ORAS UU Rain On My Parade

[Christoph]

I used to love Rain teams in Gen 5 UU and figured I would give it ago again now. After all, UU remains completely unaffected by the weather nerf (Drizzle was never a factor to begin with). I've played several games last night and today to test things out. I've won most, but at the lower rankings. I've already noticed some issues that will plague me even more if/when I reach 1800+. I will list some of my replays at the bottom of this post if anyone wants to review them to see what the team is struggling with and pick out any recurring play errors I'm making with it.

Anyway, the team's strategy is simple. Use Prankster Tornadus to make it rain, switch in the situationally appropriate Swift Swim sweeper to break things, fight for momentum in the mid-game, bring Tornadus back out and sacrifice him for a last Rain Dance, and then close out the game with my remaining sweepers, both rain and non-rain dependent. I struggle a bit with bulky grass and water types right now. My old rain team also had more cases of completely obliterating the occasional opponent, something the Gen 6 iteration has not enjoyed yet. XD

Anyway, here's the team. Thanks in advance for any tips and help.

Tornadus @ Damp Rock
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- Hurricane
- Taunt
- U-turn

The heart and soul of the team. I usually lead with him to use priority Rain Dance, retreating afterwards in most cases, except when a Hurricane follow-up would be more effective or if he gets OHKO'd after using Rain Dance. I'll send him out later, typically after a faint, to set up a late game Rain Dance to help my remaining sweeper(s) close out the match. In most cases, I'm happy to sacrifice him at this point to gain momentum. In addition to his utility role, he serves as a decent check to grass types that otherwise give my team a little trouble. Still, I can probably count on my hands the number of Hurricanes I've used so far. For that reason, I wonder if I should give him more bulk rather than SpA. I added Taunt instead of Superpower to deal with Galvantula leads (Sticky Web causes my team issues), though in those cases, I risk mispredicting and getting fried without setting rain. This goes back to possibly increasing his bulk (I'm not sure if there's an EV spread that would let him survive a Galvantula Volt Switch).

Kabutops (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet

There's not too much to say here. Kabutops is my main offensive threat. She can sweep in the rain and, with Swords Dance, break walls as needed. Aqua Jet makes her dangerous when the rain stops, especially at +2. She currently gets walled by bulky water and grass types, the latter able to stop her hard unless I somehow OHKO with Stone Edge. Empoleon and Gastrodon especially stops her. I'm not sure if there's much to be done about those.

Swampert (M) @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock

Mega-Swampert is one of my MVPs so far. He makes a solid switch-in after Tornadus, but can also bring his own rain if needed. His raw power and bulk lets him overpower pokemon that might wall other team members. In the rain, he can clean up weakened teams effectively. Stealth Rocks is nice when I have the opportunity, usually on forced switches or predicted uses of Protect. His only two drawbacks are that he uses my Mega slot (granted, I'm not sure who else I could use that would be better) and he has the same double weakness to grass as Kabutops. The latter means that my two main physical threats can sometimes get shut down by some of the same pokemon.

Jolteon (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Grass]

An old favorite of mine that I was happy to see in UU. On paper, she makes a lot of sense. Spamming Thunder in the rain, revenge killing with her great speed (especially with Volt Switch). On paper, I almost always want one of my Swift Swimmers using my precious rain turns. Plus, she has a hard time switching into attacks and even with coverage moves, she can get walled by certain threats. I used to run HP Ice, but switched to grass to deal with Swampert and Gastrodon. I think Ice is probably better in most cases, but I lack good grass attacks on this team. I also used to run Choice Specs, but it made it too easy to wall and force me to lose momentum with a switch. As much as I like the pokemon, Jolteon is one of the two I might consider swapping out.

Kingdra (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
- Ice Beam

Pretty self-explanatory here. Kingdra is my main special sweeper, and one of my few sweepers not walled by grass types. Empoleon (and to an extent other bulky water types) still walls effectively, though. The moveset is pretty standard, though I find myself missing Dragon Pulse sometimes. I've only used Scald when I can OHKO with it and want the accuracy, or occasionally against bulkier targets (though I usually prefer the raw power of Hydro Pump against walls).

Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Iron Tail
- Earthquake

I used to run Dragon Dance instead but found few opportunities to use it. Salamence is here to clean things up when my rain is gone. He's your typical Scarf-Mence. Sometimes I'll use him to revenge kill something that requires a heavier hand, but most often he's there to clean up weakened teams in the late game. He's very deadly if I've eliminated opposing Fairy types and weakened the steel types, but most good players will keep their fairy types in reserve specifically to deal with Salamence. In that way, he can sometimes give me a tactical edge just by appearing in Team Preview. That said, despite his devastating offensive capabilities, in practice his performance ranges from the expected to the underwhelming, especially when Fairy types and strong priority moves are arrayed against me. As I already have a dragon type in Kingdra, I've been considering removing Salamence. I don't know what I would replace him with, though.



