Rain has always been a good strategy to counter hyper offense, and this generation is no exception. Although the banning of palafin and iron bundle hurt quite a bit, rain is still a devastating option when played right.
Paste: https://pokepast.es/eacc75833c88028b
Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Roost
You can’t have rain without pelipper! Although some people opt for a more offensive bite, I really like the pivot set, with utility in knock off, damage in hurricane, and recover in roost allowing your rain to stay up for a long time. Not being able to run boots hurts a lot, but damp rock is necessary to keep up rain for your sweepers. The ev spread is mostly just physical defense, mainly for great tusk. The Tera type is ground, just in case you really need to be immune to an electrical type move in a pinch.
Barraskewda @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Ice Fang
- Psychic Fangs
Pelipper’s partner in crime, Barraskewda, is an the main sweeper of the team, able to 2hko almost every Pokémon in the tier. The set is mostly standard, the only thing worth mentioning is that psychic fangs can come in clutch very rarely against screens teams, and I click it more than crunch. Barraskewda is not supposed to break through wall; that’s mainly floatzel’s job. Barraskewda is supposed to clean up games after his checks are sufficiently chipped. Although having both him and floatzel on the team seems like overkill, it’s still very effective, and they can back each other up in case one dies.
Floatzel @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wave Crash
- Liquidation
- Brick Break
- Ice Spinner
Floatzel is the second swift swimmer and the main breaker of the team. Even though his attack is low, he hits harder than Barraskewda with wave crash, although he does take recoil. Liquidation is good in case you know you will kill but you don’t to take chip damage, brick break is decent coverage, and it can break screens, and ice spinner is nice for hitting dragonite and amoongus . Having 2 choice bands on the team is not very detrimental, as mainly we are just trying to pressure the opponent with huge damage.
Kilowattrel @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Volt Switch
Kilowattrel is just Zapdos at home, he has incredible offensive synergy with our main breakers, hitting the grass and electric types super effectively. The speed tier is really nice because it can out speed cyclizar without scarf and hit it hard with hurricane. Specs turns your high base power stabs into crazy offensive tools, and weather ball is great coverage for things like iron treads. Volt switch is great for offensive teams because you can pivot around threatening mons, and clicking it is very free because the water types on the team beat all of the coming ground types, save water absorb Clodsire.
Iron Treads @ Assault Vest
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch
The team needed a ground type, hazard removal, and a stall type, and iron treads provides great role compression. Knock off is to hit gholdengo if it has air balloon, earthquake is Stab, spin is to remove hazards, and volt switch is for pivoting. Since we’re on 4 attacks, assault vest seemed nice, since it allowed us to 1v1 gholdengo better, and I just went for max spdef max hp. It’s cool to bluff max speed.
Dondozo @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Liquidation
- Curse
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
The team is very weak to priority like d-nite and kingambit, so I added dondozo. He actually hits hard at +1 in rain, and he pairs nicely with treads to form a defensive core. Liquidation is stab, curse is always just great, and rest talk is necessary for recovery. There isn’t much to say about this mon, it’s just generally good.
So that’s the team! The main hard matchups are sun and any team with washtom, everything else is manageable if I play smart. I think rain has a great matchup into the mega right, able to deal with screens, ape, espathra, and chi-yu with ease. Wo-chien seems bad, but if you keep dondozo healthy you’ll be alright. Anyways, see you next time, and if you use this team, have fun!
Paste: https://pokepast.es/eacc75833c88028b
Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Roost
You can’t have rain without pelipper! Although some people opt for a more offensive bite, I really like the pivot set, with utility in knock off, damage in hurricane, and recover in roost allowing your rain to stay up for a long time. Not being able to run boots hurts a lot, but damp rock is necessary to keep up rain for your sweepers. The ev spread is mostly just physical defense, mainly for great tusk. The Tera type is ground, just in case you really need to be immune to an electrical type move in a pinch.
Barraskewda @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Ice Fang
- Psychic Fangs
Pelipper’s partner in crime, Barraskewda, is an the main sweeper of the team, able to 2hko almost every Pokémon in the tier. The set is mostly standard, the only thing worth mentioning is that psychic fangs can come in clutch very rarely against screens teams, and I click it more than crunch. Barraskewda is not supposed to break through wall; that’s mainly floatzel’s job. Barraskewda is supposed to clean up games after his checks are sufficiently chipped. Although having both him and floatzel on the team seems like overkill, it’s still very effective, and they can back each other up in case one dies.
Floatzel @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wave Crash
- Liquidation
- Brick Break
- Ice Spinner
Floatzel is the second swift swimmer and the main breaker of the team. Even though his attack is low, he hits harder than Barraskewda with wave crash, although he does take recoil. Liquidation is good in case you know you will kill but you don’t to take chip damage, brick break is decent coverage, and it can break screens, and ice spinner is nice for hitting dragonite and amoongus . Having 2 choice bands on the team is not very detrimental, as mainly we are just trying to pressure the opponent with huge damage.
Kilowattrel @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Volt Switch
Kilowattrel is just Zapdos at home, he has incredible offensive synergy with our main breakers, hitting the grass and electric types super effectively. The speed tier is really nice because it can out speed cyclizar without scarf and hit it hard with hurricane. Specs turns your high base power stabs into crazy offensive tools, and weather ball is great coverage for things like iron treads. Volt switch is great for offensive teams because you can pivot around threatening mons, and clicking it is very free because the water types on the team beat all of the coming ground types, save water absorb Clodsire.
Iron Treads @ Assault Vest
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch
The team needed a ground type, hazard removal, and a stall type, and iron treads provides great role compression. Knock off is to hit gholdengo if it has air balloon, earthquake is Stab, spin is to remove hazards, and volt switch is for pivoting. Since we’re on 4 attacks, assault vest seemed nice, since it allowed us to 1v1 gholdengo better, and I just went for max spdef max hp. It’s cool to bluff max speed.
Dondozo @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Liquidation
- Curse
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
The team is very weak to priority like d-nite and kingambit, so I added dondozo. He actually hits hard at +1 in rain, and he pairs nicely with treads to form a defensive core. Liquidation is stab, curse is always just great, and rest talk is necessary for recovery. There isn’t much to say about this mon, it’s just generally good.
So that’s the team! The main hard matchups are sun and any team with washtom, everything else is manageable if I play smart. I think rain has a great matchup into the mega right, able to deal with screens, ape, espathra, and chi-yu with ease. Wo-chien seems bad, but if you keep dondozo healthy you’ll be alright. Anyways, see you next time, and if you use this team, have fun!
