Typical British Summer (Drizzle RMT)

[Rooke]

Typical British Summer
A Drizzle team, of course.
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After the last (my first) RMT I posted here was a failure (1 reply - awesome), I decided to stop making poor excuses for teams, and actually think about what I wanted. I made a few tester teams, and saw that people were right when they say that weather teams are everywhere at the moment. I tried a Sandstorm team, which went well for a while, but I didn't really like it. A Drought team I made had the same situation, and I never even bothered with making a Hail team. This left Rain, my favourite weather, and one that is becoming way too overused. I put one together over a few days, and it's been going okay so far. Who better to tell me where I've been going wrong than Smogon? The team name is kind of obvious because, most summers, it is pretty much like this.
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Team Building​

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Picking a Pokémon to start my team wasn't exactly difficult. It's a Drizzle team. I went for a Choice Scarf Politoed.

Knowing that every other Drizzle team I've made before had an Electric-type weakness, I chose a Raikou, to absorb those attacks, above anything else. I took a while trying to decide on what kind of set to use, so in the end, I just went with a standard Calm Mind set.

Having used it before, I really wanted one on my team. Hurricane does pretty big damage to a lot of things, and... that's pretty much the only reason I wanted one. I chose a generic Choice Specs set, and it's done well so far. I'm not sure what I could replace it with, but maybe a Choice Scarf set would work well.

Wanting another Electric-type immunity, and seeing how not many people use it any more, I went for a Swampert. It worked well for me back in Gen IV, so I thought I could give it a go in Gen V too.

Ferrothorn was my next addition. The team was looking okay at the point, and Ferrothorn always worked well for me before, so I thought I might as well use it with its Fire-type weakness lessened.

I didn't really think this last part through. I think my reasoning for having Starmie was simply "I want a Spinner, and I want it to be fast".

I went into battles thinking that I had made a good team for once, but this was not the case at all. I was beaten by most things, and things were just looking to get worse. I took a short break, then came back to the team, deciding to scrap the last three Pokémon.

Quagsire came in as my Swampert replacement. I'd heard how good it was at the moment, and that it could work as an Excadrill counter. I needed something to help me out with opposing Sandstorm teams, and this definitely does it for me. I'm glad I decided to use it.

My Ferrothorn replacement was another Pokémon with a x4 weakness to Fire-type attacks, but one that I knew how to use well. Swords Dance Scizor had rarely let me down in the past, and I was sure it could help this team.

Rotom-W became my Starmie replacement after I realised that I didn't actually want a Spinner. I must admit, it hasn't done a whole lot for me, and I am considering replacing it.
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At A Glance

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Dive In
And yes, I am aware all of my sets are standard and boring.

Politoed (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Quite obviously my rain starter. Plan looks simple because it is - Set up rain, and attempt to do as much damage as possible with Scarf-boosted Speed. It's worked out okay for me so far, but I'm really feeling the hurt when it comes to taking hits. I'm considering a bulkier set over it, and possibly Choice Specs for upped Special Attack. Hidden Power Grass was chosen due to the fact that the only other realistic option was Ice, and I already have Ice Beam. There's really not a lot to say about this.

Raikou @ Life Orb
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Thunder
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Grass]

The main reason I added Raikou was, as I said, for the Electric-type immunity it gives, but I was also told that I had "literally nothing" on my team to stop opposing Raikou, and, after going through a list of possible fixes, we added one ourselves. I'm happy with how this is doing its job, especially against any Latios that I might come across. I usually get to KO them with a CM-boosted Shadow Ball, but, again, the lack of real bulk hurts. Seeing as it's already fast, I've been thinking about giving it Choice Specs and seeing what it can achieve with those. EVs are obvious, as is the nature and moves.

Tornadus (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Definitely one of my favourite Pokémon to be introduced this generation. Hurricane hits nearly 100% accuracy when a type of weather is in play, and, coupled with STAB and a chance to confuse the opponent, it definitely comes in handy. Again, a standard set, but I find it extremely effective. U-turn to GTFO, and Focus Blast and HP [Ice] for general... Pokémon. I would consider Thundurus as a replacement, seeing as everybody I mention Tornadus to say that it's a lot better than the wind genie. I'd sure miss it, though.

