Drizzlling all the way [BW-OU]

Hey guys, I decided to put up my Rain Team, cause these days, it's winning a lot actually. (barring serious hax. And I mean really serious hax!!)
Wel here comes the team.

Team Building Process:

Spoiler:

Up Close

@ Chesto Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Nature: Calm
EV's: 248 HP | 56 Def | 80 SpA | 120 SpD
~ Hydro Pump
~ Ice Beam
~ Toxic
~ Rest

With Politoed being my Weather-inducer, I needed him to be durable, yet a threat. With the given nature and EV-spread, he can survive a +0 Outrage from Haxorus when needed, while he can survive 2 Draco Meteor's from a Latios.

Jolly Haxorus (Outrage) --> Politoed: 66,6% - 78,3%
Timid Latios (Draco Meteor) --> Politoed: 48,6% - 57,2%

Since I gave Politoed 80 EV's in SpA it can 2HKO Tyranitar in the rain with Hydro Pump, while it is a 3HKO against standard Rotom-W.

For the moves, I gave Politoed power with Hydro Pump and Ice Beam, while Toxic and Rest give him some room to stall. I don't like to run Scald in combination with Toxic, just for the fact that I allways get the wrong status on the opponent.


@ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
~ Earthquake
~ Stone Edge
~ Reversal
~ Sucker Punch

This Dugtrio set works so well for me. It traps Heatran, Ninetales, Tyranitar, Magnezone, Starmie and many many others that Dugtrio can just revenge kill. But what makes Dugtrio as good in my team. Jirachi has U-Turn, so when I use it on the switch, I can choose to trap the opponent, not having to worry about taking some early damage.

Now you're most likely thinking, then why the Focus Sash? Well, I simply don't like to be locked into Earthquake, so my opponent can set-up on me afterwards. The Sash also gives me the possibility to run Reversal a bit more effective, while also have 1 more shot with Sucker Punch if needed.

Sucker Punch hits Starmie for 55,7% - 65,6% while Latios gets hit for 50,3% - 59,6%. Both are clean 2HKO's, though Latios will probably just switch out.

Reversal at maximum power does 79,8% - 94,1% to a full Physical Defensive Blissey. Wich is allways good to take down a tough pokémon, when needed.

The rest seems obvious to me. EQ for STAB and Stone Edge for coverage.


@ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Sassy
EV's: 252 HP | 32 Def | 224 SpD
~ Iron Head
~ Thunder
~ Wish
~ U-Turn

Jirachi is a very important poke of my team. It gives my Team Paralysis support with Thunder, haxes my opponents to dead with Iron Head, gives Wish support for the rest of my team and U-Turns on the switches to give Dugtrio some revenge killing capabilities.

I made Jirachi a Special Defensive wall to take care of Latios, Tornadus and so many more.
This Jirachi is what you could call "the glue that holds the team together".

@ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 HP | 252 Def | 4 SpD
~ Brave Bird
~ Stealth Rock
~ Roost
~ Whirlwind

Skarmory seems to be a perfect Physical Wall and that's exactly what he is in the Rain. Even if he would be one shotted, Sturdy kicks in to safe the day, so you can live to see another turn.

I pick a full Physical Defensive set so I can live +2 and +4 Cross Chop from a Toxicroak, who else tears my entire team apart with Cross Chop, Ice Punch and Sucker Punch.

Skarmory, as being a Steel-type, also helps me fend off Outrages like no tomorrow. +1 Outrage comming from a Haxorus only does around 20%, so even if I switch in, get critted on the next turn, and then get hit with an Outrage again, I can still Roost off the damage, and laugh the Haxorus in its face.

The moves are fairly standard for Skarmory, only I have chosen Stealth Rock over Spikes, because I think they are the most important, and I don't have a spin-blocker either to keep 3 layers of Spikes safe.


@ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
Nature: Timid
EV's: 252 HP | 240 Def | 16 Spe
~ Scald
~ Toxic
~ Rapid Spin
~ Protect

With Rain Dish, Black Sludge and Protect, Tentacruel is a master in gaining back some HP. Perfect in some scenario's, predictable in others, so predicting the opponent has to be done carefully. With Rapid Spin I can mostly take away those nasty Entry-Hazards that ruin my team.

I don't run Toxic Spikes because I think they are irrelevant. Toxic takes care of that, and because I don't have a spin-blocker, I don't have to worry about the 2 possible layers being spun away.

I run a Timid nature and 16 speed EV's to outrun Gyarados, so I can Toxic it before it subs down. Scald is the obvious move here, because I need some sort of STAB, and the burn allways comes in handy against Ferrothorn or opposing Tentacruel.
Experience has learned me that it's quite possible to stall out Ferrothorn with Tentacruel. You just need to protect everytime you can (Prediction at some times), so you'll gain back enough HP to live the Power Whip's. They'll mostly do around 40%, and as soon as you get the burn, they will be powered down to 20%.

