Sandstorm Semi-Stall Team

[Slurray]

Overview
--------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gliscor

Toxic Spikes
Sleep Powder
Grass Knot
Hidden Power Fire

Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Timid
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

By using Roserade as my lead, I’m usually able to sleep or eliminate the opposing lead. Given that I slept them, I’m able to throw out at least one layer of Toxic Spikes. Also, Roserade’s ability - Natural Cure – allows me to be easily rid of any status ailments thrown at me.

Forretress

Spikes
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Gyro Ball

Item: Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 252 SpD

Given his partial Steel-typing, Forretress is immune to Sandstorm and Toxic Spikes if the enemy has them down. Forretress serves two purposes on my team, as it usually does on other teams. The foremost is as my Rapid Spinner. Clearing entry hazards, especially Toxic Spikes, is almost a necessity to keep Hippowdon out. The second purpose is to lay down more entry hazards to give Hippowdon’s Roar a bigger bite.

Rotom-H

Rest
Sleep Talk
Discharge
Will-O-Wisp

Item: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD

With Rest-Talking Rotom-H, I secure a status absorber, while dealing out Burn or possibly Paralysis to those that resist Poison. With Levitate, Rotom-H has three immunities and resists four other types of attacks, leaving only seven to do neutral damage and two to do 2x Super Effective damage.

Tyranitar

Stone Edge
Crunch
Pursuit
Aqua Tail

Item: Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Attack / 98 Spe

In the event that my opponent decides to send out a Spin Blocker of their own, I’ll send out Choice Banded Tyranitar to lay the smack down on them. Usually someone would switch out to avoid some heavy damage from T-Tar, but Pursuit tends to stop them in their tracks. Stone Edge and Crunch for some up front STAB’ed damage, and Aqua Tail to round out it’s coverage.

Heatran

Dragon Pulse
Earth Power
Flame Blast
Explosion

Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Naive
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 8 SpD

I've taken up Heatran as my revenge killer seeing as I wasn't fairing well with Scizor. Heatran's epic speed and power easily allow me to take out one member of the opposition or scare them off to allow another one of my teammates to set up.

Hippowdon

Stockpile
Roar
Slack Off
Ice Fang

Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sandstream
Nature: Impish
EVs: 176 HP / 84 Def / 250 SpD

"Star" of my team. I'm usually able to get Stockpile 3, then I proceed to Roar them into the entry hazards I've lain, using Toxic on those that are Flying. Between Spikes, Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, Sand Storm, Hippowdon’s amazing defenses due to Stockpile, and Slack Off, the only thing I fear is Whirlwind or Roar, but that’s why Hippowdon is usually the last one in my party to go out. The only problem arises when it’s down to 1v1 and I have no offensive moves. I usually just Roar to no effect and let the residual damage rack up. (Replaced Toxic with Ice Fang - It's working out much better!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments and criticism are encouraged!

 

[chewyourfood]

I only want to talk about your Gengar. Your Gengar won't be lasting long at all, due to SR, your own Sandstorm, as well as Gengar's substitute. By putting up Substitute one turn and beating the next Pokemon while it breaks your Sub, you will already have taken 50% damage (12.5[SR] + 25[Sub] + 12.5 [2 turns Sandstorm])

Survivability for a Spin blocker is a must on all stall teams. Because of this, I think it is worth considering replacing Gengar with a bulkier ghost-type, most notably a Rotom forme or even Dusknoir.

Rotom-h @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Discharge/Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball/Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Will-o-Wisp
With this set, you can sponge hits better, therefore keeping your spin-blocker alive longer. In addition, Will-O-Wisp will cut any physical attack's damage in half as well as provide a status for Pokemon that resist Poison.

Rotom-h @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/120 Def/136 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunderbolt/Discharge/Shadow Ball
- Will-o-Wisp/HP Ice/HP Fighting
With the rest-talk set, you get a useful status absorber. You can also rest off any damage taken, therefore maximizing survivability.

Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/228 Def/28 Atk
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Earthquake/Fire Punch
- Ice Punch/Thunder Punch
Same concept as my first Rotom-H suggestion. Except with Dusknoir you lose a ground resist. Instead, you gain a form of recovery named Pain Split.

The attacking moves are entirely up to you. Whichever Pokemon you find more troublesome will contribute to your choice of moves on these Pokemon.

Hope this helps!

 

[Slurray]

Yeah I've noticed that my Gengar is pretty frail. I'll probably use Sleep Talking Rotom-H, seeing as I have a Sleep Talking Suicune on another team and it seems to work really well. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[moussrfacekilla]

Very solid team. Can't see too many flaws with it other then Id recommend a Hippowdon with slack off/roar/ice fang/earthquake over the stockpile o' pottamus.


p.s. I like the desert art at the end with lucario and hippowdon! where did you get that?

 

[GB_Packers_Ftw]

I definately can see other gengar giving you problems and also gliscor will rip through and is the best stall breaker out there. you also lack special attacking. That is why I stand by the above post and going at least with ice fang on your Hippowdon.

For gengar, the easiest switch would seem to be changed the band to a scarf on your Tyranitar. you also could take a look at heatran in that spot to add another more reliable fire move (very important to hit steels that resist SS+ toxic spikes for stall teams)

Also, why not leaf storm > Grass Knot on roserade? Im nto saying that you need to switch im just curious as to why you wouldnt want the extra power with all those taunts

 

[Slurray]

I chose Grass Knot over Leaf Storm because the Special Attack drop makes me cry, but I suppose Roserade shouldn't be staying in that long anyways. I'll give it a shot. I'll also try out a more offensive Hippowdon. I'm not too sure that I can part with Stockpile though; it's been magical thus far.

