Sand is great

[AuraRayquaza]

Hello people. This is my second RMT in these forums and it has done me quite well. I used this team in the frontier and i went 1-1 (I had lost 2 others with crappy teams so my first loss was my last one) and I have also gone very well on PS, peaking at 1632 and having a win/loss ratio of 21-2. It is a sand team that relies on heavy hitting to break through pokemon and finish off with a Salamence sweep. So now, here it is!

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At a glance:

Team Building

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I decided I wanted to make a sand team because that is my favourite kind of weather so I went for Tyranitar.

I alos saw the sweeping potential of Moxie DD Salamence so I wanted to try him and make a team based on facilitating a sweep with him.

Straight away I added Deoxys-D because he is so good at setting up hazards which would help my Salamence greatly, he can also cripple potential threats with T-wave.

Next I added Donphan as a spinner to clear up the Stealth Rocks that may affect Salamence's sweep as he is weak to them, his great defence and attack made me choose him over Cloyster or other spinners.

Rotom-W was the next member of my team and also my most useful one. He can help me with opposing ice types who try to attack Rotom and can't also cripple physical attackers like Scizor that might outspeed Salamence if I don't get a DD up. He can also get me switch initiative to switch to Salamence to get him in safely. My team is alos quite weak to water, and Rotom helps me with this issue.

My final member was Terrakion. He has a choice scarf and is there to attack weakened pokemon who have just come in or to remove a threat to Salamence. He is also capable (and generally does) of pulling off a sweep himself before or after Salamence come in and attempted a sweep.

Up close:

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Pursuit

Tyranitar is needed to set up sand. I decided on a mixed variant as no-one ever suspects it and I can either ice beam gliscor trying to EQ/wall me, or fire blast a ferrothorn that is trying to set up on me. Crunch is a solid STAB that can deal good damage if needed and pursuit is to trap the psychics that resist my Terrakion's close combat. The evs allow him to survive two rain boosted non-specs Politoed hydro pumps and the remaining evs put into SAtk as I use those attacks the most. I have also used a speed decreasing nature to be slower than all of the other weather-makers and get my weather up.

Deoxys-Defense @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt

Man Deoxys-D is so good at getting up hazards! I usually lead off with him as a suicide lead to get lots of hazards up for the whole game keep them there. Spikes and Stealth Rock are obvious moves and thunder wave is to cripple those opposing sweepers and slow them down for a Salamence or Terrakion sweep. Taunt can stop other hazard setters like ferrothorn and set up sweepers like SD lucario, who can hit my my team very hard. The evs are for max speed to get hazards up and hp to maximise bulk, with the remaining evs in SAtk to power up psycho boost a bit.

Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Stone Edge
- Ice Shard

Donphan is my spinner and is also a secondary attacker. He is offensive as i have found that i can KO hazard setters with his powerful base attack. EQ is a great STAB that can really hurt the opposition; rapid spin is obvious; Head Smash is there for a pseudo EdgeQuake combo but almost never use it because a neutral EQ is the same base power as a SE Head smash, without massive recoil. Ice shard is a good priority that can hurt Landorus and Ninjask if it tries to set up. The evs maximise bulk and damage output while still keeping a bit of defensiveness with the remaining evs in defense.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 144 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Rotom-W is just a general support pokemon while being the only specially offensive pokemon on the team. He can switch in on ground and water type moves, the two types my team has big problems with, very easily. I have gone with a bulky variant to help resist those water type moves a bit better. Volt Switch can get switch initiative and help to keep the offensive momentum on my side, while racking up hazard damage from the repeated switching. Hydro pump is a powerful STAB move, capable of hitting many things hard. WoW is to cripple physical attackers who might give Salamence or Terrakion a hard time and pain split is Rotoms most relaible form of recovery, coming off a very low base hp. The evs maximise SAtk while still outspeeding threats and keeping a bit of bulk.

