Rain Team

Ok this was originally a team that i got from someone else on here (can't remember who, sorry) but i changed it around a TON and really the only thing left is the jolteon and toxicroak. This is the most successful team i have had so far, but it still has some problems, particularly with the evil washing machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

H-12_Politoed.jpg
Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Hypnosis
- Encore
- Perish Song
The bringer of the rain, politoed. Obviously he is crucial to my team, because really everyone on the team benifits from the rain. Scald is for burn stalling. Perish song forces switches, and encore helps team mates set up.

Toxicroak61108.png

Toxicroak (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Substitute
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
To be completely honest, this guy is amazing. If he gets off a bulk up and a substitute, he can sweep whole teams with ease. Sucker punch provides powerful priority, and a combination of Drain punch, leftovers, and dry skin ensure he wont be dying anytime soon. Unfortunately, he is completely walled by any ghost type that doesnt attack and just pp stalls me. For whatever reason, this seems to happen with jellicent more often than not. Other than that, he absorbs toxic and toxic spikes, which i REALLY like for my team.


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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Water Pulse
- Thunder
Jirachi is always annoying to face, and this is no exception. Much like toxicroak, if he gets a boost and a sub, hes going to be staying a while. Waterpulse and thunder are both buffed by the rain, and with serene grace can make him almost impossible to kill.

1stedit.jungle.jolteon.jpg

Jolteon (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball
Another fantastic rain abuser. A perfect accuracy thunder coming off of STAB, modest, Specs jolteon HURTS. Obviously he hates ground, so HP ice takes care of most of them, as well as any opposing dragons. Volt switch is for scouting, and shadow ball is for coverage, although i would be happy to switch out shadow ball for something less-resisted. Also he functions as a way to absorb thunderwave, which cripples most of the team.

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Gyarados (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Again, if he sets up, he wins. One dragon dance is enough for a sweep, especially once Moxie kicks in. Waterfall is for rain boosted stab, and the other moves provide the edgequake combo. Also, especially in the rain, he draws electric attacks like crazy, which will heal jolteon on the switch with proper prediction.


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Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
In a way, my revenge killer, but also a late game sweeper. He does NOT have HP ice so he will outspeed all the latios that DO. Dragon pulse is stab, surf is rain boosted, psyshock stops blissey from walling him, and energy ball takes out Rotom-W and gastrodon, and in general other waters that give me problems.



As im sure you noticed, i have no hazards. I would love to change this, but i feel like everyone is important as they are. Except politoed, who i hate anyway. Go figure. Any advice is welcome, just keep it constructive. Thanks!
 
This is a pretty cool team. Just a few suggestions.

First of all, Hypnosis is not very reliable on Politoed - it has an abysmal accuracy that can fail you just when you need it most. In its place, I suggest you try Ice Beam, to prevent Dragonites from setting up on you.

I think you'd benefit from having Ferrothorn > Jolteon and having Gyarados go to a more defensive build. This will make you lose a lot of offensive power, so thus, I suggest trying SD Toxicroak. However, the outcome of this is that you get Hazards, as well as a somewhat solid defensive core, which can greatly help the rest of your team.

Ferrothorn (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Thunderwave
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes

Ferrothorn helps you stack Hazards, which makes it much easier for Jirachi, Latios, and Toxicroak to plow through your opponent's team. Paralysis can give free and crucial turns to all three of your sweepers.

Gyarados (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Roar / Thunderwave
- Dragon Tail / Thunderwave
- Waterfall
- Taunt

Gyarados can help you cripple and phaze your opponent's team until they're all weak. In addition, it presents a pestering problem for stall teams with Taunt. Slightly more speed helps it outpace other Gyarados's of the same kind.

Toxicroak (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Ice Punch
- Cross Chop
- Sucker Punch

SD Toxicroak also has a handful of set-up fodders that usually give rain trouble. It can also counter-sweep a lot of offensive rain teams that have a Pokemon out that's locked into a Water-type move. It can also be very deadly towards Rain Stall. In addition, it outspeeds. The only Pokemon that really threatens it is Jellicent.

It makes me squeal with pleasure to see someone using LIFE ORB LATIOS IN RAIN. This is absolutely my favorite way to use Latios, so I'll share some of my experience with you :)

First things first, I would suggest this set:

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Recover

As you mentioned, Rotom-W is problematic for your team. However, the threat level is reduced when you have Recover, meaning Latios can repeatedly switch in on Rotom-W's without having too much to worry about powerful rain boosted attacks. Recover also makes Latios a potent weapon against many stall teams that lack Tyranitar, Jirachi, or Ferrothorn. Draco Meteor is a much stronger attack than Dragon Pulse. In fact, it has about 50% chance of OHKOing Multiscale Offensive Dragon Dance Dragonite from full health! Draco is also your panic button to take out many walls that would otherwise prove annoying. While the SDef Drop may seem displeasing, it's really not that big problem, especially when you've eliminated something that will open room for Jirachi or Toxicroak to sweep. Latios also does not need Energy Ball to take on Gastrodon. Gastrodon cannot switch into Psyshock, as it's a solid 2HKO, doing about 60% to it. Max defense Gastrodon takes some 90% from Draco Meteor, if memory serves me well. Just be careful about firing off Surfs when Gastrodon is around and you should be fine.
 
About HP ice and speed, I very often don't take the 30 speed IV one and chose another depending on the Pokemon. For example for Latios I take the 31 30 30 31 31 31 spread.

Do not count on this to outspeed another Latios and lose the speed tie.
 
Black rain, I agree with much of what you say, but the problem is that i lose my electric (and t-wave) immunity from jolteon. I will use the latios set though. In general, i just prefer hyper offense.

HolyAvatar, I agree, and thats what i run too, but many players dont think to try alternate IV spreads, so this is a way to avoid losing, or at least to speed tie, with them
 
Alright then, I understand. Regarding Jolteon though, I would suggest perhaps Signal Beam on it instead of Shadow Ball, Signal Beam allows you to finish off Celebis more easily, as otherwise, most of your team will have a hard time getting around all of the Celebi sets out there. Latios can handle most Celebi sets, but should not be your primary go-to since it fears Sub+Leech Seed sets and a possible U-turn. In addition, Latios cannot OHKO Celebi with Dragon Pulse, although Draco can kill most weakened Celebis that are <80%, if experience and memory serve me well. That said, I would also suggest changing Jolteon to a Life Orb Variant, as that prevents Pokemon such as Sub-Dugtrio from coming in on you and setting up all over you. Rotom-W should be not too much of a problem to bait the Electric move from, so your HP can be recovered pretty easily. It also prevents DD Dragonite from setting up excessively on you.

Edit: 100th post, yay!
 
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