Hail: More Than Anti-Metagame Idealism

[Gary]

Well as Ginga said, Scarf Victini is more than capable of switching in on a torn-t's coverage move and V-Creating its balls off. The compounded SR weakness is unfortunate, though.

Which then begs the question: who's the best spinner on hail teams? Tentacruel could be nice for fire, fighting, and steel resists, and his ability to urinate on rain teams. Sadly, he gets no recovery if you win the weather war. The only spinner that DOES get recovery (besides lolcryogonal bullet punch says hai) is Starmie, which actually seems like it could be quite useful, as it gets a decently strong Blizzard to abuse, along with Hydro Pump, recover, and Rapid Spin. Its speed tier is nice for dealing with the Musketeers, especially Terrak, who can rape most of Hail. Donphan seems to be another OK choice, as it can take Ninetales, and sun is the one weather hail has the most trouble with. Problem being again its lack of recovery (and speed)

Honestly I have found Donphan to be one of my favorite spinners on a Hail team. It has very nice bulk, and is great for checking Ninetails, Victini, and Genesect when locked into Flamethrower or Thunderbolt, as well as being able to throw out Stealth Rocks, and access to Ice Shard to revenge kill Salamence and Dragonite.

I have however, found Hitmontop also to be pretty useful like mentioned earlier. Although not the best spinner to use in OU, he has access to two good priority moves, and only has one main weakness, however Psychic types are common. He can also use Stone Edge, Close Combat, and Toxic if need be.

 

[NoUserName]

Honestly I have found Donphan to be one of my favorite spinners on a Hail team. It has very nice bulk, and is great for checking Ninetails, Victini, and Genesect when locked into Flamethrower or Thunderbolt, as well as being able to throw out Stealth Rocks, and access to Ice Shard to revenge kill Salamence and Dragonite.

I have however, found Hitmontop also to be pretty useful like mentioned earlier. Although not the best spinner to use in OU, he has access to two good priority moves, and only has one main weakness, however Psychic types are common. He can also use Stone Edge, Close Combat, and Toxic if need be.

Hitmontop also has Foresight, but I find that since the release of BW2 Ghosts are much less common.

I also tried Blastoise(with Rain Dish) but I find it sucks, because it is very predictable and hits weak, Scald and Ice Beam as offensive moves(or EQ but it is pretty weak) It also has Foresight to suck less. It needs Slack Off(read this GF)

Donphan has Odor Sleuth which is a clone of Foresight, but Spinning against Jelli is suicidal.

Also don't forget the weakness to Flying, the ever seen Tornadus-T.

 

[dice]

I I honestly can't see any way for a stall team which can handle Kyurem (e.g. WishBliss + Tyranitar) to lose to it; Tentacruel is easily worn down by Hail and hazards, and has to come in repeatedly because of the three SR weaknesses. Deoxys-D + SubDisable Gengar + (something which outspeeds and OHKO's Tentacruel, which is included in almost all Deo-D HO) looks tricky as well.

Basically, it goes back to what bubbly said earlier; teams which rely completely on Rapid Spin simply aren't good.

Stall teams are basically handled by Kyurem. With Golurk being able to protect Toxic Spikes with its Ghost-type typing, or I kill the Poison absorber first and then set tspikes (rare occurence, most full stall teams like you listed lack a poison type) and then sweep with Kyurem, or shuffle around with Dnite and kyurem, etc, and rain stall isn't that terrrible of a matchup due to the lack of a spinblocker usually and tentacruel's rain dish giving it extended survivability. Against DeoD HO teams I've had a fairly good record, going 3-1 versus choice specs (TR #1 HO team) by just good predictions in general. I mean, it's just the way you play the team, hail has obvious flaws but blatantly saying "relying on rapid spin sucks" is just rather ignorant.

 

[Mr.Improv]

^Nice Job man!! Keep up the good work. We'd all love to see your team in the RMTs What EV's did you run on your Abomasnow?

