Introduction
This idea actually came up when I was thinking of stuff to build for SPL. A certain user (forgot who) showed a strong weakness to Ice Types so I considered an extreme ice spam type of build, and here we are. Since the mon I was building around originally was Ice Cream, I used that as my base. I looked through the slush rush mons and found a hidden gem in Beartic. Beartic is cool because it only takes mid 30s ish from Steelix's heavy slam. It's strong as fuck and the only thing that would hinder it is lacking a way to damage Slowbro. I did some digging and turns out Beartic gets throat chop, an 80 base power dark move. This is when I went the full hail route and added a Sandslash because it has a nice offensive typing and I decided that as my Z user. I added a bro because.. it's a bro and Druddigon for rocks. Lastly, I added Rotom as a get away defogger in case hazards became too annoying. This is a really straightforward team that most people can pilot. I went about 21-1 in the beginning of my NULT ladder run and also got NU suspect requirements with the new system going 34-3.
Team
Vanilluxe @ Choice Specs
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
The hail setter itself. Vanilluxe has always been a strong as fuck mon and I feel like people under prep for it nowadays-not like there's many ways to prep for it anyways. Blizzard as the strongest, most spammable move that dents every team paired with freeze-dry to hit the bulky waters that resist blizzard like Slowbro and Slowking, etc. Flash Cannon to do about half to most Cryos and hit Piloswines. HP fighting is an interesting last but I've grown to like it a lot. You can stay in 1v1 vs a Sneasel that would surely knock vs this team and just kill it. It also hits Probopass and Incineroar as HP ground would.
King (Beartic) @ Life Orb
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Superpower
- Swords Dance
- Throat Chop
My first hail abuser, Beartic. This mon hits insanely hard and also has a decent amount of bulk to live things, especially Steelix's heavy slam. I picked Adamant nature because even with Jolly, scarf mons like Delphox and Houndoom outspeed anyways. Adamant + life orb also allows a roll to kill Slowbro from full from a +2 throat chop after hail, guaranteed after rocks. Icicle crash is its strongest stab and hits hard and every non-resist. Superpower is an amazing coverage move for the bear, allowing it to hit any steel resists or just nuke types its effective against.
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Beartic Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 338-398 (85.7 - 101%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
128+ Atk Steelix Heavy Slam (40 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Beartic: 116-138 (35 - 41.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Sandslash-Alola @ Icium Z
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
My second hail abuser, Sandslash. Sandslash has a slightly better speed tier than Beartic which is helpful in some cases. The typing is nice because the steel grants it neutral effectiveness from rocks. Sandslash gets great coverage in Earthquake and its stab Icicle Crash and Iron Head. Pretty obviously, the set is completely walled by Slowbros. Beartic is meant to surprise the Bros and enable Slash and itself to start sweeping teams. Swords Dance is a great move for Slash because it does not have a very high base stat (100). It has decent bulk so it's not too hard to set up with it. I put the z on Slash because I prefer the immediate and consistent damage life orb grants to Beartic and wanted to use Slash as more of a late game sweeper/nuke if I need it bad.
Slowbro @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Toxic
Slowbro is the perfect Pokemon for a hail team like this. Its typing walls all the major weaknesses like Fire and Fighting and its absurd defense makes it an incredibly reliable switch-in to many physical moves. Regenerator is a broken ability that allows me to abuse eject button. Theoretically in a game, I lead Vanilluxe then double out to Bro against a threat, activating eject button and granting momentum for one of my hail sweepers or a hazard setter. Pretty typical set outside of that; dual stab with broken move Scald, Slack Off also broken on Slowbro, and Toxic for opposing Bros and other annoying walls.
Druddigon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake
- Taunt
Slowbro @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Toxic
Slowbro is the perfect Pokemon for a hail team like this. Its typing walls all the major weaknesses like Fire and Fighting and its absurd defense makes it an incredibly reliable switch-in to many physical moves. Regenerator is a broken ability that allows me to abuse eject button. Theoretically in a game, I lead Vanilluxe then double out to Bro against a threat, activating eject button and granting momentum for one of my hail sweepers or a hazard setter. Pretty typical set outside of that; dual stab with broken move Scald, Slack Off also broken on Slowbro, and Toxic for opposing Bros and other annoying walls.
Druddigon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake
- Taunt
All teams need a rocker, of course. This lead me out to picking Druddigon, using a less standard set for sure. I opted for Rough Skin so I could chip threats like Hariyama a lot faster over the more common ability, Mold Breaker. The reason I can throw away such a useful ability is because the majority of my team abuses Xatu, the would-be counter to Rough Skin Druddi. I run a bit of creep to prevent Rocks from things like Piloswine, opposing Drudds, and such. Dragon Tail phazes set-up sweepers like Scrafty out and Earthquake helps chip Steelix and is a solid attack. Taunt prevents rocks from going up on the field.
