Sandstorm Offensive

[Minh-Quan]

The team at a glance:

This is the sandstorm team that I've been using in Pokemon Showdown for about a week. Sand has never been my favorite type of weather, but residual damage has been the downfall of many opponents, especially because of Gliscor. This team has brought 11 wins and two losses. Both losses were against Politoed rain teams. Most the matches ended in a Garchomp sweep, but let's get in depth with the team.

The Lead

Dinosaurus Rex (Tyranitar) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Naughty Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Tyranitar is, of course the sand stream user, and my stealth rocker. Stone edge and pursuit are to deal with Skarmory and Latios/Latias leads, respectively. Superpower is to deal with opposing T-Tar leads. The EV's I chose were to 1. Let T-Tar take any hit he wants to, except for fighting moves of course, and 2. Allow T-Tar to all other leads pretty hard, if not OHKO them.

The Killer

Landshark O' Doom (Garchomp) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Stone Edge

Garchomp, the beast that has one almost every single one of my games for me. With the choice scarf, Garchomp's base 102 speed is enough to outspeed all of its threats, except for ice shard Piloswine, and other choice scarf users, specifically Latios and Latias. Its monsterous speed, combined with this moveset that gives it unresisted coverage. Combine this, and its base 130 attack, and you have one crazy pokemon. Sand veil used to be the ability on this guy, but GUESS NOT.

The Sweeper

Limey (Scizor) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Roost
- Swords Dance

The point of this set is to set up a swords dance or two, proceed to sweep with Scizor's incredible stab moves. Roost is to heal off the life orb damage, but four-moveslot syndrome is a disease that this Scizor is heavily affected by. If a pokemon, such as Heatran resists both of Scizor's STABs, he's forced to switch out, which really sucks. However, if you remove threats like Heatran, Scizor can be a deadly sweeper.

The Wall

AcroBAT (Gliscor) (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 184 Def / 252 HP / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Acrobatics
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Earthquake

This pokemon has gotten me out of trouble too many times to count, and thus, I couldn't let her NOT be on this team. The EV spread lets her be so bulky, she can withstand almost everything. For example, in the last match I played, it was AcroBAT left, versus a Salamence that had dragon danced three times. Just when all seemed lost, the combo of poison heal, toxic, and substitute won me the match. It was a major win for this bulky monster. Again, sand veil was going to be used, but GUESS NOT.

The One I Have No Idea Why I Included

Monkey Mon (Infernape) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Thunder Punch
- U-turn

The name says it all: I have no idea why I included Infernape. He takes residual damage from the sandstorm, and doesn't receive any boosts from it either. Despite having no place in this team, Infernape can still do his part. Thunder punch rids the field of pesky Skarmorys, and close combat and flare blitz are incredible stab moves. The only trouble is, what with life orb and sandstorm damage racking up every turn, Infernape doesn't have much longetivity.

The Nuke

Metal God (Metagross) @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Earthquake

Metagross is an interesting pokemon. In the beginning of a match, he doesn't see much use. However, at the end of a match, he can tear through most pokemon on the opposing team, mainly with its nuclear-powered STAB meteor mash. This is the main reason that the supercomputer was added to this team. Besides meteor mash, STAB zen headbutt is useful for taking out Tentacruel and others like him.

Last Thoughts:

I'm actually quite happy with the way that this team works, but a rapid spinner would be nice. Especially for toxic spikes. Which I HATE.

 

[TheAwesomeDude]

Sup. Considering that you're new to Smogon, this is a pretty solid team. There are a few changes you should make however.

