Baby, It's Cold Outside: An OU Hail Team

NurseNinja · Jun 30th, 2012, 2:35:13 PM

Hi all!
This is my first RMT and I'm totally open to suggestions :)
I've noticed that the Fifth Gen metagame often comes down to weather wars, especially rain and sand storm. For the most part, hail usage is pretty uncommon so I thought I'd give it a go. My strategy with this team is to rack up residual damage with stall-tactics and then sweep with Cloyster. So far I've had moderately good success with it, but there is always room for improvement. The ice age is back baby, so bundle up!

Team at a glance:

A Closer Look:

King Yeti (Abomasnow) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Atk
Bold Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Ice Shard
- Substitute
- Protect
- Leech Seed

Obvious Abomasnow is obvious as the lead member of my snowy entourage. I chose to go with a more defensive route for him because his Ice/Grass typing does provide some lovely resistances. As my weather-inducer, his job is to be able to safely sponge physical attacks, pick away at foes with leech seed, and Ice Shard off low-health dragons.

Of course, a 4x weakness to Fire and a further crippling weakness to stealth rock leads me to my next poke-

Inkypoo (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SDef
Bold Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic spikes
- Blizzard
Tentacruel serves as my spinner and my counter to fire pokes. Entry hazards are the death of my team so being able to spin and simultaneously rid of t-spikes is a blessing from Arceus. With hail going, black sludge neutralizes the damage and blizzard is a nifty addition to the moveset. With other hazards out of the picture, it's then time to put down some of my own, which brings me to:

Frigid B*tch (Froslass) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd/ 6 HP
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Ice Beam/Blizzard
- Thunder Wave
- Spikes

Let me first start off by apologizing, this poke is absolutely obnoxious. Thunder Wave + Snow Cloak = HAX 2 DA MAX
I typically start off with a substitute to hide behind and then try and get in a T-wave if there's comfortable breathing room. Once both of those things are in place it's time to start spiking like there's no tomorrow. A wonderful thing about Froslass is that it can simultaneously drop spikes and serve as a spin-blocker. Oh, and the hax. I have to reiterate how obnoxious the hax is. You can sometimes paralyze several different pokes in one go if you didn't previously set up T-spikes. I'm torn between Ice Beam and Blizard because, although Blizard has more power, I often find myself running out of pp very quickly. There isn't always a good time to send out Frosslass as it is quite fragile, so while stalling for an opening, this next poke serves as a nifty physical wall.

Bat Boy (Gliscor) (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def/ 6 SpDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Fire Fang
- Protect
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake

This is a pretty standard physically bulky Gliscor set. The only major difference is the use of fire fang, which is solely for eliminating Scizor and Ferrothorn, the two banes of my existence. With my physical staller on board, I needed a special check as well, which leads me to-

Abortion (Reuniclus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Gaurd
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk/ 6 Def
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

Reuniclus servers as my anti-sweeper with trick room, namely for choice-scarf Terrakion. He has also done me proud as a counter to Gengar by sponging a hit, using trick room, then countering with psychic or shadow ball. Same applies to Alakazam. Focus Blast, while frustratingly inaccurate, is for T-Tar. Magic guard is also a nice touch to null hail damage. With all said and done, it's finally time to introduce the monster of my team-

Magic Conch (Cloyster) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk/ 252 Spd/ 6 HP
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Razor Shell/Ice Shard

All hail the Magic Conch! All who do not fear its power will tremble at its mercy as it sweeps pokes to their icy dooms. Focus sash is simply for a reliable shell smash. Making sure there are no hazards up is key and so is ridding of sandstorm. Jolly nature is mostly out of paranoia of being out-sped but I haven't tested Adamant to be sure. Once you have enough hazards up and the timing is right, just smash and sweep your way to cold victory. Razor shell is good for Heatran, but Ice Shard is out of fear of priority moves ruining my day.

