Hi everyone, I’m Denojap and I’m Italian, so please keep that in mind if the wording of this text happens to feel unnatural at times.
I’m a casual player since 2018, and some months ago I came up with the idea of building a hail team, because, you know, hail is crashing down during the battle against Red in HGSS, so I consider it the “ultimate” weather condition.
I initially came across Lady Bug’s old RMTs from 2009 and 2010, and I was glad to see that leading with Abomasnow was a viable idea, since that was exactly what I wanted to do. Also, I liked the fact that both teams had some unusual Pokémon in them.
Lady Bug’s chosen approach was stall, hail favorite strategy as stated in the dedicated Smogon article, and I saw absolutely nothing wrong with that, since most of the times you’ll start the battle switching Abomasnow out and you’ll need some bulky Pokémon to take the hit.
The problem is that the flaws Lady Bug’s teams naturally sported add to the ones related to the changing of time in the DPP OU metagame, letting those builds completely unable to survive in a modern competitive environment. The team from 2009, featuring Abomasnow, Nidoqueen, Gyarados, Blissey, Hitmontop and Rotom-F, can’t literally touch Gengar, has some prominent issues with Dragonite, defensive Rotom-A and Clefable (which wasn’t even a thing back in the days), and relies too much on Rotom-F to counter common threats like Gyarados, Skarmory, Metagross and Bronzong. The squad from 2010, consisting of Abomasnow, Nidoqueen, Skarmory, Blissey, Starmie and Spiritomb, is considerably weak to DDTar, Breloom, Nasty Plot Infernape, Paraflinch or mixed Jirachi and once again Dragonite, besides automatically losing to Clefable and depending too much on Starmie to beat Gyarados and Skarmory.
I know those issues particularly well, since I personally tested the teams for quite a while, only racking up underwhelming results.
The presence of Clefable in the OU tier is definitely the most notable change in the last years, so I found myself trying to edit the 2009 team, which at least had a Fighting-type Pokémon like Hitmontop in it. I eventually came up with a squad I can’t really improve any further, boasting amazing synergy, solid defensive coverage and even some nice combos.
The novelty of my build brought to a not-so-short learning process, but in the end I hit the threshold for the Silver Guts Achievement more than once, peaking at 1393 elo and 64,9% GXE.
I know I’m not the only one in love with hail, since a lot of people used to enjoy Lady Bug’s team and praise his originality, so I’m glad to share my work with all of the DPP OU community.
Obviously, thank you in advance for your comments.
HAIL STALL BY DENOJAP
Following in Lady Bug’s footsteps, I gave nicknames to all of my Pokémon, and I’d kindly ask you not to change them if you’re going to use this team. The nicknames are based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Ice Barrier archetype.
Grungnir (Abomasnow) @ Leftovers
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Wood Hammer
- Ice Shard
Setting the hail as soon as possible is crucial to start crippling opposing Pokémon from the get-go. This is by far Abomasnow’s best set, because it makes the green-and-white Yeti surprisingly durable with the help of Leftovers, Leech Seed (a very spammable move, which also has an important role in supporting the team) and Protect, while letting it hit hard with Wood Hammer and effectively revenge kill Dragonite, Flygon, Gliscor, Latias, Togekiss, Roserade, Shaymin and weakened opponents with Ice Shard (Protect, and possibly Leech Seed, can be useful to stall out some more HP before actually using priority to close the deal).
Lady Bug had a specially defensive spread, but I don’t find it so useful, because Abomasnow would lose the ability of revenge killing and would leave the team weak to the aforementioned Pokémon (Gliscor excluded). Plus, it usually switches in only on bulky Water-types, Gliscor or Hippowdon, so it really doesn’t need any extra Special Defense investment, whereas the power bonus to Wood Hammer is really helpful, especially against Blissey, Clefable and the sandy hippopotamus.
Matchups-wise, Abomasnow isn’t certainly the best lead in the tier, as it only wins against Swampert, Hippowdon, Empoleon and Starmie, but it still has Protect for prediction against the likes of Azelf and Jirachi. Also, I tried leading with something else, but the sentient Christmas tree is just too functional to give up on opening a game with it.
20 Speed EVs are here to outspeed Clefable, standard 16 Speed Swampert and 0-8 Speed Tyranitar.
Gantala (Nidoqueen) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic Spikes
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
Nidoqueen has a lot of different roles, the first of which is to set entry hazards. Stealth Rock is important to let Abomasnow revenge kill Dragonite, while Toxic Spikes just make stall-oriented strategies super effective. The last two slots feature Earth Power, a reliable STAB, and Flamethrower, the only Fire-type move in my party and a solid weapon against Skarmory, Forretress, Scizor and Magnet Rise Magnezone.
