Raging Rain Team (OU)

[Ace55]

Rain Team (OU)

Kind of my first semi-consistant rain team in D/P. I love screwing with the weather and have quite a bit of Rain Dance/Sunny Day teams laying about, but this one has worked best for me until this point.

First glance:​

Yep, 5 water types without anything uberfast to jumpstart it. The typing and moves try to deminish waters natural weaknesses though.

Gyarados@Damp Rock

Intimidate
252Spe/252HP/4Atk
Jolly (-SpA/+Spe)

Taunt
Rain Dance
Waterfall
Ice Fang

At this point most people probably won't suspect anything yet, a speedy Gyarados using Taunt looks pretty standard. I chose Taunt because nowadays it seems like a neccessaty to avoid first turn Stealth Rock/Hypnosis or the likes, and with his maxed out speed he can taunt a few thing.
Rain Dance is there because well, my team fails without it, and the sooner I get it up the better. Waterfall is obviously for STAB and the weather bonus, making it still quite powerful. Ice Fang because I was getting sick of Stone Edge, Dragon Dance on a one attack Pokemon seemed a bit silly. Damp Rock is there to cherish the precious rain.

Jirachi@Damp Rock

Serene Grace
80Def/252HP/176SpD
Bold (-Atk/+Def)

Wish
Rain Dance
Thunder
Protect

When an electric attack is threatening Gyarados, Jirachi is going to take the hit. Absorbs the hit, and then starts dancing/wishing, conserving Gyarados for later.
Thunder is for the 100% accurate powerfull attack against waters/flying plus a decent chance at paralyzing with Serene Grace. Wish is there to help it and the rest of the team survive longer and protect can scout for moves and make sure wish activates.

Suicine@Damp Rock

Pressure
252SpA/252Spe/4Def
Modest (-Atk/+SpA)

Rain Dance
Surf
HP Electric
Ice Beam

The third and final rain dancer and semi-sweeper. Can switch in to a lot of things and still get it off before it faints. In the endgame he's often the one to set up the last sweep attempt. When given time he can become really anoying with STAB rain boosted Surf, but his main goal is to support, and kill Gyarados.

Ludicolo@Life Orb

Swift Swim
216Spe/252SpA/40Def
Modest(-Atk/ +SpA)

Grass knot
Surf
Ice Beam
HP Bug

My special sweeper. Surf hits everything but Blissey hard in the rain, Grass Knot is a STAB attack that hits other waters and Tyranitar hard and Ice Beam is for dragons and grassers. HP bug is there because I hate Celebi. Speed reaches 470 when he's wet, just like the Kingdra.

Kabutops@Life Orb

Swift Swim
176Spe/252Atk/80HP
Adamant (-SpA/+Atk)

Waterfall
X-Scissor
Rock Slide
Swords Dance

In the rain it get's up to 480 speed, outspeeding 252 Spe EV non +speed nature scarfed Gangar by two points. X-Scissor is for Celebi, Rock Slide over Stone Edge because Kabutops really doesn't wanna miss. When it can get a Swords Dance in you are usually going to need a Focus Sash to stop it. Or stall out the rain somehow. It's defense and HP will generally let it survive a Mach Punch/Vaccuum Wave and thankfully also life orb Lucario's sword danced Extremespeed.

Kingdra@Life Orb

Swift Swim
96Spe/244Atk/168SpA
Lonely (-Def/+Atk)

Waterfall
Surf
Draco Meteor
Ice Beam

My mixed attacker, with the exact same speed as Kabutops. Lure a Blissey in with Draco Meteor/Surf and then pound it with Waterfall. Ice Beam to deal with grass that survives a single Draco, dragons get raped by Draco anyway, but the 100 accuracy is nice. He also has only one type weakness if I'm not mistaking, allowing it to usually take at least one hit.

Own Opinion:

My team has trouble dealing with Celebi. The Ice Beam users don't have STAB so the OHKO will usually have to come from Kabutops, who get's murdered by Grass Knot. Grass is the biggest weakness for my team, even though 3 can sort of handle them. Electric Pokemon are generally less of an issue as they are pretty rare and can't take any boosted water attacks from the big guns. And otherwise there's still Swampert.

Own Ideas:

Maybe put Ice Fang on Gyarados to help me deal with Grass? Maybe change one of the tanks for a bulky rain dancing thundering Zapdos? I could give any one of my sweepers a +Spe nature and outspeed even max speed Deoxys-e, but it will tamper their sweeping power against everyone else. Perhaps I should also find another way to deal with bulky waters. Because without Ludicolo all I can do is overpower them with water moves on their weaker stats, and the occasional Draco Meteor. Any suggestions are welcome.

