Article: Weather in Generation 5

Who knows when I'll post this, but it's my second article, in a continuing series. This is a guide of sorts on the weather, and mainly my thoughts, enjoy. Oh yeah, and for now article topics are basic, but maybe later on I'll go into more complex details, and stuff appealing to better players. K I'm done, lets get on with it. pics and color coming soon NOTE DRIZZLE+SWIFT SWIM HAS BEEN BANNED

WEATHER-THE FORCES OF NATURE, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE GIMMICKY AS HELL!

I realize that in the sets I haven't included an ability, that is because some may use dreamworld that have not yet been released.

SANDSTORM~
In my opinion sand is the king of weather, and it will take allot to have it be outclassed by any other type. One vs One against other weathers, sand usually comes out on top. Some may argue that rain with the super effectiveness can easily win. This is true, but usually only while it's raining. this is a key advantage over other weathers- Sand has 2 starters hippowdon and tyranitar, and both are slower than nineties and politoed, meaning that when sent out at the same time. Sand is what remains. With rain and sun needing politoed and nineties alive, to restart the sun or rain when facing sand, people play more conservatively, and therefore more predictably, While sand can afford to sacrifice at least one weather changer, if the team carries both. Sand also gained a huuuuuggggeee asset this generation in Doryuzzu. This mole is serious. Reaching 550 speed with an adamant nature in sand and a whopping 405 attack, and stab earthquake…and swords dance, holy crap thats a good pokemon. after just 1 sd in, without mach punch, a ditto (assuming no balloon) or a brozong or skarmory you're not in a good position. individuals aside sand is force to be reckoned with, on both the offensive and defensive sides of the spectrum. In sand, certain pokes thrive defensively, great walls, such as Shuckle and cradily spring to mind, and skarm and gliscor are at home. Sand is good. Very good. I got to rank 10 on PO screwing around with a sand team. 10 out of 4000 at the time. Sand is good.

if you plan on using a sand based team, here are some pokes to consider, along with some sets :p

TTAR AND THE HIPPO.
you need at least one of these guys, or you won't even have sand!

HIPPOWDON
Hippowdon is a great SR user, and even checks other teams doryuzzus. He can wall many unprepared teams all day long.

sets:

BULKY HIPPSTER EVs 252 hp, 232def 16 attack Nature:relaxed Item:leftovers
~Stealth Rock
~Roar/ice fang
~Earthquake
~slack off
this is your bread and butter lead hippo, roar away, get up rocks, hurt things, and stay alive.
The attack EVs are the min needed to OHKO standard doryuzzu sets. not much to say really, It's very easy to use. However should it be floating on a balloon, or any poke for that matter, or flyings ice fang is always a good option in place of roar.



TTAR
there is really no standard set for tar, as it can do practically anything at all! with a huge movepool, and massive stats, this tyrant isn't going down without a hell of a fight.

my favorite set as of November

TYRANABOAH EVs 252 hp, 60 attack, 160 special attack, and 32 speed Nature:naive Item:leftovers
~substitute
~crunch
~fire blast/icebeam
~focus punch

A wall breaking monster! this guy beats Blissey, Skarmory, Burungeru, Nattorei, Cresselia, and the list goes on. I run fire blast over ice beam or bolt, to help deal with steels, especially nattorei, but iceboat beats the dragons, glister, and other pokes weak to it, the choice is entirely yours. having 252 hp makes your subs, seismic toss proof, and the bulk helps take hits.

SWEEPERS

there are too many good ones to count, let your imagination run wild, and use guys you like, the following are just a few VERY effective pokes.

Doryuzzu

THAT DARN MOLE! Evs 252 attack, 252 speed, Nature:Adamant/jolly item:balloon/chople berry
~EQ
~SD
~rock slide
~x-sciscor

this is about as simple as it gets, SD up, and sweep, chople is used as mach punch defense, and ballon protects you from EQs, and namely ditto, without a balloon that bink blob can end the fun, but with one he won't be doing diddley squat! Earthquake is your stab staple, the rest just provides coverage.

Shandera

HALLOWEEN! Evs 252 spattack, 252 speed Nature:timid item:choice scarf/specs
~fireblast
~shadow ball
~energy ball
~hp ice/fighting

Shandera isn't sand related, but it works so well, with sand teams it's unthinkable. Having this bugger gives you a kill-Nattorei-for-free card! or a stop-a-swampert-that-would-destroy-your-team card. just like dory, the set is simple as hell.

Randurosu or Landios?