Rotom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Defog
Based on the previous 5 Pokemon, there are some glaring weaknesses. There is a lack of ground resists, hazard control, no scarfer, and no electric resist/immunity. Well, the last slot on a team can only do so much to fill these in but Rotom fit in quite nicely. USUUMO (official name btw) gave it Defog, replacing Trick on the original Scarf Rotom set. The set is filled with standard moves; Volt Switch for momentum, Thunderbolt is its strongest STAB, and Shadow Ball, its other STAB and decent damage. While Rotom is by no means a solid switch-in to electric moves, I was already satisfied with the team and decided the best way to handle electric mons is to play better.
Threatlist
Sneasel: Nothing actually switches in to a banded Knock Off. The best way to handle it is to bait it to stay in and kill with HP Fighting. Otherwise, Druddi will chip it a ton with Rocks and Rough Skin + helm. Sandslash also takes 2 Knocks so it serves as a one time switch.
Hariyama: Yama actually isn't too bad, you can easily switch Druddigon into it and have it take a lot of damage from the barbs and Hail residual. After that, the two hail abusers can take it out.
Delphox: This is a tricky one. Slowbro can usually take on its scarf sets but if its Z Calm Mind, something is dying for sure. The best way to handle it if its not scarf is to first hard Bro scouting its set then double out on the predicted Z into Sandslash or something and revenge with EQ.
Houndoom: honestly, if you run into a scarf Houndoom it's time to spam that X button because nothing resists its dark STAB that it's free to spam. However, you can attempt to HP Fighting as it Dark Pulses on a prediction or wittle it with rocks. It won't have many opportunities to click Fire Blast because of Slowbro and Druddi, so Beartic and Sandslash can easily live a pulse and kill.
Heliolisk: This is another one of those "forfeit if spotted" pokemon because it just spams Volt Switch forever and does a million to everything. A way of handling this is by making Rotom HP Fighting>Thunderbolt because Rotom can usually take a couple hits with ease, but that's obviously not that reliable.
Importable
Rotom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Defog
Based on the previous 5 Pokemon, there are some glaring weaknesses. There is a lack of ground resists, hazard control, no scarfer, and no electric resist/immunity. Well, the last slot on a team can only do so much to fill these in but Rotom fit in quite nicely. USUUMO (official name btw) gave it Defog, replacing Trick on the original Scarf Rotom set. The set is filled with standard moves; Volt Switch for momentum, Thunderbolt is its strongest STAB, and Shadow Ball, its other STAB and decent damage. While Rotom is by no means a solid switch-in to electric moves, I was already satisfied with the team and decided the best way to handle electric mons is to play better.
Threatlist
Sneasel: Nothing actually switches in to a banded Knock Off. The best way to handle it is to bait it to stay in and kill with HP Fighting. Otherwise, Druddi will chip it a ton with Rocks and Rough Skin + helm. Sandslash also takes 2 Knocks so it serves as a one time switch.
Hariyama: Yama actually isn't too bad, you can easily switch Druddigon into it and have it take a lot of damage from the barbs and Hail residual. After that, the two hail abusers can take it out.
Delphox: This is a tricky one. Slowbro can usually take on its scarf sets but if its Z Calm Mind, something is dying for sure. The best way to handle it if its not scarf is to first hard Bro scouting its set then double out on the predicted Z into Sandslash or something and revenge with EQ.
Houndoom: honestly, if you run into a scarf Houndoom it's time to spam that X button because nothing resists its dark STAB that it's free to spam. However, you can attempt to HP Fighting as it Dark Pulses on a prediction or wittle it with rocks. It won't have many opportunities to click Fire Blast because of Slowbro and Druddi, so Beartic and Sandslash can easily live a pulse and kill.
Heliolisk: This is another one of those "forfeit if spotted" pokemon because it just spams Volt Switch forever and does a million to everything. A way of handling this is by making Rotom HP Fighting>Thunderbolt because Rotom can usually take a couple hits with ease, but that's obviously not that reliable.
Importable
Vanilluxe @ Choice Specs
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
Slowbro @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Toxic
Beartic @ Life Orb
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Superpower
- Swords Dance
- Throat Chop
Druddigon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake
- Taunt
Sandslash-Alola @ Icium Z
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
Rotom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Defog
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
Slowbro @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Toxic
Beartic @ Life Orb
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Superpower
- Swords Dance
- Throat Chop
Druddigon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake
- Taunt
Sandslash-Alola @ Icium Z
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
Rotom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Defog
Conclusion
Unfortunately, I do not save ladder replays often so I can't find any of it in action but records on ladder of 34-3 on suspect and 21-1 in NULT can speak for itself. This is a really gimmicky team and it's pretty fun. I definitely recommend it for anyone who wants to spam broken ass Ice moves or climb ladder quickly.
Here's the amv my friend HT showed me that prompted the title of this rmt:
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I like this team a lot because it is simple and seems so fun to use! My suggestion to you would be to run SpD on Druddigon over Defense. This is because Slowbro already tanks a lot of physical hits, and to an extent Sandslash as well, while you don't really have anything to take special attacks. This will help you with some of the biggest threats to your team that you listed in your threatlist such as Heliolisk and Houndoom. I guess you could run Colbur Berry then on Slowbro to help against the increased weakness vs. Sneasel and Hariyama.
