SM OU Pokebank Mega-Scizor rain

[Dark Rankor]

Introduction​

**Hello and welcome to my first RMT post :D With the release of Sun and Moon, rain teams received a very interesting new asset in the form of Pelipper, so I decided to build a rain team of my own. Please note that I have tested this team for a very long time and this is my fourth version of it. In the roughly 3.5 years that I have been engaged in competitive Pokemon, I have mainly used teams from other people, but with the release of the new generation, I wanted to try and make a solid team of my own. So any help pointing out remaining flaws and ways to fix em are greatly appreciated! :D**

Teambuilding Process​

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**Why did you choose this pokemon?**

**Why did you choose this pokemon?**

**Why did you choose this pokemon?**

**Why did you choose this pokemon?**

**Why did you choose this pokemon?**

**Why did you choose this pokemon?**

The Team​

Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost
​

**The main supporting pokemon for the team: Pelipper. It provides the rain for the team. I chose Pelipper over Politoad as Pelipper has acces to recovery in Roost, can provide Defog support and has acces to u-turn to bring in other members of the team, mainly Kingdra, Tapu Koko and Dugtrio, safely. I'm still unsure about the EV spread I have given it, there is probably room for improvement to be made here.**

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Reversal
- Stealth Rock
​

**Dugtrio is the second supporting pokemon for the team. I chose it as it can trap and KO many strong electric types that would threaten Pelipper, such as Mega-Manectric or Tapu Koko, as well as fire and steel types, that threaten Scizor and Magearna, such as Magnezone or Heatran. The focus sash is there to allow Dugtrio to deal with faster pokemon that would otherwise KO it, such as Tapu Koko and it also provides an emergency solution to deal with set up sweepers, such as Mega-Charizard X.**

Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Ice Beam
​

**Choice Specs Kingdra is a very common set on rain teams; it's aimed to be a sweeper once pokemon that resist it's water and dragon STAB's have been weakened or knocked out. **

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Fleur Cannon
- Aura Sphere
​

**AV Magearna is one of the more bulky pivots of the team. I have tried various pokemon in this slot, such as AV Tornadous and alolan Marowak. Following a suggestion made in the OU chatroom by ABR, I eventually settled for AV Magearna, as it helps me deal with many threats of the current metagame, such as Hoopa-U, Tapu Lele and Greninja. With volt switch it can also help bringing in the offensive pokemon of the team safely and can also bring in Dugtrio to trap the opposing pokemon.**

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunder
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
​

**One of the neat benefits that rain brings along, is the 100% accurate Thunder, so I figured this would match nicely with the pokemon that also summons Electric Terrain and thus makes Thunder even more of a menacing move: Tapu Koko. It's supposed to be an offensive pivot with Volt Switch, as well as being capable to clean late game with Thunder and it's coverage moves.**

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 16 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
- Roost
​

**Scizor forms a bulky pivot for the team with potential of also sweeping late game with Bullet Punch and Swords Dance. I ran Superpower over U-Turn initially, but eventually changed it, since I found that the momentum factor serves the team a lot better, as Dugtrio can trap and KO all the pokemon that superpower was meant to hit for super effective damage, such as Heatran or Magnezone, with the exception of Ferrothorn. **

Conclusion​

**Concluding I find the team to do well vs most match ups that are popular in the current metagame, as it is very difficult to check the offensive core of Kingdra + Tapu Koko and there are not many things that threaten the defensive backbone of Scizor and Magearna. However, some weknesses do stand out: Ferrothorn is quite a nuisance to the team, as not many pokemon on my team are capable of dealing huge blows too it, however Ferrothorn can usually be beaten if Magearna and Scizor are used correctly. Far more menacing are the Mega Charizard twins, as my teams lacks reliable ways of handling them. What I also have noticed is that Pelipper does not get many opportunities to Defog, this may however be to my EV spread, which I'm sure can be optimized.
Thank you for reading and happy rating! :D**

Importable

Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Reversal
- Stealth Rock

Kingdra @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Ice Beam

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Fleur Cannon
- Aura Sphere

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunder
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 16 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
- Roost

 

[FlamingVictini]

Hey man, cool team. While you do have some of the integral elements of rain down, I think there is some room for improvement and also playing with the roles of the mons on your team. While a conventional rate would you give you a set of changes to make to improve your team, I will instead focus on where and why your team can be improved, and give you a general guideline for making changes so you can take this team in the direction you want based on your experience, and also appreciate this playstyle a little bit more.

