SV OU THE RAINY DAY MOB: ft. np + trailblaze pikachu- my first rmt

[ocari~]

Hey yall. I've been lurking the forums and playing a little bit of Showdown, and I've built a team I think is pretty fun. It's a rain offense team featuring, as the title says, a nasty plot trailblaze setup sweeping pikachu. I'm a relatively new player, though I played a bit back in gen 8 (peaked at around 1400, so not great), so I would really like some advice. Let's get into it!

The Team + Pokepaste:

# 1 : P I K A C H U
Scrappy Patrick (Pikachu) @ Light Ball
Ability: Lightning Rod
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Thunder
- Trailblaze
- Surf

Ah yes, Pikachu. GameFreak's second favorite Pokemon, right after Charizard. I really, really wanted to make Pikachu work, and then I remembered that light ball exists. So here we are. EV's are normal, maxed Sp.Atk to hit as hard as this little guy can, and maxed speed just to make sure it can at least go first in some situations. I chose a hasty nature because really Pikachu is not taking any hits whatsoever, and squeezing a little extra damage out of trailblaze can and has made a difference in beating certain mons. Tera flying because maybe sometimes you bait both an eq from Tusk/Glimmora and somehow a Thunderbolt from Iron Valiant or other electric types. Tera Ghost could be used to block Espeed or Mach Punch. Moves are simple: Nasty Plot to boost Pikachu's Sp.Atk to as high as possible (it can reach absurdly high after just one good prediction), Thunder because first of all Pikachu needs all the damage it can get, second of all because you can and will hax people with a paralyze, and lastly because of its synergy with rain. Light ball is literally the only item you can actually use on Pikachu, no needed explanation there.

# 2 : K i n g a m b i t
Don Emilio (Kingambit) @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD /
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Kowtow Cleave
- Taunt/Thunder Wave/Swords Dance

This mon shits on Espathra, basically. After the pure seething anger and rage I felt getting swept by Orthworm + Espathra, I decided to run Sp.Def Kingambit. This lives a surprising amount of Dazzling Gleams, and if they get scared of iron head and don't tera, you just click Kowtow Cleave if they're behind a sub then Sucker Punch. The EVs are simple special defense and attack, and I didn't find an adamant nature necessary to score any kills. The moves are also simple: double stab, priority, and either taunt to cripple set up, TWave to cripple opposing threats, or just swords dance. I personally run Defiant + Taunt because I've been seeing a decent amount of Masquerain and Grimmsnarl, but Supreme Overlord is also very useful in sweeping the endgame. Importantly, it runs Tera Ghost to help deal with DNite.

# 3 : P e l i p p e r

Gourmand Perry (Pelipper) (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Surf
- Hurricane
- Roost
- U-turn

The expert at making anything wet at any time, The Gourmand Pelipper. It really has one main purpose: setting rain. However, It can actually do other things than clicking u-turn or being sac'ed. EVs are standard from the Smogon set. Surf and Hurricane are two powerful STAB moves that give Pelipper a fighting chance in some scenarios where it needs to kill something. Roost helps increase longevity and allows me to keep rain up throughout a game. U-turn lets me keep momentum and switch into Pikachu (sometimes) and Floatzel (most of the time) Speaking of Floatzel...

# 4 : F l o a t z e l

Shady Granté (Floatzel) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wave Crash
- Liquidation
- Ice Spinner
- Aqua Jet

Legends speak of a tall, orange behemoth strong enough to destroy the toughest of Toxapex, the most suspicious Amoongus, the most idiotic Dondozos, and the Rotom-W's with the longest warranties. Shady Granté H. Floatzel is this man. (Usually). This thing does not need any coverage whatsoever. It clicks Wave Crash on your Pex, on your Amoongus, and on your Rotom-W with utter impunity and 2HKO's all of them. Only mon it struggles with is a +1 Dozo or Tera Water Garganacl, which is dealt with by your choice of Pikachu Thunderbolt or Gholdengo Thunder (unless unaware ignores light ball for some reason, dunno if it does but at that point just use Gholdengo.) Other moves are there for when those water resist walls are gone and dealt with, and you can either click liquidation to destroy everything in sight, or sometimes click aqua jet when out of rain or against a weakened mon with a priority move of their own. Not much else to be said, it just destroys.

