Sand discussion thread

Rhydon is insanely strong physical wall btw. With eviolite it can take even super effective hits without a scratch and hit back like a truck. Special moves destroy it like physical ones destroy blissey. Scald/energy ball are the things you dont want to take hit from. Neutral hits dont hurt him much especially in sandstorm. Rhydon > Rhyperior for me because I dont need that solid rock because I obviously dont want to take those super effective hits in the first place
 

Ace Emerald

Cyclic, lunar, metamorphosing
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Man sand is great. I'm using a core of Subseed Shaymin, LO Aerodactyl, and offensive Empoleon with CB Stoutland to revenge and blow holes, and Sub punch Golurk to fill in resists (and obviously hippopotas). I've lost about 1 out of more than 10 games.
 
SubPunch Golurk is super fantastic in sand, i've learned recently. 150 base + iron fist + good coverage = bad ass
 
SubPunch Golurk is super fantastic in sand, i've learned recently. 150 base + iron fist + good coverage = bad ass
Golurk, truly a case where three goods make a bad.

In all seriousness though, Golurk, Cradily and Stoutland have to be there. Gastrodon to a (very slightly) lesser extent.

Also, can anyone tell me if Sand Force Gigalith is a good idea (if it gets released, if it isn't already), or is he just not worth using at all?
 

Katakiri

Listen, Brendan...
is a Researcher Alumnus
NOT A GOOD IDEA. Seriously, the dude has <50 Base Speed, terrible HP and SpD. He's just asking to get OHKOed
Gigalith: 85/135/130/60/70/25

It's a slightly less bulky Rhyperior with a better typing & is an absolute nightmare to switch in on as his Sand Force Stone Edge is stronger than Staraptor's nonsense.
 
Staraptor's nonsense.
I lol'd.

You forgot to mention that sandstorm makes his SDef quite the opposite of low. Honestly, now I'm considering using him in DW, if only to see how good he is.

I also just remembered Cacturne. All the rage inducing of garchomp without the stats to back it up ^^.
 
I love Sandstorm so much, especially in UU where stupid DrizzleToed isn't raining on my parade (SEE WAT I DID THURR).

Sand Rush Sandslash will be ridiculous in UU once it's released. I've been playing DW UU on the Beta server and he's very similar to Excadrill in the sense that he can easily 6-0 teams if he gets off one Swords Dance which isn't too hard. I lead with Hippo and use Yawn turn one, then set up Rocks while they switch, then Yawn again, etc. Eventually they're gonna let something sleep, and Sandslash comes in, sets up, and sweeps. EQ/Stone Edge/X Scissor is all the coverage he needs really, and the rocks help with a couple KOs on shit like Cofagrigus.

On the topic of things that ARE released though, Stoutland is obviously insane, although has awful 4MSS, Cradily is really good as your Water switch in (Gastrodon brings more unwanted Grass weakness, especially if playing DW and using Sandslash), and Sigilyph is pretty nice also. It's like Reuniculus-lite that can burn shit.

Back on the topic of Stoutland, I never know what to run on it. Return, Fire Fang, and Crunch are pretty standard, but then Pursuit, Wild Charge, and Retaliate are all so good in the last slot. I was running Wild Chanrge for a long time, but I kept hating my life as I lose to Missy if it gets a sub up. So I put in Pursuit for the whole mind game aspect, at which point I started running into tons of shit where I needed Wild Charge. Thoughts on which is better? I'm using Life Orb too, for the record, as CB Stoutland is meh, as shit like Missy and Cobalion sets up on you the second you lock into Return.

I've also been testing Clefable in UU Sand, and it's not half bad. It can Wish pass, it can do cleric duty, and it can annoy with a multitude of status (including burn if you Trick a Flame Orb), and it does it all while not taking any damage from the sand, meaning it can run Leftovers, which is the big selling point over Chansey. Ghosts shit on it since you've probably only got S-Toss to attack with, unless you give up a utility move for a coverage move. I guess Calm Mind + BoltBeam set with Softboiled could work too, but I feel like Clefable could be doing better things.

One last final thought before I shut up, has anyone tried out Shell Smash Omastar as a sand sweeper? This is total theorymon here as I haven't tested it, but it seems like it could be a pretty neat idea.
Omastar @ White Herb
Shell Armor
Modest/Timid
4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Shell Smash
-Surf/Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power Grass
Base 125 defense, and base 70 special defense that gets a 1.5x boost from the sandstorm, and Shell Armor to block critical hits mean Omastar SHOULD find a turn to set up, right? White Herb fixes the defense drop and then you just go to town? Sigilyph also happens to resist/be immune to everything Omastar is weak to except for Electric, which Hippopotas or whatever other Ground types you're packing can handle, as well as Cradily having a resistance.

Maybe a team of something like Hippopotas, Cradily, Sigilyph, Stoutland, Omastar, and some sort of utility Pokémon offering team support in the form of Wish/Heal Bell or Rapid Spin, or something that can set up Spikes/T-Spikes (since Hippo obviously covers the rocks) could be effective.

I wrote a novel here, so hopefully people actually read it and leave some feedback. Cheers! =P
 
For Stoutland, I typically run Wild Charge anyway, just because of the added coverage. Being able to land super effective hits on Bulky Water types is great, just because... well, sand hates water in every form. Picking off a Milotic is well worth it to me than mind game, but I do run Choice Band instead of Life Orb, so thats the main reason too. With Life Orb, I can see Pursuit being a little more valid.

