Other Ground Monotype

[Dillon~]

Hey guys, I know that a monotype team is kind of gimmicky but after use on Pokemon Showdown it has actually surprised me so I thought I would put it up for scrutiny and hope to get some constructive criticism out of it :) This is also my first post here so if I've missed out on some information just let me know and I'll try and clarify it

Note: As much as I want to use Landorus-T or other Ground type legends they are out of the question as I would prefer to do it without them (And then also people who complain about losing because I have legends in my team have nothing on me)

My Team:

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Hippowdon (M) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Slack Off
- Stone Edge/Stealth Rock



Hippowdon is my lead pokemon to get the sand set up for mainly either Garchomp or Excadrill to sweep. Earthquake is for main STAB. Ice Fang and Stone Edge for recovery, Slack Off for reliable recovery. Skarmory has troubled me a few times as it can tank both Ice Fang's and Stone Edge's with ease and can proceed to set up hazards and then Phaze or try to KO. I was tossing up between a fully defensive, spec. defensive and bulky attacker set and ended up going with the latter. Still not completely sure which set would be the most optimal for my team. Also considered getting rid of Stone Edge or Ice Fang for Stealth Rock to secure some vital KO's but I think that it would be better suited for either of the defensive sets.



Garchomp (M) @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Veil>Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage/Dragon Claw
- Iron Head/Poison Jab
- Fire Blast



Garchomp is my Physical wallbreaker. After he has Mega Evolved his Attack stat reaches Godly heights and with that he is able to wreck almost everything that he touches. Earthquake and Outrage for STAB or Dragon Claw if I don't want to be locked into a move. I was tossing up between Poison Jab and Iron Head for the coverage move and the 30% flinch chance was to good to pass up. Fire Blast is pretty much my only option against Skarmory but is still powerful enough for a 2HKO unless Skarmory Roosts:

0 SpA Garchomp Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Skarmory: 182-216 (54.4 - 64.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

A Naive Nature was chosen because Garchomp will not be surviving even weak Ice Beams from non-STABed opponents. But with the extra EV's in HP Garchomp with survive an Ice Shard at full health from a Jolly Mamoswine w/Focus Sash (Not that you should be staying in on it anyway..) Consideration was also given to the Draco Meteor set and if someone can convince me why it might be better than the current set, I will consider the change.



Excadrill (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide/Rapid Spin
- Iron Head
- Shadow Claw



Excadrill is my main sweeper as long as the sand is still up. Base 130 Atk is superb so I chose the Assault Vest set over Sword Dance so that he can take some un-STABed Ice Beams and is only 3HKOed by Modest Mega Venusar's Giga Drain while possessing a fair chance to 2HKO with Earthquake and a bit of prior hazard damage:

252+ SpA Mega Venusaur Giga Drain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Excadrill: 123-145 (34 - 40.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Venusaur: 154-183 (42.3 - 50.2%) -- 34.8% chance to 2HKO after sandstorm damage

Earthquake is main STAB, Iron Head is secondary STAB and useful for taking down Fairies. Rock Slide for those pesky Flying types and for the flinch chance. Shadow Claw is fairly weak but is pretty much my only way of hurting some Psychic or Ghost types especially Gengar that can give me trouble. Rapid Spin is also an option but with the majority of my team resisting it it didn't really seem that practical. The only reason I chose Sand Rush over mold breaker is the sincere lack of speed in my team, but without Mold Breaker Rotom-W can pretty much sweep straight through my team if it weren't forGastrodon



Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Calm Nature
- Earth Power/HP Grass
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic



Gastrodon is the Pokemon that holds this team together. With it's ability Storm Drain I can Safely switch into and Water type move and then recieve a SpAtk boost from it. It is also my only real answer to Rotom-W as it can Toxi-Stall it until it dies. Earth Power and Scald are STAB and Scald has the chance to burn as well which can help my team immensely. HP Grass is to help take down Bulky Waters like Unaware Quagsire although it is fairly weak. Toxic and Recover are to help take down the things Earth Power and Scald can't touch such as Cradily, Chansey, Blissey, Vaporeon althought they will likely carry a Toxic of their own.

