Serpentine

[gengarsnemisis]

Serpentine​

With the recent popularity of ttar offense I wanted to stray away from sand and make a solid rain team. Currently landorus and keldeo are on every other team out there, so I figured why not base a team off one of the best offensive checks to those two powerhouses; Gyarados. Gyarados also has the ability moxie which seems rather neglected, so I became interesting in mimicing the extrememly potent choice scarf salamence set. I made a team around it and has worked quite well, peaking at 15 on the ladder after many matches. I hope you enjoy my team!


TEAM AT A GLANCE

Summaries

Frog @

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Hypnosis
- Encore

Politoad is here for obvious reasons. Rain is essential to my teams success, as both Thunderus and Gyarados heavily rely on its benefits. I chose to go with the defensive set as it allows me a better chance at winning a weather war if need be. I originally had protect and toxic, over ice beam and hypnosis, but the threat of dragons made switch to ice beam and I haven't looked back. Encore is very usefull for really trolling sweepers and not allowing me to become set up bait. Hypnosis is there because I'm a dick like that.
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Tenta @

Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 Hp / 236 Def / 20 Spe
Bold
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Scald

As you can tell I have two sr weak pokemon so a rapid spinner was of course essential. Tentacruel is the best rapid spinner and fits quite nicely rather than starmie or donphan. I chose to use sub-toxic as it allows me to get past things like jellicent easier and get that ever so important spin off.
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Thundy-T @

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Ice
- Nasty Plot

Nasty plot thundy-t is such a monster. I seriously am in love with it. This guy can single handily destroy bulkier and stall teams, which seem to have become a little bit more popular as of late. Thundy-t's main job is gashing holes into the enemys team to clear the way for a gyarados sweep. Thunderus is the best choice for taking out gyarados checks and counters making it easy as can be for gyarados to clean up, so the two make a pretty amazing offensive partnership. I chose leftovers as it allows me to stay around a little longer and match up better against stall teams.
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Dos @

Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

The star of my team, choice scarf moxie dos! Gyarados in in itself is a great anti-meta choice at the moment as he can run through alot of the common sand teams and check the top threats. With a choice scarf, this thing is so unexpected that surprise factor alone nets me at least one kill a match. Waterfall is so powerfull in rain, its almost always the only move ever clicked. Even discounting the surprise factor, gyarados can clean late game very efficiently, and after a moxie boost can become uncontrollable.
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Ferro@

EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
Ferrothorn is here for alot of reaosns. Of course I needed soemthing that can check dragons, like salamence, who would be a giant pain in the ass for the team, and he does it extremely well. Eating water attacks and setting up spikes on weaker mons is the name of the game here. Ferrothorn is a pretty essential defensive backbone to the team as he covers a huge amount of holes.
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Chompers@

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Jooly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance/Outrage
A bulky ground is pretty essential to most rain teams I make as it really helps alleviate the common electric weakness of the team. Garchomp is a great choice as he can easily set rocks for the team and check alot of serious threats. I chose garchomp over something like landorus-t as it allows me to get the jump and base 100s like volcarona and salamence. Dragon claw over outrage as getting stuck into outrage can be devestating for the team, also prevents outrage lures. Yache berry is used over anything else to take a usual ice attack and live, allowing me to check threats like agility thunderus-t.
Outrage is a suggestion given to me by Electrolyte and is a better option than swords dance, as it allows me to deal with certain threats immediately.


CONCLUSION
Thanks for taking the time to read my rmt! Hope you enjoyed it. All suggestions are greatly appreciated! Oh and luvdisc if you like;)!
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Importable

Hide

Frog (Politoed) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Encore
- Hypnosis

Tenta (Tentacruel) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spd
Bold Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Scald

Thundy-T (Thundurus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Thunder
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Dos (Gyarados) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Ferro (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip

Chompers (Garchomp) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

​

 

[gengarsnemisis]

bumping for rates.

 

[Electrolyte]

Hey there, I got your request!

