Oh Gamefreak, you were very, VERY kind to Pelipper during its migration to Alola. No longer can the Hoenn native pelican (oops… sorry… duck) be regarded as your typical early trash bird, it now rivals Politoed for the highly coveted title of ChaoticEspeon’s best Drizzle user!
Both of VGC 17’s Drizzle users function in completely different ways; Pelipper, primarily, is used alongside Swift Swim Golduck to overwhelm opponents offensively, whilst Politoed is the more defensive option, protecting its team mates from opposing Fire attacks whilst disrupting with moves like Encore and Perish Song.
But of course, you’re not here for our classy introductions, you’re here for some snazzy spreads. Lets get started…
With Politoed!
Politoed’s stats are well rounded, but not particularly breathtaking; 90/75/100 bulk is certainly solid whilst its Special Attack is definitely usable, especially whilst firing off rain boosted water attacks to dish out a significant amount of damage to opposing threats. It does fall a little short when it comes to the Speed stat which almost solely restricts Politoed to playing a defensive, support role on your teams, but it IS just about slow enough to be utilised under Trick Room if you so desire.
Set 1: Frog in a Vest!
Politoed @ Assault Vest
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 204 HP / 92 Def / 196 SpA / 12 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Endeavor
– Hydro Pump
So, with the absence of Ludicolo providing offensive synergy, Politoed’s role has changed significantly from past seasons. Its Drizzle aids in protecting team mates (most notably Tapu Bulu from Wolfe Glick’s London team or Gabriel Agati’s top 4 LATAM team) from powerful fire attacks whilst assisting with its vast selection of support moves. This Politoed however, is designed to take hits and dish out some big damage; and boy, does it do that! Offensively, Politoed’s movepool is very shallow so dual water attacks and Ice Beam are the best you’re going to get. Rain boosted Hydro Pump offers huge damage output whereas Scald offers a fully accurate STAB with a chance to score a few clutch burns. Ice Beam is essential for opposing Garchomp whilst Endeavor should be used on the turn you’re expecting Politoed to go down. Because Politoed has a fairly low base 70 speed, it COULD be utilised very well under Trick Room; naturally you’ll want to change the nature and investment to minimise your speed stat in that case.
Are Assault Vests made out of Kevlar?!
252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 204 HP / 12 SpD Assault Vest Politoed in Electric Terrain: 159-190 (83.2 – 99.4%)
252+ SpA Tapu Lele Shattered Psyche (175 BP) vs. 204 HP / 12 SpD Assault Vest Politoed in Psychic Terrain: 163-193 (85.3 – 101%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Breakneck Blitz (200 BP) vs. 204 HP / 12 SpD Assault Vest Politoed: 170-200 (89 – 104.7%) — 31.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Garchomp Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 204 HP / 92 Def Politoed: 172-204 (90 – 106.8%) — 37.5% chance to OHKO
This Toed packs a punch in the rain too!
196+ SpA Politoed Scald vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Arcanine in Rain: 200-236 (101.5 – 119.7%)
196+ SpA Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Kartana in Rain: 135-159 (100 – 117.7%)
196+ SpA Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Nihilego in Rain: 186-218 (100.5 – 117.8%)
196+ SpA Politoed Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 192-228 (104.9 – 124.5%)
But let’s be honest, I’m sure you’re more interested in a Politoed fit for a World Champion…
Set 2: The Wolfe & the Toed!
Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Def / 4 SpA / 76 SpD / 68 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Scald
– Encore
– Protect
– Perish Song/Haze
So, this is the Politoed Wolfe Glick used during the early VGC 17 season, and it’s still a relevent spread to work with five months later. It’s a simple, yet effective build which was designed to stay on the field for a long period of the match, disrupting opposing teams along the way. The move set is self explanatory, Scald takes advantage of the rain boost, burn chances and even has a chance to OHKO Marowak. Protect adds to Politoed’s survivability whilst Encore traps opponents into passive moves. Originally, Wolfe had Perish Song on his Toed to give it a win condition in 1 v 1 situations or to force the switch from a Mon with copious amounts of boosts. However, in a meta where stat boosting moves pose a significant amount of danger I feel Haze would be an excellent addition to this set.
Usually we go into damage calculations here, but since Wolfe has already gone through numerous calcs on his YouTube channel, I’ll let you follow this link to hear from the champ himself on what his Politoed set does!
Barring VGC 16, this would usually be it when discussing automatic Rain setters; but, as we alluded to before, there’s a certain old pelican with a particular new trick…
Introducing Pelipper!
I mean, looking purely at Pelipper’s base stats, you could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about; terrible base HP, Sp Defence & Speed are complimented by a decent physical Defence and acceptable Sp Attack but it’s when you look at the movepool that Pelipper becomes an attractive prospect.
As a flying type, Pelipper comes straight out of the ball with Tailwind which, alongside setting the rain to ensure your Swift Swimmers are surfing around at double the speed, gives the rest of your team a vital boost in speed. It also gets access to Wide Guard, the usual group of Water & Ice attacks, a 100% accurate Hurricane as well as niche picks like Sky Drop and even Knock Off! In fact, the only real blotch on Pelipper’s movepool is the lack of Whirlwind, Taunt or other moves to prevent opponents from setting up a Trick Room, so keep that in mind when building your Rain teams!
