Hail has been left in the dust this generation, unfortunately. No boosts, no new Snow Warning users, but the other weathers seem to have been spoiled rotten in comparison. Both sun and rain can now boast, as Droughtails and Drizzletoad, a godsend, have been given to them. No longer do they have to rely Heat Rock or Damp Rock to sustain a mere seven turns of sun or rain, no, with the two new weather users, they can permanently set the stage for their respective teams (that is, of course, until someone else steps in ). Even sandstorm, while receiving no more Sandstream users, received its own fair share toys. Sandstorm teams now have their own version of Solar Power and Swift Swim with Sand Rush and Sand Power, respectively.
Hail (directly) received nothing more than a few mediocre Ice Body and Snow Cloak abusers. No defense boosts, no new abilities, zip. However, looking at the vast and wide pool of additions Black and White has graced the metagame with, perhaps hail will indeed find some new toys deep in its stocking.
The Effects Of Hail
- Blizzard bypasses the accuracy check (it always hits).
- Moonlight, Synthesis, and Morning Sun only restore health by 25% under hail.
- Solarbeam deals half of its normal damage.
- Weather Ball becomes a 100 base power ice attack.
- Pokemon with the ability Snow Cloak get an evasion boost of 20% and are immune to the effects of hail.
- Pokemon with the ability Ice Body restores 1/16 of their health and are immune to the effects of hail.
- Deals 1/16 damage to all Pokemon that are not of the Ice type, nor have the abilities Snow Cloak, Ice Body, Magic Guard, or Dust Proof.
Threat List
One of the largest threats to any hail team. Just by switching in he changes the weather, reducing Blizzard to a paltry 70% accuracy while simultaneously putting a stop to any Pokemon with the ability Ice Body. Tyranitar’s STAB Stone Edge, high attack stat, and slight unpredictability (an example being the ability to go mixed) will make him had to deal with. On top of all this, Tyranitar is fairly bulky, meaning he will be hard to take down.
It weaknesses however are easily exploited and entry hazards will wear him down. Sableye and other Ghost-type Pokemon can easily burn him, cutting his attack stat in half. Hariyama and Machamp also have STAB Fighting moves to beat Tyranitar back.
Ninetails brings the sun, and with it a deadly boosted Fire STAB to leave nothing more than a puddle as her team rampages through the Ice-types.
Ninetails is the frailest of the weather inducers, and its weaknesses too are common. Earthquake, Surf, Hydro Pump, and Stone Edge are in high usage and will no doubt find there way onto your hail team. Heatran is also capable of switching in thanks to his Flash Fire ability, allowing him to take advantage of the sun, firing off STAB sun-boosted Fire Blasts off a 130 base special attack stat, which, will no doubt, burn like the dickens. Pokemon like Kingdra and Jellicent are also able to sponge attacks pretty well thanks to their great typing and impressive defenses.
Another alternative is to run a Pokemon on the team with Icy Rock and Hail (much like how rain teams may run an extra Rain Dancer in the ranks), providing a nasty little surprise.
Politoed himself is not too terribly threatening to a hail team, but its more of the team that surrounds him that makes him deadly. Pokemon commonly found on rain teams include Jirachi, Ferrotroll, and Starmie to name a few. Thunder, Bullet Punch, Stone Edge and STAB Rain boosted Water attacks will hurt, a lot.
Abomasnow can switch into lesser Water and Electric attacks, negating Rain’s boosts and Thunder’s perfect accuracy, letting Abomasnow fire off STAB Super Effective Wood Hammers to the non-Steel members of the team. Sableye can burn other Physical Sweepers (but he‘s not able to switch into any attacks), and Reuniclus is capable of turning the tables on the rain by using Trick Room, taking advantage of their incredible speed. Regice would more than likely be able to sponge some of the weaker attacks, but the stronger attacks like a Gorebyss’s Modest 252 rain-boosted Hydro Pump will 2HKO him (51.4% - 61%).
Pokemon like Ferrotroll and Jellicent resist water and have very impressive defensive stats. Kingdra has a 4x resistance to Water and has good synergy with the other Ice-types on the team.