DIJJIN FTW EVs 252 attack, 252 speed Nature Jolly/adamant item:yache berry/ life orb
~Eq
~stone edge
~u-turn
~rock polish/SD

In sand, his ability sand power, boosts his ground, and rock moves in a sandstorm, and with great offensive stats, he could run scarf or band, but I prefer to go with SD or rock polish, with already great offense, his speed can increase hugely, and possibly sweep after one rock polish, but is easily stopped by nattorei. with SD set his attack skyrockets, and is capable of OHKOing just about everything that doesn't resist ground.

WALLS

Nattorei

ENTRYREI EVs 252hp, 180 def, 72 spdef Nature:relaxed item:leftovers
~spikes
~leech seed
~gyro ball
~power whip/t-wave

your basic hazard setting,hard to kill spiked bastard. He just kinda sit there taking hits, not caring, and laying down more hazards. thunder wave can be used to stop set up. Nattorei is a monster tank, and everyone knows it. BTW if you nit-picky people have noticed, I made him a minus speed nature, just for yew XD.

Shuckle

THE COOLEST TURTLE EVAR! 252 hp 252 spdef, Nature:Careful item:leftovers
~toxic
~knock off
~encore
~rest

Vegeta! What does the scouter say about Shuckle's spdef in sand? IT'S OVER 900!!!! WHAT 900?!?!?! that's right over 900 special defense….suck it. Shuckle is a boss, and if you don't think so there is something seriously wrong with you. But in all seriousness, this is your classic Bread n' Butter shuckle set. Simple, and pretty effective, in the right hands. Honestly though it takes some skill to properly utilize a Shuckle.

GIMMICKS

aron

LIL ARON Evs none, item:shell bell, Nature…who gives a crap, LVL:1 STURDY

~endeavor
~filler
~filler
~filler

bit*h please! lil Aron is like a force of nature!, you can't stop him! You may use him on your team, but you don't control him, he only helps you because he wants to. Endeavor+shell bell+ sandstorm=PWNAGE. just make sure you have a spinner, and take care of the ghosts, lil Aron will do the rest.

nosepass

QUIT BEING SO NOSY! no eves, nature dosent matter, item: oran berry STURDY
~pain split
~stealth rock
~magic mirror
~twave/or toxic

while not quite in the same league as lil Aron, painsplit sturdy abuse is fun non the less. Noobs freak out and accuse you of "hacking"! as they try to kill your nosepass. Mirror move reflects non damaging moves, and has priority, so taunt, toxic will-o-wisp, entry hazards, and leech seed, can all be stopped and reflected. oran berry insures that you can mispredict the first time, you get hit. just make sure you got a spinner, and have fun!


RAIN~
woo! I finally finished writing sand! now only 3 more weather forms to go Xp. Rain is a whole different story then sand, and has less..shall we say stall ability as rain dosent cause damage every turn. This by no means, says anything about rains defensive capabilities. Just one of the things that differentiates it from sand. Rain is also, faster than sand. What do I mean? Well, I mean the pokes you'll most likely be using on a rain team are going to be way faster than sands pokes, due to the amount of swift swimmers running about. there were a few changes for rain this gen, but not to to many, it's still basically the same as last gen, just with a few more shiny toys XD. without further addue here we go to the pokes of rain , as with sand I'm only listing a few I like.

POLI
politoed
I think that's how you spell it! any way this frog, just sets up rain. when leading with it I prefer a more offensive set.

SURFIN TOAD EVs 252 hp, 252 speed Item:life orb Nature:modest
~hydro pump
~hypnosis
~ice beam
~focus blast

hydro pump, and sleep away, ice beam and F-blast are for coverage. The main Idea is to annihilate other weather starters from the get go, and still make an effective lead, against everything else.




SWEEPERS

Ludicolo

PANIC AT THE DISCO EVs 252 spattck, 252 speed, Nature:timid/modest Item:life orb, swift swim
~hydro pump
~energy ball
~focus blast
~ice beam

this guy is a god in rain, holy crap is he good. With massive speed, and rain boosted hydro pumps, he's a force to be reckoned with. Stopped by some walls like chansey and bliss namely, but you can run waterfall to deal with that. My opinion, is that he's better of just improving his coverage.

Jolteon

FUNDER XD Evs, 252 speed 252 spattack, Nature:timid Item:life orb/petya berry
~thunder
~hp ice/fighting
~shadow ball
~substitute

Jolteon is one of the few pokes, that I would put a life orb on that already has substitute. Although petya has it's uses like, faking a choiced item. basically, he's just a electric resist, but getting stab 100% accurate thunder is quite the bonus, and makes him quite the addition to rain teams.


