A Night In The Desert [OU Balanced Sand]

[ShiningScept]

A Night In The Desert​

Hello people of Smogon, this is ShiningScept and today I have my first submission to RMT. I will be showing off my OU Sand Team. Lets get into it.

Tyranitar @Leftovers
Trait: SandStream
Brave Nature (+Atk -Speed)
Evs: 204 HP,252 Atk,52 SpAtk
-Stealthrock
-Stone Edge
-Pursuit
-Ice Beam

Ah TTar a threat ever since the beginning. Blessed with amazing stats across the board other than his speed. Ttar's job in the team is the set up Stealth rocks and hit somethings for huge amount of damage, 252 in atk for maximum damage and for the HP I have cut it down a little from max to invest the rest into SpAtk as this amount gives you enough power to kill lots of threats that the team has trouble with
With Ice beam you will be able to OHKO Gliscor, Salamence Landorus T and I in 1 shot and OHKO Dragonite after stealth rock damage.
You could always change Ice Beam to Fire Blast to destroy the Ferrothorns, Skarmory's and Forretress' that threaten your team, the other 2 attacking moves, Stone Edge and Pursuit are mainly just for STAB as Stone edge will hurt anything that doesn't resist it and Pursuit is always nice for trapping Ninetales and Politoed who are at low HP and potentially OHKOing Latios, Latias and Celebi.

Landorus-T @Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
Nature Naughty (+Atk -SpDef)
Evs: 252 Atk, 224 Speed, 32 SpAtk
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-Turn
-Hidden Power Ice

Landorus T is a huge power house, amazing 145 Atk reaching 427 with max ev's iv's and a beneficial nature. Base 91 speed isn't amazing but with his bulk and a choice scarf makes him a candidate for almost every team. Landorus is pretty much our revenge killer and our scouter, the main atk on the set is U-turn which is very good paired with his godly attack stat and a choice scarf.
Earthquake is there for STAB, Stone edge to finish up the Earthedge coverage and HP Ice is there to hit Gliscors and if you don't want to risk the miss with Stone Edge on Mence and Dnite. Ev's are a little different from standard scarf Landorus instead of the 32 in HP we are putting them into SpAtk to increase our chances of nailing the Gliscor.

Latios @Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
Timid Nature (+Speed -Atk)
Evs 252 SpAtk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
-Draco Meteor
-Psyshock
-Surf
-Hidden Power Fire

Ah Latios this was the first time me using him and I was impressed, Specs makes this Blue guy hit like a truck! Latios is pretty much in here to just damage anything it pleases, timid nature to give him max speed, standard special sweeper ev spread. For Atks we are using Draco Meteor over Dragon Pulse because he is not really meant to sweep through team but more to damage and put holes through your opponent. Psyshock for secondary STAB and hits Blissey and Chansey for huge damage, maybe even OHKOing depending on their set. Surf is just for playing it safe and if you lose the weather war against a Politoed your surf will be very powerful. Hidden power fire for destroying them Forretress', Skarmory, Ferrothorn and Scizor as it OHKOs everyone of them except Forretress due to sturdy.

Jellicent @Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
Calm Nature (+SpDef -Atk)
Evs 252 HP, 252 SpDef, 4 SpAtk
-Recover
-Will-O-Wisp
-Shadow Ball
-Toxic

Onto our Defensive core of the team, first up we have Jellicent, this was my first time using Jellicent too, and like Latios I was very impressed. Jellicent was chosen over Tentacruel because he is immune to Water with his ability Water Absorb, gets access to Will-O-Wisp one of the best status moves in the game also is a ghost type to be used as a spin blocker. We are gonna go for a Calm nature with standard SpWall Evs. Recover is a staple on Jellicent to recover HP (another reason why I like him more than Tentacruel) Will-O-Wisp is key to this jellyfish aswell because most of the time Jellicent can take +1 outrages and retaliate with Will-O-Wisp and cripple the threatening dragons immensely. I chose Shadow Ball over Scald because if I want the burn I have Will-O-Wisp and Shadow Ball has more base power and breaks standard Dnite's Substitute. Toxic is the last option as Willo is not effective against alot of pokes such as fire types and you will want to toxic Weather inducers and SpAtkers other than burning them.