First of all, change Infernape for Tentacruel. Tentacruel is one heck of a rapid spinner and can be useful to instantly get rid of toxic spikes. Also, Tentacruel can take down ground types such as Donphan with hydro pump/surf. If you couldn't take them down, then they would be spamming earthquake everywhere, a move that half of your team fears. Here is the set I would use:
Tentacruel@Black Sludge
252 Health, 252 Special Defense, 4 Special Attack
Rapid Spin
Surf/Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Toxic Spikes/Toxic
Using this set, you can easily eliminate toxic spikes without getting poisoned yourself thanks to Tentacruel's typing. It also allows you to set up toxic spikes yourself or poison the foe right away. Surf/Hydro Pump is a STAB move and can take down ground types. Ice Beam is for coverage against dragons such as opposing Garchomp and Salamence. Black Sludge recovers health lost from sandstorm. Tentacruel also provides a bit more coverage on your team. It resists fire types which two of your other pokemon are weak to, it resists water that two of your pokemon are weak to, ice which two of your pokemon are weak to, and it resists fighting, a type that can be deadly to Tyranitar.

Some smaller changes is that you may want to change Tyranitar's item to focus sash to get up rocks. If the opponent uses a fighting type move, Tyranitar will survive it. Although not really recommended, you MIGHT want to replace roost with baton pass. This allows you to escape Magnezone's magenetpull ability as well as pass sword dance to a sweeper like Garchomp.

Hope I helped! Good Luck!

 

[Minh-Quan]

Thanks a lot. The use of Tentacruel is really helping the team survive through toxic spikes. I also have changed Tyranitar to Hippowdon, as the loss of the 4X weakness will be helpful. I appreciate the help, I racked up another couple of wins today, and no losses thanks to Tentacruel.

 

[Moonclawz]

Hi Minh,

This seems like a decent sandstorm team, but your team looks weak to opposing weather teams, especially against rain teams with your lack of water resists.

On Tyranitar, I would go with an Adamant or Brave nature since your not running any special attacks. An Adament nature with 72 Spe EVs lets Tyranitar outspeed uninvested base 70s, while a Brave nature ensures that Tyranitar will set-up Sandstorm against opposing weather setters like Politoad.

On Gliscor, Acrobatics seems like a weird move choice since while holding an item, it only has base 55 power. Instead, I think you could use Protect. Protect gives Glisocr increased stalling abilities and is useful for scouting out the moves of choiced Pokemon.

As for a spinner, with your offensive team, I would recommend using Starmie over Infernape (your most replacable Pokemon). Starmie can spin away hazards while maintaining offensive pressure due to its good special attack and speed. In addition, it beats non-Scarfed Gengar (a common spinblocker) with Psychock and can also check Keldeo. With Natural Cure it doesn't mind spinning away T-spikes either.

On Garchomp, I think that Fire Fang lacks the power to really be useful. Although its super-effective against Skamory and other Steel-types, Skarmory won't be taking much damage from it anyways. Instead, I think you should run Outrage over Fire Fang. Outrage gives you the extra power needed to clean weakened teams when Dragon Claw won't KO, such as offensive Dragonite after Multiscale has been broken.

I think Skamory is a huge defensive threat to your team. Skamory takes little damage from your physical attackers and can easily Roost, set up Spikes, and Whirlwind any Pokemon that try to set up. Although Starmie can beat Skamory with a powerful Hydro Pump, Starmie will be worn down quicky in the sand and it would be good to have a second special attacker. I recommend that you use a Choice Specs Latios over Metagross. Latios can take down defensive Skamory with a powerful Surf and can take out many of Scizor's counters with Draco Meteor. Also, Latios gives you another water-type resist and helps against Keldeo, which could otherwise heavily damage the rest of your team. Metagross seems kind of redundant with Scizor as both have a similar typing and function.

Hope this helps!

 

[Minh-Quan]

This helped quite a lot. Just a quick question, I thought that after a toxic orb has been activated, acrobatics gets its boost. Anyhow, I used all of your other advice, except for Starmie, as I already replaced Infernape with Tentacruel, for its added toxic spikes. Choice specs Latios has just demolished all other teams. Thanks a lot. If anyone could answer my question that would be great.