Lady Bug used a Relaxed nature with Earthquake in place of Earth Power, but the extra Speed is invaluable to be faster than Adamant Rhyperior, 128 Speed Machamp, SubSeed Breloom (Nidoqueen would otherwise lose to it), Skarmory, some Metagross and 4 Speed Heatran (the 16 Speed EVs serve this specific purpose), while hitting Tyranitar harder isn’t needed, because I already have a really solid plan for it in Hitmontop, with Vaporeon as an emergency check and Toxic Spikes as back up. Furthermore, using a Bold nature instead of a Relaxed one has some minor additional benefits, such as taking less damage from Dynamic Punch confusion and suffering less from being tricked either Choice Scarf or Choice Specs.
Speaking of which, Nidoqueen is clearly my main Trick absorber: it doesn’t really mind being choiced, and trading Black Sludge to an opponent can cause severe damage, especially in conjunction with hail, three Protect-mons (Abomasnow, Vaporeon and Umbreon) and Abomasnow’s Ice Shard. The toothless dinosaur also makes for an excellent pivot into U-turn thanks to Poison Point, and really pulls its weight as my only Heracross counter as well as my best answer to Lucario, SubPunch Breloom and non-lead Machamp. Nidoqueen is great against physical Infernape too, and can always come in on a predicted Close Combat or U-turn (should Poison Point activate), so it’s basically my first switch-in on the burning ape if the opponent sends it out in the early game.
Last but not least, Nidoqueen serves the purpose of absorbing Toxic Spikes, which would otherwise be really problematic for this team, even with Hitmontop spinning them away.
Dewloren (Vaporeon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 28 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 3 Atk / 30 SpA
- Wish
- Protect
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric]
Vaporeon is here instead of Lady Bug’s RestTalk Gyarados, which I found way too passive, only being able to check really few threats. Wish support is great and combos well with the other Protect-mons, Surf is the obligatory STAB move and Hidden Power Electric is for Gyarados, which Vaporeon counters pretty well; as a bonus, it lets the watery dog touch Water-types and completely own Empoleon.
Vaporeon is one of the best answers to Infernape in the metagame, my only true Heatran counter (in case of emergency, I can tank a hit with Hitmontop if it’s at full health and retaliate back hard with Close Combat, or I could also stall it out with Umbreon), my main Gyarados and Metagross check (I try to keep Rotom-F concealed until Tyranitar is down, while still maintaining insurance against Metagross’s Explosion with Protect) and my go-to switch-in on Bronzong as well as lead Aerodactyl and Azelf (except for physical choice ones). Other than that, the Water-type Eevelution has a crucial role alongside Abomasnow in easing the rain offense matchup, as it is the bane of every rain team.
The EV spread emphasizes on Vaporeon’s mixed wall capabilities, and keeping Special Defense one point higher than Defense makes sure Download won’t boost Porygon-Z’s Special Attack. 12 Speed EVs are spent to outspeed 8 Speed Scizor and opposing Vaporeon.
Dewdark (Umbreon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Wish
- Protect
- Payback
- Heal Bell
Umbreon took the place of Lady Bug’s Blissey, and, although not as bulky, it really fits this team better. Wish support lets Umbreon and its fellow Eeveelution Vaporeon act as a solid Wish-passing core, which is extremely helpful since Umbreon plays such unique roles for the squad. Payback is for Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokémon, which Umbreon is heavily specialized in countering, having a resistance to Ghost moves and an immunity to Psychic ones. It’s worth nothing that, while the latter feature doesn’t usually mean much in DPP OU due to the rarity of Psychic-type moves, it actually comes in handy when considering that both Nidoqueen and Hitmontop are weak to Psychic.
As far as the last slot goes, Heal Bell lets Umbreon cure itself and its teammates from status, which is incredibly useful in stall builds, and for this team in particular. It also helps Umbreon against Rotom-A’s or Gengar’s Will-O-Wisp and makes for an effective combo with Synchronize, which I often exploit to fight Thunder Wave users. But the main reason why Heal Bell is here is to wake up my Rest-mons, i.e. Rotom-F and most importantly Hitmontop (which doesn’t even have Sleep Talk), letting the latter spin repeatedly and/or come in on Blissey or Clefable without too many problems.
For this Rest Hitmontop+cleric combo I was inspired by Excal’s Hitmontop Stall team from 2018.
Finally, a Sassy nature and 0 Speed IVs ensure Payback will almost always have 100 BP, most notably giving Umbreon an edge against Dusknoir. In addition to this, using Heal Bell to support the team while being slower than things like Blissey, Clefable and Empoleon makes sure you’ll cure yourself too when they inflict you a status condition in the same turn.
