OU Rain Team

[Goveta]

Hey guys! It's my first RTM here on Smogon, as well as my first post on these forums. So, hi!

Anyway, onto the Team:

I have always wanted to build an effective weather team. Having numerous successes with Rain both back in Generation 4 and in the present day, I decided I'd definitely want the team to include Politoed. Obviously, this is why Politoed was included.

(PoliWRATH) Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Protect
- Toxic
- Ice Beam


It is your very standard Politoed set. It's versatility allows me to hit other weather inducers for super effective damage, except for Abomasnow....which I have rarely seem used in OU. Protect and Toxic helps whittle enemies and treats down as well as scout for Choiced users and their moves. Mainly used for perma-weather, but can easily last until late game.



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After getting Politoed, I decided I needed a powerhouse Pokemon that utilized the Rain. It was at this point that I remembered one of my favorite pokemon from the first generation--Gyarados.

(KingKarp) Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 56 HP / 248 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge


With STAB Waterfall, further boosted by Rain and coming from Gyarados' monsterous 125 base attack, he really does devastate everything in his path. Gyarados is the main sweeper for my team. Gyarados typically comes in on Pokemon that are either locked into a move he resists or with no moves that threatens him. He proceeds to set up while safe behind a substitute and goes from there. Stone edge over EarthQuake/Bounce for generally "better" coverage. Stone Edge helps hit dragons and other pokemon that resist Waterfall. Willing to change it for Earthquake, but I've been Protect stalled too often with Bounce/Waterfall to consider it. One Dragon Dance allows me to outspeed everything in the OU tier, except for base 120 Scarfers and faster.


Damage Calculations based on +1 Waterfall in Rain:

vs 252 HP/0 Def Tyranitar: 142.57% - 168.56%
vs 4 HP/0 Def Starmie: 67.94% - 80.15%
vs 252 HP/252 Def Latias (+Def) : 32.97% - 38.74%
vs 4 HP/0 Def Latios: 62.25% - 73.51%
vs 236 HP/252 Def Breloom (+Def) : 40.31% - 47.81%
vs 128 HP/0 Def Rotom-W: 54.21% - 63.74%
vs 252 HP/0 Def Ninetales: 76.29% - 90% (in Sun)



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With two Pokemon weak to Electric, I need some immunities and resists on the team. Also needing hazard support, the next choice was Ferrothorn.

(EveryRose) Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip


While running both Stealth Rock and Spikes, I never expect to get both set up. Typically, it allows me to see which would be best suited to set up on my opponent's team. If they are all flying/levitating, Stealth Rock. And obviously, Spikes if it's the opposite. Leech Seed allows me to get some health back, as well as semi-supporting my team as I switch out. Power whip for STAB and to prevent from being Taunt bait.



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(ChainChomp) Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Claw


Garchomp is my only Electric immunity, as well as another Fire resist. Being one of the team's main revenge killers, Garchomp serves his place well. Outrage is dangerous and can easily pick up the scraps left behind by his fellow attacking pokes. Garchomp does Garchomp things and not much else can be said.



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With the team coming to a close, I decided that I wanted another Pokemon that could use the weather to his advantage. I eventually decided upon Rotom-W, due to his decent bulk and overall excellent typing.

(SteamPower) Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 144 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Discharge
- Hydro Pump
- Trick
- Pain Split


Rotom-W is probably the pokemon on the team that has had the most moveset changes before I finally settled on this one. He originally started off as a bulky version, using both WoW and Pain Split to stay alive. Changed that to a Specs set to get usage out of the Thunder/Hydro Pump power, but eventually settled on this set. Discharge helps by not only providing reliable Electric STAB, but also with it's 30% chance to paralyze crippling my opponent's pokemon whenever it chooses to paralyze them. Hydro Pump is STAB and rain boosted, and Trick is for dumping the scarf whenever I need to. Pain Split for "survivability" and just standard Rotom-W EVs for usage after Scarf tricking. Useful all around, but could definitely use some improvements.



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The last member of the team was one of the hardest to pick out. Originally started off as Breloom for his ability to resist the major weaknesses of the team, but he turned out to be too slow and left me vulnerable to the many Dragons that roam about in the OU tier. Deciding I needed another steel type, Jirachi answered the call. However, I never could decide on a moveset that seemed to benefit the team and his synergy slowed down the pacing of my team. Eventually, I decided on the newest addition to the steel type family: Genesect.

