Tropical Storm, a RU Rain team

Turtleye · Aug 2, 2013

Hello and welcome to my first RMT thread made on this forums. I joined competitive Pokemon about 5 weeks ago by now, and I do like it. However I still lack the ability to build good teams and play around with them, and thats exactly why I made this thread; to get tips about my team.
So the main reason I made this team was Hail. I hate Hail. Seriously. My closest to winning has been a 2-0 loss(also states how bad I am in battling :/) So at first I thought I'd make a Sun team, however it didnt turn out well and I started to hate sun. Then I thought , 'Maybe Rain can work' since there are quite a lot Pokemon in RU that benefit from Rain, like the bulky Waters and Swift Swimmers. So, here's the Team:

Edits will be in Italic

Kabutops @ Choice Band
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Rapid Spin
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge

Obviously, Kabutops is here to spin and sweep under the Rain thanks to its ablity in Swift Swim, doubling its speed. Rapid Spin is there so I can get away those pesky Stealth Rocks, hindering my Moltres. Aqua Jet is there for the priority. Stone Edge is there for the power and the misses, And waterfall for dat Power. I used to run a Lum berry with Swords Dance, but CB is way better. Thanks Col!

Moltres @ Choice Specs
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SAtk
- Hurricane
- Fire Blast
- Sleep Talk
- U-turn

When I first picked Moltres, I thought it would be a bit held back by the fact that it's Fire Blast would be weakened. However, with Specs Hurricane it doesnt even need to worry about using Fire Blasts and HP Grass(I cannot show you the calcs since I only have Internet Explorer >_<), so those moves are basically emergencies, because with Rain up, Hurricane has perfect accuracy and therefore, something will die if doesnt resist it. U-turn is there if I get a bad matchup if the opponent doubleswitches me.

Uxie @ Damp Rock
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Def
IV's: o Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rain Dance
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic

Uxie is my lead an Physical Wall, having a great 130 base Def. Unless the opponent has Accelgor as a lead (which I somehow encounter very often), Uxie can get SR up safely, and also even Rain Dance, the key element of this team. Thunder Wave is there to cripple stuff like Minccino and Archeops, the latter which can posses a thread to my team if I dont get SR up. Psychic so it can deal some damage if I decide to fodder Uxie

Rotom-Mow @ Damp Rock
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spe / 4 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunder
- Leaf Storm
- Volt Switch
- Rain Dance

Rotom-Mow is my second Rain Dancer, getting alot of switch-ins due to its fantastic defensive typing. After a Rain Dance, it can abuse it by itself by spamming Thunder, or Volt Switch to get something else in. Leaf Storm is there because i didnt know what to put there

Seismitoad @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
Seismitoad is my second Swift Swimmer and Electric Wall, having a fantastic movepool and great coverage, it's a real thread for any team and get at least one kill a match. Surf is by far the most powerfull move on this set, recieving not only STAB but also teh Rain Boost. Earth Power is the second STAB and gets rid of steel types that wall the rest of my team. Sludge Wave is for Grasses that otherwise would ruin Toad's day. Focus Miss is there because I didnt know what elso to put there.
This used to be a Lanturn, but after Col suggested me this Pokemon, it has outclassed Lanturn by far.

Escavalier @ Choice Band
Trait: Overcoat
EVs: 252 Atk / 160 HP / 96 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Iron Head
- Megahorn
- Sleep Talk
Escavalier is my new way to deal with Slowking, while also adding some bulk mto the team and a second reliable grass resist, as most Grass Sweepers can't touch him. Pursuit is for trapping Slowking, other Psychics and Spinblockers that prevent Kabutops from spinning away SR. Iron head for coverage along with it's main STAB, Megahorn. Rest Talk because it can absorb sleep. I'm not sure if I should run 2 Resttalkers, but really the only moves I use here are the three I already use, and Moltres mainly spams Hurricane and in rare occasions Fire Blast.

