Probably my last 4th Gen Hail team

[~Frozen Darkness~]

With the new Drizzle Politoed and Drought Ninetales running about in BW, Hail might have a difficult time fitting in. (It already competes with the largely popular Sandstorm) So I thought I'd wrap up my Gen IV battling (maybe) with what I hope to be a decent Hail team.

Team Building Process

I decided to base this team around Stallrein, a staple of Hail teams. So that's where I'll start off.

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Now every team using Stallrein must have a Hail inducer involved, and what better Pokemon to use than the obvious Abomasnow? So on the team it went.

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I decided to include another Ice type, and I wanted a Spiker or SR'er. Cloyster and Froslass were my two options, but I chose Froslass for her higher Speed and her ability to block Rapid Spin.

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To make a good Hail team, it can't be mono-Ice. There must be resistances to common Ice weaknesses.

I wanted first to counter Tyranitar, so I had an choice between two Fighting-types, Hariyama and Machamp. I decided to run Hari because of his bulkier HP stat and his resistance to Fire due to Thick Fat.

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Now I was looking for resistances to Fighting and Steel types, which also endanger this team. I had a bunch of options here, but I chose Moltres because it was fairly bulky and completely walls Heatran and some sets of Infernape, more huge threats to this team.

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Finally, there was one thing I noticed on this team: A devastating SR weakness. 4 out of the 5 Pokemon currently on this team are hit for at least 25% of their HP with SR in play. This is why I needed a Spinner in the sixth slot, and I decided to slap on Starmie. Why? I picked Starmie for a lot of reasons: His blistering Speed, good Special Attack, Fighting, Fire, and Steel resistances, and it made a nice Grass/Fire/Water core with Abomasnow and Moltres.

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And there we have it, the current roster. Now I can get into more detail.​

Abomasnow @ Leftovers
Snow Warning
4 Atk/252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe
Timid
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Blizzard
- Focus Punch

Your friendly SubSeeder. Blizzard smashes Grass-types into the ground, thinking they can stop Abomasnow. Focus Punch annihilates Heatran, Blissey, and Tyranitar. Abomasnow also is the first part of a nice Grass/Fire/Water core.

Walrein @ Leftovers
Ice Body
220 HP/252 Def/36 Sp. Def
Bold
- Protect
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Surf

Stallrein is amazing. Protect+Sub=The virtually endless 32-turn stall process, which Toxic only helps further. Surf is there to prevent Taunters from laughing in Walrein's face.

Froslass @ Leftovers (Or Brightpowder when, say, in the Battle Tower)
Snow Cloak
248 HP/228 Def/32 Spe
Timid
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave
- Spikes
- Blizzard

This set is just plain annoying to deal with. With the opponent paralyzed and hail going, the opponent will only hit Froslass 60% of the time with a 100% accuracy move. Substitute only makes it harder for the opponent to KO Froslass. Once a Sub is up, 3 layers of Spikes can be set up, followed by some painful Blizzards.

Hariyama @ Leftovers
Thick Fat
80 HP/172 Atk/252 Def/4 Spe
Impish
- Cross Chop
- Stone Edge
- Whirlwind
- Payback

Hariyama is probably the best Tyranitar counter out there. Cross Chop OHKO's T-tar, something Force Palm cannot accomplish. Stone Edge provides excellent coverage with Cross Chop. Whirlwind phazes out threating stat-up sweepers, while Payback can hit Rotom-(form) for some decent damage.

Moltres @ Leftovers
Pressure
248 HP/84 Def/176 Spe
Timid
- Roost
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
- Toxic

Moltres is a deadly staller with Pressure and Toxic. Sub allows you to drain opponents of PP, while Roost will heal Moltres. Flamethrower is there for STAB.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Natural Cure
4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe
Timid
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Starmie serves as not only my team's Spinner, but also as a special sweeper. Natural Cure will allow Starmie to sponge status without hesitance, and greatly helps my team with removing Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and SR.

Testing of this team will begin soon, and hopefully I'll get some good results.

CC is greatly welcome, as there are some other threats that I might need to cover. :D

 

[Musica]

This looks promising. A well-rounded team covering for the weakness of the other. Though you might want something to take over a Swampert (I just assumed that you have this team going for the OU Tier).

The Hariyama is quite good, considering that it can be a lure, revenge killer, and a phazer.

 

[~Frozen Darkness~]

Swampert does sound good for the team, especially because it covers Moltres well.

I might decide to put it over Froslass, Swampert can put up SR, it's not like my team will be losing that much. :)

 

[Musica]

I meant something to take down a Swampert for your team. Swampert might be a threat since it can resist or take neutral damage from your attacks. Some Swamperts can have a moveset of Rest / Sleeptalk / Earthquake / Waterfall with so much bulk that can threaten your team by stalling it. You might want something STAB Grass for Abomasnow.

 

[Skip Shot]

I dislike Cross Chop on Bulky Hariyama, and recommend Force Palm>> it for parahax as well as more PP reasons.

I really don't see how Moltres fits into this team at all, it really doesn't add anything besides another SR weak. I would run Bulky Tentacruel with Spin/TSpikes/Surf/Sludge Bomb or Ice Beam or HP Electric so you can absorb T-Spikes rather than having to spin them. Helps Walrein a lot more in the end than Starmie would.

This now gives you room to block your trick weakness, which Stall teams need to be able to block unless they want one of their crucial Pokemon to be crippled. Scarfers are usually the best option (yea they go against Stall teams but more important to block Trick imo), and since there is a NP Azelf weakness, anything that can beat that is a plus.

Scarf Lucario would probably make the best fit for this team as it does beat out NP Azelf but doesn't add too many weaknesses to your team that aren't covered, and also provides a secondary immunity to Toxic. Metagross with Band or Scarf could also work as it is more bulky and has acces to Pursuit to crush Azelf if it predicts a switch out. Be careful with using Band though to beat Azelf if you pick it because you will need to use Bullet Punch before it mashes you with Flamethrower.

 

[~Frozen Darkness~]

Sorry Musica, I misunderstood that. I could replace Focus Punch for Energy Ball/Grass Knot, because I have Hari to take on Blissey and T-tar, etc.

As for Skip Shot,

The problem with Force Palm is that it can't OHKO some Bulky-Tyranitar, something that I'd like for it to do. It might OHKO offensive ones, but I'll have to use a calculator for that.

Bulky Tentacruel looks promising, I don't know how I missed it when looking for spinners. I have to admit that Starmie can be a bit unreliable because of its longevity problems, so I'll give Tenta a shot.

I hadn't seen a Trick weakness when I made this team, but now the more I think about it, the more it shows. I wouldn't have thought about a Scarfed Pokemon to counter Trick, mainly because of what you said about Scarfers going against stall teams, let alone Luke. But now that you said it can cover a potent threat to this team, I'm itching to use it.

 

[Nimblethumbs]

Starting with walrein to make a gaping hole in the opponent's team is a good iea, then go and annoy them with froslass, assuminhg they save strongs for last. Leaving there strong ones numb, then damaging them a bit would be good, while still leaving them numbed up. The down to froslass is blizzard. Low PP, so I suggest an ice shard or something of that look. After using froslass, switching into hariyama or something would win you the match.


In other words, great job.