The First Sandstorm Team

[xplayer55]

The Sandstorm Team

The Lead​

​

Ferrothorn / Leftovers​

Ability: Iron Barbs​

EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Spd​

Nature : Impish (+Def, -SpA)​

-Leech Seed​

-Protect​

-Stealth Rock​

- Power Whip​

This spiky is a versatile lead with Stealth Rock. Plus with the inclusion of Leech Seed and Protect it can slowly take out enemy Hp and not be damaged as much with its crazy defenses. Also, Iron Barbs will continually damage a physical attacker which is a good thing for me… Who doesn’t love the free hit points? The only problem I have is other bulk-up Conkeldurr which could be hard to deal with throughout this team. Furthermore, this is basically as stall set and he can for the most part take out a lot of other leads except for Heatran who is the biggest threat for this guy.​

The Pseudo-Legend​

​

TTAR / Air- Baloon​

Ability: Sandstream​

EVs: 180 Hp / 252 Atk / 76 Spd​

Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)​

-Dragon Dance​

- Stone Edge​

- Crunch​

-Fire Punch​

Here comes the standard 4th gen set that was a beast back then, just like it is now. His ability basically helps a special someone out which is why that special someone is also perfect with him. Dragon Dance will work effectively since it will boost his already wonderful attack and Speed and I try to have well balanced Evs for him mainly so I won't get terribly outclassed by other Tyranitars. Also, SE and Crunch/Pursuit are for STAB even though I might switch out Crunch for Pursuit which definitely helps for Latio(a)s. Another thing I just want to state is that without a Fire Punch I will have to switch out at any given moment against any steel-type pokemon that have terrible speed compared to this monster and I can always have an ace up my sleeve. ​

The Sand Sweeper​

​

Exadrill / Air Baloon​

Ability: Sand Rush​

EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spe​

Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -SpA)​

- Swords Dance​

- Earthquake​

- Rock Slide​

- X- Scissor​

Here is that special someone who has the best ability ever for the sandstorm which allows him to gain speed to his already legit one and with Swords dance I can sweep with his two primary attacks which are both for great coverage. He is a great partner for TTAR. I love this naked mole rat…er… Excadrill. There is a problem I might have against other Excadrill which is why I have almost maxed out his speed, but not completely because the smallest amount of HP extra will make him that much harder to kill (l-l...that much). Jolly nature is for the extra speed and again he will be faster in the SS. He kind of has the same momentum as Alakazam because it's either I OHKO or I do substantial damage until he faints... so I cannot throw him around willy nilly. X-Scissor is to destroy psychics.​

The Burning Ogre​

​

Conkeldurr / Flame Orb​

Ability: Guts​

EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 SpD​

Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)​

- Stone Edge​

- Mach Punch​

- Drain Punch​

- Payback​

This ogre is ripped with good meaning. Flame orb and Guts allows him to have raised attack and the burn effect is not applied which is a good thing. He has obvious Ev spreads as well as nature. Stone Edge and Payback take care of weaknesses and they are good for coverage. Drain punch helps since he is going to be losing a lot of Hp and he loves eating it. Mach punch helps with slow speed and he can take out a lot of Pokémon late game. If I do perhaps get choiced it won't be too much of a problem which is one of the main reasons that I don't want to use Bulk up, but if it somehow does not work I will have to switch that with EQ, but now I have decided to stick with Payback. If his special defense was better than I would most likely have used a BULKUPerdurr set rather than the GUTS/ORB reliability which would benefit a BU set because that would definitely recommend OHKO's.​

The Lazy Tank​

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Gliscor / Leftovers​

Ability: Sand Veil​

EVs: 4 Hp, 252 Atk, 252 Def​

Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)​

- Earthquake​

- Ice Fang​

- Aerial Ace/Roost​

- Protect​

As you may know I origianlly ran Swampert, but because of my Fighting weakness I needed someone to cover that weakness. Who could I incorporate into a SS team? Then it hit me... Garchomp or Gliscor? I knew it had to be Gliscor since I could stall in a particular way and to help with my fighting weakness in which I could switch this bat in. Well, now for the complete coverage. Earthquake is for stab and the Ev's go for atk and defense because those are the two main stats that I will actually put to use. Okay, as you might know I was using Ice Beam on Swampert and as you might also know I have a Dragon problem, so I use Ice Fang on this guy to take care of that. Next, I am probably going to use Aerial Ace to take care of fighting types, but Roost is to stall for a long time. Protect is to scout out moves, and to gain Hp. Finally, his ability raises his evasiveness. All in all, a better choice than the original pert and I STILL LI3K MUDKIPZ.

