My first ever Rain Team.. ♥

[Angela]

Ok so I tried shoddy the other day, didn't really like it that much, then I went online yesterday and a very kind member helped me build a team, I told him that I liked water pokes and he suggested a rain team.. Anyway here is the team we worked on.... I also used it on shoddy last night, it's really good... Anyway, can somebody rate it please?


Azelf
Item: Damp rock
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Jolly
Status: 252 HP, 252 speed 4 attack
Moveset: Stealth rock, Rain dance, Explosion, U-turn

Kingdra
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest
Status: 252 ATK, 16 Seed 240 Sp ATK
Moveset: Hydro Pump, Draco Meteor, Rain Dance, Waterfall

Ludicolo
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest
Status: 60 HP, 252 SP Attack, 196 Speed
Moveset: Surf, Energy ball, Ice Beam, Rain Dance


Bronzong
Item: Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Impish
Stats: 252 HP, 128 def, 128 attack
Moveset: Rain Dance, Light Screen, Reflect, Explosion


Qwilifish
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Adamant
Status: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moveset: Waterfall, Poison Jab, rain dance, Explode

Scizor
Item: Damp rock
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
Status: 248 HP, 252 Atk 8 Speed
Moveset: U-turn, Bullet punch, Superpower, Pursuit


EDIT:


Ok, seeing a description was requested...

I have Azelf in the front to make him use Rain dance, I then use the spikes, then use U-Turn... I can then changes to either Ludicolo, Kingdra or Qwilifish.. Those all boost up in the rain... They all have water moves, seeing abuse water in rain....

Anyway the Kingdra s really handy seeing he has such powerful moves, so if I land against a poke that is strong against water then I can always hit him wit either Dragon Pulse or Signal Beam...

The Scizor is mainly there if I had a waller such as Snorlax, Chansey or some other annoying Normal or Figtning type to defeat.. The Bronzong is simply there to apply rain dance some extra defense, his purpose is to explode....

Anyway if I hit a Dragon or Electric or Water types, then that's what Ludicolo is for... The Qwilifish is if I land on any grass pokes or if someone uses toxic spikes..

Anyway if the rain stops and my poke dies then I always have Azelf with a low HP, so I use him to apply rain dance, then I explode him... :3


But the main point of this is to always keep the rain going.. That's the main purpose of the strategy.. :3

So this is a rather simple strategy.... :3

 

[Dark Azelf]

Eh go on then, ill allow this.

But could you add explanations for each pokemon please ? It helps raters and really improves the quality of the rates you get so it helps us all out. =P

 

[Angela]

Ok a small description has been added, I'm not sure if it's long enough... But I tried explaining why I have each poke, and why Azelf is in front... :)

 

[Audacity]

It was a pleasure building this team with you, and I hope I have opened your mind to all the possibilities that exist in competitive Pokemon. I just wanted to note to potential team raters that this team is somewhat weak against

- Vaporeon
- Milotic
- Suicune
- Blissey
- Tentacruel
- Empoleon

If anybody can try and pin-point how to fix that, it would be much appreciated by both of us ^_^.

Aside from those Pokemon, this team really seems to do very well, and it is a team I can be proud of co-making :)

The only change that I would make to this team is the ev spread of Qwilfish. It should be:

34 Hp / 252 Attack / 224 Speed

And possibly light clay on Bronzong over damp rock.

 

[OrlyNow?]

Use SD Ludicolo ^-^
It's not necisary for all pokemon to carry Rain Dance, maybe just Azelf and Bronzong. Still, Bronzong is only needed, having a Rain Dance lead gives away the element of surprise.

Is it really necisary to have 128 Attack EVs on Zong if his only attack is Explosion? Add those to Defense or switch them to Special Defence.

I'd consider running Brick Break > Superpower for Scizor so you wont have to reapply SD every few turns, and a +2 Brick Break is still somewhat scary. Switch the former Rain Dance to Roost, pump in some Def EVs and make yourself a bulky Scizor, since your team can't take hits very well.

