VGC Poliwrath Rain Team

[bloou]

Introduction​

Hello, everybody! Seeing the rising of the 'Rain meta', I decided to dive into an old favourite of mine: Poliwrath! I feel like I'm close to something good here, at least I've been having a lot of fun, catching people completely off-guard! Team building process follows the same order as above :)

The Team​

Poliwrath @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Waterfall
- Focus Punch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
​

I always thought Poliwrath had a lot of potential. I went with a Choice Scarf because I realized this guy can be a threat even outside of Rain. It now outspeeds all 100-tier (e.g. Kartana, Mega-Gross). The wide movepool brings good coverage with Earthquake and Rock Slide, they are not STABs so meh. I considered different attacks such as Poison Jab, but couldn't make it quite work. Poliwrath 100% OHKOs Kartana and Ferrothorn with Focus Punch and can 2HKO pretty much everything else in the game. Waterfall is surprisingly good as a semi-defensive tool, 20% flinch is nothing to scoff at.

Pelipper @ Focus Sash
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Hurricane
- Protect
- Scald
​

Not much to talk about here. Standard rain setter, also brings Tailwind for further speed control. Pairs up nice with Earthquake

Incineroar @ Figy Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 4 Def / 124 SpD / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Taunt
​

Once again, another staple in the meta. Fake out and Intimidate give a bit of extra protection to our threats. I am not 100% sold on this boy, as I don't think I need the Fire coverage too much, but nevertheless, Taunt it is performing well and Taunt is my only protection against Trick Room.

Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect
​

My main problem until now was the Fairy type. Nidoqueen straight out murders those little Fairies. Also great against Mega-Gross. Queen over King because I judged I needed a bit more defenses on this team.

Cresselia (F) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Icy Wind
- Psyshock
- Ally Switch
- Helping Hand
​

Cresselia adds another Speed Control in Icy Wind and works as a great support for both Poliwrath and Nidoqueen. I am not sure yet whether I should run Psyshock or Psychic though. Also pairs up nice with Earthquake.

Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Protect
​

Last spot is 100% up for debate. I felt like a needed a bit more coverage against water types. It is also nice to have a form of terrain control, I think. I went with Thunder over Thunderbolt because of the rain, but now I'm not entirely sure if this is wise, as I often find myself without rain. Volt switching on of the other threats once the Speed is secured FeelsReallyGoodMan.

Conclusion​

It is far from perfect, but I feel I'm slowly making progress. I don't know, there is something about Poliwrath that makes me think it can be decent, I know it has a lot of weaknesses and that Fighting is not necessarily the best type, but so far I'm proving (to myself at least) that he is worth considering. So what you guys think? How far off am I?

Importable

Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect

Cresselia (F) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Icy Wind
- Psyshock
- Ally Switch
- Helping Hand

Incineroar @ Figy Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 4 Def / 124 SpD / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Taunt

Pelipper @ Focus Sash
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Hurricane
- Protect
- Scald

Poliwrath @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Waterfall
- Focus Punch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Protect

 

[SlickL7690]

I appreciate you putting yourself out there and trying new things. That being said, I'm not sure how much hope this team has. It seems that nearly everything Poliwrath can do can be done by Mega-Swampert, just better. Swampert only has weakness to Grass, which means that he has amazing bulk against a lot of the meta, and straight up immunity to Electricity. Why isn't he run that much anymore then? It's because Kartana straight up hard counters it. Poliwrath has less bulk and less attack, which means that not only does Kartana counter the team, every Tapu counters Poliwrath, hard. It's a physical attacker, so Intimidate invalidates it from doing any work due to it's lesser attack. Focus Punch is not viable in this meta, period. The only way to use it is with Substitute, and even then you have 2 Pokemon on your ass at once, trying to break your substitute. Run Close Combat instead since you have literally 0 chance of tanking a super effective hit. Outside of rain this Pokemon is barely faster than Tapu Koko without a Scarf, and there isn't any hope of OHKOing Tapu Koko outside of rain. Run a Choice Band, if anything, to patch up Poliwrath's attack. Poison Jab needs to be ran instead of Earthquake to take care of Bulu, and maybe, just maybe, hit any other Fairy threats. Not to mention that weather teams who rely on weather die hard to any other kind of weather. Mega Tyranitar and Mega Charizard mega evolve, which means that a you will have to wait 2 turns to switch into a rain user, which is not great for such a bad type combination in VGC. Switching in is also bad for the same reasons.

As for the rest of the team there's decent synergy around the rain. Incineroar suffers from rain, but that's not a reason to not keep it off your team, just play around it. No need to really run 2 Z-Moves so give Cresselia Leftovers or a recovery berry. Also you don't have many good pivots, maybe invest in some bulkier Pokemon in the back. Ferrothorn appreciates rain.

tl;dr
Replace Poliwrath with Mega-Swampert! Otherwise follow the tips I give to make Poliwrath less awful. Maybe adjust the EVs so that he's still fast under rain but a bit of HP investment too. Tread carefully around Trick Room teams also.