Gliscor @Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
Impish Nature (+Def -SpAtk)
Evs 252 HP, 184 Def, 72 Speed
-Earthquake
-Protect
-Substitute
-Toxic

Gliscor is quiet an annoyance to most teams, his decent speed, amazing typing which lets him switch in on alot of things really makes him a good pokemon. We are gonna go for a Impish nature to boost his defenses, Poison heal is needed on this set as it will recover HP loss from substitutes really quickly. EVs pretty standard, 252 HP and 184 Def to stay alive, 72 Speed to outrun certain threats. Earthquake is our only Atk for STAB and nice base power, Protect and subtitute are our stalling moves and Toxic is the key to the set. Having EQ as our only attacking move makes us completely useless against other Gliscors with Poison Heal so you may want to opt for Ice fang replacing either Protect or Substitute.

Skarmory @Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
Impish Nature (+Def -SpAtk)
Evs 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Atk
-Spikes
-Whirlwind
-Roost
-Brave Bird

Skarmory a defensive god, he is our main physical wall and our spike user, I chose to have spikes on his because TTar already has Stealth rocks, Skarm also fazes Pokemon out with Whirlwind and can atk for decent amounts of damage with Brave Bird. His amazing typing makes him immune to ground types which is also nice, also makes him neutral to fighting types which makes him one of the best defensive walls in today's metagame. Skarm is also my counter to Scizor resisting everything Scizor has to throw at Skarm except Super power which won't be doing to much unless he catches you when you roost. Skarm is also our main counter to most dragon types as he can take +1 Fire punch from Dnite and whirlwind him, however he does not appreciate Fire blast coming from either Salamence or Garchomp.

This is the team, I have used it alot, alot of options have been changed but this is the outcome. I am open to how I can improve this team.

 

[Dr Ciel]

Hey man, nice team.

Always nice to see people using sand teams nowadays, not as common as those rain teams, but good enough to keep up with the most common playstyle. However, there are some flaws in this team that I see and hopefully my rate can help iron out those flaws. With that said, let's get to the rate. Alright, first up, I would highly recommend running a spread of 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef and a Sassy Nature over your current EV spread and Nature. This EV spread maximizes Tyranitars special bulk while the rest of the EV's are thrown into Special Attack to boost Ice Beam. Moving on, I suggest running a spread of 252 HP / 36 Def / 220 SpD over your current spread. The aftermentioned EV spread allows Jellicent to have the maximum special bulk, while making sure tha Starmie's Psyshock will never 2HKO it. Staying on Jellicent, I recommend running Scald over your current choice of Will-O-Wisp. Scald is the main move in Jellicents arsenal, as it has that awesome 30% burn rate, which is also a STAB move, which boosts its power a bit, which is always nice. Well, that's all I have to say for now. I hope my advice helped. Have fun and good luck in your future endeavours!

​

TL;DR

• Tyranitar

  

  :​
• 204 HP / 252 Atk / 52 SAtk -> 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef​
• Brave -> Sassy​

• Jellicent

  

  :​
• 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 SpA -> 252 HP / 36 Def / 220 SpD​
• Will-O-Wisp -> Scald​

~Dr Ciel~ (The doctor is OUT)​

 

[Mr. Green]

