Reverting the Generation (OU Drizzle team)

[ManaSamaSRK]

I've been working on this team for over a month and I'm starting to see a large amout of success with it. A team that fits my style while also using an old core that many feel is outdated since 4th generation.
Edit- The core of the team has changed unfortunately, but that was predicted to make the team successful.
The creation in progress...

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Someone gave me this idea for a rain team on the smogon forums and decided to edit it myself to give it more of an original flavor from me. I was noticing with this that Tornadus wasn't working out.

Starmie made a really strong replacement, as it benefits from rain with incredible powered up Hydro Pump with stab, and being exceedingly fast. Specs starmie also made Hydropump deadly, rather than the scarf sets I see

Over time, my team was really falling apart and doing very awful, especially when hit with a major crit that my team just couldn't recover from. I tried Dual screening espeon as a replacement for jirachi with having an effective hazard blocker, and skarmory as both an effective wall and hazard layer. Espeon failed epically on the team and I decided to switch my starmie to a spinning set with life orb instead of specs..

Hydreigon, although can be very strong, was not effective as a late game sweeper or something to effectively use in later games. Espeon was replaced with Aromatherapy Bliss, which means, yes..I'm using a skarm/bliss core.

Added Gastrodon in order to avoid the whole Volt-turning cores so common in the OU, but failed due to how bad of a specs wall Gastrodon is. Also got rid of starmie as there are pokemon that do better as a spinner and as a specs sweeper. Toxicroak also wasn't doing well with all the changes in synergy

Changed a lot from last time. Gastro, skarm, and Toxicroak was just not working as planned. In replacement, I finally decided to use ferrothorn simply because it fairs better against electric attacks, and walls a lot of pokes, while doing what it does in setting up. Tentacruel also sets up while being a spinner, and benefits in rain with rain dish, and Breloom is cheap. Went with the bulk up set for some flavor.

The Rundown..

Rain Starter - Swag master - Mort/Politoed
Modest - Drizzle - Choice Scarf
EV Spread - 4 def, 252 Sp.Attk, 252 Spe
Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Hidden Power(Ground)
Focus Blast​

At first, my Politoed was more of a defensive toed, as I believed, with my experience with Hail and sun based teams, a more defensive spread helped more with the weather war, but, scarf toed helps quite a lot. Although not so uncommon in the meta, it is not exactly common either. Decently outspeeds certain threats with a scarf, it's a great lead, and Toed's movepool is pretty good. Not to mention, Hydro Pump in rain with max sp.attk hurts.

Hazard setup - The forest wall - Herpies/Ferrothorn
Impish - Iron Barbs - Leftovers
EV Spread - 252 HP, 88 Def, 168 Sp.Def
Stealth Rock
Spikes
Power Whip
Thunder Wave​

Ferrothorn is a really strong wall. Doesn't stop volt-turning situations, but does prevent it from really destroying my team. Hazard set up is the norm for this pokemon, and decided to go with power whip, as it's a strong stab move, and thunder wave to slow down opposing threats.

King of Hentai - Toxic Spinner - FAKKU.NET/Tentacruel
Bold - Rain Dish - Leftovers
EV Spread- 252 HP, 240 Def, 16 Spe
Scald
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Ice Beam​

My spinner, toxic layer, and semi wall. Tentacruel works very well on this team, and can outspeed some other walls. Decent ev spread to make it well rounded. Decided to go with Ice beam, as I found Sludge bomb useless, and Hex not very used.

Dragon Dancer - RoostBerry - WaltDisney/Dragonite
Adamant - Multiscale - Lum Berry
EV Spread - 252 Attk, 4 Sp.Def, 252 Spe
Earthquake
Outrage
Extremespeed
Dragon Dance​

Dragonite is by far one of the scariest late game sweepers in the meta right now. One dragon dance and it's basically gg. EQ gives Dnite more coverage, not to mention luming in prevention of parahax or burn hax, along with the confusion after outrage is useful.

Voltswitching - Trickster - DopeFiend/Rotom-W
Modest - Levitate - Choice Scarf
EV Spread - 4 Def, 252 Sp.Attk, 252 Spe
Hydro Pump
Volt Switch
Trick
Hidden Power(Ice)​

I try to refrain from using very common pokemon that appear in the OU, but if you need to win, I guess you have to join the pack. Rotom-W works outstanding in just keeping the momentum. Great lead, and on top of that, works well to volt switch on switch ins and get breloom in while also gaining the toxic orb. Stab Hydro Pump in rain also hurts.

