Battle Spot Teambuilding Discussion & Help Thread (read post #453, page 19)

[ethan06]

Approved by Age of Kings

Welcome to the official Battle Spot teambuilding thread! This thread serves as a place to post the work-in-progress teams you're using on the cartridge ladders and to ask for help and suggestions to improve them. Feel free to post your team ideas here and ask for input from the Battle Spot community!

----
Rules:

~ All Battle Spot forum rules apply (have a read if you haven't already)

~ Avoid posting full RMTs here (effective 24/07/15). Go to the RMT Other Teams forum to post finished teams and to ask for help with tweaking it. This thread is for teams that are not fully built yet, and cores that can be built around

~ You're very welcome to post a team for whichever Battle Spot format you use it in – just make sure it's clear which format you're posting for to avoid confusion

~ Be sure to include solid descriptions so that raters know that general goals for your team and the roles of individual Pokémon. All sets must come with an in-depth description - the definition of "in-depth" is left to the discretion of the moderators

 

[Tortoise]

Why an Adamant Gliscor? For Gyarados, don't bother with Bite (the power output is... low). Waterfall/Earthquake/Stone Edge should give you more coverage. Presumably you use Whimsicott to lead usually?

 

[Weisskopf]

I've been wondering about this for awhile, but how do you like designated supporters like your Whimsicott? From my experience 3v3 is pretty brutal and there's lots of offense-offense-offense. I'd also chime in and agree with Tortoise about skipping over Bite. Even at +1, Bite's never impressed me in gameplay and I've never cared for the coverage much. I like the more offense-focused Gliscor a lot.

Due to your suggestions I replaced Mawile with a Special Lucario and Latios (having problems with new stuff like Talonflame and Aegislash) with Azelf.

Azelf@Life Orb
Jolly
252 Atk/252 Spd/4HP
-Ice Punch
-Zen Headbutt
-U-Turn
-Explosion

 

[Guilan]

My current team. I'm 1670 at singles ATM.

Venasaur @ Venasaurite
Overgrow
Quiet Nature
248 hp 252 S.Atk 8 def

- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power Fire
- Earthquake

Coverage is the word here. I wish I could run Leaf Storm instead of giga drain, the
power loss is noticeable when you're running a bulky attack set like this. Still,
Giga Drain lets you win some trades that leaf assault does not. I'm okay with this.

Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Huge Power
Adamant Nature
248 hp 252 atk 8 s.def

- Aqua Tail
- Knock Off
- Super Power
- Play Rough

Assault vest saved me from many threats I wouldn't survive otherwise. Naming a few:
Chandelure, Magnezone. They all couldn't 2hko this Azumarill.

Garchomp @ Choice Band
Rough Skin
Jolly Nature
252 atk, 252 speed, 4 hp

- Outrage
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb

Rock tomb is going to kill Mega Charizard-Y anyway. I use rock tomb to surprise counters on the switch-in. Should I switch to stone edge? The rest is pretty much standard and self explanatory. Notes: Garchomp's banded Outrage has a chance of OHKOing Mega Kangaskhan, and even if it does not KO, should Mega-Khan try to make contact with Garchomp via Return/Double Edge, it will kill itself via Rough Skin before Chomp dies.

Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Flash Fire
Modest Nature
248 hp, 252 satk, 8 def

- Energy Ball
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power Ground

I wanted a strong special sasher with plenty of coverage. I was using Greninja, but Grass Knot was not that effective against most of water pokemon I wanted dead (Rotom-W, Lanturn, Azumarill, Crawdaunt, Clawitzer)

Heatran @ Life Orb
Flash Fire
Quiet Nature
248 Hp, 252 satk, 8 def

- Magma Storm
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge

Stone Edge for Y-Zards, the rest is standard stuff.

Landorus-I @ Rocky Helmet
Intimidate
Adamant Nature
252 atk, 252 def, 4 hp

- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

My physical wall, slow enough for a safe u-turn, bulky enough to survive most hits, and strong enough to OHKO threats.


Thoughts?