 

[TheAwesomeDude]

When toxic orb activates, it is still their as Gliscor's held item. Instead of Acrobatics, replace it with protect like Moonclawz suggested.
Quick question: What do your new sets look like? By this I mean Latios and Hippowdon.

 

[Minh-Quan]

They look like this

Hungry Hippo (Hippowdon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind

Landshark O' Doom (Garchomp) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stone Edge

Limey (Scizor) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- Baton Pass
- Swords Dance

AcroBAT (Gliscor) (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Protect
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Earthquake

TentaTOOL (Tentacruel) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic Spikes

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

 

[TheAwesomeDude]

So, this is your edited team? At first, I thought that your team was well rounded and could deal damage while having defensive power. But then I found a few threats: taunters, magic bouncers, and... smeargle.

TAUNTERS
To start with, Azelf and other taunters can be troublesome to your team. Taunt can stop Gliscor, Hippowdown, Tentacruel, and Scizor from setting up. Not to mention, Azelf carries a variety of moves that can KO your team in a matter of turns.
HOW TO COUNTER:
You have three options: replace Gliscor with a magic bouncer, another taunter, or Smeagle. Like an old saying goes: to kill a soldier you hire a soldier; to kill a spy you hire a spy; to kill a taunter you hire a taunter. Gliscor kind of unbalances your team as your team has a whopping 4 members weak to ice types. I suggest you use Espeon as it has a decent speed and special attack stat. With magic bounce, you can switch out Hippowdon with Espeon and counter the status back at them (taunt, toxic, etc.). Here is the set I would use:
Espeon@Life Orb
Timid
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Health
Psychic/Psyshock
Grass Knot/Signal Beam
Hidden Power
Protect
Credit goes to Smogon for coming up with this set. Espeon adds a little more specially offensive prowess to your team. Wielding life orb, Espeon can deal with many pokemon. Some people would disagree with me that Espeon is a terrible choice for your team and would make it worse; I, on the other hand, have looked at one thing that others haven't: Espeon's ability is SO FREAKIN' USEFUL. This gets rid of many defensive threats such as Blissey and Ferrothorn. Psyshock can be used to take down Blissey but I personally prefer psychic because of it's higher attack power. Grass Knot/ Signal Beam is for coverage while protect can be used to scout.

MAGIC BOUNCERS
Likewise, Magic taunters can wreck your team. Thankfully, only two fully evolved pokemon wield this ability (Xatu and Espeon) and both have low physical defenses. If your opponent has a magic bouncr on your team, I suggest you send out Scizor as it resists Xatu's attacks and outspeeds Espeon with sword dance.
HOW TO COUNTER
Scizor can probably deal with them after a sword dance. One bullet punch x2 should be enough.

SMEARGLE
Smash Pass Smeargle became an interesting pokemon to deal with. With access to spore, Smeagle can wreck your team. After sporing, Smeargle can set shell smash and baton pass the hell out of there.
HOW TO COUNTER
Again, Espeon helps you a lot. Espeon can magic bounce the spore back and proceed to KO Smeargle with Psychic or Psyshock (but usually the opponent rage quits by the).

SMALLER CHANGES
The only other change I would make is giving Scizor bug bite instead of roost. If you do add Espeon, you have two dark weaknesses and having a STAB move increased by sword dance and technician that is super effective against dark types would not hurt your team.

CONCLUSION:
Your team is good. Hell, it's great. However, you still need to adjust your team a bit more to make it ready for anything. Hoped I helped!

 

[Minh-Quan]

Thanks a lot for all of your help. I don't care what others say, Espeon is a BEAST. You were right, most people just switch after their Smeargle is blown up. Again I really appreciate both of your guys help. A lot.

 

[TheAwesomeDude]

Glad Espeon worked ok! (:
Normally this is where I would walk off into the sun set but I just want to ask you one more thing: how are you doing against rain dance teams? Are they still a problem to your team? If not, I wish you the best of luck. If so, I will try to help you some more.

