OU Hail Team (Gen V)

[quack98]

I've been using this team for a while, and it seems to be working fairly well, but are there any tweaks anyone could recommend? Even switching a Pokémon is fine, anything that'd make it better.

Porygon-Z @ Focus Sash
EVs: 4/0/0/252/0/252 (Timid)

Adaptability

-> Hyper Beam
-> Dark Pulse
-> Recover
-> Nasty Plot

Ok, this is a great anti-lead for me, although a little odd. First, I check the team preview, if there are no Ghosts, then I use hyper beam, if there are I use Nasty Plot. Assuming Hyper Beam is used, I (normally) OHKO, next turn hang on with focus sash, and the turn after OHKO. Of course, this isn't fool proof, but it's a pretty reliable way of getting at least 1 KO.

Abomasnow @ Leftovers
EVs: 4/0/0/252/0/252 (Modest)

Snow Warning

-> Blizzard
-> Protect
-> Energy Ball
-> Leech Seed

Ok, fairly obvious, I use protect first turn, in case of HP fire, then use an appropriate move. Leech seed and Blizzard work well together, as Blizzard is SE against grass, which is the only type leech seed doesn't effect.

Mamoswine @ Choice Scarf
EVs: 0/252/0/4/0/252 (Naive)

Snow Cloak (although when playing when banned, I have another with Thick Fat)

-> Earthquake
-> Icicle Crash
-> Blizzard
-> Stone Edge

Ah, everyone's favourite anti-meta mammoth! Basically, switch in and use the most appropriate attack, EdgeQuake coverage is great, and icicle crash is STAB. Blizzard is for physical walls (I'm looking at you Skarmory).

Alakazam @ Life Orb
EVs: 4/0/0/252/0/252 (Modest)

Magic Guard

-> Focus Blast
-> Signal Beam
-> Psychic
-> Substitute

Magic guard prevents recoil from LO, so I just choose the best move, with Psychic taking precedence in a tie. Substitute is rarely used, so I may swap it...

Walrein @ Leftovers
EVs: 252/0/252/0/0/0 (Calm)

Ice Body

-> Aqua Ring
-> Substitute
-> Protect
-> Blizzard

Stallrein. 'Nuff said.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
EVs: 252/0/252/4/0/0 (Bold)

Magic Guard

-> Calm Mind
-> Recover
-> Focus Blast
-> Psyshock

Poor mans mewtwo. Basically, I use calm mind until I need to recover, then eventually start attacking. This sets been working fairly well for me so far.


Okay, that's my team! So yeah, any improvements at all would be nice, even if its really small! If you see a glaring weakness, please say!

[Richard and Blaziken]

Hyper Beam is awful, period. Giving the opponent a free turn to setup against you is never a good idea, and were I your opponent, I would immediately take advantage of this with a DD, SD, Quiver Dance, etc. Tri-Attack does more than enough damage with STAB Adaptability. Recover is pretty useless on P-Z, it has crap defenses and would appreciate HP Fighting much more.

Looks fine. Consider Grass Knot, as OU has many heavy Pokemon you'd be hitting harder, but Energy Ball does a lot more to Rotom-W, so it's justifiable.

iirc, Icicle Crash is banned with Thick Fat (illegal combination, unless female Swinub can be found in DW now, unsure), but yes, Snow Cloak is very banned.

HP Fire or Ice would be ideal here in my opinion. Focus Sash might also be more useful, as it turns Alakazam into one of the very best revenge-killers in existence. Why is this important? If the opponent brings in a stat-booster that begins wrecking your team, especially a Fighting type that hits 4/6 of your Pokemon Super Effectively (DD Scrafty could be a huge issue here), Alakazam can come in, take one hit, and deal one back to stop the sweep. Life Orb is an attractive option, but I personally find Alakazam to be much more useful as a revenge killer. Matter of personal taste, I suppose.

Toxic > Aqua Ring if you don't want to be walled by Water types. Blizzard's 8 PP will ruin your stalling, and Steel types don't care about you either way. Walrein really doesn't work in OU.

Seems redundant with Alakazam.

Overall, this team has a lot of repetition. Jellicent and Heatran would be good for your team, replacing Walrein and Reuniclus, respectively. This gives you a Fighting and Fire immunity (plus Jellicent's Water Absorb, for bonus synergy with Heatran) that your team would appreciate. A lot of Hail users don't understand the value of not using Pokemon that benefit from it, but if you run this many Ice types, you're really just baiting yourself into being wrecked by Stealth Rock, Fire types, and Fighting types.

StallRein here is really not ideal, especially in OU, which is what your team is, by the inclusion of Alakazam, Mamoswine, and Reuniclus. It's very susceptible to entry hazards, has horrible coverage, and basically just sits there doing nothing to anything that resists Blizzard. If you'd like sets for Heatran and Jellicent, I'd be happy to provide them.