# 5 : G h o l d e n g o

Big Gay Giovanni (Gholdengo) @ Covert Cloak/Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Nasty Plot/Trick
- Thunder/Focus Blast

Good ol' Gholdengo. A simple mon it is, running Covert Cloak and Thunder to destroy Garganacls no matter their set or Choice Scarf to exterminate Iron Valiants and other miscellaneous mons that could pose a threat if rain isn't around to boost Floatzel or I suffer from a skill issue and Floatzel dies. EVs are standard: maximum special attacking power and maximum speed. Moveset is also very elementary: Shadow Ball and Make it Rain are incredible STAB moves, Nasty Plot or Trick depending on your item ensure pure nuking or the crippling of a defensive mon respectively, and there is a choice between Thunder for the theme of rain as well as to deal with the tera water curse Garganacl set and curse Dondozo I have been seeing lately, or Tera Fighting Focus Blast to eliminate Chien-Pao, Tera Normal DNite assuming only +1 Spe, and Kingambit.

# 6 : C L O D S I R E
Muddy Carlo (Clodsire) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Yawn/Toxic
- Recover

Found that my team was getting pretty much nuked by opposing waters and even rain teams, and i needed another electric immunity, so I decided on using a Water Absorb Clodsire to deal with that. Quaquavals see this thing, try to aqua step it thinking unaware and trying to just power through, and end up getting yawned and forced out or toxiced and put on a timer. The EVs are simple pure defensive EVs. Heavy-Duty Boots lets me switch in my clod without having to worry about hazards, though I have sometimes run leftovers. Stealth Rock lets me capitalize on switches from Yawn or when the opponent clicks a water move and I don't want to commit to a switch into another Pokemon. Earthquake is a strong STAB attack, Yawn or Toxic can force out annoying pokemon or put sweepers on a timer, and recover assures longevity.
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Threats:
1. Dragonite: If this thing is allowed to DDance more than even once, say goodbye. Best thing you can do is go Tera Ghost on Kingambit and try to TWave or Taunt it, then spam Kowtow Cleave and pray, or hope RNGsus lets you hit Focus Blast on Gholdengo.
2. Baxcalibur: Same thing. Surprisingly, it can actually live a Wave Crash sometimes and OHKO back. This honestly made me think of running Def. invested Kingambit to stop it.
3. Chien-Pao: Banded Chien is just such a powerful force: Ice shard can clean you up late game if you don't conserve your Kingambit, and otherwise it can demolish this team.
4. Breloom. This team doesn't have any form of status absorber or Spore absorber, so you really have to make a call on which mon gets put to sleep for the rest of the game. I experimented with putting chesto berry on certain mons, but it doesn't work very well at all.
Other Thoughts-
I intended from the beginning to use Orthworm in some way shape or form to get a sub for Pikachu, but in the end nothing came of it. Breloom clicks spore and denies the sub, and that happened way too many times to justify its otherwise useless existence. This team also struggles with hazards a lot, but I don't know what defogger or spinner would fit. Great Tusk is just a mon I don't like, Iron Treads seems astronomically mid on this team, and I don't know what mon (other than Pika but that's an integral part of the build) to replace with Corvi. I actually did try Defog Scizor instead of Kingambit for a bit, but it seemed a little iffy, maybe just because of the set I chose. It might work, but I would have to do a bit more testing.
Conclusion-
So... yeah! This is my first attempt at making a somewhat unique team in this gen, and I'd love some advice on how to make it work better!

 

[SirSly720312]

Why did you use Floatzel over Barraskewda? Yes, it does have less bulk and misses out on the base power of wave crash, but it has higher attack and speed and more coverage. On spinners/defoggers, just know that if you don't like the play style, then don't use them. Just do you. But you could go for Quaquaval, bc it gets rapid spin + three other moves. You can slap an expert belt or life orb on and you have a pretty good spinner. Otherwise good job!

 

[ocari~]

Why did you use Floatzel over Barraskewda? Yes, it does have less bulk and misses out on the base power of wave crash, but it has higher attack and speed and more coverage. On spinners/defoggers, just know that if you don't like the play style, then don't use them. Just do you. But you could go for Quaquaval, bc it gets rapid spin + three other moves. You can slap an expert belt or life orb on and you have a pretty good spinner. Otherwise good job!

Honestly, Barraskewda was just a mon I forgot about. Its coverage could actually be useful, so I'll test it out. Thanks for the other suggestions!