Let us borrow a strategy from Rain! We can keep a bulky Pokemon in the back holding Icy Rock and use Hail to stop rain dead in it's tracks. Pokemon like Regice and Kyurem are good choices.
Chandelure is a great asset to a hail team and a huge threat to its members. His dual STABs, super high Special Attack, and decent defenses make it a nightmare for Hail teams.
How do you deal with it? Stallrein like a pro. Unless Chandelure has Energy Ball, Walrein can tank a hit and either stall it out or kill it with Surf.
What makes Scizor so threatening hasn’t really changed, Scizor will still be punching holes in teams with his Choice Banded STAB Technician boosted Bullet Punches. It just so happens that Ice Pokemon have a nasty little habit of being weak to Steel-type moves. Bullet Punch, U-turn, Bug Bite, Super Power, and Pursuit give Scizor a decent amount of tools and will find himself hitting many members on a hail team for super-effective damage.
Which is why we run Pokemon that wont let him do that! Magnezone, Heatran, Sableye, Chandelure and Alakazam that run Hidden Power [Fire] are some Pokemon on a large list that threaten Scizor, just pick your poison. Espeon can escape on a Baton Pass assuming Scizor uses Pursuit, but she’ll die to Bullet Punch. Magnezone and Heatran can switch in, only having to worry about Super Power. Sableye has no weaknesses and threatens Scizor with a priority Will-O-Wisp, crippling him for the rest of the match.
Infernape is in the same boat as Blaziken, boasting the same amazing dual STAB and the same counters. Infernape is now much less threatening than Blaziken thanks to his lesser mixed stats and so-so abilities, but Infernape is still a threat. Infernape also has Nasty Plot over Blaziken, making him a huge mixed threat.
Heatran has an incredible special attack stat and amazing resistances, most importantly to Ice (4x). STAB Fire Blast coming off of a 130 base special attack stat, as mentioned before, is going to hurt. A lot.
Heatran however runs into trouble with bulky Water Pokemon. Jellicent and Swampert can switch into Heatran’s Fire Blast, but will run into trouble if its already been boosted by Flash Fire and the sun, and should be even more afraid if he‘s running Choice Specs and not a Choice Scarf. Swampert and Jellicent also have to watch out for Hidden Power [Grass]. Kingdra can switch into his Fire Blast with ease thanks to her amazing 4x Fire resistance, but has to watch out for Dragon Pulse. Choice Specs, sun-boosted, Flash Fire Fire Blast runs the risk of dealing a 2HKO to most bulky Water Pokemon you can throw at him.
Conkelderp is one of this generation’s famous Bulk Up sweepers. Conkelderp has an amazing 140 base attack stat, Drain Punch and Mach Punch, making him a huge threat to hail teams.
Chandelure and Sableye are both immune to his STAB Fighting moves and can switch in. Sableye can Taunt him to prevent further Bulk Ups, while Chandelure can use Psychic or Overheat. Latias and Latios both have impressive special attack stats and STAB Psychic, making them a great choice to deal with him. If Walrein has his Substitute up and hail is going, he will have no problem stalling him out. Tentacruel can switch into Drain Punch, causing him to lose health instead of recover it.
Team Preview allows us to see Conkelderp on the opponent's team before the match starts, so please, for the love of God, if you run Toxic Spikes, don’t start until you’ve eliminated him, as it will activate Guts.
A Pokemon that no single team will ever not find annoying from time to time. Serene Grace sets Jirachi apart from all of the other Steel-type Pokemon, doubling Iron Head’s (and other moves) chance to flinch (as well as their other secondary effects). If that wasn’t already bad enough, Iron Head is a Steel-type move with STAB, meaning Jirachi is going to hit a pretty damn good portion of your team pretty hard (hello Ice-types). Jirachi’s wide movepool, solid stats and fantastic typing let it do a plethora of things that you need to be on the look out for when dealing with it.
