What it does
Make It Rain is a Steel-type special move with 120 base power that hits all opposing Pokémon simultaneously, then drops the user's Special Attack by one stage.
Working the numbers. Gholdengo has 133 base SpA. At Lv50 with max IVs (locked at 31) and all 32 Stat Points invested in SpA, its SpA stat lands around 182. With Choice Specs multiplying that by 1.5, you're operating at an effective 273 SpA. Thrown into an average special sponge — say, 85 base SpDef, roughly 135 real stat — Make It Rain lands somewhere between 50–60% per shot. That's the switching threshold: most opponents either faint or switch, they don't simply absorb it. After the −1 drop, your SpA falls to about 121 (multiply by 2/3), meaning the next Make It Rain deals roughly one-third less damage. That is not a rounding error; it's the difference between an OHKO threat and something a moderately bulky Pokémon can sit through.
In doubles, the spread modifier drops each hit to ×0.75, so each target eats 90-power Steel special damage — but two targets eat it simultaneously. Total damage output is equivalent to roughly 180 power spread across two Pokémon, pressure density no single-target move can match in one action.
Steel coverage hits Fairy, Ice, and Rock for neutral or better — three types that are everywhere on competitive teams — making Make It Rain genuine utility, not just brute force.
Who runs it
Make It Rain is exclusive to Gholdengo. That's the entire user list.
Choice Specs pivot archetype: The dominant build. Specs multiplies SpA by 1.5 going in. You fire Make It Rain, deal massive damage, then either grab the KO or pivot out before the −1 compounds. Secondary moves are Shadow Ball (Ghost coverage), Power Gem (Fire and Rock types), and Trick — which lets you pass the Specs to a wall or support Pokémon, permanently locking their moveset and crippling their role. The synergy is clean: Make It Rain cracks the front line open, Trick collapses the back.
Nasty Plot boosting archetype: Life Orb plus Nasty Plot. Use Nasty Plot turn 1 to reach +2 SpA, then fire Make It Rain for the −1 drop — you land at a net +1, still above baseline. You've spent two turns, but the damage output at +2 before the drop exceeds what Specs can produce on a raw shot, and you aren't locked to one move. Life Orb's 1/10 HP recoil each hit adds up: five uses is 50% self-damage, so this is a pick for burst-and-win plans rather than long games.
Doubles spread anchor: Positioned behind Follow Me or Rage Powder redirection support, Gholdengo fires freely into both opposing leads. Good as Gold makes it fully immune to status moves — Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Taunt all bounce off — forcing opponents to attack it directly, which feeds into partner redirection or priority suppression.
How to use it
Singles turn pattern A (Specs up front): Turn 1, fire Make It Rain. If the target faints or is forced to switch, you've opened a free turn for your next Pokémon. If the opponent switches in a physical attacker, pivot Gholdengo out — you keep the −1 off the field until you need it again, and the opponent has to guess whether you'll ever bring Gholdengo back. The mistake is staying in and clicking Make It Rain a second time: your SpA is now −1, the damage drops from roughly 55% to roughly 37%, and a moderately bulky opponent survives and retaliates hard.
Singles turn pattern B (Nasty Plot buffer): Turn 1, use Nasty Plot. Because Good as Gold blocks all status moves, the opponent cannot Taunt, Thunder Wave, or force a bad Trick to disrupt setup. Turn 2, fire Make It Rain from +2: the −1 drop leaves you at +1 SpA, dealing approximately 33% more damage than a flat Specs shot would. You now have a live Gholdengo with boosted SpA remaining — a threat most opponents cannot safely ignore.
Doubles decision tree: Check at team preview whether the opposing lead carries Wide Guard. If yes: do not click Make It Rain into it. Instead, fire Shadow Ball at the higher-priority target, or coordinate a same-turn Fake Out from your partner to suppress the Wide Guard user, then fire next turn. If no Wide Guard is present: both opposing leads absorb 90-power Steel special damage simultaneously. With Specs, almost no standard lead pair survives that cleanly. After firing, pivot Gholdengo with Specs — chaining a second Make It Rain into −1 SpA plus the spread modifier is poor math.
One mechanical edge Make It Rain has over Earthquake in doubles: it does not hit your own partner. Steel spread without the friendly-fire liability is genuinely relevant when your team runs physical attackers who want to stand next to Gholdengo.
Tips & strategy
Common mistake autopsy: The most frequent error is firing Make It Rain turn 1 with Specs against a team you haven't yet identified, continuing into a second shot after the −1, and discovering the opponent's special wall was waiting for exactly that. The scenario: opponent switches in a high-SpDef Pokémon after turn 1. You stay in and click again. At −1 SpA, Make It Rain now deals roughly two-thirds of its original damage — the wall sits through it, recovers or retaliates, and your window is gone. The fix is simple: after every use of Make It Rain, ask "can I still KO or threaten something with the next action?" If the honest answer is no, pivot out. The −1 does not follow Gholdengo when it switches.
Named counter — Wide Guard: In doubles, this completely negates spread moves for one turn. Any team running Conkeldurr, Clefable, or other Wide Guard users can stall out a full Specs Make It Rain turn for free. The answer is a same-turn Fake Out from your partner: it forces the Wide Guard user to Protect or take Fake Out damage, burning their action so Make It Rain lands clean the following turn. Alternatively, shift to Shadow Ball — single-target, bypasses Wide Guard entirely.
Named exception — Fire types: Steel is resisted by Fire (×0.5). If the opposing lead includes something like Incineroar, Make It Rain into it is half damage. Power Gem hits Fire types for neutral and is the better call. Knowing which opposing Pokémon resist Steel and routing damage to Shadow Ball or Power Gem instead is what separates a Specs Gholdengo pilot from someone who just clicks the biggest number.
Assault Vest interaction: An opponent running Assault Vest effectively has 1.5× SpDef. Against a well-invested Assault Vest user, even a Specs Make It Rain can fall short of the KO threshold. In that matchup, Trick is frequently the better play — you strip their Assault Vest, they receive the Specs lock, their defensive role collapses. Identifying Assault Vest users in team preview and routing your first action to Trick rather than Make It Rain is one of the higher-skill reads available to Gholdengo players.