 

[ethan06]

Why an Adamant Gliscor? For Gyarados, don't bother with Bite (the power output is... low). Waterfall/Earthquake/Stone Edge should give you more coverage. Presumably you use Whimsicott to lead usually?

Adamant Gliscor is basically a power output thing, it's more than bulky enough to get a Substitute up against physical attackers and just start stalling. That Gyarados set looks promising... I need a Rock more somewhere anyway. I think I'll probably end up running DD and maybe making a double bird sort of setup with Haxorus, as they do similar things (with Haxorus breaking down Rotom to allow Gyarados to sweep). Normally I lead with Manectric to get a quick Intimidate and Volt Switch out - it's a much better safeguard against unfavourable matchups than Whimsicott is.

I've been wondering about this for awhile, but how do you like designated supporters like your Whimsicott? From my experience 3v3 is pretty brutal and there's lots of offense-offense-offense. I like the more offense-focused Gliscor a lot.

Whimsicott is surprisingly good in 3v3, even despite having zero offensive presence. Priority Encore and Taunt together make it impossible for anything to set up on me, and it forces switches like crazy and Stun Spores everything, making it much easier for my other attackers to hurt things. Battle Spot's offensive nature means that half the metagame hates paralysis, and often it's the dealbreaker for me. Also yeah, the Gliscor's being putting in some serious work for me. I'm thinking of tweaking it's moveset a bit, as Ice Fang is a bit underpowered for me and I'm still not sure how useful Roost is. I'll probably put Knock Off on it somewhere, but where exactly I haven't figured out yet...

 

[Tortoise]

Also yeah, the Gliscor's being putting in some serious work for me. I'm thinking of tweaking it's moveset a bit, as Ice Fang is a bit underpowered for me and I'm still not sure how useful Roost is. I'll probably put Knock Off on it somewhere, but where exactly I haven't figured out yet...

Knock Off > Roost. Poison Heal + Substitute already grants you the recovery and longevity you need.

 

[ethan06]

Should I replace Ice Fang?

 

[Weisskopf]

Should I replace Ice Fang?

Probably depends on your needs. I've been running into a ton of Banded Garchomps, for instance, and Ice Fang would be perfect against them. Also agree that Knock Off is great, especially on something like this that can force a lot of switches.

How do you like your Manectric? I was thinking about trying some volt-turn action and Mega-Manectric/Landorus-T looks brutal considering a lot of the higher-tier Megas are physical in nature.

 

[Nighty]

The team I mentioned on the Metagame discussion thread (http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...iscussion-thread.3491754/page-16#post-5233960), also my very first non-Showdown competitive team, has been doing fairly well, I think (my record as of this post is 14-16, with a ranking of 1,406).

Some tweaks were done to it as I learned more about the nature of the metagame, though, this is how it looks like right now:

Volcarona @Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
252 SpAtk / 252 Spe / 6 HP
Modest Nature
-Quiver Dance
-Roost (replacing Hurricane)
-Fiery Dance
-Bug Buzz

I ended up chickening out of running Hurricane from the very beginning, and settled on Roost, which I found made Life Orb more desireable, and actually works quite well so far, despite not being a bulky Volcarona, it seems like most people are not prepared to deal with it in one hit, which leads to a cool surprise when the damage is healed after Quiver Dancing first. As long as I keep it away from Water and Rocks, my Volcarona cleans house just great.

Gliscor @Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
207 HP / 252 Spe / 51 Def
Impish Nature
-Knock Off
-Toxic
-Substitute
-Protect

(Replaced moves where Earthquake and Ice Fang)

Trying to give my Gliscor an offensive edge was not working out for me, with the exception of Knock Off, which actually does great most of the time, so I decided to keep that as a great backup tool and answer to any possible Taunts, while dedicating entirely to SubToxic stalling. Standard and overdone, perhaps, but effective.

Medicham @Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 6 HP
-High Jump Kick
-Zen Headbutt
-Thunder Punch
-Ice Punch

Medicham has been working great from the very beginning, with a sweet Speed, and a sometimes surprising bulk and tons of power, it always manages to KO at least one offensive Pokemon and/or rendering a wall completely useless before falling.

