[VGC 2010] Rain Offence

Discussion in 'Team Showcase' started by eric the espeon, Jun 9, 2010.

  1. eric the espeon

    eric the espeon is an espeon.

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    My first VGC team, with some tweaks. Have played with it for some time, and it's fairly reliable. Smashes through many teams with raw power, but does have trouble with a well played hail team (if you can take 'snow out and restart rain, you're ok generally) unless you're very careful.

    Remember to set them all to Lv. 50.
    Kyogre lead is obvious on a rain team, I started with Scarf but found Palkia needed it more. Specs Surf has comparable power to Scarf Water Spout, and is much more reliable (you don't end up using a horribly weak attack once you take a few hits), and since all of the other Pokemon 4x resist water, no need to worry too much about that. Speed EVed make you underspeed Ludi by one point, so if they get weather up you can Rain Dance with Ludi then hit them with a boosted Surf from Kyogre. Good bye Groudon!

    With Swift Swim active Ludi outspeeds every other Fake Out user (except possibly something really strange like Scarf Weavile, but you should not see that) which is great for disrupting specific strategies. Grass Knot does a lot to the heavy Pokemon, and Surf under rain is always fun.

    Palkia is hard to pass up on a rain team. 4x water resistance, good bulk and awesome power + type coverage. Still, this is probably the most replaceable member of the team if you want to customise it.

    Kingdra is arguably the best rain sweeper. Very fast under the rain with almost unresisted STABs (Sheddy and Empoleon) and great SpA, and only one weakness. What more could you ask for? Oh, and Rain Dance for restarting rain late game. That's saved me countless times.

    How to use it: Attack and keep on attacking, chose targets smartly and avoid switching unless it's absolutely required. Try not to get in situations where you can't deal significant damage.

    Other options:

    Ice Beam on Kingdra is a fair option over Hydro Pump, or a hidden power which hits Shedinja (probably Fire to take out 'Snow). Dragon Pulse has worked over Draco Meteor, it's good to be able to hit Dragons consistently, and hurt stuff with water moves after.. but the drop in power is kinda large.

    I find Water Spout is used only rarely, so it could be replaced with another move.. but there is nothing else particularly amazing in Kyogre's movepool for a Specs set. Signal Beam or Hidden Power stand out, but both are fairly weak generally.



    As usual, comments are welcome and test before rating!
     
  2. Bluff

    Bluff Member

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    Cool, I've been meaning to make a VGC team for a while. Thanks for saving me the effort :)
     
  3. Akusu

    Akusu Guest

    Have you been running into Trick Room teams? They're the main reason I haven't been going for Swift Swim all over the place. Dusknoir paired with Palkia would be difficult to stop trick room from setting up, and then you're vulnerable because all of your pokemon are the fastest possible.
     
  4. destinybond

    destinybond Server Staff

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    I would like to make one comment that all your pokemon are special attackers, which means it will be hard to take down a blissey-like team.
    However, im not sure if this is an RMT type thing or not
     
  5. eric the espeon

    eric the espeon is an espeon.

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    Against that lead combo, I'd probably double surf to take out Dusknior and deal with Palkia later. The worst TR lead tends to be Dialga, since it resists most of the attacks on the team, and can hit hard once TR is up. Still, it can be worn down by a lot of surfs and most of the team is bulky enough to not roll over and die once TR sweepers come in. Sash Trick Room+Fake Out lead can also be annoying, same for Sash Smeargle with Dark Void that protects first turn.

    And, Blissey like? Blissey is kinda.. crap in VGC. And nothing else is taking special hits like her. It could paralyze a few Pokemon before getting worn down by all the Surfs, but it's certainly not a major threat. Pure defence Pokes just don't function properly in doubles, you can pick just ignore them and kill their allies. Then when they are all that's left, hit their weaknesses with two Pokemon at once.
     
  6. meztips

    meztips The name is Bond.

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    I'm not exactly sure how common shedinja is in VGC, but if someone did happen to use it, it would be practically unbeatable against this team. Considering the only attack that hits shedinja is ancientpower on a scarfed pokemon, it might be beneficial to do what you said and put hp fire on kingdra.
     
  7. eric the espeon

    eric the espeon is an espeon.

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    I've never actually had much trouble against sheddy, oddly enough. I can see that it should cause problems.. but it seems not to. Few non hail leads beat my lead combo, so they are going usually to be bringing in Sheddy before I bring in Palkia, which means I can AP them.