SM OU What in the hail?

[Peace Love and Dub]

Hello to all my brothers and sisters! I've been playing around with my first hail team of this gen, doing a little creeping up the ladder with it (I'm at about 1600 so far) and wanted to share the team.
I initially came to hail as an amendment to a stall team, but that got turned around quickly. I used to stall at the top of the old GSC days, stalling so much I ended up becoming a low carb vegan to stall for more years on my life (and probably more battles). However, I'm much more intrigued by offensive teams in recent years, so a team like this quickly changed to a much more offensive scheme.

Teambuilding:

I'll briefly go into my team-building process. I was first intrigued by the core of Alola Ninetales, Mega Diancie and Volcarona. Ninetales is pretty much just a utility, but Diancie and Volcarona are pretty good partners for each other, especially behind Aurora Veil.
I next added Rotom-Wash, not being able to do anything to Heatran and in desperate need of a defogger.
Finally, as the idea behind my team was already offense, I decided to use Choice Scarf Garchomp and Slush Rush Sandslash as a means to cover everything else in the meantime.
I quickly learned that both Slushslash and Slush Beartic are both horrible in OU. The are too dependent on hail being up, and are absolutely dead weight without it. Since I need Aurora Veil more, therefore needed to use Light Clay on Ninetales instead of Icy Rock, I wanted to try something else that might be able to use the hail. With a little help from my homie 6ixpod, I settled on Sash Weavile, not really the most effective abuser of the weather, but hail doesn't break the sash and it is really helpful to get around things like Hawlucha and some other set-up sweepers.

The Team:

Ninetales-Alola (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Freeze-Dry
- Hypnosis
- Blizzard

Ninetales is my lead for most teams that don't use entry hazards. If the opponent doesn't have an entry hazard lead not named Landorous-T, then I'll lead with the ice fairy. Freeze-Dry is necessary for helping with bulky waters and common abusers of Swift Swim that it prevents from switching in. Hypnosis can help in some situations, but mostly I'll be rolling with Aurora Veil off the bat.

Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Substitute

Diancie is my main special stallbreaker, so that's why I forwent HP Fire and used HP Ground for Heatran instead. Also HP Fire doesn't give Diancie full 350 speed, which ties Latios, although Latios doesn't really stay in on Diancie anyway. HP Fire is WAAAAAYY more helpful, as it is a surefire OHKO on Kartana (non-scarfed of course but scarf is rarer now because it's not very good IMO), and a way to knock back other Steel types that might be able to rip a hole in this team. I was bluffing speed and running HP Fire for a while, but decided instead to keep Fire Blast on Chomp. Substitute is my absolute savior, but haven't really considered Calm Mind because Diamond Storm is an awesome and useful move I don't really want to give up.

Rotom-Wash @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog

The only Rotom Wash set you'll find nowadays. Very easy to switch in to Steel types and can threaten with Will O Wisp or just use Defog. Also destroys Sand teams which can be a pest if they are built right. I haven't tried another item other than Iapapa Berry, but thinking about switching to Citrus Berry because of the sheer lack of times Rotom is actually that far down in HP. It takes so little damage from attacks it switches into under Veil, it usually hangs around that half way mark, even with the hail damage.

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast

Typical revenge-Chomp. Probably the most commonly used set now. Need Fire Blast to help with Steel types, but Poison Jab was pretty useful for Tapu Bulu switch-ins.

Volcarona @ Buginium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain

Volcarona can definitely find time to set up behind Veil, and it gives it more opportunities to clean late in the game. Bug-Z is the absolute best, and I used Giga Drain over Psychic since I can usually use Chomp, Volt Switch and Freeze-Dry to help with Toxapex, and Giga Drain will help Volcarona stay healthy under chip hail damage. I also need it for things like opposing Rotom-W and Water/Ground's like Gastrodon and Quagsire.

Weavile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Low Kick

I had Swords Dance over Low Kick for a while, but had some trouble setting up due to Weavile's frailty, but it's so good at taking care of a lot of set-up sweepers that are not Fire-types, thanks to the combination of attack, sash save plus Ice Shard.

Conclusion:
I've had probably the most trouble with stall, but can usually work around most stallers. Chansey is a particular pest since I can't 2HKO is at all without Weavile knocking off Eviolite. The most difficult part is getting up veil AND mega-evolving Diancie to immediately help with Chansey seeing as how they have the same counters, because otherwise it rips apart my whole team with Toxic/Soft Boiled. Any advice would be appreciated.

Peace and Love to all!

