VGC 2017 VGC Hail Team

Amaakir · Jan 8, 2017

Introduction

Hey, guys

This is my first time trying the VGC, I've been doing lot's of battling since last year both on ORAS battlespot and using PS! and with SM I thought I would give a try at a Hail team, featuring my favorite pokemon of all times: Ninetails.
I've been trying this team on PS! and it's been working really well, however I'm pretty sure it can do a lot better, so here goes:

The Team

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

The main course of my team, Ninetails not only brings Hail in, which will help do some damage, but it'll also set Aurora Veil as soon as possible. In case there's a priority move threat, I'll swap Ninetails to Tapu Lele on turn 1, mostly to avoid Fake out users and bullet punch users that would stop Glaceon from doing it's job. Freeze-Dry is used instead of blizzard to battle rain teams, particularly 1HKOing Pelipper and other nasty threats.

Glaceon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 244 HP / 252 SpA / 12 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shadow Ball
- Icy Wind

Here's the big gun, I don't get why Glaceon isn't around much on battlespot doubles, as it can give quite a punch under hail with Blizzard and choice specs. I have yet to run some damage calculations, but so far there's little that resists 2 hits from this thing. Even resisted hits do 40% damage, and with Snow Cloak + Hail, it gives Glaceon some survivability, not to mentions it's decent bulk.
In case there's no point to using Blizzard, I added Hidden Power Fire to surprise potential threats such as Scizzor or other Steel type pokemon.
Icy Wind is there just in case my team needs some speed control, it can still pack quite a punch, but I'm rather unsure about it.

Gyarados @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Waterfall

Originally my Mega (I guess GF really is taking Megas out of the picture) but it still manages to do wonders with Life Orb. Aurora Veil ensures Gyarados gets at least one Dragon Dance off so it can start sweeping. Perhaps and upgrade would be switching Crunch for Protect? Please give me your thoughts on this.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bonemerang
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Protect

Alolan Marowak counters a lot of threats on the team while hitting really hard. It also negates any electric attack incoming to Gyarados. It's only letdown is it's terrible speed, I get that a lot of the new gen pokemon are meant to be trick room, so I'm unsure about using Alolan Marowak or not. However, thanks to it's decent bulk it still manages to throw out a couple of hits before going down. Marowak is the main reason I keep Icy Wind on Glaceon, although I doubt it can do much so, any advice on this would be appreciated.

Kommo-o @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Flamethrower
- Clanging Scales
- Focus Blast

Originally used to be Crabominable, but Kommo-o has a lot more coverage and better bulk + speed. Weakness policy punishes any who throws out a supper effective move, however it's x4 weakness to Fairy is something to be mindful of. Overcoat makes sure Kommo-o works well with Hail and avoids certain status problems.

Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast

Tapu Lele was included as a counter to poison pokemon, but hasn't done too well to be honest. However, Psychic surge has come very handy against priority threats, you have no idea how many have tried using fake out or bullet punch against glaceon on turn one, just to get surprised by a Tapu Lele switch in to negate the attacks and get a blizzard up to their faces. Taunt can aid against obvious trick room setters or other support pokemon.

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for now, I'll keep using this team trying to patch any holes that I can find, but I'd appreciate any critiques or suggestions. Cheers!

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

Glaceon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Snow Cloak
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 SpA / 12 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shadow Ball
- Icy Wind

Gyarados @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Waterfall

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bonemerang
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Protect

Kommo-o @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Flamethrower
- Clanging Scales
- Focus Blast

Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast

Amaakir · Jan 10, 2017

As of now, I've done a quick modification to Tapu Lele, giving her a Pscychium Z and changing Focus Blast for Shadow Ball to deal with other Tapu Leles.
I've also considered swapping Alolan Marowak for Togedamaru for it's support, since my team is so offensive already and sometimes I have a hard time deciding which mons to use.

...

Also, bump!

Horrid · Jan 11, 2017

Hey man like the team, I am new to the hail team and am using this as a guide. Any other Pokémon i could have in tapu leles place? I don't feel like beating the elite four again..

air7walk · Jan 11, 2017

How do you get Hidden Ability - Fire on Glaceon? I got IVs to all 31s except for ATK (got that to zero), but I'm getting Dragon for that.