[quack98]

Hyper Beam is awful, period. Giving the opponent a free turn to setup against you is never a good idea, and were I your opponent, I would immediately take advantage of this with a DD, SD, Quiver Dance, etc. Tri-Attack does more than enough damage with STAB Adaptability. Recover is pretty useless on P-Z, it has crap defenses and would appreciate HP Fighting much more.
I'll try HP fighting, might have to breed a little for it though... I'll try a Tri-Attack one on my team and see how it goes.

Looks fine. Consider Grass Knot, as OU has many heavy Pokemon you'd be hitting harder, but Energy Ball does a lot more to Rotom-W, so it's justifiable.
Ive got a spare abomasnow, so I'll try him out with Grass Knot and see how it goes.

iirc, Icicle Crash is banned with Thick Fat (illegal combination, unless female Swinub can be found in DW now, unsure), but yes, Snow Cloak is very banned.
idk about it being banned, I got it off the GTS, so it may well be.

HP Fire or Ice would be ideal here in my opinion. Focus Sash might also be more useful, as it turns Alakazam into one of the very best revenge-killers in existence. Why is this important? If the opponent brings in a stat-booster that begins wrecking your team, especially a Fighting type that hits 4/6 of your Pokemon Super Effectively (DD Scrafty could be a huge issue here), Alakazam can come in, take one hit, and deal one back to stop the sweep. Life Orb is an attractive option, but I personally find Alakazam to be much more useful as a revenge killer. Matter of personal taste, I suppose.
I'll try HP fire, I think ice would be rather pointless from the amount of ice types... I can certainly swap items easily enough to see if he works with it, I can easily swap back if it doesn't work out.

(Cut the last bit off, because I'll explain below)

A Heatran set would be great, I never really use Heatran so don't really know how to use him. As for Jellicent, although he may be more competitive, I prefer Walreins design a lot more, which may seem odd to be a deciding factor in a competitive team, but I don't like to have Pokémon I don't like in my team. Could Vaporeon work in his place?

But yeah, a Heatran set would be cool, because it'd certainly help the fire weakness. If you could put how to use the set as well, that'd be great, because as I say, I've never used a Heatran before.

[Richard and Blaziken]

Sure, Vaporeon would work, though you lose out on a Fighting immunity. Here's a set for both:

Heatran@ Air Balloon / Leftovers
{Flash Fire}
Timid nature (+Speed, -Attack)
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Sp. Attack / 4 HP
Fire Blast
Earth Power
Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Grass
Stealth Rock

Heatran is multi-functional here, providing a Fire immunity and the ability to setup Stealth Rock for your team. Fire Blast is your best STAB attack, especially if you do nab that boost, and has a solid 85% accuracy that is worth risking a miss for such high base power. Earth Power is nice for opposing Heatran, Tyranitar switch-ins, and just good for coverage in general.

If this is for in-game, resetting for Timid and a Hidden Power with a high base power can be enough to drive you insane, but unfortunately, it's almost necessary on Heatran. Hidden Power Ice gives you a way to damage Dragons that could otherwise switch into you without caring about you too much, while Grass covers Water types that could easily switch in, such as Gastrodon. If you get too frustrated by this, Lava Plume, Toxic or Will-o-Wisp are decent alternate options for spreading status on the opponent.

Try not to let Heatran die too early here, especially if the opponent has a spinner, as you have no Ghost types to spinblock, and may need to set Stealth Rock multiple times. Heatran's resistances and immunity to Fire attacks are very useful.

Vaporeon@ Leftovers
{Water Absorb}
Bold nature (+Defense, -Attack)
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Defense / 8 Speed
Scald
Wish
Protect
Ice Beam / Blizzard / Roar / Toxic

Vaporeon, while not providing the Fighting immunity that Jellicent would provide, acts as a decent enough physical wall here. Scald is the STAB of choice, providing a nice Burn rate on the opponent (30%, for reference). Wish and Protect keep Vaporeon alive, which is nice, since Hail is negating Leftovers. Ice Beam provides an Ice attack that hurts Grass types and Dragon types, but Blizzard is certainly usable under Hail.

The reason why Ice Beam is the first listed here is a few reasons. Weather wars is the name of OU's metagame, and being able to immediately drop Blizzard to 70% by switching to Tyranitar, Politoed or Ninetales is annoying to have to deal with re-setting Hail just to be able to use Blizzard. Also, Blizzard's PP isn't ideal for a Pokemon that is meant to wall opponents, though a more powerful attack is appreciated in many instances. Roar is useful for phazing, especially if the opponent tries to stat-boost against you. Toxic is helpful for breaking down opposing walls and Water types, so the choice is mostly up to preference.

The EVs give Vaporeon maximum physical bulk, while also allowing you to outspeed Jellicent and Toxic it before it can Taunt you. Obviously, if you don't have a 31 Speed IV, this won't work.

[quack98]

Thanks Richard!

I think for HP on Heatran I'll go for Grass, although if I get Ice earlier I'll keep that!

As for Vaporeon, I think I'll go with Ice Beam, and then I can always swap it later, as all 4 moves you listed in that slot are TM moves, so it's easy enough to change.