Its almost impossible to run a successful OU team nowadays without some sort of weather. While i usually tend to go with rain teams, i have tried sand teams on occasion. Even though this is a pretty unoriginal team, it has faired pretty well for me so far but seem to get stuck against some teams.
Tyranitar is the obvious choice for a sand team due to Sand Stream, sky-high stats, and insane unpredictability. For this team i chose to go with a specially defensive version to give him staying power and to provide a special wall for my team.
Hippowdon is another mainstay for sand teams with Sand Stream. He adds great defensive synergy with Tyranitar by being defensive on the physical side. Having 2 weather inducers is one of the main benefits of Sand by greatly increasing my odds of winning weather wars.
Reuniclus is a great pokemon on sand teams IMO because it is immune to its effects, has a different typing from most pokemon found on sand teams, and is also one of the few special attackers that perform well in sand.
Terrakion is one of the most fearsome sweepers in the game, and performs outstanding with his double dancing set in the sand thanks the Sp Def boost he gets, allowing him to setup boosts easily.
Yeah, its scizor. He fits on basically any team, so yeah.
Techniloom is one of the most important releases of BW2. His spore alone can prove his worth, effectively taking at least one of the opponents pokemon out of the game and letting him setup.
Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Adamant; 252 Attack, 4 Defense, 252 Speed
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
Techniloom is an absolute beast. I generally lead with him, as most pokemon he faces he either outspeeds or threatens. He usually leads with spore, but against slower teams i may use swords dance as they switch out. His dual stabs rip teams apart, especially with full attack investment and technician and life orb boosts. He helps the team by denting the opposition right off the bat, crippling an enemy with sleep, and hopefully returning mid or late-game as a revenge killer/cleaner. Max speed adamant gives him full damage output and max speed allows him to tie or outspeed most politoeds and outspeed univested base 100s, such as tentacruel.
The main hinderances to breloom are his lack of speed (partially made up for with mach punch), his frailty, weakness to status, and short life span due to life orb and sandstorm recoil.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Brave; 252 Hp, 4 Special Attack, 252 Special Defense
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
This is similar to tyranitar's standard specially defensive set, but with some key differences. His main job is to provide sandstorm throughout the battle, check strong special attackers, and eliminate specific threats. Crunch is a consistent stab move to deal damage, while pursuit lets him damage ghosts, psychics, and politoed/ninetales switching out. Ice beam allows him to take out threats such as gliscor, dragons, and great coverage overall while fire blast hits steels and adds to coverage.
Tyranitar is extremely prone to status and can struggle breaking through certain pokemon such as jirachi due to his lack of attack investment and lacking physical coverage.
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Impish; 252 Hp, 244 Defense, 12 Special Defense
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
Hippowdon is my teams physical wall, who combines with tyranitar to cover both physical and special hits and provides sandstorm to support the team. Stealth rock helps my sweepers do their jobs better and is very helpful for this team that tends to cause many switches. Slack off increases hippowdons longevity while earthquake is a very reliable stab move. Ice fang rounds off the set by hitting flying types and allowing him to check many dragonite, salamence, and landorus variants.
Hippowdon, like tyranitar, is very status prone. He also hates special attacks and struggles with defensive pokemon with his underwhelming attacks.
Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
Jolly; 252 Attack, 4 Defense, 252 Speed
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Terrakion is my teams best cleaner and boosting/late-game sweeper. I usually bring him in on something mid-game, fire off a powerful attack to eliminate or dent an opposing pokemon, and then save him for a late-game sweep. When his checks are sufficiently weakened or gone, he will come out and attempt to sweep. With his phenomenal stabs, he can use 2 boosting moves. Rock polish is used when the enemy has a pokemon that can outspeed and destroy him while swords dance will be used for that extra push against more defensive pokemon. Setting up is made even easier with the sp def bonus he receives under sand.
Terrakion has few flaws, but if he does have any it would be his susceptibility to priority moves, status, average bulk, and pokemon that resist his only 2 moves.
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Adamant, 248 Hp, 252 Attack, 8 Special Defense
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower
The infamous scizor. Scizor has many roles on my team. He is the sole steel type, bringing many key resistances to the team. He is a great revenge killer and can scout well with u-turn. He joins tyranitar in the job of pursuit-trapping many key pokemon with superpower completing his coverage.
In case you havent noticed a trend, scizor is the 5th pokemon susceptible to status. Other than that, the only things taking scizor down are the repeated taking of damage from switching into attacks/entry hazards and fast threats that dont care about bullet punch.
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
IVs: 30 Attack, 30 Special Attack, 2 Speed
Modest; 252 Hp, 4 Defense, 252 Special Attack
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Fire
Finally, a special attacker. Reuniclus is an absolute monster and will usually take out at least 2 of the opponents pokemon when setup up properly. Trick room is the crux of this set, and perhaps the second most important thing on the team behind sandstorm. With every pokemon on my team being reasonably slow, save terrakion, trick room is a great support move for both reuniclus and the whole team. Psychic is an absolutely devastating move while focus blast grants great coverage. Hidden power fire is chosen over shadow ball to take out unsuspecting scizor, help against jirachi, and damage steel types more reliably. Reuniclus is the only pokemon on the team not afraid of status so he can also act as a status absorber.
Reuniclus main problem is powering through pokemon that he cant hit hard enough with the given moves, such as jellicent, and pokemon that hit him hard as he lacks significant defense investment and recover.
While i find this team to be greatly successful, they are very status weak and can struggle with entry hazards due to their frequent switches. This team also lacks a dedicated wall, instead relying on tanks to take hits and deal with specific threats. Overall, when played correctly, this team can be very hard to deal with.