Here are some replays that I saved, included a couple of my recent losses. Granted, those losses might stem more from me misplaying than my team's issues, but even in the wins my team's weaknesses are pretty easy to spot.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-241151816
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-241155266
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-241160989
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-241296010 -- Loss
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-241165269
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-241298430
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-241298917 -- Loss

 

[Kreme]

OK so going to suggest considering Heliolisk over Jolteon, as you already have a Volt Switch immunity in Swampert anyway and you seem to have problems switching into Water-types, especially considering Scald burns limit how much your Kingdra (main Water resist) can do. I'm going to suggest having Ice Punch over Stealth Rock on Swampert, while entry hazards are probably mandatory on most every team, this team would probably benefit much more from having Ice Punch, as it ensures Swampert isn't free switches for Grass-types and Hydreigon, and setup bait for Salamence. Mega Swampert is going to be in Rain most of the time, so it would rather be attacking then, and even outside of Rain it's mostly going to be either setting Rain or attacking imo. Gastrodon isn't common in UU, so I wouldn't be worried about it walling Kabutops but if you're worried about it you can consider having Knock Off over Aqua Jet on Kabutops, although based on your replays and such I would say Aqua Jet is more useful. If you don't feel Salamence is too useful, you could put Lead Azelf over Salamence, as that gives you a solid Stealth Rock setter and lead that can setup Rain and suicide to ensure it gives you the maximum turns to abuse it. You should change Hasty to Timid on Tornadus, as there's no need to sacrifice Tornadus's bulk for a move that's mainly for utility and not damage. You should also move the 4 HP EVs to SpD on Tornadus, as the 4 HP means you take more damage from Stealth Rock. You should also put 0 SpA IVs on Kingdra to minimize Foul Play damage, as it's going to be using only Special Attacks anyways.

Heliolisk set

Heliolisk @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Hyper Voice
- Grass Knot / Surf / Focus Blast

Thunderbolt and Thunder are interchangeable, as they both have their merits. Thunder is much more powerful and has 100% accuracy in Rain, although it's inconsistent outside of Rain, whereas Thunderbolt is extremely consistent both in and out of Rain. Grass Knot can be used to hit Mega Swampert and Seismitoad, Surf gets a boost in Rain though and hits most Ground-types harder than Grass Knot, and lastly Focus Blast hits Porygon2 and Snorlax along with Blissey for super effective damage, it also hits Hydreigon for super effective damage which you don't have a switch-in for.

Azelf set

Azelf @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Rain Dance
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

 

[Christoph]

Thanks for the reply. Some helpful ideas here. I assume you meant 0 Atk IVs for Kingra, haha.

Let's see... if I added a lead Azelf, I could remove both Rain Dance and Stealth Rocks from Swampert. What coverage moves would you suggest? I can try out different options and see what works the best (currently thinking Superpower and, as you suggested, Ice Punch). Between Azelf and Tornadus, I should have no trouble keeping rain in play for the majority of a match. Should I lead most often with Azelf, since he can set up rocks and use Explosion to keep momentum? In addition, that frees up Tornadus as a late game Hurricane sweeper.

As for Heliolisk, it seems like there aren't that many UU pokemon that Jolteon outspeeds but Heliolisk doesn't, so he seems like a good replacement. I'll go with Thunder, since between Azelf and Tornadus, I'll have little trouble keeping rain up. Any thoughts on using Weather Ball? Nevermind, for some reason I thought he learned it, but it seems he doesn't.


Edit: So far, the updated team is getting utterly destroyed on ladder. Maybe I'm just using it poorly.

 

[Kreme]

Thanks for the reply. Some helpful ideas here. I assume you meant 0 Atk IVs for Kingra, haha.

Let's see... if I added a lead Azelf, I could remove both Rain Dance and Stealth Rocks from Swampert. What coverage moves would you suggest? I can try out different options and see what works the best (currently thinking Superpower and, as you suggested, Ice Punch). Between Azelf and Tornadus, I should have no trouble keeping rain in play for the majority of a match. Should I lead most often with Azelf, since he can set up rocks and use Explosion to keep momentum? In addition, that frees up Tornadus as a late game Hurricane sweeper.

As for Heliolisk, it seems like there aren't that many UU pokemon that Jolteon outspeeds but Heliolisk doesn't, so he seems like a good replacement. I'll go with Thunder, since between Azelf and Tornadus, I'll have little trouble keeping rain up. Any thoughts on using Weather Ball? Nevermind, for some reason I thought he learned it, but it seems he doesn't.


Edit: So far, the updated team is getting utterly destroyed on ladder. Maybe I'm just using it poorly.

Oh yeah I meant attack lol, I was thinking about something at the time and got mixed up. My bad. I wouldn't use Superpower on Swampert tbh, I'd rather go with Low Kick since it doesn't lower Attack and Defense and hits most targets hard enough anyway (biggest target is Abomasnow).

 

[Christoph]

I ran with Azelf for several games, but he was too easily Taunted and the loss of offensive power on the team hurt. I've since put Salamence back, and I've made efforts to use him more effectively, with good results so far. Heliolisk has been working nicely, though I need to get better at switching him into water attacks. With Swampert, I kept Ice Punch but gave him Rain Dance again, just as a backup in case I lose Tornadus too soon. I haven't run into Abomasnow yet, but I could see him being a challenge. I could switch Iron Tail for Fire Fang on Salamence.

Another thing I've been trying is switching out my offensive core, going from Kabutops and Kingdra, who are very potent but easily walled by several different pokemon, to Omastar (shell smash) and physical Swords Dance Ludicolo. Omastar hits much harder and can take physical hits, and with Shell Smash very little can wall him, especially with HP Grass. In the right circumstances (especially switching in against Taunted utility pokemon), he can Shell Smash and sweep unprepared teams (assuming Hydro Pump doesn't miss too much). It doesn't happen often against skilled opponents, but the threat of a sweep keeps foes on their toes.

Ludicolo loses some raw power as opposed to Kabutops, but has more safe switch-ins and gets walled by only a couple things. Swords Dance has a surprise factor against those expecting the more common special attacking set, and his stab coverage plus ice punch hits many pokemon for super effective damage, making his lower base Attack stat as compared to Kabutops less of an issue.

Naturally, this version will require more testing. I can provide replays if you're interested (you've spent a fair bit of time on this already, which I appreciate, so no worries if you're not, haha).