Abomasnow in the new OU?

[WeatherEffectRain]

To an extent, new, atleast.

I've taken a look around the different things for competitive Pokemon, and fight competitively myself. It came to my attention, however, to Abomasnow's a very cool competitive Pokemon, and can take a good few people by surprize. I've got a SubSeedShardPunch set that is competitively viable, until you notice his ability in Snow Warning. I feel that people won't take as much of a liking to Abomasnow, but would be greatly appreciative if he didn't have Snow Warning or (Off subject) Fire and Steel were also immune to Hail.

Spoiler: My set, by the way:

Abomasnow
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Snow Warning
Nature: Adamant
EVs:252 HP, 252 Atk 4 Spd
-Substitute
-Leech Seed
-Focus Punch
-Ice Shard

Other common sets include a Wood Hammer-er, Ablizzasnow, Ascarfasnow, among many others to deal with his meager stats.

How would Abomasnow fair in competitive environment without his ability?
What if he still had Focus Punch without his ability?
What if other types were immune to Hail Damage?

Discuss.

 

[GOLDENCRS]

It won't do to well, because of its 7 weaknesses. Some notable weaknesses are Fire and Fighting, which are two highly used types. Unless you can support Abomasnow, it kinda sucks.

 

[WeatherEffectRain]

If you can force something out however, it can be beneficial.

Take this for example; Substitute. Make sure an Opponent cannot harm you much, maybe weak to one of your pre-determined attacks, and set a Sub on the switch. With that Sub in place, Abomasnow can become a wonderful Pokemon to use.

I see that it's a burden to do; but if predicted correctly, and have a team that accomadates it as unlikely as it is, it may just take a good slash out of the Competitive Enviornment. Not to mention it's cool STAB in Ice, either.

But, on the other hand, I agree. It is very hard to use, and if ill-prepared, it can be a dead wait or a hinderence all together. Hail isn't every Pokemon's liking, and it has those weaknesses and few resists that come in little amount. It's a unique Pokemon, and one that does seem oddly paced. There's also that lack of Stat distribution, having the most being 9...2, in each attack stat? Something like that; it makes for a tougher game.

 

[kaiser soze]

If you're using Abomasnow for sub/seed on OU, he's outclassed by quite a few. Whimsicott, Breelom, Sceptine, ferrothorn (well maybe not +sub), the list goes on.

There's one main reason to use him in OU: hail. If he didn't have it, he would drop to RU with those weaknesses.

 

[chanseychansey77]

Without his ability, Abomasnow would fall so fast it would be hilarious. What else does it have to set it apart?

First of all, 90/75/85 Defenses are not optimal for what it needs to put up with, especially with everybody having Fire attacks for Ferrothorn.

And 92/92 Offenses are only decent, but with base 60 Speed it just isn't enough without a Choice Scarf.

Ice Shard? Weavile beats you on all accounts.

Giga Drain? Sorry again, Virizion has already got you covered.

Leech Seed? Have we forgotten Ferrothorn already?

Blizzard? You do realize you can't count on it now...

Snow Warning is quite literally the only saving grace Abomasnow has in OU, and all the new Weather-ers didn't help at all. At least it can beat 'em on the switch.

Abomasnow would like it if some other types could not be struck by hail (what with the Ice Types horrible weaknesses), but the only solution as of now to that is Magic Guard and Overcoat. If only more Pokemon got them.

So Abomasnow and his team has to go Offensive with stuff like Rotom-Freeze and Reuniclus that can be beaten senseless.

Overall, a pretty gimmicky Pokemon that is outclassed by other Weather inducers.

 

[WeatherEffectRain]

Who said he's only usable for SubSeed? If only, if only. I myself am thinking up my own little abusing of the Hail, and to benefit off of his current denomination as a "Near-Useless, extremely gimmicky" Pokemon.

But, if only to keep things along the Norm, he's still got those huge blisters to his uses(Not a referance to x4 Fie weakness).

I see why everyone dislikes him, I really do, but, uh... How many people've actually used one? I must say, it's got quite more usefulness than others say.

Sorry if I seem like I'm talking to my self :/

 

[jolteon135]

Without his ability, Abomasnow would fall so fast it would be hilarious. What else does it have to set it apart?

First of all, 90/75/85 Defenses are not optimal for what it needs to put up with, especially with everybody having Fire attacks for Ferrothorn.

And 92/92 Offenses are only decent, but with base 60 Speed it just isn't enough without a Choice Scarf.