Quagsire (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Aah, Quagsire. I have no idea how I managed to win a battle without it. It's come in handy in pretty much every battle I've had with this team so far, and I can't see me replacing it any time soon, either. Not having something with some Special bulk on my team is annoying, though. I would definitely consider a Blissey or Chansey to replace something on my team (probably Rotom-W), and I can see it helping out. I'm not willing to change anything on this Quagsire - to me, it's pretty much perfect for the team.

Scizor (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Roost

After I ditched the last three Pokémon on the first version of my team, I wanted to make it more offensively-based, and Scizor immediately came to mind. I did consider a Choice Band set, but I didn't much like the idea of having too many Choiced Pokémon on a weather team - never have - so I went for a Specially bulky SD set from (I think) the analysis. I've been seeing more Magnezone being used lately, and, in most of the cases, Scizor is able to beat them back by boosting, healing, and hitting them with not very effective moves. Rain being up is a must if I want to use this guy, and I doubt I'll be replacing her. Along with Raikou, this is the only Pokémon on my team that can take on a Latios - most of the time, sending Scizor in will force a switch, while I set up a Swords Dance. A lot of the time, they switch to a Magnezone, which, as I said, I can beat.

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 144 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Rotom, I hate you, so very much. I used to love this Pokémon, but it just hasn't been working out for me lately. If I had to replace anything in this team, it would definitely be this guy. I'm not sure why I chose this set - I think it was because it was worked for me in the past - but I'm wondering if a Trick set would work better. Again, a generic set, and I absolutely despise it.


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Double Take

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Final Words

Uh. Sorry if my descriptions are lacking, I guess. It's the best I can do, what with them all being standard sets and all.​

 

[Eternal]

Volt Absorb Raikou hasn't been released yet, meaning this team would be classified as a Dream World team. You should edit the team and make sure it has the Dream World tag on it.

Now, this is a solid team. Though the biggest problem I see for this team is the weakness to stall. Blissey stops 5/6 of your Pokemon where Scizor is your only Pokemon to be able to come close at beating it. You have no SR supporter and your team is brutally weak to Stealth Rock + Toxic Spikes enhanced with stall. Now finding an answer to these problems without hurting the structure and solidity of your team is very hard... I would suggest replacing Rotom-W for Forretress since you already have a fast and powerful electric type (Raikou). Forretress will be your Stealth Rock supporter and spinner so hazards don't hurt you so much. Forretress can also lay Toxic Spikes so Blissey/Chansey will have a hard time trying to stall you out. Here's the set:

Forretress @ Leftovers -- Sturdy
Nature: Sassy - EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
- Toxic Spikes
- Stealth Rock

Next, since your Raikou is your main counter to many threats like Zapdos and Thundurus, I suggest giving it Leftovers over Life Orb. Life Orb is very unstable and Thunder has enough power without Life Orb to KO many threats regardless.

Good luck.

 

[Juice!]

If you're using this team in Dream World (which you are, judging by Volt Absorb Raikou =P) I highly suggest adding Keldeo to your team. I've had success with both Specs and Calm Mind. With Secret Sword, it hits Chansey/Blissey/other special walls on the physical side, while still running off Keldeo's massive special attack. This also allows you to destroy Tyranitar that tries to gain a SpD boost by coming in and changing the weather.
I use a set of Calm Mind/Surf/Secret Sword/Hidden Power Ghost on my DW rain team, and it's worked out quite well. Hidden Power Ghost gives amazing neutral coverage alongside Secret Sword, but it can very well be any other Hidden Power to deal with more specialized threats, such as HP Ice for Grass-, and Dragon-types, or HP Flying for Grass-types (fu TechniLoom) and Toxicroak.

Another anti-Blissey option is going mixed on Tornadus with a set of Hurricane, Hidden Power Ice, Hammer Arm, and either Taunt or U-turn, with Life Orb as the item. I prefer mixed to Specs, especially when not running a spinner, as with no way to stop rocks, switching out to change attacks fucking sucks. The speed drop from Hammer Arm is balls though, but so is the accuracy on Focus Blast, so it's basically a choice of which shitty Fighting attack you want. Like I said though, this is personal preference, your set is totally fine.

Brick Break could also be something for Scizor to consider to that Ferrothorn doesn't bring your Scizor sweep to a full halt, and it's nice for smashing Magnezone in the face, but it pains me to think of which of its four moves to replace. Then again, if you take my Keldeo suggestion, then those two become much less of an issue.