The 252 EV's in HP and 240 Def EV's let me survive +6 Bullet Punch from a Special Defensive Scizor and also allows me to survive 1 neutral Earthquake from a Gliscor.

I choose Black Sludge over Leftovers just for the off-chance they try to Trick me.


@ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Modest
EV's: 192 HP | 248 SpA | 68 Spe
~ Seed Flare
~ Air Slash
~ Aromatherapy
~ Rest

Shaymin is the cleric of my team. With Aromatherapy, I don't care if opponents try to Toxic me, or get that accidental burn with Scald. Thanks to Rest and some Wish support from Jirachi, Shaymin is sure to live a long and happy battle, to cure all my other pokes.

I gave Shaymin 68 speed EV's to outspeed Scizor, incase I have to. (It's always better to kill it before taking a banded U-turn in the face). Due to the Modest nature and the 248 special attack EV's, Seed Flare and Air Slash will do a lot to most pokémon, while also having the chance to get a SpD-drop or a Flinch.

Now, why did I choose Shaymin over Celebi? They are almost the same right?
Wrong! In my eyes, Shaymin is better. Celebi has a 4x weak to bug-type moves like U-turn. Since Volt-Turning is a very common thing in today's Metagame, I didn't want to have a poke that's 4x weak to U-turn. Shamin on the otherhand, is only 2x weak to U-turn, and has some sort of bulk to back it up.

Now, the only U-Turns you should be fearing, are those comming from a Choice Band Scizor.


Most common threats to my team!

: Can only be taken out in three ways. Burn it with Scald, get some residuel damage on it OR take it down with a Reversal from Dugtrio (does around 60% at maximum power).

: I need to hope for the right pokémon being out. Tentacruel can Toxic it before it sets up a Sub. Skarmory can take a move and phaze it back out. Dugtrio can get off some Stone Edge's (but I hate to miss) and as the last thing, Jirachi has Thunder to threaten Gyarados with.

Words after the RMT!

Well guys, I hope you enjoyed my RMT. You can off course use the team. If you want to give some possible changes, don't hesitate to state them below. You feel the urge to ask something, then do it. You never know it'll help the team in its progress.

Here you can look at some matches I had, and narrated. They are on YouTube, so happy viewing ^^

As soon as I'm allowed to post links I'll give them ^^

Extremely well thought out, as well as executed. Very nice post.

-In reference to Haxorus, remember in BW2, it did get Superpower, so Skarm, while Viable to counter it, could still possibly have problems with it.

Great job with the team! I love the analysis and explanation . I have very few comments to say about the team, though for the most part, it looks good.

Politoed - I actually don't like Hydro Pump on there because of how little politoed is invested in defense. Scald would be better here in my opinion, to get some chance burns on annoying things such as ferro on the switch, and, hydro pump's shaky 80 accuracy is usually only worth it if you have great power backing it up. Although you mentioned the 2hko in the rain on T-tar, nor sand-user in his right mind will let his T-tar sit in the rain and get murdered by h-pump. Also, most lead T-tar run Sassy, meaning that it will usually be in sandstorm.

Shaymin - I like the set, but I don't like air slash. Air slash has pretty bad coverage with seed flare, and has really low base power. Earth power or a hidden power seems like a better option, even with the flinch chance afforded by air slash.

@Evan: Thx for the comment. This team was made for Black and White 1. I didn't yet made any changes to it for Black and White 2. I know some things are now more powerfull, but I hope to manage ^^

I'm going to wait for the new banlist though, before making another team. (or make changes to this team)

@Lynjabear:

• Hydro Pump on Politoed is indeed kinda gimmicky, because it can miss. But I really need the additional power. It also OHKO's Scizor in the rain, while I can live 1 Bullet Punch. (Scald is a 2HKO, but then I'm dead) I can also OHKO Terrakion after living Close Combat (Jolly Choice Band Close Combat does 85-95% to Politoed).
  
  
• About Air Slash on Shaymin: I tested out a team without Aromatherapy so I could test out Earth Power and Hidden Power [Fire]/[Ice]. This failed because I couldn't get rid of some status'.
  I then tried to change Air Slash. It gave me some better things against Heatran (Earth Power), Dragonite (HP[Ice]), Ferrothorn and Scizor wouldn't even get OHKO'd thx to my own rain :/
  
  I opt for Air Slash because it is a Neutral Move against Ferro and Scizor. I can easily kill Heatran and D-Nite in other ways. AND the occasional Flinch is just funny
  

Gliscor's Sub also gets broken by Air Slash, so I don't need to rely on Seed Flare when needed. Imageine I'd carry Earth Power then :/
After Conkeldurr set up a Bulk Up, Skarmory can't really do much with Brave Bird anymore. Air Slash from Shaymin is a good replacement


I'll try it out again, but if Air Slash got me some better results I'll let it be Air Slash. I don't really care for the coverage in Shaymins case :/