Dai-sojo (Hitmontop) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 228 Def / 32 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Foresight
- Close Combat
- Rest
Tyranitar and its permanent sand are by far the biggest problem for hail teams, and not only is Hitmontop one of the most consistent Tyranitar counters, but it’s also the most reliable spinner in the tier thanks to Foresight. Close Combat is the STAB move of choice, hitting everything reasonably hard and being Hitmontop’s best weapon against the green monster, Blissey and Clefable. Rest is to remove status, shrug off defensive Rotom-A’s attacks and survive multiple Blissey’s and Clefable’s Seismic Toss. Although this move is simply mandatory to at least put up a battle against the pink demon, it actually fits Hitmontop well, since its bulkiness allows it to sleep in front of Tyranitar without too many risks when necessary. That being said, the effectiveness and viability of Rest greatly rely on Umbreon’s Heal Bell support.
An Impish nature and almost full investment in Defense are needed to better counter Tyranitar (and the other pesky Pursuit user Weavile), while 32 Speed EVs let Hitmontop be faster than maximum Speed Adamant Rhyperior, 128 Speed Machamp, SubSeed Breloom and all those Pokémon trying to outpace the latter, namely 24-28 Speed Skarmory and Metagross as well as 96-100 Speed Tyranitar.
Hitmontop only has a few specific roles, but without it my team would easily lose to Tyranitar, Clefable, hazard-stacking builds and could possibly have a harder time against Blissey. However, it also makes for a secondary Trick absorber (it’s usually just a hit-and-run Pokémon against offensive teams in any case), and, when its jobs are completed, it can always be a good sleep fodder thanks to Intimidate.
Zuijin (Rotom-Frost) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunderbolt
- Blizzard
When creating my hail team, there was one thing I knew for sure: I wanted to exploit Rotom-F’s pseudo Bolt-Beam combination with 100% accuracy Blizzard. The perfect coverage of an Electric- and an Ice-type move is especially useful when considering that defensive Rotom-A is usually seen as a RestTalk user, which must hit as hard as possible with only two moves. As an added benefit, Sleep Talk eliminates the need to worry about Blizzard low PP. To cut it short, Thunderbolt-Blizzard RestTalk Rotom-F is, in my opinion, the main selling point of hail teams.
Although you should play it carefully while Tyranitar is still around, the sentient fridge is totally a fantastic Pokémon, checking a lot of major threats, such as Gyarados, Metagross, Scizor, Breloom, Dragonite, Flygon, Bronzong, Togekiss and non-special Jirachi (especially the ones packing Body Slam). Other than that, Rotom-F is obviously my Sleep absorber, a fairly durable spinblocker thanks to Rest and my main answer to SubSeed Breloom and lead Machamp (which is easily cornered with Hitmontop’s help), as well as my only switch-in on lead Gallade.
0 Speed EVs are necessary to be slower than maximum Speed Adamant Machamp, so that Payback won’t double its power.
THREAT LIST
Here you can find a list of Pokémon I consider problematic, divided into three threat levels (yellow is for tier 3, orange for tier 2 and red for tier 1) and ordered from the least to the most troublesome.
- Non-Specs Zapdos: Nidoqueen is generally my initial switch-in on Zapdos, since the legendary bird usually starts things off using Thunderbolt or U-turn, with the latter scenario having the perk of potentially activating Poison Point.
If I see Zapdos is choiced, then it isn’t a problem for my team. Otherwise, I immediately send Umbreon out and just wait for Synchronize to activate on a Thunderbolt/Discharge paralyisis. In this way, Rotom-F will be able to unleash some super effective Blizzard without worrying about Zapdos’s faster Roost removing its Flying-type, and even Vaporeon will be able to finish it off. The case of Umbreon getting hit by Toxic on the first switch is worth mentioning, and it surely represents a favorable circumstance.
When certain information on the electric bird’s moveset is available, more options pop up: if Zapdos lacks Heat Wave, then Abomasnow becomes a counter, if it doesn’t carry Roost, Rotom-F can rely less on Umbreon to deal with it.
Obviously, when facing Zapdos I prioritize setting up Stealth Rock, and, if it happens to be at low health, I can always revenge kill it with Abomasnow’s Ice Shard.
Because of my rather gimmicky way to deal with this Pokémon, I thought of giving Vaporeon Toxic instead of Hidden Power Electric, so that I could catch it on the switch or while using Roost, and then stall it out with Umbreon. Toxic would also pair pretty well with my stall-oriented strategy in general, but it would come at the cost of leaving my team ultimately weak to Gyarados.
- Paraflinch Jirachi: when my opponent brings Jirachi out, the first thing I do is to check its item. If hail (or Stealth Rock) reveals Jirachi’s Leftovers, then I switch Umbreon in, since my opponent is likely to use a paralyzing move and will be punished by Synchronize. Once paralyzed, the pesky wishing star is basically harmless, but the application of the plan gets tricky if Umbreon has already been revealed by the time Jirachi is first sent out. In this situation and without proper prediction, Jirachi could deal massive damage to my team.
Note that, if the Leftovers Jirachi is actually a Superachi, Umbreon is still the best Pokémon to switch in.
If Jirachi doesn’t hold Leftovers, then it shouldn’t be a problem at all.
