Sandslash is a poke oft overlooked when looking for a Rapid Spinning pokemon. After all, is it not just Donphan with slightly worse Hit Points, Attack and Defense? And indeed, simply looking at the stats the logical conclusion is to go with our rolling tapir Donphan, since Sandslash only has an advantage in speed (Though this is a key feature that must not be underestimated). And indeed, if you're just looking to spin, spin, spin to your hearts content and don't really care about anything else, by all means pick Donphan.
However, once you go past Base Stat Zone and enter Movepool Arena and Ability Colosseum is where Sandslash truly begins to shine and outclass Donphan. For starters, let us compare their prospective abilities:
Sandslash: Sand Veil versus Donphan: Sturdy
This is not even a matter of opinion at this point. One hit knockout moves are banned in today's standard metagame, thus rendering Donphan's ability to block these utterly useless. It's the equivalent of Donphan keeping Phanpy's Pick Up ability. Sandslash, on the other hand, has what some people call the best ability in the game, possibly rivaled only by Intimidate. Sand Veil, as all who have encountered a Garchomp or a Gliscor know, makes 100% accurate moves become 80% accurate in a sandstorm, 90 becomes 72 and so on. With Sand being common as it is (Hippowdon and Tyranitar are everywhere nowadays, but you'll probably want to refrain from using Hippo with Sandslash, since there's some redundancy) this ability can mean the difference between a loss and win. And, when you think about the argument that Donphan takes hits better, isn't avoiding a hit much better? So, to sum it up, there's no contest, Sandslash wins.
The movepools and movesets of each are diverse enough, with standard Donphan running something like:
Donphan @ Leftovers
252 HP/252 Def/6 Atk Impish
Earthquake
Ice Shard
Rapid Spin
Stealth Rock
And that's pretty good, if all you want to do is lay down some rocks in peace. However, there's one VERY crucial difference in their movepools, and that is the move Swords Dance. Swords Dance increases Sandslash's Base 100 Attack stat to much higher proportions, easily beating out Donphan's base 120. And while Donphan is a sitting duck to every form of set up in the game, Sandslash is a ...standing shrew...being able to Swords Dance up and hit them with a STAB Earthquake or a Stone Edge ,all while retaining a spot for that coveted move Rapid Spin. The set I found best in OU was:
Sandslash @ Leftovers (Though Brightpowder is an option)
252 HP/252 Defense/4 Atk Impish
Swords Dance
Earthquake
Stone Edge (X-Scissor is a definite option for Celery, er, Celebi and Night Slash is a reliable way to hit Mismagius and Gengar)
Rapid Spin
A perfect blend of utility and offense that actually does something in matches. Too often had I used Donphan only to find it completely stopped by Gliscor, Hippowdon, Bronzong and even Blissey. Yes, a special wall could come in, OUTSPEED ME, then proceed to 2HKO me, all while recovering HP in the process. Without Ice Beam, it still wins out. Sandslash on the other hand beats Blissey soundly with SD and an increase in speed. Sandslash is also much better to have as a last pokemon, since Donphan'll pretty much always lose unless their last pokemon is Foretress. Donphan also has no real way of killing Gengar before it kills him, since Ice Shard does a paltry 25% or so, and Gengar blocks your spin attempts. Not so with Sandslash, whose ability to SD makes him much harder to stop and Night Slash/Stone Edge easily OHKO both Gengar and Mismagius after an SD (It's also nice to note than Gengar's Hypnosis and Mismagius's Will-o-wisp have horrible accuracy in Sandstorm, and that's always a plus). Do note that you Sandslash does not get Ice Shard, which is a selling point of Donphan, being able to hit the dragons first and hard.
Coming back to Base Stats, to my recollection there is not much that Donphan walls that Sandslash does not, but the +15 Speed of Sandslash allows it to beat Blissey, no speed Tyranitar, no speed Magnezone and make it tie with Scizor! The attack difference between Donphan Swords dance covers, so all that's left are some HP/Defense and 5 Base Sp. Def points. Negligible after all of Sandslash's benefits. HOWEVER: It should be recognized that Donphan is still the superior force when it comes to base stats, and can EV himself to beat out 252 HP/252 Def Impish Sandslash with a 132 HP / 172 Def / 206 speed spread. That spread allows it to have better or equal stats to Sandslash in every category, though it still pales overall due to the movepool and ability discrepancies. It should also be noted that Sandslash is lighter than Donphan, so Grass Knot and Low Kick are 60 BP on Sandslash versus 100 on Donphan.
For reference, enjoy an assortment of damage calculations:, just so you know what to feel safe switching in on (20% evasion can only take you so far, right?). Assume 252 HP/252 Defense Sandslash and assume max EVs for the attacker. I'm just going with what nature I see the most and such:
Jolly Garchomp Dragon Claw 25.42% - 29.94%
Jolly Weavile Ice Punch 45.48% - 53.39%
Ice Shard from same Weavile 24.86% - 29.38%
Adamant Electivire Ice Punch 33.62% - 39.55%
Adamant Staraptor Brave Bird 33.62% - 39.55%
Adamant Heracross Close Combat or Megahorn: 40.40% - 47.46%
CB Dugtrio Adamant Earthquake: 37.57% - 44.07% (Hahahahaha)
1 DD Adamant Gyarados Waterfall: 80.79% - 95.20%
1 SD Guts Activated Ursaring Facade: 144.07% - 169.49%. But then again, what non-steel/rock/ghost type lives through this?
1 SD Jolly Infernape Flare Blitz: 64.41% - 75.71%
+6 Sp. Atk Modest Mewtwo Thunder: 0%-0% (Aren't I funny?)
CBTar Adamant Stone Edge: 26.55% - 31.07%, Crunch: 42.66% - 50.00%
There's most of the main attacks I could think of.
I hope I presented the case well enough to make you consider Sandslash over Donphan the next time you need a spinner. Isn't it peculiar that Sandslash is UU while Donphan is OU? Well, I hope you try the set out and post how it worked for you when you replaced Donphan here.
-Light
