Unresolved Conflict~ A hail team

[Diverse City]

fHail- the underestimated skill. Why on earth is it NEVER a team someone wants to play with? It is a very effective form of stall. It's all the offensive sandstorm. Is that the only weather condition? Well, i'll show you it is NOT. Heres my team:

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee133/Amanda_6868/Abomasnow.gif http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww274/SHIRLP_2009/Pokemon%20album/pkrs175.gif http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo354/grasslegend1745/dpmfa073.png http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss191/mihai_fulgerul33/Swampert.png http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn279/masterspokemon14/Froslass.png http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn279/masterspokemon14/Hariyama.png

Now, you can obviously see some fire/rock/steel weakness, but that is almost umavoidable on a hail team. Now lets look at the movesets:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd281/artytimmy/PMD/abomasnow.png@Leftovers
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Spe / 4 Sp. Atk
Nature: Timid
~ Leech Seed
~ Substitute
~ Blizzard
~ Ingrain

Your obvious lead, abomasnow. Basically, I made this thing as bulky as possible, and put in my strategy. Use leech seed, and if possible ingrain. Now, leech is sapping away at the same time of hail, while you are substituting and recovering 24% hp, virtually taking away the sub damage. This strategy WILL if it works beat atleast one pokemon(or half of two, 3rd of three, whatever)

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h57/TPitcher/Super%20Smash%20Bros%204/Poke%20Ball/Walrein.png@Leftovers
Ability: Ice Body
EVs: 220 HP / 240 Def / 48 Spe
Nature: Bold
~ Protect
~ Substitute
~ Earthquake
~ Surf

EERYONE FEARS THE MIGHTY STALLREIN! He just LOVES to enjoy his stay, and stay LONG. With 32 turns of sustitute and protect, toxic spikes support, and hail, this WILL beat atleast 2 offensive pokemon. There isn't much more to say, though.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w209/ChiNeko_2007/Pokemon/Water/Tentacruel.png@Leftovers
Ability: Clear body
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
Nature: Bold
~ Surf
~ Toxic Spikes
~ Knock Off
~ Rapid Spin/Sludge bomb

Gives me the easy switch i need into toxic spikes, and then gives them back em. Tentacruel also will counter infenape, knock off wall's leftovers, making them vulnerable to hail, and rapid spins orsludge bombs. A great poke for my team.


http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj137/SNK575/swampert.png@leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 236 HP / 220 Def / 52 SpA
Nature: Relaxed
~ Earthquake
~ Blizzard
~ Stealth Rock
~ Roar

This pokemon provides psuedo hazing and stealth rock for my team. It is also effective in it's rock/fire resistances, making it a valuable addition to my team. Now, entry hazards will be a problem for opponents, so, I need something to block rapid spin.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g121/pichincunca/froslass.png@Brightpowder
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
~ Spikes
~ Substitute
~ Thunder Wave/Confuse Ray
~ Blizzard

This is used to stop rapid spinners, set up spikes, and resist fighting. Thunder Wave will disable the opponent effectivly, while confuse ray will do the same but hurt them too, which leads to more effective stalling. Blizzard is some painful S.T.A.B., though thunderbolt provides coverage.


http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp104/chibiipompom/hariyama.png@Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 76 HP / 180 Atk / 252 Def
Nature: Adamant
~ Knock Off
~ Close Combat
~ Ice Punch
~ Stone Edge

Hariyama is the offensive powerhouse of my team, while giving fire resistance, being one of the best t-tar counters in the game, and being able to knock off, becomes very needed in my team. As this guy can survive hits, I can knock off, and then rampage with enomormous physical power. This pokemon is very needed in my team.


GAME PLAN
First of all, obviously, abomasnow will come in and hopefully destroy a pokemon with his Leech Seed/Ingrain strategy. Then, the fun comes. I will either send out tentacruel or swampert, setting up stealth rock/toxic spikes, and countering the probable counter of abomasnow, notably tyranitar or more hopefully infernape. Then, i can hopefully get out froslass to set up spikes and knock off. Then, I send in swampert and start psuedo hazing, doing good damage to the enemy. Then i start stalling. As I absorb hits with a pokemon, there will be massive damage being loaded onto the opponent. Then walrein will take out the rest, and if that doesn't work, hariyama can come in and do some decent damage.

