Rain Dance Team RMT Deoxys Lead

[IceTime]

hiyas all, just thought of a rain dance team, its been doing okay, but im not experienced with RD teams, still, RMT! I changed the lead to Jirachi, from deoxys, so if you came here because of deoxys, then deepest apologies. but please try to give this team a chance and rate!

Jirachi @ Damp Rock
252 HP/76 DEF/180 SPDEF
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Bold
Moves:
Rain Dance
Thunder
Water Pulse
Wish/Grass Knot

Testing out new lead. well i never imagined Jirachi to ever be my lead, not in this way, guess i never noticed the set before. It's sturdy, sets up rain dance easily, abuses serene grace with thunder and waterpulse, and uses wish to support my team, and rain cancels out its fire weakness so something like a heatran fire blast has to do max damage twice to 2HKO. or around max damage anyway. i need calm and around 152 EVs to guarantee the 3HKO in rain, but i decided against that, as it would take too much away from its physical durability. dumped one defense point to spdef to prevent download sweeps. grass knot for pert, maybe i'll get in midgame and manage to do something, since wish hasn't been seeing much use.

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
120 HP/252 SPATK/136 SPE
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest
Moves:
Rain Dance
Surf
Ice Beam
Energy Ball

"This is surprisingly dangerous if your opponent is not prepared for it." I like the sound of that, so i went with this ludicolo. it can still take special hits relatively well, and still beats Jolteon, which would be a problem without this guy. Surf in the rain coming off a respectable base 90 spatk stat has helped me sweep relatively well, but i dunno if i should go with LO since it has added power and might help with irritating shits like vaporeon. i worry about hydro pump's pp sometimes, so i dunno.

Qwilfish @ Life Orb
252 ATK/252 SPE/4 HP
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Adamant
Moves:
Rain Dance
Waterfall
Poison Jab
Explosion

I found this on one of raikoulover's teams, and there was like this thing saying every RD team should have one qwilfish. and after trying him out, *ahem*

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS SPIKEBALL ROCKSSSSS?!?!??!

This ticking time bomb is so good at turning the tables for your opponent, whether it is to reset rain dance, take out weak opponents, or just explode spikes and hopefully one enemy away, qwilfish does the job perfectly and swiftly, and is very helpful in every battle that i've had. booming on suicune and stuff like that really clears the way for the rest of my team to sweep.

Kingdra @ Life Orb
252 ATK/16 SPE/240 SPATKAbility: Swift Swim
Nature: NaughtyMoves:
Rain Dance
Hydro Pump
Waterfall
Draco Meteor

I went with Mixdra to help take care of walls and sweep easily. Plus i love the offense, and It bringing the team another great physical sweeper. nuff said check out Kingdra Discussion here.

Floatzel @ Mystic water
240 Atk/16 Spe/252 SpA
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Rash
Moves:
- Surf
- Waterfall
- Toxic
- Rain Dance

A whole new poke, and a cool new addition to my RD team, bringing yet another waterfaller and a toxicer to boot. Floatzel cleans up and finishes sweeps with STAB surf and waterfall and high attack and spatk hitting incredibly hard in rain. he's yet another RD starter and toxic helps with stuff i can't kill so fast. Unexpected, and a hard hitter, definitely a viable addition to my team. toxic helps with stupid vappy.

Bronzong @ Damp Rock
252 HP/128 ATK/128 DEF
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Impish
Moves:
Rain Dance
Explosion
Stealth Rock
Light Screen

COOL BRONZONG that i saw in the peer edit archive, some torrential zong thing, since i was doing a RD team i was searching RD on forums and i came to this guy and hes like perfect for the job. He tanks and sets up raindance midgame, and stealth rock if deoxys hasnt, screens up, and booms away. interestingly sturdy, since rain negates its fire weakness, and normally keeps the rain going on to prevent early losses.im starting to really like this guy.

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well that was cool, going through a few rounds of testing i have generally positive results, generally going about 60-70% win rate, but i really want to improve my efficiency with RD teams, hopefully you guys can help, i'll think of a threat list soon, but please RMT first!

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hokay, threat list, i'm going to list the top 50 most used pokemon here and just type
what i'm going to do to them when they appear. thats what a threat list is for, right?
i'll talk more about the popular ones and those whom i think will cause trouble.

SORRY THIS IS GOING TO GET LONG

OU THREAT LIST

Heatran- Heatran won't be a lead, so i can setup rain dance and wait for him to make his entrance.
It is hardly a threat to most of my team in the rain, and bronzong can take the hit when the rain
isn't up and set it up, forcing heatran back until 8 turns are over.

