[IV]Tempest Transgression (OU Rain Dance Team)

[Zwei]

Tempest Transgression

I wanted to create a team for WiFi battle and I thought using my old Shoddy Battle Team could work. It did a pretty good job a while ago, but want to update it for Generation V. I want to get everything squared away before I start generating the team with PokeGen.

Azelf

Damp Rock - Naive - Levitate

4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

~ Rain Dance

~ Stealth Rock

~ Psychic

~ Explosion

Basic suicide lead, just need it to set up everything without a problem. It starts with rain dance and if the opponent misses I can go ahead and set up stealth rock. From there everything is simple if I can get an Explosion off before it dies then that is just in my luck. If Azulf dies I can get my Tentacruel out then I will start to set up poison spikes.

Tentacruel

Leftovers - Timid - Liquid Ooze

4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

~ Hydro Pump

~ Rapid Spin

~Toxic Spikes

~ Ice Beam

I set up Toxic Spikes and well if the opponent sets up spikes I can easily just use Rapid Spin. Hydro Pump for STAB and also gains a bonus from Rain Dance so that is basically almost 100% more damage for it. Ice Beam can help take care of dragon and other threats like grass or etc.

Kingdra

Life Orb - Modest - Swift Swim

4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

~ Rain Dance

~ Hydro Pump

~ Dragon Pulse

~Hidden Power Electric

This is a purely special rain sweeper. It can't hurt Blissey much, but this set has some advantages over the mixed version. You don't need Attack EVs, so you can max out Speed, making revenge killing Kingdra a much harder task. Hydro Pump can be used for some extra power (since it OHKOes Swampert and Metagross), but Surf's reliability makes it the better choice. Signal Beam may seem a bit specific, but scores some nice KOs against Celebi and Abomasnow after Stealth Rock. Hidden Power Electric is an alternative option if you don't particularly fear the aforementioned Grass-type Pokemon in order to hit Empoleon; it 2HKOes offensive versions, and does slightly more damage to other Water-types in comparison to STAB Dragon Pulse (140 vs. 135).

Electivire

Expert Belt - Adamant - Expert Belt

4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

~ Thunder

~ Ice Punch

~ Cross Chop

~ Earthquake

This one is a physical attack and just wanted an electric type to abuse the 100% accuracy Thunder hitting and well that is about it for this.

Ludicolo

Life Orb - Swift Swim - Modest

60 HP / 252 SpA / 196 Spe

~ Surf

~ Grass Knot

~ Ice Beam

~ Rain Dance

Copy/Paste FTW

Ludicolo is an amazing special sweeper in the rain, not having trouble with the bulky Water-types that populate OU, unlike most other special Swift Swim sweepers. Surf is your main STAB attack in the rain and a truly terrifying one at that, always OHKOing the standard 248 HP / min SpD Scizor with Stealth Rock in play and hitting almost everything that doesn't resist it for at least a 2HKO. A Grass-type STAB helps deal with most bulky Water-types; the choice of Grass Knot or Energy Ball comes down to how much trouble you have with Vaporeon. If you don't have much trouble with it, Grass Knot is preferred as it hits almost all other bulky Water-types harder than Energy Ball and manages a 2HKO on bulky Gyarados, even without Stealth Rock. However, if you have a lot of trouble with Vaporeon, then Energy Ball is preferred as it still hits most bulky Water-types hard enough, but unlike Grass Knot, it does enough damage to Vaporeon so that it can't stall you out by using Wish + Protect as Life Orb recoil slowly weakens you. Ice Beam hits the Dragon- and Grass-types that resist the Water- and Grass-type combination super effectively. It also hits Flying-types super effectively, but it must be noted that a neutral Surf in the rain is stronger than a 2x super effective Ice Beam.

The last slot is the most arguable when it comes to what to use. Rain Dance is usually the preferred option as you can never have too many Pokemon with Rain Dance on a Rain Dance team, and Ludicolo has the special bulk to set it up. Focus Punch is a great alternative, though, since with a Rash nature and 60 Atk EVs, Focus Punch + Surf in the rain and Stealth Rock damage will always take out 24 HP / 232 SpD Calm Blissey, relieving Ludicolo of what is usually the biggest problem this set faces. Other useful options for this slot are Hidden Power Electric and Hidden Power Bug. Hidden Power Electric always OHKOes 4 HP versions of Gyarados, and with Stealth Rock, the same goes for bulky versions, making it particularly useful if running Energy Ball rather than Grass Knot. Hidden Power Bug has a high chance to OHKO the standard 252 HP Celebi with Stealth Rock support, whereas Ice Beam can only muster a 2HKO. When running Hidden Power Bug, use 56 HP / 252 SpA / 200 Spe since the Speed drop from running Hidden Power Bug would otherwise mean you wouldn't outrun +1 neutral natured base 100s. Hydro Pump can be used over Surf since the extra power secures OHKOs on 252 HP Togekiss, 252 HP Metagross, specially defensive Forretress, and specially defensive Skarmory for example (all with Stealth Rock support). However, the accuracy loss makes it less appealing than Surf, which still has a lot of power in the rain.

Zapdos

Leftovers - Pressure - Timid

4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

~ Thunder

~ Rain Dance

~ Hidden Power Grass

~ Roost

Really just wanted to add another electric type which I could use Thunder again. Also can never hurt have another Rain Dance user to help keep it out longer. Zapdos always been one of my favorite Pokemon so don't want to get rid it if I can help it.

Any suggestions or fixes. Any Generation V pokemon that could be better used? Don't really have any thoughts on it.

[Tbird]

I just want to make it clear that this will not work in Gen V, it can try to, but it will have very little success.

However, in Gen IV, this might have some success.

First off, Scarftar royally screws your whole team, when it's switched in it's probably going to take half your team before you can even get rain set up again. Let's say you've just switched in zapdos, roosted off any SR damage and given Scarftar a free switch in. It OHKOs Zapdos with Stone edge, so then you may switch to electivire, for cross chop, only to have him OHKOd (If rocks are out), so then you're next best bet is to send out Ludicolo, who is 2HKOd by stone edge, while it can't OHKO ttar... You see the problem here .

Electivire is a generally poor pokemon. His role on this team is to eliminate other weather types, and he's not going to do that any time soon. So I suggest running either scizor or lucario in his place. Lucario is perfect with Azelf and Zapdos as it can come in on both Stone edge and Pursuit and set up, then commence to sweep . Scizor however plays a better role for this team, as it can come in on the aforementioned attacks and scout the opponent's team, whilst being able to kill both abomosnow and tyranitar.

Thunder isn't that great a move, the rain isn't going to be there forever and once it runs out you're down a stab attack; and you don't want that.

In all honesty, though, rain dance teams don't really do all that well in the OU environment, in UU there is no Hippowdon or Tyranitar to worry about, so it can have great success there.

So IMO, lose the rain and make a functional team with the current skeleton, or if you're adamant about the rain, remake your team for the UU environment.