Overview
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- unique typing that gives it a nifty x4 resistance to water and a useful resistance to ground, although other than that it's typing doesn't give much else
- access to rain dance and swift swim makes it a scary rain dance sweeper
- good movepool options such as hydro pump, giga drain, ice beam which give it good coverage
- decent all-around stats with neat bulk that allows it to easily set up rain most of the time
- somewhat slow and weak outside of rain


Rain Dance Sweeper
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name: Rain Dance Sweeper
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Rain Dance
ability: Swift Swim
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Modest / Timid

Moves
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- Hydro Pump is a strong STAB
- Giga Drain is another good STAB that can recover HP and make up for the life orb recoil
- Ice Beam is good coverage against Grass-types
- Rain Dance provides rain which activates Ludicolo's ability and makes Hydro Pump hurt a lot
- Surf can be used over Hydro Pump for better accuray and more consistency



Set Details
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- straightfroward 252/252/4 spread
- life orb for maximum damage, but damp rock can be used if you need more rain, although the power boost from life orb will be missed
- swift swim + rain dance = scary combination that allows it to sweep
- modest used for maximum power which allows Ludicolo to 2HKO Lickilicky in rain after SR, AV Hariyama, as well as 2HKOing SpD Dragalge after a bit of prior damage (spikes+sr)
- Timid can be used to outspeed choice scarf users such as Typhlosion and Pyroar under rain.

Usage Tips
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- on rain teams, ludicolo acts as a main rain sweeper and a backup rain dance setter. as a stand-alone sweeper, it's better to use mid- or late-game as a sweeper, once hazards has been set and the opponent's team is weakened.
- click rain dance, then click the appropriate move depending on situation
- if rain is already on the field, then click the appropriate move depending on situation

Team Options
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- good rain dance setters go well with ludicolo to support it sweep. those include Liepard, Meowstic-M, and Volbeat.
- Uxie can also set up rain as well as stealth rock, and has u-turn/memento to safely bring in Ludicolo or other swift swim sweepers
- Spikes setters such as Accelgor and Qwilfish can lay down hazards to aid Ludicolo's sweep, and turn some 3HKOs into solid 2HKOs under rain on Pokemon such as Lickilicky, Hariyama, and Dragalge, which can be 2HKO'd by Ice Beam if 1 spikes and stealth rock are on the field.
- good swift swim sweepers that go along with Ludicolo include Life Orb Seismitoad and shell smash sweepers such as Omastar and Carracosta, the latter which has solid rock to ease its set up and Aqua Jet as a form of priority
- Electivire is a solid teammate to break some walls like Ferroseed and Vileplume who could otherwise stop Ludicolo from sweeping.

Other Options
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- subseed / defensive seed (specially defensive)
- Focus Blast on rain dance set to KO Ferroseed, but Ice Beam is better coverage overall
- swords dance

Checks & Counters
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**Special Walls/Tanks**: Cryogonal can take a hit and has Freeze Dry to hit x4 super effectively, and the same goes for Articuno which also has access to Freeze Dry. When outside of rain, Audino can switch in, knock off Ludicolo's Life Orb, and then stall out the rain turns with Wish + Protect. Lickilicky can also do the same. Mantine can take on Ludicolo and has STAB Air Slash to eventually KO. Vileplume, while unable to directly switch, can take an Ice Beam and has Sludge Bomb to KO. Ferroseed also cannot directly switch in under rain, but it can stall out rain turns and wear down Ludicolo. Dragalge can switch into either of Ludicolo's STAB moves and has STAB Sludge Bomb to KO, but Ice Beam 3HKOs assuming Dragalge is at 100% HP.

**Faster Pokemon**: Since Ludicolo is slow outside of rain, any faster Pokemon can threaten it immensely. Swellow, Dodrio, Sawk, etc. Kangaskhan can use its priority Fake Out + Sucker Punch to revenge kill and potentially waste a couple turns of rain. Hariyama can also use Fake Out to waste a turn of rain, is able to take a hit, and KO afterwards with Close Combat.

**Status**: Paralysis completely shuts down Ludicolo, and other status ailments like burn and poison can wear down Ludicolo quickly combined with Life Orb recoil.