SkarmBliss walls your whole team from what I see, maybe run a MixDra set to help with that:
~ Dragon Dance
~ Waterfall
~ Outrage
~ Hydro Pump / Draco Meteor

SpecJolt can dominate most, if not all of your team when your Rain Dance is down and everybody is slow once again, and Scizors Bullet Punch can really dent up your team with rocks (and maybe even spikes) down. Scarfrachi also is a menance to this team.

Maybe switch Azelf with a (t)spiker lead, such as Roserade or Smeargle, which will make your opponent think twice before switching. The following set would really help you because of both Spikes and SR which could chip away your opponenets health quickly.

Smeargle
Focus Sash Own Tempo Jolly
EVs 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spe
~ Spore
~ Spikes
~ Taunt
~ Stealth Rock

I just wanted to note to potential team raters that this team is somewhat weak against

- Vaporeon
- Milotic
- Suicune
- Blissey
- Tentacruel
- Empoleon

Perhaps add a Electric attack on a Poke to help with the bolded threats. I'm too tired to name anything specific, use your imagination.

I was somewhat tired when I posted this, so don't be surprised if I edit out silly mistakes in a hour or so.

Anyways, Gl with the team.

 

[Audacity]

Hmm.. Mixdra over the current Kingdra is an excellent suggestion, actually.

Possibly something like this over the current set?

Mixdra @ Life Orb
Nature: Naughty
EVs: 252 Atk / 16 Spe / 240 SpAtk
- Waterfall
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Rain Dance

The attack EV's on Bronzong let it do more damage with Explosion.

Superpower > Brick Break even though with SD its redundant, but it helps greatly against blissey.

 

[OrlyNow?]

Hmm.. Mixdra over the current Kingdra is an excellent suggestion, actually.

Possible something like this over the current set?

Mixdra @ Life Orb
Nature: Naughty
EVs: 252 Atk / 16 Spe / 240 SpAtk
- Waterfall
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Rain Dance

The attack EV's on Bronzong let it do more damage with Explosion.

I suppose that will do, however I still urge you to share some of Zongs Attack EVs to Special Defence, as Explosion will only hit once, and a special attack can attack multiple times, buying you more time to set up screens.

 

[Audacity]

I suppose that will do, however I still urge you to share some of Zongs Attack EVs to Special Defence, as Explosion will only hit once, and a special attack can attack multiple times, buying you more time to set up screens.

With rain neutralizing Bronzong's fire weakness, too much special defense investment isn't needed, and I could use the attack ev's against things that hurt my team like suicune, anyway.

Thank you for the rate!

Keep them coming.

 

[BeachBoy]

What needs to change in this team is the way it's played. "Oh, I got rain up, I'm totally okay ^_^." isn't going to fly, you've got to maintain the mindset that rain needs to be up at all times.

The perfect example was my MixMence against you yesterday. Whenever rain stopped, he trashed 2-3 party members. And once Qwil stopped dancing in the rain, MixMence came in to trash Qwil and Kingdra for me to win. If you kept the strategy together, remembered when rain was going to stop and kept throwing rain up when it was about to die, you would've (and really should've) beat me. Instead because you thought you had it locked up, Salamence took obvious advantage. (You exploding Bronzong when I switched to Celebi did nothing but help me if anything)

I'd recommend more immediate damage in case such a scenario pops up, like when a Tyranitar pops up to shut your rain or whatever along those lines. Like Choice Band Scizor to smack things hard with U-turn and then switch to one of your able bulky rain dancers like Bronzong. (I personally wouldn't recommend explosion on it thanks to it being your main bulk on the team -- but that might just be preference)

All I'm really saying is, with rain up, it's hard to contain, but once the sky is clear, you're as vulnerable as anything. You need to have that caution to play a little defensiveness to maintain your tempo, otherwise you can fall apart quickly to offense in the blink of an eye.

 

[yankee0724]

Superpower > Brick Break even though with SD its redundant, but it helps greatly against blissey.

umm...+2 Brick Break always KO's Bold 252 Def/252 HP Blissey if you have SR up[min of 91% and 12% for SR>100%], which Azelf should get up before he goes and dies

so Brick Break>Superpower on Scizor.

