watashi
World Defender
introduction
the recent unbanning of snow warning in nu caused a huge splash in the metagame, shafting some of the biggest names in the tier and causing others to rise to stardom. i was eagar to take advantage of hail and abuse some of the new big threats. the result was an extremely offensive hail team designed to overwhelm defensive and offensive teams alike. in my opinion, hail balance was really hard to play since there were major synergy problems when i was using three ice-types on a team. stall has enough problems to deal with when using six team members, so using hail stall in conjunction with snover was a definite no-no. although this team was relatively successful, going about fourty games before suffering a loss under the alt "testing hail", i'm not a big fan of it since it doesn't fit in well with my playstyle. due to the offensive nature of this team, one crucial miss or critical hit can be devastating, and many times it requires the user to play perfectly.
the team in depth
Snover @ Eviolite
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 248 HP / 40 Def / 220 SDef
Calm Nature
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
this is by far the best snover set to use in nu. many water and electric types struggle to break through it and are stalled out by the combination toxic, leech seed, and protect. ludicolo is a common victim, since it likes to switch in and cancel out hail with rain dance, which is bad news for the rest of the team. blizzard can hit decently hard, but is rather lackluster against bulkier foes such as gardevoir. substitute users are the biggest threat to snover since they can avoid its arsenal of passive damage and set up, leaving the rest of the team in a bad position. due to this, if water-types and weather setters on the opponent's team are gone, i will often intentionally sacrifice snover to avoid it from being bait.
Piloswine @ Eviolite
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Stone Edge
piloswine might not gain any tangible benefits from hail, but it is definitely one of the best options to set up stealth rocks for a team like this. it shines against fast, frail teams that struggle to do enough damage and ohko'ed back as a result. between duosion, emboar, and rotom-f, it's easy to see that offense is the only archetype that has a chance against this team, which is what makes piloswine such a great choice. it strikes down dangerous flying-types such as braviary and swellow with icicle spear, surviving everything they throw at it, and deals with normals decently as well, which is important since this team has no resistances to the type. it is an amazing switch-in to electric-types, and stops them from volt switching all over my team.
Duosion @ Eviolite
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Recover
- Signal Beam
duosion is a common pokemon seen on nu hail teams, which is no surprise since it often fits in perfectly. four fighting-type weaknesses make duosion the most important member of this team, since it can counter sawk, gurdurr, and throh. emboar is a bit more difficult to deal with, but there isn't any team that doesn't have trouble with emboar. if duosion gets trapped by skuntank, i'll have to resort to revenge killing the aforementioned threats. if this wasn't a hail team, musharna would definitely be in this spot, but magic guard and recover make duosion the better choice in the current metagame. another benefit of it is the ability to hit dark-types and be immune to toxic at the same time, which is something musharna can't boast. stall teams usually are swept clean by duosion once i remove hypno, frillish, or misdreavus.
Rotom-Frost @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute
- Pain Split
this guy right here is probably the best hail sweeper in nu. rotom-f has insane coverage and an immensely powerful blizzard that can overwhelm any pokemon that doesn't resist it. even special walls such as lickilicky and probopass will be put under so much pressure thanks to hail that they will often lose to this set. regice and piloswine are the only pokemon that can stop rotom-f under a substitute, and they are handled nicely by the rest of the team. many people expect choice scarf, and will protect with pokemon such as alomomola, giving me a free chance to get a substitute up. pain split is a wonderful move taking rotom-f's low hp into account, allowing me to heal massive amounts of hp against walls. it is also useful for dodging sucker punches from the likes of absol or skuntank when my health is low, allowing me to make more substitutes and play more mindgames with the opponent.
Emboar @ Choice Band
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Head Smash
- Fire Punch
fighting-types are great in this metagame due to their abilities to dismantle most hail teams. the only qualms about this teamslot i've had is whether to use sawk or emboar, with the latter winning out because of flare blitz. hail teams are often sent scrambling since their main fighting-type resistance cannot safely switch in anymore. emboar has excellent offensive synergy with rotom-f, destroying the special walls that stand a chance against it, while rotom takes care of bulky water-types such as alomomola. a jolly nature is used in order to outspeed absol, which is one of the bigger threats to this team due to its superb coverage. although emboar is an effective wall breaker, emboar often ends up killing itself with flare blitz or head smash; not without taking at least a pokemon down with it, though.
Cinccino @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Tail Slap
- Rock Blast
- Bullet Seed
- U-turn
cinccino is the catch-all revenge killer of this team, being able to outrun a huge amount of threats even after they boost their speed. many people are taken by surprise when their swellow, gorebyss, and rotom-s are killed off since this set is so uncommon. without cinccino, this team will be crushed by opposing sweepers. outside of checking threats, cinccino also helps lure in bulky water or steel types with u-turn for emboar and rotom-f to prey on. it can prevent golem and carracosta from setting up stealth rocks with bullet seed, which benefits the rest of the team greatly. when the rest of the team has open enough hopes in the opponent's defense, cinccino can often clean up with ease if tail slap doesn't miss.
conclusion
this team is bother by an extent by hazards, but the real culprit here is opposing weather teams. if i cannot keep snover alive against dedicated sun or rain teams, this team will be steamrolled. emboar, samurott, and braviary can also be troublesome, but i can usually prevent them from getting too many kills if i play smart. this team is not meant to switch into everything; sometimes it requires you to look and see which pokemon need to be removed so a team member can sweep and sacrifice pokemon accordingly. this strategy is risky, but the payout is usually a satisfying victory. however, i feel that a lot can be done to improve how this team functions.