Relentless Torrent

[Askeia]

Introduction:
Don't be deceived by my low post count to dismiss my team right away. I used to be a top 50 player on the PO before coming to PS and Smogon, which explains the low post count. Anyways, I have a thing for rain in particular, and has started playing with rain teams as early as Gen IV, where Politoed didn't have Drizzle yet. I was also one of the few players who ran manual rain teams last gen to abuse Swift Swim after Alderan's Proposal.

Overview:

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To begin with, there is not much creativity to begin with in making rain offense teams. This looks like a typical rain offense team so there is nothing to speak of. However, it doesn't mean there is no creativity in the making of the team as it will be shown later. First glance reveals I lack an Electric type, and I lack something for Aegislash. But a closer look will reveal that solvable problems are in fact, not problems. More on that later though.


A Detailed Look

Deoxys-Speed @ Damp Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Spe / 252 HP / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Superpower​

I know what you are thinking. Deoxys-S with min speed, why not Deoxys-D in that case? Well, because min speed Deoxys-S is still pretty damn fast, outspeeding the likes of Greninja even without investment. With max Def, Deoxys-S is capable of surviving the likes of Crunch from Tyranitar, and get up both SR and Rain Dance safely. It's my personal preference for all my rain users to be able to hit Tyranitar hard, so Superpower is a given, with the added benefit of smashing Bisharp, who loves coming in on suicide lead Deoxys-S. Another impressive feat that Deoxys-S can do, that Deoxys-D can't, is guaranteeing RD + SR against either Charizard form, because of how Rain Dance happens after Charizard-Y gains Drought, and how Charizard-X cannot OHKO with Dragon Claw, not to mention Charizard-X is unlikely to lead against Deoxys-S in fear of Psycho Boost.

Politoed @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Encore​

While I subconsciously listed my member in order of which one I'm likely to lead with, I completely hate Politoed. But as much as I hate it, rain offense cannot live without it thanks to the ubiquity of Tyranitar, which will always be at an advantage against manual weather teams. The moveset which I used for my Politoed is pretty strange, being offensive, yet lacking Ice Beam, but instead having Encore. As weird as such a combination may be, Politoed is a very solid problem solver against many threats to rain. Psychic and Focus Blast takes care of every bulky grass that exists, which always gives rain trouble. Scald over Hydro Pump because Politoed is used as a problem solver, so it is better to burn Water resists rather than going on the offense. Encore really deserves a mention here, for being able to force double switches so that I can go to my rain sweepers readily. Ice Beam really provides redundant coverage as the only Dragons that don't mind a burn are Lati@s, who can't do nothing against Scizor.

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 116 Def / 248 HP / 44 Atk / 100 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Roost​

Bulky pivot Scizor basically messes with sand offense like no other. Tyranitar hates Bullet Punch, Landorus and Excadril hate Knock Off, while neither of the above even stands a chance at 2HKOing. Aegislash is completely helpless against this Scizor unless it manages to fish for a SpD drop with Shadow Ball. Notably U-turn is used over SD so that against sand offense, it always allows me to have a great matchup against Tyranitar, allowing me to always have the weather in my favor. Other than manhandling sand teams, most Grass types are completely helpless against it unless they carry HP Fire, which usually still fails to 2HKO in the rain. Besides, Scizor is among the best viable Mega for rain in the first place, considering every other viable Mega either stack weaknesses (Gyarados), doesn't solve the biggest problems (Gardevoir, Menectric) or are terrible for rain (Tyranitar, Charizard).

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 228 Spe / 240 SpA / 40 Atk
Rash Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Waterfall
- Rain Dance​

Kingdra is basically the posterboy of rain offense, along with Kabutops. Rather than the standard Specs set, I run a Mixed LO Kingdra. Spe EVs allows Kingdra to outspeed Scarf Latios in the rain, and Adamant Dragonite out of it. 40 Atk ensures an OHKO on Thundurus with Waterfall after SR in the case it comes in after Draco Meteor. I generally prefer mixed Kingdra over Specs Kingdra because it doesn't have to switch out after a Draco Meteor, and its ability to set up rain itself is really invaluable to have. Rain Dance also allows me to avoid Sucker Punches, which are pretty deadly against Specs variants.

Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Spe / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Low Kick
- Swords Dance​

With great speed under rain, good coverage, and Swords Dance, it's no doubt that Kabutops is a monster under rain. Differences from typical Kabutops is Low Kick over Aqua Jet, which destroys Ferrothorn, who is a complete thorn in the ass to deal with otherwise. Besides, Aqua Jet outside of rain is still terribly weak, and I'd rather use Waterfall or Stone Edge when in the rain, even against priority users. I don't usually use Swords Dance to get a sweep going, but it is essential in order for Low Kick to OHKO Ferrothorn, as well as providing a more reliable move for cleaning up the likes of Greninja.

