A Sandstorm's Epicenter

[flamingfire77]

Waaah Sand (Tyranitar) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 SAtk
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge

Derp (Stoutland) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SAtk
- Return
- Crunch
- Wild Charge
- Superpower

Genie (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rock Polish
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

Gold Latios (Latias) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover
- Calm Mind

U Mad? (Skarmory) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Def / 32 SDef / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SAtk
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

Dat Stache (Jellicent) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Cursed Body
EVs: 244 HP / 216 Def / 48 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover
- Taunt

 

[Jirachee]

Hello!

Definitely an interesting team you've got there. However, I think that you will have issues against some threats, namely SubSD Terrakion, and Rock Polish Landorus. For this, I will suggest two Pokemon change.

Terrakion easily sets up on Tyranitar, since Tyranitar can't do anything to it, being a weak Specially Defensive version, and only having moves that Terrakion resist. Terrakion switches in for free on it, and from there, your team will experience some serious trouble. Once it gets a Substitute, you cannot stop it from getting the Speed boost from Salac Berry, which means it will be able to outspeed everything on your team. Then, nothing on your team will be able to stop it as you will most likely let it get an intact Sub which lets it set up a Swords Dance. It will then OHKO everything on your team with its STABs. I think that's far from desirable. I suggest changing your Heatran for a Scizor. Scizor is able to take down Terrakion easily with its STAB Bullet Punch, and if you play correctly, Scizor will be able to beat it before it can do a lot of damage to your team. Having priority is always a bonus for any kind of team anyway. I suggest changing Heatran because of my second suggestion.

That leaves you weaker to Sun teams in particular, which isn't something good. However, you still have a weakness to Rock Polish Landorus, since it can set up with good prediction and then proceed to massacre your team. Even if it doesn't set up, it can do a lot of damage to your team since you only have one Ground resist which is your own Landorus anyway. You can't really rely on a Speed tie to deal with a threat like that. I think that you could use a bulkier Water and Fighting resist than Starmie, since it's a very frail Pokemon and won't be taking powerful hits very well, even resisted ones. I think that Latias would be a much better fit for your team. It's much, much bulkier than Starmie, and it's able to deal with a plethora of threats that Starmie can't deal with, like Landorus. While you lose Rapid Spin support which is definitely something any team can use, yours doesn't necessarily need it. Latias also works very well against Sun teams so you can drop Heatran without worrying about Sun teams now.

Here are the sets you should use:

Scizor and Latias

Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician
Adamant
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
~Bullet Punch
~U-turn
~Superpower
~Pursuit

Latias @ Life Orb
Levitate
Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~Draco Meteor
~Surf
~Psyshock
~Recover

Good luck!

 

[undisputed]

Hey!

This is a really nice Sand team. Stoutland is so underrated, especially against offensive teams. I've recently started using it, and STAB Return smashes through Pokemon I wouldn't even expect. I think you've got a very solid Stoutland team already, so you won't need any big changes. However, I think you could use some moveset changes to optimize your team goals.

First, Jellicent is going to be a major problem for Stoutland. Aside from Skarmory, Jellicent is probably the dog's biggest fear. Crunch doesn't do that much, and it's also prediction heavy. To fix this, I would really like to see you use Choice Band Tyranitar. The standard is probably fine: Crunch / Pursuit / Superpower / Stone Edge with 252 Atk / 108 Spe / 148 HP and an Adamant nature. I speed creep a little because CB Tar is going to rise in usage, and the usual Tyranitar runs 100 Spe EVs. Speed creeping also allows you to beat the Pokemon that aim to beat Tyranitar, which will definitely come in handy. When played correctly, CB Tyranitar should eliminate Jellicent pretty easily. It will also nab you some surprise Skarmory kills because it outspeeds Skarmory that don't heavily invest in Speed. Taking out Stoutland's two biggest problems will be huge. Further, Choice Band Tyranitar is the most effective set to beat Politoed, which you obviously need in order to support Stoutland. Play conservatively, and don't risk Scald Burns.

Second, since I changed your Stealth Rock user, I'd recommend you put Stealth Rock on Heatran. It's the most obvious and efficient choice, in my opinion. Will-o-Wisp is a niche move in my opinion, and I think you'd get a lot more utility out of Stealth Rock and CB Ttar. You might also want to consider Leftovers on Heatran for better longevity. Earthquake users aren't as prevalent as they were in the past, and countering Scizor, Ferrothorn, Jirachi, etc consistently will be invaluable.

Otherwise good team. I really hate playing this kind of team, which means I should make one of my own sometime.

