This is my first time experimenting with competitive team building and a 'Rain Dance' base team is my first test. I'm looking for people willing to give some tips on Pokemon, moves, and items to make sure I'm on the right track towards a winning team! Thank you!
For a Defensive beginner to set in Rain is:
[Pelipper]
Special Ability- Drizzle
Item- Damp Rock
Surf
Roost
Tailwind
U-Turn
[Heliolisk]
Special Ability- Dry Skin
Item-
Thunder
Focus Blast
Surf
Volt Switch
[Kingdra]
Special Ability- Swift Swim
Item-
Hydro Pump
Surf
Draco Meteor
Dragon Pulse
[Toxicroak]
Special Ability- Dry Skin
Item-
Earthquake
Poison Jab
Dark Pulse
Focus Blast
[Goodra]
Special Ability- Hydration
Item-
Thunder
Raindance
Earthquake
Ice Beam
Aug 7, 2017, 08:09 PM (This post was last modified: Aug 7, 2017, 08:10 PM by Spyro190.)
Tbh we can't help so much if you don't tell us what tier are you interested in, but I'll do my best giving you generally useful advice.
First of all, let me introduce you the amazing world of Scald. It's one of the best Water STABs ever, wich not only has a Base Power similar to Surf and more accuracy than Hydro Pump but even a 30% chance of burning to punish common checks for Water types like Dragon, Water and Grass types lacking Water immunity. It's also a single target move, so it hits harder than Surf in Doubles. This said, you should use Scald instead of Surf for Kingdra and Pelipper. If you want to play in Doubles Pelipper can use Brine to take advantage of its mates' strenght and his slowness to KO opponents' pokèmon.
Now my2cents about Rain teams. Drizzle is absolutely enough to set the wheater: you don't need to use Rain Dance. Your team on paper seems very good having two Rain abusers and two pokèmon able to deal with other Rain teams, but you picked not so good pokèmon. While Pelipper is the best Rain setter and Kingdra the best Swift Swim abuser in SM Goodra, Toxicroak and Heliolisk can be outclassed by other pokèmon with same roles depending on the tier choosed. MGardevoir isn't a common mega for this archetype because MSwampert and MScizor are preferred, while the first one benefits more from Sand.
Lastly I want to say that MGardevoir hasn't the bulk needed to be a good Wish user, while Toxicroak lacks SpA to use a mixed set.
Aug 8, 2017, 07:16 AM (This post was last modified: Aug 8, 2017, 10:48 AM by Kris.)
Hi there Sea34! I remember back when I was trying to learn the ropes of competitive battling, it's a lot of fun once you get into it! Hopefully I am able to help you out.
Now first off, is this team for Doubles or Singles use? If this is primarily Singles, I suggest removing Surf on your Pokémon and giving them Scald, a really good option since it can burn the opponent. I'd like to suggest Hurricane over Roost on Pelipper, it's 100% accurate in the rain and it's a powerful STAB move with a chance to confuse the opponent. Great choice in Kingdra, but Scald over Surf is the best way to go. Toxicroak is an interesting Pokémon but it's not cut out to be a mixed attacker, so put Knock Off and Drain Punch on there over the Special Attacks. Mega Gardevoir is great, but not for Wish sadly, if you still want a Wish-mon, I suggest Vaporeon. However instead of Wish and Rain Dance, how about Thunderbolt and Psyshock? Also I would use Moonblast over Dazzling Gleam. If you want to play a tricky Gardy set, and don't mind losing her Mega, I've been using a Z-Magic Room set. Z-Magic Room boosts your Special Defense by 1 and makes held items lose effect for 5 turns, but because of this don't lead with her or Pelipper's Damp Rock won't work. Goodra is one of my favorite Pokémon! Good set IMO, but maybe scrap Rain Dance for Sludge Wave, I'm sorry I have never used Goodra in competitive battling. Heliolisk!!! I'm using one on a Sunny team lol! Volt Switch and Focus Blast can stay, that's good, but put Dragon Pulse and Hyper Voice on, Hyper Voice is amazing as it's a STAB move for Heliolisk.
I hope I was able to help you out with this team, good luck and let me know how you do!
Also if you require further assistance with team building, feel free to PM me, or another user I can recommend is @RetroTyphlosion
Aug 9, 2017, 07:00 PM (This post was last modified: Aug 10, 2017, 09:16 AM by Kris.)
Hey, I see you're online so I'll drop another awesome rain dance team suggestion for you.
Seismitoad @ Life Orb/LeftoversAbility: Swift SwimEVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature- Scald- Earth Power- Substitute- Toxic
Seismitoad is awesome because it has an Electric Immunity, it has access to Scald and Earth Power, both nice options but you just need to be wary of Grass Types.
Beartic @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Superpower
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance
One of my favorite Swift Swim Pokémon because of it being an Ice Type.
(Aug 9, 2017, 07:00 PM)Anabel Wrote: Hey, I see you're online so I'll drop another awesome rain dance team suggestion for you.
