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Old Oct 3rd, 2011, 1:07:18 PM   #1
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Default Sandstorm in Little Cup

Little Cup Guide to Sandstorm

I thought of this about a week ago. I finished all points you will read in 2 days, grammar editing parts and adding little more, I just hadn't got round to finishing the guide with examples and what not. I hope this is a good enough guide to be helpful and your feedback is much appreciated for if I choose to continue and make guides for other aspects of Little Cup. Myself or other players in the tier have used the example sets mentioned throughout the guide. However, feel free to experiment because I only included the most generic.

Enjoy reading

Sandstorm is quickly becoming a common sighted team. And so I thought of making a guide into the reason why this team is becoming so successful and how to beat or use it.

Building a Sandstorm Team
All teams start with Hippopotus, the single user of the ability Sand Stream. This Pokemon is also incredibly physically bulky, strong recovery and supporting moves also means it can support the rest of the team. The move Sandstorm should not be used.

In generation 4, Sandstorm and Hippopotus were used primarily on Stall teams, aiming to wear down opponents before sniping with such offensive set up Pokemon as Dratini that also possess strong priority.

Generation 5 brought a gift to potential stalling in the shape of Eviolite. An extremely useful item that boosts all Little Cup Pokemon defenses by 1.5x when held. This item helped early attempts at stall teams. But as there were still a large amount of strong sweepers; Sandstorm found it difficult to hold its own verses these broken Pokemon. The tier was very unstable as previous generation 4 banned Pokemon had to be re-inspected if they were still too powerful. All of these were eventually re-banned with some new inclusions in the ubers tier such as Scraggy and Gligar. Gligar was the last to be banned for its diverse offensive and defensive sets that if you guessed incorrect, you were going to lose a Pokemon or more. Gligar was also an incredible counter to Sandstorm teams that were seen to rely on certain Pokemon. With Gligar banned, Sandstorm could be used far more effectively with the top Ground type counter gone.

SPOT1
Hippopotus, as stated before, is the single user of the ability Sand Stream. It doesn’t have bad stats and is extremely physically bulky with decent support moves. Enjoy.
Possible set:
...


The most common additional Pokemon in sandstorm teams are as follows.

SPOT2
Rock type Pokemon than enjoy the special defensive boost: Lileep
Possible Lileep set:
...


The Grass type of Lileep can also be replaced for Ferroseed. Who uses Grass/Steel typing to resist Water and Grass types aimed towards Hippopotus. The main reason to use Ferroseed is for extra residual damage. Spikes and Leech Seed give amazing annoyance verses bulkier teams.
Possible Ferroseed set:
...


SPOT3
And Pokemon with the ability Sand Rush: Drilbur
Possible Drilbur sets:
...


These three Pokemon are the base of most Sandstorm teams. Hippopotus and Lileep/Ferroseed cover defensive and special defensive duties respectively. With Drilbur covering dangerous power and thanks to its ability instant doubled speed to be a top threat of today’s metagame.

The most common and regarded as best sandstorm teams involve Hippopotus, Drilbur and Lileep/Ferroseed. This gives only three Pokemon to work with when differentiating sandstorm teams. The next three Pokemon need to cover what the first three don’t, as like any other team. The next most common choice is the Water-type.

SPOT4
The most common choices are Frillish, Slowpoke, Chinchou and Staryu.
Frillish provides strong immunities with its bulk making an extremely adept mixed wall. It’s recovery and different status move choices give extra longevity.
Possible set:
...


Slowpoke is rather like Frillish as far as resistances and reason why it is used. Slowpoke uses its incredible physical bulk and the amazing ability Regeneration to keep healthy and consistently switch into attacks and thus lives incredibly long in most matches.
Possible set:
...


Staryu is not as bulky as Slowpoke or Frillish. But it is much faster and can utilize its higher speed and better movepool to punish the opponent verses worse match up Pokemon. It also has access to Rapid Spin, an incredibly useful move that can be used because Staryu forces a lot of switches.
Possible set:
...