Hitmontop can take advantage of Intimidate when switching in, causing Jirachi to do paltry damage with Iron Head (-1 252 Adamant Jirachi vs. Rapid Spin Hitmontop 19.7% - 23.7%). Chandelure can switch in safely to Hidden Power [Ground]-less Jirachi variant and OHKO with Overheat or set up a Substitute. Jirachi variants that don’t carry an Electric or Psychic attack are utterly walled by Rotom-W, while those that lack a Water or Psychic type move are given a run for their money by Rotom-H. All the Rotom Formes and Sableye are capable of crippling Jirachi for the rest of the match with Will-O-Wisp. Heatran can stop the onslaught with his 4x Steel resist, but those that run a Balloon will lose it in the process.
Other Pokemon that are able to have an easy time with Jirachi are Zapdos, Moltres, and Jellicent(assuming no Thunder).
Metagross is one of my favorite Pokemon that came from the third generation. Metagross has fantastic typing, an excellent stat distribution (which includes a 135 base attack stat and a 130 base defense stat), and a movepool that allows him to fill both offensive and supportive roles. He might not have gained much this generation, but Metagross really didn’t need anything else to begin with.
Metagross carries with him a devastating 100 Base Power move in Meteor Mash (150 factoring STAB), and when said move is used in conjunction with his 405 attack stat, it’s going to be hitting a lot of things quite hard. Instantly the best counters that come to mind are Heatran, Zapdos, Moltres, the Rotom Formes, and Jellicent.
Heatran makes a great switch in thanks to his 4x Steel resistance, and with Balloon, the extra ground immunity can provide a wonderful opportunity. Heatran will have to worry about Occa Berry variants after his Balloon has been popped on the switch though, as he will be killed by Earthquake the subsequent turn. Zapdos and Moltres pretty much wall him completely, but Trick variants that utilize Iron Ball will be a problem because he will outspeed them the next turn and will do massive damage with Earthquake. Rotom-H and Rotom-W have to worry about the same things as Zapdos and Moltres, but the Rotom Formes can burn Metagross thanks to Will-O-Wisp. Rotom-H has even less to worry about thanks to his STAB Overheat. Jellicent can switch into most of Metagross’s moves with ease (252 Hp/ 252 Def variants losing out on the 2HKO with Thunder punch 41.6% - 49%) and can then burn him.
Hitmontop is not a good switch in to Metagross as Clear Body will negate Intimidate.
There’s nothing to say that has yet to be said, Lucario is top dog for a reason. Lucario has fantastic typing, a fantastic movepool and fantastic 110/115/90 offenses. It has numerous 4x and 2x resistances (Rock, Dark, Dragon) and an immunity to Toxic Spikes. With Close Combat, Crunch, ExtremeSpeed, Stone Edge and several boosting moves to make use of (Swords Dance, Agility, Nasty Plot) he will absolutely rip through hail teams if he isn’t beaten down like the mutt he is.
Most Pokemon will have to worry about something thanks to his wide movepool. The best thing to do is to take advantage of his frailty and his average speed. Ghost-type Pokemon can switch into Fighting attacks with impunity and can threaten him with Will-O-Wisp assuming they aren’t mauled by a boosted Crunch the next turn. Sableye can switch into Close Combat and burn him before being attacked thanks to Mischievous Heart. Agility variants will mow over him however, as Life Orb Crunch is guaranteed to kill him after Stealth Rock (92.7% - 109.6% w/out factoring Stealth Rocks). Kyurem outruns non-Agility Lucario and puts him down with Focus Blast (102.5% - 121%). Un-boosted Life Orb Crunch will 2HKO Reuniclus, but he can set up Trick Room the turn he survives the attack and use Focus Blast (141.6% - 167.3%) or Psychic. Zapdos and Moltres have an easy time assuming he isn’t running Stone Edge. Other suggestions include priority moves (Mach Punch) and assessing which set he uses to better advantage yourself.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Common Strategies to Abuse
Now that you've read up a bit about Hail, I'd like to discuss a bit about it.
-What did your team look like?
-What threats did it decimate?
-What threats pwned you back?
-How do you think the recent bans have done to BlizzSpam and Hail Stall?
-How did you enjoy your Hail team?
