VGC The Strangest Rain Team Ever (Re-upload)

[shadoxgamin]

(Re-upload) So I wanted to create a rain team for VGC, and I didn't want it to be just like the others. I wanted it to be original, so here is the result, and I would like feedback on this team. So here we go! (This is my first RMT, so please don't be mad at me if I get something wrong)


Teambuilding Process
The first thing I needed, obviously, was a rain setter, so I chose Pelipper since it has Drizzle.

Next, I wanted a rain sweeper to take advantage of the rain while it lasts, because Pelipper can't live for long. So my choice was Golduck.

I thought I should have someone who has the possibility to sweep, rain or no rain. I chose Tapu Fini.

I wanted something that could block Electric types like Xurkitree and Tapu Koko with Discharge from destroying the whole team, so I chose Togedemaru due to its access to Lightning Rod.

I also chose Tapu Bulu because Thunderbolt from your average Koko set is a 3HKO on Tapu Bulu after I checked the battle calc.

Lastly, I chose Arcanine as a support mon either when there's rain or no rain.

THE TEAM

Pelipper @ Focus Sash
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Hurricane
- Tailwind
- Protect​

Do I even need to explain this one? Yes actually, I do, that's part of the rules. It's pretty simple. Pelipper is your average rain setter. Tailwind is for speed control, Scald gets slightly boosted in Rain and Golduck and Fini get a boost as well. It should be sent out as a lead. Protect 1st turn or switch out if Xurkitree or Koko is the lead mon on your opponent's team.

Golduck @ Waterium Z
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 130 HP / 252 SpA / 126 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Encore
- Protect
​

Golduck is pretty simple as well. It's your rain sweeper with access to Swift Swim. Hydro Vortex is very powerful, so use wisely. Hydro Pump and Ice Beam are your two attacks. Encore can put Trick Room setter on hold, such as Porygon2 or Oranguru, which is why Golduck is recommended to be your lead mon along with Pelipper. Now I know what some of you might be thinking: "But why those EVs? why nt max speed and max attack?" If you are one of those people, then I ask you, how many times has that Golduck lived for more than one turn? Your answer should be none, and if not, you just got extremely lucky. Golduck has a decent base HP, so those HP EVs give Golduck a little bulk to live longer. To give this more of an impact, if Pelipper is dead (which it already should be at that point,) switch into Tapu Bulu and everything should be handy dandy.

Togedemaru @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Zing Zap
- Encore
- Spiky Shield
​

As I mentioned earlier, Togedemaru's primary objective for my team is to simply stop Xurkitree and Koko from destroying my team in a matter of seconds. Fake Out AND Encore can be used the same way Golduck uses Encore. Encore can also stop set-up Pokémon like SD Garchomp or CM Fini. I chose Rocky Helmet over Focus Sash to wear down extremely defensive mons like Celesteela, Snorlax, Porygon2, and possibly Fini and Arcanine. Spiky Shield adds as a bonus to Rocky Helmet to wear down ever more. So you could be really annoying and alternate between Spiky Shield and Zing Zap or Encore.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Abilty: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Scald
- Moonblast
​

Now, Tapu Fini and Arcanine have NOTHING to do with the rain, although Tapu Fini gets a slight boost.

Tapu Fini is mainly a bulky sweeper that doesn't rely on rain, rather solely on setting up. The best time to put a sub up is when you believe your opponent will protect. From there, you can begin using CM. After that, just start spamming Scald or Moonblast, because you won't be able to protect and Scald and Moonblast are both STAB.

Arcanine @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 244 HP / 188 Def / 76 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Snarl
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
​

They say a dog is a man's best friend. Well in this case, a support Pokémon is a man's best friend.

Arcanine is perhaps the best support Pokémon there is, having Will-O-Wisp, Snarl, and Intimidate all in one package. Intimidate plus Will-O-Wisp checks a LOT of physical mons, such as (get ready for it): Muk, Garchomp, Arcanine, Araquanid, Kartana, Snorlax, Gyarados, Mimikyu, and Metagross. (a lot isn't it?)

