Hello all, as promised here is the rain team that has proven to be solidly built and simple for me to use. The title references the irony of my using a rain team while living in a desert. As I alluded to in my edit in the metagame discussion, this team is based around keeping up offensive pressure while using rain to reinforce that. So with that in mind, let us begin with the team building section:
- teambuilding:
First up is the most obvious for a rain team. The set I use is a bit different from smogon's, but I will go into detail about that when we get to his section.
Next I wanted a good sweeper who could abuse thunder's perfect accuracy. I also didn't want it to be useless outside of rain, so I went with Galvantula since his compound eyes lets him use thunder in all weathers except sun.
I knew I wanted at least stealth rocks for the team since it is by far the most powerful entry hazard, but I wanted to keep a heavy offense with it. Enter one of my personal favorite shinies, Metagross.
As soon as I saw hurricane I knew I wanted it on my rain team, so I brought in Tornadus to fire off extremely powerful hurricanes.
I knew I needed a way to handle Ferrothorn and since I couldn't use fire type attacks I brought in Conkeldurr.
Finally I brought in a scarfer to pursuit trap, intimidate, provide an immunity to electric moves, and act as a powerful revenge killer.
I found myself missing not having a water type that can switch in many times (since my Politoed isn't particularly bulky). Not wanting to create problems with electric types, I found Rotom-W to be the best fit.
I found Tornadus wasn't dealing as much damage as I wanted due to his frailty, so I replaced him with the infinitely bulkier Multiscale Dragonite.
After going through several Conkeldurr sets and still not completely satisfied, I went to a different fighting type who was able to use rain to eliminate on of its weaknesses.
On to the individual analysis.
Politoed @ Choice scarf
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpAtk/252 Speed
Nature: Modest
- Hydro pump
- Ice beam
- Hidden power [grass]
- Perish song
The obvious glue to any rain team, I went with a choice scarf variant because I knew this team would be more offense oriented and I wanted the added speed over power. Since it has a hit and run nature, perish song is useful against stall teams and set up sweepers who try to use him as fodder. He makes a great revenge killer and though I often start with him he should never stay in unless he can OHKO in the beginning of the match.
Galvantula @ Life orb
Ability: Compound eyes
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpAtk/252 Speed
Nature: Timid
- Thunder
- Bug buzz
- Energy ball
- Hidden power [ice]
I knew I wanted something to abuse perfect accuracy thunders, but I didn't want the drawback of the inaccuracy outside of rain since I couldn't always guarantee that I would have it up. With compound eyes raising the accuracy of thunder to usable levels, I figured Galvantula would be my best bet. He has good super effective coverage and has been fast enough for my needs and overall a very reliable team member and prominent sweeper. His moves and EVs are standard sweeper fare, with a Timid nature to maximize his high speed. Generally he stays in until he gets KOed because of his frailty and enough speed to outpace many traditional threats. As a bonus he resists many forms of priority such as bullet punch and mach punch, though that won't save him if he has taken damage.
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear body
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def
Nature: Adamant
- Stealth rock
- Meteor mash
- Bullet punch
- Earthquake
Bulky utility attacker and stealth rock setter, Metagross has the added benefit of having essentially one weakness under rain. He is my safest switch in for dragons, and extremely useful. He is capable of sweeping after an attack boost from meteor mash and earthquake provides excellent neutral coverage. Max attack and an attack boosting nature give him a very high and often overlooked 405 Atk stat, and boosting his HP to the max gives a surprising amount of bulk. He is excellent at coming in and setting up rocks as not many people think to try and taunt him and even if they do they have a powerful physical attacker to deal with.
Rotom-W @ Choice scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpAtk/4 SpDef/252 Speed
Nature: Timid
- Thunder
- Hydro pump
- Volt switch
- Trick
Replacement revenge killer for Krookodile. With Politoed as my only water type I figure I can afford a second. I already have ice beam and hidden power [ice] on my other special attackers and hidden power [fire] would be useless in rain so I decided to go with volt switch for momentum in place of a coverage move. Trick allows him to cripple walls, hydro pump gets double STAB and thunder is a very powerful STAB with perfect accuracy under rain.
Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk/252 SpAtk/4 Speed
Nature: Rash
- Hurricane
- Aqua tail
- Extreme speed
- Roost
I wanted to abuse hurricane's intense power and Dragonite is much sturdier than Tornadus. In addition he also gets pseudo STAB on aqua tail and powerful priority in extreme speed. Roost with multiscale is standard fare, allowing him to be a bulky wall breaker.
Virizion @ Life orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Speed
Nature: Jolly
- Swords dance
- Leaf blade
- Sacred sword
- Stone edge
Not only does he provide a great switch for Tyranitar who make the mistake of trying to crunch, much like Metagross he loses his fire weakness and is the best thing to deal with some usual rain stops such as Gastrodon or Gyarados. While he doesn't normally last too long when coming in, even without a swords dance he is capable of blowing holes in the opposing team.
Conclusion
I have been very successful with this team due in part to smart switching and excellent coverage on my attackers. There isn't much this team can't handle, though Latios could easily pose a problem if you are not careful and letting the opponent set up could be devastating. The key is constant offensive pressure, if you lose that then this team will fall apart.
