The Rise of Pokemon's "Worst" Weather.

Pokemon Competitive Singles in Generation 5 is one of the most infamous formats in the games history. Defined by Permanent weather effects like Drizzle and Sand Stream, and extremely powerful Central Pokemon like Latios, Keldeo and Thundurus-Therian, the wild matchup swings and high power level turns many away.
However, this format firmly stands out from every single other OU.
Hail has long been considered the worst Weather effect to build around. Abomasnow and it's poor defenses along with the downsides of running Multiple Ice types makes it difficult to take advantage of Hail synergy.
However, Hail's chip damage effect and Abomasnow's positive matchup against not only the common weather setters, but various Popular threats in the metagame, give Hail some value as an Anti Meta strategy.
Recently, Hail has risen significantly in popularity at high level play and is having a lot of Success.
Outro Music by Pete S. Check out his other music here:
open.spotify.com/track/1x5XyA...
Iron Mugulis and Iron Fellow know all about it.
Only Jim knows about the viability of Cloyster. All other sources of information are liars and are inaccurate.
Become a Patron if you want.
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Some will never figure out how to get Abomasnow in Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet. But famous player Jim Cool is well aware of the Best Abomasnow Moveset in Competitive, and even how to Abomasnow Shiny Farm. Many aren't and never will be. That's just the unfortunate reality of the world.
Arceus exists.
The below text is very relevant to many people.
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#competitivepokemon #pokemonshowdown #scarletandviolet #gen9 #thetealmask #gen5

[@jimothycool]

I'll be taking down jimothycool.com/ on April 9th @ 9am ET while I work on some new Merch. Iron Mugulis will be unavailable until the Site is back online, and I'm not 100% sure when that will be. But he WILL return in the future. If you'd like to get an Iron Mugulis before then now's your chance! Thanks for all the support.

[@DragapultRules]

Unfortunately I live in Singapore, I would love an Iron Mugulis of my own. Maybe I'll even start breeding them >:) Love the channel keep up the great work! I've also tried out Gen 3 OU recently, it's very fun. It's kind of refreshing for HO to not be insane, not have to worry about tera, and not spam pivoting moves.

[@RagdollM]

NO THIS VIDEO JUST MADE IT TO MY FEED

[@Yousef77077]

The worst weather is right here in Kuwait where it’s 52 Celsius all summer.

[@jimothycool]

That is rough.

[@Pudcup]

That sounds like it's half way to boiling.

[@smoorevgc]

What the fuck is a celsius

[@MaahirMomtaz12]

​@@smoorevgcThe superior temperature system

[@Mr.Sax.]

You need some Politoeds

[@SSBMNicki]

The worst weather in Pokémon is the foggy route in sinnoh where your 100% accurate moves will always miss.

[@notshockwavedemon7543]

Fog also returned as a natural weather in SwSh crazy enough The same gen that gave BDSP Thankfully Fog was never a weather you yourself can cause

[@SSBMNicki]

​@@notshockwavedemon7543you aren't ready for my un-defog + minimize blissey set

[@christiancinnabars1402]

@SSBMNicki Double Team Keen Eye Refog about to break Skarmory for the 1/5th of a day the weather is allowed outside of AG.

[@TheRedSmarty]

​@@notshockwavedemon7543 Both set up Misty Terrain though and not the accuracy-lowering effect. But they put the accuracy-lowering version of fog in Legends: Arceus!

[@unkarsthug4429]

I kind of wish we got a version of fog that benefited ghost types.

[@songbongbang519]

Another advantage of Forretress (5:22) is that it has the ability Overcoat, making it immune to Hail's chip damage. Truly, Forretress is insane in the membrane.

[@jimothycool]

You're right I never even realized such a thing.

[@noahwells7922]

Video hasn’t loaded but I hope jimmy doesn’t say hail is the worst weather. It’s my favorite.

[@noahwells7922]

I am devasted

[@jimothycool]

Hail has beaten these allegations in the recent Gen 5 OU metagame. I would say Sun is the worst weather in that Gen.