Tyranitar is the obvious choice for a sand team due to Sand Stream, sky-high stats, and insane unpredictability. For this team i chose to go with a specially defensive version to give him staying power and to provide a special wall for my team.
Hippowdon is another mainstay for sand teams with Sand Stream. He adds great defensive synergy with Tyranitar by being defensive on the physical side. Having 2 weather inducers is one of the main benefits of Sand by greatly increasing my odds of winning weather wars.
Reuniclus is a great pokemon on sand teams IMO because it is immune to its effects, has a different typing from most pokemon found on sand teams, and is also one of the few special attackers that perform well in sand.
Terrakion is one of the most fearsome sweepers in the game, and performs outstanding with his double dancing set in the sand thanks the Sp Def boost he gets, allowing him to setup boosts easily.
Yeah, its scizor. He fits on basically any team, so yeah.
Techniloom is one of the most important releases of BW2. His spore alone can prove his worth, effectively taking at least one of the opponents pokemon out of the game and letting him setup.
Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Adamant; 252 Attack, 4 Defense, 252 Speed
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
Techniloom is an absolute beast. I generally lead with him, as most pokemon he faces he either outspeeds or threatens. He usually leads with spore, but against slower teams i may use swords dance as they switch out. His dual stabs rip teams apart, especially with full attack investment and technician and life orb boosts. He helps the team by denting the opposition right off the bat, crippling an enemy with sleep, and hopefully returning mid or late-game as a revenge killer/cleaner. Max speed adamant gives him full damage output and max speed allows him to tie or outspeed most politoeds and outspeed univested base 100s, such as tentacruel.
The main hinderances to breloom are his lack of speed (partially made up for with mach punch), his frailty, weakness to status, and short life span due to life orb and sandstorm recoil.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Brave; 252 Hp, 4 Special Attack, 252 Special Defense
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
This is similar to tyranitar's standard specially defensive set, but with some key differences. His main job is to provide sandstorm throughout the battle, check strong special attackers, and eliminate specific threats. Crunch is a consistent stab move to deal damage, while pursuit lets him damage ghosts, psychics, and politoed/ninetales switching out. Ice beam allows him to take out threats such as gliscor, dragons, and great coverage overall while fire blast hits steels and adds to coverage.
Tyranitar is extremely prone to status and can struggle breaking through certain pokemon such as jirachi due to his lack of attack investment and lacking physical coverage.
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Impish; 252 Hp, 244 Defense, 12 Special Defense
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
Hippowdon is my teams physical wall, who combines with tyranitar to cover both physical and special hits and provides sandstorm to support the team. Stealth rock helps my sweepers do their jobs better and is very helpful for this team that tends to cause many switches. Slack off increases hippowdons longevity while earthquake is a very reliable stab move. Ice fang rounds off the set by hitting flying types and allowing him to check many dragonite, salamence, and landorus variants.
Hippowdon, like tyranitar, is very status prone. He also hates special attacks and struggles with defensive pokemon with his underwhelming attacks.
Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
Jolly; 252 Attack, 4 Defense, 252 Speed
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Terrakion is my teams best cleaner and boosting/late-game sweeper. I usually bring him in on something mid-game, fire off a powerful attack to eliminate or dent an opposing pokemon, and then save him for a late-game sweep. When his checks are sufficiently weakened or gone, he will come out and attempt to sweep. With his phenomenal stabs, he can use 2 boosting moves. Rock polish is used when the enemy has a pokemon that can outspeed and destroy him while swords dance will be used for that extra push against more defensive pokemon. Setting up is made even easier with the sp def bonus he receives under sand.
Terrakion has few flaws, but if he does have any it would be his susceptibility to priority moves, status, average bulk, and pokemon that resist his only 2 moves.
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Adamant, 248 Hp, 252 Attack, 8 Special Defense
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower
The infamous scizor. Scizor has many roles on my team. He is the sole steel type, bringing many key resistances to the team. He is a great revenge killer and can scout well with u-turn. He joins tyranitar in the job of pursuit-trapping many key pokemon with superpower completing his coverage.
In case you havent noticed a trend, scizor is the 5th pokemon susceptible to status. Other than that, the only things taking scizor down are the repeated taking of damage from switching into attacks/entry hazards and fast threats that dont care about bullet punch.
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
IVs: 30 Attack, 30 Special Attack, 2 Speed
Modest; 252 Hp, 4 Defense, 252 Special Attack
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Fire
Finally, a special attacker. Reuniclus is an absolute monster and will usually take out at least 2 of the opponents pokemon when setup up properly. Trick room is the crux of this set, and perhaps the second most important thing on the team behind sandstorm. With every pokemon on my team being reasonably slow, save terrakion, trick room is a great support move for both reuniclus and the whole team. Psychic is an absolutely devastating move while focus blast grants great coverage. Hidden power fire is chosen over shadow ball to take out unsuspecting scizor, help against jirachi, and damage steel types more reliably. Reuniclus is the only pokemon on the team not afraid of status so he can also act as a status absorber.
Reuniclus main problem is powering through pokemon that he cant hit hard enough with the given moves, such as jellicent, and pokemon that hit him hard as he lacks significant defense investment and recover.
While i find this team to be greatly successful, they are very status weak and can struggle with entry hazards due to their frequent switches. This team also lacks a dedicated wall, instead relying on tanks to take hits and deal with specific threats. Overall, when played correctly, this team can be very hard to deal with.
