Gen 5 OU balanced sandstorm team.

[DudeVonManrod]

Hello, I am very new to Smogon, but have been playing on the Pokemon Online thing for awhile now. I came across someone who recommended that
I put my team up to be rated, and thus here I am.

The only true weaknesses on here would be grass, fire, and water, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem since I have that covered decently enough. I mean unless there is a drizzle team, or a all grass team, this should be fine.

Also, I rely heavily on leftovers yes, but that's because it greatly increases the defensive capablilities.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 114 Def / 144 S.Def / 252 HP
Nature: Careful
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Substitute

Every defensive sandstorm team needs a Hippowdon, I mean doesn't she just do everything?
Mainly just there to initiate the sand stream, then Stealth Rock, but have Slack Off, and Substitute to wall and do little ammounts of damage along with the sandstorm to widdle them down, the Earthquake because that would be a waste of her raw attack power to not have it there.
Recommended to switch out if flying/levitate/grass/water is there after Stealth Rock is in place if you want to keep him for later which is highly recommended considering he is one of the few that can take out the fire and fighting that may be on the team later on

Exadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush (Sand Force if you want the added power, up to you)
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Spd/ 252 Atk
Nature: Jolly (or Adamant if you use Sand Rush, can go either way)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Rapid Spin

The Physical Sweeper of the team, very nice addition to Gen 5 I believe.
I focus mainly on his speed, because since he is a glass cannon, possibly getting that first shot in is very nice.
Air Balloon because it usually gives you the opportunity to do at least one Swords Dance as they will most likely try to break it to get you available for ground attacks, then blast them away with one of the moves.
Rapid Spin is there to get rid of the spikes; having the spikes can really hinder this team.
Huge easy target if paralyzed, misses, or doesn't finish off with one hit so beware.
That's why I prefer to get maxed Spikes with Skarmory and have Stealth Rock laid out before sending him out so that it is a sure kill.
Beware of ground, fire, and fighting though so watch out.

Zapdos @ Expert Belt (Life Orb if you want that extra power, but he fads out quicker)
Ability: Pressure (greatly usefully on recovery walls)
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Spd/ 252 Atk
Nature: Timid (Modest can also be used for that extra power, but I prefer to strike first, your choice)
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power (Ice)
- Roost

The special sweeper, really amazing one too.
He should mainly be used for taking out the grass/water/fighting pokemon, but he also carries Hidden Power to get rid of those nasty dragons and flying pokemon (if for some reason you don't want to use rock).
Roost for healing every now and then when you get the chance (or to survive an ice attack), although I rarely use it as he is mostly expendable since I usually encounter one fighting or grass.
His main weak-point is rock; all his moves suck against it, and he is 4x weak to it so watch out.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs:4 Def/ 252 S.Def/ 252 HP
Nature: Careful
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Toxic (interchangeable with Brave Bird, Fly, Counter, Protect, or Taunt, really up to you)

Skarmory, really used to piss me off at a point, but now one of my good friends.
His main purpose is to lay out your three layers of Spikes (Stealth Rock not needed if you used Hippowdon correctly), then just piss the enemy off.
You could either use Toxic to have more damaging power on your team (not entirely recommended as one of Ferrothorn's strong points is Thunder Wave, but it's up to you), or Keep Whirlwind'n them until they are extremely weak.
Keep in mind fire will wreck him, as well as electric (using a timely Roost would take care of that though)

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 76 S.Def/ 132 HP/ 144 Atk/ 156 Def (It's possible to rearrange these to your liking to have a more attack/defense build, but I like to keep him balanced)
Nature: Sassy (Change to your liking)
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- Crunch

Not having Tyranitar on your team is like suicide, literally. Also having a back-up Sand Stream doesn't hurt either.
He is the main bulky attacker, covering a wide array of moves. Stone Edge because of the STAB, and because rock can seriously ruin someone's day.
You will also see that I left out Earthquake in place of Ice Punch, mainly because if Zapdos gets KO'ed early on, there might be a surprise dragon lurking about.
Fire Punch to take care of steel or grass, and Crunch to get that extra STAB power and to make mince meat of the psychics.
Fighting will be his demise, stay away as much as possible. Also, water amd grass doesn't really serve well with him.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs:4 HP/ 252 S.Def/ 252 Def
Nature: Sassy
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
- Explosion (Not necessary, I just prefer it

The main defensive wall against the troublesome water types.
His main purpose is to hinder the team even more, and just hang out for a bit and let the damage slowly rack up.
Leech Seed is a must, considering he doesn't have anything to heal, and it also does a decent amount of damage. In addition to that, if you manage to get a seed on a really stat beefed up character, they will have more of an incentive to normal switch them out.
Thunder Wave because if you switch him in, anyone who has the right mind would immediately switch to a fire or fighting type, so at least you have hindered them when they do.
Power whip is to just murder the water types, and Explosion is if he gets kinda low on health and there is no chance to regain all of it back. Once his health starts to dwindle, he can be taken out quick.
Big trouble comes from fire and fighting, can make quick work of him.

