This is arguably Abomasnow's most practical set. The frosted tree Pokemon has a few clear advantages over its SubSeeding brethren. Hail damage hits all non-Ice-type Pokemon, removing 6.25% of their HP per turn or otherwise nullifies the foe's Leftovers. Abomasnow also has access to a 100% accurate STAB Blizzard, hitting opposing Grass-types immune to Leech Seed for super effective damage. Focus Punch in the last slot batters Blissey, Heatran, and Tyranitar. It 2HKOes the former two, while having a good chance to OHKO the latter. Grass Knot or even Wood Hammer can also work for Water-types but you will find yourself forced to switch out more often than liked. Protect is a very viable option as well, granting you another turn of Leftovers, hail damage, and Leech Seed recovery. The simple EV spread allows you to outspeed most walls while giving Blizzard a big punch. Even when using Focus Punch, Timid is recommended since you don't gain any notable kills, and there's no reason to lower Abomasnow's decent defenses. A much bulkier EV spread is 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD with a Calm or Sassy nature. Many Pokemon, specifically bulky Water-types and Electric-types, will fail to break your Substitute with their neutral attacks, allowing you to freely Leech Seed and stall them out. Abomasnow tends to get stopped cold by Steel-types not weak to Fighting, mainly Scizor. Magnezone remedies this, but brings you additional weaknesses to Fire and Fighting attacks. Rotom-A is a great counter to Scizor and Metagross, and also packs resistances to Fighting-, Steel-, Bug-, Poison-, and Flying-type moves, covering many of Abomasnow's weaknesses. In addition to this, Rotom-A can use Blizzard with 100% accuracy with Abomasnow on the team or can use Overheat to nail said Steel-types. The bulkier Abomasnow set beats many bulky Water-types, and works well when paired with Pokemon who are able to sweep when said Water-types are removed—Gyarados, for example.
With a Choice Scarf attached, Abomasnow reaches a respectable 360 Speed. This allows it to outspeed Gengar, Salamence, tie with Choice Scarf Magnezone (assuming both of you are using Hidden Power Fire), and many other threats. The huge surprise value and great type coverage this set packs lets it KO many of its common counters, which may spell doom for your foe. Blizzard and Wood Hammer provide powerful STAB attacks, and Earthquake hurts Steel-types, such as Heatran and Magnezone, which resist Abomasnow's STAB attacks. Hidden Power Fire allows you to OHKO Scizor when it comes in on Stealth Rock and is also your most powerful attack against Bronzong. A few lesser options can go in place of Hidden Power. Focus Punch hits Blissey hard, but gets similar coverage to Earthquake. Grass Knot and Energy Ball can hit some bulky Water-types harder than Wood Hammer, and without the 30% recoil, but otherwise Wood Hammer is usually the superior option. 116 EVs in Special Attack guarantees you OHKO Scizor with Hidden Power if it comes in on Stealth Rock after hail damage. Your Speed is maxed and the rest of the EVs are put into your attack to power Wood Hammer. This set can be used well on a more offensive hail team, functioning as a revenge killer. Other Pokemon to be used would be a mixed Mamoswine and Rotom-F, both abusing the powerful 100% accurate Blizzard which Abomasnow provides. The coverage these three Pokemon achieve with their STAB attacks is great. Rotom-F's Electric- and Ice-type attacks are walled by only Magnezone, Lanturn, and Shedinja. Mamoswine's or Abomasnow's Earthquake takes care of Magnezone with ease, while Earthquake or Wood Hammer gets rid of Lanturn. Hail damage disposes of the uncommon Shedinja. Mamoswine and Abomasnow can both also KO Blissey who walls Rotom-F. Rotom-F can also defeat the ever common Scizor, whose Bullet Punch makes quick work of this set, getting past the boost of Choice Scarf.
