Cold as Ice [OU RMT]

[Rakansen]

COLD AS ICE

Hey guys! This is an RMT for my new Hail team I'm using for OU as Gen V comes to a close. This is my second ever RMT, I decided to try this team out for several reasons. My last team, a Sandstorm team, began to "lose momentum" as more threats in the metagame emerged, since the team's outdated. I also wanted to try using a Hail team, since they're uncommon and they're a nice counter against other weather teams. Anyways, let's go meet the first member of our team, my Abomasnow!​

Abomasnow @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Leech Seed
- Ice Shard
- Protect
- Earthquake
The first thing that may occur to you is why my Abomasnow is Brave and has 0 Spe IVs, I did this on purpose in case I face another weather team, so Hail activates after the other weather activates. Anyways, 252 HP gives him some bulk, while 252 Atk gives him enough power to deal some damage with Ice Shard and Earthquake. I decided to choose Earthquake instead of Wood Hammer to get rid of Steel-types, Rock-types, Fire-types, and Electric-types, all of which are threats to my team.

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Slack Off
I decided to use Slowbro to counter Fighting-types and Fire-types. This set, based off a set used by Suicune, is meant to have Slowbro increase its defenses while dealing a lot of damage. Calm Mind helps increase its SpA and SpD, while Scald has the chance to burn Slowbro's opponent, decreasing its Atk. Since I was using a Hail team, I was considering on using Blizzard (which will have 100% accuracy), but I decided to use Psyshock instead so I can deal damage to special walls. 0 Atk IVs helps Slowbro survive confusion or Foul Play, in case the problem ever arises.

Salamence @ Lum Berry
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
Salamence is the physical sweeper for my team. I switch to Salamence when I predict my foe will use a Fighting or Fire-type attack, so I can buy some time for Dragon Dance. I decided to use Fire Fang instead of Fire Blast since it's more safe, and Dragon Dance and Moxie will give it the power it needs to deal a lot of damage.

Blissey @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Toxic
Blissey is my special wall for the team. Again, I'm using 0 Atk IVs for Foul Play and confusion. Blizzard takes full advantage of Hail, while the rest of her moves are from a traditional Blissey set.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
Once again, I choose a Pokémon with 0 Atk IVs who takes full advantage of Blizzard. Starmie's a special sweeper for my team, but Rapid Spin helps get rid of Stealth Rock, a dangerous entry hazard.

Cloyster @ King's Rock
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Ice Shard
I really couldn't choose my last Pokémon for my team, but I decided on using Cloyster to try out the Shell Smash set, plus I found it to be a novelty to have Cloyster and Starmie on the same team, haha. Anyways, not much things new here, but I decided on having another physical sweeper because I thought my team focused too much on SpA.

Anyways, thank you so much for taking the time to read this RMT. I tried making a Hail team that didn't have too much Ice-types, but I unfortunately ended up having too much Water-types, which led to Electric becoming a threat towards my team. I'm also having second thoughts on using Cloyster and having Salamence use Fire Fang or Fire Blast. I'm open for any suggestions or constructive criticism on this team.

 

[Ghosts of the Forums]

I would recommend changing salamence to a scarf moxie sweeper set, as you currently have no revenge killer. I would change earthquake to wood hammer on abomasnow, as it lets you deal damage to other weather setters bar ninetales and rotom-w.

More suggestions later.

 

[Rakansen]

I would recommend changing salamence to a scarf moxie sweeper set, as you currently have no revenge killer. I would change earthquake to wood hammer on abomasnow, as it lets you deal damage to other weather setters bar ninetales and rotom-w.

More suggestions later.

Okay, thanks. If I go for a revenge killer for Salamence, I think I'll use Fire Blast instead of Fire Fang.