Gengar- Subgar does a number on my team, as usual in the rain it poses no threat due to its general
frailty, but if it comes in on bronzong, which i will normally use to restart rain in the middle of
the match, it can sub up and it'll take a toll on my team. i generally go zong anyway, even though
sub is getting popular, as choicegars are also incredibly common, and zong helps me scout for moves,
and screen up.

Salamence- lets cover all versions, starters are usually bulky or specs, i just RD and hope the hell
it doesnt kill me the first turn. After that, i generally have gotten the offensive setup that i need,
and Ludicolo takes it from there. i might pump some spdef evs to make it more sturdy to survive stuff
from sala, but its generally not a problem. midgamers are either all out physical or special, but midgame
i'll usually have rain up, so thats not a problem, zong if no rain. late gamer bulkymences are harder,
but my STAB water moves normally take it down fast.

Gyarados- Leads are thundered, anything other than a lead is taken by kabutops, Ludicolo, or an explosion

Blissey- Well, thats what Kabutops and Qwilfish are here for, Qwilfish mostly due to toxic, and if theres
toxic spikes up too, its an invitation for me to go boom and clear them.

Metagross- leads are screwed by RD switch kill, Ludicolo, mostly, and midgamers are screwed by ongoing RD,
if not, zong starts it.

Lucario- Normally comes in after rain, i go to zong, setting up rain again, while it SDs. i explode if i
survive the incoming CC. if i don't, go to Kingdra who takes extremespeed and kills with surf.

Scizor- Same thing as Lucario. But its a bigger threat.

Infernape- Leads are hampered by Jirachi, Rain-WaterPulse. normally it doesnt kill nape, but it starts my
Ludicolo sweep. Midgamers screwed by rain. BUTTTTT SD flareblitz is a problem if he SDs on the switch to
zong.

Bronzong- hahahahahahaha *ahem* Jirachi sets up rain nevertheless, takes the sleep, and goes to Ludicolo
sweep.

Tyranitar- Hardly a match for any water poke in my team, but restarting rain again is frustrating.

Deoxys-e- Kingdra beats it in rain, or do i need more speed? o.0 leads normally don't taunt jira due to them
expecting something else. i dunno what. some do, and i switch to ludi or something to attempt to remove the
deoxys from the field, then use zong to setup later.

Zapdos- Rain first turn, if zapdos is lead, and i dont die, get the hell out to ludi, who takes the kill with
ice beam, same situation for midgame.

Celebi- Ludicolo takes all of its attempts to sweep, and kills it off with Ice beam. CMing varients are dealt
with X-scissor or signal beam. i go kingdra first because a misprediction could cause me my kabutops.

Swampert- Ludicolo.

Weavile- Not a threat in rain, neither out of rain, kingdra takes it handily.

Shaymin-s - i use bronzong to try for screen, since skymin is kind of an asshole, but rain first, if its not out
once bronzong is screwed (either by dying or by exploding), if shaymin got screwed too thas good, if not, rain
sweep much?

Suicune- Shaka boom. other than exploding, theres ludicolo who 2HKOs it without calm mind so dont even think about
switching in.

Garchomp- HUH WHY AM I SEEING THIS IN STANDARD USAGE LIST. i refuse to comment.

Vaporeon- omg i do have a hard time. maybe i should go energy ball, since nothing says fuck you to a vaporeon like
a STAB energyball coming from something that vappy can't do anything to, and can outpace its wishprotect cycle.

Azelf- leads go ahead with SR, i RD, but if they taunt, same old same old, i've repeated zong for the past dunno how
many pokes, so next time i say a counter, you know what i mean.

Those were top 21, now i go brief for the other 29. its getting long. sorry for typing so much.

Starmie- Ludicolo

Togekiss- Kabutops, Qwilfish (boom or waterfall if raining), Ludicolo.

Gliscor- Ludicolo, Kingdra

Mamoswine- Ludicolo, Anything with surf.

Electivire- RD switch and whack until he dies, falls easily to water STAB moves due to rain.

Forretress/Skarmory- Skarmory is thundered by Jirachi, and both are screwed by any STAB water move in rain.

Cresselia- Kingdra Surf 2HKOs, Hydro pump nuff said.

Heracross- Jira, if rain isnt up. is a large enough threat to scare it off, even if it doesnt, i get zong.

Machamp- RestTalk are taken down by repeated surfs, same with other sets, deals a hell lot if he gets a sub up.

Yanmega- Kingdra, i can't risk ludicolo due to protect bugbuzz. zong might explode on it, depends on the situation.

