Acid-Ball Rain, An Somewhat Unique OU team.

[Nitocrys]

The Team

Politoed (M) @ Sitrus Berry Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Focus Blast

Unlike some other rain teams, my Politoad is meant to set up rain, then beat the tar out of what ever comes into it.
I gave it Timid with Ev's in speed to outspeed pokemon with 262 speed, like some Scizor sets and common slower Politoad checks.
I put sitrus berry over leftovers for a quick recovery, and the ability to stay in the next turn helps.
This set features great synergy with my Tentacruel, and when i use the two correctly it turns politoad's ice beam 2KO on a latios into a 1KO.

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Agility

Scizor is where things start to get somewhat gimmicky.
People are used to choice band Scizors and Swords Dance Scizors, and even the rare U-turn Scarfed Scizor.
My set takes part of the Sword Dance's niche and part of the Choice Scarf's niche and puts them into one, if i use it correctly.
If I'm able to get a Swords Dance in one Turn, then Agility the second, it pretty much guarentees something to go down.
With both Boosts, it outspeeds and KO's Latios, Hydreigon, Kyreum-B, the Rare Ludicolo, Terrakion, Tyranitar, non-scarfed Starmie, Abomasnow, Sometimes Dexoys-D, and a ton more pokemon.
It can severely dent other pokemon, such as metagross, jirachi, salamence, Thundurus-t, ect.
Even without boost it still is a beast, like all scizors.

Tentacruel (M) @ Black Sludge

Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 Def / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Acid Spray

In Rain, Tentacruel gains seemingly an 8th of its health back with Black Sludge and Raindish.
Scald and Rapid Spin are somewhat basic on a Tentacruel, and provide decentcy in the ability to drop any hazards on my field, and a nice burn chance with rain boosted stab.
Giga Drain lets Tentacruel be able to fairly dent walls like Rotom-W, and Gastrodon, and provides a move of recovery.
Acid Spray not only damages the foe, but causes things to go down.
When Acid Spray hits, it causes the opponent's Special Defense to drop 2 stages, causing my special attackers to dent much harder, and it is also boosted by stab and black sludge, letting me get at least a 7-20% damage on pokemon neutral to poison, and it lets giga drain nearly 60% some Rotoms.
so Acid Spray spreads a lot of synergy to my team.

Latios (M) @ White Herb

Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock
- Thunder

A somewhat Standard latios set, but tweaked.
Draco Meteor Ko's plenty of Dragons, and dents all but chancey/blissey and steel types. White Herb clears up the SPA drop, so latios doesnt have to switch.
Hidden power fire is mainly do dent common walls like Scizor and Ferrothorn.
Psyshock is great VS a lot of pokes, such as blissey, chancey, and terrakion.
Thunder on Latios is beast, it does around 53% to a Scizor, and 30 to a ferrothorn, and provides coverage against Politoads and other things that come my way.

Raikou @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Aura Sphere
- ExtremeSpeed
- Weather Ball
- Thunder

Raikou Puts a Dent in Pretty much everything.
Due to 3 of its moves being event moves, it has to be rash, but even with a rather 329 speed it outspeeds plenty of pokemon.
Aura Sphere provides coverage against darks and rocks, extreeme speed picks off weakened Pokemon, Weather Ball provides an advantage in ALL weather, giving it a boosted 100 base water attack in rain, fire in sun, rock/ground in sandstorm, ice in hail.
Weather ball in weather has KO'd Thundurus-t's
And Thunder Damages a lot of stuff, and
provides rain abuse.

Drifblim (M) @ Flame Orb

Trait: Flare Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Weather Ball
- Protect
- Shadow Ball

Right now, you may be having a DERPADUR moment, seeing Driftblim.
All will be Explained.
Driftblim's skyhigh HP often makes up for its rather less desirable defenses, and with enough speed and Special attack, this thing can crush a fair chunk of things in any weather.
Thunder Provides Coverage, and rain abuse.
Weather Ball is used similar to Raikous, but this Weather Ball user fires it off with it's Flare Boost 406 Special attack, further complimenting weather ball's 100 boosted base.
Protect is standard on mine, letting me survive a turn and or setting up flare boost.
Shadow ball provides strong stab.
When i get flare boost up, this thing COMPLETLY walls standard breelooms not carying rock attacks.
And before you yell at me for even using Driftblim in OU, try it out and use it wisely, and it may shock you.

Spoiler: Exportable

Latios (M) @ White Herb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock
- Thunder


Scizor (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Agility


Politoed (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Focus Blast


Tentacruel (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 Def / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Acid Spray


Drifblim (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Flare Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Weather Ball
- Protect
- Shadow Ball


Raikou @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Aura Sphere
- ExtremeSpeed
- Weather Ball
- Thunder

Thanks for the rates :)









​

 

[silverangel]

I would never laugh at a Drifblim, unless it used Expolsion on my own

Bet seriously, Driflblim is underrated. I find the AcroBlimp being able to stop almost every spinner in the game bar Excadrill by using Acrobatics to KO or by bringing the opponent down with it using Destiny Bond. Flare Boost Drifblim, on the other hand, has great special attacking power, but is easily revenge killed.

