Hail (Offensive + Stall) - RMT

Dajabola

This is a basic hail team. Pretty standard team at that, but it seems to be missing something and I'm not sure what. I'm up to any changes as long as there is a good reason for them, I want the team to be better at what it does, not to look cool. Anyways, on to the team...


abomasnow.png


Abomasnow @ Choice Band
rsitem150.png

Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
Ability: Snow Warning
EV Spread: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP

Moves:
  • Avalanche
  • Earthquake
  • Ice Shard
  • Wood Hammer
Weaknesses:
  • 4x: Fire
  • 2x: Fighting / Poison / Flying / Bug / Rock / Steel
Resistances:
  • .5x: Water / Electric / Grass / Ground
Immunities:
  • None
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abomasnow is the staple of all hail teams due to the fact that it is currently the only pokemon that can summon hail infinitely (unless overwritten). That's why I decided to use it as my lead. I was going to use a special variant, but then I was trying to think what to do if the opposing lead is a Tyranitar (because he is pretty common on teams these days). I noticed I couldn't one hit him running the special variant with Grass Knot if he is slower and has sandstorm overriding my hail. So I went physical so I could one hit him with a faster Wood Hammer. But now I have the issue of a more common Hippowdon lead having to be 2-hit. I think it would be better if I outspeed Hippodown and kill it with a special version and be slower than T-tar and just run to a counter. If someone knows a way I can deal with both of these threats along with some others. that would be great.

Weakness Switch-ins:
Fighting / Poison / Bug: Tentacruel and Gliscor
Fire / Steel: Tentacruel
Flying / Rock : None
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

tentacruel.png


Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
black-sludge.png

Nature: Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EV Spread: 96 Sp.Atk / 172 Sp.Def / 36 Spe / 206 HP
Moves:
  • Blizzard
  • Rapid Spin
  • Surf
  • Toxic Spikes
Weaknesses:
  • 4x: None
  • 2x: Electric / Ground / Psychic
Resistances:
  • .5x: Fire / Water / Ice / Fighting / Poison / Bug / Steel
Immunities:
  • None
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I use Tentacruel to set up Toxic Spikes and to Rapid Spin the opponents spikes/rocks away. Decent at sponging some Special Attacks if need be. I gave it Black Sludge instead of Leftovers because of all the people running around with Trick now. It's funny when they get an item that takes off 12% of their HP per turn. It's good at countering Infernape, but it doesn't seem to be great at other things.

Weakness Switch-ins:
Electric: Mamoswine and Gliscor
Ground: Gliscor
 Psychic : None
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

mamoswine.png


Mamoswine @ Life Orb
life-orb.png

Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
Ability: Snow Cloak
EV Spread: 252 Atk / 194 Spe / 60 HP

Moves:
  • Earthquake
  • Ice Shard
  • Stealth Rock
  • Stone Edge
Weaknesses:
  • 4x: None
  • 2x: Fire / Water / Grass / Fighting / Steel
Resistances:
  • .5x: Poison
Immunities:
  • Electric
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mamoswine is used to take care of dragons such as Salamence and Flygon with its Ice Shard priority, and to put a dent into as many pokemon as it can with its high attack stat. I also use it to set up Stealth Rock if I get the opportunity to (usually on a switch-in).

Weakness Switch-ins:
Fire / Water / Fighting / Steel: Tentacruel
Grass: Abomasnow
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

gliscor.png


Gliscor @ Leftovers
rsitem164.png

Nature: Impish (+Def, -SpA)
Ability: Sand Veil
EV Spread: 40 Def / 216 Spe / 252 HP

Moves:
  • Aerial Ace
  • Earthquake
  • Knock Off
  • Roost
Weaknesses:
  • 4x: Ice
  • 2x: Water
Resistances:
  • .5x: Fighting / Poison / Bug
Immunities:
  • Electric / Ground
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gliscor is used for Knock Off on pokemon that like to abuse their items, and to keep some pokemon like Tyranitar and Lucario in check. I think I was outsped by a Jolly Lucario the other day though, so I might need to invest more in speed.

Weakness Switch-ins:
Water: Tentacruel and Abomasnow
Ice: Tentacruel
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------


clefable.png


Clefable @ Toxic Orb
toxic-orb.png

Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
Ability: Magic Guard
EV Spread: 252 Atk / 76 Sp.Def / 4 Spe / 176 HP

Moves:
  • Belly Drum
  • Cosmic Power
  • Facade
  • Softboiled
Weaknesses:
  • 4x: None
  • 2x: Fighting
Resistances:
  • .5x: None
Immunities:
  • Ghost
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wanted a pokemon that was able to wall some things like Blissey, but that wouldn't be affected by the hail much. Clefable came to mind because of its Magic Guard ability. It can't be affected by hail or sandstorm because of it, and it can't be harmed by status effects. I gave it a Toxic Orb so someone couldn't give it a speed decrease from paralyze (The speed decrease can affect Magic Guard pokemon, but they can't be prevented from acting because of it) and so that Facade would take effect. Cosmic Power ups both Def and SpD so it makes its mediocre defensive stats more appealing. Belly Drum gives Facade a huge boost in damage, and it's not too harmful to use once you get enough Cosmic Powers in. Softboiled is for general healing needs.

