My Newest Sand Team

[Veridian]

So this is my first Smogon RMT, and im just going to introduce my team right off the bat :).
My team is made of an offensive banded T-tar, Defensive Landorus-T, Bulky rotom-w, specs keldeo(Because why not), Scizor, and a specs latios. With this team i got to around 1800 in the first day, and i quickly found myself falling in love with it.

Landorus-Therian (Ritzehy) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 64 SAtk / 192 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]

So, This Landorus is nothing special, but it was the first thing that i put on this team. I figured i would base the team off of Landorus and T-tar just because i didnt see them used all that much, and they are a nice offensive core imo. Landorus gets up the rocks usually, and then just u-turns out until late game when it finally just crushes the other teams with e-quake. It could be replaced with chomp though, which is what i was thinking of before, but i just like the hp ice coverage much better.

Tyranitar (gust_r) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Now is the most obvious set of the sand team, a nice bulky banded T-tar. Its an obvious set, but it works really well compared to more offensive sets. T-tar can get a banded crunch onto anything that switches in on it, and can catch most latios and latias with a pursuit.

Latios (Agous) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]

At first i was thinking of using a scarf Hydreigon, but then i found that Latios just completes this team so much more. With his high speed and special attack, specs just fits him so well. Psyshock is just alot better than psychic for me, because it hits harder, and hidden power for those pesky steel types and grass types that try to take down T-tar.

Keldeo (nope) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Icy Wind
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ghost]

Keldeo is on this team because i felt like it needed something that isnt afraid of rocks, and that can take down most common OU threats such as scizor, heat ran, T-tar, and D-nite with its icy wind and secret sword. Hidden power ghost is used to take out the psychic types that can destroy keldeo, and also takes out keldeo's counter, jellicent.

dance dance (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

This scizor is used to u-turn between Landorus-T and itself so that they can widdle down the opposing team slowly, as well as pursuit trapping stuff or even just getting a nice priority move off with BP. I was thinking of scarfing Scizor at first, but then i quickly changed my mind simply because with max speed and jolly nature, he outspeeds Tran and takes it out with a nice strong superpower.

chesty (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch

Finally, whats a team without Rotom-W? :) Rotom just cant be stopped with its strong hydro and tbolt combo, as well as its ability of getting a wisp off and crippling opposing threats that could cause my team trouble. This team is obviously based off of volt switching and u-turning which is why i have 3 pokemon to get damage off and switch out, so Rotom just helps with this a lot.

So that is my team, and i hope that you all give me suggestions to help change the team up a little, and maybe even improve it! Thanks for reading this and please leave a comment! :)

 

[Veridian]

Please try out the team, and help me improve it even more than i alrleady have! :)
Feed back is always appreciated.

 

[Kwan]

Hey Veridian, pretty cool sand team. Here are some comments that I have.

First thing I'd like to point out is that your Ice attacks are not very strong. Having ice attacks is pretty important in a metagame rampant with lots of Dragon types. Landorus-T has pretty good speed and can escape with U-Turn, but if he goes down, you could be swept by some common DDancers like Dragonite or Choice Outrage users like Scarf+Moxie Salamence. Multiscale Dragonite can tank a non-STAB Icy Wind and then OHKO with Hurricane (if in rain) or a possible OHKO with Outrage. Landorus has good speed, but is outsped by a very common Ice Beam user: Starmie.

You also have a lot of weakness to Grass, which means sun teams may give you trouble. Chlorophyll Venusaur, depending on his Hidden Power, has a good chance of sweeping your team if he gets up Growth boost in the sun. Also, Ice attacks will help you deal with Chlorophyll users. Volcarona dominates half your team, so you might want to watch out for that.

Also, very important since half your team uses VoltTurn: you have no way of getting rid of entry hazards! VoltTurning means a lot of switching, and if you can't get rid of entry hazards, you'll find yourself hard-pressed for durability very quickly. I know you don't have any SR weaknesses, but 1/8 HP or more each turn can be pretty detrimental. Sacrificing a move for Rapid Spin can be tough (you would also have to make a complete replacement, since none of your current team learns Spin), but may be worth it.

