first OU team (hail-based)

[ZynxDaLynx]

I know the last time I posted wasn't long ago, but that was an anything goes team. Plus, I wanted a weather based team and haven't seen any hail ones. But, I am still new.

Aurora Borealis (Ninetales-Alola) @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Pain Split
- Extrasensory
Lead and main aurora veil setter, able to last long time before dying thanks to pain split. Extrasensory is to kill random poison or fighting types, and blizzard just has high attack without missing.

Floaty (Jellicent) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Giga Drain
- Hex
Ice has 4 weaknesses. Fighting, fire, steel and rock. Jellicent covers fighting and fire, plus kills water types as well. Will-o-wisp is paired with hex for high damage, and giga drain and recover heal, making it last longer. Hight sp def, so can be decently annoying when paired with aurora veil

Hephaestus (Volcanion) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Focus Blast
- Steam Eruption
- Earth Power
Some random mon I threw in here to resist fire and give the team more... firepower. High sp atk and kills steel types.

Snow God (Articuno) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Haze
- Air Slash
- Hail
Secondary aurora veil setter if ninetails dies or is poisoned/burned in red HP. Which is always. Haze is there because after a few experiences with power split acupuncture spamming shuckles and their rest, i needed that. to reset all stats in the battlefield is good because my team doesn't usually have boosted stats. Should I fix that?

Berg (Arctozolt) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Slush Rush
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Thunder Wave
- Icicle Crash
- Stone Edge
I know many of my team members have heavy-duty boots, but thats cause I can't have a defogger. Defog also clears weather. Anyways, the ability Slush Rush doubles speed in hail, which makes it perfect for the team, and bolt beak's power goes up to 170 after doubling. Course, several mons can still outspeed it, but its the best i could get.

Drake (Garchomp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Fang
- Earthquake
Covers the rock and steel weaknesses of ice. Dragon is a strong type and I didn't have one, so i needed a good coverage mon with a dragon move and put in garchomp. moves are self-explanatory, all for attacking. Not sweeping, cause i seldom stack swords dance.

 

[r1dude]

I don’t think articuno-g does much for your team, as setting both veil and hail gives your opponent lots of free turns, you don’t need that much hail turn either, as your only hail abuser is arcto. Jelli and ninetales are quite hazard-weak, so you better have a defogger(defog doesn’t clean weather or your own aurora veil), I would suggest corviknight for that role. The volcanion should have more speed to outspeed slow mons like heatran and having sludge wave for the fairies. I recommend using this hail sample team built by a more experienced player to learn more about hail archetype:
https://pokepast.es/91a9b7ce591a2a1d

 

[Ehmcee]

Your Arctozolt set seems a bit out of place, with Thunder Wave and Stone Edge not being moves you should use often.
This is usually the standard Arctozolt set:
Arctozolt @ Leftovers
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 200 Atk / 76 SpA / 232 Spe
Naive Nature
- Substitute
- Bolt Beak
- Blizzard / Freeze-Dry
- Low Kick

In this case you can very well run boots over leftovers, as for the moves, substitute allows you a buffer so won't be in a position where you will need to make a prediction, low kick is mainly to hit Ferrothorn, but can also work as an option to punish a Tyranitar switchin.
Blizzard tends to generally be better than Icicle Crash, since it has a higher base power and is more accurate (under hail). Freeze-Dry can be a niche option for mons like Swampert and Seismitoad, but is generally worse than Blizzard.


I'd also run Scale Shot over Dragon Claw on Garchomp, for a chance to sweep with it, as well as the fact that on average scale shot will have a similar base power to dragon claw, with a chance to deal more.

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

edited

Garchomp: Scale shot replaced drag claw
Arctozolt: low kick replaced Thunder wave
Articuno: defog&roost replaced hail&auro veil

i didn't change any pokemon cause Im sorta attached to them now, and it works well
thanks for the advice

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

um... no. a little obsession I think of when naming ice magic related things.

