Fear The Hail - Hailstorm OU Team.

[Zepyhr]

Introduction

Welcome to my first ever RMT!
I made this team seeing that a hail team is still really rare, and so far this team has been quite effective.
However i still need some advice since there's still some pokemon that i feel doesn't fit in in my team.

The Team at Glance

In Depth:

The Hail Bringer

Abomasnow @ Leftovers
Ability : Snow Warning
EV's : 4hp/ 252atk/ 252spd
Adamant Nature
Movesets:
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Wood Hammer
- Focus Punch

The lead for my team. It can't set up any entry hazards such as stealth rock, but it does bring an infinite hail. It's job is simple, while the enemy lead is setting up, it can use substitute, leech seed on the second turn and change to other pokemon if abomasnow can't handle it. Or it can also use either focus punch or wood hammer if the enemy lead doesn't resist it, which rarely happens.

The Bulky Staller

Walrein @ Leftovers
Ability: Ice Body
EV's : 220hp/ 240def/ 48spe
Bold Nature
Movesets:
-Protect
-Substitute
-Toxic
-Surf

The ever-annoying stallrein, no one can stall better than him in a hail team. It can replenish the health lost on making substitute in 2 turns, and with toxic, enemies won't be able to stay long with this guy on the field. I've had trouble deciding whether to use surf or blizzard, but i choose surf since it hit those steel type that's immune to poison with neutral damage.

The Hard-to-Hit Ghost

Froslass @ Leftovers
Ability: Snow Cloak
EV's : 248hp/ 228spa/ 32spe
Modest Nature
Moveset:

-Substitute
-Blizzard
-Thunder Wave/Confuse Ray
-Shadow Ball

The main special damage dealer. With it's Snow Cloak ability, she can abuse it to create substitute and proceed to deal damage. Also negate Fighting moves that this team hate. Thunder wave is there to cripple the opposing pokemon who try to sweep. I was thinking of replacing thunder wave with confuse ray, since paralyzed negate frozen status that blizzard sometimes do.

The Rapid Spinner

Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EV's : 252hp/ 120def/ 136spd
Calm Nature
Movesets:

-Rapid Spin
-Toxic Spike
-Surf
-HP Electric

Rapid spin those annoying stealth rock and also absorb toxic spikes that this team really hate, Tentacruel can also spread toxic spikes and can take quite a few beating. HP Electric is there to counter water type that think tentacruel can't hit back. I've been trying to find a replacement for tentacruel since it doesn't quite fit in on my team.

The Fire Absorber

Heatran (M) @ Passho Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spe
Mild Nature
Movesets:

-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Explosion
-Protect

Heatran have been really helpful in dealing with fire-types that my team really, really hate. It can switch on any fire pokemon, receive flash fire boost, and proceed to earth power them to death. Protect is there to scout enemy's moveset.

The Powerhouse

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Snow Cloak
EV's: 4 hp/ 252atk/ 252spe
Adamant Nature
Movesets:

-Superpower
-Earthquake
-Ice shard
-Stone Edge

Mamoswine, with a base attack of 130 is a force to be reckoned. It can hit almost every type with super-effective damage, and can revenge kill those pesky dragon with ease. Snow Cloak also help his survivability a bit.

Thank you for reading, advice will be greatly appreciated

 

[Excellence]

Tyranitar comes down after your opponent kills your lead and you're dead. If they used Azelf, and they likely will have done so, your Abamasnow is going down in one shot. You'll fall to Stone Edge and Earthquake, two moves that Dragon Dancing or Choice Banded Tyranitar carry. Swampert walls your entire team. Weavile carrying Brick Break/Low Kick destroys this team too.

Your Abamasnow is a terrible lead. There is no reason for it to have any attack or speed EVs. No one is going to bother humoring you with Stealth Rock setups when they can just take out your Abamasnow with a fire attack THEN set up rocks. If Azelf does that it gets Entry Hazard +2 Pokes if it carries explosion because nothing on your team other than Heatran will withstand it.

I don't know where to begin with this team so I would suggest a full revamp. Majority of your Pokemon do not have to be Ice for you to run a Hail Team. ​

 

[Zepyhr]

Your advice is harsh, but true at the same time. I've been having trouble with tyranitar and azelf, and also jolteon with hidden power fighting. I've been thinking on placing gliscor since he's immune to ground and is also quite bulky with roost.

 

[vashta]

Your hail team has a lot of weaknesses against the most common of Pokémon in the metagame. I know this sounds very outrageous, but I think you are concentrating on the concept of hail far too much and you could re-think your strategy. Threats include Lucario with Bullet Punch, Gyarados and Tyranitar to say the least. Swords Dance Scizor is also causing problems as Heatran cannot constantly switch into Stealth Rock + Hail without Leftovers or Rest/Wish support. SD Scizors are known for carrying Roost.

Your biggest weaknesses, Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Swords Dance Lucario are going to 6-0 you if they get the chance to set up, particularly on Walrein (using Protect) and Heatran, respectively. You can easily deal with this threat by substituting Heatran out for Gliscor. Why? Well, Heatran isn't really doing anything but walking into arbitrary Fire-type moves (which can easily be improvised on) and potentially Exploding on the first Water-type that hits it. I think that's rather a waste, and implementing Gliscor could mean that party place is used more productively. Gliscor also acts as an excellent check to Tyranitar and Lucario without Ice Punch. It can also utilize Taunt so you aren't having to switch in Tentacruel every minute your opponent may use Spikes. You can either opt for a more Defensive Gliscor to deal with both threats easily (particularly Tyranitar), or a much faster Gliscor. The EV spreads, respectively, are: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe and 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe. The set is as follows:

Gliscor @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: (above)
Impish or Jolly nature (depending on respective EV spread)
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt / Ice Fang

Taunt is advised to be used if on the faster spreads, but it's optional. Ice Fang is more useful on the Defensive set when dealing with physical Salamence (but it must be sure not to switch into Outrage - it can only take a +1 Adamant Outrage when over 80%).

