Storm's a Comin'!
Thundurus/Manaphy/Volcarona/Ferrothorn/Latios/Politoed
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Cu / H / S / Fe / U / O
Thundurus/Manaphy/Volcarona/Ferrothorn/Latios/Politoed
Cu / H / S / Fe / U / O
The Inspiration
I usually use a team with Tyranitar on it to counter weather. I've noticed that the ability to override my opponent's weather is one of my favorite utilities for a team to have. I decided to try playing on the other side of the spectrum, a full-on rain team, and I think this is one of the best OU teams I've built. While I have no mega, this team has no shortage of power (and three legendaries). One major advantage of the team is my ability to set up Volcarona and Manaphy; they can easily do damage and come out unscathed, and have no trouble sweeping. I love that rain has so many powerful moves it synergizes with, and my Fire/Water/Grass core has most common attacking types covered. I focus on abusing the rain, enabling set-up, and placing hazards to discourage switches when I play this team.
Building the Team
I first decided that mixed Scarf Thundurus-I could use the extra power and paralyze chance of Thunder to sweep late game, and Knock-Off and U-turn with Defiant gain momentum early. I then added Manaphy and Politoed to the team, obvious choices to abuse rain with and absorb the Fire and Water moves that will be thrown at my Grass and Fire types. Looking into Hurricane, I found that Volcarona could be effective enough in rain vs most of the usual things it threatens with Fire, and would make an ideal Fire-type. Latios was picked next, because Volcarona needs Stealth Rock off the field to shine and Latios has a powerful Surf and strong typing. Since I need to punish tactical switching to allow myself a chance to set up, I chose Ferrothorn as my Grass-type.
General Trends
Latios and Ferrothorn are the only members of my team that give a Sp. Atk boost vs. Download, allowing me to switch Ferrothorn into a potential Genesect U-Turn to wear it down and scout for Scarf. I have 3 Fighting-Type resistances and 3 Fire-Type resistances to make keeping Ferrothorn alive to reset hazards a snap, which is necessary because I use Defog. 2 4x Grass resistances leave Electric as the most threatening type of attack to fling at my team, though I still have a couple of options when it gets used. Having 4 Water resists is useful to prevent my opponent from getting much out of Drizzle. I use odd HP totals to cheese flat damage moves a little bit, except on Manaphy.
Pros
* Rain is a a great weather to override both sun and sand with and easy to take advantage of.
* Volcarona and Manaphy can take care of the other's checks and counters.
* Volcarona and Manaphy have good regeneration and the ability to avoid status.
* Mixed Defiant Thundurus surprises people used to his Prankster sets.
* Politoed has 3 tools to facilitate set-up.
* Usually comes out ahead in hazard wars.
* Slightly bulky team, nothing goes down easily.
* Can KO last Pokémon, despite attempts to stall, with Perish Song.
Cons
* Not that bulky, can lose a Pokémon to Choice Band/Specs sets especially.
* No Dark/Ghost resistances.
* No clear answer to teams with multiple powerful Electric-types.
* Weather setter has no attack, mitigated by the fact it can still KO.
* Defog + reliance on hazards.
Cu (Thundurus) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 80 Spd / 132 SAtk / 128 Atk / 168 HP
Rash Nature
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
- Thunder
Defiant Thundurus, for when they use Defog, Intimidate, or King's Shield. One-shots Latios and Latias after a Defog. Has early game utility, and is a fast late-game rain sweeper. A scarf to ensure he can clean up late game without getting Ice Beamed by Greninja or anything, and can U-Turn out against anything unboosted or Knock Off Specs and Bands before getting hit back. Rash nature was used because he most often absorbs physical Fighting and Flying moves. Thunder still hits plenty hard, totally spammable in the rain, and I wanted U-Turn to be worth it. Thundurus-I has better mixed stats than his Therian form, and I wanted him to be speedy so I could put some points into HP, as he does need to absorb some hits sometimes. With Attack investment, he can do decent damage. Hidden Power: Ice was chosen for obvious reasons, OHKOing 4x weaknesses after they get worn down a bit. While HP: Ice always KOs on Life orb and Specs sets, instead of requiring chip damage sometimes, I find it's better to hide the fact I am packing it until it's clear they aren't gonna scout for it anymore. Speed investment is just enough to tie with Electrode at +0, because many people only aim to outspeed Crobat, I don't favor the idea of trying to outspeed max-speed scarfers when I can give him more bulk and dual attack investment. Plus, if he did outspeed other scarfers, I wouldn't know they were scarfed after he U-Turned!