List of Threads encountered so far:

Galvantula. Damn this thing is annoying, especially the Scarfed ones. It outspeeds my entire team, maybe not Kabutops but I havent sent him in to a Galvantula yet. It's coverage moves can hit my entire team for SE Damage with Giga Drain, Thunder and Bug Buzz.
Accelgor. Same as above, but having HP Rock over Thunder. Geez, the only thing that can possible outspeed this is Kabutops under Rain, but most Accelgors carry Focus Sash so I cannot kill it if I havent damaged it on the switch or if he doesnt get SR Damage if dont have it up yet/he leads.
Magneton. I can only hit him SE with my Moltres. Handles it if he can get a save switch in and Rain is down. Pssh :/
Slowking The King of RU is a big threat to my team, capable of handling every move I launch at him, bar Rotom-Mow's Leaf Storm. Hits also very hard with scald under rain T_T
Durant. If I can't hurt it on the switch, it can threathen my whole team with it's moves, due to it's sheer power. Also hard to revengekill if Rain is not up

So this is the team, I hope you can help me out with telling me what my team is weak to and how I can edit my team so it might work better.
Greetings, Turtleye

col49 · Aug 2, 2013

Hey Turtleye, welcome to Smogon n_n It's definitely cool to see an RU rain team, personally I've found them to be very cool when well executed and definitely underrated archetype as a whole. However, if I could, I'd like to suggest a few things that may help out.

What I notice from an initial glance over the team is that quite a few moveslots, item choices, and even Pokemon choices aim to allow this team to play conservatively, including cleric and paralysis support, which honestly is often unneeded in the context of such a team; the offensive power Rain teams exert is usually intended to end games quickly, and dragging it out with "slower play" like this will only lead to you inevitably burning valuable turns of rain and losing out to more dedicated balanced teams. I would begin altering this by swapping Thunder Wave for U-Turn on Uxie and giving it a Relaxed nature with 0 Speed IVs. Being your team's primary defensive pivot, it really wants to be able to maintain momentum comfortably, and U-Turn allows it to do this. A slower spread allows it to do this much more effectively, allowing it to U-Turn out to your rain sweeper of choice without forcing it to take unnecessary damage in doing so, which is pretty crucial considering how common priority is in RU and by extension how little sweepers like to take chip damage and risk being put in range of a priority attack to KO. Similarly, I feel as though Lanturn is wholly unneeded on your team, as it really slows your team down and seems there largely as a check to Electric types. While I understand the desire to do so, I feel as though this role could be filled much more effectively by Offensive Seismitoad, whose Ground / Water typing allows it to handle the majority of RU Electric-types comfortably (obviously being cautious of HP Grass) while preventing Volt Switch. However, unlike Lanturn, Seismitoad retains significantly more offensive value, providing your team a secondary Swift Swim sweeper, and a rather bulky one at that.

Moving on to some more minor nitpicks, I'd consider the use of a more offensive Kabutops; while Lum Berry SD 'Tops is by no means weak, it is really reliant on set-up to threaten opponents, and thinking the opponent will let you set up Rain, switch in 'Tops, and then let it set up an SD is pretty optimistic thinking '-' I would consider the use of a Choice Band set, the immediate power of CB (and the extra moveslot allowed by dropping SD) allows Kabutops to much more effectively clean through teams and capitalize on rain turns. While this does make spinning notably more dangerous if predicted properly, your team retains enough natural bulk and priority among itself to keep most switch-ins in check fairly comfortably, and Absol's ability to Pursuit trap Ghost-types certainly helps this cause. Speaking of Absol, I don't really find Fire Blast to be the optimal move choice in the case of this team, as the common Pokemon it responds to (Tangrowth and Steelix mostly) are practically non-issues with this team, as the former is decimated by Seismitoad and Moltres, and Steelix can only really come in on Uxie and Absol, both of which don't stay in too long by design anyway. I would consider simply running Superpower over Fire Blast, of course now using a Jolly nature, it provides much more consistent coverage that isn't reliant on Rain not being up. Plus I prevents Crawdaunt from grabbing a free turn against you, which is nice since it can potentially sweep your team if given a free turn.

