Diamonds in the rough

Hey all, this is a team I've been working on for a bit, it's been one of my most successful teams and I hope with your input it can be pushed over the top, it's primarily an offensive team, but the resistances and tyranitar can add a defensive upside. It's a sand team but it doesn't rely on sand, instead sand can just help it preform. So yeah please help LOL.








Chubb Rock (Tyranitar) (M) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Sand Stream​

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef​

Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)​

- Thunder Wave​

- Stone Edge​

- Fire Punch​

- Crunch

Why This Pokemon: Tyranitar is my sand instigator and he fills a role in the team better than hippowdon would becuase tyranitar can better help fill out team weaknesses such as latios and latias, it's a great special wall that also acts as a good offensive asset.

Why this Item: Leftovers are pretty basic, they let me restore health as opponents lose health to the sandstorm.

​

Why These EVs: I always prefer to abuse how great of a special wall tyranitar can be, I was tempted to run enough speed to outrun scizor but whenever I do that I always think I can beat them and then they end up having speed EVs aswell.

Why Move 1: THUNDER WAVE is used for crippling things on the switch in which can really help my team beat threats such as scizor, terrakion etc.
Why Move 2: STONE EDGE is Tyranitar's most powerful STAB move which allows it to beat things such as dragonite, and most importantly allows it to beat some paralyzed pokemon such as politoed.
Why Move 3:
Why Movie 4: CRUNCH is good because it can help me beat some ghost and psychic threats such as lati@s, gengar, jellicent, reuniclus, and starmie. I was considering using pursuit but the extra power from crunch is necessary quite frequently.

Weakness And How They're Beat: Fighting: Starmie & Landorus Resist Steel: Heatran & Starmie Resist, Heatran, Terrakion, Breloom & Landorus Super affect Ground: Breloom & Landorus Resist, Breloom & Starmie Super affect. Water: Breloom & Starmie Resist, Breloom super affects. Bug: Heatran, Terrakion & Landorus resist, Heatran, Tyranitar & Terrakion super affect. Grass: Breloom & heatran resists, Heatran super affects.


​

​

Forged (Heatran) (M) @ Air Balloon​

Trait: Flash Fire​

EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd​

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)​

- Flamethrower​

- Earth Power​

- Hidden Power [Ice]​

- Will-O-Wisp​

Why This Pokemon: Heatran helps with the bug and grass weakness, and helps beat certain threats such as scizor, salamence and dragonite. It can outspeed some of the certain things I need it to do while having the defense needed to survive the course of the battle, while enough offense to tear a hole through some teams.

Why This Item: Air Balloon allows heatran to beat dragonite, salamence, dugtrio, lando-t, and some other pains in the butt, heatrans ground weakness is it's biggest quirk and this helps it overcome it.

Why These EVs: I gave it the the standard offensive EVs that's the best way for it to work as an offensive asset.

Why Move 1: FLAMETHROWER its only useful STAB is fire and it's necessary for it to work. I prefer flamethrower over the other fire attacks because it doesn't usually need the power from fire blast and the accuracy of fire blast can screw me.
Why Move 2: EARTH POWER is the way for heatran to abuse its flash fire and beat fire types while also helping it take a chunk on rock types.
Why Move 3: HP ICE Is its way to abuse its steel type and beat dragons, and also stuff like gliscor, or pop other heatran's balloons.
Why Movie 4: WILO WISP is kind of heatran's wildcard heatran is one of those pokemon that get some very obvious switch ins on it, wilo is a great way to cripple some of them, such as gyarados, tyranitar, hippowdon etc.

Weakness And How They're Beat: Ground: Air balloon lets it float over, Breloom & Landorus resist, Starmie & Breloom super affect. Fighting Starmie & Landorus resist. Water: Breloom & Starmie Resist, Breloom super affects.




​

Wings (Terrakion) @ Rock Gem​

Trait: Justified​

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd​

Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)​

- Stealth Rock​

- Close Combat​

- Stone Edge​

- Taunt

Why This Pokemon: Terrakion is good because it helps beat butt pains like chansey and this set is very special because it can help set up SR, wall break, stop sweepers, prevent hazards, it does a lot more damage in a battle than you would think, I credit this set to Mcdanger.

Why this Item: This one can come as a suprise, it allows it to pack a big punch and OHKO some certain pokemon neutral to stone edge, it's a way to let it have an offensive upside while still being a utility.

Why These EVs: Just the basic offensive EVs it doesn't need a defensive spread because it doesn't rely on walling things defensively and the sand lets it wall enough special defensively. The offensive spread allows it to be a viable revenge killer aswell as a utility.

