I Make It Rain! - Suspect Ladder Team

[Accipender]

Hello Smogonites. After a long hiatus, I came back and saw the suspect ladder. Being a diehard Garchomp fan, I was thrilled, and two other old favorites (Skymin and Latios) beckoned me to play again. After some basic laddering, I ran into a Manaphy, and I saw its amazing potential. After that, I decided to make a rain dance team. And here is the result. I've done some playtesting, and know that it needs something, but I just cannot figure out what that is...So without further ado, I present my team:

AT A GLANCE:

Electrode @ Damp Rock
Ability: Static
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Taunt
- Rain Dance
- Explosion
- Thunder
---
Best rain lead imo. 2nd Fastest Pokemon in the game and access to Taunt makes him a darn near perfect anti-lead. When I don't suspect SRock, I start the rain and then Explode or Thunder, either for parahax or against water types to abuse the 100% accuracy.

Garchomp (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
---
GARCHOMP ^^!!!! I have loved this guy for a long time; he was the first EVd that I got. When he was banned, I was incredibly disappointed, and his possible unbanning was almost enough in and of itself to get me playing again. But I digress. Pretty standard Scarfchomp, and if you play him right, he will always take out at least one opponent. Outrage and EQ for amazing STAB, SEdge for fliers, and Fire Blast for Defensive Steels. Though I like the choice scarf, I think I may change it to allow for more flexibility. Also, Fire Blast may change to Fire Fang.

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Ice Punch
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Meteor Mash
---
This guy is kinda an experiment. I needed a steel type to soak up dragon attacks, and since I haven't used a Metagross in forever, decided to try this guy. However, I needed him to be able to soak up alot of damage, so I gave him Max Def/Max HP and RestTalk. Meteor Mash is for STAB and random attack raises, especially during stall battles, and Ice Punch is to kill Dragons (Which comprise 3 out of the 5 suspects). So far, he's been going fabulously!

Shaymin-s @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Substitute
- Air Slash
- Leech Seed
---
My special sweeper. Reasonably standard subseed Skymin, take advantage if his wicked speed to set up seeds and set up sub on a switch. His dual STAB is one of the bets move combos in the game: Seed Flare for attrition and Air slash for Flinch hax. Lefties for more staying power, though I think that there may be a better item for him.

Manaphy @ Damp Rock
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Rain Dance
- Calm Mind
- Surf
---
The star of the show. Most people don't see the danger until it's too late. Rain Dance is to keep rain going, because he REALLY benefits from it, especially in conjunction with rest, to get a free bar of HP. Surf was my STAB move. The last moveslot was personal choice, and I favored a little more bulk with CM, as opposed to offensive with Tail Glow, seeing as I'd like the staying power. Manaphy is really on or off. He either sweeps teams or dies silently, so he needs some help too...

Kingdra (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Substitute
- Waterfall
---
This was kind of an arbitrary decision. I wanted another pokemon to set up, preferably one benefiting from the rain. And Kingdra just happened to fit the bill. It's good, but I feel it's missing something (bulk perhaps?). Either way, DDance to get stats up and sweep, sub to get DDs up after switching, and the two other moves are STAB attacking. Outrage because it's the only physical Dragon move that Kingdra gets, and because it's a plain good attack, and Waterfall, for flinch hax that he'll be happy to receive due to his increased speed.

 

[Dr. Alpha]

The first problem that strikes me is "Why use Fire type attacks in a Rain dance team"? You do know that Rain dance weakness Fire-type attacks... right? I mean sure, making Grass types run away in the fear of Fire blast and stuff, but Ice types attacks can also handle Grass types.
Second, half of these Pokemon (Garchomp, Metagross, and Skymin) don't even take advantage of Rain dance. it's important to take advantage of a strategy and to use it to it's fullest.

 

[Zepar]

Use Impish over Bold on Metagross to increase the power in its attacks.
Maybe use Thunderbolt over Thunder to make sure it hits even without rain.

 

[Iris]

THe only poke you have that really needs raindance is manaphy which can set his own. Kingdra really doesn't need rain since it has dance. If you want to keep rain, i would suggest the wallbreaker kingdra set so you can use the rain fully and gives an actual purpose to electrode. But to make the team better, ditch electrode for a better lead and stealth rocks. You don't need him.

the Kingdra set:
Kingdra
252 attack/ 240 special attack/ 16 speed
Life Orb
Swift Swim
Naughty/ Lonely

Waterfall
Hydro Pump/ Surf
Draco Meteor/ dragon Pulse
filler (the smogon set says rain dance but you could put ice beam or something here)

This is only if you want to keep electrode. if not, the DD set should be good

 

[Chickensandwichk]

Have you considered using the Lati@s to set up Rain Dance? I played a Rain team the other day who had a Latios lead who used Rain Dance on turn 1 and used a combination of Thunder and Surf to keep me switching. Bronzong was another Rain Dance user on his team.