1. The Concept
As a relatively new player in ADV, I wanted to build my own team to ladder with, being someone who enjoys both creating and putting into practice their own builds. Previous attempts at this have gone down in disaster, from Superman teams 6-0d by offensive Gengar to P2 - Dug with no Rock resist. After some laddering around the 1400s, I stumbled upon a strategy often misused - Rain. Although full Rain teams with multiple Swift Swimmers exist and can be good at overwhelming shared checks and breaking through less solid defensive cores, they feel very all-in and hit or miss with little defensive structure and longevity. I wanted to take this playstyle and build a team that not only has Rain sweepers but mons that appreciate weather clear and can enter a drawn-out battle without feeling like a Bo1 ladder gimmick.
I started out by picking a lead with the option of Rain Dance; offensive Zapdos. Kingdra is a pretty clear partner as (in my opinion) the best Swift Swim mon in ADV, also providing some crucial speed to the team when weather is up and a great defensive profile that can eat a hit from pretty much anything unboosted to either set the rain up or simply revenge kill. To lean into the semi-rain style of the build, my next pick was a king of the previous generations - Snorlax feels like an S tier threat when it gets the chip healing suppression of Sandstorm lifted, and even as greedy of a set as Curse + Rest can function as a potent win-con while also providing the team with a great special check. My next pick takes the best from both worlds, as Suicune not only can benefit from having Rain-boosted Surfs, this mon loves having the ability to chip heal and take on threats without being forced to Rest so often. Of course, none of this is even worth considering without being able to prevent Sandstorm from going back up, while Blissey still walls a good chunk of this structure, so Dugtrio was an obvious choice to not only eliminate Tyranitar but also pick off weakened walls like Blissey, defensive Jirachi and even low-HP Milotic. Dugtrio is not a real Rock resist however, and removal is absolutely necessary if this team wants a chance of winning against TSS, so Claydol is an obvious and perhaps even mandatory pick to deal with both Rock Slide and Spikes.
vs offensive Jolt / Skarm TSS
vs Yama Balance
Will add more if I get any more interesting games! Wasn't planning to RMT this until I pretty easily climbed to higher ladder with it and figured it might be worth writing up.
vs Yama Balance
Will add more if I get any more interesting games! Wasn't planning to RMT this until I pretty easily climbed to higher ladder with it and figured it might be worth writing up.
2. The Team
Flyclef Jean (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 48 HP / 208 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rain Dance
- Baton Pass
I find offensive Zapdos to be a great lead in ADV, with positive matchups into a good chunk of leads while Baton Pass allows it to switch out and scout for an opposing switch. Thunderbolt is your primary damaging move, as although Thunder sounds like a good option on Rain Dance, the inaccuracy without Rain up is not appreciated especially in the lead slot where it'll often benefit more from attacking or switching rather than taking two turns to set Rain then attack. Hidden Power Ice gives you great coverage and massively improves this team's matchup into Flygon, who otherwise gets a lot of free turns and feels somewhat hard to break, along with speed tying and threatening out Salamence. Rain Dance supports the team and takes advantage of free turns that Zapdos can generate, with Zap itself enjoying the chip heal from Leftovers. The given spread maximises Speed and invests heavily in SpA to be an offensive threat, while 48 HP EVs allows Zap to live a +1 HP Rock from Adamant Gyarados at full health. A bulkier spread could be considered as a better physical threat, but I find that offensive Zapdos is a better option in the lead slot when using Rain Dance.
Water Whippin (Kingdra) @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Surf / Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Rain Dance
Kingdra is the best Rain mon in the tier and can threaten most key targets with super effective coverage, leveraging this plus its good natural bulk to force switches and get opportunities to set up a Rain Dance. Surf is the preferred Rain-boosted Water coverage, with Hydro Pump as a stronger but less consistent alternative, and Ice Beam gives coverage to super effectively hit Flying, Grass and Dragon types. Hidden Power Grass is a necessity here to directly threaten Swampert along with other bulky waters as Zapdos is running HP Ice, and Leftovers is the item of choice due to taking better advantage of Sand clear on a less offensive Rain team like this. This set uses a standard sample spread, with enough speed to outrun Jolly Tyranitar while maximising SpA with a Modest nature. Very few mons can safely switch into this Kingdra particularly with Rain up, while a full health Kingdra is very hard to OHKO and can act as a backup check as a bulky water with almost no relevant weaknesses into a lot of the tier.