 

[Soosthemoose]

Pikachu is…incredibly hard to use in any meta, given how lackluster it is. However, since this team is build around it, I can’t really ask you to replace it, but I think that the trailblaze set is way too gimmicky, and most of the time, you probably won’t be able to set it up. Instead of the set you are currently running, I think thunder, surf, volt switch, and nasty plot/fake out is a better fit for the team, simply because rain teams are all about momentum, and volt switch is a great move on any rain team. If you do want to make this team a bit more viable, another electric type option would be kilowattrel, but Pikachu is a pretty cool guy. As for the rest of the team, it looks solid, but I would make a couple of changes. First of all, I would switch Clodsire for amoongus. As you said, you struggle with breloom and dragonite, and amoongus can check the former, and spore the latter, especially if rain is weakening a fire punch. Amoongus still has the water resist that you are looking for, while patching up your teams weaknesses better. However, with this change, you have 0 hazards, or hazard removal, which you yourself said you were struggling with. I would suggest great tusk or iron treads, despite the fact that you said you didn’t want either, they are both incredible mons. Tera water defensive great tusk specifically helps you deal with Chien pao and baxcalibur, although it isn’t a complete check to either. It can also set up rocks, which greatly benefits floatzel and especially Pikachu, who may lack enough raw power to get the kills he needs on bulky waters like pex. I would suggest you replace him for gholdengo. While this does mean that your Tera water garganacl matchup becomes worse, you do have Pikachu to fall back on, and his thunder should be able to take care of it if you position well. Test out these changes, and have fun!

 

[ocari~]

Pikachu is…incredibly hard to use in any meta, given how lackluster it is. However, since this team is build around it, I can’t really ask you to replace it, but I think that the trailblaze set is way too gimmicky, and most of the time, you probably won’t be able to set it up. Instead of the set you are currently running, I think thunder, surf, volt switch, and nasty plot/fake out is a better fit for the team, simply because rain teams are all about momentum, and volt switch is a great move on any rain team. If you do want to make this team a bit more viable, another electric type option would be kilowattrel, but Pikachu is a pretty cool guy. As for the rest of the team, it looks solid, but I would make a couple of changes. First of all, I would switch Clodsire for amoongus. As you said, you struggle with breloom and dragonite, and amoongus can check the former, and spore the latter, especially if rain is weakening a fire punch. Amoongus still has the water resist that you are looking for, while patching up your teams weaknesses better. However, with this change, you have 0 hazards, or hazard removal, which you yourself said you were struggling with. I would suggest great tusk or iron treads, despite the fact that you said you didn’t want either, they are both incredible mons. Tera water defensive great tusk specifically helps you deal with Chien pao and baxcalibur, although it isn’t a complete check to either. It can also set up rocks, which greatly benefits floatzel and especially Pikachu, who may lack enough raw power to get the kills he needs on bulky waters like pex. I would suggest you replace him for gholdengo. While this does mean that your Tera water garganacl matchup becomes worse, you do have Pikachu to fall back on, and his thunder should be able to take care of it if you position well. Test out these changes, and have fun!

Thank you so much for the tips! When I was building this team, I did consider Amoongus, and agree it could be a better Pokemon on this team than Clodsire, but just chose Water Absorb clod because I thought it was funny and won me a few ladder games because of the surprise factor. Yeah, I did know Pikachu was probably just less good than Kilowattrel, but I mean, it's Pikachu lol. Just a cool dude. As for hazards, I've been personally experimenting with bulky defog Scizor, rapid spin Quaq, and as you said, Great Tusk, which I am warming up to, especially with that Tera Water idea you've given me. I am feeling the drawbacks of using Pikachu though, without Gholdengo to fall back on Pika gets OHKO'd by salt cure and struggles to OHKO with Thunder. Pex, thankfully, is being dealt with by clod or in some variants I've made, Great Tusk. Thank you again!

 

[Zsedqam]

Sorry for posting this 11 days after the original post I was waiting for the chien-pao ban. The original idea of the team with rain & Pikachu is pretty but I wanted to get as high ladder as possible with this team so the first change I made to the team was replace pikachu with a better better rain abusers kilowattrel. some other changes I made to the team was 1. Make gholdengo air balloon instead of Cc (covert cloak) so it's much less vulnerable to hazards and not have to be as paranoid when predicting spin on mons like tusk but also wall dragonite's with the popular espeed, eq, roost set 2. Made kingambit more defensive by investing more in its hp evs rather than attack and replaced taunt with kowtow cleave because mainly gambit is to slow to make use of it. 3. Finally out lord and Savior clodsire. Your reasoning on yawn makes sense but toxic just seems better than me. Also I might want to consider running spikes over rocks because since we already have gholdengo we might as well abuse it. As mentioned by soosthemoose this team doesn't have any hazard removal and I've played many games were the opponent we do anything to get those hazards up, some of the better players can take a look at the team and immediately know that there's nothing that's able to remove hazards. Even so hazards have not been as much as a problem as I initially thought. Overall I had lots of fun playing with this team, keep up the good work!

Modified team: https://pokepast.es/e9554460eb31e55f
If you were wondering I was able to hit the 1600s with this team but hit a road block and couldn't push to the 1700s but that's cuz I'm bad bet a better player could easily.