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Unorthodox Rain Dance RMT

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Dexington

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So, I kinda just threw this team together randomly, wanting to make a rain dance team that nobody would see coming. Thus far, testing on Smogon's shoddy server, it has gone exceptionally well.

Changes in bold

Uxie
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 Def/252 HP/6 Atk
Item: Damp Rock
~ Rain Dance
~ Stealth Rock
~ Zen Headbutt
~ U-Turn

Scyther is vital to this team. The majority of my opponents so far have underestimated him and decided to set up their own traps or boost stats. First turn, rain dance always, then U-Turn to team mate. Only having U-Turn as an attack messed me up late game so I ditched agility and baton pass for 2 more offensive moves.

Changed this to Uxie, as Wiil suggested and it works quite well. Based on the Shoddy server statistics, Rain Dance isn't used by Uxie even 2% of the time, so it is still a surprising move most of the time. Rocks are useful, and it can, as Wiil said, take hits like a beast.

Kingdra
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Speed/252 Special Atk/6 HP
Item: Life Orb
~ Hydro Pump
~ Ice Beam
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Hidden Power (Electric)

I have had several full team sweeps with this. Hydro Pump can OHKO most things in rain dance with LO, though its accuracy has let me down. Ice beam for a quick dragon KO, Dragon Pulse for other Kingdra and HP Grass for Vaporeon or Lanturn, who otherwise don't go down as quickly. Blissey is a main problem here, Gyardos is sometimes, though hydro pump is a 2HKO on dos. Hydro pump's accuray has cost me some games, but I believe it is necesarry.

I changed HP Grass to HP Electric after I thumped somebody's Swampert, he brought up a good point. Electric will OHKO Gyarados and hit Salamence better on a switch if that happens, while still hitting Vaporeon and I have not seen a single Lanturn yet in OU, just my luck. He was also mad that I used that when Hydro Pump would OHKO anyway, which is true.

Scizor
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Speed/252 Atk/6 HP
Item: Choice Band
~ Bullet Punch
~ Superpower
~ U-Turn
~ Pursuit

Standard CB Scizor. This is my Blissey breaker and is also useful for taking out Ttar or Abomasnow, who ruin the rain dance effect. Also recently used it to take out Sunny Day set uppers like Jumpluff and Ambipom.

Drifblim
Ability: Aftermath
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 Speed/252 HP/6 Special Atk
Item: Damp Rock
~ Rain Dance
~ Destiny Bond
~ Weather Ball
~ Thunder

The other rain dancer. He has picked up some surprise KO's of slower sweepers with destiny bond and Heatran's with weather ball. Sunny day set uppers who want to switch right to their grass sweeper can either be weather balled in the face after the switch or rain danced. Thunder for Gyarados and altogether a powerful attack in rain.

Ludicolo
Ability: Rain Dish
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP/252 Special Def/6 Def
Item: Leftovers
~ Energy Ball
~ Substitute
~ Leech Seed
~ Protect

The staller. Can take a massive beating and has itself defeated a 3+ DD Gyarados. Great Blissey counter. Has won me several matches just by stalling. Hydro Pump for a great powerful attack in the rain, even without EV investment.

I was getting stalled by Vaporeon too easily, so Energy Ball is in and Hydro Pump is out.

Espeon
Ability: Synchronize
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Speed/252 Special Atk/6 HP
Item: Choice Scarf
~ Trick
~ Shadow Ball
~ Psychic
~ Hidden Power (Water)

An extra special sweeper that has also won me some matches with its speed. I normally keep the choice scarf as it is vital in the late game if it is a tight one. HP Water plus Rain Dance makes it 140 BP, a very powerful attack.

So there is my team, which is doing very well in the OU ladder at Smogon. Probably has a record of around 15-5 now, the times I have lost, Scyther has been attacked and killed right away, usually by a scarfed flamethrower user.

Discuss.
 
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You said Scyther would BP Agility to your sweeper. Question is, which sweeper? Kingdra's already blindingly fast with Swift Swim and Speed EVs.

Also, have you tried Surf on Kingdra? I'll bet it could score many of the same KOs Hydro Pump can, and the accuracy is a BIG plus.

Finally, Hidden Power Water only has 105 power in the rain. Still quite powerful, though.
 
I haven't tried Surf yet, but I think that may take away from the OHKO on Metagross, which has so far been pretty key. For some reason people always switch him in on Kingdra.

