OU Rainteam

[Swan Songs]

At a Glance:

The process

Hide

I knew I wanted to make a rain team and Politoed is a staple on rain teams. With his ability Drizzle there's no way he can be let up.

Jirachi is one of my favorite Pokemon and with a 60% Paralysis chance and a 100% accurate Thunder in the rain he is a great addition to the team. Jirachi also has enough bulk to suck up a couple of hits and dispatches of some threats to the team nicely.

Next up was someone who could deal with Steels, Ttar and Hippodon, and many other threats. I chose Toxicroak because of his raw power and ability to sweep unprepared teams with ease.

Next up I wanted another Pokemon that could abuse the rain. Tornadus has access to a 100% accurate and STAB Hurricane and fit the spot just right.

Next up I wanted another Pokemon that could defend the rain. The moveset I chose on Gliscor takes out some of these threats and is capable of sweeping through entire teams.

Lastly I wanted another bulky Pokemon. I chose Latias because she can easily outspeed a lot of dragons and is able to setup nicely on many things.

In-depth

Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 64 SAtk / 196 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Protect
- Encore
- Perish Song
Politoed is THE Pokemon for any permanent rain team. This moveset allows me to deal with quite a few common leads. Most of time I can just Encore as my opponent places Spikes, SR, or uses some kind of status move and switch to one of my setup Pokemon. I then get a free boost or two in or a sub up before they switch. For offensive leads I can protect and scout there move and then switch accordingly or Encore if they've used Toxic or another status move. Perish Song gives me some ability to Phaze late game because I found that I would get destroyed if some Pokemon were able to get a few boosts in. Scald is the main STAB move. Under STAB and Rain it hits very nicely and can Burn opposing Physical Attackers or Sweepers ruining their offensive powers. The EVs I chose give it quite good bulk.

Gliscor (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Substitute
This Gliscor can easily deal with many threats from my opponent, including Ttar, Breloom, and countless others. I can Sub as my opponent switches and then SD. After a SD or two Gliscor becomes very hard to take down. Acrobatics is a very powerful attack and decimates Ttar as well as many others. Earthquake is a good stab and deals with Steels, Electrics, and other Flying Resistances. The EVs are pretty straightforward, giving me enough speed to outspeed things and enough attack to hurt things, not much to say there.
I have tried changing Gliscor out for others but haven't quite found a good switch. I do kind of want to change him because he's to frail and situational.
I've changed Gliscor to a Jolly nature for the extra speed.

Tornadus (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Defiant
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Tornadus is my revenge killer and a hell of a good one. STAB'ed Hurricane hits very hard on many Pokemon, even those who resist it and Choice Scarf means I can outspeed many things for the revenge kill. Focus Blast is another hard hitting move that deals with Steels. U-turn is a good scouting move and HP Grass helps against bulky waters and ground types. Nothing major with the EVs.

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Substitute
Holy shit I love this Latias. She has absolutely nothing to do with the rain but can catch others off guard and soaks up Electric and Ice type attacks like a beast. It is insanely easy to sit behind subs and spam Calm Mind all day long before sweeping the entire enemy team. Dragon Pulse is the only offensive move I have, but it is STAB'ed and hits very hard. It OHKOs other Dragon types, anything it's Super Effective on, and after a few Calm Minds can 2 or 3HKO those who resist it. EVs are once again straight forward. Max HP EVs let me create gigantic subs that I can sit behind all day. Max Spd+Timid nature allows me to outspeed other dragons and OHKO them.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Atk / 108 Spd
Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Thunder
- Ice Punch
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
ParaFlinch Jirachi does a great job on this team. Thunder has a 60% chance of Paralysis and can many bulky waters, Flying types, and neutral Pokemon quite hard. Iron Head completes the ParaFlinch set and is a great stab. Ice Punch is manly for Gliscor and Grass types. Stealth Rock is a filler move because I couldn't fit it anywhere else on the team. I find that I don't really have a need for a fourth move anyways.
Looking over the EVs and nature I may want to change those around. Any ideas?

Toxicroak (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Ice Punch
Toxicroak is a fucking beast. 'Nuff 'nuff jigglypuff.
No really. Because of his ability "Dry Skin" and Poison Typing Toxicroak regains a ton of HP at the end of every turn. Due to this passive damage when I lose the weather war or from SR and Spikes does not matter. Toxicroak also absorbs Toxic Spikes and once I get a Swords Dance or 2 off can sweep through entire teams with ease. Even if I take a hit through Drain Punch and passive healing I can easily be at full from below 50% in a single turn. This dude fucks shit up.

Thanks for viewing please tell me if I missed anything.

Main threats: (Adding them as I think of them)
Stuff that sets up. Once Salamence gets off a couple of DD's it runs through me, as does Volcarona after a couple of Quiver Dances. Genesect is a bitch.

Considering: Replacing Gliscor with Quiver Dance Volcarona @ Lefties/Flying Gem with Hurricane, QD, Bug Buzz, and Fire Blast. Max Speed and SpA.

 

[Electrolyte]

Hey

Right now, I see a pretty huge weakness to LO Mamoswine. The thing hits 5/6 pokemon on your team SE, and a powerful EQ is enough to take your your Politoed. LO Kyu-B could also be a threat, as Ice Beam / Earth Power / Fusion Bolt does a number on your team. To help with all of this, I think the best course of action would be to change Politoed/Jirachi's spreads and change Tornadus-I to Scarfed Keldeo.