[@Pudcup]

​@@jimothycoolVileplune is CRYING

[@franciscopereira7798]

​@@jimothycoolafter all its best abusers got banned

[@moyai5317]

Using knock off in hail feels way more impactful than sand because steels will know take dmg from hail unlike in sand where would just not heal and dont take chip dmg from weather

[@axselo7653]

We live in times where more and more pokemon are getting bald on thumbnails. We will remember you Politoad’s single hair o7.

[@LukeA471]

I totally thought this was going to be a "it's good because it became snow instead of hail" and that was it 😂

[@curtis4278]

SAME

[@ivanlol7153]

Have you considered the idea of predicting where Iron Mugulis will go next and placing hazards so Iron Mugulis cannot use the devastating Half Full?

[@jimothycool]

A novel idea.

[@vz_61_skorpion]

What the hail is going on

[@toblerone1729]

I read that in Steven He's voice 😂 What the hail, indeed

[@saladgaming4339]

I can't believe iron mugulis would do this, sending thoughts and prayers to sinistcha

[@frogwhisperer4268]

Fun fact, Sandstorm damage was nerfed by half from gen 2 to gen 3 (due to intro of Sand Stream). Hail was introduced in gen 3 and it's just insanely terrible in that gen.

[@aldrichunfaithful3589]

hail is only bad in gen 3 because abomasnow doesn't exist. skarmory, swampert, metagross, jirachi and flygon all commonly use protect to abuse their leftovers healing, and ttar, forretress, aero, and dug all benefit greatly from sand immunity. if abomasnow was in gen 3 then hail would be great for hyper offense, regice and cloyster would be insane, and thanks to no physical special split abomasnow would be solid defensively too, with fire coverage becoming mandatory to beat it. if you don't believe me check out hoenn gaiden, which is a modded version of gen 3 ou with lots of new additions including abomasnow, and hail is just as good as sand there. jim has a video on it

[@iantaakalla8180]

I hate that Ice types get moves that improve it after the meta it would have been immediately useful save Arctozolt and Paldea Ice-types.

[@usernametaken017]

In vanilla gen three blizzard isn't 100% accurate on hail. Fucked up

[@justinfabela4899]

Another thing to note about abomasnow is that Leech Seed does extremely well to punish opposing weather setters on switch. Its just such a high value move and works wonders for helping you win in the long haul.

[@AmoniPaleo]

Just a few years ago people say Abomasnow was "Bad" perhaps even "The worst weather setter" This video cleary shows that even if Abomasnow isn't top tier, sometimes thinking outside of the box and experiment with a off meta weather does have its upsides.

[@joaquincasascortes624]

Abomasnow was always an underrated team player imo

[@iantaakalla8180]

I suppose the ability to replace a synergistic weather with a “jack of all weathers” weather team is a very good strategy in a generation where weather synergies were at their highest.

[@gregorymirabella1423]

And now it's a completely different weather being set by a psychic poison type. Truth is stranger than fiction.

[@MyHandleIsAplaceholder]

Trick Room?

[@MacZephyrZ]

​@@MyHandleIsAplaceholderThey're referring to snow, which is sometimes set in Gen 9 by a Slowking-Galar using Chilly Reception.

[@gregorymirabella1423]

@@MacZephyrZ Sometimes? Glowking spams that move on all of its non-av sets.

[@gregorymirabella1423]

@@MyHandleIsAplaceholder Snow.

[@iantaakalla8180]

Because that allows Galarian Slowking to perform Teleport shenanigans without Teleport.

[@Wayte13]

Hail teams be like "I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me"

[@Rumielle]

Magic guard in hail kinda is like hail with no hail, I think I finally cracked the code.

[@iantaakalla8180]

Would you like unlimited games but no hail, or unlimited hail but no hail?