Common threats:
While the loss of hail isn't the doom of my team per say, sand does tend to be annoying, especially when it ruins Cloyster's chance to set up.
In terms of pokes, D-dance Skrafty, Choice-Spec Tornadus in the rain, Landorus with HP-ice, and Choice-Spec Latios tend to give me trouble or force me to send out Cloyster early.

Rate/Luvdisk/Tear me a new one
Anything is very much appreciated,
Thanks for rating and wear a scarf out there, it's chilly!

~~superbadd~~ · Jun 30th, 2012, 3:52:19 PM

I would suggest adding bulky latias in place of reni as it can handle both rain teams and sun teams exponentially. This set is very similar to the smogon life orb tank but with ev tweaking so that it can outspeed Thunder-t. It's an excellent weather counter while being simultaneously a great defensive pivot.

Latias@Life orb
Modest 152 HP 184 spe 172 spa
Draco Meteor
Surf
HP fire
recover

Also on gliscor swap out fire fang for toxic/stealth rock and protect for roost.
Btw sub+protect is redundant replace sub on obama w/focus punch.

Other than that it looks great, well done.

infinitetown · Jun 30th, 2012, 10:27:48 PM

Aww man this is difficult. Your team may have some useful resistances, but half of it is weak to rock-type attacks, and no pokemon on your team resists rock.
I would replace Froslass for Kyurem(it has better typing, bulk and power, it just misses the uber tier because of it's mediocre speed and bad ice typing):

@Life Orb
Trait: Pressure(really hope that GF give it snow warning)
Nature: Hasty / Mild
Moves:
~ Draco Meteor
~ Blizzard
~ Hidden Power Fire / Focus Blast
~ Outrage
Believe me, spaming blizzard in hail is great fun.

P.S:

The team is here . Sorry for spamming this.

Superpowerdude · Jun 30th, 2012, 11:19:25 PM

Hi there i am glad you are using hail!

ok now on to the rate for a team based on stall tactics you have NO DRAGON RESISTS! this hinders your team alot with many powerful dragon types in OU. Now i know you have a few ice moves that can threaten them but you have nothing to take a hit. you also have two fire weaknesses and only 1 resist which isnt enough in my opinion. Also stealth rock is mandatory if you dont want your team eaten up by Volcarona and even if your opponent doesnt have volcarona stealth rocks is arguably the most important move in the entire metagame. for these three reasons i reccomend changing Reuniculus for a spiecally defensive heatran

...

you also have 3 rock weaknesses and no resists A Bulk Up Conkledurr can help. I would suggest swapping gliscor for conk although you lose some stalling ability conkledurrs power can surely help weaken a team and make it safe for Cloyster to sweep.

...

I dont understand why you have moves slashed (/) Froslass wants Blizzard because of hail and Cloyster wnats razor shell due to stab and coverage. Abomasnow wants his Physical attacker set because it is by far the best abomasnow set trust me I use it Delko uses it and majority of good hail players use it.

...

I hope i helped you with your team and i wish you luck in creating a nice hail team!

