Rainyee

[yee]

Hello smogon :) I am very excited to post this team, and as you can see it is the first one I am proud enough of to put my name on. First off, bragging. I managed to reach 1457 on my alt yesterday which is probably the greatest laddering achievement I have made in my poke career so far. That alt suffered absolutely hilarious hax though (I lost like 10 games straight due to hax), but I have another back up at 1432. The other reason I am so happy with this team is that I have been able to use a 3 pokemon core I have been wanting to use since gen4 in conjuction with my favorite weather, rain (after no weather).

The original core-

I was a defensive player, and my favorite bulky pokemon is Swampert. Unfortunately, it suffered against every frickin FWG team, which was every team, so I had Forretress- essential support to stall and Dragonite, to further pound Shaymin that run HP Fire. When Leech Seed+Protect became the cookie cutter Shaymin I had crappy games and I gave up on this. As a synergy player, I imprinted the typing combination in my head as an epic trio when the spaces are filled with bulk. Anyway, here's how it translated to gen 5.​

Yeah yeah, pert isn't as good, but ill tell you he's still usable, especially with a Choice Band. I just preferred Gastrodon's water immunity and wanted to test it out alongside Dragonite and all of his new toys.​

I decided to add Roserade, because Rotom-W and Jellicent are the worst part of the new annoying cookie cutter Gliscor Rotom-W Jirachi/Ferrothorn core, that REALLY piss me off. I saw it as a clear rain team at this point and decided to add Scarf Metagross to keep things in check, with the bonus of having incredible synergy added on.​

The Final Team-​

@ Leftovers
Ability- conkelldduuuurrr??
Nature- Bold
EVs- 248 HP, 244 def, 16 spD
-Surf
-Encore
-Perish Song
-Protect​

Because this team relies on rain to be effective, I decided to play Politoed to its strengths and make it bulky. Scarf and Specs are incredibly risky to run and if your team prefers rain cookie cutter sand will be wiping the floor with you. Politoed stands out as a bulky water with acceptable defensive stats, Encore, and Perish Song. These traits make it extremely hard for boosters like Reuniclus to set up and let it get those stupid smash pass teams. Granted, +2 Hydro Pump from the you-know-what will 2HKO, most noobs using it won't know and Gastrodon can kill whatever it sends in with a super-powered Surf. Surf is run on Politoed as it seems to 2HKO Scizor and Conkeldurr if I have encored them into a boosting move. Make a complelling argument for Scald if you think it is better.​

Politoed's rain supports every member of the team. Roserade can take special fire hits just fine, Gastrodon is just insanely powerful, Forretress has less to fear from Hidden Power Fires, Dragonite has its Hurricane and Aqua Tail boosted, and Metagross is another Steel that loses it's fire weakness. With this spread, Toed rounds down SR damage, reaches a jump point in special defense, and has enough defense to comfortably switch into the standard defensive PussTar.

Edit- Made it Bold, because its my best Gliscor switch.
​

@ Leftovers
Ability- Natural Cure
Nature- Calm
EVs- 248 HP, 124 def, 136 spD
-Rest
-Toxic Spikes
-Giga Drain
-Weather Ball​

Roserade is here to support my team against the most annoying foes by virtue of its grass typing and Natural Cure. Gastrodon is a damn-fine switch into Rotom-W by most people's standards, but I hate letting it get tortured by WoW and Pain Split when its bulk comes from that HP stat. Again, this switches into Jellicent scot-free as well. Sleep Powder puts their response to sleep if I would rather have that then a layer of Toxic Spikes, usually against a spinner or Ferrothorn. Those T-Spikes help me outlast other weather inducers by limiting their time to stay in and threaten Politoed. Giga Drain is for recovery against bulky waters, and Sludge Bomb I have found to be my favorite coverage move, nailing Celebi, Virizion, and Breloom. It also means the rain genies have a very hard time switching in with SR up.​

Previously, I ran Weather Ball in the place of Sludge Bomb to nail fire types. Noobs using Breloom really pissed me off with that however. The spread is self explanatory, provide Roserade bulk to take powerful special hits with while not making it too weak on the physical side. 323 HP and 308 spD really shine quite often, it takes resisted hits like a Blissey.​

Changes- Rest over Sleep Powder because of common triple misses and Weather Ball back over Sludge Bomb so I can do something to Steels like Forry, Scizor, and Heatran.