Also, you are right with the redundancy of agility, which also makes baton pass kinda redundant. Anyone want to suggest another 2 moves for Scyther there or maybe another wierd rain dance lead?
 
you might want to consider a physical sweeper, such as gyara. Also, if you do use Gyarados, Electivire is an amazing mixed sweeper with Thunder in a Rain Dance enviroment: Gyara is electric bait for Vire's speed boost, who proceeds to destroy. It's a strategy I've used plenty of tiems.
 
That brings it away from being unorthodox, and I'm going for a big surprise factor. Drifblim is doing pretty much what you propose for Evire, plus I can get a free switch in on Ambipom leads most of the time.

Scizor also fills the physical sweeper role and he does one hell of a job at it.
 
i suggest putting X-scizor on your syther. and if you want to i can help test it on shoddy against a suprise team that was also ranomly put together PM me if you want to.
 
Changed Scyther a bit after more testing proved u-turn as the only attack to be just awful late game.
 
Dexington said:
I haven't tried Surf yet, but I think that may take away from the OHKO on Metagross
Click to expand...

It does. If Metagross is a concern, keep Hydro Pump.

For Scyther, have you thought about switching the ability to Technician and running Brick Break/Aerial Ace as your offensive moves? Aerial Ace hits 135 power with STAB Technician boost, and fighting/flying offers good coverage. Plus, I tend to think of Scyther as too frail to take advantage of Swarm. Too many OHKOs running around I would think.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but you say Hydro Pump is a 2HKO on Gyarados. Dragon Pulse should be equally powerful and is perfectly accurate. Use that instead on Gyarados. (Hydro Pump = 120 * 1.5 * 1.5 / 2 = 135, Dragon Pulse = 90 * 1.5 = 135)
 
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That is a very good idea, thanks Cheesus. I'll try that out.
 
I just think a few quick notes ought to suffice.

If you don't mind me asking, what CRE have you reached on Shoddy servers?

Ludicolo. This team appears more geared to offense, so a subseed Ludicolo doesn't seem quite right here. If you use a Rain abuse sweeper here, it may help you a lot more.

Last note, Espeon. Why use Espeon when Alakazam does the same thing, just with 10 more base SPE and a base SPA of 135?
 
Espeon has more bulk (65/60/95 vs 55/45/85), although when Tricking a Choice Scarf you usually want to do it against something that will use a setup move, so defenses shouldn't even matter.

I would try to find a replacement for Scyther. The pixies can learn Rain Dance, U-Turn, and Thunder. Azelf matches the offensive approach, Mesprit has a nice offensive balance, and Uxie can add some good bulk (takes hits like a beast). With the advent of HGSS, Uxie also gets Heal Bell. If you're worried about status, you could try that.

In my opinion, you don't really NEED both Rain Dance users holding Damp Rock. If you want to use Azelf, you can use Focus Sash.

I also don't like how specially oriented the team is, but that's just me. I usually like to balance out physical and special attackers. I'm not really counting Scyther since it's likely to die anyway.
 
Sheshi said:
I just think a few quick notes ought to suffice.

If you don't mind me asking, what CRE have you reached on Shoddy servers?

Ludicolo. This team appears more geared to offense, so a subseed Ludicolo doesn't seem quite right here. If you use a Rain abuse sweeper here, it may help you a lot more.

Last note, Espeon. Why use Espeon when Alakazam does the same thing, just with 10 more base SPE and a base SPA of 135?
Click to expand...

I'm up to 1109 now since opening my account about last week. I think it started at 600 or something so I've done pretty well with it. Ludicolo has won me a lot of matches by stalling so it will not be leaving. Alakazam is a good idea and I may try that out.

I would try to find a replacement for Scyther. The pixies can learn Rain Dance, U-Turn, and Thunder. Azelf matches the offensive approach, Mesprit has a nice offensive balance, and Uxie can add some good bulk (takes hits like a beast). With the advent of HGSS, Uxie also gets Heal Bell. If you're worried about status, you could try that.

I also don't like how specially oriented the team is, but that's just me. I usually like to balance out physical and special attackers. I'm not really counting Scyther since it's likely to die anyway.
Click to expand...

Uxie could be a good idea and I might try Heal Bell out, since toxic stallers like Vaporeon have been a problem lately. Any special walls are normally taken out easily by Ludicolo or Scizor so they haven't been a problem at all oddly enough.

Thanks for the ideas guys.
 
Made a few changes a while ago, if anyone wants to check it out again.
 
Dexington said:
So, I kinda just threw this team together randomly, wanting to make a rain dance team that nobody would see coming. Thus far, testing on Smogon's shoddy server, it has gone exceptionally well.

