Introduction:
I've been testing this team for most of today now, and while there are a lot of issues I do believe it has some potential so I was hoping that some insight from the smogonites could help me out.
Teambuilding
Kingdra has always been one of my favorite pokemon, and I was impressed by its sweeping potential in the rain. I felt that Magnezone was pretty much a perfect counterpart since it could pretty effortlessly get rid of defensive threats like Scizor, Skarmory, Foretress, and most notably Ferrothorn.
With Kingdra being relatively frail, I felt like she needed some pretty heavy support, so I went with Jirachi to provide healing through Wish, and paralysis through Thunder Wave, giving Kingdra the ability to outspeed it's opponents and get that critical Rain Dance in order to start it's sweep. Kingdra can also switch into any fire attacks against both Jirachi and Magnezone thanks to it's 4x Fire resistance.
Having two Steel types on the team adds some nasty Ground/Fighting weaknessess, so I added in a SubDisable Gengar who has immunities to both, can revenge kill, and punish the opponent's choicelocked mons.
Next I figured that the team required a big physical wall that could handle strong STAB water and electric attacks, as well as some form of entry hazards to aid Kingdra's sweep. I went with Swampert who can also wreck most annoying dragon types + gliscor with his icebeam.
I went with Conkeldurr for the last slot as he adds some important stuff like STAB priority Mach Punch, additional bulk, and the ability to soak status effects thanks to Guts/Drain Punch
Analysis
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 240 HP/ 216 Def/ 52 SpD
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Scald
Somewhat common Lead Swampert set. It's bulk, typing and coverage allow it to stand up to a lot of common leads in the metagame, and SR is basically a staple for almost every team as far as I can tell.
It's usually a safe choice to run as my lead, if a bit predictable. I will sometimes switch it out for a more appropriate mon if I see them running something like lead Ferrothorn or Celebi.
Scald is used as a secondary STAB to soften up physical attackers and facilitate a possible Kingdra switch-in.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 HP/ 224 SpD/ 32 Spe
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Protect
Pretty Standard supportive Jirachi build. Paraflinchhax has saved my ass more times than I can count, and Wish has been incredibly useful for supporting the other team members. Jirachi is essentially my Special wall, and usually comes out before Kingdra to get in some paralysis so she has an easier time setting up. Due to it's typing it tends to draw out either fire or ground attacks, so I usually switch into Kingdra or Gengar from here.
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Mild
EVs: 80 Atk/ 252 SpA/ 176 Spe
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Waterfall
I haven't seen this build around too much but I thought it was very interesting when I read about it, so I wanted to try it out. It's essentially a mixed sweeper set for Kingdra that requires a single turn of Rain Dance set-up to activate Swift Swim, and boost the STAB water damage. Draco Meteor and Hydro Pump provide insanely powerful neutral coverage, while Waterfall is a strong physical STAB that allows Kingdra to circumvent the S.Atk drop from Draco Meteor a bit.
Rain Dance, when played cleverly, can completely screw over Sun/SS reliant teams, especially if their Hippowdon/Ttar/Ninetails has already been taken care of. Kingdra also LOVES to play against Drizzle teams as it doesn't even need the single turn to activate Rain Dance.
Unfortunately, between Entry Hazards and Life Orb recoil, Kingdra also feels like she's made out of wet tissue paper, since it's happened more than once she got OHKO'd by a stray, unboosted Earthquake.
Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Def/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Substitute
- Disable
With it's crucial fighting and ground immunities, Gengar addresses some of the glaring weaknessess of this team. While the build is a bit more supportive than a typical choice set, it still has very high speed, and perfect neutral coverage in the form of Shadow Ball/Focus Blast.
I also noticed that not many people I encounter are used to the SubDisable build so they often lose at least one of their mons to it before they wisen up.