 

[ScalchopFren]

i didn't change any pokemon

You should. Articuno is garbage. There are much better Ice-types, Flying-types, and Defoggers. The team r1dude linked would serve you much better as you climb the ladder, especially since it has a key Steel-type in the form of Corviknight which will serve as an infinitely better bird. Checks Kartana (which shreds you), can switch into Lele (which also shreds you), punishes broken Urshifu and Weavile for clicking their broken multi-hit moves (albeit less comfortably for Urshifu), etc. Steel is way too good a defensive type to not have one on your team, and Corviknight is an easy way to accomplish that while also giving you a (GOOD) Defogger and a way to generate more momentum with U-turn.

If you REALLY want to keep Garchomp then it's probably workable, though Lando is generally better because it helps you gain more momentum with U-turn. But, not using Ox's Hail team means you wouldn't have the key Ghost-switchin of AV Tornadus (Dragapult has Infiltrator to ignore your Veil, so you can't rely on that to protect you from it). Could probably put a setup Galarian Moltres there over Jellicent to provide a Ghost switchin and use Shadow Ball mons to set up on.

Here is the version with what I discussed. I changed the sets on Ninetales, Arctozolt, and Volcanion to match Ox's team, and adjusted Garchomp's set to give you Stealth Rock somewhere.

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

will try that

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

Fearless (Corviknight) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Mirror Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Roost

 

[Mada]

Hi! Hail is a really concept and Arcto is for sure a cool mon to use as it had stabbed boltbeam.
I would make some changes to make it better tho.

Major changes:
> Basically same concept as you said, Heatran helps covering Steel and Fire weakness but can provide more utility with Rocks and Toxic or the Balloon set can Taunt opposing setters such as Landorus and set their own Rocks.

Utility set

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 144 Def / 116 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Magma Storm
- Toxic
- Heavy Slam

Balloon set

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 184 HP / 72 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

> Cuno isn't really good as a hail setter and overall doesn't do much in OU, while Lando can help us against mons like Heatran while being able to Defog if needed and Pivot arround, bringing in safely our breakes like Arctozolt.

Lando set

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 22 Spe
- Knock Off
- Defog
- Earthquake
- U-turn

Minor changes:
We want Moonblast>Pain Split as it can hit mons like Urshifu better while we also prefer Encore/Hypnosis>Extrasensory as they are useful moves and Hypnosis can be really game changing if it hits.

I don't really love it but it is a fine mon and can even help vs Rain and break against mons like Heatran, Pex and Ferrothorn which is always great. Focus Blast isn't needed at all so we will use Sludge Wave instead to hit Fairy mons like Fini and Clef better, and we will run 184 Speed EVs as this way Volc doesn't get outpaced by 0 speed Lando, Victini at -1, Aegislash, Clefable, Celesteela and many other mons.

Thunder Wave isn't needed at all as we will use our turns to hit as hard as possible, let's use Low Kick instead which can kill mons like Ferrothorn and Excadrill. Icicle Crash is fine but we prefer Blizzard as Ice STAB and along with that we are making Arcto Naive. Last move will be Freeze-Dry as it helps vs Gastro and Swampert/Seismi.

The set is fine, just use Scale Shot>Dragon Claw as the Speed boost can be really important and make it a strong wallbreaker.

The team with my suggestions would look like this: https://pokepast.es/c09359334cd368a6
I hope this helped you and if you have any question feel free to ask :)

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

corviknight or lando?

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

also i find that natural cure blissey/chansey with eviolite can be really annoying to deal with since they tank everything and heal up, a solution?

 

[Fancy1]

Kill it with arctozolt or garchomp since blissey/chansey have really low physical defense

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

serously, corviknight or lando
and, which mon is best for haze? cause I want 1

 

[Fancy1]

Toxapex is a good haze mon and on the matter of lando or corv it depends which role you want fulfilled on your team, lando is immune to electric and can set up rocks and use Defog, corv is weak to electric but has a better defense stat and can check most physical attackers with rocky helmet

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

After editing with advice from all people, this is the team.