Salamence @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

Salamence is my main attacker on the team. He can set up a DD on the switch or just go for a Dragon gem-boosted dragon claw, which is a pseudo moxie boost without moxie being activated, to keep the damage high all the time. It also helps to get essential KOs which wouldn't have been achieved without a boost. EQ is for the steels who resist my STAB dragon claw and fire blast is my only way to hit ferrothorn. The evs maximise speed and attack to take pokemon out or do big damage to them.

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- X-Scissor
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Terrakion is my revenge killer and he has been very important to this team. He generally comes in after my Deoxys has been ko'ed to take out that pokemon, or any other weakened pokemon that he can during the match. His STABs are very powerful and can ko a lot of pokemon, X-scissor is only for celebi and is not really used outside of that because a SE x-scissor is weaker than a neutral stone edge. EQ is just for coverage, but is never used outside of magnezone because stone edge or close combat both hit what EQ can for SE damage.

Here is the importable if you want to test out the team to see any weaknesses. :)

Importable

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Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- X-Scissor
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Salamence @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

Deoxys-Defense @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
- Thunder Wave
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Psycho Boost

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 144 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Low Kick

Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Head Smash
- Ice Shard

Overall, this has worked quite well for me but I'm not winning as many matches as I hoped. Any rates would greatly help. Thanks!

Changes to the team have been made in bold and red.

 

[Electrolyte]

Hi there!

You've got a pretty solid team. You've got Ttar and Rotom-W to help deal with Rain, Deoxys-D to set up hazards and weaken the foe, and Donphan to spin SR away and kill Dragons that will compete with Salamence's sweep. Your team is very centered around your two sweepers, and aids them very well.

Still, there are just a couple of small changes I'd suggest. If Salamence is your main sweeper, you'll want your team wiping out it's counters ASAP so you can set up and sweep. Lati@s is one counter, and at the time, you don't have any real counter to them (bar Terrakion for the revenge kill, but they can just switch out) That's why I'd suggest you give Tyranitar Pursuit instead of Low Kick. The only thing Low Kick hits harder than Fire Blast are opposing Tyranitars and other Rocks types, both of which you have absolutely no problem handling with Terrakion. Pursuit, on the other hand, traps choice locked Lati@s, Alakazam, and Reuniclus, all who have the power / bulk to stop Salamence's sweep.

Deoxys-D is fine as-is, but since you're running Psycho Boost to weaken the opponent before you go down, you might as well run Modest with a Life Orb and an EV spread of 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe. This allows you to deal massive damage to Tentacruel with Psycho Boost, almost OHKO'ing it. Slap on HP fire instead of Stealth Rock, and you've got yourself a sure fire OHKO to Scizor, who loves to come in on Deoxys-D and could end Terrakion with Bullet Punch.

Now, if Deoxys-D loses Stealth Rock, then it has to be given to some one else. Donphan should replace Head Smash with Stealth Rock It's awesome ability ensures that you'l set up SR if you can keep Sturdy up. If you don't want Donphan to set up hazards, you could always replace Head Smash with Stone Edge instead, for a less powerful and less accurate move that doesn't give Sturdy-breaky recoil.

Rotom-W is one pokemon I don't have many problems with, though I encourage you to test out Trick+Scarf, as a reliable scout and a way to cripple opposing set up sweepers and taunters to give Salamence an easier time setting up.

Now that your team is in tip top shape to aid Salamence and Terrakion, good luck! Hope this helped!

 

[Nova]

Hi AuraRayquaza

Solid team you have here, I really like your use of Dragon Gem Salamence to defeat would be checks and grab a Moxie boost. However, I do have some suggestions to help improve your team. Looking at your team, Swords Dance Lucario is a major threat to it. After an SD boost he can really punch holes with its powerful STAB Close Combat while using Extremespeed and Bullet Punch to "outspeed" and defeat Salamence and Terrakion respectively. Another threat to your team is Landorus who can dispatch of Tyranitar and Terrakion with Earthquake, is immune to Deoxys-D's Thunder Wave, and can hit Rotom-W and Salamence with Sand Force boosted Stone Edges. For these threat, I suggest the following changes. On Deoxys-D replace Psycho Boost with Taunt. Deoxys-D's high speed stat, especially for a wall, means that he will be outspeeding a lot of threats. He is able to outspeed Adamant Lucario and speed tie with Jolly Lucario, using Taunt to prevent Lucario from setting up and rendering him much less dangerous. Taunt also shuts down the likes of Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Blissey who's functions are generally based on support moves. Losing Psycho Boost means you will lose the ability to OHKO Breloom, but Taunt also shuts down Breloom by preventing him from using Spore or setting up Swords Dance.