A few things to set about your Drifblim, though. 4 HP EVs give you 442 HP, an even number. Not really good for a pokemon weak to Stealth Rock. I recommend putting those EVs into special defense. That's it, actually.

Also, Sitrus Berry kinda more than sucks on Politoed. Based on the set you're running, I'd use Choice Specs.

Full rate later.

 

[Zachmac]

You have one really, really big weakness; stat boosters. What do you do against a pokemon who has managed to use Dragon Dance? Scizor can hurt them with bullet punch, if the opposing Dragon Dancer is healthy, it often won't get the job done.

252 Atk Technician Scizor (+Atk) Bullet Punch vs 54 HP/0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 16.67% - 19.64%
252 Atk Technician Scizor (+Atk) Bullet Punch vs 0 HP/0 Def Salamence: 39.27% - 46.53% (3 hits to KO)

Gyarados, Dragonite, Volcarona, and Salamence all have one common foe, though; the Choice Scarf. Latios, for example, could easily outrun the first three with a scarf and OHKO them with draco meteor(besides Volc, but I think Tentacruel can check that). Hidden Power Fire is also really unnecessary on Latios. You're using it in the rain, so hidden power fire will have a pathetic 35 base power. It's like trying to check Virizion with Gust.

252 SpAtk Latios Hidden Power Fire vs 252 HP/168 SpDef Ferrothorn: 34.09% - 40.91% (3-4 hits to KO)

So, rather you give it the choice scarf or not, it'd probably be better to give it surf.

Anyway, if you don't want to give Latios a choice scarf, Politoed and Raikou could work. Even a maximum speed Dragonite or Gyarados will be outsped by Raikou, who could handle them with HP Ice(which you probably want over it's weak Extreme Speed for perfect coverage). If it has a choice scarf, it would also want Volt Switch, but since I doubt you want to get rid of Weather Ball, I doubt you're going to make room for it.

Politoed with a timid nature can outrun Adamant Salamance and Dragonite and hits them with Ice Beam, but struggles with jolly ones and Gyarados. I wouldn't recommend this one unless you really don't want to change your other members.

If you aren't happy about any of these possible changes, I could try suggesting new pokemon for your team, like Scarf Keldeo and Rotom-W.

 

[Suhnerd]

Interesting team, but there needs to be some changes.

Sitrus Berry on an offensive set is pointless on toad because it is so frail without defensive or spec def evs. It's designed to be a powerhouse under rain, so that's why it would be better to run specs instead. I recommend changing the nature to modest. It does massive damage to anything even without rain up. With rain up it OHKOs anything that isn't resistant to water and not frail. With rain up it OHKOs loom.

Running HP fire on a rain team is contradictory. Like Zach said it only would have 35 base power and that would be a waste of a move. I know it's standard but it's best to run surf instead.

Acid Spray is also questionable. Have you tested this synergy? Maybe in theory it might work but in reality people would just switch out and the spec def drops would be phased out. I recommend dropping all attacking moves besides scald for protect and toxic spikes. Protect is to increase survivability, especially with the great recovery from rain dish and sludge. Toxic spikes is good for that racking damage against annoying pokes. Tenta is designed to be a wall/spinner, and all you've given it to do well at that is it's evs and item.

 

[meliekpi]

The Team

Politoed (M) @ Life orb/Choice Specs/Choice Scarf Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Focus Blast

Unlike some other rain teams, my Politoad is meant to set up rain, then beat the tar out of what ever comes into it.
I gave it Timid with Ev's in speed to outspeed pokemon with 262 speed, like some Scizor sets and common slower Politoad checks.
I put sitrus berry over leftovers for a quick recovery, and the ability to stay in the next turn helps.
This set features great synergy with my Tentacruel, and when i use the two correctly it turns politoad's ice beam 2KO on a latios into a 1KO.

Scizor (M) @ Life Orb / Leftovers

Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Superpower/Roost

A LO +2 bullet punch ohko's latios and ohko's Hydreigon after sr (none of which you have but more on that later). With the turn you would have had to set up agility you could set up 2 SD's and do some heavy damage with bullet punch.

