Rain in LC

[GemOftheDay]

For one, I've always been a fan of weather in LC. Whether it's sun, rain, hail, sand, I just loved it.

Now, with the GameFreak nerfs to weather, as well as the dissapearance of tangela, we could very well see the rise of other weathers again.

RAIN

Rain is probably my favorite weather, period. It has a variety of benefits that it can give other pokemon with abilities such as Swift swim, dry skin, hydration, and rain dish, not to mention boosting the BAP of water-typed moves.

RAIN SETTERS

VOLTORB

Voltorb is currently one of the best rain setters in the game right now. Its speed allows it to set up rain that lasts for more than one turn, due to damp rock. It also functions well as a counter to the setters for other weathers (namely vulpix, snover, hippopotas) that have the weather auto activate. If you want, you can also run moves on it like taunt and volt switch to make it a good stallbreaker, as well as supporting other members of your team.

MURKOW

Prankster is one of the most useful abilities in little cup. Prankster also ensures that rain is garenteed to come out, provided you dont get one-shot by a fake out (which you shouldn't anyways). Although Murkrow can have many more useful sets, the rain dance set is worth a mention.

BRONZOR

This strategy was pretty popular back in the D/P/Pt days. Throw rain dance on Bronzor, and allow it to sit there and tank hits from fire types for days. Bronzor also synergizes well with other rain sweepers like Croagunk, as it is immune to Earthquakes and resists the Psychics that come its way.

RAIN ABUSERS

CROAGUNK

Croagunk is probably one of my favorite rain sweepers. If you played D/P/Pt, you may remember old Priogunk with life orb, fake out, vacuum wave, and two other moves. I'm here to say that Priogunk is actually really good in this new meta. Fake out can distupt basically any non ghost-typed pokemon, and it can also do tons of damage with its STAB priority vacuum wave. On top of that, life orb damage can be reduced heavily with dry skin, making it a great rain abuser.

OMANYTE and TIRTOUGA

Shell Smash and Swift Swim make a great team together. Both these mons are notorious for using Shell smash then proceeding to sweep the opposing team. But we can make that even better in rain. Boost their main STAB, double their speed with the ability Swift swim. These two also have good supporting options in Stealth rock and in omanyte's case, toxic spikes, knock-of, and spikes.

TENTACOOL

Tentacool is a solid pokemon, with knock-off and also toxic spikes / rapid spin support. To make it even better, we can give it a reliable source of recovery through rain dish. Now, you have a support beast that can keep on healing off any damage it takes through rain dish.

MAGNEMITE

Remember how I said rain helps patch up Bronzor's fire weakness? well, the same exact thing happens here. Magnemite hates fire moves, and due to the number of pokemon beginning to run HP fire to stop threats like Pawniard and formerly Tangela / Yanma, Magnemite took some of the heat form that too. Any way that it could take away some of those annoying fire weaknesses would help it. Not to mention it also gains a perfect accuracy thunder in rain too.

MANTYKE

(credit to MyloXyloto)

Mantyke is probably one of the best mons to use on a rain team. It has great bulk and can reliably set up Rain Dance. It also hits like a truck with rain boosted hydro pumps. Mantyke also hits Snover, which threaten most rain teams, for super effective damage with Air Slash which is pretty cool. Another cool perk of Mantyke is that it can take on Sun, another threat to rain teams. Hitting common sun abusers like oddish for super effective damage with Air Slash.

Thanks for reading, hope the weather favors you in the future!​

~ Gem​

 

[GemOftheDay]

reserved

 

[Antar]

I'd also recommend Surskit for Rain Setters (though with SwSw, it's an abuser to some extent, too). Great speed for LC, excellent typing and access to Sticky Web.

 

[chimp]

This is a great thread!
My only problem with it is that you said Voltorb can counter other weather setters. I don't think this is true; assuming Voltorb is holding a Damp Rock.

196 SpA Vulpix Fire Blast vs. 36 HP / 0 SpD Voltorb in Sun: 22-27 (104.7 - 128.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
While Voltorb can only OHKO when rocks are up.

236 SpA Voltorb Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 180 SpD Eviolite Hippopotas: 8-10 (34.7 - 43.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Obviously Voltorb can't swtich in to an Earthquake.

184+ SpA Snover Blizzard vs. 36 HP / 0 SpD Voltorb: 16-19 (76.1 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


Otherwise rain does look great especially since Shell Smashers are pretty powerful right now.

 

[GemOftheDay]

blizzardy, the reason I say that voltorb counters other weather setters is the fact that it can actually rain dance, removing the benefits of the weather and then getting out to a better counter for that pokemon.

Counters aren't necessarily about killing it, its more about makint it so their intentions are foiled.