The Support​

Heatran / Air Baloon

Evs:252 HP 4 SpA 252 SpD

Ability: Flash Fire

Nature: Calm (+SpD, -Atk)​

-Flamethrower​

-Earth Power​

-Toxic ​

-Roar​

Well, you are going through this team saying it has as many holes as Swiss cheese and then you see this and *Facepalm*. Yeah, Heatran and even though he fits into this semi- SS team that is not his complete role. I need him to use Roar with his nice defenses because of SR and Spikes and to get rid of other Set Up sweepers. I was originally using Arcanine, but he doesn't have as much defense. Futhermore, Toxic helps with a stat-I effect which I definietly need. Two other moves which are Earth Power and Flamethrower are his only special moves which I can actually usefor good coverage, but his 4x ground weakness is a problem so I might switch leftovers for air balloon. He is my only Special Attacker which is why I won't show him until atleast the near end and he has to be used with Ferrothorn for Flashfire. This makes them wonderful partners. TTar and Excadrill are in the same boat and Conkeldurr and Swampert are my Offensive/Defensive tanks respectively.​

All in all, I understand if this team isn’t that great this is my first team competitively, so be nice and have fun bashing it and such. I would just like to say that this became a sandstorm team out of sheer luck and I don't know why it worked this way.​

One Final Look:​

​

 

[Moo]

Hey xplayer, Interesting team you have, I have a few suggestions:

Ok first of all, remove all the font tags from the RMT, It makes it look horrible, and difficult to read. And take all slashes out of Pokemon's moveslots, because it makes it seem like you haven't tested the team, which is against the rules.

With four non-attacking moves on Nattorei, it becomes shut down by Taunt. I suggest running Power Whip / Gyro Ball over either Protect, Stealth Rock, or Spikes so you will not resort to struggling against opponents such as Deoxys-S.

Choice Band Tyranitar is great, although Earthquake honestly isnt hitting that much that other moves can't. Ttar's massive 600+ attack and STAB will make up for coverage that Earthquake Provides. Use Pursuit in its place, as it allows you to switch in to Latios / Latias with Tyranitar's high Special Defense, and trap them with it. Latios / Latias are very dangerous Pokemon in this metagame, and this will make them less of a threat to your team.

Excadrill looks alright, although I think Air Balloon is more useful than Leftovers because it patches up Exca's nasty Ground-type weakness, and can give it an opportunity to set up if it comes in against a Choice-locked Pokemon using Earthquake, such as Garchomp. Also, use Jolly over Adamant, so you will outspeed other Excadrills.

Roar will always move last so it is awful on Arcanine. And you didnt really explain why it has 252 in Defense :\ Maybe put them in Attack so Arcanine hits harder, and can revenge things more easily with Extremespeed. And run Wild Bolt over Toxic / Will-o-Wisp, as Arcanine is more suited as an attacker.

You team is pretty Gliscor Weak. Nothing apart from Swampert can really touch it. Consider using Ice Beam instead of Avalanche on Swampert as it hits gliscor for more damage.

Good luck with the team, I hope I helped :p

 

[cco]

Please by all that is good in this world remove those[CALIBRI] tags.

Beyond that, your team has a sizable weakness to a variety of common pokemon in this meta.

Bulk Up Conkeldurr, and to a lesser extent, other Bulk Up users and Status Orb Conkeldurr is the first big problem I see. Since you totally lack any form of Special damage it can set up Bulk Ups while you fail to hit it with ANY super effective damage. And you can't even hit it's weak Specially Defensive side.

You're going to need at least one Special Attacker.

Next up is Garchomp. Once again your team really lacks that special attack (this time Ice typed) which is oh-so-necessary for beating the likes of Garchomp, Landorous, and Gliscor.

If you take the Special Attacker, It'll need an Ice attack. This ties in to my next point, you have NO Latios check. Absolutely nothing on your team is going to enjoy taking specs draco meteors.

