Probably going to be a gloomy day...

DaRkRaii

Hello SMOGON! I am Darkraii. At the very beginning of the 5th Gen metagame I was extremely into it, trying out new sets, new concept's and favouring pokemon. I stopped around the time of Chomp banning (Which I would happily contest the return of :p) and I have come back to enjoy what it is now. Looking at the meta right now, it looks kind of stale. While it is not Team Excadrill's running around anymore, its an assortment of weather and VoltTurn teams. So I followed a similar style in this being a rain team. A little backstory on me, I peaked 3rd on the smogon laddper around the 3rd suspect testing with a Sand Team (TTar, Exca, Terrakion, Chomp, Ferrothorn, Jirachi) and peaked 1st on PBC with a completely normal team that synergized perfectly (Pre Blaziken Ban, Blaziken, Whimsicott, Cresselia, Skarmory, Scizor, Latios). I went on later to peak 10th on PO with a Rain team (Poli, Thundurus, Ferro, Tornadus, Jirachi, Dnite). Enough of the stats, I am more of an offensive minded player. On a side note, this team on PO is ranging between 1300 and 1325. And this is only in the beginning stages of testing.

My idea behind this team besides the obvious rain was to find a way to both help my two ideal sweepers sweep easy whittle down opponent's pokes to either revenge kill or just late game cleanup.

The bases I built this team around are simple. Two Sweepers (1 Physical, 1 Special) Two Walls (1 Special, 1 Physical), the 1 Weather inducer, and 1 Spinner that can outspeed prominent threats.

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The team at a glance...



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

Reason of use: Obviously for the infinite rain.
Evs: Something I was always wary of when playing earlier in the meta, mainly during Sandstorm domination was the inability to tank Tyranitar's hits. Now I finally found a niche in Physically bulky Politoed. Most of the time I will stay in, Toxic opposing TTar and ToxiStall it. Then when my opponent is forced to switch out, if the switch is one I know I can wall, I will switch into either Ferro or Jirachi (Depending on the situation) and set up hazards. This helps me win the weather war and just clean up.

Moveset: Scald is amazing in the rain. Its STAB, Further boosted in the rain and the burn factor of it helps cripple some of the most prominent sweepers in OU atm.

Toxic: For stalling purposes. Once Hazards are up combined with Toxic I will just clean up so simply.

Protect: The second move in tandem to help ToxiStall.

Ice Beam: General coverage. Against DNiTE for example, I will scald, hoping for the burn, then opponent will DDance not knowing I'm bold Politoed and then fire off an Outrage, and I will respond by surviving it and then KOing back with Ice Beam.


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Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Power Whip

Reason to use: The physical wall on the team that keeps the team together. Without him or his Hazard+Seed Support this team would lose more games than won.

EVs: I opted for the Standard EVs. It gives Ferrothorn nearly uncompareable bulk and helps wall many threats. With the given EVs many non STAB +2 EQs are walled and just Seeded.

Moveset: Spikes is one of the best Hazard moves in the game. Along with Stealth Rock and Leech Seed, Ferrothorn single handedly cripples teams opening up set up for my sweepers or just late game clean ups.


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Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Reason to use: Another Pokemon on the team that keeps it together so well. Both my sweepers are weak to stealth rock so a spinner is basically needed. What makes Starmie so good is that it is not only an insanely fast sweeper but it also makes a potent revenge killer.

EVs: Maximum Speed and Special Attack investment. Want to hit the hardest with Hydro Pump in the rain which is ridiculous STAB and the other coverage moves are strong as well.

Moveset: Hydro Pump is insane STAB in the Rain and coupled with Life Orb puts dents in unprepared teams, often able of even pounding resists.

Thunderbolt: Part 1 of the infamous BoltBeam combo. Provides amazing coverage as well as being an already strong attack.

Ice Beam: Part 2 of the BoltBeam combo. Basically the exact same as Thunderbolt but it also cripples OU's most prominent sweeper in Dragonite.

Rapid Spin: Team is weak to rocks so Rapid Spin the most justifiable move on this moveset.

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Dragonite (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd/ 4 HP
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake

Reason to use: Here we have my little gem. One that I ravaged PBC for the longest time (Some insanely OP team that I used to get to 1600). He is the teams only set up sweeper, and does an amazing job at that. I love when pokemon I have tested to good use become the best sweeper's in OU :D Nevertheless, if my opponent lets this set up it spells GG instantaneously.

EVs: Max Attack and Speed because, well... He's a physical Sweeper. Allows me to annihalate unprepared teams. I chose Adamant over Jolly so I can get that extra power in on Outrage and Extremespeed.

Moveset: Fairly Standard I suppose. Dragon Dance for Setup.

Outrage: Second only to Draco Meteor in Dragonite's STAB although he makes use of Outrage better. The strongest move and after set up and careful prediction, firing off this and I will sweep.

Extremespeed: +2 Priority? YES PLEASE. One of the best move DNite has in its movepool IMO. Makes DNite a reliable revenge killer and after set up, even pokes that are scarfed and can outspeed will perish.

Earthquake: The only move I am wary about. I had first thought of Hurricane here due to STAB, but I went for EQ instead for superior coverage.

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Tornadus (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Hurricane
- Hammer Arm
- Taunt
- Rain Dance

Reason to use: Probably my favourite pokemon on the team. With minimal Hazard set up this thing TEARS THROUGH TEAMS. Like its just insane what STAB Specs Hurricane does.

EVs: Maxed SpATK and Speed to ensure big hits and outspeeding things. 4 in Attack to give Hammer Arm that extra bit of power.

Moveset: Hurricane is Tornadus' strongest STAB. It singlehandedly destroys teams unprepared for it. I cannot stress it enough. Easily made me fall in love with Tornadus.