Ice Shard? Weavile beats you on all accounts.

Giga Drain? Sorry again, Virizion has already got you covered.

Leech Seed? Have we forgotten Ferrothorn already?

Blizzard? You do realize you can't count on it now...

Snow Warning is quite literally the only saving grace Abomasnow has in OU, and all the new Weather-ers didn't help at all. At least it can beat 'em on the switch.

Abomasnow would like it if some other types could not be struck by hail (what with the Ice Types horrible weaknesses), but the only solution as of now to that is Magic Guard and Overcoat. If only more Pokemon got them.

So Abomasnow and his team has to go Offensive with stuff like Rotom-Freeze and Reuniclus that can be beaten senseless.

Overall, a pretty gimmicky Pokemon that is outclassed by other Weather inducers.

You don't know how to use a hail team. There's no need for a ton of ice immunity on a hail team. Leftovers can be used to negate hail's effect and for offensive Pokemon that are damaged by hail all you really have to do is avoid life orb usage so they don't kill themselves too quickly. Educate yourself

Abomasnow has been one of my favorite Pokemon since late gen 4. I use it both on hail/non-hail teams. I love a choice band set purely to catch people off guard. The good thing about Abomasnow is that although it's not too difficult to wall, it can often force a switch and if you predict correctly you can hit something hard on the switch.

My favorite set:
Abomasnow @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Speed
-Seed Bomb/Wood Hammer (I prefer seed bomb because Abomasnow can actually switch in a few times if it doesn't kill itself with wood hammer)
-Ice Shard
-Brick Break/Focus Punch (Only use FP if you're good at predicting)
-Earthquake

I also like smogon's choice scarf set and I've used a focus sash anti-stall lead with HP fire and Blizzard to take out some common stall Pokemon.

 

[d0nut]

Having used Abomasnow fairly successfully in OU, I can say that its one of the best anti-weather pokes around. The simple Scarf set can revenge kill nearly every weather sweeper in the game, since it can negate the Chlorophyll boosts of grasses and outspeed while OHKOing with Blizzard, negate the Water boosts and resist otherwise devastating STABs, while threatening back with a Grass STAB of its choice, as well as removing Sand Rush from Excadrill and hitting it with EQ, Focus Blast, or HP Fire depending on what it has. He can also take on Ninetails with EQ, Tar, Hippo, and Toed with its Grass STAB, and can also hit Hippo with Blizzard as well. Without its SpD boost, Tar also won't be able to take Focus Blast as well if you happen to carry it. Outside of facing weather teams, he can make a decent revenge killer for Dragons among other things, so he isn't exactly a dead weight.

The one thing which makes him worth considering though is his ability to take on weather teams. If he is used for other purposes he would be almost worthless, and since Hail teams are rarely any good, its best to just use him to counter weather, otherwise there are better options.

 

[hallstromjr]

Having used Abomasnow fairly successfully in OU, I can say that its one of the best anti-weather pokes around. The simple Scarf set can revenge kill nearly every weather sweeper in the game, since it can negate the Chlorophyll boosts of grasses and outspeed while OHKOing with Blizzard, negate the Water boosts and resist otherwise devastating STABs, while threatening back with a Grass STAB of its choice, as well as removing Sand Rush from Excadrill and hitting it with EQ, Focus Blast, or HP Fire depending on what it has. He can also take on Ninetails with EQ, Tar, Hippo, and Toed with its Grass STAB, and can also hit Hippo with Blizzard as well. Without its SpD boost, Tar also won't be able to take Focus Blast as well if you happen to carry it. Outside of facing weather teams, he can make a decent revenge killer for Dragons among other things, so he isn't exactly a dead weight.

The one thing which makes him worth considering though is his ability to take on weather teams. If he is used for other purposes he would be almost worthless, and since Hail teams are rarely any good, its best to just use him to counter weather, otherwise there are better options.

Bingo. Thats wht Abomasnow is for, countering weather. One of the best weather counters in the competative game.

 

[Blue Harvest]

Abomasnow is pretty awesome, but its kind of hard to validate him when scarf Politoed + Ferrothorn can pretty much do the same things for a team.

 

[TrollFreak]

Hail teams are rarely any good

lol, a hail team w/ alot of ice pokes and magic guard pokes isnt that good, but a couter-weather OU team can be made from hail. Like you said, the scarf set in itself cause the weather-starters/abusers problems and with the proper supporting cast, a hsil team can be just as good as any other weather team (w/o stall-rein and rotom-f, the horrible pokemon that rotom-f is)

 

[Fortunato]

Scarf Abomasnow is pretty cool cause it checks a pretty good amount of ****, but sadly its outclassed by other weather, weak to stealth rocks, and has 7 weaknesses to exploit. Abomasnow is an awesome mon but in a metagame with so much power he just doesn't have the power to survive.

