Gen 5 Rain Dance Team

This is a generation 5 RMT based around rain dance. I’m not sure how well this will work exactly, as I’m not familiar with all the new gen.5 pokemon running around, but this is a fun team that I think I’ll use when Gen.5 reaches Pokemon Lab. (I’m sorry about the lack of pictures, if I figure out how to insert them, then I’ll add them in.) This team is designed for OU, though this team has actually fared moderately in Ubers.

I recently learned about the no-drizzle and swift swim rule, so I will remove Politoed and Lapras.

At a glance:

1.The Lead:

Jolteon (Flash)
@Damp Rock
-Rain Dance
-Volt Change/Protect/ Hidden Power
-Yawn/Protect
-Thunder
Volt Absorb
Timid, 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 Hp

This Jolteon works as an Anti-Lead. It 2hK’os almost all common OU leads, and out-speeds practically everything in the game bar Aerodactyl and Crobat, which tie it, and that bug thing from Gen 5. Thunderbolt hits hard with 252 SpA EVs, and is Jolteon’s main way of dishing out damage before it faints. Because this team is based in the rain, Thunder is a good option to use for the extra power. Volt Change is one of the new toys Jolteon got in the next generation. It works like an Electric-type U-Turn that is special, and the uses of U-Turn are numerous. It allows Jolteon to scout switches and allows you to send out the appropriate counter.

You might think, WTF? Quick attack on a Jolteon? But priority is priority, and helps take care of opposing frail focus-sashers such as Lucario that would otherwise attack and kill with priority of its own. Because it doesn’t do that much with no EVs in attack and a negative nature, the sole purpose is to get rid of that one hit point, and therefore doesn’t work against metagross too well. Quick attack isn’t meant to do massive amounts. The main purpose of Protect is to preserve Jolteon’s sash.

Yawn, though rarely seen on any pokemon, has its uses. It can also be used to scout a switch, and then force the opponent to switch yet again, and can work well with either volt change or protect. Protect is listed in the third slot to yet again guard against fake out if another move is used in the second slot.

Because this is a lead pokemon, this Joteon will be facing a few Swamperts here and there. Hidden power grass is listed for this purpose. It 2hKo’s (at least) Swamp, and because it is faster and Swampert lacks priority, will kill it, and if Swampert decides to set up SR, survive the battle with focus sash intact. Hidden power ice is for Dragonite, Flygon and Gliscor, though those are rarely used in the lead spot and can generally be put to sleep with Yawn. Hidden power Fire gets special mention to take care of Nattorei, a Gen 5 pokemon that gives my team a headache with its Grass/Steel typing and defensive Stats.

Jolteon doesn't really shine in Ubers, though it makes a great threat to kyogre and some others with Thunder. Flash always loses to deoxys, quick attack or no on account of the latter's greater speed stat. Because ubers is so specially based, Jolteon can opt for a Lum Berry for Darkrai, but its usually not worth letting Deoxys forms go untouched. For ubers, I usually replace this with my lucario lead (see march 1 pokemon of the day) which has the extra bonus of reflecting SR and Spikes in gen 5, useful for my sweepers. Lucario sometimes also does better in normal OU though he does not share the ability Volt Absorb, which is priceless on this team.

The reason why Jolteon carries a Damp Rock and not a Focus Sash is because this is meant to set up rain dance. If it faints on turn 1, then I can send out a swift swim sweeper and attack or set up with a scot-free entrance. If they decide to set up entry hazzards, I can volt change out to come back in later to Thunder the opponent in the rain or set it up again, or I can nail the opponent with Thunder until it faints.


The Sweeper:

2.Armaldo (Klaus)
@Life Orb/Expert Belt/Lum Berry
-Swords Dance/Rock Polish
-Stone Edge/Rock Slide
-X-Scissor
-Earthquake
Swift Swim
Adamant/Jolly, 252 Attack, 252 Spe, 4 Def.

Armaldo gets Swift Swim in Gen. 5, and holy cow, it tears teams apart. Interestingly enough, this thing will be great in ubers with nearly unresisted type coverage and super effective STABs on many ubers. Swords dance rockets the amazing base 125 attack stat to even higher levels, and with an adamant nature, you get 766 attack and 374 speed in the rain, 698 attack and 414 speed if Jolly. This, with a 100 base power STAB stone edge, and armaldo is ready to tear things apart. Physically based skarmory is 2hko’d by stonge edge, and gliscor has a low chance of being 0hko’d after SR. (even though this team has no SR) The same thing goes with specially based skarmory. Rock polish doesn’t pack near the same power as Swords Dance and Armaldo’s speed is somewhat patched by the rain, but helps armaldo fight outside of weather.

