I've been trying to make a bdsp ou rain team, for a few weeks now after trying to make some tweaks and adjustments on my own, I can regularly make it into the low 1200's for an ELO on Pokemon showdown, but I hit a wall around 1250 and end up getting beat back down. I know it's modest that's why I figured I better go find some help. Soo... Here's my team
Lead -
Crobat @ Damp Rock
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 104 HP / 152 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rain Dance
- Taunt
- Roost
- U-turn
Probably the easiest Pokemon on the team to go over. He is my rain lead. I see drizzle/swift swim is banned in OU and crowbar seemed the next obvious choice. He is one of the fastest Pokemon in the tier and virtually guaranteed to get off a rain dance. Taunt has also been a blessing. I usually start with that to prevent lead sweepers from setting up, status, and rocks if I think I can still get off a rain dance. Roost is for healing, although it hasn't come in handy as often as I would have thought. Crowbat is pretty fragile and I don't often find a chance to heal him. Despite being fragile he can often get up rain multiple times due to his speed. U turn is to allow me to switch quickly to a sweeper or protect my crowbat. It doesn't often do much damage and I thought about removing it because he always goes first and my other Pokemon take damage anyway, but it breaks sashes and puts a nice dent in a number of common psychics I've faced.
Utility:
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Wish
- Protect
- Thunder
Jirachi is my secondary source of rain. I have found my team doesn't function well without a second rain dancer. He is able to abuse thunder to damage opposing water Pokemon, and he is an easy switch in that forces a number of threats out, especially if he resists their moves and can wish/protect away the damage. He doesn't do a lot of work but he can kill or cripple some of the starmies and rotom-w that cause a problem for the rest of my team. I have found he sometimes becomes bait for setup sweepers when I switch to him later in the game to set up rain. He doesn't always get up rain as his speed is lacking and ground types can switch into him with no fear of retaliation forcing a switch or sacrifice situation.
I also tried to used zapodos for this role as he also had the perk of being immune to ground, it didn't end up being as effective in the end, but maybe I need to give him another look or was using the wrong movepool. He had -thunder -raindance -roost and -volt switch
Sweepers
Manaphy @ Mystic Water
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 HP / 144 SpA / 112 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Energy Ball
- Tail Glow
- Rest
Manaphy is my first sweeper. Under rain, surf has enough of an impact to cripple and sho-a-way a number of pivots, priority users, and minor threats. Once he sets up with tail glow up he can do a lot of damage, and he can take some too if he can rest under rain. He Is virtually immune to status under rain and can take more than one Pokemon out before getting chipped down unless the opposing team has a check for him. Calm mind blissey, clefable, and any Dragonite completely wall him. Out of rain may opponents choose to paralyze him and then take him out with reduced speed.
Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Rock Slide
- Aqua Jet
- Rapid Spin
Kabutops is my physical rain sweeper. His STAB waterfall and rock slide do a lot of damage, and he almost always hits first and hits hard in rain. He can also remove rocks and poison spike which is helpful to reduce chip damage to my other sweepers and take out crobat who is my primary source of rain. While he does do a lot of damage to a majority of the tier physical walls completely stop him in his tracks. He is unable to kill any of the dragons that are problematic for me 1v1
]Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam[/CENTER]
Ideally kingdra is reserved as a late game sweeper. He hits hard and can sweep entire teams under rain once his checks are managed. Rain doubles his speed and choice specs make his special attack something most Pokemon have to respect. Unfortunately he can not switch moves once he attacks which leads me to have to take him out if an opponent can eat the move I'm locked into and his special attack drops significantly after a draco meteor. This not only wastes rain, but it also creates a logistical problem in trying to get him in multiple times without too much damage. The power drop after draco meteor leaves unable to ko much after it's used, much less a second dragon. In fact most teams with 2 dragons (Latios, latias, garchomp, and Dragonite) should be able to play around this and often will beat my team.
I tried lifeorb but the reduced damage allowed blissey and clefable to wall me and chip me away and the chip damage from life orb left me easy prey for priority users.
Clean up
Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Poison Jab
- Sucker Punch
This last position is the one I've played the most around with. Toxicroak definitely puts work in. Dry skin allows him a way to heal off life orb damage in the rain, it also makes him immune to water attacks as other water types can wall and threaten my sweepers, especially if manaphy is taken out. It has given me more free switch-ins and Sword dance setup turns than I thought it would. Poison jab is to kill fairies and grass types. Drain punch threatens steel types and can remove rock types and Blissey that often are used to make kingdra pick it's attack move carefully. Sucker punch gives a priority attack and threatens ghosts and psychic types.
I also tried a sword dance scizor, and a gliscor in this spot. Scizor was scary if he set up in the rain, but was basically locked into bullet puch due to his speed and while he helped with fairy types he did not help with dragons and most teams have a built in check for him (and my team is already weak to magnezone).
Gliscor gave me a number of free switch-ins with his ground and electric immunities of which I have none (people spam me with earthquake, but I'm sure I'm not the only one) he wasn't able to really check may of my counters and he slowed down the game which forced me to have to put up rain more times.