 

[Arceus94]

I always use Abomasnow in my Hail-Teams for some obvious reason.
I like having Leech Seed and Giga Drain on it while holding a Big Root
And Blizzard and Focus blast for some Awe-inspired power

That Abomasnow falls quite fast, yes. But he can surely do some fatal damange
in the little time it takes for him to move. Also. Leech seed is a good option if you're
up against things like Blissey, Wailord, Wobbuffet etc.

 

[multi-scale]

Abomasnow is not really that great. 4x Fire weakness, Fighting weakness, SR weakness, Rock weakness, it's crazy. Scarf Abomasnow is insanely annoying, but it's not really hard to deal with. Sadly, the worst weather starter and even if it was better, hail has the worst supporting pokemon. If hail got defense boosts like Sandstorm it would be a lot better, but even then it has very exploitable weaknesses.

 

[WeatherEffectRain]

^I must ask how many people who are bashing on Abomasnow havn't used one. No offence or anything, but people label it crappy and - regardless if it is or not - it will be put down. It's really not that weak.

I dare you to try it out.

 

[:wub:disc]

ice shard / wood hammer / earthquake / blizzard @ expert belt wrecks.

if you can predict it is very likely you will get a KO with it. only problem is getting it in in the first place, and i suppose ferrothorn annoys it.

 

[jesusfreak94]

^I must ask how many people who are bashing on Abomasnow havn't used one. No offence or anything, but people label it crappy and - regardless if it is or not - it will be put down. It's really not that weak.

I dare you to try it out.

This. Abomasnow is one of those Pokemon that look terrible on paper but are pretty good in practice. Seriously guys, just try it.

Like some of the others, I'll vouch for the Scarf set. In more ways than one, Abomasnow makes a great anti-metagame Pokemon. Scarf allows it to outspeed so many weather starters/inducers, it's not even funny. Besides, it's not useless outside of countering weather, either. With a Scarf, it outspeeds' quite a few OU contenders, and it has the power to OHKO and 2HKO a large portion of the tier. Seriously, just spamming Blizzard on this thing gives pretty good results when the bulky resists are gone.

However, I've found a new, interesting way to play Abomasnow. The Scarf set is no secret, and many people (especially on the Smogon PO server) are starting to catch on to the popularity of AbomaScarf. A lot of people see Abomasnow and assume it's Scarfed, and so they deal with it accordingly. That being said, I've found plenty of success in running a Sub+3 attacks set with Sub over the fourth move (usually HP Fire or Ice Shard or something). It doesn't have the same anti-weather effect I guess, but it sure is hilarious when the opponent brings in a Heatran thinking they can just take a Choice-locked Blizzard or Giga Drain like it's nothing, only to see me Sub up and fire off a Focus Blast risk-free.

 

[Soperman]

Abomasnow is interesting. It is one of the few pokemon who looks terrible on paper, but actually works pretty well in reality. Honestly though, if it didn't have Snow Warning, no-one would want to use it. One look at its stats and you instantly dislike him. Plus the seven-weaknesses. Snow Warning is what makes Abomasnow worth using: For Hail teams and as a weather counter.
;460; Hey look, an Abomasnow.
JUST KIDDING (poof) :571: its actually a Zoroark.
But after him comes Abomasnow. ;460;

 

[Blue Harvest]

ice shard / wood hammer / earthquake / blizzard @ expert belt wrecks.

if you can predict it is very likely you will get a KO with it. only problem is getting it in in the first place, and i suppose ferrothorn annoys it.

Why not run Focus Punch. Blows a hole in Tyranitar and Heatran while probably putting Ferrothorn in KO range for Blizzard. 150 vs 240 against Jirachi too.

 

[:wub:disc]

Why not run Focus Punch. Blows a hole in Tyranitar and Heatran while probably putting Ferrothorn in KO range for Blizzard. 150 vs 240 against Jirachi too.

didn't realise it got that. probably worth it over eq though i usually end up with ways to deal with ferro and not with jirachi. taking out fire types (no matter how uncommon they may be, probably just ninetales) is handy as well

i suppose that focus punch is quite a bit more risky than eq but tbh using abomasnow is risky in the first place so who cares.