Sandstorm Shutdown

Sandstorm BW OU

Sandstorm Shutdown

INTRODUCTION

Hey this is Shiny Charizard. As the title says, this team is all-out shutdown. Sandstorm Pokemon face threats against Drought and Drizzle and this team focuses on its weaknesses and completely wrecks those opposing teams. As the title says, it shuts them down. It is also a very useful stall team. Let's take a look at how it works.





(Bulky Mixed Sandtorm Tyranitar)
Tyranitar- 252 HP, 64 Special Attack, 192 Special Defense
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Sassy
Moves: Crunch, Ice Beam, Fire Blast, Stealth Rock
Item: Chople Berry

It's not a sandstorm team without the sandstorm, am I right? I chose to use Tyranitar over Hippowdon because of its all around much better stats in sandstorm, though it carries more weaknesses. The EV spread helps it tank, switch in often, and stay as a devastating mixed sweeper. No EV's on Speed allow him to be slower than other weather Pokemon, guaranteeing that Sandstorm will be the currently active weather. STAB Crunch handles many opposing foes with ease, namely Jellicent. Ice Beam destroys other threats such as Gliscor, Breloom, Hydreigon, Dugtrio, etc. and counters opposing Sandstorm teams, as well. Fire Blast can be useful against occasional Hail teams and Sun teams with Grass type users that spam out back to back Solarbeams. Stealth Rock is very useful as many Pokemon on my team aren't ones people would prefer to stay in with. SR can also wipe out many abusers of the sun and prevents Ninetales from repetitively switching in. Constant switching out from disadvantage and force makes SR useful with Skarmory.





(Bulky Hazard and Phaze Skarmory)
Skarmory- 252 HP, 232 Defense, 24 Speed
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
Moves: Spikes, Whirlwind, Roost, Brave Bird
Item: Leftovers

Skarmory and Tyranitar together make a good combination. Not only
for type coverage, but also with one being Specially Bulky and one being Physically Bulky. Tyranitar normally sets up SR and Skarmory sets up Spikes and Whirlwinds. Whirlwind can also deal with Magnezone and Pokemon trying to set up on Skarmory. *It can heal itself constantly with Roost. If Taunted, or to finish up a foe, Skarmory hits with a powerful STAB Brave Bird.

Skarmory and Tyranitar have pretty good synergy together, and are usually able to counter Drizzle Dragonite by negating Multiscale and its weakness to SR. They can KO Volcarona and many Sun team Pokemon. Together, they can be a dangerous threat.





(Bulky Physical Scizor)
Scizor- 40 Attack, 252 HP, 216 Special Defense
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
Moves: Swords Dance, Bullet Punch, Superpower, Roost
Item: Life Orb

Scizor is my main sweeper on this team. He runs the bulky set so he can easily boost his Attack and shrug off the damage with his defenses and then use Roost, or while sweeping he can heal Life Orb damage with Roost. His typing is amazing, and only falls to fire type Pokemon who are taken care of by my other Pokemon. A STAB Technician +6 Life Orb Bullet Punch is his main sweeping move. Superpower is used to get rid of other Steel types and Magnezone. Also, he happens to be another great rain counter, as he actually gains from Fire type moves being a lot less common. He has Adamant nature over Brave as it is pointless to be faster in Trick Room if he is just going to spend those turns boosting his Attack.

With boosted attacks and priority, Scizor can deal with the uncommon Sableye and threats such as Gengar, Alakazam, and Latios. His bulk prevents him from being immediately wrecked by HP Fire. He always finds a way to set up, and when he's done, he's almost impossible to stop.





(Special Sun Counter Heatran)
Heatran- 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Special Defense
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Timid
Moves: Flamethrower, Overheat, HP Ice, Earth Power
Item: Choice Scarf

Sun teams beg mercy from Heatran. Flash Fire renders all Sun-boosted fire type moves useless and makes Heatran even more powerful under the opposing sun team. Heatran has great synergy with Scizor, taking in its only fire type weakness and using it to boost itself. Chlorophyll users also prove ineffective against Heatran as their Solarbeams are 4x resisted. In the case of the sun being up and a Chlorophyll Venusaur with Earthquake, on both smogon and in competitive battles, a Venusaur with Earthquake will be Lonely, allowing a Scarfed Timid 252 EV on Speed Heatran to barely outspeed it and wreck it with a sun-boosted Flamethrower/Overheat. Overheat is a devastatingly powerful move with STAB that lets Heatran defeat monstrous walls. Flamethrower is for plain out STAB damage. HP Ice can hit ground type Pokemon (namely Landorus) for a doubled or quadrupled amount of damage. Earth Power can counter other Heatrans or other fire types. All this added to the damage the opponent takes from entry hazards when switching in to counter Heatran. With such great synergy with Scizor and the ability to majorly counter Sun teams, Heatran has easily found a place on my team.





