Rain is Pain

cartercr

Okay, I have wanted to make a rain based VGC team to try to get back into the metagame since my TR team. Since this would be rain I had to start out with the king of rain.

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Then came my next 'mon. I found a strategy of using absorb bulb on a Pokemon that resists water-type attacks. Ludicolo takes .25 from water type attacks (like Politoed's Surf)

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Next up I really needed something that can attack physically. Kabutops seemed to fit well here.

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Okay, water, grass and electric types can cause some trouble at this point. I'm also a bit wary of priority moves from the likes of Whimsicott. Thundrus will take care of that problem.

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Can't really build a rain team without this guy can I?

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Now I always like to have that one Pokemon I can always count on just in case everything goes wrong. I usually stick to Gengar for that particular job.

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Up close and personal with the team.

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DrizzleToed (Politoed) @ Choice Scarf
Ev's: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
Ability: Drizzle
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power Grass
-Scald

The bread and butter of the entire operation. Surf really helps to set up Absorb Bulb Ludicolo, and everything else is coverage. I can use Scald if I want to switch it back in on a physical threat, but typically I'll only use Surf.

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CrazyMan (Ludicolo) @ Absorb Bulb
Ev's: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
Ability: Swift Swim
- Fake Out
- Giga Drain
- Hydro Pump
- Protect

Fans of the disney movie Bugs Life will remember the saying "They come, they eat, they leave." Ludicolo says "I come, I rape, I leave." First turn, I can Fake Out whatever is most threatening, and go for the Surf with Politoed. Now that I'm at +1 / +2 I can pretty well sweep through everything. I even outspeed Scarf Terakion after the rain is up. GigaPump is my STAB combo, Giga Drain healing any damage I would have taken from the Surf, and Hydro Pump dealing a bunch of damage to everything.

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Grim Reaper (Kabutops) @ Choice Band
Evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Swift Swim
- Waterfall
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Aqua Jet

It always sucks when something moves faster than you. It sucks more when it's a STAB Choice Band boosted attack. Waterfall and Rock Slide are the main attacks for this set. X-Scissor is mainly filler that hits Psychic-types, and Aqua Jet takes out weakened (or frailer) opponents.

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Thunderhead @ Leftovers
Ev's: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Nature: Timid
Ability: Prankster
- Thunder
- Hidden Power Flying
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave

Pretty much my counter to anything I don't want to deal with. Taunt stops Whimsicott and T-Wave helps fight of something that (heaven forbid) outspeeds something on this team. Thunder of course has perfect accuracy in rain, and HP Flying is STAB.

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DragonMaster @ Haban Berry
Evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
Ability: Swift Swim
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power Fire
- Protect

Every team needs a Dragon imo. They are fast and hit hard. This thing is no exception. Surf and Dragon Pulse provide great coverage together and HP Fire helps for things it doesn't hit. (Ferrothorn can still cause problems.)

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SpookyPants @ Life Orb
Ev's: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
Ability: Levitate
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- HP Fire
- Focus Blast

NO PROTECT? ARE YOU DERPIN'?!? No, I'm not "Derpin'" This Pokemon is mainly a utility counter for things, and it truly stands as my only solution to Ferrothorn (while rain is up.) Shadow Ball is a powerful STAB, the other moves are coverage.

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Maybe add the Abilities to the Pokemon Info, since even though it's obvious, how are we supposed to know if Politoed's Ability is Drizzle, Damp or Water Absorb?
 
It seems a bit counterproductive to have a Fire move on a pokemon that is only useful in rain. Overall, the team is pretty good, but don't expect to 2HKO any Max HP variants of Wash Rotom with Politoed's HP Grass. BTW, Tailwind will ruin you on many occasions even if you use Taunt Thundurus since PrankWind users are commonly spotted with Fake Out users. You can blame your Modest Nature for that. BTW, with how your team is built, Politoed is always going to be used, so the battle just went from 4 vs 4 to 4 vs 3 + DrizzleToed. Try getting some more pokes that aren't so overly reliant on weather to sweep unless you have a good plan for dealing with opposing weather teams.
 
Toxicroak is very good rain abuser. He also checks Tyranitar very nicely. I have a sand team and Toxicroak is just a pain to deal with.
Heres a set based on wht ive seen.

Toxicroak@Black Sludge/Leftovers/Sitrus berry/ Dark gem
Dry Skin
Adamant Hp 252, Atk 252, Speed 4
Sucker Punch
Fake Out
Drain Punch
Protect

Black Sludge/Leftovers is obvious. Under rain 1/8 recovery every turn is a pain.
Protect gives time for the partner to remove threat
Sitrus berry can be used for larger recovery but i havent seen it many times and proved to be inferior to Black Sludge/Leftovers
Dark gem to have sucker punch be ridiculously strong. Many Psychic types try to remove toxicroak only to be stuffed by sucker punch.
Substitute can be used as well but usually inferior to protect.

Hope this helped

Edit: The Ev's are just a guess. There are other options in Ev's if you want him to out speed specific pokemon.
 
DHayes said:
Toxicroak is very good rain abuser. He also checks Tyranitar very nicely. I have a sand team and Toxicroak is just a pain to deal with.
Heres a set based on wht ive seen.

Toxicroak@Black Sludge/Leftovers/Sitrus berry/ Dark gem
Dry Skin
Adamant Hp 252, Atk 252, Speed 4
Sucker Punch
Fake Out
Drain Punch
Protect

Black Sludge/Leftovers is obvious. Under rain 1/8 recovery every turn is a pain.
Protect gives time for the partner to remove threat
Sitrus berry can be used for larger recovery but i havent seen it many times and proved to be inferior to Black Sludge/Leftovers
Dark gem to have sucker punch be ridiculously strong. Many Psychic types try to remove toxicroak only to be stuffed by sucker punch.
Substitute can be used as well but usually inferior to protect.

Hope this helped

Edit: The Ev's are just a guess. There are other options in Ev's if you want him to out speed specific pokemon.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll definitely give it a try.
 
Multiple errors here.... HP Fire has base 35 in the rain. It won't be doing any terrific amount to Ferrothorn, and some Scizors will avoid the OHKO. Also, Thunder>Thunderbolt on a rain team, more power plus it always hits. So switch Hp Fire on Gengar for Protect, or just some other move that you like.
 
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