FEAR the Hail (Peaked around 2100)

[yogiyogi]

FEAR the Hail

Now that Gen 6 is out I feel the need to retire the most "fun to play with" team I've ever created. Initially I wanted to make a team that fit three criteria: didn't use six OU pokemon, was relatively unaffected by entry hazards, and had a gimmick to it. Safe to say that when I started playing this team I didn't expect it to do as well as it did.

Abomasnow @ Choice Band
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 HP / 248 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- Focus Punch

This thing wins me so many weather wars it's not even funny. Its banded for the extra power (especially on late game clean ups with ice shard). EV's are to survive four stealth rock switch ins and luckily to survive a Breloom mach punch. Ice Shard takes care of so much early game and late game. Wood Hammer takes care of Politoed and TTar, while doing a sweet chunk of damage to Hippowdon. Earthquake is for the unsuspecting Heatran that thinks it can SR in my face. Focus Punch is for when my opponent thinks they can switch in a TTar, and then I end the weather war and take over. For what I ask it to do (poke some holes in teams, stay alive for a while), it does the job admirably.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 96 SDef / 252 HP / 160 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Trick Room
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Toxic

My jack of all trades. Its main function in to tank most hits since this isn't the bulkiest of teams. Occasionally sets up Trick Room, although I use it more to set up SR and/or get a wayward KO on a Gengar or Alakazam. Under Trick Room Gyro Ball really does so damage to a meta filled with very fast pokemon. Toxic for the Vaporeons of the meta. Lack of recovery not an issue because my team isn't set up to play games lasting 30 or more turns. Overall, Bronzong provides the necessary bulk to keep some of my sweepers alive, while having great utility.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SAtk / 192 HP / 64 Def
Quiet Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk / 2 Spd
- Trick Room
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]

This thing is my baby. There is so little that this thing can't KO when Trick Room is up. Think you can bring your Scizor or Forretress in to U-turn or set up hazards? Actually you can take a seat on the bench. The only thing this baby can't just destroy are the pink blobs, ttar, and heatran. Luckily I have things in place to take care of all of them.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Pretty standard banded Scizor set. Actually I use it to take hits more often then I would like, but it fills the job well. You know what bullet punch and u-turn can do. Pursuit is used often to win the weather war (my strategy will be revealed a bit later), and Superpower is usually for Ferrothorn before he can annoy the crap out of me. I'm a big fan of priority attacks, and between Abomasnow and Scizor, I can hit a lot of the meta hard while still being able to have the advantage under Trick Room.

Clefable @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
Level: 2
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Spd / 252 SAtk / 252 SDef
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Spd
- Hyper Voice
- Thunder Wave
- Endeavor
- Protect

Forgive me if I ramble about this little guy. This is the all star of my team, hands down. Basically in team preview if I see a team that doesn't have at least two of these: Weather Starter, Multiple Priority Users, or Ghosts, then I can just chalk it up in the win column. If there is one pokemon that I struggle with, which there are quite a few just because I have a glaring weakness to fire types, I just bring him in after a KO. After they attack I use Endeavor and Hail damage sends them packing. Works particularly well on Volcarona (who absolutely destroys my team), Ttar (who I then bring Scizor in for the pursuit KO), and Heatran. This may be a somewhat gimmicky play, but because of the hail and trick room support, I can usually turn a 2 for 1 or at minimum 1 for 1. He is the great equalizer of set-up sweepers. Just a stud.

Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Trick

You know what can take a Specs Draco Meteor from this guy and live to tell the tale? I can't either. This thing is so ludicrously powerful. Psyshock for Blissey, Surf for steels and TTar, Trick for Chansey and Ferrothorn. Also plays the very important role of soaking up fire attacks, seeing as it's my only fire resist. I gain momentum when Ninetales tries to Fire Blast away Abomasnow or Scizor, and then has to scurry away to safety. Another one of my main checks against sun teams.

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The satisfaction of feeling your opponents underestimate you in team preview, only to have their butts handed to them was enough to make playing with this team a ton of fun. I feel hail is easily the weakest of the auto weathers, but for what I use it for it plays the role perfectly. Games with this team usually last under 20 moves, so entry hazards are never much of an issue (they don't hurt anyone but 'snow and Scizor really). Can I reiterate how much fun it is to see an opponent have two or three pokes die to a level 2 pokemon? PS does a great job of not showing the opponent what level your pokemon is, so the ragequits and "WTF's" are unbelievably satisfying.

