OU Hail RMT

[peregrine monkey]

This is a team I've been tweaking for quite a while. I've always enjoyed the concept of Hail Stall, and the article on the site on the subject was very helpful. It was based on the concept of an Abomasnow lead, Tentacruel setting up Toxic Spikes and Stallrein, which I eventually fleshed out to include Resttalk Rotom-H, Mix Mamoswine and support Gliscor. Now, I present the team:

The Team

The Lead

Abomasnow@Choice Scarf
Hasty
Snow Warning
EVs: 140 Atk/116 Sp. Atk/252 Spd
-Blizzard
-Wood Hammer
-Earthquake
-Hidden Power Fire

A surprsingly effective lead, it destroys lead Swampert with Wood Hammer, Lead Aerodactyl with Blizzard and Hail damage, Hippowdon with Blizzard if it hits (as Hippowdon is slower it will get the weather), Roserade with Blizzard (although I am often put to sleep before the hail finishes her off), and Infernape with EQ. Azelf, I usually go to Tentacruel because Fire Blast or Flamethrower is a OHKO. Metagross, I can hit with EQ while he sets up SR, but I usually switch because the risk of Bullet Punch/Meteor Mash. Jirachi is much the same, although Trick is lulz. I can't do much to Ninjask, but I hardly see it anyway.

Synergies:
Fire: Tentacruel
Fighting: Rotom-H, Gliscor, Tentacruel
Poison: Tentacruel
Bug: Tentacruel, Gliscor
Steel: Tentacruel, Rotom-H
Flying: Nothing actually, but I've never had the problem...
Rock: This is a problem. I have no actual rock resist.

The Wall

Walrein@Leftovers
Bold
Ice Body
EVs: 220 HP/240 Def/48 Spd
-Substitute
-Protect
-Roar
-Blizzard

Set up substitue, recover 12.5%, protect, heal another 12.5%, sub again, rinse and repeat. Yep, it's Stallrein, by far the pokemon that has illicited the most "thats gay" responses from players on Shoddy. The 48 Speed EVs are for outspeeding neutral base 70s, like Skarmory who I can Roar out before he Whirlwinds me. I find Blizzard more effective than Surf on this set and as I will optimally have Toxic Spikes, I don't run Toxic.

Synergies
Electric: Gliscor, Rotom-H, Mamoswine, Abomasnow
Fighting: Tentacruel, Rotom-H, Gliscor
Rock: Again, bit of a problem there.
Grass: Abomasnow

The Defensive Core

Tentacruel
Calm
Liquid Ooze
252 Hp/120 Def/136 Sp. Def
-Toxic Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Surf
-Sludge Bomb

A supporter, and the special half of my defensive core, with excellent synergy with the rest of the team. Sets up Toxic Spikes and spins Stealth Rock and Spikes away. Surf is standard fare, and considering I have so many Ice attacks, I've substituted Sludge Bomb, which is good STAB and can beat Celebi.

Synergies
Electric: Abomasnow, Gliscor, Rotom-H, Mamoswine
Psychic: Another problem, although I only ever run into it on Azelf.
Ground: Gliscor, Abomasnow, Rotom-H

Gliscor@Leftovers
Impish
Sand Veil
252 Hp/40 Def/216 Spd
-Stealth Rock
-Roost
-Earthquake
-Aerial Ace

Gliscor is the physical half of my defensive core. It is also instrumental in beating two of the biggest threats to my team: Tyranitar and Lucario. OHKOs all Lucario that are not Jolly (27%) and carry Ice Punch (17%) with EQ. Tyranitar is 2HKO’d by EQ. It also can deal with all Heatran that are not Scarf, however Scarftran does give me difficulties. I use Sand Veil because it is my usual switch-in to the abundant Steel and Rock types on Sandstorm teams.

Synergies

Ice: Walrein, Tentacruel
Water: Walrein, Abomasnow, Tentacruel

Changed to:

Machamp@Leftovers
Adamant/No Guard
252 Hp/252 Atk/4 Spd
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Dynamic Punch
-Payback

The Spin Blocker

Rotom-H@Leftovers
Levitate
Bold
252 Hp/120 Def/136 Sp. Def
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Discharge
-Will-o-Wisp

Resttalk is a key member of my team, sponging the status, fighting, steel and ground attacks aimed at various member of the team. The EVs and nature are simple, for a fairly even defensive distribution with a slight physical bias. Can deal with Scizor, as Pursuit is never a OHKO if I stay in and WoW plus repeated Discharges can wear it down. I’ve tried several Rotom form sets and have found this one to be the best fit for the team.