Despite the vast range of moves available, Pelipper’s low base stats leave it free to perform only a couple of roles very well; we’ll go through the two best options available to Pelipper below, beginning with…
Set 1: Sashed To Duck!
Pelipper @ Focus Sash
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Brine
– Tailwind
– Hurricane
– Protect/Wide Guard
A not so glamorous EV spread, but it does the job. Pelipper’s main role is to assist Golduck – and the rest of its team – by setting the Rain and Tailwinds. Protect is almost always essential, but you could make a case for ditching it in favour of Wide Guard, Sky Drop or any other support oriented move you see fit. Hurricane is the insanely powerful 110 STAB of choice which has a 30% chance to confuse the opponents and 100% accuracy in the rain. The more interesting attack of choice on this set is Brine. Brine is a 65 Base Power Water attack, but its base power doubles to 130 if the targets HP is half or less. Most Double Duck players run Scald or even Hydro Pump in this slot, but one opposing duck in particular makes Brine the superior choice – Porygon2.
As we’ve covered previously, most P2’s are built to survive a combination of attacks from Pelipper and Golduck, set up Trick Room and Recover off all the damage previously dealt. Not with this set however. After Golducks Hydro Vortex brings Porygon2 below half, Brine will do more than enough to finish off the fabled Trick Room setter:
252+ SpA Pelipper Brine (130 BP) vs. 244 HP / 140+ SpD Eviolite Porygon2 in Rain: 84-99 (43.9 – 51.8%)
As for hitting things other than Porygon2:
252+ SpA Pelipper Brine (65 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Arcanine in Rain: 176-210 (89.3 – 106.5%) — 37.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Bulu: 174-206 (98.3 – 116.3%) — 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Araquanid: 134-158 (76.5 – 90.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
This is by far the best set to assist your Golduck; however, we all know you came here for memes…
Set 2: My Scarf Memes Business!
Pelipper @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Soak
– Ice Beam
– Hydro Pump
– Brine/U-Turn/Hurricane
I’d say this is a semi viable meme. Hands down, the previous spread is by far the superior option for your standard Double Ducks. The main goal of this set is to partner Pelipper with an Electric Type – preferably a slower Tapu Koko – to abuse the 100% accurate Thunders after Pelipper Soaks the target, giving it the Water typing, to make those Thunders Super Effective, essentially OHKOing almost everything in the meta.
The rest of the moves are exceedingly simple: Ice Beam to knock out no bulk Garchomp, Hydro Pump to take advantage of the Rain boost whilst the last move depends on what you want for your team. U-Turn allows you to set your Rain and switch out immediately for better board positioning whilst Brine and Hurricane still do significant damage, even with a Timid Nature.
252 SpA Pelipper Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Nihilego in Rain: 186-218 (100.5 – 117.8%) — guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Pelipper Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 188-224 (102.7 – 122.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Pelipper Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Kartana in Rain: 134-158 (99.2 – 117%) — 93.8% chance to OHKO
And now onto Pelipper’s partner in crime…
Golduck!
Lets face it, Golduck’s base stats are almost as underwhelming as Pelipper’s. 80/78/80 bulk means we’ll be getting OHKO’d by most common VGC 17 powerhouses; 95 Sp. Atk and 85 Speed however isn’t too bad when you take into consideration the power and speed boost Golduck will be getting in the Rain. Outside the Rain however? Forget about it. You may see the occasional Cloud Nine gimmick languishing around the lower end of the Battlespot/Showdown ladders, and they’re down there for a reason; seriously, if you want to use Golduck, make sure the Rain’s in full force!
With such average base stats there’s only really one set which makes Golduck a threat in VGC 17:
Set 1 – The One and Only! (Duck)
Golduck @ Waterium Z
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Encore
– Protect
– Hydro Pump
– Scald/Ice Beam
Okay, so you COULD take a few EVs out of Speed and put it into bulk but honestly, there isn’t any real point. Golduck’s so frail it won’t be taking any of the common powerful hits coming its way without significant investment. The whole point of using Golduck in Rain is to outspeed everything and hit like a truck, which is exactly what this EV spread guarantees. A Z Hydro Pump OHKO’s a significant amount of Pokémon, whilst just a normal Rain boosted Hydro Pump deals fairly impressive damage itself. Protect is essential on Golduck to help it survive a little longer whilst Encore punishes opponents foolish enough to play too passively against Pelipper/Golduck. The final move is up to you, Ice Beam will pick up the OHKO on opposing Garchomp whilst Scald – in addition to the chance of Burning your opponent – provides Golduck with a 100% accurate move. There isn’t really much more to say about this Duck, so here’s a few calcs:
252+ SpA Golduck Hydro Vortex (185 BP) vs. 164 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Lele in Rain: 187-222 (112.6 – 133.7%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Golduck Hydro Vortex (185 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Muk-Alola in Rain: 210-247 (99 – 116.5%) — 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Golduck Hydro Vortex (185 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross in Rain: 229-271 (122.4 – 144.9%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Golduck Hydro Vortex (185 BP) vs. 244 HP / 140+ SpD Eviolite Porygon2 in Rain: 115-136 (60.2 – 71.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Golduck Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 208-248 (113.6 – 135.5%) — guaranteed OHKO
So there we have it, three weathers down one to go… keep a look out for our Hail Analysis; until then, import these spreads into Showdown and quack on… *groan*
GoldenrodPress 
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