I personally think Hail isn't as bad as people say it is. It's not as easy to use as the others, but I can tell you that it does roflstomp Rain and Sand, especially the combo of Kyurem and Mamoswine.
Scarf Mamoswine(I only use a scarf so I can check BulkyRona with Stone Edge x_x) can handle all the faster threats with powerful Ice attacks and Kyurem can easily clean up with a LO set.
Blizzard, Draco Meteor, Focus Miss, and HP Fire/Outrage are all you need to wreck entire teams.
Along with those two, I put Chandelure. Why not Heatran? Well, for a couple things:
1. Chandy can lure in T-tar, can wall Ninetales, and deal heavy damage to Politoed and Heatran with Shadow Ball and HP Fighting respectively(BulkyTran isn't as much of a problem for my team).
2. Chandy has plenty of useful resists, most importantly Fighting type moves.
3. Chandy punishes Steel types not named Heatran(Can't switch in on that :P).
The only problem is that my team relies quite a bit on SubLure and Hail negates it's Lefties, but it still works.
Anyway, on with the discussion! What do you guys use?
NOTE: I am, myself, a Hail noob. I've only recently started, but I wanted to discuss it a bit.
2xNOTE: Credit to Cshadow for posting a wonderful guide about Hail a couple years back which I got a bit of info from :P
Hail (directly) received nothing more than a few mediocre Ice Body and Snow Cloak abusers. No defense boosts, no new abilities, zip. However, looking at the vast and wide pool of additions Black and White has graced the metagame with, perhaps hail will indeed find some new toys deep in its stocking.
The Effects Of Hail
- Blizzard bypasses the accuracy check (it always hits).
- Moonlight, Synthesis, and Morning Sun only restore health by 25% under hail.
- Solarbeam deals half of its normal damage.
- Weather Ball becomes a 100 base power ice attack.
- Pokemon with the ability Snow Cloak get an evasion boost of 20% and are immune to the effects of hail.
- Pokemon with the ability Ice Body restores 1/16 of their health and are immune to the effects of hail.
- Deals 1/16 damage to all Pokemon that are not of the Ice type, nor have the abilities Snow Cloak, Ice Body, Magic Guard, or Dust Proof.
Threat List
One of the largest threats to any hail team. Just by switching in he changes the weather, reducing Blizzard to a paltry 70% accuracy while simultaneously putting a stop to any Pokemon with the ability Ice Body. Tyranitar’s STAB Stone Edge, high attack stat, and slight unpredictability (an example being the ability to go mixed) will make him had to deal with. On top of all this, Tyranitar is fairly bulky, meaning he will be hard to take down.
It weaknesses however are easily exploited and entry hazards will wear him down. Sableye and other Ghost-type Pokemon can easily burn him, cutting his attack stat in half. Hariyama and Machamp also have STAB Fighting moves to beat Tyranitar back.
Ninetails brings the sun, and with it a deadly boosted Fire STAB to leave nothing more than a puddle as her team rampages through the Ice-types.
Ninetails is the frailest of the weather inducers, and its weaknesses too are common. Earthquake, Surf, Hydro Pump, and Stone Edge are in high usage and will no doubt find there way onto your hail team. Heatran is also capable of switching in thanks to his Flash Fire ability, allowing him to take advantage of the sun, firing off STAB sun-boosted Fire Blasts off a 130 base special attack stat, which, will no doubt, burn like the dickens. Pokemon like Kingdra and Jellicent are also able to sponge attacks pretty well thanks to their great typing and impressive defenses.
Another alternative is to run a Pokemon on the team with Icy Rock and Hail (much like how rain teams may run an extra Rain Dancer in the ranks), providing a nasty little surprise.
Politoed himself is not too terribly threatening to a hail team, but its more of the team that surrounds him that makes him deadly. Pokemon commonly found on rain teams include Jirachi, Ferrotroll, and Starmie to name a few. Thunder, Bullet Punch, Stone Edge and STAB Rain boosted Water attacks will hurt, a lot.