SPORE! - Bulk Up Mushroom - ScaDouche/Breloom
Careful - Poison Heal - Toxic Orb
EV Spread - 236 HP, 212 Sp.Def, 60 Spe
Bulk up
Drain Punch
Seed Bomb
Spore​

Another pokemon that I really wanted to refrain from using due to how cheap and overused it is, but it works. Breloom is good..I don't really need to elaberate, but I will say that I went for the Bulk up set since I feel subspore sets are too frail. Used correctly, Breloom can cause an early gg for your opponent.

Welp, that's my current team. Tell me what I can fix or if I can change around certain sets, pokes. ect.
Thanks :D.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hey there.

First off run Hydro Pump and Psyshock on Starmie. Psychic doesn't really hit anything worthwhile, and Psyshock is great for nabbing special walls such as Blissey. Hydro Pump works the best with Life Orb, as its sheer power makes it a much more superior option, especially in rain.

Also, run Aqua Tail over Roost on Dragonite. Your Dragonite is completwly offensive; Roost isn't really necessary, especially since you have a rapid spinner to take out Stealth Rock. Aqua Tail will be extremely useful, allowing Dragonite to decimate the likes of Heatran and Gliscor; Gliscor being gone is also a major help for your Toxicroak, who would otherwise get completely walled by Gliscor.

Now, Volt-Turn teams can cause you major problems. Nothing on your team can take on both Rotom-W and Scizor, meaning that those two alone will rip severe holes in your team. Another threat to your team is a specially defensive Jirachi with Thunder; it can tear apart most of your team, as nothing can really take it on effectively. Therefore, I suggest that you replace Blissey with a Gastrodon. Gastrodon can stop Rotom-W cold, meaning that Volt-Turn cores will have no chance vs your team. Gastrodon itself functions as an excellent special wall, and can easily take on the aforementioned Jirachi. You'll lose your cleric, but sacrificing it in order to take on arguably the most common core in OU is worth it; Starmie has Natural Cure, Toxicroak has Substitute, and Dragonite has a Lum Berry anyway.

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Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Sassy nature
-Earthquake
-Scald
-Toxic
-Recover

Gastrodon also has access to Toxic, meaning that it can help retain the role that Blissey had on your team. Earthquake is used in order to nail the likes of Toxicroak, and hit Pokemon such as Calm Mind Jirachi and Tentacruel much harder than Earth Power would.

Solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!

 

[Lasers]

Surf is the best option for starmie IMO. With life orb and rain, it's going to hit hard enough. Starmie is too frail to make scald useful and Hydro Pump isn't reliable.

and phshock over phsyic

 

[ManaSamaSRK]

Hey there.

First off run Hydro Pump and Psyshock on Starmie. Psychic doesn't really hit anything worthwhile, and Psyshock is great for nabbing special walls such as Blissey. Hydro Pump works the best with Life Orb, as its sheer power makes it a much more superior option, especially in rain.

Also, run Aqua Tail over Roost on Dragonite. Your Dragonite is completwly offensive; Roost isn't really necessary, especially since you have a rapid spinner to take out Stealth Rock. Aqua Tail will be extremely useful, allowing Dragonite to decimate the likes of Heatran and Gliscor; Gliscor being gone is also a major help for your Toxicroak, who would otherwise get completely walled by Gliscor.

Now, Volt-Turn teams can cause you major problems. Nothing on your team can take on both Rotom-W and Scizor, meaning that those two alone will rip severe holes in your team. Another threat to your team is a specially defensive Jirachi with Thunder; it can tear apart most of your team, as nothing can really take it on effectively. Therefore, I suggest that you replace Blissey with a Gastrodon. Gastrodon can stop Rotom-W cold, meaning that Volt-Turn cores will have no chance vs your team. Gastrodon itself functions as an excellent special wall, and can easily take on the aforementioned Jirachi. You'll lose your cleric, but sacrificing it in order to take on arguably the most common core in OU is worth it; Starmie has Natural Cure, Toxicroak has Substitute, and Dragonite has a Lum Berry anyway.

Hide

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Sassy nature
-Earthquake
-Scald
-Toxic
-Recover

Gastrodon also has access to Toxic, meaning that it can help retain the role that Blissey had on your team. Earthquake is used in order to nail the likes of Toxicroak, and hit Pokemon such as Calm Mind Jirachi and Tentacruel much harder than Earth Power would.

Solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!