Anyways, I think that there are a few things that you oughta try out. First, to reduce your weakness to Garchomp, Gliscor, and Landoruous, lose Swampert, he's a neat choice, and I honestly like the Avalance, but what's he actually checking? Replace Swampert with a Bulky DD or Restalk Gyarados. This will significantly reduce your weakness to all 3 of these pokes. Your team still needs a Latios check though.

Thus I'm going to suggest the inclusion of a Specially Defensive Heatran where you're currently using Arcanine. You've got a Poke that can counter all Latios sets, and still help against things like Conkeldurr. It also helps remove your weakness to Skarmory.

I hope these changes work for the better! The sets:

Bulky Ddance Gyara
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Adamant Nature 156 HP 72 Attack 96 Def 184 Speed
Dragon Dance
Taunt
Waterfall
Stone Edge

Restalk Gyara
Gyarados@ Leftovers
Impish Nature 248 HP 252 Def 8 SpD
Rest
Sleep Talk
Roar/Dragon Tail
Waterfall

Specially Defensive Heatran
Calm Nature 252 HP 4 SpA 252 SpD
Lava Plume/Flamethrower
Earth Power
Protect
Roar

Best of luck!

 

[Seth Vilo]

Just as a note I, Ferrothorn can't have Leech Seed, Spikes, AND Stealth Rock at the same time due to breeding restrictions. Spikes and Leech Seed comes from Cacturne; Leech Seed and SteAlth Rock come from Torterra; Spiles and Stealth Rock comes from that new bug with the dirt on it's back I can't remember the name to. Nothing can pass all 3.

 

[xplayer55]

24 hour BuMp

 

[xplayer55]

(NOT 24 hours but still... bump)
I wont post until tomorrow anyway.
Thanks for all the help thus far and I have made numerous changes.

 

[mudkipmaster]

You might want to change protect on Ferrothorn to Substitute. He can cause a lot of switches and can set-up freely on the switch.

As for the team in general, it's pretty good. I do see a glaring fighting type weakness. Switching Swampert for Reuniclus could do you a lot of good.

Rankurusu @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature:Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Sp. ATK / 6 Speed
Moves:
~Calm Mind
~Pyschic
~Focus Blast
~Recover

 

[xplayer55]

24 hour bump

 

[xplayer55]

24 hour bump

 

[LazyLosLobos]

Hm...With your Heatran, you may want to pick an Air Balloon over Leftovers. It's the same reasoning as with Excadrill; You want to remove the Ground weakness. However, Heatran is a little different. If your opponent also has a Sand Rush Excadrill, it'll be faster than Heatran and get the EQ off. An Air Balloon changes that because Excadrill has nothing else that can really hurt it. On the turn the Excadrill pops the balloon with Rock Slide or X-Scissor, you can get rid of it with Flamethrower.

 

[Taj]

You should replace Rapid Spin for another move since your team is in no way weak to Stealth Rock or Spikes for that matter(Just don't let anybody triple layer you and you should be fine). If you decide to switch Rapid Spin then you should go with Brick Break and switch Balloon out for Life Orb that way you have more power and can still KO opposing Excadrill after you SD up(although they can still speed tie you if they're running Jolly).

 

[SmileZ]

You've had 6 suggestions and made four bumps without answering them?

 

[xplayer55]

I have updated in accordance to everyones post and if you didn't know then I don't reply because of the fact that I DON'T WANT TO FLOOD THIS THREAD like many others do.

 

[ToastTyrant13]

I've used SS since the beggining of Gen 4, so I must say, rating your team is going to be SWEET!

I feel that, after running him for a long time, X-Scissor + Baloon or Brick Break + Life Orb are the best combinations for Doryu...I mean (eww) Excadrill. Rapid Spin isn't neccesary much of the time, and it really depends on what you want to hit. I'll exclude what you can hit with Earthquake and Rock Slide

X-Scissor
~Ra...Reuniclus
~Alakazam
~Saza...Hydreigon
~Ludicolo
~Whimsicott (I like this name, aamof)
~Azelf (rare nowadays, but whatevs)
~Slowbro(he's been popping up alot recently)
~Latios
~Latias
~Mew
~Abomasnow (+ for being a threat to SS teams)
~Celebi
~Cacturne(big problem for SS teams)
~Serperior (Eh, okay name)
~Zoroark
~Zuru...Scrafty.

