The Sandstorm Rages: Gen 6 X and Y OU Sandstorm team

[Kaifi]

What's up Guys, this is my third RMT, and my first truly Gen 6 RMT. With Excadrill now legal in OU, and him probably not going to Uber anytime soon because of the weather nerf, he truly has a chance to shine in the new OU environment. This is the purpose of creating this team, so, here we go.

Changes in Red


Team Building Process
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When first making this team, I obviously wanted to use Excadrill in the new Gen 6 OU environment. I also had to pick a sandstorm inducer. Hippodon works great for the team, because of its large physical defense and STAB earthquake, it can check, Aegislash, Mega Lucario, and other physical threats, both old and new.

Now I needed two things. I needed a dependable lead that could scout effectively, and I good counter to strong special attackers that threaten my Weather setter's ability to survive. Greninja is a great new lead introduced in generation 6, and Rotom-W has always been a great specially defensive Pokémon, that can hit back hard.

I thought I needed more sand abusers, so I added choice scarf Diggersby and Aggron, but they weren't pulling their weight very well, and my team was being completely swept by Grass-Types.

To remedy my problem with grass types, I added Talonflame. With a measly 81 attack, it may not be the hardest hitter, but priority brave bird is THE best solution to grass types, and he even has good synergy with the rest of my team, because he and Rotom-W can use Volt-Turn together. I just added Mega T-tar basically for filler, because I had nothing else to put there.

Finally someone for the sixth slot! Dragonite can act as a utility counter to both sun and rain teams, as he's resistant to Water, Grass, Fire and even neutral to electric! Dragonite even has the necessary movepool and coverage to deal with these weathers.

Dragonite wasn't doing very well, as the sandstorm was hurting his multiscale ability. And I was also having trouble with steel types like Forretress and Skarmory. What better Pokemon to trap steels than Magnezone? It can even deal with rain teams with electric attacks.​

Funchucks (Greninja) (M) @

Ability: Protean
EVs: 56 Atk / 200 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spe -Def)
- Hydro Pump
- Grass Knot
- Shadow Sneak
- U-turn
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Description: Greninja is one of my favorite competitively viable Gen 6 Pokémon. This mixed attacking set is an incredible anti-lead. While taunt was originally on this set, I found myself hardly using it, and I would prefer attacking Spikes or Stealth Rock leads directly. Hydro Pump is a hugely powerful attack that wreaks everything that doesn't resist it. Grass Knot can be used on most waters that switch in, doing a solid 50% to Azumarill and Jellicent, and 80% to most Starmie. Shadow Sneak gives the team valuable STAB priority, that can be used to KO weakened threats without having to switch in Talonflame. U-turn can act in a mini-volt turn core, with Talonflame, Rotom, and Magnezone, giving my team momentum and an edge over Grass types, which my team definitely appreciates. The Expert Belt I put on makes sure that I can get extra power behind super effective attacks.

Why this Pokémon?: Blistering 122 speed, great stats for mixed attacking, and the ability to change types into whatever type you want to counter, are all things that make Greninja a great Pokemon in X and Y OU. While it may suffer from slight four moveslot syndrome, the type coverage it can fit into one set is excellent. With Grass Knot, Greninja helps counter water types that are a threat to my team's success.

Synergy:

- Talonflame

- Talonflame

- Talonflame

- Hippowdon, Excadrill

- Excadrill, Magnezone

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Pumba (Hippowdon) (M) @

Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock/Ice Fang
- Slack Off​

Description: When I found out that Excadrill was going to be legal in X and Y OU, I squealed with joy. I first got into real competitive battling at the beginning of Gen 5, and I've always wanted to use Excadrill in OU, and now was his time to shine. Earthquake is a main STAB and strikes Mega Lucario and Aegislash hard, and Stone Edge can handle Talonflame and other Flying types. Stealth Rock can be used if this team is used in Pokébank OU, however, due to Transfer issues, if you want to battle in X and Y OU, you
have to use Ice Fang. Smooth Rock is needed on this set to extend the duration of Sand Storm to 5-8 turns, because the number of turns could make all the difference in Excadrill's sweep.

Why this Pokémon?: To get Excadrill's coveted Sand Rush ability into affect, I needed Sand Storm. Of the two inducers, I knew Hippowdon was a perfect fit for my team, with the capability to set up Sandstorm to give Excadrill a boost, and to stop the slew of new physical attackers such as Aegislash, Mega Lucario, Mega Charizard X, and Talonflame.

Synergy:

- Rotom-W, Magnezone

- Talonflame

- Rotom-W, Magnezone

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Small World (Excadrill) (M) @

Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spe -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
-Shadow Claw

Description: I never had the opportunity to use Excadrill in OU. When I became interested in the competitive aspect of Pokémon, Excadrill had already ridden the rainbow to ubers.
So now that Excadrill is legal in OU, it's time for me to experience what truly using one of the most fearsome sweepers in the game is like. Earthquake and Rock Slide have great coverage, and while Rapid Spin was originally on this set, I had problems with Treveanent and other ghost types. I also found my self never using Rapid Spin. So I added Shadow Claw to deal with these Pokemon. Swords Dance is a great set up move that can be used against Pokemon threatened out by Excadrill, like Jolteon. Life Orb is simply used for the added attacking power.

