~Rain for a Dusty Summer~ ~Introduction~ With countless ammounts of Excadrill's, Garchomp's, Kingdra's, and Ludicolo's, I knew something had to be done. When I first plotted the creation of this team, I knew I needed a defensive-core system with capability to recover lost HP's quickly. Immediatly what popped in my head was Volt-turn with a stronger defense core. But I wanted something original, something creative, something.. unique. I knew since this would be a team about momentum both offensively, and defensively, I needed a strong offensive-core as well. I then plotted a combination of the two best weather user's in the metagame. Rain and Sand. With this being said, let me introduce you to my most successful team in years. ~At a Hucking Glance~ ~Progression of the building~ I knew I needed some sort of Genesect scouter. Politoed plays this part great. I've always been a fan of Perish Song Pass Politoed, (The Four P Toed) as it can let me get switch advantage on the force out switch when it counts to 1. With Rain being on the field, I knew I needed to take advantage of that. An amazing partner with Politoed is Kingdra. Spexdra is amazingly powerful, and with Swift Swim, it outspeeds almost every scarfer in the game, if not all of them. Seeing as that Politoed and Kingdra both don't have great synergy together, I needed that Defensive-Core I was talking about. I first thought of using a Ferrothorn, but after hours of thought into a situational stand-point, Amoonguss was the perfect fit. Amoonguss also has his new DW (Dream World) Abillity 'Regenerator' which heals him 25% HP's on switch-out, which keeps that Quickly Re-gain HP's I was thinking of. Amoonguss also gave Politoed and Kingdra coverage. Amoonguss is also an amazing Breloom, Rotom-W, and Keldeo counter. Which the team so far was weak to. Knowing I lacked a very important feature to every team, a Stealth Rock user, I quickly thought of Tyranitar. Tyranitar is an all-out beast. Firstly, you can never predict a Tyranitar's set. There is so much capability this guy has. With this Dual-Weather forming, I could see that Tyranitar was covered by Amoonguss, and Tyranitar covered Amoonguss. With the consistant frustration of not knowing what move I would make, or what weather I would stick with throughout the match, I knew this was the start of something beautiful. When I took a look at what I had so far, I realized I had no Physhical powerhouse to deal with Chansey/Blissey's. Seeing as I was using Swift Swim, I thought, " why not use Sand Rush"? Without a doubt I knew Excadrill was the perfect solution. Excadrill can sweep an entire team by himself in sand, let alone another 5 partners to back him up. Pokes like Skarmory, Gliscor, Techniloom (Technition Breloom) can handle Excadrill. But this also works out great for me, seeing I have Amoonguss for Techniloom, and Spexdra (Specs Kingdra) for Gliscor and/or Skarmory. And as we make our way to the Sixth and final member of my team, he brings this whole team together. Noting that I could easily be swept by a Garchomp or Excadrill in sand, I knew I needed a counter. Knowing I also wanted something that had Quick HP's recovery, I first thought of an Ice Fang Gliscor, but that just didnt seem right. I had no pure coverage for a +2Garchomp/Dragonite, and could easily destroy me. Then it hit me. Skarmory. Skarmory not only has Roost which heals 50% of his HP each time It's used, but he also carrys Spikes. A incredible Hazard move paired with Stealth Rocks. Skarmory can also Whirlwind out apposing Set-up Sweepers, or predict a switch and force them to switch again and fall into more hazards. ~In-Depth~ Kamina (Politoed) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Drizzle EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Protect - Scald - Perish Song - Encore An amazing Genesect Scouter with Protect. Also Protect can stall out burn's from Scald, and/or Perish Song turn countdowns. Perish Song is to prevent a baton Passing Team from sweeping you, or a latias from setting up Calm Mind's for example. Encore can also help with this too. Encore can work on a poke such as a Cmind Jirachi going for Cmind before a Thunder. I can then switch to Excadrill and force a switch out. This is just an example, however, as this set works wonders with many other Pokemon's attempts to setup, and giving you the switch advantage. The EV spread is for living as many Tyranitar Crunch's as possible. Leftovers is obvious. Skwayz (Kingdra) (M) @ Choice Specs Trait: Swift Swim EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Draco Meteor - Dragon Pulse - Ice Beam - Surf Specs Kingdra is an all out beast. I prefer to use Modest over Timid purley for the fact that I don't need to worry about Kingdra vs Kingdra since I have Politoed and Amoonguss as safe switch ins. Modest just gives the Specs even more power, and can 2HKO SpDef Tyranitar after SR switch in. Dragon Pulse is just so you don't need to waste you SpAtt drop, and continue sweeping. Draco is just for a more powerful hit when you know DPulse won't KO. Ice beam is just for coverage purposes. The EV spread here gives Kingdra maximum Speed and SpAtt capability in throughout the battle. Sprite (Amoonguss) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Spore - Stun Spore - Clear Smog - Giga Drain This Amoonguss set is purely Unstoppable with the correct Synergy. The EV spread is what I'd like to cover first. The defensive bulk allows you to live 3 Crunchs from Tyranitar before being forced to switch-out. You can also live a +2 Earthquake from a Jolly Excadrill with around 5% HP's left. The HP EV's are for bulk, most definetly. This maximizes Amoonguss's survivability emensely. Clear