Jun 30th, 2012, 2:35:13 PM	#1
NurseNinja Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2 Masshole USA	Baby, It's Cold Outside: An OU Hail Team Hi all! This is my first RMT and I'm totally open to suggestions :) I've noticed that the Fifth Gen metagame often comes down to weather wars, especially rain and sand storm. For the most part, hail usage is pretty uncommon so I thought I'd give it a go. My strategy with this team is to rack up residual damage with stall-tactics and then sweep with Cloyster. So far I've had moderately good success with it, but there is always room for improvement. The ice age is back baby, so bundle up! Team at a glance: A Closer Look: King Yeti (Abomasnow) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Snow Warning EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Atk Bold Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Ice Shard - Substitute - Protect - Leech Seed Obvious Abomasnow is obvious as the lead member of my snowy entourage. I chose to go with a more defensive route for him because his Ice/Grass typing does provide some lovely resistances. As my weather-inducer, his job is to be able to safely sponge physical attacks, pick away at foes with leech seed, and Ice Shard off low-health dragons. Of course, a 4x weakness to Fire and a further crippling weakness to stealth rock leads me to my next poke- Inkypoo (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge Trait: Rain Dish EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SDef Bold Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Scald - Rapid Spin - Toxic spikes - Blizzard Tentacruel serves as my spinner and my counter to fire pokes. Entry hazards are the death of my team so being able to spin and simultaneously rid of t-spikes is a blessing from Arceus. With hail going, black sludge neutralizes the damage and blizzard is a nifty addition to the moveset. With other hazards out of the picture, it's then time to put down some of my own, which brings me to: Frigid B*tch (Froslass) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Snow Cloak EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd/ 6 HP Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Substitute - Ice Beam/Blizzard - Thunder Wave - Spikes Let me first start off by apologizing, this poke is absolutely obnoxious. Thunder Wave + Snow Cloak = HAX 2 DA MAX I typically start off with a substitute to hide behind and then try and get in a T-wave if there's comfortable breathing room. Once both of those things are in place it's time to start spiking like there's no tomorrow. A wonderful thing about Froslass is that it can simultaneously drop spikes and serve as a spin-blocker. Oh, and the hax. I have to reiterate how obnoxious the hax is. You can sometimes paralyze several different pokes in one go if you didn't previously set up T-spikes. I'm torn between Ice Beam and Blizard because, although Blizard has more power, I often find myself running out of pp very quickly. There isn't always a good time to send out Frosslass as it is quite fragile, so while stalling for an opening, this next poke serves as a nifty physical wall. Bat Boy (Gliscor) (M) @ Toxic Orb Trait: Poison Heal EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def/ 6 SpDef Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Fire Fang - Protect - Ice Fang - Earthquake This is a pretty standard physically bulky Gliscor set. The only major difference is the use of fire fang, which is solely for eliminating Scizor and Ferrothorn, the two banes of my existence. With my physical staller on board, I needed a special check as well, which leads me to- Abortion (Reuniclus) (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Magic Gaurd EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk/ 6 Def Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Trick Room - Psychic - Focus Blast - Shadow Ball Reuniclus servers as my anti-sweeper with trick room, namely for choice-scarf Terrakion. He has also done me proud as a counter to Gengar by sponging a hit, using trick room, then countering with psychic or shadow ball. Same applies to Alakazam. Focus Blast, while frustratingly inaccurate, is for T-Tar. Magic guard is also a nice touch to null hail damage. With all said and done, it's finally time to introduce the monster of my team- Magic Conch (Cloyster) (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Skill Link EVs: 252 Atk/ 252 Spd/ 6 HP Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Shell Smash - Icicle Spear - Rock Blast - Razor Shell/Ice Shard All hail the Magic Conch! All who do not fear its power will tremble at its mercy as it sweeps pokes to their icy dooms. Focus sash is simply for a reliable shell smash. Making sure there are no hazards up is key and so is ridding of sandstorm. Jolly nature is mostly out of paranoia of being out-sped but I haven't tested Adamant to be sure. Once you have enough hazards up and the timing is right, just smash and sweep your way to cold victory. Razor shell is good for Heatran, but Ice Shard is out of fear of priority moves ruining my day. Common threats: While the loss of hail isn't the doom of my team per say, sand does tend to be annoying, especially when it ruins Cloyster's chance to set up. In terms of pokes, D-dance Skrafty, Choice-Spec Tornadus in the rain, Landorus with HP-ice, and Choice-Spec Latios tend to give me trouble or force me to send out Cloyster early. Rate/Luvdisk/Tear me a new one Anything is very much appreciated, Thanks for rating and wear a scarf out there, it's chilly!