Scarfed Keldeo can do a lot for your team right now. Its high speed and power in Rain make it an even more ideal revenge killer than Tornadus-I- and it has the bulk to take on Mamoswine and Kyu-B as well. With a scarf, choice Latios is the only common pokemon that you'll be meeting that can outspeed you, so you won't have to worry that much about taking hits before you start spamming Hydro Pumps in the Rain. Keldeo's typing also fits great for your team- it has nice synergy with Latias, and can defeat many common walls your team can't muscle past right now. Ice types are crushed by it's powerful Secret Sword, which also obliterates the bolbs that would be troubling for Latias to get past. Hidden Power Electric is your coverage move here, since you'll want to be able to hit Jellicent and Gyarados, two pokemon Toxicroak has a hard time handling, very hard, outspeeding Gyara even after a Dragon Dance, giving you a very solid counter. Although not very powerful as the Specs version, I think your team would also benefit if Keldeo had Ice Wind, solely for the sack of hitting Dragonites/Salamences hard even after they get one Dragon Dance. Icy Wind slows them down, making them much easier to deal with. Speaking of which, Keldeo's great speed and power helps your kill of a majority of the boosting metagame- most DDancers lose to you, as well as most SD fighting types, most Dragons, and Volcorona, all who present a threat. Scarf Keldeo is the perfect answer to all of them.

Now that you have another added weakness to flying types, I think you should make your flying type answer, Jirachi, a bit bulkier. This will help you wall those strong special attackers- especially Tornadus-T and Latios- paralyze them, and then flinch hax them to death. With Max HP and SpD, you wall a variety of threats you didn't before- Rotom-W, Lati@s, Keldeo, Kyurem-B, and Starmie are just a small portion of the long list of threats you cover. It also helps take off some pressure from Politoed, allowing it to run Max Defense.

As I said earlier, Mamoswine and Ice types are a pretty big threat, and although I did give you a very good answer to them I think having an added layer of defense would only help, not hurt. For this reason, I urge you to change Politoed's spread into one that is Physically Defensive. This not only allows you to have a backup answer to a lot of common threats, but it at the same time makes your weather setter much much sturdier, allowing it to survive more hits and come in to set the weather in your favor more frequently. This is very important for a weather-reliant team such as yours. I also suggest you run Ice Beam instead of Encore to help beat Dragons again- as now, with your increased bulk, you can survive a hit and hit back hard. Encore and Perish Song are used for similar purposes, and since your team needs to get rid of setup sweepers efficiently, Perish Song is enough for you.

Awesome

tldr
Tornadus-I ---> Keldeo-R
Jirachi ---> SpDef
Politoed ---> Def
Politoed Encore ---> Ice Beam

sets

Keldeo-R @ Choice Scarf
Timid / 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hydro Pump / Secret Sword / Hidden Power Electric / Icy Wind

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Calm / 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Thunder / Stealth Rock / Iron Head / Fire Punch

Politoed @ Leftovers
Bold / 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Scald / Toxic / Perish Song / Ice Beam

 

[Swan Songs]

Thanks a ton for the rate. These fixes are just what I'm looking for and have helped immensely.

 

[Eranu]

Hi, nice team.

You got some nice defensive synergy going in this team, however there's some room for improvement.
First of all I'd like to suggest changing Ice Punch > Wish on Jirachi. Jirachi is your main switch in versus Hurricanes and Draco Meteors. Without Wish Jirachi'll be easily worn down after 2-3 switch ins allowing Lati@s / Tornadus-T to do a lot of damage to your team with nothing resisting. Making Jirachi more durable solves this. To achieve that even better a change of EV spread and nature is necessary. An ev spread of 252 HP / 252 Sp Def / 4 Spe with a Calm nature. This'll give you a +Sp Def nature with max Sp Def evs allowing you to tank most special hits all day long with Wish. Now that you have a -Atk nature, you might be better off changing Iron Head > Flash Cannon. This way, you can still ParaFlinch.

Next up, you need to change your Gliscor set. Sand Veil has been banned in OU and running that set is therefore impossible. Since you need something for physicall DD dragons, you might want to change Gliscor > Forretress. Forretress walls every dd dragon in rain, tanking Outrages and Earthquakes. Forretress also provides you with a spinner which can be really useful for your team seeing as it's somewhat defensive and you carry Tornadus. With Forretress on your team, Jirachi won't have to carry Stealth Rocks anymore, allowing Jirachi to run Calm Mind > Stealth Rocks making it more dangerous and able to set up on those special attackers it switches into. Forretress can also provide you with some momentum using Volt Switch.

I also feel like choice scarf isn't the way to go on your Tornadus. If you need more speed, just run Tornadus-T. The only thing Tornadus will now outspeed are things like scarfed Terrakion/Keldeo and Starmie, which are covered by the team already. Since I do think every team needs a revenge killer replacing it with another scarfer seems like the best solution. I will second the suggestion Electrolyte made in saying a scarfed Keldeo-R with Hidden Power [Electric] would fit well. Scarfed Keldeo is something that can revenge a lot of fast threats that look dangerous to your team, like +1 dragons and Volcarona. Your team supports it well too, checking its most common walls.

I agree on Electrolyte's suggestion on making Politoed defensive so I wont copy his post. Sets are below.
Hope I helped. Good luck!

~Sets:

Hide

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder
- Calm Mind
- Wish

Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Volt Switch
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin

Keldeo-R @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Electric]