SM OU Doing It Again (Generic Rain Offense)

So, a while before the release of S/M I stopped playing competitive Pokemon altogether, figuring that Gen 7 would be as nice a time as any to quit playing this damn game. And yet here I am. That didn't last very long.

Anyways this is my first Gen 7 team and I don't have the first idea what I'm doing. This meta is completely different from the Gen 6 meta I had gotten accustomed to, so it's almost like learning the game from scratch. I admit I am fully guilty of ripping most of the sets straight from the Smogon strategy Dex, because honestly I don't know enough about the metagame to even start building my own sets yet.

I'd appreciate any help I can get. I'm sure this team is garbage (I mean, most of my teams are garbage, but I'm sure this one is especially garbage), but maybe there are some improvements I can make.

Anyways, let's get into it.



Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Bold - Drizzle
248 HP, 196 Defence, 64 Sp. Def
-Scald
-U-Turn
-Roost
-Defog

Pelipper and Swampert were the starting points of the team. I had been messing around a bit on the lower ladder and I noticed quite a few Rain teams. I haven't played with a Rain team since the weather wars of Gen 5, so I thought it would be fun to make one myself. Anyways, Pelipper might not be a perfect Pokemon in terms of stats but it still brings quite a bit to the table. First and foremost it's one of only two OU-legal Drizzle users, and in my opinion vastly outclasses Politoed, trading a bit of bulk for reliable recovery and a much better support movepool. Most notably, perhaps, is access to Defog, which my team greatly appreciates to help take pressure off of my pivots and stop Toxapex from auto-winning against me. U-Turn gives him a way to get Swampert and Tapu Koko in for free on most threats, due to his poor Speed tier, while Scald and Roost are pretty self-explanatory.



Swampert @ Swampertite
Adamant - Damp ---> Swift Swim
252 Speed, 252 Attack, 4 Sp. Def
-Waterfall
-Earthquake
-Ice Punch
-Stealth Rock

Mega Swampert is practically mandatory on Rain teams (which sucks in a way, cause there's a good handful of other Megas that look fun to use in the Rain but there's just no way to justify using them over M-Swamp), and so naturally here he is on my team. Waterfall is an obligatory STAB move that hits like a truck under the Rain and packs a decent Flinch chance to boot. Earthquake offers a secondary STAB hitting certain opponents that resist Waterfall harder. Ice Punch rounds out the coverage a little bit by allowing him to finish off weakened Dragons and Grasses. Lastly, I put Stealth Rock on Mega Swampert mostly because he's the only Pokemon on my team who can learn it. However, due to the switches he tends to force while the Rain is up, he usually has ample opportunities to set it up for free.


Tornadus-Therain @ Assault Vest
Hasty - Regenerator
252 Speed, 132 Sp. Atk, 124 HP
-Hurricane
-Focus Blast
-Knock Off
-U-Turn

Tornadus-T gets excellent synergy with Swampert, hammering many of the bulky Grasses he can't break past, such as Mega Venusaur and Tangrowth. It also forms a pretty neat triple Regenerator core with Tangrowth and Alomomola. The EV spread is slightly different from the recommended, it allows him to OHKO Serperior 100% of the time. Hurricane is the obligatory STAB, given 100% accuracy by the Rain and coming off of a respectable base 110 Sp. Atk it has quite a respectable damage output. Focus Blast gets great coverage with Hurricane, notably OHKOing Tyranitar and dealing massive damage to Steels such as Heatran and Ferrothorn. Knock Off removes items from common switchins such as AV Metagross and Celesteela, reducing their sustainability for the rest of the match. Finally, U-Turn allows me to pivot out to other attackers.


Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Timid - Electric Surge
252 Speed, 252 Sp. Atk, 4 Defence
-Thunder
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-U-Turn
-Taunt

Tapu Koko finds his way onto this team as a check to some of the things that Tornadus and Swampert have trouble breaking past, such as Celesteela. With an Electric terrain boosted Thunder given 100% accuracy by the Rain, he can be quite scary for non-Ground types to switch into. Electrium Z gives him a one-time nuke with which he can break past otherwise solid checks, taking over two thirds off of even Pokemon that resist it such as Magnezone and Tapu Bulu. Hidden Power (Ice) rounds out the coverage and lets him pick off weakened Zygarde and Garchomp. U-Turn allows me to pivot into other teammates and escape from Dugtrio, while Taunt allows me to shut down common switchins such as Ferrothorn and Chansey.


Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Sassy - Regenerator
248 HP, 252 Sp. Def, 8 Defence
-Giga Drain
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Knock Off

Tangrowth acts as a sort of glue for this team, giving me a switch-in to some forms of Greninja and checking Zygarde with HP Ice. Assault Vest makes him quite durable on the special side and complements his natural physical bulk. Giga Drain gives him a decently strong STAB attack that can be used to check opposing Water types, especially opposing Mega Swampert who don't really care about Tapu Koko. Focus Blast is used to hit Ferrothorn, who otherwise walls 4/6ths of my team, and allows me to beat it 1 on 1 most of the time barring terrible luck with miss hax. Hidden Power (Ice) hits Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Zygarde extremely hard, notably stopping SubDD and SubCoil Zygarde from just rolling me, although DD + Outrage sets are extremely dangerous and usually require me to sacrifice something to deal with. Finally, Knock Off is just a great utility move in general and annoys a lot of his common switch-ins.


Alomomola @ Damp Rock
Bold - Regenerator
40 HP, 216 Defence, 252 Sp. Def
-Scald
-Wish
-Protect
-Rain Dance

Alomomola is just a fantastic and underrated Pokemon in general. He finds his place on this team as a Wish passer, defensive pivot, and back-up Rain setter. I'm a tad bit iffy on the item, as while Damp Rock extends Rain Dance by 3 turns, there have been a good handful of situations where I would have avoided 2HKO's if I had Leftovers recovery but was forced to switch out because I didn't, and smart play with Pelipper usually keeps him alive for most of the match anyways. The set is pretty simple. Scald is STAB with a nice chance to burn. Wish allows him to pass massive Wishes to his teammates, while Protect lets him receive those Wishes himself and scout for things such as Toxic from Zygarde. Rain Dance allows him to set up Rain if Pelipper has gone down or even if he simply has a free turn and the Rain isn't up already.




All in all, it's been a really fun team to use and start learning the new metagame with. I've noticed a few problems with it. First and foremost is that I have no way of dealing with Toxic. Everything on my team hates it and nothing on my team can do anything about it. I've actually considered running Hydration on Alomomola or even dropping it entirely for Chansey, but Chansey can't set Rain and giving up Regenerator for Hydration doesn't seem worth it. Another option I considered is using Amoonguss over Tangrowth but Amoonguss can't handle many of the things Tangrowth can, such as non-Flyium Z Landorus-T and most variants of Zygarde.

Speaking of which, DD Zygarde is another huge problem for this team as it can click Outrage on 5/6ths of the team and be practically guaranteed at least one KO, and the only thing it can't Outrage on dies to Thousand Arrows. SubCoil Zygarde is a little more manageable thanks to Tangrowth but Tangrowth can't sponge boosted Outrages.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Any advice or suggestions are appreciated!


 

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