Hi, this is my first OU rmt: I started with a UU one for a break from the predictable battling of OU, but soon decided to make a sand team. The team is centred around a choice specs gastrodon, which IMO hits really hard and should be used more. I've played on PS quite a bit with this team, but have finally decided on the sets I'm running now. You may notice that all of my team is immune to sandstrom, but that by no means means it has appaling synergy, like you might expect. Here it is:
Team Building Process:
So, here it is, the star of the show, cruising along with its gloop and sticky muck. At this point, I wanted to build a sand team to make more chances for storm drain boosts (lots of pokemon weak to water), and trick room to help it sweep with bad speed.
T-tar I think just outclasses Hippowdon to the point where the latter is nearly dropping down to UU. I only use it for the permanent sand its name entails.
My trick room setter could be two pokemon (trick room setters and abusers immune to sandstorm) that were viable in OU: Bronzong and Reuniclus( metagross compunded my ground weakness), and I settled for the more offensive one: the psychic embryo.
I wanted something that could either take dragon hits or retaliate hard, so a steel type fit. However, I went with donphan because it can abuse sand veil, and rapid spin, as well as ice sharding weakened D-nites, Salamences, and latii twins.
Now I wanted something that could take hits from celebi, breloom and other grass types, and retaliate hard. Also, a ground immunity was important as i had no other resistances. Gliscor fit the bill, as well as being immune to sandstorm, and working as a physical tank.
I finally wanted a special tank, and a wish passer to recover gastrodon and co.s lost HP. Blissey/chansey would seem the obvious choice but I wanted something that could deal damage better than 75 SpA (blissey) or seismic toss, so jirachi was my choice.
And here's the team:
Gastrodon @ choice specs
Quiet nature (+SpA, -Spe)
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 SpA/ 4SpD
-Earth Power
-Scald
-Ice Beam
-Sludge Bomb
Gastrodon is my main special sweeper, and can abuse the trick room I get from reuniclus. With a storm drain boost from something like politoed or vaporeon, it then can hit really hard, even if it can't get TR. Scald over surf for some lucky burns and Earth power is the best special STAB move available. i don't use the other moves that much, but ice beam can hit dragons and grass switch-ins, and sludge bomb hits some grass types harder, as well as having a 30% poison rate, which has won me a battle in the past.
Tyranitar @ focus sash
Brave nature (+ Atk, -Spe)
Ability: Sandstream
EVs: 164 HP/ 252 Atk/ 92 SpA
-Pursuit
-Stealth Rock
-Stone Edge
-Fire Blast
This T-tar set is kinda unorthodox, but it has worked for me. The focus sash means that it can take a hit on one of its 7 weaknesses (I know), and the 92 SpA EVs mean that fire blast is a guaranteed OHKO on bulky SD scizor (though it could miss). This hasn't really mattered at all, but I still think it could, and that's the only calcs I've checked, so it might matter against ferrothorn or genesect etc. Pursuit allows me to trap psychic types, particularly the lati twins, which take a chunk from it. Stealth Rock is the best move in the game, and I don't really use stone edge much, but it might matter against something. The EVS give me the necessary Special Attack like I said, and maximise attack with the rest in HP.
Reuniclus @ life orb
Quiet nature (+SpA, -Spe)
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 SpA/ 4SpD
-Trick Room
-Psychic
-Energy ball
-Focus blast
Reuniclus is my only trick room setter, and can abuse really well in its own right. I change the attacking moves around quite a bit, but this seems good to me. Psychic could be replaced for psyshock, but I'm waiting to see what raters think before making the switch. Energy ball hits politoed, t-tar, and a few other notable pokemon harder than shadow ball, and starmie is the reason I would either anyway: it's a big threat to the team. Focus blast allows me to hit bug/steel types neutrally, and ferrothorn SE, which does matter a lot. Other than that, it seems quite solid to me. Of course, magic guard means that life orb and sandstorm don't affect its HP, and it is immune to entry hazards as well as being my status absorber (only for toxic and burn, though).