Chinchou is the Rotom-W of Little Cup. Its dual STAB gives great offensive and defensive typing with a useful immunity. It is also one of the best Water-type counters because of this. Chinchou can use Choice Scarf well to be a revenge killer too.
Possible sets:
...


SPOT5
The next spot is to counter those Pokemon that can sweep Sandstorm teams.
The Pokemon sandstorm fears are inside:
...


To beat all of the mentioned Sandstorm counters is incredibly difficult. But it won’t stop us giving it a go. Here are some choices that fit well in the team for synergy and thus deal with some Pokemon mentioned.

Magnemite’s Electric and Steel typing is incredible for resistances. Resisting both STAB of Snover and KOing back with STAB Flash Cannon off a strong attack that only Bulky Waters will like taking. And those are dealt with through Magnemite’s secondary STAB. Magnet Pull can also trap Ferroseed, and with a neat Hidden Power Fire (if you use it), Ferroseed can be dealt with quickly
Possible sets:
...


Vullaby is an incredibly overlooked but dangerous Pokemon. Its main focus is to be very disruptive with Knock Off and Whirlwind (it does this very well). It can also deal large amounts of damage to Timburr and Mienfoo. It also does well against opposing Sandstorm thanks to immune to Ground-type attacks. Snover will still cause problems, but doesn’t enjoy switching in with risk of Flying-type attacks. This Pokemon is excellent in dealing with Sun teams that enjoy using Grass type Chlorophyll Pokemon.
Possible sets:
...


Chinchou also doesn’t like Snover, but it can deal with Bulky Waters that really are on every Little Cup team. It can also deal with Rain teams well. Its strong dual STAB can also damage Mienfoo and Timburr on their less prepared special defensive side. Not to mention it is a strong Scarfer that covers the opposite spectrum to Drilbur that is also speedy. Volt Switch residual damage can come into play here to gain momentum.
Possible sets.
...


Fire types obviously deal with Snover very well, but tend to not like residual damage at all. I have not tested enough to really say which Fire Pokemon is the best. Ponyta/Growlithe/Houndour/Magby strong options, tell me which you found the best or if you were disappointed.

Croagunk can be used with its residual Priority to wear down offensive threats. It heals its HP on Water-type attacks, but most importantly, it strongly deals with Snover. Also enjoys fighting Rain teams for abuse of Dry Skin.
Possible sets:
...


SPOT6
The final spot is based on personal preference. You can go for a second Pokemon from the list above to stop those that try and beat Sandstorm. Or you can use a Pokemon that beats common Sandstorm cores.
Timburr has been mentioned to rip Sandstorm apart, it can also break Snover using its STAB menacingly. It also has high HP with decent defenses.
Possible set:
...


Mienfoo is disruptive with scouting and healing while still possessing an extremely powerful threat. Regeneration is exceptional like this.
Possible set:
...


Summary:
Sandstorm is a great type of team because of its ability to be defensive and offensive at the same time. Residual damage from Sandstorm benefits most Pokemon on the team, or doesn’t affect others in the slightest. Stalling like this is very viable if you do not have a straight counter.

The core to many Sandstorm teams is very hard to break. This should be the focus of how you play the team. Go to the best counter for a specific Pokemon and keep the switching easy, if you start losing health, feel free to try things with lesser-needed Pokemon. Thanks to the core of a sandstorm team generally not minding sandstorm, you should be able to outlast, or at least severely damage walls before sweeping through with Drilbur or other option Pokemon.

Sandstorm may not be the most exciting Little Cup team to play, but it’s certainly one of the best performers. Thank you for reading. Any questions about teambuilding or things you think I may have missed (or if I didn’t explain something very well) should be left in a comment below. Have fun using the loveable Hippo and friends.
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Last edited by Aerrow; Feb 3rd, 2012 at 9:31:26 PM.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2011, 1:13:47 PM   #2
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this is one of the best guides i've seen, keep on goin with the great job bro =)
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Old Oct 3rd, 2011, 1:48:40 PM   #3
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Clamperl, even without any boosts, is a major threat to most Sand teams. It can just spam Ice Beam/Surf to deal massive damage to anything.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2011, 4:16:10 PM   #4
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Drilbur is faster and easily OHKOs.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2011, 8:05:08 PM   #5
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i use gastly in spot. i like having a fighting and normal immunity while still being able to deal out damage. I guess drifloon can be used too.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2011, 9:20:43 PM   #6
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This is excellent. You should submit it for C&C IMO.

