Sand Team (Standard OU)

[KishinXx]

Hi guys this is my first time ever posting here on the smogon forum. ive been using this party for the past month on pokemon showdown and its been working excellently I just wanna here your opinions as regarding all there moves, nature, items, ect...

and I'm also not afraid to change any poke on this team so speak up if you have ideas lol

Ive also been considering genesect for a while but im not sure what build and what poke i should take out for him.

FluffyxX (Tyranitar) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

I picked Tyranitar over Hippowdown simply because hes part dark and can take care of some fisky Ghost/psychic pokemon with his crunch.
Also he is quite bulky and can take scalds and surfs the they're nothing.

PorthosxX (Terrakion) @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Quick Attack
- X-Scissor
- Stone Edge

One of my favorite Pokemon currently in OU, his attack is FF-ing insane and his speed ain't that bad either. I gave him choice band and quick attack just to make him a god killer, i also made him of jolly nature basically to out speed the average non scarfed terrakion.

DeucesxX (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Outrage

An amazing power house for this team. he just here basically to take care of major threats my opponent may be using with his some-what extensive move set. I like outrage over anything else because it really takes care of dragon type pokemon which is a thing my team normally finds as a problem.

GlickyxX (Gliscor) (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Has to be hands down my favorite Pokemon in-game. I love this Gliscor to death. Just the idea of watching my opponent get frustrated because hes loosing HP at such a rapid rate and him not being able to do anything about it just makes me l0l so hard.

La LocaxX (Heatran) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 6 Def
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Will-O-Wisp

he works fine, I normaly use him just to spook the genesects away.

Sc-rotomxX (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 184 HP / 4 Def / 144 SAtk / 176 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

No real reason for rotom-w i needed a filler and he fit the qualifications.
​

 

[Mysteryracer]

Take out Rotom-W, put in:

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
Nature: Hasty / Naive
EV's: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moveset:
~ U-turn
~ Ice Beam
~ Thunderbolt / Bug Buzz
~ Flamethrower / Bug Buzz

Won't be buffetted by Sandstorm and Flamethrower / Thunderbolt checks most of your team's counters.

 

[StarmanXL]

Personally, Rotom-W is the last pokemon I'd take out. This team doesn't seem like it can take on rain teams very well, as only Rotom-W (and I guess Ttar) can switch into boosted rain attacks, but they will both be worn down over time. Not to mention, any rain team worth its salt will have a way to eliminate Ttar, and once it's down they can more or less spam Surf until it's GG. Out of curiosity, how do you usually play this team? You said that it's been working well, and I'm just wondering what you've been doing to be so successful.

 

[Nutrix]

Not to mention that Tyranitar won't even be taking those Surfs too well, with all of his investment in physical Defense.

 

[dragonuser]

Hey there,

This team seems pretty cool, but Rain looks pretty annoying to face. Also another note, I would heavily recommend lengthening your descriptions. That not only prevents this team from getting locked, but also helps raters going through your team. So back to Rain, this weakness is mainly because you have 5 Pokemon weak to Water-Type spam, and only one resist. That resist also doesn't have too much bulk so it can succumb pretty easily to constant pressure. The first suggestion I would make is making your Rotom-W Specially Defensive. A set of 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SDef with a Calm Nature should work well. This gives you a lot more bulk on the Special side, and eases your problem vs Rain teams. Also having both Landorus-T and Gliscor is slightly redundant. I understand that they serve different roles on your team, but they really just further weaknesses by having both. I would suggest running a Choice Scarf Keldeo over Landorus-t. Keldeo is a fantastic scarfer in this metagame, and checks a lot more than Landorus does. It also gives you a second Water-Type resist which I think is a must for any Sand team in this metagame. The lack of U-Turn may be a bit offsetting to you at first, but I think Keldeo's utility and raw power should easily make up for that. Some other minor moveset changes I would make is making Heatran Timid and 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd. This helps vs opposing Heatran, and everything slower, always guaranteeing at least a speed tie. An offensive spread like that also appreciates the speed. Also while Sand does boost Tyranitar's Special Defense, its best to further invest in it, so I would recommend moving his Defense EV's to Special Defense. This should help Tyranitar with tanking Special moves, and make Pokemon like Lati@s easier to handle. I would also run Pursuit and Fire Blast over Stone Edge and Earthquake. This does make it harder to hit Pokemon like Heatran, but those Pokemon aren't issues for your team, while Pursuit and Fire Blast offer a lot of utility. Fire Blast hits hazard layers like Skarmory and Ferrothorn, while Pursuit helps to guarantee the kill on Pokemon like Lati@s. Anyways, hope I helped gl.

set

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ice]

 

[KishinXx]

Personally, Rotom-W is the last pokemon I'd take out. This team doesn't seem like it can take on rain teams very well, as only Rotom-W (and I guess Ttar) can switch into boosted rain attacks, but they will both be worn down over time. Not to mention, any rain team worth its salt will have a way to eliminate Ttar, and once it's down they can more or less spam Surf until it's GG. Out of curiosity, how do you usually play this team? You said that it's been working well, and I'm just wondering what you've been doing to be so successful.