Firstly, Pelipper benefits much more from a bulky spread. Its extremely ideal to be fat with a slow u-turn, allowing you to tank a hit and u-turn to bring in a strong sweeper unscathed. The speed doesn't really benefit you in anything major. I'd suggest moving ALL of those evs out of speed and distributing them in defense or sdef as you like to deal with various threats, so that pelipper can also have some defensive utility. How you choose to do this will likely depend on further changes, and I don't have a ton of experience using pelipper myself, so i'll leave this up to you. Also, i'd argue that you might even find use for hurricane > defog on pelipper if you find yourself not using it much even after making pelipper bulkier.

Secondly, I feel like its important to question and consider the purpose of scizor, magearna, and tapu koko. For reference, i'd like to take a look at one of my own teams that was greatly successful in ORAS, consisting of Politoed, Kingdra, Garchomp, Mega-Scizor, Tornadus-T, and Kabutops. While I have made many variations of rain since then to adapt to the metagame at the time or what I felt like using, they all were based on the same "formula":

- A Rain Setter with defensive Utility (support toed in my case, U-Turn + Defog Pelipper for you)
- A primary rain sweeper (Kingdra for both)
- A stealth rocker with some sort of utility, provides some sort of support in terms of managing specific classes of threats (Chomp in my case, Dugtrio for you)
- A pivot that provides strong defensive glue-type support that also facilitates the work of the rain sweepers (Scizor AND Magearna for you)
- A breaker to crack open more bulky teams and support the rain sweepers cleaning (LO Taunt Torn-T for me, Tapu Koko for you)
- A secondary rain sweeper that covers any major defensive deficiency and works with the primary rain sweeper to clean teams by overloading them with fast, strong, boosted water attacks primarily (Kabutops for me, nonexistent for you).

Assuming that this "formula" still holds, i'd argue its very important to have another rain sweeper. Otherwise the opponent can find it pretty easy to dedicate their tapu fini to take on kingdra and then simply counter the rest of your team as individual threats. With another swift swimmer, offensive teams can find it much more impossible to keep up with the pressure rain puts on them, and defensive answers can find themselves overwhelmed and prone to just cracking open under the pressure, so that one of your sweepers can clean house.

With this in mind, I find it important that you replace either Magearna or Mega-Scizor. While it is appreciable that they do handle different things defensively, draw in a different set of mons to pivot on, and can win the game themselves in different ways (Scizor itself being its own late-game wincon that is really awesome for rain), they both functionally seem to do the same thing. Sure you may be lacking a switchin to hoopa, greninja, and tapu lele, but who cares if you can just run through those mons and ohko them with your swift swim sweeper? That being said, I think this choice depends on your pelipper spread, the second swift swimmer you choose, and the breaker you may potentially replace.

Speaking of the breaker, I think its worth considering Tapu Koko's worth in the grand scheme of things. I understand how dangerous a base 130 mon with electric field thunder can be, and I know it has probably brought some good results for you in the past. Despite this, I feel this slot could be better utilized, simply because your team looks like a sitting duck to any fat grass like Mega Venusaur (you also mentioned Ferrothorn), and while you certainly have your whole team pressuring it, nothing can really do significant damage and actually beat it. I think the team would benefit from a breaker that can really cover some of the glaring weaknesses in terms of mons that kingdra (and your potential second swift swim sweeper) simply cannot break. I think this is somewhere where your creativity should shine, but to give you some ideas and make this rate a little more conventional, I tried to think of some mons that might work and could fit in with magearna/scizor + physdef/sdef pelipper. Mega Alakazam came to mind because it can be really strong and dangerous with a modest nature, and it can threaten mega venusaur and ferrothorn (especially with pre-mega magic guard to block leech from something not named celesteela). This choice might struggle with stall combinations like chansey + sableye for example, forcing you to find some way to try to break such cores. On a similar line, Tapu Lele might be cool because it can really be an incredibly threatening breaker, and the priority blocking support it brings could potentially be game changing for one of your swimmers, and might even allow you to get away with only one swimmer depending on how you go about things. These are just some ideas to get the ball rolling - I feel theres too much variablity in your other choices (and I lack personal experience and expertise to say what I think those choices definitely should be) to really point to any one option in general. I hope this helps you going about understanding how you should make such a decision however. I think its also worth noting that dugtrio is also repleaceable if you find something else can bring better support to a new version of this team.