Although Abomasnow's Attack isn't very impressive and its Speed is rather lackluster, Swords Dance and Ice Shard makes up for it. After a Swords Dance, Abomasnow reaches an impressive 622 Attack. Ice Shard compensates for the low 219 Speed stat by getting kills on faster sweepers such as Salamence, Flygon, offensive Zapdos, and 2HKOing Azelf and Rotom-H to name a few. Ice Punch is more powerful, but leaves you open to just about any faster Pokemon. In addition to STAB, Wood Hammer allows you to OHKO Hippowdon, Suicune, and all other physical walls who are weak to it. However, the recoil damage from killing such walls will be devastating to your sweep, which is why Seed Bomb can be used. As long as you have Life Orb, you will still get the KOs you need to. Earthquake is your way to get rid of Steel- and Fire-types, but since most of them are faster than you, it is best to use this on the switch in to OHKO Heatran, Infernape, and Lucario while also 2HKOing Scizor who loves to switch in. Your Attack should always be maxed to make the most of it. By maxing Speed you outpace minimum Speed Suicune and Milotic so you can hit them a STAB Grass attack before they can retaliate. If you'd like, you can put some Speed EVs into HP, but any Fire or Fighting attack will probably kill you regardless. If Life Orb damages is off putting to you, Leftovers is a decent alternative. Skarmory and Bronzong are probably Abomasnow's two biggest problems when using this set. They resist everything on it, and Skarmory has Roost to Recover the damage and can Whirlwind away its boosts. Rotom-H is a great counter to both of them with Overheat and has amazing synergy with Abomasnow. Another thing this set would greatly enjoy is paralysis support, which Rotom-H can also provide. Cresselia can also help here, adding a much needed Fighting resistance to your team. When Abomasnow is the fastest thing around, your foe has something to worry about.
Abomasnow was cursed with rather middling offensive stats with which to make use of its wide attacking movepool, so slapping a boosting item on it helps. You have your standard physical STAB attacks. Ice Shard for priority or Ice Punch for power. Wood Hammer for power or Seed Bomb for no recoil. Earthquake provides great coverage, and Focus Punch is used mainly for lack of a better option. It does however, OHKO Blissey and Heatran who may come in to take a Blizzard. There's little to outspeed between 219 Speed, Adamant, and 240 Speed, Jolly. For this reason it is usually better to max your Attack. This set requires prediction to pay off. You usually have to predict the Metagross, Scizor, or Heatran switch-in, otherwise you'll be forced to switch out. It would be wise to have a few counters to these Steel-type Pokemon, such as Zapdos and Rotom-A. Abomasnow's great type coverage leaves few Pokemon left out, but you will be forced to switch a lot which is why a Tentacruel or Starmie to Spin away Stealth Rock is recommended. Having a special attacking sweeper will benefit Abomasnow against the Pokemon it can't kill, such as Metagross, Forretress and especially Scizor. Starmie can be a devastating sweeper, who can also Rapid Spin effectively. You will usually need a boosting item such as Life Orb to effectively combat the said Steel-types. Another special attacker is Heatran, who can break almost any wall with either Substitute and Toxic or simply by firing off Fire Blasts. Although they share a Fighting-type weakness, Heatran resists Bug-, Flying-, and is immune to Fire-type attacks, making him a worthy candidate. Rotom-A is a good Pokemon alongside these two to absorb said Fighting-type attacks.