Kabutops

SPEEDYSWORD EVs 252 attack, 252 speed, Nature adamant, item life orb/chopel berry
~waterfall
~SD
~stone edge
~aqua jet/night slash

I don't use a kabutops, nor a kingdra on my rain teams, but both deserve mention, and here it is. With swift swim and swords dance…Its a pretty simple set, set it up, and sweep!

WALLS

Vaporeon

OMG IT WON'T DIE! EVs 252 hp, 180 def, 72 sped, item leftovers nature: bold with dream world Vappy gets hydration, I don't know if it's released, but this ability makes it a big asset to rain.
~rest
~toxic
~boil over
~ice beam

Basically with rest and hydration, you fully heal, and awake as the rain heals your status, this is just basically a toxic staller, not much else. This set has trouble against nattorei, and rest using bulky waters, so don't stay in on they for too long.

Nattorei

CURSETOREI EVs 252 hp 252spdef Nature:relaxed Item:leftovers

~leech seed
~curse
~gyro ball
~power whip

This is easily my favorite set, with huge defenses, nattorei can now boos his attack, and his gyro balls along with it. Fire isn't a huge problem anymore thanks to the rain! the only problem this set has is other steels, which are hard, but not impossible to beat.

GIMMICKS!

Dragonite

RAINNITE EVs 180 hp 172special attack 72 def, 12 speed Nature: modest item leftovers/life orb
~thunder
~surf
~hurricane or gale
~roost/superpower

This is basically a bulky special dragonite, who uses the power of a stab hurricane with 100% accuracy in rain along with 100%accurate thunder, and boosted surf. when marvel scale is released, that would be the preferred ability to use, but unfortunately you would lose superpower, which is more than capable of scoring surprise kills.


SUNNY DAY~
good old sun. I love the part in ruby where the sun intensifies when Groudon is awakened. Funny thing is, that kind of relates to the timeline of sun. Primerally used only in the NU environment, Sun was a bit of a joke to use in OU. well now Groudon has awakened (metaphorically) and sun has burst out of the NU scene, and soared into OU. It has a crap ton of stuff backing it up this genii, and is wildly better than ever before. One thing sun gains that is unique to it, is a mechanic change. namely growth. In sun growth now adds +2 attack, and +2 special attack. Yeah. Considering all the chlorophyll ability havers running around, gaining +2 +2 is pretty huge. Not only that, but it's pretty easy to stick handy resists on a sun team, as grass and fire cover many of each others weaknesses.to be blunt, sun is not my fortee, so you may find this section somewhat less helpful.

TAILSx9

Ninetails
this is a pretty decent, poke, but for starting weather, it's at a huge disadvantage. All other weather starters are much slower than it is. :p Ninetails, and sun have to work especially hard to beat beat sand in general. However on it's own against a standard team, sun shines! XD what a pun! It actually works just like rain, with chlorophyll and what not making your pokes out speed the new fast passed metagame featuring (atm) things like Shaymin-S and the deoxeys forms :O.


2x2 TAILS 252 sptack 252 speed item life orb/leftovers nature :timid
~fire Blast
~solar beam
~hypnosis
~toxic/Wow
Basically you have two status moves and two attacks, hypnosis something, and if you predict a switch fire off your other status move. Fire blast and solar beam just basically do a ton of damage, but beware of dragons :O

SWEEPERS

Hihidaruma

DON'T FUCK WITH CB DARUMA 252 attack 252 speed jolly/adamant item: choice band
~flare blitz
~super power
~u-turn
~stone edge

everyone always predicts the scarf. thats where you have the advantage :3. but slap a choice band on a base 140 stat, and boost it with sun + stab with flare blitz…. you will rape anything that doesn't quad resist and have great defense. you can OHKO nearly anything that doesn't resist. just note that you go down pretty quick to thanks to the recoil.

Mebukijika

OH DEAR ME, eves 252 attack 252 speed item:your choice really nature :adamant/jolly
~SD
~jump kick
~wild bolt/megahorn/return
~wood horn

you reach outstanding speed in sun, and you have pretty good attack, amazing in fact after just 1 sd. This is a bit harder to set up with than doryuzzu, but can be just as rewarding. LOL that's all I have to say, sorry but it's pretty simple.

Venusaur

COMPLETE BALLER 252 speed 180 stack 172 attack
~Solarbeam
~hp ice/fire
~EQ
~growth
OMG Jarooda is unbeatable It should totally be uber and stuff! MOVE THE SH*T OVER FOR VENUSAUR B*TCH! That's right one of the 3 ass-kicking gen 1 starters is back, and even better than ever I Venasaur gets chlorophyll this gen as a DW ability, and you may be thinking. "meh thats okay i guess." but still want to say that after venasaur gets just one growth in, and gets a nice little +2 attack, and +2 special attack (only in sun) to add to it's 568 speed (with boosting nature in the sun . thats right he can wreck stuff, like nobody's buisness.

