Rain team

[PlatinumDude]

I built this Rain team for Pokemon Showdown. I won some and lost some, but I feel that this one could use some work.

Politoed:
-Scald
-Toxic
-Perish Song
-Ice Beam
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle

By now, I'm sure you know what Politoed does for the team (setting up rain). I'm considering making it Choiced, but I don't really know if I should.

Changed around Politoed's support moves to help deal with walls.

Ferrothorn:
-Stealth Rock
-Leech Seed
-Power Whip
-Gyro Ball
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 252 HP/88 Def/168 SDef
Item: Leftovers

Ferrothorn is in here to check/counter other Water Pokemon thanks to its good typing and bulk.

Changed Spikes to Stealth Rock.

Jirachi:
-Calm Mind
-Substitute
-Thunder
-Psyshock
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP/4 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Leftovers

Suggested by Lila, Jirachi went over Toxicroak for easier cleaning. It can set up against Blissey easily, I guess.

Starmie:
-Hydro Pump
-Thunder
-Ice Beam
-Rapid Spin
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SAtk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure

The Rapid Spinner of the team. I'm considering making its set more defensively-oriented because I felt that it died too quickly with its current set.

Dragonite:
-Hurricane
-Aqua Tail
-ExtremeSpeed
-Superpower
Nature: Mild
EVs: 252 Atk/252 SAtk/4 Spe
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale

I couldn't decide between Tornadus(-T) and Dragonite, but I still went with Dragonite because of the resistances it provides. Should I try any forme of Tornadus or stick to this?

Changed Dragonite's nature to Mild because having opposing min Speed Dragonite outspeed mine was getting annoying.

Rotom-W:
-Thunder
-Hydro Pump
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Trick
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf

As suggested by Lila, I decided to give Rotom-W another try, this time with a Choice Scarf for revenge killing purposes.

Feel free to comment on Pokemon/move replacements if needed.

 

[A Sadistic Bastard]

I think you beat me with this team on PS. My name is Swami. The only problem is that half of the team is weak to grass (correct me if I'm wrong). I'd recommend dropping Rotom if you care.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I think you beat me with this team on PS. My name is Swami. The only problem is that half of the team is weak to grass (correct me if I'm wrong). I'd recommend dropping Rotom if you care.

That's true, but my other half can resist Grass. What should I replace Rotom with?

(slight bump here)

After playing with the team a bit more, I realized I was weak to Tornadus-T, and Breloom (Poison Heal or Technician) to an extent. I replaced Rotom with Jolteon to help with the former threat:
-Thunder
-Volt Switch
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Signal Beam
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SAtk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb

 

[Lila.]

Hey bro, this is a pretty nice team. At a first glance, I think the biggest threat is easily sub dd gyarados. Like most drizzle teams, sub gyarados can pose a massive threat if you happen to have a few places where it can set up on. Although jolteon outruns most gyarados variants after one dragon dance, I really don't think that this is enough. If you happen to break gyarados' sub one time with volt switch, it can easily sub down again as you go into another team member meaning that that it can get a second dd and sweep your team easily. On the other hand, if jolteon uses thunder, then gyarados can easily waterfall jolteon for an easy ko (or sub down again and actually dd again). Either way, jolteon is not one to rely on for beating sub dd gyarados alone. To be honest with you, I think that if you perhaps tried a rotom-w on this team again, gyarados won't be as much of a problem. I mean, jolteon doesn't exactly switch into tornadus-t any better than rotom-w can, so you might as well use rotom-w which can switch into stuff like mamoswine, gyarados, tornadus-t etc easier. I think running a choice scarf set would actually be quite interesting. This team definitely has an offensive sort of playstyle, and timid or modest choice scarf hydro pump hits like a truck, meaning that between rotom-w / starmie / dragonite, you should have no trouble breaking down and cleaning up most types of teams.