H (Manaphy) @ Salac Berry
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 240 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef / 12 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Tail Glow
- Surf
- Dazzling Gleam
I have one complaint about Manaphy, and it's her damn respectable bulk. Despite a nice HP total divisible by 4, 2HKO hits don't bring her below 25% as often as I'd like! Regardless, she is unstoppable with a speed boost, and if I predict right I can Rest off the damage the turn before I outspeed them. Tail Glow is better than Calm Mind now, hands down, Calm Mind was good when Manaphy was a more effective staller--now it's a sweeper without infinite rain, a sweeper that can easily create an opportunity to recharge to full HP but has to switch out if this happens after the rain ends. New access to Dazzling Gleam hits almost everything that Surf doesn't when rain ends, often for SE damage. My Manaphy's moveset only has major problems with Mega-Venusaur, but she can OHKO 252/0 Mega-Venusaur in the rain at +6 after Stealth Rock--STAB Surf in the rain hits Mega-Venusaur harder than Ice Beam would. Ferrothorn resists both moves, too, but I usually set up with Volcarona vs. Ferrothorn.
S (Volcarona) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SAtk / 232 HP / 24 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Substitute
- Hurricane
Here is one scary beast of a setup sweeper with 4x Grass resistance to boot. Quiver Dance has got to be the best boosting move in the game, as it gives speed, bulk, and damage without drawbacks, and mixing it with Substitute lets me dodge Paralysis, Leech Seed, and Toxic that would shut down my sweep. Sub also lets me stall until rain is over, if I need to. Rotom W/H, Heatran, and Tyranitar give it trouble, of course, but the rest of my team can handle those guys and I can always fish for confuse when I'm still behind Substitute. Hurricane can damage many things that resist/shrug off fire in the tier, something Bug Buz and Giga Drain have trouble claiming. While Fire and Flying share supereffective coverage, this makes Volcarona useful for some of the same reasons in and out of rain. The confuse chance is a huge bonus, letting me get a Sub up when it happens, and rain makes Hurricane a devastating move, while Sub means the miss chance out of rain is forgiving. Woe unto anyone that lets me set up, not much can stand up to a +2/+2/+2 Volcarona behind a Sub that will reach +6 just by attacking.
Fe (Ferrothorn) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Atk
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
- Thunder Wave
My Grass tank, the master of baiting fire moves for a Politoed switch-in. In the rain, HP: Fire and physical attackers that carry Fire Blast have trouble killing it too. Getting hazards up is important for this team, because it involves a lot of switching and it's easy for the opponent to keep their Pokémon alive at low hp. Since I'm using Defog, his main purpose at first is to bait Fire moves and Defoggers. Once the enemy hazard setters are down, it's time to set up, and they are completely helpless if their only answer to Ferrothorn is Fire. Rocky Helmet is my item of choice because it keeps most of the metagame without Fire/Fighting from wearing him down more effectively than Leftovers would. It also always gives me a threatening switch against physical moves. I wish he was slightly faster so Thunder Wave would bring stuff down to his level more often, but since he is one of the slowest Pokémon I decided to make him especially good against Trick Room teams, since he's a likely candidate to stall with until Trick Room ends. Explosion adds injury to insult when his job is done, especially if they have been sitting there spamming Calm Mind, and Atk investment makes it dent almost anything.
U (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Def
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Defog
- Surf
- Psyshock
I like other Dragons better than Latios for their coverage usually, but access to Surf and Defog makes Latios a perfect fit for this team. I can't let Volcarona get locked out by Stealth Rock, so I preferred a Levitate Pokémon with Defog that can use the rain effectively. Except for Ghost and Dark weakness, it covers many of the bases my team needs in one package defensively and has great speed. Psyshock makes up for the fact I lack physical moves, threatening Blissey with hazards up. Psyshock also threatens Mega-Venusaur, a Pokémon I've found it's important to have multiple answers to. Of course, Draco Meteor is the king of Dragon moves, able to force easily-predictable switches to Steel and Fairy types and OHKO a good chunk of the tier with a Life Orb boost, especially after hazard damage.
O (Politoed) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Def / 8 Spd / 68 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Perish Song
- Hypnosis
- Protect
Utility, bulky Politoed is the way to go for me, because he will be alive till late game when I use rain to sweep. This set is meant to always attempt to enable set-up somehow. Perish Song forces anything hiding behind a sub to rethink their decision and gets passed with Baton Pass, and Protect lets me stall a turn so they're usually forced to switch the turn after I do. Encore punishes attempts to set up by enabling my own or guarantees a switch into a resisted move. Encore --> Perish Song gives them 2 options: switch out after attempting to set up, or get one boosted hit in (break my Substitute) and faint. Hypnosis is there for when I can't use Perish Song or Encore effectively, ensuring that Politoed can enable set-up most of the time after being sent in. While Politoed can't attack, Perish Song keeps it threatening, and is what I use to bring down their last pokemon safely to avoid RNG mishaps.
Here are a few replays of the team in action:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-86560106
I won this game playing the team the way it should be played.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-86621518
I lost this game, but I could have won with some better plays.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-86625913
Very even game vs a Charizard-Y, I barely won!
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