Hey,

The first thing I notice is that the Landorus-T as a revenge-killer is really too slow, is outpaced by Keldeo Scarf, Scarf Jirachi, Salamence Scarf, which is not good as the revenge-killer should be a Pokemon can to outrun the majority of the Pokemon metagame.
So to have a Revenge-killer can attack first and when these Pokemon mainly being KO kill them,'d move on Choice Scarf Latios maybe instead of giving us Trick or Hidden Power Fire Psychock to nullify can create different wall at statup Landorus with double T-booster after setting the entry hazards. , Landorus while I would double-T booster 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spd Rock Polish - Swords Dance - Earthquake - Stone Edge, Rock Polish Adamant nature Yache Berry/Leftovers/Muscle Band for tool tip to try all three, Yache Berry serves mainly Mamoswine and do not be afraid to attack the same resisting his Ice Shard calmly continuing the sweep, Leftovers to recover HP (which I Landorus for double-T booster is not the best item) and finally Muscle Band to further increase the already powerful attack that would assume the Pokemon after a Swords Dance. to win when you have to outrun certain Pokemon to kill them, while Swords Dance if you crush one Stall opponent team.
Landorus double-T booster would find great opportunities to get on Pokemon Okho opponents of the large number of entry hazards that your team to set, plus you also Jellicent as Rapid Spinner so you do not remove from the field as entry hazards and Latios revenge-killer that is far faster than Landorus-T.

The set of Jellicent would change the putting these evs: 252 HP / 160 SDef / 96 Spd, with these evs you are able to outrun Scizor in most cases thereby avoiding the possible Pursuit and using Will-o-Wisp to burn, making the low damage Pursuit, being able to safely use Recover to recover HP important, or if Scizor is under KO you can directly use Scald to kill him, I see that you have not Scald, suggest to put it in place of Shadow Ball and insert Taunt> Toxic, in order to avoid the setup by different wall annoying, such as Blissey or Chansey, or other Jellicent that with 96 Evs in Spd them will overcome almost always.

Good luck!

 

[Subject 18]

Hey ShiningScept, solid team you have so far. However you don have a few issues and hopefully with this rate we can patch those issues.

First lets start with Landorus-T. This is you "revenge killer" right now. However it is much to slow for that role. Since you do need a scarfer and a revenge killer I would suggest running Scarf Terrakion over Landorus-T. This also alleviates your Ice weakness since you have 3 Pokemon weak to Ice. On Terrakion I would run Close Combat/Stone Edge/X-Scissor/Rock Slide. You may wonder why the two Rock type moves, well its because Stone Edge can be inaccurate and Rock Slide can be used for those times when you can't afford a miss.

Terrakion Set

Hide

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Nature: Jolly
- Rock Slide
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor

Minor Changes

- I would run Scald over Will-o-Wisp on Jellicent. Scald gives you a chance to burn.
- On Tyranitar I would recommend using 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef and changing the Brave Nature to Sassy Nature

Hope this helped, good luck and stay classy.

~BlackRussian​

 

[Prinz]

Hey!

Nice team you have here, I like the use of Gliscor, Skarmory and Jellicent together which make your team really solid, so props for it.

Looking at your team, however, I see that Landorus-T is a really slow revenge-killer because many Choice Scarf user can outspeed it such as Salamence and Jirachi and also Volcarona, which can give to you some problem since it beats easily Tyranitar, Skarmory, Gliscor and Latios, outspeeds Choice Scarf Landorus-T after a Quiver Dance. Therefore, I suggest you to use Choice Scarf Landorus-I replacing Choice Scarf Landorus-T, you lose Intimidate which however doesn't seem very useful on this team since you have already Skarmory and Gliscor which are really good to block physical sweeper such as Terrakion, but you gain a Choice Scarf user faster than your current one, which can outspeed other Choice Scarf users such as Salamence, Thundurus-T and Jirachi and it outspeeds Volcarona after a Quiver Dance too, which can give to you some problem as I already said. An EV spread of 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe with a moveset of Earthquake, Stone Edge, U-Turn and Hidden Power Fire, with Naive nature, with Sand Force and with Choice Scarf of course should work fine on your team.

Then, I suggest you to use Chople Berry on Tyranitar because Gengar and Alakazam seem quite troublesome for this team since they can beat your current Tyranitar with Focus Blast and then use Psychic and Shadow Ball to hit hard your team, Chople Berry allows to survive to a Focus Blast and then hit them back with Pursuit. Your team looks weak to Reuniclus too, especially the Calm Mind one which can smash you quite easily and you can't do anything to stop it after a Calm Mind, therefore I suggest you to use Crunch on Tyranitar which would help you a lot against Reuniclus with Chople Berry. Otherwise dragon-types aren't a problem for this team since Skarmory and Gliscor can check them and since Choice ScarfLandorus can revenge-kill them, so you don't need it at all and Crunch is simple a better choice on Tyranitar for this team.