Donphan @ leftovers
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spe)
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
-Rapid Spin
-Ice Shard
-Head Smash
-Earthquake
Donphan as a spinner isn't used that much, as most of my team either isn't effected by, or doesn't particularly care about entry hazards, but it sometimes is useful (stopping gastrodon from getting poisoned from Tspikes is useful). I mainly use this guy to revenge kill weakened pokes, mainly dragons and the odd grass type, with ice shard coming from an often overlooked 120 base attack. Funnily enough, even against something like gliscor, head smash hits harder than ice shard, so it is also used a lot, but it decreases the effectiveness of donphan as a physical tank with recoil. maybe stone edge would work, but it does stop some OHKOs that matter a lot.. EQ is standard, and the EVs are pretty straight forward.
Gliscor @ toxic orb
Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP/ 184 Def/ 72 Spe
-Protect
-Earthquake
-Facade
-Toxic
This set is practically taken out of the smogon analysis, but it seems really useful to check pokemon including, but not limited to, conkeldurr, terrakion, breloom, t-tar and toxicroak. My main physical wall, it is one of two pokemon that function well outside of trick room, allowing me to maintain a speed advantage even with reuniclus gone. This is possibly the weakest link in my team; any suggestions on changing the set or pokemon are great. I think i might replace it with an acroBat set, which would counter celebi and breloom better, but lose my more defensive presence. Gliscor can act as a status absorber as well, after its toxic orb activates, and can stall out many pokemon that would otherwise threaten the team greatly.
Jirachi @ leftovers
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SpA)
Ability: Serene grace
EVs: 240 HP/ 76 Def/ 160 SpD/ 32 Spe
-Wish
-U-turn
-Body Slam
-Iron Head
This is across between a specially defensive set, a wish passing set, and a paraflinching annoyer. Wishes, then u-turns out to a pokemon that needs healing, as none of my pokemon carries healing outside of toxic orb/ leftovers, even though three of them could. The main wish recipient is gastrodon, but reuniclus greatly appreciates it too, allowing maybe another trick room set up. i like the paraflinching, as jirachi is often left as my last pokemon, so it can annoy opponents to death in that case. The EVs give it big wishes, a lefties number, and the ability to take 5 seismic tosses, as well as good overall bulk and the ability to outspeed almost all T-tars an timid magnezone (meaning I can u-turn away easily).
So that's the team, I hope you guys can give me some advice and help my laddering. I so far have peaked in the 1570s on PS and hope to get higher
Team Building Process:
So, here it is, the star of the show, cruising along with its gloop and sticky muck. At this point, I wanted to build a sand team to make more chances for storm drain boosts (lots of pokemon weak to water), and trick room to help it sweep with bad speed.
T-tar I think just outclasses Hippowdon to the point where the latter is nearly dropping down to UU. I only use it for the permanent sand its name entails.
My trick room setter could be two pokemon (trick room setters and abusers immune to sandstorm) that were viable in OU: Bronzong and Reuniclus( metagross compunded my ground weakness), and I settled for the more offensive one: the psychic embryo.
I wanted something that could either take dragon hits or retaliate hard, so a steel type fit. However, I went with donphan because it can abuse sand veil, and rapid spin, as well as ice sharding weakened D-nites, Salamences, and latii twins.
Now I wanted something that could take hits from celebi, breloom and other grass types, and retaliate hard. Also, a ground immunity was important as i had no other resistances. Gliscor fit the bill, as well as being immune to sandstorm, and working as a physical tank.
I finally wanted a special tank, and a wish passer to recover gastrodon and co.s lost HP. Blissey/chansey would seem the obvious choice but I wanted something that could deal damage better than 75 SpA (blissey) or seismic toss, so jirachi was my choice.
And here's the team:
Gastrodon @ choice specs
Quiet nature (+SpA, -Spe)
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 SpA/ 4SpD
-Earth Power
-Scald
-Ice Beam
-Sludge Bomb
Gastrodon is my main special sweeper, and can abuse the trick room I get from reuniclus. With a storm drain boost from something like politoed or vaporeon, it then can hit really hard, even if it can't get TR. Scald over surf for some lucky burns and Earth power is the best special STAB move available. i don't use the other moves that much, but ice beam can hit dragons and grass switch-ins, and sludge bomb hits some grass types harder, as well as having a 30% poison rate, which has won me a battle in the past.
