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Introduction
This team came out of the thought that rain teams are actually quite underrated in this snow-heavy meta. So, along with wanting to try out torterra and some new additions, this team was formed to show this concept and counter the hail teams running around. It is mainly a hyper-offense team but does have some defensive backbone with Cresselia, Politoed and Brambleghast (kinda), though these pokemon can still pack a punch. The main drawback of this team is that sun can be a bit difficult and it can be broken down through careful play. However, if the opponent slips up, this team can quickly snowball out of control.
The Team
Torterra @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Shell Armor
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Earthquake
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Blast
I am very happy that torterra got a move it always deserved, shell smash.
Anyways, I wanted to try out the big turtle and I gotta say, it has so far been amazing. In most matches it has been in, it has either KO'd most of the enemy team or it has left such a sizeable hole that the rest of the team can easily clean up. Tera Rock was chosen as it is quite good both offensively and defensively. Offensively because it powers up Rock Blast further to nab important Ko's, and defensively because it is resistant to fire and flying and neutral to ice and bug, which are torterra's weaknesses. Tera water could also be used if you want to have an overall better defensive typing. Shell Smash is mandatory and after one turn of set-up, it can outrun Jolly Dragapult by one point. From here, it can threaten to KO the entire tier and only pokemon that have set up a speed boost (like Jolly Dragon Dance Dragonite and Booster Energy Iron Valiant) can outspeed it. Of course, it drops its defenses for this boost but only ice shard can threaten a one hit KO, with most other priority only doing 50-60%. Earthquake was chosen over Headlong Rush to not have to end the sweep early in fear of potential revenge kill from the defensive drops. Earthquake is still plenty powerful and can KO most pokemon that aren't resistant or immune to it. Bullet Seed was also chosen over Wood Hammer as with loaded dice, it can be more powerful than Hammer while not receiving any recoil. Honestly, loaded dice is most of the time the superior option as life orb deals too much self damage to torterra to be worthwhile. Finally, Rock Blast allows pesky flying types to be destroyed and can deal significant damage to Corviknight, the main answer to this pokemon. Overall, Torterra is an amazing pokemon and even though it will most likely drop (
) it will still be amazing in OU and one of my favourite pokemon to use.
Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Trailblaze
- Ice Shard
- Ice Spinner
WOOOO! WEAVILE GOT KNOCK OFF BACK!!!! REJOICE FURRIES!! (Ok for real, this is amazing but I am scared that triple axel may come back. Vietnam War flashbacks occur
) Anyways, this was a pokemon that I wanted to try on the ladder and see how it is now doing with the re-introduction of one of its most powerful moves. I gotta say, it was pretty great. Tera Ghost is an excellent choice as it turns its 4x fighting weakness into an immunity and can also help against rapid spin users. Knock Off is the main move here as it is super spammable and gives it nice dark stab. This can cripple multiple defensive pokemon and also limits the amount of turns that aurora veil can be up on a-ninetales, meaning it has to switch in more often and forcing the opposing player to make uncomfortable decisions. Trailblaze is honestly more of a filler move and can be replaced with either taunt to deny any setup from the opponent, brick break to destroy any screens and also deal with ice, dark and steel types or swords dance to threaten a sweep as well. However, trailblaze allows it to outrun choice scarf user if it is given the opportunity, which this team can struggle a bit with. Ice shard is nice priority and can help against faster pokemon or any faster dragon types. Finally, Ice Spinner is nice Ice STAB to deal massive damage if the opponent doesn't have an item or if it would KO an opponent when Knock Off doesn't. Overall, Weavile is quite amazing on this team and while I see a few people talking about it, I think it is heavily underrated as it is amazing in most matchups and can at worst permanently cripple an important pokemon or deal massive damage to a single pokemon.Brambleghast @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Poltergeist
- Spikes
- Seed Bomb
Not going to lie, Brambleghast is most likely the pokemon on this team that is the most replacable. However, it's main job is to remove hazards from my side of the field and from the games I've played, it has been able to do this. Heavy-Duty Boots means that it can have an easier time removing said hazards and makes it a good answer to sticky web teams. Poltergeist is the main attacking option for this pokemon and allows it to threaten common pokemon such as Gholdengo and Dragapult (as long as it can get a speed boost from spin). Spikes can be used to assert some pressure and to give Brambleghast something to make progress with if it is about to go down. Finally, Seed Bomb is mostly a filler move as Poltergeist is the main attack you will click, but if the enemies item has been knocked off by Weavile or they are weak to Grass, it could potentially be the superior option. Overall, Brambleghast has one job and it does it pretty well. You could definetely replace this pokemon and I wouldn't bat an eye, but I honestly wanted to try this pokemon with its new access to Poltergeist.
