Toad for President

KM888 · Jan 16, 2012

Hi everyone, and welcome to this RMT here on Smogon. I've tested this Team out for months and for me it's doing a great job. As you could guess from the title, this Team is a Drizzle Team.

*all my Damage Calculations are done with:*
http://www.honko.freehosting.com/wall_calc.html
http://cherubi.com/tools/calculators/damage/
*Sprites are from:*
http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/sprites.html

Team Building

Since I wanted to make a Drizzle Team it was only obvious I started out with a Politoed. What set was I going to take? I had no idea back then. I just started out.

I'd say that Rain is nice to half the Damage taken from Fire-attacks. Since Ferrothorn really can't take the Heat, I thought it was a great Tank to play with. It also has loads of resistances and is definitely going to be a great member of my Team.

With Ferrothorn being weak to both Fire and Fighting I needed something more than just Politoed, since it doesn't cover the Fighting weakness. Since I also lacked a Sweeper I thought of going with Toxicroak. With his ability Dry Skin, he recovers a lot of HP in the Rain, and he has a good movepool to be a Sweeper. He also lets me absorb Toxic Spikes, so I don’t have trouble with those.

Since I already had a Physical Sweeper now, I figured I still needed a Special Sweeper. Before the banning of Thunderus, I'd choose him. Unfortunatly he isn't OU anymore, so I had to pick something else. I went searching for a pokemon that is kinda similar. Zapdos would be nice, but eventually my choice fell on Raikou.

Most Teams use a Scarfer. For my Team the choice was Mamoswine. Before the banning of Garchomp, he was my Scarfed pokémon. But now that I'm using Mamoswine I can only wonder why I didnt pick him from the start. He has a nice movepool, and most people think this guy is banded. I almost can't think of a bigger surprise. His Fire Weakness disappears with the Rain, his Fighting weakness is cleared by Toxicroak, while Ferrothorn takes care of the rest.

People are going to say I'm crazy, when they see my last pokémon. I've chosen for Alomomola. This because he has enormous HP, good Defense to back that HP up and it has access to the move Calm Mind. With the ability Hydration and the move Rest, it can easily become a non-stoppable Wall. I had first chosen for a Vaporeon (cause obvious, is obvious), but Vaporeon didnt quite do what I wanted it to do.

Previous Choices (and Try-Outs)

First Glance at the Team

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Set:I've allways liked a Defensive Politoed more than an Offensive one. With a Calm nature and the given EV-spread it can survive a lot of moves.
ex: Horn Leech from standard Sawsbuck does 89.58 - 106.25%
Thunderbolt from the standard defensive Rotom-W does 61.45 - 73.43%

I gave Politoed just that bit of Attacking power, so that it can 2HKO certain pokémon in the Rain. (Good for a revenge kill)

The 0 IVs in Atk are only for Confusion matters. Politoed doesn’t have Physical Attacks, so the drop in it doesn’t matter at that point. The lesser attack that I have the better, since I won’t take so much damage from confusion hax.

Hydro Pump is STAB, boosted in the Rain and is the strongest move that Politoed has acces too. Ice Beam to get rid of Dragons that try to set up in my face. Toxic to pick apart defensive threats like Vaporeon, Rotom-W and many others.

Then for my Politoed's survivability. Since Politoed is my weather inducer, it's important to let him live longer. Resto-Chesto is allways fun in a competitive match, and its allways great to use Rest on this pokémon (even when Chesto Berry is allready used), because it won't die to entry-hazards. Also, I can use it for sponging certain hits, even when asleep.

Set: Ferrothorn in the Rain has allways been a Bitch to take out. The EVs and the Nature I gave Ferrothorn are the standard ones. But, the moves aren’t.

Leech Seed and Power Whip are the obvious moves. Ferrothorn always steals health from other pokémons with Leech Seed, and it’s his best way to survive even more. Power Whip to take out the most common counters for this team, Rotom-W and Gastrodon. It’s also Ferrothorn’s most powerful Grass-type STAB.

Thanks to T-Wave and Substitute it’s actually possible to troll the opponents more then you could do with Protect. Ferrothorn might not be the perfect Sub-Seeder, but he’s definatly a great pokémon to do so when you got a T-Wave on the opponent.

Set:With the move Drain Punch, his Ability and Item, Toxicroak gains back loads of Health. With Bulk Up, Toxicroak can even Punch harder, and get back even more Health.

I gave him 12 EVs for Defense so Bulk Up has a little more effect. 252 Atk, backed up with an Adamant Nature, to hit as hard as he can. The rest, 244 EVs, I put into HP, so Substitute can be misused.

It isn’t uncommon that a Set-Up from Toxicroak is inevitable.

After 1 Bulk Up, Toxicroak can OHKO serious threats like Latios with Sucker Punch. (Use Substitute on their switch, so Toxicroak isn’t Trick fodder)

Also, Toxicroak is my main counter for Conkeldurr. Being able to gain back more health than Conkeldurr, your most likely going to outstall it with Bulk Ups. (Unless the Hax-Gods do their job to Crit my Toxicroak to death.)