@ Choice Specs
Ability- Storm Drain
Nature- Modest
EVs- 184 HP, 240 spA, 40 spD, 44 spe
-Surf
-Earth Power
-Ice Beam
-Recover​

This guy is so good. If this gets a boost you can kiss your ass good-bye. I've 2HKOed Ferrothorn with Surf, and the same can be done to Blissey, who cannot stall with Softboiled if T-Spikes are up. Surf even does around 70% to Latios. Storm Drain's water immunity alongside Gastrodon's excellent special defense make countering otherwise scary things, like Starmie, a breeze. Earth Power is to secure the 2HKO on Ferrothorn boosted and hits water types on the side. Ice Beam is obvious coverage, and Sleep Talk lets it absorb sleep against easily predictable Breloom players, Roserade helps again because she makes it very unlikely that they will use Substitute, Leech Seed, or Seed Bomb on the switch.​

The EV spread allows Gastrodon to survive a +2 Focus Blast from Thundurus every time and lets it takes hits from the spectrum it prefers to take them from. Max spA compliments the boost from rain, specs, and Storm Drain. The weakness to Grass and physical hits is covered fairly well by the other members of the team.​

Changes- I had Sleep Talk over Recover but it was only useful against stuff like Smeargle/Venomoth Baton Pass. Also tweaked the EV spread, it was to outrun Forry and survive against Thundurus I believe.

@ Leftovers
Ability- Sturdy
Nature- Relaxed
EVs- 252 HP, 16 def, 240 spD
IVs- 31/31/31/31/31/0
-Stealth Rock
-Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Gyro Ball​

Forretress provides physical bulk and utility for the team. He is my main method of holding off Ferrothorn, and does extremely well at this unless they Leech Seed, which can be absorbed by Roserade in exchange for sleep. Stealth Rock and Spikes can help gurantee useful kills for my team, such as letting Dragonite gurantee a 2HKO against either of the FerroCent duo with Hurricane, and can even let Gastrodon 2HKO Ferrothorn with a boosted Surf. Rapid Spin is essential support for Dragonite. Gyro Ball is my move of choice to help lessen Terrakion's hold on my team and as Forry's best STAB attack.​

Normally, I run max spD on Forretress to help him set up easily. However, I do need his assistance in taking on threats like Terrakion and Metagross so a jump point in defense helps out against them. It can also weaken Excadrill to the point where Dragonite's E-Speed will finish them at times. 240 spD lets me survive two attacks from max spA Naive Magnezone in the rain, which seems to be what everyone runs. I personally think that is a noob move because you could be setting up on the #1 Steel with the Sub+Charge Beam set. Forry's only weakness is taken on incredibly easily by the rest of the team.​

@ Life Orb
Ability- Multi Scale
Nature- Quiet
EVs- 224 atk, 252 spA, 32 spe
-Hurricane
-Aqua Tail
-Extremespeed
-Roost​

This here is basically a stall breaking MixNite translated into rain. Dragonite is the main offensive powerhouse of my team, being able to 2HKO pretty much anything besides Eviolite things (which are usually just set up bait for Forry and Roserade). Hurricane is the main reason to run this beast in rain, and is powerful enough to 2HKO either of Ferrocent among other things. Aqua Tail is the best coverage move, 2HKOing things that take Hurricane, like Blissey, Bronzong, and Jirachi. It also does about 2/3 to standard PussTar. Extremespeed is a great move, considering Dragonite's attack is higher than Adamant Lucario's and the fast frail pokemon in the game. Roost reactivates Multi Scale so I can use it again later.​

The EV spread maximises the power of Hurricane and alongside my physical investment I can 2HKO all of the common members of full stall. Rotom-W is a bitch, but that's where I Roost as it switches in, have fun dealing with Roserade. I use to ran a max HP nite with Dragon Tail and Surf/Thunder in slots 2 and 3, but it didn't make Ice Beams and Draco Meteors a nice thing to take so I chose arguably this excellent bulky attacker to take its place.​

