Rate my rain team

CrackinSkulls

Hello everyone, a few weeks ago i was trying to see what moves salamence could learn and i stumbled apon this website. I have been playing pokemon since red and blue on the gameboy pocket and it never occurred to me that there would be a forum dedicated to strategy and movesets. needless to say i was quite excited. i made this team a while back and i am not ashamed to admit that i am a complete beginner so feel free to be as critical as you like just be nice. Also i am not sure exactly what ev's do i just know how to train them with evs, you can have a total of 508 and the maximum you can have in one stat is 252 i just dont know exactly how much it changes it. anyway my team is based around the rain.

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Politoed: Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
EV's: 252 SpA, 4 SpD, 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
Move 1: Focus Blast
Move 2: Grass Hidden Power
Move 3: Ice Beam
Move 4: Surf

Politoed is basically just there to bring the rain. I tried making him more defensively orientated but even with max EV investment he just feels too frail so i decided that if he is not going to be able to defend himself i might as well fo for an attacking based moveset. i dont really know what hidden power grass is for i just read it somewhere and thought that it might be useful. the only problem is that if he faints and another weather guy comes i cant bring the rain in. i have tried to remedy this by vaporeons wish and it seems to be working fine.

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Cloyster: Life Orb
Ability: Skill Link
EV's: 48 Hp, 252 Atk, 208 Spe
Nature: Naive
Move 1: Shell Smash
Move 2: Icicle Spear
Move 3: Rock Blast
Move 4: Hydro Pump

Closyter is such a cool pokemon this generation with skill link and Shell Smash. It can dispose of most and substitute abusers and dragon type powerhouses such as haxorus with ease. Hydro Pump in the rain can take care of defensive steel and rock Pokémon that are tempted to switch in for the super effective damage. Dugtrio can trap take down Cloyster’s primary counter, Empoleon. I cannot decide whether to give it White Herb or Life Orb, the white herb allows him to keep his epic defence although switching out makes it useless and the life orb allows it to do more damage at the expense of his longevity. My favourite thing about cloyster is that when i play online people use a level 1 aron with endevour, quick attack and shell bell which would always destroy my team but for cloyster i can use shell smash a few time and the use icicle spear which allows me to have a mega powerful cloyster to decimate the rest of their team.

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Starmie: Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
EV's: 252 SpA, 4SpD, 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
Move 1: Ice Beam
Move 2: Surf
Move 3: Thunder
Move 4: Rapid Spin

Starmie's main role in my team is to use rapid spin because otherwise Dugtrio's focus sash and dragonites multiscale are useless if they get hit by spikes or stealth rocks. I gave starmie some attacking moves and Choice Specs to maximise the amount of damage it can do, i use starmie as a sort of hit and run pokemon. it also greatly appreciates vaporeons wish coz of its low health.

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Dragonite: Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EV's: 252 HP, 80 SpD, 176 Spe
Nature: Jolly
Move 1: Dragon Dance
Move 2: Dragon Claw
Move 3: Roost
Move 4: Substitute

I have been using this set almost since i got black and white early last year so when i found this website i was surpirsed to see how popular it was. the
only difference was i used extreme speed over substitute. Dragonite is a great trump card late in the peace when your cards are down so to speak. The basic concept is to abuse his ability multiscale by using dragon dance and roost. I actually came up with this set when my friend traded me his dragonite and it had mulitscale (I was trying to finish the pokedex) and I didn't know what multiscale did, eventually i realised when i was on full health i lost less health and so i kept on using dragon dance and roost. I use dragon claw over thunder because i prefer the speed boost from dragon dance over the Special Defense boost from calm mind.

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Dugtrio: Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EV's: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
Move 1: Earthquake
Move 2: Reversal
Move 3: Stealth Rock
Move 4: Sucker Punch

Dugtrio is helpful for trapping and disposing of weather changing pokemon such as Ninetales, Tyranitar, and other annoying guys. He is just handy in tight situations when on pokemon is ravaging my team. i love switching him in on thunder moves aimed at my array of water pokemon. sucker punch is helpful if a pokemon can outspeed me and is trying to finish me off on one health. Reversal and stealth rocks go together quite nicely; if i know i can one hit kill something with max powered reversal then i use stealth rocks to get me on one health then reversal. Starmie goes quite well with dugtrio because it can get rid of spikes or stealth rocks and Dugtrio can make sure that the rain stays.

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Vaporeon: Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EV's: 248 HP, 252 Def, 8 SpD
Nature: Bold
Move 1: Rest
Move 2: Roar
Move 3: Scald
Move 4: Wish

Vaporeon is a great at crippling the opponents team for my other pokemon to finish them off. She provides support for the team through wish to give my pokemon a second chance and scald to burn the opponents. Vaporeon is mainly defensively orientated so it can go the distance; it is often my last pokemon to be fainted. rest and hydration allows it to hang around for longer. scald can burn the opponents team while roar coupled with dugtrios stealth rocks allows me to ruin focus sashes, sturdy etc. Wish is helpful because of vaporeons really high health although i find that i only get a small boost of health because the opponents attack tends to nullify the wish health boost. it is most helpful for dragonite because he is the only pokemon with the defense to shrug off the damage taken, and politoed so he can bring the rain again if neccessary. Cloyster can recieve wish so long as it switches into a physical attack prefferably one that it is resistant to.