Abomasnow can switch into lesser Water and Electric attacks, negating Rain’s boosts and Thunder’s perfect accuracy, letting Abomasnow fire off STAB Super Effective Wood Hammers to the non-Steel members of the team. Sableye can burn other Physical Sweepers (but he‘s not able to switch into any attacks), and Reuniclus is capable of turning the tables on the rain by using Trick Room, taking advantage of their incredible speed. Regice would more than likely be able to sponge some of the weaker attacks, but the stronger attacks like a Gorebyss’s Modest 252 rain-boosted Hydro Pump will 2HKO him (51.4% - 61%).
Pokemon like Ferrotroll and Jellicent resist water and have very impressive defensive stats. Kingdra has a 4x resistance to Water and has good synergy with the other Ice-types on the team.
Let us borrow a strategy from Rain! We can keep a bulky Pokemon in the back holding Icy Rock and use Hail to stop rain dead in it's tracks. Pokemon like Regice and Kyurem are good choices.
Chandelure is a great asset to a hail team and a huge threat to its members. His dual STABs, super high Special Attack, and decent defenses make it a nightmare for Hail teams.
How do you deal with it? Stallrein like a pro. Unless Chandelure has Energy Ball, Walrein can tank a hit and either stall it out or kill it with Surf.
What makes Scizor so threatening hasn’t really changed, Scizor will still be punching holes in teams with his Choice Banded STAB Technician boosted Bullet Punches. It just so happens that Ice Pokemon have a nasty little habit of being weak to Steel-type moves. Bullet Punch, U-turn, Bug Bite, Super Power, and Pursuit give Scizor a decent amount of tools and will find himself hitting many members on a hail team for super-effective damage.
Which is why we run Pokemon that wont let him do that! Magnezone, Heatran, Sableye, Chandelure and Alakazam that run Hidden Power [Fire] are some Pokemon on a large list that threaten Scizor, just pick your poison. Espeon can escape on a Baton Pass assuming Scizor uses Pursuit, but she’ll die to Bullet Punch. Magnezone and Heatran can switch in, only having to worry about Super Power. Sableye has no weaknesses and threatens Scizor with a priority Will-O-Wisp, crippling him for the rest of the match.
Infernape is in the same boat as Blaziken, boasting the same amazing dual STAB and the same counters. Infernape is now much less threatening than Blaziken thanks to his lesser mixed stats and so-so abilities, but Infernape is still a threat. Infernape also has Nasty Plot over Blaziken, making him a huge mixed threat.
Heatran has an incredible special attack stat and amazing resistances, most importantly to Ice (4x). STAB Fire Blast coming off of a 130 base special attack stat, as mentioned before, is going to hurt. A lot.
Heatran however runs into trouble with bulky Water Pokemon. Jellicent and Swampert can switch into Heatran’s Fire Blast, but will run into trouble if its already been boosted by Flash Fire and the sun, and should be even more afraid if he‘s running Choice Specs and not a Choice Scarf. Swampert and Jellicent also have to watch out for Hidden Power [Grass]. Kingdra can switch into his Fire Blast with ease thanks to her amazing 4x Fire resistance, but has to watch out for Dragon Pulse. Choice Specs, sun-boosted, Flash Fire Fire Blast runs the risk of dealing a 2HKO to most bulky Water Pokemon you can throw at him.
Conkelderp is one of this generation’s famous Bulk Up sweepers. Conkelderp has an amazing 140 base attack stat, Drain Punch and Mach Punch, making him a huge threat to hail teams.
Chandelure and Sableye are both immune to his STAB Fighting moves and can switch in. Sableye can Taunt him to prevent further Bulk Ups, while Chandelure can use Psychic or Overheat. Latias and Latios both have impressive special attack stats and STAB Psychic, making them a great choice to deal with him. If Walrein has his Substitute up and hail is going, he will have no problem stalling him out. Tentacruel can switch into Drain Punch, causing him to lose health instead of recover it.
Team Preview allows us to see Conkelderp on the opponent's team before the match starts, so please, for the love of God, if you run Toxic Spikes, don’t start until you’ve eliminated him, as it will activate Guts.
