Berks
has a Calm Mind
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Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
A CLEAR FORECAST
Ever since Mambo posted this thread about Rain in Little Cup, I've wanted to build a successful rain team. The biggest issue with that proposition, however, is that most rain teams are extremely obvious. Have you ever been laddering and come across a team with a Voltorb and three Swift Swim users? Exactly. Rain teams are really easy to play around when you can see them coming, so I wanted to make a team that used common cores and Pokemon to throw people off the scent of rain. In order to do that, I knew I needed to use a lot of inconspicuous rain setters and a few inconspicuous rain abusers. I decided to build around Damp Rock Pawniard, which I believe is the ultimate surprise set! Furthermore, I wanted my Rain Dance users to be common, solid Pokemon that nobody would ever even think about putting on a rain team, and I wanted my rain abusers to be common enough as to not raise too much suspicion. The result was Have You Ever Seen The Rain?, so named for the really cool Credence Clearwater Revival song and also for the fact nobody sees this rain team coming!
FORMING CLOUDS
Building a manual rain team necessitates that you run a couple solid Rain Dance users. You can't simply add one setter and rely on it wholly; you'll need a different setter for a lot of different situations. Pawniard, Spritzee, and Staryu were my choices, as each of them can set rain in a different situation, and the three Pokemon happen to have pretty great synergy. One of them needed to hold a Damp Rock so that I could have an extended sweep with my rain sweepers in an endgame scenario, and I picked Pawniard; ideally, Pawniard would force a switch in the endgame into one of its checks (Fighting-types, Ponyta, and other Steel-types), set up an eight-turn rainstorm on the switch, then get KOed to make way for either Croagunk or Mantyke. The other two setters can either set rain in the midgame or serve as a last-ditch backup plan to Pawniard.
With my remaining three teamslots, I added Croagunk and Mantyke, my aforementioned rain abusers. Why did I pick Croagunk and Mantyke, you ask? Well, I had actually been messing around with Damp Rock Pawniard and wanted to pick two rain sweepers that could most efficiently capitalize on what Pawniard could bring to the team. Croagunk has phenomenal synergy with Pawniard, and can capitalize on most of its major checks—namely Fighting- and Steel-type Pokemon. Those checks that Croagunk can't stop, such as Ground- and Fire-type Pokemon, are picked to pieces by Mantyke, which also happens to threaten Fighting-type Pokemon as well. At this point, however, I still had a free slot, and I still needed Stealth Rock, so Ferroseed joined the team as well. Adding Ferroseed to the team also happened to complete the feared FerroSpritz core, giving my team an extremely solid defensive backbone and furthering the illusion of this being a normal team.
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Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
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Pawniard
Item: Damp Rock | Ability: Defiant
EVs: 156 Atk / 36 Def / 116 SpD / 196 Spe | Jolly Nature
Knock Off | Sucker Punch | Iron Head | Rain Dance
Damp Rock Pawniard is the focal point of this team; oftentimes the difference between a win and a loss is whether or not I can get my eight-turn rainstorm. The set is mostly standard in that the EVs and first three moves are something you can find on just about any other Pawniard—what makes it special is Rain Dance. Meant to capitalize on Pawniard's penchant for forcing switches, the basic idea with this Pawniard set is to Rain Dance at some point in the mid- to late-game when you can force a switch from your opponent. This scenario comes up a lot, be it against a weakened or frail Pokemon you threaten with Sucker Punch or against a slow Pokemon like Snubbull. Depending on what Pokemon your opponent sends in and at what point of the game you're at, you'll usually either hard switch into Croagunk or sack Pawniard and bring in Mantyke. Pawniard also provides strong priority, a decent Flying resist, and solid Knock Off support, and it's just a really really good Pokemon in general.a
Pawniard
Item: Damp Rock | Ability: Defiant
EVs: 156 Atk / 36 Def / 116 SpD / 196 Spe | Jolly Nature
Knock Off | Sucker Punch | Iron Head | Rain Dance
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Spritzee
Item: Eviolite | Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe | Bold Nature
Wish | Protect | Rain Dance | Moonblast
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Staryu
Item: Eviolite | Ability: Analytic
EVs: 156 Def / 116 SpA / 236 Spe | Timid Nature
Hydro Pump | Psychic | Rapid Spin | Rain Dance
Because I was planning on adding Mantyke later, I decided I needed hazard removal; what better hazard remover than Staryu? Adding Staryu also gave me another Rain setter, a pseudo-Rain abuser, and a much needed Croagunk check. Having a Staryu with no recovery can bite you in the ass if you don't play cautiously, but with this team it usually isn't a problem. I run fast offensive Staryu to make its Hydro Pumps really really difficult to switch into without a Water immunity, and because why bother being defensive without Recover?