So yeah, Thundy / Gyara in Rain is an outstanding offensive core; I'm actually using it right now too ^^ Your team itself also has great synergy- as your walls effectively cover the checks and counters of your sweepers, and this synergy is shown by your great success on the ladder. However, it seems as if LO Latias and her brother Latios can deal quite a lot of damage to this team; they both check Garchomp and Thundy-T to death, and with Draco Meteor and Psyshock can take care of Gyarados, Politoed, and Tentacruel. Ferrothorn is your only answer to them, but HP Fire does a hell of a lot even under Rain, and those with Trick can severely cripply Ferro and make it harder for it to switch in later. Rotom-W could also be a pain in the butt, as your Electric immune pokemon can't switch into it safely and it can Volt Switch in Ferrothorn's face into a counter and put you in a bad position. Agility Thundurus-T could also be problematic if Ferrothorn sustains a bit too much damage as Garchomp can't OHKO with Dragon Claw.

To help vs Lati@s, I think you should try a specially defensive spread on Politoed- one of 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA Calm. The special bulk takes some Special walling work off of Ferrothorn as it's currently your only safe switch into special Psychic, Ground, and some Electric type moves. This in turn will allow Ferrothorn to last longer and therefore wall what it's supposed to- Dragon types. The extra special bulk will definitely help a lot against Lati@s and special attackers in general, such as RP SF Landorus-I, Rotom-W, Keldeo, and Alakazam, some of whom can muscle past Tentacruel and even hit Ferrothorn with the right coverage. A physically bulky Politoed is not needed considering the fact that Ferrothorn and Tentacruel together wall a considerable amount of the physical attackers in OU and the rest are checked by Thundy / Chomp.

To help with Thundurus-T, as well as help the team get past walls in general, I'd suggest that you tried Outrage over Swords Dance on Garchomp. Outrage lets you hit opponents hard and fast ASAP, cleaving off upwards to 50% from most specially defensive bulky water types such as Rotom-W. Outrage also lets you quickly smash things early game and weaken your opponent's physical walls. With both Outrage and Dragon Claw, you'll have the option of simply revenging or straight out cleaning. Swords Dance is a great move on Garchomp, but I feel as if Outrage would suit you better in this case, because Swords Dance requires a turn of setup which SR already takes up and Chomp is quite weak initially without Outrage.

That's all I really have to say. This is a really nice team, luvdisc'd. Great job! :)

 

[gengarsnemisis]

Hey Electorlyte! Thanks for the rate and kind words :). As for your suggestion on outrage thats definately a change I'm making right away, as I've found I need its power to deal with certain threats. I'm also considering testing out aqua tail over dragon claw but we'll see. The latis are a pain in the butt for sure, Ill test out sp.def politoad and see how it goes. Thanks again!

 

[Episode36]

No Serperior? :(

 

[Saphi]

Hey there!

I myself am working on a Gyarados team right now so I am really happy to see someone else doing the same :).

So I think, you are pretty weak to some threats that can SetUp and get past your Ferrothorn (I am thinking of DD-Nite and especially DD-Mence). In order to counter that, I suggest replacing your Garchomp with a Mamoswine. He provides you with the Electric-Immunity you wanted while also being able to set up Stealth Rocks and check a lot of threats. To name a few: Breloom, Salamence, Dragonite etc.

I suggest following set:

@ Life Orb/Expert Belt
Trait: Thick Fat
Jolly Nature
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spd
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge/Icicle Crash

I do feel like Stone Edge is superior to Icicle Crash, being able to hit Rotom-W on the switch harder and of course killing Volcarona in one go.

Hope I could help you.

 

[gengarsnemisis]

@Episode36 If it gets contrary soon I so would :D

@Saphi Mamoswine is really a great suggestion, the funny thing is though I already tested him on this team before. The main thing I don't like about mamo is his lack of bulk compared to garchomp, and garchomps bulk is ever so usefull to the teams success. Mamo also struggles to lay down rocks which garchomp has no problem at all accomplishing. Thanks alot for the rate and kind words!