 

[Eaglehawk]

Your team feels very helter-skelter to me because I can't really see a definitive playstyle embedded in your team. First of all, you do not have a strong check against sun. You may have a couple of things that can check fire-types, but none actually stops Sun playstyles. As with most hail teams, Heatran is more or less a staple, as it can effectively tank hits from many standard sun sweepers. Furthermore, it provides Stealth Rocks for your team, something that your team lacks. I would recommend running a defensive Heatran over Blissey. Blissey does absolutely jacksh!t in this metagame. It's set up fodder and extremely prone to Psyshock, making it a defensive liability.

The next thing that is painfully obvious is that half of your team is weak to Electric and Grass-type moves. These two types are pretty common in OU as coverage/main typings on Rain and Sun (Electric and Grass, respectively). To leave yourself with similar weaknesses piled onto added weaknesses gives you an automatic disadvantage from turn 1. If I had to cut one Pokemon from this team, it would be Slowbro. To be completely honest, Slowbro is so damn useless on this team other than being a detached Calm Mind user with no obvious synergy with this team.

Finally, to end my grievances, your team also has the inability to combat Rain and Sand. Normally, Abomasnow's typing should allow it to check Politoed, but considering you are not running a Grass-type STAB, it's basically useless agaisnt Politoed. Sand offense sh!ts on your team equally hard because your team lacks an effective method that can deal with CS Terrakion, CS Keldeo, Latios, and other unnamed staples of Sand Offense. Choice Scarf Salamence is probably (and is) one of the worst standalone Choice Scarf users in the game (seriously). The general trend with Choice Scarf users is this: you pick a choice scarf user that can effectively deal with CS Terrakion and CS Keldeo or pick a scarfer for a team that already has Terrakion and Keldeo checked. Considering nothing on your team can check it, you're best off running something like Choice Scarf Latios. The benefit of running CS Latios is that you can use Trick to shut down defensive walls, something that your team cannot currently deal with.

Just as a nice little side note, Kyurem-B loves hail.

TL;DR (like most Serebiians, including me)
Heatran > Blissey (Blissey is sh!t, Heatran is cool)
Latios > Salamence (basically supports your team more than Salamence could)
Kyurem-B > Slowbro (unlike Slowbro, Kyurem-B is more useful)
A sweeper that resists Fighting, Rock, and Steel type moves > Cloyster (Cloyster is kind of a hit or miss in terms of a sweeper and definitely should not be used on a pseudo-balance like this.

 

[Rakansen]

Your team feels very helter-skelter to me because I can't really see a definitive playstyle embedded in your team. First of all, you do not have a strong check against sun. You may have a couple of things that can check fire-types, but none actually stops Sun playstyles. As with most hail teams, Heatran is more or less a staple, as it can effectively tank hits from many standard sun sweepers. Furthermore, it provides Stealth Rocks for your team, something that your team lacks. I would recommend running a defensive Heatran over Blissey. Blissey does absolutely jacksh!t in this metagame. It's set up fodder and extremely prone to Psyshock, making it a defensive liability.

The next thing that is painfully obvious is that half of your team is weak to Electric and Grass-type moves. These two types are pretty common in OU as coverage/main typings on Rain and Sun (Electric and Grass, respectively). To leave yourself with similar weaknesses piled onto added weaknesses gives you an automatic disadvantage from turn 1. If I had to cut one Pokemon from this team, it would be Slowbro. To be completely honest, Slowbro is so damn useless on this team other than being a detached Calm Mind user with no obvious synergy with this team.

Finally, to end my grievances, your team also has the inability to combat Rain and Sand. Normally, Abomasnow's typing should allow it to check Politoed, but considering you are not running a Grass-type STAB, it's basically useless agaisnt Politoed. Sand offense sh!ts on your team equally hard because your team lacks an effective method that can deal with CS Terrakion, CS Keldeo, Latios, and other unnamed staples of Sand Offense. Choice Scarf Salamence is probably (and is) one of the worst standalone Choice Scarf users in the game (seriously). The general trend with Choice Scarf users is this: you pick a choice scarf user that can effectively deal with CS Terrakion and CS Keldeo or pick a scarfer for a team that already has Terrakion and Keldeo checked. Considering nothing on your team can check it, you're best off running something like Choice Scarf Latios. The benefit of running CS Latios is that you can use Trick to shut down defensive walls, something that your team cannot currently deal with.

