May 26, 2015, 03:01 PM
Hah! You thought Naitre was gonna be the one to post this! But it was me, Rogue!
If you're subscribed to Justin's YouTube, then you're already aware that he's practicing for Worlds. You're also probably aware that my sister Naitre and I have been supplying him with teams for practice. If you aren't subscribed to Justin's YouTube, fix that right now. I'll wait. Anyhow, this is the 3rd team we've made for him. We decided to keep up with weather since the last team we made for him was a sandstorm team. So, here's our rain team we made together. People were already asking for the team in the comments of his video, so I'm here to deliver. If you like the team be sure to give my sister naitre love as well, since she was also a force in constructing this team. Let's get started with what everybody has on their rain team, shall we?
Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 212 HP / 132 Def / 4 SpA / 116 SpD / 44 Spe
Nature: Calm
- Scald
- Icy Wind
- Helping Hand
- Protect
First off, shiny Politoed is best Politoed. Second of all, you need this mon for rain teams so of course this is where we started. Everything on this toad changed while we tested. The moves, the nature, the ev's, even the item. However we're very happy with where it stands now. The EV spread was shared to us from a smogon friend of mine, who helped me with min maxing the defense. The EV's let us live important hits such as: Max Attack Jolly Double Edge Mega Kang. Max Spa Modest Thunderbolt Thundurus. Max attack jolly leaf blade expert belt Virizion. and much more. We opted for Calm simply because we got hit by a lot of special attacks. Leftovers sat pretty comfortably, although we did try other things. The move-pool is to my liking as well. Scald STAB with the nice burn chance. Icy Wind is great for speed control as you can see in Justin's video. Helping Hand for that support thats needed sometimes, and Protect is protect. I'm pretty happy with our toad and wouldn't change anything here.
Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 156 HP / 52 Def / 156 SpA / 4 SpD / 140 Spe
Nature: Modest
- Fake Out
- Scald
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
Ludicolo goes with Politoed like Justin goes with pizza. They're meant to be together. We're also pretty happy with our Ludicolo. Assault Vest is great and gives us extra bulk. Our EV's are nice for a bunch of reasons, even though they're super basic. We have decent bulk with offensive pressure, while still keeping a decent speed for when we don't bring our rain. (Remember, if your weather team can only win under your certain weather: It needs work.) Fake out shenanigans. Scald STAB. Giga Drain STAB. (Is it just me or do grass moves tear through most teams? Its like everyone forgets about grass weakness sometimes.) Ice Beam for dragons and lando in general. If I could change anything, it'd probably be scald. I wish I had Hydro Pump sometimes. But eh, all well. With my luck I'd probably miss it all the time.
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 204 HP / 228 SpA / 76 SpD
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield
Aegislash is the 3rd member of the rain crew. It's also one of my favorite additions as well. Rain helps with his fire weakness. Politoed/Ludicolo threaten Landorus who's a common EQ user, making it even safer to bring Aegislash. He also helps with Ludicolo/Politoeds weaknesses. Aegislash resists bug, flying, grass, and immune to poison. We did change his moveset a lot as well. We tried physical, then mixed, then special. We preferred special. Sacred sword's damage just wasn't cutting it enough for me, when I could be carrying flash cannon/s.ball instead. Wide Guard is so much fun to use and it's won me a lot of games. I also forgot how much fun the mind games with king shield is. I've won many games from attacking twice in a row with aegislash instead of attacking - then shielding. This move is just too good and plays great mind games. Weakness Policy is so broken and Im not sure why I don't see it everywhere ahaha. It's also so amazing on aegislash. The EV spread is super basic. Lots of hp for natural bulk, a lot of spa to make sure we 2HKO a lot of things like defensive aegislash's. and the rest in spd. Very happy with Aegislash being on the team.
Zapdos @ Expert Belt
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 140 SpA / 4 Spe
Nature: Modest
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
- Heat Wave
Zapdos is honestly one of my most slept on Pokemon. I said to myself: I need something that can't get hit by Earthquake. I need something that's decently bulky. Something with a fire move for when I don't have rain up. I need something that can hit hard as well. Zapdos fit all of these. I went for max HP for general bulk all around with decent defense investment. Because of this, we survive rock slide from everything. Even things like max attack choice band Landorus. We even live most stone edges depending on the item of the user. The rest was dumped in special attack to hit hard, and 4 speed to speed creep other base 100's with no investment. Expert Belt was a good choice IMO. Even my sister was skeptical of me using E-Belt. But if you watched Justins video, you'll see it's work (; But yeah, I love E-Belt on zapdos. Thunderbolt for STAB. Hp Ice for lando/dragons (ebelt ensures OHKO's on some) Heat wave for when I dont have rain up for ferrothorn/scizor. and roost. I'm super flip floppy on roost vs protect. some games i won because of roost. some i won because of protect. both are good choices.
Terrakion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Protect
- Quick Guard
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
Terrakion was not on the original rain team we constructed. We originally has Amoongus, then clefable, then togekiss, to Terrakion. We decided we didnt need a misdirection user, and it slowed down the offensive pressure on our team. We needed a way to hit kang and talonflame/thundurus. Terrakion was the perfect fit. Not much to say here. Basic set, basic ev's. quick guard is nice to stop priority, especially t-flame. We went for lum berry because sometimes we cant use quick guard to stop thunderwave, sometimes. Pretty happy with him, despite being so basic.
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 204 HP / 108 Def / 34 SpA / 164 SpD
Nature: Bold
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Protect
The final addition to the team. We went through a lot of megas. Like 4, actually. I think Venusaur was the best fit for the team. We are ev'd to always be able to take a life orb brave bird from talonflame. and even a max attack adamant zen headbutt from mega metagross. We then dumped points into special defense to help survive psychic from things like Latios. The rest was shot into special attack. Any bit helps on damage. Very standard move-set, but it gives us an additional strength to fairy's, sleep spam, and just general bulk overall. Also very happy with our mega here, I wouldn't pick anyone else honestly.
So that's the team, I'm pretty happy with it honestly. It can do well even without rain up. It's also probably the most bulky team we've ever made... EV training them was tough. (rip shiny swablu) let me know what you all think, and if you have any suggestion on what other teams we should make. Next up? Sun team!
If you liked this write up, check out our analyses on Justin's Power Team and Sand Team, too!
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