So after playing against some rain dance teams I found that they have the potential to rape hardcore, so I decided to make my own. After playing on pokelab a bit I found as long as I can keep rain up and it's not a bp team (hate those omg) I stand a pretty good chance of winning. Surprisingly enough I usually use kabutops as my main sweeper, because of his priority he can usually get the job done better than kingdra. Alright onto my team.
Kingdra? On a rain dance team? What a surprise. Well if theirs a rain dance team without him they're losing an awesome pokemon. Swift swimming even allows him to outspeed scarfgon which is a pretty big deal, only problem I've had with him is him getting beat on by priority. The lack of any priority move in his movepool is disapointing but oh well, he's still a beast and runs through teams given the opportunity.
With kingdra on the team I looked to other sweepers I could use. Kabutops immediately stuck in my mind after reading the article about rain dance offense, so I decided to use him. I've always been pretty fond of him, and his typing helps bring some diversity into this team. Also I just wanted a pokemon with strong priority, and aqua jet in the rain is nothing to be laughed at.
Looking for another powerful rain dance sweeper I took a look at floatzel. I needed a fast taunt user who can still sweep like mad, but after looking at him I was just unhappy with how frail he is as the real only way I could get him into play is sacrificing one of my other pokemon. It also doesn't help with him taunting if he just gets wrecked by whoever he's taunting.
I replaced floatzel with an annoyer ludicolo, since my teams usually don't include annoyers or tanks I thought I would include him. His typing also gives a 4x resistance to water which is quite helpful if you have high powered waterfalls and hydro pumps flying everywhere. He's also a reliable rain dancer, and with leech seed, rain dish and leftovers he's a massive pain to take out.
Now onto my rain dancers. I thought bronzong would be a good mid-game dancer cause he's just such a tank, and he has access to explosion and stealth rock. I hardly ever use stealth rock as rain is my first priority, then I usually explode in his face or attack with gyro ball if I feel I can still take another hit and he's weak enough.
After looking at my team I thought a zapdos would be a great lead, bringing some useful typing and t-bolt to my team. He usually does well against other leads, but can still fall prey to a taunt. Most people think he's a toxic spammer so I can usually get rain dance up while he switches to his steels. I find him to be a great lead, and I might use him as a lead outside of rd as well.
At this point I couldn't really decide on a sixth member that fit my team well and brought much needed type coverage. I decided on electivire because of motor drive, and his excellent movesets. I tried jolteon in this spot but he just wasn't performing as well as I would have liked, because his moveset is so shallow. The only thing that bothers me about electivire is my team only has kabutops that people would spam electric attacks on so motor drive boosts are pretty far between. I have gotten it a couple times however, and when he does he sweeps like mad.
Former team members;
Already explained above, is super frail and didn't bring much to my team.
Another sweeper, meant to switch in on electric attacks and go to town. I found his movepool way to sparse for what I needed. I replaced him with electivire because motor drive is much more useful, since jolteon would usually come in at full health anyway. That and electivire has way better type coverage.
I was considering azelf as my lead, but I thought I would try something different since everybody has a plan for azelf leads now. If I were to use him I would be doing a moveset with rd, taunt, t-bolt and probs explosion. I just like zapdos better for his ability to switch back in as well, and his stab t-bolt is nice.
For my second rain dancer it came to either bronzong or jirachi. I picked bronzong because of explosion and levitate as I needed another ground immunity. Other than that though I'm still considering switching him with bronzong.
Zapdos@Damp Rock
Pressure
Calm Nature
248 HP 228 Def 32 Spe
-Rain Dance
-T-bolt
-Roost
-Roar/Heatwave
My lead, since I've started playing online I've had a lot of trouble taking him out due to his bulk. Everybody uses the annoying toxic stall set so I usually get the element of surprise on people, that and I think it's random that zapdos can learn rain dance. He usually does well against other leads, the only pokemon I've had real trouble with is hippowdon, since he's immune to my STAB and didn't take much damage from heatwave when I had it instead of roar. That and he puts up a sandstorm which pretty much ruins my whole strategy, and I can't really set up rain until I take him out which is usually a big pain in the ass.
Some match-ups against common leads;
Kingdra@leftovers
Swift Swim
Adamant Nature
180 HP 252 Atk 76 Spe
-Rain Dance/Draco Meteor
-Dragon Dance/Blizzard
-Waterfall
-Outrage
I've had a bit of trouble with kingdra's moveset, mostly because a third attack move would be nice, and I don't really see kingdra use either of his dance moves. I was thinking about replacing rd with draco meteor and making him naive nature, and replacing dd with blizzard but I'm having trouble deciding. Other than that the swift swimmer that everybody hates facing, can usually take out at least one other pokemon before going down or rain runs out.
Kabutops@Life Orb
Swift Swim
Adamant Nature
32 HP 252 Atk 204 Spe
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge
-Aqua Jet
-Swords Dance
Get him out in the rain and he can take out at least one pokemon. His offensive typing is fantastic, and stone edge is good for taking out the random shedinjas you see around occasionally. If I can get a swords dance in I pretty much win, but he's kinda frail himself so I usually don't risk it and attack.
Ludicolo@leftovers
Rain Dish
Calm Nature
232 HP 216 SpD 60 Spe
-Rain Dance
-Leech Seed
-Protect
-Energy Ball/Surf
I use him to stall out threats I can't really OHKO, he also works as a sort of late game last chance. He also sets up rain reliably, and with rain dish, leftovers and leech seed he becomes super annoying to take out. I'm using energy ball right now as a way to take out swampert, but I might use surf instead since it gets the boost from rain, that and steels completely wall this set which is really bad.
