Knuckstrike
Hi I'm FIREEEE
Note: this is not a team that can be used in pokemon green. Thanks for reading this.
Hello everyone, and welcome to another rain team you all love so much.
You might (but probably don't) know me as FIREEEE on pokemon showdown. I've never really liked playing with weather teams as I usually have a hard time deciding how important the weather is for the game, and often make the mistake of sacking my weather poke too soon/not soon enough. Next to that, it just feels more awesome kicking another person's butt with six strong and awesome pokes than setting up rain to lower weaknesses and make some attacks stronger. However, I felt the need to learn to play with a rain team to better know what my opponent thinks while using one. I also wanted to try it just once to maybe change my opinion about weather in general. Rain seems like the weather that's the easiest to step into.
I'm definitely not new to the competitive pokemon scene, but I've only played 100-150 OU games in my life. I usually enjoy the weird tiers more (like GBU singles and CAP) and as I had success there (Top 10 and top 3 placements) I thought OU would be the same difficulty. But boy I was wrong.
If you're interested in my ranking, I'm around the 1900 mark with 1929 (26-6-1) being the highest. The tie was actually my first battle on this account :D
Anyway, enough about my feelings about the OU tier. Let's go to the team.
Green bean (Politoed) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spd
IVs: 0 Atk
Bold Nature
- Perish Song
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Surf
As you can probably see, my team has a bit of trouble with the dragons rampaging this tier. Physically defensive politoed isn't a counter, but if something dies I can probably take a hit and kill with ice beam.
I chose not to run focus blast or a choice set on this because the pokemon that those moves/sets hit are already handled pretty well by the rest of my team. My breloom can handle tyranitars, and so can my ferrothorn if it doesn't have to switch in on a superpower. My dragonite can easily 2HKO even specially defensive ferrothorn with hurricane, and otherwise my espeon and breloom can handle them as well.
I originally ran hypnosis instead of toxic, but I found it to be too unreliable to use against the 1900+ players I'm now battling. The chance of two turns going to waste is too high.
I rarely lead with this, as it stops my espeon from killing scizor/ferrothorn with HP fire.
Swag drag (Dragonite) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Multiscale
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Hurricane
- Surf
- Thunder
You'd be surprised how much use this dragon has on my team. It's my strongest special attacker with coverage that make not a single pokemon being able to switch into this thing. Ferrothorns don't appreciate getting 2HKO'd by a hurricane after thinking they have nothing to fear in rain.
I do need a +speed nature, otherwise pokemon like heatran will be able to outspeed it. I like to have a fast-paced sweeper.
Dog (Espeon) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
IV's: 2 Atk
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Baton Pass
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Signal Beam
This pokemon has gone through the most changes. I just couldn't find the right set, until I tried a life orb set which I was finally content with. All of its attacks are of different types than dragonite so they compliment each other really well. HP fire is a necessity if you don't want to get trapped by scizor. Signal beam is there to take a final 30-40% off of Ttar if I happen to get trapped.
Calm mind was the least useful move on this pokemon's moveset, so I swapped it for baton pass.
The reason he's called dog is because he has personality issues. Don't mock him please.
Umbrella shroom (Breloom) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Swords Dance
Breloom is the only priority user of my team, and is mainly used to stop sweeps. If there isn't a pokemon that can set up on my opponent's team, I usually lead with it to get a sleep and maybe a kill off. Mach punch can do 50% to almost anything after a swords dance.
A possible replacement for him is shiny scizor, which is arguably a better priority user and can keep momentum better.
Doesn't it float? (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Atk
Sassy Nature
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
Ferrothorn is green enough for me.
I've ran this pokemon with spikes for a long time, but stealth rocks are so much more useful, especially against certain dragons.
This pokemon is my only counter to dragons on my team. The only thing I regret about ferrothorn on my team is sacking it too early on in a battle. Because politoad is physically defensive and to tank ice beams better, I chose a specially defensive ferrothorn. Its main use is to stop dragons and leave the switch-in with a oh-so crippling paralysis.
Celery (Celebi) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]
This is my momentum keeper of the team. This pokemon will often stay alive until the late-game. HP ice is chosen over HP fire as I already have a couple pokemon on my team for the grass types, and U-turning to another pokemon works just as well as hitting them in most cases. I've never faced a situation where I regretted this decision.
The +speed nature makes it fast enough to outpace most ~110 scarfers which I do enjoy a lot. The extra power is rarely necessary.
U-turn is chosen over baton pass to hit opposing celebi. I'm pretty much guaranteed to be faster, so if I face one there's two things that can happen: an immense it onto celebi, or switch advantage.
The biggest threat to my team is probably lati@s. If I see it, I need to keep the rain up and ferrothorn healthy, otherwise they'll run over my team like it's made of bubbles. Choice banded priority users are in the same boat. I always need to keep a specific switch-in alive if I face one.
This concludes my first RMT. If you didn't know yet, green is my favorite colour :D.
A winning battle:http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oucurrent-48550876
An old battle where I made some great predictions. It's an old version of the team, so beware.
A losing battle: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-49835108
I sacked ferrothorn too soon, which I think cost me the match.
Importable:
Swag drag (Dragonite) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Multiscale
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Hurricane
- Surf
- Thunder
Green bean (Politoed) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spd
Bold Nature
- Perish Song
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Surf
Dog (Espeon) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
- Psyshock
- Baton Pass
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Signal Beam
Umbrella shroom (Breloom) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Swords Dance
Doesn't it float? (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
Celery (Celebi) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Last edited: