UU Rain Team

[Illithian]

This is a UU rain team designed for UU alone. Currently 4-1 in shoddy smogon UU ladder, this team has been moderately working for me. In those 5 matches, I've noticed that Omastar gets outsped even with Swift Swim, that those 8 turns of rain dance are too short, and I need to remember that neutral STAB + rain water moves can be more powerful then SE moves depending on the situation. Omastar generally goes down extremely early game, so I need to focus on keeping him alive.

On with the team.

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Spiritomb @Damp Rock

Careful | Pressure

252 HP / 140 Atk / 116 SpD

Sucker Punch / Rain Dance / Taunt / Pain Split

This is my starter, RS blocker, psychic counter, and anti-setup all in one. Not only that, but he sets up rain dance. Damp Rock goes hand in hand with Rain Dance. The EVs are from smogon, and supposedly Sucker Punch has a chance of OHKOing Azelf.

Sucker Punch helps make up for his pathetic speed. Pain Split works wonderfully with his low HP to provide fairly good recovery. Taunt works well against psychics who attempt to set up on him, and can be an effective anti-trick room, which I noticed rips this team apart.

Ludicolo @Leftovers

Adamant | Swift Swim

4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Swords Dance / Waterfall / Seed Bomb / Ice Punch

Yes, a physical Ludicolo. Why? Because I have an exceedingly effective special sweeper that can abuse a higher special attack, and no one expects it. Swords Dance is the main reason this set is more useful then a special set as with quick setup and rain, he'll outspeed most threats and have an extremely powerful aresenal of moves.

My Rain Dancers should be enough to make it so rain dance isn't a necessity on this set. Waterfall and Seed Bomb are powerful STABs, and Ice Punch gives excellent coverage against dragon types such as Altaria that might pose a threat with CB or DD Outrage to his mediocre defense stat.

Main strategy with him is to only leave him out with rain. If I'm getting stalled, switch him out ASAP because without Swift Swim he has virtually no realistic use. Swords Dance and abuse Swift Swim to sweep. Lack of priority moves in UU makes this set work wonders.

Gardevoir @Damp Rock

Calm | Trace

252 HP / 120 SpD / 136 Spe

Rain Dance / Memento / Will-o-wisp / Focus Blast

The use of this set over Uxie is fairly obvious.

Firstly, it can actually attack. Thats nice. Focus Blast adds a fighting type move to this team, which is great as a counter to a lot of pokemon, and enables Gardevoir to have an extremely powerful attacking move that can deal a lot of damage to common switch-ins.

Secondly, Gardevoir can cripple incoming physical sweepers with Will-o-wisp. The use of that is obvious.

Finally, the Rain Dance - Memento combo. Probably one of the reasons I chose this set. Lategame, it can be hard to find a niche for a sweeper to set up. Ludicolo is too frail to find a good turn to switch in and set up in the lategame. Gardevoir can switch into a special attacker and set up 8 turn Rain Dance, which is crucial to the function of a sweeper Ludicolo. Then, she can use Memento to suicide and dramatically reduce the usefulness of any pokemon, which almost guarantees a switch. And even if the opponent doesnt switch, the damage will be minimal. This almost guarantees that Ludicolo will have an opportunity to set up Swords Dance and proceed to (hopefully) sweep and enjoy the lack of priority moves in the UU metagame.

Issues with this set is that I now entirely lack Stealth Rock, which means Sashers will be troublesome.

Omastar @Life Orb

Modest | Swift Swim

4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Rain Dance / Surf / Ancientpower / Hidden Power [Grass]

Omastar is my Special Sweeper. He also is the third and final Rain Dance setup-er on this team. Rain Dance is extremely important for him as without it he can't really be effecive. Surf is for STAB. Its his main attacking move and will do the bulk of his damage. Ancientpower is a needed rock type move on this team which can do a good job taking care of Ice and Bug types that come in expecting Ice Beam. HP Grass covers fellow water types and ground types.

The strategy here is to come in with Rain Dance and sweep. He can set up Rain Dance if the opponent is almost guaranteed to switch. Essentially, abuse Surf STAB + Rain to the fullest with the occasional Ancientpower. Use HP Grass when nessesary.

Drapion @Scope Lens

Jolly | Sniper

252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Swords Dance / Night Slash / Earthquake / Cross Poison

Drapion is my second physical sweeper, but his nearly polar opposite typing and moveset make him a perfect compliment to ludicolo. Swords Dance is an obvious choice, and with his excellent typing, its fairly easy to find a niche for him to use it. Night Slash and Cross Poison are obvious STABs, while Earthquake is for coverage. Scope Lens is to allow more Sniper abuse and is a perfect compliment to Night Slash and Cross Poison's high critical hit rate.

The strategy here is to abuse his many resistances and excellent defense to come in easily, Swords Dance, and abuse Sniper and Scope Lens to the fullest. He can easily take care of Psychics and Grass types that my team has no realistic counter for. Ice Fang is possibly a better choice over Cross Poison, but the Sniper abuse is very appealing and my team has Ludicolo with an alternative Ice attack.