Snarl does very little damage but does reduce the damage of Koko, Fini, Lele... (I shouldn't make another long list, let's just move on.) Arcanine is targeted very easily because everyone alreadys know the potentiality of Arcanine as soon as they see it, which is why you need Protect. Some might be thinking, "Why Fire Blast? It has lower accuracy, and you can't rely on it for too long-" Well, let me stop you there. Arcanine is the biggest check to Celesteela. If you imagine it in real life, a little Flamethrower wouldn't do anything to a beast that big. You'd need something bigger and more powerful, such as a FIRE BLAST.

Tapu Bulu @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
-Horn Leech
-Protect
- Megahorn
- Zen Headbutt
​

Last one is Bulu. This is simply just to keep my team alive a little longer with just a little bit of recovery, Besides that, it's just a bulky physical attacker. Horn Leech is STAB, so it wears down a lot of mons. Horn Leech 2HKOs Koko very easily according to the Battle Calc (252+ Atk Tapu Bulu Horn Leech vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tapu Koko in Grassy Terrain: 121-144 (82.8 - 98.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery) (assuming that these two came out at the same time)

In this case, Koko's strongest move is Dazzling Gleam, but even then it is completely useless (252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Koko Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Bulu: 55-66 (31 - 37.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery)

Weaknesses
Kartana- Kartana is the biggest threat to my team, being that it can take out 4 out of the 6 on my team. if you see a Kartana, be aware and try to switch into Arcanine and Togedemaru if they are still alive and attempt to burn Kartana.
Tapu Koko (kind of)- If Tapu Bulu and Togedemaru are dead, then you have a serious problem. Half of my team is weak to Koko, so be careful.
Gastrodon- Gastrodon takes out my two support mons very easily, If you see one, quickly switch into Bulu and kill it as quickly as possible.
Trick Room (kind of)- My team is a speedy team, so be aware of Trick Room setters like Oranguru and kill them as quickly as possible. If Trick Room is activated, use Fini and Arcanine.

Other than that, that is my team! This is my first RMT, so please be aware that I'm not the best at this kind of stuff and I would love feedback!

Importable- https://pastebin.com/KwMiXcjY

 

[Bright Size]

Pelipper @ Focus Sash
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Brine
- Hurricane
- Tailwind
- Protect

Brine's typically better on Pelipper nowadays over Scald. Seems odd, but a Hydro Vortex from Golduck will usually knock most Pokemon under half health if it isn't knocked out. The most notable example is that the Hydro Vortex + Brine combination knocks out Porygon2, which can set up Trick Room in your face. Hydro Vortex + Scald doesn't guarantee Porygon2 to not get up Trick Room. This adaptation was used by Tommy Cooleen to get top 8 at Oceania and Sao Paulo Internationals (he also got Top 8 at London, but that variant was an earlier version with Scald). Check out his team report here.

Golduck @ Waterium Z
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 130 HP / 252 SpA / 126 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Protect

You say that you're using Encore because it "can put Trick Room setter on hold, such as Porygon2 or Oranguru" but with the edit I made to Pelipper by adding Brine you can knock out both of those two Trick Room users without Encore. Usually for a lot of teams that have trouble with Trick Room it's not the Trick Room setter itself that gives a team issues it's the Pokemon paired with the Trick Room setter. If the enemy Protects you generally don't need to Encore the Pokemon because you can generally knock it out with Golduck's rain boosted moves. I can't think of why else you might need Encore so I changed it to Scald. Scald and Hydro Pump seem pretty odd on the same set for Golduck both being Water moves, but it makes sense here. Hydro Pump is a pretty inaccurate move of 80% accuracy that should generally be avoided because Scald can often pick up a KO where Hydro Pump would. However Hydro Pump makes Golduck's Hydro Vortex Base Power 185 as opposed to Scald's 160. Max SpA EVs are ideal and you outspeed Scarfed Kartana under the Rain with your Speed EVs so I don't see any reason to change the EVs here.