(Mixed Drizzle Counter Jellicent)
Jellicent- 252 HP, 36 Defense, 220 Special Defense
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Calm
Moves: Scald, Will-O-Wisp, Recover, Giga Drain
Item: Leftovers

Jellicent? Might this surprise you?Well, here's the idea. Due to my team not being able to handle bulky water type Pokemon, I gave the team the addition of Jellicent. Jellicent over here has Water Absorb to nullify incoming water type attacks and regain health from those attacks. This comes very much in handy as many walls in Drizzle only carry one attack, 99% of the time, Scald, because of the chance to burn the opponent. This gives me a huge advantage, as even when the opponent has more than just one attack, my whole team suffers to water more than Thunder or Hurricane, so Jellicent will most of the time face a water type attack when switching in. He runs a set that makes the most of his Special Defense and HP while not letting his Defense totally fail. The investment in HP and Special Defense allows Jellicent to stand Thunders from
certain Pokemon in the metagame. Scald is a useful STAB move Jellicent can use. Will-O-Wisp and the chance of burn from Scald halves the foe's attack stat to make up for Jellicent's lack of Defense. Giga Drain is used to drain the HP out of other water type Pokemon I am up against on opposing Drizzle Teams. Recover is to regain health. Basically, this guy is an HP monster, as he constantly regains health, first with the Water Absorb, next with Giga Drain, then the Leftovers, and finally, with Recover.

Being the HP beast he is, Jellicent has no problems dealing with opposing Rain teams. Dragonite will be KO'd and gone by the time Jellicent is out. Dragonite and Volcarona are the main users of Thunder and/or Hurricane. Even if they are still around, major portions of their health will be lost to entry hazards, and they will be easy to KO.





(Bulky Annoying Gliscor)
Gliscor- 252 HP, 184 Defense, 72 Speed
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Impish
Moves: Protect, Substitute, Earthquake, Taunt
Item: Toxic Orb

Gliscor is the master of stall. To start off with, he has great typing. His only main weakness being to the very uncommon Ice, only popular as the beastly Mamoswine, usually wiped out by entry hazards. His EV's allow him to use a quick Sub or Taunt and still remain the annoyane he is. Under this set, he can start with Protect or Substitute to ensure that he is poisoned so that he is immune to status. Behind a Substitute, he can Protect once every few turns for recovery or use Taunt to ensure the opponent cannot Roar away Gliscor or try to set up on him. Earthquake is a STAB powerful attack Gliscor can use to slowly weaken the opponent's health while stalling.

Gliscor is great with dealing with PP low Pokemon in general. He stalls out bulky set up sweepers best, and he can manage to cripple walls as well. Stalling is his specialty and is very useful to my other Pokemon. In return, my other Pokemon help him, as they eliminate Gliscor's real only fear, Mamoswine, and set up entry hazards to make the slow damage dealing stall process go by faster.





CONCLUSION

That's it. Just to clear up, Tyranitar is mixed to defeat different kinds of Pokemon and being able to hit Dugtrio with Ice Beam. Skarmory is a Hazard Set Up Pokemon that also Phazes out foes to inflict damage to major threat Pokemon (Dragonite). Scizor is a Bulky Swords Dance user that can sweep very easily with even only +2 Attack against hazard weakened teams. Heatran is a Sun Team destroyer, as its attacks hit unmeasurable levels under the sun with a Flash Fire boost. It also stops all Chlorophyll users in their tracks. Jellicent counters Rain teams with Water Absorb and Giga Drain/Scald used to massive effects. Gliscor can stall out the opponent and make walls and set up sweepers totally useless. Gliscor can also defeat the only Pokemon Jellicent might struggle to deal with in Rain, Toxicroak.

As to other suggestions, I didn't find a Rapid Spinner necessary on this team because of its typing. Not to mention, it was hard making selections for this team as every Pokemon I considered had a very important value. Gliscor is a staple to my team, and it was the only Pokemon I could afford to replace without TOTALLY corrupting the team. I was planning to use a Sand Rush Swords Dance Rapid Spin Sandslash, but I had made mind. Besides, Gliscor is a lot more useful and has access to Taunt, which prevents hazards from going very far, anyway.