When dealing with Scizor and Gyarados, you can consider substituting Froslass for Rotom-F. This is risky as it really means that you're digging into the hail theme, but you are given a chance to improve the general performance of this team anyway. Rotom-F is an excellent addition to this team as it allows you to deal with the aforementioned Scizor and Gyarados, but can act as your status absorber - something other Pokémon on your team do not like taking by the looks of it (especially against Breloom). Blizzard is only considered if you're confident about dealing with Scizor with only Thunderbolt, but it is generally preferred (and safer) that Will-O-Wisp accompanies Thunderbolt - not obligatory, though, obviously. You could try Choice Scarf Rotom-A, though, if you're worried about beating Azelf leads, but I am not advocating it full-heartedly. Consider the following set, therefore:

Rotom-F @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 52 SpD
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunderbolt
- Blizzard / Will-O-Wisp

Lastly, consider changing Abomasnow's EV spread to a more Specially Defensive one so you can deal with general Water-types like Suicune, and even take hits from non-boosted Latias, potentially. I would suggest an EV spread of 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SpD, or something along those lines. But that's a matter of preference - could prove useful for sure, though. Especially for when confronted with a Suicune with a Calm Mind or two under its belt.

 

[Zepyhr]

Honestly, i have never had trouble with scizor, since it usually switch after seeing heatran. But yeah, i have totally forgotten about rotom, and i'm gonna try it now. I have also been thinking about putting gliscor, but who should i replace it with?

 

[vashta]

Uhm, I suggested Heatran because Heatran isn't doing much but "absorbing" arbitrary Fire-type attacks and randomly Exploding on Water-types. Suicune and Vaporeon, for example, survive Explosion.

 

[Zepyhr]

i don't know... i kinda want to keep heatran, he keep those steel-type away. Tentacruel is what i want to dispose of.

 

[vashta]

Well, at the moment Tentacruel is the only thing helping you play against Spike-stacking stall teams and giving you a check to Infernape who is going to absolutely wreak havoc against this team if left un-checked. Otherwise, I would agree with you. But the trouble it gives is too great. Besides, Rotom-F tames Steel-types relatively well (Metagross, etc).

 

[Spika]

Zepyhr... Hey, I live in Seattle too! :P


But I must say... you need Tenta. Pretty much every hail team is the same. You need Gliscor. You need a Rotom. Get rid of Froslass and Heatran for Gliscor and Rotom. Make Gliscor lead. Abomasnow leading is completely pointless. He DIESSSS. Just get him in later. You'll have a chance to get him in no matter what, before Walrein gets in... so why worry?

That's what you need to do, otherwise this team will never succeed.

 

[jc104]

Hello. Using hail at the moment is pretty brave so props for that. I think every member of your team is in need of changes, as you have a rather large weakness to many offensive threats. The first thing I should say is listen to Vashta. He really knows what he's talking about. I am going to assume you will make the changes regarding both Gliscor and Rotom-F.

Abomasnow's moveset - I would recommend a specially bulky set for the reasons Vashta suggested. I would, however, reccomend using a mixed attacking or special-attacking set. Blizzard is too good to pass up - it is vary powerful with no real drawback, and hits hard everything immune to leech seed (i.e grass types.) Regarding the nature, there is not really a drawback to going mixed with a sassy nature, since you get to keep your hail against TTar leads. I would suggest:

Abomasnow @ leftovers
Sassy nature
252hp 4spatk 252spdef
-Substitute
-Leech seed
-Blizzard
-Protect/Focus punch

You could also consider Gliscor in the lead position, since Abomasnow only really beats Swampert and Aerodactyl.

Walrein - first of all, despite what it says in the analysis there is no good reason to run any speed on a Walrein. When running roar, it allows you to roar out 0 speed skarmory before it WWs you. This is, however, rarely useful; since most skarmory run more speed than that, you risk being phazed anyway, and cannot beat a spdef skarm with Surf/Blizzard. Taunt skarm also beats you easily. The advantages of 0 speed are much greater, even ignoring the extra defence (note that you still need 220 HP Evs.)

Many tactics for beating walrein rely on being slower than it. If a slower pokemon is out against walrein, it can switch to something faster as Walrein protects, and kill walrein with a faster pokemon. It can also break the sub as it dies (e.g to hail/poison or when using explosion) giving a similar result. A slower pokemon can also use priority moves to beat Walrein (e.g slow SD Scizor) or use U-turn (e.g CB Scizor.) For these reasons I am considering myself trying to further lower Walrein's speed with IVs/Nature but I have not yet come to a conclusion. With no EVs, you will be slower than all scizor, who apart from faster SD versions, all hard counter you at the moment. Every variant apart from possibly 0 speed variants would now be beaten.

You should also consider changing toxic to something else, given you have toxic spikes support (and particularly if you opt for WoW on Rotom.) Roar is useful against slow phazers (e.g swampert) and to let you counter setup sweepers and baton passers, as well as racking up entry hazard damage. You could even try super fang, blizzard or EQ (with a relaxed nature)

Tentacruel - with Rotom now checking gyarados, blizzard/sludge bomb/knock off is recommended in the last slot, for better coverage, or to remove leftovers, letting Hail take its toll.

Good luck.