I see what you're trying to do with Togedemaru but I don't think it will work at all. You're running Rocky Helmet on it in order to deal chip damage to Pokemon but this lets you get one shot by Arcanine, fighting types like Hariyama, Pheromosa, Buzzwole, and Ground types like Garchomp and Mudsdale (don't forget that Snorlax has High Horsepower and can one shot it too). Besides Togedemaru isn't a very bulky Pokemon so at the most you'll get hit once or twice (and maybe not even with a contact move) on Togedemaru making the Rocky Helmet a waste. Although the Xurkitree/Tapu Koko is concerning for your team you need to keep in mind that Golduck outspeeds both Xurkitree and Tapu Koko (in the rain) and can easily knock out both of them with Hydro Vortex. Even if they Protect they'll be put into a range where a Scald on the following turn should knock them out (in Rain). It looks to me like you have Fake Out for the sake of having Fake Out with no real goal in mind of how you'll use that to pressure your opponent and an Encore onto Swords Dance Garchomp or Calm Mind Tapu Fini shouldn't really matter because you have a Golduck which can easily knock out Garchomp with Hydro Vortex/Ice Beam and a Tapu Bulu that can knock out Tapu Fini.

I don't think Tapu Fini is a very good selection for your team either since you already have two Water type Pokemon that act as sweepers. There probably won't be a time where you want Tapu Fini over your double ducks. It feels like Tapu Fini is just stacking on weaknesses to your team that you already have from running two other Water types and a fairy without getting much, or at least enough, in return.

I'll get back to things you can do with these team slots after I cover the last two Pokemon (which I think you can keep).

Arcanine @ Mago Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 244 HP / 188 Def / 76 SpD
Careful Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Snarl/Helping Hand/Extreme Speed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Fire Blast isn't as good as Flare Blitz on Arcanine. Arcanine has a higher base Attack than Special Attack; Flare Blitz has a higher base power than Fire Blast and has a higher accuracy. The one downside is you're taking recoil damage, but with the super sitrus berries it's really worth running Flare Blitz. Speaking of super sitrus berries I put Mago Berry over Aguav berry as a little tech against Araquanid. It's incredibly minor and unlikely to come up but if your Araquanid uses Bug Bite on your Arcanine for its berry and it gets Mago Berry it will most likely become confused from the Mago Berry because Mago Berry confuses the eater if it has a -Spe Nature (pretty much all Araquanid run Brave, +Atk -Spe). I tabbed Helping Hand as an option on Arcanine to help give your already offensive team an even more offense option and Extreme Speed because it's often useful to break Focus Sash which can be problematic for aggressive teams that like to one shot things (Kartana comes to mind for this team). Snarl is still a pretty useful move though I personally prefer using Helping Hand or Extreme Speed over it. I'd recommend trying both and seeing which works the best. I'm not quite sure why you're running so much Defense investment on your Arcanine as I don't know what you're trying to survive with it (I don't think it changes rolls on Garchomp/Gigalith tons) but I'll leave it alone. Look into working on the EV spread for Arcanine and see if you need to put more Atk EVs or more SpD EVs into it. I often find that I get hit by more special attacks on Arcanine than physical attacks (you have Will-o-Wisp and Intimidate to mitigate physical attacks).

Tapu Bulu @Miracle Seed
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
-Horn Leech/Wood Hammer
-Protect
-Stone Edge
-Substitute

One of Tapu Bulu's best assets is its massive Attack stat that I feel like you should be abusing since you're using an offensive rain duo. As a result I put Miracle Seed over Grassy Seed because it boosts Tapu Bulu's Grass attack and Tapu Bulu already has an impressive Defense stat without a boost from Grassy Seed. Wood Hammer deals a lot more damage than Horn Leech but of course it takes quite a bit in recoil. Substitute is pretty useful on Tapu Bulu for longevity (especially with the plethora of Steel and Poison types running around to deal with the Tapus) and with its Grassy Terrain it heals up a reasonable amount of health that it loses from setting a Substitute. Stone Edge is a decentish way of chunking Celesteela and it allows you to hit Fire and Flying types that Tapu Bulu is weak to (although you have double ducks to hit Flying and Fires pretty nicely, you may not be in the position to knock them out with Tapu Bulu on the field).

Instead of Tapu Fini and Togedemaru I think there are a few options you can look into using:

Alolan-Muk is a solid answer against the Tapus and pairs nicely with Tapu Bulu's Grassy Terrain.

Porygon2 is able to reverse Trick Room and provide a better means of surviving a more drawn out game through being able to Recover off damage and poison things that sit and take damage with its Toxic.

