Weather is sort of a forgotten thing in Little Cup, with the banning of Hippopotas' Sand Stream. Sand is near enough not viable anymore. However this resulted in of course less Sand Stream to threaten the other weathers, but also Snover's usage is reduced, this means that Sun and Rain teams are now stronger than ever. Effects: Sunny Day - 1.5x power to all Fire-type moves. 0.5x power to all Water-type moves. - Synthesis, Moonlight and Morning Sun heal 66.67% of users's HP, - SolarBeam charges in one turn. - Weather Ball becomes Fire-type with 100 power - Growth will raise stats by two stages, - Pokémon with Dry Skin lose 12.5% HP at the end of each turn, - Hurricane and Thunder have their accuracy reduced to 50%, - Harvest will never fail to restore a berry, - The abilities Chlorophyll, Leaf Guard, Solar Power and Flower Gift are activated. Rain Dance - 1.5x power to all Water-type moves. 0.5x power to all Fire-type moves and SolarBeam, - Synthesis, Morning Sun and Moonlight will restore only 25% of the user's Max HP, - The accuracy of Hurricane and Thunder become perfect, - Weather Ball becomes Water-type with 100 power, - Pokémon with Dry Skin will gain 12.5% of their max HP each turn, - The abilities Swift Swim, Rain Dish and Hydration are activated. Hail - All Pokémon lacking the Ice-type or the abilities Ice Body, Magic Guard, Overcoat or Snow Cloak will take 6.25% damage at the end of each turn, - Halves the power of SolarBeam, - Synthesis, Moonlight and Morning Sun heal only 25% of the user's max HP, - Blizzard's accuracy becomes perfect - Weather Ball becomes Ice-type with 100 power, - Activates the abilities, Ice Body and Snow Cloak. Setters (Blue for Rain, Red for Sun and Hail will be excluded here due to having a permanent setter) Bronzor Bronzor shines as a setter of Rain, Rain reduces Bronzor's weakness to Fire-type moves and makes it an even more solid defensive Pokémon. Bronzor also has a number of supporting moves such as Screens and Stealth Rock that benefit the team. As a setter of Sun Bronzor is still a notable choice, it's bulk and previously mentioned support movepool are still great factors, however the Sun will worsen his weakness to Fire-type moves, notably Hidden Power as stronger Fire-type moves are usually an OHKO on Levitate Bronzor regardless of Sun Murkrow Murkrow is an equally good setter of both weathers. What makes it an exceptional setter is its ability, Prankster. Prankster allows it to set up weather in more dire situations, such as times it is facing its death from a faster Choice Scarf Pokémon. Murkrow is also a powerful offensive threat without any kind of weather with powerful STABs in Sucker Punch and Brave Bird. The latter of which helps remove Grass-types that stand in the way of Rain teams. Natu Natu is another setter that is made exceptional by its ability, this time it's Magic Bounce. Magic Bounce reflects all non-offensive moves back to the user. This includes hazards, but most importantly for a weather setter, it reflects Taunt. Natu's bulk and reasonable offensive prowess also contribute greatly to its effectiveness, and like Bronzor, it has a very large support movepool. Mienfoo Is there anything Mienfoo can't do? Mienfoo makes a somewhat unexpected weather setter however it has two outstanding attributes that make it an extremely effective one. Those are its ability, Regenerator and its access to U-Turn. Regenerator allows Mienfoo to survive longer and be used multiple times to set up Rain or Sun, while U-Turn allows it to escape the field and send in an abuser of weather. These along with its large offensive movepool and exceptional stats make it an all round useful setter. Purrloin Purrloin is, for all intents and purposes, an inferior version of Murkrow, however it does have access to a number of moves such as Thunder Wave that give it some usability and make it deserve a mention here. Porygon Porygon has a number of attributes that make it a good weather setter. Its very wide movepool including Thunder, Thunder Wave, Recover and SolarBeam. Its stats making it very bulky and very powerful. Finally its ability Trace makes it a versatile Pokémon that's able to take on threats such as Houndour, Ponyta and Chinchou effectively. Cottonee Cottonee, like Murkrow and Purrloin also also has the prestigious Prankster ability. Cottonee only has access to Sunny Day as a weather move and while its offensive abilities do not rival Murkrow's it does possess one ace in the form of Leech Seed. Also with a reasonable support movepool including but not limited