[RATE MY TEAM] A Marshy Rain! Battle Spot Doubles.

[Pokeventurer]

Hi guys i am back with another rate my team post, this time i wanted to just throw ideas on myself, after struggling for so long, i picked a semi-successful team of mine from the mid-15 season, and decided to make a new variant of it. So just thew on some ideas with some practice to get each's role up here. Hope my descriptions are enough:

The Team:


Swampert-Mega @ Swampertite  
Ability: Damp  
Level: 50  
EVs: 28 HP / 228 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD / 228 Spe  
Adamant Nature  
- Earthquake  
- Waterfall  
- Rock Slide  
- Protect

Mega Swampert was something i used with the early rain teams in the past, nowadays, here and there you'll see this spread and the mon itself, so i really wanted to give it a go. Swampert's set is picked up from the recent most m-swampy team report on NB, i edited the set a bit, for it to outspeed max-speed jolly scarf lando-t behind rain, however the likeliness is much less of that happening, i basically ensure to outspeed everything in the metagame. The attack EV's are destructive. Swampert does well against the ever-growing fire types' offensive pressure and my arch nemesis' geni-duo. Earthquake are absorbed by togekiss and helping hand adds to it's damage output.

0 SpA Amoonguss Giga Drain vs. 28 HP / 12 SpD Mega Swampert: 136-168 (75.9 - 93.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-1 228+ Atk Mega Swampert Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Landorus-T: 112-132 (57.1 - 67.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers
-1 228+ Atk Mega Swampert Waterfall vs. 4 HP / 0+ Def Landorus-T in Rain: 168-200 (101.8 - 121.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
228+ Atk Mega Swampert Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Aegislash-Shield: 150-176 (89.8 - 105.3%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
228+ Atk Mega Swampert Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Mega Charizard Y: 240-284 (129.7 - 153.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Politoed @ Expert belt
Ability: Drizzle  
Level: 50  
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 76 SpA / 100 SpD / 4 Spe  
Calm Nature  
- Scald  
- Ice Beam  
- Rain Dance
- Protec

I will not be that guy who uses thundurus for politoed. Reasons? well politoed is and has been the best rain setter. when playing thundurus the threat of getting KO'ed is real and even some switch in's can go to fail. But politoed waste rain if against a charizard, t-tar right? i do have a tact for that, even though it's lame, you'll know it. This politoed spread is something i used in the past for milestones, it OHKO'es salamence with ice beams, other defensive investments are for hydreigon and kang attacks though. the odd-est--ish choice of going with any item but wide lens and not any other item *i know u probably wondering what is this item* because of the odd-ist-ish move choices u can see. in the past politoed was a weird mon when it came to the idea of doing actual damaging. i tempted to use hydro pump, but this whole luck factor that comes to my mind, isn't the best memory to ever be brought back from experience. wide lens actually increases the accuracy of the holder's moves > 10% which definitely pays off in doing alot of damage, same with focus blast to deal damage to things namely, hydreigon and other usual mons (which are alot) weak to fighting type. AND THEN Delta opened my eyes! thanks for the suggestions, the moveset works really well and get's benchmarks i wanna have with a poitoed (see calcs below)

76 SpA Expert Belt Politoed Scald vs. 176 HP / 0 SpD Heatran in Rain: 158-187 (84 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
76 SpA Expert Belt Politoed Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Amoonguss: 77-91 (34.8 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Thundurus Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 100+ SpD Politoed: 164-195 (83.2 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
76 SpA Expert Belt Politoed Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 106-125 (54 - 63.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
76 SpA Expert Belt Politoed Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence: 182-216 (106.4 - 126.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
76 SpA Expert Belt Politoed Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Thundurus: 94-110 (50.5 - 59.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 100+ SpD Politoed: 147-174 (74.6 - 88.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
76 SpA Expert Belt Politoed Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Hydreigon: 91-108 (54.1 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


Bisharp @ Choice Band  
Ability: Defiant  
Level: 50  
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe  
Jolly Nature  
- Iron Head  
- Knock Off  
- Sucker Punch  
- Low Kick

Call me crazy but don't as i explain my weird mindset of going into a match with this pokemon. So i knew that the team was gonna be troubled by bisharps right? So i make my own bisharp to counter other's back. it does more damage, and even OHKO some landorus' choice band's choice was the best choice. I made my bisharp go with a jolly nature to outspeed adamant bisharp and OHKO with low kick and creeping toms to get a knock off of and do tons of damage. Low kick adds alot to the teams and patches up on the fighting coverage. Nothing much on this mon though. I wanna use assurance over knock off, in combination with swampert's rock slide though.

