One of the most potent strategies in the Pokémon games is weather manipulation. In addition to being powerful creatures able to release catastrophic amounts of energy, Pokémon can also change the weather itself. Specifically, Pokémon can cause it to be very sunny or rainy, or they can conjure up hailstorms and sandstorms.
Rain can be primarily called upon by the move Rain Dance or the ability Drizzle. Rain has a few different effects in Pokémon, but it primarily powers up Water-type moves and weakens Fire-type moves. Certain Pokémon benefit more than others due to factors such as their Abilities or type, and their true potential comes out only when it's raining.
10 Politoed Is One Of The Best Pokémon To Make It Rain With Its Ability
Politoed is a sort of chicken-and-egg situation when it comes to rainy weather, as Politoed is most powerful when it's causing the rain. This Generation II Water-type is one of the Pokémon that can have the Drizzle ability, but it's particularly rare with Politoed, as it's a Hidden Ability for this specific Pokémon.
That said, when Politoed does have Drizzle, it's a go-to for Pokémon teams that are centered around the rain. Politoed has solid defensive stats and can be hard to put down, and it's one of the few Pokémon in the Sword & Shield meta that currently has access to Drizzle.
9 Ferrothorn Can Reduce Its Fire Weakness
Ferrothorn isn't a Water-type; it's a Grass and Steel-type Pokémon. It's also a defensive powerhouse like Politoed. It only has one weakness: Fire-type moves. This means that Ferrothorn is most immovable when it rains, as the rain effect essentially removes the Fire-type weakness.
Without Rain Dance or Drizzle, Ferrothorn is still a strong wall, but it's way more susceptible to a Fire-type one-hit KO. The same can also be said for Scizor, which is Bug and Steel-type, but it's less of a wall and more of an attacker than Ferrothorn. As a result, Scizor's usefulness is less based upon its ability to withstand a hit.
8 Toxicroak's Dry Skin Ability Allows It To Heal In The Rain
Toxicroak isn't a Water-type Pokémon either, but it has a common ability that makes it more powerful when it's raining. That ability is Dry Skin. In the sun, Toxicroak is weak to Fire-type moves, but it regains health every turn when it's raining.
Toxicroak is a very useful sweeper in Pokémon competitive play, and Life Orb is a popular item to give to sweepers. The drawback of Life Orb is that it saps a Pokémon's health each turn, but healing that health back with the Dry Skin ability in the rain makes Toxicroak a far more viable option.
7 Goodra Can Heal Its Status Conditions With Its Hydration Ability
Goodra is a pure Dragon-type Pokémon and was actually Ash's partner for a time in the X & Y anime. While its Sap Sipper ability is often preferred in battle, granting Goodra immunity to Grass-type moves, a Goodra with Hydration absolutely thrives under rainy conditions.
Hydration is a rarer ability that allows the Pokémon to recover from status conditions while it's raining. That means burns, sleep, paralysis, and poison all melt off of Goodra while the rain is falling.
6 Barraskewda Becomes A Speedy Sweeper With Swift Swim
Barraskewda is a Water-type from the 8th generation of Pokémon, and it's gifted with an ability that makes for a great rainy day Pokémon: Swift Swim. This ability increases the Pokémon's speed greatly when rain is falling on the battlefield.
It's another powerful sweeper like Toxicroak, but its Swift Swim ability means that it can hit faster in rainy weather. With moves like Close Combat and Liquidation at its disposal, Barraskewda can tear through opponents with lower physical Defense.
5 Drednaw Packs A Punch With Help From Swift Swim
Drednaw is another new Pokémon from Sword & Shield. Like Barraskewda, it has the Swift Swim ability, though it's a Hidden Ability for Drednaw and, therefore, harder to get. Drednaw is a Rock and Water-type Pokémon that can also dole out high amounts of physical damage.
In combination with Swift Swim, Drednaw has access to a powerful physical move set thanks to its Rock-typing. It has Stone Edge, Stealth Rock, Head Smash, and Earthquake as options. However, its typing also makes it even more susceptible to being one-hit KO'd by Grass-type Pokémon.
4 Ludicolo Has Two Rain-Related Abilities To Choose From
Ludicolo is the lovable dancing Pokémon and the signature partner to Mirror B from the Pokémon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness games. It has a strong typing with Grass and Water, and it actually has two potential abilities that are relevant to the rain.
Ludicolo can have the Rain Dish ability, which allows it to regain a little health each turn while rain is pouring. It also has the Swift Swim ability, which makes Ludicolo much faster in the rain. Strangely enough, its Hidden Ability, Own Tempo, has no relevance to rainy weather.
3 Pelipper's Drizzle Makes It Rain, While Rain Dish Can Heal It
Pelipper is a Flying and Water-Type Pokémon, and it also has two different abilities related to the weather. The first is Rain Dish, which restores a little bit of Pelipper's health each turn when it's raining. The other is Drizzle, which causes rain when Pelipper enters the battlefield.
The latter is more often preferred and arguably more useful. It makes Pelipper a staple of rain teams and is actually preferred over the aforementioned Politoed in competitive play.
2 Kabutops' Speed Is Enhanced With Swift Swim
Kabutops is a preferred choice for rain teams and dates back to the Kanto Region. It is a Rock and Water-type Pokémon with Swift Swim like Drednaw, but its base Speed is even higher than Drednaw's. That said, their base Attack is tied. Kabutops also has the advantage of legacy over Drednaw, as it has been a preferred choice for rainy teams for a couple of generations now.
Despite that, many of the ideal move choices are the same. Kabutops benefits from Liquidation, Stone Edge, and Swords Dance, and it can also whip out the priority move, Aqua Jet.
1 Kingdra Is An Even Bigger Special Attacking Threat In The Rain
Kingdra is a very popular Swift Swim choice for rain teams. It is a Water and Dragon-type, making it only weak to Dragon and Fairy-type moves. It has a killer Special Attack stat that can culminate in moves like Hydro Pump, Draco Meteor, and Hurricane blowing away opposing Pokémon.
Kingdra is arguably an already powerful Pokémon, but that's nothing compared to the damage it can deal when just a little rain is falling down.
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