Standard SS team

Hey Guys this is my first time posting on smogon.I usually ladder on smogon server and hang around the purplesurge irc all the time.

Ok , so i was trying to work on a sandstorm team a while ago(after chomp ban) and apparently i made this team and it's considered pretty successful compared with other SS teams i made throughout 5th gen.Without further ado,imma present the team :



Tyranitar @ Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 180 SAtk / 76 Atk
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Superpower
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
So yeah, muh SS abuser.I found out air balloon being a really useful item for t-tar especially when you're facing stuff that threatens you with a powerful earthquake.Superpower is chosen over stealth rocks for opposing t-tars and blisseys that annoys the fuck out of my team.Fire Blast roasts dem Ferrothorns and Forretress.Ice Beam is pretty much for dragons and Gliscor.



Excadrill (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Return
This thing is a be4st.It's the set up sweeper of my team an he could hit hard against any pokemon even without boosts.Earthquake is mainly for stab and hitting opposing excadrills or tyranitars.Rock Slide fucks up most flying types after a boost.As for Return,it's a really good move that hits hard against everything.Yes,everything(cept ghosts).It has enough power to 2HKO standard defensive gliscors and OHKO standard Rotom-W.



Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Timid Nature
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SAtk / 152 Spd
- Pain Split
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- HP Fire
Yeah Babe.Scrotom.Best Thing in the current metagame imo.This is a set i got from a friend of mine and it works out pretty well in this team.HP fire surprises ferrothorn switchins and 2HKOs with it.



Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Impish
EVS: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
Yeah Gliscor.One of the best defensive walls in 5th gen with one of the best abilities imo.Swords Dance is mainly for setting up against stuff like Conkeldurrs and Scizors while protect is for scouting.



Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
Yeah Ferrothorn.This thing is so good.Gyro Ball let me take a big chunk from latios and latias and stuff while power whip handles Politoed and Starmie fairly well.



Starmie @ Choice Specs
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
My Main sweeper of the team.This thing hits anything not named ferrothorn or blissey hard and it's one of the fastest pokes in OU.Specs Gives it the chance to potentially sweep an unprepared team with hydro pump.Boltbeam is pretty much for the coverage and stuff.Trick is chosen over psyshock to cripple walls that starmie have problems against.


That's all. I'm sorry if I did some grammar errors. There are lots of things that I wanted to say but I don't really now how. I don't know english very well, so sorry. :] If you have any problems you could hit me up and i'll try my best to explain to you.thanks for reading :)

Hi Darren, you asked me for a rate so here goes.

The main threats I see are powerful special attackers - Thundurus, HP Fire LO Latios, and Trick Room Reuniclus in particular - are really going to give you a hard time. They all get pretty easy switchins versus your Gliscor, and they can proceed to break down your core pretty easily. In my opinion, Starmie is the most replaceable member, simply because you've got another offensive bulky water in Rotom-W, making Starmie redundant. My suggestion is to try specially defensive Jirachi over Starmie.

Jirachi @ Leftovers | Careful | EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Wish | Stealth Rock | Body Slam | Iron Head

This set is an extremely solid check to the aforementioned special attackers that plague your team, being able to tank their hits and respond with the infamous paraflinch combination. Also, by running Stealth Rock on Rachi, you can drop it on Ferrothorn for Spikes, making it that much harder for your opponents to switch around.

I hope this helps, good luck!

Blazin Kickin Chicken's Jirachi set over Starmie is a good idea. But, I would suggest giving Jirachi Protect over Stealth Rock. Or else Jirachi will not be a viable counter to common threats like Gengar, Starmie, Jolteon, etc. It is also great for scouting. While you can easily give your Tyranitar Stealth Rock over Superpower. You listed that Superpower is for opposing Tyranitars, but that's not a great idea. Especially when your Tyranitar slow (being Sassy Nature).

While your team lacks a spinner, and this can be a big problem against stall teams. You could try making Excadrill your spinner by changing the set to:

Excadrill @ Air Balloon -- Sand Rush
Nature: Adamant - EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

okay i'll try that out :]