Why this Pokémon?: Now that Sand Rush is no longer extremely broken, Excadrill can use that ability to the fullest. With great attack, and a nearly perfect coverage in Earthquake and Rock Slide, and Shadow Claw, Excadrill is a very potent sweeper in OU. Weather may be nerfed, and this probably means that Excadrill will stay OU, and the new king of OU can resume his rein.

Synergy:

- Talonflame

- Rotom-W

- Greninja, Rotom-W

- Rotom-W, Magnezone

'Murican Turkey (Talonflame) (M) @

Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 144 HP / 252 Atk /112 Spd
Lonely Nature (+Atk -Def)
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace​

Description: All the Talonflame sets I've seen usually have lefties or life orb. Choice band gives Talonflame the raw power it needs to dominate, with 429 attack after a Choice Band boost! His physical move pool might be incredibly small, but he only needs 3 Physical moves to wreak every thing in his path! Talonflame is the ultimate grass type killer, as a Brave Bird has a 75% to OHKO physically defensive Tangrowth, the ultimate bulky grass type! Flare Blitz gets good coverage along with Brave Bird, and U-turn allows him to get out on a rock type switch in! Aerial Ace is to destroy weakened Pokemon without the recoil of Brave Bird. The weird 112 speed Evs is to out speed prankster users:

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Outspeeds:
252+ Evs Sableye
252+ Evs Volbeat
252+ Evs Mega Bannete
252+ Evs Rioli
252+ Evs Klefki
252 Evs Meowstic
252 Evs Liepard

And many common priority users:

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Outspeeds:
252+ Azumarill
252+ Scizor and 252+ Mega Scizor
252+ Aegislash
252+ Mamoswine
252+ Dragonite

The Evs in Hp make Talonflame's Hp exactly 333, allowing it to survive Stealth Rock 3 times. And the 252 Evs in attack allow Talonflame to truly wreak some face!

Why this Pokémon?: Priority Brave Bird is a valuable asset to smite the grass types that threaten my team. Talonflame can also function as an early or late game cleaner, abusing the extremely powerful priority to soften up an opposing team, or destroy a team that's on low health.

Synergy:

- Excadrill, Magnezone

- Rotom-W, Magnezone

- Hippowdon, Excadrill

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Grass Kicked (Rotom-Wash) @

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch​

Description: Assault Vest Rotom-W is a great new set. With the new Assault Vest item, it's 250 special defense can be pumped up to 375 (pun intended), which is much greater than the 313 that it gets with max investment. This also allows Rotom to invest in Hp and special attack. Rotom can also provide a great ground immunity. With the assault vest, Rotom may miss Leftovers, Will 'o Wisp and Pain Split, but the ability to essentially invest in three stats is to much to pass up. Hydro Pump wreaks any Ground types, and Discharge may be less powerful than Thunderbolt, but the extra paralysis chance helps very much. Hidden Power Ice isn't really for Grass types, but for Pokémon like Gliscor, Garchomp, and a newer threat, Noivern that it hits 4x Effectively.

Why this Pokémon?: Rotom-W has always been a good check to Water and Fire types, and rain in general, which my team is severely weak to. As know by nearly everyone, Rotom-W's good defensive typing, with only 1 weakness, easily walls many special attackers.

Synergy:

- Talonflame

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Stratz (Magnezone) @

Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Def
Timid Nature (+Spe -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch​

Description:Choice Scarf Magnezone eliminates many dilemmas my team faces. Steel types easily wall my Hippowdon, and more importantly they wall Excadrill, my main sweeper. The Steel types had to be trapped and stopped. Hidden Power Fire and Thunderbolt can rip through any steel types that the rest of my team can't deal with, and more importantly, Magnezone traps them so they can't flee. Magnezone can also rip through the water types on rain teams, and it can also act as a late game cleaner with Choice Scarf Thunderbolt.

Why this Pokémon?: While Talonflame can roast any Steel threatening my team, they can always switch out to an easy counter and waste Talonflame's precious HP. Magnezone solves those problems, switching in on Steel types and obliterating Ferrothron and Scizor with HP Fire, and Skarmory with Thunderbolt. Flash Cannon hits Ground types hard, and is a better STAB with fairies to watch out for.

Synergy:

- Rotom-W

- Greninja, Rotom-W

- Talonflame

How I deal with Threats
(Warning this is long so you don't have to read)​

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- Rain Rain is not as common as it used to be, but I still see it once in a while. Usually Rotom-W craps all over these teams, and Magnezone can breeze through Water types and Flying types with Thunderbolt. Electric types can be taken out with Excadrill and Hippowdon, and they don't mind an HP Ice that much.

