Concept
For my team I decided that I wanted to use bulky offense, because in this metagame it is essential to have bulky checks, and hard hitters in my opinion. The team was built around SS because i found this weather type the most effective out of the four, because it is the most stable and doesn't require a few gimmicky sets.
[Team Building]
For my team I obviously decided i wanted to use sandstorm, so I had to decide whether i wanted to use hippowdon or tyranitar. I ended up going with Tyranitar, because I had a particular moveset in mind which I knew was partiularly effective for anti-leading.
After I saw the Tyranitar I decided that I wanted to have spikes on my team, because they would obviously would cause irritation with sandstorm and stealth rocks, and also I wanted to have the upper hand when against stall, because a lot of switching will be neccessary.
With this many entry hazards, it was evident that I needed a spin blocker, and two main one's sprang to mind, Burungeru and Shandera. Burungeru would fit in well with the team, because it would act as a bulky water, but it wasn't good at doing what i would have intended it for, checking sweepers. I decided to go with shandera, because i needed a revenge killer, and it synergized rather well with what i had so far.
Next I wanted to have a pokemon who benefited greatly from sandstorm, and I needed a rapid spinner/ hard hitter. Doryuuzu sprang straight into my mind, because of its sheer power, and ability to rapid spin. I decided to add swords dance to it, to help it late game in case my other sweeper failed...
Rankurusu is one of my favourite pokemon, because of its ability to sweep many a time... or at least so i thought after I saw it on paper. While Rankurusu is calm minding, one must always keep in mind the chance of a critical hit is always there, and if you stay in and calm mind too many times, the chance of a critical hit will obviously rise. Aside from that, i thought it synergized rather well with my team, and I thought it would be good for late game sweeping.
Lastly I NEEDED A bulky water and a bulky water check. I thought long and hard until I realized that Rotom-W fit the role perfectly, because it gave even more help synergizing the team, checks many sweepers, and counters most of the main bulky waters.
Thats how I made the team. Now for the in - depth pokemon analysis.
Tyranitard (Tyranitar) (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spd
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Crunch
This Tyranitar set gets up stealth rocks most of the time, unless she is ohko'd by a fighting type or taunted. If the opponent leads with a fighting type then I will obviously switch, and if the opponent isn't a fighting type, unless the move is close combat or a high special attack focus blast she will live it. After a bit of experience with Gen 5 leads however, I know most of the time when to switch out and when not to. Crunch is there because it is my stab, and the most powerful/accurate attack on the set. It helps me fight Azelf, Gengar and deoxys-s. FireBlast is there for nattorei and skarmory, while Ice beam is for dragons and breloom.
Lead matchup
Azelf: Stealth rock - if Taunted follow by crunch
Kojondo - switch to shandera for fake out or HJK then flamethrower
Skarmory - Stealth rock, Fire Blast, Fire Blast
Nattorei - FireBlast, FireBlast
Deoxys s- Stealth rock, Crunch
Heatran - Stealth rock, Rotom W
Politoed - Stealth rock, Rotom w
Ninetales - Stealth rock, Crunch
Borutorosu - Switch to Shandera, Overheat
Machamp - Switch to Rankurusu and deal with accordingly
Metagross - switch to shandera and Overheat (OHKO with occa)
Forretress - Crunch, FireBlast
Blaziken - Switch to shandera if he has stone edge then go to Rotom -W, blaziken is one of my biggest weaknesses
HAI (Rankurusu) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Def / 84 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
With One Calm Mind up, he will only take 53-59% from Shandera's Shadow ball, so he is set up fodder if switched in, so this shows the defensive potential of rankurusu. With the given ev's Scarf Tyranitars crunch does about 40% and CB scizor does 60% with U- turn so you recover on them. This might be an eye opener to Rankurusu's amazing potential, but like with other Calm Minders, one must be careful not to set up too many calm minds, because the critical hit chance is always there. Even though he has bad typing, this is made up for with an amazing ability, great stats and a good movepool.