I hope these ideas can help you find the direction you want to take this team in, and I would be extremely interested in the results of your testing if you decide to take up some of my suggestions. Good Luck! :D

 

[NVT_Sart]

Oh damn, the rain god himself FV has spoken :D Let's see if I can maybe still provide some help after that.

As mentioned already, you want your Pelipper to be as bulky as possible, so he can set Rain and/or Defog multiple times per battle and then slow-u-turn out. Another reason why you don't want Speed investment on Pelipper (and why some people have even started reducing IVs in that stat), is because should weather wars become a thing (which is not unlikely, seeing as how Sand fairs very well against the many common Electric threats right now, and how splashable A-Ninetales is on Offense), you will often have two opposing weather setters come in at the same time. In this case, the SLOWER pokemon will set his weather last, meaning your opponent has to use 2 more turns if he wants to remove your rain and bring his own weather in.

Rocks on Duggy is... eh. While it surely does find situations to set them up, it's really unreliable and incosistent, and having Rocks up can provide and offensive team like this with many more kill potential. Apart from the Garchomp that FV has mentioned, another rocker I often see on Rain is A-Marowak, which not only is a strong pokemon its own, but also doubles as another elec resist with Lightning Rod and can set up Rocks far more reliably than Duggy does. The only thing you have to consider here is that his Fire Stab gets reduced in rain.

Mamoswine was often seen as a Lead for Rain Teams in prior generations, but it doesn't seem too appealing right now, considering your options.

One last thing I noticed was that you COULD go u-turn over volt switch on koko, to not lose momentum if your enemy has an A-Marowak himself. Apart from that, really solid rain team :)

 

[Dark Rankor]

Thanks you very much to both of you for the suggestions! I really appreciate the detailed and highly informative thoughts that were given into this.
I will take all the suggestions into considerations and report back after some thorough testing. :)
Before reading the reply of NVT_Sart, I made the following changes: I replaced Koko with LO Kabutops (4 attacks) and Magearna with choice specs Tapu Lele. While it has been very useful in previous troublesome scenarios, I find that matches vs the likes of Genesect and Hoopa-U become extremely lead determined, making me miss the rather reliable defensive backbone, which I had previously, quite a lot, as the previously mentioned threats combined with likes of Tapu Fini make it quite challenging to overpower them.
Now, a team cannot possibly beat all of the huge number of pokemon in the current metagame and rumors of upcoming bans are swirling about.
I'll certainly try to implement some of the suggestions made by SART and test around some more, as I can see Alolan marowak being a very useful addition.
Thank you once more to both of you! :)

 

[busyguy]

Hey man, FV covered a lot already and I have a small comment:

If you change Magearna for Heatran, you cover Grass types like Venusaur, Amoonguss and steel types like Ferro or Celesteela a lot better. A set with max SpA max speed outspeeds Scizor too. Magma Storm + Solar Beam in tandem with Grassium-Z traps bulky waters like Tapu Fini which are a huge nuisance to Kingdra and eliminates them from the game. That also opens a possibility to run Rocks on Heatran, that way you can run an other coverage move on Dugtrio, for example Screech to trap and get rid of Chansey, or Memento to prepare a sweep with Scizor. I prefer SD on Scizor as an added wincondition, since Peli has Roost, but that's up to you. On Tapu Koko you can try out Brave Bird with a mixed set, that way break Venuaur and Amoonguss more easily. Roost is also an option to deal with Celesteela better, as it Leech Seeds Heatran, Kingda and Pelipper on the switchin, following it up with Protect, wearing your team down, so you can heal it. Good luck !

