Mrs. Popo

[jesusfreak94]

Quick Overview:

I haven't played much serious competitive Pokemon lately. Like, at all. For the most part, the few teams I've made lately have been to take advantage of underrated sets or crazy gimmicks, which is what this team was based around. I wanted to use one of my favorite underrated sets that I haven't used in a while: LO Vaporeon. Jynx also got brought up somehow, so I decided to throw that in as well. It just sorta went from there, and it's been surprisingly solid. After playing 5 battles on PS, getting tired of the lag and glitches, and then playing another 15 battles on PO the other day, I only lost 3. One on PO was due to two consecutive Politoed Hydro Pump misses (costing me the weather war), the other on PO was due to two consecutive Vaporeon Hydro Pump misses (causing me to be swept by a Conkeldurr), and ironically, the one on PS was due to me getting swept by an opposing Jynx. I've played a little more since then, but I haven't really payed attention to how many losses. Something like 2 out of 21 battles or so. I'm actually surprised that this team has better than a 1:2 win/loss ratio, so take from that what you will.

Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Focus Blast

Politoed is Politoed, and ScarfToed is ScarfToed. I like this set a lot more now because of its ability to outspeed Tornadus-T, making it a decenty check against the genie. Strangely enough, I've won several weather wars just by leading with this thing and spamming Hydro Pump. Against non-weather teams with Genesect, I almost always just lead with Toed and toss out a Hydro Pump, which usually puts Genesect into SR range. I might lose Toed, but it's worth it. Ice Beam is neat for catching the occasional Dragon and catching random Flying types like Gliscor without having to risk Hydro Pump's accuracy. HP Grass is kinda cool, because people just love leaving in Gastrodon for me to kill. Focus Blast is literally for Ferrothorn and maybe Abomasnow or something, but it's been useful a few times. I might replace it with Perish Song to stop stupid last-Pokemon Reuniclus sweeps.

Vaporeon @ Life Orb
Trait: Hydration
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SAtk / 44 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Rest

Definitely one of the most underrated nukes of OU. It's Hydro Pump is hitting about 8.5% harder in the Rain than Specs Latios's Draco Meteor, which is just awesome. Needless to say, most of the time Vaporeon is on the field is spent blasting away with Hydro Pump as much as possible. Ice Beam and HP Grass do have their uses, similar to Politoed in that they hit the occasional Dragon/Flying/Grass type and Gastrodon, respectively. What's really great about Vaporeon is that he's bulky enough to take a ton of neutral attacks, even some powerful ones, and then just heal it all off with Rest. Stall teams often fall prey to Vappy just because they have little else they can do besides status him, while the whole time he's blowing holes in everything with Hydro Pump and Resting off what little damage they can do.

Dragonite @ Choice Band
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Superpower
- Fire Punch
- Extremespeed

Dragonite is just awesome. Between Multiscale and Extremespeed, the Choice Band set just checks a ton of stuff. Once the key Steels have been weakened or removed, I can just spam Outrage and probably kill at least two Pokemon. Superpower lets me hit stuff like Ferrothorn and BalloonTran, plus hitting most other Steel types a little harder than Earthquake would (besides Jirachi and Metagross, who I haven't had problems with so far). Extremespeed is great for nailing frail Pokemon like Volcarona and Thundurus-T. Fire Punch may seem weird on a Rain team, but it gives me a neat weapon against Sun teams and still hits Scizor, Genesect, and Forretress a little harder than Superpower even in the Rain.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

Pretty standard Ferrothorn setup, nothing really special here. Stealth Rock > Spikes since I've found a much greater need for wearing down random Volcarona and Tornadus/Thundurus-T than for Spikes. Leech Seed + Protect is cool because just by throwing out Leech Seed on a switch and hitting Protect after, I can shave a quarter off the opponent's health and sometimes get around half of my health back. I like Power Whip > Gyro Ball for the greater PP and the ability to hit Reuniclus for some decent damage. EV spread is standard stuff. I wanted to come up with a spread customized to take a wide variety of Dragon attacks, but this one actually does that pretty well. Don't fix what ain't broken, I guess.

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spd
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Rapid Spin

Dragonite loves for Rain to help preserve Multiscale by canceling out Sand and Hail, but he also loves spin support to get rid of Stealth Rock. That's the main reason Tentacruel is here, and this guy just doesn't like to die. With Protect, Tenta is effectively getting 1/4 of his health back every turn, which is pretty nice. You may be wondering if I forgot the word "Spikes" next to "Toxic", but I didn't. I've never really been in a match where I've thought, "Man, I could really use Toxic Spikes right now!" Toxic is pretty good, though, since it royally screws over Jellicent that try to spin block me. Even if I don't predict the switch, I can outspeed and Toxic it before it Taunts me. The EVs are there to beat max speed base 70s, which includes Specs Politoed, some forms of Breloom, and some forms of Cloyster.

