LUDICOLO

Overview
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-Once outshined by Kingdra, Ludicolo's now the go-to Swift Swim user.
-Outstanding coverage between Water, Grass, and Ice
-Good special resistances, x4 resistant to water with neutrality to Ice, Electric, and Grass is rare and useful.
-Great answer to Rotom-W, although you will have to watch out for paralysis
-Fake Out support
-Kind of weak outside of what it hits for super effective damage
-Not much physical defense


Assault Vest
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name: Assault Vest
move 1: Scald / Hydro Pump
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Fake Out
ability: Swift Swim
item: Assault Vest
evs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SpAtk
nature: Modest

Moves
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-Put your great coverage to use with the bulk to take a hit yourself.
-Hydro Pump or Scald is your main STAB move. The choice is between reliable but sometimes underwhelming damage and strong but inaccurate damage. Hydro Pump is probably what you want in Rain
-Giga Drain complements Water nicely, lets you get throw most water types, especially Rotom-W
-Ice Beam lets you hit opposing Grass and Dragon-types
-Fake Out support gives your team mates some breathing room for the turn.

Set Details
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-Assualt Vest lets you sponge hits from Rotom-W and Water-types in general. To put its bulk in perspective, with max HP and no Special Defense investment, Rotom-W's Thunderbolt is a 4HKO.
-Swift Swim is good vs Rain. Swift Swim is preferred when using Rain.

 I'm thinking 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SpAtk always lives mega kanga's jolly double edge. Rest is dumped in SpAtk.
If running a Life Orb, a more offensive spread is recommended. 52 HP / 252 SpA / 204 Spe is a good spread, allowing you to outspeed Adamant Scarf Garchomp and everything slower.

Usage Tips
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-Come in on a special attack that you can tank, give Fake Out support, hit what you can, run away when a big hit's coming.

Team Options
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-Politoed is Ludicolo's partner in crime, as the two of them don't share each other's weaknesses and form a very solid rain core together.
-Ludicolo can be a great answer to rain by itself and doesn't need rain support to be effective.
-Talonflame and Ludicolo together have great coverage and deal nicely with what the other has trouble with. Talonflame + Politoed + Ludicolo together make an effective and popular rain core.
-Ludicolo pairs reasonably well with teammates that are water weak and want a switch-in, such as Heatran and Landorus-T.

Life Orb
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name:Life Orb
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Fake Out / Protect
ability: Swift Swim
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Modest

Moves
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-Trade your inherit special bulkiness for more power
-Hydro Pump for max damage
-Giga Drain complements Water nicely, lets you get throw most water types, especially Rotom-W
-Ice Beam rounds out the coverage
-Fake Out support gives your team mates some breathing room for the turn.
-Protect can also be used since you're so frail

Set Details
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Simple super offensive EVs for max damage output.
You speed tie Adamant Bisharp outside of Rain with max speed. You can lower the speed investment to increase bulk if you find it unneeded with a Swift Swim boost.

Usage Tips
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-Good lead with Politoed. Incredibly fast Fake Out
-It can't take hits anything like the Assault Vest sets, don't make it take too many hits
-Don't use this one without a Politoed on your team

Team Options
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-Politoed : Ludicolo :: Choclate : Peanut Butter
-Talonflame and Ludicolo together have great coverage and deal nicely with what the other has trouble with. Talonflame + Politoed + Ludicolo together make an effective and popular rain core.
-Something to cover Ludicolo's few weaknesses like Flying are appreciated. Mega Manetric maks a good partner.

Other Options
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-Absorb Bulb + Surf Politoed is a pretty cheesy old strategy from VGC 2012. It can work, but it's awkward at times to set up and is a one time boost.
-Energy Ball gives you more power but Giga Drain's recovery is often more useful.
-Rain Dance lets you stuff a Charizard-Y's Drought as it Mega Evolves
-If you're using Ludicolo without Politoed and you're not finding much use with Swift Swim Own Tempo gives you protection against Swagger users.
-rain dish sucks
TEETER DANCE :D


Checks & Counters
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-Flying-type moves from the likes of Mega Salamence and Talonflame destory Ludicolo
-Ludicolo's defense is pretty average. Strong Physical Attacks from Mega Kangaskhan or Mega Mawile are devestating
-Ludicolo's attacking prowess is also pretty average. If you have something reasonably specially bulky, it can usually trade favorably with Ludicolo.
-Ludicolo has problems with most checks to rain teams, such as Mega Venusaur and Ferrothorn.