Why Move 1: STEALTH ROCK This isn't a common move on terrakion but he usually sets this up freely as the opponenet switches out expecting an attack, it helps my team phaze the opponent which can be very necessary.
Why Move 2: CLOSE COMBAT goes well with stone edge, it lets it beat things such as mamoswine, heatran, chansey basicly anything terrakion is known for beating lol.
Why Move 3: STONE EDGE is the move I use as the main part of its wall breaking, with a rock gem and its already good power with STAB it can put a big dent in anything, it lets it beat skarmory, and OHKO almost anything neutral.
Why Movie 4: TAUNT is its other weird move, combined with stone edge it allows terrakion to stall break things such as forretress, and skarmory.

Weakness And How They're Beat:
Fighting: Starmie & Landorus Resist Steel: Heatran & Starmie Resist, Heatran, Terrakion, Breloom & Landorus Super affect Ground: Breloom & Landorus Resist, Breloom & Starmie Super affect. Water: Breloom & Starmie Resist, Breloom super affects. Grass: Breloom & heatran resists, Heatran super affects.

​

​

Perv (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb​

Trait: Sheer Force​

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd​

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)​

- Substitute​

- Earth Power​

- Focus Blast​

- Hidden Power [Ice]​

Why This Item: Life orb and sheer force is a great combo because when sheer force kicks in the recoil of the life orb is nullified and it gives it just enough power to sweep the things necessary.
​

Why This Pokemon: Once I decided to make this team sand I thought this guy could be a great asset since there's always the question of sand force vs sheer force, landorus has great sweeping abilities with the sand and the SR terrakion sets up. It can add some synergy and help my team beat fighting types.

Why These EVs: The EVs basicly let it outrun some of the things it needs to while having the special attack needed to pack its punch.

Why Move 1: SUBSTITUTE Allows it to set up on a hazard, status enducing move, or switch out, which then gives it a great chance to sweep with all its power.
Why Move 2: EARTH POWER Is insanely powerful with the life orb + sheer force + STAB, it can OHKO so many things that it are neutral to it after sand + SR damage, it does wonders when revenge killing and can sweep.
Why Move 3: FOCUS BLAST can help have the great power of earth power while being able to compliment it on the pokemon it can beat, like helping it beat skarmory, and air balloom heatran.
Why Movie 4: HP ICE Is for beating the flying types like gliscor, dragonite, and salamence, that neutralize ground and resists fighting. It also helps with grass types such as breloom.

Weakness And How They're Beat: Water: Breloom & Starmie Resist, Breloom super affects. Ice: Heatran & Starmie resist, Terrakion, Tyranitar, Heatran, and Breloom super affect.




​

Ninja Toad (Breloom) (F) @ Fight Gem​

Trait: Technician​

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd​

Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)​

- Mach Punch​

- Bullet Seed​

- Spore​

- Swords Dance​

Why This Pokemon: Water and grass looked like problems while team building so I decided to add breloom, breloom is very crucial when it comes to beating rain teams, and breloom can also help beat a lot of threats, while sporing anything slower than it that can beat it giving it a free hit and a free shot, also helping it set up and sweep.

Why This Item: The fighting gem allows mach punch to have enough power to KO the threats it needs to without the set up restriction of the band, it gives breloom some scary priority which can come in handy quite frequently.
​

Why These EVs: It uses the speed EVs to outrun certain things so it can spore them, and the combination of that and the attack EVs lets it start to sweep things, since it has just enough attack for mach punch to be lethally powerful.

Why Move 1: MACH PUNCH is the brelooms STAB priority move with tetechnician and the fighting gem it has enough power to help it beat things faster than its self such as Terrakions, heatrans, and things that are neutral to it after a swords dance.
Why Move 2: BULLET SEED, finally this move is useful in OU after years, with technitian the power varies from 75 to an insane 187.5 this move if it hits a good number of times can rip a gaping hole in anything, not much likes to switch in on this.
Why Move 3: SPORE Is breloom's signature move, the ability to put something to sleep 100% of the time is crazy, it gives breloom a free swords dance which can not be underestimated, especially with sand and stealth rock.
Why Movie 4: SWORDS DANCE Is the move that allows breloom to set and sweep, the doubling an already powerful force of its high attack and technician, when I get to use this it's a hard thing to stop.

Weakness And How They're Beat:
Ice: Heatran & Starmie resist, Terrakion, Tyranitar, Heatran, and Breloom super affect. Flying: Heatran & Tyranitar resist, Tyranitar and Terrakion super affect. Fire: Heatran, Tyranitar, Terrakion & Starmie resist, Landorus, Tyranitar, Starmie & Terrakion super affect.





​

Patrick (Starmie) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Natural Cure​

EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd​

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)​

- Rapid Spin​

- Surf​

- Thunderbolt​

- Ice Beam

Why This Pokemon: Especially now a days with the stealth rock tutor it's important to have a spinner, starmie was a good fit for the team because it can cover some key weaknesses aswell as being a good spinner, it can seem to last when it needs to aswell as providing some aid to the offense as a rapid spinner, it also assists in beating the ever so abused rain.