to, Cotton Guard, Taunt and Stun Spore Chinchou Chinchou is arguably the best setter of Rain, this is true for a number of reasons. The first and foremost of these is its ability, Volt Absorb, this aides rain teams in defeating Pokémon that pack Electric-type moves, such as opposing Chinchou. The second reason is Chinchou's ability to take advantage of the Rain it sets, with access to not only boosted Water-type STAB but also perfect accuracy STAB Thunder. As for the third reason, that is Chinchou's stats. It possesses a noticeable bulk which is backed up by its typing and ability, as well as a strong Special Attack and fast Speed stats. Ponyta Ponyta is another example of a weather setter that can take advantage of its own weather. Ponyta has extremely high stats for the LC environment, with a blistering Speed stat, striking Attack stat and somewhat respectable defensive stats. Within Sun Ponyta gains three major advantages, its weakness to Water-type moves is alleviated, its recovery move in Morning Sun becomes 25% more effective and its Fire-type STAB is made 1.5x more powerful. Frillish Frillish is an extremely bulky Pokémon, with Special Defense and HP stats to rival the best. With access to Recover and some useful offensive moves it is definitely a setter to be reckoned with, also its ability, Water Absorb allows it to take hits from any Water-type move regardless of Rain with no trouble. Houndour Houndour functions in the same vein as Ponyta, it does however have slightly inferior stats. That said, Houndour has access to a secondary STAB type being part Dark. This allows it to take on a number of Pokémon such as Misdreavus more effectively without the benefit of Sun being already on the field. Staryu Staryu is a very strong all-round Pokémon, Rain only adds to its effectiveness as it increases its already powerful STAB and allows it to take advantage of its access to Thunder. Staryu also has access to Rapid Spin, which is somewhat rare among weather setters. Staryu is also very fast making it even more of an offensive threat. Riolu Riolu lives in a similar vein to Murkrow, it is an effective weather setter mostly due to Prankster. Its reasonable offensive power allows it to function outside of setting weather also. As well as its infamous Roar sets adding surprise value to anything it does. It can make use of either Rain Dance or Sunny Day in most any team. As a fighting type it faces stiff competition from Mienfoo. Abusers Sun: Exeggcute - Exeggcute is a powerful Pokémon with access to Chlorophyll. Its strong STAB Solarbeam will give most any Pokémon a run for its money, while its secondary STAB in Psychic allows it to hit poison types that SolarBeam cannot and its access to Sleep Powder allows it to take on some threats that it otherwise cannot and at least cripple them. Oddish - A similar story to Exeggcute, however it has slightly greater bulk and no Psychic-type STAB. It does however possess a STAB on Sludge Bomb which hits Grass-types harder than Hidden Power Fire. Darumaka - Darumaka is a powerhouse, in every sense of the word. With its Hustle ability and access to an extremely powerful STAB and Sun boosted Flare Blitz. It is easily capable of ripping through even well prepared teams, providing they lack a Pokémon with Flash Fire, and that Flare Blitz doesn't miss at a critical moment. Bellsprout - Bellsprout is one of a rare breed of Pokémon that have access to Chlorophyll and that attack on the physical side of the spectrum, this is mainly due to its access to two moves, these are Swords Dance and Sucker Punch. It can also run a mixed set with Growth. Rain: Horsea - With the ever powerful ability Swift Swim, Horsea becomes an extremely potent offensive threat capable of tearing through teams with powerful Rain boosted Hydro Pumps. Kabuto - Kabuto is a rain abuser that hits on the physical side of the spectrum, with access to a powerful Rock-type STAB and Swords Dance. It can also serve as a Rapid Spin user. Finally it has access to a powerful priority move in Aqua Jet. Anorith - Anorith has a surprise element as a rain abuser, as it lacks a Water-typing people are prone to forgetting its access to Swift Swim. Its very high Attack stat combined with its access to Swords Dance and two exceptional STAB sets in Bug- and Rock-type moves. Omanyte - Omanyte makes a very good Rain Sweeper, its access to Shell Smash makes it a very potent force indeed. A rain boosted +2 Surf or Hydro Pump will give anything without Water Absorb or Storm Drain a run for its money. Omanyte can also sweep