Here is the main threat list, from greatest to least:

Breloom

Keldeo

Kingdra

Swampert

Politoed

Conkeldurr

Infernape

Celebi

Rotom-W

Eelektross

Skarmory

Starmie

Serperior

Gliscor

Snorlax

May seem like a huge list, but these are the only ones that gave me minor to major trouble.
Drizzle and an all grass team can really wipe this set up out, so be careful about that.

And there you have it, an extremely well-rounded sandstorm team, that I think is great.
I am willing to accept any type of criticism.

Thanks GTS Plus for the Sprites!

 

[Elite_Trainer_U]

Yay! Sand! My favorite! Your in luck cause I'm great with sand!

Hippowdon ~ Your EV spread is a bit unorthodox but it's fine. Also drop substitute for ice fang. It provides great coverage against the genies and it allows you to hit excadrills on balloons. Other than that this is a solid set.

Excadrill ~ Go with a jolly nature, balloon, and sand rush (the one that doubles speed). Also drop rapid spin for x-scissor, your team doesn't need the support.

Zapdos ~ I hate to say this but you are using an inferior Latios. Latios can learn all those moves and is faster and stronger. I recommend you drop zapdos for him. Also, zapdos is only 2x weak to rock, not 4.

Skarmory ~ Hmm well your using skarm as a wall alongside ferrothorn. One of these has to go because it's essentially like using a chansey and blissey on your team. Dumb, right? So I think you should take out skarm and add a bulky water. I like rotom-w but it's up to you.

Tyranitar ~ Well you don't need two sandstreamers. Trust me, you don't need both of them. Also, your running the weirdest ttar set I've ever seen. I think you should replace ttar with a poke that can help against your threat list. I'll cover that at the end.

Ferrothorn ~ Good poke, weird set. I'll give you a better one at the bottom of this post.

Threat list

Breloom ~ Well if you drop zapdos for latios, you can revenge it easily, but we need a better solution.

Keldeo ~ This isn't even legal in wifi yet. You shouldn't see this at all if your are playing wifi OU.

Kingdra ~ Really? The ferrothorn I'm gonna give you is gonna wall kindra to no end.

Swampert ~ See kingdra.

Politoed ~ Zapdos/latios, rotom-w if you add it, and ferrothorn should be able to handle it.

Conkeldurr ~ If you add latios, you can one hit it with a specs draco meteor, so not a massive problem.

Infernape ~ Again, latios is your friend here.

Celebi ~ If you give excadrill x-scissor, you should be able to check it fairly easily.

Rotom-W ~ Latios can nuke this thing.

Eelektross ~ Lolwut? This thing sucks. Maybe your just playing around him poorly.

Skarmory ~ Rotom-w and latios should you add them check this bad boy.

Starmie ~ Rotom-w.

Serperior ~ I've never seen one of these in wifi OU. I don't know what to tell you here.

Gliscor ~ Hmm Rotom-w and latios can counter him easily.

Snorlax ~ This you actually may have trouble with, maybe add a terrakion over ttar?

Here's that ferrothorn set I've been telling you about

Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 236 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Curse
- Spikes / Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip

This set owns rain teams. You shouldn't struggle with them much anymore.

You may want to keep ttar, but why don't you try a terrakion instead?

Good luck! PM if you need more sets.

 

[blastoiseboy19]

Nice team. I might use a similar team. I would agree with using Latios instead of Zapdos, although in my opinion Hydreigon is pretty nice too. A specs Draco Meteor can decimate if you know how to play it. It also has a nice coverage movepool (Dark Pulse, Fire Blast, Surf, even Tri-attack can be used for status) and some decent resistances. It can also (literaly) nuke Ferrothorns, and it is pretty good all around. On the subject of drak types, Bisharp is a nice member to a sand team. Iron Head, Sucker Punch, Swords Dance, and Brick Break/X-Scissor offers nice coverage. It has a couple good resistances and a very good attack stat (along with a nice defence) and works well in the sand.