ORAS OU is my favorite generation and Mega Abomasnow is one of my favorite Pokemon. The challenge: in a tier of crazy threats, from Charizard-Y to Medicham, from Keldeo to Kyurem-Black - make it viable. Here is my solution.
The Concept
For the team to be designed around Mega-Abomasnow, it needs to both cover his weaknesses and play to his strengths. Unfortunately, Abomasnow has many weaknesses, and not too many strengths. The idea behind the team is to use chip to weaken teams, built on the basis of Abomasnow's hail. To do that, I needed a strong defensive core that wouldn't mind the hail, solid spin support, and of course viable late game cleaners to mop up.The Team
Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Leech Seed
Leech Seed is the main way of punishing incoming Pokemon. It's not too helpful to hit a Heatran for 8% on the switch with a Blizzard. Leech Seed provides valuable chip - hitting 12% per turn is no joke, with another 6% from Hail - as well as a form of recovery I otherwise wouldn't have. - Blizzard
Blizzard is very strong and can't miss in the Hail. It 3HKOes Ferrothorns that think they can beat me, only to realise Gyro Ball does a crispy 20%, and Hail negates their leftovers. The only problem is 8PP, which runs low in many games. - Protect
Protect is useful in synergy with Leech Seed and Hail chip, turning 18% chip into 36%. Some games are won on the back of getting that last pesky bit of chip with a Protect. It's also a nice ace in the hole for Megas Loppuny and Medicham, who take 56% from High Jump Kick in the hail.- Giga Drain
Valuable second STAB, which is really important for beating bulky Waters including Suicune, Starmie, Rotom-Wash, and Slowbro. Also providing an extra valuable bit of recovery.Other options for this set would look at replacing Protect, which can be useful against unsuspecting opponents, but often leads to annoying predictions and makes me very passive. The replacement might be moves like Hidden Power Fire or Earthquake, but I don't view these moves as serious options that fit with the theme and basis of the team. Another thought is to run Soundproof pre-Mega, which could make sense to assist with Gardevoir. However, Gardevoir OHKOes pre-Mega with Focus Blast, and it's usually nice to have the option to switch without Mega Evolving, if it's necessary.
Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
Brave Bird comes with the annoying drawback of recoil, but overall I find this is outweighted by the benefits of the extra damage, as well as Leftovers, that I would otherwise sacrifice to run Acrobatics.- Taunt
Taunt has become invaluable for late game cleaning, allowing me to set up on passive Pokemon that could otherwise beat me with Toxic.- Swords Dance
Swords Dance is good.- Roost
Rounding out the set is the obligatory Roost, which aside from its importance in facilitating sweeps, provides a small amount of checking potential with some Pokemon like Serperior, Volcarona and Charizard-Y being threats.
Other options I've considered is the toss-up of Bulk Up over Swords Dance, but given the position as late game cleaner, I'm more concerned with generating as much damage as possible.
Mandibuzz @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SpD
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
A very important move that prevents me from automatically losing to Pokemon like Metagross and Charizard-X. It's also very good at preventing setup from sweepers including Pinsir, Talonflame, and Bisharp.- Knock Off
Double Dark STAB has been very handy, offering the utility of removing Leftovers which means Hail chip isn't offset.- Roost
No explanation necessary.- Toxic
Toxic is very useful, helping to contribute to the team's focus on chip damage.Other options would look at replacing Knock Off, with moves like Taunt, Whirlwind and even U-Turn being considerations. Overall I've found Knock Off to be more useful, more often, than these other moves.