Stone Edge's power has already been listed above, and is armaldo's STAB of choice and puts a massive dent in everything that doesn't resist it, (actually, it does, but whatever). X-Scissor provides some coverage alongside Stone Edge and secondary STAB, though bug doesn't get magnificent coverage in OU, in Gen 5 it handles Reinucus, a massive annoyance to my team, Whimsiscott, the most annoying subseeder, and has neutral damage against Nattorei, as well as hitting grass types for super effective damage, useful for a rain dance pokemon. It also hits tyranitar, a massive threat to this team.

Earthquake and Stone Edge together form the famous Edgequake combo. Earthquake is invaluable for hitting steel-types, such as bisharp and heatran, metagross, and more. The base power of 100 isn't shabby either. It even 0hko's offensive Scizor.

All above damage calculations were made without Life Orb. Expert Belt has no recoil, so you won't die of self inflicted pain, but Life Orb hits the above physical walls harder. Muscle band or hard stone are also options that hit the above Pokemon to guarantee key KOs. Lum berry helps against the ever-present Thunder Wave, Machamp confusion, and Burn.

Armaldo usually does amazingly well on my team. He has 75/100/80 defenses, and can survive even STAB'd super effective hits. I usually like to bring him in on something he can force out so he can set up a free Swords Dance, so he can save his bulk to survive scizor's bullet punch later on, to help survive against a bout with gliscor, or just to give him longer life. I usually like to pull him out late game, when most walls are already battered so he can sweep without trouble.

3.Staller/Rain Setup
Politoed (Swirly)
@Leftovers
-Toxic
-Hypnosis/Perish Song
-Substitute
-Protect
Drizzle
Impish, 252 Hp, 240 Def, 16 SpD

I'm an offensive person, so having a toxic staller isn't at all my style. The only reason that this is even on my team is because of the new ability it has: Drizzle. This allows rain without a wasted turn and the rain is pernament until another weather disrupts it. I've used this in the lead slot, and it worked quite well, but it was complete taunt bait and outside the lead slot, it can disrupt the weather of Ninetales and Tyranitar.

Leftovers is essential on any staller, healing my life while toxic chips away at the health of the opposition. It is extremely important to use this, especially because Swirly has no other way to regain health, outside of rest.

Toxic is the main way of damaging the opponent, and should be used on turn one. Hypnosis is another nice option, putting the opponent to sleep and allowing a teammate to set up or have a nice switch in now that the rain is started.

Hypnosis is again mentioned in the second slot as a way of handling steel switches, especially Nattorei. Perish Song is to prevent Politoed from becoming complete setup bait, limiting the opponent to 3 turns and giving a free turn to one of my pokemon as they either switch in as the opposing pokemon switches out. However, Toxic also puts a timer on the opponent, and does not also kill politoed.

The last two moves are obvious for Toxic Stalling, Protect gives Politoed one more turn to use leftovers and for Toxic to take its toll, and Substitute allows politoed to live even longer, as well as providing another turn of stall for protect to regain its uses. Substitute should generally be used on turn 2, 1 if a switch is predicted.

Politoed has been removed because Swift Swim and Drizzle has been disallowed, and my sweepers are more important that this. Sorry.

3. Special Attacker

Latios (Dreamer)
@Life Orb
-Dragon Pulse/Draco meteor
-Surf/Flamethrower
-Psychic
-Thunder
Timid, 252 Attack, 252 Spe, 4 Hp

I'm actually not sure if this is still OU, but I want to use it until it gets kicked into Ubers. This has very useful resistances, and is my best answer to hitmonlee, who is a pain to take down. It takes boosted water hits in the rain, which sting otherwise, and can hit other swift swimmers, especially special ones, hard with Thunder. Draco Meteor hits with massive damage, though the special attack drop isn't great, but this will probably end up switching often. Surf is mainly for heatran, psychic is strong and has STAB and Thunder's usefulness has already been listed. I've actually never used a latios before, so I'm not sure exacly how well this will go over. Flamethrower is for Nattorei, who walls this otherwise as well as scizor and forteress. I am considering replacing this with Rotom-W or Zapdos, because this has no STAB water moves, no STAB thunder, and doesn't give rain dance support. The main reason for this is because it has excellent synergy with this next guy.