I also second Leftovers > Life Orb on Raikou. Since Calm Mind is only boosting +1 each turn, and Raikou doesn't have any other recovery, I like the survivability that Leftovers brings. However, I didn't run any calcs to see if you';re missing specific KOs without Life Orb, so disregard this if it's a bad suggestion. =P

Good luck with your team though for real, it's pretty sweet. ;D

 

[Katz]

sorry but where do you get the pokemon pictures for your thread? :X

 

[Porii Sames]

On Rotom, either change the set because that just likes wayyy to Platinum 4th gen to me (no Volt Switch? no Trick?). Also, on Quagsire, a better move than EQ might be usable; I'm not seeing a whole lot that gets hit hard by that, but w/e.

As said before, you have a huge Blissey weakness. Scizor can take it, but that's about it. Sticking Forry on your team doesn't sound like it would help your Bliss problem at all.

On Tornadus, replacing it with Genesect could work slightly better imo, as it can screw up Ttar a bit more as it is risky for Ttar to switch in for fear of STAB U-turn, and that can also deal with Blissey a little bit better. Having a Poison Heal Breloom or Toxicroak on this team wouldn't hurt either; Breloom appreciates the lowered damage from Fire types and can scare Blissey off easily, while Toxicroak gets a whole lotta healing and doesn't really fear anything Bliss wants to do.

 

[Rooke]

Wow, I didn't expect replies. Especially not ones saying that the team's good in any way. Thanks guys.

@Eternal: Throughout the team building process, I'd been trying to make the team less dependent on things like Stealth Rock because it just wasn't working out for me, and focus instead on Pokémon that can do some damage and use the weather to their advantage. I'll give Forretress a try, though, and change the item on Raikou. Thanks for the rate.

@Juice!: If I'm being honest, I didn't really realise this would be a Dream World team until Eternal pointed it out. I really haven't been keeping track of which Pokémon have had their Dream World abilities released. I have used Keldeo before, and I'm not sure why I haven't considered it yet. I'll look into using it, definitely.

Seeing as I only have one Pokémon that uses Physical attacks on the team, I'll definitely take your advice and use a Mixed Tornadus. I have horrible luck with moves like Focus Blast anyway - they rarely hit - so I'll happily take the stat drop.

As I said, Scizor can take on Magnezones and win, but Brick Break would definitely be helpful. Roost seems like the only move to take off with the set I'm using currently, but that would hurt. I could change the EVs and just go for an offensive set instead of wanting it to last, though.

Life Orb doesn't seem to be making a lot of difference, so I'll replace that. Thanks for the rate.

@Porii Sames: I'm not really looking to keep Rotom at all on this team. Changing the set could help, but I don't see it doing an amazing amount of good still. I'd like to keep Earthquake on Quagsire - I have no other Ground-type moves, and most of the things I tend to counter with Quagsire seem to be weak to it anyway.

I'll be using a mixed set for Tornadus like Juice! suggested, so I don't really see the need to replace it with Genesect - sure, Genesect can hit it with U-turn, but Tornadus can do that and use Hammer Arm. I was looking into using a Toxicroak, but I guess I was scared of the Ground-type weakness. I'll look into using those, though. Thank you.

It makes me happy that a few of you think I've made a good team. Thanks.

 

[Rackham]

Although, I don't play Dream World, this looks like a fairly strong team. I also think that it could function in regular OU, with this Raikou:

move 1: Thunder
move 2: Weather Ball
move 3: Aura Sphere
move 4: Hidden Power Ice
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
nature: Rash
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Anyway, nice team

 

[Rooke]

That's actually the set I started out with on it, but I changed it because I wanted the Electric-type immunity more. I've been considering changing back to that set, though. I haven't really been seeing many Electric-type attacks that are a huge threat.

 

[Porii Sames]

Dead serious: Good electric immunity user is...Seaking.

Switch in on expected electric attack, Sub/Agility/Hydro Pump and kill everything. Megahorn and about 80 attack EVs for Latios.

With some extra SpA investment it can 2HKO standard Ferrothorn with Hydro Pump as it switches in (and even if you don't 2HKO it can't really hit you save for Power Whip).

 

[Rooke]

I've been testing Toxicroak as my Rotom-W replacement, and it's been going well.

Bump.