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Toxic
An important move to assist with the team's overall focus on chip, synergising well with Abomasnow's Protect and being a semi-last ditch move to throw out against some of the faster Pokemon that threaten the team.- Rapid Spin
A must have on this team.- Recover
Necessary when Keldeo does 50 with Hydro Pump.- Scald
When I use this on a chip based team it's fish and chips.Other options include Colbur Berry, which would be valuable against Pursuit trappers which Starmie is otherwise very vulnerable to - and once Starmie is gone, Clefable and Heatran become very dangerous. Colbur Berry allows me to stay in and threaten back with Scald, but I've preferred the always useful Leftovers, over the sometimes integral Colbur.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
Strong, ridiculous secondary effect, very good.- Soft-Boiled
Necessary healing.- Calm Mind
Calm Mind is very valuable, many teams rely on Metagross and other Pokemon with no reliable recovery to beat Clef. After a few rounds of Rocks, Leech Seed, Hail, and Rocky Helmet, those Pokemon are out and Clefable steps in to sweep.- Heal Bell
This is a different choice, but I've found the team to be super weak to status. This move is a get out of jail free card to let me be a bit more reckless with Talonflame and Mandibuzz and not fear losing to status.Other options include Flamethrower, Thunder Wave, or Knock Off over Heal Bell. I've tested each but have found Heal Bell to be more reliable and more suitable to this team's makeup. Rocky Helmet is an option over Leftovers to continue the team's chip damage, but I've found the Leftovers to be invaluable in surviving different hits.
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 192 SpD / 64 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
A very important move against Fairies, particularly Clefable.- Rapid Spin
Secondary Spin support is super important to allow for Mandibuzz, Talonflame and Abomasnow to survive. - Stealth Rock
Not that you need to justify it, but Rocks are just further chip.- Earthquake
Very valuable STAB, very important. Other options include Rock Slide to assist with the Thundurus... problem the team has, although it's little comfort. It's also valid to consider playing with the Speed EVs to outpace others, however I value the bulk too much to add more.
The Problems
There are plenty of weaknesses the team has - and while I don't think any team is truly without weakness, this team has a few more than is probably normal. I'm willing to live with this, because I like Abomasnow.- Firstly, despite having double spinners, Stealth Rock remains a major problem for the team, and there are unfortunately situations where they are unavoidable. Once Rocks are up, both Mandibuzz and Abomasnow stop being checks to many things.
- Electrics are very tough to take on. The main culprits are Thundurus and Mega Manectric, who both have coverage options to break Excadrill and Abomasnow, and Clefable has a very rough time trying to switch in on them.
- Luck can be problematic. The big thing I'm thinking of is Steel types. Mega Metagross, Bisharp, and Excadrill are the major offenders, all of whom are fairly comfortably walled by Mandibuzz... until Metagross gets an attack raise, or Bisharp or Excadrill get a flinch. If that happens, it usually puts me in a very difficult position to win.
- Strong Fire types, notably Sun teams, really exploit the lack of resists, and it can be difficult to reset Sun with something 4x weak to Fire. The main offender is Mega Charizard Y, who is unstoppable with Rocks up, as Talonflame is my only pseudo-check, taking more than 50 after Leftovers from Fire Blast.
- Some more niche sets absolutely bust the team apart. The best example is Reuniclus, whose Calm Mind + Psyshock set absolutely demolishes the team. My only real counterplay is setting up first with Clefable or Talonflame.
- Last, but definitely not least, is my weakness to Tyranitar, and in particular, Choice Band Tyranitar, who doesn't require a whole lot of effort to demolish the team, whilst also resetting my weather and preventing my ever-important chip.
The End
That's the team. It's been very fun returning to Gen 6 OU where things seem to make sense, and I don't have to worry about Z-Moves or 181 base Attack Pokemon running around, or the riveting Toxapex vs Toxapex matchup. It's also been amazing using Talonflame again - I'm still annoyed they nerfed it when it was far from overpowered (although maybe with Heavy Duty Boots...). The team itself is fairly enjoyable to use, and has been quite robust against all varieties of playstyle. It's been an interesting exercise to deconstruct the team, and while I doubt there are very many people actively reading the past gen RMTs, if you have read it, hopefully you've found it an interesting team as well.If you want to give it a go, here's the paste. Enjoy!
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