Tornadus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spe / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Naive Nature
- Tailwind
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- U-turn​

Considering rain inherently has problems with bulky Grasses, a fast Flying STAB user is obviously good to have. I generally find Superpower more useful than Focus Blast on any attacker that learns both, because it hits the primary targets harder. Tailwind rather than Rain Dance deserves a mention. This allows me to be able to defeat opposing Rain teams or Dittoes would be horrifying to face otherwise. Naturally U-turn is selected for rather than Knock Off because of Tailwind's short duration, which I would appreciate the instant momentum provided by U-turn instead.

This concludes the RMT, but when I'm more free I will polish up the grammatical errors in random places which I might have missed out.

 

[Askeia]

~Reserved for threat list~

 

[fifaplayer]

Hi i would prefer Mega Gyardos as it can sweep with moves like
Dragon dance-for increase chance to sweep
Earthquake-can sweep a lot of pokemons
Waterfall-it help in sweep and can kill many sweeper
Outrage as u dont have any dragon move and it helps to sweep also

 

[MilkyWay]

Hi, I often run rain too (if you can't tell by my avatar) and this looks like one of the best rain teams I've seen this generation. The points you make and the uniqueness of your evs are very creative and seem to work well, such as offensive Politoed foregoing Ice Beam and Deoxys-S not investing in speed. I actually use a very similar rain team to this one but with an Assault Vest Raikou instead of Tornadus and slightly different evs and sets, although, after reading this RMT i might change some. However, have you ever tried Tornadus-T instead of Tornadus-I? It seems like Tornadus-T could do all of the same things as Tornadus-I but better thanks to Regenerator except for a priority Tailwind, which seems sort of redundant with Drizzle + Swift Swim anyway. Also, this is a serious question, is Knock Off really worth it over Defog on Mega-Scizor? I often run Defog but I can see the perks of Knock Off as well. Finally, usually I give either Kingdra or Kabutops a Mystic Water (boosts water type attacks by 1.2x) instead of Life Orb, mostly due to my paranoia with residual damage, but also because I hate miss predicting on a switch and losing 10% of my health. That's my personal preference though, but if you ever wanted to try it I'd suggest giving it to Kingdra.

 

[Askeia]

Hi, I often run rain too (if you can't tell by my avatar) and this looks like one of the best rain teams I've seen this generation. The points you make and the uniqueness of your evs are very creative and seem to work well, such as offensive Politoed foregoing Ice Beam and Deoxys-S not investing in speed. I actually use a very similar rain team to this one but with an Assault Vest Raikou instead of Tornadus and slightly different evs and sets, although, after reading this RMT i might change some. However, have you ever tried Tornadus-T instead of Tornadus-I? It seems like Tornadus-T could do all of the same things as Tornadus-I but better thanks to Regenerator except for a priority Tailwind, which seems sort of redundant with Drizzle + Swift Swim anyway. Also, this is a serious question, is Knock Off really worth it over Defog on Mega-Scizor? I often run Defog but I can see the perks of Knock Off as well. Finally, usually I give either Kingdra or Kabutops a Mystic Water (boosts water type attacks by 1.2x) instead of Life Orb, mostly due to my paranoia with residual damage, but also because I hate miss predicting on a switch and losing 10% of my health. That's my personal preference though, but if you ever wanted to try it I'd suggest giving it to Kingdra.

Hi, thanks for the input, but I do have reasons for making some of these decisions of moves I made.

The point of Knock Off on Scizor is actually so that my team is not helpless against Aegislash. As you see, nothing else in the team actually threaten Aegislash, while Scizor hard-walls it. Without Knock Off, it actually becomes sort of a PP-stall if in a last vs last situation, which I want to avoid because Shadow Ball SDef drops are not in my favor.

Yes I did try Tornadus-T as well, but the point of which I actually chose to run Tornadus-I with Tailwind was when my weakened Kingdra got Scarf-Ditto-ed and swept my entire team with Hydro Pump. Hence Tornadus-I seems more reliable.

And the Life Orb vs Splash Plate one. Kabutops needs Life Orb to OHKO Ferrothorn with Low Kick at +2, so I'm not sure it's a good choice. As for Kingdra, if I were to use Splash Plate, I'd have to run 112 Atk EVs in order to not get completely screwed by Thundurus when I'm at -2 SAtk, and that makes Draco Meteor pretty weak.