Laxiano Boomaldo (Snorlax) @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 116 Atk / 180 Def / 212 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Shadow Ball
- Rest
- Curse
Without Sand up to prevent it from chip healing with its Leftovers, Snorlax feels like an S tier threat in ADV. Of course, Tyranitar is too much of a presence in the meta to have this as a consistent win-con in most teams, especially with Body Slam - Shadow Ball coverage completely walled by it; however, this team is built around removing Sand and removing TTar, and so this greedy Rest - Curse set can function effectively here. Body Slam is the STAB option of choice as it allows Lax to spread paralysis, particularly useful for easing the matchup into Skarmory and making it less a consistent answer more susceptible to being chipped down, while Shadow Ball allows this to be a pretty consistent Gengar switch-in. Although this set does have Rest for longevity, Immunity is still the selected ability so that Skarmory cannot force you to Rest, while Curse allows this to clean a game as well as setting up alongside and beating DD threats like Gyarados and Salamence. 116 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature lets this OHKO 4 HP Dugtrio with Body Slam, with enough Defense to avoid the Brick Break 2HKO from Adamant Salamence and the rest invested in SpDef to better take on special attackers.
Goobatron (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Want a mon that benefits from manual rain in two ways? Suicune is a perfect fit, as not only is Surf boosted by Rain, Leftovers recovery makes Suicune even more of a monster, with Seismic Toss going from a 5HKO to a 6HKO. Calm Mind is a necessity, making this mon a powerful late-game win-con, while Rest allows it to come in multiple over the course of the game in a secondary defensive role for the team. Sleep Talk is a good option on this set that helps to prevent mons from taking advantage it while asleep, as it'll often be forced in and have to Rest at least once per game and limiting the passivity of this is good for a mid-game Suicune. A more defensive spread with Ice Beam over Sleep Talk can also be considered to help this check Salamence better, but I personally like this sample offensive Modest Suicune set for its aforementioned ability to mid-game better. Paired with Snorlax, this rounds out a scary late-game for the opponent which can be customised depending on the matchup, shared checks allowing for one mon to come in first to bait Explosion / Self-Destruct from key targets and weaken phasers so that the other can clean up more effectively.
R.O.C. (Dugtrio) @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 112 HP / 248 Atk / 40 SpD / 108 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Aerial Ace
- Rock Slide / Beat Up
Dugtrio is a pretty clear addition to this team, with multiple roles that give it value in almost every matchup. Choice Band Earthquake is your main tool to eliminate Tyranitar and prevent it from resetting Sandstorm, while also being able to trap a chipped Blissey. Hidden Power Bug allows Dugtrio to trap and KO Celebi for the benefit of both Suicune and Snorlax, while Aerial Ace can revenge kill Breloom and Heracross that come in to deal with Lax. Rock Slide is a good option that lets this be an emergency check to weakened Zapdos, choice-locked Aero and non-DD Salamence, while Beat Up is a great choice that can be used to handle Blissey more effectively so long as the team is kept healthy and not statused as even the special attackers on this team have a solid Attack stat. A very bulky spread is chosen here for the ability to tank Modest Blissey's Ice Beam while also living assorted hits like Jolly Tyranitar's Earthquake and even standard utility Celebi's HP Grass. This EV spread does sacrifice Dug's ability to trap Raikou and Starmie, but running additional speed for these mons is not worthwhile compared to the additional bulk here.
Treacherous Spins (Claydol) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Atk / 32 SpA / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Psychic
- Refresh
For a team that not only lacks removal but also a solid Rock resist, Claydol is a perfect addition, using a standard sample set to get a guaranteed 2HKO on up to max HP Tyranitar while also being able to deal with Gengar using Psychic. Rapid Spin is a necessity to support this team and prevent your sweepers from getting chipped too heavily by Spikes, while Refresh feels absolutely necessary after testing on ladder; without Refresh, this team really struggles with Skarmory being able to set multiple layers of Spikes and force out Claydol, whereas RefreshDol is able to sit on Skarm indefinitely and can freely remove any time Skarm provides it with an entry point. The lack of Explosion does hurt on a more offensive team that lacks consistent Salamence and Gyarados answers, but a much better MU into TSS cannot be ignored.
3. Team Use
This team's lead of Zapdos is pretty self-explanatory as one of the best leads in the metagame, but here are some reasonable plays to make into opposing leads. Some have been omitted such as Suicune and Vaporeon, as these are very straightforward or not hard to pick up.
