Sand discussion thread

[TickingSeedotBomb]

I have seen a rise in F/W/G cores lately. I assume this is players from OU testing out UU and just using soemthing basic but it makes the life of Sandstorm teams hard as its hard to have a good counter to grass types on it. This especially true for offensive teams that dont un toxic or toxic spikes. I have been using Mandibuzz with a nice amount of special bulk to combat said grass types. How does everyone else combat F/W/G cores on a sandstorm team especiallly if it is ofensive?

I run my own F/W/G core on my Sand team and I did it by accident lol! I use Cradily / Slowbro / Arcanine. It works pretty well but Arcanine dies a bit too quickly. Oh well, it's nice to have two canines because I also use Stoutland :p Anyway. Most F/W/G cores can be beaten with a CB Return Stoutland. unless it's Tangrowth that is in the grass..... Usually Cradily works well against F/W/G too.

Anyway, LV 1 Aron is a beast I bet! However, I don't run it because of my OCD :p I just can't use an LV 1 pokemon lol...

 

[StevenJones]

Stoutland is a very viable option in the sand. The only problem is that the CB set is walled by Steel-types, even if you have Fire-Fang. Stoutland's max attack with CB and a Jolly nature is in the 400s - not enough to take down walls with a non-STAB move.

 

[TM13IceBeam]

Stoutland is a very viable option in the sand. The only problem is that the CB set is walled by Steel-types, even if you have Fire-Fang. Stoutland's max attack with CB and a Jolly nature is in the 400s - not enough to take down walls with a non-STAB move.

That's why you have 5 other teammates, just saying.

Stoutland can also forego Jolly since it has a shitton of speed in sand(392 uninvested), and just needs 8 Speed EVs to outspeed 130+ under Sand. This allows Stoutland to run Adamant 252, which with a CB hits a ridiculous 492 Attack. Under Sand, the only thing that doesn't need a scarf to outspeed him is Accelgor, who is LOLOHKO'd by Return anyway.

 

[Cloud 8]

And then back to how amazing Golurk and Stoutland are together. I run Omastar with them for fire types. I suppose you could run Shell Smash but I run hazards as it is a stall SS team to whither qaway threats to Stoutland. So amazing, hard to break and Golurk can spin block and take care of hitmons for Stoutland. I deem them Stoutlurk.

 

[SJCrew]

I'm a bit more partial to Stoulurk, myself.

 

[Stratos]

clearly the best name is Goutland, as it gives your opponents chronic foot problems.

 

[Scoopapa]

I imagine sand offense will become very potent when Sandslash gets his Sand Rush. The same attack as Stoutland, STAB Earthquake with Stone Edge coverage, Swords Dance, and decent bulk to pull it off (and eat priority) sounds pretty beastly. With both CB Stoutland and SD Sandslash on the same team, you would have huge amounts of extremely fast physical offense.

I'm running "Stoutlurk" with Omastar as well, but using the Shell Smash variant. The SpDef boost is actually extremely useful for it's setup, since it can easily set up on weak special attackers or resisted special attacks. The SpDef post-smash in sand is the same as pre-smash out of sand, which is decent for a sweeper with Omastar's offensive potency. After a boost, it's capable of sweeping an insane amount of the metagame, meaning that often Choiced Victini can lose itself the game by killing something with V-create. I figure it's best to run Timid since it's kind of bittersweet to set up on Scarf Victini only to be revenged by it...

Of course, running Omastar alongside Hippopotas and Golurk gives a big Grass weakness, so I like Roserade, who can counter Grass- and Water-types pretty easily while keeping up offensive pressure. Running Roserade alongside Hippopotas and Golurk gives a big Ice weakness though, so I use Escavalier to counter any Ice-types and further help with Grass and... that's the whole team I guess.

What other Sand Offense teams have you guys been running?

 

[BTzz]

I'm basically running the same team as you, but with Cacturne over Roserade and Slowbro over Escavalier. Sub SD Cacturne with Sucker Punch + Seed Bomb is awsome (the hax is nice to :p).

And, yeah sand offence will be very scary once DW Sandslash is released.

 

[Wrave]

No gout jokes. I had my first bout of it a month ago and it hurts like hell.

My original sand team is wrecking. If Hippowdon comes down, well it may very well be unstoppable. I have been using Scarfstoise to great effect.

And yeah not much is going to outspeed Stoutland in sand without scarf. Just to ensure nothing outspeeds it I use 144 EV's in Speed with Adamant.

 

[TickingSeedotBomb]

I use Adamant Stoutland with enough speed to outspeed Jolly scarfgon because that's like the only scarf user that uses a scarf with 100 speed and nothing higher (No scarf Jolteons :p) Personally, Stoutland and Mismagius work well together! hitting both sides of the spectrum and helping each other out type wise. I also run Arcanine to deal with grass types and he has extremespeed too! Then I run Fire Blast CM Slowbro to deal with hail teams and Rest Talk Cradily which swept whole teams by itself before.

 

[Wrave]

I don't want to theorymon too much but I think Sand could very well be the team to beat if Metagross and Hippowdon comes down.

 

[Pocket]

According to Maestro's statistical analysis of OU usage in May, June, and August Metagross barely misses the UU cutoff :[

 

[Wrave]

Oh well still. Sand has a real chance of being dominant if we get a starter that can actually deal damage. I will take Hippowdon any day if I can.

 

[tednugent1]

Yeah, Hippowdon is a beast. Choice Band ftw.

 

[TM13IceBeam]

A quick note about Hippowdon: It's bulkier than Eviolite Hippopotas, has a fucking offensive presence, and what not.

Hippowdon FTW.

 

[Cloud 8]

Thats why its OU. Hippowdown is amazing. Although, I am quite thankful for Hippopotas. It effortlessly sets up Stealth Rock against most leads and I really like Yawn on it. Slack off is great and despite not having an offensive presence it can do tons of damage stalling out with slack off and toxic. Im just thankful we didnt get stuck with something like vulpix for a weather inducer.

 

[Gideon]

Stoutland is a very viable option in the sand. The only problem is that the CB set is walled by Steel-types, even if you have Fire-Fang. Stoutland's max attack with CB and a Jolly nature is in the 400s - not enough to take down walls with a non-STAB move.

Definitely. I run a team with one steel, Registeel and once the steel is out of the way it is free reign for Stoutland. Very tough to stop. I've definitely been swept a couple times. The first time I didn't even know what the pokemon was. :)

 

[sax king]

I don't have much to add to this thread, but it's possible that Hippowdon will drop down to UU.

 

[UsernameSayWha]

You guys have no Idea how to use Cradily. Switch it in on a weak-ish Special Attacker like Spike Varient Roserade. Curse up. If you see a Heracross. Move your Suction cup ass out. And btw Support Cradily sucks compared to ChestoRest.

 

[Nysyr]

Just gonna say that Cacturne can pull off a sub seeder pretty well, and with max attack its sucker punches HURT.

 

[tednugent1]

Yeah, I've heard good things about Cacturne in the sand, but I've yet to try it. It seems like great fun.

For Cradily, I've been using a Toxic stalling set with Storm Drain, and it's been great

 

[Godsend]

Alakazam has been great on my SS team. It is very very good against Hail and... well, everything else.

 

[ParaChomp]

Alakazam has been great on my SS team. It is very very good against Hail and... well, everything else.

I've been using Alakazam as well, one with Guard Split to be exact. With proper use of Stealth Rock and a ghost type, Alakazam can come in on tanks and thieve them of their defences. It hits the crippled foe quite hard after that and has a decent amount of bulk that allows it to survive a couple hits.

 

[lmitchell0012]

As soon as BW UU was released, the tier became swamped with game-breakers such as Victini and Kyurem, each bringing with them Drought and Snow Warning. How does Hippopotas and sand fit into this equation?

Very well. Sandstorm's main abusers consist of the Rock-types that both resist the V-creates and can tank them with their naturally high defense, as well as getting the 50% boost of their Special Defense to take Kyurem's repeated assaults. On top of that, many of the other threats in the metagame consist of special-attacking Psychic-types (Mew, Azelf, Celebi) that can be easily beat on with the Special Defense boost.

As far as Sand Rush and Sand Offense goes, Sandslash is yet unreleased so it's basically limited to Stoutland. I'm not exactly sure Hippopotas is worth it just for Stoutland, but if you so desire you can try it!