For the sake of safety against Paraflinch Jirachi, I thought of teaching Rotom-F Will-O-Wisp instead of Blizzard. It would be a very spammable move, and would give me the upper hand in a lot of situation, but the loss of Blizzard would make me even worse against Breloom.
- Kingdra: its stellar typing, combined with the number of sets it can use, just make Kingdra a big threat. I have Toxic Spikes (which can be however absorbed by Qwilfish in rain teams, or cured with Rest), and pretty much all of my team (except for Nidoqueen, provided that it wasn’t tricked a Choice Scarf) can be somehow useful to take down one or another version of the king of the abyss, but it is usually not that simple, or I just end up losing important pieces while carrying out the task.
- Choice Specs Latias: Umbreon can take a Choice Specs Latias’s Draco Meteor and heal itself with Wish+Protect, but it must be at almost full health to do so, which is even more difficult to achieve if the opponent happens to have anything else that can only be countered by Umbreon. While I can still revenge kill it with Abomansow, the lack of either Blissey or a Steel-type can be a significant problem when facing such a powerhouse.
- Breloom: although I am in theory prepared for this one, it usually proves itself a major problem.
When I see Breloom, I immediately switch Rotom-F in to take Spore and use Sleep Talk. If the mushroom dinosaur lacks Substitute, then I stick to Rotom-F to try to hit it with Blizzard. If Breloom does have Substitute, the situation gets trickier.
Basically, if Rotom-F hits the mushroom dinosaur before it can set up a Substitute, it means I am faster and my opponent is probably a SubSeed set, so, if I haven’t knocked it out with Blizzard yet, I just Rotom-F in, since it can only be hurt by Leech Seed.
Otherwise, I am statistically facing SubPunch Breloom, so I go to Nidoqueen as soon as I break the Substitute, forcing the friendly dinosaur out with Flamethrower. Later in the game, if I predict a Seed Bomb when Breloom isn’t behind a Substitute, I can opt to first bring Hitmontop in to have Intimidate lower its Attack before actually going to Nidoqueen.
Rotom-F and Nidoqueen (always with Hitmontop’s support) are also secondary checks respectively to SubPunch and SubSeed Breloom.
While all these plans certainly sound good, there’s almost always something going wrong in practice. Also, I am basically helpless against the rare fast SubSeed Breloom.
- Clefable: even if this team was specifically built to have some solid chances against Clefable, it actually ended up being weak to it.
Hitmontop puts the pink demon in a dangerous position, and Abomasnow’s Wood Hammer hurts it a lot, but the former is too easily worn down by Seismic Toss, and the latter can’t really switch in because of its weakness to Stealth Rock and Clefable’s immunity to Leech Seed. While it’s true that Rest grants Hitmontop more longevity, its base HP stat is so low that it risks to be KOed by few Seismic Toss before even having the chance to recover, especially when Leftovers have been removed by Knock Off.
All in all, countering Clefable is generally just too tricky for a team which heavily relies on passive damage.
- Leech Seed Venusaur: I’m lucky this thing isn’t so frequent in the OU environment, because it’s a significant issue. Although this version of Venusaur is usually seen as a special attacker, not even Umbreon can take it on, since its damage output is just too poor to beat a decently bulky Leech Seed user.
Being Rotom-F my only Pokémon that can actually put up a sort of a challenge against the prehistoric frog, I usually have something else take Sleep Powder (I still have Umbreon to wake it up), then I go to Abomasnow to take either Leaf Storm or Leech Seed and finally bring Rotom-F in on the coverage move. This is a strongly unreliable plan though, since Rotom-F can’t tank Venusaur’s attacks so well, and it is always at risk of being Pursuited, not to mention the fact that I’m forced to use one of my Pokémon as a sleep fodder.
While Venusaur can still be revenge killed by Abomasnow’s Ice Shard, its ability to absorb Toxic Spikes makes it even more problematic.
I thought of giving Vaporeon Blizzard instead of Hidden Power Electric to relatively make up for my weakness against this Pokémon, making me simultaneously better against Zapdos, Breloom and Latias as well, but the loss of reliability in checking Gyarados would once again be a huge letdown.
- Wish+Calm Mind Jirachi: seriously, I can’t touch this one. Umbreon is immune to Psychic and can paralyze Jirachi when hit by a Serene Grace Thunderbolt, but I just hardly accomplish anything with that. Sure, Nidoqueen can outspeed a paralyzed Jirachi and hit it super effectively with Earth Power, but what can it do against a Pokémon with boosted Special Defense?
REPLAYS
Here you can see my team in action:
Replay 1- annihilating a full setup sweeper team
Replay 2- nice teamwork showcase
Replay 3- Black Sludge wins me a game
Replay 4- defeating Paraflinch Jirachi
Replay 5- defeating Choice Specs Kingdra
Replay 6- defeating Choice Specs Latias and Kingdra
Replay 7- epic stall war
Replay 8- defeating a 1558 elo player
I’m a casual player since 2018, and some months ago I came up with the idea of building a hail team, because, you know, hail is crashing down during the battle against Red in HGSS, so I consider it the “ultimate” weather condition.
