Gen 5 Gen 5 - Weather Stomper (Pseudo-Hail / Trick Room Hybrid)

[Morkal]

Finally back after some serious gender confusion issues in my life (was very heavily considering transitioning so I tried living as a girl for a bit) and ready to play Pokemon competitively again. Gen 5 is my absolute favorite generation, and permanent weather I will always love. So I devised a team and have been testing it to wonderful results so far.

What This Team Aims To Do / Why I Built It:​

I built this team specifically to be able to function independently while also acting as a stop to the multitude of weather teams (especially Rain) running around the OU tier. It's meant to throw conventional builds off balance and allow me to slowly wear my opponent down through a process of shutdowns and self-restoration. The name of the game is weather and speed in Gen 5, and that's what this team is specifically built to deal with.

Meet the Team (and why I chose these members):

Abomasnow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Blizzard
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Earthquake

Function:
​

Abomasnow is essentially the crux of this team, as it catches many OU staples off guard, along with disabling their weathers. STAB Blizzard that never misses is always a treat, and will absolutely shred Pokemon such as Dragonite, Hippowdon, Breloom, Celebi, Gliscor, Hydreigon, Landorus-T, Garchomp, the Lati twins, Salamence, and Thundurus-T. Giga Drain helps keep Abomasnow healthy beyond Chansey support, and nails Politoed, Gastrodon, Cloyster, Hippowdon, Keldeo, Mamoswine, Rotom-Wash, Starmie, Terrakion, and Tyranitar super effectively. Hidden Power [Fire] is almost exclusively for Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Scizor (though one must be wary of Bullet Punch). The final slot is Earthquake exclusively for Heatran, Tyranitar (that are too specially bulky), Magnezone, and Tentacruel. The key to this set is Scarf, as the unexpected Speed with a Hasty nature will catch players off guard and allows Abomasnow to revenge certain threats. In addition to this, Hail is important for disabling opposing weathers and racking up passive damage alongside the other members of my team. The EV allotment is fairly standard for a mixed attacker, Hasty is crucial here when using Scarf to reach certain speed benchmarks.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Psyshock
- Recover
- Trick Room
- Shadow Ball

Function:
​

Reuniclus is fantastic as it's bulky, has access to Magic Guard (one of the best abilities in Gen 5 IMO), and absolutely sits on key Pokemon in the tier. Psyshock is a fantastic move that not only allows Reuniclus to deal with the numerous Fighting-types in the tier but also means Blissey and Chansey are not safe switch-ins. Recover is for additional longevity and allows for Reuniclus to stay alive in case Chansey goes down. The key to this set though is Trick Room; Reuniclus is a fantastic setter due to its bulk, mono-Psychic typing, and Magic Guard making it immune to wear-down statuses such as Burn and Poison. Shadow Ball is a nice coverage move that helps against opposing Psychics like the Lati twins and means Pokemon like Chandelure don't get a free swipe. The EV allotment is so that Reuniclus can survive things like Gengar's Shadow Ball to get Trick Room up, and then proceed to OHKO with Psyshock.

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Earth Power
- Blizzard
- Scald
- Recover

Function:​

Gastrodon swallows Rain teams whole with its wonderful ability Storm Drain, and thanks to Recover isn't bothered by Abomasnow's Hail. In fact, thanks to Hail it is able to use a 100% accurate Blizzard as well, which can hit crucial damage benchmarks without mostly any investment against specific threats that it couldn't hit with Ice Beam. Earth Power is a reliable STAB move that crushes Pokemon such as Heatran and Jirachi. Scald is another nice STAB move mostly meant to spread Burns around and help add to the additional "hyper chip" that I'm going for. Recover is for the same reason as Reuniclus, longevity. The EV allotment is specifically to make Gastrodon physically tanky, as a lot of the Special Pokemon Gastrodon switches into aren't going to want to stay in (such as Politoed).

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

Function:​

This set is a fair bit more standard, but it has specific uses in conjunction with this team. This is Abomasnow's main partner, meant to absorb Fire attacks flying its away, set up Rocks, and trap opposing Pokemon using Magma Storm to ease the burden of prediction on yourself. Magma Storm is also quite powerful in its own right and provides crucial Fire-type coverage for your team. Earth Power is specifically useful here because of Magnezone flying around and for opposing Heatran as well. Stealth Rock is to add to that additional chip, and Protect is necessary on Heatran specifically because he's often the stopgap of the team. The EV allotment is built specifically to help Heatran last through Special hits flying in its direction in the event of a messed-up prediction.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Psychic
- Rapid Spin
- Scald

Function:​

The team's designated Rapid Spinner. Starmie's access to Rapid Spin allows it to get rid of the pesky Stealth Rocks so that the opposing team gets worn down before yours does. The rest is a pretty standard 3 attack LO set with Natural Cure access to prevent Paralysis or another status such as Sleep or Freeze from ruining Starmie's fun (alternatively you could use it in a pinch if you have Trick Room up). Blizzard is again, fantastic and hits certain damage benchmarks that Ice Beam just can't. STAB Psychic melts Fighting types, while STAB Scald hits crucial Pokemon and spreads burns. The EV allotment is relatively standard as well; max speed and special attack with a speed boosting nature. Originally I was considering using a low-speed Analytic Starmie, but the team needed additional non-slow options in case Trick Room went down.