Moreover, I would really think that you would appreciate Sleep Talk over HP Grass on Moltres. As you mention yourself, HP Grass is often filler and quite frankly a terrible move to lock yourself into anyway, making it essentially a dud moveslot. Sleep Talk allows Moltres more capably to switch into Grass-types, "absorbing" Sleep Powders and Spores and retaliating with its attacks. This also helps your team against Smeargle, who in the lead position can currently get off a Spore a 1 layer of hazards at minimal risk, which can be incredibly dangerous if left unchecked. To effectively provide your team a response to this, I would suggest changing Rotom-C's spread to 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe and giving it a Timid nature, allowing it to effectively outpace Smeargle and Volt Switch into Moltres, preventing Smeargle from getting anything more than 1 turn to do as it wishes. The extra Speed also allows Rotom-C to outpace a variety of notable Pokemon, such as Omastar, Kabutops, and Gallade, letting it RK or set up Rain on such Pokemon before they can set up further or get off substantial damage on your team. The loss in bulk, while unfortunate, is a minimal loss with Moltres and Seismitoad offering secondary checks to Grass- and Electric-types respectively.

tl;dr:

SD set --> CB set

HP Grass --> Sleep Talk

Bold --> Relaxed
0 Spe IVs

Modest --> Timid
248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe ---> 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

-->

Hasty --> Jolly
Fire Blast --> Superpower

Turtleye · Aug 3, 2013

Well, thanks for the rate, I really appreciate it.
I can replace Lanturn, as it is actually not doing that much in a battle outside of spread paralysis, so I'll try out 'Toad for a while and see if it fits on my team(even thou Lanturn looks cooler :/).
Also I've been thinking for a Sleep Talker for soem time now, but I didnt know what move I should replace on Moltres, but yea I spam Hurricane mos of teh time, so thats no big deal actually.
And for the other sugestions, I'm going to try 'em out anyways and I'll update my post of they work

Edit: I found that Seismitoad is really good, so he'll be replacing Lanturn. For the other things; Cb Tops is a beast, however I find it annoying that I cant switch form spinning to Waterfall/Aqua Jet/Stone Edge. Uxie's U-Turn is really helpfull and lets me gain momentum early in the match after I set up Rain and sometimes SR. For all the other options, I didnt really notice their effects, but i'm sure they help :p

atomicllamas · Aug 4, 2013

Hey, I know we talked a little bit about this on IRC, but you should definitely be running life orb on your Kabutops over choice band, especially since you are using specs Moltres. Life Orb allows you to spin more easily, which allows Moltres to switch many times, as choice mons usually do. Life Orb Kabutops still hits ridiculously hard in the rain, so the power loss shouldn't be too big of a problem.

Next, I am going to suggest you use rain dance over focus blast on Seismitoad, this allows Seismitoad to function almost like Kingdra in UU, not relying on it's teammates to provide rain, while still hitting extremely hard with rain/LO boosted Surfs in the rain. Plus I prefer three rain setters anyways. You won't really miss focus blast all that much, as it has redundant coverage with earth power and it has really crappy accuracy.

I might edit this with more later, but it looks like a pretty solid rain team to me :) best of luck!

Turtleye · Aug 5, 2013

Okay, so after some testing I decided to swap Absol for Escavalier, due to the fact that Absol is frail and can at most take 2 hits from Slowking, while Escavalier on teh other hand can switch in to Slowking and threathen him with a CB Megahorn to the face or a CB Pursuit if he switches. I go for Pursuit most of the time, unless I know he runs Fire Blast and Rain is out.
Also, I tried Rain Dance over Focus Blast on Seismitoad, and so far it's working, however missing the KO's on ferroseed is shit. But yea, we have Moltres for that.
Also the Life Orb has proven itself to be better than the Band

Tropical Storm, a RU Rain team

Turtleye

col49

Turtleye

atomicllamas

but then what's left of me?

Turtleye