Jirachi- Repeated surfs taken jira down fast, but if he starts CMing and actually survives, qwilfish comes in and
explodes or waterfalls

Dusknoir- Repeated STAB rain surfs. Can't do much to my team.

Snorlax- A bitch to take down, with curselax i explode and go to kabutops or something to hit for the KO. otherwise,
i try surfing it off. i switched grass knot for energyball so tough luck.

Tentacruel- How i wish Kabutops learned EQ. Repeated Energy ball, i win if he keeps whacking me in return, if he
toxic spikes, i just whack him anyway, its better to take him down fast.

Dragonite- Ludicolo Kingdra, outrage resisted by two rain starters.

Breloom- Ludicolo. Kingdra. Qwilfish. Kabutops.

Kingdra- Big whoop. hard to kill off, usually resort to thundering and using specdra to beat it. very hard, potential
BIG problem.

Dugtrio- Comes in on Jira, hey thats the only way it can do anything to my team. Kabutops he risks me SDing on the switch
and aqua jetting, even though i don't have, most kabutops do, so thats enough to scare him off. Qwilfish he risks waterfall
which is bummer.

Magnezone- some guy used magnezone and my two steel transition pokes to waste off a ton of my rain. a total bitch in outstalling
rain teams with bronzong. revenged by kingdra.

Aerodactyl- Any water move, ice beam, whatever. its frail and i outspeed it in rain. nuffsaid.

Ninjask- Bitchy lead, I go with rain first still, and then Kingdra immediately to try to wear down the switch in. i go zong
ASAP to prevent them from easily switching this ass back in again.

Jolteon- Ludicolo takes thunder and screws it up with any move.

Hippowdon- yeah right. grass ice water moves to screw it up, bronzong whom he can do nothing to.

Alakazam- beaten same way as aerodactyl.

Spiritomb- Mono attacker is a big threat, i can't do much after it CMs up, but i try not to let that happen with repeated pumps

Gallade- Its high spdef is gay, but i still take it down with STAB water nonetheless

PorygonZ- SubSalac is a bitch, but rain is x2 and salac is x1.5 so i still win XD

Milotic- Energy Ball is 2HKO while he does nothing.

 

[locopoke]

I think you need more Swift Swimmers. What's the point of having Starmie or Empoleon on a Rain Dance team? That they're water types? =\

 

[MilkMan]

Basically what the above said.
Try using a Kingdra or a Gorbys? (the pink fish thing)
You need to be able to abuse Rain dance.
3Water Types (excluding Ludicolo) If your opponent Has a Jolteon or something with thunder They'll have a fun time sweeping you team if you can't outrun and kill them.

 

[IceTime]

@Milkman/Locopoke: I see, but which Kingdra set do you think i should go for? the DD set doesnt seem to take much advantage of rain dance, looks like its wasting it away. I think im going with mixdra or special kingdra in rain, what do you guys think? oh and its over Starmie. With Jolteon as long as rain is up ludicolo can easily take a hit and deal the KO back to jolteon in rain, because of swift swim, and if not, bronzong sets it up and hopefully explodes on it, or is there a different way i could play it? thanks for your comments, so helpful.

@MilkMan: Hmm, i was looking for extremely fast rain dances and rocks, the fastest would be what im using, second would be electrode, but both are fragile and deoxys is faster so i went with deoxys, and third would be the base 130s, but some scarfers run just enough to beat them to trick over their scarf so i wanna taunt them first. anyways im very interested in hearing your opinion too so haha please get back to me

 

[twash]

I wouldn't use that Empoleon. Substitute kind of works against Rain Dance, and I feel something like Kabutops would be more beneficial to help you out against Zapdos and friends.

Adamant, 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe is "standard", and Swords Dance / Stone Edge / Waterfall / X-Scissor is a great choice allowing you to also sweep late game whilst not ruining it on Substitute. It can often cause switches and can get mid-game Swords Dances, so it can work throughout most of the match, provided Rain is in play!

:]

 

[Gammal]

I would recomend a Jirachi as a RainDance lead. You can look it up here on smogon.

As some ppl mentioned before, MORE SWIFT SWIMMERS!
A personal favorite of mine is Kabutops, with its crappy speed but godly attack-stat it becomes really nice in rain, focus sashing it may be a good idea if you want to use Swords Dance on it :).

