Now that I’ve covered a variety of roles you should have on your team, let’s talk about the weather. It’s been lacklustre over here, sometimes it’s sunny but usually it’s overcast.

The weather in Pokémon is a lot more exciting though.

Building a weather team changes the structure of your team drastically in some regards and not at all in others. You still want sweepers and defensive Pokémon, however weather battles tend to be more about offence.

Sun and Rain teams are all about boosting the attacking prowess of your Pokémon, with rain typically being the best at it. However Sand, and the fourth and final variant, Hail teams (which apparently some people use) are focused more on versatility and attrition.

What’s different is that now Pokémon that previously you would never consider to fill certain roles become amazingly good at it. Take Venusaur, typically a big brute that acts as a tank, but if you put a Venusaur with the ability chlorophyll and the move growth under the sun it instantly becomes an incredible boosting mixed sweeper and revenge killer. Chlorophyll and sunlight makes Venusaur grow from a slow tank, to a lighting fast attacking juggernaut that still retains the bulk that made it so tanky to begin with.

Venusaur is in my opinion the best of the speed-boosted-by-weather-conditions Pokémon (I don’t think there is a name for it), however Pokémon like Kingdra and Excadrill both benefit from the same ability in rain and a sandstorm respectively.

With weather moves that previously weren’t as viable suddenly became easy to use. Venusaur in the sun can now happily spam solar beam (thanks to the intense sun charging it faster) at lighting fast speeds with little consequence. Flamethrower becomes an even more reliable option for fire Pokémon due to the boost in power it gets from the sun making some sun teams choose it over the less accurate but now complete incinerator that is fire blast.

The rain will make usually less accurate moves like thunder and hurricane hit every time without fail, making Pokémon like the previously mentioned revenge killer Jolteon even more dangerous as he fires off thunder with perfect accuracy, and Volcarona, a fire and bug type, is able to use hurricane in the rain alongside powerful flying types without the fear of ever missing, with both of these moves having the added ability to paralyse or confuse an opponent that is made even more likely with the increase in accuracy meaning your chances of hitting and thereby inflicting the status problem going up.

There is also the added bonus that Pokémon like Vaporeon, Goodra and Lapras gain a free full health restore from using rest in combination with their ability, hydration. As well as an immunity to status problems as long as the rain is pouring.

The weather can be summoned through the moves:

Rain Dance

Sunny Day

Sandstorm

Hail

However Pokémon with the abilities:

Drizzle

Drought

Sand Stream

Snow Warning

Are able to summon these weather conditions just with there mere presence. Unless you plan on using Kyogre or Groudon the downside is that for rain teams you’re left with Politoed who is unfortunately not very good at much else other than summoning the rain.

Sun teams fare a little better with the slightly more useful Ninetales who along with having a cooler design is able to burn opponents to shut down sweepers. However Sand teams by far get the best deal with both Tyranitar and Hippowdon, to powerful sand stream users that are capable of taking a hit and in the case of Tyranitar, absolutely dominating opponents.

My personal recommendations for weather teams are to have two weather setters, I’ve already mentioned the two for sand teams but for rain teams (if you’re not using banned Pokémon) this requires you to have another Pokémon with rain dance, which can slow the process down. Sun teams, again, fair a little better with Ninetales and Mega Charizard Y being able to bring on the drought again and again and both bringing their own firepower.

Pre Gen-VI it used to be far easier to run a weather team as drought, drizzle, sandstorm and snow warning were permanent weather effects however now they only last the same duration as their move equivalents and like their move equivalents require a held item in order to prolong the weather. This is why I would say for this gen it’s better to have too weather starters that fill different roles.

Some advanced players will even run a dual weather team, I’ve used a sun and rain combination as they actually cover each others weaknesses very well, and they usually make for great teams for Volcarona to be on, as Volcarona works amazingly on both rain and sun teams and won’t even notice the difference.

I could write entire articles on how to make the most of your chosen weather team, but as for now I’d say look around more as I’ve got to cover something more important in my next article.

Mind Games and putting pressure on your opponents. Join me next time.