I probably overlooked something while playing this team. Opinions welcome.
OK, so due to the overwhelming popularity of Rainstall on Beta when I was laddering there, I wanted to try it out and kinda see how it worked. Could I play it? Did it deserve the hype? And, most importantly, what would be on it? At first I began to take part's of peoples' teams (including DJ Hezzy, Gangstarr, Chomp29, Rainman, and Ereno) just to mess around with what I thought was best.
Since I was playing RAIN stall, I wanted to start with a defensive Toed. Since late 2010, I had been playing with a specially defensive Politoed. It seemed to be much more useful overall and ate even STAB Tbolts with its impressive bulk.
With the "Rain" part of my Rainstall finished, I looked to the next Poke. What were the biggest stall Pokes in the game? None other than Chansey and Skarmory.
I had used a Skarm/Chans/Tenta core in Ubers (like everyone else thanks to my good friend Donkey), so I said "Hey, it works when everything hits even harder, so it probably should work here." Tenta has yet to dissappoint.
With the main defensive core finished, I felt as though I needed some sort of grass type to hold the team together. The regular player would have looked towards Celebi or perhaps Ferrothorn. I, however, remembered the horrors of playing against good Amoonguss players. While basically useless in Standard, Dream World gives the shroom an impressive tool in REGENERATOR. Instant healing means you don't have to use Leftovers, which gives you the Shed Shell option which is always nice.
Now, on both PBC and Beta, Rainstall was HUGE. While I felt I had a great team and I was an above average player, I knew there were plenty of better players who knew their rainstall better than me. What broke Rainstall? I had used it before to great success and felt it should work here. In goes Lum Keldeo.
Now, I laddered this team to great heights. It was solid. EXCEPT there were certain stallbreakers that just caused it to have use issues unless I played on the offense with Keldeo immediately or just spammed Scald. The two big ones were Sub-Gyarados and SubCM Rachi. What beat both of these? Well, for SubCM Rachi, the only truly solid counter was Gastrodon.
In addition, Gastrodon was a hugely useful opponent to random things like Crocune if Toed was down, and with HP Electric not even Sub or Taunt Gyarados could stand in its way before it was swiftly 2HKOd (or OHKOd with a Storm Drain boost).
Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 64 SAtk / 196 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Protect
- Encore
- Perish Song
My original Toed set was none other than the standard 252 HP/252 Sp.D/4 Speed Calm, with Scald/Toxic/Tect/Encore. After a while, I wanted Scald to hit a bit harder, and there were a few set up sweepers (such as Latias) which I wanted a reliable "get out" move. As such, I added Perish Song over Toxic and pumped in 52 Sp.A EVs, which OHKO's Excadrill but also is nifty for a multitude of other events and is all around useful. Perish Song + Encore is very useful for set up sweepers, normally Special Sweepers. It's also useful for some offensive NP Ninetales so you can take a +2 or +4 Energy Ball and OHKO back in the rain. I chose not to run Toxic as I feel that I can normally just use a decently powered Scald or threaten things with Perish Song, and I also have Toxic Spikes.
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 5 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Softboiled
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
- Heal Bell
I didn't want to fit a Stealth Rock user on my team anywhere as I thought the typing would overlap Skarm's too much, so I went ahead and added on a Chansey. Everything that has been said about this poke has been said. It eats special hits and even physical hits (for example, +4 Landorus EQ without LO doesn't OHKO). Softboiled is for the obvious recovery, and Wish is absent because the majority of my Pokes have some sort of recovery (bar Politoed who must rely on Protect). SToss is for reliable damage, and Heal Bell is exceedingly helpful against other stall teams or Jellicent. The EVs maximize the defense gained from Eviolite.
Skarmory (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
Rocky Helmet? Who goes there? Well, Chomp29 and I can testify to the serious amazingness of Rocky Helmet Skarmory. Against teams with Scizor and sometimes Genesect, Skarmory can easily come in on the Uturn and take about 5% while dishing out 17. This racks up with entry hazards; Scizor is limited to only 6 Uturns without even counting Rocks or however many Spikes I might have up. The EVs intend to maximize the obvious defense stat, and I wanted to outspeed some Skarm and Whirlwind them first, so I went ahead and put a few Speed EVs on. The rest of the set is mostly self explanatory; Brave Bird for good damage, Spikes for pressure, WW for phazing, and Roost to recover.
Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 194 Def / 44 Spd / 20 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Protect
Tentacruel is a very bulky and heavily overused Rainstall poke for many good reasons. Rapid Spin is the big use of Tenta; spinning away those pesky hazards is a must for any practical stall team. Toxic Spikes is in the same field; although only 1 layer is needed most of the time. Scald is useful for flying pokes immune to Toxic Spikes; such as Togekiss. Protect is very handy dandy for speedy recovery and 1/4 HP recovery in the Rain. It also racks up Toxic damage if necessary. The EVs are there to take even strong Earthquakes and also outpseed a good majority of Gliscor and a few other defensive pokes. The Special Attack EVs are to 3HKO Conkeldurr.
Amoonguss is no joke whatsoever. Tanking even a +2 Terrakion LO Stone Edge and Sporing it proves its use against even typical stallbreakers. Amoonguss is about as much of a mixed wall as you can get; strong special and physical attackers are deterred by its good coverage, Clear Smog which prevent setting up from working, and even Spore to incapacitate a poke for a random amount of time. Even Chandelure can't do a thing to it as it easily switches out from the Tag. The big reason it is used is Regenerator. With such easy recovery, Leftovers is not needed. You can gain a huge chunk of the HP opponents knock out just by switching out of their counter. Amoonguss is also brilliant for breaking the common Rotom + Scizor core with Skarmory. Skarmory makes Scizor take damage from Uturning, while Amoonguss can just Regenerate the meager Volt Switch damage. Amoonguss=fantastic in DW.
Gastrodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 5 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
Now, this is my newest member to my team and I'm very unsure of the EVs at the moment. I wanted to absorb physical hits but also have an extra oomph in special hits as well. Scald is great for all around burning in case you need to burn things (ya don't say?), Earth Power is great for things like fire types in the sun or Jirachi, and HP Electric is almost soley for Gyarados, which can rip this team apart if it gets going. Recover makes sure it can keep sponging water moves and helping the team. Overall Gastro isn't as useful as the rest of the m embers, and has the sole use of checking Rachi and Dos. That's basically the only reason why he is used, but it's a damn good one.
So, that just about covers it. Rate away, and maybe help with those Gastrodon EVs.
OK, so due to the overwhelming popularity of Rainstall on Beta when I was laddering there, I wanted to try it out and kinda see how it worked. Could I play it? Did it deserve the hype? And, most importantly, what would be on it? At first I began to take part's of peoples' teams (including DJ Hezzy, Gangstarr, Chomp29, Rainman, and Ereno) just to mess around with what I thought was best.
Since I was playing RAIN stall, I wanted to start with a defensive Toed. Since late 2010, I had been playing with a specially defensive Politoed. It seemed to be much more useful overall and ate even STAB Tbolts with its impressive bulk.
With the "Rain" part of my Rainstall finished, I looked to the next Poke. What were the biggest stall Pokes in the game? None other than Chansey and Skarmory.
I had used a Skarm/Chans/Tenta core in Ubers (like everyone else thanks to my good friend Donkey), so I said "Hey, it works when everything hits even harder, so it probably should work here." Tenta has yet to dissappoint.
With the main defensive core finished, I felt as though I needed some sort of grass type to hold the team together. The regular player would have looked towards Celebi or perhaps Ferrothorn. I, however, remembered the horrors of playing against good Amoonguss players. While basically useless in Standard, Dream World gives the shroom an impressive tool in REGENERATOR. Instant healing means you don't have to use Leftovers, which gives you the Shed Shell option which is always nice.
Now, on both PBC and Beta, Rainstall was HUGE. While I felt I had a great team and I was an above average player, I knew there were plenty of better players who knew their rainstall better than me. What broke Rainstall? I had used it before to great success and felt it should work here. In goes Lum Keldeo.
Now, I laddered this team to great heights. It was solid. EXCEPT there were certain stallbreakers that just caused it to have use issues unless I played on the offense with Keldeo immediately or just spammed Scald. The two big ones were Sub-Gyarados and SubCM Rachi. What beat both of these? Well, for SubCM Rachi, the only truly solid counter was Gastrodon.
In addition, Gastrodon was a hugely useful opponent to random things like Crocune if Toed was down, and with HP Electric not even Sub or Taunt Gyarados could stand in its way before it was swiftly 2HKOd (or OHKOd with a Storm Drain boost).
