SM OU Hail Team

[RicardoSilva7631]

I designed this team with two objectives: to explore how to use Hail in the format and to try to find a new worthy team in it. I failed on both accounts. This team is awkward to use and usually it does not function very well. I publish it here to see if someone has better ideas.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Freeze-Dry
- Hypnosis
- Moonblast

To make a Hail team you need one or more Hail-setters. I choose Ninetales for the first setter. Since pokémon that benefit from Hail are somewhat fragile, a set with Aurora Veil and Light Clay to increase their resistance. Freeze-Dry deals with Water types. Hypnosis is there to scare away opponent setters and Moonblast is a decetn complimentary STAB.

Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpA
Lonely Nature
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Giga Drain
- Blizzard

Abomasnow is the other Hail setter. I chose it over Aurorus because its tipping is slightly better and it can Mega Evolve. SInce it has not great defenses it must use hard hitting attacks to carry iself. Ice Shard bypasses its low speed. Giga Drain is a STAB that recovers a bit of its HP and Blizzard always hits for high damage in the Hail. Earthquake is a coverage option.

Cloyster @ White Herb
Ability: Skill Link
Shiny: Yes
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Shell Smash
- Surf
- Razor Shell
- Icicle Spear

Cloyster is a standard Shell Smash user. It sets up with Shell Smash, recovers form the drawbacks with White Herb and abuses Skill Link by spamming attacks such as Razor Shell and Icicle Spear. Surf is a coverage option. It is best used when threats that could debuff it or outspeed it are still options.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power

This team has 3 Ice-type pokémon that focus on attack so I decided that the other 3 would have to be more defense-oriented. Clefable was chosen based on this. Magic Guard negates the damage form Hail and in combination with Aurora Veil allows Clefable some room for setting up with Calm Mind or crippling th eopponent with Thunder Wave. Soft-Boiled with Lefotvers covers recovery and Stored Power is an attack that capitalizes on this.

Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Foul Play
- Knock Off
- Toxic

Thanks to Overcoat, Mandubuzz escapes the Hail and can it can play a defensive style. Roost and Toxic allow it to stall, and Knock Off to disrupt the opponents use of items. Foul Play takes advantage of the opponents buff.

Alakazam @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Recover
- Thunder Wave
- Drain Punch
- Psychic

Alakazam is the last emmber of the team. Like Clefable it evades hail by using Magic Guard and has Thunder Wave to cripple the opposition. Recover and Drain Punch allow it some recovery and Psychic is its stab.

 

[TheTapDancer]

This isn't really a hail team so much as a Veil team. A hail team would want something to actually abuse the hail, such as a powerful blizzard user or a slush rush user. As it is you've got a few sub-par setup sweepers and an abomasnow that doesn't actually do anything as you aren't actually abusing its weather.

If you want to stick with Veil as the key aspect of the team, you need more reliable setup sweepers. Cloyster isn't well placed in a metagame full of Koko and Kartana, especially without sash. SD Sandslash-Alola can help you abuse weather, or Belly Drum Azu can set up under a veil well. Other than that you've got options like Volcarona, CM Lele or just whatever fits. On a team like this you don't need defensive pressure.

Here's an example of a good veil offence side: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...alified-for-olt-peaked-1-peaked-2170.3613549/

Before I go on to a more hail offence, we need to talk about that zam. That thing is utterly useless in every matchup, and I have no idea what you were putting it on the team for. If you want to play setter/setter/abuser/abuser/utility/pivot you need your utility mons to either do something useful or not just die.

For a traditional hail offence more like other weather teams, you'll want something like
Ninetales-Alola / Abomasnow (Mega?) / Sandslash-Alola / Something to abuse either hail or veil / Hazards / Pivot
The problem is that you don't have lots of choice for abusers like rain and sun do, so you kind of end up like a worse version of a veil team. So basically don't use abomasnow in ou.