smog is for taking care of set-up's like Latias, conkeldur, and things of the such. It also does a nice 55-60% damage to Breloom tending that It's STAB. Stun Spore is to continue crippling the enemies Pokemons after one is Asleep. The real cool thing about Stun Spore, is that it Paralyzes Garchomp And Excadrill and etc, which Thunder Wave can't do. Giga Drain is just for STAB purposes, and hitting Pokes that don't resist it. You COULD use Shed Shell over Leftovers to escape Chandelure and use Amoonguss as bait and then trap with Tyranitar, but I feel as the Leftovers are needed. As Amoonguss's only way of recovery is with Regenerator. Same deal goes with Ferrothorn, you don't run Shed Shell on him because he just can't handle not having consistant recovery with no recovery moves. Make sure you're using Regenerator on this guy. It heals you by 25% of your maximum health everytime you switch him out. Which keeps the HP's high to the sky. =] Slant (Tyranitar) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sand Stream EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Pursuit - Stealth Rock - Roar - Crunch This is my favorite Tyranitar set. Stealth Rocks is a must-have. Simply because it breaks ALL sash'ed Pokemons, and breaks Dragonite's Multiscale, x4 to Volcarona's, and makes every Switched in Pokemon take 7% of damage. Pursuit is to KO/Close to KO Scarf Shadow Tag Chandelure, -2SpAtt Latios, and Ninetales. Roar is to force out set-up sweepers, crumble the hard work of a Baton Pass team (like crep's) and to continue the barrage of Hazard damage. Crunch can be switched with SE (Stone Edge) or SuperPower if you want. But in my personal opinion, I like to had Crunch incase I run into a pokemon that can like pursuit, but resist's those other two filler move's. Crunch is mainly used when hitting Politoed switch in's, or thing's like 50% Reuniclus. The EV spread is to give Tyranitar pure bulk, max survivability, and to be used at his best. Leftovers over Chople berry, because we have Amoonguss for Fighting Types. Rupe (Excadrill) (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Sand Rush EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Earthquake - Rock Slide - Swords Dance - X-Scissor Ah, Excadrill, always sweeping and making all my victorys too easy. First off, Earthquake is a must. 100 base power, STAB, my god.. and with Excadrill's beastly attack stat? It must be Christmas. Rock Slide is for hitting Flying type Pokes that cant get hit by Earthquake. Swords Dance is, well.. for making your opponent cry. Literally. +2 Att is nearly 800 with Jolly. X-scissor is for hitting Latias/Celebi/Ludicolo, basically anything that is weak to bug but can live an EQ or Rock Slide. In some situations, +2 X-Scissor KO's Rotom-W around 60%, as Rock Slide doesn't. But that is totally situational, and we have an Amoonguss, so it wouldn't be worth the risk. Life Orb over Air Baloon in this case. Since we have Skarmory, we don't need to worry about opposing Excadrill's. And since we ar eusing Jolly Drill, Life Orb makes up for the loss in Attack. EV's are for maximum Speed and Attack. Dark Desire (Skarmory) (M) @ Shed Shell Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spd Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Brave Bird - Spikes - Roost - Whirlwind This is the final member of our team. Pretty Standard set. Not much to say but a few things. The Speed investment in Skarmory is for outspeeding SubSeed Breloom, and OHKO'ing with Brave Bird. Spikes are for Hazards. roost provides Quick HP's recovery when needed, and can stall out pokemon with the sand damage if needed. Whirlwind thrashs out Baton Passer's, Set-up's, and continues the Hazard progress. Brave bird is just so Taunters can't fully stop you, and It's a pretty dang powerfull attack. 120 Base Power, STAB, although it does recoil, you can easily get it back with Roost. This can help kill-off a 35% BulkyToed. Oh, and least I forget, Shed Shell is recomended here as well over Leftovers. Since Skarmory has Roost, a fast efficent way to recover lost HP's, Shed shell can help escape Magnezone, and Chandelure, and either Trap Chandelure with Tyranitar, or switch into Excadrill on Magnezone. EV's are for max possible Bulk and Defense, as well as that 28speed for SubSeed Loom. Sturdy is recomended too. If it comes to a situation where all you have left is skarmory and another poke that will get killed by apposing enemy, (although this is situational) It's the best Abillity Skarmory has to offer. Then you can just Brave bird it. Infernape for an example on that. ~As a Conclusion~ You are welcome to use the team as desired, please be respectful and give me all credibility though. ~Exportable~ Kamina (Politoed) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Drizzle EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Protect - Scald - Perish Song - Encore Slant (Tyranitar) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sand Stream EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Pursuit - Stealth Rock - Roar - Crunch Rupe (Excadrill) (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Sand Rush EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Earthquake - Rock Slide - Swords Dance - X-Scissor Dark Desire (Skarmory) (M) @ Shed Shell Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spd Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Brave Bird - Spikes - Roost - Whirlwind Skwayz (Kingdra) (M) @ Choice Specs Trait: Swift Swim EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Draco Meteor - Dragon Pulse - Ice Beam - Surf Sprite (Amoonguss) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Spore - Stun Spore - Clear Smog - Giga Drain