As last thing, I suggest you to follow Mr. Green's suggestion about Jellicent and I'd add that you should try to use Jellicent with 116 EVs on Speed, which allows to outspeed Tyranitar and to burn it with Will-O-Wisp before Tyranitar Pursuits you, 116 EVs on Speed are also useful to outspeed some fast version of Choice Band Scizor, which can Pursuit your Jellicent too.

Good luck!

 

[Eranu]

Hey,

There are a few problems that stand out. First is, you don't have an answer for the pink blobs (Chansey and Blissey). Your Gliscor and Jellicent lack Taunt, your Landorus-T and Tyranitar lack Superpower, and your Latias lacks Trick. Now, you don't need all of those but I certainly suggest running Taunt on Jellicent instead of Toxic. Will-o-Wisp is more important as it lets you burn trappers like Tyranitar or Weavile on the switch (even though the latter is really uncommon) while I don't think you should run Toxic for Fire-types since it won't work on the most used one and they're hit for super effective damage by Scald anyway (unless sun), which brings me to my next point: Run Scald > Shadow Ball. Shadow ball really isn't worth it if you're running it to break Dragonite's substitute, since substitute Dragonite is really uncommon and you have Skarmory as well as scarfed Landorus-T. The occasional burn is way more helpful as it can help you deal with common switch ins like Rotom-W and Lati@s. I agree with Alexander and BlackRussian that it could also use more speed. Your team is really Ttar + Keldeo weak since choiced Latios and slow Jellicent are easily trapped by Pursuit. Running 116 evs lets it outspeed Tyranitar and stall it out with Recover after you burned it. Now, for Latios, I suggest running Trick over Surf. This gives you a second way of getting past the blobs. Tricking either Blissey or Chansey renders them pretty much useless and simply makes them set up fodder for Gliscor or hazards. Surf isn't that useful in sand as you would mostly use it to hit Jirachi and Scizor hard in Rain. In sand Hidden Power [Fire] does more to them anyway.

Now for some smaller changes. Try running Superpower > Stone Edge on Tyranitar. Ice Beam hits most things Stone Edge is supposed to hit for enough damage so that Stone Edge becomes sort of useless. Running Superpower gives you another check to Heatran, which if offensive can be annoying, as well as another way past Ferrothorn, which can be a hassle to deal with as the best you can do now is try Taunting / burning it with Jellicent just hoping it does not have Power Whip or set up Spikes vs it with Skarmory and then Ww it but then it will probably lay Spikes up against you as well.Running Taunt > Protect on Gliscor can be really helpful in dealing with Ferrothorn as well, but that change is up to you depending on how much trouble you have against it. Next up I suggest you run a specially defensive set on Skarmory. Tornadus-I can just spam Hurricanes vs this team while Tyranitar is OHKO'd by Focus Blast. It can also switch in on Gengar while still being able to take Outrages from the likes of Salamence and Garchomp. It doesn't really have to take on Terrakion as you have both Gliscor and Landorus which can both deal with Terrakion.

Lastly, you might want to run Landorus-I over Landorus-T as your choice scarfer. Landorus-I hits harder than Landorus-T in sand thanks to Sand Force and your team appreciates that extra power and speed more than it does Intimidate (you have Gliscor and Skarmory). Being able to outspeed +1 Volcarona is also great as Volcarona can be really threatening to your team at +1 and Landorus-T weakened as it on the other hand does not outspeed it. Don't forget to run 30 Atk and 30 Def IVs instead of 30 speed so you don't auto lose speed ties with other Landorus and Thundurus-T's.

Hope I helped. Good luck.

~Sets:

Hide

Landorus (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]

 

[ShiningScept]

Thanks for all your feed back and I have improved the team using ideas from all your suggestions and ones to fit my play style, here is the new team.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Stealth Rock

Landorus (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Trick
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 4 SAtk / 220 SDef
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Taunt
- Shadow Ball
- Scald

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Protect

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost