Idiot with a water pistol (UU Rain Dance)

[zocho]

So, this is the first rain team I've ever made, and the second UU team I've ever made. I'm really new to shoddy, so I've seen such few rain teams I couldn't even remember a good one to copy. Best thing I could do is study up Legacy Raider's rain article and grab a bunch of swift swim pokemans. Hopefully it doesn't suck too much. See inside for details.

(Note to pokemonelite2000: it's QWILFISH, not QUILFISH. Get it straight you bastards. Thanks for the sprites)

Uxie @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Psychic
---
At first I had Electrode here, but I wanted to have a lead that could set up SR, and also potentially come in later in the match to rain again. This little bugger has defense up the wazoo, and can come in again and again even with entry hazards down. Has a bit of trouble against annoying Ambipom leads though...I usually just U-turn expecting Fake Out/Taunt. So I like its tankishness (and Levitate since three of my pokes are weak to ground) but it doesn't do too well against that stupid monkey. I originally had Yawn in place of Psychic but figured it'd be better to just have a decent STAB attack there.

Ludicolo (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Energy Ball
- Ice Beam
- Rain Dance
- Surf
---
Our favorite sombrero-stylin' duck, ludi is a great special sweeper and his rotund bulk can even weather a few hits. Bulky waters like Quagsire and Gastrodon would rather watch reruns of the "Goodbye, Pikachu" episode than face off against this. I chose Energy Ball over Grass Knot since I assumed that UU had lighter waters than OU, correct me if I'm wrong. Since it can take a hit or two it has Rain Dance to use if it needs to.

Kabutops (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 184 HP/252 Atk/72 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Swords Dance/Aqua Jet
---
One of my favorite pokes ever, along with Scyther and Absol. Notice a trend? Blades are just plain badass. Yeah...I'm pretty mature for my age. Anyways, with high attack, speed, and two powerful STAB moves, Kabutops can come in on just about anyone and start tearing shit up. Waterfall is a no-brainer, and I prefer Rock Slide over Stone Edge due to the lower accuracy and potential hax. I chose X-Scissor for bastards like Slowbro and Shaymin that come in and crash the party, and Swords Dance in case Kab forces someone out. I contemplated putting Aqua Jet on this set to beat Technitop in a pinch and to continue sweeping after rain runs out. I could also put Rain Dance on it as well, but I don't want my precious Kab getting hurt while it RDs.

Lanturn (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP/80 Spd/136 SAtk/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Surf
- Thunder
- Rain Dance
- Ice Beam
---
This fashionably colored fellow sponges special attacks like nothing, and, unlike a couple pokes on my team, especially enjoys electric attacks and Thunder Wave. 100% accurate STAB Thunder hurts like a mofo and has a good chance to paralyze. Surf for STAB, Ice Beam for coverage, and naturally it's sturdy enough to RD if needed.

Altaria (F) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/200 Def/56 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Perish Song
- Rain Dance
- Roost
- Dragon Pulse
---
Okay, this is probably the oddest member of my team. I have a grand total of 3 ground weaknesses so I needed a resist, and I needed someone bulky to RD if Uxie ate dirt. I figure, with all these water pokes running around, you wouldn't see too many ice attacks, giving the beefy blue thing opportunities to switch in and RD while sponging all kinds of attacks. Roost works well with Natural Cure for tanking since Altaria is switching out to bring in my RD sweepers, Dragon Pulse is there as a consistent STAB attack and for Taunters, and Perish Song gives me at least a fighting chance against stallwall. So far it's worked pretty well, but the fluffy dragon is probably my most replaceable poke.

Qwilfish (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 92 HP/252 Atk/164 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Explosion
- Poison Jab
- Waterfall
- Swords Dance
---
This thing is so awesome, it looks like a little spiked ball of pure evil. And indeed it is--poke it a few times and it'll go KERBLOOIE on your ass. It's good to have two physical RD sweepers, and Qwil has decent coverage with Waterfall and Poison Jab. And a Swords Danced Explosion just hurts. A lot.



So there you have it. I haven't played that many matches so it's hard to say what really threatens this team, but basically if I can't get rain set up early or my bulky pokes get killed, I'm screwed. I'm wondering if there's a better lead than Uxie to set up RD...if there is, I can move it to Altaria's place.

 

[Erazor]

Uxie is one of the most reliable leads for setting up Rain Dance if you want it to stay alive, so keep it. Just give it Psychic or Toxic ahead of Yawn. Toxic helps against walls like Milotic, and Psychic gives you a STAB move to deal some damage.

Kabutops wants X-Scissor over Aerial Ace. It hits bugs harder than Aerial ace, fighters won't like Waterfall, which hits harder in the Rain than Aerial Ace, and most importantly, it lets you damage Slowbro reliably.

On Qwilfish, if you don't use Taunt, then why not use Swords Dance? Swords Danced Explosion outright annihilates anything that doesn't resist it, and it lets Qwilfish sweep nicely(Swords Dance, not Explosion).

I'll comment on changes if you can tell me what the team has trouble with.

 

[zocho]

Thanks for the comments! I'll try Psychic for now since I already have Toxic on Altaria. And I completely forgot what a huge threat Slowbro was, thanks for reminding me. And X-Scissor will still hit bulky grassers like Tangrowth and Meganium hard, although it'll only be a neutral hit on Venusaur now.

As for Qwilfish, I never really feel the need to Taunt because when it's out it's raining, and it has three powerful moves at its disposal--there's very little opportunity for anything to hit it with status or anything. Swords Dance sounds appealing, but when would I find an opportunity to use it? Qwilfish's defenses are super fragile...a couple hits and add in LO recoil and it's going down in a hurry. But I'll try the changes and see what happens.