A Pokemon that no single team will ever not find annoying from time to time. Serene Grace sets Jirachi apart from all of the other Steel-type Pokemon, doubling Iron Head’s (and other moves) chance to flinch (as well as their other secondary effects). If that wasn’t already bad enough, Iron Head is a Steel-type move with STAB, meaning Jirachi is going to hit a pretty damn good portion of your team pretty hard (hello Ice-types). Jirachi’s wide movepool, solid stats and fantastic typing let it do a plethora of things that you need to be on the look out for when dealing with it.
Hitmontop can take advantage of Intimidate when switching in, causing Jirachi to do paltry damage with Iron Head (-1 252 Adamant Jirachi vs. Rapid Spin Hitmontop 19.7% - 23.7%). Chandelure can switch in safely to Hidden Power [Ground]-less Jirachi variant and OHKO with Overheat or set up a Substitute. Jirachi variants that don’t carry an Electric or Psychic attack are utterly walled by Rotom-W, while those that lack a Water or Psychic type move are given a run for their money by Rotom-H. All the Rotom Formes and Sableye are capable of crippling Jirachi for the rest of the match with Will-O-Wisp. Heatran can stop the onslaught with his 4x Steel resist, but those that run a Balloon will lose it in the process.
Other Pokemon that are able to have an easy time with Jirachi are Zapdos, Moltres, and Jellicent(assuming no Thunder).
Metagross is one of my favorite Pokemon that came from the third generation. Metagross has fantastic typing, an excellent stat distribution (which includes a 135 base attack stat and a 130 base defense stat), and a movepool that allows him to fill both offensive and supportive roles. He might not have gained much this generation, but Metagross really didn’t need anything else to begin with.
Metagross carries with him a devastating 100 Base Power move in Meteor Mash (150 factoring STAB), and when said move is used in conjunction with his 405 attack stat, it’s going to be hitting a lot of things quite hard. Instantly the best counters that come to mind are Heatran, Zapdos, Moltres, the Rotom Formes, and Jellicent.
Heatran makes a great switch in thanks to his 4x Steel resistance, and with Balloon, the extra ground immunity can provide a wonderful opportunity. Heatran will have to worry about Occa Berry variants after his Balloon has been popped on the switch though, as he will be killed by Earthquake the subsequent turn. Zapdos and Moltres pretty much wall him completely, but Trick variants that utilize Iron Ball will be a problem because he will outspeed them the next turn and will do massive damage with Earthquake. Rotom-H and Rotom-W have to worry about the same things as Zapdos and Moltres, but the Rotom Formes can burn Metagross thanks to Will-O-Wisp. Rotom-H has even less to worry about thanks to his STAB Overheat. Jellicent can switch into most of Metagross’s moves with ease (252 Hp/ 252 Def variants losing out on the 2HKO with Thunder punch 41.6% - 49%) and can then burn him.
Hitmontop is not a good switch in to Metagross as Clear Body will negate Intimidate.
There’s nothing to say that has yet to be said, Lucario is top dog for a reason. Lucario has fantastic typing, a fantastic movepool and fantastic 110/115/90 offenses. It has numerous 4x and 2x resistances (Rock, Dark, Dragon) and an immunity to Toxic Spikes. With Close Combat, Crunch, ExtremeSpeed, Stone Edge and several boosting moves to make use of (Swords Dance, Agility, Nasty Plot) he will absolutely rip through hail teams if he isn’t beaten down like the mutt he is.
Most Pokemon will have to worry about something thanks to his wide movepool. The best thing to do is to take advantage of his frailty and his average speed. Ghost-type Pokemon can switch into Fighting attacks with impunity and can threaten him with Will-O-Wisp assuming they aren’t mauled by a boosted Crunch the next turn. Sableye can switch into Close Combat and burn him before being attacked thanks to Mischievous Heart. Agility variants will mow over him however, as Life Orb Crunch is guaranteed to kill him after Stealth Rock (92.7% - 109.6% w/out factoring Stealth Rocks). Kyurem outruns non-Agility Lucario and puts him down with Focus Blast (102.5% - 121%). Un-boosted Life Orb Crunch will 2HKO Reuniclus, but he can set up Trick Room the turn he survives the attack and use Focus Blast (141.6% - 167.3%) or Psychic. Zapdos and Moltres have an easy time assuming he isn’t running Stone Edge. Other suggestions include priority moves (Mach Punch) and assessing which set he uses to better advantage yourself.
