This is a rain team that I designed basically to abuse rain. I started out by abusing NP Thundurus, but then it got banned and the original team sucked anyways. Inspired by Stone_Cold’s Reflections, I decided to build a team around Choice Specs Tornadus. It looked something like this
Politoed
Tornadus
Starmie
Dragonite
Toxicroak
Jirachi
However this proved weak to several opposing rain sweepers including Starmie and Jolteon, and Toxicroak wasn’t doing as well as I had hoped, so I replaced it with adamant swords dance Lucario with ExtremeSpeed to hit fast and frail sweepers. I also realized that bulky dragon dance Dragonite wasn’t working too well, so I decided to replace it with Jolteon. It did pretty well, although Tyranitar became an issue as I became too reliant on the rain, and I required a reliable way to kill it. So I replaced Jirachi with Dugtrio to trap and revenge kill Tyranitar, Starmie, and Terrakion without quick attack, etc. Since then it has worked quite well, allowing me to reach 510th on the standard OU ladder with a CRE of 1212 (the reason it's low is because I don't ladder much and currently with the help of some hax I have managed to keep a straight win record).
At a Glance
In Depth
Politoed (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Perish Song
- Focus Blast
Politoed is required on every rain team, as it is required to set up permanent rain. I decided to go with choice scarf Politoed and the decision paid off, as it was capable of muscling through faster threats, and bypass their speed. STAB hydro pump hits unbelievably hard in the rain, it is in fact capable of 2KO’ing a lot of weakened switch-ins that resist it.
Politoed is capable of switching in to a lot of weather sweepers, change the weather, and then KO them. It can do this even with Excadrill although it’s now banned so whatever. Focus blast is solely for Ferrothorn. I originally used HP grass but it hardly did anything so I switched to perish song to prevent set up from stuff like Calm Mind Latias.
Currently I’m considering using HP electric > Perish Song to deal with Gyarados, although I don’t really need it either as both Jolteon and Starmie can finish it off.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Starmie is probably my favourite Pokémon to use in the rain. Its sheer versatility plus the ability to use rapid spin makes it an invaluable candidate to pretty much any offensive rain team. Rapid spin blows away stealth rock, which hamper Tornadus’s longevity. Hydro pump is its main attack, maiming pretty much anything that doesn’t resist it. In fact I’m pretty sure that it 1HKO’s Scizor. Thunder scares away water- and flying-types such as Gyarados and Tornadus. Ice beam obviously is to hit dragons such as Dragonite.
Tornadus (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- U-turn
Tornadus is a very potent rain sweeper. Hurricane maims just about anything, bar Jirachi, Heatran, and Tyranitar. Focus blast hits all of them. Basically you’ll be hard pressed to find anything in OU that can switch into Tornadus’s attacks. Specs hurricane is a complete nuke, and focus blast is the airplane that drops it. HP electric doesn’t really do much other than hit Gyarados. U-turn helps scout for switches.
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Ice Punch
Lucario is what I used after finding that Toxicroak was stopped by too much stuff. Extremespeed is what made this stand out. Extremespeed helps me pick off weakened attackers, and close combat is extremely powerful. It’s probably the best offensive move in the game as it is 100% accurate and has no drawbacks to attack or speed. Ice punch is mostly just for Gliscor and Dragonite. I suppose I could use bullet punch for stuff that resist ExtremeSpeed but no one uses Choice scarf Tyranitar anyways.
Jolteon (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Baton Pass
Jolteon is a very good sweeper in the rain. Substitute helps me scout for switches and also helps avoid sucker punch. Baton pass adds to that as I can baton pass a substitute to allow for a safe switch-in. Jolteon is incredibly powerful and STAB thunder allows for the annihilation of almost anything that’s weak to it. Jolteon has many good characteristics—for example, it outspeeds Dugtrio, resists Scizor’s bullet punch, and volt absorb allows it to switch into a Rotom-W thunderbolt or volt switch and a Starmie thunderbolt, and restore health.
Dugtrio (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Sucker Punch
Dugtrio is a very useful Pokémon to this team. Its STAB earthquake can score kills against many Pokémon in OU. Life orb helps up its relatively mediocre attack. Stone edge compliments earthquake’s coverage and sucker punch beats psychic- and ghost-types. Dugtrio is a very reliable Pokémon as its ability guarantees it a kill against the ubiquitous and highly threatening Tyranitar, as well as Starmie, non-air balloon Heatran, Latios, Gengar, etc. It helps against opposing weather as it revenge kills Ninetales and Tyranitar. Dugtrio also helps lay out stealth rock.
So basically that’s my team. Rate critically.