 

[chimp]

Thats not really a counter, considering the other pokemon can easily do that to voltorb. They can all (except maybe Vulpix) switch onto Voltorb after it uses rain dance since it can't do anything to them. Especially Snover if its not carrying HP Fire which probably won't happen since its used for Rain teams.

 

[Mylo Xyloto]

Mantyke is probably one of the best mons to use on a rain team. It has great bulk and can reliably set up Rain Dance. It also hits like a truck with rain boosted hydro pumps. Mantyke also hits Snover, which threaten most rain teams, for super effective damage with Air Slash which is pretty cool. Another cool perk of Mantyke is that it can take on Sun, another threat to rain teams. Hitting common sun abusers like oddish for super effective damage with Air Slash.

I also really like croagunk on rain teams as it takes care of Lileep, which can beat most rain teams. It can also deal with Snover. The thing that makes rain teams more dangerous imo is the fact that it not only boosts the abusers speed(for swift swimmers), it also boosts their water stabs. With sun you can only get the former or the latter. Rain teams also stack on types which has its advantages. As the abusers weaken each others checks making it easier to overpower the opponent.

 

[Darkamber8828]

I've always wanted to try a rain team to counter all the sun, but I couldn't find any Swift Swim abusers other than Mantyke. Will try Omanyte and Tirtouga out.

Has anyone considered Kabuto? Back in Gen 4 it was the best Rain sweeper.

Adamant Kabuto: 19/18/15/12/10/15
Jolly Tirtouga: 22/17/17/9/12/12

What are the advantages of Kabuto? It has much higher speed than Tirtouga, enough to speed tie with every viable scarfer in LC (Scarf Elekid is NOT a thing) while still running Adamant, which gives it more attack than Tirtouga. It has 19 HP Life Orb recoil, which is pretty cool, although you can still run Berry Juice. However, it doesn't get Shell Smash or Swords Dance, only Hone Claws, which sucks, but if you don't want to waste rain turns by setting up, it's the better option.

Tirtouga is less reliant on the rain though, and can still sweep things once the rain turns are over.

Also Chinchou is a pretty sexy Rain setter. Electric immunity, very strong boost and 100% accurate Thunder, and Volt Switch to keep momentum and maximize Rain turns. Pretty cool.

Diglet seems like a pretty good pokemon for a rain team too, trapping Vulpix and squishing it with Earthquake. It only 2HKOs Snover with Rock Slide after Stealth Rock and can't touch Hippopotas though, which is a bummer.

 

[Sergetank]

Oh man this is my jam. I mean thread. If you're noting Murkrow, you should also tip a hat to Riolu; as an eject button setter, it's really easy to get forced out to a teammate of your choice, coming in for basically free and for four turns of rain havoc.

Another weather abuser, similar to Croagunk, is Life Orb Dry Skin Helioptile; 100% accurate thunders, boosted surfs, it's pretty cash. Fragile though but yeah. Loved it.

 

[chimp]

I think Anorith could work pretty well. It can handle both Vulpix and Snover and has an incredible 95 base attack and 75 speed. Though, Water Pulse is its only Water move, but I can see it being used so its not walled by Gligar and other ground types.

 

[Darkamber8828]

Eh. Tirtouga and Omanyte don't really mind Vulpix or Snover. Mantyke can 1v1 Snover too. Anorith is a cool pokemon but it doesn't get its STAB boosted by rain, which really sucks.

 

[Sergetank]

I think Anorith could work pretty well. It can handle both Vulpix and Snover and has an incredible 95 base attack and 75 speed. Though, Water Pulse is its only Water move, but I can see it being used so its not walled by Gligar and other ground types.

Was waiting on someone to say this before I dove in. MANorith is a great SS sweeper. Unlike others, it's not weak to grass, resists poison, not weak to electric either. And it gained a nifty new move this gen outside of Water Pulse and Water Gun; Aqua Jet! Swords Dance / Rock Blast / X-Scissor / Aqua Jet really is only walled by Croagunk.

On the downside, rain boosts it's water weakness like crazy but thats what teammates are for.

 

[Goddess Briyella]

Mantyke is the best Rain setter/abuser in the tier from my experience.

In the case of Omanyte, and the huge amount of weaknesses that Water/Rock has, it's not always easy to get Rain up and then Shell Smash without being taken into a range where a priority attack would take it down. Its high 90 base Special Attack is incredible, though. It should probably be used with Timid nature and Shell Armor without having to rely on Rain.

Anorith deserves a mention here, as its unique typing for a Swift Swim carrier allows it hard-hitting STABs that get super effective hits on things that other Rain sweepers can't.

 

[The Quasar]

I'm working around a decent LC rain team. I'm testing that, also in some tourney and I reach a sufficient playability level with it. I promise you, as far as the current suspect will be completed, I want to fix and cross-examine with you.