Hammer Arm: A little bit of a toss up, but I hate the accuracy of Focus Blast and it is unpredictable to say the least. I love when TTar thinks he can switch in only to be smashed by Hammer Arm.

Taunt: Disruption. Thats the definition of this move. Priority Taunt is amazing and this will disrupt walls that attempt to set up Hazards. It also messes up walls that can wall Tornadus.

Rain Dance: Besides Hurricane, easily the most crucial move on this set. If I lose the weather war this keeps me intact. It is priority so even things that can outspeed won't stop it from setting up Rain Dance.

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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 232 SDef / 24 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave
- Wish

Reason to use: Much like Garchomp before its stupid ban, Jirachi has been used on many of my teams. It acts as my special wall, stealth rock user and slows down things while Paraflinching with Iron Head.

Moveset: I spread out the Hazards between Jirachi and Ferrothorn. Opting to use Stealth Rock on Jirachi. Stealth Rock.... What more can I say? Its amazing.

Iron Head: STAB, Serene Grace Flinch, gets opponent's mad.. I LOVE IT. What I love to do with this is start flinching and many times I've gotten back to full health.

Thunder Wave: Slows pokes down and lets ParaFlinch be a viable strategy.

Wish: Jirachi has a large enough HP stat to pass big Wishes and thanks to Wishes I have won games by getting DNite/Tornadus back to full health.



And thats the team! All rates and comments are appreciated.
 
Hey. Sorry that not many people have been commenting. It seems to me like this is almost the standard bulky offensive rain team though. A small change would be to change t wave to body slam on Jirachi. I'm not sure how true this is, but it seems to me like a specially defensive Jirachi could be a real pain for your team bar Dragonite, so how do you handle it?
A possibility could be to put stealth rock on Ferro and then just change Jirachi for a Magnezone since it allows for both Tornadus and Dragonite to sweep easier without their main counters still in, and he can abuse 100% accurate thunder as well.
It looks like a pretty good team to me though, so good luck
 
Yes, the reason for the lack of comments is most likely because this is pretty standard and common as an rain team and an OU team in general. However, i will make a few suggestions.

Politoed: Put more EVs in special defense, because dragonite or jellicent will OHKO/2HKO it with thunder or thunderbolt.

Starmie: you did this right, however, same as politoed. Watch out for threats. (remember this is a rain team, thunder will always hit)

Dragonite: Replace earthquake with superpower. Most of dragonite's threats will ice beam you before you can set up enough for earthquake. Superpower is a more powerful move overall, and worth the -atk cost. Since your Dnite isn't too bulky, this works as an alternative to extremespeed as far how fast the enemy needs to get hit.

Jirachi: replace thunder wave with body slam; this gives damage along with paralysis, and serene grace reassures it.

Aside from that, the team looks pretty good. It does have a weakness to special sweepers though, so that's something you have to look out for. I also recommend the next time you make a team try less standard pokes and it might promote more comments.
 
Hmm I see. I didn't really know it was so standard. I just knew I loved DNite and I needed a replacement for Thundurus on my other rain team. Thanks for the suggestions though.
 
^Any justifications why? Specs help clean up late game better IMO. After Hazards set up it just demolishes teams.
 
Hey there.

Stall teams seem like a major problem for this team. Chansey can wall half your team, and Hammer Arm from Tornadus won't really do too much to it. Skarmory can wall Jirachi and Dragonite easily, so this becomes a major problem. To help fix this issue, run a Sassy nature on Jirachi (move all of the Speed EVs to Special Defense) and run Thunder over Thunder Wave. This will stop Jirachi from becoming a sitting duck against Skarmory, instead letting it deal massive damage to it with Thunder and making it much easier for Dragonite to sweep. Thunder can spread paralysis almost as well anyway with its 60% paralysis chance.

Also, definitely run a Life Orb on Tornadus. This will let Hammer Arm hit harder and also make it so that you can switch moves when someone brings in something like Blissey and devastate it. It also stops Tornadus from becoming complete set-up fodder if you use Rain Dance, and makes it a much better user of Taunt (Choice Specs Taunt is meh).

Finally, run Gyro Ball over Protect on Ferrothorn. This is crucial because it is your only counter to things like DD Dragonite, and this means that you can actually knock it out.

Solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!
 
^^Thank you so much! I have been having problems actually. Stall teams destroy me. More specifically HailStall. Best I can do is hope I can get Hazards up and force a switch with DNiTE/Tornadus and start pounding from there.

I'm thinking of taking a bit more offensive approach. I need a reliable revenge killer that isn't Tornadus or DNite because they are both weak to Stealth Rocks. I was thinking Banded Terrakion. My team lacks a fighting move which happens to be the most used type move in the game and for good reason. Should I swap Jirachi for it?
 
I've gotten some ideas I need to take into account.

Pokes I want to consider:
Celebi
Terrakion
Rotom
Scizor

I have trouble Revenge killing without setup on DNitE and have trouble applying early game pressure.

Celebi is a good check and gives good coverage. Terrakion is... well Terakion. Scizor+Rotom represents the deadly VoltTurn core. I don't know what to decide on.

EDIT: Dropped Jirachi for Banded Terrakion... LOVING IT. It destroys stall teams.

So far team is 1200 on PBC.

It was 1350 on PO but it dropped when I wasn't on? Has this happened to anyone before? You haven't been on and your rating drops?
 
Team has changed. Replaced Starmie for a Specially Bulky Tentacruel. Reliable self recovery+Rapid Spin+Toxic Spikes contributed to the team more and the team peaked fully at 1521 on PO. Considering retiring this team in a new RMT with a much more vast detailed background and new descriptions.
 
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