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic

Function:​

The backbone of the team, this Pokemon is hard to kill, hard to wear down and keeps your team healthy with massive Wish-passing. Protect is crucial for scouting, and will allow Chansey to stay alive way beyond when it should. Seismic Toss allows for some consistent damage against threats who are too bulky or have boosted their defenses up. Toxic is to add to the roulette of passive damage we're going for here. Natural Cure means Chansey cannot be worn down with status very easily unless your opponent has the means to keep it from being switched out.

Weaknesses:​

There are some specific threats and options that this Team does not like handling (although it can). Priority can absolutely be a menace to this team if you're not careful Scizor's Bullet Punch can shred Abomasnow if you're not careful (don't risk it, switch to Heatran), while Sucker Punch Toxicroak can absolutely blank Reuniclus and Starmie, while also being immune to Chansey's Toxic and crushing it with powerful Fighting STAB (switch to Gastrodon). Certain Scarf Pokemon such as HP Ground Scarf Magnezone or Scarf Mamoswine demolish Heatran; the former can nuke Abomasnow with STAB Flash Cannon while the latter can nuke Abomasnow with Stone Edge / Rock Slide. Kyurem-Black is probably the biggest issue for this team, as its wide variety of coverage and absolutely monstrous power allow it to cleave through many threats. Fusion Bolt is a monstrous physical Electric move that cleaves through Starmie, along with hitting Reuniclus, Heatran, and Chansey hard due to their Physical squish. Earth Power is the bane of Heatran's existence, while Gastrodon does not enjoy taking a STAB Blizzard or Ice Beam. In addition to this, Dragon STAB will cleave through the Physically squishy Pokemon on the team as well. It has many other more niche coverage options, but I'll be referencing just these for now. If your opponent has removed your Gastrodon, Gyarados can be a huge problem for your team. While Gyarados doesn't appreciate taking Blizzard STAB from Abomasnow or repeated attacks from Starmie, it deals with Heatran, Chansey, and Reuniclus quite easily.

 

[inhalant]

Nice, I’ve been anti weather throughout my gen5 tenure and I have the mediocre record to show for it. Just added Ttar to my team and almost want to give it the other ability rather than sand stream lol :(

anti sand and rain ofc. Hail and sun are too hard to pull off to be undeserving of appreciation

the last team I ran for more than 10 battles, prior to the one I just posted,had a tangela I gave sunny day just to derail weather , along with boost to hp fire lol. Giving up a move for 5 turnsof sun that were essentially useless for me—that’s how bad it got.

feedback: I’m sure you’re aware, but a scarfed infernape or mirnshao could pick this team apart, u-turning on the physics and stab fighting the rest. Obv you have checks, but maybe there’s a way to add a better counter. Protect is extremely common on heatrans and I know I usually don’t show them the real move I want to use first, anticipating a protect. I would consider a different wish passer than chansey maybe. Something like Togekiss or jirachi could fight back a bit more and offer more coverage. If paired right w heatran, even more switchins too. I’m also sure you’re not a fan of chansey being forced to take hail damage every turn and not recover it back with leftovers.

 

[Gamer1234556]

feedback: I’m sure you’re aware, but a scarfed infernape or mirnshao could pick this team apart, u-turning on the physics and stab fighting the rest.

Idk if those are the mons you would be worried about especially when neither is actually used in a serious game (outside of ladder). I would be more worried about Breloom especially when your best counterplay against it is Starmie + Bulkless Reuniclus.

Protect is extremely common on heatrans and I know I usually don’t show them the real move I want to use first, anticipating a protect.

This team has a Chansey, which is probably one of the best counters to Heatran there is.

I would consider a different wish passer than chansey maybe. Something like Togekiss or jirachi could fight back a bit more and offer more coverage.

Jirachi is really the only one I would seriously recommend. Togekiss is also a mon I would not recommend at all. And even then, you would be exacerbating the Heatran problem if you opt-out Chansey.

I feel like this team kinda has some troubles with Smurf HO, especially if Volc runs HP Ground. But generally speaking, I personally think this sounds like a really solid team! Its great that some people are experimenting with more niche mons such as Abomasnow when the meta is starting to grow more stale overtime.