Sorry for me bring so late I almost forgot i posted.
Abomasnow @ Expert Belt
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 126 HP / 252 Atk / 130 SAtk
Brave Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Seed Bomb
- Ice Shard

The set is unchanged as you can see. I decided to run more special attack just because it ohkos scizors on the switch and this was very important for me since removing it from the game right away can usually destroy my opponents momentum right from the start. Should I catch them on the switch its either a clean ohko with hail damage. I sacrificed some bulk but this spread works way better for me.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

Speaking of hazards, how do you guys deal with stuff like Deoxys-D?
I used to like bringing in something that can set up in its face -SubDance Terrakion or DD Mence with a Lum Berry, but hail teams usually don't have a spot for these set up dancers.

 

[bubbly]

Well, personally I like running Magic Coat on my own Deoxys-D :) But yeah, Deo is one of those things which does put standard Hails at an instant disadvantage. If you're desperate use Toxic on Tentacruel or Starmie to ensure a spin against Jellicent, or Foresight / Odor Sleuth on Hitmontop or SpDef Donphan respectively. There's also Xatu ofc but it doesn't suit stalling playstyles as a general rule.

Re paca and Bri; I think you're both half right. Abomasnow and Kyurem both have reliable recovery in Hail; as long as they're coming in with momentum onside, SR isn't a problem at all. If you are forced to defend, their similar typings and defensive responsibilities mean you can spread hazard damage between them if necessary. On the other hand, the main functional core of any defensive team, and that includes Hail, shouldn't be weak to residual damage. Having to provide Rapid Spin so your team can function at all is obviously awful; in that sense, saying that "relying on Rapid Spin sucks" is completely true if you actually do rely on it. Spinning is blockable, and all spinners have a finite lifespan, especially in the Hail.
Also paca, stop spreading my teams around lol (congrats on the ladder peak though).

Anyone tried a dual rain / hail team of Politoed / Tentacruel / Abomasnow / SubRoost Kyu? The two cores complement each other pretty nicely defensively, and Kyu sets up on Electric, Grass and Water types which trouble Rain as well as pretty much every Toxic Spikes remover.

Finally, Rocky Helmet. It is amazing, just amazing on Hail stall. Standard use is on Skarm to wear down U-turners but it works nicely on a lot of other standard physically defensive mons.

 

[Gary]

Speaking of hazards, how do you guys deal with stuff like Deoxys-D?
I used to like bringing in something that can set up in its face -SubDance Terrakion or DD Mence with a Lum Berry, but hail teams usually don't have a spot for these set up dancers.

I use a scarfed Modest Chandelure to demolish Deoxys-D. Even if Specially Defensive, it's a solid 2HKO on him, and he wouldn't really want to set up anything with Shadow Balls coming at it.

 

[Magma]

Wow, this is a great thread filled with a bunch of good ideas and points. Here's my VERY LONG take on Hail:

Offensive Hail Teams

Offensive Hail teams are usually Anti-Metagame teams because, they are filled with Pokemon who don't like playing in Hail and are just on the roster to hard counter specific OU threats rather than contribute to the overall purpose of the team. Take Air Balloon Heatran for example - a common Pokemon found on offensive Hail teams. Sure, it counters Sun, but it hates being in Hail because the harsh weather slowly drains it's health throughout the match. To me, Air Balloon Heatran on a Hail team is just as anti-meta as Swords Dance Toxicroak on a Sun team. Yeah, Toxicroak provides great coverage against Politoed and Tyranitar, but is it really worth a small percentage of health each turn? Ah well, if it works... it works. Pacachomp, your Hail team falls into this category, especially since you have a Swift Swim Kingdra to deal with Rain.

The good thing about offensive Hail teams is that they are easy to build and surprisingly effective. The bad thing about them is they don't really benefit from Hail at all. The underrated weather just doesn't offer any offensive added effects, except for perfect accuracy on a 120 BP Ice attack (which isn't that great in an OU metagame dominated by Waters and Steels). In my opinion, it's not worth crippling 2/3's of your team just so one Pokemon can have a 100% accurate Blizzard, but hey, that's just my opinion. On offensive, anti-meta Hail teams Abomasnow is mainly used as a check to Rotom-W, DD Dragons, and opposing weathers (all of which are huge threats to offensive teams), the effects of the Hail it brings are usually pointless.