I typically BP out on this to scout for a switch, but you don't really wanna risk being Thunder Waved in case of a speed tie and so going hard into Claydol is usually a safe play here.
Lead TTar can be a variety of things, but Claydol typically can be Baton Passed into on lead TTar while Suicune is also a good switch-in that cannot be two-shot by any move other than Band Tar.
This is why we run HP Ice Zapdos as Mence can be a big threat for this team, though you do have an 18.8% roll to drop to a Banded Jolly Rock Slide. This is rare though and I'll always take the free HP Ice here.
You do massive damage to Skarm and they should never protect to scout due to the threat of Agility or BP into Magneton, though taking a Toxic on Zap can be risky into offense. BP to scout the switch and always be able to switch safely out into Dol if they opt to stay in is good.
Lead Meta can only kill you with Explosion or Banded Rock Slide, you are relatively safe to click Tbolt and if they boom that's one less boom for Suicune / Snorlax. BP into Suicune or even Kingdra is a safer play.
Jolteon is somewhat problematic for Zapdos, as you really don't want to take a Thunder Wave. Claydol is pretty good to hard switch into here as it blocks both TWave and Tbolt, while Snorlax is always a free switch on Jolt.
I typically BP out on this to scout for a switch, but you don't really wanna risk being Thunder Waved in case of a speed tie and so going hard into Claydol is usually a safe play here.
Lead TTar can be a variety of things, but Claydol typically can be Baton Passed into on lead TTar while Suicune is also a good switch-in that cannot be two-shot by any move other than Band Tar.
This is why we run HP Ice Zapdos as Mence can be a big threat for this team, though you do have an 18.8% roll to drop to a Banded Jolly Rock Slide. This is rare though and I'll always take the free HP Ice here.
You do massive damage to Skarm and they should never protect to scout due to the threat of Agility or BP into Magneton, though taking a Toxic on Zap can be risky into offense. BP to scout the switch and always be able to switch safely out into Dol if they opt to stay in is good.
Lead Meta can only kill you with Explosion or Banded Rock Slide, you are relatively safe to click Tbolt and if they boom that's one less boom for Suicune / Snorlax. BP into Suicune or even Kingdra is a safer play.
Jolteon is somewhat problematic for Zapdos, as you really don't want to take a Thunder Wave. Claydol is pretty good to hard switch into here as it blocks both TWave and Tbolt, while Snorlax is always a free switch on Jolt.
Q: What do I play for?
A: Depending on the opposing structure, you should identify which of your wincons is the more potent during an endgame and aim to preserve its ability to clean; for example, Gyarados deals with Suicune well while unable to stop CurseLax, while a team with a defensive Wish Jirachi may be more open to Suicune breaking through. Often, both Suicune and Snorlax will be viable win conditions and so either can be exhausted as checks and ways to weaken key targets for the other.
Q: How much do I need Rain?
A: Rain is often not a top priority to reveal or utilise and you will not be clearing weather off lead due to TTar's matchup into Zapdos, so preserving weather can be fine especially into teams where you may want it for surprise factor with a lategame Kingdra.
Q: How do I approach Spikes?
A: Keeping off Spikes to help your big two act better as defensive checks is essential, and RefreshDol does this easily against Skarm. HP Bug Forre is a tougher matchup but can be pressured into booming by Curse Lax, and other more niche Spikes setters tend to have a shorter lifespan and so are less of an issue.
Q: My opponent has a threatening mon, how do I handle this?
A: Some big threats like CB Aerodactyl, Substitute Charizard and DD Gyara can be tough to deal with, the latter two in particular benefitting greatly from your own weather clear, so saving some of your big defensive pieces to trade with threats like this is generally a good idea.
A: Depending on the opposing structure, you should identify which of your wincons is the more potent during an endgame and aim to preserve its ability to clean; for example, Gyarados deals with Suicune well while unable to stop CurseLax, while a team with a defensive Wish Jirachi may be more open to Suicune breaking through. Often, both Suicune and Snorlax will be viable win conditions and so either can be exhausted as checks and ways to weaken key targets for the other.
Q: How much do I need Rain?
A: Rain is often not a top priority to reveal or utilise and you will not be clearing weather off lead due to TTar's matchup into Zapdos, so preserving weather can be fine especially into teams where you may want it for surprise factor with a lategame Kingdra.
Q: How do I approach Spikes?