Also: first post.

Edit:

Gave Kindra 8 extra EV's in speed too outrun 252 Spe non +speed nature Deoxys-s. I thought it might be worth it. Also cut down Ludicolo's Spe to the same level because I don't see it outspeeding anything crucial in between. Most common scarf users don't even come close to Kingdra/Kabuto's swift swim speed level anyway. Swapped Swampert for Jirachi and made Suicine a more offensive version. Gave Ludicolo HP Bug to further cripple Celebi. Changed Kabutops's speed to 240 to stop choice banded modest Gengar's stuck in thunderbolt from doing heavy damage to my team.

Scrapped Pokemon:

Swampert@Damp Rock

Torrent
252Def/252HP/4Atk
Impish (-SpA/+Def)

Stealth Rock
Rain Dance
Waterfall
Earthquake

Suicine@Damp Rock

Pressure
252SpD/252HP/4SpA
Bold (-Atk/+Def)

Rain Dance
Surf
Calm Mind
Ice Beam

 

[HotPocket]

On a rain dance team, you should at most have 4 pokemon benefiting from it

The other pokemon should either be setting it up (Crobat, Bronzong) or be walling and offering greater type coverage (Celebi and Deoxys-E respectively)

 

[Earthworm]

I think you could benefit by changing your Suicune into the Offensive Suicune set rather than a Rain Dance user. Most people that use Celebi will be reliant on it to beat Suicune and this Suicune is practically designed to beat it.

Swampert is probably not the best Rain Dance user available but I suppose it works. Ludicolo could possibly fit Rain Dance into that set over Hidden Power Electric but then you lose one of your ways to deal with Gyarados easily. If you can fit it, a Rain Dance Jirachi is quite effective (with Rain Dance, Thunder and Wish [the last move can be almost anything - Stealth Rock, Reflect, Light Screen, U-turn, Protect, Water Pulse, etc.]) on Rain Dance teams.

 

[Chinese Dood]

My team has trouble dealing with Celebi. The Ice Beam users don't have STAB ...

Maybe try Signal Beam on Kingdra? 4x SE on Celebi instead of Ice Beam's 2x SE. Just a suggestion. Not sure if that OHKO either though, but more powerful anyway. Also Lonely is +Attack -Defense, not -SpA/+Atk.

EDIT: O yeah, in OU, Grass Knot > Energy Ball for Ludicolo in most cases. I agree about having rain dance on Ludicolo. STAB Grass Knot is 180 Base Power (120 x 1.5) on Gyarados. If HP Electric is OHKO, then Grass Knot is at most 2HKO. Other than Gyarados, pretty much STAB Grass Knot > HP Electric for other water pokemon in OU.

EDIT2: Hm... ever thought about having an electric pokemon in your team? 100% Accurate Thunder is nice. I was thinking Jolteon to absorb all the electric attacks fired at your water pokemon (You do have 3 electric weak currently after all, though 1 sturdy immunity like Swampert is ok). It's immune to Celebi's T-wave and isn't 4x weak to grass attacks like Swampert is, and it does have Shadow Ball to hurt Celebi somewhat. So maybe worth a consideration?

 

[Ace55]

I think you could benefit by changing your Suicune into the Offensive Suicune set rather than a Rain Dance user. Most people that use Celebi will be reliant on it to beat Suicune and this Suicune is practically designed to beat it.

Swampert is probably not the best Rain Dance user available but I suppose it works. Ludicolo could possibly fit Rain Dance into that set over Hidden Power Electric but then you lose one of your ways to deal with Gyarados easily. If you can fit it, a Rain Dance Jirachi is quite effective (with Rain Dance, Thunder and Wish [the last move can be almost anything - Stealth Rock, Reflect, Light Screen, U-turn, Protect, Water Pulse, etc.]) on Rain Dance teams.

I guess the offensive set will give me a solid Gyarados counter so I wouldn't have to rely on Ludicolo for that, but I do like being able to OHKO incoming Gyarados.
I'm lookin where I could fit in Jirachi. Gyarados and Swampert are kind of a tandem, one of them attracting the others free entry. I guess Kabutops and suicine are still good thunderbolt/punch lure, but not as much as Gyarados.
On the other hand Jirachi will attract earthquakes, giving Gyarados free passage. But who to lead with? If I stick with dos I'd rather have a immity backing me up. Would rain dance Jirachi be a reasonable lead instead of dos? Would probably get taunted a lot.
Thanks for the response, I've seen your name way to high up the ranking ladders to not listen.

