How can I improve my Rain team?

DarkCrisis

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I have been working on my 3rd team for the 5th Gen so far. My previous two teams have received plenty of help and I am definitely satisfied with them. I have been having a lot of fun with them and am now trying to build my third weather team for the generation.
Here is all I have come up with so far.

Politoed, Swampert, Tentacruel, Thundurus


**Thanks to AoH, Chillarmy, and Bippa for greatly helping me build my last 2 teams, it was greatly appreciated.
 
Round three. FIGHT.

Alright, looking at your team so far Politoed/Tentacruel/Thundurus is a solid start. Swampert isn't the best in this metagame, as its offensive stats are lackluster and its defensive stats also don't allow it to take many hits. I'd recommend using Sub CM Jirachi instead of Swampert. It takes your two uncountered weakness (Rock and Psychic) with relative ease, and it hits hard after a couple of boosts. Substitute and Calm mind are the two obvious moves of this set, but the offensive moves are a bit harder to choose. Psyshock, Thunder, Flash Cannon, and Water Pulse are all solid choices. Given your team's offensive presense so far, Psyshock and Flash Cannon seem like your best options. However, feel free to test out all the coverage moves.

Looking at your team now, you have no physical presence. You also have no resistance to Ghost and Dark types, and a rather large weakness to Electric and Ground attacks. Finally, you have no entry hazards, which is a bit of an issue. I feel like Landorus-T is a solid fit for your team. A set of Stealth Rock/Earthquake/Stone Edge/U-Turn, but you can use other moves such as Toxic or Gravity over U-Turn depending on how offensive or defensive you want to be.

Finally, you'd appreciate a late game cleaner and a dedicated offensive sweeper. I feel Lucario is a solid choice for your team. A moveset of Swords Dance/Close Combat/Extremespeed/Ice Punch, Crunch, or Extremespeed would serve you well. He would also provide a valuable resistance to Ghost and Dark attacks.

I hope this helps you out!! This was off the top of my head, so there may still be issues that I missed. Good luck!
 
Hmmmm...Politoed, Tentacruel, Thundurus, Jirachi, Lucario, Landorus-T.

It would seem that I already have a Landorus-T with that recommended set from my Drought team and I also have a Lucario with the recommended set from the original build of my Sandstorm team. It would seem that I am well on my way to building my team. The one problem I might have is getting a Jirachi as I dont think I have access to one.
 
Hm, it is a bit of an issue if you can't get a Jirachi. Metagross could work, but really jirachi is your best bet.
 
I should own a Metagross or two. On the other hand, something about the format of that team bothers me just a bit, not quite sure what it is but Politoed, Tentacruel, Thundurus, Jirachi, Lucario, Landorus-T. seems to bother me...it might be my experience with Lucario being great for playthrough but usually falling in competitive battles when I use it.
 
Get rid of Lucario and try using Toxicroak. Much more of an offensive threat, absorbing water attacks (and if this is VGC absorbing surf from Politoed).

***If this is VGC (I'm not understanding if it is or isn't*** Run Ludicolo/Kingrda, both of which are very great sweepers in the rain, and don't share a weakness with Politoed.
 
Okay, I guess Chillarmy nailed everything there was to be said. Jirachi, Landorus-T and Tentacruel form an amazing defensive core as I've found out. Thundurus-T will need a sweeping buddy, but biased me has never been a fan of Lucario. He does have flaws this generation, being Breloom-weak (can tank an Espeed at +2 I believe) and a bit outclassed by Terrakion outside of HO and/or choiced roles. The team as a whole seems extremely weak to Lati@s, both walling and KOing everything but Jirachi. I would suggest a physical attacker that can beat them, which brings me to SDef SD Scizor. A personal tech of mine is SDing on them because they tend to stay in and attack due to expecting a Pursuit. That's when I get a +2 Pursuit that gets rid of either of them guaranteed because they can't do much outside of Surf, and they just may be choicelocked. It is risky, but I enjoy it. Everything on this team looks great (practically gave me an idea), so I'll lay out what would be my foundation.

Scarf Politoed (because you need some sort of Scarfer, but if Thundurus-T becomes your Scarfer, this could be anything else)
SubToxic Tentacruel (TSpikes is overrated in this meta, and it can spin while beating Jellicent 1v1)
SDef SD Scizor (Pursuit is personal fave, up to you)
Agility Thundurus-T (AMAZING late-game cleaner, but a Scarf or Nasty plot or even double dance can work)
DD Landorus-T (since Scizor can beat Terrakion, you can fake being an offensive pivot and set up SD or Rock Polish on any physical attacker and go to town, and works great in tandem with a boosting Thundurus-T save versus Lati@s imo) (You can still use the one from your sun team if this is too hard to get)
Jirachi (your choice, I prefer SDef, but SubCM is fine)

Feel free to change that up however you want. Your team bases are giving me valuable teambuilding experience. Take care.

~AoH
 
Thanks guys for the help. Getting that build together was much faster than I had expected. Now I just have to gather the pokemon and get them trained which I am already well on my way to doing
 
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Lucario ExtremeSpeed vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Breloom: 266-315 (101.52 - 120.22%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Loom can't tank Luke's Extremespeed. Just sayin.

Scizor is a solid choice over Lucario. I guess I just have a thing for Lucario... idk why everyone hates him this gen...

Edit: Also, if you do choose to use Double Dance Landorus-T, you'll be missing out on Stealth Rock which I think is a no-no. Jirachi, regardless of which moveset you use, really needs the fourth moveslot free, so I'd go with Pivot Landorus-T.
 
Chillarmy said:
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Lucario ExtremeSpeed vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Breloom: 266-315 (101.52 - 120.22%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Loom can't tank Luke's Extremespeed. Just sayin.

Scizor is a solid choice over Lucario. I guess I just have a thing for Lucario... idk why everyone hates him this gen...

Edit: Also, if you do choose to use Double Dance Landorus-T, you'll be missing out on Stealth Rock which I think is a no-no. Jirachi, regardless of which moveset you use, really needs the fourth moveslot free, so I'd go with Pivot Landorus-T.

I am actually using my Pivot Landorus-T that I already had. As for Lucario, I do have one that is already trained from my sandstorm team, I guess I will try it out over Scizor and see how I like it, if not I will switch back to Scizor.

P.S. Lucario is actually my personal favorite pokemon!
 
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