Jynx @ Leftovers
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Lovely Kiss
- Substitute
- Nasty Plot
- Ice Beam

Here she is, Mrs. Popo herself. Lemme just say that Jynx is weird. Like, really weird. When I made this team, I honestly just thought I'd get a fun little Jynx sweep every now and then, but I think Jynx just might be the MVP of this team. Base 95 speed is deceptively fast, beating a ton of common Pokemon and letting me get a Sub up with ease. If I don't miss with Lovely Kiss (it only has 10% accuracy, 110% when the opponent is using it), I can usually easily get a Sub and at least one Nasty Plot up before I have to put them to sleep again. Since Jynx is getting 3/16 of her health back every turn, I can actually stall out dangerous moves like Ferrothorn's Power Whip (factoring in misses), random Gyro Balls from Ferro and Forry, and Heatran's Fire Blast. At +6 (not hard to get, actually), Jynx is 2HKOing things like Chansey, Blissey, and even offensive Heatran after Rocks. Simply awesome.



So that's about it. There are still a couple of things that I'm having trouble with.

Genesect is annoying to play around, as usual. I really don't have anything on my team that can't be 1-2HKOd by one of its moves. Thankfully, the opponent usually has to play as much of a mind game as I do, since I can do a lot of damage if they pick the wrong move. Usually I can hit it at the beginning with Politoed's Hydro Pump and put it within Stealth Rock range, mainly if the opponent is running non-weather and I'm not afraid to lose Toed.

Terrakion is really annoying. Tentacruel and Dragonite can take a Close Combat, and Ferrothorn can handle Stone Edge, but the opponent can really do a lot of damage to me if they predict right.

Flying type spam is pretty bad as well. Most of my team can take even a Specs Hurricane from Tornadus-T and do a ton of damage back or flat out KO, but I really hate having no resists. I've been thinking about running Rain SubCM Jirachi to fix this, but I can't decide where it should go.

Ironically, I really don't have a great way of beating opposing Jynx. I can sorta beat it with Vaporeon, since I always break its Subs with HP Grass, but past that those running Sub are probably going to kill something every time they come in.

Ok, that's about it. Rate away! ^_^

 

[Divine Retribution]

AgiliGross might cause you a headache, especially if Politoed and Ferrothorn are down. Even if they're not, he'll still kill something if he comes out. Politoed might be able to beat him, I don't know how well he takes Earthquakes. Hydro Pump definitely 2HKO's, might even OHKO in the rain. However, if they've also got a weather starter of their own, or really anything that can cancel that rain, even just enough to force him to switch, they'll kill you. Vaporeon doesn't have the physical bulk to take any hits, and lacks the power to OHKO. Dragonite is brought down by Ice Punch, Tentacruel dies to Earthquake, Jynx is gunned down by Meteor Mash. Ferrothorn can probably stall it out with Leech Seed, but after taking repeated Earthquakes, he'll be within easy revengekill range, if he survives at all. I suppose Vapereon might beat it in the rain, but I'm not sure.

That's the only glaringly obvious threat I can see.

 

[jesusfreak94]

AgiliGross actually isn't much of a problem at all. It's best shot at beating Vappy is Thunderpunch, which doesn't OHKO, so I can just bait it with Rest and switch to Ferrothorn. Even if the weather is changed to anything but Sun, Vappy's Hydro Pump OHKOs 1/3 of the time, 2/3 after Rocks. Politoed survives Thunderpunch about 93% of the time and can do a ton of damage with Hydro Pump as well (misses the OHKO, though). It also pretty much doesn't get past Ferrothorn at all, since Earthquake fails to even 3HKO and AgiliGross never runs Hammer Arm or Superpower. Now, CB Metagross is actually kinda dangerous, depending on the set. Ice Punch and Meteor Mash 2HKO Dragonite (Adamant variants can OHKO through Multiscale about 1/3 of the time with Ice Punch), Hammer Arm beats Ferrothorn, Thunderpunch beats my bulky Waters, and Jynx dies to pretty much everything. The problem with CBGross, though, is that it has to run the right combination of moves and predict correctly to beat me, which is probably why I've never lost to one. That, and it's not super common.

Thanks for the rate! ^_^

 

[Divine Retribution]

Mmm, I had Vaporeon's stats all wrong. Now I see he checks Metagross nicely. Politoed could probably at least put it in revengekill range even without the rain.

 

[Usatoday]

i honestly see a well made sun team destroying you and am interested in how you play around this weather if the team had a venusaur sunny day ninetales and a dugtrio you would be hurting pretty bad as dragonite is the only one that can take any sort of fire and grass type coverage when together i would hence suggest running a landorus initiate over dragonite nite to try to counteract this it would also give you something over sand teams as well

 

[Soul_Fly]

Agreed with the above rate.

Chlorophyll Venasaur in the sun murders this team.

You should really look into Dugtrio or a CB/SD+Rock Polish Landorus-T. Basically something to help you win a speed sweep contest as you can't stall then..