Thanks for the advice, and you're so right about the switch to gastrodon. I knew volt turning would cause a problem, but I didn't realize it because I actually haven't ran into many volt turning teams online yet...lol which i find strange.
Also, wouldn't waterfall be a better option? It doesn't do as much, but the risk of aquatail missing is still there, and not to mention that waterfall can flinch :D. Thanks for the suggestion about roost though! You're right. I rarely find myself using it.

 

[ManaSamaSRK]

Surf is the best option for starmie IMO. With life orb and rain, it's going to hit hard enough. Starmie is too frail to make scald useful and Hydro Pump isn't reliable.

I think I'm going to stick with hydro pump. Hydro pump is more reliable then, say, Focus blast since it does have 10 more accuracy. There are a few times that it has missed but I usually never risk it missing just to kill a pokemon unless I absolutely have to. thanks for the advice though. It shall be noted.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Yeah, Waterfall works. They're interchangable really.

 

[Olympus]

Outrage and Extrememspeed give horrible coverage on Dragonite. You will be completely walled be the many common steel types such as Jirachi and especially Ferrothorn. I would highly recommend you drop Roost or Extremspeed for Earthquake on Dragonite. This will give you perfect coverage against everything but Bronzong and Skarm. If these two pokes are a problem, you can also fit Waterfall onto the set which as a bonus gets rain boosted.

 

[ManaSamaSRK]

Outrage and Extrememspeed give horrible coverage on Dragonite. You will be completely walled be the many common steel types such as Jirachi and especially Ferrothorn. I would highly recommend you drop Roost or Extremspeed for Earthquake on Dragonite. This will give you perfect coverage against everything but Bronzong and Skarm. If these two pokes are a problem, you can also fit Waterfall onto the set which as a bonus gets rain boosted.

a bit too late on that, since I've already gotten advice to switch my move into a 3rd slot, and that would be waterfall. I'm not putting in eq. extremespeed is for prio sake because without +'s from ddance, dragonites base speed is mediocre.

 

[Black Rain]

Interesting, I'm very sure I just fought this team on PO, bar the variation of Gastrodon over Blissey. I personally think that Gastrodon does do a better job than Bliss in patching up a Rotom-W threat to your team, as none of your members bar /maybe/ Dragonite likes switching in on it, especially Specs and Scarf variants.

 

[ManaSamaSRK]

bump -
Having issues with Gastrodon over Bliss
Pros- Does stop the whole volt-turning process
Cons- It's a bad specs wall. I can't take anything very well with it unless Gastro resists it. Rotom-w with HP grass also really counters it. I'm not a huge fan of it right now and if someone can help with that, I'd appreciate it.

 

[ManaSamaSRK]

Interesting, I'm very sure I just fought this team on PO, bar the variation of Gastrodon over Blissey. I personally think that Gastrodon does do a better job than Bliss in patching up a Rotom-W threat to your team, as none of your members bar /maybe/ Dragonite likes switching in on it, especially Specs and Scarf variants.

you probably played me then

 

[NidokingKing]

Might I suggest switching to a more tankish Gastro. I has access to stockpile, granting it a way to boost its defenses to excellent levels, tanking many things that would normally OHKO it (bar any grass move, with a few exceptions).

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Gastrodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 4 HP / 200 Def / 88 SAtk / 216 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Stockpile
- Recover

Scald gets a good chance to burn, effectively wrecking all non guts physical attackers. Ice beam for dragons and grass types and ground types that you are forced in on. Stockpile for boosted defenses and recover for a more effective status spreader.

No offense taken.

 

[ManaSamaSRK]

Might I suggest switching to a more tankish Gastro. I has access to stockpile, granting it a way to boost its defenses to excellent levels, tanking many things that would normally OHKO it (bar any grass move, with a few exceptions).

Hide

Gastrodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 4 HP / 200 Def / 88 SAtk / 216 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Stockpile
- Recover

Scald gets a good chance to burn, effectively wrecking all non guts physical attackers. Ice beam for dragons and grass types and ground types that you are forced in on. Stockpile for boosted defenses and recover for a more effective status spreader.

That set looks worse than the current. No offense.

 

[ManaSamaSRK]

Guys, I've taken out Gastrodon, Skarmory, and Starmie from the team in replacement for Ferrothorn, Tentacruel, and Rotom-w. I'll update this to show any progress in success.

 

[ManaSamaSRK]

Bump
I've currently changed around a lot of the team and now I feel it's very strong, so I'll update the information for you guys. Let me know what you guys think.