ORAS Rain Team

Been experimenting with the ORAS latter with this team. Also been using my team using all my favorites but this one seems the most solid of the two as the other one I'm working on a few synergy issues while keeping my favorite pokes in.

Kleptoad:

Kleptoad (Politoed) (F) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Encore

Self Explanatory. Pretty standard for any Rain Team. Dont really need it to be Defensive but its the only job I can give it at the moment. Scald and Ice Beam are self explanatory. Toxic for stuff like Latias with Roost. Encore punishes Mega Mences trying to use Politoed as setup fodder as Encore goes through Subs and can trap it when it tried to DD allowing for repeated Ice Beams.

Jade (Bronzong) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake

Wanted some extra insurance for Mega Mence as its literally everywhere right now. Bronzor walls pretty much anything it has including its STABs and Laughing at Fire Blasts in the Rain allowing it to get off Toxic. Gyro Ball rids of any Fairies and is powerful due to its low Speed while Earthquake punishes Bisharps trying to switch in as well as Magnezone who is rising in usage. You can swap it with HP Ice to 2HKO most of the Pokes 4x weak to it that it walls or Rain Dance a Screen but EQ seems the most useful atm. Also stops Latias which is a common defogger, Mega Sceptile, other Dragons that lack a Fire Move, Mega Gardevoir without Shadow Ball, and quite a few more thanks to its typing.

Amp (Heliolisk) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 8 Def / 252 SpA / 248 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot
- Volt Switch

Probably odd that I'm using Heliolisk other than another Poke but has been doing well so far. Dry Skin helps it switch into a Keldeo Water Move if it needs to so it can Volt Switch to finish it off or OHKO with Thunder. I feel that people dont know that this outspeeds even Choice Keldeos and try to be Brave with Sacred Sword. HP Ice hits Lando-T so it can remove it if its weakened as well as Dragons. Grass Knot as this thing outspeeds all SS Adamant Swamperts and can kill off any that attempt to use my Rain. Dry Skin also helps take the pressure off of having to switch in and out alot as it gets healed via Rain.

Merri (Tentacruel) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 240 HP / 192 Def / 60 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Acid Spray
- Protect
- Rapid Spin
- Scald

Still experimenting with Tentacruel. Basically wanted a non-Latias hazard remover that can wall Keldeo. Keldeo can only 4HKO with Secret Sword and that is without rain. With the Rain up Specs Hydro Pump is a 3HKO which is a bit scary but Tenta regains alot of HP per turn so its safe and because near all Keldeos are Choiced seeing one of those gives a free switch in to Heliolisk. Set looks a bit odd but with the Rain up it heals 1/8 of its HP per turn much like Poison Heal Gliscor which is why I run Protect. Aims to try to get a Burn and once they get to a point with the Rain up Acid Spray to help against Clefable trying to boost alongside it as well as help it do more damage to those it can stay in on.

Stahl (Chesnaught) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Drain Punch
- Super Fang

As if Chesnaught wasnt already sooo good pre-ORAS it got even better with Drain Punch. The set I used to use used Hammer Arm and Earthquake as the last 2 slots though thats when Aegislash was a thing. Now EQ isnt really needed and Drain Punch is a better STAB with Leech Seed helping support the rest of the team and Super Fang is there to weaken its potential switch ins that Drain Punch cant hit.

Storm (Swampert) @ Swampertite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Rain Dance

Normally dont like DrizzleSwim but decided to give Swampert a try as I needed more offensive presence on this team. I am really surprised just on how hard this thing hits. OHKOing and 2HKOing many things with hazards up. Waterfall and EQ are the basic high power STABs. Ice Punch wrecks Latias, Salamence, and Lando-T if Rain isn't up. Rain Dance as it has the free moveslot and the bulk and takes some pressure off Politoed.

Pretty sure it isnt the best team but Rain has been making a rise and kinda want to give it a try. Feel free to try this team out though I prefer you dont use my nicknames  planning on making a few changes but want to keep most of the same Pokes. Chesnaught+Tentacruel+Bronzong core has been really cool so far. Never made a Rain team before built around Politoed. Used to just manually set up rain last gens as I thought it was more fun and gave me a reason to use Electrode.

Importable:

Currently reached 1400s with this team. Not too bad.

Running a defensive Tentacruel with Rain Dish as the crux isn't really that effective this gen. I wouldn't be surprised if you found it to be pretty underwhelming. It just seems like it's going to force you to switch into Politoed more than you probably want to.

I'm falling asleep as I type, I"ll check out the team more tomorrow.

Bunselpower wrote:

Running a defensive Tentacruel with Rain Dish as the crux isn't really that effective this gen. I wouldn't be surprised if you found it to be pretty underwhelming. It just seems like it's going to force you to switch into Politoed more than you probably want to.

I'm falling asleep as I type, I"ll check out the team more tomorrow.

Well its not amazing but it does pretty much everything I originally intended it to do as I want that typing. Its likely the one that is the most likely to change though. If you have any suggestions feel free to share

True, i guess looking at it that way, it's better to get the benefit of rain than nothing. Is toxic or toxic spikes an option on Tentacruel? I know you have it on Bronzong, but I'm wondering if the stalling would work better. Of course you lose the boosted stab of scald, but relying on a burn with no instant recovery could be troublesome. Just a thought, i think scald may still be better though.

Bunselpower wrote:

True, i guess looking at it that way, it's better to get the benefit of rain than nothing. Is toxic or toxic spikes an option on Tentacruel? I know you have it on Bronzong, but I'm wondering if the stalling would work better. Of course you lose the boosted stab of scald, but relying on a burn with no instant recovery could be troublesome. Just a thought, i think scald may still be better though.

This team is leaning more defensive imo so it could work. Really idk what to do with Tentacruel. I just need it on the team for its synergy with Chesnaught and Bronzong and Rapid Spin so feel free to experiment and let me know if you think something else works better.

Been experimenting with Tentacruel a bit. Found a set that I believe performs a bit better.

Merri (Tentacruel) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 240 HP / 192 Def / 60 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Acid Spray
- Protect
- Rapid Spin
- Scald

The EVs allow it to outrun Adamant Bisharp so it can attempt to get a Scald off in the case it needs to. The Defense allows it to gurantee Specs Keldeo can only 4HKO w/ Secret Sword if the Rain isnt up. Acid Spray will help against Clefables and in the case Tentacruel needs to go down Heliosk will be able to hit harder on the Revenge Kill. 

Was on the fence on Protect but Protect actually has been very valuable in some of my later matches as it helps rack up Toxic damage provided by Politoed and Bronzong. I've been finding everyone works well together to weaken the opposing team so Mega Swampert can come in and clean up.

Politoed I'm a bit iffy. He doesnt do much outside of getting important Encores and Toxic as I usually switch him in and out for Rain. The remaining 60 EVs were put into Special Defense to help it take hits better.

Choice Scarf Helioptile has been very important as well. It outspeeds Kabutops and Mega Swampert on opposing Rain teams to hit them with Grass Knot. I took 4 EVs out of speed to its Defense as it only needs 347 Speed to outspeed Scarf Keldeo and other Heliolisks are non-existent.

Gave Chesnaught Super Fang over Spiky Shield for anticipated Lati switch ins and help take out other walls. Won me my last match when I used it on Mega Heracross which helped Tentacruel use a suprise Protect to finish it off with Toxic Damage.

Bronzong walls so many things in the tier and can spread hazards and Toxic around.

What do you guys think? Still not the greatest but been doing pretty well with it so far. Any suggestions for improvement will be appreciated.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/orasou-183428150

Best match I came across so far in which everyone does something important, except for Chesnaught as didnt really need him too much. This example is pretty much the very reason I use Encore on Politoed and Protect on Tentacruel especially the former as I would've been wrecked without it.

Ignore the salt on the crits tho from both sides. Bronzong had a 30% chance to actually like Max SpA Modest Specs Tbolt 2x and that crit in the end on Salamence as he was starting to Roost Ice Punch does a 98.4% on max damage so there was a really small chance it wouldve OHKO but not too likely. Swampert could live any Return though and most defensive Salamences as he was full HP do not have enough Speed to outrun +2 Swampert at +1. He coulnt stall with Sub b/c of Ice Punch's damage. He couldnt stall with Roost, Return wont finish it off, and Dragon Dance isnt enough so he woulve lost it in the next turn anyways and in the end I had 1 rain turn left after the turn I KOd Greninja so unless he played with switches the result wouldve been the same except Swampert would have lost at most 79% of its health assuming Salamence was running 252+ Attack Adamant which isnt likely as it needs a bit of speed investment.