+1 252 Atk Choice Band Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 163-193 (98.7 - 116.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Bisharp Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Rotom-W: 109-130 (69.4 - 82.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Bisharp Low Kick (80 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Bisharp: 268-316 (190 - 224.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Bisharp Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Mega Tyranitar: 240-284 (115.9 - 137.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Bisharp Low Kick (80 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Kangaskhan: 160-190 (88.3 - 104.9%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Bisharp Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Mega Gardevoir: 204-242 (116.5 - 138.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Bisharp Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Sylveon: 204-240 (100.9 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Gourgeist @ Focus sash
Ability: Frisk  
Level: 50  
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe  
Adamant Nature  
- Seed Bomb  
- Phantom Force  
- Protect
- Skill Swap

Gougeist is the pokemon which came in last, over a replacement for aegislash. gourgeist got some solid pick points so let's get to them: I needed a fighting resistance/immunity to cover up the 2x fighting weakness further (a ghost type) wanted to counter aegislash (phantom force) and needed grass coverage for sure to deal with things like gastrodon, swampert oppositions and most importantly the bulky waters i.e. rotom-w, politoed, suicune. Skill swaps' potential is working with everything, how? i can skill swap into my politoed to turn weather over char's mega evo or t-tar switch in's, i reverted to the choice of focus sash,considering how frail it was and that it was quite important to keep it up on the field. I know it get's gimmicky, however it works well as the last slot. Frisk is a great ability for the information game.


Togekiss @ Safety Goggles  
Ability: Serene Grace  
Level: 50  
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 4 SpA / 28 SpD / 60 Spe  
Bold Nature  
- Tailwind  
- Helping Hand  
- Follow Me  
- Air Slash

Togekiss love forever! his an amazing EV spead i made which makes it survive almost every attack, it will face it can survive LO bisharp iron heads and outspeed 4 speed invested rotoms and spam air slashes. tailwind is the form of speed control which makes it important. redirection support counts important for things like bisharp, gourgeist and exploud, also grass from swampert which are frail. Togekiss is love, it just support the team so well with it's moveset and there are no regrets i have for it.

4 SpA Togekiss Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 60 SpD Amoonguss: 114-134 (51.5 - 60.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Bisharp Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 164+ Def Togekiss: 151-182 (78.6 - 94.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 164+ Def Togekiss: 132-157 (68.7 - 81.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
212+ SpA Rotom-W Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 28 SpD Togekiss: 122-146 (63.5 - 76%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
etc...


Exploud @ Life Orb
Ability: Soundproof  
Level: 50  
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe  
Modest Nature  
- Boomburst  
- Hyper Beam  
- Fire Blast
- Protect

Screams louder than a sylveon, has a bigger mouth, Bigger is always better, base 80 power is weaker than 140 base power, BoomBoomBoomburst!. this is the pokemon which was on my older team but with things like helping hand, telepathy gardevoir to support it to it's fullest potential, with this team changed the role splits B/w gourgeist and togekiss. Exploud suffered survival mostly i think so i handed t over a focus sash to survive anything and go on the offensive mode and surely deal alot of damage, but now as suggested from delta i went with bulk and lfe orb, as exploud surely outspeeds the base 100's after 1 tailwind though, there isn't much that it won't 2HKO, apart from the one's who resist it. fire blast is here for ferrothorn, in absence of a fire type pokemon, as it would've sucked to bring one on a rain team anyways.