Tyranitar @ focus sash
Brave nature (+ Atk, -Spe)
Ability: Sandstream
EVs: 164 HP/ 252 Atk/ 92 SpA
-Pursuit
-Stealth Rock
-Stone Edge
-Fire Blast
This T-tar set is kinda unorthodox, but it has worked for me. The focus sash means that it can take a hit on one of its 7 weaknesses (I know), and the 92 SpA EVs mean that fire blast is a guaranteed OHKO on bulky SD scizor (though it could miss). This hasn't really mattered at all, but I still think it could, and that's the only calcs I've checked, so it might matter against ferrothorn or genesect etc. Pursuit allows me to trap psychic types, particularly the lati twins, which take a chunk from it. Stealth Rock is the best move in the game, and I don't really use stone edge much, but it might matter against something. The EVS give me the necessary Special Attack like I said, and maximise attack with the rest in HP.
Reuniclus @ life orb
Quiet nature (+SpA, -Spe)
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 SpA/ 4SpD
-Trick Room
-Psychic
-Energy ball
-Focus blast
Reuniclus is my only trick room setter, and can abuse really well in its own right. I change the attacking moves around quite a bit, but this seems good to me. Psychic could be replaced for psyshock, but I'm waiting to see what raters think before making the switch. Energy ball hits politoed, t-tar, and a few other notable pokemon harder than shadow ball, and starmie is the reason I would either anyway: it's a big threat to the team. Focus blast allows me to hit bug/steel types neutrally, and ferrothorn SE, which does matter a lot. Other than that, it seems quite solid to me. Of course, magic guard means that life orb and sandstorm don't affect its HP, and it is immune to entry hazards as well as being my status absorber (only for toxic and burn, though).
Donphan @ leftovers
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spe)
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
-Rapid Spin
-Ice Shard
-Head Smash
-Earthquake
Donphan as a spinner isn't used that much, as most of my team either isn't effected by, or doesn't particularly care about entry hazards, but it sometimes is useful (stopping gastrodon from getting poisoned from Tspikes is useful). I mainly use this guy to revenge kill weakened pokes, mainly dragons and the odd grass type, with ice shard coming from an often overlooked 120 base attack. Funnily enough, even against something like gliscor, head smash hits harder than ice shard, so it is also used a lot, but it decreases the effectiveness of donphan as a physical tank with recoil. maybe stone edge would work, but it does stop some OHKOs that matter a lot.. EQ is standard, and the EVs are pretty straight forward.
Gliscor @ toxic orb
Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP/ 184 Def/ 72 Spe
-Protect
-Earthquake
-Facade
-Toxic
This set is practically taken out of the smogon analysis, but it seems really useful to check pokemon including, but not limited to, conkeldurr, terrakion, breloom, t-tar and toxicroak. My main physical wall, it is one of two pokemon that function well outside of trick room, allowing me to maintain a speed advantage even with reuniclus gone. This is possibly the weakest link in my team; any suggestions on changing the set or pokemon are great. I think i might replace it with an acroBat set, which would counter celebi and breloom better, but lose my more defensive presence. Gliscor can act as a status absorber as well, after its toxic orb activates, and can stall out many pokemon that would otherwise threaten the team greatly.
Jirachi @ leftovers
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SpA)
Ability: Serene grace
EVs: 240 HP/ 76 Def/ 160 SpD/ 32 Spe
-Wish
-U-turn
-Body Slam
-Iron Head
This is across between a specially defensive set, a wish passing set, and a paraflinching annoyer. Wishes, then u-turns out to a pokemon that needs healing, as none of my pokemon carries healing outside of toxic orb/ leftovers, even though three of them could. The main wish recipient is gastrodon, but reuniclus greatly appreciates it too, allowing maybe another trick room set up. i like the paraflinching, as jirachi is often left as my last pokemon, so it can annoy opponents to death in that case. The EVs give it big wishes, a lefties number, and the ability to take 5 seismic tosses, as well as good overall bulk and the ability to outspeed almost all T-tars an timid magnezone (meaning I can u-turn away easily).
So that's the team, I hope you guys can give me some advice and help my laddering. I so far have peaked in the 1570s on PS and hope to get higher