So thats my team. Thankyou.

[Dimes]

Bright Powder sucks, as you HAVE to rely on a miss, and isn't reliable, not to mention it is banned from most games. And thunderbolt is a must on Froslass, cause your team gets out stalled by Tentacruel and Blastiose especially Tentacruel..

[BlackRain]

Bright Powder sucks, as you HAVE to rely on a miss, and isn't reliable, not to mention it is banned from most games. And thunderbolt is a must on Froslass, cause your team gets out stalled by Tentacruel and Blastiose especially Tentacruel..


pretty good but as he said has some weakness

[Dimes]

1. You don't rate a rate. 2. I know he said that, but bob needs to covers those weaknesses. Stating that he has a weakness himself doesn't help when he doesn't want help with it.

[PlasmaVEX]

Let's see.

There are a few more things you should try to watch out for on any given hail team when trying to defend against the typical ICE type counters. One thing I see is a big Electric/Grass weakness for your dual water types. While Swampert has to deal with a 4x weakness to grass, both Walrein and Tentacruel suffer from grass/elec and electric types respectively. Now we usually only see grass type moves as a supplementary attack in most counters (Grass Knot and Hidden Power) as the grass type has too many common weaknesses, but electric is very common in the metagame. Zapdos and Electivire can both work your team over in a flash. They both have huge move pools and consistently boast electric, fire, grass, and fighting type moves (all the bane of an ICE type's existence). Breloom also works wonders against an ICE team due to its typical move sets. Plus he out speeds your Abomasnow, Swampert and Hariyama with no problem.

The next thing I notice is the slow game play of most of your pokes. While I understand that stalling/countering is the main focus of this team, if something speedy sets up on you, you're on thin ice so to speak. Switching out Hariyama for a Choice Band or Life Orb Mamoswine would work wonders for this team. Mamo is faster than Hari and packs a more powerful punch at that. He also has access to the priority move Ice Shard which utterly destroys most Dragon Dancers in one hit. In addition, he has the classic EQ/Stone Edge combo for max type coverage and still has another move slot open for an attack of your choice. Also, he has the ability Snow Cloak which compliments a Hail team very well. Another reason for Mamoswine to grace your team would be the immunity and benefits of having a pokemon who resists Sandstorms and can counter both Tyranitar and Hippowdon with EQ and Ice Fang/Blizzard respectively.

I would also opt for a safer Abomasnow set. The reason being is that Abomasnow is a horrible lead aside from setting up Hail. He's too slow for any sweeping and ingrain/leech seed relies on two whole turns in order to be set up properly. I assure that the majority of opponents will either Taunt Aboma, switch pokes or just attack the living daylights out of it. I would propose Protect over Ingrain. This allows you to scout your opponent's moves then counter more effectively and it also allows for your leech seed + hail to ebb your opponent's life away for an extra turn. Another thing about hail teams: Hail Team - Hail = Fail. If a Hippodon or Tyranitar switches in and Abomasnow isn't there to set up Hail again, any hail team turns to fail very quickly. That is why survivability for Abomasnow is key and why protect is a necessity for it. This is also why you should consider a Mamoswine for your team, again. It lives in hail and sandstorm and counters sandstream pokes. And after the sandstorm pokes are no more you can switch Aboma back in and continue your Hail strategy.

Last is the glorious Stallrein!!! The only thing I could say about it is that I would take Toxic over Earthquake. It speeds up the stalling process and can even help you set up subs because a lot of pokes will switch when badly poisoned. Toxic destroys those pesky walls and also nerfs opposing bulky waters as well. My strategies:
If you're switching in - 1) Protect to regain HP. 2) Toxic the *******. 3) Substitute on the switch. 4) Protect. 5) Sub then repeat steps 4-5.
If Stallrein is put in after a poke faints - 1)Toxic. 2) Protect. 3)Sub. 4) Repeat steps 2-3.
I'll tell you right now, I've come back from a 3+ pokes vs Stallrein situation quite a few times with this strategy, no lie!

Okay. That's it for my input! Let me just say that ICE is my favorite type and Hail teams are ftw!!! I have a few Hail teams and I love to see new spins on them a lot!