Advantages
- Diversity - While hail teams may lack the raw power of Rain Dance and Sunny Day teams, hail is still quite diverse. Abilities like Dust Poof, Magic Guard, Flash Fire and the importance of carrying Fire, Fighting, Rock resistances/immunities gives hail a wide pool of choices with a bunch of different Pokemon complementing its abilities and patching up its weaknesses.
- Blizzard - A move with base power similar to Draco Meteor (with the added bonus of no -2 SAtk stat drop), 100% accuracy in a hail storm, and absolutely fantastic offensive typing (hitting Grass, Ground, Dragon and Flying super effectively, and 9 types neutrally) is a wonderful plus.
- Ice Body - Hail is the only weather to boast an ability that gives Leftovers recovery while simultaneously negating the opponents (thanks to hail's passive damage). This is great for stalling tactics and fast healing.
Disadvantages
- Weaknesses - Rock, Fire, Fighting and Steel weaknesses burden Ice Pokemon greatly. These attacking types are not obscure and are found on nearly every team.
- Lack of raw power - Sunny Day and Rain Dance teams gain offensive boosts to their STAB moves as well as doubling the speed of Pokemon with the ability Chlorophyll or Swift Swim (respectively), and increasing the damage output of Pokemon with the ability Solar Power. Sandstorm gives a SDef boost to all rock types on the team, allowing them to tank special attacks easier, and with the new abilities, Sandstorm‘s offense can rival that of Sunny Day and Rain Dance. Hail receives no such boosts.
- Entry hazards - Stealth Rock cripples nearly all Ice Pokemon upon switching in, and Toxic Spikes are nothing to shrug off for hail stall teams, making Rapid Spinners very important.
Common Strategies to Abuse
- BlizzSpam - The most awesome thing Hail teams have: A 120 BP STAB move with perfect accuracy with absolutely no drawbacks(except having to use Hail x_x). I can tell you that Blizzard Spam is absolutely devastating once you get rid of the Steel types. Kyurem is perfect for this as he can easily remove the bulky Water types(and Blissey) with LO-boosted Outrages and Draco Meteors. Beware the Frozen Chicken >:U
- Stall, stall, baby - Classic Hail. Stallrein, Glaceon, Regice, and much more than can just sit there and laugh as the opponent slowly dies to hazards, hail, and Toxic. Do I really need to explain much.
Now that you've read up a bit about Hail, I'd like to discuss a bit about it.
-What did your team look like?
-What threats did it decimate?
-What threats pwned you back?
-How do you think the recent bans have done to BlizzSpam and Hail Stall?
-How did you enjoy your Hail team?
I personally think Hail isn't as bad as people say it is. It's not as easy to use as the others, but I can tell you that it does roflstomp Rain and Sand, especially the combo of Kyurem and Mamoswine.
Scarf Mamoswine(I only use a scarf so I can check BulkyRona with Stone Edge x_x) can handle all the faster threats with powerful Ice attacks and Kyurem can easily clean up with a LO set.
Blizzard, Draco Meteor, Focus Miss, and HP Fire/Outrage are all you need to wreck entire teams.
Along with those two, I put Chandelure. Why not Heatran? Well, for a couple things:
1. Chandy can lure in T-tar, can wall Ninetales, and deal heavy damage to Politoed and Heatran with Shadow Ball and HP Fighting respectively(BulkyTran isn't as much of a problem for my team).
2. Chandy has plenty of useful resists, most importantly Fighting type moves.
3. Chandy punishes Steel types not named Heatran(Can't switch in on that :P).
The only problem is that my team relies quite a bit on SubLure and Hail negates it's Lefties, but it still works.
Anyway, on with the discussion! What do you guys use?
NOTE: I am, myself, a Hail noob. I've only recently started, but I wanted to discuss it a bit.
2xNOTE: Credit to Cshadow for posting a wonderful guide about Hail a couple years back which I got a bit of info from :P