I initially came across Lady Bug’s old RMTs from 2009 and 2010, and I was glad to see that leading with Abomasnow was a viable idea, since that was exactly what I wanted to do. Also, I liked the fact that both teams had some unusual Pokémon in them.
Lady Bug’s chosen approach was stall, hail favorite strategy as stated in the dedicated Smogon article, and I saw absolutely nothing wrong with that, since most of the times you’ll start the battle switching Abomasnow out and you’ll need some bulky Pokémon to take the hit.
The problem is that the flaws Lady Bug’s teams naturally sported add to the ones related to the changing of time in the DPP OU metagame, letting those builds completely unable to survive in a modern competitive environment. The team from 2009, featuring Abomasnow, Nidoqueen, Gyarados, Blissey, Hitmontop and Rotom-F, can’t literally touch Gengar, has some prominent issues with Dragonite, defensive Rotom-A and Clefable (which wasn’t even a thing back in the days), and relies too much on Rotom-F to counter common threats like Gyarados, Skarmory, Metagross and Bronzong. The squad from 2010, consisting of Abomasnow, Nidoqueen, Skarmory, Blissey, Starmie and Spiritomb, is considerably weak to DDTar, Breloom, Nasty Plot Infernape, Paraflinch or mixed Jirachi and once again Dragonite, besides automatically losing to Clefable and depending too much on Starmie to beat Gyarados and Skarmory.
I know those issues particularly well, since I personally tested the teams for quite a while, only racking up underwhelming results.
The presence of Clefable in the OU tier is definitely the most notable change in the last years, so I found myself trying to edit the 2009 team, which at least had a Fighting-type Pokémon like Hitmontop in it. I eventually came up with a squad I can’t really improve any further, boasting amazing synergy, solid defensive coverage and even some nice combos.
The novelty of my build brought to a not-so-short learning process, but in the end I hit the threshold for the Silver Guts Achievement more than once, peaking at 1393 elo and 64,9% GXE.
I know I’m not the only one in love with hail, since a lot of people used to enjoy Lady Bug’s team and praise his originality, so I’m glad to share my work with all of the DPP OU community.
Obviously, thank you in advance for your comments.
HAIL STALL BY DENOJAP
Following in Lady Bug’s footsteps, I gave nicknames to all of my Pokémon, and I’d kindly ask you not to change them if you’re going to use this team. The nicknames are based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Ice Barrier archetype.
Grungnir (Abomasnow) @ Leftovers
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Wood Hammer
- Ice Shard
Setting the hail as soon as possible is crucial to start crippling opposing Pokémon from the get-go. This is by far Abomasnow’s best set, because it makes the green-and-white Yeti surprisingly durable with the help of Leftovers, Leech Seed (a very spammable move, which also has an important role in supporting the team) and Protect, while letting it hit hard with Wood Hammer and effectively revenge kill Dragonite, Flygon, Gliscor, Latias, Togekiss, Roserade, Shaymin and weakened opponents with Ice Shard (Protect, and possibly Leech Seed, can be useful to stall out some more HP before actually using priority to close the deal).
Lady Bug had a specially defensive spread, but I don’t find it so useful, because Abomasnow would lose the ability of revenge killing and would leave the team weak to the aforementioned Pokémon (Gliscor excluded). Plus, it usually switches in only on bulky Water-types, Gliscor or Hippowdon, so it really doesn’t need any extra Special Defense investment, whereas the power bonus to Wood Hammer is really helpful, especially against Blissey, Clefable and the sandy hippopotamus.
Matchups-wise, Abomasnow isn’t certainly the best lead in the tier, as it only wins against Swampert, Hippowdon, Empoleon and Starmie, but it still has Protect for prediction against the likes of Azelf and Jirachi. Also, I tried leading with something else, but the sentient Christmas tree is just too functional to give up on opening a game with it.
20 Speed EVs are here to outspeed Clefable, standard 16 Speed Swampert and 0-8 Speed Tyranitar.
Gantala (Nidoqueen) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic Spikes
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
Nidoqueen has a lot of different roles, the first of which is to set entry hazards. Stealth Rock is important to let Abomasnow revenge kill Dragonite, while Toxic Spikes just make stall-oriented strategies super effective. The last two slots feature Earth Power, a reliable STAB, and Flamethrower, the only Fire-type move in my party and a solid weapon against Skarmory, Forretress, Scizor and Magnet Rise Magnezone.