[@aidanharris6701]

Hail has long been considered the worst weather condition in Pokemon

[@kneearrow1813]

Especially in gen 5 OU, a metagame that centers around permanent weather effects

[@naturalharmoniagropius4486]

Sand and Rain teams are top-tier in this generation

[@YungNikey]

and the lesser weather effects of sun and hail are rarely seen

[@dradel2050]

Politoed rain teams have the strongest weather synergies

[@MelonSeedOfficial]

With abilities like rain dish, hydration and the enhancement of powerful moves like thunder and hurricane

[@tripleaxelblaze]

sun is the worst weather in bw and it has been that way for a while since the dug ban. excadrill hail is also bad as you can no longer beat skarm. instead players have recently apapted to using overcoat foretress as it reliably spins vs sand fats that rely on skarm for spikes

[@usernametaken017]

what the fuck is going on in bw ou

[@irenemurphy1110]

We need an Iron Jugulis apology video.

[@chilitofu3512]

jim do you like infinite bacon or games more?

[@jimothycool]

I would like to have Infinite games but No games.

[@LonesomeDevil]

I like how the solution to make Hail teams work in competitive is to just not use the Ice types which benefit the most from the weather... Ouch.

[@Gotsyn]

Gamefreak are genius game designers 🤡

[@alzef1375]

It's so sad because there's no "cradily" in ice combos. There's no synergy that can patch up the ice weaknesses enough to make them decent at taking a hit or two. Steel makes them 4x weak to fighting and fire, which is insane because steel usually patches up other types. Ghost doesn't do anything about rock or fire, and I'm pretty sure water ice is mid at best too.

[@lucasgreer1736]

​@@alzef1375ice/steel is pretty good defensively other than the types it's 4x weak to, kinda like water/ground but worse, something like heatproof would be much appreciated

[@alzef1375]

@@lucasgreer1736 hmmm, heatproof only leaves 2x ground and 4x fighting which can be punished by flying and ghost respectively... Maybe you're right. It could be something like an ancient crystal or something, kinda like gigalith but more crystalline or snowy.

[@LonesomeDevil]

@@alzef1375 At least the change from Hail to Snow made Articuno an anti-meta pick... in VGC only... and now that people know of this loophole, they'll prepare their team to counter it more so we'll most likely never see it successful again... 💀

[@alexdrake4081]

Remember when politoed was meta defining? Me neither

[@rogeredrogered]

I was like, “yeah gen 9 hails better” but somehow gen 5 was brought up

[@CantusTropus]

I always love hearing about new developments in old metagames, especially the discovery that a meta is far less solved than was previously thought. This is insane.

[@Gettenhart]

Never thought I'd hear Jimothy perfectly pronounce gordito. Ésto es una locura (This is insane)

[@slyfox7452]

Abomasnow being weaker than politoad is so odd

[@rjante2236]

Hail would be so much better if Ice types had actual defensive qualities, like an Electric resistance.

[@Alderoth]

Go Pack go!

[@Vivat_Veritas]

"The idea is that when hail is up, the enemy will hate it even more than they do" feels like a very good one-sentence summary as to how these teams work. Great video

[@Almond19912]

As a veteran abombasnow enjoyer, it has filled me with pride to see my favourite weather climb the ranks

[@ShadowLady1]

Its funny you made this as soon as i tried to make a hail team earlier

[@dakoriolf]

“Thanks to the efforts of wretched creature Arctozolt, sun is finally not as good as hail”

[@austinhensley6553]

one of the most consistent bw1 teams ever had no spinner, multiple rock weak mons, and multiple UU or lower mons. it was also hail

[@ziggmiceter]

Wasn't expecting a bunch of on screen reggaeton references today, thank you gordito

[@bananaspice1967]

Obama is truly a cold classic

[@jrodd13]

Obamasnow

[@Eroil]

Obamnasnow

[@ucantstoptheflopp4387]

Obamasnow

[@personne1341]

Abomasnow : "No one likes me 😢 ! But my enemies hate me more !"

[@deathpigeon2]

Imagine how insane Snow would've been in Gen 5 with permanent weather.

