Hi! I'm relatively new to the showdown scene, been playing it casually with a buddy that got me to look at the site after a long time playing the campaign. I've messed around with a couple teams, but this is the one I've had the most success with so far.
Araichu (Raichu) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Lightning Rod/Static
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Focus Blast/Surf
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
The good:
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Hypnosis
- Encore
- Psychic
The good:
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- U-turn
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane
The good:
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
The good:
Ability: Light Metal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- Swords Dance
The good:
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Wish
The good:
Azumarill-too tanky for my one priority user to OHKO, hits all of my attackers at least neutrally with aqua jet and abuses rain against me.
Jellicent-resists kabutops' only accurate STAB, I've only fought this a few times but they all tended to be on teams that made Raichu very difficult to switch in and take care of. Most commonly I get ground to dust between jellicent and ferrothorn, since power whip deters rapid spin.
Venusaur-typing and passive defense prevent me from crippling this thing with any attacks besides hurricane.
Scizor-takes plenty of damage from thunder and hurricane, but tends to threaten my users of those attacks, and is too safe in the rain for heat wave to pose as much of a threat as I'd like it to.
Florges-bullet punch with two+ swords dances behind it is the only way I've ever taken this monster down, and I tend to be denied that chance by enemies that know right away I can't break it down with anything else.
I've also got a crummy record against boosting in general, and physical boosting specifically. If I get caught without rain, I'm immediately on the back foot, since thunder, hurricane or swift swim waterfall are my hardest hits and they all hinge on it. Boosters who can tank scizor's bullet punch walk all over me, since he's not fast enough to kill anything but walls with his other moves.
I'm sure this post is full of noob mistakes and false assumptions, for which I apologize in advance. Thank you for taking a look, I'm looking forward to any and all input.
Araichu (Raichu) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Lightning Rod/Static
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Focus Blast/Surf
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
The good:
- I generally use raichu to zoom up to gengar, 2hko ferrothorn, absorb a zap aimed at my politoed/kabutops, or just bait a mamoswine, excadrill or garchomp with the expectation of a rain-thunder. I've been back and forth on raichu's role, moveset, and alternative options a few times. He actually replaced choice specs manectric on this team for the extra 5 speed that lets him tie gengar, but i've noticed a couple of problems preventing him from being perfect.
- I've had a lot of success using static raichu and replacing focus blast with surf-in the rain, Raichu baits a LOT of excadrill/mamoswine switches, and is a guaranteed OHKO on every excadrill i've ran across that comes in expecting a free switch that'll lock me into thunder.
- I love lightningrod-tried to make this team work with manectric, raichu, even zebstrike, just to make lightningrod work. Rain-accurate STAB thunder with that boost is absolutely monstrous, of course, but my biggest gripe about raichu with it is exclusivity with lightningrod, which i sometimes will urgently need to land a wish pass or line up a kill on something too fast for the rest of my team.
- Focus Blast isn't any less deadly to excadrill than surf, I know, but its accuracy is really bumming me out. Any advice on which set to use, how to use either better, or any better options under the umbrella of lightningrod or motor drive, will be greatly appreciated.
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Hypnosis
- Encore
- Psychic
The good:
- This guy is my answer to...not having rain up, really. I lift most of my sets initially from the smogon default, so I'm not certain the investments on politoed are the best, but he's great at:
- having drizzle
- hypnotizing slow walls like ferrothorn and sylveon.
- hindering defensive/tanky setups with encore
- I really, really like hypnosis/encore's dual capacity to bring in a comparatively free switch, it sets up raichu or tornadus for a chance at a OHKO predict really well. I've had some(not much) success converting their lockdown into a chance for scizor to set up too.
- He feels very squishy to physical damage.
- I've eaten a lot of volt switches on him from rotom leads I expect to throw WoW on the first turn.
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- U-turn
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane
The good:
- Hurricane demolishes most of the physical walls I run into, and U-turn even without investment does a hefty chunk to Ttar and espeon.
- I don't get as much use out of tornadus as I feel like I should-it's probably a usage issue, though I suppose he might be overkill teamed with an electric special sweeper who also abuses rain for accurate STAB. I'm also not entirely sure prankster-rain dance is all that valuable for me, I don't make much of a habit out of throwing away politoed early.
- I'm open to finding another source for big hurricanes, or just advice on how better to bait out things i can toast with Heat Wave. I think a big problem for this set is that the theoretically strong coverage is weakened by the rain, so things that his heat wave might scare can breathe much easier when my team is otherwise primed to go.
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
The good:
- This is my go-to late-game sweeper. He blows through talonflame and mamoswine, makes excadrill very nervous to switch in, and is only outsped by agility/DDance/speed boost passers.
- I am dead sure there's a better item for him than Shell Bell, I ended up with it out of annoyance that his attacking movepool is so obvious that expert belt ended up never mattering, and I switch him into rocks too much for life orb not to feel like it makes him too fragile.
- I worry sometimes that he's too fragile to reliably spin.
- He's very easily walled by ferrothorn.
Ability: Light Metal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- Swords Dance
The good:
- I really liked mega scizor in combo with manectric before I put raichu in its place, for the opportunity to bluff choice band. In that situation, I'd get a lot of free swords dances on the switch out that things like mamoswine or weavile make, empowering me to dent whatever comes in.
- He switches in well to the steel attacks people throw at sylveon and the grass ones at kabutops.
- Scizor really doesn't jam that well with the conditions I like to set up for the rest of my offense, I use him for his typing and defenses.
- He is slower than molasses when something comes in that he can't bullet punch. I have a lot of trouble with ferrothorn here, 2x SD brick break is my only answer to him and that usually means i have to throw away SR setup, leech seed and a turn or two of protect, and that's if ferro stays in.
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Wish
The good:
- Sylveon is an amazing special tank, and I love the support he brings. My team's typing sometimes lets me pass wish at the trade-off of a NVE soak that leaves me 20-40% positive on the trade. Heal Bell also lets me play a lot more aggressive against scald, WoW or toxic users. Raichu and Tornadus love trading punches with gliscor or rotom only to get picked up and dusted off later-game when sylveon gets a free swap into a dragon.
- I have problems against physical priority on this team, and sylveon does not help at all. Scizor and Azumarill both pack huge damage that can still outspeed me, on top of priority that I can't stand up to.
Azumarill-too tanky for my one priority user to OHKO, hits all of my attackers at least neutrally with aqua jet and abuses rain against me.
Jellicent-resists kabutops' only accurate STAB, I've only fought this a few times but they all tended to be on teams that made Raichu very difficult to switch in and take care of. Most commonly I get ground to dust between jellicent and ferrothorn, since power whip deters rapid spin.
Venusaur-typing and passive defense prevent me from crippling this thing with any attacks besides hurricane.
Scizor-takes plenty of damage from thunder and hurricane, but tends to threaten my users of those attacks, and is too safe in the rain for heat wave to pose as much of a threat as I'd like it to.
Florges-bullet punch with two+ swords dances behind it is the only way I've ever taken this monster down, and I tend to be denied that chance by enemies that know right away I can't break it down with anything else.
I've also got a crummy record against boosting in general, and physical boosting specifically. If I get caught without rain, I'm immediately on the back foot, since thunder, hurricane or swift swim waterfall are my hardest hits and they all hinge on it. Boosters who can tank scizor's bullet punch walk all over me, since he's not fast enough to kill anything but walls with his other moves.
I'm sure this post is full of noob mistakes and false assumptions, for which I apologize in advance. Thank you for taking a look, I'm looking forward to any and all input.