Shandera (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
The basic revenge killer, this pokemon is a massive help, especialy for dealing with opposing skarmory, nattorei, fragile sweepers and choice item users. Even without any boosts flamethrower is still very powerful, and is backed up by the even more powerful overheat, that deals massive damage to anything that doesn't resist and isn't a pink blob of fat. Shadow ball is there for secondary stab, and helps deal with ghost types, while energyball is just there for water types as a last resort.
Skarmwhory (Skarmory) (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
This pokemon has two jobs on this team, and does them very well, setting up hazards, and offering losts of resistances and immunites which really help me, because i like to switch a lot. Skarmories evs give it almost max speed, but also has 8 speed evs, to outspeed base 70 speed pokemon with 4 speed evs.
Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom-W is in my opinion an underrated bulky water, because it has enough bulk to live most physical attacks, and even a lot of the special ones, and can painsplit to regain health. With this pokemon I can counter the fire types my team is weak to, and also handle bulky waters, which i might get problems with after some of my hard hitters are gone.
Swepthemole (Doryuuzu) (M) @ Balloon
Trait: Sand Throw
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd/4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
It's your standard SD Doryuuzu, but here I have rapid spin, to get rid of entry hazards early or late game against stall. Unlike other spinners, this one has an effective way of getting rid of shandera blocking your spin, and if you predict Burungeru to switch in, A +2 earthquake is a guaranteed OHKO. It's also a backup sweeper, if rankurusu die's, it can often get through the opponents team if rankurusu weakened it well.
Threat List:
Nasty Plot Luke - When Shandera is gone, it will sweep my whole team.
Hihidaruma - I have nothing to switch into him, but i have a lot of revenge killers for him.
Zuruzukin - Bulk Up Zuruzukin can be a pain after a few bulk ups, but he can always get phazed away.
Urugamosu - after two butterfly dances, it will sweep me.
Latios - Nothing to really switch into specs Draco meteor
Thank you for reading this team, and I hope I get some good constructive idea's.
For my team I decided that I wanted to use bulky offense, because in this metagame it is essential to have bulky checks, and hard hitters in my opinion. The team was built around SS because i found this weather type the most effective out of the four, because it is the most stable and doesn't require a few gimmicky sets.
[Team Building]
For my team I obviously decided i wanted to use sandstorm, so I had to decide whether i wanted to use hippowdon or tyranitar. I ended up going with Tyranitar, because I had a particular moveset in mind which I knew was partiularly effective for anti-leading.
After I saw the Tyranitar I decided that I wanted to have spikes on my team, because they would obviously would cause irritation with sandstorm and stealth rocks, and also I wanted to have the upper hand when against stall, because a lot of switching will be neccessary.
With this many entry hazards, it was evident that I needed a spin blocker, and two main one's sprang to mind, Burungeru and Shandera. Burungeru would fit in well with the team, because it would act as a bulky water, but it wasn't good at doing what i would have intended it for, checking sweepers. I decided to go with shandera, because i needed a revenge killer, and it synergized rather well with what i had so far.
Next I wanted to have a pokemon who benefited greatly from sandstorm, and I needed a rapid spinner/ hard hitter. Doryuuzu sprang straight into my mind, because of its sheer power, and ability to rapid spin. I decided to add swords dance to it, to help it late game in case my other sweeper failed...
Rankurusu is one of my favourite pokemon, because of its ability to sweep many a time... or at least so i thought after I saw it on paper. While Rankurusu is calm minding, one must always keep in mind the chance of a critical hit is always there, and if you stay in and calm mind too many times, the chance of a critical hit will obviously rise. Aside from that, i thought it synergized rather well with my team, and I thought it would be good for late game sweeping.
Lastly I NEEDED A bulky water and a bulky water check. I thought long and hard until I realized that Rotom-W fit the role perfectly, because it gave even more help synergizing the team, checks many sweepers, and counters most of the main bulky waters.
Thats how I made the team. Now for the in - depth pokemon analysis.
