Lord Bagel Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 In this little series of mine I'm making to help out new people in the NU tier I will be going over some different ways to build teams and what you might want to use. In this week I'll be starting off with an easy one with the most popular weather choice, rain! Rain isn't terribly common at the moment but that makes it better to use, Nu also has some great rain abusers to pick from. The Rain Setter -------------------- The most important part of running rain is....rain. I would recommend having at least 2 setters as if one gets knocked out prematurely you don't instantly lose. Depanding on how you plan on playing it's usually good to have your setter be bulky so that it can be used multiple time, that or be able to escape quickly after wards. Below I will list some good setters of rain and a description on them. Uxie @ Damp Rock Ability: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe Impish Nature - Rain Dance - Stealth Rock - Memento - U-turn With this set you can get up all the pregame setup you need with the bulk to try again if needed. As rain will wear off over time I would recommend if possible using Stealth rocks first as to not waste any rain teams if possible. The last two slots depend on your play style but what I put is Memento for stopping anything trying to set up on a rain dancing uxie, or u-turn if you will survive a hit and be able to get in a free switch since uxie is slow. Liepard @ Damp Rock Ability: Prankster EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Rain Dance - Encore - Knock Off - U-turn This set I actually prefer to the uxie one above, this thing plays common leads so easily it's funny. Encore messes up anything that wants to set up and or set up hazards, knock off get's an obvious switch, rain dance get's up with priority and u-turning out is super fast. What not to love? Just don't let many attacks get through, liepard dies if you look at it funny. Up next I will be getting into swift swim offense but before that I'll give an example of a setter that does damage. Ludicolo @ Life Orb Ability: Swift Swim EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Timid Nature - Hydro Pump/Scald - Giga Drain - Ice Beam - Rain Dance Ludicolo has the typing and to survive a hit which is very nice so it can set up a rain dance. After that rain dance ludicolo out speeds almost everything non priority and does a ton of damage. Giga drain get's health back from the initial rain set and hydro does SO much damage in rain. Swift Swim ------------- Swift swim is what makes rain worth while. Under rain all speed is doubled....that's a LOT of speed. any good swift swimmers also have fairly bad speed but very high attack do the double speed makes them monsters to deal with. Kabutops @ Life Orb Ability: Swift Swim EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Adamant Nature - Swords Dance - Stone Edge - Waterfall - Aqua Jet After a swords dance Kabutops will one shot a mega steelix with waterfall. This thing hits like a truck and is only a decently recent addition to NU. If you would like Kabutops can get rid of hazards with rapid spin though I don't find it worth the slot. After a swords dance kabutops will one shot almost anything, I think even fully defensive vileplume but don't quote me on that. Kabutops is a classic swift swimmer, hits fast and hits hard. Mantine @ Life Orb Ability: Swift Swim EVs: 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe Modest Nature - Rain Dance - Hydro Pump - Air Slash - Defog Mantine also can hit hard and fast but has more bulk than Kabutops, which is why I went with defog on it though I disagreed with spin on tops. Mantine also can easily refresh the rain and has decent options to use for its stab types. With mega Camerupt Mantine has been more popular so an offensive set might throw some people off. NU has more goo swimmers like seismitoad for example but I won't try cover everything sooooo on to the next aspect. Defense! Defense! ------------------------ Some pokemon in the tier though not using things like swift swim get a big boost from the rain. For example things with rain dish, dry skin or anything with a big weakness to fire. Ferroseed @ Eviolite Ability: Iron Barbs EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Impish Nature - Spikes - Leech Seed - Thunder Wave - Gyro Ball In the rain this thing is unbelievably hard to take out as it's fire weakness is much less scary. Ferroseed will take up a lot of rain turns so be wary of it but it can also spread spikes and status absolutely everywhere. It is an utter pain to deal with and stops many threats of swift swimmers. Ludicolo @ Leftovers Ability: Rain Dish EVs: 248 HP / 204 SpD / 56 Spe Calm Nature - Scald - Giga Drain - Synthesis - Leech Seed Ludicolo just loves rain doesn't he? This set gives ludicolo massive longevity with it's exelent defensive ability coupled with rain. I would also recommend damp rock and rain dance on this if you find your team lacking good rain setters. This Ludicolo set will slowly but surely whittle away threats though the slowly part is what makes me recommend rain over coverage if needed. Some other good options would be any other good grass types like cacturne or vileplume as they still benefit greatly in the rain though if you run a lot of grass kabutops is good as flying types don't care about the weather. More Water Power? Sure Thing! ----------------------------------------- If you aren't looking for defensive synergy or swift swim other options exist. Namely water types without swift swim but who still like the rain water boost. Feraligatr @ Life Orb Ability: Torrent EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spe Adamant Nature - Swords Dance - Waterfall - Aqua Jet - Ice Punch This set is fairly standered but still works very well with rain teams. Sometimes the speed of swift swimmers can't break some walls and therefor get shut down. This feraligatr doesn't focus on speed but instead on max power so it can break so threats you might have. For example vs weezing a common defensive wall Look how it does in the rain without a swords dance. > 252+ Atk Life Orb Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Weezing in Rain: 153-183 (45.8 - 54.7%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery. Samurott @ Life Orb Ability: Torrent EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Modest Nature - Hydro Pump - Ice Beam - Grass Knot - Aqua Jet This set is similar to the feraligatr but using special attack instead to hit different checks to the rest of your team. I hope this helped with a team you were building, if I missed anything you would like to add feel free to. Also leave suggestions for what type of teams I should cover for next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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