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Croagunk
Item: Eviolite | Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 52 HP / 108 Atk / 116 Def / 116 SpD / 116 Spe | Adamant Nature
Drain Punch | Gunk Shot | Sucker Punch | Bulk Up
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Mantyke
Item: Waterium Z | Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 36 Def / 200 SpA / 40 SpD / 196 Spe | Modest Nature
Hydro Pump | Air Slash | Hidden Power [Ground] | Rain Dance
There are certainly better rain sweepers than Mantyke, but they all have one thing in common: they struggle against Fighting-type Pokemon. Mantyke, however, carries STAB Air Slash and veritable nuke in rain-boosted Hydro Vortex. Jox is to credit for the decision to run Waterium Z, after he beat me due to me having been running Life Orb (I think is how it went). I elected to add Hidden Power Ground as well due to my fear of missing Hydro Pump and eating a Volt Switch from Magnemite or Elekid. Overall, if I had to pick a member of the team to replace, it'd likely be Mantyke; though I think it is very cute and enjoy its Flying STAB, I'm beginning to feel as though I could use another rain sweeper to better effect.
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Ferroseed
Item: Eviolite | Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 164 HP / 188 Def / 148 SpD | Careful Nature
Stealth Rock | Bullet Seed | Knock Off | Thunder Wave
CLIMATE CHANGERS
AFTER THE RAIN
I hope you've enjoyed this team! As usual, I have to make shoutouts to my good friends:Holiday - big fan of this brown nerd, have you rebuilt your home since the big explosion?
Shrug - you can seize my means of production if you know what I mean
Nineage - your friendly neighborhood Berks impersonator
Fiend - the most reliable user for tearing apart my teams from a building standpoint
Dundies - the most reliable user for tearing apart my teams from a battling standpoint
Here's an importable if you like the team, and I welcome your comments!
Pawniard @ Damp Rock
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 156 Atk / 36 Def / 116 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Rain Dance
Spritzee @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Rain Dance
- Moonblast
Staryu @ Eviolite
Ability: Analytic
Level: 5
EVs: 156 Def / 116 SpA / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Psychic
- Rapid Spin
- Rain Dance
Croagunk @ Eviolite
Ability: Dry Skin
Level: 5
EVs: 52 HP / 108 Atk / 116 Def / 116 SpD / 116 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
- Sucker Punch
- Bulk Up
Mantyke @ Waterium Z
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 5
EVs: 36 Def / 200 SpA / 40 SpD / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Hydro Pump
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Rain Dance
Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 5
EVs: 164 HP / 188 Def / 148 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Bullet Seed
- Knock Off
- Thunder Wave
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 156 Atk / 36 Def / 116 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Rain Dance
Spritzee @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Rain Dance
- Moonblast
Staryu @ Eviolite
Ability: Analytic
Level: 5
EVs: 156 Def / 116 SpA / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Psychic
- Rapid Spin
- Rain Dance
Croagunk @ Eviolite
Ability: Dry Skin
Level: 5
EVs: 52 HP / 108 Atk / 116 Def / 116 SpD / 116 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
- Sucker Punch
- Bulk Up
Mantyke @ Waterium Z
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 5
EVs: 36 Def / 200 SpA / 40 SpD / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Hydro Pump
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Rain Dance
Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 5
EVs: 164 HP / 188 Def / 148 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Bullet Seed
- Knock Off
- Thunder Wave
Thanks! <3