Why These EVs: The basic offensive EVs it gives it the speed to outrun and the power to revenge kill, it can outrun most things which aids it to getting a rapid spin in when it needs to.

Why Move 1: RAPID SPIN is very key in today's meta game, it gets rid of hazards which are constantly abused now, starmie can usually handle most ghost types if their switch in is anticipated properly.
Why Move 2: SURF is a necessary STAB because it's needed to handle a lot of ghosts types such as gengar since it can see it coming outrun and 2HKO, It can help me handle fire types, rock types, and ground types which it really needs to do.
Why Move 3: THUNDERBOLT Is needed to beat other water types so it can help handle rain teams, and stuff like politoed, and tentacruel. It can also help handle some flyers which can be a but pain for stuff like breloom, plus synergy wise it compliments ice beam since no type resists both of them and the only type combination that does if Electric steel.
Why Movie 4: Ice beam helps beat dragons like dragonite, and salamence, it's also key for beating stuff like landorus and gliscor, it does a good job revenge killing grass types like breloom which can't hurt it with Mach punch.

Weakness And How They're Beat: Electrick: Breloom & Landorus resist, Landorus super affects. Ghost: Tyranitar & Heatran resist, Tyranitar super affects Dark:Heatran, Terrakion, Breloom & Tyranitar resist, Breloom, Terrakion super affects, Grass: Breloom & heatran resists, Heatran super affects. Bug: Heatran, Terrakion & Landorus resist, Heatran, Tyranitar & Terrakion super affect. ​

Hey dude! This is a kickass team, and the overall presentation of this RMT is just very impressive. As you can probably agree with me on this, that most of the OU RMT thread is littered with poorly thrown together teams that are presented in such boring/monotone ways. When I see actual creativity in an RMT, it lets me know that you took the time to not only build this team, but to make your team stand out. Anyways, on to the rate!

Overall, your team is extremely solid for not having any rates or tweaks what so ever, and as of now the only thing I recommend trying, is making your Landorus a Rock Polish variant. Same move set, same EV spread, similar purpose, but has the opportunity to become one of the most devastating sweepers in the meta game. When testing it out, make sure also to change it's nature from Timid to Modest to give it extra fire power, as it's not going to need that extra speed with a RP boost. I'm serious, once he finds a way to set up he is almost impossible to take down except by a priority Ice Shard, and even the pink blobs do NOT enjoy taking a Focus Blast. Seriously though, try it out. RP Landorus in the sand is just so devastating, and can win you so many battles alone.

If I find anything else with your team that I think could be tweaked I'll get back to you. Anyways, great team man, and good luck!

Hey!

You've got a really solid outline for a sand balance team. I'm a little worried about your ability to take on Rain teams though. Starmie is going to take a beating without Recover, and Breloom isn't the bulkiest Grass Pokemon in existence. I don't think you'll need any Pokemon changes, but some set changes could be very helpful.

First, I think TTar would be much better as a Choice Band set. Choice Band Tyranitar is such a monster in this metagame. It's very good at removing Lati@s for Landorus or Breloom to sweep. It also puts a lot of pressure on Rain. Defensive Politoed usually won't stay in against a Tyranitar, and Pursuit does tons of damage. Ferrothorn usually doesn't see Superpower coming, so you can nab some extra KOes that way too (even though you've got Ferrothorn covered well already). TTar will just be a great wall breaking utility, and it still serves all the jobs you use it for already. The EVs are 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spe with an Adamant nature.

You should definitely use Focus Sash on Terrakion. I think one of the biggest pros to Terrakion is scouting the opponents team. If you lead Terrakion vs. an opponents Politoed, you don't have to guess whether your opponent is scarfed. It's also just a lot harder to take Terrakion down without damage since it's pretty fast. You can afford to stay in against a lead Latios, Keldeo, Terrakion, or Tornadus-t that you wouldn't otherwise have the ability to beat.

On Landorus, I would advocate Rock Polish instead of Substitute. Just comparing the two, Rock Polish has a lot more upside. You'd basically use them in the same situations anyway. Rock Polish will give you some sweeping presence in matches since it's the only thing you have for sweeping. I think Rock Polish will have a lot more use in a lot more matches.

On Starmie, it's imperative that you fit Recover somewhere. Also, you should change your EV spread to 252 Hp / 252 Spe / 4 Def. Starmie will bear the brunt of defending against other weather teams. You need Recover to switch in repeatedly. A Choice Scarf Politoed, or any other Scarf Water Pokemon in the Rain, could be incredibly deadly for your team if you don't have Recover. Psyshock is a solid medium between Thunderbolt and Ice Beam. However, if you find one of Thunderbolt or Ice Beam irreplaceable, pick one of them instead of Psyshock.

Good luck!

Thanks a lot for the rates, I will test all your ideas ASAP ^^