Scizor is where things start to get somewhat gimmicky.
People are used to choice band Scizors and Swords Dance Scizors, and even the rare U-turn Scarfed Scizor.
My set takes part of the Sword Dance's niche and part of the Choice Scarf's niche and puts them into one, if i use it correctly.
If I'm able to get a Swords Dance in one Turn, then Agility the second, it pretty much guarentees something to go down.
With both Boosts, it outspeeds and KO's Latios, Hydreigon, Kyreum-B, the Rare Ludicolo, Terrakion, Tyranitar, non-scarfed Starmie, Abomasnow, Sometimes Dexoys-D, and a ton more pokemon.
It can severely dent other pokemon, such as metagross, jirachi, salamence, Thundurus-t, ect.
Even without boost it still is a beast, like all scizors.

Tentacruel (M) @ Black Sludge

Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes/Protect

Acid Spray is quite gimmicky. A 60 bp move after stab that requires a switch out to capitalize on.

In Rain, Tentacruel gains seemingly an 8th of its health back with Black Sludge and Raindish.
Scald and Rapid Spin are somewhat basic on a Tentacruel, and provide decentcy in the ability to drop any hazards on my field, and a nice burn chance with rain boosted stab.
Giga Drain lets Tentacruel be able to fairly dent walls like Rotom-W, and Gastrodon, and provides a move of recovery.
Acid Spray not only damages the foe, but causes things to go down.
When Acid Spray hits, it causes the opponent's Special Defense to drop 2 stages, causing my special attackers to dent much harder, and it is also boosted by stab and black sludge, letting me get at least a 7-20% damage on pokemon neutral to poison, and it lets giga drain nearly 60% some Rotoms.
so Acid Spray spreads a lot of synergy to my team.

Latios (M) @ Life Orb/Choice Specs

Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Recover / Surf / Trick
- Psyshock
- Thunder

Life Orb offers much more staying power than white herb while giving more power. Surf in the rain does more damage to scizor and the like.

A somewhat Standard latios set, but tweaked.
Draco Meteor Ko's plenty of Dragons, and dents all but chancey/blissey and steel types. White Herb clears up the SPA drop, so latios doesnt have to switch.
Hidden power fire is mainly do dent common walls like Scizor and Ferrothorn.
Psyshock is great VS a lot of pokes, such as blissey, chancey, and terrakion.
Thunder on Latios is beast, it does around 53% to a Scizor, and 30 to a ferrothorn, and provides coverage against Politoads and other things that come my way.

Raikou @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Aura Sphere
- Hidden Power Ice / Volt Switch
- Weather Ball
- Thunder

Hp ice / volt switch provides more coverage or switch initiative respectively. Raikou's atk stat is too low to make use of e-speed.

Raikou Puts a Dent in Pretty much everything.
Due to 3 of its moves being event moves, it has to be rash, but even with a rather 329 speed it outspeeds plenty of pokemon.
Aura Sphere provides coverage against darks and rocks, extreeme speed picks off weakened Pokemon, Weather Ball provides an advantage in ALL weather, giving it a boosted 100 base water attack in rain, fire in sun, rock/ground in sandstorm, ice in hail.
Weather ball in weather has KO'd Thundurus-t's
And Thunder Damages a lot of stuff, and
provides rain abuse.

Drifblim (M) @ Flame Orb

Trait: Flare Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Weather Ball
- Protect
- Shadow Ball

Right now, you may be having a DERPADUR moment, seeing Driftblim.
All will be Explained.
Driftblim's skyhigh HP often makes up for its rather less desirable defenses, and with enough speed and Special attack, this thing can crush a fair chunk of things in any weather.
Thunder Provides Coverage, and rain abuse.
Weather Ball is used similar to Raikous, but this Weather Ball user fires it off with it's Flare Boost 406 Special attack, further complimenting weather ball's 100 boosted base.
Protect is standard on mine, letting me survive a turn and or setting up flare boost.
Shadow ball provides strong stab.
When i get flare boost up, this thing COMPLETLY walls standard breelooms not carying rock attacks.
And before you yell at me for even using Driftblim in OU, try it out and use it wisely, and it may shock you.

I have a couple of issues with this pokemon and the way it synergizes with your team. The fact that it is a ghost type allows it to spinblock for your team. However, I see no hazard support for your team. Stealth rocks can turn 2hko's to ohko's for your sweepers. I also dont drifblim is that great of a pokemon in ou. 80 base speed isn't the best and flare boost is outclassed by unburden. It can work as a breloom check but the acroblimp set can do the same and provide some utility.



Thanks for the rates :)









​

Suggestions made in bold.

Because of your lack of SR and overall weakness to t-tar, I would suggest using a utility Terrakion set.

Terrakion@ Focus sash
Ability:Justified
Jolly Nature (+Spe-SpA)
Evs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Moveset:
Stealth Rock
Taunt
Stone Edge
Close Combat

Not a pro at this and I'm sure there is much more that can improve this team in addition to what i said.

 

[Zachmac]

Taking a closer look...