Also, speaking of Altaria, what do you think of it? Do you think it fulfills the "bulky RD replenisher" pretty well?

 

[Erazor]

Altaria is a good replenisher, master12345 uses it very well. It just needs a little change. Altaria has Roost, which is the better choice for Altaria, as it then doesn't need to switch out after healing. Plus it removes its Rock weakness and lessens damage from Ice attacks.
Perish song might be a nice choice. It forces switches, and if you sacrifice Altaria, you get a free switch in to a sweeper.

As for Qwilfish, play it like you would play Lucario in OU. Bring it in on something that won't like taking a hit from it( that's actually a lot of pokes) and SD on the switch. Then enjoy.

 

[mikmenis]

X-Scozzpr > Aerial ace on kabutops. X-Scizzor covers grasstypes as well as Aerial Ace does, but it have higher Base Power. During rain, Waterwall is much more effective on fighters than Aerial Ace, because none of those fighters resists water. (well toxiccroak might be one but it is so weak I don't see that as a problem.)

 

[Kitsunine]

Grass Knot does equal or more damage to every main UU water besides Azumarill, Lanturn, and Omastar. Omastar's getting a 4x effective hit from it, so he's not really even worth noting.

So basically, only use Energy Ball if you're worried about enemy Azumarill or Lanturn.

 

[zocho]

Niiice. Thanks for the comments guys. Perish Song sounds like it could be fun...

And as for Grass Knot vs. Energy Ball, I hate Azumarill and Lanturn is annoying. So maybe I'll just keep it for now and see what happens.

 

[Legacy Raider]

Hi there, welcome to smogon :).

I don't have too much to add, mostly just reiterating what others have said already. Firstly, I agree with replacing Aerial Ace on Kabutops with something else. In the rain, a super effective Aerial Ace bearly outdamages a resisted Waterfall (120 vs 90), so there really isn't too much reason to run it. X-Scissor has already been mentioned as a good replacement, as it hits things like Shaymin and Slowbro very hard, and both are quite common threats. Alternatively, Aqua Jet is handy in taking on things like Hitmontop, which can really screw with rain teams by wasting turns with Fake Out and hitting with super effective Mach Punch, as well as giving you a strong priority attack for use outside of rain. It's up to personal preference whether you go with Aqua Jet or X-Scissor, but Aerial Ace should be replaced.

On Altaria, I would be inclined to replace Rest with Roost and Draco Meteor with Dragon Pulse. The reason Rest is run as a recovery move is because it heals status; with Natural Cure, you can just switch out to get rid of any poison or paralysis, and when you have access to an instant heal move such as Roost, Rest really isn't too hot an option (Shaymin has the poorer Synthesis, and still many are actually beginning to forego Rest for it). With Roost and Toxic, you can stay in and wear away at the Waters of UU such as Slowbro and Milotic, and so Dragon Pulse is preferable for the regular damage. However, dropping Toxic for Perish Song isn't a bad idea either, as it gives you a much safer switchin for your rain sweepers, as well as stopping any opposing set up Pokemon from doing too much damage to your team.

I think there are better choices than Lanturn for a team slot. Personally, I would just go for another rain sweeper such as Gorebyss in that slot. With the relative lack of auto-weather in UU, I've found it is more beneficial to run 4 sweepers 2 supporters rather than the OU 3/3. If you want to run Gorebyss, just take the rain dance set straight from the analysis. However, if you'd rather go for a supporter there, there are a couple of better choices than Lanturn kicking around. These are two I'd recommend:

Rotom @ Damp Rock; Timid; 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Rain Dance / Reflect / Thunder / Shadow Ball

Clefable @ Damp Rock; Calm; 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 SpD
Rain Dance / Encore / Seismic Toss / Softboiled

Since you have two bulky but quite slow rain replenishers already, Rotom makes a nice addition because of its Speed. Its typing compliments that of Kabutops greatly, resisting Electric and immune to Fighting and Ground. One of the best things about it is that it can use the rain for itself as well, giving it a strong STAB Thunder. Reflect aids Kabutops set up Swords Dance, and can give Rotom a bit of survivability to let it get up screens.

Clefable, on the other hand, is a good addition here because of Encore giving it many free turns. It is one of the most reliable dancers in UU, and has Softboiled to heal itself and really last a very long time against special attackers. It also serves as a makeshift status absorber of sorts with Magic Guard. However, although it being a great all-round replenisher, I think Rotom might fit this team better because of its Speed. I mentioned Clefable in case you were looking for something with the same kind of bulk as Lanturn.

Swords Dance is an option over Taunt for Qwilfish, but both work. Whatever toots your horn.

Anyway, this looks like a pretty respectable rain team. Good luck with it :).

 

[zocho]

thanks for the advice and the warm welcome! i feel like i'm welcoming a celebrity, since it was your original rain dance article that got me started in the first place. *tears in eyes*

well, anyway. kabutops. i replaced aerial ace with x-scissor, and took out swords dance for aqua jet. and then, the very next match, wouldn't you know it, it got walled by a wishprotect umbreon. FRICK. i regretted taking SD off then. i managed to make it run a few times by using perish song with altaria but the constant switch-ins prevented me from setting up rain. unboosted x-scissor did a measy 44% on it. i finally got rid of it by exploding with qwilfish but ended up losing the match. bleh.

i was actually considering rotom as an alternative to altaria, even though it isn't as bulky it still has good immunities. i guess i'm just biased towards lanturn because, well, it's awesome. like finding nemo.

thanks again guys! i have found out that rain teams are SUPER fun. they are so fast-paced and intense, and i even love mirror matches against other rain teams. i might just start using this team as my primary UU team if i can get good enough with it.

EDIT: rotom working out pretty well so far, although the prevalence of mismagius in UU does not bode well for rotom. i might try out clefable just to see what happens