To honest it might sound dumb i lead off with terrakion and normally ohko the politoed. Im guessing most people predict me to switch out.

 

[King of Blades]

Oh man, I would suggest keeping rotom-w if I was you. right now, he is your only counter to rain. Scarf thundurus-t can spam powerful moves on all of your pokemon, specifically volt switch, hp ice, focus blast, and thunderbolt, which hits your whole team except rotom super effectively. This basically turns the match into a guessing game, because if he predicts the switch to any of your "counters", they get maimed. 5/6 of your team is weak to water, meaning even tentacruel can do a number on the team while rain is up. You say you can easily take on rain teams with CBTerrakion after he 1hkos the politoed lead, but he cannot 1hko defensive toed, and gets outsped and 1hkoed by scarftoed, so he is not a very sound answer to rain, as when you lead him, you have nearly a 50% chance for the toed to be defensive or scarfed. This means you are already 5-6 with a key cleaner down. I would suggest replacing gliscor with SubCM latias to solve this problem. SubCM latias is able to set up substitute and calm mind on a hapless pokemon such as tentacruel, and then demolish the rain team. SubCM latias is a very underrated threat that can pick apart many teams due to the fact the opponent just plain forgot about it while teambuilding.

Latias @Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 248 Speed, 8 Sp. Atk. | Timid | Levitate
~Substitute
~Calm Mind
~Roost
~Dragon Pulse

Ah, the SubCM latias. Substitute and calm mind are the cruxes of this set. Substitute allows latias to be nearly impenetrable on the special side after a few calm minds as well as blocking the annoying status that screws with bulky sweepers like latias. Roost serves as recovery to ensure the opponent can't just whittle it down until it dies. Dragon Pulse provides a reliable STAB attack that hits even resists hard after a few calm minds. He also creates a strong defensive combo with heatran that resists each other's weaknesses. The heatran/latias core may seem like a relic of gen 4, but it still works. All in all, a fantastic pokemon.

Why roost over recover? roost is chosen over recover because while roost negates flying type, it does not negate levitate. Many players do not know this, and keep their ground type in thinking they can earthquake latias if they predict the roost. The quake will still fail thanks to levitate.

I also agree with dragonuser's suggestions of changing rotom's ev spread to the specially defensive spread as well as replacing tyranitar's earthquake with fire blast.

This should fix some of your problems with opposing rain teams. Good luck, and hope this helps!

Welcome to Smogon!

~KoB (needs a better sign-off)

 

[Electrolyte]

Hi

I definitely agree with making Rotom-W Specially Defensive; it's carrying the burden of water type hits and Rain coverage that your team really needs a bulky pokemon for.

To help your team with it's pretty obvious Rain proble, another pokemon I think you could try would be Choice Scarf Latios over Landorus-T. Scarf Latios is blazing fast; it can outspeed Vensaur and most other scarfers in the tier- and hit them hard with STAB moves.

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Timid / 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Draco Meteor / Pyshock / Surf / Trick

Although it's not as powerful without Specs, Scarf Latio can play a very similar role of revenge killing. Draco Meteor still hits like a truck, capable of KO'ing most non defensively inclined pokemon. It lets you revenge DDancers like Salamence or Dnite, and kill them, or Volc at +1 and kill it. Psyshock hits fighting types really hard, which is very useful since they could be a bit problematic (Keldeo) It also OHKO's Gengar and Venusaur, a great bonus. Surf is for coverage, it hits steels pretty well and is a great Sun / Rain counter. Trick lets you cripple your opponent, buying you time to KO something or let Gliscor set up. Latios's good natural SpDef also lets it take a hit or two, especially from opposing weather, and it has great synergy with Terrakion.

also, making TTar SpDef is a good idea; it lets you trap opposing ghost / psychic types while sponging hits. It makes TTar a good special tank, and because of it's weaknesses Tyranitar does not make as good of defensive wall anyway. Try Adamant / 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD for the greatest walling / hitting capabilities.

good luck