That Omastar definitely does seem like it could rip faces off. Something like Special UU Cloyster that benefits from Sand. I would probably try it, but I think you would HAVE to have Sigilyph on a team with Oma.
 
Rhydon is insanely strong physical wall btw. With eviolite it can take even super effective hits without a scratch and hit back like a truck. Special moves destroy it like physical ones destroy blissey. Scald/energy ball are the things you dont want to take hit from. Neutral hits dont hurt him much especially in sandstorm. Rhydon > Rhyperior for me because I dont need that solid rock because I obviously dont want to take those super effective hits in the first place
Well nobody wants to take those SE hits, but when you're using a ground/rock type its almost inevitable. Solid Rock is noteworthy because it lets Rhyperior absorb physical fighting and ground attacks better (and perhaps just as important, lets you keep leftovers recovery). That was why you were seeing people flock to Perior and not Ryhdon when they needed a check for Staraptor.
 
Omastar makes a great BP candidate of defensive boosts with his natural bulk + SpD boost in sand + shell armour (no critical hits to ruin you <3). Sure, it doesn't always work, but once you give this guy some defensive boosts he's almost impossible to take down, especially with his great SpA stat.
 
Honestly if I'm passing defense boosts I'd take a Pokemon with instant recovery over Shell Armor as a priority. An immunity to Toxic in some way would also probably be high on the list. Maybe something like Crobat who has manageble weaknesses and still poses an offensive presence with Super Fang and Brave Bird.
 
The defensive boosts would probably only be to help Omastar sweep or something, I've never heard of anyone using it as a wall. I mean if you pass it like 2 cosmic powers/stockpiles or something, give it a white herb and shell smash, I'd imagine it'd be gg.
 
The unfortunate thing about passing defense boosts to omastar is that it has a 4x weak to Grass, meaning something with a Grass-type move will be able to take it down anyway. Shell Smash Omastar is kind of cool in the sand, though, just because that extra special defense does let you set up in some more situations (against resisted or weak neutral special attacks). In particular if you run HP Rock, it's a great way to sweep through hail teams, since in many cases you can set up while they switch to Abomasnow.
 
The unfortunate thing about passing defense boosts to omastar is that it has a 4x weak to Grass, meaning something with a Grass-type move will be able to take it down anyway. Shell Smash Omastar is kind of cool in the sand, though, just because that extra special defense does let you set up in some more situations (against resisted or weak neutral special attacks). In particular if you run HP Rock, it's a great way to sweep through hail teams, since in many cases you can set up while they switch to Abomasnow.
I never even thought of HP Rock. Unfortunately then, what do you do against Water-types? I guess you could go Surf/HP Grass/Ancientpower, but then you don't have Ice Beam and Grass-types laugh at you. -_-"

Anyway, so in regards to my previous post, I made the Omastar-based team. It is Hippopotas (lead with SR and Yawn), Nidoqueen (offensive T-Spikes), Cradily (Storm Drain with Toxic and Recover), Stoutland (LO + 4 attacks), Sigilyph (Cosmic Power), and Omastar (Shell Smash). It actually runs pretty well, and I haven't lost with it yet. However, I have nothing to take Ice attacks except Omastar, and hail is kind of a pain in the ass. I feel like adding Empoleon could help the situation, but I don't know whom I would cut. Everyone is pretty crucial to the team.

If anyone has any tips on how I could better combat hail, either by cutting something for Empoleon (or somethign else), or with moveset suggestions, please, I would love to hear it.

I want to run this team through the grinder one more time before I officially RMT it. ;D
 
I currently run a Sand Team that ranks in the top 1500 on the Beta Server. Stoutland with a Band puts holes every which way. Even with the little amount of coverage it has, it can still put dents in most teams. Golurk is awesome and Regirock is killer too.

Try running Manectric as it outspeeds a lot of hail users and can fire off flamethrower (no pun intended).
 
Cradily with suction cups with Rock Slide, rest talk, and curse seems pretty beastly in such a stally metagame like it is now! I should try it out for sure. However, not too sure about pokemon that can take out hail with ease. Slowbro with Flamethrower/scald along with CM and slack off? It can soak up blizz-spamming pokemon and flamethrower them. with a little SPD investment it can take a Frosslass Shadow ball no?

Anyway. I tried sand for a little while but gave up. However, when i look back, my team was horrible so I think I might give it a go for now because I don't want Hippo in RU so I should use it as much as I can :p

Edit: Testing a new sand team out! Fire Blast Slowbro is awesome for those pesky hail teams! and Arcanine is great backup. He just dies to quickly with Flare Blitz, life orb, and residual damage
 
I am trying out Slowbro instead of Manectric and it is nice to have a strong and bulky Special Attacker. I still use LO on it but this thing hits hard after a CM boost.
 
Yea. When I see an Abomasnow I put my Slowbro in the lead spot and just use fire blast. As long as they don't go for the sub first I'm okay! and regenerator helps recover damage if they went for Wood Hammer.

I've used Rest talk Cradily and wow! It's nearly invincible. The only thing in it's way is Gligar really and he's not the most common pokemon.
 
Regenerator was released? For my wall I use Regirock. The thing is a brick wall literally. It spreads T-Wave, tries to weaken a few thing and then goes boom.
 

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