 

[Reymedy]

Hi, I did not forget your team, I was just a bit busy, and didn't know what to change here to improve it. This team is really strong in my opinion, it has a classic rain core in Politoed/Tentacruel/Ferrothorn, and the classic sweeper in Thundurus-T to fix some typing weaknesses. Then you decided to get Chomp which is perfect (still a bit classic), and Gyarados.

The weaknesses :

- Mamoswine is annoying since he outspeeds your Tentacruel and kill it. It totaly stops Thundurus-T from sweeping anything, it destroys Ferrothorn with Superpower etc.
Your switch-ins are Gyarados, and potentially Toed. In a weather war, you'll be too afraid to switch in Toed given the damages of EQ. And well, Gyarados takes a ton from a stabbed Icycle Crash followed by Ice Shard. If SR are up by the way.. well your Gyarados won't like switching in.

-Thundurus-T is a fat threat, with Agility (or a scarf) it just 6HKO your team as it stands. Classic rain weakness, but still, you should be prepared for that.

-Terrakion. He can CC easily. Tentacruel, if he switches in, will takes a ton from SE. In fact, it's always hard to switch in on Terrakion, but I can feel this team being pressured badly by him if you only have Tentacruel for him.

- Grass mons able to set-up on Ferrothorn. You have some troubles against Breloom, if it comes on Ferrothorn and Spore something, you have to rely on.. Thundurus-T ? to tank it. That's why I can see him being an issue. Celebi can also be a bitch. Especially the offensive Nasty Plot version, they usually can take an Outrage, and Ice Fang from Gyarados won't hit hard enough.

- Sub/CM Keldeo, while rare, will probably cast doom on your whole team and turn the fight into a no-match. Encore will really not help. I mean, he can attack behind a sub, anyway, nothing here can really hit him hard.

Those are classic weaknesses for rain teams. So I'm not too worried about fixing it. Your team does well against Stalls, less well against offensive team because usually they can break so classic a defensive core.


The changes :

-I want you to try an offensive Celebi somewhere. It does fix all your weaknesses perfectly. And you can guess why. It performs REALLY well with Gyarados. Celebi sets up on Ferrothor, and on the bulky waters who totally stop your Gyarados cold. Celebi can take a hit from Thundurus-T and KO it with HP Ice if needed, so now you have the back-up option that you needed.
I'd put Celebi over Ferrothorn, but then you have no more Steel pokemon, which forces me to do another change.

- The only Steel able to spin in here is Forretress. You could try it over Tentacruel, but I don't like it too much. In fact I think that you don't need to get a Rapid Spinner at all. I'm not sure about what you should try here. Probably Jirachi or Skarmory. Skarmory is less good but provides you with spikes, which could be interesting since Ferrothorn is gone. Although, a Wish/Protect (mixed? Thunder/Ihead?) Jirachi could be the superior option, with Wish mitigating the loss of a spinner.

- I'd change Thundurus-T to an Agility set, pretty much the same as yours (with a Modest Nature and a custom EVs spread to outspeed classic Landorus RP imo). This will help you against offensive teams, since once you get Agility you will totally roll over them, while Celebi NP takes care of Stall teams.

Thats a different take on the team, I really think that it's a powerful one, and sadly not a lot of people reacted on this RMT. I shamelessly bump it with my late rate :D

I hope that I helped, and good luck !


THE SETS :

Hide

Celebi @ Leftovers
Natural Cure
64 HP / 248 /196 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Nasty Plot

Just enough to outspeed Jolly Mamoswine, make sure you have 31 IVs in Speed.