Defensive Hail Teams

Defensive Hail teams are true Hail teams, because they take advantage of Hail's only real added effect - passive damage on 90% of the metagame. Defensive teams usually have at least 4 or 5 Pokemon with a reliable form of recovery, so the passive damage isn't an issue at all. The problem with making these types of teams is that it's so easy to get caught up in countering every threat, that most people forget about an offensive game-plan. Whenever this happens, you just end up with a team that runs around in circles until it's completely broken down. Bri, your Hail team is very close to falling in this category. Yeah, the team counters a ton of threats, but as Pacachomp mentioned, I just don't see how you break Sand or Rain Stall.

This is what makes building a pure Hail team so difficult. Not only do you have to worry about tanking hits, but more importantly, you have to figure out a way to break down opposing teams. In my opinion, there are two ways to generate offense with pure Hail teams. The first way is the Full-Stall route by using Entry Hazards. Unfortunately, setting up Spikes and Stealth Rock is just the easy part. The hard part is supporting the hazards throughout the battle by keeping them on the field with either a Spin Blocker (Ghost type) or a Pseudo Spin Blocker (Spiker with Iron Barbs/Rocky Helmet, i.e. Ferrothorn). The second way to generate offense with pure Hail teams is the Semi-Stall route by using Bulky Wall-Breakers. A Bulky Wall-Breaker is exactly what it sounds like - a Pokemon with recovery and a Stat-Boosting move (or Taunt) to break down opposing walls. Conkeldurr, Jellicent, and Mew are some quick examples of Bulky Wall-Breakers that add a great deal of Defense and Offense to any team.

I usually stick to building Defensive Hail teams and going the Semi-Stall Hail route, because the Full-Stall route is much harder. My checklist is always Abomasnow, a Water type, a Steel type, a Fighting resist, two or three Bulky Wall-Breakers (who compliment each other offensively), and a Spinner.

teams which rely completely on Rapid Spin simply aren't good; even more so on true Hail stall

I'm going to have to disagree with you here, pacachomp. All Hail Stall teams must have a Rapid Spinner, because it's impossible to keep Abomasnow around for the long run without one. Yeah, Spin-Blockers make it incredibly hard to remove Stealth Rock/Spikes, so the key is to make sure your offensive threats (Bulky Wall-Breakers) aren't crippled by hazards. That way, the team can still function with hazards up. I'm sure the list of Wall-Breakers who don't mind entry hazards or Hail damage isn't very long, but off the top of my head, here are a couple of them:

Hazard and Hail resistant Wall Breakers

Calm Mind Latias with Refresh.

Any Gliscor with Taunt + Toxic/Knock Off.

Sub Split Gengar

Cosmic Power Sigilyph

Calm Mind Reuniclus

As a matter of fact, Refresh Latias and the 2 Magic Guard users, Reuniclus and Sigilyph, also pair well with Toxic Spikes (another form of Wall-Breaking) since the status-blocking Psychic types get easy switch-ins against most OU Spinners/Poisons who remove Toxic Spikes and can proceed to set-up and break down walls themselves.

As bubbly mentioned, Sub Roost Kyurem also deserves a mention here, because it too can switch in to the Poisons/Spinners that remove Toxic Spikes (except for Forretress) and break down certain walls by itself. Although Stealth Rock saps 25% of it's health every time it switches in, it can simply Roost off damage.