One thing that I've noticed is that due to Scizor being Choice Banded, I almost never use U-Turn. Should I switch to a Life Orb?

Also, any suggestions on where Heatran would fit into my team?

@mouss:

http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=809252

I just went to Gelbooru and punched in Hippowdon =P

 

[moussrfacekilla]

I chose Grass Knot over Leaf Storm because the Special Attack drop makes me cry, but I suppose Roserade shouldn't be staying in that long anyways. I'll give it a shot. I'll also try out a more offensive Hippowdon. I'm not too sure that I can part with Stockpile though; it's been magical thus far.

@mouss:

http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=809252

I just went to Gelbooru and punched in Hippowdon =P

awesome thanks ^_^. GL with your team!

 

[GB_Packers_Ftw]

Well it depends. I would say that basicly heatran could replace either Tyranitar or Scizor and not totally mess up your core. Scizor is your revenge killer, and tyranitar is your Brute force\trapper kind of deal. Personally, I actually plugged this team into shoddy and for aobut five games but immideately i switched in my favorite heatran set, Specs, over tyranitar. It worked well. Scizor came in and revenged stuff that was low in health from the residuals... Or, if you were thinking about dropping scizor, you could either add a scarf tran, and keep CB Tar, or you could have a Scarfed tyranitar, which is renownded for ints ghost killing abilities, alongside a specd heatran. Really your call from here. nice team

 

[aVocado]

Rotom-h @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Discharge/Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball/Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Will-o-Wisp
With this set, you can sponge hits better, therefore keeping your spin-blocker alive longer. In addition, Will-O-Wisp will cut any physical attack's damage in half as well as provide a status for Pokemon that resist Poison.

Or you can go with Reflect if you're willing to give up a status problem, plus Reflect can help your whole team.

 

[GB_Packers_Ftw]

To be honest, with fortress+hippowdon Lightscreen also should deserve some mention. Rotom is going to draw out tyranitars and scizors so reflect works nice in that aspect, but next he prolly is gonna bring in forrey or hippow who will draw special attackers. either one i think would benefit, or even a dual screen set would be cool.

 

[tobi10]

Hello. This is a very cool team, congrats on that! Now unto the rate:

The first I noticed is that Stall Breaker Gliscor is really dangerous for your team, he literally beats your entire team one-on-one, so I think you should Hidden Power Ice on Roserade to fix that problem (having a Pokemon that outspeeds and OHKO Dragonite is good as well.) Aside from that, you have 3 Pokemon weak to Fire, while Rotom-A and Hippowdon are taking huge amounts of damage from Fire Blast. Tyranitar is your only Fire resist, but you wont like to switch him in on Infernape or Substitute Heatran. You have the proper support and team synergy to use Gyarados on your team.

He can stall Toxic Spikes by using Rest and Sleep Talk and can rack up Spikes damage with Roar, or perhaps attempt a sweep with Dragon Dance. He will solve your problems against Heatran and Infernape, as well as giving you a solid CB Scizor / Lucario counter. Notice that Forretress can Rapid Spin Stealth Rock and Tyranitar can Pursuit most of its counters (Rotom-A, Celebi, Starmie). So you should definitely give it a shot! I dislike your Hippowdon, you dont even need him because you already have Sandstorm in Tyranitar, and I find that his synergy / role is redundant on this team.

By the way, Gyro Ball on Forretress is not effective on the current metagame. Nearly all Dragon Dance Dragonite and Tyranitar have a Fire move or will just outspeed and 2HKO while you fail to OHKO, so I think that Payback or Explosion are great choices here.

So it seems you have a Toxic Spikes team (along SS) but you are not completely abusing it; a set up sweeper that beats stall is needed here, preferably one that can aid the rest of the team. I think that Jirachi is this Pokemon. You said that you dont use U.turn a lot, so you wont be losing too much, but gaining a lot. It can still take Outrages and take on some weak special attackers, but it has the added benefit of healing the team via Wish.
With it you can heal Tyranitar, Forretress and Gyarados easily, because of their synergy.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
236 HP / 88 Spe / 80 SDef / 80 Def / 24 SpAtk
Timid

Calm Mind
Psychic
Thunderbolt
Wish

The Evs in HP give you a Leftovers number, while the Speed allows you to beat Adamant Lucario and Jolly Mamoswine.
---

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Intimidate
248 HP / 88 Spe / 44 Atk / 128 Def
Careful

Rest
Sleep Talk
Waterfall
Roar / Dragon Dance

If you decide to use Roar, shift those Speed Evs to Special Defense. Otherwise, they allow you to beat positive base 100 Pokemon after one boost.

Jirachi over Scizor
Gyarados over Hippo.

Good luck with your team I hope I had helped!
Edit** At a second glance, I noticed that Gliscor works better on your team than Roserade, because it can break stall and gives you a secondary check to Lucario. You can use him as your lead with SR EQ Taunt U.turn. Roost is not needed because Jirachi has Wish anyway, and both Taunt and U.turn are needed to break stall much more effectively. With this change you just need to change Stealth Rock to Toxic Spikes on Forretress.