Reign of water

[Garagara]

So I'm pretty new to competitive battling, online anyway, but I'm having a lot of fun with this team, and was hoping you geniuses could help me out a bit. I'll try not to be stubborn, but I tend to really hate dragons, so if you could, try not to suggest 'em.

Changes in red

TEAM BUILDING PROCESS

Originally, the only poke I knew I wanted was Scizor. He was always my fave, and he's just so crazy versatile. A healing move, bper, huge attack, steel, one weekness, yada yada yada.

Now that I had scizor, I wanted another poke like him. That's when I read a bit about Kabutops. These guys seem to mesh together perfectly; Kabutops 4x resists fire, Scizor 4x resists grass, rain dance weakens the fire moves that threaten scizor so much, they both have strong priority, and they're just plain awesome.

That's when I decided it was going to be a rain dance team. I wanted a bulky poke to set it up, that covered weaknesses and having none of the same ones. I thought Rotom-W would do the trick, setting up rain and abusing it a bit itself with thunder and boosting hydro pump. Not to mention it resists like every scizor move >.<

I wanted another strong rain abuser. Browsing pokes, I found ludicolo. And holy crap on a cracker, was this guy a suprise. With rain up, he outspeeds and OHKO's sooo many enemies, it's insane. Originally I tried the subseed variant, but the sweeper's ten times better IMO. And it filled a few spots I really needed; a special sweeper, a dragon killer, a bulky water killer.

Now here's where things got tougher for me. Originally I had Kingdra and Gliscor, mainly because the weaknesses worked out perrrfectly. But I couldn't find a Kingdra set I really liked, and Gliscor just doesn't seem to have a moveslot for rain dance, which is something I really wanted. After trying a bunch of differnt leads, I came up with Swampert. He shares that ugly weakness with Kabutops, and because I only have 4 moveslots he can't really benefit from the rain. But he's definately pulled his weight.

The last slot is the one I really need help with I think. I was having trouble with CM Latias and DD Kingdra(Who also benefits from my rain), and needed a resist. But nothing really takes a beating from them for long, so I thought I'd just get another phazer. Gogo Skarmory!! Sets up some more entry hazards, shuffles around teams, and yeah. He's awesome, but I dunno if he's right for the team. Currently trying out Jirachi.

The Pokes who make it rain

Swampert@Torrent
Item:Leftovers
Nature:Impish
Stat:252Hp/4Atk/252Def
~Stealth Rock
~Rain Dance
~Earthquake
~Roar

Swampert's probably my favourite lead I've used thus far, but it definately sucks only having one attack >.< Sleep leads, usually Roserade, really mess it up though. But earthquake takes care of metagross, infernape, Heatran, Jirachi a little... does pretty good. Roar takes care of stat uppers, and Stealth Rock and Rain Dance are needed.

Scizor@Technician
Item:Life Orb
Nature:Adamant
Stat:252Atk/252Hp/4Def
~Swords Dance
~Pursuit
~Bullet Punch
~Brick Break

Now, I love Scizor, and I'm pretty sure I want to keep him, but I keep changing his moveset. There are just so many that I could use >.< Bullet punch is a great revenge killer move, as is pursuit. Brick break isn't the greatest though, and I'm thinking of changing him to a CB Scizor.

Kabutops@Swift Swim
Item:Life Orb
Nature:Adamant
Stat:252Atk/252Spe/4Def
~Swords Dance
~Aqua Jet
~Waterfall
~Stone Edge

I love, love, love Kabutops. I didn't before, but dayum. It can be hard to get a SD off at times, but then again sometimes he doesn't even need it. Reflect can make it easier though. Stone Edge's accuracy can really be a piss off however.

Rotom-W@Levitate
Item:Leftovers
Nature:Bold
Stat:252Hp/252Spe/4SpA
~Rain Dance
~Hydro Pump
~Thunder
~Reflect

Another one of the pokes I keep changing the moves for. I've had W-o-w, Pain split, Light Screen, Shadow Ball... can't seem to make up my mind. This one seeeeems to be the best though, giving my team what it needs in Rain Dance and Reflect, while being a potent attacking force in Thunder and Hydro Pump. It actually usually beats Ttar a lot of the time, because of Reflect and Hydro Pump.

Ludicolo@Swift Swim
Item:Life Orb
Nature:Modest
Stat:252SpA/252Spe/4Hp
~Rain Dance
~Ice Beam
~Energy Ball
~Surf

Captain awesome. Just all around bad-ass. Ice Beam OHKO`s pokes 4x weak to it, Surf takes out a huge number of pokes (Magnezone, Gengar, you name it), and Energy Ball is mostly for Swampert and Vaporeon. Not to mention it outspeeds pretty much everything.

Skarmory@Keen Eye
Item:Leftovers
Nature:Impish
Stat:252Hp/252Def/4Spe
~Brave Bird
~Roost
~Spikes
~Whirlwind

Not too sure about this guy. I mean, spikes are always usefull and it phazes away DD kingdra and CM Latias, which I really need, but it doesn`t seem to fit.