Weakness Switch-ins:
Fighting: Tentacruel and Gliscor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

walrein.png


Walrein @ Leftovers
rsitem164.png

Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
Ability: Ice Body
EV Spread: 244 Def / 44 Spe / 220 HP

Moves:
  • Protect
  • Roar
  • Substitute
  • Surf
Weaknesses:
  • 4x: None
  • 2x: Electric / Grass / Fighting / Rock
Resistances:
  • .5x: Water
  • .25x: Ice
Immunities:
  • None
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the general Stalrein. Has enough HP evs to give it 104 subs, so seismic toss can't break it, along with the average Gliscor's earthquake. It has enough speed to out speed the average Skarmary's whirlwind, and roar it in return. With protect and substiture you can stall for the 32 rounds incase you need to. I generally don't try to stall for those rounds unless I'm on my last leg though because I don't like to unnecessarilly stall like that.

Weakness Switch-ins:
Electric: Gliscor and Mamoswine
Fighting: Gliscor and Tentacruel
Grass: Abomasnow
Rock: None
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think the team is overall well rounded, but can use some fixing here and there. If you read through the whole post, which I hope you did if you're replying, you'll notice that I don't have any pokemon with resistances to flying or rock moves; not sure how much that will affect me though since I only got to play with this team for a few hours so far. If there is anything else you need to know, say so and I'll post it. Thanks for the help in advance.
 
If you want to address the tyranitar and hippo leads, make abomasnow go mixed with blizzard over avalanche. that enables you to screw both the aforementioned leads.
change his nature if you go with blizzard.
 
For Abomasnow to take on both Tyranitar and Hippowdon, you want Blizzard as well as Wood Hammer. You'll also need Life Orb in order to kill both. With a Naughty Nature and 240 Attack / 124 SpAtt, you OHKO both of them with WH/Blizzard respectively. You then have 144 Speed EVs left, which gives you 192 Speed. You will with that Speed outspeed most Tyranitars, but not the ones with 140 Speed EVs or more. Also remember that since Abomasnow has a lower Base Speed than Tyranitar in the first place, you will need Scarf to be guaranteed to outrun all non-Scarfed Tars.
CB-Tars, which are most common today, rarely goes to more than 84 Speed EVs, so you outrun them, at least.
You can, obviously, run a Scarf, but then you won't get the kill on neither of the Sandstreamers.

For Mamoswine, I will reccommend a Jolly Nature, as that let's you outspeed Lucario as well as +Nature Heatran, 252 Gyarados and Adamant CB-Heracross. 236 Speed EVs, and you're faster than them all! ;)

For Gliscor, it's not the 100% Lucario-counter it used to be, now they can carry Ice Punch. To outspeed them, you need Jolly and 216 Speed EVs, whitch greatly hinders your Defensive ablilities. That might be necessary however, as Lucario otherwise walks all over your entire team.
With such amounts of Speed, I would also suggest dropping the Defensive aura, and go more offensive with a Swords Dance / Stone Edge / EQ / Roost Set, and use the 216 Speed EVs + 252 HP and 40 Attack. The 40 Attack is to kill Lucario before SD-boost, and is therefore quite crucial.

I am also very sceptical to your Clefable. Clefable in Hail is amazing, but I don't really see this be all that effective, and not only because you are utterly walled by Ghosts and Steels. If you want someone in Hail that can beat Blissey, both Weavile and Mamoswine are capable of doing that. I wil suggest that you drop Stealth Rock on Mamoswine and use Superpower instead, and then give SR to Clefable. Then, you can give it Thunder Wave, which cripples any Switch-in, helping out your otherwise very slow team. And finally, you can use one of Clefables many moves in order to hit Dragons/Gyarados/Swampert/Scizor, or use Seismic Toss as a constant damage.

Other than that, the only problem I see is the Fighting-weakness. Tentacruel doesn't have the Defense or a reliable recoverymove to be constantly absorbing Dynamicpunches or Close Combats, while Gliscor is slightly hindered by a lot of the Fighting-Pokémon getting Ice Punch.
I think Cresselia is an excellent choice. It can take on any Fighting-Pokémon, and can give you a lot of support with Psycho Shift, Reflect/Light Screen and Thunder Wave. I think it can replace Clefable. If you give Stealth Rock to Gliscor, you still have everything you had before, but a greater check versus Fighting, or any physical Attacker in general, apart from Tyranitar.
You will need a Bold nature and very Defensive spread, but if you want Cresselia to be supporting with the previous mentioned moves, or if you want her to take advantage of Fighting-Pokémon to set up Calm Mind, that's up to you, so take a look in the analysis for a more thorough thoughtset.
 
