Desert Survival
I've always wanted to use Excadrill to its maximum potential, and I figured a Sandstorm team would be the best way to do this. Upon looking back at any average Sandstorm team, you see several compounded weaknesses, and that's where my idea of using a supporting core came into play.
I asked myself, "What 'broken' Pokemon can I abuse?" This is where my main core of Reuniclus, Tyranitar, and Excadrill came into existence. Tyranitar sets up rocks and can be specialized to weaken things I need weakened. Excadrill easily sweeps Hyper Offense teams while Calm Mind Reuniclus destroys the basic Stall teams I'm eventually going to run into.
Those three Pokemon covered each others weakenesses well and are all immune to Tyranitar's Sandstorm. Next, I needed to make sure Skarmory, Abomasnow, and Bronzong don't ruin my fun, so I added Chandelure to trap them with Tyranitar as a lure. Opposing Rain teams also seemed like a problem. Shaymin was chosen to wall and pressure them. Further details as to why I chose Shaymin will be given. Lastly, I added Keldeo to abuse the rain Politoed brings should Shaymin fall, and to check Genesect (Chandelure can't take repeated U-turns with Stealth Rocks on the field).
This team had an amazing run. In two days (that's counting today), I managed to climb the ladder to #6 (1425 CRE) under the alt Clam. The Dream World ladder was fun, and I encourage more people to try it. The possibilities are endless! :D
Tyranitar (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 176 SAtk / 80 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
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Tyranitar is the Pokemon I find myself most often leading with. However, if there is a Fighting type Pokemon such as Mienshao on the team, I will more often than not adjust my strategy accordingly. This set is incredible at removing counters to Pokemon such as Excadrill easily luring in things like Ferrothorn and KOing them. Ice beam allows me to damage Gliscor which walls Excadrill. It also KOs Dragonite (assuming prior damage) and Salamence. Crunch allows me to fight off Reuniclus and the Lati twins as well as acting as my only STAB. Stealth Rocks are a given in this environment. It also limits the amount of times Ninetails can switch in and bring Drought with it. The Lum Berry allows me to take Hypnosis from Ninetails and Politoed and set up rocks. Lum Berry is useful in general, and in my opinion should be used on this set instead of Leftovers. Leftovers has its utility, but the ability to take a Scald from a Jellicent and strike it back for more than half its health without fear of a burn is just worth it. Hypnosis from the weather leads can no longer stop you from setting up and switching out effectively giving you the early advantage. Lum berry has just been better, and I'm not really considering changing it anytime soon unless Leftovers allows it to survive anything significant. The nature and EVs give it enough Special Defense to survive Focus Blasts from Reuniclus and Gengar. The Special Attack EVs give it the power necessary to achieve the OHKOs it needs using Fire blast and Ice beam.
Reuniclus (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
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Reuniclus is my counter to Fighting types and emergency button for Stall. It simply Calm Minds up to a sufficient amount and then kills things left and right. Psychic and Focus Blast give good coverage only walled by Spiritomb and Sableye. A Bold nature allows it to take damage from the likes of Conkeldurr and come out on top no matter what. For example, an Iron Fist Focus Punch from Conkeldurr did 36% damage. That's the most powerful Fighting type attack right there. Payback is doing less since Conkeldurr is faster. I've considered making Reuniclus slower to guarantee I'll take less damage from Payback, but then I'd lose the speed tie with other Reuniclus, and it's rare to see a -speed natured Conkeldurr outside of Trick Room. Reuniclus also serves as a decent check to just about anything including opposing Excadrill.
Shaymin @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rest
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
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Our little hedgehog joins us again in Generation V. Much like Virizion, Shaymin is very anti-metagame. It checks just about everything for me: Excadrill, Politoed, Rotom-W, Gyarados and more. If Sandstorm hates it, Shaymin checks it. Seed Flare is an awesome STAB move. The 40% chance of lowering Special Defense is incredible. Earth Power lets me hit Heatran that aren't carrying a balloon. Hidden Power Fire is there to catch any Genesect, Scizor, Skarmory, or Ferrothorn willing to switch in expecting a Seed Flare. Team Preview only makes this easier. Rest lets me recover back to full health at the cost of switching out. It has saved me so many times from rain teams I'm surprised as to why people would use Virizion instead. Virizion is not immune to status, doesn't have reliable recovery and can be easily worn down even with Giga Drain. Shaymin on the other hand can recover to full health with a small penalty and is immune to status. I've considered Celebi, but the Pursuit weakness wasn't worth the Fighting resistance as I already had Reuniclus. Shaymin also lures in Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Skarmory for Chandelure to guarantee the kill.
Keldeo @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Secret Sword
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Ice]
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Keldeo completes the supporting fire-water-grass core and can abuse Shaymin's coverage with its own. Keldeo slays Blissey with Secret Sword since it targets physical Defense. Surf is its main STAB and is used to hurt Genesect. Hidden Power Ice rounds out the coverage by hitting the Lati twins, Celebi, and the other Dragons super effectively. I'm completely walled by Jellicent, but Shaymin can easily switch into it and threaten it out. Chandelure can also trap it and KO. Calm Mind gives Keldeo a way to boost its mediocre stats and sweep. However, I find myself using Keldeo to check things like Excadrill and Scrafty if Shaymin is too weak or isn't there to do it.
Chandelure (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Energy Ball
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Chandelure is awesome. Seriously, it takes little skill to use. Just switch it in on a Steel and all your troubles disappear. Aside from killing Steels, the coverage moves allow it to KO all types of pokemon ranging from the Genies to...well...just about anything. The moves above get unresisted coverage aside from Heatran which is beaten by Keldeo. Anything else gets KOed by the right move. If used correctly, this thing can get at least 3 kills per match. A Timid nature allows me to outspeed Jolteon and a +1 Dragonite. Chandelure doesn't really need much explaining considering its job is really straightforward, and there you have it.
Excadrill (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
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Excadrill was feared as the most powerful Pokemon in OU the beginning of Gen V OU. Now, people are saying, "It has its checks..." among other excuses for its non-brokenness. Statements like that are true, but when you have a supporting cast that gets rid of its checks, you can easily sweep with this guy. Using a combination of lures and a trapper I can easily get rid of its checks and sweep teams. The Air Balloon is its most common method of securing a set up using the one turn immunity to score a Swords Dance and proceed to sweep. I rarely bring him in until late game just to keep his Air Balloon in tact. I don't use Jolly because I have multiple checks for opposing Excadrill and Excadrill really needs the power.
