Gen 4 The Rain Song (OU)

[Shadow_Sneak]

Introduction
So, I don't have much time to write this but the team I am going to show you is a rain team I built and I tested over the past two weeks or so. It is a fun team and I am retiring it with this rmt but I still want to see if there was anything I overlooked when building for future reference. So if you could rate I would appreciate it. It went 22-3 so it has to be at least somewhat decent.

Teambuilding Process

I chose this for my rain sweeping core. Kingdra is pretty much necessary for a OU rain team just because of how strong and fast it is under the rain. Qwilfish has a nice typing in poison to deflect tspikes from stopping my other two sweepers and also acts as a wallbreaker and another sweeper. I chose Ludicolo mainly for the fact that he can clean up bulky waters and can take eq's from stuff like swampert and hippowdon.

Lucario was added on because I thought that he would have some nice offensive/ok defensive synergy with the other three of my sweepers. Plus he has priority and rain takes that fire weakness away which is nice. He is also one of the more dangerous late game sweepers.

Crobat was put in the lead spot as he is the fastest rain dance setter, provides a nice check to loom and also can scout and taunt other leads. Bronzong provided nice synergy for the team, reflect is always nice for priority spam so my sweepers aren't bothered by it. He also provides a secondary boom.

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Crobat @ Damp Rock
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt / Roost
- U-Turn / Roost
- Rain Dance
- Brave Bird

Crobat is here to be a nice, fast lead who gets up rain reliably. Taunt is for setup sweepers and for bulkier leads so that they can't get up hazards. U-turn is for scouting if I need to swap out. Rain Dance is to help my sweepers get their speed. Brave Bird is a nice and reliable STAB move to hit the grass types. I am considering running a couple of things such as a bulkier spread to outspeed azelf for more bulk as I lose this to lead aero potentially. He usually gets his job done and I like to keep him around when I can.

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Dragon Pulse / Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam

This is the rain sweeper set with more speed because I want to at least speed tie other kingdra's so that I don't lose to them. Modest is to wall break harder and just hit harder in general. Kingdra has Rain Dance for extra support in case I run out of rain when it's in. Hydro Pump is for maximum damage output but is interchangeable with Surf. Dragon Pulse is for more consistent sweeping but Draco meteor can be used to make it a more of hit and run mon. Ice beam is my preferred coverage move of choice. Like I said above this things is pretty much a required mon on rain just because of how good it is. Its nice for hitting dragons and the sand stream pokes as well.

Qwilfish @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Poison Jab
- Explosion

As stated in the teambuilding process qwilfish is here over kabutops because it absorbs tspikes and still hits like a truck with explosion. Swords Dance is to increase this things power to much higher levels and for more damage. Waterfall and Poison Jab are for consistent STAB. Explosion is there to break bulky waters as most of them can't touch this and getting rid of those makes my life easier. Overall a very nice wallbreaker for the other sweepers and a sweeper role at the same time.

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam

Ludicolo is also to help with the bulky waters an still hits like a truck while being surprisingly tanky. I stole this set from a friend but it seems to work fine most of the time. Modest is to hit hard like the other sweepers. I say that rain dance is nice to help support the team and itself more. Hydro Pump is more or less mandatory on Ludicolo for water STAB. Giga Drain is my grass STAB of preference. Ice beam is to hit shit like d-nite and other dragons. This guy is my main hippo/pert switchin because it uses them for a free rain dance or attack. He has saved my ass so many times and might just be the mvp of this team.

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Stone Edge / Crunch

Lucario acts a early game breaker or a late game sweeper either way, it still does its job nicely. It is my secondary dragon resist just in case but I think that this he may be lacking and there may be something better to replace him. I run Sword Dance so he can get the power he needs to sweep. Close Combat provides a nice powerful STAB. Extreme Speed is my preferred priority. Stone Edge or Crunch is up to you, Crunch hits ghosts and celebi, Stone Edge hits gyara.

Bronzong @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Atk / 8 Def / 96 SpD
Impish Nature
- Rain Dance
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Reflect

This is the spread off the strategy dex. Rain Dance is on because he is my second supporter. Explosion is there to acts as something to wallbreak mons or get in some nice chip damage with the 252 atk investment. Stealth Rocks are required on every team. Reflect is to prevent my sweepers from getting swept in the late game by some priority. He does a job as a mid-game setter effectively.

Last Look

importable

Crobat @ Damp Rock
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Rain Dance
- Brave Bird

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Dragon Pulse
- Ice Beam

Qwilfish @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Poison Jab
- Explosion

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Stone Edge

Bronzong @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Atk / 8 Def / 96 SpD
Impish Nature
- Rain Dance
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Reflect

Conclusion
I have enjoyed playing this team and while rain is not the most consistent strategy in DPP, it is really fun. Any rates are appreciated as I want to increase my teambuilding skills in this meta more and make this team as good as possible. The ev spreads could be modified a bit which I might do on my own. Hope you enjoyed my rmt and to those of you who rated, thanks.

 

[Apollo.]

Hey, i do have some suggestions for the team even if i don't know rain teams too much :

The biggest threat for my team in my opinion is Zapdos, you can't face well the lead variant because you own lead (Crobat) have to switch and then Zapdos can use U-turn and gain momentum which is a thing you don't want to loose on rain offense. Dragonite lead seem like pretty annoying for your team since your only way to deal with it is to bring Bronzong and it get roasted by an Fire Blast on the switch.

• Why not using Rotom-W over Bronzong ? it will work as an soft check to Zapdos, it will still work as decent rain supporter and it give you an interesting Fighting immunity in addition to the Ground one , for Tyranitar, you already have Lucario to check him so i think you are fine. The set should be like this : RD/Thunder/Hydro Pump/SB. Max speed with an Timid nature is very good on him since it allow you to outspeed Jolly Gyarados, Timid Suicune, Adamant Lucario (Heatran too but its not annoying for an rain team).

• With this change, you will don't have anymore stealth rocks on your team, i can suggest to use Azelf over Crobat, Azelf is slower than Crobat but it can still work as decent rain lead, it have acces to taunt like Crobat which allow him to prevent other lead to set their hazard which can be pretty annoying and acces to Explosion which is very good to don't waste rain turns, the set should be something like SR/RD/Taunt/Explosion, enough bulk to take an many powerfull hit like U-turn from CB Azelf (Jolly), Leaf Storm from Roserade, LO Hpump Starmie or even to leave an Meteor mash from Metagross to grab an free turn against non-bullet punch variant. The spread also allow you to check if Zapdos is specs or not which is a plus.

• I don't really find the utility of running full speed Kingdra outside of outspeeding an Jolly Breloom, 164 Speed allow you to outspeed like max speed Tyranitar and like Scarf Flygon under the rain, you can use more speed to outspeed Scarf Infernape (which can be usefull sometime but its very rare), Dragonite and other Kingdras.

Hide

Azelf @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rain Dance
- Taunt
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock

Rotom-Wash @ Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball

Hope i helped and good luck with your team.