I look away for a few months and Hail becomes a dominant playstyle in OU? And the main Pokemon who abuses it is a Pokemon that would have been ZU had it not been for the Crown Tundra granting it its Hidden Ability? Some things sure are strange, aren't they?
At any rate, once learning of the absolute terror that is Arctozolt with Slush Rush, I knew I had to try it out. And after seeing rather promising results that brought my test account up to the 1300s, I thought I'd bring it here for suggestions. And so, without further ado, here's the teambuilding process!'
First off, we have the snot-nosed electric bird fish thing. Crazy fast, crazy strong, STAB Electric and Ice type moves for most of the metagame. What more can you ask? Well, you can ask for quite a lot. For starters, outside of hail, Arctozolt is nigh useless with the exception of faring extremely well against defensive staples Blissey, Clefable, Ferrothorn and Toxapex, though given their ludicrously slow speed and passivity, that should be a given. Arctozolt also outspeeds and demolishes non-Chople variants of Tyranitar with Low Kick, as T-Tar does not typically run a max speed set for mons that just barely underspeed it like Arctozolt.
What's a hail team without Alolan Ninetales? Well, a bad one, since the only other user of Snow Warning is Abomasnow, whose qualities would not make it attractive in comparison to Alolan Ninetales, which can set up hail, Aurora Veil, and lock setup Pokemon into their shenanigans with Encore. It's even good against any weather setter not named Tyranitar or Torkoal, as its Freeze Dry allows it to take care of opposing Pelipper and Hippowdon, should it lock the latter into Stealth Rock with Encore. As a lead, it's also amazing against the occasional Garchomp and Lando-T, since it outspeeds non-Scarf variants of both.
As for the aforementioned Tyranitar and Torkoal, that's where Kyurem comes in! A general beast for weather teams, it can remove opposing weather setters with relative ease, including Pelipper and Hippowdon if Ninetales-A is down for whatever reason. It's also the main special attacker that's immune to Hail, for physically defensive walls that Arctozolt simply cannot take care of for whatever reason.
One would notice an overabundance of ice types in this team. They would be right in pointing out that, as a result of this, the team is overwhelmingly weak to Steel types and Rock Types. It also doesn't have a whole lot of ways to transition into the actual threats of the team when necessary. This is where Corviknight comes in, with its physically defensive set, it can clear hazards, take a hit, and pivot into a teammate who can actually do something to the opposition! It's also good on physical cleaners due to its massive physical Defense for downright brutal Body Presses. It can also tank an unboosted Kartana Sacred Sword or a Barraskewda Close Combat before pivoting into a Pokemon more suited to dealing with them.
But what about fire types? What about, gasp, specially offensive fire types? That's where Heatran comes in! It can switch into any fire type attack and dish out huge damage in return! And if they switch out, the Pokemon coming in will have to deal with Magma Storm if it connects on the switch. Apply Toxic for bonus damage and Taunt to prevent setup and phasing, and we're golden!
...It's Lando-T. If your team does not include Lando-T in any way, it isn't a good team.
In all seriousness, Lando-T provides much needed glue for the team. It softens blows from Kartana and other physical threats like Barraskewda that would rip through the entire team if given the opportunity, it sets up Stealth Rocks, serving as an alternate lead instead of Ninetales-A if I am uncertain on what my opponent will lead with if they have a potential Ninetales-A counter.
Now, in terms of actual, active threats to the team I have concerns about...
Alolan Marowak is a rare sight in OU, but it does remain a cause for concern for me if Landorus, Kyurem and Heatran are taken out, as it is strong against the other three of my six team members, especially in Trick Room.
This dumb fish goes insanely fast out of rain. So fast, in fact, that none of my Pokemon are capable of revenge killing it if it manages to get a good switch, especially if Lando-T is taken care of by another teammate. Only Arctozolt under Hail is capable of dealing with it effectively, as it otherwise outspeeds and lays waste to every member of the team with choice banded Close Combats off of a base 123 attack stat.
