Sandstorm OU

[FanOfSamurott]

Hello, I am new to Smogon and I am trying to make a sandstorm team. I know some viewers, if any, will say "Oh lord, another one?", but if you could please give me any advice, additions, etc., then feel free to.

Tyranitar
Ability: Sand Stream (of course)
Nature: Sassy
Item: Leftovers
EV's: 252 HP / 64 SpA / 192 SpD
Moveset:
-Stealth Rock
-Crunch
-Fire Blast
-Rock Slide

Of course, Tyranitar is going to be my Sandstorm / Stealth Rock starter. The remaining three moves will abuse his pretty good Special Attack and movepool for good type coverage against Latios and other Garchomp users, etc. Leftovers will heal his health gradually to give him more longevity. His Special Defense will appreciate the Sassy / Sandstorm boost.

Excadrill
Ability: Sand Rush
Nature: Jolly
Item: Air Baloon
EV's: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Moveset:
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spinner

Excadrill is going to be my sweeper (preferably in a Sandstorm), and Rapid Spinner. Swords Dance works well with Excadrill's bulk, allowing him to set up one or two Swords Dance's, which should be enough to pack a punch in the opposing team. Air Balloon will protect him from nasty Earthquakes for a short amount of time. Jolly nature along with the 252 Speed EV's will max out his Speed, so he can further benefit from his ability, Sand Rush, and outspeed most Choice Scarf users.

Ferrothorn
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Relaxed
Item: Leftovers
EV's: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Moveset:
-Spikes
-Power Whip
-Leech Seed
-Protect

This is Ferrothorn. He is going to set up my layers of Spikes, which shouldn't be too hard since he is gifted with montrous bulk. Leech Seed and Leftovers will be you used because he is greedy for HP (due to his sadly low base 74 HP). Spikes will add on to the entry hazards.Power Whipe will be his main STAB move. Protect will increase his longevity, giving him a free turn of Leech Seed/Leftovers recovery.

Rotom-W
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
Item: Leftovers
EV's: 116 HP / 252 SpA / 140 Spe
Moveset:
-Volt Switch
-Hydro Pump
-Will-O-Wisp
-Pain Split

Here is Rotom-W, and his defenses are very pleasing, despite the low base 50 HP. Pain Split will be Rotom-W's main source of "recovery", along with Leftovers. The 5th Generation granted Rotom-W with a strange, yet beneficial, attribute: Electric / Water-typing. This set makes use of his two reliable STAB moves, giving good type-coverage. Will-O-Wisp will cripple physical threats.

Reuniclus
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Modest
Item: Life Orb
EV's: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Moveset:
-Trick Room
-Shadow Ball
-Psychic
-Focus Blast

Reuniclus will have a Trick Room set to be a bit more threatening. Trick Room will work very well with Tangrowth/Scizor and Ferrothorn.

Tangrowth
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Relaxed
Item: Leftovers
EV's: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Moveset:
-Leech Seed
-Sleep Powder
-Giga Drain
-Earthquake

OR

Scizor
Ability: Technician
Nature: Careful
Item: Leftovers
EV's: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SpD
Moveset:
-Bullet Punch
-Bug Bite
-Swords Dance
-Roost

As suggested, both Scizor and Tangrowth should be able to perform well over Landorus, for they check most of my team's weaknesses. Regen + Leech Seed + Giga Drain will give Tangrowth very large recovery. Roost will work with Scizor very well

Well that concludes my Sandstorm team. Any questions, comments, or suggestions will be lovely. Thank you for your time.

 

[Zephyr]

Hey man. Pretty casual team you got going here, like you said, standard sand stuff. Although one thing you probably didn't know; Garchomp is banned by most big competitive sites for Overused at this moment. I'm gonna try and just recommend another good scarf Sandstorm Pokemon over it too avoid changing your team as much as possible while making it a legitimate competitive Overused team. The set I think should work over your Garchomp while retaining most of the initial jobs performed would be Scarf Landorus. It's unaffected by sandstorm damage. It also receives a bonus from just being in the sandstorm (an attack bonus actually, which gives it a stronger Earthquake than Garchomp). It revenge kills with near the same efficiency. It has similar weaknesses, and similar resistances and immunities to boot. Oh also, it adds a very much needed Fighting-type resist to your team, which is currently sporting three Pokemon that basically explode upon coming in contact with a Fighting-type move. Btw, it has U-turn which is always useful for a Choice-locked Pokemon. You should be able to use Garchomp ingame and stuff, but for when playing at Smogon, here is the above set I was referring to for a replacement:

Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: Naive / Jolly
-Earthquake
-Stone edge
-U-turn
-Hidden Power Ice / Hammer Arm

Good luck!

 

[KorKonT]

Garchomp is Illegal on Smogon Tiers, so you are going to need to replace it. The landorus suggested above does this job well. Other weather abusers exist too, such as a 2-pokemon trick room team in X and Reuniclus or perhaps Stoutland.