4.Defensive Sweeper
Lapras (Shelley)
@Leftovers/Sitrus Berry
-Curse
-Rest
-Waterfall/Aqua Tail
-Avalanche/Ice Shard
Hydration
Adamant, 252 hp, 200 SpD, 58 Attack

Due to its horrid typing and bad ability, Lapras hardly ever saw the light in gen. 4. Although I can pretty much guarantee that few reading this even considered lapras, this has swept whole teams. Curse raises the attack and defense of Shelley, at the cost of lowering speed, a not-very-important stat for a defensive pokemon, especially with Avalanche and Ice Shard. In all time, this becomes a great wall, able to tank blows both special and physical despite ice typing. Rest is a great move, and under the rain, hydration prevents lapras from falling asleep. Also because of hydration, toxic doesn't bother lapras at all. So basically, it is a one-turn full recovery move. Waterfall has great neutral coverage, and does massive damage after a few curses, it also gains power from rain dance. Aqua tail sacrifices accuracy for power, and because of all the boosts, that extra percentage will be doing a lot. However, a match can be lost with a miss, so resting and waterfalling is generally more reliable. Avalanche does utterly massive damage if lapras has been hit, with 120 base power, and even without, still gets STAB and nice coverage with waterfall.

Even though I really liked lapras, unfortunately, it cannot work without Drizzle support. I also lost ice attacks on multiscale dragonite...

4. Offensive Physical Priority:

Bisharp (Baron)
@Focus Sash/Life Orb
-Swords Dance
-Sucker Punch
-Brick Break
-Pursuit/Iron Head/SR
Adamant, 252 Attack, 252 Spe, 4 Hp

Baron is my best answer to blissey and other Special walls and is the only Generation 5 pokemon I have on my team, and actually one of the two pokemon that are not Hoenn. Swords Dance allows me to set up while the opponent switches out or attacks (hopefully switches out, because this thing's terrible special defense won't be holding up). Then a massive, 125 +2 STAB priority Sucker Punch can be launched, effectively dismantling faster pokemon. Brick Break hits steel types and Blissey, and can be used with Focus Sash, which helps the metal knight attack faster threats that would 0hko this, because the sub-par speed of this, such as heatran. Pursuit hits fleeing ghosts and Blissey, iron Head is STAB for slower pokemon, though steel type isn't very good offensively at all. Stealth rock allows Baron to support the team, and gives key Kos to it and its teammates.

Baron has excellent type with Latios, resisting the weaknesses of each other and taking out the pokemon that wall the other. Baron has trouble with Doryuzu, latios can switch in with levitate, latios can switch to Baron on sucker punch etc. Another pokemon I am considering for this slot is Lucario, because of its better speed and better appearance (sorry Baron, it looks way cooler), but two lucarios can't be used on the same team if it is chosen to lead, and it cannot set up SR. Also, the priority is not as good in extremespeed with no STAB and ghost walling, but it has the edge over STAB in the mighty Close Combat.

5.Special Rain Dance Sweeper:

Gorebyss (Song)
@Expert Belt/Life Orb/Damp Rock/Lum Berry
-Hydro Pump/Surf
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power Elec
-Psychic/Aqua Tail/Rain Dance/Agility/Shadow ball
Swift Swim
Modest/Timid 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 Def

My main Special Sweeper. Many will ask, "why not omastar, Kingdra, etc?", but Gorebyss has better special attack than special Kingdra, and better typing than omastar. Even though omastar hits harder, it is killed by Scizor's bullet punch, mach punch, has no resistance to aqua jet, and is weak to fighting a ground, two of the most common offensive type in OU. Gorebyss also has high defense, useful in the physically based OU area.

Hydro Pump takes care of practically every pokemon there is that don't resist it or have water absorb. Massive base 120 power with STAB and rain makes a formidable move. Ice beam has great coverage alongside Song's water type STAB, hitting grass types and providing a reliable move to finish pokemon off. Hidden Power Electric is for fellow water types and gyarados. The last slot depends on what pokemon trouble you. Psychic takes care of toxicroak and Poliwrath, as well as a reliable move to use against weakened infernape. However, poliwrath is hit by hidden power electric and toxicroak is rarely seen outside on UU. Aqua Tail murders Blissey. With Life Orb, Hydro Pump and Aqua Tail together kill Blissey, meaning that Blissey is not safe from this monster. Rain Dance helps Gorebyss sweep by doubling its sub-par Speed, but usually, rain can last from politoed. However, there can never be enough rain dance users on a rain dance team. Agility works like rain dance, but does not support the team or boost hydro pump, but is not ruined by ninetales and tyranitar. Shadow ball hits rankurutsu for super effective damage outside the rain, but is generally not very useful.

6.Sporepuncher:

Breloom (Shroom)
@Toxic Orb
-Spore
-Substitute
-Focus Punch/Facade
-Seed Bomb/Stone Edge/Facade
Poison Heal
Adamant, 32 Attack, 244 Spe, 236 Hp

Breloom returns to the arena after a successful run in Gen. 4. Spore is the only 100% accurate move in the game, capable of incapacitating opponents, Substitute blocks moves while the opponent swtiches and provides a guard against attacks, and both work wonderfully with Breloom's 150 power STAB focus punch. People have called me all sorts of names such as "gay, f*g, f**cker, n00b," and all the rest, but I don't really care, because breloom is useful. It works, they lose. Seed Bomb is listed over Stone Edge because on this primarily water-based team, opposing water types and swift swimmers will be a greater threat that flying type pokemon. Facade hits harder than Seed Bomb, even with STAB, and with 140 base power, it's no joke. The only problem with it is that it leaves breloom completely vulnerable to ghosts. Breloom works very well with rain dance because it alleviates its fire weakness and can help absorb electric, grass, and ground type moves. I chose not to use Breloom's new technician ability because this works better in my opinion. This also takes out the annoying fire-steel thing that annoys my team.