Politoed
Tornadus
Starmie
Dragonite
Toxicroak
Jirachi
However this proved weak to several opposing rain sweepers including Starmie and Jolteon, and Toxicroak wasn’t doing as well as I had hoped, so I replaced it with adamant swords dance Lucario with ExtremeSpeed to hit fast and frail sweepers. I also realized that bulky dragon dance Dragonite wasn’t working too well, so I decided to replace it with Jolteon. It did pretty well, although Tyranitar became an issue as I became too reliant on the rain, and I required a reliable way to kill it. So I replaced Jirachi with Dugtrio to trap and revenge kill Tyranitar, Starmie, and Terrakion without quick attack, etc. Since then it has worked quite well, allowing me to reach 510th on the standard OU ladder with a CRE of 1212 (the reason it's low is because I don't ladder much and currently with the help of some hax I have managed to keep a straight win record).
http://i55.*******.com/2dj4d3c.png
At a Glance
In Depth
Politoed (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Perish Song
- Focus Blast
Politoed is required on every rain team, as it is required to set up permanent rain. I decided to go with choice scarf Politoed and the decision paid off, as it was capable of muscling through faster threats, and bypass their speed. STAB hydro pump hits unbelievably hard in the rain, it is in fact capable of 2KO’ing a lot of weakened switch-ins that resist it.
Politoed is capable of switching in to a lot of weather sweepers, change the weather, and then KO them. It can do this even with Excadrill although it’s now banned so whatever. Focus blast is solely for Ferrothorn. I originally used HP grass but it hardly did anything so I switched to perish song to prevent set up from stuff like Calm Mind Latias.
Currently I’m considering using HP electric > Perish Song to deal with Gyarados, although I don’t really need it either as both Jolteon and Starmie can finish it off.
http://i55.*******.com/2dj4d3c.png
Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Starmie is probably my favourite Pokémon to use in the rain. Its sheer versatility plus the ability to use rapid spin makes it an invaluable candidate to pretty much any offensive rain team. Rapid spin blows away stealth rock, which hamper Tornadus’s longevity. Hydro pump is its main attack, maiming pretty much anything that doesn’t resist it. In fact I’m pretty sure that it 1HKO’s Scizor. Thunder scares away water- and flying-types such as Gyarados and Tornadus. Ice beam obviously is to hit dragons such as Dragonite.
http://i55.*******.com/2dj4d3c.png
Tornadus (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- U-turn
Tornadus is a very potent rain sweeper. Hurricane maims just about anything, bar Jirachi, Heatran, and Tyranitar. Focus blast hits all of them. Basically you’ll be hard pressed to find anything in OU that can switch into Tornadus’s attacks. Specs hurricane is a complete nuke, and focus blast is the airplane that drops it. HP electric doesn’t really do much other than hit Gyarados. U-turn helps scout for switches.
http://i55.*******.com/2dj4d3c.png
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Ice Punch
Lucario is what I used after finding that Toxicroak was stopped by too much stuff. Extremespeed is what made this stand out. Extremespeed helps me pick off weakened attackers, and close combat is extremely powerful. It’s probably the best offensive move in the game as it is 100% accurate and has no drawbacks to attack or speed. Ice punch is mostly just for Gliscor and Dragonite. I suppose I could use bullet punch for stuff that resist ExtremeSpeed but no one uses Choice scarf Tyranitar anyways.
http://i55.*******.com/2dj4d3c.png
Jolteon (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Baton Pass
Jolteon is a very good sweeper in the rain. Substitute helps me scout for switches and also helps avoid sucker punch. Baton pass adds to that as I can baton pass a substitute to allow for a safe switch-in. Jolteon is incredibly powerful and STAB thunder allows for the annihilation of almost anything that’s weak to it. Jolteon has many good characteristics—for example, it outspeeds Dugtrio, resists Scizor’s bullet punch, and volt absorb allows it to switch into a Rotom-W thunderbolt or volt switch and a Starmie thunderbolt, and restore health.
http://i55.*******.com/2dj4d3c.png
Dugtrio (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Sucker Punch
Dugtrio is a very useful Pokémon to this team. Its STAB earthquake can score kills against many Pokémon in OU. Life orb helps up its relatively mediocre attack. Stone edge compliments earthquake’s coverage and sucker punch beats psychic- and ghost-types. Dugtrio is a very reliable Pokémon as its ability guarantees it a kill against the ubiquitous and highly threatening Tyranitar, as well as Starmie, non-air balloon Heatran, Latios, Gengar, etc. It helps against opposing weather as it revenge kills Ninetales and Tyranitar. Dugtrio also helps lay out stealth rock.
http://i55.*******.com/2dj4d3c.png
So basically that’s my team. Rate critically.