Gyarados can cause some problems for you, especially Dragon Dance / Waterfall / Earthquake / Stone Edge @ Life Orb, which can set up on Gliscor (if it uses Knock Off, it's likely Gyarados will get two Dragon Dances, doing more than a +1 Life Orb attack anyway), Abomasnow (especially with Intimidate) part of the time, and Tentacruel.

The Gyarados' +1 Stone Edge will OHKO Abomasnow, and will do a hefty 84.62% - 100.00% to Walrein. Sure, you can Protect to gain some more HP, but your risking Gyarados getting another Dragon Dance. If you did Protect and Stealth Rock was in play, your really in trouble as you only have 87.5% health. It's not like Walrein does much back, with Surf managing a mere 17% tops. Gliscor is OHKOed by the same Waterfall, as is Mamoswine who can deal 40%~ with Ice Shard. Gyarados laughs at Tentacruel, and your Clefable will be OHKOed by the Waterfall 58.97% of the time, which isn't a pleasing sight, although Facade will do lots back. I understand that you may use your two Ice Sharders and Hail to whittle Gyarados down, but Gyarados is still problematic for the team, and is likely to take out a couple of Pokemon.

What I am basically suggesting, is you change Clefable. Wish / Protect / Thunderbolt / Ice Beam with Leftovers provides many plus-points for your team. First, and most obvious, you can pass Wish to Tentacruel, Mamoswine, and Abomasnow. This can be hard, but at least they have a way of regaining some HP then. This is especially useful against opposing stall teams, where you may want Tentacruel to consistently come in on Stealth Rock and/or Spikes, where it would normally be worn down. The fact that Clefable has Magic Guard makes it a good Wish passer too -- it doesn't have to worry about the opposing entry hazards. Protect allows Clefable to handle Fighters with much more ease, using Protect against Choice users and thus making a decision on it, whether to go to Gliscor, or stay in (or even go to Walrein in the case of some Pokemon using Ice Punch expecting Gliscor). 212 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpA is what I would use. 212 HP provides 384 HP overall, a nice Leftovers number, while 232 Def provides a bonus point over 228, and the rest go into SpA to help deal with Gyarados after Thunderbolt. With this, Gyarados now manages 63.54% - 75.00% with a +1 Waterfall, a better prospect, especially as Clefable laughs at Stealth Rock / Spikes. Clefable can do 78.31% - 92.77% with Thunderbolt, which is good for two reasons. Firstly, it is an OHKO after Stealth Rock damage. Second of all, after Life Orb and two turns of Hail, it is a guaranteed OHKO. Ice Beam can be used for the good coverage it provides with Ice Beam, and is pretty nice for stalling Celebi, especially Choice Scarf versions. Ice Beam will deal 35.52% - 42.08%, while Celebi manages 59.64% - 70.31% back. Provided you didn't switch in on the attack, you can Wish on the Leaf Storm and then Protect, putting you on at least 92.5% HP afterwards, courtesy of Leftovers. Clefable takes more from Psychic than Grass Knot, and even that only manages 38.28% - 45.31%.

Good luck! :toast:
 
Hi!

So you're team looks really solid, you've thought about it quite a bit from what I can see. I would like to point out that if I steel pokemon with leftovers came, you wouldn't be able to do anything to them with your Toxic Stall + hail combo. Since Toxic doesn't effect them and the hail damage is canceled out by Leftovers damage. I would like to request a Magnezone in place of Clefeable

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Modest Nature
172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [GRASS]
- Magnet Rise
- Explosion

This is your steel killer. With him, you can have a a good chance of beating every steel (besides Metagross). This helps your team since it has a fairly large Steel weakness (though what can you expect with a hail team). This opens up to pokemon who are not weak to Toxic, allowing you to stall easier, and quicker.

For Gliscor, I would suggest getting rid of the defensive mindset, and making him the mini Garchomp that we all know and love. He will outspeed and OHKO a Lucario with Earthquake, with that he can Stone Edge the flying types and Roost off all the Life Orb Damage

Gliscor @ Life Orb
Jolly Nature
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 6 HP
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Gliscor will outspeed Jolly Lucario's with this spread (who you said would give you trouble) and will OHKO him with Earthquake. With that the jolly Nature lets you 2HKO a Vaporeon with Earthquake after a Swords Dance. If you don't want Gliscor to be a healing attacker, then I would suggest putting Fire Fang over Roost to counter the floating Steels that would wall him, like Bronzong and Skarmory. Though you already have them delt with by Magnezone.

That all I got,
Empoleon
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top