Comments and everything else:

For my team, I also am considering rotom-w and kingdra. Rotom-W has a massive hydro pump and nice rain dance support, and can also cripple blissey with trick. Kingdra can fight mixed and ChestoRest versions often work well (though I always put a lum berry on my kindgras instead), especially with dragon dance and outrage. Shaymin also is a consideration with Seed Flare, Earth power and cleric abilities. Genesect and Scizor are also worthwhile considerations, boasting powerful STABs and sweeping abilities; their only weakness is alleviated greatly by the rain, and opposing fire-types are easiliy dispatched by my team. Espeon, fast and with a powerful STAB psychic as well as one of the best abilities and wish support, is another great option.

Threats:


Nattorei (Ferrothorn)- An annoyance to all and any rain dance team, though my team is specially geared towards eliminating it. Sets up spikes and power whips my team to death. I have nice counters for it though.


Hitmonlee - Ever know that this thing could sweep? Unfortunately, it kills me with close combat and unburden speed quickly enough. It has great Special Defense, meaning I can't stop it with gorebyss, so usually I have to rely on armaldo, and latios does an amazing job on killing it.


Blaziken - I don't have a phazer, and I hate speed passers. I might run roar on Jolteon because of its popularity. It's not usually the problem so much as its teammates.


Whimsicott - Annoying as anything, another reason to use roar on Jolteon because of Subseeding. Hate it with a burning passion. Armaldo beats it up, breloom is immune to leech seed.


Kingdra - It and other swift swimmers use my rain against me, though I usually stop them with jolteon and my swift swimmers, sometimes armaldo, latios hates it.


Tyranitar - Sand Stream ruins the weather, sometimes hard to take down, but practically all my pokemon hit it super effectively. If I see it in the lead, I use rain dance and switch (using volt change to scout switch if there is one) to politoed Bisharp to set up Swords Dance before it comes in again and messes up the weather.


Reuniclus - Annoying, especially the trick room variants. I usually switch to armaldo and try to kill it with x scissor. Now that I've added Bishap, I can pursuit it or sucker punch it.


Voltlos (Thunderus)- Hits me hard with thunderbolt, usually takes down or damages severely one of my pokemon before I can stop it.


Haxorus - Sometimes a handful with STAB 147 base power outrage. I don't have a dragon resister, I only have one dragon resister, so if it has a choice scarf, I usually get up into my neck in trouble. I usually take it out with gorebyss's Ice beam, armaldo, or Lapras. Lapras is the most solid counter to it, and can heal off the damage until it get confused. So long as it doesn't have choice scarf, I can kill it with latios, and Bisharp resists Outrage.

That's all for now, but I'll try to add more later!

Please rate and comment!

--EpicNinjaBear (DrewNightmare)

Nice team. Like the Jolteon Lead.

Thanks for reading it, because no one else really does...

Well this is a nice team. armaldo swift swim ? lol, but effective. Drizzle and swift swim is banned by smogon, so this team better do well in ubers, as that might be its place once teirs and such are formally released for 5th gen
That aside, good job. Your team does need some more defense though, as boosted water moves from the other team will dent you. A defensive spread on breloom could work, as he can take hits better and still do a lot of damage with focus punches. You could also replace laparas for a specially defensive zapdos with thunder, as he has great synergy with breloom, and can help your team take hits, as well as doing a lot of damage with stab thunder.

I made Breloom a bit more bulky but kept the Hp at a magic poison heal number. I considered zapdos, but it still takes boosted hits from water very hard as well. I might put Rotom-W in instead because it gets STAB Thunder as well as hydro pump in Gen 5.

I really need swift swim here, so I might replace Politoed with something that has rain dance support, and if politoed goes, I'll switch out Lapras, because it relys on Drizzle to keep it rested. I might even want a Alomomola because of its intense physical walling abilities as rain dance support. I'll also put a damp rock on Gorebyss if I want to use this in OU.

nice bro. Nice.

I would make someone else a rain dance starter. Such as Ludicolo. And switch in Jolteon when you predict an electric attack.

THis is an old team when I was really bad...

Its seems like a good team in my opinion

Dont have protect on Jolteon since it will waist one rain turn