@ Choice Scarf
Ability- Clear Body
Nature- Jolly
EVs- 24 HP, 252 atk, 4 spD, 228 spe
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake
-Trick
-Pursuit​

An unconvential set, but it sure fits well in this team. It's job is to checkmate a whole crapload of special attackers, like Alakazam, Gengar, and Latios while keeping the genies in check. Meteor Mash for decent damage output, Earthquake to hit Jirachi and other steels, Ice Punch for the genies and Lati@s, Pursuit to stop them from switching out for free, and putting things in the range of Dragonite's Extremespeed.​

Max Attack is obvious, geared to outpace base 125s and the rest in HP with an odd total. This thing does so much alongside Dragonite. Besides Pursuing frail things into E-Speed's KO range, you can pull a 1-2 punch on pretty much any common sweeper between the two. Dragonite's Multi-Scale ability forces the sweeper, who boosted as I switched in, to use a certain move which is resisted by Metagross, who in return, can catch the opponent off guard, outspeed and OHKO. Examples of this include Landorus, Terrakion, and Excadrill (in rain w/o balloon). I used to run Trick, so this set wouldn't be useless against stall, but Pursuit is much more useful and prevents every other kind of team from abusing its resistances against me.​

Changes- Trick over Ice Punch for much more usefulness against stall and to help against bulky DD nite.

Well, that's the team. It's been doing great for me and is my most successful and consistent team so far. Im not posting a threat list, because apparently, this team isn't overly weak to anything. If you can spot a weakness please tell me, thanks for reading :)​

 

[Jirachinaught]

The team looks fine, but I would not recommend running Life Orb on Dragonite because the recoil from attacking is going to lead to Multi Scale being nullified. Try running Lum Berry or even Expert Belt instead.

 

[yee]

Suprisingly, that's very true. Expert Belt or Lum could work, however, Life Orb gives me the power to break through defensive teams and nabs so many big 2HKOes. Running another item would still leave me prone to moves like WoW and Leech Seed, while I would lose out on power to get through the pokemon using it. In that case, I would make my set Hurricane/Thunder/Brick Break/Roost, thanks!

 

[yee]

Using my bump.

 

[ginganinja]

hey man just nitpicking a bit here but I really worry about your weakness to BU Conkeldurr.

If Toxic Spikes are up its really going to threaten your team heavily as you have nothing to switch in on its Drain Punch if SR is up. Politoed has a chance to be OHKOed and if its not Mach Punch will finish the job, Dragonite loses over 50% minimum and again, Mach Punch finishes the job. Metagross can outspeed but cannot OHKO and Conk simply heals back with Drain Punch.

Personally, I question the need for Toxic Spikes on your team at all at this current stage in the Metagame. Looking at the usage stats you are only affecting 3 pokemon in the top 10, one of which has Magic Guard. I am aware that it helps wearing down weather inducers but again, if they pack Conkeldurr its a wasted moveslot. The issue for me, is that if you drop Toxic Spikes (or hardly use it) then something like CM Virizion or NP Celebi simply become much better options than Roserade in that spot. Still, I guess thats something for you to think about.

Have a nice day

 

[yee]

hey man just nitpicking a bit here but I really worry about your weakness to BU Conkeldurr.

If Toxic Spikes are up its really going to threaten your team heavily as you have nothing to switch in on its Drain Punch if SR is up. Politoed has a chance to be OHKOed and if its not Mach Punch will finish the job, Dragonite loses over 50% minimum and again, Mach Punch finishes the job. Metagross can outspeed but cannot OHKO and Conk simply heals back with Drain Punch.

Personally, I question the need for Toxic Spikes on your team at all at this current stage in the Metagame. Looking at the usage stats you are only affecting 3 pokemon in the top 10, one of which has Magic Guard. I am aware that it helps wearing down weather inducers but again, if they pack Conkeldurr its a wasted moveslot. The issue for me, is that if you drop Toxic Spikes (or hardly use it) then something like CM Virizion or NP Celebi simply become much better options than Roserade in that spot. Still, I guess thats something for you to think about.