[@joshuacross3599]

Stuff like this is why I love gen 5 OU. It's just fun and weird. It has so many quirks to play around with.

[@LlamaDJ]

yes i love gen 3 ou but please more gen 5 content, it rules and theres so much to learn

[@CaptainJLinebeck]

I've often wondered how different the Weather Wars of Gen 5 would've been if Pelliper had been given Drizzle during then instead of in Gen 7

[@felipesilva3732]

Honestly, fire and steel should've absolutely been immune to hail. Sandstorm is the rock weather yet it also benefits ground and steel who are strong against it so I think it'd be fine.

[@hugomventura]

I feel like fire + fighting is more fitting. One creates it's own heat but the other trains itself to endure mountains.

[@andy4an]

Steel gets brittle in the cold... But more importantly, steel needs no additional defensive help in this game.

[@marcelomelo9977]

But they need tho?

[@devdog7409]

I think they just don't want to have a Pokémon type that benefits from more than one weather effect.

[@jakariashafin8685]

Fighting could have still worked​@@devdog7409

[@juanf.p.6324]

Can you please give a link to the team with blissey, gliscor, reun, forre?

[@majelalover8837]

I'm a big Abomasnow fan and this video gives me big serotonin

[@thepaintingbanjo8894]

I'm still glad with the changes done in Gen9 where it's now snow so no chip damage but buffs up Ice type defenses now. Beefs up Abomasnow and really makes the new ice types like Baxcalibur and Chien-Pao more stupidly OP.

[@garretthopkins7035]

Only a matter of time now until someone starts running Sunny Day

[@robraf12]

Gen 5 OU Iceberg when? 🤯

[@protocetid]

thanks Aboma

[@Duskgusting]

I love those Mitski nicknames!!

[@joetalentoh]

The year is 20x6, the two most popular team archetypes in Gen 5 OU are Hail and the anti-meta pick sun.

[@ArtisanFilmings]

If only Abomasnow had Thick Fat, because it's design and mega shows how many ice leaves coating around it's body for cover.. seriously Game Freak... maybe they thought Abomasniw might become op and I guess they wanted to debuff it.

[@21stCenturySchizoidGirl]

That would take away from Abomasnows hail, the one factor that makes it stand out.

[@ckeclipse]

​​@@21stCenturySchizoidGirl just give the mega thick fat so that it comes in setting up snow before becoming mega to get thick fat

[@blahtest]

⁠@@ckeclipse1. Megas were released in gen 6 2. If they have a weather setter you can’t mega until their weather setter is gone or they will set sand/rain/sun

[@tinfoilslacks3750]

It's easy for hail to not be "the worst" weather after they murdered sun

[@johnhenton8172]

I just wanna say it was my account NewYorkTankies terrorising the ladder with hail that brought it back. You're welcome.

[@kefkapalazzo1]

Iv been slacking on that mug for months and I’m so broke right now damn

[@DGFTardin]

I'm sad there will be no more Iron Mugulis. I don't live in either US or Australia, and I was hoping one day I would have the chance to buy one

[@ConnorTheRed65]

Is hail bad? Maybe. Is Mega Abomasnow the raddest design? Yes.

[@waitingfortheequinnox]

Which Generation was the weather of Hail most dominant?

[@boop53]

if you consider snow a form of hail i’d argue that gen 9 has the most dominant form with screens aloltails, kyurem, baxcalibur before its ban

[@DAFORCEFilms]

My devotion to the Ice Type is finally paying off.

[@spartacusthememelord6890]

ok but is Gen 5 Hail better than Gen 9 Snow?

