4th Gen Hail Semi-Stall

[KWaite]

Hello,
Here's my team. I'm relatively new to this, so there's probably holes, so suggestions please.

Obamasnow@Focus Sash
252HP/ 152Def/ 104Sp. Atk
Neutral Nature
-Leech Seed
-Protect
-Ice Shard
-Blizzard
An obvious choice for a hail team. Starts the hail and can actual get a kill a good amount of the time. Leech Seed and Protect for stall with hail, blizzard for STAB, and Ice shard for that extra hit before he goes down. The only special attacks people use on him generally are fire, so I just focused on defense EVs, and then focus sash to survive one fire move and get leech seed on them.

Forretress@Leftovers
252HP/ 220Def/ 36Atk
Relaxed Nature
-Stealth Rock
-Toxic Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Explosion
This is one of my spinners. His main function is to lay down Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes. He's also good for taking guys that have set up with Explosion. I only switch him in to Physical attackers, so I focused on defense. I gave him leftovers to cancel out the hail.

Froslass@ Leftovers
252Spd/ 156HP/ 100Sp. Atk
Timid Nature
-Confuse Ray
-Thunder Wave
-Substitute
-Blizzard
This thing can really do damage. If I get then paralyzed and confused, combined with Snow Cloak, she only gets hit 30% of the time. I don't like running Toxic over thunder wave because her defense isn't too great, and getting hit more is bad. It also makes her faster than Gengar, who's a common switch in. Substitute I use after they're confused and paralyzed. Blizzard is for a strong STAB to do decent damage with her poor Special Attack. She's also used as a spin blocker.

Walrien@Leftovers
252HP/ 48Spd/ 160 Sp. Def/ 52 Sp. Atk
Bold Nature
Ice Body
-Protect
-Substitute
-Toxic
-Surf
I love this guy. If he's faster than you, he will beat you if you aren't an ice type and he's at full health. he regains 12% every turn from Leftovers and Ice Body combined with Toxic and hail is great. He benefits from Toxic Spikes a lot because he doesn't have to use a move on toxic and the can't substitute away from it.I like Surf over Blizzard to help the teams fire weakness, and so he can hit Steel types harder because they aren't affected by Toxic.

Starmie@Leftovers
252 Spd/ 252 Sp. Atk/ 4HP
Timid Nature
Nature Cure
-Surf
-Psychic
-Blizzard
-Rapid Spin
This is my second spinner. I like to have 2 since my team has big weakness to stealth rock. Also, Toxic spikes are a big threat to Froslass and Walrien, because if they're poisoned, then I'm stalling myself. Starmie really helps my team's weakness to fire and fighting. I run surf over Hydro Pump because I've always preffered accuracy over power. I like Timid over Modest because I was tired of being outran by Infernapes and Gengars. Leftovers to cancel out the hail.

Weavile@Focus Sash
252 Atk/ 252Spd/ 4 HP
Jolly Nature
-Ice Punch
-Night Slash
-Ice Shard
-Low Kick
Good revenge killer. He outruns almost everything and still has great power. Ice shard because I always like having a priority attack on one of my dudes(Abomasnow doesn't count cause he's already dead at the beginning of the battle). Ice Punch and Night Slash for STAB, and Low kick to hurt or faint the Tyranitars and Heatrans they always switch into. I like having someone with a Focus sash to take out guys that have set up, and I have two spinners, so it's rarely wasted by Stealth Rock. Though he doesn't benefit too much from the hail, him being an Ice type is definitely helpful.

Common treats-
Tyranatar/Hippodon(obviously)
Machamp
Infernape
Jirachi
Lucario

 

[Rakan]

Thunder Wave on Froslass and Toxic Spikes on Forretress seems kind of counterproductive... my advice would be to run taunt on Froslass to prevent entry hazards from being set up, and spikes on Forretress. Weavile doesn't actually benefit from Hail since Blizzard from a base 45 SpA will be doing laughable damage. It also adds another fire, fighting, and rock weakness to your team. Besides, Weavile doesn't really have a place on a Hail Stall team. You should really include Tentacruel somewhere on your team because it has access to toxic spikes, rapid spid, and comes with a much needed fire and fighting resist. Its usually the better option over starmie for its defensive bulk, especially on a non-offensive oriented team.

Just a short rate since its late, but I hope I helped and good luck with the team.

 

[Delko]

Hello, cool Hail team but I've got a few suggestions.

First thing I notice when glancing at your team is that your are quite weak to Tyranitar, Jirachi, Breloom, Lucario and Scizor. This is a common sight for Hail teams but it can easily be fixed. I suggest Gliscor instead Forretress with a moveset of Aerial Ace / Roost / Earthquake / Toxic. Don't worry about the loss of a spinner as you also have Starmie with Rapid Spin. Aerial Ace is a solid 1HKO on Breloom and it also lets you handle the likes of Machamp. Earthquake is a STAB move and hits Tyranitar, Jirachi and Lucario hard, it's also your best move against Scizor. Toxic is there to make for the loss of Toxic Spikes and is still a good choice to cripple common Gliscor switch-ins.