Raikou @ Expert Belt
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Rash
EVs: 4 HP | 252 SpA | 252 Spe
Special IVs: 2 Atk | 30 Def

Moves: Thunder | Aura Sphere | Hidden Power [Ice] | Weather Ball

Set:The Special Sweeper of the Team. Raikou with Aura Sphere is only available in 1 way. That’s why I have a Rash Nature. It doesn’t give me the best Speed that I can get with Raikou, but I’m still very fast, since I still outspeed base 100 pokémon by 1 point.
The EV-spread is the easiest that I can get for a Sweeper. The IVs are made up, so Raikou’s Hidden Power would be Ice, with a base power of 70. Also is 2 Atk IVs the lowest number that I could get (Again for Confusion Hax)

The Attacks are fairly simple. Thunder has 100% Accuracy in the Rain and has a lot of Power. Aura Sphere to hit Ferrothorn and Tyranitar. Hidden Power [Ice] to take out Gliscor, Dragons and incoming Landorus (Who expect Thunder).

Weather Ball in the Rain is a base 100 Water move. This gives Raikou a very good safe move to use, when Thunder seems a bit risky (team preview showed Jolteon, Electivire or other Absorbers). Weather Ball also changes with the Weather.
Sandstorm makes Weather Ball a Rock-type move. So basically, you then have a Raikou, with a Special orientated Stone Edge that can’t miss.
Sun makes Weather Ball a Fire Move that’s stronger then Flamethrower. No worries here, when things like Venusaur switch in to predict an Electric move.

I’m still not sure if I should give Raikou a different Item. I’ve been thinking about Choice Scarf to outspeed more things, but it’s also a lot more dangerous, since I can’t switch moves anymore.

Set: With the given Set, Mamoswine can Outspeed base 120 Speed Pokémon. For me, that's more than enough. The EVs I save, by doing that, I can use to give Mamoswine some more Bulk. It can also survive 8 SR hits, and live with 1 HP. this is more usefull, then stranding just at 0.

I’ve chosen Icicle Spear for some reasons. First of all, since I’m Scarfed, there isn’t much reason to use Ice Shard. Icicle Spear can also reach a maximum of 125 BP, while its average of 3 hits has 75 BP. Because this average is only 10 BP below that of Icicle Crash, I prefer this move as well, since it can become much more powerful.
Also, Icicle Spear is handy to break Subs, Multiscale, Sturdy and Yache Berry’s effect.

When you chose not to pick Icicle Crash, you can also learn Superpower to Mamoswine. It deals a decent amount of damage to a lot off inswitching pokémon. The Atk and Def-drop doesn’t matter, since I’m most likely forced to switch out anyways. Superpower is also a way of hitting hard against Ferrothorn, although it isn’t going to OHKO.

Lastly I want to note that my Scarfed Mamoswine indeed has Stealth Rock. When I put in Mamoswine, people fear the Banded version. As soon as I use Stealth Rock (mostly on the switch), they think I'm the Bulky set. Off course everyone is surprised when I outspeed a lot of their pokémon.

Set:Whoever said that Alomomola should be RU never met mine. With the given EVs it can take Haxorus' Outrage like it is nothing, +2 Terrakion doesn’t even 2HKO this thing with Close Combat and even a +2 Bug Bite from an offensive Scizor doesn’t OHKO.

Maybe you are thinking: "It can't take a single Special Attack, so what can Alomomola do? It is clearly outmatched by Vaporeon." Well, you're wrong. After 1 Calm Mind, not even Latios can OHKO it with Thunder or Draco Meteor.

With Rest by my side I can almost always scout the next move. Calm Mind is also my way of "Sweeping" with Alomomola. (Although even at +6 I can't 4HKO Special Defensive Jirachi.)

After seeing so much Bulk, people often try to set up on me, and since they think I only run Scald, they often try it with pokémon as Breloom, Conkeldurr, Toxicroak, ...
Are they surprised when they see my Psychic.

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In the first post you can see the offensive treats, while you can see the defensive treats in the second post.

Fixes, Rates, Questions, ... Everything is welcome (except for SPAM and other useless things ^^)

KM888 · Jan 16, 2012

Reserving this post for the offensive treats

KM888 · Jan 16, 2012

Reserving this post for the defensive treats

cernor · Jan 16, 2012

have you tried using Scald over hydro pump on Toed? Since your set is more defensive anyway, the 30% burn chance is useful. While special attackers (and conkeldurr) will laugh at the burn, anything else will be crippled for the rest of the match (unless there's natural cure, etc). Other than that, this seems to be a really interesting team, good job!

KM888 · Jan 16, 2012

Thx allready. I've ran Scald on Politoed for a long time actually.

It was convenient in some situations but it lacks the pure power actually. Hydro Pump is a 2HKO on a lot of things that are important for me to take down.

SubCM-Jirach: 47.77 - 56.43%
CM Reuniclus: 51.88 - 61.08%
BulkySD-Scizor: 53.19 - 62.79%
Spec.Def Skarmory: 53.29 - 62.87%
Phys.Def Zapdos: 54.83 - 64.49%
Espeon: 60.47 - 71.25%

Scald basically doesnt pack so much punch. If I'd run that, I might get a burn. Now, I might miss. It's kinda a risque at both ends. Since Politoed isnt an overall amazing pokémon (only Drizzle) I rather pick apart the opponent's pokémon with a stronger Hydro Pump :)

KM888 · Jan 18, 2012

I've changed the EV-Spread of Mamoswine a bit. Now it can outspeed max speed Dragonite at +1. Also it now outspeeds base 120 pokes, like Alakazam, dugtrio and sceptile.

Toad for President

KM888

KM888

KM888

cernor

KM888

KM888