Threats (in no particular order)
Volcarona: Clefable in hail is literally the only thing that can stop this after one boost
Heatran: I have three glaring weaknesses to fire, and Reuniclus can't touch it. I do my best to endeavor it (or a lucky focus punch/eathquake) as quickly as possible
Tyranitar: The fire blast version can sweep me under the right circumstances. Another Reuniclus wall
Ghosts: Clefable is pretty much useless till they are gone
Kyurem: Bulky enough to take a bullet punch, and doesn't die from endeavor
Ferrothorn: He just sucks to play in general (especially in rain), a lack of fire moves doesn't help my cause
Landorus-T: Intimidate and U-turn really cramp both 'snow's and Scizor's style
Fire types: For same reasons as above. Chandelure, Victini, and Darmanitan to name a few.


Thanks for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts on the team!

 

[KarateKoala]

Hey yogiyogi, this is a really cool, original team! There are definitely some weaknesses though. As you mentioned, the team is incredibly weak to fire types, and therefore, sun teams. Latios is really your only check to sun teams, and once he goes down, you're in trouble. It also seems as though if you lose the weather war to sun or rain, clefable is essentially useless. I really like the set though, and I can imagine that it catches a lot of people off guard! But the biggest problem is that scizor wrecks your team if trick room isn't up. He can destroy any member of your team except for your own scizor. For this reason I would suggest replacing scizor with offensive Heatran. Heatran brings a lot of similar resistances as scizor, has similar bulk, and allows you to handle sun teams well. It also helps you deal with ferrothorn slightly better and lets you set up stealth rock! And even though you have clefable and 2 priority users to pick off set up sweepers, I definitely think a scarfer would help your team deal with set up sweepers a lot. I would switch out the specs latios set for the scarf set, as you already have a fast (at least under trick room) special wallbreaker in reuniclus. I also think you should put expert belt over choice band on Abomasnow, as if you can't switch moves with abomasnow, he is just set up bait. I also think you should replace focus punch with protect, as it allows you to scout scizor's (a common switch in to abomasnow) next move, not to mention that focus punch is a little hard to pull off, and ttar already gets pretty much ohkoed by wood hammer anyway.

Recommended Changes:

Scizor => Heatran (Offensive stealth rock set)

Specs Latios => Scarf Latios

Focus Punch => Protect (Abomasnow)

Good luck with the team, and I hope I helped!

 

[Moonclawz]

Hi yogiyogi,

It looks like you have a pretty interesting hail team here. I think your main problem, as you mentioned, would be Fire-types like Heatran. In addition, while you do have two water resists, with hazards and hail, Latios and Abomasnow are going to be worn down pretty quickly, leaving you weak to Rain teams that spam Hydro Pump.

First off, I think you would benefit from switching Clefable to a Scarf Keldeo. Keldeo gives you a powerful revenge killer that can take down most of the threats on your threat list with a powerful Hydro Pump or Secret sword. In addition, Keldeo gives you another water and fire-type resist, which can be very helpful against opposing Rain teams and fire-types. Keldeo checks Scizor pretty well (which KarateKoala metioned as a threat to your team), and also has good synergy with Latios and Scizor, which helps you switch around.

I also think you should switch Abomasnow to an Expert Belt set as KarateKoala mentioned. Although Choice Band Abomasnow has a lot power, Abomasnow really enjoys the ability to switch moves and with an Expert Belt, it can heavily damage a large variety of the metagame with a combination or Wood Hammer, Ice Shard, and HP Fire. Many Pokemon tend to Protect scout Abomasnow, and with an Expert Belt, you can bluff a Choice Item, allowing you to heavily damage a predicted switch-in. This also helps against Ferrothorn, as now Abomasnow can hit Ferrothorn with HP Fire.

Although your team isn't very weak to hazards, Scizor and Latios are both going to be worn down very quickly by Stealth Rock since they will be switching around a lot. Therefore, I think you should try using Forretress over Bronzong. Forretress gives you a spinner that can reliable remove hazards, which greatly increases Abomasnow, Scizor, and Latios's longevity, especially since Scizor and Latios will be racking up hail damage. With Volt Switch, Forretress can also help give your Pokemon a safe switch-in. In addition, Forretress gets Gyro Ball for checking physical attackers and can set-up Stealth Rocks.

Hope this helps!

Sets:

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Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Icy Wind / Hidden Power [Ice]
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ghost] / Surf

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Volt Switch

Abomasnow @ Leftovers
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Atk / 172 SAtk / 83 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Ice Shard
- Wood Hammer
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Protect