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Future Sight
- Thunder Wave
- Grass Knot
- Moonlight
This pokemon is the main defensive backbone of the team that can both support it's allies and deal impressive damage. Leftovers allows this pokemon to regain HP passively, which helps out a bunch when deal with powerful pokemon that can deal 30% damage. This along with Tera Poison, although Cress will most likely not be the main user of Tera on the team, makes it an amazing answer to main different threats. Future Sight can be used to force the opponent into sticky situations and can be used alongside the other pokemon on the team to break through defensive answers, as these are usually the main answers to them. With 252 SpA investment, it can deal impressive damage as while Cress only has 75 Base SpA, the Nature, EVs and 120 Base Power of Future Sight means that it can deal respectable damage. Thunder Wave can be used to cripple the opposing team to allow the other pokemon, mainly Manaphy, on the team to clean up. This is especially great against A-Ninetales as it can potentially stop it from getting up Aurora Veil sometimes and makes it slower than the rest of the team. Grass Knot can be useful coverage against pokemon that aren't feared by T-Wave like Great Tusk and can be used to deal some damage if Cress has to stay in, but doesn't have many better options. Finally, Moonlight gives this pokemon more leeway against offensive pokemon and is appreciative of the removal of snow, which cuts the healing to 25%. Be warned that during rain, it will also only heal 25%, so be careful. Overall, Cresselia is great for this team and can stop opposing offense teams from snowballing.
Manaphy @ Life Orb
Ability: Hydration
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tail Glow
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball
I can officially say that I was here before the Manaphy ban (this sentence will look dumb if Manaphy doesn't get banned
). Anyway, Manaphy is obviously an extremely threatening pokemon and can easily win games with just a little bit of support, like T-wave from Cresselia. Tera water was chosen over a defensive tera type or tera grass to boost energy ball damage so it can be an absolute nuke in rain, as after tail glow it can score a guarenteed two-hit ko max hp-max sp defence toxapex after leftovers recovery with surf.Tail glow is obviously mandatory to make Manaphy a potent sweeper. Surf was chosen over hydro pump as the 20 more base power is not worth the potential misses and as the above calculation shows, Manaphy is still plenty powerful. Ice beam is an obvious coverage move to hit pesky grass, flying and dragon types that could possibly stop a sweep. Finally, Energy Ball rounds out the coverage and deals with any pesky water types that think they can sit on it, even though its sheer power is too much for most pokemon. Overall, Manaphy was an obvious choice if I wanted to abuse rain and is a great late game sweeper.
Politoed @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Encore
- Focus Blast
- Perish Song
- Weather Ball
Another pokemon that I think is a bit underrated, Politoed was chosen due to it's re-introduction into the metagame and the positives it has over Pelliper. Damp Rock allows it to keep the weather up for longer, which is helpful to enable Manaphy and reduce the fire type weaknesses of Torterra and Brambleghast. Tera Fighting is mainly just as a novelty to potentially pick unexpected KO's with Focus Blast, though other defensive Tera Types can also work. Encore allows this pokemon to lock opposing pokemon into setup moves like nasty plot or A-Ninetales into Aurora Veil. You can then use Perish Song to either make the encored pokemon be forced to switch out, giving you opportunities to get a favourable matchup, or force out the pokemon that switches in if they decide to switch out the encored pokemon. Both these situations give you an advantage to stop the opponent from taking advantage of it's potential passive nature. Focus Blast allows Politoed to hit opposing Ice or Steel types like Empoleon super effectively, though it is prone to missing (they call it focus miss for a reason, I have missed three Focus blasts in a row against an Empoleon
). Finally, Weather Ball is a great option as it becomes 100 Base Power in Rain, which Politoed sets up, while also getting a 50% boost in rain. It does struggle against incoming A-Ninetales changing it to Ice Type, though you can also switch in on A-Ninetales and chip them significantly with it. Overall, Politoed is quite great in this team structure and although Pelipper does have its advantages, Politoed can help against annoying set up.Conclusion
In conclusion, this team, while it has it's struggles, can definetely have it's high points. Although the potential banning of Manaphy could cripple this team severly and Brambleghast is not the most amazing, it can put up decent results.
threatens most of your team and if 
switches in, it will get chipped down too much so you won't be able to win the weather war. We will be fixing that up as well as general changes to the team.
for 
. Cinderace is a faster form of hazard control that is able to threaten Gholdengo as well as providing utility like Will-O-Wisp. Pyro Ball is for strong stab, Court Change is for hazard and screens, being able to control them is very valuable. Will-O-Wisp cripples physical attackers like 
and U-turn is for offensively pivoting into teammates. This swap also makes you stronger vs 
for 
. It works well in rain better and is able to take things that 
is weak too and brings more offense to the team. (you normally want rain to be more HO centric) I'm using a custom spread, as Zapdos will serve as a bulky attacker. 156 speed evs and a speed boosting nature outspeeds everything under 300 speed, and speed creeps 301 speed. You might want to run max speed, but I don't think its worth it to be speed tying with other base 100s like Manaphy. 120 SpA evs always 2HKOs offensive 
for 
. Its the better rain setter most of the time, as its flying typing offers a spikes immunity and gives more type diversity (you alr have manaphy). Weather Ball is strong stab, most of the time when it switches in rain will be up so its better than Surf. Roost is for longetivity, U-turn is for slow pivoting into teammates and Hurricane is strong stab that doesn't miss in the rain.]