Would rain ever get a life?

[PokeLawyer]

So, hello smogonites! This is my second RMT in the site, my first one being a balanced rain team. Now I'm still with rain but I had made a los of changes from my first team. I came to the name of the team after a battle on PO, the guy who I was fighting with at turn 80 just wrote really annoyed: "Dude get a life!!!!!". Now with my RMT :D

Team Building Process​

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I've always loved water types since gen I, and being a poerful STAB with its own weather I decided to give rain another shot. The first poke in my team was Poli!

Then I wanted a good staller which could give support to my team and abuse the weather in some way. Five pokes came to my mind: Forry, Ferro, Tenta and Escavalier. I decided to go with the ever present ever boring Ferro and Tenta as both can abuse rain and give support to the team.

Then I wanted someone who could counter Reuniclus and some fighters with low SpD. Latias could do both of the tasks so I picked her.

I needed more rain abuse, so randomly picked two pokes which could do it. I went with a physicall and special choice, with Thundurus banned I went with the underrated Raikou and for the physicall I picked Gyara.

After some testing I decided to remove of my OU pokes to give a try on the UU tier, I read about Sableye getting all annoying and knew it was what I was lloking for. I removed Gyara and replaced with Sableye, who can be a real pain in the ass for some physicall attackers.

Afther all the journey my team line went something like this

Previous Members

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After realizing that I had two real attackers I set the goal of this team to this: Annoy and Desperate as much as I can my opponents. Now with the sets :D

Rain (Politoed) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Refresh
- Protect
- Toxic
Now, a defensive set. I want to keep this thing alive most of the time. I started running a scarfed set but I realized that with my team's goal and with sun stalking I really needed to win weather wars. With Sand is different because I mostly switch to Ferro and then with Tyra's switch I come back to Rain for more rain lol. I was wondering if a Calm 252 HP, 4 Def, 252 SpD could work here. What do you think will benefit more my team?
As far as you see, the longetivity of this set gave birth to the name of this RMT, which leads to my opponent's to think. Would Rain ever get a LIFE?

AntiJelly (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Protect
The name is because I hate Jellycent, please don't ask me to change him for the newcomer unless it is real necessary >.<!!! As for the set: pretty standard support: TSpykes to help me annoy my opponent's team while I can remove hazards from my side of the field. Protect to scout and healing. Now with the STAB move: I went for Surf to the added damage and with TSpykes on the field I think it's not real necessary the burn?
I went fot Black Sludge just to annoy some Trick users that came in my way vv

DrySeed (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
Not much to say here. Standard set. I twisted the EV' so I could survive some more on the special side but I'm not sure if it's a right spread. Rocky Helmet to let an extra hurt on my opponent's pokes who dare to touch him! Double damage + Leech Seed can be really annoying, and I love it!

Raikou @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 128 HP / 76 Def / 52 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Now the rain abuser: Raikou. A totally beast if I can pull up a CM or two, speddy enough to tie with some pokes who are not scarved, while it's attacking moves provide the classic BoltBeam combo which we all know proves to be very effective. I'm working on his name ATM ^^

KillerBaby (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SDef / 40 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Body Slam
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Protect
He took Latias place to in order to counter Reuniclus. Good typing makes him a pseudo rain abuser, nullifying his 2x Fire weakness. Thanks to Limitless I've been having less trouble with the bubble-like thing in battle. Also he gives wish support to the team which is very welcome since some of his teammates are quite bulky

B for Bull (Terrakion) @ Choice Scarf
Justified
Jolly
252 Atk/ 252 Spe/ 4 Hp
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Rock Slide
Ok, a very very dangerous threat for an unprepared team. Good physicall STAB and Attacking stats. He's another bane for frail sweepers and thanks to New World Order I'm having so much more fun with this guy. He can rape at least 3 or more pokes from my foe's team if he doesn't play well

So far the two threats I can't handle very well are Scrafty, Conkeldurr and Latios. I need some back up for those pesky pokes, help there plz!!! And so smogon, this is my second competitive team. I'm open to suggestions :)

EDIT: changes made. Replaced 2 pokes. I really need a way to get out of opponent's Ferrothorn, need advice with that!​

 

[fruitutty]

Chill dude! It's ok, he is just jealous.

 

[PokeLawyer]

what's that supposed to mean?