Trevenant @Lum Berry
Ability: Harvest
252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Spe
Impish Nature
-Phantom Force (replaced Curse)
-Horn Leech
-Rest
-Will-o-Wisp


This guy is fantastic! Always ready to cancel the danger of Mega Mom and surprising sub users with Phantom Force, which they don't seem to expect, it also does a great job scaring and sometimes even getting rid of Rotom-Wash and Azumarill! I'm always happy to rely on my dead tree when those overused threats show up on team preview.

Blastoise @Blastoisinite
Ability: Torrent-->Mega Launcher
252 HP / 252 SpAtk / 6 SpD
Modet Nature
-Aura Sphere
-Ice Beam (Replaced Rapid Spin)
-Scald
-Dark Pulse


At first, I was prepared to use this guy as a spinner, it's greatest role, but the truth is, I have yet to find more than one Stealth Rock user in my admittely short time battling. Instead, I took advantage of it's considerable bulk and power to shoot down things that have the speed to beat Mega Medicham, as well as making way for Volcarona easily. I've been wondering if replacing the Mega Stone with an Assault Vest to get a more specially defensive tank that can shoot stuff down is a good idea, what do you guys think?

Tyranitar @Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
Adamant Nature
-Stealth Rock
-Crunch
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake


Stealth Rock has been very situational for me so far, only being really useful two times against Talonflame. The true worth of my Tyranitar has been it's bulk, helped by the sandstorm and lefties. Would removing Stealth Rock in favor of a coverage move and Assault Vest be a better choice over removing Blastoise's Mega Stone?


I know that my record proves I have way too little experience in order to not be talking out of my ass, so I was wondering if there were any more changes I should make, perhaps even change Blastoise for Assault Vest Slowbro?

 

[Tortoise]

If you don't play 6v6 over WiFi, then yes, removing Stealth Rock on Tyranitar may be a good idea. Ice Beam perhaps?

At any rate, do check out the new feature in Global Link. It shows the top 12 pokes used in each format, moves, items, ability and nature. Can further break down into what are the most popular combinations used for that particular poke when it KO-ed an opponent or was KO-ed itself. Good feature I'd say. :)

 

[ethan06]

How do you like your Manectric? I was thinking about trying some volt-turn action and Mega-Manectric/Landorus-T looks brutal considering a lot of the higher-tier Megas are physical in nature.

Manectric is easily the MVP of my team. It's such an anti-meta Pokémon in 3v3, as it can spread Intimidates, weaken things with Volt Switch and generally make a nuisance of itself. However, it isn't the hardest-hitting thing in the game, and HP [Ice] is disappointingly weak. Ground-types love switching in on it, and any of them not named Garchomp take close to nothing from HP [Ice]. I normally have to hard switch to Gyarados.

----

I've been trying out my new team on Battle Spot and this is what I've found:
Gyarados is fantastic, and has been pulling it's weight really well. As I'd expected, it has fantastic synergy with Mega Manectric, what with baiting Electric attacks for Lightning Rod in a pseudo-GyaraVire setup, and the dual Intimidate completely neutering physical attackers. This combo is a full stop to Talonflame and it sets up on Rotom-W effectively as well. At the moment I'm running:

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Adamant
Intimidate
252 Atk/168 HP/88 Spd
-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge
-Taunt

I'm not sure about the usefulness of Taunt on this set, given that I already have Taunt on Whimsicott, which I often run alongside Gyarados and MManectric. Waterfall and Stone Edge also have terrible coverage by themselves, so I'll probably end up replacing Taunt with either Earthquake or Ice Fang.

Gliscor and Heatran have seen literally no use. Heatran seems useful until you realise that a whole bunch of the top threats run through it, and the one it does check (smogonburd) is already stopped by Manectric. Gliscor shares a bunch of similarities with Gyarados, and I just haven't been able to fit it into a lineup when Manectric/Gyarados/Haxorus or Whimsicott is so useful. I'll have to play around with it a bit more to give Gliscor a purpose in life again. I'll be replacing Heatran with something though... probably Aegislash, Volcarona or Mega Gengar. What do you guys think of these developments, and what should I swap Heatran out for?

