Breath of Fire 2 / Rain Team

[Zerodack]

This team is dedicated to my first RPG, Breath of Fire 2 for the Super Nintendo. The series tells the tail of a boy named Ryu who is of the Dragon Clan. He joins a girl named Nina who is of the Wing Clan. And they usually end up facing Gods and Demon Lords trying to do whatever against the world.

I've wanted to do this team for a while. The first thing was to decide the type of Dragon to use for Ryu. The choices I came up with was between Salamence and Dragonite. The biggest wait was for Meloetta, who I think pulls of a perfect 'Katt'.

Anyway, let's get to the team.

Front Row from the Left - Ryu, Bow, Jean, Deis
Back Row from the Left - Nina, Katt, Sten, Spar, Rand

For this team. I've chosen, Ryu, Katt, Rand, Jean, Spar, and Nina.

Ekaru Hoppe de pe Tapeta (Jean for Short)

Tapeta
Politoed @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Surf

What I found interesting is that Jean's two forms represent Politoed pretty well. Regular Jean is green, but once Shamanized he becomes the heroic (blue) warrior you see in the picture above. In this form he has a couple Instant Kill moves (but we know Sheer Cold is outlawed lol.) I translate that to Overwhelming Power. And so Choice Specs fit the bill. In his regular form he's more of a support character, which I incorporate as his ability to setup the rain.

Ryu
Dragonite @ Life Orb
Trait: Multiscale
252 Atk / 76 SpA / 180 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Hurricane
- Aqua Tail
- Extreme Speed
- Roost

Ryu. The main man himself. In Breath of Fire 2, he acquires multiple dragon forms. Fire. Ice. Thunder. G (in the picture above). Aqua Tail is my proxy for Ice. Thunder represents Thunder. Hurricane for the sheer power of the G Dragon attack. Extreme Speed for coverage. As the main character it's only fitting he benefits from the Rain the most.

Bow
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 176 SDef
IVs: 2 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Gyro Ball
- Hidden Power Ice
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Bow is back and taking on some new ground. He's now a full on tank. Bronzong is alleviating Celebi from Stealth Rock duty and taking that himself. Besides Dragonite I didn't have any immunities to ground. Now with levitate he's more than ready to pull his weight (that rhymed.) As the best friend of Ryu it's fitting that they compliment each other so well.

Spar
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait - Natural Cure
252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
- Leaf Storm
- U-Turn
- Recover
- Thunder Wave

ANOTHER support character. Yeah. And this ones a keeper too. With all of the Thunder moves going on in this team, I thought it'd be best to have someone who can face the Ground types. Still, Spar must be wary of all of the U Turn users running around. Rain Dance, because the weather war must be won. Stealth Rock and U-Turn for the usual reasons. And Leaf Storm for when he wants to go HAM. Also! Look at the picture. I mean Spar can pass off as Celebi! That's how close the resemblance is!

Nina Windia
Zapdos @ Choice Scarf
Trait - Pressure
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power Ice
- Volt Switch

Where do I begin? Nina is from the Wing Clan which as you may have guessed have wings growing on their back. Before their Clan was weakened (BOF1) they were able to change into bird forms when they came of age. During this game it takes a Ritual to accomplish the same thing (and even then you can't even turn back!) Nina is the first mage of the game. And her most powerful ability is BOLT X. Yeah, that's how much she fits the Zapdos image. I would normally run a defensive set, but Nina's defenses suck, she's a glass cannon.

She's also one of the two love interests. Let's introduce the next one.

Katt
Meloetta @ Life Orb - Katt
Trait - Serene Grace
252 Atk / 56 SpA / 200 Spe
Naive Nature
- Relic Song
- Close Combat
- Thunder
- Ice Punch

Okay. This is who I was waiting for before I created the team. Meloetta fits Katt like a glove. Katt has incredibly high attack power and speed. She learns the most devastating spells early. But she does not have the MP to use them. Ever. Well not ever. Once you shamanize her into the form you see above she gets just enough MP to use ONE spell. Yeah BOLT X, baby. Katt has been in my party since I first played the game. How perfect this character fits continues. While in Shamanized form she gets access to a move that costs 2 turns. However when used it hits for max damage. Yeah, Relic Song + Close Combat. I'm happy. I'm very happy with this poke.