 

[PokeLawyer]

Come on guys, not even a true rate :(

 

[New World Order]

Hi, as you've already stated, fighting types are an absolute nightmare for this team. Sableye can come in on Choiced fighting moves and thats about it. Terrakion and Scrafty can 6-0 this team no problem, while Conkeldurr can be a menace if Raikou is gone. A way to fix this is to bring in a stallbreaker that can check these pokemon: CM Reuniclus. As annoying as Sableye is, its low bulk means it isn't that destructive a threat. As a stallbreaker, it is outclassed by Reuniclus, who can provide you with a Terrakion and Conkeldurr check. Yeah, Sableye can cripple D-Nite, but at the cost of its own life, you'd be much better off finding another method to deal with them. As for spinblocking, Sableye is very frail and not suitable for the job. Besides, you already have Ferrothorn providing pseudo spinblocking with Rocky Helmet.

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Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Magic Guard
Bold
252 Hp/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
- Calm Mind
- Psychic/ Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Recover

Latios really shouldn't be a problem at all. Under the rain, Ferrothorn can take HP Fire and either Leech Seed/ Gyro Ball to neuter it. If worse comes to worse, you can have Tentacruel take the Draco Meteors and play around it. I also believe that SubCM Raikou wins vs Latios 1v1. Substitute as Latios DMs, and once Latios is at -2, just CM up until you're comfortable and finish with HP Ice. Since most of Latias' roles are now reciprocated by Reuniclus, I suggest running a Choice Scarf Terrakion to deal with some some problematic pokemon such as Volcorona, Dragonite, and Scrafty. With the right sets, Dragonite can plow this team, Volcorona couldn't give 2 shits if you get rain up, since Bug Buzz is more than enough for it to ram through your team, you can't even burn the thing since its a fire type, while ChestoRest/ Substitute versions can laugh off Toxic. Scrafty, as already stated before, can get an easy 6-0 as long as Tentacruel is slightly weakened before hand. Choice Scarf Terrakion can easily revenge kill all these threats, and is an absolute menace to both sand and sun teams alike. It can also go for a late game sweep once the opponent's team is sufficiently weakened. Rock Slide should be the fourth move because sometimes, you REALLY need Volcorona dead, and can't afford a Stone Edge miss.

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Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Justified
Jolly
252 Atk/ 252 Spe/ 4 Hp
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Rock Slide

Ferrothorn should be running Power Whip over Protect. Yeah, you can whore some HP, but Ferrothorn actually has decent attack and needs that grass STAB to take out Bulky Waters such as Vaporeon and Quagsire, who could prove problematic for this team otherwise (especially Quagsire, who shuts down Raikou's/ Latias' boosts. I also suggest dropping Substitute on Politoed for Perish Song. Baton Pass teams are an absolute menace nowadays and you need some way to deal with it.

GL.

EDIT: Holy Shit! I just noticed that Raikou freaking changes from its shiny form to non-shiny. Where did you find that sprite!

 

[PokeLawyer]

thanks new world order! I will try your suggestions :)
I found it on google. Just type Raikou sprte and it's the second if I'm correct haha

 

[megados]

Sub on sableye is a must in my opinion. It helps stall against so much. I run wow recover sub and protect to stall to the max

 

[PokeLawyer]

I'm having trouble with Volcarona so far =/
one possible counter with sinergy with my team? I can only think about Tran but I'm not saure about him

 

[Limitless]

One of the things that I dislike about your team is that you kind of mixed a bulky offensive team into a stall team. While it sometimes works, you don't provide the longevity and ability to counter like those types of teams do. Thus, you're going to have to shred off the Pokemon on your team that do not fit the role of countering things. However, you can still keep Raikou, as that will be your end-game sweeper.

First off, you need to replace Sableye. I don't get why people use it at all. It doesn't counter as much stuff as other Pokemon that fit around the same role. Anyhow, I suggest you replace Sableye with Jellicent. Jellicent will allow you to counter around the same amount that Sableye did, but it will also allow you to have a more beefier Pokemon to take hits.

Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt

If you find that you don't need Water Absorb, feel free to tryout the ability Cursed Body.

I don't really get why you have Latias on the team, as it just seems like dead-weight. I'd recommend that you change it for Jirachi. Jirachi will allow you to have Wish support and give you a way to beat Reuniclus. Additionally, it will also provide you with additional status, if Toxic Spikes are not enough. Lastly, it covers the Latios weakness you stated.