Jun 30th, 2012, 3:52:19 PM	#2
~~superbadd~~ Banned deucer. Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 357	I would suggest adding bulky latias in place of reni as it can handle both rain teams and sun teams exponentially. This set is very similar to the smogon life orb tank but with ev tweaking so that it can outspeed Thunder-t. It's an excellent weather counter while being simultaneously a great defensive pivot. Latias@Life orb Modest 152 HP 184 spe 172 spa Draco Meteor Surf HP fire recover Also on gliscor swap out fire fang for toxic/stealth rock and protect for roost. Btw sub+protect is redundant replace sub on obama w/focus punch. Other than that it looks great, well done. Last edited by superbadd; Jun 30th, 2012 at 5:33:29 PM.

Jun 30th, 2012, 11:19:25 PM	#4
Superpowerdude #Noivern Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 946 Australia Mentor	Hi there i am glad you are using hail! ok now on to the rate for a team based on stall tactics you have NO DRAGON RESISTS! this hinders your team alot with many powerful dragon types in OU. Now i know you have a few ice moves that can threaten them but you have nothing to take a hit. you also have two fire weaknesses and only 1 resist which isnt enough in my opinion. Also stealth rock is mandatory if you dont want your team eaten up by Volcarona and even if your opponent doesnt have volcarona stealth rocks is arguably the most important move in the entire metagame. for these three reasons i reccomend changing Reuniculus for a spiecally defensive heatran ... Heatran @air baloon/Leftovers 252hp/252 SpD/ 4 spe calm nature moves: -Lavaplume -earthpower -stealthrock -roar This is the set you want air ballon or leftovers is up to you as leftovers prevents you from getting worn out by hail dmage where as air baloon gives you more oppurtunities to enter a battle and set up stealthrock(i use air baloon on this heatran set in my hail team but it is up to you) I chose lava plume over fire blast because of the 30% burn rate earthpower is just for coverage and roar is for phazing. Heatran will help you alot against sun giving you a powerful poke in sun a volcarona check and a poke that gives you stealth rock support. Heatran shall replace Reuniculus as Trick room isnt doing to much for your team as it basically makes Cloysters shell smash useless. you also have 3 rock weaknesses and no resists A Bulk Up Conkledurr can help. I would suggest swapping gliscor for conk although you lose some stalling ability conkledurrs power can surely help weaken a team and make it safe for Cloyster to sweep. ... @leftovers 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 SpD (o spe ivs) Ability:guts Nature Adamant/Brave Bulk up Drian punch Payback mach punch Conkeldurr also acts as a status absorber and the 0 spe ivs are to abuse payback more effectivly and the loss of speed isnt to bad with conks low base speed (45) and acces to mach punch I dont understand why you have moves slashed (/) Froslass wants Blizzard because of hail and Cloyster wnats razor shell due to stab and coverage. Abomasnow wants his Physical attacker set because it is by far the best abomasnow set trust me I use it Delko uses it and majority of good hail players use it. ... @leftovers 188 HP / 252 Atk / 68 Spe Adamant Nature Moves wood hammer Protect leech seed ice shard Max attack makes Ice shard and wood hammer do crazy damage to politoed, Tyranitar and dragons respectivly where as leech seed+protect help with stalling and hp recovery as well as scouting. I hope i helped you with your team and i wish you luck in creating a nice hail team! __________________ #ratemyteam \| Smog Work\| Rater Of the Week \| RMT \| Dogbirds Join #dogbirds on irc!!! Last edited by Superpowerdude; Jun 30th, 2012 at 11:21:46 PM. Reason: adding hide tags

Jun 30th, 2012, 10:27:48 PM	#3
infinitetown Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 11 Vietnam	Aww man this is difficult. Your team may have some useful resistances, but half of it is weak to rock-type attacks, and no pokemon on your team resists rock. I would replace Froslass for Kyurem(it has better typing, bulk and power, it just misses the uber tier because of it's mediocre speed and bad ice typing): @Life Orb Trait: Pressure(really hope that GF give it snow warning) Nature: Hasty / Mild Moves: ~ Draco Meteor ~ Blizzard ~ Hidden Power Fire / Focus Blast ~ Outrage Believe me, spaming blizzard in hail is great fun. P.S: The team is here . Sorry for spamming this.