With a Choice Specs, Blizzard becomes extremely powerful despite Abomasnow's only modest Special Attack stat. Grass Knot hits more Water-types harder, but Energy Ball is more reliable against an unknown switch-in. Hidden Power Fire allows you to OHKO Scizor and Forretress, and hurt Steel-types not named Heatran. Focus Punch is still recommended for the last slot to hit Blissey, Snorlax, and Heatran, although it won't OHKO any of them. A Mild nature gives a slight boost to Focus Punch which is why it can be used to hurt the aforementioned Pokemon. Much like the Choice Bander, this set hates Stealth Rock more than the other sets which is why you should keep a Rapid Spinner handy. Starmie, Claydol, or even Blastoise all make decent Rapid Spinners. All of them resist at least one type Abomasnow is weak to, but Starmie and Claydol also share a Bug-type weakness. Claydol also the advantage of being able to lay down Stealth Rock, which helps a lot against many switch-ins. To counteract the Bug-type weakness, a Pokemon such as Rotom-A or Moltres (if you can guarantee Stealth Rock is removed) will be of great help when up against the likes of Heracross and Yanmega. Since prediction is key, it is important to know what you are up against. Having a phazer on your team will help greatly with this. Swampert in particular is a good choice because it can also counter Tyranitar trying to ruin your snow day, while also setting up Stealth Rock. Other OptionsSeed Bomb can replace Wood Hammer on any physical Abomasnow if you don't like the recoil, while Energy Ball can replace Grass Knot to hit lighter Pokemon. Avalanche can also replace Ice Punch since Abomasnow is relatively slow. GrassWhistle is all Abomasnow has in the way of status inducers outside of Toxic of course, but it has poor accuracy. Rock Slide is a bit too weak to warrant a moveslot, but it is useful against Moltres, Charizard, and Articuno. Although Abomasnow has Focus Blast, it won't do much damage to Blissey. Abomasnow has access to Light Screen, Safeguard, and Mist, but bulkier Pokemon will certainly make better use of them. EVsYou should always max your attacking stat when using an offensive set. Simply max Speed afterwards, which also allows you to Leech Seed more Pokemon. 84 SpA EVs lets you always 2HKO Skarmory, but between Stealth Rock, hail damage negating Leftovers, and Leech Seed you shouldn't have too much trouble with it. 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD has been mentioned for the SubSeeder. It allows you to counter walls who can only hit you neutrally and usually stall them out with Leech Seed. Team OptionsBeing a Grass- and Ice-type gives Abomasnow seven total weaknesses. This, in addition to his ability, Snow Warning, limits the Pokemon he can be used with. On a generic hail stall team, Walrein is a very good Pokemon to use with the SubSeeder Abomasnow. The walrus is weak to Electric, which Abomasnow resists, and can stall out many Pokemon. Standard walls and support Pokemon such as Tentacruel, Rotom-A, and Blissey are also very good to use on a hail stall team. An article all about hail stall can be found here: The Art of hail Stall A very common misconception about Abomasnow is that it must be used on a hail team. This is certainly not true. SubSeeding Abomasnow functions well on many standard teams who lack a way to beat many common walls, such as Suicune, Vaporeon, Cresselia, etc. Kingdra is a very good Pokemon to use with Abomasnow. Kingdra is 4x resistant to Fire-type moves and thus gets many chances to switch in and set up when a Choice Scarf Heatran comes in to Fire Blast the frost tree. When used with Gyarados you can defeat its most common counters, Porygon2 included. Gyarados covers Abomasnow's weaknesses well, especially its Scizor weakness. Only the Rock weakness remains uncovered, which is why you need a few sturdy resistances or at least a Rapid Spinner since there are few OU Pokemon who primarily use Rock-type attacks. For a Rapid Spinner, Starmie or Donphan works decently. Donphan gives a sturdy Rock resistant and Abomasnow resists his weaknesses, bar Ice which it is neutral to. Starmie is resistant to Fighting-, Fire-, and Steel-type attacks. Once again, most of its weaknesses are covered by Abomasnow, however they share a weakness to Bug. Tentacruel is probably the best Pokemon for Rapid Spin when using Abomasnow because it is relatively bulky and also absorbs Toxic Spikes upon switching in, while resisting the same types as Starmie. Since Abomasnow has so many weaknesses, you must have Pokemon who