What makes a good Rain Dance team? How/why do they work? Do I have to use Swift Swim Pokemon? Can't I simply focus on Water Pokemon and Thunder?

I've been thinking about making a Rain Dance team for a while now, but I really don't know how to go about it. Some Pokemon I came up with: , , , , , , .

All suggestions and tips are appreciated.

Currently I've been focusing on breeding/leveling a What I got

Calm nature (because I wild caught it and it has great IVs)
Sniper @ Scope lens
252HP 52ATK 204 S.ATK
-Dragon Pulse
-Waterfall
-Ice Beam
-Focus energy

Basically made bulky to get focus energy in then to mix sweep with the 33% 3x crit rate of DEATH. Though in a rain dance team a swift swim would probably help more, and probably a HP ground.

Also if your looking for alt type pokes to use have dry skin, which is similar to ludicolo's rain dish.

Eh Chef, Kingdra is never used with Sniper in Rain team.

Kingdra @ Damp Rock
Modest / Mild | Swift swim
60 Spd 252 SpAtt 96 Att 100 Hp
-Surf
-Rain dance
-Dragon pulse / Waterfall
-Ice beam
Surf in Rain will 2HKO / OHKO many pokemon in Rain. Waterfall is mainly for Blissey, who otherwise walls you. Ice beam is for OU dragons.

Toxicroak is good because it has good chances of sweep after SD or two.
Gyarados is physical too, but it gets only boost to Waterfalls power.

Oh noez, I'm actually posting in Battle Tower without any sort of moderator action involved! :P




I myself have a doubles team that I have set so that each two pokemon work together in combos and the like. Well I have a Rain Dance duo, which is my Toxicroak and Jolteon. Now mind you, I'm no expert competitive battler; I play mostly for fun without intense regard to winning. That said, here's my rain dance duo:

Jolteon@Scope Lens
Ability: Volt Absorb
-Thunder
-Hidden Power (Bug)
-Shadow Ball
-Light Screen

Toxicroak@Black Sludge
Ability: Dry Skin
-Poison Jab
-Sucker Punch
-Brick Break
-Rain Dance

For starters, my Jolteon is much faster than my Toxicroak. Since it goes first then, I have it use Light Screen to protect 'croak from possible supereffective special attacks like Psychic. Then when Toxicroak gets to act, he unleashes Rain Dance. This does two things for me:
1. -Makes Jolteon's Thunder hit
2. -Due to Toxicroak's ability, restores some of Toxicroak's HP at the end of the turn. (and that's in addition to the healing from his Black Sludge!)

So yeah, not very impressive, but I have fun using them together. I'm sure there are better Rain Dance strategies out there; hopefully you find one that suits you well.

I, too, was surprised.

Anyway, thanks for the input so far. Didn't know Dry Skin ability existed. I was thinking of Jirachi because it had Serene Grace, so it'd be cool to hit with Thunder for 100% acc and 60% paralysis. I wonder if Jolteon or Zapdos would be any good on a Rain Dance team.

Lol, a Rain Dance team in doubles sound like fun. Thunder Electivire for a free speed boost.

With a lot of Rain Dancers being Water Pokemon, wouldn't that make it Electric and Grass weak? Well, then we have Electivire...

Ya, the one I'm breeding is for use in a non-weather team. sniper is a great skill to have fun with if your lucky



resists both grass and electric as well as being able to learn Rain dance. Just keep a flyer to switch into EQs.

Zapdos and Gyarados says hi. Not sure what Gyarados could do though. Zapdos could be a good utility Pokemon, being able to set up Rain Dance. It's also somewhat sturdy, so it could stall too.

gyarados is able to use the rain to make his waterfall more powerful. with max attack and a dragon dance or two, there's not much that can stand up to it...

Hm, you do bring up a good point. Gyarados is already scary with just 1 Dragon Dance. Imagine the prospect of a Ninjask BPer passing a SD and 2 speed boosts in the rain. That would be awesome. Too bad Ninjask can't learn Rain Dance. Not like it would even have the time to set it up and SD. It could learn Sandstorm though (how does that help him?!). I just checked, and Jirachi can learn Rain Dance. ^_^ Makes Thunder an even more tempting option on him.

Does anyone know a sturdy Pokemon for a Rain Dance team? I'm looking for a Pokemon that can last a long time and set things up or cause havoc to the enemy team. Like the Hippowdon of Rain Dance teams? The closest thing that I can think of is Ludicolo, but I question its defensive capabilities, since it doesn't know a recovery move other than Rest and its base stats aren't 'all that'. How 'bout Zapdos?

Neither resist electric though....

No, the idea is to dodge ground attacks for the guy who does resist it: Magnezone. Well, I suppose you could use Magnet Rise.