Jirachi@Serene Grace
Item:Choice Scarf
Nature:Jolly
Stat:4Hp/252Atk/252Spe
~Thunderpunch
~Ice Punch
~Iron Head
~Trick

Currently playtesting. I love the concept of this poke, but hate the poke itself >.< Other suggestions appreciated

So that`s the team, would appreciate help!!
​

 

[MetaNite]

Hi there. You have a pretty good rain team, as far as rain teams go, however with some inferior EV spreads. Scizor does not need all that Speed when you are mostly using Bullet Punch to sweep, especially when many Pokemon are EV'd just to be faster than you. For that reason you should use a bulkier EV spread of 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe. While simple, it gives a lot of bulk to actually survive a couple weaker fire attacks in the rain. On Scizor, since you are boosting your Attack and not revenge killing, Pursuit doesn't have much use. Instead you should use Bug Bite, to do extreme damage to many Pokemon such as Swampert, Vaporeon, and even Gyarados. You could also use Roost if you want to make further use of Scizor's bulk and one weakness, but then you should use Leftovers instead of Life Orb.

Rotom-W drastically needs 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe. This allows you to outspeed Adamant Lucario, who will completely destroy your team if it gets a Swords Dance, and still causes a lot of damage without one. Now you can at least revenge kill it should it set up. Ludicolo is a very good rain sweeper, but I think Kingdra is an even better one and can replace Ludicolo.

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Nature: Naughty / EVs: 252 Atk / 240 SpA / 16 Spe
~ Rain Dance / Waterfall / Surf / Draco Meteor or Dragon Pulse

Kingdra has the huge advantage over Ludicolo, of being able to slam Blissey with physical Waterfall. I know you're not a fan of Dragon-types, but Kingdra isn't really your standard Dragon like Salamence or Dragonite. With only one weakness, it too, works very well with Scizor in countering Fire-types. If you should ever be caught without rain, MixApe will prove detrimental to your team, but Kingdra can stand up to it if not previously damaged, more so than Ludicolo. Use Draco Meteor if you want to do heavy damage to one Pokemon, or Dragon Pulse if you prefer consistent damage to multiple. Most often however, you'll be using one of your Water-type moves. If you have a lot of problems with it, you can even replace Skarmory with Starmie, however you could also replace it with Jirachi:

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Jolly / EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Iron Head / Ice Punch / ThunderPunch / U-turn or Zen Headbutt

With a fast paced team like this, I don't see a place of Skarmory to come in and set up, although Spikes would be helpful. You'd most likely be killing all the Pokemon it would set up on, such as Metagross, Swampert, Scizor, etc. As with most Rain Dance teams, you'll have a lot of trouble with many Pokemon once Rain Dance is gone. Gyarados, Latias, Salamence, Infernape, and many more. Jirachi can revenge kill the lot of them, with its great coverage moves, as well as Tyranitar if it tries to ruin your rain fun. The reason for not using Fire Punch is simply because it will be weaker under rain, the Steel-types you'd be using them on are easily beaten by most of your other Pokemon. Swampert counters Metagross and Magnezone (beware Hidden Power Grass), while Kingdra can OHKO nearly all of them with Surf. U-turn is helpful for scouting Magnezone and your opponents team in general, while Zen Headbutt is best for revenge killing Infernape, Breloom, and Machamp. Good luck.

 

[Garagara]

Thank you so much for the input MetaNite, the EV spreads expecially. Hadn't ever really had problems with Lucario, but that's because I haven't really had one set up properly. And I kinda facepalmed myself on the Scizor Ev's, thanks haha.

I'm pretty hesitant to replace Ludicolo. I'll try it, of course, since you definately seem to know what you're doing. But Ludicolo has a lot of coverage, and seems to be an amazing sweeper. With him under rain I don't have to worry about bulky waters, something Rotom-W usuallt takes care of I guess, but there are some he still has trouble with. Ludicolo also takes care of Dragonite, Salamence, and Flygon reliably under rain, and I don't think Kingdra could. I will try it though.

As for replacing Skarmory with Jirachi, I think that's a great idea. I'm not a fan of Jirachi however, and was wondering if Starmie's as good or not so much? I think CM Latias is a big problem, and really need a poke to counter it. If I have to I'll take Jirachi, but I'd rather not, seeing as how you can't get him in the games and he's kind of a legendary.

Thanks again, you totally made my day by helping me out :D

 

[Cipher Admin Lovrina]

Someone really needs a Damp Rock!

 

[mc2094]

I would consider testing Rain Dance on Scizor in place of Pursuit and definitely go with Superpower over Brick Break as it deals more damage to Heatran and such. You could always try Bug Bite in the last slot as well, though Scizor will probably just be cleaning up with Bullet Punch.

As for replacing Skarmory with Jirachi, I think that's a great idea. I'm not a fan of Jirachi however, and was wondering if Starmie's as good or not so much? I think CM Latias is a big problem, and really need a poke to counter it. If I have to I'll take Jirachi, but I'd rather not, seeing as how you can't get him in the games and he's kind of a legendary.

I'd go with Jirachi mainly because Skarmory really doesn't fit well with your play style. Skarmory can be turned into set up bait without much trouble which can be very problematic since not too many mons can take constant hits. The extra hazards also aren't really too important. Overall, Skarmory can cost you too much momentum. I'd consider going with Trick in the last spot to help with mons that are messing up your rain sweepers, such as Vaporeon. I don't think U-turn would be too helpful and you should be able to hit zen headbutts target's hard enough with boosted water attacks. Gl

 

[Garagara]

Lovrina, who do you think would be the best holder of damp rock? I couldn't make up my mind >.<

And to Mc2094, I dunno why I didn't put Superpower on Scizor earlier >.< Since I use him mostly for revenge killing now anyways, you think I should just go with a CB moveset? That'd free up a moveslot too, and I could fit Bug Bite, Bullet Punch, Superpower and Pursuit.
I'm gonna play with Jirachi for a while, but I don't like him >.< He might end up donig a couple suicide switches muahahahah