JIRACHI (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SDef / 40 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Body Slam
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Protect

In regards to the Conkeldurr and Scrafty weaknesses, you can either add Tangrowth somewhere or just attempt to stall them out with Toxic Spikes or paralysis. If you choose to replace Ferrothorn with Tangrowth, you'd lose out on entry hazards, but you'd have more ability to counter other teams. On the other hand, you could also change Raikou to a sweeper that could handle either of those Pokemon.

For Tentacruel, I recommend you just use Scald over Surf. The utility of Scald far outweighs the extra damage that Surf provides.

Lastly, I'd change the set of your Politoed to:

Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Refresh
- Protect
- Scald
- Toxic

Your set didn't really do what your team was trying to do - stall.

I hope my rate helped; good luck.

 

[kkoala]

Agreeing with everything Limitless said, but if you do decide to keep Latias, change Substitute or Refresh for Recover, as they're quite redundant together.

 

[albynes]

although i've never battled u before, almost all the rain stall teams rage quits when their stalling attempts fail against me. i hope ur not one of them...thats why I'm not a fan of stalling in the rain...its just not utilizing rain to its full potential, which is full on offence. I do like ur raikou, and i think u should have a deadly sweeper alongside it...

Rain on ur team isnt doing much on ur team defensively other than, cutting ferro fire weakness in half, n slowly healing tentacruel, so put something on there that uses rain to attack. I would replace latias with tornadus seeing that latias seems out of place on this team.

Tornadus @ choice specs
Nature: timid
EV: 252 sp atk/ 252 speed/ 4 hp

Hurricane
focus blast
hp Ice
taunt

Tornadus gets perfect coverage with hurricane and focus blast...and like thunder, hurricane gets full acc. in the rain, not much can take a STAB specs hurricane, cept heatran rachi and blissey/chansey. hp ice wrecks gliscors and dragons. and i've given u a mon that could also lead and stop deoxys-s and other pokes from setting up with priority taunt.

I get that ur trying to stall, but u need mons that wrecks shit up if stall fails, just so ur not another rain stall team that forfeits when their plan A is foiled.

 

[PokeLawyer]

Made some editing to the team. I need a counter for ferrothorn, just too annnoying for my team

 

[PokeLawyer]

bump

 

[thegreensalde]

Hi there,
Tentacreul can abuse its other ability better than you think ;)
It works great against leech seed/Drain punch/horn leech in my opinion.
This will surely help your Conk/Scrafty/Ferro problem.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hey there.

Your team would greatly benefit from Spikes support, as Spikes is almost a necessity when running Toxic Spikes alongside Stealth Rock. Therefore, replace Protect on Jirachi with Stealth Rock, so you can run Spikes over Stealth Rock on Ferrothorn. Jirachi does not really need Protect seeing as how Ferrothorn and Tentacruel will be taking the majority of hits that will be dealt to your team. Also run Thunder over Body Slam, take out the speed EVs (put them into Special Defense), and run a Sassy Nature. Thunder is extremely useful in denting opposing walls such as Skarmory, Tentacruel, and Jellicent, allowing Jirachi to be much more difficult to defeat in most cases. It can still easily paralyze the likes of Latias and Reuniclus regardless. Also, replace Protect on Ferrothorn with Power Whip. Power Whip allows Ferrothorn to destroy water type pokemon such as Rotom-W and Gastrodon who can otherwise hinder Ferrothorn with Will-o-wisp and Scald (30% chance to burn), respectively. Gyro Ball has too low of a PP in order to be Ferrothorn's only attacking move; Protect also isn't as useful for scouting seeing as how pokemon such as CB Scizor can be easily taken on by Tentacruel. Power Whip's coverage easily makes up for the loss of an extra recovery turn regardless.

Also, run Earthquake over Rock Slide on Terrakion. Earthquake is crucial in order to defeat Toxicroak, who can otherwise become a major nuisance to your team. It can also deal more damage to the likes of Jirachi.

Finally, I suggest that you change Raikou to a Rash Nature with an EV Spread of 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Speed. The Rash Nature will allow you to run Aura Sphere over Hidden Power Ice in the last slot. Aura Sphere not only allows Raikou to hit Ferrothorn super effectively, but it allows it to decimate enemy Tyranitar that want to hinder Raikou with Sandstorm. Even with a Rash Nature, Raikou still outspeeds the majority of the tier, and with Substitute, pokemon such as Terrakion can still easily be beaten. The only pokemon that Hidden Power Ice helps greatly with is Latias, which can be taken on easily by most of your team. Pokemon such as Dragonite and Celebi are hit hard enough by Thunder regardless.