Tyranitard (Tyranitar) (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spd
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Crunch
This Tyranitar set gets up stealth rocks most of the time, unless she is ohko'd by a fighting type or taunted. If the opponent leads with a fighting type then I will obviously switch, and if the opponent isn't a fighting type, unless the move is close combat or a high special attack focus blast she will live it. After a bit of experience with Gen 5 leads however, I know most of the time when to switch out and when not to. Crunch is there because it is my stab, and the most powerful/accurate attack on the set. It helps me fight Azelf, Gengar and deoxys-s. FireBlast is there for nattorei and skarmory, while Ice beam is for dragons and breloom.
Lead matchup
Azelf: Stealth rock - if Taunted follow by crunch
Kojondo - switch to shandera for fake out or HJK then flamethrower
Skarmory - Stealth rock, Fire Blast, Fire Blast
Nattorei - FireBlast, FireBlast
Deoxys s- Stealth rock, Crunch
Heatran - Stealth rock, Rotom W
Politoed - Stealth rock, Rotom w
Ninetales - Stealth rock, Crunch
Borutorosu - Switch to Shandera, Overheat
Machamp - Switch to Rankurusu and deal with accordingly
Metagross - switch to shandera and Overheat (OHKO with occa)
Forretress - Crunch, FireBlast
Blaziken - Switch to shandera if he has stone edge then go to Rotom -W, blaziken is one of my biggest weaknesses
HAI (Rankurusu) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Def / 84 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
With One Calm Mind up, he will only take 53-59% from Shandera's Shadow ball, so he is set up fodder if switched in, so this shows the defensive potential of rankurusu. With the given ev's Scarf Tyranitars crunch does about 40% and CB scizor does 60% with U- turn so you recover on them. This might be an eye opener to Rankurusu's amazing potential, but like with other Calm Minders, one must be careful not to set up too many calm minds, because the critical hit chance is always there. Even though he has bad typing, this is made up for with an amazing ability, great stats and a good movepool.
Shandera (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
The basic revenge killer, this pokemon is a massive help, especialy for dealing with opposing skarmory, nattorei, fragile sweepers and choice item users. Even without any boosts flamethrower is still very powerful, and is backed up by the even more powerful overheat, that deals massive damage to anything that doesn't resist and isn't a pink blob of fat. Shadow ball is there for secondary stab, and helps deal with ghost types, while energyball is just there for water types as a last resort.
Skarmwhory (Skarmory) (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
This pokemon has two jobs on this team, and does them very well, setting up hazards, and offering losts of resistances and immunites which really help me, because i like to switch a lot. Skarmories evs give it almost max speed, but also has 8 speed evs, to outspeed base 70 speed pokemon with 4 speed evs.
Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom-W is in my opinion an underrated bulky water, because it has enough bulk to live most physical attacks, and even a lot of the special ones, and can painsplit to regain health. With this pokemon I can counter the fire types my team is weak to, and also handle bulky waters, which i might get problems with after some of my hard hitters are gone.
Swepthemole (Doryuuzu) (M) @ Balloon
Trait: Sand Throw
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd/4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
It's your standard SD Doryuuzu, but here I have rapid spin, to get rid of entry hazards early or late game against stall. Unlike other spinners, this one has an effective way of getting rid of shandera blocking your spin, and if you predict Burungeru to switch in, A +2 earthquake is a guaranteed OHKO. It's also a backup sweeper, if rankurusu die's, it can often get through the opponents team if rankurusu weakened it well.
Threat List:
Nasty Plot Luke - When Shandera is gone, it will sweep my whole team.
Hihidaruma - I have nothing to switch into him, but i have a lot of revenge killers for him.
Zuruzukin - Bulk Up Zuruzukin can be a pain after a few bulk ups, but he can always get phazed away.
Urugamosu - after two butterfly dances, it will sweep me.
Latios - Nothing to really switch into specs Draco meteor
Thank you for reading this team, and I hope I get some good constructive idea's.