The Cleanup Sweeper

Mamoswine@Life Orb
252 Atk/20 Sp. Atk/236 Spd
Naughty
Snow Cloak
-Earthquake
-Ice Shard
-Blizzard
-Superpower

Mix Mamoswine is a late game sweeper that tears through the enemy team after it’s been suitably weakened by the entry hazards and residual damage. The rest of my team is fairly effective at eliminating his counters. Earthquake and Ice Shard are standard. Blizzard is used to hit walls that would normally stop Mamo in his tracks, notably Skarmory and Hippowdon, although against Hippowdon its accuracy is shaky. It’s also easy to get in, considering the number of electric attacks aimed at Walrein and Tenatcruel.

Synergies

Water: Tentacruel, Walrein, Abomasnow,
Grass: Abomasnow
Steel: Tentacruel, Rotom-H
Fighting: Tentacruel, Rotom-H, Gliscor


Changed to:

Dragonite@Life Orb
Mild
Inner Focus
112 Atk/196 Sp. Atk/200 Spd
-Superpower
-Draco Meteor
-Flamethrower
-Roost

Team Problems

1. No Rock resist.
This is self explanatory, but it is a big problem.

2. Scarftran.

This thing tears through my team. Walrein can survive one Fire Blast and stall it out, but it can’t switch in. Mamoswine or Abomasnow can OHKO with EQ, but they can’t outspeed.

3. Offensive Gyarados

Gyarados with 252 Atk, 252 Spd and moveset Dragon Dance, Stone Edge, Ice Fang and Waterfall is another massive threat. Bulky variants are no trouble because they almost never carry Stone Edge and can be stalled out by Walrein or Tentacruel, but offensive spells doom for my team.

So, that’s the team. Rates, constructive criticism and other forms of help are welcome.

 

[Wave⁂]

Abomasnow@Choice Scarf
Hasty
Snow Warning
EVs: 140 Atk/116 Sp. Atk/252 Spd
-Blizzard
-Wood Hammer
-Earthquake
-Hidden Power Fire

A surprsingly effective lead, it destroys lead Swampert with Wood Hammer, Lead Aerodactyl with Blizzard and Hail damage, Hippowdon with Blizzard if it hits (as Hippowdon is slower it will get the weather), Roserade with Blizzard (although I am often put to sleep before the hail finishes her off), and Infernape with EQ. Azelf, I usually go to Tentacruel because Fire Blast or Flamethrower is a OHKO. Metagross, I can hit with EQ while he sets up SR, but I usually switch because the risk of Bullet Punch/Meteor Mash. Jirachi is much the same, although Trick is lulz. I can't do much to Ninjask, but I hardly see it anyway.

HP Fire probably hits Metagross harder than Earthquake. Shadow Ball would be a 2HKO on Azelf (55% minimum).

Walrein@Leftovers
Bold
Ice Body
EVs: 220 HP/240 Def/48 Spd
-Substitute
-Protect
-Roar
-Blizzard

Set up substitue, recover 12.5%, protect, heal another 12.5%, sub again, rinse and repeat. Yep, it's Stallrein, by far the pokemon that has illicited the most "thats gay" responses from players on Shoddy. The 48 Speed EVs are for outspeeding neutral base 70s, like Skarmory who I can Roar out before he Whirlwinds me. I find Blizzard more effective than Surf on this set and as I will optimally have Toxic Spikes, I don't run Toxic.

Wait... why is Blizzard better than Surf? Steel-type Pokemon wall you.

Tentacruel
Calm
Liquid Ooze
252 Hp/120 Def/136 Sp. Def
-Toxic Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Surf
-Sludge Bomb

A supporter, and the special half of my defensive core, with excellent synergy with the rest of the team. Sets up Toxic Spikes and spins Stealth Rock and Spikes away. Surf is standard fare, and considering I have so many Ice attacks, I've substituted Sludge Bomb, which is good STAB and can beat Celebi.

Knock Off? HP Electric does some decent damage to Gyarados.

Gliscor@Leftovers
Impish
Sand Veil
252 Hp/40 Def/216 Spd
-Stealth Rock
-Roost
-Earthquake
-Aerial Ace

Gliscor is the physical half of my defensive core. It is also instrumental in beating two of the biggest threats to my team: Tyranitar and Lucario. OHKOs all Lucario that are not Jolly (27%) and carry Ice Punch (17%) with EQ. Tyranitar is 2HKO’d by EQ. It also can deal with all Heatran that are not Scarf, however Scarftran does give me difficulties. I use Sand Veil because it is my usual switch-in to the abundant Steel and Rock types on Sandstorm teams.