252 Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Return vs. 244 HP / 4 Def Exploud: 177-208 (84.2 - 99%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Exploud Helping Hand Hyper Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence: 235-278 (137.4 - 162.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
No real targets for a STAB norm attack, though it get's off tons of damage before going down.

Battle vids:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/battle...-273787158

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/battle...-273788344

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/battle...-273790463

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/battle...-273791078

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/battle...-273792309



Conclusion:
so there you have it! this was my team, hope u liked and have helpful suggestion for it's betterment Bye for now!

[Delta]

Well. This is a very interesting team! It isn't LoomKiss, but.. I am going to be going through each and every Pokemon, so this might take a while.

(Sep 22, 2015, 01:31 PM)Pokeventurer Wrote:
Swampert-Mega @ Swampertite  
Ability: Damp  
Level: 50  
EVs: 28 HP / 228 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD / 228 Spe  
Adamant Nature  
- Earthquake  
- Waterfall  
- Rock Slide  
- Protect

Mega Swampert was something i used with the early rain teams in the past, nowadays, here and there you'll see this spread and the mon itself, so i really wanted to give it a go. Swampert's set is picked up from the recent most m-swampy team report on NB, i edited the set a bit, for it to outspeed max-speed jolly scarf lando-t behind rain, however the likeliness is much less of that happening, i basically ensure to outspeed everything in the metagame. The attack EV's are destructive. Swampert does well against the ever-growing fire types' offensive pressure and my arch nemesis' geni-duo. Earthquake are absorbed by togekiss and helping hand adds to it's damage output.

Well, I don't know why you gave it those defenses, but that is okay. You mainly invested into speed and offense, so I won't penalize you on that. I haven't found a good EV investment myself, so I really can't tell you about EV's. Your moveset looks very solid to me. I run Ice Punch over Rock Slide, but I think that Rock Slide might actually be better.

(Sep 22, 2015, 01:31 PM)Pokeventurer Wrote:
Politoed @ Wide Lens  
Ability: Drizzle  
Level: 50  
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 116 SpA / 60 SpD / 4 Spe  
Modest Nature  
- Hydro Pump  
- Ice Beam  
- Focus Blast  
- Protect

I will not be that guy who uses thundurus for politoed. Reasons? well politoed is and has been the best rain setter. when playing thundurus the threat of getting KO'ed is real and even some switch in's can go to fail. But politoed waste rain if against a charizard, t-tar right? i do have a tact for that, even though it's lame, you'll know it. This politoed spread is something i used in the past for milestones, it OHKO'es salamence with ice beams, other defensive investments are for hydreigon and kang attacks though. the odd-est--ish choice of going with any item but wide lens and not any other item *i know u probably wondering what is this item* because of the odd-ist-ish move choices u can see. in the past politoed was a weird mon when it came to the idea of doing actual damaging. i tempted to use hydro pump, but this whole luck factor that comes to my mind, isn't the best memory to ever be brought back from experience. wide lens actually increases the accuracy of the holder's moves > 10% which definitely pays off in doing alot of damage, same with focus blast to deal damage to things namely, hydreigon and other usual mons (which are alot) weak to fighting type.

Okay. What to say about this. Uh. How about. Um. Baka.

Okay. First reactions aside, I like how you are trying to be original here. Don't, and I mean don't use Wide Lens. Not on Politoad. I am all for using an offensive Politoad, but, Wide Lens? Really? I would personally go with Expert Belt, so you can take EV's out of your Special Attack and put them into your bulk, while still doing tons of damage. I understand the allure of Wide Lens, but it boosts the accuracy by 10%, not adds 10%, which means Focus Blast is at a still measly 77%, and Hydro Pump is at 88%, which is pretty good, but not worth the loss of an item.