Being poisoned will eventually spell the end for Gastrodon and as it is one of my main Pokemon when Sand has finished and will usually be in play. Bulky Grass types give Gastrodon heaps of trouble, but none more so than Mega Venusaur and Amoongus. Immune to Poison, resists Scald and neutral to Earth Power while possessing super effective STAB and healing in Giga Drain will always be a OHKO and are therefore Gastrodon's main counters



Mamoswine (M) @ Focus Sash/Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge



Having my only form of priority move Mamoswine is essential for finishing of weakend Pokemon or for revenge killing Grass, Ground, Flying and Dragon types that aren't neutral to Ice. Mamoswine also has STAB Icicle Crash and Earthquake coming of base 130 Atk to deal out some serious damage as well with Icicle Crash having a chance to flinch slower opponents. Adamant Nature was chosen to maximise the amount of damage output that Mamoswine can do. Still not sure what Item to use as AV Scizor is a 2HKO with Bullet Punch while Choice Band is an OHKO while Mamo can do 80% damage in return so I'm still not quite sure which item would work best:

252+ Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mamoswine: 260-308 (72 - 85.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mamoswine: 390-458 (108 - 126.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Scizor: 234-277 (68 - 80.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO



Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower/Sludge Bomb
- Earth Power



Nidoking is my only other form of Special attacker/Wallbreaker and he does it nicely. With an extensive movepool that offers great coverage he can be a hard Pokemon to predict. His ability Sheer Force is amazing as it increases the power of moves that have a secondary effect by 20% and then removes the effect. So essentially a Thunderbolt that is powered up by 20% but can't paralyze anymore. This ability can help net KO's that Nidoking may miss out on without it. The other great thing about his ability is that it removes the HP recoil from the use of a Life Orb which boosts the power of the move even more. Earth Power is STAB with Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and Flamethrower rounding out the coverage. Sludge Bomb is also an option to OHKO Azumarril and hit Fairies where Iron Head can't. The only Pokemon that can safely switch into Nidoking without being hurt by its coverage would be Gastrodon or Swampert hit neutrally by Ice Beam and Earth Power, resisting Flamethrower and Sludge Bomb and being immune to Thunderbolt

I was also thing of running a backup Sandstorm user in case Hippowdon goes down and I need the sand to complete a sweep. Any suggestions?

Also quagsire has been giving my Gastrodon trouble so I'm thinking of maybe running HP Grass on it instead of Earth Power to make sure Quagsire doesn't get in the way.

Anyway this is my Ground Monotype team. As I said feel free to leave constructive criticism and I will test every suggestion before taking it on board :P

Thanks for taking the time to read this :D

 

[Peef Rimgar]

Hey SandShrewd, pretty decent mono team all around here. However, I can definitely see some improvements that can be made.

Actually, before I say anything about the components, you're literally losing out on one of the main reasons to run sand on ground monotype; Landorus. Who gives a shit if people complain about you using legendaries tbh.


Now to the team. My first major gripe is AV Excadrill??? AV is a very very specialized item, only viable on a handful of things. Sand Rush Excadrill is most certainly not one of them. I would strongly suggest running Life Orb over Assault Vest, and at least consider Swords Dance over Shadow Claw.

Ice Fang Hippowdon is..... odd to say the least. As opposed to having Stone Edge OR Stealth Rock, put Rocks over Ice Fang. Rocks are one of Hippo's main draws.

Otherwise, the team looks pretty good! You may want to look at Superpower on Mamo, but I don't think its as crucial as the other changes.

 

[Dillon~]

Hey SandShrewd, pretty decent mono team all around here. However, I can definitely see some improvements that can be made.

Actually, before I say anything about the components, you're literally losing out on one of the main reasons to run sand on ground monotype; Landorus. Who gives a shit if people complain about you using legendaries tbh.


Now to the team. My first major gripe is AV Excadrill??? AV is a very very specialized item, only viable on a handful of things. Sand Rush Excadrill is most certainly not one of them. I would strongly suggest running Life Orb over Assault Vest, and at least consider Swords Dance over Shadow Claw.

Ice Fang Hippowdon is..... odd to say the least. As opposed to having Stone Edge OR Stealth Rock, put Rocks over Ice Fang. Rocks are one of Hippo's main draws.

Otherwise, the team looks pretty good! You may want to look at Superpower on Mamo, but I don't think its as crucial as the other changes.

Aight, thanks for the ideas, I'll add them and try it out! :)

 

[ForgottenOnes]

Hey there nice mono team :D.

I'd like to agree with Peef. Either forme of Landorus could be used to make this team just that much better. Landorus-T has Intimidate, a great ability while being able to slow physical attackers. Landorus-T has U-turn, something so handy which can be used to scout out moves, or just to provide that little bit of damage which can KO a Pokemon. Normal Landorus on the hand is a great special attacker. It fits well into most teams, and it has a great move pool with lots of coverage moves.

Anyways back onto the team.

I see Hippowdon as a Pokemon which can act as sort of a wall. It has Slack Off, Protect, and Toxic which is great, because it opens up options such as Toxic Stalling, and Hippo's defense is just amazing. Obviously its attack stat is pretty wonderful as well, but it can be incorporated with the toxic stall. This way you can wither away HP from poison. Also, if you invest more EVs into Special Defense, you can wall Pokemon such as Mega-Venusaur.

