Pokemon Competitive Battling: A Guide to Rain Teams
Table of Contents
1) Introduction
2) Rain Teams in OU
3) Rain Teams in Ubers
4) Rain Teams in UU and below
5) Countering Rain Teams
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Part One: An Introduction to Rain Teams
~Hello Team Uber, and welcome to our guide for Rain Teams. The goal of this guide is to obtain a better understanding for Rain Teams, whether to create them or to counter them. First off, Rain Teams are centralized around the weather condition, "Heavy Rain". There are two ways for Heavy Rain to come to play in a battle. The first way is by using the move "Rain Dance", which summons Heavy Rain onto the field for five turns. The second is by using a Pokemon with the ability "Drizzle", which causes Heavy Rain to fall onto the field for the entire battle (unless another weather move or ability comes into play). The main effects that Heavy Rain causes in a battle are:
*Water Type move's Base Power is increased by 50%
*Fire Type move's Base Power is decreased by 50%
*Solar Beam requires two turns of charge
*Thunder's accuracy is increased to 100%, being able to break through Protect & Detect 25% of the time
*Hurricane's accuracy is increased to 100%, being able to break through Protect & Detect 25% of the time
*Synthesis. Morning Sun & Moonlight recover 25% of user's HP
*Pokémon with the Dry Skin Ability recovers HP every turn and 1/4 its HP when hit by a Water Attack
*Pokémon with the Hydration Ability are cured from status afflictions whenever it rains
*Pokémon with the Rain Dish Ability have 1/16th of their max HP recovered each turn
*Pokémon with the Swift Swim Ability have their Speed raised
*Castform transforms into a Water type Pokémon
*The attack Weather Ball's Power doubles and becomes Water Type
So why are these things so great? Well lets look at it in several aspects. Water is a fantastic type, and for it to get a boost from Heavy Rain is a significant aspect of the metagame. There are also other types that benefit from Rain. Any type that is weak to fire becomes neutral to it, meaning that Steel, Grass, Bug, and Ice types all get a buff in the rain. On that list, Steel is the best type that gets a boost from the rain, as it is arguably one of the best defensive type in the game. With one of its weaknesses eliminated, Steel Pokemon become much tougher to take down. Another aspect is that Thunder and Hurricane, two incredibly powerful moves, have 100% accuracy in Heavy Rain. This increases their viability and makes Pokemon that have these moves extremely threatening. The final aspect is that Pokemon with certain abilities get buffed in Heavy Rain. Pokemon with the ability Dry Skin or Rain Dish recover health in Heavy Rain, while Pokemon with the ability Hydration are cured from Status Ailments at the end of every turn. The strongest buff is that Pokemon with the ability Swift Swim have their speed doubled in the rain. This combination is so threatening, that Swift Swim is banned from competitive play when used simultaneously with Drizzle.
As you can see, Heavy Rain is a very threatening play style. This guide will teach you everything you need to know about Rain Teams.
Part Two: Rain Teams in OU
Weather is currently the center of the current OU metagame. While each weather has their own threats, Rain has come out as the most threatening weather in Gen V. While in previous generations Heavy Rain was only introduced in a battle by Rain Dance, Gen V brought us a new twist to Pokemon, Dream World. Dream World introduced some old Pokemon with different abilities. While some of these abilities are useless, a few have stood out to be very threatening, including Pokemon with Drought and Drizzle, two abilities previously exclusive to Groudon and Kyogre respectively. The Pokemon that obtained Drizzle is Politoed, a Pokemon that was in the NU tier in Gen IV. While Politoed itself isn't all too great, Drizzle makes Politoed almost manditory on any Rain Team in OU.
Choice Specs
Politoed w/ Choice Specs
Ability: Drizzle
Modest/Timid
EVs: 4 HP; 252 spAtk; 252 Spe
*Surf/Hydro Pump
*Focus Blast
*Ice Beam
*Hidden Power Electric/Hidden Power Grass
This is Politoed's most Popular set, and for good reason. A dual STAB Hydro Pump or Surf in the rain powered by Choice Specs hits like a freaking truck. Focus Blast is your main answer to Tyranitar, who sets up Sandstorm while obtaining a SpDef boost. Ice Beam and Hidden Power [Electric/Grass] are mainly just for coverage, though Surf/Hydro Pump will do more than a 2x Super Effective Ice Beam/ Hidden Power if Drizzle is in play.
So we have our Weather starter. What comes next? While most of you are now thinking "Let's use a Pokemon with Swift Swim!", there is an unpleasant surprise for you. The combination of Swift Swim + Drizzle is banned from OU. Not to worry though, as there are plenty of other Pokemon that absolutely adore Heavy Rain support.
Offensive OU Rain Pokemon
Ah yes, Thundurus. This thing is a monster without Rain support, as it completely wrecks anything not named Blissey. With Rain Support and Nasty Plot, Thundurus can abuse STAB Thunder, and a +2 Thunder will wreck almost anything.
Nasty Plot Sweeper
Thundurus w/ Life Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Timid
Evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
* Nasty Plot
* Thunderbolt/ Thunder
* Hidden Power [Ice]
* Focus Blast / Taunt
With Rain Support, Thundurus can abuse its most dangerous move, Thunder. A +2 STAB Thunder can wreck almost any Pokemon that isn't resistant or immune to it. Blissey even takes a crapload (around 65-70%) from a +2 STAB Thunder. The other two moves round out coverage. Hidden Power Ice is mainly for Ground and Dragon Pokemon like Gliscor and Latios. Focus Blast is for Ferrothorn and Tyrannitar. Taunt can be used in its place to stop status users and to continue to set up.
This guide is still a work in progress. Please refrain from commenting on the content of the guide until it is complete.