 

[Campaign]

Stealth Rock has been very situational for me so far, only being really useful two times against Talonflame. The true worth of my Tyranitar has been it's bulk, helped by the sandstorm and lefties. Would removing Stealth Rock in favor of a coverage.

As mentioned above, if you're playing over 3v3 then yes. SR is incredibly strong against talon and charizard but there are two enormous problems with it. Firstly, most people lead with talon/charizard - Charizard can solarbeam your TTar to death and talon can get some serious damage out on your ttar with u-turn. Secondly, both these pokemon often run roost and will outspeed the majority of pokemon out there, making the 50% damage taken from stealth rock fairly useless over-all. If You could go for coverage like Tortoise said with ice beam or fire blast, or you could do something like protect for scouting or dragon dance which works pretty well on ttar due to his bulk.

 

[Nighty]

Considering my Tyranitar is Adamant, wouldn't one of the elemental fangs be better? or is the power of Ice Beam/Fire Blast enough to compensate and more?

 

[ethan06]

Tyranitar does learn the elemental punches, but you need the BW tutors for that so I assume that's not an option. The fangs are a bit too weak to hit the things Tyranitar wants to, so I'd suggest rebreeding it for a mixed nature so that Fire Blast/Ice Beam does it instead. I'd go with Ice Beam to hit Garchomp if I was you.

 

[Campaign]

Yeah, it really does depend on the set. If you're going atk/speed EVs and running mega then physical moves are a way better option but if you're just going for a bulky offensive pokemon with good coverage, mixed is the way to go.

 

[Tortoise]

Nitewolf If you're sticking with Physical Tyranitar, maybe try either of these 2 sets? Completely ripped off the WIP Tyranitar page (as I'm super duper lazy):
move 1: Crunch
move 2: Pursuit
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Earthquake / Ice Punch
ability: Sand Stream
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 76 Spe

OR

move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Ice Punch / Crunch
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Earthquake
ability: Sand Stream
item: Tyranitarite
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

 

[Weisskopf]

Would this be a cool spot to post individual Pokemon ideas? For instance, after seeing the single battle rankings I've been rolling with this guy in a volt-turn core and doing pretty well.

Landorus-T@Rocky Helmet
Impish
Ability: Intimidate
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Atk
-U-Turn
-Superpower
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide

It does a great job against the top three pokes this season (Garchomp, Kang, and Talonflame) and hits pretty damn hard on the switch. I know that Cresselia is a more common Rocky Helmet user, but this is super bulky and Choice Scarf sets are much more common so this has a great element of surprise, too. What I'm wondering about are the EVs and the moveset. For instance, I'm not sure that Superpower is needed because usually Rocky Helmet plus an Earthquake is enough to do Kang so it's really only useful against Tyranitar, which isn't normally a problem. I'm also unsure whether I need all the bulk, because besides Azumarill and Gyarados I'm really not threatened by much. Thanks for any input!

 

[Nighty]

I really didn't want to bother breeding another Larvitar, and I don't have Tyranitarite, so I ended up going with something a bit less orthodox.

Tyranitar @Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
Adamant Nature
-Stone Edge
-Crunch
-Earthquake
-Dragon Tail


It's surprisingly effective at catching people off guard and making them more prone to make mistakes.

 

[Guilan]

I've been playing with this Hail team with decent success on Showdown and I'm ready to test it in the battlespot.
I wanted to create a hail team for two reasons:

1. Killing sash users (most notably garchomp which is immune to sandstorm) due to hail damage.
2. Coolness.



Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 8 Atk / 204 HP / 8 SAtk / 252 Def / 36 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Ice Shard (I want to swap this for Energy ball to deal with water types such as Rotom-W)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Rock Slide
- Blizzard

PROS
* Survives two bullet punches from both normal scizor and mega-scizor
* 2hkos mega scizor with hp fire and can ohko normal scizor with hp fire and hail damage
* Rock slide ohkoes most Volcaronas and MegaYZards.
* Survives nonboosted outrages and stone edges from Garchomp and kill him back with blizzard
* Survive a fireblast from 4 satk neutral salamence and ohko him back with blizzard.
* has a 45% chance of surviving an iron head from mega mawile.
* Survives weak nonboosted fire attacks.