Sand abusers!
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Hippopotas@Eviolite - Impish
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
~ Stealth Rock
~ Earthquake
~ Slack Off
~ Roar / Yawn

In old UU, poor Hippo was thought of as mostly a throw-away Pokemon. All new with Eviolite though, this lil Hippo can actually take some hits and shuffle some damage around. Makes a pretty nice lead bar Taunt.
------------------------

Rhyperior@Leftovers - Adamant
232 HP / 16 Att / 16 Def / 244 SpD - Solid Rock
~ Earthquake
~ Stone Edge
~ Megahorn
~ Substitute / Roar | Dragon Tail

Absolutely monstrous. I was battling earlier today and took 55% from a Life Orb Moltres HP Grass. This guy can take hits and dish them out on a platter. Substitute is nice if you don't feel like predicting, but Roar|Dragon Tail can come in handy if you set up more entry hazards via Omastar, Nidoqueen, or Crustle. Rhydon can be used with Eviolite to get the same Attack and actually has higher defenses, but Leftovers + Solid Rock usually makes Rhyperior the better choice. Worth running a hippo just for this guy.
------------------------

Lairon@Eviolite - Careful
252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def - Rock Head
~ Head Smash
~ Earthquake
~ Magnet Rise / Iron Head??
~ Substitute / Roar??

This thing has RIDICULOUS defenses after Sandstorm and Eviolite. The given EVs give it 324 HP, 475 Defense, and a whopping 490 Special Defense, with pretty good specially defensive typing to boot. It deals some pretty dang good damage with Head Smash and takes no recoil because of Rock Head. Aggron of course is also an option, but this guy has far far superior defenses.
------------------------

Omastar@Leftovers - Bold / Calm
252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def - Shell Armor
~ Spikes
~ Toxic Spikes
~ Hydro Pump
~ Knock Off / Haze

Great setup for all your entry hazard needs. 358 SpD and 316 Defense with a Bold nature makes Spiking a breeze, and Omastar's typing allows it to switch into things like Victini with ease. Team reveal makes Toxic Spiking even easier and becomes important for any team with Chansey problems.
------------------------
Other notables include:
Regirock (Curse / Support)
Cradily (Curse)
Shuckle (Power Swap / Acupressure)
Crustle (Spiker / Shell Smash)
Aerodactyl (SubRoost Pressure)

Sand Partners!
------------------------

Nidoqueen@Leftovers - Bold
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD - Poison Point
~ Toxic Spikes
~ Earth Power
~ Venoshock
~ Roar

General utility if you're having a bunch of Heracross or Hitmontop problems. Venoshock becomes super powerful once Toxic Spikes become active. Immunity to sandstorm makes Nidoqueen shine as a sandstall supporter.
------------------------

Golurk@Leftovers - Adamant
252 HP / 80 Att / 176 Def - Iron Fist
~ Substitute / Rest
~ Focus Punch / Hammer Arm
~ Earthquake
~ Shadow Punch

EVs are just random (like most of this threads lol) but overall is a great Pokemon for sand. Immune, hits hard, and most importantly acts as a spin blocker and at the same time a Fighting immune. Great check to fighters like Heracross and Hitmontop as well as a decent check to Cobalion also. That and he learns Fly. What a boss.
------------------------
Other notables:
Chansey (Wish, Aromatherapy, essentially immune to Special Attacks)
Deoxys-D (Spikes, Fighting resist)
Slowbro (Water resist, Fight resist, Regen)
Milotic (see above)
Celebi (near-perfect synergy with Rock-types, Nasty Plot cleaner)

Now it's time for your input!

Why isn't nidoking in the OP??

 

[SJCrew]

That's because Nidoking is a standalone offensive Pokemon that isn't boosted by Sand and can be used on any team. If you want to actually 'counter' Fighting-types, you should be using his defensive counterpart, Nidoqueen. But still, he's awesome and immune to Sand, so why the hell not?

Also, the OP is pretty outdated. Stoutland is as much a staple to Sand teams in UU as Excadrill is in OU. If you're using Hippopotas and not Stoutland, something is wrong with you. Don't treat it like a go-to compendium for knowledge of Sand teams, just baseless speculation from the guy who happened to start the thread.