Lady Bug used a Relaxed nature with Earthquake in place of Earth Power, but the extra Speed is invaluable to be faster than Adamant Rhyperior, 128 Speed Machamp, SubSeed Breloom (Nidoqueen would otherwise lose to it), Skarmory, some Metagross and 4 Speed Heatran (the 16 Speed EVs serve this specific purpose), while hitting Tyranitar harder isn’t needed, because I already have a really solid plan for it in Hitmontop, with Vaporeon as an emergency check and Toxic Spikes as back up. Furthermore, using a Bold nature instead of a Relaxed one has some minor additional benefits, such as taking less damage from Dynamic Punch confusion and suffering less from being tricked either Choice Scarf or Choice Specs.
Speaking of which, Nidoqueen is clearly my main Trick absorber: it doesn’t really mind being choiced, and trading Black Sludge to an opponent can cause severe damage, especially in conjunction with hail, three Protect-mons (Abomasnow, Vaporeon and Umbreon) and Abomasnow’s Ice Shard. The toothless dinosaur also makes for an excellent pivot into U-turn thanks to Poison Point, and really pulls its weight as my only Heracross counter as well as my best answer to Lucario, SubPunch Breloom and non-lead Machamp. Nidoqueen is great against physical Infernape too, and can always come in on a predicted Close Combat or U-turn (should Poison Point activate), so it’s basically my first switch-in on the burning ape if the opponent sends it out in the early game.
Last but not least, Nidoqueen serves the purpose of absorbing Toxic Spikes, which would otherwise be really problematic for this team, even with Hitmontop spinning them away.
Dewloren (Vaporeon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 28 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 3 Atk / 30 SpA
- Wish
- Protect
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric]
Vaporeon is here instead of Lady Bug’s RestTalk Gyarados, which I found way too passive, only being able to check really few threats. Wish support is great and combos well with the other Protect-mons, Surf is the obligatory STAB move and Hidden Power Electric is for Gyarados, which Vaporeon counters pretty well; as a bonus, it lets the watery dog touch Water-types and completely own Empoleon.
Vaporeon is one of the best answers to Infernape in the metagame, my only true Heatran counter (in case of emergency, I can tank a hit with Hitmontop if it’s at full health and retaliate back hard with Close Combat, or I could also stall it out with Umbreon), my main Gyarados and Metagross check (I try to keep Rotom-F concealed until Tyranitar is down, while still maintaining insurance against Metagross’s Explosion with Protect) and my go-to switch-in on Bronzong as well as lead Aerodactyl and Azelf (except for physical choice ones). Other than that, the Water-type Eevelution has a crucial role alongside Abomasnow in easing the rain offense matchup, as it is the bane of every rain team.
The EV spread emphasizes on Vaporeon’s mixed wall capabilities, and keeping Special Defense one point higher than Defense makes sure Download won’t boost Porygon-Z’s Special Attack. 12 Speed EVs are spent to outspeed 8 Speed Scizor and opposing Vaporeon.
Dewdark (Umbreon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Wish
- Protect
- Payback
- Heal Bell
Umbreon took the place of Lady Bug’s Blissey, and, although not as bulky, it really fits this team better. Wish support lets Umbreon and its fellow Eeveelution Vaporeon act as a solid Wish-passing core, which is extremely helpful since Umbreon plays such unique roles for the squad. Payback is for Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokémon, which Umbreon is heavily specialized in countering, having a resistance to Ghost moves and an immunity to Psychic ones. It’s worth nothing that, while the latter feature doesn’t usually mean much in DPP OU due to the rarity of Psychic-type moves, it actually comes in handy when considering that both Nidoqueen and Hitmontop are weak to Psychic.
As far as the last slot goes, Heal Bell lets Umbreon cure itself and its teammates from status, which is incredibly useful in stall builds, and for this team in particular. It also helps Umbreon against Rotom-A’s or Gengar’s Will-O-Wisp and makes for an effective combo with Synchronize, which I often exploit to fight Thunder Wave users. But the main reason why Heal Bell is here is to wake up my Rest-mons, i.e. Rotom-F and most importantly Hitmontop (which doesn’t even have Sleep Talk), letting the latter spin repeatedly and/or come in on Blissey or Clefable without too many problems.
For this Rest Hitmontop+cleric combo I was inspired by Excal’s Hitmontop Stall team from 2018.
Finally, a Sassy nature and 0 Speed IVs ensure Payback will almost always have 100 BP, most notably giving Umbreon an edge against Dusknoir. In addition to this, using Heal Bell to support the team while being slower than things like Blissey, Clefable and Empoleon makes sure you’ll cure yourself too when they inflict you a status condition in the same turn.
Dai-sojo (Hitmontop) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 228 Def / 32 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Foresight
- Close Combat
- Rest
Tyranitar and its permanent sand are by far the biggest problem for hail teams, and not only is Hitmontop one of the most consistent Tyranitar counters, but it’s also the most reliable spinner in the tier thanks to Foresight. Close Combat is the STAB move of choice, hitting everything reasonably hard and being Hitmontop’s best weapon against the green monster, Blissey and Clefable. Rest is to remove status, shrug off defensive Rotom-A’s attacks and survive multiple Blissey’s and Clefable’s Seismic Toss. Although this move is simply mandatory to at least put up a battle against the pink demon, it actually fits Hitmontop well, since its bulkiness allows it to sleep in front of Tyranitar without too many risks when necessary. That being said, the effectiveness and viability of Rest greatly rely on Umbreon’s Heal Bell support.