Luxray @Choice Scarf

Jolly | Intimidate

252 Atk / 216 Spe / 40 HP

Spark / Ice Fang / Giga Impact / Crunch

Luxray's low speed makes Choice Scarf a viable choice. Choice Scarf brings his Speed to 384, allowing him to outspeed all Swellow variants and OHKO with Spark. Spark is for physical STAB, and was chosen over Thunder Fang for accuracy. Ice Fang functions as the second Ice move on this team and works well with the revenge killer ideal of this set. Giga Impact is a very weird move, I agree, but its 150 base power is so much more useful then Return in that it can OHKO most anything thats defensively mediocre and doesnt resist it, and it can be invaluable in the endgame. Crunch for coverage.

Edited May 31, 2009 by Illithian

[Illithian]

*cries*

/bump

[bear831]

I noticed Omastar has a life orb I know that makes his attacks stronger but it also makes him more frail. Since he is so slow you may just want to focus on getting rain out and use another special sweeper. Damp rock is a item I find to helps but since you are using it on your Uxie as your other rain dancer you might want to turn Omastar or another pokemon like it (but faster) into just a sweeper. Also three pokes to get rain out is a bit much in my opinion. For a special sweeper replacement did you consider Milotic? It is faster than Omastar without the rain one side effect is that it is less powerful, but only by fifteen points. The choice set might work well for you because it is very strong

[Illithian]

In the rain, Omastar reaches 418 speed. Milotic reaches a maximum speed of 287 with a beneficial nature. Not only that, but although a Specs set might fit nicely with this team, it wouldn't serve the purpose that I want Omastar to fill.

Life Orb recoil is the least of my worries. Omastar tends to either be early game sweeper or late game cleanup. I generally get all of one or two attacks in before Omastar gets his face handed to him with a quad weakness to grass attacks such as Energy Ball and Grass Knot, both of which are often seen on non-grass pokemon (Ninetales much).

Not only that, but Life Orb gives an incredibly useful 30% damage bonus, which can really give Omastar an edge.

And quite honestly, Omastar's base 125 defense and good physical wall typing will enable Omastar to come in quite easily and cause switches.

Finally, three pokemon to get rain out is quite necessary. Uxie and Spiritomb have limited use and survivability, and Omastar's ability to cause switches makes them all excellent choices for Rain Dance, so I see no reason to say 3 rain dance users are too much.

[bear831]

Your right sorry I forgot about swift swim.

[morizuno]

U cant go wronge with Clefable in like any weather team,

Spiretomb: Nice!

but i would recomend a pokemon with swift swim ability

Kingdra is beastly on Rain teams

Kabutops also pretty good, other then that pretty good ^^

[Illithian]

This team is offensive, so Clefable doesnt fit at all.

Kingdra is OU.

Kabutops is all great and crap, but I already have two swift swim users and drapion takes care of the spot Kabutops would take up.

[Milo]

perhaps consider bolstering spritomb's defenses more than his HP? the 252 HP EVs may seem like a great idea, but you lose some of pain split's effectiveness in return. With pain split in a set, you'll do better to decrease the damage you'll be taking AND keep your health low, so that you can get the most out of it (hurt your opponent more, if that ends up being the case, or at least healing a higher percentage of your health.)

[Illithian]

perhaps consider bolstering spritomb's defenses more than his HP? the 252 HP EVs may seem like a great idea, but you lose some of pain split's effectiveness in return. With pain split in a set, you'll do better to decrease the damage you'll be taking AND keep your health low, so that you can get the most out of it (hurt your opponent more, if that ends up being the case, or at least healing a higher percentage of your health.)

That would be true, but Spiritomb's pathetic base HP makes running 0 HP highly impractical and ineffective to an extreme. As a defensive set, running 252 HP is almost a necessity.

Edit: Added Gardevoir.

Gardevoir @Damp Rock

Calm | Trace

252 HP / 120 SpD / 136 Spe

Rain Dance / Memento / Will-o-wisp / Focus Blast

The use of this set over Uxie is fairly obvious.

Firstly, it can actually attack. Thats nice. Focus Blast adds a fighting type move to this team, which is great as a counter to a lot of pokemon, and enables Gardevoir to have an extremely powerful attacking move that can deal a lot of damage to common switch-ins.

Secondly, Gardevoir can cripple incoming physical sweepers with Will-o-wisp. The use of that is obvious.

Finally, the Rain Dance - Memento combo. Probably one of the reasons I chose this set. Lategame, it can be hard to find a niche for a sweeper to set up. Ludicolo is too frail to find a good turn to switch in and set up in the lategame. Gardevoir can switch into a special attacker and set up 8 turn Rain Dance, which is crucial to the function of a sweeper Ludicolo. Then, she can use Memento to suicide and dramatically reduce the usefulness of any pokemon, which almost guarantees a switch. And even if the opponent doesnt switch, the damage will be minimal. This almost guarantees that Ludicolo will have an opportunity to set up Swords Dance and proceed to (hopefully) sweep and enjoy the lack of priority moves in the UU metagame.

Issues with this set is that I now entirely lack Stealth Rock, which means Sashers will be troublesome.