Lucifer (Garchomp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot

Berg (Arctozolt) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Slush Rush
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Low Kick
- Blizzard
- Stone Edge

Fearless (Corviknight) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Mirror Armor
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Roost

Hephaestus (Volcanion) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Haze
- Steam Eruption
- Earth Power

Inferno (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Magma Storm
- Toxic
- Heavy Slam

Aurora Borealis (Ninetales-Alola) @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Pain Split
- Moonblast

 

[dreepy]

Corv usually runs u-turn over one attacking move for momentum and to not get screwed over by mag. As Atrax madra said, freeze dry as last move over stone edge. Heatran should run flash fire here, but if flame body is viable (i dont really know), you may want to make it a bit more defensive in evs. Earth power over heavy slam completely special.

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

edited

p.s. most people are very predictive and dont have an ice resist, so this team really works! thanks for advice

 

[ScalchopFren]

Lucifer (Garchomp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot

I believe SD Garchomp still runs Leftovers even on a Veil team like this. That or Roseli Berry to take Fairy moves better; your pick. Otherwise the set is fine.

Berg (Arctozolt) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Slush Rush
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Low Kick
- Blizzard
- Stone Edge

Why is this now Choice Scarf? None of us suggested that. Arctozolt might not be the fastest thing in the world, but Slush Rush makes it faster than every unboosted mon in the tier bar Regieleki. Plus, locking yourself into moves will only hinder your sweeping/cleanup capabilities. What if they send in a Landorus on your Bolt Beak and then force you to switch and lose all momentum? Just use the set from the team AtraX Madara sent (see below):

Arctozolt @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 SpA / 232 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Freeze-Dry
- Bolt Beak
- Blizzard
- Low Kick

Fearless (Corviknight) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Mirror Armor
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Roost

Run Pressure over Mirror Armor. Pressure helps you stall things with Roost much easier, since they lose PP twice as fast. Give it U-turn over one of the other attacking moves so you can use it to pivot around stuff more effectively, generating momentum by bringing in another mon on something they might switch in. Your EVs should be 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SpD; the SpDef helps you take Psychic from Specs Lele a lot better.

Hephaestus (Volcanion) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Haze
- Steam Eruption
- Earth Power

I wanna say Timid Volcanion is more popular nowadays, since offensive Heatran has become way more common and that hits 253 Speed if it's Modest (max Speed Timid Volcanion hits 262). You'll definitely lose out on power, but it's worth it in the long run. Also, again, nobody suggested you use Haze and I don't know why it's here. You need Sludge Wave in that slot to not get hard walled by Tapu Fini (not that it can do much in return, but still).

Volcanion @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power

Inferno (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Magma Storm
- Toxic
- Heavy Slam

My favorite Heatran: the one walled by other Heatran. I don't really understand why you were given a set without Earth Power, but it's a pretty important aspect of using the mon (used for hitting opposing Heatran as well as Toxapex). I've heard of Heavy Slam being used before, but only alongside Earth Power. If you wanted to keep it, you'd have to scrap Toxic or put Stealth Rock on Garchomp. Also make it Flash Fire over Flame Body.

Aurora Borealis (Ninetales-Alola) @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Pain Split
- Moonblast

To my knowledge, I believe Ninetales usually runs max HP so it can stick around for longer and set up Veil/hail more often. But, you can keep the 252 SpA if you want to. I would also prefer Freeze Dry over Blizzard to hit the always common bulky Water-types, and Encore over Pain Split to lock mons into something i.e. a setup move.

two versions of the team each with a different Heatran set
https://pokepast.es/e248b60f63dd8fcd
https://pokepast.es/327cea249d67273d

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

firstly, Volcanion's haze is there to prevent spamming raise def and sp. def rest mons from being too annoying, and i really want it but there appears to be no choice. and, ninetales pain split can be really useful and do more than normal attacks, so also i want to keep it. other changes ive done.