Brick Break
~Zoroark
~Scrafty
~Natt...Ferrothorn
~Abomasnow(+ again)
~Mamoswine
~Baloon Dor...Excadrills
~Baloon Heatran
~Saz...Hydreigon
~Cacturne(+ again)

I'm probably missing 1 or 2, but this is a good idea of what you'll be hitting. (As you may of noticed, I hate alot of English names...and I'm American! XD)

Roobushins best set is Bulk Up/Drain Punch/Mach Punch/Payback, since Dark/Fighting provides near-perfect coverage, while you'll still being walled hard by alot of Ghosts and Gliscor/Reuniclus with Stone Edge(Reuniclus usually runs Bold, 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Spa or 252 HP, 4 Def, 252 Spa. And wink-wink, this guy is AMAZING on SS teams).

Swampert would definetley benefit from Relaxed over Impish. Impish lowers his SpA and makes Ice Beam significantly weaker, while Relaxed only lowers his already pathetic speed.

Heatran would make sweet love to you if you gave it an Air Baloon. That way it can switch in on Physical threats carrying EQ (such as the afformentioned Doryuuzu, which is what I shall now call Excadrill until I finish) and deal with them accordingly.

I have to say I love where you're going with this team, being a master of Sandstorm since the dawn of the Hippo. :D (I currently run Hippowdon, Doryuuzu, Nattorei, Gengar, Reuniclus, Heatran as I am still testing on Pokemon Online).

One thing that I DO notice is that you have a massive 4 weaknesses to fighting. One thing you want to do when working on a Sandstorm team is do the best you can to fight against Water, Ice, Grass and Fighting weaknesses. You seem to do well against 3/4 of these, but Fighting is such a dominant and powerful type this gen that it should always be considered. Since Ferrothorn and Nattorei both serve as Physical Walls/Tanks, may I suggest replacing Nattorei (unless you'd be willing to drop Heatran or Swampert, but they appear to be MVPs on your team) with a bulky Rankurusu or a Geng-bang?

Just some thoughts in case you'd feel confident in it. :D

A Mitotic Warrior, perhaps?

Reuniclus @ Leftovers/Toxic Orb
Bold & Magic Guard
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
~Psychic
~Focus Blast
~Recover
~Calm Mind

An absolute monster. His HP is so beautiful paired with his shmexy Defense, he can survive ALOT. Calm Mind boosts his great SpA and his lower SpD to becom a slow, yet extremly powerful/bulky, threat to most teams. Recover allows you to heal from damage taken while CM'ing, and Psychic+Focus Blast provide near=perfect coverage. Leftoves for consistent healing, or Toxic Orb to protect you from Paralysis, Sleep and Frost (noun form of Freeze/Frozen, I suppose) and to cripple Trick users. Magic Guard protects you from Toxic Damage, SS damage, hazard damage, and all other sortd of excess damage! :D

Or perhaps a Geng-bang?

Geng-bang @ Life Orb
Timid
255 SpA / 255 Spe (nothing else is of any use anyways...for this one)
~Shadow Ball
~Focus Blast
~Substitute
~Pain Split

A wonderful Special Sweeper, and a pain in the ass. Shadow Ball and Focus Blast, again, provide near-perfect coverage. Substitute allows you to hide from KOs, such as T-Tar crunches or opposing sweepers, while protecting you from statuses. Pain Split is an amazing move. After SS damage, LO recoil, and Substitute subtractions, Pain Split can instantly half, if not lower, your opponents HP from full health. This allows you to cripple MANY sweepers and walls/tanks to get easier KOs, make more Subs, and generally survive longer.

Well, Hopefully Iwas alot of help! :D

Edit: I noticed by your relatively new. Welcome to Smogon and the 5th Gen metagame! :D (as you may have noticed, I like smileys)

Edit2: T-Tar would definetly benefit from Fire Punch over Eq if you're still deciding. Also, if your worried about being locked into moves, I've always enjoyed an unorthadox version of T-Tar.

Godzirra!