Seismitoad @ Life Orb/LeftoversAbility: Swift SwimEVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature- Scald- Earth Power- Substitute- Toxic
Seismitoad is awesome because it has an Electric Immunity, it has access to Scald and Earth Power, both nice options but you just need to be wary of Grass Types.
Beartic @ Life OrbAbility: Swift SwimEVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpeAdamant Nature- Icicle Crash- Superpower- Aqua Jet- Swords Dance
One of my favorite Swift Swim Pokémon because of it being an Ice Type.
Hopefully these suggestions help out.
First of all, thank for all of your suggestions. You've helped me out but from the last time I have posted I've learned a few more things (thank goodness). First, I didn't quite understand tiers, and honestly, I still don't. Based on my team now, I believe it has changed to an Ultra/UU team depending on which Pokemon starts the rain move. Primal Kyoger works for setting the heavy rain, which would be perfect for any Pokemon that is affected by fire. Unless legendary are prohibited, Pelipper with drizzle makes up for that missing slot while old damp rock.
Seismitoad is a Pokemon that I have considered, it's tanky and can deal a significant amount of damage while not worrying about electric typing. The one concern is how many water types I am putting on my team, leaving me quite vulnerable to grass. I have kingdra on my team because swift swim + its overall balance in stats is perfect, and the combination of it move pool is fantastic. Yet that is already two water types under my belt. I could replace Ludicolo for Seismitoad, but what tier is he even apart of? Would I even be able to put seismitoad in my team due to his tier or does that not matter? A little confused on which Pokemon are and aren't allowed to go together based on how they are played overall.
Aug 10, 2017, 11:12 AM (This post was last modified: Aug 10, 2017, 11:24 AM by Spyro190.)
(Aug 10, 2017, 09:17 AM)Sea34 Wrote:
(Aug 9, 2017, 07:00 PM)Anabel Wrote: Hey, I see you're online so I'll drop another awesome rain dance team suggestion for you.
Seismitoad @ Life Orb/LeftoversAbility: Swift SwimEVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature- Scald- Earth Power- Substitute- Toxic
Seismitoad is awesome because it has an Electric Immunity, it has access to Scald and Earth Power, both nice options but you just need to be wary of Grass Types.
Beartic @ Life OrbAbility: Swift SwimEVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpeAdamant Nature- Icicle Crash- Superpower- Aqua Jet- Swords Dance
One of my favorite Swift Swim Pokémon because of it being an Ice Type.
Hopefully these suggestions help out.
First of all, thank for all of your suggestions. You've helped me out but from the last time I have posted I've learned a few more things (thank goodness). First, I didn't quite understand tiers, and honestly, I still don't. Based on my team now, I believe it has changed to an Ultra/UU team depending on which Pokemon starts the rain move. Primal Kyoger works for setting the heavy rain, which would be perfect for any Pokemon that is affected by fire. Unless legendary are prohibited, Pelipper with drizzle makes up for that missing slot while old damp rock.
Seismitoad is a Pokemon that I have considered, it's tanky and can deal a significant amount of damage while not worrying about electric typing. The one concern is how many water types I am putting on my team, leaving me quite vulnerable to grass. I have kingdra on my team because swift swim + its overall balance in stats is perfect, and the combination of it move pool is fantastic. Yet that is already two water types under my belt. I could replace Ludicolo for Seismitoad, but what tier is he even apart of? Would I even be able to put seismitoad in my team due to his tier or does that not matter? A little confused on which Pokemon are and aren't allowed to go together based on how they are played overall.
Smogon's main tiers work as chinese boxes. There is a huge box called OU in wich you can use basically what you want, and then smaller boxes each one inside another one wich are UU, RU, NU and PU. In every box you can't use pokèmon wich are in bigger boxes, but you can use pokèmon wich are in smaller boxes. Practically in the smallest box (PU) you can use only pokèmon classified as PU, in NU you can use pokèmon classified NU or PU, in RU pokèmon classified as RU, NU or PU, in UU pokèmon classified as UU, RU, NU or PU and OU is the biggest box in wich you can use almost everything.
Every tier has a banlist, aka a list of banned pokèmon, moves, abilities, items or combinations of them. The banlist for OU has grown so much that now it's an independent tier: Ubers. The other banlists are called BL(X): we have BL for UU, BL2 for RU, BL3 for NU and BL4 for PU. When a pokèmon is classified as BL(X) it can't be used in a particullary box, but not even in the smaller ones.
Because of this system, the tiers in wich you can use your team depend on the highest classified pokèmon in your team. (the one in the biggest box) In your case, Pelipper and MGardevoir are classified as OU, so you can use your team in the SM OU tier. Here you can see the current classification.
Talking about Seismitoad and Beartic... they suck in SM OU. Beartic has a defensively terrible typing and a Rain team has Ice Beams/Punchs everywhere, so it doesn't need it neither offensively. Seismitoad has a liiiittle niche as SR setter version of Gastrodon, but it's completely outclassed by MSwampert as Swift Swim user.