 

[Naoto Shirogane]

I disagree with that statement above me, first mr Jesusfreak here is not some newbie who would let the person keep sun up and sweep and besides that fact dragonite can deal with venasaur unless it has hp ice but even if it does he can swith to tentacrule and try burn it with scald then he can switch to ferrothron because he knows venasaur does not have hp fire.

overall nice team nice to see jynx tho

 

[Soul_Fly]

But that would require you to potentially sacrifice a Pokemon, unless lady luck is your mistress. I have seen many dragons killed by a predictive Venasaur and tentacruel can't to do much against it, apart from spamming scald and hoping to get in a burn. Plus. 1 move solarbeam is like uber damage, so tentacruel will be pressed hard.

And as jesusfreak said. Politoad is a sacrificial Pokemon so once it's down he won't be able to do much about the sun anyways. Maybe if you spot a ninetails and contain your urge to OHKO it w/ politoad you may able to save it for later but, that's it.

But it's his team so it's his call, personally I hate sacrificing Pokemon (or putting him in SR KO range) just to scout a potential set.

 

[Blue Harvest]

He is Sun weak, but not Venusaur weak as long as Politoed stays alive. However if the Sun is shining and Venusaur can get around Dragonite (not as hard as it may seem) it could give you trouble. Not the worst problem though.

I'll rate later!!

 

[Yellow De Viridian Grove]

I have an idea to further counter sun without changing much.

Fire/Grass and Fire/Bug coverage is walled by Dragonite who can retaliate by using Outrage/Sun boosted Fire Punch.


For the Venusaurs that run Hp [Ice] I suggest running Gyro Ball on Ferrothorn over either Protect or Power Whip. This allows you to nail Venosaur and get the 2HKO.

Also, Try RainVolcorona>Jynx. It resists everything Genesect has bar TBolt and can even burn him on the U-Turn. Using an LO and a Timid nature and one boost, you OHOK Terrakion with Hidden Power [Ground], OHKO Tornadus-T with Hurricane (75% chance KO without SR), Genesect with Hurricane (81% without SR), oh and Jinx.
With a Modest Nature, all the OHKO's are 100% and Terrakion is OHKO'd with Hurricane at +1

 

[jesusfreak94]

Sun can be pretty troublesome, as is the case with most Rain teams. However, I still do have Dragonite, which is one of the best checks to Sun there is. Most Sun teams tend to have a tough time overall dealing with Dragonite. Heck, Sun-boosted Fire Punch alone 1-2HKOs a ton of common Sun Pokemon, and a lot of common ones like Venusaur and Volcarona take a lot of damage from Extremespeed. Venusaur in particular isn't that bad. Politoed and Dragonite both check it just fine for the most part. Most Venusaur variants do not run HP Ice, so Dragonite is usually pretty safe. Those who do run HP Ice can be trouble, though.

And as jesusfreak said. Politoad is a sacrificial Pokemon so once it's down he won't be able to do much about the sun anyways. Maybe if you spot a ninetails and contain your urge to OHKO it w/ politoad you may able to save it for later but, that's it.

I think you misunderstood. I only said that I don't mind sacking Politoed to bring down lead Genesects against a non-weather team, just because Genesect is a pain otherwise. But I never, ever sack Politoed when I'm up against an opposing weather team. Politoed isn't a sacrificial Pokemon at all, but if I don't see a need for it and I just want to take out a non-weather team's Genesect early on, I don't mind doing it at all.

For the Venusaurs that run Hp [Ice] I suggest running Gyro Ball on Ferrothorn over either Protect or Power Whip. This allows you to nail Venosaur and get the 2HKO.

That's actually a solid idea. Gyro Ball would actually let me 2HKO Venusaur lacking HP Fire, while avoiding a 2HKO from even a +2 252 SpA Modest LO HP Ice from Growth Venusaur, so I'll have it checked just fine between that, Politoed, and Dragonite.

Also, Try RainVolcorona>Jynx. It resists everything Genesect has bar TBolt and can even burn him on the U-Turn. Using an LO and a Timid nature and one boost, you OHOK Terrakion with Hidden Power [Ground], OHKO Tornadus-T with Hurricane (75% chance KO without SR), Genesect with Hurricane (81% without SR), oh and Jinx.
With a Modest Nature, all the OHKO's are 100% and Terrakion is OHKO'd with Hurricane at +1

Maybe not over Jynx, since she's kinda become the basis for the team, but I could see Rain Volcarona helping. It could work over Vaporeon, I suppose. Vappy's main job is just hitting stuff really hard and taking some hits, which Volcarona can do decently as well. If I start having more trouble with Sun, Volcarona could be a decent check to that as well.

So right now I'm trying Gyro Ball > Power Whip on Ferrothorn, and maybe Rain Volcarona > LO Vaporeon. I'll see how that does in the next couple of days or so.

Thanks again for the rates! ^_^

 

[d0nut]

Because some boar asked me to post this.

 

[Divine Retribution]

If you're having trouble with Sun, the single best counter to sun teams is Heatran, but he's deadweight on rain teams. You could try designing a set that still functions in the rain, but it wouldn't be easy.