Taunt Mandibuzz is another Bulky Wall-Breaker that is hit hard by Stealth Rock, but can Roost off the damage and put pressure on opposing teams.
​

Right now, I'm taking a break from Semi-Stall Hail teams and taking on the challenge of building a Full-Stall Hail team. The plan is to keep Spikes up throughout the match while Shuffling opponents with Ice Body Walrein. The Flying and Dragon types that resist Spikes are obviously hit hard by Blizzard. Rocky Helmet Deoxys-D is the team's Spiker since it can double as a Pseudo Spin Blocker - saving me from wasting a team slot on a Ghost Pokemon.

Finally, Rocky Helmet. It is amazing, just amazing on Hail stall.

Bubbly, do we ever disagree? Rocky Helmet Deoxys-D acts like Ferrothorn on Rain Stall teams. Although it technically doesn't prevent Spinners from removing the Spikes it lays down, Deoxys-D easily switches in to every OU spinner and takes away of chunk of their health as they Spin, then sets the hazards up all over again. The minimal damage from Rocky Helmet will add up quickly, especially with Hail negating their Leftovers.

Because I'm not relying on Hazard-Resistant Wall-Breakers (like Semi-Stall teams do) to break down teams, I have to use a Spinner that can keep OU Ghost types off the field. I've played around with a Toxic Stall Starmie, a Foresight Hitmontop, and an Offensive Donphan, but none of these worked as well as an Acid Spray + Giga Drain Tentacruel.

The last two spots are fillers and I'm trying find the right match of Stall Pokes. I tried Para Shufflers like Rest-Talk Hariyama and Sub Dragonite, but I really need a Steel somewhere on the team. Any advice here will be greatly appreciated.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

I feel your pain. Steel types are a pain to try and fit into a Hail team because of the fire and fighting weakness.

I suppose ATTRIBUTE wise (i.e how a pokemon is played), Heatran is great for many a team - but that compounding fighting weakness does NOT a Hail team at all.

I'm currently running a Metagross on my team, and the typing synergy is working pretty well. Grossy does what a steel is supposed to do, plus it takes neutral from fighting, and Abomasnow covers its ground weakness pretty well. The only thing to look out for is fire attacks - but most of my Hail teams end up using 2 water types anyway (currently running Gastrodon and Tentacruel).
EV spread can be tricky though - if you make Metagross too bulky it loses offensive capability; too much investment in attack and you get a soft steel crab (see what I did there?).

 

[bubbly]

If anyone's trying to abuse Ice Body (or any offensive strategy which needs Hail up) you should try Magma Storm Heatran with Sunny Day, Solar Beam, and a coverage move. You trap Politoed and the standard SR Tyranitar incredibly easily, and Magma Storm is nice for catching the popular Genesect -> Sash Dugtrio core as well. Plus, it adds extra residual damage, and prevents double switching (which can be problematic for Hail if the opponent has hazards).

 

[Ambicrow3]

Opening my big mouth here for sec about Abomasnow and why I think he’s extremely underrated, not just Hail, the big tree-man himself. While his typing isn’t that great, he has the absolute best movepool out of all the weather inducers. To list it off, he has two 100% accurate base 120 STAB attacks in Blizzard & Wood Hammer, STAB priority in Ice Shard, the ever annoying Leech Seed and Giga Drain for recovery with Leech Seed working exceptionally well with Hail and hazards, Earthquake to ward off Fire- and Steel-types, Focus Punch, Focus Blast, the extremely underrated sleep move GrassWhistle, and of course a very usable Hidden Power. And then there’s the Hail itself; passive damage every turn to any Pokémon that’s not Ice-type, arguably the rarest typing in OU, or holds the ability Magic Guard/Overcoat. Snow Warning could very well be considered the brutal of weather abilities as, unlike Sand Storm, it affects all but about 5 Pokémon even remotely common in the OU metagame meaning most team will have all 6 members taking damage from it. Abomasnow’s typing however is a double-edged sword; Grass/Ice provides neutrality to Ice moves and can easily switch in on most Water-types; in fact, Focus Blast, Toxic, or Hypnosis is the worst Politoed can do to Abomasnow making it an open invite to a hailstorm and leaving Abomasnow the only weather inducer in OU that isn’t weak to Politoed’s STAB. But the downside to the Ice-typing is a weakness to Stealth Rock on top of already being a grounded Pokémon leaving him open to all entry hazards. One of his ideal partners, Tentacruel, can easily remove those hazards but it’s still an issue. Despite this, I think that Abomasnow is not only capable, but absolutely should follow the examples of the other weather starters and adopt a more passive set/EV spread. Abomasnow has just good enough defenses to pull it off, and yes, I know that Ice is bad defensively but Abomasnow doesn’t need to be this amazing wall, he needs to be able to take a few hits, Leech Seed to regain health and get out and he can do that quite well.