~~

So it's a rain team, sort of. We have the rain and we have benefits from the rain. But not strong enough benefits that a normal rain team might go through. Anyway rate my team! Or well give me suggestions. The sets can definitely see improvement I think.

I still have 2 more characters from BoF2 that can easily translate to Pokemon. Infernape and Serperior (DW). But let's see what we can do with this team first.

P.S. I have no idea where to get the Pokemon sprites from.

~~

Revision 1 -
Cobalion has been put down like ol' Yeller. His replacement, Jirachi adds overall quality to the team.
Zapdos is running Choice Scarf now and HP Grass --> HP Ice
Celebi has taken over Stealth Rock duties.

~~

Revision 2 -
Bronzong is attempting to fill the role that Jirachi had. The one who checks the threats.
Celebi no longer has Rain Dance or Stealth Rock. It's using Thunder Wave and Recover now.
Dragonite is no longer heavily SpA invested, but is now relying on it's heavy atk.

 

[undisputed]

Hey!

Ironic that you have a rain team entitled "Breath of Fire 2," haha. Creative sets, so I'll look to improve your team without losing the team's originality factor.

My first and biggest suggestion would be to swap Cobalion with Sub CM Jirachi. Cobalion isn't very good in this metagame because it's weak and its typing is poor. Sub CM Jirachi will give your team a much better sweeper, and it can do a lot of the things Cobalion does already. Switch into Dragons with Outrage (or weakened Fire Punches too) and then use Thunder for a 60% paralysis. Otherwise, conserve Jirachi and bring it out late game to finish off weakened teams.

Now, with Jirachi, you lose Stealth Rock. I'd suggest you stick Stealth Rock onto Celebi instead of Leech Seed. Celebi is already a utility Pokemon anyway, so you minds as well make use of it with Stealth Rock. Leech Seed borders on useless these days because Tornadus-t, Latios, Heatran, and other Celebi counters are everywhere and Leech Seed doesn't do enough damage to keep up.

Original team, I wish you success. Good luck dude.

 

[Zerodack]

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll take it to heart and make the change. Steel for Steel.

It's kind of funny that I figured Cobalion wouldn't last long in the edits. Sub CM is coming in!

 

[Reymedy]

Sticking to what Undisputed told you, I'd say :
- Change Celebi Giga Drain for Leaf Storm OR/AND keep Giga Drain but change Recover for U-Turn
Why? because Celebi is a pivot, thus you probably realised in this role, you will not be spamming Giga Drain for hours, you have better things to do. Usually I guess you put Celebi against something that can't damage Celebi while you threaten it with a Grass move. Leaf Storm does a better job at it, once Celebi will have done his job (SR/Rain) you need to not turn Celebi into a deadweight. So get Leaf Storm on Giga Drain AND/OR U-Turn on Recover. I doubt you Recover so much. Or you can drope Rain Dance, but it's a nice idea that you had there so.. it's up to you, but don't consider Recover as a "must have at all cost" move on Celebi given the role it has there.

-Change Zapdos for a Scarfed set VoltSwitch/Thunder/HeatWave/HPice
Why? for two main reasons that came to my mind. First, I tried it, and it works great as starter to land a kill on scarf Genesect, consider Zapdos as a bulkier Thundurus-T with a greater surprise factor.
Second reason, you'll have alot of issues facing Tornadus-T. Here Zapdos can be the revenge killer your enemy wont predict. It's up to you to try it (I also doubt you use Roost so much given the EVs spread you chosed).

I'm also thinking about a different Dragonite set, but I guess you prefer keep the "mixed menace".
Not convinced by Meleotta but if it works for you !
Good luck, I hope I helped!

 

[Zerodack]

Team has been updated. And testing will begin shortly.

Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[dragonuser]

Hey there,

This team seems pretty solid, but there are a few things I think can be improved. So first off, Keldeo looks extremely threatening. While you do have checks, none have any form of recovery and possible hazards can make switching in very difficult as the match goes on. Switching into its attacks (HPump particularily) looks pretty rough, and most of your HPump switch ins can be hurt very badly by HP Ice if you predict wrong. To help with this, I would suggest running Recover > Rain Dance on Celebi. While Rain Dance is nice, and the weather war is important, Recover is much more beneficial to your team, and its not like Celebi can really use Rain Dance vs opposing weather setters. By using Recover you gain a much better check to Keldeo and the like, and it gives your team a lot more bulk. Also using a Defensive set without a form of recovery seems like a real waste of potential. Without a spinner hazards will really be wearing down your team, so I would also suggest running Roost > Thunder on Dragonite. Roost gives Dragonite a lot more longevity as a wallbreaker which is very important atm. Against more offensive teams Dragonite will find itself killing itself moreso by just switching into Rocks then taking LO damage whenever it attacks. This makes Dragonite die very fast, while Roost can help alleviate that issue. Hurricane + Aqua Tail + Espeed still gets great coverage anyways. I am also not sure about your Jirachi set. You are running no physical moves, yet have Attack EVs. I would recommend changing Jirachi's EV Spread to 252 HP / 4 Sp Attk / 252 Speed @ Timid Nature. This can help take advantage of Jirachi's good speed and give you 101 HP Substitutes, letting you setup on Blissey/Chansey. Good luck.

 

[Zerodack]

Sorry, those were Cobalion's EVs that Jirachi replaced. It's been updated!

Hmm I haven't faced a team that has Keldeo yet. What are his normal sets? Does he choice scarf? Zapdos would be his counter otherwise. But I see what you mean, only Zapdos, an already boosted Jirachi, and Celebi would be able to threaten it.

So for my current testing I'll be seeing how the team does against Keldeo users. How often I actually get to use Rain Dance with Celebi. And how often I use Thunder with Dragonite. If Dragonite doesn't use Thunder anymore, then I'd think I should cut down his SpA Evs.

Testing continues. Thank you for the feedback!

 

[Reymedy]

Keldeo can be :
- Scarfed (something like HPump/SecretSword/IcyWind/HP ghost or HP ice and Surf)
- Specs (almost same set..)
- CM + 3 atacks (Surf/SecretSword/CM/HP something you want to cover)
- Sub/CM (CM/Sub/SecretSword/Hpump)

For Keldeo, Zapdos kills it, Meleotta can take any atack from it and kill it also. Same goes for Celebi and Jirachi. So yes, you won't be switching in (bar Celebi) but you can play around and threaten it easily. I wouldn't say it's so big an issue.
However yes, I'd agree on the Recover>RD. It can look contradictory with what I said but while I do believe SR or Leaf Storm or U-Turn are better than Recover for a pivot. I'm not sure RD is that much needed.

And as said dragonuser, I wonder why your Jirachi got a Naive nature (I didn't see it at first glance :o). You should also change Flash Canon for Water Pulse in my opinion.
And yes, definitely I'd change Dragonite set, given it's your only answer to take Sun teams atacks, you better not let him die too quickly. Just let him be your physical sweeper, you don't need to put Thunder everywhere. I'd opt for a bulky DD set.

 

[TGMD]

Hey Zerodack, nice team!

A few threats I noticed when looking through this team were Abomasnow (mostly Expert Belt variants) and Mamoswine (mostly LO variants.) Both of them outright OHKO every single member of your team after very little preliminary damage, making both of them impossible to switch in on if your opponent predicts correctly. Mamoswine can also outspeed every member of your team other than Jirachi, Meloetta, and Zapdos (who can't do anything to it at all under the rain, and not very much in sand / weatherless, and even then Ice Shard can KO after a fair bit of preliminary damage, easily obtainable due to Zapdos' Stealth Rock weakness), meaning you really just have to rely on saccing something then going out to Meloetta or Jirachi. Even then, Jirachi is very susceptible to being trapped by Specs Magnezone and Dugtrio, and Meloetta will likely have to lower its defenses by using CC, switch in on Stealth Rocks and take Life Orb damage every time it tries to revenge kill Mamoswine. As you can see, this is very unreliable, as Mamoswine can just hit and run your team, and Abomasnow may be less of a problem but it's still incredibly annoying.

