Rainyday Team

[Xenosfire]

Okay, guys, I'm new here and when it comes to competitive battling, a random monkey has more experience then me. So, before I go out and embarrass myself, I thought it would be prudent to ask the experts aka all of you. So, without further ado or delay...here's my Rainyday Team!



Azelf @ Damp Rock
252 Spe, 252 Atk, 4 Hp
Jolly Nature

Rain Dance
Stealth Rock
Explosion
Protect

Suicide lead. Quick Rain dancer and if I'm lucky, then set up stealth rock...and kaboom.

Rotom W @ Damp Rock
252 Spa, 252 Spe, 4 Spd
Modest Nature

Shadow Ball
Hydro Pump
Thunder
Rain Dance

Electric absorber/Spinner Wall/Rain Dancer/ Powerhouse. My favorite pokemon in the team.


Toxicroak @ Salac Berry, Ability is Dry Skin
252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 Hp
Adamant Nature

Sucker Punch
Brick Break
Stone Edge
Endure

Endures a powerful hit, Eats Salac berry, Rain Heals as he goes ape or, er, toad...

Kingdra @ Life Orb
252 Atk, 252 SpA, 4 Hp
Mild Nature

Waterfall
Surf
Draco Meteor
Rain Dance

My ace in the hole. Can hit either Physically or Specially and leave a nice dent either way.


Kabutops @ Focus Sash
252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 Hp
Aqua Jet
X-Scissor
Stone Edge
Swords Dance

Quick. Dance. Ouch.


Bronzong @ Damp Rock
252 Hp, 100 Def, 100 Spd, 58 Atk
Sassy Nature

Reflect
Explosion
Rain Dance
Gyro Ball

My nice wall. In rain, it has no weaknesses, good for setting up more rain and reflect.



I have a couple possible Switch-ins in Ludicolo and Scizor.

Okay, guys. I expect you to be as nice as poss...Forget it, I'm lying. Tear the team apart. Any and all comments appreciated!

 

[Tysonzero550]

rainy day advice

why not swap out gyro ball on bronzong for light screen, then use light clay as its hold item, iths already got explosion, so gyro's not needed as its just gonna blow up eventually. the rotom is amazing in this set tho.

as for you switch in, ludicolo, if he has rain dish, then he can do subseeding, if he has swift swim however, then make him a sweeper

 

[wolf]

I don't really see Protect helping Azelf much other than scouting a move. Taunt, U-turn, or Psychic would be more useful; U-turn for breaking Aero and enemy Elf's Sashes and scouting switches.

While Brick Break has better accuracy, Cross Chop seems to be more effective since Croak doesn't have that good of an Atk stat, and losing a KO due to power lose could end your sweep...

16 Speed EVs on Kingdra could be used so it can outrun and KO Scarf Heatran before it explodes.

Focus Sash is ineffective outside of leading with SR everywhere, Life Orb is a better option for Kabutops because Aqua Jet needs all the power it can get.

Might come back later to look for threats.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

In rain, Bronzong is still weak to Fire. The rain weakens fire moves by 50% so instead of a Fire move doing 200% it does 150%

 

[Dark Azelf]

Endure + Salac is a horrible strategy, priority and scarfers are everywhere.

Toxicroak@Life Orb
252 Att / 252 Speed / 6 HP
Adamant / Jolly Nature
Trait : Dry Skin
- Swords Dance
- Taunt / Ice Punch / Stone Edge
- Low Kick / Cross Chop
- Sucker Punch

Taunt stops junk like Rotom Wisping you and forces things to take Sucker Punches. Ice Punch hits Gliscor + Mence and SE hits Gyarados and covers other flying tyes. Low Kick is accuracy vs Power.

 

[Lickitricky]

This is a really good team~ I love the way that the walls use Rain Dance and then smoothly can switch into powerhouses, which have great stats and type coverage.

Some little tweaks I recommend:

I like your idea of Ludicolo being used: I used a Swift Swim one in my Rain Dance team and it worked extremely well as a sweeper.

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
252 Speed, 252 Sp. Attack, 4 HP
Modest
Swift Swim

-Hydro Pump/Surf
-Energy Ball
-Rain Dance/Giga Drain
-Toxic

Use Hydro Pump or Surf depending on your preference, and Energy Ball for taking care of waters that might also benefit from Rain Dance, and do 0.25% damage to Ludicolo with water moves. You can stall some pokes a little by using Toxic and then Giga Drain to heal yourself, or you can use Rain Dance in case you run out of turns.