Leech Seed with Snow Warning, imo, should be Abomasnow’s claim to fame, not to dismiss the rest of his movepool of course. Leech Seed is a phenomenal move with Snow Warning cancelling out any Lefties as well as the threat of Blizzard or HP Fire making sure no Grass-type dares switch in. Each turn that’s 12.5% of a Pokémon’s HP gone and right into Abomasnow’s pocket, healing off any prior damage, namely entry hazards. If they lack Lefties, due to Hail, that’s just less than 1/5th of their HP gone each turn and it doesn’t even matter if Abomasnow stays in or not. Add Hazards to the equation, just Stealth Rock, and without Leftovers it will cost the opponent 31% to switch in their Genesect on Abomasnow and that’s just switching into it; add one turn of Protect and that’s 49.5% total damage while Genesect could do absolutely nothing and all the while, Abomasnow heals off its own damage.

Getting away from Abomasnow for the moment, I think that is truly where Hail’s strength lies: passive damage. I think that instead letting the Hail do all the work, add some Leech Seed to the mix and not just from Abomasnow, if you can’t afford to run Toxic Spikes, throw a few Will-O-Wisps around as it's just as tough to block as Leech Seed, get hazards up, just pile an exceptional amount of punishment with no need for prediction on the opponent for switching and of course run Lefties on anything that can afford it to avoid your non-ice-types from being hindered to heavily. I think if a solid hail team is built around that concept, it will flourish.

After this post, I started trying to make the "Ideal" passive damage hail team. Instantly when I was thinking passive damage, I started to build a stall team. The team was doing fine, but it was struggling to get top tier. HO teams and other weather teams were giving it a ton of problems, so I scrapped that team. I tried a bunch of different combinations, but none of them ever really worked. Until I decided I would make an offensive passive damage team. This team slowly withers away at your opponents health, but because of your offensive momentum. Although this team is new, and I plan on tweaking forretress and replacing magnezone for a fire resist that volt-turns, it has a record of 23-1 on my alt Murkbipom. Even with the set-up I showed you now, I beat sun teams without too much trouble(it will surprise you once you see the team). The opponent must constantly switch into SR and take a Volt-Turn, and then switch again because you have an advantage. Throwing out random attacks from the strong pokemon can weaken the opponents pokemon so much, that after 1 turn of passive damage, they die. Here is the team as of now.

Hide

Abomasnow @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 200 SDef / 248 HP / 4 SAtk / 56 Spd
Calm Nature
- Leech Seed
- Blizzard
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Protect

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Wide Lens
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Focus Blast
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Trait: Analytic
EVs: 252 SAtk / 248 HP / 8 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Trick

Forretress @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Volt Switch

Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

 

[Gary]

After this post, I started trying to make the "Ideal" passive damage hail team. Instantly when I was thinking passive damage, I started to build a stall team. The team was doing fine, but it was struggling to get top tier. HO teams and other weather teams were giving it a ton of problems, so I scrapped that team. I tried a bunch of different combinations, but none of them ever really worked. Until I decided I would make an offensive passive damage team. This team slowly withers away at your opponents health, but because of your offensive momentum. Although this team is new, and I plan on tweaking forretress and replacing magnezone for a fire resist that volt-turns, it has a record of 23-1 on my alt Murkbipom. Even with the set-up I showed you now, I beat sun teams without too much trouble(it will surprise you once you see the team). The opponent must constantly switch into SR and take a Volt-Turn, and then switch again because you have an advantage. Throwing out random attacks from the strong pokemon can weaken the opponents pokemon so much, that after 1 turn of passive damage, they die. Here is the team as of now.

