Hi all, I'd love some opinions on this team. I have been playing it a while now and I've actually had incredible success, I think mostly due to that it's unusual but either way, I'm happy to have the wins and it's a lot of fun to play.
Hatterene (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Mystical Fire
- Giga Drain
The magic hat serves two purposes: magic bounce and special beast. With Assault Vest she has incredible SpD, incredible SpA and is a great way to prevent entry hazards. Since I lead with Pelipper for the rain, I find that I'm often immediately switching her in to catch other leads off guard and get a free round of some sort of entry hazard. Mystical Fire also works to silence other SpA pokemon. I started running Giga Drain as a means of some sort of situational recovery. Psychic and DG for STAB bombs.
Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder
Pretty straightforward set. Life orb / magic guard for free boosted attacks. I switched t-bolt for Thunder given the rain support and it's made a pretty huge impact. With good prediction or a favorable matchup getting off a calm mind makes her a pretty big threat. FT and Thunder were the best combo I've come up with after having changed it around a few times. It just always seems like one of the two works against common switch ins to her, and the added status risks are just a benefit, especially with Thunder. I also use her to switch into hazards and kill the hazard setter if they snuck by the magic hat, so I'm not killing excadrill to do multiple spins.
Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
Another pretty unsurprising pokemon, but man have I had so much fun with him. Leech seed of course makes for pretty bad recovery, but recovery nonetheless. Iron barbs and RH combo makes hitting him physically a death wish, especially after an iron defense or two. And then the ID boosts make Body Press hit like a truck. He's annoying and everybody hates him, so he's a fun tank.
Crawdaunt @ Mystic Water
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
This guy. Let me tell ya, I completely underestimated him. I saw a handful of people running him and thought they were crazy. But he's superior to azu in every way (in my personal experience). Even if I don't get a SD off, priority aqua jet with adaptability, mystic water and rain support hits seriously hard. If I do get a SD off, he's even more of a threat. Unfortunately rather slow, but catching a switch in with a (boosted or not) knock off or crabhammer is always fun. He's somewhat of a glass cannon but a cannon nonetheless. I've been so shocked how many pokemon he's dropped with ease.
Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Protect
- Hurricane
- Scald
The rain man. Pelipper himself isn't really all that useful on the team. He often takes a hit well, so the toxic/protect chip damage has been something I've played with a time or two. Boosted scald is nice but his SpA isn't really impressive. Hurricane is fun, it's a powerful enough STAB to do some decent damage and has a high confusion risk, which is always welcome. Mostly I lead with him to get rain off and predict if I can mess around with him or switch as needed, then bring him back in once the rain stops. I wanted to build a team that could function without the rain, but benefited from it instead of a regular rain team. It does wonders helping ferrothorn and excadrill survive fire attacks. It boosts Crawdaunt even more than he needs to be boosted, making him a real powerhouse. It also allowed me to upgrade clefable to Thunder, which is still viable without the rain but deadly with it.
Excadrill @ Occa Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
Rapid spinner, electric immunity, mold breaker. He filled a handfull of holes, giving me powerful ground and steel moves, doing away with hazards that the magic hat didn't block while gaining speed, and of course SD to make himself even more ridiculously lethal. The occa berry seems silly, but before I added the rain support it actually saved him several times which was a welcome surprise. With rain support it's always an unwelcome surprise for the opponent. I find that I'll bring him in and get off a rapid spin or SD pretty easily, while a fire type is switched in. Rain + occa has meant I've survived OHKOs many times, so I go for the opposite, either SD or rapid spin to get the speed and atk boost. It's paid off a few times and led excadrill to wiping out half, or almost an entire team. Even if he gets stopped, +2 atk, +1 spe excadrill can do some serious damage.
All in all, like I described in the pelipper paragraph, I wanted to try a different take on rain as more of a support than a major team theme. It helped me mitigate an annoying weakness to fire pokemon without having to change up my entire team. It's added some power for a few of my heavy hitters as well as the increased livability against fire types.
I know it's not perfect, though, as much fun as it's been to play. But just thought I'd post it up here to some people who are WAY better at this than I am to see if I can get some feedback. I wanted to build the team around pokemon I have fun playing with, not necessarily the "best" of each tier. So I'd like to keep the bulk of the team, but if there's a glaring weakness I'm ignoring or a pokemon that would just increase the fun/strength significantly over a current one I'd love to hear it!
