. Keldeo is one of the biggest threats to Normal teams in the entire metagame, and having it will make your life a lot easier. While Choice Specs is the more common set to use, I think you could benefit more from using a Taunt + Calm Mind stallbreaker set. This would help you against Flying teams that use Mantine, which currently walls almost your whole team. With Keldeo, you should find both of these matchups to be much, much easier than they used to be, since right now, I think you're probably struggling to beat these walls.

The second thing is to change Greninja to a Choice Scarf set. Right now, your team is very slow outside of rain, which can pose a lot of problems for you when trying to revenge kill things, since Pelipper would need to come in to set rain and that could cost you another Pokemon. Having a very fast revenge killer even when rain isn't active would help you against threats like Tapu Koko, Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu, Latios, and more. While Greninja is a great damage dealer specially, you already have Kingdra for wallbreaking and I suggested Keldeo for stallbreaking. Greninja moving to a revenge killer role would better suit your team and cover the problems you have against fast Pokemon.

I hope that helps and good luck with the team!

importable

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Taunt
- Calm Mind

Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse