rain dance in the 5 gen

[alphatron]

Okay that was harsh. He isn't BAD without sand. He just loses his major thing, his gig, his badass factor of stirring up storms simply by entering the battlefield. And he trades it all for the ability to keep others from eating berries. IMO, only Ursaring and Mewtwo can have that ability and still be cool. >_>

 

[NeoSeth]

Maybe try lapras it has hydration and dragon dance + rest

i could imagine a set like this:
Lapras @ Life Orb
252 SpA 252 Spd 6 SpD

-Rest
-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Return

Nah, run Lefties for more recovery, or at least slash it. Thunder is also viable as a second move, since it stops Burungeru from owning your face.

 

[deathadder99]

Cool set, I had no idea Perish Song was relatively viable but if it works for good pseudophazing then that's nice. I haven't played around with Politoed on PO but I would play Hypnosis over Focus Blast, sleep is so rare (especially around a rain team, I think) that I would utilize it. It might conflict with Boil Over, though...

Perish song totally screws over baton pass teams, I'm loving it as well, don't know if it's intended or just a bug with PO, but if a perish song'd poke baton passes out, they baton pass the perish song :D

 

[JSND]

Toxicroak
Dry Skin
252 atk/252 spe/ 6 spD
Sucker Punch
Drain Punch
Bulk up/ swords Dance
Taunt

One of the most solid adition in rain team. Toxicroak cover one of the weakness that the rain dance main pokemon which is kingdra have. Defeating nattrei ASAP. This thing is very adept at breaking nattrei/Burungeru core with his taunt, water resistance, and resisiting natt's power whip. SD and BU is up to your choice. Oh did i mention this guy make BU robushin cry too ? this thing in rain heal so much and defeat many comonly used pokemon. There might be betetr choice but in rain its a solid adition that fits well in breaking many pokemon that hinder rain dance from full power

 

[Benlisted]

Toxicroak
Dry Skin
252 atk/252 spe/ 6 spD
Sucker Punch
Drain Punch
Bulk up/ swords Dance
Taunt

One of the most solid adition in rain team. Toxicroak cover one of the weakness that the rain dance main pokemon which is kingdra have. Defeating nattrei ASAP. This thing is very adept at breaking nattrei/Burungeru core with his taunt, water resistance, and resisiting natt's power whip. SD and BU is up to your choice. Oh did i mention this guy make BU robushin cry too ? this thing in rain heal so much and defeat many comonly used pokemon. There might be betetr choice but in rain its a solid adition that fits well in breaking many pokemon that hinder rain dance from full power

Toxicroak was awesome as a counter to rain in 4th Gen UU, so I can see why he's excellent as a counter to Nattorei etc here on rain. I found that Ice Punch was a useful option for hitting dragons who thought they could boost up on you, but the set is pretty solid.

 

[He Who Must Not Be Named]

Why not use Zeburaika/Electivire and Tsunbear on a Rain Dance team?

 

[Athrosu]

I'm surprised SD Scizor doesn't get a mention here. Swords Dance/Roost/Bullet Punch seems like beast, especially in the rain.

Also, for the playtesters out there, is Politoed the only weather inducer you're using or are you dropping rain dance on another pokemon as well?

I can say that using Rain Dance on another Pokemon can be fantastic, especially in the higher levels where your foe might very well be toting a weather inducer as well. I recently snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when, even though I managed to take out the foe's auto-weather and put up my own (losing my auto-weather Pokemon shortly afterward), he had Rain Dance on something and used it to turn the tides.

 

[BloodGod22]

Why not use Zeburaika/Electivire and Tsunbear on a Rain Dance team?

I used to run Tsunbear on my team and from what i can tell he is a pretty good hard hitter, but whatever he doesnt outspeed will MURDER him, especialy priority.

 

[LeviLamprey]

What's the hype with Zeburaika???

 

[Barilzar]

I used to run Tsunbear on my team and from what i can tell he is a pretty good hard hitter, but whatever he doesnt outspeed will MURDER him, especialy priority.

Yeah, plus bullet punch fucks him up.

 

[JSND]

i forget that toxicroak absorbs toxic spikes too(toxic on his name for god sake !!)
in gen 5 toxcicroak is a fine adition overall

 

[He Who Must Not Be Named]

What's the hype with Zeburaika???

Just felt like mentioning him because he is like Electivire in ability.
He could also have immunity to Grass and resistance to Electric.

 

[He Who Must Not Be Named]

I used to run Tsunbear on my team and from what i can tell he is a pretty good hard hitter, but whatever he doesnt outspeed will MURDER him, especialy priority.

What about using the Substitute Focus Punch?

Just felt like this guy could be good on a Rain Dance team.

 

[Lou Cypher]

Why use Zebu or Electi when you can just use Zapdos? Sure it lacks the speed boost but you get a lot of defensive presence, immunity to Ground, resistance to Grass...

 

[BloodGod22]

What about using the Substitute Focus Punch?

Just felt like this guy could be good on a Rain Dance team.

Sure, if you can actualy set up with it....

 

[alphatron]

95/80/80 isn't bad. Then again, he's an ice type pokemon...

 

[Joeyboy]

I've used a Careful specially defensive roobushin to great success on my rain dance team. Its able to sponge a lot of hits and sets up on many common rain dance threats such as nattorei or t-tar. Also hydration vaporeon is awesome, I use a defensive phazer and its proved itself invaluable thanks to its incredible recovery.

 

[He Who Must Not Be Named]

Why use Zebu or Electi when you can just use Zapdos? Sure it lacks the speed boost but you get a lot of defensive presence, immunity to Ground, resistance to Grass...

Zebu gets Grass immunity with Herbivore(even though his move pool is terrible,but is pretty great against Starmie) and I'm pretty sure Electivire has a pretty good physical movepool.

 

[He Who Must Not Be Named]

I was also thinking why not put Tsunbear with Dragonite since he is resistant to Ice-type attacks, and could take care of Grass-type and Ground-type pokemon.

The issue I'm seeing is the weakness to Rock-type moves and Stealth Rock...

 

[JSND]

Dragonite need better support and different from that. In rain, his problem is taking dragon hits and theres steel types who overall offer more to rain team in general.
Also he need spinning support so he can abuse his ability

 

[He Who Must Not Be Named]

Dragonite need better support and different from that. In rain, his problem is taking dragon hits and theres steel types who overall offer more to rain team in general.
Also he need spinning support so he can abuse his ability

I was thinking adding a steel-type in the mix with Tsunbear and Dragonite.
I think Foretress would be good since he can live Dragon-type moves and could spin.

 

[Slugger57]

I've tested these raim stall team me,bers and they work REALLY well!


Politoed @Leftovers
Nature:Sassy
Ability:Drizzle
EVs:252 HP/ 200 Def/ 58 Def
IVs: 0 Spd
-Perish song
-Encore
-Scald
-Protect

I completely agree with benlisted about the P-song + Encore combo on Politoed. I've been trying it lately, and it has really wrecked a lot of things. I haven't tested the 0 IVs and sassy nature against a Ttar yet, so I'm not sure if it can underspeed him and get it's weather up. Protect is helpful for stalling for more TSpikes damage, scouting the foe's next move, and helping P-song count down.

Parasect @Leftovers
Nature:Impish
Ability:Dry skin
EVs: 252 HP/ 100 Def/ 158 Sp.Def
-Leech seed
-X-scissor
-Substitute
-Spore

Parasect (like everyone else has said) is AMAZING in the rain! Once you get enemy weather inducers out of the picture, he can stall out entire teams! Spore is really awsome for stopping troublesome pokemon cold. X-scissor is really useful against Latias, Latios, Celebi, and Reuniclus.

Ferrothorn @Leftovers
Nature:Careful/Impish
Ability:Iron Barbs
EVs:252 Hp/
-Leech Seed
-Power Whip
-Spikes/Stealth rock
-T-wave/Protect

Sorry for not finishing the Ev spread. I don't have access to PO right now. T-wave ruins a lot of sweepers that don't have Substitute, and can give him a free turn of entry hazard set up. Power whip helps against other rain teams, and I once swept 4 pokemon with it. Leech seed + Leftovers recovers a good amount of health, and if you swap T-wave with protect you can scout the foe's move and recover even more.

Toxicroak @Leftovers
Nature:Jolly/Adamant
Ability:Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk/ 252 Spd/ 6 HP
-Drain punch/Cross chop
-Sucker punch/Ice punch
-Swords dance
-Taunt/Substitute

Toxicroak in the rain is an awesome sweeper. He can OHKO Tyranitar with Drain punch or Cross chop. Sucker pumch is helpful against Psychics who think they can OHKO you, and is good for revenge killing. Drain punch is great for helping toxicroak heal even further and is great if you can't get behind a sub, or if you are running taunt. Ice punch is helpful against Grass-types that could pose a problem for your water-types, and is helpful against Landorous and Gliscor. But Ice punch is illegal with Drain punch, so you would have to run cross chop instead. I ahven't tested Taunt yet, but it seems like it would work well against things like Ferro or Forry.

Tentacruel @Black sludge/Leftovers
Nature:Bold
Ability:Rain dish
EVs:252 HP/ 18 Spd/ 234 Def
-Surf
-Toxic spikes
-Rapid spin
-Protect

Ahhh... Tentacruel. He's one of the most awesome TSpikers and Rapid spinners under the rain. He's really helpful with the ability to remove TSpikes just by switching in, and can then rapid spin other entry hazards away. I'm not sure which item heals more HP, black sludge or lefties. Black sludge does have the bonus of hurting trick users. Protect is useful for, like I said before, scouting the foes next move, getting more rain dish and Black sludge/Lefties recovery, and stalling for more TSpikes damage.

Vaporeon
Nature:Calm
Ability:Hydration
EVs:252 HP/ 252 Sp.Def/ 6 Def
-Wish/Rest
-Protect/Scald
-Acid armor
-Roar

THose are all I can think of off the top of my head, but I'll update this if I think oif any more.

I've been looking for a good spinblocker, and eviolite dusclops and disable gengar are the closest I've gotton to a good one. Dusclops is useful for completely shutting down Drain punch and sucker punch toxicroak, and gengar can shut down a lot of other things. I'm going to test Choice Band Spiritomb, and I'm wondering what else it helps against besides Starmie? I imagine it could do good damage to latias or latios, who I have had a hard time with if they carry thunderbolt. If someone could post a good CB spiritomb set that would be great.

 

[lapras6666]

Why not use Zeburaika/Electivire and Tsunbear on a Rain Dance team?

Outclassed by Zapdos and Jolteon

/end of discussion

 

[min min]

The reason Beartic sucks is because it doesn't have the dual STAB boost that other rain sweepers get. As of now, it's simply Weavile with more bulk.

 

[StallMandibuzz]

The reason Beartic sucks is because it doesn't have the dual STAB boost that other rain sweepers get. As of now, it's simply Weavile with more bulk.

That, and Ice type is a horrible defensive typing. All but two Ice types have more weaknesses then resistances or immunities. Froslass and Rotom-F don't fare as bad as all the other Ice-types, and Abomasnow (not really) and Mamoswine aren't too bad. Even if you're a bulky Ice-type, you're still hit by Rock, Fire, Fighting, and Steel. All but Steel are very common attacking types, so Ice suffers horribly defensively in this metagame. It's also pretty rare to see an Ice-type use Rain Dance, barring Swift Swim Beartic when it's released.