[@epicraptorman]

I thought this video was going to be about hail throughout the generations

[@VulcanGray]

I hear Iron Mugulis is going to get an evolution. Iron Tankard

[@KindaKaon]

Its been impossible for me to sleep on hail since I got skarm stalled by hail in 2022,,,, that does something to a man

[@shorelinefishing9213]

Sun was a strong weather but they neutered everything that enjoyed it

[@mrhalfsaid1389]

Gen 5 finally realizing maybe there are flaws in the basic gameplan is great and should set an example of what a meta game SHOULD be

[@mega_asasin]

Sneaky balatro banger

[@georgemedia1069]

You might say Hail is the "coolest" weather in game, folks.

[@jykatyk567]

Jimothy so content pilled rn

[@dankeykang8243]

I miss the rap outro

[@scarlet2847]

Hail is pretty cool

[@11_turtles]

Does the rise of hail have anything to do with the Cloyster ban?

[@oscen335]

No

[@divdavdivdave9012]

I just smashed that team what the hell

[@liamrobert2460]

All hail hail

[@triviszla1536]

Ice will be THE meta next gen

[@knox247]

is that Watashi from Humanity Has Declined?????????

[@cpopppp]

jim is him

[@chess_fella]

Jimothy Cool swag

[@notshockwavedemon7543]

Hail Yeah

[@dogman7776]

yes hail

[@AI-DreigonGPT]

As a Rain Abuser,

[@petro5747]

I like that part of the reason hail is good is because ice is bad. No ice pokemon accidentally getting buffed like sand and rain would.

[@iantaakalla8180]

This “pretty much detrimental to any given team” aspect to hail is a thing I wish was preserved. I liked that unless you really built around it you will actively have Pokémon take damage from hail. Now that aspect is gone, and with it a fringe benefit on running semi-Hail teams.

[@mattmanley7118]

Snow go Brrrrr😂

[@paggnut]

poor watashi

[@tinfoilslacks3750]

Why do people even bother running Toxic spikes in gen V? Many teams often have only 2 pokemon at most affected by them.

[@skewah]

Is the politoed in the thumbnail supposed to be bald

[@hagetsuuu]

finally

[@lemmybro87behindthestudio85]

i think i like rain and sun better but hail is a close 3rd i never bean a sand team fan not trying to diss T tar god no and i mean early sand teams

[@BWoodRap]

I always wanted another type to get an immunity to hail damage, but the only ones that made sense already benefit from other weathers. Though I appreciate the change to snow as the weather, I can't help but think they should have left it as hail and added the defense buff. Because hail was always the ice type sandstorm, and now sand is the only weather with residual damage in the current gen.

[@kr555wizard]

Definitely, cause its not like sun or rain that boost the damage of a type and weakens the opposite type. And even if we do give points to the fact there are alot of ice moves that are benefited/require snow like blizzard and snow veil, it doesn’t make up for it being worse than sandstorm

[@OpaloAzul]

Maybe fighting and psychic, due to training themselves to resist ice.

[@BWoodRap]

@@kr555wizard agreed. Hail/Snow are in a weird position as far as weathers go. The 50% defence boost is huge, but it still feels like it's missing something. It needs its own identity.

[@BWoodRap]

@@OpaloAzul fighting would actually be pretty cool, as ice baths are a thing athletes do. Psychic doesn't have a "weather" but does benefit from psychic terrain. A thought occurred to me of ghosts just now since it would phase through their bodies and cold temperatures being associated with ghosts.

[@OpaloAzul]

@@BWoodRap You are right. Ghost type is a better choice, but I also think giving psychic an inmunity to hail wouldn't hurt since nowadays it's a frail type in average and its also for lore purpose.

[@SpookyRedBone]

Talk about hail in Gen 4 gang it’s much better in Gen 4

[@SpookyRedBone]

Like it’s so viable on the ladder

[@SpookyRedBone]

What’s insane is abomasnows tier in bdsp ou

[@SwizzleMix]

Every Obama has its snow.

[@autoteleology]

Obamasnow was outstanding in the White House

[@succadick2424]

Abomasnow is absolutely able to force the opposing pokémon to abscond the battle and abdicate by setting the temperature to absolute zero.

[@zeta5341]

Hail has long been considered the worst weather condition in Pokemon.