TL;DR :

Hide

Celebi NP > Ferrothorn
Jirachi (or Skarmory) > Tentacruel
NP Thundurus-T

 

[Gimmick]

Hey there!~

2 words. Great team. It really covers so many offensive and defensive threats, but like any other team out there, it has trouble with a few Pokemon. Offensively speaking, Mamoswine seems to be pretty pesky as your only switch-in (Gyarados) doesn't really like taking LO Ice Shards without Intimidate either (and will eventually die to that and Rocks if you don't get a chance to spin). Thundurus-T's BoltBeam coverage OHKOs 5/6 of your team, so double dance variants can run through you given the opportunity. Simple Agility variants are even scarier if they carry Focus Blast because Ferrothorn won't be staying around for long. Nasty Plot ones are probably easiest to deal with because you have both Gyarados and Garchomp to outspeed, but they will still apply quite a bit of pressure. Defensively speaking, Ferrothorn can be annoying unless you manage a 30% Scald burn.

So, before I address any of the stated problems, I want to suggest Perish Song over Hypnosis on Politoed. The accuracy makes it not worth using while Perish Song just carries so much more utility, especially in tandem with Encore. For example, SubCM Latias can set up on quite a bit of your Pokemon, while Politoed can only Encore its way out of it. And that's about it. If you Encore Latias into Substitute, it can just keep clicking Substitute until the turns run out and there's literally nothing you can do about it. It stalls out Ferrothorn's Gyro Balls and forces a Leech Seed vs Substitute prediction predicament. A non-STAB Ice Fang from Scarf Gyarados won't be doing enough to a 252HP Latias, so Perish Song from Politoed is great for forcing it out. Once you Encore Latias into CM or Substitute, you can proceed to Perish Song and avoid Dragon Pulse damage, (which wouldn't happen if you didn't carry Encore), so that's a pretty cool niche. Anyway, in case you do have to take a Dragon Pulse or two throughout a game (along with other special attacks like from RP Landorus), I feel like it would be more beneficial to run a Specially Defensive Politoed. An EV spread of 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd allows you to outspeed defensive Skarmory, Jellicent, other Politoed, and most Scizor (which is all the more important considering you're SDef now). A Calm nature is obviously best here. Like I mentioned before, other special attackers will be much easier to deal with. RP Landorus, Latios, Gengar, etc.. Here's what the set should look like:

Politoed

(M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Encore
- Perish Song

Next, addressing the bigger problems. So I'm really thinking that changing Gyarados to a Dragon Dance variant with Intimidate would mitigate the loss of Physically Defensive Politoed, supply a perfect Mamoswine check, and help quite a bit with opposing (choiced) Terrakion. You lose a sweeper and Scarfer, but honestly, it wasn't super good at either of those roles anyway (at least in this rain-infested metagame where people are prepared with water resists and super fast Scarfers where base 108 speed is pretty much standard). SubDD variants with Bounce are able to set up on Gyro Ball-only Ferrothorns, while if you get the burn with Politoed or Tentacruel, you can set up on ANY Ferrothorn after Intimidate. Considering your team has a pretty hard time taking down Ferrothorn, this is a big plus. I feel like Gyarados has a much needed typing and physical sweeper role for your team, so I think a simple set change would be best here. And trust me, SubDD Gyarados is very hard for many stall teams to deal with, so you can sacrifice your stallbreaker of Thundurus-T for a different late game sweeper/Scarfer of Keldeo. I'm sure you already know just how great Scarf Keldeo is in rain, and it gets even better considering it has access to fighting STAB. The problems with Ferrothorn seem almost non-existent with the pressure of Scald burns, Keldeo, and SubDD Gyarados, so I can see you dealing with it super easily now. Keldeo also resists Mamoswine's Ice Shards, so it helps quite a bit with that threat (but it still technically can't switch into Mamowine with the fear of EQ, so it's not a counter ofc. Should Gyarados go down, Keldeo will suffice as pretty good backup in combination with Thundurus-T and Garchomp). With a much faster revenge killer, you're much less prone to the dangers set-up sweepers like DD Salamence and offensive Volcarona. Here's the two sets!

SubDD Intimidate Gyarados

(M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Bounce
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall

EVs allow you to outspeed Scarf Gothitelle at +1 so it can't Tbolt you. Extra bulk is also pretty nice.

Scarf Keldeo

@ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ice]

And that's it! Great team~ Good luck! :]