I never really needed Lileep though. What does it do? It's kind of dead weight IMO. Sand is generally walled by Steel-types, and Lileep doesn't help unless it has Hidden Power Fire, which really only helps against Ferroseed anyway. I've tried using it; I just don't like it. Something I've replaced it with is Drifloon. Acrobatics, Calm Mind, Shadow Ball, and Hidden Power Fighting actually works really well with sandstorm. You're probably thinking I'm just advertizing my set, but sandstorm is the key to this.

Well first of all, it draws it Snover to bring up hail, and it can kill it with Acrobatics. People who play sand generally realize that there is one Pokemon that can streamroll through their team; this is generally because Pokemon who take advantage of sand well lose to the same Pokemon. Mienfoo is an example; Hi Jump Kick 2HKOs some variants of Hippopotas (mixed defenses), and Knock Off is annoying. It beats Lileep and stuff. Drifloon is awesome for this because of Destiny Bond. Obviously, Acrobatics would be better on Mienfoo, I'm just using it as an example.
It works as a spinblocker too.

Has anyone else tried Drifloon in sand? It's been working really well with me, especially with entry hazards.

PS It kills Slowpoke too, which we all know sand players hate (unless your run Lileep (but watch out for Toxic (and Lileep sucks))).
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Old Oct 3rd, 2011, 9:26:20 PM   #7
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Great Job man. Also Charmander is right, this could be used as a model for an Article.
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Old Oct 4th, 2011, 1:20:27 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat iss View Post
Drilbur is faster and easily OHKOs.
thing is, drilbur is merely a check, not a counter. It can't switch in on Clamperl's attacks.
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Old Oct 11th, 2011, 8:01:28 AM   #9
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Ummm. Clampearl doesn't counter a good sand team.
1. Lileep uses Toxic. Stall him out.
2. You scream GOOOOOO FRILLISH!
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Old Oct 11th, 2011, 5:17:08 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat UsernameSayWha View Post
Ummm. Clampearl doesn't counter a good sand team.
1. Lileep uses Toxic. Stall him out.
Instead of stalling I think it's safe to say Lileep can OHKO (Or maybe 2HKO?) with Energy Ball, and Clamperl can't hurt Lileep in the sand unless it's at +2 (Even then, I'm pretty sure it can't OHKO).

So, I wouldn't say Clamperl is a huge threat to sand teams, but it can KO Hippo I guess.
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Old Oct 11th, 2011, 7:16:54 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Princess of Johto View Post
Instead of stalling I think it's safe to say Lileep can OHKO (Or maybe 2HKO?) with Energy Ball, and Clamperl can't hurt Lileep in the sand unless it's at +2 (Even then, I'm pretty sure it can't OHKO).

So, I wouldn't say Clamperl is a huge threat to sand teams, but it can KO Hippo I guess.
72 SpA kills everything. Yes, even Lileep in Sandstorm. Everything.

Random speed ties with Drilbur and fast scarfers are more likely to fuck up your sweeps though. Not to mention stray priority users. And stray attacks. Toothperl is really frail.
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Old Oct 11th, 2011, 10:38:56 PM   #12
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Well then maybe Scarf Ponyta should be mentioned in the last spot? Or does Timburr(ton) cover the weakness?
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Old Oct 12th, 2011, 6:20:55 AM   #13
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Clamperl always runs timid, which only hits 68 special attack
Which doesn't kill lileep in sand
Just get a defined check. Sand doesn't mean your whole team has to take full advantage of it. Agility mantyke beats it
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Old Oct 25th, 2011, 1:56:38 AM   #14
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Another incredibly useful sandstorm mon is Solid Rock Tirtouga. It actually trumps Lileep as a special sponge in the sand in a variety of cases. The best example of how this set works is in kd24's rmt which is here.
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