 

[wolf]

umm...+2 Brick Break always KO's Bold 252 Def/252 HP Blissey if you have SR up[min of 91% and 12% for SR>100%], which Azelf should get up before he goes and dies

so Brick Break>Superpower on Scizor.

You can OHKO Magnezone and Heatran on the switch with Superpower iirc, where as Brick Break cannot. But, it's usually preference.

 

[Chaostorm]

I always say that Electrode is a good Rain Dance Lead because of its 140 base speed, so why using something slower than it ?

Oh so you want an SR user ... anyways you can use Draco Meteor on Kingdra, it can deal many KOes to stuffs that doesnt resist it.

use 200 HP/ 252 Atk / 56 Spe on Scizor, you still got enough bulk just that you get more speed.

 

[yankee0724]

You can OHKO Magnezone and Heatran on the switch with Superpower iirc, where as Brick Break cannot. But, it's usually preference.

+2 brick break to 252 hp/0 defense hetran does a min of 88.5, add in stealth rock, and its a ohko

thats the most defensive standard tran set smogon has listed.

same thing to steel killer set[176 hp/0 def] for zone on smogon does min of 97%, so sr is a guaranteed ohko

scarf is a deff ohko

only zone set on smogon that survives +2 brick break and sr is the dual screens running 252 hp.

brick break>superpower

 

[wolf]

+2 brick break to 252 hp/0 defense hetran does a min of 88.5, add in stealth rock, and its a ohko

thats the most defensive standard tran set smogon has listed.

same thing to steel killer set[176 hp/0 def] for zone on smogon does min of 97%, so sr is a guaranteed ohko

scarf is a deff ohko

only zone set on smogon that survives +2 brick break and sr is the dual screens running 252 hp.

brick break>superpower

You can OHKO Magnezone and Heatran on the switch with Superpower iirc, where as Brick Break cannot. But, it's usually preference.

Keeping Scizor in on Magnezone and Heatran is fatal.

 

[yankee0724]

totally missed that part of the sentence.lol

just use shed shell on scizor.lol

 

[Audacity]

Me and Angela tested Mixdra. The results were fantastic, so we are changing to a Mixdra.

Mixdra @ Life Orb
Nature: Naughty
EVs: 252 Atk / 16 Spe / 240 SpAtk
- Waterfall
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Rain Dance

I am keeping superpower on Scizor and I am not adding shed shell, either.... >_<

Thank you for the rates, guys ^_^.

 

[Dark Azelf]

It was a pleasure building this team with you, and I hope I have opened your mind to all the possibilities that exist in competitive Pokemon. I just wanted to note to potential team raters that this team is somewhat weak against

- Vaporeon
- Milotic
- Suicune
- Blissey
- Tentacruel
- Empoleon

If anybody can try and pin-point how to fix that, it would be much appreciated by both of us ^_^.

Aside from those Pokemon, this team really seems to do very well, and it is a team I can be proud of co-making :)

The only change that I would make to this team is the ev spread of Qwilfish. It should be:

34 Hp / 252 Attack / 224 Speed

And possibly light clay on Bronzong over damp rock.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2282277&postcount=2

O_O

Anyways, i agree with Beachy if the weather goes Tar puts a world of hurt on you, DD Bibari Tar pretty much 6-O's you if it gets in a boost. Juse keep that in mind and dont let it set up, same with SD Luke and alot of sweepers really.

 

[wolf]

Get a Kyogre, that way Rain Dance isn't needed.

Good team btw.

It seems this is designed for OU (no one posted anything about Uber threats), so Kyogre is banned. I could be wrong however.

 

[Alternative]

Honestly, I have no idea why Scizor is holding a Damp Rock. What's it meant to do?
Choice Band >> it please. That way you can somewhat revenge kill common threats.

Also, not everything needs to have rain dance + damp rock.
I'd consider using Light Clay >> Damp Rock on Zong for more screen support.

 

[Audacity]

Sorry for the late replies. I have been really sick.

I guess life orb on Scizor would be more useful. Angela, want to try it out?