Good luck!

 

[Shurtugal]

Hello!

I'm going to agree with Undiputed with Choice Band TTar and SR on Heatran, for the above reasons.

On Landorus-I, I would run 301 speed to out pace neutral nature'd base 100s, and put the rest into HP. Heatran will want Leftovers as well.

As for Starmie, you said yourself that you don't particularly mind hazards. Why not run LO Latias? It's dragon STAB is much more useful as well as still maintaining the countering and checking of Terrakion and Keldeo. It also generally takes hits better, especially from rain teams. It maintains great synergy with Band Tar as well as also tanking more hits from sun better (though please try to get RP from Lando ASAP).

I'd replace TWave for Gyro Ball on Ferro, I just don't see the necessities of TWave when you have Stoutland tbh.

Latias

Latias @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
Nature: Timid
EVs: 72 Hp / 184 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Surf

Good Luck
~ Shurtugal ~​

 

[flamingfire77]

Hello!

Definitely an interesting team you've got there. However, I think that you will have issues against some threats, namely SubSD Terrakion, and Rock Polish Landorus. For this, I will suggest two Pokemon change.

Terrakion easily sets up on Tyranitar, since Tyranitar can't do anything to it, being a weak Specially Defensive version, and only having moves that Terrakion resist. Terrakion switches in for free on it, and from there, your team will experience some serious trouble. Once it gets a Substitute, you cannot stop it from getting the Speed boost from Salac Berry, which means it will be able to outspeed everything on your team. Then, nothing on your team will be able to stop it as you will most likely let it get an intact Sub which lets it set up a Swords Dance. It will then OHKO everything on your team with its STABs. I think that's far from desirable. I suggest changing your Heatran for a Scizor. Scizor is able to take down Terrakion easily with its STAB Bullet Punch, and if you play correctly, Scizor will be able to beat it before it can do a lot of damage to your team. Having priority is always a bonus for any kind of team anyway. I suggest changing Heatran because of my second suggestion.

That leaves you weaker to Sun teams in particular, which isn't something good. However, you still have a weakness to Rock Polish Landorus, since it can set up with good prediction and then proceed to massacre your team. Even if it doesn't set up, it can do a lot of damage to your team since you only have one Ground resist which is your own Landorus anyway. You can't really rely on a Speed tie to deal with a threat like that. I think that you could use a bulkier Water and Fighting resist than Starmie, since it's a very frail Pokemon and won't be taking powerful hits very well, even resisted ones. I think that Latias would be a much better fit for your team. It's much, much bulkier than Starmie, and it's able to deal with a plethora of threats that Starmie can't deal with, like Landorus. While you lose Rapid Spin support which is definitely something any team can use, yours doesn't necessarily need it. Latias also works very well against Sun teams so you can drop Heatran without worrying about Sun teams now.

Here are the sets you should use:

Scizor and Latias

Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician
Adamant
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
~Bullet Punch
~U-turn
~Superpower
~Pursuit

Latias @ Life Orb
Levitate
Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~Draco Meteor
~Surf
~Psyshock
~Recover

Good luck!

Hello!

I'm going to agree with Undiputed with Choice Band TTar and SR on Heatran, for the above reasons.

On Landorus-I, I would run 301 speed to out pace neutral nature'd base 100s, and put the rest into HP. Heatran will want Leftovers as well.

As for Starmie, you said yourself that you don't particularly mind hazards. Why not run LO Latias? It's dragon STAB is much more useful as well as still maintaining the countering and checking of Terrakion and Keldeo. It also generally takes hits better, especially from rain teams. It maintains great synergy with Band Tar as well as also tanking more hits from sun better (though please try to get RP from Lando ASAP).

I'd replace TWave for Gyro Ball on Ferro, I just don't see the necessities of TWave when you have Stoutland tbh.

Latias

Latias @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
Nature: Timid
EVs: 72 Hp / 184 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Surf

Good Luck
~ Shurtugal ~​

Thanks for responding to my team! Both of you agree on one thing: Life Orb Latias to replace Starmie. I've been having thoughts about replacing Starmie too (and admittedly, it is pretty frail). I also don't really need Rapid Spin, the majority of games I don't get to using it. I'll definitely try LO Latias, and I believe it'll probably be a staple to my team.

I've tried Gyro Ball on Ferrothorn, though it's STAB and slow as Munchlax, it still, just doesn't do the damage that Power Whip does. Sorry, have to pass on that one.

 

[Shurtugal]

I never said replace power whip, but to run it alongside gyro...?