without weather relatively easily due to the massive boosts offered by Shell Smash, this allows the team to be less dependent on weather. Mantyke - Mantyke functions much like Horsea, receives a Swift Swim boost from the Rain and proceeds to sweep with Powerful Hydro Pumps and Ice Beam. Mantyke also has access to STAB Air Slash and of course Hidden Power. Hail: Spheal - With Ice Body and a noticeable bulk as well as a reasonably effective STAB Blizzard Spheal is a rather typical hail abuser. It can win a war of attrition with most Pokémon that don't run Toxic, such as Porygon. Seel - Another abuser of Ice Body, Seel is very similar to Spheal with slightly greater defenses but lower HP and Special Attack stats. It too can function as a decent Hail stall Pokémon if used effectively. Swinub - Swinub has access to the other Hail ability in Snow Cloak, this gives it a 12.5% boost in its evasion. Combined with a powerful attack stat and two very effective STAB types in Ice and Ground. Weaknesses of Weather Weather has a few barriers that keep it from being a dominant force in LC. They include certain Pokémon and items that stop weather cold. Eviolite - Arguably the largest stop to weather is Eviolite. The added bulk it gives to Pokémon such as Porygon, Chinchou, Munchlax and Ferroseed makes them almost impossible to OHKO with most weather abusers. While it only serves as a buff to the stalling capabilities of Hail, its effect on the other weathers is wholly negative. Snover - Snover is a special mention, unless you're running a hail team Snover is the bane of your existence, it will remove your sun or rain and is capable of OHKOing a large portion of Chlorophyll and Swift Swim users with Blizzard or Giga Drain. Chinchou - Chinchou is an almost hard counter to rain teams, it can take hits from anything a rain abuser can dish out aside from a boosted hit from Anorith and the like. Its access to Electric- and Water-type moves allows it to pose an offensive threat to any rain setter or abuser. Ferroseed - Ferroseed puts a full stop to the vast majority of rain abusers and to any sun abuser that lacks a Fire-type move. Its odd typing and high defensive stats make it a proficient wall. Also it has access to Thunder Wave to cripple any abuser. It must be wary of HP Fire on sun teams though. Croagunk - Croagunk poses a notable threat to rain teams as it can switch in on any Water-type move and gain HP due to Dry Skin, it also has access to Fake Out and Vacuum Wave which allows it to stall a turn of rain through flinch and gain more HP, and revenge kill weakened abusers. Sources: Bulbapedia, PO Wiki, Serebii Footnote: Feel free to use this as a place for discussion about weather in LC.
Slowpoke for both weathers? He has bulk, access to both weathers AND ways to exploit them (flamethrower for sun and scald for rain). Foongus could also set Rain dance if he gets it for similar reasons, plus getting key resistances (grass and electric).
Lets give my two cents on the matter. Cool thread btw. The thing is that Rain (or sun for that matter) isn't that good anymore because of Eviolite and to an extent new Gen 5 pokemon and Abilities (see: Storm Drain Lileep). Yeah weather is cool and all but is it viable in Gen 5. Where Pokemon like Lileep, Croagunk and Ferroseed are really good checks to Rain. Its not that I hate Rain, its just that I feel its unviable this Generation. The thing about weather is that you must balance the number of Weather Setters and Abusers since you can't have 1 weather setter and 5 abusers nor have 5 setters and 1 Abuser. Weather also requires (It doesnt need to but it makes Weather work well) Knock Off support to function well. Hail in my opinion is the worst weather in a competitive way. It generally functions as a defensive playstyle or a way to check sand. I don't have experience with Sun Offense so now comments there.
Voltorb is a cool setter for rain He can abuse thunders, taunt to stop opponents from setting up and most importantly, hr has explosion which gives a rain sweeper a free switch Omanyte and tirtouga are cool abusers as with rain they hold a lot of power and are able to smash at opportune moments Without rain they can still sweep with shell smash I've found that mantyke is perhaps the most dangerous rain sweeper due to its excellent coverage Air slash takes out croagunk and ice beam deals heavy damage to lileep Magnemite is very handy for rain teams as it can abuse stab thunder + trap ferroseed The biggest pain I've come across when using rain is Chinchou who can shrug off most moves