Hatterene (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Mystical Fire
- Giga Drain
The magic hat serves two purposes: magic bounce and special beast. With Assault Vest she has incredible SpD, incredible SpA and is a great way to prevent entry hazards. Since I lead with Pelipper for the rain, I find that I'm often immediately switching her in to catch other leads off guard and get a free round of some sort of entry hazard. Mystical Fire also works to silence other SpA pokemon. I started running Giga Drain as a means of some sort of situational recovery. Psychic and DG for STAB bombs.
Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder
Pretty straightforward set. Life orb / magic guard for free boosted attacks. I switched t-bolt for Thunder given the rain support and it's made a pretty huge impact. With good prediction or a favorable matchup getting off a calm mind makes her a pretty big threat. FT and Thunder were the best combo I've come up with after having changed it around a few times. It just always seems like one of the two works against common switch ins to her, and the added status risks are just a benefit, especially with Thunder. I also use her to switch into hazards and kill the hazard setter if they snuck by the magic hat, so I'm not killing excadrill to do multiple spins.
Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
Another pretty unsurprising pokemon, but man have I had so much fun with him. Leech seed of course makes for pretty bad recovery, but recovery nonetheless. Iron barbs and RH combo makes hitting him physically a death wish, especially after an iron defense or two. And then the ID boosts make Body Press hit like a truck. He's annoying and everybody hates him, so he's a fun tank.
Crawdaunt @ Mystic Water
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
This guy. Let me tell ya, I completely underestimated him. I saw a handful of people running him and thought they were crazy. But he's superior to azu in every way (in my personal experience). Even if I don't get a SD off, priority aqua jet with adaptability, mystic water and rain support hits seriously hard. If I do get a SD off, he's even more of a threat. Unfortunately rather slow, but catching a switch in with a (boosted or not) knock off or crabhammer is always fun. He's somewhat of a glass cannon but a cannon nonetheless. I've been so shocked how many pokemon he's dropped with ease.
Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Protect
- Hurricane
- Scald
The rain man. Pelipper himself isn't really all that useful on the team. He often takes a hit well, so the toxic/protect chip damage has been something I've played with a time or two. Boosted scald is nice but his SpA isn't really impressive. Hurricane is fun, it's a powerful enough STAB to do some decent damage and has a high confusion risk, which is always welcome. Mostly I lead with him to get rain off and predict if I can mess around with him or switch as needed, then bring him back in once the rain stops. I wanted to build a team that could function without the rain, but benefited from it instead of a regular rain team. It does wonders helping ferrothorn and excadrill survive fire attacks. It boosts Crawdaunt even more than he needs to be boosted, making him a real powerhouse. It also allowed me to upgrade clefable to Thunder, which is still viable without the rain but deadly with it.
Excadrill @ Occa Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
Rapid spinner, electric immunity, mold breaker. He filled a handfull of holes, giving me powerful ground and steel moves, doing away with hazards that the magic hat didn't block while gaining speed, and of course SD to make himself even more ridiculously lethal. The occa berry seems silly, but before I added the rain support it actually saved him several times which was a welcome surprise. With rain support it's always an unwelcome surprise for the opponent. I find that I'll bring him in and get off a rapid spin or SD pretty easily, while a fire type is switched in. Rain + occa has meant I've survived OHKOs many times, so I go for the opposite, either SD or rapid spin to get the speed and atk boost. It's paid off a few times and led excadrill to wiping out half, or almost an entire team. Even if he gets stopped, +2 atk, +1 spe excadrill can do some serious damage.
All in all, like I described in the pelipper paragraph, I wanted to try a different take on rain as more of a support than a major team theme. It helped me mitigate an annoying weakness to fire pokemon without having to change up my entire team. It's added some power for a few of my heavy hitters as well as the increased livability against fire types.
I know it's not perfect, though, as much fun as it's been to play. But just thought I'd post it up here to some people who are WAY better at this than I am to see if I can get some feedback. I wanted to build the team around pokemon I have fun playing with, not necessarily the "best" of each tier. So I'd like to keep the bulk of the team, but if there's a glaring weakness I'm ignoring or a pokemon that would just increase the fun/strength significantly over a current one I'd love to hear it!