Nice team. Hope I helped, and good luck!

 

[ebeast]

You said you wanted a name for Raikou. How about Lion-O.....you know, Lord of the ThunderCats.

 

[PokeLawyer]

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Hey there.

Your team would greatly benefit from Spikes support, as Spikes is almost a necessity when running Toxic Spikes alongside Stealth Rock. Therefore, replace Protect on Jirachi with Stealth Rock, so you can run Spikes over Stealth Rock on Ferrothorn. Jirachi does not really need Protect seeing as how Ferrothorn and Tentacruel will be taking the majority of hits that will be dealt to your team. Also run Thunder over Body Slam, take out the speed EVs (put them into Special Defense), and run a Sassy Nature. Thunder is extremely useful in denting opposing walls such as Skarmory, Tentacruel, and Jellicent, allowing Jirachi to be much more difficult to defeat in most cases. It can still easily paralyze the likes of Latias and Reuniclus regardless. Also, replace Protect on Ferrothorn with Power Whip. Power Whip allows Ferrothorn to destroy water type pokemon such as Rotom-W and Gastrodon who can otherwise hinder Ferrothorn with Will-o-wisp and Scald (30% chance to burn), respectively. Gyro Ball has too low of a PP in order to be Ferrothorn's only attacking move; Protect also isn't as useful for scouting seeing as how pokemon such as CB Scizor can be easily taken on by Tentacruel. Power Whip's coverage easily makes up for the loss of an extra recovery turn regardless.

Also, run Earthquake over Rock Slide on Terrakion. Earthquake is crucial in order to defeat Toxicroak, who can otherwise become a major nuisance to your team. It can also deal more damage to the likes of Jirachi.

Finally, I suggest that you change Raikou to a Rash Nature with an EV Spread of 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Speed. The Rash Nature will allow you to run Aura Sphere over Hidden Power Ice in the last slot. Aura Sphere not only allows Raikou to hit Ferrothorn super effectively, but it allows it to decimate enemy Tyranitar that want to hinder Raikou with Sandstorm. Even with a Rash Nature, Raikou still outspeeds the majority of the tier, and with Substitute, pokemon such as Terrakion can still easily be beaten. The only pokemon that Hidden Power Ice helps greatly with is Latias, which can be taken on easily by most of your team. Pokemon such as Dragonite and Celebi are hit hard enough by Thunder regardless.

Nice team. Hope I helped, and good luck!

Hey thanks! I'm trying your suggestions man :D

EnragedBeast: now that's a pretty cool name. Thanks!

 

[AB2]

I really do not think that you need Raikou on this team. Although its a pretty cool rain abuser, it does not really fit the more defensive archetype of this team. Rotom-W is a pretty huge threat at the moment. Although Jirachi is able to sponge some rain boosted hydro pumps, after a will-o-wisp, it is pretty much out of commission for the rest of the match. Ferrothorn is in the same boat here as it will really not appreciate coming in on Rotom-W fearing a will-o-wisp. A pretty easy fix would be to run a calm stealth rock blissey over Raikou. Raikou is pretty much the weakest link of this team at the moment, and will be the spot that will be the easiest for you to replace. This will free up a spot so that you can run stealth rock blissey, which can come in on Rotom-W, Volcarona, etc without fear. With this change, it frees up a spot on Ferrothorn so that you have the ability to run spikes over stealth rock too.

You're still pretty weak to Toxicroak. Versions that pack ice punch with swords dance will be able to do big damage to this team. If Toxicroak can get in on Politoed or Tentacreul and sneak in a free sd, then this team will be severely damaged by Toxicroak's boosted moves. Shifting Jirachi to the calm mind wish variant is a very good option in order to deter this problem. If you were to use a spread of 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spe, Jirachi will still be able to win against calm mind Reuniclus in a cm war and provide this team with wish support as well. Although if you decide to test Jirachi, make sure to run psyshock / thunder / wish / calm mind. Tentacruel would be really useful if you bumped up its speed to outrun Gliscor. Taunt + SD Gliscor traditionally gives defensive teams a little bit of trouble and although you have it covered for the most part, bumping up the speed on Tentacruel gives you a bit of extra insurance. I'd run a spread of 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe, which gets the jump on most taunt + SD Gliscor so that you have the ability to ko with a rain boosted scald. gl.