CURRENT RAINSTALL TEAM <3 <3 <3
Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 64 SAtk / 196 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Protect
- Encore
- Perish Song
My original Toed set was none other than the standard 252 HP/252 Sp.D/4 Speed Calm, with Scald/Toxic/Tect/Encore. After a while, I wanted Scald to hit a bit harder, and there were a few set up sweepers (such as Latias) which I wanted a reliable "get out" move. As such, I added Perish Song over Toxic and pumped in 52 Sp.A EVs, which OHKO's Excadrill but also is nifty for a multitude of other events and is all around useful. Perish Song + Encore is very useful for set up sweepers, normally Special Sweepers. It's also useful for some offensive NP Ninetales so you can take a +2 or +4 Energy Ball and OHKO back in the rain. I chose not to run Toxic as I feel that I can normally just use a decently powered Scald or threaten things with Perish Song, and I also have Toxic Spikes.
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 5 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Softboiled
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
- Heal Bell
I didn't want to fit a Stealth Rock user on my team anywhere as I thought the typing would overlap Skarm's too much, so I went ahead and added on a Chansey. Everything that has been said about this poke has been said. It eats special hits and even physical hits (for example, +4 Landorus EQ without LO doesn't OHKO). Softboiled is for the obvious recovery, and Wish is absent because the majority of my Pokes have some sort of recovery (bar Politoed who must rely on Protect). SToss is for reliable damage, and Heal Bell is exceedingly helpful against other stall teams or Jellicent. The EVs maximize the defense gained from Eviolite.
Skarmory (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
Rocky Helmet? Who goes there? Well, Chomp29 and I can testify to the serious amazingness of Rocky Helmet Skarmory. Against teams with Scizor and sometimes Genesect, Skarmory can easily come in on the Uturn and take about 5% while dishing out 17. This racks up with entry hazards; Scizor is limited to only 6 Uturns without even counting Rocks or however many Spikes I might have up. The EVs intend to maximize the obvious defense stat, and I wanted to outspeed some Skarm and Whirlwind them first, so I went ahead and put a few Speed EVs on. The rest of the set is mostly self explanatory; Brave Bird for good damage, Spikes for pressure, WW for phazing, and Roost to recover.
Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 194 Def / 44 Spd / 20 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Protect
Tentacruel is a very bulky and heavily overused Rainstall poke for many good reasons. Rapid Spin is the big use of Tenta; spinning away those pesky hazards is a must for any practical stall team. Toxic Spikes is in the same field; although only 1 layer is needed most of the time. Scald is useful for flying pokes immune to Toxic Spikes; such as Togekiss. Protect is very handy dandy for speedy recovery and 1/4 HP recovery in the Rain. It also racks up Toxic damage if necessary. The EVs are there to take even strong Earthquakes and also outpseed a good majority of Gliscor and a few other defensive pokes. The Special Attack EVs are to 3HKO Conkeldurr.
Amoonguss (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Spore
- Clear Smog
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Giga Drain
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Spore
- Clear Smog
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Giga Drain
Amoonguss is no joke whatsoever. Tanking even a +2 Terrakion LO Stone Edge and Sporing it proves its use against even typical stallbreakers. Amoonguss is about as much of a mixed wall as you can get; strong special and physical attackers are deterred by its good coverage, Clear Smog which prevent setting up from working, and even Spore to incapacitate a poke for a random amount of time. Even Chandelure can't do a thing to it as it easily switches out from the Tag. The big reason it is used is Regenerator. With such easy recovery, Leftovers is not needed. You can gain a huge chunk of the HP opponents knock out just by switching out of their counter. Amoonguss is also brilliant for breaking the common Rotom + Scizor core with Skarmory. Skarmory makes Scizor take damage from Uturning, while Amoonguss can just Regenerate the meager Volt Switch damage. Amoonguss=fantastic in DW.
Gastrodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 5 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
Now, this is my newest member to my team and I'm very unsure of the EVs at the moment. I wanted to absorb physical hits but also have an extra oomph in special hits as well. Scald is great for all around burning in case you need to burn things (ya don't say?), Earth Power is great for things like fire types in the sun or Jirachi, and HP Electric is almost soley for Gyarados, which can rip this team apart if it gets going. Recover makes sure it can keep sponging water moves and helping the team. Overall Gastro isn't as useful as the rest of the m embers, and has the sole use of checking Rachi and Dos. That's basically the only reason why he is used, but it's a damn good one.
So, that just about covers it. Rate away, and maybe help with those Gastrodon EVs.