...Aerial Ace? Sure it gets STAB, but Stone Edge hits harder regardless. But since Stone Edge is the worst move in the game, I'd rather go with Rock Slide or Brick Break.

Rotom-H@Leftovers
Levitate
Bold
252 Hp/120 Def/136 Sp. Def
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Discharge
-Will-o-Wisp

Resttalk is a key member of my team, sponging the status, fighting, steel and ground attacks aimed at various member of the team. The EVs and nature are simple, for a fairly even defensive distribution with a slight physical bias. Can deal with Scizor, as Pursuit is never a OHKO if I stay in and WoW plus repeated Discharges can wear it down. I’ve tried several Rotom form sets and have found this one to be the best fit for the team.

Lack of Blizzard confuses me. A lot. But I guess this set works too.

Mamoswine@Life Orb
252 Atk/20 Sp. Atk/236 Spd
Naughty
Snow Cloak
-Earthquake
-Ice Shard
-Blizzard
-Superpower

Mix Mamoswine is a late game sweeper that tears through the enemy team after it’s been suitably weakened by the entry hazards and residual damage. The rest of my team is fairly effective at eliminating his counters. Earthquake and Ice Shard are standard. Blizzard is used to hit walls that would normally stop Mamo in his tracks, notably Skarmory and Hippowdon, although against Hippowdon its accuracy is shaky. It’s also easy to get in, considering the number of electric attacks aimed at Walrein and Tenatcruel.

Interesting set.

Team Problems

1. No Rock resist.
This is self explanatory, but it is a big problem.

2. Scarftran.

This thing tears through my team. Walrein can survive one Fire Blast and stall it out, but it can’t switch in. Mamoswine or Abomasnow can OHKO with EQ, but they can’t outspeed.

3. Offensive Gyarados

Gyarados with 252 Atk, 252 Spd and moveset Dragon Dance, Stone Edge, Ice Fang and Waterfall is another massive threat. Bulky variants are no trouble because they almost never carry Stone Edge and can be stalled out by Walrein or Tentacruel, but offensive spells doom for my team.

So, that’s the team. Rates, constructive criticism and other forms of help are welcome.

Hail kind of hurts half of your team.

 

[peregrine monkey]

I use Aerial Ace on Breloom and Heracross, both of which really annoy my team. However, Brick Break seems to be a worthy option, I'll try it. The suggestions for Tentacruel are helpful. Will try also.

Hail teams do not have to be Mono-Ice. If you make a Hail team with all Pokemon that aren't affected by hail, you get *****. Badly.

Since people keep telling me to use Rotom-F, I will.

 

[ss118]

Hail kind of hurts half of your team.

yeah? and SS hurts 2/3 of Obi's stall team. That must mean its bad

Edit: yes I realize it can't compete in today's meta back back in the day it didn't suck

 

[Pink Reaper]

Rotom-H doesn't have blizzard because Rotom-H can't use blizzard.

Be a ****, replace gliscor with Moltres. You know you want to.

 

[Circa]

I'm not sure how much you like gay hax sets, but if you're willing to do some switches I'd recommend adding a snow cloak abusing Froslass. Doesn't have very good synergy with the current team, but it makes Rotom-H a hell of a lot more useful if you want to keep him.

I hate that ***** Froslass. Probably even more than Breloom. ****.

 

[Deleted member]

wow a good team to look over for once.

some stuff:

1. you kind of injustice yourself with your rotom/gliscor combination. you can replace gliscor with machamp, as machamp already deals with tyranitar and handles lucario quite well. same at rotom, where rotom is a part of your tyranitar weakness and doesn't really add anything constructive past more sleep talking. the dual status situation is also contradictory to the use of toxic spikes. You should consider toxic on rotom in the event that your toxic spikes are absorbed or never make it to the field, you'll still have a respectable way to deal residual damage. while toxic poison and burn both help hail stall, you would be better off picking one over the other and eliminating discharge altogether. machamp can fill the role of resttalker, as well as gives you that much needed rock resist. don't feel bad using toxic in tandem with toxic spikes, think of it as insurance rather than redundancy. also consider adding reflect to your team, since most of your threat list (heatran gyarados lucario tyranitar) is physical. on that note, beware spamming burn when you already have heatran as a weakness and must focus more attention currently on physical defense.

2. while not available yet, super fang walrein is obviously something to salivate at. be ready to adapt your movesets upon HGSS release.

3. might want to consider adding a small amount of speed to tentacruel for +speed tyranitars.