 

[Neliel]

Hey,

I notice a pretty bad weakness to fighting types, since ferrothorn, heatran, stoutland and tyranitar will all easily die from a close combat of terrakion or a mach punch from breloom. While Landorus and latias fix this problem a bit, they are still not enough to stop completely fighting types. Without changing too much on this team i would say to try out a double booster landorus-t. The moveset is Stone edge / Earthquake / Rock polish / Sword dance, with a spread consisting of EVs: 252 Atk / 72 Def / 184 Spd with an Adamant Nature. The evs are to outspeed scarf latios after a rock polish and the rest of the evs are in def to get a random bulk. Landorus-t have a few advantages over landorus, the main one is intimidate, that will help you a bit against fighting types since you can lower their atk, as well as being able to setup more easily on phisical attackers. Its a very underrated pokemon in my opinion and it works similarly to landorus, but it can also act as a better wall breaker because it has also sword dance, which can be more important if you will face defensive teams.

With landorus-t, i think the only things you will be weaker against are Gliscor and skarmory. If you do the change of Cbtar over your current set, you dont have anything to fear against skarmory; if you dont want to use cbtar, i think its worth considering a mixed set for tyranitar with fire blast and ice beam to catch those things in predict, probably instead of stone edge and pursuit, since you can pursuit things with stoutland as well. Those moves are also good because stoutland will appreciate the absence of gliscor and skarm, as well as others steel types such as ferrothorn, that will almost die with a fire blast. Anyway, i see a bad weakness to focus blast users as well, mainly gengar and sash alakazam, so i think its worth a try a chople berry in your tyranitar over leftovers, which is in my opinion an almost useless item on sp def tar. With chople berry you will be able to eat a focus blast and strike back a ko, it can also help against focus blast thundurus, just in case they run it.

Lastly, i would put a different spread on Stoutland. I know its good the added power with adamant, but with this spread you will be outspeeded and probably koed by 3 common scarfed pokemon, terrakion, keldeo and latios. If you use this spread EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd with a jolly nature you will be able to outspeed and kill those stuff. In my opinion the main point should be to outspeed things with stoutland rather than hit hard, so thats why i wanna change it.
Thats it, gl with your team!

 

[Shurtugal]

Niel, why would need FB TTar when he has Heatran? :P

I like Latias better he has reg Landorus already but that's just me. :)

 

[flamingfire77]

I never said replace power whip, but to run it alongside gyro...?

I know what you meant, I was just saying that Power Whip alone does a lot of damage already. Thunder Wave is useful because often it cripples a Pokemon and helps my slow, bulky Pokemon outspeed.

 

[Shurtugal]

Landorus I isn't murdering steel types? Or the new LandT? Just keep Heatran. Don't use Zor. Landorus I or T can sweep sun under RP as well as Tias and Tran checking them.


Also, like I said, use my Latias spread for the LO variant.

 

[Redew]

Hiya!

Okay, so, you can't really do anything big to Jellicent with the set that you're running on Tyranitar (or with anything in general, really), so I suggest a Choice Band Tyranitar in place of your current one. This will make it possible for Tyranitar to KO Jellicent. In addition, it also allows you to KO Latios and Latias. If you KO Latios / Latias, it will allow for a better Landorus sweep. So, with this, you can now use Stealth Rock on Heatran in place of Wil-O-Wisp. Honestly, the only notable thing it does is burn Politoed, and your team can already get past it pretty well. Furthermore, I suggest you run Modest over Timid on Landorus to sweep better. You are able to 2HKO Celebi and Latias, as well as OHKO Keldeo with Modest.

Good luck! :)

 

[flamingfire77]

Hey!

This is a really nice Sand team. Stoutland is so underrated, especially against offensive teams. I've recently started using it, and STAB Return smashes through Pokemon I wouldn't even expect. I think you've got a very solid Stoutland team already, so you won't need any big changes. However, I think you could use some moveset changes to optimize your team goals.

First, Jellicent is going to be a major problem for Stoutland. Aside from Skarmory, Jellicent is probably the dog's biggest fear. Crunch doesn't do that much, and it's also prediction heavy. To fix this, I would really like to see you use Choice Band Tyranitar. The standard is probably fine: Crunch / Pursuit / Superpower / Stone Edge with 252 Atk / 108 Spe / 148 HP and an Adamant nature. I speed creep a little because CB Tar is going to rise in usage, and the usual Tyranitar runs 100 Spe EVs. Speed creeping also allows you to beat the Pokemon that aim to beat Tyranitar, which will definitely come in handy. When played correctly, CB Tyranitar should eliminate Jellicent pretty easily. It will also nab you some surprise Skarmory kills because it outspeeds Skarmory that don't heavily invest in Speed. Taking out Stoutland's two biggest problems will be huge. Further, Choice Band Tyranitar is the most effective set to beat Politoed, which you obviously need in order to support Stoutland. Play conservatively, and don't risk Scald Burns.