(Sep 22, 2015, 01:31 PM)Pokeventurer Wrote:
Bisharp @ Choice Band  
Ability: Defiant  
Level: 50  
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe  
Jolly Nature  
- Iron Head  
- Knock Off  
- Sucker Punch  
- Low Kick

Call me crazy but don't as i explain my weird mindset of going into a match with this pokemon. So i knew that the team was gonna be troubled by bisharps right? So i make my own bisharp to counter other's back. it does more damage, and even OHKO some landorus' choice band's choice was the best choice. I made my bisharp go with a jolly nature to outspeed adamant bisharp and OHKO with low kick and creeping toms to get a knock off of and do tons of damage. Low kick adds alot to the teams and patches up on the fighting coverage. Nothing much on this mon though. I wanna use assurance over knock off, in combination with swampert's rock slide though.

I quite like Choice Band Bisharp. It wreck Landorus, Arcanine, heck, even Scrafty doesn't want to take a +1 Low Kick with Choice Band. I really don't have much to say here. I mean, there are a few ways to run Bisharp, and how you want to do it is up to personal preference, as well as team composition.

(Sep 22, 2015, 01:31 PM)Pokeventurer Wrote:
Gourgeist @ Choice Scarf  
Ability: Frisk  
Level: 50  
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe  
Adamant Nature  
- Seed Bomb  
- Phantom Force  
- Trick  
- Skill Swap

Gougeist is the pokemon which came in last, over a eplacement for aegislash. gourgeist got some solid pick points so let's get to them: I needed a fighting resistance/immunity to cover up the 2x fighting weakness further (a ghost type) wanted to counter aegislash (phantom force) and needed grass coverage for sure to deal with things like gastrodon, swampert oppositions and most importantly the bulky waters i.e. rotom-w, politoed, suicune. Skill swaps' potential is working with everything, how? i can skill swap into my politoed to turn weather over char's mega evo or t-tar switch in's i can pass over the insomnia to pass spore immunity to everything on my side, in addition to conditionally acquiring my exploud's focus sash though, trick spams chioce scarfs into bad options like TR users or just mons into bad options. I know it get's gimmicky, however it works well as the last slot.

I'm sorry. I needed to post something funny about Gourgeist. Do you want to know what I think of Choice Scarf Gourgeist? DON'T!! Do you want something that covers Fighting? Chandelure. Want something for Fire? Chandelure. Do you want something that hits hard? Chandelure. Do you want something that can trick, while also being able to get full advantage of the item they are tricking? Chan-De-*Beep*-Lure. You can argue all you want. I will throw a Chandelure in yo face. You could run it with Choice Scarf, Choice Specs (with Choice Specs, Modest, and about 212 EVs, Overheat will OHKO some Kangaskhans). Basically, replace Gourgeist with Chandelure.

(Sep 22, 2015, 01:31 PM)Pokeventurer Wrote:
Togekiss @ Safety Goggles  
Ability: Serene Grace  
Level: 50  
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 4 SpA / 28 SpD / 60 Spe  
Bold Nature  
- Tailwind  
- Helping Hand  
- Follow Me  
- Air Slash

Togekiss love forever! his an amazing EV spead i made which makes it survive almost every attack, it will face it can survive LO bisharp iron heads and outspeed 4 speed invested rotoms and spam air slashes. tailwind is the form of speed control which makes it important. redirection support counts important for things like bisharp, gourgeist and exploud, also grass from swampert which are frail. Togekiss is love, it just support the team so well with it's moveset and there are no regrets i have for it.

Togekiss is awesome. Nothing needs to be said here.

(Sep 22, 2015, 01:31 PM)Pokeventurer Wrote: Exploud @ Focus Sash
Ability: Soundproof
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Hyper Beam
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Screams louder than a sylveon, has a bigger mouth, Bigger is always better, base 80 power is weaker than 140 base power, BoomBoomBoomburst!. this is the pokemon which was on my older team but with things like helping hand, telepathy gardevoir to support it to it's fullest potential, with this team changed the role splits B/w gougeist and politoed. Loudred suffered survival mostly i think so i handed t over a focus sash to survive anything and go on the offensive mode and surely deal alot of damage, there isn't much that it won't 2HKO, apart from the one's who resist it. fire blast is here for ferrothorn, in absence of a fire type pokemon, as it would've sucked to bring one on a rain team anyways.