An Impish nature and almost full investment in Defense are needed to better counter Tyranitar (and the other pesky Pursuit user Weavile), while 32 Speed EVs let Hitmontop be faster than maximum Speed Adamant Rhyperior, 128 Speed Machamp, SubSeed Breloom and all those Pokémon trying to outpace the latter, namely 24-28 Speed Skarmory and Metagross as well as 96-100 Speed Tyranitar.
Hitmontop only has a few specific roles, but without it my team would easily lose to Tyranitar, Clefable, hazard-stacking builds and could possibly have a harder time against Blissey. However, it also makes for a secondary Trick absorber (it’s usually just a hit-and-run Pokémon against offensive teams in any case), and, when its jobs are completed, it can always be a good sleep fodder thanks to Intimidate.
Zuijin (Rotom-Frost) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunderbolt
- Blizzard
When creating my hail team, there was one thing I knew for sure: I wanted to exploit Rotom-F’s pseudo Bolt-Beam combination with 100% accuracy Blizzard. The perfect coverage of an Electric- and an Ice-type move is especially useful when considering that defensive Rotom-A is usually seen as a RestTalk user, which must hit as hard as possible with only two moves. As an added benefit, Sleep Talk eliminates the need to worry about Blizzard low PP. To cut it short, Thunderbolt-Blizzard RestTalk Rotom-F is, in my opinion, the main selling point of hail teams.
Although you should play it carefully while Tyranitar is still around, the sentient fridge is totally a fantastic Pokémon, checking a lot of major threats, such as Gyarados, Metagross, Scizor, Breloom, Dragonite, Flygon, Bronzong, Togekiss and non-special Jirachi (especially the ones packing Body Slam). Other than that, Rotom-F is obviously my Sleep absorber, a fairly durable spinblocker thanks to Rest and my main answer to SubSeed Breloom and lead Machamp (which is easily cornered with Hitmontop’s help), as well as my only switch-in on lead Gallade.
0 Speed EVs are necessary to be slower than maximum Speed Adamant Machamp, so that Payback won’t double its power.
THREAT LIST
Here you can find a list of Pokémon I consider problematic, divided into three threat levels (yellow is for tier 3, orange for tier 2 and red for tier 1) and ordered from the least to the most troublesome.
- Non-Specs Zapdos: Nidoqueen is generally my initial switch-in on Zapdos, since the legendary bird usually starts things off using Thunderbolt or U-turn, with the latter scenario having the perk of potentially activating Poison Point.
If I see Zapdos is choiced, then it isn’t a problem for my team. Otherwise, I immediately send Umbreon out and just wait for Synchronize to activate on a Thunderbolt/Discharge paralyisis. In this way, Rotom-F will be able to unleash some super effective Blizzard without worrying about Zapdos’s faster Roost removing its Flying-type, and even Vaporeon will be able to finish it off. The case of Umbreon getting hit by Toxic on the first switch is worth mentioning, and it surely represents a favorable circumstance.
When certain information on the electric bird’s moveset is available, more options pop up: if Zapdos lacks Heat Wave, then Abomasnow becomes a counter, if it doesn’t carry Roost, Rotom-F can rely less on Umbreon to deal with it.
Obviously, when facing Zapdos I prioritize setting up Stealth Rock, and, if it happens to be at low health, I can always revenge kill it with Abomasnow’s Ice Shard.
Because of my rather gimmicky way to deal with this Pokémon, I thought of giving Vaporeon Toxic instead of Hidden Power Electric, so that I could catch it on the switch or while using Roost, and then stall it out with Umbreon. Toxic would also pair pretty well with my stall-oriented strategy in general, but it would come at the cost of leaving my team ultimately weak to Gyarados.
- Paraflinch Jirachi: when my opponent brings Jirachi out, the first thing I do is to check its item. If hail (or Stealth Rock) reveals Jirachi’s Leftovers, then I switch Umbreon in, since my opponent is likely to use a paralyzing move and will be punished by Synchronize. Once paralyzed, the pesky wishing star is basically harmless, but the application of the plan gets tricky if Umbreon has already been revealed by the time Jirachi is first sent out. In this situation and without proper prediction, Jirachi could deal massive damage to my team.
Note that, if the Leftovers Jirachi is actually a Superachi, Umbreon is still the best Pokémon to switch in.
If Jirachi doesn’t hold Leftovers, then it shouldn’t be a problem at all.
