VGC Rain team- New to competitive

[Quanty]

This is my first competitive pokemon team. One of the main problems I know i have are the EV spreads. Right now nearly all of the spreads are 252 252 and any feed back on them will be helpful.

Ludicolo is my late sweeper of the team. Ludicolo usually comes out after my leads have weakened and crippled the opposing team.


Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Giga Drain
- Fake Out

Scald is Ludicolos main source of damage. It has a more reliable accuracy than hydro pump and has the chance of burning the target as well. Ice beam help checks the flying types that will threaten ludicolo. It's cabable of OHKOing most Mega salamance and Landorus-T. Giga drain allows Ludicolo to check opposing water types such as Rotom-W and Milotic as well as recover some of its health. Fake out is used to help allow other pokemon to either set up or switch out with out worry of taking too much damage.

Mamoswine is one of my main leads but can also be a late game sweeper. the Jolly nature helps it out speed and OHKO most landorus T. It as also cable of to check Landourus decently. I usually pair Mamoswine and Talonflame together so that he can use earthquake without worry.


Mamoswine @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Slide

Eq serves as my ground stab that helps take care of many steel and electric types as well as being able to check Heatran. Icicle crash is my main form of damage that allows me to check opposing flying and grass types. Its capable of easily OHKOing Landorus-T at -1 attack. Icicle spear is a bit of a filler move reserved to take care of pokemon with focus sash. Rock slide allows mamoswine to check opposing talonflames and charizards. It also helps by giving a chance to flinch both opposing pokemon.

Politoed; Cause you can have a rain team without one. Politoed helps by setting up the rain and sticking around to play support and do some damage. Politoed is usually sent out late game with ludicolo

Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Rain Dance
- Helping Hand

Scald, like ludicolo will be politoeds main damage move and allow it to have a chance to inflict burn. Ice beam is used to help check opposing grass and flying types. I keep rain dance on to help counter opposing weather, as well as restarting weather in case it runs out. In the case that Politoed cant do any any good damage, helping hands allows it to help its teamate with a damage boost.

Talonflame is one of my main leads. Able to provide decent support as well as priority brave ird to help take out several targets.

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Taunt
- Quick Guard

Brave bird is talonsflame main source of damage. It gains priority from the ability gale wings and allows it to take care of just about any grass and fighting type. Flare blitz allows talon flame to check steel types such as mawile, aegislash, and ferrothorn. I choose to run taunt over tailwind as it allows me to shut down trick room teams and sableye. Quick guard is a good lead support move as it helps block any prankster moves as well as blocking fake out to.

Breloom is another pokemon that i can use either as lead.

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Spore
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Protect

Breloom is one of the fastest spore users and focus sash allows it to always get off at least one spore. Mach punch is a great move to use. It can do decent damage to mega kangaskahn. Mach punch also allows breloom to do some more damage in case it will die to a pokemon that outspeeds it Bullet seed allows breloom to check bulky water types as well as being able to check ground types to. It helps beat opposing mamoswine. Protect is always a good filler move that allows me to guard from any immediate threats and allow my teammates to take them out or weaken them.

Togekiss is the main wall for my team, providing great redirection and speed control.

Togekiss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Serene Grace
Level: 50
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Nature: Bold
- Air Slash
- Thunder Wave
- Follow Me
- Protect

Air slash is Togekiss main damage move that also provides a high rate of making the target flinch. When paired with thunder wave it can cripple the opposing team heavily. Thunder wave is used over tailwind as a longer form of speed control. It also allows for the chance of making the opposing pokemon miss a turn. Follow me is allows togekiss to redirect attacks, allowing it to protect teammates and let them stay in longer and do more damage. Protects, like on breloom, allows togekiss to be protected from any immediate threats while my team takes care of them.

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Any feed back will be helpful. Thank you.

 

[Serapis]

Before we go into the team, you have expressed your issue with creating EV spreads. To that end, I suggest you read these two articles. They are Part 1 and Part 2 of a series by DaWoblefet about creating custom EV spreads and they are extremely detailed.

Moveset is standard and fine imo. Now, EV spread is where Ludicolo gets more interesting. The cookie cutter spread will probably work for you, so I'll put that below. Specifically, the spread is from rapha's Regionals team and the full article can be found here. He also uses a similar Politoed, so the team may be worth a read.

Spread

Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 252 SpA / 148 Spe
Mild Nature
- Fake Out
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Giga Drain

Super simple spread; the speed EVs allow you to outspeed Adamant Scarf Landorus-T when you have Rain up, the SpA is to maximize damage output and the rest is thrown into HP to help your overall bulk.

Now Politoed is a little more interesting seeing as it has several sets that can do wildly different things. While Choice Scarf is an option, I do believe that your idea of a bulkier support set fits well here. Having said that, there's no need for all of your speed EVs. Generally you want some mix of bulk and SpA based on personal preference. Sure, there are benchmarks you want to hit like surviving Mega-Kang's Double Edge, but as long as you have Sitrus that is pretty easy. Example sets below will showcase your main options. For moveset, consider using Protect over Helping Hand. I can see both sides of the coin here, and Politoed definately has the bulk to get away with a Protectless set and the rise of AV Landorus-T makes Scald a really nice option to allow Ludicolo to still pick up the OHKO, however Protect is always a great move against skilled players. This is one of those things that you'll have to test yourself to see what you personally like.

