My first/sandstorm Team

[Lelouche_Vi_Britannia]

Hello fellow smoogoners, I am new to the site and to B/W competitive, I played a little competitive during HG/SS, but mainly with my roommate and friend. Anyways here is the team. Changes in Bold.

Now more in depth:

Skarmory
Nature: Impish
Ability: Sturdy
Item: Leftovers
Evs: 252hp/252spd
Moves:
Stealth Rock
Whirlwind
Drill Peck
Taunt

As I said previously I am not well acquainted with the Black/White meta, so I am not too sure how a Whirlwind/Spikes Skarmory fairs. Decided to go with the Special wall because I have Reunicus for the physical wall. I picked Skarmory as my lead because I like having spikes/rocks set up in the beginning of the battle. He still probably needs the most work of anyone and possibly a switch out so feedback on him would be much appreciated.

Tyranitar
Item: Choice Band
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252atk/252spe/4hp
Moves: Pursuit
Superpower
Stone Edge
Fire Punch

I had a hard time deciding on Tyranitar and Hippowdon, but I decided to go with Tyranitar to have another physical attacker that can take down bigger walls that stall my team. Comes in to set up the storm and take down walls like Chansey, Blissey, Scizor, etc. The rest of his job should be self explanatory.

Excadrill
Item: Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252atk/252spe/4hp
Moves: Earthquake
Swords Dance
Rock Slide
Rapid Spin

Here is the star of the team. I have been excited about this guy since I first heard about him and he is the reason I chose to make a sandstorm team. This guy seems to be the best physical sweeper in the game if in the sand and still extremely powerful outside of it. As for the set up it is the basic set up that I have seen on most Excadrills. Given rapid spin to take out spikes/rock.

Ferrothorn
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Sassy
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252hp/252spd/4def/0spe Iv
Moves: Leech Seed
Gyro Ball
Power Whip
Protect

This Gen was nice enough to give us a new Forretress. Even better is the leech seed he has access to. I considered running Forretress for the rapid spin but I like this guy too much because of his use of leech seed and works as a much better wall. I have heard that spikes/rocks aren't that great or abundant anymore.

Garchomp
Item: Choice Scarf
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 4hp/252atk/252spe
Moves: Dragon Claw
Stone Edge
Earthquake
Fire Fang

If there ever is time to use one of my favorite pokemon, it is in a sand team such as this. Garchomp has the move set to take out a Volcarona, Ferrothorn, Excadrill, etc. As with the Skarmory this is essentially the same set up I used during HG/SS, so once again suggestions for changes would be appreciated, because as thy say; you can always improve.

Reuniclus
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Bold
Ability: Magic Guard
Evs: 252hp/252def/4spd
Moves: Calm Mind
Psychic
Recover
Focus Blast

Finally we have another of my favorites in this Gen. With Magic Guard he fits just fine in a sand team without taking damage and gives him more Hp restore from leftoverswas what I had first, but once I was reminded of the Life Orb usage with him I changed it. Other than that this is a basic Calm Mind setup.


And that is my first B/W team and my first RMT for this site. Feedback would be appreciated as even with the edits this team still has a strong weakness to a water tank. Hope you enjoy and hope to see your comments!

 

[xplayer55]

Okay... Skarmory isn't a bad lead, but Ferrothorn could probably set-up Spikes/SR much better, other than for lead Heatran's.

TTAR is much more effective with the inclusion of Choice Band... He seems more likea revenge killer and he doesn't take too kindly to many attacks. I think you should run Fire Punch for much better coverage against other scizors. Ice punch won't help you as much since Latis and Gliscors and other dragons could take it and then proceed to sweep.

Excadrill is fine except switch X-Scissor for Rapid spin. You don't need that extra attack when you have a great move for taking out entry hazards. Plus you have Reuniclus for some nasty Ghosts.

IMO I think switching out Explosion for Protect is much better since you can not only scout out moves, but use leech seed effectively. I think that if not using it as a lead than as a physical attacker or tank is more useful.

Garchomp is fine.

Reuniclus is fine.

Weaknesses-
Any water tanks would destroy this team and your only counter is Ferrothorn.
Stall Rain teams are also a problem. Really if Garchomp/Reuniclus/Ferrothorn are out then you will have a huge problem one way or the other, so if you don't somehow switch anything out than be wary while using them.'


Hope this helped.

 

[Lady Vader]

I use Reuniclus on my Sandstorm team, and I would suggest using Life Orb instead of Leftovers. Magic Guard eliminates the 10% cost of Orb but you keep the 30% boost.

I would give Leftovers to Ferrothorn. Even though it has Leech Seed, it is far better to have an additional boost in health.

Your team looks good without these changes, though. Good job and good luck.

 

[Lelouche_Vi_Britannia]

I like both ideas, the life orb resistance I had completely spaced. I am going to make both of these changes though. Thanks.

 

[zapzap29]

The first thing that comes to mind when looking at this team is that it is incredibly weak to fighting and fire attacks. You have 3 pokemon weak to fire and 3 pokemon weak to fighting. Blaziken would utterly destroy your team after a few speed boosts. A bulk up Conkeldurr would also mess with your team pretty badly with priority mach punch. To remedy these problems I recommend replacing Skarmory with Jellicent. Jellicent provides an immunity to fighting and water, 2 things that give your team trouble. Jellicent would also provide a much needed resistance to fire. The Ferro-Jelli core is generally a strong one that is hard to break. Jellicent also helps you deal with Gliscor by giving you a stab water attack. To compensate for the removal of Skarm I'd recommend running SR/spikes, leech seed, gyro ball, and power whip on Ferro. To help against opposing weather teams I'd also recommend using a special bulky tar.

EVs: 252 HP / 180 SAtk / 76 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
- Stealth Rock

Chansey and Blissey aren't that common and this set helps take out gliscor and scizor. Also allows multiple switch ins to help you control the weather game.