Buzzwole is a good way to hit Kartana and Gigalith extremely hard which are a lot more popular in the current meta and a big threat to the double duck core.

Snorlax is a strong Pokemon that functions incredibly well in Trick Room. It was used by Preston Clark on his Golduck/Pelipper team to win Utah Regionals.

Kartana lets you hit Gastrodon, the other Tapus, and Snorlax to an extent. Kartana is also pretty good against the occaisonal Eevee team that pops up. (Though you'll probably want to change Tapu Bulu to something like Tapu Koko or Tapu Lele).

Celesteela is another Steel type that greatly benefits from the rain as it takes less from Fire moves.

Hope I've helped.

 

[shadoxgamin]

Pelipper @ Focus Sash
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Brine
- Hurricane
- Tailwind
- Protect

Brine's typically better on Pelipper nowadays over Scald. Seems odd, but a Hydro Vortex from Golduck will usually knock most Pokemon under half health if it isn't knocked out. The most notable example is that the Hydro Vortex + Brine combination knocks out Porygon2, which can set up Trick Room in your face. Hydro Vortex + Scald doesn't guarantee Porygon2 to not get up Trick Room. This adaptation was used by Tommy Cooleen to get top 8 at Oceania and Sao Paulo Internationals (he also got Top 8 at London, but that variant was an earlier version with Scald). Check out his team report here.

Golduck @ Waterium Z
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 130 HP / 252 SpA / 126 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Protect

You say that you're using Encore because it "can put Trick Room setter on hold, such as Porygon2 or Oranguru" but with the edit I made to Pelipper by adding Brine you can knock out both of those two Trick Room users without Encore. Usually for a lot of teams that have trouble with Trick Room it's not the Trick Room setter itself that gives a team issues it's the Pokemon paired with the Trick Room setter. If the enemy Protects you generally don't need to Encore the Pokemon because you can generally knock it out with Golduck's rain boosted moves. I can't think of why else you might need Encore so I changed it to Scald. Scald and Hydro Pump seem pretty odd on the same set for Golduck both being Water moves, but it makes sense here. Hydro Pump is a pretty inaccurate move of 80% accuracy that should generally be avoided because Scald can often pick up a KO where Hydro Pump would. However Hydro Pump makes Golduck's Hydro Vortex Base Power 185 as opposed to Scald's 160. Max SpA EVs are ideal and you outspeed Scarfed Kartana under the Rain with your Speed EVs so I don't see any reason to change the EVs here.

I see what you're trying to do with Togedemaru but I don't think it will work at all. You're running Rocky Helmet on it in order to deal chip damage to Pokemon but this lets you get one shot by Arcanine, fighting types like Hariyama, Pheromosa, Buzzwole, and Ground types like Garchomp and Mudsdale (don't forget that Snorlax has High Horsepower and can one shot it too). Besides Togedemaru isn't a very bulky Pokemon so at the most you'll get hit once or twice (and maybe not even with a contact move) on Togedemaru making the Rocky Helmet a waste. Although the Xurkitree/Tapu Koko is concerning for your team you need to keep in mind that Golduck outspeeds both Xurkitree and Tapu Koko (in the rain) and can easily knock out both of them with Hydro Vortex. Even if they Protect they'll be put into a range where a Scald on the following turn should knock them out (in Rain). It looks to me like you have Fake Out for the sake of having Fake Out with no real goal in mind of how you'll use that to pressure your opponent and an Encore onto Swords Dance Garchomp or Calm Mind Tapu Fini shouldn't really matter because you have a Golduck which can easily knock out Garchomp with Hydro Vortex/Ice Beam and a Tapu Bulu that can knock out Tapu Fini.

I don't think Tapu Fini is a very good selection for your team either since you already have two Water type Pokemon that act as sweepers. There probably won't be a time where you want Tapu Fini over your double ducks. It feels like Tapu Fini is just stacking on weaknesses to your team that you already have from running two other Water types and a fairy without getting much, or at least enough, in return.

I'll get back to things you can do with these team slots after I cover the last two Pokemon (which I think you can keep).