Set

Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Calm Nature
EVs: 244 HP / 52 Def / 212 SpD
– Protect
– Rain Dance
– Scald
– Ice Beam

Bulky Toed with no SpA investment, courtey of LightCore (full report here). You'll notice that he uses Protect instead of Rain Dance, and he piloted the team all the way to Top 8 of Philly Regionals which is no small feat. Of course, this was back in 2014 so Helping Hand wasn't actually an option which is worth noting. If you want a more offensive set, you can use the damage calc to invest as much SpA as you feel comfortable with (I'd probably calc against things like Kang, Lando and Sylveon to secure 2/3HKOs). Most notably, 84 SpA EVs with a neutral nature allow you to always OHKO 12 HP 4 SpD Landorus-T in Rain with Scald and out of it with Ice Beam (most of the time). I'd also like to note that Politoed gets Perish Song and Encore, which is are really rarely used options but always something to be aware of. I wouldn't even recommend them to you, but you should always know the full possibilities of the mons you use.

I understand your reasoning here with the moveset, but LO Talonflame without Protect is really iffy in my opinion. One of Talonflame's largest issues is a lack of staying power, and Protect goes a long way to alleviating that. Depending on how you play it, it may be more or less necessary for you so if you've tried it and it didn't work then just keep everything as it is. Now, you mentioned that Taunt was more valuable on your team than Tailwind, and I have to disagree with that a little bit. Your main reasoning was that it helped you combat Trick Room teams, but Breloom's Spore does that pretty well to be quite honest. Of course, some Hard TR teams carry Safety Goggles TR setters, but even more Hard TR teams carry Mental Herb so it's a bit of a moot point. Tailwind would allow you to make full use of your Talonflame/Breloom combination to abuse Spore to the fullest extent and just generally act as good team support. So, what do I suggest? Well, this one is more complicated than the others.

Set

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 220 Atk / 36 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Tailwind/Taunt
- Protect

This is what I would suggest for a non Quick Guard set as you can maximize bulk and still keep almost all of your offensive pressure. The HP/Defense allows you to always live Brave Bird from opposing CB Talonflame while the speed puts you above Landorus-T/Charizard/slower Kang. If you decide to run Quick Guard then I would suggest having 172 speed EVs which would allow you to outspeed boosting nature Base 100s so that your Quick Guard can block Jolly Kang's Fake Out. In that case, an EV spread like this would probably be best.

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 244 Atk / 44 Def / 4 SpD / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Quick Guard
- Protect

44 HP Evs allow Talonflame to hit the only HP number possible in VGC that reduces both weather and Life Orb recoil while combined with the defensive investment you take Brave Bird from opposing LO Talonflame. Of course, both of these sets assume Protect and if you decide you don't want to run it just sub it out for whatever supportive move you settle on.

I don't see any real problems here. I, personally, would use an Adamant nature in order to maximize damage output. Yes, that does cause you to underspeed Landorus-T but Rain fares well enough against the flying lion that I'd say you can get away with it. Icicle Spear is fine as a 100% accurate STAB and Focus Sash breaker, but I would like to mention that Mamoswine gets Ice Shard. Even on Scarf sets, the priority can be useful to pick off weakened opponents in the lategame before they can use their own priority to KO you (I'm looking at you Breloom). As for the EVs, I personally like 252/252 Mamoswine, although I'm almost required to link this. That's Arash's 2013 World Championship report where he used a Choice Scarf Mamoswine to take 1st place. I've tried it an I believe that it's outdated, but hey, you might like it. The Mamoswine's EVs can be found below for convince.

Set

Mamoswine (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 124 HP / 44 Atk / 100 Def / 44 SDef / 196 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Icicle Spear
– Earthquake
– Icicle Crash
– Rock Slide

Yeah, nothing to say here. At all. I'm usually a supporter of Adamant Breloom, but it doesn't fit all too well on your team. Mainly, I would like to remind you that Spore does counter Trick Room pretty well and that combined with Talonflame's Tailwind this thing is a complete beast. Other than that, you're looking good as you have it right now. (If you're looking to replace a Pokemon though, at the moment Breloom would be the one to drop imo. More on this at the end)

Okay, paraflinch Togekiss. The speed control is nice and the redirection is awesome, but there's one big issue. Going down to M-Kang Double Edge is a no-no for supporters and without the Sitrus Berry you really have to play with the EV spread to survive. I'll note that Togekiss gets Tailwind as well, which is a pretty good alternative method of speed control if you decide to drop Thunder Wave but I like your set as you have it, except the item. I, personally, am all for Safety Goggles Togekiss, especially considering your general weakness to a well played Amoonguss/Breloom. Rocky Helmet just doesn't do enough here in my opinion because Togekiss goes down to physical hits all too quickly, but keep it if you'd like.

Set

Togekiss @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Serene Grace
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 68 Def / 40 SpA / 156 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Thunder Wave
- Follow Me
- Protect

The set allows you to survive Adamant Kang Double Edge, makes Landorus-T's Rock Slide a 3HKO and most Charizard Y Heat Waves in Sun a 3HKO as well. The HP lets you hit a Sand number and the SpA is really just leftover EVs that you can put wherever you want. Also, if you decide to run Tailwind add 60 Speed EVs so that you can outspeed Adamant Choice Scarf Lando-T after you set up TW. I'd take them from SpA and SpD, but that's just me (and if you're using Tailwind I still feel it should be on Talonflame, but RMTs are all about presenting options).

Okay, so that's about it. My one final, overarching thought about this team is that you don't have a Mega. Now don't get me wrong, you don't need one, I mean here's Enosh's Virginia Report where he placed 2nd with a no-Mega team. What I am saying is that Megas can be great team assets and are usually absolute powerhouses. As it stands, something like Mega-Metagross pairs well with your Rain and Mega-Kangaskhan pairs well with just about everything. Here's where reconsidering the Breloom slot comes in. I'd think about adding a Mega, but if you don't want to then I believe your team is pretty fine as it is.