4. since you have some good ice resists, you might want to consider a wall breaker dragonite over mamoswine. while mamoswine is amazing, he adds many weaknesses that you simply do not need to add. on top of that, dragonite's inner focus and diverse attacking ability should more than make up for the additional weakness to stealth rock, while also not crippling your team late game in relative speed tiers. I would also suggest salamence, but the necessity for a late-game superpower makes dragonite the better option, since on any team including blissey, blissey is usually the last thing to get KOd.

5. if you use things like machamp and dragonite, be careful that it eliminates your main basis for ground type damage, which could increase your venerability to electric. overall I'd say it's a fair deal though.

6. you might consider moving abomasnow to not be the lead. making the weather inducer the lead just makes removing that weather later easier to do. save your weather-maker until you're sure it cannot be removed.

 

[Wave⁂]

1. also consider adding reflect to your team, since most of your threat list (heatran gyarados lucario tyranitar) is physical. on that note, beware spamming burn when you already have heatran as a weakness and must focus more attention currently on physical defense.

6. you might consider moving abomasnow to not be the lead. making the weather inducer the lead just makes removing that weather later easier to do. save your weather-maker until you're sure it cannot be removed.

Physical Heatran? Whuzzat?

This is a good idea. My old Hail team had Fake Out Infernape as a lead.

 

[Deleted member]

of those 4, 3 of them are physical. what did you fail to understand?

 

[peregrine monkey]

wow a good team to look over for once.

some stuff:

1. you kind of injustice yourself with your rotom/gliscor combination. you can replace gliscor with machamp, as machamp already deals with tyranitar and handles lucario quite well. same at rotom, where rotom is a part of your tyranitar weakness and doesn't really add anything constructive past more sleep talking. the dual status situation is also contradictory to the use of toxic spikes. You should consider toxic on rotom in the event that your toxic spikes are absorbed or never make it to the field, you'll still have a respectable way to deal residual damage. while toxic poison and burn both help hail stall, you would be better off picking one over the other and eliminating discharge altogether. machamp can fill the role of resttalker, as well as gives you that much needed rock resist. don't feel bad using toxic in tandem with toxic spikes, think of it as insurance rather than redundancy. also consider adding reflect to your team, since most of your threat list (heatran gyarados lucario tyranitar) is physical. on that note, beware spamming burn when you already have heatran as a weakness and must focus more attention currently on physical defense.

Machamp is a good idea and I will test it, but as to Rotom I'm confused as to which form I should use. I'll probably use this set:

Rotom-H/Rotom-F@Leftovers
Bold/Levitate
252 Hp/168 Def/88 Spd
-Discharge
-Toxic
-Reflect
-Blizzard/Overheat

But as you can see I'm not sure what form would fit the team better.

2. while not available yet, super fang walrein is obviously something to salivate at. be ready to adapt your movesets upon HGSS release.

Hell yes. I'm considering that and Brine on the same set for maximum gaiety.

3. might want to consider adding a small amount of speed to tentacruel for +speed tyranitars.

Good idea.

4. since you have some good ice resists, you might want to consider a wall breaker dragonite over mamoswine. while mamoswine is amazing, he adds many weaknesses that you simply do not need to add. on top of that, dragonite's inner focus and diverse attacking ability should more than make up for the additional weakness to stealth rock, while also not crippling your team late game in relative speed tiers. I would also suggest salamence, but the necessity for a late-game superpower makes dragonite the better option, since on any team including blissey, blissey is usually the last thing to get KOd.

I will try it, but what I liked about Mamoswine was his priority and ability to revenge kill any dragon.

5. if you use things like machamp and dragonite, be careful that it eliminates your main basis for ground type damage, which could increase your venerability to electric. overall I'd say it's a fair deal though.

Meh. I never really had any trouble with Electric types before, even when both Gliscor and Mamoswine were dead.

6. you might consider moving abomasnow to not be the lead. making the weather inducer the lead just makes removing that weather later easier to do. save your weather-maker until you're sure it cannot be removed.

If so, what would I use for a lead? And who would it replace?

I'm not sure how much you like gay hax sets, but if you're willing to do some switches I'd recommend adding a snow cloak abusing Froslass. Doesn't have very good synergy with the current team, but it makes Rotom-H a hell of a lot more useful if you want to keep him.

I hate that ***** Froslass. Probably even more than Breloom. ****.

I tried Frosslass before, but it didn't work as well as I thought. Thanks anyway.

 

[supermarth64]

The thing with Froslass is that you REALLY can't run it with Tentacruel unless you get it out before Tentacruel comes out. Toxic Spikes hinders the fully paralyzed state that Thunder Wave gives you, which is why you think it might not be too great.

 

[Deleted member]

when I tried hail stall, I used it with drapion toxic spikes in UU. As was mentioned before, infernape might not make a bad lead.