A: Keeping off Spikes to help your big two act better as defensive checks is essential, and RefreshDol does this easily against Skarm. HP Bug Forre is a tougher matchup but can be pressured into booming by Curse Lax, and other more niche Spikes setters tend to have a shorter lifespan and so are less of an issue.
Q: My opponent has a threatening mon, how do I handle this?
A: Some big threats like CB Aerodactyl, Substitute Charizard and DD Gyara can be tough to deal with, the latter two in particular benefitting greatly from your own weather clear, so saving some of your big defensive pieces to trade with threats like this is generally a good idea.
Suicune is a potent lategame wincon and can often sweep through weakened teams as the last mon, with some structures overly reliant on Sand + Spikes to prevent it from snowballing out of control. Preserve enough HP on Suicune to get the opportunity to set up and play it safe-ish with Rests to avoid getting hax'd by crits or Paralysis but remember that you are able to heal back up in matchups where you can find enough breathing room, it's sometimes good to take out a Zapdos or Jolteon early on in exchange for a large chunk of health if you can get a chance to Rest it off and sweep later.
Snorlax plays similarly to Suicune with its ability to set up and Rest, but is also forced in a little more often as this team's main special check. Skarmory and Steel-types in general will hard wall this Snorlax and so fishing for Body Slam Paralysis can aid greatly in making progress against them, reducing their consistency as answers to a Curse-boosted Lax and allowing this to sweep vs Skarm teams even if it's not the last mon standing. Be sure to Rest when given a chance as you will also sometimes be needed as a status absorber when switching into Gengar, and you don't want to attempt a sweep while burnt.
Although most teams will have solid answers into this, sometimes if a team is chipped sufficiently and special walls like Blissey and Milotic removed or weakened by Dugtrio / Suicune you can send in Kingdra and get the Rain up in either order and clean house. This is particularly useful into offense lacking real defensive answers to Rain and even if Kingdra doesn't sweep immediately they usually end up weakened to the point of folding to one of your other sweepers or a second Rain Dance. Just preserve some health on your Kingdra and look for opportunities to get a free turn to set Rain into teams looking weak to this.
4. Threats
DD HP Rock
: This is a monster that gets free setup opportunities on Claydol, Kingdra, Dugtrio and Suicune, and although Zap is EV'd to live a +1 Adamant HP Rock from full it's not a safe play after any amount of chip. CurseLax can 1v1 this from an even playing field and so is a good backup check if Zap is chipped, while HP Flying variants lose to Zapdos.DD
: DD Mence is another massive threat that gets free setup opportunities on this team, and unless you run Ice Beam Suicune there is no safe answer after a DD particularly if they're using the rarer Brick Break variant. Zap does outspeed and OHKO before they DD and CurseLax can 1v1 non-Brick Break, Kingdra also lives even a boosted hit and can OHKO back, be sure to keep these healthy to answer it.
: CB Aero is disgusting into a team with no Normal resist, Claydol walls Edgequake but gets 2HKOd by Double Edge. Snorlax and Suicune do both dodge the 2HKO from any move although Lax cannot switch in even at full since you don't do enough back, while Kingdra can tank any one hit to revenge kill it.Bulky CM
: Jirachi can be pretty hard to break through for this team, with Wish variants able to wall Snorlax while Calm Mind is hard to stop once it gets going and gets harder to revenge. Claydol can chip it through its boosts though and wear it down to the point of Dug being able to kill it from ~75% and below.Curse
: Opposing CurseLax can be terrifying without the Sand being up and often it's a valid option to go to war with it with your own Snorlax or sacrifice a mon to get enough chip that Dugtrio can revenge it, this will usually trade 1 for 1 into you. Kingdra and Suicune can pressure this by forcing it to come in as a special check but be prepared to lose a mon.5. Final Note
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy the team! Any feedback or constructive criticism would be appreciated as I am more of a new gen player with some experience in DPP Draft, I enjoyed learning more about this tier and have had fun building, testing and finding success on the ladder with my own creations. This feels like a pretty optimal and consistent way to use the otherwise somewhat gimmicky playstyle that is Rain and I'm glad that I've been able to make it work, I'll likely spend some time on ladder testing and optimising this further but I'm pretty happy with how this turned out and the numbers it's been putting up so far.
As always, shoutout myself for making the team and coming up with these beautiful nicknames, I'm always open to comments, questions or whatever both here and on Discord at KyleJD.
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