Another suggestion I have is to put Recover and Thunderbolt on Starmie instead of Psychic and Blizzard. Psychic is a pretty worthless move anyway (despite it is STAB'ed) and Thunderbolt allows you to handle Gyarados, a pokemon who could be problematic as well. Recover is there for survivability as you don't want Starmie to be gone early in the game, especiallly since it's your only counter to both Gyarados and Heatran. Therefor I also suggest a slightly different EV spread that makes Starmie a bit bulkier, allowing it to take hits easier. A spread of 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe would suffice.

I don't really understand your EV spread on Walrein. I suggest you use the Stallrein spread instead: 220 HP / 252 Def / 36 SpD as this will maximize Walrein's stalling potential.

On Weaville I think your better of with an Expert Belt. This will give your moves a boost and has the potential to fake a Choice Item. Since Stealth Rock is the most common move in the game and Sandstorm is omnipresent as well using Focus Sash on a late game pokemon is kind of redundant.

I hope these suggestions helped and good luck with the team!

 

[oOsymphonyxOo]

I've been using semi-stall Hail For about 50-60 battles on Smogon and I can tell you Walrein is a lot better on paper than he is in battle. With 48 speed EVs, he tops at 178 speed. That thing isn't outspeeding anything. Everyone is just going to switch to something that can Taunt or Roar and Walrein is useless. That or a steel type. Metagross is too common, immunity to toxic is Walrein's weakness. And an opposing pokemon with Leftovers takes nothing from hail. Sure, you can use toxic, but in the turn you do, your substitute will be broken. So you can follow with a switch, or let Walrein die.
If I were you, I'd drop him for Swampert or something. You need more that can check Scizor. Bullet Punch can OHKO Froslass, Abomasnow, and Weavile. Superpower will crush Walrein, while a STAB U-Turn will make Starmie cry. When people see hail, you're in trouble late game when they save their Scizor for the sweep. Swampert keeps Scizor in check pretty well while providing Walrein sort of bulk.
I'd suggest this:

Swampert @ Leftovers
248 HP/212 Def/48 SpD
Relaxed nature
-Blizzard
-Surf
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake

Another plus, he can powerfully check most Sandstorm teams while taking no damage to the weather.

 

[BKC]

Hey, this looks like a pretty good hail team, although I have a couple of suggestions.

Tentacruel should replace Forretress as the Toxic Spiker and Rapid Spinner. It absorbs Toxic Spikes, which the rest of your team really hates, and Forretress cannot always get rid of them with Rapid Spin, especially because you are not carrying Payback or any way to hit Rotom-A, today's premier spin blocker. Not to mention, it can actually do damage to other Pokemon without killing itself like your Forretress does. Finally, it does not have as much pressure on it to set up two different kinds of entry hazards. Toxic Spikes should be enough. The Tentacruel set is:

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
Trait: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SDef
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Knock Off

Now replacing Forretress does mean you lose your source of Stealth Rock. However, I think Starmie could be replaced for a Swampert, who has that second fire resist going for it, SR, and possibly the biggest boon, countering Tyranitar, who currently sweeps through your team easily, whether it is the Scarfer, Choice Bander, or Dragon Dancer. Losing Starmie, your Ape counter, is not that big a deal because you have the more reliable Tentacruel (by more reliable I mean not Pursuit weak). The set is:

Swampert @ Leftovers
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spe)
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake

Now, teams with multiple layers of entry hazards usually have a spinblocker so a pokemon with Rapid Spin can't destroy your entire strategy. I think a ResTalk Rotom-F would do well, as a solid Breloom check and a good spinblocker. It also counters DD Taunt Gyara, who you currently have a slight weakness to. You do have a ghost already but Froslass isn't the most reliable spinblocker. I'd recommend you put it over Weavile, as it is quite weak, can't do much damage, and is next to useless with a Focus Sash outside the lead slot.

Rotom-F @ Leftovers
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe (outruns Breloom)
- Thunderbolt
- Blizzard
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Now, I'm just gonna nitpick two movesets. As the above poster mentioned, Thunder Wave on Froslass really overlaps with the T-Spikes and all you need for hax is Substitute and Snow Cloak. This means you also don't need Confuse Ray. I'd change them to Spikes and Taunt. Spikes gives you another entry hazard to abuse, and Taunt messes up defensive teams that rely on indirect damage.

The last nitpick I'd like to make is a 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 SAtk Calm set on Abomasnow, with Substitute/Protect/Leech Seed/Blizzard. Many teams in the current metagame cannot touch this and you can easily stall them out. Focus Sash is fairly useless for midgame stalling, Leftovers is much more helpful when regaining health to create more Substitutes.

Just some things to consider, good luck.