Ah, sorry I misunderstood.

I would personally suggest Gyarados. Esp. if you use Magenzone as a lead since he'll basically lure out the EQer and the Ground types which Gyarados can waterfall away w/ rain dance in effect. Zapdos can't do much to grounds unless your lucky enough to get it with HP water (which'll be boosted by rain dance)

For Gyara, this could work:

Gyarados @ Life Orb
Adamant | Intimidate
72 Hp 252 Att 184 Spd
-D-Dance
-Stone edge
-Waterfall
-Bite / EQ
You may wonder Bite, but with that, you can OHKO many Pokemon such as starmie (Who is 2HKO otherwise).

(From Smogon)

Hmmm....
Maybe a Bronzong can take advantage of the rain...
You could make it like this...

@ Damp Rock/Light Clay(Whatever appels more to you... )
EVs :Standard?
Nature :Standard
Ability :Leveitate
Moveset
-Explosion
-Stealth Rock
-Light Screen
-Rain Dance

He just go and sets up...and say goodbye to his enemy with some nice fireworks...

Ooo, you guys are giving some great ideas. I was thinking of a team like this:

@ Leftovers
Adamant, Intimidate
EVs: 216 HP / 16 Atk / 176 Def / 100 Spe
Moveset:
-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Ice Fang
-Taunt

I've always liked the Bulky Tauntrados. I had trouble deciding between the flat-out sweeper set and this one. This guy will be my main sweeper. He can switch in on Earthquakes, so it won't be too hard to get him in and set up. It'd be cool if I could get my hands on a legit shiny one.

@ Damp Rock
Good nature?, Levitate
EVs: Good Set? lol
Moveset:
-Explosion
-Stealth Rock
-Hypnosis
-Rain Dance

I've always hated fighting Bronzong because he was so good. I like Levitate, because I like being able to switch in on ground moves. That, and the rain should qwell his fire weakness (didn't think of that till just now), so it's like he has both abilities. I would love to use Light Screen, but thanks to the 4-move syndrome...<.< Anyway, Hypnosis to cause more trouble and going BOOM on a Garchomp is always nice. I might consider using this guy as a lead.

@ Leftovers/Damp Rock
Impish, Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 56 Atk / 76 Def / 136 Spe
Moveset:
-Wish
-U-Turn/ Zen Headbutt
-Zen Headbutt/ Rain Dance
-Thunder Wave/ Thunder

I love this guy. Not only is he best friends with Salamence, he's best friends with Gyarados as well. ^_^ Depending on his moveset, I would need to redo his EV spread. I can't really decide on the moveset. I'm certain I'll use Thunder to abuse Serene Grace's ability and paralyze them, so Thunder Wave won't be as necessary. I could go directly into a paraflinch combo by using Zen Headbutt, but Rain Dance is the key to this team (at least that's the theme). Wish definitely helps Gyara and Bronzong, since both are bulky. He could potentially lead.

@ Leftovers/ Damp Rock
Good Nature, Magnet Pull
EVs: Idk....
Moveset:
-Rain Dance
-Thunder
-Toxic?/ Explosion?/ Magnet Rise?
-Screens?/ Substitute?

As you can see, I'm having trouble coming up with a moveset for this one. It could potentially lead as well.

@ Mystic Water/ Life Orb
Naughty, Swift Swim
EVs: 168 Atk / 252 SpA / 88 Spe
Moveset:
-Rain Dance
-Waterfall
-Surf/ Hydro Pump
-Draco Meteor/ Ice Beam

I think I might go with Surf and Draco Meteor. Not sure if I should go with Mystic Water or Life Orb...Ice Beam is good for Dragons...decisions...decisions...

@ Leftovers
Timid, Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset:
-Rain Dance/ Shadow Ball
-Thunder
-Hidden Power Ice (70 <-- awesomeness right there )
-Substitute/ Shadow Ball

I was going to go with Electivire, but then I remembered getting this guy from a trade on Marriland. ^_^ I'm thinking about using it over Electivire because they both can come in on electric attacks for free, and I already have it, so it cuts down on breeding and EV training. It's really too bad that it doesn't have Baton Pass. I suppose I could hack - er, tack it on. I'm not sure what I should do with this guy. On one hand, I could give him Rain Dance, but I already have a lot of users with that. I could make it a SpecsJolt...