Here is one possible change that could address these.

Ferrothorn/Forretress over Rotom-W: both play the same role as bulky tanks. Rotom-W has the advantage of Will'o Wisp, but Ferro/Forre are tankier. They can also set up rocks and paralysis, which could help TTar and Scizor. Lando can then drop rocks in favor of Grass Knot or some other coverage move. Note that a lot of Lando run Choice Scarf with U-Turn. Scarfing a base 101 seems excessive, but it will help you outrun many threats like Starmie, Scarf Politoed, Salamence/DNite at +1, etc. Forre also learns Rapid Spin if you need it. Ferro learns Power Whip, which could be useful since you have no Grass moves.

As I have not personally tried your team, I'm not completely sure how effective it is, or how needed these changes are, but most importantly these are just ideas to consider.

 

[Moonclawz]

Hi Veridian,

Although using Choice Band/Choice Specs gives your Pokemon a lot of power, using four Choice items really isn't effective. You're going to have to switch in and out very frequently, and without a spinner, your Pokemon are going to get worn down pretty quickly. I think you should change your bulky Specs Latios set to an offensive Life Orb Latias set. Latias gives a hard-hitting special tank that helps greatly against Rain and Sun teams. Latias can also live a +2 Sludge Bomb from Timid Venusaur (at full health) and KO back with Psychock, which helps against the Venusaur threat that Kwan mentioned. In addition the ability to switch moves allows you to check a greater variety of threats without being forced to switch out. (176 Hp EVs can used to live a +2 Sludge Bomb after Stealth Rocks)

The second main problem with your team is the lack of speed. I think you would benefit greatly from a Choice Scarf Pokemon that could revenge kill and sweep weakened teams. With this idea in mind, I think you should give Keldeo a Choice Scarf set. Using a Choice Scarf allows you revenge common Pokemon like Dragonite and MoxieMence and gives you a win condition once Keldeo's checks and counters have been eliminated with Tyranitar. In addition, it saves you from risking a speed tie against non-Scarfed Terrkakion.

For Tyranitar, I think using an EV spread of 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spe would be better since it allows you to outspeed uninvested base 70s and Skamory with 24 speed EVs, allowing you to Stone Edge before it can Roost. It also outspeeds Jellicent with 60 speed EVs, which means you can Crunch/Pursuit before Tyranitar is burned by Will-o-wisp.

For Scizor, using an EV spread of 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe will greatly increase Scizor's bulk, relieving some pressure off Landorus-T to take physical attacks. Although a Jolly nature and 252 speed EVs allows Scizor to outspeed many threats, Scizor will mostly be using Bullet Punch, which means that the extra speed is unnecessary most of the time. In addition, the extra bulk allows Scizor to tank dragon-type moves much better, which helps greatly if Landorus-T is weakened. The 8 speed EVs allows you to outspeed Jellicent with 44 speed EVs and U-turn (or Pursuit if weakened) before Jellicent can burn Scizor.

As Landorus-T's attack stat is already so high, a spread with 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 Spe is preferred since it gives the bulk that Landorus-T needs to effectively check Pokemon like Terrakion and Dragonite, as well as many other physical threats.

For Rotom-W, using a Modest Nature with 248 HP / 168 SpA / 92 Spe will optimize your special attack and speed, and allows you to outspeed max speed neutral nature Scizor, as well as Heatran with 160 speed EVs. As Thunderbolt and Volt Switch are pretty redundant, I think you can consider running HP Ice instead of Thunderbolt, which gives you an option to hit Dragons, Ground-types, and Thunderus-T if you don't want to miss with Hydro Pump.

Hope this helps!

 

[Veridian]

Thanks for the help you two, and i think i am going to replace a poke with a Starmie with Ebelt since it would fit in nicely. I will make sure to use those EVs too.