You have an even bigger problem with Yache / Sub Salac Garchomp with Draon Claw and Earthquake. Sub Salac can come in on Celebi, Jirachi, Zapdos locked into anything but Hidden Power [Ice], and Politoed locked into Focus Blast. If it comes in on Zapdos locked into something then you're in huge trouble, with anything else; if you stay in and Garchomp SDs then it'll be at +2 and it can sub down to Salac range, then it outspeeds and OHKOs your entire team (except for Celebi, but Celebi not only has to rely on a 90% accurate move and not getting critted, it will have to be at very full health, this is going to be very difficult to do late game because you rely on it to set up Stealth Rock and take hits from rain teams, as well as check a few threats, you don't have a recovery move, and Celebi's susceptible to all hazards.) Yache Garchomp outspeeds your entire team other than Zapdos, Zapdos only does ~50% with Hidden Power [Ice], so if Garchomp gets to +2 without losing 50% you're in big trouble. Overall, Garchomp won't always be able to sweep your team, if it dosen't it will put rather large holes in it and it will be difficult to recover, you also have to rely on Celebi as your only way to stop it's sweep, and Celebi just wasn't built to do everything it does for the team and always stay healthy enough for late-game to take on Garchomp as well. Variants of Garchomp with Outrage will KO Celebi after very little preliminary damage, and although you have Jirachi for when it's locked into Outrage, you'll have to keep him very healthy too, meaning if you see a Garchomp, you'll have to keep Jirachi healthy in case of Outrage, Celebi healthy in case of Dragon Claw, and you'll also need something alive that can prevent Garchomp from getting to +4, this really is just too constricting and you're just not going to prevent it's sweep in alot of battles, even if you can, there'll be something else that'll take advantage of you needing to keep all these mons alive. To help remedy this situation I suggest Bronzong over your current SubCM Jirachi. Bronzong is one of the best counters in the game to both Mamoswine and Expert Belt Abomasnow, it resists Abomasnow's dual STABs, and it not only resists one of Mamoswine's STABs, it's immune to the other. It takes pitiful damage from Abomasnow's Hidden Power [Fire] (~25%), it's immune to its Earthquake, worst case scenario against Mamoswine, it's hit with a Superpower, then Bronzong can just hit Mamoswine / Abomasnow back with a powerful Gyro Ball. Bronzong also takes on dragons very well, most notably of which being Garchomp, it 4HKOs Bronzong with +2 Dragon Claw, and Bronzong 2HKOs back with Hidden Power [Ice]. In conclusion, Bronzong can still check the same pokemon Jirachi could, but it checks a whole lot more too, covering up holes your team previously had, and it's not as weak to the likes of Magnezone / Dugtrio, making it more reliable and more likely to stick around long enough to fufill its role. Admittedly, you lose your sweeper, but then again your team wasn't built around a Jirachi sweep in the first place and in a balanced team such as yours, it's more important to keep big threats checked as reliably as possible.

Bronzong has access to Stealth Rock, and it's a reliable Stealth Rock setter too, because of this you may want to try Recover over Stealth Rock on Celebi, if you decide to keep Rain Dance, and you can try Thunder Wave over Stealth Rock, if you decide to get rid of Rain Dance (which I'd recommend tbh.) Para support would be very useful for a team as slow as yours, which is something you lose in the transition from Jirachi to Bronzong, it's also useful for catching the likes of Genesect on the switch (which Celebi baits in like a moth to a flame.) Alternatively, you could let Celebi keep Stealth Rock and give Bronzong Toxic or maybe even Hypnosis instead of Stealth Rock.

Anyway, I hope this rate helped and GL with the team :)

Bronzong

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 176 SDef
IVs: 2 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Gyro Ball
- Hidden Power Ice
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock / Toxic / Hypnosis

 

[Zerodack]

I have a lot to think about. But Celebi will have recover over RD. Also the inconsistencies in that Jirachi are gone, sorry about that x2.
I'm looking into what the new EV spread for Dragonite will be once Thunder is gone.
And now weighing in in a Jirachi vs. Bronzong advantage, with Garchomp looming over my shoulder. Let's see where this goes! Thank you everybody for the suggestions! Very helpful!

What's the general consensus on Kyurem-B anyway? I see that he's OU. I'll be checking out his thread. He looks like he can pull off a mean Ryu. But Dragonite is probably better in the rain than Kyurem-B I'd suspect.

Also does anyone know where I can get the Pokemon Sprites from? I want to make the first post more appealing for some people. :)



Dragonite @ Life Orb
Trait: Multiscale
252 Atk / 76 SpA / 180 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Hurricane
- Aqua Tail
- Roost
- Extreme Speed

Should I still keep speed evs? Or try to add a little bulk (SpD or HP) to this guy?