(Scizor) Genesect @ Life Orb
Trait: Download
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Rock Polish
- Ice Beam
- Bug Buzz
- Thunder


Being in the rain, Special Genesect was always on my mind. Having only Politoed and Rotom-W as my Special attackers, Genesect fits the role perfectly. Thunder and Ice Beam form BoltBeam, and Bug Buzz for STAB. Rock Polish is definitely amazing to pull off on Dragons locked into Outrage, of which I can boost and then KO with Ice Beam. While he may not pull off as many sweeps as Gyarados does, Genesect definitely puts enough dents into the opponent's team that makes his place extremely beneficial and appreciated.



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Importable:

Hide

Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Protect
- Toxic
- Ice Beam

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Claw

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 56 HP / 248 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 144 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Discharge
- Hydro Pump
- Trick
- Pain Split

Genesect @ Life Orb
Trait: Download
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Rock Polish
- Ice Beam
- Bug Buzz
- Thunder

I've had moderate success with the team, hovering easily around the 1700 rating, but I am definitely interested on anything that I could possibly improve on. Thank you all for reading, rating and commenting in advance!

 

[Goveta]

Reserved for Threat List/Previous Team versions

 

[Electrolyte]

Hi,

cool team! You're Rotom-W set is a bit funky though, I think you could fix it. Discharge isn't really that good of a move; it's pretty weak and if you're aiming for paralysis you might as well go for Thunder, which also has a 30% chance. Running a Scarf and Pain Split isn't the best idea, as the two strategies clash, since Pain Split is more of a stall / recovery type of move, something you can't do with your scarf. To fix these, I suggest you make your Rotom-W Specially Defensive.

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Calm, 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Volt Switch / Hydro Pump / WiloWisp / Thunder

Making your Rotom-W specially defensive will give your sweepers, Gyarados, Garchomp, and Genesect, much more space to breathe, by Volt Switching all over the place and crippling your opponent with burns. It draws out Lati@s's, which you can then Volt Switch against to switch to Garchomp to kill. Hydro Pump and Thunder are your powerhouse moves, each slamming hard in the Rain, with Thunder spreading paralysis as well. Rotom-W also provides some things defensively as well- the ability to handle Genesect with much more ease, since RP Genesect looks quite problematic for you. Lando-I also becomes much more easy to handle, as you can hit it hard with Hydro Pump while it has to resort to the inaccurate focus blast to hit your. Special Dragons also become easier to deal with, though with Garchomp they shouldn't have been much of a problem. Rotom's Volt Switching can also feign a VoltTurning core with Genesect- by volt switching to Genesect, you can feign that Genesect is scarved and has U=Turn to continue the core- forcing your opponent to make decisions that will buy you time to Rock POlish and sweep.

Speaking of Genesect, I think it is a good idea to use an Expert Belt instead of Life Orb. That lets you feign choice even better, and hit many pokemon equally as hard as LO would. The loss of recoil is also very helpful, keeping you alive longer so pokemon like Breloom or Mamoswine can't revenge kill you.

Nice team! I hope I helped!

 

[dragonuser]

Hey there,

This is a pretty solid team, but I think some minor moveset adjustments would help out a lot. So to start off, I would definitely support Electrolyte's suggestion of a bulkier Rotom-W, although I would suggest trying Pain Split over Thunder. Pain Split gives Rotom-W a lot more longevity which your team would really appreciate. Giving Rotom-W Pain Split also gives you a very good answer to Tornadus-T, who looks pretty threatening otherwise. Also an interesting option to try would be Giga Drain over Bug Buzz on Genesect. This helps you break through most of the common checks to Genesect, greatly aiding his sweep. The most notable being Terrakion who looks pretty threatening to your team. I would also recommend changing your Genesect's EV Spread to: EVs: 24 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 228 Spd with a Modest Nature. These EV's give you an optimal LO number, as well as maximizing your power. The 4 Sp def EV's make sure that opposing Genesects will always get an Atk boost, limiting the Pokemon that opposing RP Genesect can set up on. Cool team, gl.

 

[Goveta]

Thank you both for the replies!

@Electrolyte

For some reason, I was assuming Thunder did not have a 30% chance of paralysis. So, I've swapped that out over Discharge. I've tried out the set and just dropped WoW all together in favor of Pain Split. However, I'll have to see how well that works and might just return it to WoW anyway. Genesect also has an Expert Belt attached and has done a bit better than without it--So definitely, thank you!



@dragonuser

Like I said above, I'm running Pain Split over WoW. However, if I can't seem to decide between healing and burning, I'll definitely take your suggestion and swap out Thunder. Thank you for that! As far as Giga Drain over Bug Buzz, I really can't see how much difference it'll make, but I'll definitely give it the benefit of the doubt and try it out.

Thank you both again for your suggestions!