Here's the paste of the full team: https://pokepast.es/c6088d29ed69a1a0
Is it good, is it bad? Should I replace a Pokemon with another? Please leave your feedback in the comments.
At any rate, once learning of the absolute terror that is Arctozolt with Slush Rush, I knew I had to try it out. And after seeing rather promising results that brought my test account up to the 1300s, I thought I'd bring it here for suggestions. And so, without further ado, here's the teambuilding process!'
First off, we have the snot-nosed electric bird fish thing. Crazy fast, crazy strong, STAB Electric and Ice type moves for most of the metagame. What more can you ask? Well, you can ask for quite a lot. For starters, outside of hail, Arctozolt is nigh useless with the exception of faring extremely well against defensive staples Blissey, Clefable, Ferrothorn and Toxapex, though given their ludicrously slow speed and passivity, that should be a given. Arctozolt also outspeeds and demolishes non-Chople variants of Tyranitar with Low Kick, as T-Tar does not typically run a max speed set for mons that just barely underspeed it like Arctozolt.
What's a hail team without Alolan Ninetales? Well, a bad one, since the only other user of Snow Warning is Abomasnow, whose qualities would not make it attractive in comparison to Alolan Ninetales, which can set up hail, Aurora Veil, and lock setup Pokemon into their shenanigans with Encore. It's even good against any weather setter not named Tyranitar or Torkoal, as its Freeze Dry allows it to take care of opposing Pelipper and Hippowdon, should it lock the latter into Stealth Rock with Encore. As a lead, it's also amazing against the occasional Garchomp and Lando-T, since it outspeeds non-Scarf variants of both.
As for the aforementioned Tyranitar and Torkoal, that's where Kyurem comes in! A general beast for weather teams, it can remove opposing weather setters with relative ease, including Pelipper and Hippowdon if Ninetales-A is down for whatever reason. It's also the main special attacker that's immune to Hail, for physically defensive walls that Arctozolt simply cannot take care of for whatever reason.
One would notice an overabundance of ice types in this team. They would be right in pointing out that, as a result of this, the team is overwhelmingly weak to Steel types and Rock Types. It also doesn't have a whole lot of ways to transition into the actual threats of the team when necessary. This is where Corviknight comes in, with its physically defensive set, it can clear hazards, take a hit, and pivot into a teammate who can actually do something to the opposition! It's also good on physical cleaners due to its massive physical Defense for downright brutal Body Presses. It can also tank an unboosted Kartana Sacred Sword or a Barraskewda Close Combat before pivoting into a Pokemon more suited to dealing with them.
But what about fire types? What about, gasp, specially offensive fire types? That's where Heatran comes in! It can switch into any fire type attack and dish out huge damage in return! And if they switch out, the Pokemon coming in will have to deal with Magma Storm if it connects on the switch. Apply Toxic for bonus damage and Taunt to prevent setup and phasing, and we're golden!
...It's Lando-T. If your team does not include Lando-T in any way, it isn't a good team.
In all seriousness, Lando-T provides much needed glue for the team. It softens blows from Kartana and other physical threats like Barraskewda that would rip through the entire team if given the opportunity, it sets up Stealth Rocks, serving as an alternate lead instead of Ninetales-A if I am uncertain on what my opponent will lead with if they have a potential Ninetales-A counter.
Now, in terms of actual, active threats to the team I have concerns about...
Alolan Marowak is a rare sight in OU, but it does remain a cause for concern for me if Landorus, Kyurem and Heatran are taken out, as it is strong against the other three of my six team members, especially in Trick Room.
This dumb fish goes insanely fast out of rain. So fast, in fact, that none of my Pokemon are capable of revenge killing it if it manages to get a good switch, especially if Lando-T is taken care of by another teammate. Only Arctozolt under Hail is capable of dealing with it effectively, as it otherwise outspeeds and lays waste to every member of the team with choice banded Close Combats off of a base 123 attack stat.
Here's the paste of the full team: https://pokepast.es/c6088d29ed69a1a0
Is it good, is it bad? Should I replace a Pokemon with another? Please leave your feedback in the comments.