Magnezone @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magnet Pull
Nature: Timid
EVs: 40 HP/ 252 Atk/ 216 Spe
- Hidden Power Fire
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Substitute
Pretty much the perfect counterpart to Kingdra, as it completely breaks Ferrothorn, which is the only pokemon that can will Kingdra effectively. The Air Balloon is pretty much a necessity because of the overall ground weakness on this team. It also nicely as a secondary sweeper, but also flat-out hardcounters strong metagame threats like Scizor, Forretress, Skarmory and Ferrothorn. Substitute blocks annoying status effects like Thunder Wave, TB and Flash Cannon are strong STABs for additional coverage.
Conkeldurr @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
Nature: Brave
EVs: 120 HP/ 252 Atk/ 136 SpD
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Payback
Conkeldurr is a much needed Stallbreaker. It counters many specially defensive walls as it doesn't particularly care about being affected by status, so it can essentially Bulk Up and Drain Punch as much as it likes. It also has very decent bulk, so it can somewhat function as a secondary physical wall.
Threats & Other Issues
I've been testing this team for most of today now, and while there are a lot of issues I do believe it has some potential so I was hoping that some insight from the smogonites could help me out.
Teambuilding
Kingdra has always been one of my favorite pokemon, and I was impressed by its sweeping potential in the rain. I felt that Magnezone was pretty much a perfect counterpart since it could pretty effortlessly get rid of defensive threats like Scizor, Skarmory, Foretress, and most notably Ferrothorn.
With Kingdra being relatively frail, I felt like she needed some pretty heavy support, so I went with Jirachi to provide healing through Wish, and paralysis through Thunder Wave, giving Kingdra the ability to outspeed it's opponents and get that critical Rain Dance in order to start it's sweep. Kingdra can also switch into any fire attacks against both Jirachi and Magnezone thanks to it's 4x Fire resistance.
Having two Steel types on the team adds some nasty Ground/Fighting weaknessess, so I added in a SubDisable Gengar who has immunities to both, can revenge kill, and punish the opponent's choicelocked mons.
Next I figured that the team required a big physical wall that could handle strong STAB water and electric attacks, as well as some form of entry hazards to aid Kingdra's sweep. I went with Swampert who can also wreck most annoying dragon types + gliscor with his icebeam.
I went with Conkeldurr for the last slot as he adds some important stuff like STAB priority Mach Punch, additional bulk, and the ability to soak status effects thanks to Guts/Drain Punch
Analysis
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 240 HP/ 216 Def/ 52 SpD
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Scald
Somewhat common Lead Swampert set. It's bulk, typing and coverage allow it to stand up to a lot of common leads in the metagame, and SR is basically a staple for almost every team as far as I can tell.
It's usually a safe choice to run as my lead, if a bit predictable. I will sometimes switch it out for a more appropriate mon if I see them running something like lead Ferrothorn or Celebi.
Scald is used as a secondary STAB to soften up physical attackers and facilitate a possible Kingdra switch-in.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 HP/ 224 SpD/ 32 Spe
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Protect
Pretty Standard supportive Jirachi build. Paraflinchhax has saved my ass more times than I can count, and Wish has been incredibly useful for supporting the other team members. Jirachi is essentially my Special wall, and usually comes out before Kingdra to get in some paralysis so she has an easier time setting up. Due to it's typing it tends to draw out either fire or ground attacks, so I usually switch into Kingdra or Gengar from here.
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Mild
EVs: 80 Atk/ 252 SpA/ 176 Spe
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Waterfall
I haven't seen this build around too much but I thought it was very interesting when I read about it, so I wanted to try it out. It's essentially a mixed sweeper set for Kingdra that requires a single turn of Rain Dance set-up to activate Swift Swim, and boost the STAB water damage. Draco Meteor and Hydro Pump provide insanely powerful neutral coverage, while Waterfall is a strong physical STAB that allows Kingdra to circumvent the S.Atk drop from Draco Meteor a bit.
Rain Dance, when played cleverly, can completely screw over Sun/SS reliant teams, especially if their Hippowdon/Ttar/Ninetails has already been taken care of. Kingdra also LOVES to play against Drizzle teams as it doesn't even need the single turn to activate Rain Dance.
Unfortunately, between Entry Hazards and Life Orb recoil, Kingdra also feels like she's made out of wet tissue paper, since it's happened more than once she got OHKO'd by a stray, unboosted Earthquake.
Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Def/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Substitute
- Disable
With it's crucial fighting and ground immunities, Gengar addresses some of the glaring weaknessess of this team. While the build is a bit more supportive than a typical choice set, it still has very high speed, and perfect neutral coverage in the form of Shadow Ball/Focus Blast.
I also noticed that not many people I encounter are used to the SubDisable build so they often lose at least one of their mons to it before they wisen up.
Magnezone @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magnet Pull
Nature: Timid
EVs: 40 HP/ 252 Atk/ 216 Spe
- Hidden Power Fire
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Substitute
Pretty much the perfect counterpart to Kingdra, as it completely breaks Ferrothorn, which is the only pokemon that can will Kingdra effectively. The Air Balloon is pretty much a necessity because of the overall ground weakness on this team. It also nicely as a secondary sweeper, but also flat-out hardcounters strong metagame threats like Scizor, Forretress, Skarmory and Ferrothorn. Substitute blocks annoying status effects like Thunder Wave, TB and Flash Cannon are strong STABs for additional coverage.
Conkeldurr @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
Nature: Brave
EVs: 120 HP/ 252 Atk/ 136 SpD
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Payback
Conkeldurr is a much needed Stallbreaker. It counters many specially defensive walls as it doesn't particularly care about being affected by status, so it can essentially Bulk Up and Drain Punch as much as it likes. It also has very decent bulk, so it can somewhat function as a secondary physical wall.
Threats & Other Issues
Excadrill
Countering Sand has proven quite a bit trickier than I expected. My options against Excadrill with sand up are unfortunately quite limited, and usually come down to baiting out an EQ with Magnezone, getting an HP fire off while he destroys the balloon, sacrificing him, and finishing it off with Conkeldurrs priority Mach Punch. It's definitely preventable, but it requires some careful switching and Rain Dance abuse to ruin their weather.
Garchomp
Both the SD and the Scarfchomp variety tend to give me trouble. Without Rain up, Chomp easily outruns Kingdra (and Swampert, for that matter), and his moves cover pretty much all of my team. It's often a crapshot on whether I can get off an ice beam without getting OHKO'd by Outrage.
Entry Hazards
I usually end up doing quite a few switches to distribute Wish Support and switch into the right counters. Especially Kingdra, being the main attacker, and having a somewhat weaker HP stat, suffers from Entry Hazards a lot and gets OHKO'd by many unboosted neutral attacks after SR/Spikes damage.
Defensive Fighting Coverage
With only Gengar being immune to Fighting, something like Bulk Up Scrafty can often tear right through this team. I would love to fit in a poison heal Gliscor with ice fang (Additional coverage against Garchomp, immunity to Earthquake, counter to Excadrill, Fighting resistance), but I can't think of anything I could take out for it.
Countering Sand has proven quite a bit trickier than I expected. My options against Excadrill with sand up are unfortunately quite limited, and usually come down to baiting out an EQ with Magnezone, getting an HP fire off while he destroys the balloon, sacrificing him, and finishing it off with Conkeldurrs priority Mach Punch. It's definitely preventable, but it requires some careful switching and Rain Dance abuse to ruin their weather.
Garchomp
Both the SD and the Scarfchomp variety tend to give me trouble. Without Rain up, Chomp easily outruns Kingdra (and Swampert, for that matter), and his moves cover pretty much all of my team. It's often a crapshot on whether I can get off an ice beam without getting OHKO'd by Outrage.
Entry Hazards
I usually end up doing quite a few switches to distribute Wish Support and switch into the right counters. Especially Kingdra, being the main attacker, and having a somewhat weaker HP stat, suffers from Entry Hazards a lot and gets OHKO'd by many unboosted neutral attacks after SR/Spikes damage.
Defensive Fighting Coverage
With only Gengar being immune to Fighting, something like Bulk Up Scrafty can often tear right through this team. I would love to fit in a poison heal Gliscor with ice fang (Additional coverage against Garchomp, immunity to Earthquake, counter to Excadrill, Fighting resistance), but I can't think of anything I could take out for it.