resist them while also removing threats to Abomasnow. Heatran resists many attacks Abomasnow fears, although it is weak to Fighting-type attacks as well. Heatran also makes a great switch-in against other Heatran who make quick work of Abomasnow. Dugtrio packs a Rock-type resistance, which may give it some opportunities to switch in and cause some trouble for threatening Heatran, Blissey, Infernape, and Tyranitar. Moltres is another Pokemon who can work well with Abomasnow, and since your team probably already has a Rapid Spinner Moltres can function well. It can stall out many troublesome Pokemon while Abomasnow counters the Pokemon that threaten it, such as Vaporeon and Suicune. You should not rely on one Pokemon to cover all of Abomasnow's weaknesses, but on multiple Pokemon. When using an offensive Abomasnow, status support is incredibly helpful. Rotom-A has been mentioned quite a few times in the sets above for a reason. It is a great counter to many Pokemon who trouble Abomasnow, is a very good candidate for paralysis support, and can also burn Pokemon such as Scizor and Metagross who easily walk all over Abomasnow. Cresselia takes very little damage from many Pokemon that threaten Abomasnow, such as Infernape and Lucario. It too provides paralysis support. Tentacruel can not only use Rapid Spin but can also set up Toxic Spikes which may wear down your foe enough for Abomasnow to sweep. If you get rid of your opponents Steel-types using Rotom-A, Magnezone, Dugtrio, or anyway you'd like, Abomasnow can usually cause great havoc. OpinionThe fourth generation of Pokémon finally brought the auto-hail inducer which "we were all waiting for", the results of which are somewhat mixed. Ice- and Grass-typing brings Abomasnow a total of seven weaknesses, including a quadruple weakness to Fire-type attacks. While its HP and defenses aren't devastatingly poor, they do little to compensate for this. Its list of weaknesses also includes Rock-type, which means it'll be stripped of 25% of its HP when switching into Stealth Rock. That's the bad news. The good news is that even with just its STAB moves, it can offer good attacking coverage, augmented with a few other useful attacks to cover some of its weaknesses. The benefits of Abomasnow's dual typing are few, but useful nonetheless. Its resistance to Water-type moves and neutrality to Ice-type attacks makes it a good choice to switch into the average Water-type. The Electric-type resistance is useful against Starmie, Lanturn, and pure Electric-types, like Raikou. As for its stats, they're all rather average. However, Abomasnow does have two STAB attacks with a Base Power of 120—Wood Hammer and Blizzard—which goes some way in compensating for those less-than-stellar offensive stats. Its trait, like its typing, is also a mixed bag. While it helps Abomasnow drain opponents in conjunction with Leech Seed, it limits the Pokémon whom you can choose to use alongside it, as few non-Ice-types enjoy having to play with the constant hail wearing them down. Overall, Abomasnow is very much a "hit and miss" Pokémon. CountersScizor resists both STAB moves and can destroy Abomasnow with Bullet Punch before it can make a move. He also packs U-turn to ruin the SubSeeding strategy. Bronzong and Forretress both work decently with Gyro Ball, but their lack of Speed makes them targets for SubSeeding. Metagross doesn't take much damage from Earthquake and can easily OHKO with Meteor Mash. Bullet Punch also does massive damage, and helps to avoid the annoyance of SubSeeding. Jirachi shrugs off Earthquake too, and can U-turn or simply wear down Abomasnow with Zen Headbutt or Psychic. Tyranitar despises being hit by Wood Hammer, but can switch in easily on Blizzard (thanks to the Special Defense boost that it receives from sandstorm), and negate its perfect accuracy with Sand Stream—Tyranitar can then hit back with a super effective Stone Edge. Fire-types are a big problem if you don't have Earthquake and even then, Moltres and Charizard will survive Blizzards to easily OHKO. Stone Edge Gyarados is a good choice as its high Special Defense can sponge both STAB attacks quite well. He also has the option of using Taunt to avoid Leech Seed. Weavile greatly fears Focus Punch and takes considerable damage from Wood Hammer, but is immune to the effects of Snow Warning and can outspeed and KO with Brick Break. Switching into Abomasnow can be very annoying, so prey on one of his many weaknesses and keep attacking—he will fall soon enough. |
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