Just as a nice little side note, Kyurem-B loves hail.

TL;DR (like most Serebiians, including me)
Heatran > Blissey (Blissey is sh!t, Heatran is cool)
Latios > Salamence (basically supports your team more than Salamence could)
Kyurem-B > Slowbro (unlike Slowbro, Kyurem-B is more useful)
A sweeper that resists Fighting, Rock, and Steel type moves > Cloyster (Cloyster is kind of a hit or miss in terms of a sweeper and definitely should not be used on a pseudo-balance like this.

Thank you so much! I was actually thinking of using Kyurem-B, I don't know why I didn't end up having him in my team. For my Cloyster replacement, I'm thinking of using Metagross or Scizor.

 

[Eaglehawk]

Thank you so much! I was actually thinking of using Kyurem-B, I don't know why I didn't end up having him in my team. For my Cloyster replacement, I'm thinking of using Metagross or Scizor.

Scizor actually glues nicely with most teams. Granted that it won't neutralize a rather big Fighting or Rock weakness, it still functions as a very good Priority and Offensive Pivot with U-Turn.

 

[Cloystoys]

If you want a counter for fire and fighting types, then maybe you could consider Chandelure. Fighting types can't necessarily do much to them, and Flash Fire would make it a good switch-in on fire types

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey man, I dont know if you took the above suggestion to replace Slowbro but there's really no reason why you shouldnt keep it. Slowbro totally walls Terrakion and can take on Keldeo fairly well (just be weary of which HP they are using) and both of these are pretty huge threats to Hail in general.

I would agree with the Heatran change though to prevent sun teams from becoming too problematic if Aboma gets taken out.

In Salamence's place I think you should put Kyurem-B. I would recommend a Mixed Attacking set with Haban Berry to take faster dragons by surprise for the KO. It also lets you bluff a choice item to lure in things like Scizor which can be taken out with HP Fire. (You can live a CB Bullet Punch from full health iirc and Scizor will likely want to U-Turn against your team anyways).

Now for Cloyster's spot you will need some kind of revenge killer. Choice Scarf Latios seems like a good fit, make sure you use Sleep Talk on the set as well since Breloom is kind of a problem for your team to face so it is nice to have a good switch in to it.

Lastly, on Starmie, since you are running an Offensive Set make sure you use Analytic over Natural Cure. Analytic boosts your attacks by 1.3x if the opponent is switching, allowing you to 2hko Ferrothorn switching in with Ice Beam(since youre running Blizzard it might OHKO), among other things. Basically nothing can safely switch into it and its one of the biggest threats in the current metagame.

Anyways cool team, hope i helped and let me know how it works!

 

[Ghosts of the Forums]

Lastly, on Starmie, since you are running an Offensive Set make sure you use Analytic over Natural Cure. Analytic boosts your attacks by 1.3x if the opponent is switching, allowing you to 2hko Ferrothorn switching in with Ice Beam(since youre running Blizzard it might OHKO), among other things. Basically nothing can safely switch into it and its one of the biggest threats in the current metagame.!

Tell me how a move with 25 more base power could net an ohko instead.

 

[MCBarrett]

Tell me how a move with 25 more base power could net an ohko instead.

My bad, I misremembered the actual calc I was told. It was in the rain Hydro Pump on the switch is a possible 2hko after SR and 1 layer of Spikes against Ferrothorn. Big difference I know, but I ran calcs and Blizzard is a guaranteed 3hko as opposed to a possible 4hko with Ice Beam. Anyways, the important thing to note is that LO Analytic Starmie is really powerful and Analytic should be used on all offensive sets.

And just to entertain your question, if a move does 80% I'm pretty sure 25 more BP would net the OHKO.