Sandslash

[Maestro Arena]

Sandslash
​

[B]#26 Sandslash[/B]
Typing: Ground
Ability 1: 
Sand Veil
Evasion increases by 20% in a sandstorm.
Ability 2: (Dream World)
Sand Throw
Pokemon's Speed doubles in a sandstorm.

HP:  75
Atk: 100
Def: 110
SpA: 45
SpD: 55
Spe: 65 

[B]Level-Up Moves:[/B]
Lv1: Scratch
Lv1: Defense Curl
Lv1: Sand-Attack
Lv9: Poison Sting
Lv13: [B]Rapid Spin[/B]
Lv15: Swift
Lv19: Fury Swipes
Lv21: Rollout
Lv22: Crush Claw
Lv28: Fury Cutter
Lv33: Sand Tomb
Lv40: Slash
Lv45: Gyro Ball
Lv52: Sandstorm

[B]TM Moves:[/B]
TM01 - [B]Claw Sharpen[/B]
TM06 - Toxic
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM11 - Sunny Day
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM26 - [B]Earthquake[/B]
TM27 - Return
TM28 - Dig
TM31 - Brick Break
TM32 - Double  Team
TM37 - Sandstorm
TM39 - Rock Tomb
TM40 - Aerial Ace
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM46 - Thief
TM48 - Troll
TM52 - Focus Blast
TM56 - Fling
TM65 - Shadow Claw
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM71 - [B]Stone Edge[/B]
TM74 - Gyro Ball
TM75 - Swords Dance
TM78 - Level Ground
TM80 - Rock Slide
TM81 - X-Scissor
TM84 - Poison Jab
TM87 - Swagger
TM90 - Substitute
TM94 - Rock Smash
HM01 - Cut
HM04 - Strength

[B]Egg Moves:[/B]
Flail
Counter
Rapid Spin
Metal Claw
Crush Claw
Night Slash
Mud Shoot
Endure 
Troll
Rock Climb

When you first check Sandslash you cannot avoid to facepalm. ''WTF Gamefreaks. THIS THING HASN´T LEARN NOTHING NEW IN THIS GENERATION''. And that´s true. But despise that, Sandslash got a big improvement. With only one new ability.

-Sand Throw. Now Sandslash gets FAST in Sandstorms. A powerful physical Pokemon whose big weak point got resolved thanks to that. Enjoy being faster than things like Sceptile or Gengar in Sandstorm.

Let´s analyze other things Sandslash has.
-Rapid Spin. Sandslash has now the same speed as Starmie in a Sandstorm. And thanks to it big defense, you can change to it and Spin.
-Claw Sharpen. An alternative to Swords Dance. You´ll get less power but you won´t worry about Stone Edge missing.
-110 Defense. ''But Doryuuzu is better! It is faster and Spins too!''. But it has 60 Defense. Sandslash has 110 Defense, making him more bulky. And it isn´t weak to Fighting and Ground.

Some movepools.

Ofensive Sandslash
Sand Throw Ability
Adamant Nature
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge/Night Slash
-Claw Sharpen/Swords Dance/Subsitute
-Rapid Spin/Substitute/X-Scissor/Poison Jab

Offensive Sandslash with the Speed and the Attack to do great damage. You can choose to Substitute instead to increase attack, or to get a third offensive move instead Rapid Spin.

Defensive Sandslash
Sand Throw
Impish Nature
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge/Night Slash/Focus Punch
-Substitute
-Rapid Spin

Defensive Sandslash. Thanks to Sand Throw you can still attack first, or use Substitute predicting a change.

Trap Sandslash
Sand Throw or Sand Veil
Impish Nature
-Sand Tomb
-Stone Edge
-Substitute/Rapid Spin/Protect
-Substitute/Toxic

In this generation Sand Tomb has been improved with 35 of Power and 85 of Accuracy. You can trap the opponent, poison it and abuse Protect and Substitute. Claw Sharpen is another option too to raise the accuracy of Sand Tomb and Stone Edge. Both abilities are good there. With Sand Throw you trap your opponent first and have advantage of using Substitute first. With Sand Veil you can annoy your opponent with him missing attacks.

 

[EvilMario]

Sandslash will probably see use in the lower tiers once more, although it still has to go against Donphan.

Just a quick nitpick, but Sandslash does not RESIST Fighting attacks. However, it is not weak to them, ala Doryuuzu.

edit: Ninja'd

 

[red12345]

sandslash was never considered a true sand abuser.

Now he might actually be a decent sand utility pokemon. This makes it faster than gliscor while gliscor can heal with poison.

 

[Klaus]

sandslash was never considered a true sand abuser.

Now he might actually be a decent sand utility pokemon. This makes it faster than gliscor while gliscor can heal with poison.

However his only recovery move is Rest and he doesn't get Poison Heal damage either.

Still though, I plan on seeing Sandslash wrecking up the lower tiers.

 

[PK Gaming]

When it comes to standard, I'd still much rather use Doryuuzu over Sandslash... however abusing him in the lower tiers will be very fun. Swords Dance Slash's main problem was always it's speed, but with Sand Throw it's insanely fast.