 

[IceTime]

hmm, i'll try kabutops over empoleon, after a long time thinking i decided that kabutops could actually give the same late game sweeping potential as empoleon, and also give me a solid physical rain sweeper, so im going with it. Jirachi sounds good, but there are definite benefits to using it, some of them like

Sturdy Transition Pokemon
Possibility of Midgame usage
Serene Grace Abuse
Screws other water pokes in rain (thundaaaaa)
Wish Support

They all seem to make Jirachi so much more useful than deoxys, but trick makes jirachi's useability go down a notch, and deoxy's prevents that by taunting. still, most people do attack deoxys and it dies anyway, so im going to try jirachi out, hopefully it'll work.

the kingdra set is still undecided! I really need your feedback guys, keep rating!

you know its funny i just realised my team was shedinja weak until kabutops arrived.

 

[IceTime]

24 hour bump, sorry but the kingdra set is still undecided, i really don't know which is best for such a team, and i've kinda decided on keeping Jirachi as a lead, switching empoleon for kabutops also, and I'll be putting up my threat list in a while, so yeah.

 

[locopoke]

@Milkman/Locopoke: I see, but which Kingdra set do you think i should go for? the DD set doesnt seem to take much advantage of rain dance, looks like its wasting it away. I think im going with mixdra or special kingdra in rain, what do you guys think? oh and its over Starmie. With Jolteon as long as rain is up ludicolo can easily take a hit and deal the KO back to jolteon in rain, because of swift swim, and if not, bronzong sets it up and hopefully explodes on it, or is there a different way i could play it? thanks for your comments, so helpful.

@MilkMan: Hmm, i was looking for extremely fast rain dances and rocks, the fastest would be what im using, second would be electrode, but both are fragile and deoxys is faster so i went with deoxys, and third would be the base 130s, but some scarfers run just enough to beat them to trick over their scarf so i wanna taunt them first. anyways im very interested in hearing your opinion too so haha please get back to me

Definetly go with Special Kingdra. With a Life orb, it works great.

Kingdra
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Modest
EV Spread: 252 speed/252 sp atk/6 HP
Moveset: Surf/IceBeam/HiddenPower[Electric]/Rain Dance

In Rain Dance with Life Orb and STAB, surf is AMAZING. I wish you luck with your improved team ^_^

 

[RaikouLover]

For Ludicolo, its not fast enough! Give it a minimum of 210 speed to outspeed ScarfTran so it doesn't explode on you. Yours doesn't beat it!

Other options for Swift Swimmers... Floatzel is a good idea. I like it better than Kabutops, Kabutops is rather mediocre if you ask me....

Floatzel @ Mystic water
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Rash
EVs: 240 Atk / 16 Spe / 252 SpA
*Surf
*Waterfall
*Toxic
*Rain Dance

This is a cool set, no recoil damage for a change, and you just hit the enemy on their weaker defense stat. Statistically, you have 306 physical attack and 295 special attack, but Surf will hit harder than Waterfall because of base power. Toxic is for Vaporeon because its annoying as fuck and it will make it die before you if it tries to stall all your Swift Swimmers.

One last thing, Kingdradra... Is a SERIOUSLY good consideration. Try these from my peer edit... I guarentee it won't let you down:

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47312... Take a look at my Kingdra sets and test them out. I've probably played around with Kingdra more than anyone so give both a try and see which one fits better.

 

[IceTime]

great thanks locopoke, but i feel that HP electric is redundant, as surf is pretty much the same, factoring rain+STAB+LO, Water moves are generally of same power. if against empoleon, which i don't see often, Ludicolo is my generic switch in, or Jirachi, if its still alive. Also, i feel i need some HP, to take Lucario's SDed extremespeed better, among other things, and thats one of the perks over mixdra anyway, specdra is more bulky. also my team has serious problems with celebi, so maybe signal beam? Kabutops risks getting hit by grass type moves and Bronzong is just setup bait for celebi to baton pass something. even though i state ludicolo in my original first post, I fear that it'll come in after rain and CM as ludicolo comes in and again while it sets up RD, so tough.

 

[IceTime]

argh omg i didn't see Raikoulover's comment sorry for bumping again, but yeah.

@Raikoulover: great thanks for your comments. Ludicolo has a few speed numbers to hit, ones that, which i'll prolly go for, ones 230, for ninjask and snuff, or 231 if i want, and max speed is always an option. i guess i'll go with 210 it sounds okay, and it retains most of Ludicolo's bulkyness. Floatzel looks real nice, but i worry about the lack of coverage with Water Only, still i have toxic to ruin other stuff, so im going to try it out. Most of the things in my threat list don't particularly require kabutops anyway, its mainly for cleanups, so im going to go change Kabutops for Floatzel. I really like the MixDra you got, its incredibly offensive and helps me take down many walls that will attempt to stop my rain sweep, so i'm switching that too. yups thanks RaikouLover.