Ferrothorn with Thunderwave can be troublesome, depending on the set. Raikou could hurt 2HKO it with Aura Sphere, and Scizor could try to set up on it, but neither would enjoy the paralysis.
Substitute/Protect Gliscor might cause problems, as your only thing that is both immune to poison and can handle it's high defense and Earthquakes is Drifblim, who is stalled out of health because of it's burn. I've found this set to be rare, though, so I don't think countering it will be a necessity.
Choice Specs Jolteon can 2HKO everything in your team, including Raikou if you count life orb recoil and/or entry hazards.
Toxicroak can be painful to fight if it gets a substitute or swords dance, thanks to sucker punch, even Latios is handled. While Tentacruel can resist it's drain punches, it can't really hurt it in return. Granted, it's frail, so if you land a powerful hit on it while the subs down, it probably won't take it, but your only candidates for that may have a difficult time doing so.
If it uses Sludge Bomb, Venusaur can be troublesome, but otherwise, it's stopped by Latios.
Volcarona with Hurricane can be deadly, especially with your lack of stealth rock.

Choice Scarf Landorous-T can help handle speed boosters, T-wave Ferrothorn, sandstorm and Toxicroak. The set I recommend is...

Spoiler: Landy

Landorus-T @ Choice Scarf
32 HP/252 att/224 Speed
Jolly/Naive
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-turn
-Superpower/Hidden Power Ice

Earthquake needs little explaining, and Stone Edge not only provides the edgequake combo, but can hit Dragonite, Salamence, Volcarona and Gyarados all for super effective damage. Superpower is there for Ferrothorn and other steel types that think they can wall it, but if you don't find Ferrothorn to be too much of a problem, HP Ice hits Gliscor and is more reliable for Dragons x4 ice weak dragons.

As for who to swap it out for, I'd personally kick out Raikou or Drifblim. While going through the list of OU pokemon, I found them to do the least for your team. Though, Driblim can spin block, which can be helpful if you decided to use Toxic Spikes on Tentacruel.

Venusaur with Sludge Bomb will still be a problem, though. You could swap Latios for Focus Sash Alakazam, but that will sacrifice a lot of bulk. You could find a wall that could safely paralyze it, or simply fight off the weather war. This means you need a plan to take down Ninetales before your opponent takes down Politoed. Toxic Spikes is a simple change that can greatly help you with that, as they will allow you to poison Ninetales just by watching it swap in, which will give Politoed a huge advantage over it.

Also, your Tentacruel's EVs aren't that great.

EVs: 252 Def / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd

Speed is pointless, really, and you would be better off running max HP then defense. I'd recommend this EV spread.
252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spd
This is the spread most people use, and for a good reason. Tentacruel utilizes it's recovery ability to the best with this spread, and...

Using Speed EVs may seem unorthodox for a defensive Pokemon, but adding 20 EVs in Speed allows Tentacruel to outspeed Timid Magnezone and Adamant Breloom, who would otherwise pose a dangerous threat, as well as neutral-natured Politoed and Metagross.

 

[Magicmonkey]

If your going offensive tentacruel, ice beam over acid spary to hit dragonite switc ins, latios switch ins etc(although scald for burn is just as good 30% of the time), and you don't need timid 252. You need to reach 285 speed, pretty much anything after that is pointless, as the only thing you will gain outspeeding is landorus-T, and even that doesn't need the full 252 EV's.

You have no stealth rocks, which is pretty bad, and your only electric resists are easily worn down sweepers, so rotom-w volt switching or thunderus thunder/VS will really hurt after a few turns, and oyu can't wear them down with rocks, so voltturn teams can come in and out all they like. Drifblim is the odd card here, and needs to be swapped out for a stealth rocker, perhaps ferrothorn or jirachi. Specs or scarf on politoed is a good idea, hp ice on raikoua over E speed/ weather ball, and agility on scizor is kinda silly. If your running speed on scizor make it jolly 244 to outspeed max speed ttars and magnezones, and carry super power always and all the time ever.
Hp fire on rain is semi counter productive, and surf maybe be more helpful. White herb isn't a great item, but it has its uses. Expert belt might be better, or an item suggested above.

 

[Atrocious]

I'm a little opposed to using Bullet Punch over something like Iron Head if you do decide to use Agility first as the flinchhax could be useful. I'd recommend Expert Belt over Sitrus Berry if you don't like to be locked into one move while packing quite a punch. Tentacruel, eh, I don't think Giga Drain will be that useful as it has no SpA investment and even with an Acid Spray, you're not going to do much IMO. Calculations could sort of help as AK dude's calculator is down for me. I'd keep Hidden Power Fire to allow you to actually touch Ferrothorn as it'll still do decent damage to it unlike every other move that fails to 3HKO, Thunder doesn't even 4HKO when you factor in Leftovers recovery.