CONS
* Has to switch against Talonflame and MegaYZard
* Can't do much to Mega Heracross and Heatran
* Has to switch against most fire-types in general.

Gyarados @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 20 Spd / 180 HP / 192 Def / 116 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Ice Fang (Aqua Tail)
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

PROS
* Survives two fire blasts and solarbeams from Yzard under the hail.
* Survives electric volt-switches from some defensive rotoms.
* Garchomp can't 2hko it if unboosted and can't ohko it even if +1.
* Is here to tank most attacks aimed at Abomasnow.
* Outspeeds base 103 monsters after 1 DD

CONS
* Dies to electric
* Has no way to recover from racked damage.
* Aqua tail or Ice Fang.


Mandibuzz (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Knock Off
- Foul Play
- Toxic

PROS
* I needed a hard counter to M-Kanga.
* Can handle most physical attacks very well
* Is immune to hail

CONS
* Weak against good special attackers.


Articuno @ Icy Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Careful Nature
- Hail
- Roost
- U-turn
- Toxic

This Articuno sets up hail then switches. When it comes back, he stalls with roost and toxic.
I didn't test this much, it might be not the best choice for this team.

PROS
* High defenses.
* Creates long-lasting hailstorms.

CONS
* Nonexistent offenses.


Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Endeavor

PROS
* SashEndeavor catches most people offguard. Under the hail it's just excellent.
* Strong revenge killing potential

CONS
* Walled by bulky ghosts.

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Trick Room

PROS
* Immune to hail and other weather damage, as well as powder moves
* Trick room setter. Apart from mega abomasnow, this team doesn't have much synergy with trick room, though.

CONS
* Lacks life orb.

 

[Kadabrium]

A new team iv made, currently being tested on showdown's ladder (went from ~1400 to 1587/top 30 now)

kan (Kangaskhan) (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Early Bird
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Def
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake
- Seismic Toss
Lure out dem steels and grounds and common ghosts, and watch the opponent waste their team slots.
Still loses to quagsire and cresselia..
Also IDK if i should invest a little in Def so that it can guaranteed live a +1 dragonite outrage..

tal (Talonflame) @ Sky Plate
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
I gave Sub to this talonflame w the thought of forcing a switch and roost to prevent losing too much HP. In reality dog I use this move nowhere near as often than i thought, so probably il change it to like tailwind or wow..

thu (Thundurus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
Generic scarfer, whose only notable mission is to revenge DDers. Also opposing greninja and stuff

sab (Sableye) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 104 SDef / 152 Def
Impish Nature
- Confuse Ray
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
On this team its more of a wallbreaker than a wall itself. This team does not include a conventional wallbreaker, nor a conventional physical wall (which is quite noticeable a flaw indeed), and i felt that Sableye s the closest thing that i can get. The team relies heavily on it to stall out the likes of venusaur, quagsire and blissey.
The def evs enables it to live a garchomp earthquake followed by a burned outrage in a worst case scenario. It also counters any kangaskhan that isnt modest fire blast.

tyr (Tyranitar) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 SAtk / 244 HP / 12 Spd
Modest Nature
- Low Kick
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
Suicide lead mostly, against Rotoms/other special attackers/team that lack a general special wall
Uninvested Low kick cant OHKO opposing ttars :(


gre (Greninja) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
Greninja without a water move..LOLwut. But i have a shiny greninja with HP fire in game so why dont use it?..
In reality thog I dont think water move is especially useful for coverage, given how many dragon/azumarill/venusaur/gyara etc are out there. Grass knot/Ice beam does the job 99% of the time.


major weaknesses of this team:
-Cresselia w moonblast
-dragonite, especially choice band
-charizard X
-mawile w sub
-general PP stallers that outstalls sableye

 

[Campaign]