Amaakir · Jan 12, 2017

Horrid: I mostly use Tapu Lele to avoid having Ninetails OHKO'ed by bullet punch or Glaceon getting faked out. But if you want a pokemon with something similar you could use Tsareena, she serves the same purpose.

air7walk: I had to breed docens of Eevee's until I got the correct IV's, I then proceeded to level it to 100 as glaceon and then increase the iv's using bottle caps. The HP remains the same as when it hatched, but the IV's are all 31. Funny thing is I think ground covers a lot more threats for my team so my current Glaceon isnt doing as well lol

Alright, guys, so after several Pokemon Showdown battles I've modified my entire team, here's how it looks like atm:

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Freeze-Dry
- Encore

Ninetails remains pretty much the same, decided to change protect for Encore to trap opponents into certain moves such as protect or stat boosting moves. This gives the entire team a lot more survivability. However, Ninetails receives lots of heat and is always focused on, so I'm quite unsure about this.

Glaceon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 244 HP / 252 SpA / 12 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Shadow Ball
- Icy Wind

Glaceon got HP Ground instead of fire to deal with steel and poison types which severly threaten ninetails. It also helps take down Alolan Muk which is everywhere right now.

Garchomp @ Choice Band

Ability: Rough Skin

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Earthquake

- Poison Jab

- Dragon Claw

- Stone Edge

So, I noticed my team was getting uber owned by hyper offensive fast teams. One battle in particular had me OHKOing the entire lead on turn 1 just to get completely wrecked by Nihilego and a Jolly Metagross. So I've been testing out several pokemon; I of course gave Nihilego a shot, but didn't really cover any of the teams threats, then I tried with Snorlax which did pretty good actually using High Horsepower, but it lacked that raw power I was looking for. And I'm currently looking into Garchomp. I'll post my results later on.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bonemerang
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Protect

Same old Alolan Marowak. It's bulk has actually surprised me a bit, but Alolan Muk is everywhere and it's a huge counter to Marowak, having a STAB Knock off and taking off Marowaks Thick Club is not good at all. Just need to be careful with teams that have an Alolan Muk.

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash

Ability: Pressure

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Sky Drop

- Rock Slide

- Protect

- Taunt

So, Kommo-o was REALLY not doing much. It gets OHKOed so easily its stupid. and when it got a Weakness policy up, it always got knocked down by a faster mon. As I said, Hyper offensive fast teams where becoming a problem, so I tried Aerodactyl out and got a pleasent surprise. So far, I've been leading a lot with Ninetails and Aerodactyl and things have gotten a lot better. Sky drops helps me take potential threats or weakened mon or even setup Aurora Veil, while rock slide does it's thing. Taunt helps turn off support mon, specially trick room settlers (It bothers me so much that the entire team wasn't quick enough against Hyper Offensive teams nor slow enough to get advantage of Trick Room).

Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball

Tapu Lele needed some more power and Terrain Extender didn't really make a lot of sense. My team also needed a Z Move to deal tons of damage so I decided to give Tapu Lele Psychium Z. This would take advantage of the Psychic Terrain to really rip a mon apart. Shadow Ball helps dealing with other Tapu Leles.

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all so far, I'll continue testing the team out and reporting back. In the meantime, any feedback or critique is greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

Amaakir · Jan 12, 2017

Got to play a bit on Pokemon Showdown, Garchomp is definitely the way to go, here are a couple of replays:

Replay 1: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7vgc2017-515948951

Replay 2: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7vgc2017-515964234

Replay 3: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7vgc2017-515959827

I'll continue updating this post with more replays as they come along.

Cheers

Amaakir · Jan 18, 2017

Bump..? So far the team has been doing well, but I'd like some extra input if someone has a critique or comment. Thanks!

VGC 2017 VGC Hail Team

Amaakir

Amaakir

Horrid

air7walk

Amaakir

Amaakir

Amaakir

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)