 

[bzkrpldn]

Sandslash will probably see use in the lower tiers once more, although it still has to go against Donphan.
edit: Ninja'd

during sandstorm he is almost triple donphan's speed makes me think gyro ball by level up is completely pointless. if they were trying to make him a sweeper, they could have at least given him nitro charge.

 

[Erebos]

The Speed Doubling Abilities like Sand Throw do not double the base stat, they double whatever its Speed is at the time, taking into account EV investment. This means that if it has 252 Speed EVs, it'll have 229, then be doubled at 458, which is the equivalent to having a Base Speed of 179.5, a huge difference from the Base 130 Speed pokes.

 

[CasMat]

I think he does have an advantage over the mole less so in losing the weakness to fighting but losing the weakness to ground. Fat defensive earthquake using switch-ins don't counter Sandslash as hard as they do steel mole. Though I'm not sure if Slash can do anything back either so... eh?

Either way I dunno if it'd be worth it with Slash's comparatively smaller attack. Someone should do some damage calcs to see how it fares against the general bulky waters (pert cune and the notaluvdisc evo come to mind) in comparison to Doryuzu.

I'm pretty sure he's not surviving any Surfs, but neither was the mole. But if the mole nets 2hkos while Slash only gets 3 then yeah I think sandslash is pretty much inferior.

 

[black_cotton]

Sandslash adamant atk 252/speed 252 vs Crocune: +2 earthquake 48.3 ~ 57.2% (lol that sucks)
- vs Offensive suicune: +2 earthquake 77.5 ~ 91.5 % (OHKO with rocks)

Sandslash atk 252/ speed 252 vs mixpert: +2 earthquake 59.1 ~69.8%

Sandslash atk 252/speed 252 vs wish vaporeon: +2 earthquake 65.6 ~77.2%

Sandslash atk252/speed 252 vs bulky (bold) milotic: +2 eartquake 63.6~75.1%

The calcs presume that you sword dance on the switch and even them the damage output is average sometimes.

It may still function as a offensive spinner in lower tiers (since it will be pretty much outclassed on stardanrd play by the mole) and since the majority of ghost are frail into the current UU, and you are better earthquaking spiritomb anyways.

 

[Sandstreamer]

Well, Sandslash probably isn't made to sweep. It's more like a weaker Donphan with a HUGE bonus in sand (causing things like magnezone to switch out instead of going for HP or somethign). Last time I played Sandslash was Adv, but I found that he is quite capable of abusing counter, as physical attackers tend to underestimate him. Now that I go through his moveset, I just find it said they did not give him U-Turn. It fits him and would be VERY appreciated against all the Grass types that tend to switch in (well, at least with the speed he has now).

 

[Maestro Arena]

Well, Sandslash probably isn't made to sweep. It's more like a weaker Donphan with a HUGE bonus in sand (causing things like magnezone to switch out instead of going for HP or somethign). Last time I played Sandslash was Adv, but I found that he is quite capable of abusing counter, as physical attackers tend to underestimate him. Now that I go through his moveset, I just find it said they did not give him U-Turn. It fits him and would be VERY appreciated against all the Grass types that tend to switch in (well, at least with the speed he has now).

But against Grasses it has X-Scissor (which works against Starmies too), and the underrated Poison Jab.

 

[black_cotton]

Swords Dance is actually decent with sand throw

true,
until you realised that doryuzu has a better atk. stat and a better speed to abuse sand throw, rapid spin, sword dance and also a Stab earthquake. For the offensive spinner job i think it outclasses sandslash.

It's like comparing gengar to mismagius, both are great pokemons but gengar has better stats when we are talking about sweeping.

On the other hand, mismagius can perish trap, and effectively run bulky sets with will-o-wisp ,so in that same vein we should focus in what sandslash can do that doryuzu can not.

 

[blasphemy1]

-110 Defense. ''But Doryuuzu is better! It is faster and Spins too!''. But it has 60 Defense. Sandslash has 110 Defense, making him more bulky. And it isn´t weak to Fighting and Ground.

Doryuuzu resists Extremespeed and Bullet Punch, and it isn't weak to Ice Shard. On top of that, you are overlooking its HP. Sandslash is just barely more physically bulky than the mole, and Doryuuzu is much bulkier on the special side. It's still a pretty good Pokemon, but ultimately I think the additional resistances the Steel-typing affords, higher attack and speed, and better special bulk will make Doryuuzu preferred.

That said, Sandslash is pretty good.

 

[bzkrpldn]

i'm not 100% sure how stats work but sand's max speed is 251 then with sand throw activated it doubles to 502 almost that of Deoxys-S, 504(max stage 0) and if you scarf him--753
is this right or are calculations wrong?

 

[Emperor]

You know, now that I look at this thing I actually like it more than Dory. The lack of Fire, fighting, and ground weakness gives it MUCH more durability

 

[XxSaiyanxLordxX]

No use comparing this thing to doryuzuu because doryuzuu is ou material while sadly sandslash still isn't, it is completely walled by the likes of hippowdon, nattorei, donphan, gliscor, and plenty others. can be a menace in uu/nu however.