 

[Dark Rankor]

Grassium Z Heatran sounds like a very interesting and useful addition to the team, as I found Tapu Fini to be the primary nuisance of the remade team in it's current state. Thank you very much for the suggestion! What I'll be trying is the follwoing:

Spoiler

​

Peligod (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost​

Heatran @ Grassium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Solar Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt/ Flash Cannon / Earth Power​

Noot Noot (Kingdra) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Ice Beam

Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
​

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Thunder
- Focus Blast
​

DoesItBuggYou? (Scizor-Mega) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 16 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
- Roost
​

Importable

Peligod (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost

Heatran @ Grassium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Solar Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power

Noot Noot (Kingdra) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Ice Beam

Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Superpower
- Knock Off

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Thunder
- Focus Blast

DoesItBuggYou? (Scizor-Mega) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 16 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
- Roost

EDIT:
After roughly 100 Battles with this new team, I must say I am very content with the way it runs now and immensely grateful for the helpful suggestions. :)

 

[Brody Galloway]

Hey guys!
I've been playing Pokémon for an incredibly long time and thought about building my first rain team. I've got drizzle Politoed, swift swim Kabutops and Ludicolo, and I'm not sure if I should do mega Scizor, or just regular Scizor and use the mega on someone else. Can you help me fill in the team slots? Thanks!

 

[PokeDa]

Hey man nice team!
I really love rain teams because high speed and high output help me win within 20 turns many times.
In my mind ferrothorn is a hateful guy. Dugtrio with reversal might 2hko ferro in low hp and tapu lele in your new team can give a crit hit to ferro as well. Also you can try another super star pheromosa in S/M rain teams.

Pheromosa @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Poison Jab

U-turn is so helpful when your rain system doesnt work well (when Kingdra/Kabutops
cannot make practical effect.)
Hjk ohko ferro easily and you can just click hjk at the very beginning. Orb u-turn hits grass-type pokemons super effective as a result ut towards grass-type pokemon like tangrowth is harmless usually and help you back to your rain system soon.

In oras ou I try defog mega scizor and find that it worked few times.Having played several games in sm I feel pelliper is not as defensive as I imagined and defog cost one rain turn in vain. 0 SpA Hurricane guarantee 2hko 252 Hp 252 SpD Mega Venusaur.

Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
- Hurricane
- Roost
- U-turn
- Scald

Hope Hurricane helps ur team. Specs pelliper is a good choice if your team doesnt require long rain turns.(with less than two swift swim pokemons)

Hope my suggestions work and wish you a higher rank in showdown!

 

[Malicious Account]

Hey guys!
I've been playing Pokémon for an incredibly long time and thought about building my first rain team. I've got drizzle Politoed, swift swim Kabutops and Ludicolo, and I'm not sure if I should do mega Scizor, or just regular Scizor and use the mega on someone else. Can you help me fill in the team slots? Thanks!

Some pokes to consider:

Tapu Koko to beat bulky water-type pokemon like Tapu Fini and Slowbro.
Dugtrio to beat electric types that threaten your water types.
Pelipper over Politoed. Pivot + Recovery is great and it's bulkier than most think.
Mega Scizor in tandem with Koko is great, as you get a good Volturn core.
Heatran is great to counter Grass types and with Grassium Z it can lure and kill bulky waters as well.
Ludicolo does not help you too much TBH. Kingdra is better in general as a special sweeper unless you need a bulky water check which you have if you picked Koko or Lure Heatran.

 

[Brody Galloway]

Some pokes to consider:

Tapu Koko to beat bulky water-type pokemon like Tapu Fini and Slowbro.
Dugtrio to beat electric types that threaten your water types.
Pelipper over Politoed. Pivot + Recovery is great and it's bulkier than most think.
Mega Scizor in tandem with Koko is great, as you get a good Volturn core.
Heatran is great to counter Grass types and with Grassium Z it can lure and kill bulky waters as well.
Ludicolo does not help you too much TBH. Kingdra is better in general as a special sweeper unless you need a bulky water check which you have if you picked Koko or Lure Heatran.

Appreciate it. Kabutops is still a go though, right? And if I were to go with ludicolo could I also use Kingdra and have 2 solid special sweepers?