Oh how I love Exploud. Exploud is lov. Exploud is lyf. Except here. Exploud just doesn't work i today's metagame as well as I would hope (trust me, I've used it many times). If you really want to use Exploud, don't run it speedy. Run it bulky with health and Special Attack, and nothing else. Speed is pretty well wasted on Exploud. You might want to outspeed some things, but not 252 Speed. I must say, though. Exploud works as a great way to get around Sylveon and Mega Gardevoir. Now, as for what I think this slot should be: Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn would work very well in your team, so long as you take care of Mega Kangaskhan. Once Kang is gone, your team can basically support Ferrothorn to be the ultimate tank, and never leave, ever. Do you know how painful it is to fight a Ferrothorn without a Fire type attack? Ya. It's pretty tough. It works pretty well with rain, and with Chandelure having Flash Fire, you can even counter Pokemon like Heatran using Heat Wave.


Overall, it is a pretty cool team. I would do things differently, with Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Chandelure, who basically do the job you are trying to fulfill better than the Pokemon you currently have. This is of course, my two sense. Delta out.

[El Miguel VGC]

Choice bisharp has been working out for me quite nicely in rain. Focus Blast has appx. 77% accuracy as hydro pump has 88% with wide lens politoed if you didnt know. A lot of rain lately....

[bradar485]

Rain teams are so neat. It's such a safe, approachable weather effect. Plus kudos for going for rain without ludicolo.

The mega swampert is neato but I would also like to see the rationale behind it's ev spread. Not that I'm judging. I've just never built a swampert and would like to know how you think it should run.

I really like your wide lense idea, but wouldn't it be better to have some kind of health recovery on him? The expert belt delta mentioned is also solid. If the small accuracy drop bothers you, you could always switch hydro pump to scald and have some fun spreading the burn.

And finally I totally agree with delta on the exploud. I feel like it's swag factor is pretty intimidating but I was looking over your team; thinking about that last team slot and then got to delta's reply and completely agree with ferrothorn.

The last thing, to return to the beginning of my post, maybe ludicolo? He just shows up when it's raining and tends to overstay his welcome...

[Marcusube]

Pretty decent rain team. I'm still wondering what those defensive investments do for Swampert and why you're running Rock Slide over Ice Punch.

The Politoed set here is interesting seeing as how people normally run supportive sets. Not sure as to what 116 special attack EVs take out but whatever. Also why not Zoom Lens over Wide Lens and drop Politoed's speed with a negative nature. If opposing weathers become a problem, maybe Rain Dance would make a fit here.

Countering Bisharp with Bisharp does sound tactical but after you launch that Low Kick, if the opponent has answers to your Bisharp, you could of easily just given your opponent momentum in a game. Also, wasn't Choice Band Bisharp the main reason why El Miguel dropped out a tourney? Just asking

Not sure what to say about this Gourgeist to be honest. Accidentally choice yourself into Skill Swap and its gg. To be honest

252+ Atk Gourgeist-Super Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Rotom-W: 116-138 (73.8 - 87.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery
252+ Atk Gourgeist-Super Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 100+ Def Suicune: 96-114 (46.3 - 55%) -- 11.3% chance to 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery
252+ Atk Gourgeist-Super Phantom Force vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 102-120 (61 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I don't see how this does that well offensively but whatever, its your team

The Skill Swapping Drizzle is a good strat but consider that in most situations, having both Gourgeist and Politoed on the field at the same team massively cuts at your offensive pressure leaving you wide open for an attack.

If you Trick the opponent into Trick Room, they can switch out into something else then come back in later. Usually these mons run offensive moves so if a case comes up where TR ends and for instance you gave Cresselia a choice scarf, it could cost you the game.

Togekiss is meh, really. Not much to say about it

Boomburst hits nearly as hard as Hyper Beam so what gives? Soundproof gives you immunity to Hyper Voice and that immunity only walls out Sylveon. Scrappy seems less situational. It does make Boomburst hit your Gourgeist though.

Yeah, that's all I can say about this team. There's some weird stuff going on here that I don't get to be honest.