Your team also relies on Donphan heavily to be able to survive throughout the duration of a battle and provide rapid spin support. Salamence is weak to Stealth Rock while Rotom-W will be taking many SR damages due to Volt Switch and all your other members are susceptible to both Spikes and Toxic Spikes. To increase longevity, I suggest changing Donphan's EV spread to 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Def and the nature to Impish. The defense investment means Donphan will be surviving longer throughout the battle, giving you more chances to pull off a spin and also allows him to better handle Tyranitar and Terrakion, stalwarts on Sand teams. This also lets you weather hits from Landorus a bit more easily. The 80 Atk EVs are used to get the 2HKO on Landorus with Ice Shard while also putting a little more force into Earthquake. I suggest replacing Head Smash with Stone Edge on Donphan. Head Smash is quite contradictory as you want Donphan to survive as long as possible and be able to spin away hazards and it also breaks your own Sturdy. Stone Edge still gives you a way to hit Rotom-W and nail Volcarona.

Lastly, I suggest changing Salamence's nature to Naive which boosts speed and decreases special defense. This nature is neutral to special attack whereas Jolly nature decreased special attack, meaning your Fire Blasts will have higher damage output. The drop in special defense is negligible as Salamence will generally be used as a late game cleaner and the main attacks he will be hit with are physical priority attacks such as Bullet Punch and Extremespeed.

Hope I helped and good luck with your team!


Set:

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Donphan (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
-Earthquake
-Rapid Spin
-Stone Edge
-Ice Shard

tl;dr

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Psycho Boost on Deoxys-D ----> Taunt
Donphan's EV spread ----> 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Def
Adamant Nature on Donphan ----> Impish Nature
Head Smash on Donphan ----> Stone Edge
Jolly Nature on Salamence ----> Naive Nature

 

[AuraRayquaza]

@electrolyte Thanks for the great rate. I have tried pursuit over low kick and it has helped a lot to remove resists to terrakion's close combat, i have definitely kept this. I tried the deoxys set and i found that i couldnt set up hazards as well as i could before being ko'ed so i have kept the set the same and gone with Novaray's advice. I have changed head smash for stone edge and it was really a mistake on my part that i didn't have stone edge before. I was just a bit reluctant to put hp fire on deoxys because my rotom counters it hard with WoW and hydro pump.

@Novaray Again thanks for the great rate. I have changed psycho boost to taunt and it has really helped me with stopping set up sweepers like SD Lucario. I have changed donphan's ev spread to the spread you mention but I have not changed the nature as i still want to be doing damage while spinning away hazards. Also, i have changed Salamence's nature to naive and it has really helped to ko ferrothorn which i could not do before.

All changes made will be put into the OP.

 

[Avatar Korra]

Sand is great indeed :)

Hello AuraRayquaza, this is an awesome team and with the changes you've implemented from the above raters has helped improve this team definitely. If I could make a suggestion, I would replace Head Smash on Donphan for either Roar or Toxic

While Rock/Ground coverage is great, your Donphan's attack is rather meh and the recoil is not good at all. By replacing it with Toxic, you can now permanently cripple Pokemon that like to switch into Donphan, such as bulky waters like Gyarados, or Jellicent who will try and spin block you.

If you don't find Toxic too useful you could switch to Roar, to provide you with a phaser in your team, making your opponent rack up entry hazard damage and prevent troublesome Pokemon to set up. I recommend Toxic however.

Well that's all I have to say, hope I helped :)