Tyranitar @ Leftovers/Air Baloon
Jolly
36 HP / 224 Atk / 248 Spe
~Dragon Dance
~Crunch
~Earthquake/Stone Edge
~Thunder Punch/Fire Punch

After a DD, he gets a wonderful 490 Atk and 361 Spe. As the Smogon analysis says, albeit my set is a little tweaked for more bulk, "After one Dragon Dance, this beast has the power of a Choice Band set, with the speed of a Choice Scarf Set. With +1 Atk and Spe, along with Crunch,
Latios/as are never a problem. Latias takes 73.6% - 87.5%, but you are fast enough to 2HKO it, unless you already have more than one DD to kill it. Earthquake+Thunder Punch have equally great coverage compared to Stone Edge+Fire Punch. The choice is whether you want to hit Scizor, Forretress, and Nattorei (harder, seeing how EQ does a good amount), or if you want to hit more predominant types. I use this and can promise you that it does very well. I run Air Baloon so I can screw things like Doryuuzu and Gliscor, while Leftovers is very helpful and can help recover nice amounts of HP and possibly prevent some untimely KOs.

 

[xplayer55]

Thank you so much for the HELP!
I actually enjoyed reading all of that. Yeah everything is perfect about my team the way it is except for the fighting weakness! I want to switch out Swamp... but he is such a good tank. I will keep Ferrothorn. Quick question... Would a flying type move like aerial ace be beneficial on TTAR with Choice Scarf or should I use it on Natorrei(Does he learn it?)? Furthermore, If I add anyone it will be Runiclus or that cool Gengbenger. That is the same TTAR I used a while back... in-game and it owned =P.. I think I like it.
Again fellow Sandstorm bro... Thanks for all the help.
All other poster who helped Thank you as well and I have changed my team from every post.
Thanks for all the effort and feedback. ;)
Oh, and if I take pert out I will lose my coverage against Scors/Lati@s/Garchom and so forth

 

[ToastTyrant13]

Thank you so much for the HELP!
I actually enjoyed reading all of that. Yeah everything is perfect about my team the way it is except for the fighting weakness! I want to switch out Swamp... but he is such a good tank. I will keep Ferrothorn. Quick question... Would a flying type move like aerial ace be beneficial on TTAR with Choice Scarf or should I use it on Natorrei(Does he learn it?)? Furthermore, If I add anyone it will be Runiclus or that cool Gengbenger. That is the same TTAR I used a while back... in-game and it owned =P.. I think I like it.
Again fellow Sandstorm bro... Thanks for all the help.
All other poster who helped Thank you as well and I have changed my team from every post.
Thanks for all the effort and feedback. ;)

No problem bro! ;)


Well, Flying is so outclassed compared to the other moves that you would be better off using other moves, unless your a amazingly shmexy Togekiss/Staraptor. Besides, the only thing Aerial Ace would help you with is Breloom and maybe Conkelderp, but Breloom is easily defeated with Fire Punch, while T-Tar should never be left in on Conkelderr. Leaving a T-Tar in on Conkelderr is like jamming a wet fork into a toaster to try to fish out the crumbs in order to construct a new piece of toast; painful, stupid, and just plain messy. Oh, it just occured to me that you meant for Doryu-drill. Well, X-Scissor still gives you superior coverage, and Earthquake hurts them alot more (factoring in STAB and a much higher base power), while Dory is equally afraid of Fighting types as T-Tar. Ferrothorn should always stick to Power Whip, Gyro Ball, or both.

Also, you may want to update some of your commentary after changing the sets, and Swampert would hug you in exchange for making it Relaxed. A Relaxed Ice Beam hits WAY harder than an Impish one. :D Just a thought.

Edit:Just saw your edit about Pert, making me aprreciate him much more now that I totally forgot that. *epic facepalm*
This furthers how much Pert would love you if you made him Relaxed.

 

[xplayer55]

Yeah My team overall owns, and the only times I lose is because of a Fighting type. Conkeldurr and Machamp are the only ones I cannot get rid of <__<

 

[xplayer55]

BUMP
Oh, and will be making changes tomorrow by switching Pert with a Gliscor!!

 

[xplayer55]

Here is my FREE bump Haunter
Gliscor added

 

[TheRebel]

Thinking of a team...

Okay so I'm thinking of a sandstorm team and so far I have
Tyranitar
Gliscor
Reniculus
Cacturne
maybe metagross
maybe excadrill
thought/opinions?