Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Weather teams have become rather scarce since the nerf to Weather Conditions in Gen VI. I remember back in Gen V people were using Rain and Sun teams all of the time. Weather definitely can play a significant role in battles, and can turn some Pokémon into absolute powerhouses, just look at Zard-Y Mega Swampert, and Excadrill! I personally don't use weather teams a lot, but I can't deny that they can be both fun to use, and deadly when used correctly.

 

It's amazing, to me at least, the severe lack of players that use weather to their advantage, even with the nerf. A simple change to the field could be the bread and butter to a very, very successful and hard fought team. (Especially if a Pokémon carries the ability to change weather, versus using a move.) Though, honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the weather affects caused by Primal Kyorge and Groudon.

I have an mono-electric doubles team that I love to talk about. One of the Pokémon in this team, Electross, carries Rain Dance and holds a Damp Rock. Rain dance, as we may know, boosts Electricity and also ensures that Thunder has a 100% accuracy. Not to mention, Lanturn's Hydro Pump also gets a boost from the Rain. Though not totally required for the Doubles Electric team, it most definitely is beneficial for it. I mean, who couldn't resist a 100% accuracy from Thunder? Not only that, but on my team I also use Mow-Rotom.... so in the rain, Rotom can survive Fire Attacks rather easily because of it.

So yes, I would say that it does make a huge difference in competitive Play.

 

Sand was always my favorite weather to use when weather was permanent prior to Gen VI. T-tar was slower than Ninetales or Politoed, always giving you the initial advantage in a weather war match. I always thought that Hail was a bit underpowered, but it's hard to think of ideas to buff it up. Maybe if all Ice types int he Hail got a SpA or Spe boost in the hail, that would be great.
That being said, weather definitely isn't as used as it once was, and most weather teams I come across aren't very successful, even in Doubles/VGC format.

 

NU is an amazing tier for 'self-setters' which are Pokémon who dedicate a slot to setting up rain/sun and sweeping with that. To good examples are Vileplume and Mantine. I don't use rain or sun that much as its so unpredictable but sandstorm is more of a useful byproduct from a tyranitar or hippowdon to chip away or boost other Pokémon like excadrill.

 

Well, for all I know, weather is REALLY important in my team with a Primal Groudon. SolarBeam and Desolate Land ability. That's a great combination! It works well against Primal Kyogre. Other than that, I use weather to help me with Thundurus' Thunder and Zekrom too.

 

I don't mind using weather teams every now and then. However, I don't use the Pokémon that summon weather, but rather use a weather move during the thick of battle.

 

I don't think I give water type Pokémon the ability swift swim as much as I used to. I haven't played that many weather battles recently, so I haven't used them all that much.

 

Weather as a strategy is extremely powerful when used correctly. The greatest part of a weather team is generally a sweeper that appreciates it. Examples:

• Abomasnow (and Mega)
• Suicune
• Articuno
• Slowbro
• Any Pokémon that can learn Blizzard

• Kingdra
• Suicune
• Escavalier
• Scizor (and Mega)
• Every water type ever

• Rhydon (with Eviolite) & Rhyperior
• Garchomp
• Excadrill
• Diancie
• Every rock type ever

• Rhydon (with Eviolite) & Rhyperior
• Every fire type ever

The saddest part about weather conditions is the lack of creativity in sun and rain. Sand and hail have some great creativity tobe tapped, but they too also lack the push to be creative in team building, speaking from the VGC perspective.

 

It's funny, because I prefer rain to sun in real life, and have used three rain teams and a grand total of zero sun teams. This is one of the few cases (alongside my insistence to @[member="DocTachyon"] that Malamar is actually good) that real-life preference affects my battling strategy.

 

The impact of weather is honestly quite variable. If you're using a team which just has random Mega Charizard Y or Tyranitar slapped in, it won't have that big impact compared to teams that have been build around weathers, and can utilize it effectively.

The biggest problem with Hail is that it doesn't have as good bonuses/abilities that benefit from it, and with the nerf to weather, Hail Stall, which was arguably the best way to utilize the Hail, is far less effective. Same goes for the Rain Stall, which was also popular at few points in Gen V. If Hail got a swift swim copy for itself, it would be surely little more popular, since who wouldn't want to have 2x Speed while spamming 100% Blizzards?

Currently the most relevant weathers in OU are Drought and Sandstorm, since the setter can use the weather really well, without having to rely on other Pokémon. While Abomasnow can use the Hail pretty well, it's huge list of weakness' and low speed keep it from being a large threat.

 

That's not necessarily true--weather can be thrown onto a goodstuffs team solely for the impact of countering other weather and work extremely effectively. In single battles, Sun is arguably the best weather counter, and in Doubles, Hail is.

While it's true that teams built around weather that they have tend to be more successful, there are always exceptions.

 

I don't like sun teams XD
I was having this doubles team with kang and when Char-Y and choice scarfed Heatran came out, heatran's overheat KOed my kang and Char-Y tanked my lando's rock slide and overheated mine so I got rekt haha. Weather got nerfed because its not permanent but it is still a huge advantage if used correctly in my perspective.

 

I used to have three or four sun teams in gen 5, when perma-weather was still a thing. I think I also had a rain team, and also a sandstorm team in LC. I remember that at least one of my sun teams worked like a beast, so it was a bit disappointing to see the perma-weather being removed. Though then again, in gen 5, 9/10 teams were weather based.

Since the removal of perma-weather I haven't used any weather based teams, mainly because they're not as efficient as my other teams, and they collapse as soon as the weather bringer has fainted. Plus the fact that there are only so many Pokémon with a weather triggering ability, and you can't win with only one weather bringer (at least as far as I know), so you have to sacrifice at least one turn to set up weather, plus the loss of a moveslot and item (as not using a weather rock isn't a great idea).

So yeah, I kind of dropped the whole weather-team thing, as it isn't really my call.

 

I'm honestly don't like relying on weather too much. I do know, however, that many of my opponents will use it. It can be annoying when their water and fire attacks get stronger but I try my best to use their weather to my advantage (by using a water or fire type Pokémon as well).

 

Those were the days. VGC was a very great metagame with perma-weather, honestly. @[member="Nator"] should remember these days with me rather fondly, I hope.

Any particular reason?

 

I rarely use Pokémon that spawn weather when they are sent out. I tried making weather specific teams back in Gen 5 and they never worked well for me. Also if I do use a team like that I get worried because I think I would need 2 weather starters instead of just one, and it makes me feel like i'm wasting a Pokémon slot....

 

Weather-based teams aren't always very easy to make, you've got a point there. I always had a "goodstuffs" element (i.e. a few Pokémon with synergy with or without weather) just for good measure, but 2 weather starters definitely makes one feel like they're wasting a Pokémon/move slot. The Genies are really the only ones that help better than any other Pokémon that don't have a weather ability, and we can't always rely on them either.

 

I absolutely love hyper offensive rain teams. They are some of the few teams I feel can decimate unprepared teams with a shock and awe tactic. Also I love being able to use Pokémon with the ability swift swim that are not OU to do work. I feel like wether is very underprepared for and causes my enjoyment of it to increase even more.