Input will be appreciated.
 
Overall solid team, though I do have a suggestion. Right now you've got 4 Electric weak Pokemon and 5 Grass weak Pokemon. In the latter case, Sunny Day Ninetales can give you trouble, forcing Politoed out but threatening most of your team with a super effective Solar Beam. With Stealth Rock up, if you don't manage to spin then Dragonite's not going to enjoy the SolarBeam either. With a Specially Defensive Jirachi over Vaporeon, you can essentially solve your Sunndy Day Ninetales and Electric weakness problems. A set of Iron Head, Thunder (or Thunder Wave or Body Slam), Wish, and Protect and 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe Careful is similar to Vaporeon. Jirachi can provide Wish support, and tanks physical as well as special hits well thanks to its typing. Furthermore, Jirachi can spread Paralysis, which IMO is better for your team: for example, Starmie will love having potential revenge killers paralyzed, and Dragonite can set up really well against a paralyzed foe. You basically only lose a chance to burn and HydraRest, which are outweighed IMO by the benefits of Jirachi.

One other small change I would suggest is using Life Orb on Starmie if you're going to have it spin. One of the advantages of Starmie is that it can take out spinblockers--Specs prevents this from happening, and many threats can set up on a Choiced Rapid Spin. If you want to bluff a Choice item and take advantage of Starmie's great coverage, Expert Belt is a good item too. Good luck!
 
thanks for your input i will look into jirachi although it might be hard trying to get one. i will definately change starmie to life orb. thanks again
 
Nice Team, I must say, but Jolteon will literally run train on your team, Hitting a Super-effective Thunderbolt on 4 of your guys and be able to destroy Dragonite and Dugtrio with HP Ice. For this I think you should try using the Standard Specially Defensive CB Scizor to benefit from rain and Kill of Jolteon with U-turn and be able to get advantage if Jolteon switches out
 
Hey,

I'd say Rotom-W is a big threat to your team as we speak. It can beat Politoed, Cloyster, Starmie and Vaporeon with Volt Switch, whilst Dugtrio loses to Hydro Pump and Dragonite loses to Hidden Power [Ice]. To solve these problems, I'd remove Vaporeon, to make room for a Wish Support Blissey. It can pretty much beat any Special sweeper, including Rotom-W, of course. Vaporeon doesn't fit in too well on your team, simply because it adds weaknesses that many of your other team members share as well. Blissey is also "immune" to status effects like Vaporeon, because of its Natural Cure ability. For the set explanation, Wish can be passed to heal other team members. Protect can be used to scout, as well as fully getting the Wish heal on yourself. It also racks up Toxic damage. Seismic Toss is used to break Substitutes, as well as damaging the opponent each time. Toxic lets you Toxic-stall efficiently, thanks to Blissey's great bulk. The set can be found below.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
I am seconding V0x's suggestion of Life Orb over Choice Specs on your current Starmie. It lets you use Rapid Spin with more reliability. Besides, Starmie is there to offer Rapid Support in the first place, and not sweep. The other moves for the set are fine. You could try out Hydro Pump over Surf, to hit harder, and grab KOs that would normally be 2HKOs. However, there is an accuracy drop, so it's up to you.
Wish Support Blissey > Vaporeon
Pros: Helps a lot against Rotom-W.
Cons: Your team is more open to Water-type moves, but they aren't menacing.

Life Orb > Choice Specs on Starmie
Pros: Rapid Spin support becomes more reliable.
Cons: A slight drop in power.
Nice rain team. I hope I helped, and good luck with the team!
 
Hello,

First of all, I'd like to say that your Dragonite can be way more dangerous with an Earthquake on it instead of Substitute.Waterfall would work as well. With EQ/Waterfall on it it would be able to hit steel pokemon hard and get a nice coverage which would make it a great sweeper. Another point is your Specs Starmie. You don't need the choice, give it Expert belt. With EB you can hit hard with the super-effective moves and you can change the moves.

You are risking too much with the Hydro Pump on Cloyster. You should put razor shell instead. Sometimes a Hydro pump miss can cost you the game. I also back up the Sp.Def jirachi suggestion. A Jirachi is a beast in rain. It can take fire hits and can heal your team. Plus, without the need of SR, because they are already on Dugtrio, you can be a real haxrachi.

I hope i helped
 
Hey thanks for the great input and reviews, will definately give starmie the expert belt. I am considering replacing vaporeon for jirachi, blissey or latias. about the specially defensive scizor, it sounds good but i dont know who i would replace. anyway thank again for the reviews.

ps im not very confident with ev's so if someone could review them i would be very thankful.
 
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