The moveset on your TTar is also available to pokemon like Greninja/Hydregeion who not only have a much larger SPatk/Spd than ttar, have access to U-Turn which is invaluable for high spd openers. If it wasn't for his enormous fighting weakness, I'd not mention it but there are so many fighting leads in the meta right now, I imagine you have to swap him out, a lot.
Sableye with knock off can cripple Cressalia for your talon if you want to drop Confuse Ray.
Given your fighting weakness from Kang/TTar/Greninja and your only move against them being talon's brave bird, you could drop HP fire or Grass knot for extrasensory on Greninja. He outspeeds pretty much all non-scarfed fighters.
You've got no steel/poison attacks and fairy is very common this gen, and again, you have a huge fairy weakness in greninja/ttar/sable. You could give talon steel wing to talon but honestly, since you run sky plate your brave bird will do just as much damage and gets priority. Maybe HP poison on thundorus. Speaking of, thunderbolt AND volt switch may be overkill. It's not a bad move-set but I find a lot of people will either either predict or simply switch out of your thunder moves.
Maybe ditch seismic toss on Kang for Hammer Arm if you really want a fighting move.

Generally speaking, I'd consider swapping either using mega kang as a physical sweeper or swapping him out for a garchomp and getting in a megazard y for fire blast/focus blast.

 

[ethan06]

Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 8 Atk / 204 HP / 8 SAtk / 252 Def / 36 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Ice Shard (I want to swap this for Energy ball to deal with water types such as Rotom-W)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Rock Slide
- Blizzard

PROS
* Survives two bullet punches from both normal scizor and mega-scizor
* 2hkos mega scizor with hp fire and can ohko normal scizor with hp fire and hail damage
* Rock slide ohkoes most Volcaronas and MegaYZards.
* Survives nonboosted outrages and stone edges from Garchomp and kill him back with blizzard
* Survive a fireblast from 4 satk neutral salamence and ohko him back with blizzard.
* has a 45% chance of surviving an iron head from mega mawile.
* Survives weak nonboosted fire attacks.

CONS
* Has to switch against Talonflame and MegaYZard
* Can't do much to Mega Heracross and Heatran
* Has to switch against most fire-types in general.

I like what you've done with this. They only problem I see is that with such minimal investment you can't really spam Blizzard as much as a 252 Sp. Atk one could. All this would really do though is ease the prediction a bit, though; I say keep this one as it is and just play really carefully.

Gyarados @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 20 Spd / 180 HP / 192 Def / 116 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Ice Fang (Aqua Tail)
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

PROS
* Survives two fire blasts and solarbeams from Yzard under the hail.
* Survives electric volt-switches from some defensive rotoms.
* Garchomp can't 2hko it if unboosted and can't ohko it even if +1.
* Is here to tank most attacks aimed at Abomasnow.
* Outspeeds base 103 monsters after 1 DD

CONS
* Dies to electric
* Has no way to recover from racked damage.
* Aqua tail or Ice Fang.

Go with DD/Aqua Tail/EQ/Ice Fang. Ice/Ground hits most of the things you want to hit anyway and Talonflame dies to Aqua Tail. I'd also suggest swapping the Safety Goggles for Leftovers; this way, you achieve essentially the same effect under hail, but you gain passive recovery when the hail ends, which I think would help a lot. You obviously have the EV spread down to a fine art (as with Mega Tree) so I won't suggest anything there. :)

Mandibuzz (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Knock Off
- Foul Play
- Toxic

PROS
* I needed a hard counter to M-Kanga.
* Can handle most physical attacks very well
* Is immune to hail

CONS
* Weak against good special attackers.

Pretty standard and synergises well with your team. Nothing much to say here.

Articuno @ Icy Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Careful Nature
- Hail
- Roost
- U-turn
- Toxic

This Articuno sets up hail then switches. When it comes back, he stalls with roost and toxic.
I didn't test this much, it might be not the best choice for this team.

PROS
* High defenses.
* Creates long-lasting hailstorms.