Arcanine @ Mago Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 244 HP / 188 Def / 76 SpD
Careful Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Snarl/Helping Hand/Extreme Speed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Fire Blast isn't as good as Flare Blitz on Arcanine. Arcanine has a higher base Attack than Special Attack; Flare Blitz has a higher base power than Fire Blast and has a higher accuracy. The one downside is you're taking recoil damage, but with the super sitrus berries it's really worth running Flare Blitz. Speaking of super sitrus berries I put Mago Berry over Aguav berry as a little tech against Araquanid. It's incredibly minor and unlikely to come up but if your Araquanid uses Bug Bite on your Arcanine for its berry and it gets Mago Berry it will most likely become confused from the Mago Berry because Mago Berry confuses the eater if it has a -Spe Nature (pretty much all Araquanid run Brave, +Atk -Spe). I tabbed Helping Hand as an option on Arcanine to help give your already offensive team an even more offense option and Extreme Speed because it's often useful to break Focus Sash which can be problematic for aggressive teams that like to one shot things (Kartana comes to mind for this team). Snarl is still a pretty useful move though I personally prefer using Helping Hand or Extreme Speed over it. I'd recommend trying both and seeing which works the best. I'm not quite sure why you're running so much Defense investment on your Arcanine as I don't know what you're trying to survive with it (I don't think it changes rolls on Garchomp/Gigalith tons) but I'll leave it alone. Look into working on the EV spread for Arcanine and see if you need to put more Atk EVs or more SpD EVs into it. I often find that I get hit by more special attacks on Arcanine than physical attacks (you have Will-o-Wisp and Intimidate to mitigate physical attacks).

Tapu Bulu @Miracle Seed
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
-Horn Leech/Wood Hammer
-Protect
-Stone Edge
-Substitute

One of Tapu Bulu's best assets is its massive Attack stat that I feel like you should be abusing since you're using an offensive rain duo. As a result I put Miracle Seed over Grassy Seed because it boosts Tapu Bulu's Grass attack and Tapu Bulu already has an impressive Defense stat without a boost from Grassy Seed. Wood Hammer deals a lot more damage than Horn Leech but of course it takes quite a bit in recoil. Substitute is pretty useful on Tapu Bulu for longevity (especially with the plethora of Steel and Poison types running around to deal with the Tapus) and with its Grassy Terrain it heals up a reasonable amount of health that it loses from setting a Substitute. Stone Edge is a decentish way of chunking Celesteela and it allows you to hit Fire and Flying types that Tapu Bulu is weak to (although you have double ducks to hit Flying and Fires pretty nicely, you may not be in the position to knock them out with Tapu Bulu on the field).

Instead of Tapu Fini and Togedemaru I think there are a few options you can look into using:

Alolan-Muk is a solid answer against the Tapus and pairs nicely with Tapu Bulu's Grassy Terrain.

Porygon2 is able to reverse Trick Room and provide a better means of surviving a more drawn out game through being able to Recover off damage and poison things that sit and take damage with its Toxic.

Buzzwole is a good way to hit Kartana and Gigalith extremely hard which are a lot more popular in the current meta and a big threat to the double duck core.

Snorlax is a strong Pokemon that functions incredibly well in Trick Room. It was used by Preston Clark on his Golduck/Pelipper team to win Utah Regionals.

Kartana lets you hit Gastrodon, the other Tapus, and Snorlax to an extent. Kartana is also pretty good against the occaisonal Eevee team that pops up. (Though you'll probably want to change Tapu Bulu to something like Tapu Koko or Tapu Lele).

Celesteela is another Steel type that greatly benefits from the rain as it takes less from Fire moves.

Hope I've helped.

Thanks for the advice! I will make changes and test it out!

 

[shadoxgamin]

Also I do want to note (I am looking more towards Muk and Buzzwole), what would you recommend for their sets? I have never used Buzzwole and Muk I'm not completely familiar with the set.

 

[Bright Size]

Just stealing the sets Tommy Cooleen used (it's in the report I linked). Check it out for a more in depth explanation of why he chose these sets.

Buzzwole @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 20 HP / 84 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpD / 148 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Leech Life
- Ice Punch
- Poison Jab

Hits Gigalith and Kartana hard (which give the team issues).

Muk-Alola @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Def / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 13 Spe
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- Curse
- Protect

Underspeeds Araquanid after a Curse.

 

[shadoxgamin]

Thanks!