Hide

Abomasnow @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 200 SDef / 248 HP / 4 SAtk / 56 Spd
Calm Nature
- Leech Seed
- Blizzard
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Protect

Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Wide Lens
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Focus Blast
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Trait: Analytic
EVs: 252 SAtk / 248 HP / 8 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Trick

Forretress @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Volt Switch

Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Just a pointer, NEVER use Wide Lens. It seems like it would be good, but in actuality it barely helps at all. See for yourself:

http://www.smogon.com/bw/items/wide_lens

I'd go with a Life Orb on Tornadus-T instead, or maybe switch it to an Acrobatics variant.

Also, I honestly don't see how this team is benefited by hail in anyway. You have no hail abuser like Kyurem, and not even Mamoswine or Tentacruel who can also spam Blizzard. This looks more like a Volt-Turn team in disguise, with Abomasnow just thrown on it. Yes, your team checks threats. Does it benefit from hail? No.

 

[MarshallLeRoy]

I'm by no means a good player (current rating about 1600 on the OU ladder), but I have to give a shout out to Scarf Kyurem, which is undoubtedly the KO leader for the team.

Kyurem @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Atk
Mild Nature
- Outrage
- Ice Beam
- Draco Meteor
- Blizzard

Obviously this thing has trouble with Steels, so I use the rest of my team to try and remove them (thinking of adding Magnezone for that reason, but he compounds my Mamo and Conkledurr weaknesses..).

This thing just catches people off guard all of the time. A lot of people expect SubRoost but often watch as their offensive threat takes a full Blizzard or (more often) a Draco Meteor to the face. It lies in wait until it needs to clear out a couple of threats, or I can bring it on off the top and remove things that are pesky HO threats.

Long story short, I love this set, but if there are better options for Outrage and Icebeam (maybe something to deal with steals more effectively) since I almost always use either Blizzard or Draco Meteor, I'd love to hear them.

 

[Delko]

Blizzard + Ice Beam looks kinda redundant, Earth Power or Focus Blast (or even HP Fire) will be a much better option.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

Scarf-Rem is pretty much a slower, bulkier, non-pursuit weak version of Latios that is weak to hazards. It does have the option to surprise and go mixed though, but with a scarf that's made quite redundant. Hmm.

 

[MarshallLeRoy]

Scarf-Rem is pretty much a slower, bulkier, non-pursuit weak version of Latios that is weak to hazards. It does have the option to surprise and go mixed though, but with a scarf that's made quite redundant. Hmm.

The reason to use Scarf Kyurem is the STAB Blizzards in Hail, mainly. If Steels are taken out, I don't need to switch out due to the SpA drop from Draco Meteor.

Yeah I have Ice Beam only to have a stab outside of Hail that's reliable, but I hardly use it so I'll change it (for the person above who suggested).

The Outrage is really only for a surprise factor and to help against Blissey.

Obviously it's not the most versatile Pokemon but I've found it incredibly effective. It's the atomic bomb of my hail team.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

Interesting. I faced a couple of Virizions on PO today, and the recently relegated musketeer did give me some issues; hitting them bulky waters with leaf blade/giga drain hard, and having a fighting coverage for Kyurem/Abomasnow.

 

[bubbly]

Virizion can be kinda tricky for some Hail builds. Forretress w Gyro Ball, SpDef Jirachi, SpDef Skarmory, Latias, or Scarf Kyu or Chandelure etc all handle it fairly well though.

