I decided to try out SS OU and I was overwhelmed by how many rain teams I encountered so I decided to make one of my own. I reached an elo of 1500+ with this team. Any suggestions to improve it are welcome!
Rain Setter
Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Roost
- U-turn
- Defog
The staple rain setter. It has good defensive bulk and a typing that is only weak to electric and rock. Damp rock for the extra rain turns. Scald to hit any mons within KO range since it's quite weak even with a rain boost, along with a chance to burn. Roost to heal off damage as its quite important to keep it alive and U-turn to safely pivot out. It's a switch-in to ground, fire, water and fighting types like Heatran, Urshifu-R, Landorus-T, etc although it has to be careful of stealth rock, rock-type attacks and any electric-type attacks which can KO it from full health due to its 4x weakness. Calm nature gives it a little bit of special bulk. Can opt for 0 Speed IVs in order to make it slower and ensuring rain setup but I did not do that.
Physical Sweeper
Barraskewda @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
This extremely fast physical behemoth can OHKO anything that doesn't resist it. It runs a band with 4 coverage moves. Liquidation being the usual STAB move which also has a chance of a defense drop. Close Combat hits Ferrothorn, one of its main threats, for a 2HKO. Psychic fangs to hit the likes of Toxapex. Crunch is the last move of choice, although I find it a bit situational as it is for Slowbro, Slowking and Jellicent switch-ins. I still found it more useful than Flip Turn. Adamant nature to maximise Atk as it is already faster than everything else in rain.
Defensive Utility
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
Nobody benefits better from rain softening its 4x weakness to fire than good ol' Ferro. Knock off, Leech Seed and Spikes are the usual set and for the last slot I had Body Press, Iron Head and Power Whip as options. I chose power whip to punish opposing water types like Tapu Fini, Seismitoad, Slowbro, Slowking, Gastrodon and other pokemon it is meant to counter like Tapu Lele and Regieleki. Careful nature to boost its SpD as it is meant to tank both physical and special hits and it already has max Def EVs.
Physical Wallbreaker
Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Liquidation
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
Another Swift Swim mon that has a useful electric immunity and Earthquake STAB along with Stealth Rock. This is the standard rain sweeper set with STAB Liquidation and Earthquake, the latter being quite useful on Galarian Slowking and Toxapex. Ice Punch is for coverage against Dragon and Grass types like Dragonite, Garchomp, Rillaboom, etc. Haxorus, however, can withstand ice punch so it needs to be 2HKOed. Leftovers instead of Life Orb because I dislike the recoil and find the former to be more useful for longevity as it switches into hits. Adamant Nature to maximise Atk.
Special Sweeper
Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Roost
Zapdos benefits from the accuracy check bypass during rain on STAB Thunder and Hurricane. Hurricane threatens Urshifu-R, Rillaboom, Tangrowth, etc and is basically the attack to spam as nothing is immune to Flying. Thunder is for Tornadus, Toxapex, Tapu Fini and Corviknight. Weather ball is the third attack to hit Landorus and Heatran switch-ins. Roost is the obvious choice for the fourth slot. Heavy-duty boots are great for mitigating Stealth Rock damage. Static is just too good to pass up for landing paralysis over Pressure. Timid nature to maximise speed.
Special Wallbreaker
Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hurricane
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Flip Turn
I scoured through the plethora of Swift Swimmers for a special wallbreaker/sweeper and found Kingdra to be a great addition. Choice Specs boosts its otherwise unimpressive 95 base SpA. Dragon Pulse over Draco Meteor because of the lower accuracy and SpA-lowering side effect of the latter. I opted for Surf over Hydro Pump as it can miss. Hurricane for third attack which I find more useful than Ice Beam and Flip Turn for pivoting out. It is a fast revenge-killer/wallbreaker/sweeper in rain and outspeeds Zeraora, Weavile and Tapu Koko. Modest nature for the extra SpA.
You can find the team here for easy copying: https://pokepast.es/9d3a32a03b3aa3b8
The above team is usually countered by sand teams as Tyranitar and Hippowdon can disrupt the momentum of the team by simply switching in. Trick room teams can also be a problem as the team consists of fast attackers. However, I can break through such teams sometimes as the mons can OHKO opposing trick room setters before they can set up. Opposing rain teams are an interesting matchup and can go either way depending on how well you can read your opponent.
Rain Setter
Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Roost
- U-turn
- Defog
The staple rain setter. It has good defensive bulk and a typing that is only weak to electric and rock. Damp rock for the extra rain turns. Scald to hit any mons within KO range since it's quite weak even with a rain boost, along with a chance to burn. Roost to heal off damage as its quite important to keep it alive and U-turn to safely pivot out. It's a switch-in to ground, fire, water and fighting types like Heatran, Urshifu-R, Landorus-T, etc although it has to be careful of stealth rock, rock-type attacks and any electric-type attacks which can KO it from full health due to its 4x weakness. Calm nature gives it a little bit of special bulk. Can opt for 0 Speed IVs in order to make it slower and ensuring rain setup but I did not do that.
Physical Sweeper
Barraskewda @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
This extremely fast physical behemoth can OHKO anything that doesn't resist it. It runs a band with 4 coverage moves. Liquidation being the usual STAB move which also has a chance of a defense drop. Close Combat hits Ferrothorn, one of its main threats, for a 2HKO. Psychic fangs to hit the likes of Toxapex. Crunch is the last move of choice, although I find it a bit situational as it is for Slowbro, Slowking and Jellicent switch-ins. I still found it more useful than Flip Turn. Adamant nature to maximise Atk as it is already faster than everything else in rain.
Defensive Utility
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
Nobody benefits better from rain softening its 4x weakness to fire than good ol' Ferro. Knock off, Leech Seed and Spikes are the usual set and for the last slot I had Body Press, Iron Head and Power Whip as options. I chose power whip to punish opposing water types like Tapu Fini, Seismitoad, Slowbro, Slowking, Gastrodon and other pokemon it is meant to counter like Tapu Lele and Regieleki. Careful nature to boost its SpD as it is meant to tank both physical and special hits and it already has max Def EVs.
Physical Wallbreaker
Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Liquidation
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
Another Swift Swim mon that has a useful electric immunity and Earthquake STAB along with Stealth Rock. This is the standard rain sweeper set with STAB Liquidation and Earthquake, the latter being quite useful on Galarian Slowking and Toxapex. Ice Punch is for coverage against Dragon and Grass types like Dragonite, Garchomp, Rillaboom, etc. Haxorus, however, can withstand ice punch so it needs to be 2HKOed. Leftovers instead of Life Orb because I dislike the recoil and find the former to be more useful for longevity as it switches into hits. Adamant Nature to maximise Atk.
Special Sweeper
Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Roost
Zapdos benefits from the accuracy check bypass during rain on STAB Thunder and Hurricane. Hurricane threatens Urshifu-R, Rillaboom, Tangrowth, etc and is basically the attack to spam as nothing is immune to Flying. Thunder is for Tornadus, Toxapex, Tapu Fini and Corviknight. Weather ball is the third attack to hit Landorus and Heatran switch-ins. Roost is the obvious choice for the fourth slot. Heavy-duty boots are great for mitigating Stealth Rock damage. Static is just too good to pass up for landing paralysis over Pressure. Timid nature to maximise speed.
Special Wallbreaker
Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hurricane
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Flip Turn
I scoured through the plethora of Swift Swimmers for a special wallbreaker/sweeper and found Kingdra to be a great addition. Choice Specs boosts its otherwise unimpressive 95 base SpA. Dragon Pulse over Draco Meteor because of the lower accuracy and SpA-lowering side effect of the latter. I opted for Surf over Hydro Pump as it can miss. Hurricane for third attack which I find more useful than Ice Beam and Flip Turn for pivoting out. It is a fast revenge-killer/wallbreaker/sweeper in rain and outspeeds Zeraora, Weavile and Tapu Koko. Modest nature for the extra SpA.
You can find the team here for easy copying: https://pokepast.es/9d3a32a03b3aa3b8
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simply making this max hp max defence is ideal. attack investment on ferrothorn is really only useful for clefable but even then itd almost always rather have the bulk and the speed is just useless on something this slow. in the original post the EVs are fine but in the pokepaste link its something different so i wanted to point this out. going body press over knock off will prove to be very useful when it comes to dealing with stuff like bisharp/weavile/ttar/opposing ferro etc.
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either one works here and it mainly comes down to preference. weavile and crawdaunt both do an incredible job of plowing through stall teams but weavile has the benefit of scaring out dragapult which would otherwise be incredibly annoying for this team, so i'd prefer weavile here. having a fast knock offer removes the need for knock off on ferrothorn which allows space for body press which is always nice.