 

[Altervisi]

Hey! Cool team a couple of changes I'll suggest.

Hidden Power [Ground] -> Earth Power
Mega Diance learns Earth Power, so no need to use HP [Ground] (also just a note but thanks to Hyper Training in this Gen you can get full speed with HP [Fire]).

Buginium Z & Giga Drain -> Psychium Z & Psychic
I would also say that you should go with Psychium Z Volcarona, as you have no other way to really deal with Toxapex other than Garchomp, who you should use late-game.

Choice Scarf Garchomp ->

Offensive Stealth Rocks Landorus-Therian
The next changes I would suggest are pretty big but right now you don't have Rocks which is just something every team needs. I would suggest changing Garchomp for Landorus. I went for the Yache Berry as its lets you kill Koko and its pretty reliable at setting up Rocks and Swords Dance, particularly behind veil and Volcarona needs the Z Crystal more, this provides a great wall breaker and can deal with Chansey and Toxapex better. You could also go offensive Rocks Garchomp if you want, but Landorus is just simply better.

Rotom-Wash (Defog) ->

Choice Scarf Kartana (Defog)
Now we still need a Scarfer, I like Rotom quite a bit, but he doesn't really fit here as otherwise this looks like a Hyper Offensive team build. So I thought I would add Scarf Kartana, it is a great speed control method and can pretty reliably defog, especially alongside Diance who discourages hazards as well, it also appreciates Volcarona removing mons like Tangrowth and Toxapex, as well as Landorus and Diance hitting threatening Fire types hard.

Focus Sash -> Choice Band
I would say change the Sash for a Choice Band on Weavile too, to get more immediate power and also with so many hazards and Hippowdon and Tyranitar setting Sand your Sash is very situational, plus you dont really need to be switching into attacks anyway, with Hail and Rocks, Band Ice Shard can take care of Hawlucha plus Landorus helps with this match up too.

Sets

Landorus-Therian @ Yache Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Defog

Weavile @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Low Kick/Pursuit

Volcarona @ Psychium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any questions!

 

[Peace Love and Dub]

Thanks for the advice, I have a couple concerns:
I'm still having trouble with Fire types on your team. Most namely Heatran, since I have nothing to switch into it. I like Kartana for it's wallbreaking capabilities, but do I really need to give up Scarf Chomp for Intimidate? I could put Stealth Rock on Chomp, or I actually had it on Diancie for a while instead of Sub.
Also, what do I do about fire types that are setting up? Charizard-X, Other Volcarona, Victini. They can set up on the majority of the team. Scarf Chomp threatens/revenge kills all of these.
Also, don't like Scarf at all on Kartana. It can't OHKO Heatran with Sacred Sword after rocks. I could use Band, for a third choice item. Or I could use Swords Dance+ Defog. Either way, I could then probably get rid of Weavile for a Special breaker/sweeper like Life Orb Kyruem-B. Thanks for the tips!!

 

[Altervisi]

Thanks for the advice, I have a couple concerns:
I'm still having trouble with Fire types on your team. Most namely Heatran, since I have nothing to switch into it. I like Kartana for it's wallbreaking capabilities, but do I really need to give up Scarf Chomp for Intimidate? I could put Stealth Rock on Chomp, or I actually had it on Diancie for a while instead of Sub.
Also, what do I do about fire types that are setting up? Charizard-X, Other Volcarona, Victini. They can set up on the majority of the team. Scarf Chomp threatens/revenge kills all of these.
Also, don't like Scarf at all on Kartana. It can't OHKO Heatran with Sacred Sword after rocks. I could use Band, for a third choice item. Or I could use Swords Dance+ Defog. Either way, I could then probably get rid of Weavile for a Special breaker/sweeper like Life Orb Kyruem-B. Thanks for the tips!!

I was going to recommend swapping Weavile out for Ash-Greninja as speed control and using Life Orb+SD+Defog Kartana, but I didn't want to edit your initial team too much. The thing with this team is that you should be going Hyper Offense with the Veil, which means you're not really switching anything in as a pivot defensively. Which was my only beef with Rotom-W, it is a defensive pivot on an otherwise very offensive team. You have Banded Low Kick which OHKO's after Rocks and Lando for Heatran.

The other direction you could go then is to keep the original team and swap Weavile to like, Chansey, as you have no special walls, this gives you a balanced team, however there is little point in Aurora Veil then, and you would be better going with a standard setter like Landorus or Ferrothorn over Veil Ninetales to, again, balance the team out defensively.