Zen Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 (edited) With the recent discussion on monotypes by Valkyria, I decided to run observation on how weather teams are typically run on the PO and Reborn servers. As expected, most players seemed to start weather right off the bat. However, a couple did go for the alternative route, and ran delayed weather. So I decided to dig deeper into this particular tactic, which is arguably very handy for running monotypes. Delayed weather offers the option of possibly taking out opposing weather with greater ease (especially if they also run immediate weather), and also for setting up on the opposition. Reason being, the usual run of immediate weather players seem to either attempt setting up with their weather-maker (ninetales, politoed, hippowdon, tyranitar, abomasnow), or to switch it out immediately once the battle starts. I think you can see where I'm going with this; a decent prediction usually dents immediate weather players at this point. So, the following are a list of some leads for the various types of weather, off the top of my head. There is also the possibility of manual weather on a delayed weather lead, to handle opponents that enjoy switching their pokemon about. As far as items go, the Focus Sash and Lum Berry are probably the two most useful in this area, for obvious reasons. The Custap berry is handy in sand teams, as the sand pieces tend to have Sturdy. Finally, always carry a Rapid Spin pokemon if using delayed weather, as a standard precaution. --- SUN Volcarona (M) @ Lum Berry/Focus Sash Trait: Flame Body EVs: 228 Def / 24 SAtk / 255 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Bug Buzz - Fiery Dance - Hurricane/Hidden Power [Electric/Grass] - Quiver Dance Useful for handling hail/rain teams to an extent. Not so much for sand teams since the bulkier rock/ground types are common, and rocks get that defensive boost in sand. Chandelure (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Shadow Tag EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Flamethrower - Shadow Ball - SolarBeam - Sunny Day A hideous weather-stopper. Pretty much slaughters any hail/rain/sand teams out there, barring Scarfed weather leads. Sceptile (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Unburden EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 120 Def / 36 SDef / 96 Spd Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Leaf Blade - Brick Break - Rock Slide - Swords Dance Not really useful except to counter rain, but sceptile does have his merits. Magcargo (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Flame Body EVs: 252 SAtk / 128 SDef / 128 Spd Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Flamethrower - Earth Power - Toxic - Stealth Rock No, this one isn't a joke. Magcargo's been surprisingly handy thus far due to the element of surprise, and can end hail handily. It has access to hazards, and also Toxic for politoed leads. Infernape (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Blaze EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Fake Out - Flamethrower - Grass Knot/Hidden Power [ice] - Stealth Rock I just grabbed my usual mixed infernape from my fighting monotypes, but the point is there. Infernape's a golden pioneer of delayed weather, even from his Gen. IV days. --- RAIN Concretion (Cloyster) (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Skill Link EVs: 236 Atk / 16 Def / 252 SDef / 4 Spd Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Ice Shard - Icicle Spear - Rock Blast - Shell Smash The typical SS cloyster works well as a delayed rain lead, though any form of steel jams it. Pinguecula (Empoleon) (M) @ Air Balloon Trait: Defiant EVs: 212 Atk / 248 Def / 48 SDef Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Aqua Jet - Rock Slide - Brick Break - Swords Dance Empoleon is good for a lead, be it physical, special, or even for entry hazard setup. It has decent bulk, and hits decently. Physical empoleons are better for stopping sun/hail/sand thanks to Drill Peck/Brick Break/Earthquake, though, while special empoleons aren't quite as handy for jamming sun/sand. Cataract (Gyarados) (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Moxie EVs: 112 Atk / 144 Def / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Waterfall - Ice Fang/Stone Edge - Earthquake - Dragon Dance A raging lead that has been the death of various sun/hail teams, and the occasional sand team. Swampert (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Torrent EVs: 96 Def / 64 SAtk / 96 SDef / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Scald - Ice Beam - Roar - Stealth Rock I think whoever among the three of us who originally created this swampert was drunk. However, the moveset remains handy as Terra would probably agree, for a setup swampert. Physical swampert may be better to breaking sand leads as with the case of empoleon, though. Bibarel (M) @ Chesto Berry Trait: Unaware EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Rollout - Amnesia - Curse - Rest Again, not a joke! This one's curiously useful for bashing up sun/hail leads. Substitute Rollout for Waterfall to dent sand leads. --- SAND Lunatone @ Focus Sash Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Psychic - Earth Power - Grass Knot/Hidden Power [Electric]/Hidden Power [Fire] - Magic Coat Lazy to run entry hazards? Bounce them right back at the opponent. And when you're done with that, wreck their weather lead. Lunatone's surprisingly fast for a moon wannabe. Carracosta (F) @ Salac Berry Trait: Sturdy EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Aqua Jet - Rock Slide - Earthquake - Shell Smash Very capable of stomping most other leads into the ground. Grenada (Rhyperior) (M) @ Custap Berry Trait: Solid Rock EVs: 4 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SDef Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Rock Slide - ThunderPunch - Brick Break - Sandstorm I like rhyperior, I really do. And this one can usually end most weather leads. Donphan (M) @ Custap Berry Trait: Sturdy EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Ice Shard - Earthquake/Seed Bomb - Rapid Spin - Stealth Rock The standard Spinning donphan. Seed Bomb in place of EQ is handier for slamming lead politoeds. Mamoswine (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Thick Fat EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Ice Shard - Earthquake - Rock Slide/Superpower - Stealth Rock Standard mamosine, arguably the best delayed sand lead due to its immunity to hail damage. Easily destroys most sun leads, and some sand (hippowdown is trickier), but politoed can be problematic. Since mamoswine typically is with gastrodon/nidoking in a ground monotype, though, this is somewhat offset. Pauline (Skarmory) (F) @ Custap Berry Trait: Sturdy EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Drill Peck - Rock Slide - Stealth Rock - Whirlwind SkarmBliss! Or not. Skarmory is a handy setup piece, and can abuse Sturdy to wreck a ninetales if needed. Gigalith (M) @ Custap Berry Trait: Sturdy EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Rock Blast - Earthquake - Explosion - Stealth Rock A simple gigalith that is rather popular of late. Rock Blast isn't quite as offensive as Rock Slide or Stone Edge, but can break Substitute or a Focus Sash. --- HAIL Mamoswine (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Thick Fat EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Ice Shard - Earthquake - Rock Slide/Superpower - Stealth Rock As with sand teams, arguably the best delayed hail lead due to its dual-weather immunity. Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Snow Cloak EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Shadow Ball/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam - Destiny Bond - Taunt - Spikes The classic froslass lead. Concretion (Cloyster) (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Skill Link EVs: 236 Atk / 16 Def / 252 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Rock Blast - Ice Shard - Toxic Spikes/Rapid Spin - Spikes This rather... unusual mix is my usual delayed hail cloyster. It does kill a decent number of sun leads, which is why I keep Rock Blast. The usual SS cloyster works as well. Vanilluxe (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Ice Body EVs: 28 HP / 252 SAtk / 228 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Mirror Coat - Weather Ball/Flash Cannon - Hidden Power [Fire]/Hidden Power [Grass]/Hidden Power [Electric] - Autotomize This bugger kills more sun leads than an ice cream cone should be normally capable of. Mirror Coat usually also destroys politoed, though sand leads give vanilluxe some problems. Jynx (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Dry Skin EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Psyshock - Focus Blast - Energy Ball - Fake Out Another useful delayed hail lead. Is pretty much a destroyer of politoeds, though ninetales often meets the same fate. Tyranitar leads are harder to kill. Weavile (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Pressure EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Ice Shard - Night Slash - Brick Break - Taunt This gold standard punk needs no further introduction nor explanation. Edited May 26, 2012 by Zen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I like this a lot. I'm gonna start experimenting with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullet Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 Ehhh, Brave Bird is typicall beter on Skarm. Pretty good lists in general though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 Ehhh, Brave Bird is typicall beter on Skarm. Pretty good lists in general though. Haha, those were just taken from the common boxes between the three of us. So you could alter them to taste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renowner Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Personally When I first used a Drizzle team, quite a while ago, I used delayed weather. It seemed smarter to me, to set up my weather second, to stop opponents weather if they started out with it. I chose a genesect lead, as it could U-turn into my politoad, or do whatever it felt necessary to combat their lead, it could u-turn, stopping sashes, then politoad would come in, K.O. or I could send out a spinner. It was pretty succsessfull back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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