Dear Smogon Community,
My goal as a team creator is to create the perfect team for each of the weather conditions. My best so far has been my Sandstorm team, which has lost but once when I was testing it. Little did I know that my opponant, even though I made it clear NO UBERS, was planning on using only ubers. My hail team, following this short messege, is my first attempt at a hail team ever. Even so, I am quite optimistic with it, as it covers many of it’s major weaknesses, it successfully uses hail to its complete advantage, and it is very, very powerful. So now I bring you, Snow Day.
Adamant Abomasnow@Lum Berry
Snow Warning
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
-Swords Dance-
-Protect- ice shard
-Wood Hammer-
-Earthquake-
Now, as much as I enjoy originality, there is literally no better way to set up a Hail storm then with the ability Snow Warning. So what I did was create what some people consider a very typical swords dance team, and set it as a lead. This Abomasnow can Swords Dance just as other Pokemon are setting up their Stealth Rocks and Spikes while its partner in crime can Spin them away. Bringing me to my favorite, however strange, lead in singles: Cloyster.
Adamant Cloyster@Life Orb
Skill link
160 HP/252 Atk/96 SpD
-Rapid Spin-
-Rock Blast-
-Explosion-
-Toxic Spikes-
There are multiple reasons for Cloyster being one of my favorite lead in singles. My favorite is that it is unpredictable. It has two great abilities, access to not only Spikes, but Toxic Spikes as well. It can be a great spinner, and when it is finished, it can explode and knock out those pesky sweepers. This Cloyster uses its ability Skill Link to dominate flying lead such as Togekiss. When other teams are setting up, so is Cloyster setting up Toxic Spikes to allow complete annoyance in other teams. Using two utility moves and two great attacking moves, this Cloyster can be a great lead off partner for Abomasnow.
Adamant Mamoswine@Liechi Berry Salac
Snow Cloak
252 Atk/252 HP/4 SpD
-Earthquake-
-Avalanche-
-Curse-
-Protect-
I’m not going to lie, Mamoswine is BY FAR my favorite Ice Type pokemon. I came to know and love the ground type when creating my Sandstorm team. Many Mammoos (Mammoo, Japanese name for Mamoswine, in my opinion a cooler name) are Special sweepers or walls. Mine is a simple Physical sweeper. Mammoo doesn’t need speed, so Curse is a gimme, then Avalanche and Earthquake as two amazing STAB moves for physical attacks, it's a no brainer. Lastly is the required move, in my opinion, for many Pokémon in Doubles is required. Protect. This allows it to be paired with almost any of my Pokémon including the exploders, so creating this set was easy as baking a pie… wait no that's actually hard… easy as making Toast.
Timid Froslass @Focus Sash
4 Def/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Destiny Bond-
-Blizzard-
-Shadow Ball-
-Thunder Wave-
Froslass is amazing. Ever since I saw her first in the Episode of the anime where she kidnapps meowth and Piplup to help find Snowrunt… But that's me rambling on about the Anime. I knew that I would want one of two pokemon for this slot. Froslass or Weavile. Even though I am a fan of Dark types (Umbreon is my favorite Eeveelution), and Weavile is a beast, Froslass is closer to my heart as she was the final member of my Pearl in game team. She is a great pokemon to have in any team as she is very versatile. Blizzard abuse in the Hail is very fun, and Shadow ball is great stab for her. Focus sash -> Destiny bond is killer if the sash activates and Thunder Wave can stop sweepers in their tracks. Literally. This ghost queen is truly cold.
Adamant Gliscor@Power Herb Stallrein (check smogon's set, it was mainly that)
Hyper Cutter
252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
-Earthquake-
-Swords Dance-
-Protect-
-Sky Attack-
Here it is, Stallrein’s replacement, Gliscor. After thinking of many possible counters to Infernape and Machamp Gliscor was the best one to fit the bill. Many of you commented that Machamp would dominate this team along with Infernape, so I put together this (hopefully) original set. Earthquake is great to knock out Nape. Swords Dance boosts up Gliscor to be able to more easily take out that dreaded Machamp. Sky Attack is going to be mainly one use only, and a Sky Attack at full power should mean OHKO on ‘Champ, hence the Power Herb item choice. Protect is, again, completely neccisary on as many doubles pokemon as possible so that earns the last slot.
Hasty Heatran@Choice Scarf
Flash Fire
4 HP/252 Spe/252 SpA
-Explosion-
-Earth Power-
-Overheat- Flamethrower
-Dragon Pulse-
Its not r*pe if you say SURPRISE! Yup, surprise, Heatran can dominate because it can switch in on fire types and get the flash fire bonus or even knock out its fellow Heatran compadres with Earth Power, taking out a major enemy to Hail teams everywhere. As for the personal touch, over the past few months of playing Heart Gold and moving into the OU metagame, I have started to love the steel type. Scizor has started to grow on me, Steelix, not so much, but still, one of the reasons for this change of heart for me is Heatran. The fire/steel typing is great, the look of the beast just struck me as: HOLY CRAP I WANT ONE MOMMY! And now, I have found a way to incorporate it into a team in a way that I haven’t seen anyone do before. (If you did, great minds think alike right?)
So here ends my tale of Hail
and pokemon alike.
And I leave you this morning,
afternoon or this night.
And I’m good at crafting poems
Or so it comes to seem
Because this was made by typing randomly
Oh yeah, and RATE THIS TEAM!!
PS. Note, My rules are Standard + Item Clause Please take this into account if you wish to change Items, which is really wanted as my Item choices are very bad.
Changes in Bold, originals in Italics