For the sake of safety against Paraflinch Jirachi, I thought of teaching Rotom-F Will-O-Wisp instead of Blizzard. It would be a very spammable move, and would give me the upper hand in a lot of situation, but the loss of Blizzard would make me even worse against Breloom.
- Kingdra: its stellar typing, combined with the number of sets it can use, just make Kingdra a big threat. I have Toxic Spikes (which can be however absorbed by Qwilfish in rain teams, or cured with Rest), and pretty much all of my team (except for Nidoqueen, provided that it wasn’t tricked a Choice Scarf) can be somehow useful to take down one or another version of the king of the abyss, but it is usually not that simple, or I just end up losing important pieces while carrying out the task.
- Choice Specs Latias: Umbreon can take a Choice Specs Latias’s Draco Meteor and heal itself with Wish+Protect, but it must be at almost full health to do so, which is even more difficult to achieve if the opponent happens to have anything else that can only be countered by Umbreon. While I can still revenge kill it with Abomansow, the lack of either Blissey or a Steel-type can be a significant problem when facing such a powerhouse.
- Breloom: although I am in theory prepared for this one, it usually proves itself a major problem.
When I see Breloom, I immediately switch Rotom-F in to take Spore and use Sleep Talk. If the mushroom dinosaur lacks Substitute, then I stick to Rotom-F to try to hit it with Blizzard. If Breloom does have Substitute, the situation gets trickier.
Basically, if Rotom-F hits the mushroom dinosaur before it can set up a Substitute, it means I am faster and my opponent is probably a SubSeed set, so, if I haven’t knocked it out with Blizzard yet, I just Rotom-F in, since it can only be hurt by Leech Seed.
Otherwise, I am statistically facing SubPunch Breloom, so I go to Nidoqueen as soon as I break the Substitute, forcing the friendly dinosaur out with Flamethrower. Later in the game, if I predict a Seed Bomb when Breloom isn’t behind a Substitute, I can opt to first bring Hitmontop in to have Intimidate lower its Attack before actually going to Nidoqueen.
Rotom-F and Nidoqueen (always with Hitmontop’s support) are also secondary checks respectively to SubPunch and SubSeed Breloom.
While all these plans certainly sound good, there’s almost always something going wrong in practice. Also, I am basically helpless against the rare fast SubSeed Breloom.
- Clefable: even if this team was specifically built to have some solid chances against Clefable, it actually ended up being weak to it.
Hitmontop puts the pink demon in a dangerous position, and Abomasnow’s Wood Hammer hurts it a lot, but the former is too easily worn down by Seismic Toss, and the latter can’t really switch in because of its weakness to Stealth Rock and Clefable’s immunity to Leech Seed. While it’s true that Rest grants Hitmontop more longevity, its base HP stat is so low that it risks to be KOed by few Seismic Toss before even having the chance to recover, especially when Leftovers have been removed by Knock Off.
All in all, countering Clefable is generally just too tricky for a team which heavily relies on passive damage.
- Leech Seed Venusaur: I’m lucky this thing isn’t so frequent in the OU environment, because it’s a significant issue. Although this version of Venusaur is usually seen as a special attacker, not even Umbreon can take it on, since its damage output is just too poor to beat a decently bulky Leech Seed user.
Being Rotom-F my only Pokémon that can actually put up a sort of a challenge against the prehistoric frog, I usually have something else take Sleep Powder (I still have Umbreon to wake it up), then I go to Abomasnow to take either Leaf Storm or Leech Seed and finally bring Rotom-F in on the coverage move. This is a strongly unreliable plan though, since Rotom-F can’t tank Venusaur’s attacks so well, and it is always at risk of being Pursuited, not to mention the fact that I’m forced to use one of my Pokémon as a sleep fodder.
While Venusaur can still be revenge killed by Abomasnow’s Ice Shard, its ability to absorb Toxic Spikes makes it even more problematic.
I thought of giving Vaporeon Blizzard instead of Hidden Power Electric to relatively make up for my weakness against this Pokémon, making me simultaneously better against Zapdos, Breloom and Latias as well, but the loss of reliability in checking Gyarados would once again be a huge letdown.
- Wish+Calm Mind Jirachi: seriously, I can’t touch this one. Umbreon is immune to Psychic and can paralyze Jirachi when hit by a Serene Grace Thunderbolt, but I just hardly accomplish anything with that. Sure, Nidoqueen can outspeed a paralyzed Jirachi and hit it super effectively with Earth Power, but what can it do against a Pokémon with boosted Special Defense?
REPLAYS
Here you can see my team in action:
Replay 1- annihilating a full setup sweeper team
Replay 2- nice teamwork showcase
Replay 3- Black Sludge wins me a game
Replay 4- defeating Paraflinch Jirachi
Replay 5- defeating Choice Specs Kingdra
Replay 6- defeating Choice Specs Latias and Kingdra
Replay 7- epic stall war
Replay 8- defeating a 1558 elo player
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