Excadrill with AV. This kinda made me scratch my head a little. But no matter, no matter. The thing with Excadrill is with its speed boost from its ability, a +2 Excadrill is almost unstoppable. Its just wayyy too powerful. Excadrill is a speedy Pokemon (even moreso with ability) with a high attack. Instead of Shadow Claw, which can do little to nothing to even Ghost-Type Pokemon, run Swords Dance. And Rapid Spin may seem like a good idea, but Stealth Rocks DON'T touch your team as well. And unless your opponent can set up Spikes, Rapid Spin would be useless.

Gastrodon seems cool, however I would slash HP Grass before Earth Power. When you look at your team as a whole, you really don't have anything countering Water Types except this Gastrodon. And even with Gastrodon out, you can't do much with Earthpower, however with HP Grass you can actually Knock Out some of these Water Type Pokemon.

For Mamoswine I would slash Life Orb over Focus Sash. Focus Sash Mamoswine are most commonly used as a lead suicider who can set up Stealth Rocks. This Mamoswine NEEDS to deal HUGE damage to Grass Types, and Flying types. Therefore Life Orb should be a better choice as a item for Mamoswine to hold.

Lastly for Nidoking, I would slash Sludge Bomb over Flamethrower. When you think about it, what does Flamethrower counter? It counters, Grass Types, and Steel Types. But to counter Steel Types Nidoking already knows Earth Power. Countering Grass Types is much easier with a STAB Sludge Bomb than an un-STAB Flamethrower. Pretty much Sludge Bomb can do more damage to Grass Types, to KO them easier.

Anyways hope I helped :]

 

[BadPandaPancham]

Sludge Wave is what you would want to run on Nidoking. It may be only 5 base power more then Sludge Bomb, but the effects of both are removed by Sheer Force so there is no reason to run anything else, really. Also Air Balloon/Life Orb on Excadrill. Not AV, as it doesn't do too well or too much with it. Even Air Balloon is a stretch.

 

[Dillon~]

Hey there nice mono team :D.

I'd like to agree with Peef. Either forme of Landorus could be used to make this team just that much better. Landorus-T has Intimidate, a great ability while being able to slow physical attackers. Landorus-T has U-turn, something so handy which can be used to scout out moves, or just to provide that little bit of damage which can KO a Pokemon. Normal Landorus on the hand is a great special attacker. It fits well into most teams, and it has a great move pool with lots of coverage moves.

Anyways back onto the team.

I see Hippowdon as a Pokemon which can act as sort of a wall. It has Slack Off, Protect, and Toxic which is great, because it opens up options such as Toxic Stalling, and Hippo's defense is just amazing. Obviously its attack stat is pretty wonderful as well, but it can be incorporated with the toxic stall. This way you can wither away HP from poison. Also, if you invest more EVs into Special Defense, you can wall Pokemon such as Mega-Venusaur.

Excadrill with AV. This kinda made me scratch my head a little. But no matter, no matter. The thing with Excadrill is with its speed boost from its ability, a +2 Excadrill is almost unstoppable. Its just wayyy too powerful. Excadrill is a speedy Pokemon (even moreso with ability) with a high attack. Instead of Shadow Claw, which can do little to nothing to even Ghost-Type Pokemon, run Swords Dance. And Rapid Spin may seem like a good idea, but Stealth Rocks DON'T touch your team as well. And unless your opponent can set up Spikes, Rapid Spin would be useless.

Gastrodon seems cool, however I would slash HP Grass before Earth Power. When you look at your team as a whole, you really don't have anything countering Water Types except this Gastrodon. And even with Gastrodon out, you can't do much with Earthpower, however with HP Grass you can actually Knock Out some of these Water Type Pokemon.

For Mamoswine I would slash Life Orb over Focus Sash. Focus Sash Mamoswine are most commonly used as a lead suicider who can set up Stealth Rocks. This Mamoswine NEEDS to deal HUGE damage to Grass Types, and Flying types. Therefore Life Orb should be a better choice as a item for Mamoswine to hold.

Lastly for Nidoking, I would slash Sludge Bomb over Flamethrower. When you think about it, what does Flamethrower counter? It counters, Grass Types, and Steel Types. But to counter Steel Types Nidoking already knows Earth Power. Countering Grass Types is much easier with a STAB Sludge Bomb than an un-STAB Flamethrower. Pretty much Sludge Bomb can do more damage to Grass Types, to KO them easier.

Anyways hope I helped :]

Aight, I'll try it with Lando -T, Thanks for the other info tho!

 

[Dillon~]

Sludge Wave is what you would want to run on Nidoking. It may be only 5 base power more then Sludge Bomb, but the effects of both are removed by Sheer Force so there is no reason to run anything else, really. Also Air Balloon/Life Orb on Excadrill. Not AV, as it doesn't do too well or too much with it. Even Air Balloon is a stretch.

Aight, I'll try it with Sluge Wave, Thanks!