I definitely agree with Wolflare's U-Turn idea for Azelf, because it would be a perfect way to switch into a sweeper, which will immediately take advantage of Rain Dance and/or resist an opponent's attack, since your team has pretty varied resistances even though they're mostly water (something that I really like about this team).

In my opinion, Kingdra should be as follows;

Kingdra @ Wide Lens
252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Modest
Swift Swim

-Ice Beam
-Hyro Pump
-Draco Meteor
-Rain Dance

Wide Lens can seem like a noobish item, but it helps you successfully use Hyro Pump and Draco Meteor, moves that you DON'T want to miss while sweeping.
Ice Beam is to sweep the Dragons that more or less resist a decent portion of your team.
I usually don't like Draco Meteor, but it seems like a great move to use when you know your Kingdra is kind of done for anyway and you want to dish out the maximum possible damage before fainting.
And since you lose Waterfall, you get only special moves, which means you can use more EV's for Speed or HP (Speed is better IMO), AND you get to use a Modest Nature so that you don't harm Kingdra's defense.

Don't you DARE change your Kabutops, you made it a top-notch physical sweeper.

My suggestion is to replace Toxicroak with Ludicolo: it might seem excessive to have 3 water-based sweepers, but their moves and resistances ARE quite varied and no moves would go to waste. Dark Azelf is right about Salac Toxicroak being priority/scarf weak, and in my opinion, it just doesn't cut it.

That might leave you weak to Gyarados, who might try to set up, take advantage of the rain, and would probably get your Kabutops before it gets to use SE after switching in.

I would try out the two pokes I suggested, and if they leave too many counters, I would go with Dark Azelf's Toxicroak instead of Ludicolo.

I hope this teams works out, because I find it to be really cool :)

 

[Human]

Replace Protect with Taunt on Azelf. On a Rain Dance team, you want to set it up and get the heck out of there (via explosion). Since Azelf is going to go boom in the first 2-3 turns of a match, there's no reason to put a stalling move like protect on it; all it does is waste a turn.

Also, I don't see the point of both Rotom-W and Bronzong on the team. You already have a great rain lead (Azelf) and a great wall to set up rain mid game (Bronzong) should you need to; those are the only two support pokemon you need. Rain Dance teams are sweeping oriented, and very few switches should take place during a battle; therefore, it's pointless to have a rapid spin blocker because you only have one entry hazard set up, and switching Rotom in wastes a turn of the rain.

It would be better to replace Rotom (or Bronzong) with a sweeper to deal with some of the big threats to rain dance teams.

 

[Xenosfire]

Azelf @ Damp Rock
252 Spe, 252 Atk, 4 Hp
Jolly Nature

Rain Dance
Stealth Rock
Explosion
U turn

Rotom W @ Damp Rock
252 Spa, 252 Spe, 4 Spd
Modest Nature

Shadow Ball
Hydro Pump
Thunder
Rain Dance


Kingdra @ Life Orb
252 Atk, 252 SpA, 4 Hp
Mild Nature

Waterfall
Surf
Draco Meteor
Rain Dance


Kabutops @ Focus Sash
252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 Hp
Aqua Jet
X-Scissor
Stone Edge
Swords Dance


Bronzong @ Damp Rock
252 Hp, 100 Def, 100 Spd, 58 Atk
Sassy Nature

Reflect
Explosion
Rain Dance
Light Screen

Scizor @ Life Orb
252 Atk, 168 Def, 88 Hp
Adamant Nature

Bullet Punch
Pursuit
Roost
U Turn


I decided to switch out the Nigh useless Croaker for another revenge killer, giving me two along with Kabutops. I've used this team on Shoddy Battle and I've won more than I've lost. Keeping waterfall on kingdra prevents me from being completely walled by blissey. Kabutops can come in, force a switch, set up a free swords dance (or two, if I'm lucky) And start to tear through 3 or 4 pokemon before finally succumbing. With the influx of Scarfed Tyranitar's Azelf usually bites it quickly so U turn in those situations is helpul.

I've considered replacing one of my pokemon with Ludicolo, but I'm not sure which one. Some people on Shoddy were telling me to ax Rotom, but I wasn't sure and decided to ask you kind folk instead.

By the by, thanks for all your help. It's a relief knowing that there are people who actually WANT to help me!