Changes in bold
My Comments are Underlined

Uxie
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 Def/252 HP/6 Atk
Item: Damp Rock
~ Rain Dance
~ Stealth Rock
~ Zen Headbutt
~ U-Turn

Scyther is vital to this team. The majority of my opponents so far have underestimated him and decided to set up their own traps or boost stats. First turn, rain dance always, then U-Turn to team mate. Only having U-Turn as an attack messed me up late game so I ditched agility and baton pass for 2 more offensive moves.

Changed this to Uxie, as Wiil suggested and it works quite well. Based on the Shoddy server statistics, Rain Dance isn't used by Uxie even 2% of the time, so it is still a surprising move most of the time. Rocks are useful, and it can, as Wiil said, take hits like a beast.

Statistics aside, as soon as I see an Uxie lead on Shoddy, my first thought is "Rain Dance." Still, if it works for you, then go ahead -- Uxie is definitely a beast.

Kingdra
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Speed/252 Special Atk/6 HP
Item: Life Orb
~ Hydro Pump
~ Ice Beam
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Hidden Power (Electric)

I have had several full team sweeps with this. Hydro Pump can OHKO most things in rain dance with LO, though its accuracy has let me down. Ice beam for a quick dragon KO, Dragon Pulse for other Kingdra and HP Grass for Vaporeon or Lanturn, who otherwise don't go down as quickly. Blissey is a main problem here, Gyardos is sometimes, though hydro pump is a 2HKO on dos. Hydro pump's accuray has cost me some games, but I believe it is necesarry.

I changed HP Grass to HP Electric after I thumped somebody's Swampert, he brought up a good point. Electric will OHKO Gyarados and hit Salamence better on a switch if that happens, while still hitting Vaporeon and I have not seen a single Lanturn yet in OU, just my luck. He was also mad that I used that when Hydro Pump would OHKO anyway, which is true.

Looks pretty standard, but there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm confused -- you OHKOed this guy's Swampert with Hydro Pump, not HP Grass, and that's why you changed it?

Scizor
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Speed/252 Atk/6 HP
Item: Choice Band
~ Bullet Punch
~ Superpower
~ U-Turn
~ Pursuit

Standard CB Scizor. This is my Blissey breaker and is also useful for taking out Ttar or Abomasnow, who ruin the rain dance effect. Also recently used it to take out Sunny Day set uppers like Jumpluff and Ambipom.

Drifblim
Ability: Aftermath
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 Speed/252 HP/6 Special Atk
Item: Damp Rock
~ Rain Dance
~ Destiny Bond
~ Weather Ball
~ Thunder

The other rain dancer. He has picked up some surprise KO's of slower sweepers with destiny bond and Heatran's with weather ball. Sunny day set uppers who want to switch right to their grass sweeper can either be weather balled in the face after the switch or rain danced. Thunder for Gyarados and altogether a powerful attack in rain.

Ludicolo
Ability: Rain Dish
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP/252 Special Def/6 Def
Item: Leftovers
~ Energy Ball
~ Substitute
~ Leech Seed
~ Protect

The staller. Can take a massive beating and has itself defeated a 3+ DD Gyarados. Great Blissey counter. Has won me several matches just by stalling. Hydro Pump for a great powerful attack in the rain, even without EV investment.

I was getting stalled by Vaporeon too easily, so Energy Ball is in and Hydro Pump is out.

Espeon
Ability: Synchronize
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Speed/252 Special Atk/6 HP
Item: Choice Scarf
~ Trick
~ Shadow Ball
~ Psychic
~ Hidden Power (Water)

An extra special sweeper that has also won me some matches with its speed. I normally keep the choice scarf as it is vital in the late game if it is a tight one. HP Water plus Rain Dance makes it 140 BP, a very powerful attack.

So there is my team, which is doing very well in the OU ladder at Smogon. Probably has a record of around 15-5 now, the times I have lost, Scyther has been attacked and killed right away, usually by a scarfed flamethrower user.

No additional comments. The team looks pretty good overall.

Discuss.
Click to expand...
 
Scizor: Moves are good, but the standard CB Scizor uses this EV spread: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spe. It's not that fast, anyway.

Ludicolo: It's going to be stalled by other Grass-types (they're immune to Leech Seed and resist Energy Ball), so maybe Ice Beam? Yep, this is a pretty bad suggestion, I know.
 
Yeah, since I can OHKO a Swampert with Hydro Pump anyway and HP Electric gives more coverage, Grass wasn't necesarry.
 
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