WALLS

To be 100% honest I don't like using defensive pokes in sunny day teams, I think it really just slows the momentum of the high speed pokes down, unneciserally. IDK though if you read this and want to input your own (decent) sets I will gladly copy and paste them in this section, and credit you.

Gimmicks
same as above I honestly don't know of any good sun gimmicks….but lil aron with t spikes support. XD when in doubt…..use Bidoof. Victory will be garenteed.


HAIL~~~
Ahhhh hail the most over looked. and still my favorite of all time. KANYE: OF ALL TIME! Anyway hail can't do to much offensively since glaceons blizzard is the strongest attack. But instead it makes for a more defensive play-style using the weather hazards and a little christmas spirit to gain victory! hail got next to nothing this gen. Apart from maybe a better version of glaceon in that giant snowflake thing, and regime getting ice body via dream world (not yet released) making it most likely a better hail staler….if it worn't for all the fighting and stell priority :[ . but all in all hail makes for fun times and lots of delicious freeze has

Abomasnow

HAIL TO THE CHEIF (damn that's good 2 puns in one! hail, and the chief (obama) Abmoma…get it?…you know you do XD) Evs hp 252 def 20 sptack200 and speed 32 item lefties nature: neutral nature
~blizzard
~wood hammer
~leech seed
~protect

weird ev spread, and your welcome to try out your own, but this is what I have found gives me good bulk, and decent attack. The 32 speed eves are to outspend and OHKO lead swampert before it can get up those pesky rocks! (although I'm never without a spinner when using hail. blizzard hits hard as does wood hammer, and leech seed plus lefties makes slowly killing pokes ever so fun XD

SWEEPERS~

Although I usually just hail stall sweepers are quite formidable in hail:

Frosslass
DA SPECIAL GHOST eves 252 spattack 252 speed nature modest/timid item choice specs
~trick
~blizzard
~d-bond
~spikes

Yeah I know It's not really a sweeper. but still a specs blizzard stabbed hits hard, and this poke manages to spin block, lay hazards, attack, and cripple other pokes, all while having snow cloak XD. it's pretty standard, and is probably the only frosslass set you will see. but hey it works.

Nidoqueen
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN! 252 spttack 252speed item leftovers, timid
~tbolt
~fire blast
~surf
~earth power

Nidoqueen is a great poke for hail, as it eliminates many pokes that give hail trouble with ease! while a little more situational it is a fantastic asset to any hail team.

Rotom-F

PUT IT IN DA FRIDGE! 252 spttack 252 speed item: specs modest/timid
~blizzard
~trick
~tbolt
~volt change

with 100% accurate blizzard, good bulk, trick and the infamous bolt beam coverage :O this poke can tear stuff apart when in the right hands. trick is a great option for crippling things that would impede you like bliss. and specs volt change does a crap ton, and lets you scout in the process!

WALLS~

basically any walls work well in hail. so enjoy some VERY standard sets

Skarm

SPIKER 252 hp 16 speed 160 def 80 attack lefties, impish
~spikes
~bravebird
~roost
~whirlwind

does this really need an explanation? it's pretty obvious what it's supposed to do! attack eves make brave bird an OHKO on most Machamp sets, idk about Roopushin but I would estimate that it would take around 60%-70%

Blissey

The BLOB 252 hp 252 def bold lefties.
~softboiled
~toxic
~s toss
~flamethrower/tbolt/your choice

lol having make def makes bliss such a bitch XD. in hail I prefer it to chantey, because it still gain lefties recovery, which in hail is pretty important.

GIMMICKS!

Walrein
STALLREIN!!!! 220 hp 252 def 36 sped bold lefties
~protect
~sub
~toxic/roar/super fang
~surf/blizzard
the fabled 32 turn road block! if played EXTREMELY WELL you can hail stall out 2 pokes with sheer residual damage. Woot! this poke is incredibly fun to use, and I have counted 6 rage-quits against it to this day!



CONCLUSION~~~
well folks that's all for this time, I hope you enjoyed my brief analysis of weather. If you think i missed something, or didn't include one of your favorite sets just comment about it, and I'll be happy to edit this. All in all weather is great fun, and all kinds of play-styles can be used with it. don't feel limited to using just what others use, or what is capitalized on in this article, try to come up with your own unique sets, and use cool pokes! have fun, and hope you enjoyed~~ NUBBY

IMAGES TO BE ADDED