"How to make Castform more viable WITHOUT Mega Evolution"

Give its ability Forecast a complete overhaul, where not only does it allow Castform to change its form with the weather, but also summons weather based on Castform's moveset when it's sent out. Basically, whichever ice, fire or water type move has the highest base power will determine what weather Castform will summon. If, however, it has two or more moves of these types that are different but have the same base power OR no moves of these types, it will not summon any weather. This seems fitting because Castform always learns moves of these types of the same base power at the same level, giving you a choice which weather you want to use. Alternatively, if Castform has any weather-summoning moves, these will take priority over any attacking move to summon weather, unless castform has multiple weather moves.For example, if you had a Castform with Flamethrower, Blizzard, Ominous Wind and Headbutt, Castform would summon Hail because of the two moves with corresponding weather to their types that Castform has in this moveset, Blizzard has higher base power. However, if this same castform had Fire Blast instead of Flamethrower, then it wouldn't summon any weather at all because it has the same base power as Blizzard.I feel like this would be the biggest help to Castform, as not only does it make it an extremely versatile weather summoner for your team (minus sandstorm), but it also makes it more viable in single battles as well because it no longer has to clog up its move set with weather-inducing moves and miss out on all the other moves it has access to, or waste that first turn to set up weather and then tank whatever gets thrown at it with its poor defensive stats.Which leads me to my next point: give Castform more defence when it changes forms. The pokédex even says that Castform "uses the vast power of nature to protect its tiny body." It would make sense for Castform to have a bit more bulk once it changes form. There are plenty of other pokémon that change stats with form such as Darmanitan and Minior, with the former receiving a BST increase upon transformation. If Castform's weather forms had just a bit more bulk, it would give it more potential to check setup and even stall in its own right with some of the interesting options it has in its movepool like clear smog and cosmic power. While it's offensive stats are equally poor, I feel that it already has enough coverage and high base power moves to alleviate this. It even has access to tailwind to aid its own speed (and your entire team as well).These are just some thoughts I've been having during my playthrough of Alpha Sapphire, in which Castform (nicknamed Ollie) is part of my team. While he is one my favourite team members, I constantly feel like Castform is trying its best to do everything, but is just outclassed in whatever it's trying to do, and although versatile, it requires a lot of turns (and a lot of luck) to work out. Just because a pokémon is gimmicky doesn't mean it has to be just for fun and not actually useable. Pokémon like Rotom and Mimikyu have proven that a pokémon can do both effectively, and I honestly feel like Gamefreak should continue to buff the especially weak pokémon with latent potential to really bring forth their strengths in the future games.(I was considering giving it the Fairy typing as well considering its appearance, the fact that it's in the Fairy egg group, and also how it would give Castform some pretty awesome dual typings with its form changes. However, I ultimately decided against it given how Castform currently doesn't learn ANY Fairy-type moves.)What do you guys think? Do you agree/disagree with my ideas? What else can you bring forth to the table? What other pokémon do you feel are in the same boat?EDIT:tl;drmake forecast change form AND summon weather based on Castform's strongest move of the same typegive Castform's defensive stats a boost when it changes formhelp other pokémon that suffer from unrealized potentialEDIT2: I didn't realize Weather Ball actually benefits from sandstorm and becomes a rock-type move. If this is this case, maybe Castform should get a sand form as well. The main problem is that the only rock-type move it gets is Sandstorm itself, and it isn't even acquired by levelling up. Without any moves to take advantage of its STAB in sandstorm other than Weather Ball, it seems like they'd really need to expand Castform's movepool to make this form useful to Castform itself. via /r/pokemon http://ift.tt/2vJvdjF