I had other ideas like Crobat and Electivire, but this team looks fairly stable, at least to me. XP It has a glaring fire and electric weakness, but with the rain, hopefully this could alleviate the pain. Infernape might cause a problem. Stupid monkey....<.< Swampert and other water/grounds might be problematic. T-T Anyway, I don't plan on making this team anytime soon, with Band Camp coming up and stuff. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing too. Jolty just can't do anything back to them. Well, I would give up Surf for Ice Beam, since I want Kingdra to be a mixed sweeper, and if I intend to use a special-only, then I can't use Draco Meteor, because of the attack drop (and yes, I want to use that move ). Magnezone worries me, because I can't think of a good moveset for it.

Does anyone here use a rain dance team, or have any experience with them? It seems like you have to keep count of how long the rain has been up, since you don't want to be caught in a position where the rains go away, which would be problematic if you just were about to sweep and then have to go and set up the rain again. Or if your opponent times it so that they set up a checkmate situation, where, idk, a Garchomp destroys Bronzong when it needs to switch in to set up the rain again. Just some scenarios. It may take a little more effort to operate a rain team than I originally imagined. Oh, if only drizzle was on other Pokemon.

Lulz, maybe I'm just geeking out/ fantasizing now, but it literally is like dancing (not that I would know). Rain Dance? Get it? lol You have to keep up with rhythm. If your enemy catches onto the rhythm, then that would spell trouble, but it is highly unlikely, because you know who has Damp Rock and who doesn't. And you can disrupt the rhythm by using Rain Dance at strange times. Anyway, I don't want this to become an RMT thread. Hopefully, this will stir up some discussion.

Imo you should start with something like Celebi give it a Jolly nature 252 hp, 252 speed and give it: sd, Baton Pass, Return and Leech Seed/Subsuite. Then SD up, then sub/leech seed , then bp to Kingdra. Sub will provide cover while it sets up the rain, iirc leech seed is baton passable, leech seed could be used for healing. Instead of Draco Meteor you could use Dragon Pulse for consant damage, though Ice beam hits some other harder.

Hydro Pump is powerful but can cost you a vital hit. So use surf.

Heya, I haven't seen you in a while. Thanks for the tips. Leech Seed doesn't need to be baton passed, just so you know. I was planning to use Ice Beam over Surf, so I could cover grass types (shouldn't be too common though ).

Oh noez non-moderation-related post part II!


As I mentioned before, the only rain dance experience I have is my duo I mentioned earlier. I can't say I massively won amazing battles since I pretty much only fight friends, but that duo always stood out as the strongest part of my doubles team.

However, after reading through this thread I've become rather interested in a rain dance team. I might even go start up my Diamond cartridge for the first time in months to begin experimenting. Who knows, maybe I'll post a battle request one of these days in the request thread right here in Battle Tower!


You've all done a good job keeping this a decent discussion thread. Keep it up guys.

i like ludicolo's movset like this
-Rain Dance
-Leech Seed
-Dive (To get away from some attacks, while still being healed)
-Giga Drain OR Toxic

Staller/Rain Dancer

I'm not really experienced in Competitive Battle nor in Rain Dance teams, but here is a suggestion that may work:

Give Bronzong the Ability Heatproof for even more Fire resistance. After Rain Dance, your opponent may predict that Bronzong has Levitate and, knowing that EQ will be useless, he will attack with Fire instead. So, with Heatproof, the little Fire damage you get will be further reduced, and your opponent may not notice it. (he may think your Bronzong just has superb defenses)

I actually did this in Shoddy Battle (Rain Dance Team with Heatproof Bronzong as lead), and my opponents actually attacked Bronzong with Fire.

True, true, your opponent will attack with fire, but that's because they don't want to risk completely missing with Earthquake. Better minimal damage than no damage (potential burn too ). They can run some calculations to find out that the Bronzong is Heatproof. They might not even have to run calcs to know that it's heatproofed; they could simply observe the damage meter, or take note that I never switch in on obvious Earthquakes.

I have considered the option before, but the bottom line is I can't switch in on ground attacks. It limits my options, so that's why I'm sticking with Levitate. The rain buffers the fire weakness, and that's enough for me. To be honest, I'm not too concerned with fire in the first place.

what about a swampert. he can have stealth rock and rain dance for a nice little set up.
substitute could help him.
toxic is an option
or just give him EQ / Waterfall.
this way you could keep kindra as a special sweeper / choice specs

Swampert @ Leftovers
240 HP / 180 Def / 88 SpD
Rain Dance
Stealth Rock
Substitute / Toxic / Curse
Dig / Protect / EQ / Waterfall

Thanks for the idea. I hadn't thought of him. Though his role as a SR setter and rain setup isn't as necessary since Bronzong does that exact same goal. (Although I could switch Zong out for him...or give Swampert another role...certainly makes a nice combination of resistences and immunities...) Thanks though, I'll consider it.

My eyes are set on mixed Kindra though; I really like that set. Well, a special set has its advantages too...I'm torn between them.