Jirachy with Water Pulse might be pushing it but wish support might be ideal to heal my life orb tired warriors and start hitting things again. But where to put him...

Maybe try Signal Beam on Kingdra? 4x SE on Celebi instead of Ice Beam's 2x SE. Just a suggestion. Not sure if that OHKO either though, but more powerful anyway. Also Lonely is +Attack -Defense, not -SpA/+Atk.

EDIT: O yeah, in OU, Grass Knot > Energy Ball for Ludicolo in most cases. I agree about having rain dance on Ludicolo. STAB Grass Knot is 180 Base Power (120 x 1.5) on Gyarados. If HP Electric is OHKO, then Grass Knot is at most 2HKO. Other than Gyarados, pretty much STAB Grass Knot > HP Electric for other water pokemon in OU.

180 Base Power with 396 SpA (Life Orb) does sound promising. It would also give any Tyranitar coming to spoil my fun a huge wack. Why didn't I think of that. So Ludicolo would become Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Surf, RD.
Thank you.

And the last two nature reminders were indeed the same as Modest. I fixed that.

EDIT2: Hm... ever thought about having an electric pokemon in your team? 100% Accurate Thunder is nice. I was thinking Jolteon to absorb all the electric attacks fired at your water pokemon (You do have 3 electric weak currently after all, though 1 sturdy immunity like Swampert is ok). It's immune to Celebi's T-wave and isn't 4x weak to grass attacks like Swampert is, and it does have Shadow Ball to hurt Celebi somewhat. So maybe worth a consideration?

That why I was thinking Zapdos with RD/Thunder/hidden power/roost. But Jolteon does have the nice immunity to electric. The thing is that the sweepers do their job so well once set up, that I really don't wanna replace any of them. Zapdos could at least fullfil the role of tank, and take advantage of thunder.

 

[junior]

For one, this team can really use help from WishPassers. Half of your teams are Life Orb wielders, while the other ones will have to constantly switch into hard-hitting attacks with no form of recovery. It is true that with a Rain Dance team Life Orb's health depletion isn't exactly a problem thanks to the team's insane ability to sweep, but its always good to be prepared for certain situations.

Jirachi is a good candidate for such role as both Wish and Rain Dance will benefit your team. You could remove Swampert for Jirachi, as Swampert isn't the best Pokemon to use Rain Dance with. Your team could use a Jirachi similar to this:

Jirachi @ Damp Rock
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP, 80 Def, 176 SpD
- Rain Dance
- Wish
- Protect
- U-turn / Thunder

The reason you would want Protect is because you need your Jirachi to be able to last as long as possible, as it supports your team in too many ways to afford to lose it.

Final thing is that 4 Rain Dancers is a bit of an overkill. You won't even need that many because RD teams are usually pure offense, thus fast paced. I suggest changing either Gyarados or Suicune to a more bulkyish-offensive variant to assist in sweeping.

 

[Ace55]

For one, this team can really use help from WishPassers. Half of your teams are Life Orb wielders, while the other ones will have to constantly switch into hard-hitting attacks with no form of recovery. It is true that with a Rain Dance team Life Orb's health depletion isn't exactly a problem thanks to the team's insane ability to sweep, but its always good to be prepared for certain situations.

Jirachi is a good candidate for such role as both Wish and Rain Dance will benefit your team. You could remove Swampert for Jirachi, as Swampert isn't the best Pokemon to use Rain Dance with. Your team could use a Jirachi similar to this:

Jirachi @ Damp Rock
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP, 80 Def, 176 SpD
- Rain Dance
- Wish
- Protect
- U-turn / Thunder

The reason you would want Protect is because you need your Jirachi to be able to last as long as possible, as it supports your team in too many ways to afford to lose it.

Final thing is that 4 Rain Dancers is a bit of an overkill. You won't even need that many because RD teams are usually pure offense, thus fast paced. I suggest changing either Gyarados or Suicune to a more bulkyish-offensive variant to assist in sweeping.

I'm changing Swampert for Jirachi even though I'll loose my free switch in. I'm also replacing the Suicine with offensive Suicine for more Celebi coverage. I don't like having to set up the rain with Ludicolo though so maybe I'll replace HP electric with RD and give Ludicolo it's old HP electric back Or even give it HP bug, but then I don't have a gyarados counter... Replacing Calm Mind with RD might be a possibilty.