Other Metagames Rain Dance water monotyp

[DoubleJ]

Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 164 SpD / 96 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Encore
- Rest

I started with Politoed, because he can summon rain using drizzle. It has a huge special defense. It's my setup pokemon. Furthermore we have Scald as a STAB attack, toxic and encore to debuff the opponent and rest. Because Politoed can use it to recharge and then can be switched in again to use Drizzle another time.

Swampert @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Power-Up Punch

Secondly I wanted a mega for my team. Swampert is in my opinion the best pick for the team, because it can used Swift Swim to its advantage. It's an offensive power house which I like to use. Its main STAB moves are Waterfall and Earthquake. Ice punch can be used to deal with grass types and power-up punch can be used to boost its attack.

Lanturn @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 144 SpD / 112 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Lanturn was added to the team to defeat other water types. It is aspecial defensive tank. With a good offensive set. It's STAB attack is Scald. Thunder can be used to its full capacity when it's raining and ice beam can be used to deal with ground types. Also hidden power fire can be used to cover its grass weakness.

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 28 Atk / 252 SpA / 228 Spe
Rash Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Scald
- Outrage

Kingdra was also added to kill a lot of pokemon. Scad is its main STAB and with rain dance on this thing is a beast. Its swift swim gives it a huge amount of speed and Hydro Pump becomes enormously powerful. Furthermore I've added draco meteor to deal with dragon types and outrage is very powerful slot filler.

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast

Ludicolo was added to defeat dark, rock and steel pokemon. Focus blast is can be used against steel and dark types. Giga drain can be used to gain back health and to defeat water, ground and rock types. Ice beam can be used against flying types and hydro pump is extremely powerful in combination with rain dance.

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 28 SpD / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Acid Spray
- Toxic Spikes

A second setup pokemon and a pokemon which can used against fairy types is our final pokemon: Tentacruel. Scald is its main STAB and acid spray can be used to lower its special defence to do major damage the further on. Stealth rock and toxic spikes can be used as a setup to damage a lot pokemon.

scpinion

 

[all falls down]

Hey there! Rain Water teams are always fun; your team is pretty good, but I have some suggestions.

One big thing I noticed is that you have a team that is very dependent on Rain, which can be a pretty big issue since Damp Rock is banned in Monotype and every rain turn is precious. You have three Rain abusers, none of which set Rain and all three of which depend on Rain and are rather mediocre outside of rain -- this puts an insane amount of pressure on keeping Politoed healthy enough to keep resetting Rain. It's also hard for your team to preserve Rain because it's rather hard to switch out of Politoed into your Rain sweepers as your team stands right now.

Another equally as important issue is that you have no Stealth Rock, which is essentially on an offensive team because your sweepers are frail and appreciate entry hazards to turn 2HKOs into OHKOs and 3HKOs into 2HKOs. Stealth Rock are also especially important on Water teams because they pressure Charizard Y, a massive threat that eliminates rain and 2HKO/OHKOs your entire team. A final issue relates to the first part of what I said about your team being very dependent on Rain -- outside of Rain your team is incredibly slow and Pokemon like Breloom and Mega Gardevoir are so threatening that they almost demand the constant pressure of Rain. In addition, you have 2 Pokemon weak to Ground and the only thing that's close to a Ground resist being Ludicolo (which cannot take any Physical hit at all), meaning that Excadrill under sand is a surprisingly big threat to your team, along with things like Gastrodon and other Swampert.

• 
  To address a few of the above issues, I recommend a set change on Politoed. Eject Button > Leftovers gives you an easy way to switch into your sweepers right away while preserving crucial rain turns. That EV spread is I believe the Smogon spread to outspeed Belly Drum Azumarill, which in my opinion is not really a threat to this team since almost your whole team resists Aqua Jet and can revenge kill it fairy easily. I recommend Max HP / Max Spdef instead.
• 
  To address the Stealth Rock concern, I would also change Swampert's set. Power-Up-Punch is a luxury here, sure it hits Ferrothorn but Earthquake hits it quite hard already (and harder than PuP even with +1) and like I said you really need Stealth Rock, so I would add Stealth Rock > Power-Up-Punch. Swampert has the bulk to be able to set up Stealth Rock and sweep at the same time, so don't think of it as a waste on an offensive Pokemon.
  
• 
  One of the problems I mentioned is that you have one Pokemon that sets Rain and three Pokemon that are extremely dependent on it. This isn't the best idea, and I think the following change will fix that. Manaphy > Ludicolo gives you a faster, bulkier Pokemon than Ludicolo that can set rain for the team or itself and wallbreak without Rain if needed for Kingdra to sweep late game. It maintains your good matchup vs other Water teams with TG + Energy ball, and has a decent speed tier outside of Rain. The set I'll recommend is max speed, you could try Wacan Berry over Leftovers as well as a last ditch check to Thundurus and a good way to beat Zapdos.
  
• 
  Lanturn doesn't have much use on a Rain team outside from helping more vs Thundurus and Zapdos; it adds another Ground weakness and is rather weak and slow, compounding the weakness to Pokemon like Breloom. Gyarados > Lanturn gives you a solid Pokemon that can act as another win condition vs Grass, gives you Intimidate, a Grass neutrality, and Ground resist along with a Flying STAB that lets you revenge kill Pokemon like Breloom - the spread I'll put is EVd just to outspeed Breloom without a Dragon Dance. I believe you can deal with Zapdos and Thundurus with Swampert & Kingdra well enough.
  
• 
  Kingdra is one of my favorite Pokemon on Rain teams and it works well here, I do think that you should change Life Orb to Choice Specs and Outrage to Ice Beam or Dragon Pulse, though, as they are both more consistent vs Dragon teams, Dragon Pulse more so, that can sweep with Stealth Rock up, and Ice Beam does well vs Grass teams. Outrage will almost never be used, as it still doesn't get past Chansey anyways.

That's all I have, hope I helped!

In short:

• Set changes for Politoed, Kingdra, and Swampert
• Change Lanturn to Gyarados
• Change Ludicolo to Manaphy

Set

Swampert @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock

Politoed @ Eject Button
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Encore
- Rest

Manaphy @ Leftovers / Wacan Berry
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tail Glow
- Rain Dance
- Scald
- Energy Ball

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 88 HP / 248 Atk / 4 Def / 168 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce

Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 28 HP / 252 SpA / 228 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Scald
- Ice Beam / Dragon Pulse