CONS
* Nonexistent offenses.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one... I see where you're coming from (what with 8 turns of hail) but I agree with you that it would be a lot more useful if you gave it an attack somewhere. I'd suggest dropping Toxic for Freeze Dry; this gives you a way to fight Rotom-W and a good general attack for when you're Taunted (one that doesn't necessitate switching out). When you can only bring 3 Pokémon you really don't want one that's deadweight. Anyway, test it out and if it doesn't work, try something else as it looks like the weakest member at the moment - if you do replace it, try a Fighting-type. Blaziken would be ideal.

Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Endeavor

PROS
* SashEndeavor catches most people offguard. Under the hail it's just excellent.
* Strong revenge killing potential

CONS
* Walled by bulky ghosts.

Yep, love Endeavor Mamo. Only nitpick here is maybe Icicle Crash > Icicle Spear? It's probably a matter of preference but non-Skill Link Icicle Spear seems a bit unreliable...

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Trick Room

PROS
* Immune to hail and other weather damage, as well as powder moves
* Trick room setter. Apart from mega abomasnow, this team doesn't have much synergy with trick room, though.

CONS
* Lacks life orb.

Okay, I'm going to share with you one of my favourite Reuniclus sets.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Bold
Magic Guard
252 HP/96 Sp.Atk/80 Def/80 Sp. Def
-Recover
-Psyshock
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast/Hidden Power [Fighting]

Everyone laughs at Recover + 3 Attacks Reuniclus but I used to use this set all the time in Gen V and, while I sucked consistently, this guy was always the MVP of the terrible teams I made and, in the hands of a better player, may have been even effective. The EV spread and nature gives him equal mixed bulk and a decent amount of power with Life Orb, making him very hard to take down with Recover. Having 3 moveslots for attacks gives him the full breadth of coverage that he needs. The only issue that he sometimes has is that he doesn't hit as hard as you'd like him to; taking points out of his defenses and adding them to Sp. Atk should fix this problem should you come across it (try 252 HP/112 Sp. Atk/72 Def/72 Sp. Def or something similar). Also, using Life Orb necessitates Magic Guard, which makes him susceptible to Sleep Powder and lowers his effectiveness against Mega Venusaur. However, as most Reuniclus run Overcoat, you can bluff it and avoid the Sleep Powder anyway. Move your Leftovers over to Gyarados and try this; you don't have to worry about Trick Room messing up the rest of your team and you get LO Reuniclus. Everyone wins ^_^

No-one's looked at this yet so I will. I added my comments to the quote in bolded blue. :)

----
Okay, here's the (hopefully) final look at my team. I've done some renovating and I think this looks good.

Manectric @ Manectite
Timid
Lightning Rod -> Intimidate
252 Sp. Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
-Thunderbolt
-Volt Switch
-Flamethrower
-HP [Ice]

Whimsicott @ Rocky Helmet
Bold
Prankster
252 HP/252 Def/4 Spd
-Taunt
-Encore
-Stun Spore
-U-Turn

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Adamant
Intimidate
252 Atk/168 HP/88 Spd
-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake

Landorus-T @ Choice Scarf
Jolly
Intimidate
252 Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-Turn
-Superpower

Crustle @ Lum Berry
Jolly
Sturdy
252 Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
-Shell Smash
-Flail
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake

Gourgeist-XL @ Colbur Berry
Impish
Frisk
252 HP/168 Atk/88 Def
-Seed Bomb
-Shadow Sneak
-Will-o-Wisp
-Leech Seed