Very sorry that I have no cool looking pictures or sprites. For some reason, it's not working, and I will try to fix it and go back to using my boss pictures and sprites again. If you think any Pokemon here can be considered as a weak link or a not as useful Pokemon, feel free to say so. Thanks for your time.

Hey!

You've already got a solid team as it is. My biggest concern about your team is that Rain (mostly Water) Spam is going to take its toll sooner or later. All it will take is a mispredicted Toxic on Jellicent, and Rain will run away with the match.

In my eyes, Scizor is the odd man out. You're running a pretty defensive team as is, so I think you should switch Scizor to a Defensive Rapid Spin Starmie. It will definitely ease predictions on your half since it resists Water moves and has Natural Cure. Starmie also comes with huge benefits against Deoxys-D style teams, or any other Hazard reliant team. If you don't like Starmie for whatever reason, Lati@s and Celebi could be reliable substitutes for you to try. Latios will obviously bring a more offensive feeling to the game; Latias and Celebi a more defensive approach.

My second suggestion is for you to change your Gliscor set a little. Stall isn't a real prevalent issue in BW2 right now, so I think you'd be better off using a Sub Toxic Stall set. EVs are pretty simple, 252 HP and enough Speed to beat Jolly Lucario. The rest goes in Defense. You don't need so much Defense when you have Skarmory bearing the brunt of the Physical Attacking burden. Taunt Toxic is a set I've wanted to make full use of recently, and your team suits it quite well. Just focus on using Toxic early in the game, and when Gliscor is ready, Sub/Protect stall your way to a win.

Good luck!

Sets To Use

Thanks for your help. And yes, Scizor does stand out a bit, and your suggestions make a lot of sense. I want to use a Latios and will change Gliscor, so can you tell me if these sets will work out?

Latios @ Choice Specs
EV's: 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
Moves: Trick/Psyshock, Draco Meteor, Surf, Dragon Pulse/HP Fire

This allows Latios to deal massive damage with STAB Draco Meteor or Surf under the rain. Dragon Pulse or HP Fire, I'm not sure. Trick is so that Latios's set doesn't have to stay restricted, but Psyshock wipes out physical threats, so Latios can serve as a major team destroyer.

As for Gliscor:

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
EV's: 252 HP, (I don't know how much I need for Speed to outspeed Lucario)
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Impish/Jolly (Depends on how much Speed I need to outspeed it)
Moves: Substitute, Protect, Toxic, Taunt

I just need some help with Gliscor's EV's and Natures, and then I'm good. Can you help with that?

I'd say a spread of 252 HP / 42 Def / 212 Spe / Jolly is what you're looking for. It outspeeds base 90's by one point, allowing you to catch Lucario and Deo-D with Taunt / EQ.

I agree with the idea of a Psychic type instead of Scizor; having one will definitely help against Rain and Sun, as well as give you a strong attacker to stand on once the mayhem is over. However, I think the better pokemon for this role is Life Orb Latias instead of your Specs Latios.

Latias @ Life Orb
Timid / 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Draco Meteor / Psyshock / Thunder / Recover

Latias has a lot more bulk than Latios, which will suit your defensive team a lot better. With it's bulk, it can handle water spam better, and with Recover, it won't mind the Sandstorm or LO recoil. Its bulk and typing are perfect for your anti-weather team- since it can spread out to counter both Rain and Sun, when your major walls fall. Latias's typing helps with fighting types as well, which you already have decent coverage against but extra bulk is always helpful. She keeps a decent amount of power and speed, however. Draco Meteor is still extremely powerful, capable of ripping holes, and Psyshock hits those pesky Toxicroaks and Brelooms that force Tyranitar out. Thunder may be a weird choice for a Sand team, but it helps a lot with Rain- hitting bulky waters like Rotom-W fairly hard without having to worry about SpA drops. HP Fire can also be used to hit steels, but Heatran already has that covered. Recover lets you take more hits, and act as more of a bulky tank. It helps offset the LO recoil and Sandstorm damage.

Good luck! I hope this helped!

Wow, thanks. I was looking at Specs/Life Orb Latios to step up the offense, but Latias seems capable of maintaining both bulk and offense. Thanks a lot for the help. I didn't want to go totally defensive on this team, because even though I would drive the opponent crazy, I would still have the problem of dealing damage effectively. Latias seems capable of taking Latios's place, thanks a ton.