Second, since I changed your Stealth Rock user, I'd recommend you put Stealth Rock on Heatran. It's the most obvious and efficient choice, in my opinion. Will-o-Wisp is a niche move in my opinion, and I think you'd get a lot more utility out of Stealth Rock and CB Ttar. You might also want to consider Leftovers on Heatran for better longevity. Earthquake users aren't as prevalent as they were in the past, and countering Scizor, Ferrothorn, Jirachi, etc consistently will be invaluable.

Otherwise good team. I really hate playing this kind of team, which means I should make one of my own sometime.

Good luck!

Hiya!

Okay, so, you can't really do anything big to Jellicent with the set that you're running on Tyranitar (or with anything in general, really), so I suggest a Choice Band Tyranitar in place of your current one. This will make it possible for Tyranitar to KO Jellicent. In addition, it also allows you to KO Latios and Latias. If you KO Latios / Latias, it will allow for a better Landorus sweep. So, with this, you can now use Stealth Rock on Heatran in place of Wil-O-Wisp. Honestly, the only notable thing it does is burn Politoed, and your team can already get past it pretty well. Furthermore, I suggest you run Modest over Timid on Landorus to sweep better. You are able to 2HKO Celebi and Latias, as well as OHKO Keldeo with Modest.

Good luck! :)

Everyone's been saying it, I'll try CB Tyranitar over the current set I run right now. The only thing that makes me a little hesitant is the fact that Tyranitar is too slow to run a CB set, though it wrecks shit when it lands a hit.

 

[flamingfire77]

LO Latias seems to die rather quickly with Sandstorm, LO recoil, and outside attacks racking up on it. I think I might soon replace it with its Calm Mind set or another Pokemon.

Any suggestions?

 

[flamingfire77]

Hey,

I notice a pretty bad weakness to fighting types, since ferrothorn, heatran, stoutland and tyranitar will all easily die from a close combat of terrakion or a mach punch from breloom. While Landorus and latias fix this problem a bit, they are still not enough to stop completely fighting types. Without changing too much on this team i would say to try out a double booster landorus-t. The moveset is Stone edge / Earthquake / Rock polish / Sword dance, with a spread consisting of EVs: 252 Atk / 72 Def / 184 Spd with an Adamant Nature. The evs are to outspeed scarf latios after a rock polish and the rest of the evs are in def to get a random bulk. Landorus-t have a few advantages over landorus, the main one is intimidate, that will help you a bit against fighting types since you can lower their atk, as well as being able to setup more easily on phisical attackers. Its a very underrated pokemon in my opinion and it works similarly to landorus, but it can also act as a better wall breaker because it has also sword dance, which can be more important if you will face defensive teams.

With landorus-t, i think the only things you will be weaker against are Gliscor and skarmory. If you do the change of Cbtar over your current set, you dont have anything to fear against skarmory; if you dont want to use cbtar, i think its worth considering a mixed set for tyranitar with fire blast and ice beam to catch those things in predict, probably instead of stone edge and pursuit, since you can pursuit things with stoutland as well. Those moves are also good because stoutland will appreciate the absence of gliscor and skarm, as well as others steel types such as ferrothorn, that will almost die with a fire blast. Anyway, i see a bad weakness to focus blast users as well, mainly gengar and sash alakazam, so i think its worth a try a chople berry in your tyranitar over leftovers, which is in my opinion an almost useless item on sp def tar. With chople berry you will be able to eat a focus blast and strike back a ko, it can also help against focus blast thundurus, just in case they run it.

Lastly, i would put a different spread on Stoutland. I know its good the added power with adamant, but with this spread you will be outspeeded and probably koed by 3 common scarfed pokemon, terrakion, keldeo and latios. If you use this spread EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd with a jolly nature you will be able to outspeed and kill those stuff. In my opinion the main point should be to outspeed things with stoutland rather than hit hard, so thats why i wanna change it.
Thats it, gl with your team!

I already have a Landorus Incarnate form, and I'm not going to use it's Therian counterpart. A Chople Berry only sponges one hit, and Tyranitar only takes about half from Focus Blast anyways. Leftovers are mch more efficient. I've faced all those Pokemon, and Stoutland already OHKO's and outspeeds those Pokemon anyways.