• Manectric, Whimsicott and Gyarados remain the same as before, except I dropped Taunt on Gyara for Earthuake like I said I would :)
• Swapped Gliscor for Landorus-T, and it's just as ridiculously good as you'd expect. The double Intimidate (triple if I use Gyarados as well) is really good at creating setup opportunities for a sweep, and is also awesome at playing around the opponent's team, forcing switches and scouting their line-up.
• Crustle's set is one of my favourite things about Pokémon. If I've cleared out the opponent's priority abusers (or they didn't bring one), it's basically gg. Thanks to Lum Berry, Crustle can set up as many Shell Smashes as it likes until something hits it and procs Sturdy. After that, literally nothing can take less than 50% from +2 Flail besides Ghosts, Bastiodon and extremely bulky Steels like Aggron and Skarmory, all of which can be taken out earlier in the game or just wiped with Earthquake. It's difficult to set up though, and restricts my playing if I derp and accidentally let Manny or Lando get taken out.
• I've chosen Gourgeist over Heatran in the final slot as an answer to Rotom-W and Mega Kangaskhan. A warning to all of you following at home: Heatran really, really sucks in this format, especially Specstran. Earthquake and random Fighting- and Water-moves are everywhere, and I've already lost games I shouldn't have because I decided to give Heatran one more chance... that aside, I haven't actually tried Gourgeist yet (still training it...) but I've run some calcs and Colbur Berry looks like a really good idea. It allows it to clutch check Bisharp (the EV spread allows it to avoid the 2HKO from +0 Knock Off with the Berry intact) and burn it, and makes physical Kangaskhan a complete non-issue by safe guarding against random Crunches. The Grass coverage also helps a ton as without it, my team has difficulty breaking through Water/Ground types and I needed a definite answer to Rotom anyway. Here's to hoping it works out.

UPDATE: After a bit of testing, I've decided that Gourgeist is a keeper. It does really well in a lot of cases - however, it has brought two new problems to the surface: a) I am very Ice-weak, and b) while my team is extremely physically bulky, I'm really specially frail. Anything with Ice Beam can instantly put a ton of pressure on my team and restrict my freedom a lot. To combat this, I'm going to try replacing Crustle with a specially bulky Fire-type, starting with Quiver Dance Volcarona. If anyone has an idea to help me with this, please let me know; I'd like a Fire-type with decent coverage in this slot as while I do have Flamethrower on Manectric, it's a bit risky relying on that to beat every Grass-type I come across.

 

[Guilan]

No-one's looked at this yet so I will. I added my comments to the quote in bolded blue. :)

I will update my team later, but I should add that I've swapped Articuno with a bulky DD Tyranitar, it synergizes well with the team, summons sandstorm and sort of checks Weavile and Hydreigon, the team nemesis. It was suggested by Meultima .

I like the reuniclus set, I was really really in need of a bulky and resilient threat, with access to reliable recovery.

 

[Meultima]

Regarding Icicle Spear vs Icicle Crash, keep in mind that Spear still has an average power of 79.2, which is a mere six points lower than Icicle Crash. This, coupled with its sub/sash/sturdy/multiscale breaking utility and 100% accuracy means it's a very solid option over Icicle Crash. Add to the fact that the most popular mon on Battle Spot, Garchomp, often carries a sash (Still above 40%) and you can see the importance of the move.

This is reflected in Mamoswine's moveset statistics on the Global Link, as well:

1 Earthquake 99.6%
2 Ice Shard 89.1%
3 Icicle Spear 80.9%
4 Stealth Rock 55.3%
5 Rock Tomb 17.3%
6 Stone Edge 13.9%
7 Icicle Crash 12.8%
8 Rock Slide 11.1%
9 Freeze-Dry 7.5%
10 Endeavor 3.5%

 

[Guilan]

I agree with most everything you said except this:

• I've chosen Gourgeist over Heatran in the final slot as an answer to Rotom-W and Mega Kangaskhan. A warning to all of you following at home: Heatran really, really sucks in this format, especially Specstran. Earthquake and random Fighting- and Water-moves are everywhere, and I've already lost games I shouldn't have because I decided to give Heatran one more chance... that aside, I haven't actually tried Gourgeist yet (still training it...) but I've run some calcs and Colbur Berry looks like a really good idea. It allows it to clutch check Bisharp (the EV spread allows it to avoid the 2HKO from +0 Knock Off with the Berry intact) and burn it, and makes physical Kangaskhan a complete non-issue by safe guarding against random Crunches. The Grass coverage also helps a ton as without it, my team has difficulty breaking through Water/Ground types and I needed a definite answer to Rotom anyway. Here's to hoping it works out.

It's strange, because according to the PGL Singles database, the 11th most used Pokemon is Heatran. It definitely isn't weak, but needs a proper team composition. It nails Aegislash, Scizor and completely walls Talonflame.