 

[Minh-Quan]

Not anymore, rain dance teams just fall prey to the beast that is Tentacruel.

 

[TheAwesomeDude]

Good to hear! Well my work is done here. Time to move on to someone else who needs my help. GOD-SPEED CITIZENS.

 

[RykerRed]

So what is the final team? I'm so confused here.. haha.

 

[ShadowSoulKid]

The team at a glance:

This is the sandstorm team that I've been using in Pokemon Showdown for about a week. Sand has never been my favorite type of weather, but residual damage has been the downfall of many opponents, especially because of Gliscor. This team has brought 11 wins and two losses. Both losses were against Politoed rain teams. Most the matches ended in a Garchomp sweep, but let's get in depth with the team.

The Lead

Dinosaurus Rex (Tyranitar) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Naughty Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Tyranitar is, of course the sand stream user, and my stealth rocker. Stone edge and pursuit are to deal with Skarmory and Latios/Latias leads, respectively. Superpower is to deal with opposing T-Tar leads. The EV's I chose were to 1. Let T-Tar take any hit he wants to, except for fighting moves of course, and 2. Allow T-Tar to all other leads pretty hard, if not OHKO them.

The Killer

Landshark O' Doom (Garchomp) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Stone Edge

Garchomp, the beast that has one almost every single one of my games for me. With the choice scarf, Garchomp's base 102 speed is enough to outspeed all of its threats, except for ice shard Piloswine, and other choice scarf users, specifically Latios and Latias. Its monsterous speed, combined with this moveset that gives it unresisted coverage. Combine this, and its base 130 attack, and you have one crazy pokemon. Sand veil used to be the ability on this guy, but GUESS NOT.

The Sweeper

Limey (Scizor) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Roost
- Swords Dance

The point of this set is to set up a swords dance or two, proceed to sweep with Scizor's incredible stab moves. Roost is to heal off the life orb damage, but four-moveslot syndrome is a disease that this Scizor is heavily affected by. If a pokemon, such as Heatran resists both of Scizor's STABs, he's forced to switch out, which really sucks. However, if you remove threats like Heatran, Scizor can be a deadly sweeper.
The Wall

AcroBAT (Gliscor) (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 184 Def / 252 HP / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Acrobatics
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Earthquake

This pokemon has gotten me out of trouble too many times to count, and thus, I couldn't let her NOT be on this team. The EV spread lets her be so bulky, she can withstand almost everything. For example, in the last match I played, it was AcroBAT left, versus a Salamence that had dragon danced three times. Just when all seemed lost, the combo of poison heal, toxic, and substitute won me the match. It was a major win for this bulky monster. Again, sand veil was going to be used, but GUESS NOT.

The One I Have No Idea Why I Included

Monkey Mon (Infernape) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Thunder Punch
- U-turn

The name says it all: I have no idea why I included Infernape. He takes residual damage from the sandstorm, and doesn't receive any boosts from it either. Despite having no place in this team, Infernape can still do his part. Thunder punch rids the field of pesky Skarmorys, and close combat and flare blitz are incredible stab moves. The only trouble is, what with life orb and sandstorm damage racking up every turn, Infernape doesn't have much longetivity.

The Nuke

Metal God (Metagross) @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Earthquake

Metagross is an interesting pokemon. In the beginning of a match, he doesn't see much use. However, at the end of a match, he can tear through most pokemon on the opposing team, mainly with its nuclear-powered STAB meteor mash. This is the main reason that the supercomputer was added to this team. Besides meteor mash, STAB zen headbutt is useful for taking out Tentacruel and others like him.

Last Thoughts:

I'm actually quite happy with the way that this team works, but a rapid spinner would be nice. Especially for toxic spikes. Which I HATE.

Hey for your infernape just replac life orb with expert belt and blaze with iron fist im sure hell be more effective