Honestly, any advise would be helpful. I've played the games for years both the regular versions and ROMs. I like to nuzlocke so I feel like I should know basic game mechanics, but I'm pretty new to the PVP realm and clearly the strategy is different. Help a brother out and RMT!
Lead -
Crobat @ Damp Rock
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 104 HP / 152 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rain Dance
- Taunt
- Roost
- U-turn
Probably the easiest Pokemon on the team to go over. He is my rain lead. I see drizzle/swift swim is banned in OU and crowbar seemed the next obvious choice. He is one of the fastest Pokemon in the tier and virtually guaranteed to get off a rain dance. Taunt has also been a blessing. I usually start with that to prevent lead sweepers from setting up, status, and rocks if I think I can still get off a rain dance. Roost is for healing, although it hasn't come in handy as often as I would have thought. Crowbat is pretty fragile and I don't often find a chance to heal him. Despite being fragile he can often get up rain multiple times due to his speed. U turn is to allow me to switch quickly to a sweeper or protect my crowbat. It doesn't often do much damage and I thought about removing it because he always goes first and my other Pokemon take damage anyway, but it breaks sashes and puts a nice dent in a number of common psychics I've faced.
Utility:
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Wish
- Protect
- Thunder
Jirachi is my secondary source of rain. I have found my team doesn't function well without a second rain dancer. He is able to abuse thunder to damage opposing water Pokemon, and he is an easy switch in that forces a number of threats out, especially if he resists their moves and can wish/protect away the damage. He doesn't do a lot of work but he can kill or cripple some of the starmies and rotom-w that cause a problem for the rest of my team. I have found he sometimes becomes bait for setup sweepers when I switch to him later in the game to set up rain. He doesn't always get up rain as his speed is lacking and ground types can switch into him with no fear of retaliation forcing a switch or sacrifice situation.
I also tried to used zapodos for this role as he also had the perk of being immune to ground, it didn't end up being as effective in the end, but maybe I need to give him another look or was using the wrong movepool. He had -thunder -raindance -roost and -volt switch
Sweepers
Manaphy @ Mystic Water
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 HP / 144 SpA / 112 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Energy Ball
- Tail Glow
- Rest
Manaphy is my first sweeper. Under rain, surf has enough of an impact to cripple and sho-a-way a number of pivots, priority users, and minor threats. Once he sets up with tail glow up he can do a lot of damage, and he can take some too if he can rest under rain. He Is virtually immune to status under rain and can take more than one Pokemon out before getting chipped down unless the opposing team has a check for him. Calm mind blissey, clefable, and any Dragonite completely wall him. Out of rain may opponents choose to paralyze him and then take him out with reduced speed.
Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Rock Slide
- Aqua Jet
- Rapid Spin
Kabutops is my physical rain sweeper. His STAB waterfall and rock slide do a lot of damage, and he almost always hits first and hits hard in rain. He can also remove rocks and poison spike which is helpful to reduce chip damage to my other sweepers and take out crobat who is my primary source of rain. While he does do a lot of damage to a majority of the tier physical walls completely stop him in his tracks. He is unable to kill any of the dragons that are problematic for me 1v1
]Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam[/CENTER]
Ideally kingdra is reserved as a late game sweeper. He hits hard and can sweep entire teams under rain once his checks are managed. Rain doubles his speed and choice specs make his special attack something most Pokemon have to respect. Unfortunately he can not switch moves once he attacks which leads me to have to take him out if an opponent can eat the move I'm locked into and his special attack drops significantly after a draco meteor. This not only wastes rain, but it also creates a logistical problem in trying to get him in multiple times without too much damage. The power drop after draco meteor leaves unable to ko much after it's used, much less a second dragon. In fact most teams with 2 dragons (Latios, latias, garchomp, and Dragonite) should be able to play around this and often will beat my team.
I tried lifeorb but the reduced damage allowed blissey and clefable to wall me and chip me away and the chip damage from life orb left me easy prey for priority users.
Clean up
Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Poison Jab
- Sucker Punch
This last position is the one I've played the most around with. Toxicroak definitely puts work in. Dry skin allows him a way to heal off life orb damage in the rain, it also makes him immune to water attacks as other water types can wall and threaten my sweepers, especially if manaphy is taken out. It has given me more free switch-ins and Sword dance setup turns than I thought it would. Poison jab is to kill fairies and grass types. Drain punch threatens steel types and can remove rock types and Blissey that often are used to make kingdra pick it's attack move carefully. Sucker punch gives a priority attack and threatens ghosts and psychic types.
I also tried a sword dance scizor, and a gliscor in this spot. Scizor was scary if he set up in the rain, but was basically locked into bullet puch due to his speed and while he helped with fairy types he did not help with dragons and most teams have a built in check for him (and my team is already weak to magnezone).
Gliscor gave me a number of free switch-ins with his ground and electric immunities of which I have none (people spam me with earthquake, but I'm sure I'm not the only one) he wasn't able to really check may of my counters and he slowed down the game which forced me to have to put up rain more times.
Honestly, any advise would be helpful. I've played the games for years both the regular versions and ROMs. I like to nuzlocke so I feel like I should know basic game mechanics, but I'm pretty new to the PVP realm and clearly the strategy is different. Help a brother out and RMT!
