Rain is one of the most consistent archetypes in Pokemon Champions ranked play right now, built around Pokemon that get massive value from the weather being up. If you are looking for a squad that rewards good speed control and hard hitting attackers, here are two strong rain builds along with when to use them and how to play against them if you are on the receiving end.
What Are Rain Teams
A rain team revolves around getting Rain Dance or Drizzle active and then leaning on Pokemon whose stats, abilities, or movesets specifically benefit from it. Water-type moves get a significant power boost, certain abilities like Swift Swim double speed, and moves like Hurricane become fully accurate. The catch is that fire-type moves lose power in the rain, so rain teams tend to fall apart against opponents who bring their own sun setter and flip the weather before the rain side can capitalize on it.
Note: You can make your own teams as well using our Pokemon Champions team builder.
Team 1
Team 2
| Pokémon | Ability | Held Item | Moveset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pelipper | Drizzle | Damp Rock | Protect, Tailwind, Hurricane, Weather Ball |
| Incineroar | Intimidate (Hidden) | Bright Powder | Fake Out, Flare Blitz, Throat Chop, Parting Shot |
| Archaludon | Stamina | Leftovers | Protect, Flash Cannon, Dragon Pulse, Electro Shot |
| Sinistcha (Unremarkable Form) | Hospitality | Sitrus Berry | Rage Powder, Strength Sap, Matcha Gotcha, Trick Room |
| Swampert | Torrent | Swampertite | Protect, Bulk Up, Wave Crash, Earthquake |
| Sneasler | Poison Touch | Focus Sash | Fake Out, Coaching, Dire Claw, Close Combat |
When to Use a Rain Team
Rain teams perform best against opponents without a reliable way to flip the weather and without strong priority moves to punish the team's setup turns. Against that kind of matchup, the accuracy and power boosts from rain let these teams snowball quickly. The Mega Dragonite build works well as a single, consistent win condition built around one strong attacker. The Trick Room hybrid offers more flexibility since it can adapt its win condition mid match depending on how the matchup is going, rather than committing to one plan from the start.
How to Counter Rain Teams
The most direct way to deal with rain is denying the weather entirely. Bringing a bulky sun setter immediately cuts into the rain side's water type damage output and slows down their best attackers. Trick Room is also a strong answer since rain teams are generally built around speed, and reversing turn order removes that advantage.
Priority moves matter just as much. Basculegion often runs an aggressive moveset without Protect, which makes it vulnerable to priority attacks like Sucker Punch before it gets to act. Bulky grass and dragon types can also absorb hits reasonably well, since they resist many of the moves these teams rely on. Fake Out users are useful against Pelipper specifically, denying it a turn to set up Tailwind or Wide Guard and buying time for your own team to get ahead.
