Preface

I would like to sincerely thanks the people of reddit for giving my blog a chance. I posted my first article, a highly speculative piece on Gumshoos, on r/stunfisk, and I was unsure how it would be received. I thought the outside link would hurt the post, and that people would brush it aside because the Pokemon I was writing about isn’t even released yet. In the end, all I got was helpful feedback. I gained some insight into my writing and how I would narrow my focus to try to fit a narrative in my head. I’m working hard now to correct what was wrong with that article. My post and comments still have positive vote scores, so that’s nice, too.

Rain in Gen 5 OU

Anyone who has ever played BW OU would use the same word to describe that metagame : weather. Weather was a ubiquitous force in Gen 5 OU. Nearly every team in that meta integrated a weather condition, and the ones that didn’t prepare for weather were significantly disadvantaged. Most battles were framed in terms of a “weather war”, where each player attempted to keep their weather-setter alive longer than the opponent. Whoever kept their setter alive could dictate the weather conditions of the endgame phase. But how did this metagame dominating element suddenly rise to prominence?

The answer lies in the Dream World and uses a bit of circular logic. Prior to Gen 5, each permanent weather ability had scarce distribution : Drizzle was exclusive to Kyogre, Drought to Groudon, and Sand Stream to Tyranitar (and Hippowdon). Thanks to the Dream World mechanic of Gen 5 bestowing Hidden Abilities onto Pokemon, Drizzle and Drought were made available to non-Uber Pokemon. Drought was given to Ninetails and Drizzle was given to Politoed. Rain now had a permanent weather-setter that could be used in OU, but Politoed was not well received.

As it was played in DPP OU, the Rain Dance playstyle was not conducive to using Politoed as a rain-setter. DPP Rain was played under the quick 5-8 turns of Rain Dance to put immense pressure on opponents. A fast or bulky setter would set up rain, pivot out to a Dry Skin user (made bulkier by the rain) to begin wearing down the opponent. Rain ended and a core of support Pokemon would weaken the opponent further and set up rain again; this time, a Swift Swin user would sweep.

This playstyle, based on speed and efficient use of rain turns, had no need for a weak and momentum-killing Politoed. Early analysis predicted Politoed to become a staple in UU. The only utility Politoed seemed to have in OU was the ability to remove the damaging sand created by Tyranitar. This initial threat became psychological, as sand teams prepared to compete with the possibility of long-term rain teams.

Here’s where some circular logic comes in. A classic Prisoner’s Dilemma arms race occurred. The threat of other weather teams pressured Tyranitar users to build teams around the sand, using Pokemon immune to sand damage and with beneficial abilities and typing (Sand Force Landorus-I). The heavy and damaging presence of sand led players to seek a way to stop it, encouraging them to add Politoed-induced rain to their teams (one of the few Pokemon Politoed could check was Tyranitar). Weather abuse abilities (namely, Swift Swim) were eventually banned, so that should’ve controlled the rise of Politoed rain. However, adding Politoed to a team only to get rid of sand seemed odd. It shouldn’t have been enough to justify having a weather war every game.

The Absolute Emperor of OU

The true answer lies in the top Pokemon in OU, and the OU newcomers brought by Gen 5. Take OU mainstay, Scizor. Before the move changes implemented in Gen 6, Scizor had a monumental problem. Before its nerf, Hidden Power could hit 70BP and situations like these became possible. Any Landorus-T set could switch in, live an Intimidated hit, and 2HKO ANY Scizor variant with HP Fire.

0 SpA Landorus-T Hidden Power Fire vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Scizor: 252-300 (89.6 – 106.7%) — 37.5% chance to OHKO

0 SpA Landorus-T Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 216 SpD Scizor: 200-236 (58.1 – 68.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Luckily, this weakness was solidly mitigated by one Pokemon. Politoed could set up permanent rain and make the same Landorus a setup fodder for SD Scizor.

0 SpA Landorus-T Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 216 SpD Scizor in Rain: 96-116 (27.9 – 33.7%) — 90.1% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

Scizor continued to be a staple in BW OU, since it had synergy with the most popular weather cores. Its weaknesses favored inclusion on a rain team. But, Scizor was not the only one to gain immensely from the rain. The 5th Gen added a multitude of Pokemon that benefited from the rain in indirect ways. Ferrothorn received the same buff as Scizor, but executed a defensive role. Keldeo received a free Specs-level boost to its Water moves, allowing it to run a Scarf-“Specs” set in the rain. Tornadus’s Hurricane hit with 100% accuracy in the rain. Thundurus-T could use 100% accuracy Thunder as its STAB attack and secure crucial OHKOs on counters such as Terrakion.

252 SpA Life Orb Thundurus-T Thunderbolt vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Terrakion: 239-282 (73.7 – 87%) — guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Life Orb Thundurus-T Thunder vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Terrakion: 302-356 (93.2 – 109.8%) — 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

The existence of Pokemon like Scizor, Ferrothorn, Keldeo, Tornadus, and Thundurus made rain capable of dominating the metagame. By no means do any of these Pokemon need weather to do well, but the amount they gain from weather is great enough to justify playing with essentially 5 Pokemon.

Early in BW discussions, it was thought that Politoed would never be useful enough to join OU. Teams wouldn’t want to waste a team slot on a lackluster defensive pivot just to set rain. The nuisance of sand wasn’t that bad. Leftovers would cancel out the damage. What wasn’t apparent then was that, even after Sand Rush and Swift Swim were banned, there were strong Pokemon made even stronger by the rain. These Pokemon weren’t built to use rain to apply immediate pressure, but they were meant to use rain to elevate their pressure for extended periods of time. Those Pokemon would be made so much stronger that teams would “waste” a slot on Politoed to ensure those buffs can remain throughout the battle.