If you decide to test rotom, I'd probably run hpump / volt switch / hp ice / thunder. Trick is an option I suppose over thunder, but I think that putting massive pressure on stuff like gyarados is much more valuable than possible tricking chansey / blissey a choice scarf. If you really don't think that rotom-w does the job against gyarados and tornadus-t, then you could easily try out another steel type on this team. Outside of jolteon, you lack a pretty crucial flying resistance and jolteon is definitely not the most reliable of switches into tornadus. I think something like sub + calm mind jirachi would work excellently over toxicroak. Although toxicroak work well against ferrothorn, I think that something like sub calm mind jirachi would work excellently as a cleaner on this team. Jirachi sets up against non bulldoze ferrothorn and can get to +6 easily enough if ferrothorn decides to stay in. Not to mention that jirachi is a solid flying resist and also matches up well against other drizzle teams as well as stall teams. I'd try a set with substitute / calm mind / psyshock / water pulse, timid nature, max speed and hp as that combination of moves easily beats gastrodon as well as calm mind reuniclus (which is pretty annoying to this team).

As for some small changes, I'd run stealth rock on ferrothorn. Offensive teams such as this absolutely need stealth rock. Although spikes is pretty nice to have, stealth rock is beneficial for your drizzle abusers to hit hard with. Perish song on politoed is also a very good option here. Hypnosis, although pretty good, is extremely unreliable. Perish song gives you a safety net as a last ditch effort versus stuff like sub calm mind jirachi, dragonite, gyarados, volcarona etc. gl!

 

[Cam Meekins]

Woah, nice team here bro. Ever thought of hydro pump on politoed? The extra power is really cool. I also agree with everything Lila said. Have fun!

 

[PlatinumDude]

Hey bro, this is a pretty nice team. At a first glance, I think the biggest threat is easily sub dd gyarados. Like most drizzle teams, sub gyarados can pose a massive threat if you happen to have a few places where it can set up on. Although jolteon outruns most gyarados variants after one dragon dance, I really don't think that this is enough. If you happen to break gyarados' sub one time with volt switch, it can easily sub down again as you go into another team member meaning that that it can get a second dd and sweep your team easily. On the other hand, if jolteon uses thunder, then gyarados can easily waterfall jolteon for an easy ko (or sub down again and actually dd again). Either way, jolteon is not one to rely on for beating sub dd gyarados alone. To be honest with you, I think that if you perhaps tried a rotom-w on this team again, gyarados won't be as much of a problem. I mean, jolteon doesn't exactly switch into tornadus-t any better than rotom-w can, so you might as well use rotom-w which can switch into stuff like mamoswine, gyarados, tornadus-t etc easier. I think running a choice scarf set would actually be quite interesting. This team definitely has an offensive sort of playstyle, and timid or modest choice scarf hydro pump hits like a truck, meaning that between rotom-w / starmie / dragonite, you should have no trouble breaking down and cleaning up most types of teams.

If you decide to test rotom, I'd probably run hpump / volt switch / hp ice / thunder. Trick is an option I suppose over thunder, but I think that putting massive pressure on stuff like gyarados is much more valuable than possible tricking chansey / blissey a choice scarf. If you really don't think that rotom-w does the job against gyarados and tornadus-t, then you could easily try out another steel type on this team. Outside of jolteon, you lack a pretty crucial flying resistance and jolteon is definitely not the most reliable of switches into tornadus. I think something like sub + calm mind jirachi would work excellently over toxicroak. Although toxicroak work well against ferrothorn, I think that something like sub calm mind jirachi would work excellently as a cleaner on this team. Jirachi sets up against non bulldoze ferrothorn and can get to +6 easily enough if ferrothorn decides to stay in. Not to mention that jirachi is a solid flying resist and also matches up well against other drizzle teams as well as stall teams. I'd try a set with substitute / calm mind / psyshock / water pulse, timid nature, max speed and hp as that combination of moves easily beats gastrodon as well as calm mind reuniclus (which is pretty annoying to this team).

As for some small changes, I'd run stealth rock on ferrothorn. Offensive teams such as this absolutely need stealth rock. Although spikes is pretty nice to have, stealth rock is beneficial for your drizzle abusers to hit hard with. Perish song on politoed is also a very good option here. Hypnosis, although pretty good, is extremely unreliable. Perish song gives you a safety net as a last ditch effort versus stuff like sub calm mind jirachi, dragonite, gyarados, volcarona etc. gl!

Cool; thanks for the advice! Yeah, I have a bit of a gaping Flying weakness there, so whenever I get on Showdown again, I'll test out the team with those changes.

 

[A Sadistic Bastard]

Jolteon is a fine replacement for Rotom. After looking at this team more, I realized that you might have trouble with Thundurus-T (especially choice). You might want to get a reliable way to take out Thundurus. It's pretty common in OU.