Right, this was the first time I used a Hail team for an entire round, and I guess I'll post my thoughts on it. I'll say straight away though that something needs to be done. Hail is an incredibly destructive strategy in RU because of the Ice Body shenanigans, 6.25% chip damage on practically everything, and of course Blizzspam. I used a Hail offense team for most of the round that kind of focused on Blizzspam (Specs Glaceon/sometimes LO Jynx, Scarf Rotom-F and of course the mighty Snover, but more on the little guy later). Specs Glaceon has absolutely tremendous power, 2HKOing bulky resists such as Lanturn is phenomenal so that Rotom-F can clean up. I initially thought that its low Speed would be an issue, but it really wasn't. Glaceon is faster than the walls it's supposed to crush, and since I had Trick Room Slowking on my team i could just let it go to town vs offense as well. Here are some insane Glaceon calcs:
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Qwilfish: 261-307 (78.14 - 91.91%) -- 31.25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Blizzard vs. 40 HP / 216+ SpD Lanturn: 143-168 (35.66 - 41.89%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and weather
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Spiritomb: 301-355 (99.01 - 116.77%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Blizzard vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Aggron: 243-287 (86.47 - 102.13%) -- 56.25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Blizzard vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Magneton: 216-255 (89.25 - 105.37%) -- 68.75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Alomomola: 300-353 (56.17 - 66.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and weather
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 249-294 (63.19 - 74.61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I mean just look at this. Keep in mind that Hail adds an extra 6.25% damage on to these calcs, AND that Glaceon recovers 6.25% HP every turn. Two Pokemon I faced that could really take Glaceon on were defensive Cryogonal and Slowking (which weren't really issues because Escavalier just Pursuited them) and Walrein (which was admittedly extremely annoying, I could only beat it by using Hidden Power Fighting on the switch) In short, Glaceon more or less can murder stall teams simply by spamming Blizzard, and give offensive teams hell under Trick Room as well. Doesn't do much against Hail stall though. The second part of the Blizzspam core comes with Rotom-F, who murders the offensive teams Glaceon can't if I don't get Trick Room up, or generally just clean up after Glaceon has Blizzarded everything.
I honestly am surprised that people seem to prefer a Walrein / Ice Body / Ice Body+Hail Ban, rather than just an outright Hail ban. Hail offense is as destructive as Hail stall in my eyes due to being able to spam a 120 BP STAB move with multiple powerful Pokemon that cannot miss, has great super effective coverage and can freeze (yes this is actually pretty big, I've been in a couple of situations where freezing something heavily contributed to me winning the game). What it really boils down to in my opinion is this little bugger:
Snover @ Focus Sash
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Blizzard
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Toxic / Protect
It's really kind of scary how much Snover isn't dead weight. People used to say the same thing about Politoed in OU, until they realized that it was either a pretty damn solid defensive Pokemon, or one of the most vicious heavy hitters in the tier. The support that Snover brings to a team is really impressive (at least on the ladder). It can either Blizzard an offensive Pokemon for high damage (and with max speed in actually outspeeds a bunch of walls lol), Giga Drain stuff sometimes, HP Fire the 4x weaks who he also outspeeds, and of course, Toxic. Toxic is a reallx cool move on Snover, as in conjunction with Hail, can EASILY wear down loads of things that give Hail teams trouble. I've lost count of the number of times opponents have lead with Gallade, Emboar, Slowking, Cryogonal etc, who all despise being Toxiced. I know that no competent player will let Snover get off more than one kill per game, but thankfully the ladder isn't really competent, and Snover usually nets itself a kill and a half, or a crippled Pokemon. Basically my opinion is that we should just ban Snover, as the support it brings to its team is really out of this world, be it a defensive or an offensive team.
EDIT: idk shake, hail+ice body certainly would be a step in the right direction, but jynx can still be used over glaceon in combo with rotom-f. similar power, an immunity, higher speed, better movepool kinda make up for lack of ice body and has more physical bulk :s