 

[ScalchopFren]

I know what Haze does. You do not need it. Period. You will get infinitely more value out of Sludge Wave than it.

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

that may be true, but what about the annoying stall mons? and tails' pain split?

 

[ScalchopFren]

What "stall" mons are you even talking about? Most things that boost their defenses in this tier boost physical defense (i.e. via Iron Defense), so you shouldn't struggle with them as a special attacker.

Calm Mind Clefable might get annoying, but you 2HKO that with (surprise surprise) Sludge Wave.
252 SpA Volcanion Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Clefable: 226-268 (57.3 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

If you want to run Specs instead of Boots, you can get the same roll as above when they're at +1, and even have a chance to OHKO when they don't have a boost.
252 SpA Choice Specs Volcanion Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Clefable: 340-400 (86.2 - 101.5%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

If your issue is with Volcarona...well, it shouldn't be.
252 SpA Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. +1 248 HP / 0 SpD Volcarona: 230-272 (61.6 - 72.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The only setup mon that should realistically give you trouble without Haze is Cosmic Power Mew. But, Mew is often run as a hazard lead (when it's run at all), so your chances of finding the Cosmic Power set aren't as high. If you're REALLY scared of that set, you can run this Galarian Moltres set over Heatran:

Moltres-Galar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Berserk
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Wrath
- Hurricane
- Nasty Plot
- Agility (could potentially make this Taunt as well)

This would also give you a Ghost resist that your team lacks.

Other than the things I mentioned above, most defense boosting mons are niche garbage that are not common enough for you to worry about them. Use Sludge Wave.

As for the Pain Split thing: you can use it if you absolutely insist, but you'll get a lot more out of Encore.

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

i meant, the one pokemon teams such as shuckle. those things (one of em anyway) like using power split, so my attack and sp atk is very lowered, then start spamming acupressure and rest. So most my attacks don't hit and when it does the damage is like 5%. when i actually get shuckle to half hp they rest. and other 'creative sets' like eviolite acid armor cosmic power, stored power and (guess what?) rest duosion. u never seen them? or anything similar?

 

[Ehmcee]

i meant, the one pokemon teams such as shuckle. those things (one of em anyway) like using power split, so my attack and sp atk is very lowered, then start spamming acupressure and rest. So most my attacks don't hit and when it does the damage is like 5%. when i actually get shuckle to half hp they rest. and other 'creative sets' like eviolite acid armor cosmic power, stored power and (guess what?) rest duosion. u never seen them? or anything similar?

I can assure you that Shuckle basically never runs power split:

Shuckle Usage Stats

Stealth Rock 99.585% |
| Sticky Web 99.434% |
| Encore 95.257% |
| Toxic 57.178% |
| Final Gambit 37.450% |
| Other 11.095%

The rest set you're describing is incredibly rare and also very bad.
Your Volcanion is already dealing over 55% with one steam eruption, and that is without specs:
252 SpA Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Shuckle: 140-168 (57.3 - 68.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


The "annoying stall mons" will literally always lose to Taunt, If you are that worried about niche one mon stall teams, run Heatran over Volcanion with Taunt, it will shut down any of those attempts.

I understand and suspect that you're probably pretty low on the ladder, and looking for advice to beat the simpler teams, but RMT's will usually try to also prepare your team for higher level threats that you will usually see in the 1500-2000 range, i can assure you that you will never run into a niche omniboost duosion or shuckle in those level ranges, simply because those mons aren't very good.

 

[ZynxDaLynx]

okayyyy...

Lucifer (Garchomp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot

Silver Iceberg (Arctozolt) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Slush Rush
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Low Kick
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry

Fearless (Corviknight) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost

Hephaestus (Volcanion) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Wave
- Steam Eruption
- Earth Power

Inferno (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Earth Power
- Magma Storm
- Toxic
- Heavy Slam

Aurora Borealis (Ninetales-Alola) @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 88 HP / 220 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Pain Split
- Moonblast

and with that, my team is EDITED!