Bronzong@Damp Rock
Levitate
Impish Nature
252 HP 152 Atk 96 SpD
-Rain Dance
-Explosion
-Gyro Ball
-Stealth Rock
My midgame rain dancer, he gets up rain almost every time, unless my opponent gets a taunt in. I might replace stealth rock with earthquake because my team lacks it, and I find he doesn't usually get the chance to use SR. I almost always get to use explosion, which is a great boon since it will usually KO the opponent. If they bring in a ghost I'll attack with gyro ball or switch out depending on how I'm feeling.
Electivire@Expert Belt
Motor Drive
Mild Nature
128 Atk 164 SpA 216 Spe
-Cross Chop/EQ
-Flamethrower/ Signal Beam
-Ice Punch
-T-bolt
My mixed sweeper, I wait until late game or if I can predict an electric attack to switch him in. If he can get the speed boost from motor drive he becomes a beast to take down, his type coverage is amazing. At this point the only problem I have is the scarfed pokemon with EQ, like flygon since they can most likely get the 1HKO before I can KO them. I've been surprised by how effectively he works, but I might replace him with another steel that benefits from the rain, like a mixed jirachi or a SD lucario. He's also my answer to blissey since lots of blissey's use T-wave, so I switch in and hit them with cross chop or whatever pokemon they switch in. I might switch out flamethrower, but rain has usually run out or is close to when I send him out anyway.
A list of the threats to this team, I excluded some because they were listed above, and this is my first attempt at it lol
Offensive Threats
Breloom : Ice punch from electivire narrowly misses the 1HKO, so I'll weaken him with whatever pokemon I have out then hit him with electivire
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Dragonite : Kingdra's outrage, or electivires ice punch will do him in, I can roar with zapdos if he's boosting like mad
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Dugtrio : Most of my team easily beats him
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Electivire : If he's spamming electric send in my own and try and go for the 2HKO with cross chop
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Empoleon : Hit him with zapdos or electivire's T-bolt
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Flygon : If rain is up kingdra outspeeds him and gets the 1HKO with outrage, if not try and weaken him with ludicolo then aqua jet him with kabutops
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Gengar : He doesn't last long as most hits will do him in from my sweepers in the rain
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Gyarados : Zapdos is my best bet, since he's prob dd and has EQ
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Heatran : Waterfall in the rain from either swift swimmer should do him in
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Heracross : Stone Edge almost 1HKO's so I can finish him with aqua jet
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Infernape : Most of my team ca take him pretty easily
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Jirachi : He's not too much of a threat, most of my team can hit him with neutral stab and do lots of damage
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Jolteon : Switch in electivire, take the motor drive boost and go to town
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Kingdra : Other kingdra pose a huge threat, as most will outspeed my own kingdra and tank the rest of my team
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Latias : Kingdra counters it pretty well, with ice punch from electivire as well
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Lucario : Most hits will take him out, try and weaken him with kingdra or outright KO, and aqua jet from kabutops if he's in range
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Magnezone: A moderate threat since nothing I have outright KO's him (unless I put EQ on electivire) I'll try and beat with kingdra's waterfall
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Porygon-Z : Rain dancers narrowly miss the 1HKO, so hit them and switch my other dancer in
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Rhyperior : 1HKO'd be almost everything
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Salamence : Kingdra in the rain tanks him, same as latias
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Scizor : He's usually a pain to take out in the rain, 2HKO with waterfall from my sweepers
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Starmie : Starmie gets taken out easily by electivire or zapdos, so I'll try and get the motor drive boost by baiting with kabutops
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Togekiss : 1HKO'd by kabutops' stone edge
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Tyranitar : 1HKO'd by electivire's cross chop, if i replace it I could just spam water attacks, annoying since he takes down my rain
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Weavile : Relatively frail, so I'll switch in bronzong who 1HKO's with gyro ball, but I'll set up rain first probs
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Yanmega : Stone edge from kabutops wrecks him, and zapdos gets the 1HKO with T-bolt
Defensive Threat List:
Blissey : I've always hated blissey, but most of my sweepers are physical so I can take her down relatively easy. If she's spamming T-wave I'll switch electivire in
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Bronzong : Kabutops gets the 2HKO with waterfall, which I'll either switch in as I think he will use SR or revenge kill
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Celebi : Stone edge gets the 2HKO, which I can get before he hits me with a grass attack, if I do switch to kingdra and use outrage
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Cresselia : Waterfall from my sweepers gets the 2HKO, maybe try and wear him out with ludicolo if I wanna preserve my sweepers
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Donphan : Gets hit by almost everything hard
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Forretress : 2HKO'd by waterfall
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Gliscor : Gets hit hard by water attacks
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Hippowdon : Hate this guy, gets rid of rain and he's a defensive beast. Either roar him out if he's boosting or hit him with water attacks
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Skarmory : More of a nuisance than anything, hit him with zapdos' T-bolt
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Snorlax : Hit him with electivire, or spam water attacks at him
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Suicune: Gets beat by zapdos, electivire does alright as well
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Swampert : Beat hardcore by ludicolo, most players will switch out though, so I have to play tactfully
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Tentacruel : Zapdos gets the 2HKO, and tentacruel can't hurt him much
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Vaporeon : My sweepers can hit him with stone edge and outrage respectfully, also get hit hard by electivire, ludicolo and zapdos
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Zapdos : Kabutops gets the 2HKO with stone edge, but he will prob get taken out, so I switch in something that outspeeds him and take him out
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Defensive Threat List:
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So there's my team, some criticism would be nice. My win loss is about 50-50 so I'm pretty happy with it. Your thoughts would be nice, thx for looking