Edit because double posting is wrong: Laddered to 1657 (#2! still trying for #1 but experiencing turbulence in the form of mega hax) on PO Beta using two Hail teams, (Abomasnow / RestTalk Gyarados / Jirachi / Starmie / Kyurem / Landorus-T) and (Abomasnow / Gastrodon / Froslass / Heatran / Forretress / Latios). Having some problems with Will-o-wisp spamming Rotom-W, though, especially on the first team; I've been letting Aboma take the burn of course and Leech Seeding but against Sand it makes it really hard to keep Hail for a longer match. People need to use RestTalk Gyara more by the way; it normally gets overlooked in favour of Slowbro, or the TWave + Taunt Gyara set, but unlike Bro it beats Tyranitar, Sheer Force Landorus, Scizor, Genesect (it can TBolt but then free Kyurem setup) while racking up insane amounts of residual damage and just never ever dying.

 

[Ambicrow3]

Just a pointer, NEVER use Wide Lens. It seems like it would be good, but in actuality it barely helps at all. See for yourself:

http://www.smogon.com/bw/items/wide_lens

I'd go with a Life Orb on Tornadus-T instead, or maybe switch it to an Acrobatics variant.

Also, I honestly don't see how this team is benefited by hail in anyway. You have no hail abuser like Kyurem, and not even Mamoswine or Tentacruel who can also spam Blizzard. This looks more like a Volt-Turn team in disguise, with Abomasnow just thrown on it. Yes, your team checks threats. Does it benefit from hail? No.

I agree with the Wide lens, I just find LO recoil stacking up, and making my regenerater less useful on my Tornadus-T, and Leftovers just doesn't really effect it, since there are so many u-turns. Also, instead of just looking at my team, read the post above it. I'm not explaining the point of my team to you.

EDIT:I've peaked ~1750 with this team, and hail really does help(just for reference).

 

[Prinz]

Hail teams are awesome. I used a lot this hail that isn't mine (http://pastebin.com/j9GU1Vrs) with good results on pokemon online server and on showdown.
Abomashow is boring for opponent with leech seed + protect and froslass is boring too. Heatran is for my weakness to fire (and for put the important stealth rock) and Tentacruel is mainly for spin the entry hazards. Latios and scizor revengekill everything and give strength to the team.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

How do you handle Latios' Draco Meteor side effects? Hail teams aren't the best when it comes to checking stuff. :/

I'm currently running a team consisting of Abomasnow/Kyurem/Skarmory/Gastrodon/Tentacruel/Landorus-T and it's been doing pretty well thus far.

 

[NoUserName]

How do you handle Latios' Draco Meteor side effects? Hail teams aren't the best when it comes to checking stuff. :/

I'm currently running a team consisting of Abomasnow/Kyurem/Skarmory/Gastrodon/Tentacruel/Landorus-T and it's been doing pretty well thus far.

Thinking quickly, Jirachi, Ferrothorn, Scizor, Metagross, Sp Def Skarmory, Bronzong, Heatran, Blissey, Chansey and Empoleon. Empoleon is great because it resists all Latios's common offensive attacks bar Thunderbolt, which is pretty rare(well it is neutral to HP Fire but it is pretty weak outside of Sun)

Empoleon provides SR, Yawn and Roar and the ever annoying Scald.

 

[bubbly]

Finally got to #1 on Beta! This was my first time at the top of any ladder in 5th gen, and I'm really happy it was with Hail. Main team I used is here http://pastebin.com/9UcsCnCw for reference, might RMT it if I have time. Thanks all the guys in this thread who've been really positive and enthusiastic about using Hail in OU :)

 

[Mr.Improv]

I've been working with this team for a while now made some changes here and there but I think i finally got something that works for me completely. its gotten me decently high on showdown. http://pastebin.com/Ye18Wnc5
Not a full on hail team but its been nice.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

Finally got to #1 on Beta! This was my first time at the top of any ladder in 5th gen, and I'm really happy it was with Hail. Main team I used is here http://pastebin.com/9UcsCnCw for reference, might RMT it if I have time. Thanks all the guys in this thread who've been really positive and enthusiastic about using Hail in OU :)

Nice. I noticed that you are also using Landorus-T - although I run a scarfed set instead. He has really good synergy with hail teams IMO.