OU RMT: When it Rains, it Pours

[Pokemaster 3000]

This is my first "competitive" team, and I wanted to have fun with it, so I made a rain dance team. Any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated!


My Team at a Glance

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A Closer Look

Electrode@Damp Rock
Hasty (+Speed) (- Defence)
Static
252 HP/6 Atk/252 Spe
-Rain Dance
-Light Screen
-Thunder
-Explosion

My Rain Dancing lead. It can outspeed just about anything, so I can get off a rain dance, and possibly a light screen if I don't get taunted. I would also be willing to switch this for a different lead if there is something that works better for my team. (I don't really like the suicide lead, but I know it can ruin another teams strategy if it's used correctly, so I'm kind of in a bind deciding on this one.)

Kingdra@Life Orb
Naive (+Speed) (- Special Defence)
Swift Swim
252 Atk/126 SAtk/132 Spe
-Waterfall
-Rain Dance
-Hydro Pump
-Draco Meteor

My Swift Swim mixed sweeper. The main attack is waterfall, which with STAB and rain has a power of 191.25. Hydro pump can take care of bigger threats with 270 power. Draco meteor can be used to hit other dragons hard. Rain dance allows it to replenish its rain mid-sweep.

Vaporeon@Damp Rock
Relaxed (+ Defence) (- Speed)
Water Absorb
252 HP/228 Def/28 SDef
-Surf
-Rain Dance
-Wish
-Baton Pass

My second Rain Dancer and Wish support. The EVs give maximum defence, according to the defence calculator on Smogon. The low speed along with baton pass lets him take a hit then switch into one of my less defensive sweepers, which then doesn't have to worry about starting out with a dent in its HP.

Ludicolo@Life Orb
Modest (+ Special Attack) (- Attack)
Swift Swim
62 HP/252 SAtk/196 Spe
-Surf
-Energy Ball
-Ice Beam
-Leech Seed

Surf has 213.75 power with rain, and everything else provides coverage the HP EVs give it a little more bulkiness, which along with the wish support from Vaporeon can make Ludicolo last for some time. Leech seed can help to take away from life orb damage, while hurting special walls that could otherwise cause him trouble.

Starmie@Damp Rock
Bold (+ Defense) (- Attack)
Natural Cure
252 HP/32 SAtk/226 Spe
-Rain Dance
-Thunder
-Rapid Spin
-Hydro Pump

Another Rain Dance supporter with rapid spin support. Natural cure lets it switch in to toxic spikes, spin them away, and switch out with no worry of staying poisoned. I put thunder in to make this a potential Gyarados counter. Hydro Pump has STAB, and when boosted by the rain, Starmie can be an offensive threat, too.

Dugtrio@Choice Band
Adamant (+ Attack) (-Speed)
Arena Trap
40 Def/252 Atk/218 Spe
-Earthquake
-Night Slash
-Aerial Ace
-Rock Slide

I wanted something to take care of Tyranitar, which can switch in and out, ruining my rain with sand stream, and I heard Dugtrio can do that. I don't really like the whole "revenge kill" thing though. Is there something better than this to take down Tyranitar?

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So the main idea of this team is to set up rain dance and sweep until I need more rain, then rain dance, heal, and sweep some more. Again I would really appreciate any advice, as I am new to competitive battling. Thanks in advance!

 

[Pokemaster 3000]

Anyone? I really would appreciate some help with this team.

 

[Legacy Raider]

Hi there, welcome to smogon. Anyway, I'll see what I can suggest about your team. Firstly, if you are choosing to run Damp Rock instead of a Focus Sash on Electrode, you need to make it bulky. And I mean moving all the Atk EVs into HP to let it survive neutral hits and ensure that it can both set up rain and hopefully be able to explode. The fact of the matter is that right now, all your Atk investment goes to waste if your opponent OHKOes Electrode, but with the HP investment, you at least get to pull off an Explosion after setting up rain, albeit a slightly weaker one. Personally, I do prefer Damp Rock Electrode to Sashed ones because it means your sweepers have a bit more freedom in the rain as it doesn't have to be replenished so quickly.