PS: Welcome to Smogon. Hope you enjoy your stay at this 4.5-star forums. ;)

 

[FanOfSamurott]

Thank You. I will make the changes and test it out right away.

 

[Solrac]

apart of garchomp this team is solid by experience, as its almost the same sand team i used some time ago but with jellicent over rotom w, as Zephyr said landorus is like the new garchomp for most sand teams but ill recomend you a rock polish set, same speed after 1 turn and is not that hard to get... and KO most things under the sand.

 

[FanOfSamurott]

Hm, I actually like the idea of a Rock Polish set. Thanks.

 

[Jirachee]

Hey there,

Good team you've got there, even if it's a bit standard-ish (it wouldn't be standard-ish if it wasn't good huh?) However, I think that Trick Room Reuniclus will be somewhat difficult for your team to deal with, like for a lot of sandstorm teams. While Tyranitar is able to 2HKO it with Crunch, it will be OHKOed by Focus Blast, and Reuniclus will move faster than it in Trick Room, which makes it quite a lame check. Furthermore, your own Reuniclus will be taken down by Shadow Ball, since Trick Room versions usually carry that move for opposing Reuniclus and Latios. You also have Ferrothorn which is an ideal set up fodder for TR Reun, so it won't have to play very hard to set up and sweep you. I think that you should change your Landorus for a Bulky Swords Dance Scizor. Bulky SD Scizor will greatly help your team, because it's currently the best Reuniclus check in the metagame, and it also helps you against Latios, since your Tyranitar lacks Pursuit and won't be able to take Draco Meteor forever. Here's the Scizor set :

Scizor

Scizor @ Leftovers
Technician
Careful
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SpD
-Bullet Punch
-Bug Bite
-Swords Dance
-Roost

I also think you should change Ferrothorn's Gyro Ball with Power Whip. Gyro Ball doesn't help against stuff Ferrothorn walls, like Rotom-W, while Power Whip wears them down extremely quickly.

Good luck!

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hey there.

Firsto off, I suggest Volt Switch over Thunderbolt on Rotom-W; this will allow you to gain switch advantage while racking up Spikes + SR damage on the opponent's team.

Also, run Psychic over Psyshock on Reuniclus. This allows Reuniclus to not be walled by the likes of Gliscor and Quagsire; Blissey can still be easily taken down by Focus Blast after Calm Mind boosts.

I also suggest Power Whip over Gyro Ball on Ferrothorn. Gyro Ball has too low of an amount of PP to be Ferrothorn's only attack; Power Whip let it decimate pokemon such as Quagsire, Politoed, and Gastrodon who could otherwise wall it and eventually burn it with Scald.

Now, there are a couple of threats that can decimate your team: Excadrill, Volcarona, Bulk Up / DD Scrafty.

Volcarona can be handled by running Rock Slide over Ice Beam on Tyranitar; change Tyranitar's EV spread to 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef as well seeing as how the special attack evs aren't really doing you too much good.

The other threats can be handled easily as well; by replacing Landorus, who I don't really think is doing too well in helping to defeat your team's weaknesses, with a Tangrowth.

Defensive Tangrowth

Hide

Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Relaxed
EV's: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Moveset:
-Leech Seed
-Sleep Powder
-Giga Drain
-Earthquake

Tangrowth can take Ice Punches from Scrafty quite easily, and proceed to put it to sleep (most DD Scrafty's run Moxie; if Bulk Up, Tangrowth can defeat it with Leech Seed and Giga Drain). Earthquake lets Tangrowth hit Excadrill hard, and also decimate switch-ins who think they can wall Tangrowth easily such as Heatran. Regenerator + Leech Seed + Giga Drain compensates easily for Tangrowth's lack of a recovery move.

Overall, solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!

 

[coughing]

Hi there, just a quick rate.... Few nitpicks, got no time

Definitely psyshock over psychic on reuniclus
You reeallly do need power whip on ferrothorn, especially if sandstorm is down and rain goes up, scarfed rotom hydro pumps could cause problems for landorus and excadrill, power whip can take it out.
I'd go with ice punch over ice beam

 

[FanOfSamurott]

Thank you Jirachi and ShakeItUp. It's funny, I was actually looking over my team and I did notice Scizor would do much better in Landorus's slot. And I do think Power Whip will serve well over Gyro Ball in Ferrothorn's set. I've never used a Tangrowth but I will see RegenGrowth when I get the chance to properly test Tangrowth's Dream World Ability.
And yes coughing, but I'd rather psychic because it is stronger and can overpower most physical walls that can give my team trouble. Psyshock can take care of Special Defensive bulky, but it's all on the roll of the dice. Both have their uses. The only thing I am concerned of is my team's weakness to Fire-type moves.