Have a nice day

Actually, Conkeldurr is usually no problem because my first priority is always keeping SR off the field, and I rarely set up T-Spikes. In most cases Dragonite just switches in and OHKOes it, if theyre smart enough to switch (which they wouldnt be if they came in early anyway) I can Roost with no risk. Defensive teams with a spin blocker tend to not have a Durrr waiting in the wings and teams with it are easy to maintain a clear field against. They seem to like bulky boosters and can be played around with Politoed too easily.

Now that you bring it up, Virizion and Celebi may be better options over Roserade. I like Natural Cure on Celebi to prevent Rotom from using WoW on me. I will be testing out both of them, thanks! :)

 

[Eternal]

Hey yee, really cool rain team you got here. It has great synergy. One problem I see is that you actually have a hard time coming in on Tyranitar. You could go to Metagross on the Rain to avoid much damage from Fire Blast. I would really really recommend Scald over Surf though. The 30% chance to burn against common switches to Politoed like Tyranitar and Ferrothorn is really great. While with a burn, you can use Protect with more efficiency, doubly weakening your opponent from burn.

Next, I want to suggest replacing Giga Drain from Roserade for Leaf Storm. You don't really need Giga Drain when you can easily recover back all your HP with Rest and then switching out. Giga Drain is very very weak compared to Leaf Storm. A Leaf Storm is about a 1.87 times stronger than Giga Drain (almost double the power). And besides, you're not going to be doing much damage with Giga Drain to heal back up since you lack any SpAtk EVs on that Roserade.

A Swords Dance Scizor can quite easily sweep you as you have nothing to stop it. Practically nothing, except relying on Politoed to out speed the minimum speed Scizors and Scald/Surf it(regardless, it won't do much to the common max spdef SD Scizors). Because of this I would really like to suggest going with Skarmory over Forretress and Tentacruel over Roserade as an optional change. This combo will allow you to set up SR, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes altogether. Can give Skarmory Stealth Rock, Spikes, Brave Bird, Roost. Tentacruel benefits from Rain Dish, absorbs opposing Toxic Spikes, and can also Rapid Spin (a much more viable spinner in the rain).

Finally, I see a huge weakness to Thundurus. Mainly because you're relying on Choice Specs Gastrodon over the standard specially defensive Gastrodon. This actually weakens you from Thundurus very much. Thundurus could easily KO you with LO + NP + Focus Blast after SR damage. While you also want to be able to Recover with Gastrodon as it is your main check to so many other threats like Gengar (which a Metagross doesn't really take Shadow Ball nicely), LO Starmie (which can easily 2HKO your Roserade), Cloyster, and many other threats. Besides, you don't really need Choice Specs to counter anything that a specially defensive Gastrodon can do. Here's the set:

Gastrodon @ Leftovers -- Storm Drain
Nature: Calm - EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Recover
- Scald

Hope this helped. Good luck!

 

[yee]

Thanks for the rate!

Never thought of running Skarm without Whirlwind, thanks for giving me that set I probably wouldnt've ended up trying it. As someone who has used Tentacruel before I agree it is brilliant in the rain so its nice that you could work that in over Forry.

Just a couple things, im not using the Gastrodon to check Cloyster ;) It just gets OHKOed. Im also not sure about Scald v. Surf on Politoed because I need Surf to OHKO Gliscor and Gastrodon Ice beam can't do it either. Ill probably run Surf on Gastrodon because its the bulky one that can recover. Thanks again!

 

[DFrog]

Hi,
Just looking at the team magnezone does just take a dump on your steel types (excuse my french) magnezone can come in on the Meteor Mash or Pursuit and trap you while he sets up (well knowing my luck, hax would f*ck me over) or magnezone come in on foretress and again set up. To slightly mitigate this problem with foretress change gyro ball to volt switch . Volt Switch is essentially a electric U-turn (although you probably knew that already) allowing forretress to do more that set up hazards, it allows a safe switch for an appropriate counter the the current pokemon, e.g. gastro of magnezone.