Return really has no use on a rain Kingdra. In the rain, a resisted Waterfall still has 90 base power, whereas Return hits with 102, and so you're almost always better off using Waterfall. I would put Rain Dance in that slot - it allows you to restart your sweep once the rain peters out, and it makes Kingdra much more of a standalone sweeper and less reliant on its teammates for support. Also, there is a more efficient way for you to have your EVs on Kingdra. Right now you are using a boosting nature on Kingdra's speed, which is a base 85 stat. You will get more stat points overall if you switch to a +Atk nature, as it's attacking stats are 95. Right now, your Kingdra's Atk/SpA/Spe is 289/278/239, but if you switch to a Naughty nature and use a spread of 168 Atk, 208 Spe, 132 Spe, you end up with stats of 294/278/239. You've gained 5 points in Atk with no loss anywhere else. Of course, you can max out the Atk stat if you want (recommended), taking the EVs from SpA, to make Kingdra's Waterfall - your main sweeping move - that much more powerful in the rain.

Also, on your Vaporeon, if you are going to use it as a supporting Rain Dancer then replace the Leftovers with Damp Rock. The 3 turn extension is really noticeable and will help your sweepers out a lot. I really like your idea of Wish + slow Baton Pass to heal your sweepers, nice job =).

I would recommend you run a minimum of 196 Spe on your Ludicolo to have it hit 225 speed, which doubles to 450 and outruns +1 Adamant Salamence (448) in the rain. It means that if it is raining, you can come in and revenge kill a DDed Salamence with no worry (take the EVs from HP). Also, Focus Punch is arguably a much better attack to use in that last slot than Focus Blast. Focus Blast will never 3HKO a Blissey, but a predicted Focus Punch on the switch in + a Surf will take her out. It needs a little more prediction to work but it is a lot more helpful than an attack with 70% accuracy that hits for only 20 more BP when super effective than a Surf in the rain. If Focus Punch isn't to your liking, Leech Seed or Rain Dance in the last slot are all more helpful than Focus Blast.

To be honest, I really don't think you're making the most of your rain when you are using 4 supporting pokemon and only 2 actual sweepers. Starmie will be much better off with an offensive set with Surf. Toxic Spikes can give a rain team problems, so I would say drop Recover for Surf or Hydro Pump. Also, give Starmie a Timid nature with 36 HP, 252 SpA, 220 Spe, as it will be infinitely more useful to your team by dealing out damage than trying to come in repeatedly to set up rain. You already have Vaporeon for a reliable dancer. A Hydro Pump in the rain from Starmie is extremely powerful, and would be my personal preference, but if you want the accuracy then Surf is still very strong too.

Lastly, those 40 EVs on Dugtrio, they need to be in Def to survive a LO Lucario Extremespeed, not HP. Good luck with your team.

 

[Drybones]

Legacy Raider caught the important stuff, I would agree on most of those points. Using return on kingdra is now a poke sin.

I would suggest that you make starmie more prepared to handle ttar, because as it stands you have to sacrifice a poke or predict your opponent to get dugtrio in. (CB stone edge ohkos our three pronged friend) I would recommend a moveset of rain dance, hydro pump, recover, and rapid spin / reflect / thunder / whatever on starmie. This way, you can rain dance on their switch and ohko their SS boostless ttar with a powered up hydro pump. With sp ev investment you might even be able to do it with surf. Or you could go defensive with max hp, high speed and reflect so you can switch out without getting pursued.

Also, I always have to suggest leech seed on ludicolo, its too good a move to gloss over and lets you screw up blissey and vaporeon so you can safely run grass knot.

Dugtrio is nice, and CB is necessary for killing ttar and blissey (remember EQ wont ohko ttar tho). Maybe add zapdos over electrode to give you a solid way to deal with scizor and a uturn to get duggy in easier.

Also, why naive on kingdra and only 50 spe evs?

 

[Pokemaster 3000]

Right now, your Kingdra's Atk/SpA/Spe is 289/278/239, but if you switch to a Naughty nature and use a spread of 168 Atk, 208 Spe, 132 Spe, you end up with stats of 294/278/239.

Hey I never thought of it that way, thanks!
I'm putting the changes to my team in bold. Are there any other ways I can help my team work together better?

By the way I enjoyed your rain offense guide Legacy Raider. It helped me decide on what to do with about 1/3 of my team, so thanks!