 

[Wynought]

Sandslash can take Aqua Jets like a champ

with 252 HP / 252 Def and Impish Nature it only takes 31.1% - 37.3% from LO Mixed Sharpedo's Aqua Jet, 32.8% - 39% from a CB 252 Attack Jolly Floatzel, 61.6% - 73.4% from a + 2 Adamant 252 Attack Feraligatr and 45.8% - 54.2% from a CB Adamant Azumarill. This thing is a beast! Dory can't compare to its Bulk, sure, you have sheer power, but when you're being OHKOd by a LO Sharpedo, don't come crying to us, Dory. Sandslash also has the ability to work effectively outside of a Sandstorm, giving it more reason for use.

But on the flip side I wouldn't like to mess with Sandslash's Offensive side c:

 

[Emperor]

No use comparing this thing to doryuzuu because doryuzuu is ou material while sadly sandslash still isn't, it is completely walled by the likes of hippowdon, nattorei, donphan, gliscor, and plenty others. can be a menace in uu/nu however.

I'm trying to see how exactly dory will not get walled by every single person on that list (other than nattorei). Sure, maybe it will hit harder and it might be able to take down nattorei easier due to the nonsuper effective grass attacks...but super effective stab EQs break things and dory doesn't have the defenses to take it even with its hp. Sandslash at least would be able to live through something like that.

 

[Upstart]

I can't wait to use this guy in the new UU

 

[Farukon_o_miru]

No use comparing this thing to doryuzuu because doryuzuu is ou material while sadly sandslash still isn't, it is completely walled by the likes of hippowdon, nattorei, donphan, gliscor, and plenty others. can be a menace in uu/nu however.

Doryuzuu is walled by them too, in fact despite it having a better attack stat, it have a worse offensive movepool than Sandslash.

 

[Lou Cypher]

I've been testing out a Double-Dragon strategy with Sandslash and Doryuzuu. I've made my Sandslash Jolly with a Life Orb, 252 ATK and Speed which lets me outrun Jolly Scarfchomp. I use the simple Swords Dance/Earthquake/Stone Edge/Filler Move set, so far X-Scissor is giving me the best results in that final spot (Shame he doesnt learn a psychic move, I hate Roopushin). While you do have a Triple Water Weakness this way (You'll also have TTar or Hippowdon on the field), I found that devoting the final three slots to defensive Water (and to a lesser extent, Grass and Fighting) resists. Vaporeon and Nattorei gave me the best results, the last slot should go to a bulky ghost.

The idea is that Sandslash is often the first one to go all out, often getting a free Dance and tearing up some stuff. Once his rampage is put to a hold, whatever is designed to counter it is very often easy pickings for Balloon Doryuzuu, thanks to the accumulation of Sandstorm, Stealth Rock, often Spikes and sometimes Toxic and Leech Seed.

The only issue this kind of team tends to face is dedicated physical walls. However, Skarmory is close to 2-shotted by LO Stone Edge coming from Sandslash. Does Skarmory want to do the dance of death with the CH rate?

The biggest perk in using Sandslash, IMO, is the fact that it can take Roopushin on one on one. Its still a formidable foe, but Dory has no hopes against Roo, whereas Sandslash can SD in its face and destroy it, though often at the cost of its own sweep (It can often only get 1 more hit in). The fact that you arent Ground weak either along with respectable defenses means that bulky Grounds are less of an issue to Slash as they are to Dory. Finally, Magnezones with Balloon are laughed at by Sandslash, whereas Dory really really hates them.

Final note: Ditto. Ditto counters Dory, we know this. However, if Ditto is their last poke and Sandslash gets copied? I'd like to see them hit Balloon Dory. That is if they OHKO Sandslash to begin with.

 

[JSND]

sandlslash's epic weakness is his speed. He has an edge (no pun intended) against gyarados due to its high defense and stone edge(no pun intended) but scarf zandora will draco meteor sandslahh till it beg for forgiveness
It HAS its niche over mole though. i think in my stall team hes better than mole for spinning and sweeping ? nah his attack is low

 

[Lou Cypher]

sandlslash's epic weakness is his speed. He has an edge (no pun intended) against gyarados due to its high defense and stone edge(no pun intended) but scarf zandora will draco meteor sandslahh till it beg for forgiveness
It HAS its niche over mole though. i think in my stall team hes better than mole for spinning and sweeping ? nah his attack is low

In the sand, Scarf Sazando is outsped, provided you run Jolly. And I never met a Sazando who enjoys taking an X-Scissor to the face.
Also, last I checked, 100 ATK is far from low. Its not super, no, but its more then enough to engage a sweep after SDance.

 

[Flareon]

Sandslash got a big buff with this new ability. I was afraid Dory would completely overshadow it. But, as everyone said, not having a weakness to common types (Ground, Fighting, Fire) is a great reason to use the original ground type :D

 

[BloodGod22]

Sandslash can X-Scissor Hydreigon, and he also outspeeds in the sand.

The only reason to run him over Excadrill however is the lack of a Fighting/Ground weakness.