- Sun Sun may be the dominant weather this Generation, giving it a powerful new inducer, Mega Charizard Y. Usually Talonflame can breeze through Sun teams with Priority Bravebird, and Hippowdon can shut down the sun and hit fire types with Earthquake and Stone Edge.

- Sand Opposing Sand teams can be a problem for my team. Opposing Hippowdon wall a large portion of my team, however Rotom can easily wall anything it has, and can take it down with Hydro Pump. Mold Breaker Excadrill can be a problem, but in Sand Excadrill can out speed and KO with Earthquake.

- VoltTurn Volt Turn teams are surprisingly easy to take down. I simply need to keep good Momentum, use good prediction. Trapping and killing Scizor with Magnezone also helps.

- Strong Physical Megas Hippowdon pretty much handles all these Pokemon, except Mega Kangaskhan, who Hippowdon will eventually fall to Power-Up Punch and Return. Mega Scizor can also be trapped and Koed by Magnezone, who can take anything from Scizor, except a Super Power.

- Strong Special Megas These Megas are much harder to deal with than the physical versions. Because most of them are frail, Talonflame can OHKO or 2HKO most of them.

Replays!
Here are some Replays I can post of me team playing, will be updated continuously.
Under Each replay, I'll post who won, and how they won.

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Ending Notes
If you have any suggestions to improve this team, please let me know!
Now let the hating and rating begin!

Image Credits
Greninja - vkarend on Deviant Art
Hippowdon - The Pokemon anime
Excadrill - The Pokemon Anime
Excadrill Comic- Archive Foolz.us
Talonflame - Montagem on Archive Foolz.us
Rotom-W - The Pokemon Anime
Magnezone - The Pokemon Anime



Importable
Funchucks (Greninja) (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 56 Atk / 200 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Grass Knot
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Sneak
- U-turn

Pumba (Hippowdon) (M) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Ice Fang
- Slack Off

Small World (Excadrill) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Shadow Claw

'Murican Turkey (Talonflame) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 Spd
Naughty Nature
IVs: 30 SAtk / 30 SDef
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace

Grass Kicked (Rotom-Wash) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch

Stratz (Magnezone) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch​

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[welsknight]

I don't like Dragonite on this team, as sandstorm renders his Multiscale ability pretty much useless. Unfortunately, I don't have another solution... Maybe a M-Scizor? Weak to fire, but you have 4 team members with a move that is super effective against fire-types. Still resists water, grass, and electric (as well as a bunch of other-stuff). Furthermore, sandstorm will not cause residual damage as Scizor carries a steel typing. Unfortunately, Scizor doesn't have quite the diversity as far as move-pool is considered when compared to Dragonite.

If you DO intend to keep Dragonite on the team to counter other weather teams, I think you should try this set instead:

Dragonite (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd or 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant or Jolly Nature
- Thunder Punch
- Dragon Claw/Waterfall/Aerial Ace (Dragon Claw for STAB, Waterfall for anti-fire/ground/rock, or Aerial Ace for anti-grass/fighting, whichever you think is most beneficial)
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Dance

By consolidating everything as a physical attack, you get a much greater benefit from Dragon Dance. I don't think a 3rd Earthquake user benefits you as much as Extreme Speed (+2 priority) would. If you go with Aerial Ace, it will help on a Chlorophyll-based sun team. I don't think you'll have too much trouble with a fire-based sun team. Unfortunately Aerial Ace kinda sucks... too bad Dragonite doesn't learn Acrobatics.

Just a couple thoughts, take them as you will.

 

[Mega_Lucario]

Greninja is useless in the late game with sash, sand will kill him so it has to be as a leader wich is not bad but you can use skarmory for set up the spikes and it will be not affected by sandstorm and is a big wall to pass, also Talonflame is kinda bad in the sand if a rock hits him it will go down in 1 turn, he will get recoil from hitting something and the sand will do the rest.

note: i'm running a 3 days old OU beta sand team with excadrill and some other pokemons you have in your team... you may want to consider change the EV's spead on excadrill and make it more bulky and use it has a spiner, i'm still testing so maybe some one else can say the best spiner set for excadrill, excadrill in this gen is a spiner; and one of the best and secondly a sweeper.

 

[Aura Sensei™]

hey kaifi, cool team you have there. whilst sand is more difficult to utilize this gen, you seem to have established a solid team.

first thing i noticed by looking through your team is you are really weak to water types in general. physically defensive rotom-w, probably the most popular rotom-w right now, gives this team a lot of trouble. you have no switch-ins to it at all besides rotom-w who can be worn down quickly. with the right move, it can ko or cripple everything on your team with little trouble. keldeo also seems to crap on your team, only fearing rotom-w and talonflame (who can't switch-in anyways). unfortunately, it's somewhat difficult to fix these problems without creating more problems for this team. i'd like to recommend running cm latios > greninja. whilst it's not exactly common anymore due to the fairy typing emerging in gen 6, it's still a very solid mon. cm latios sets up on water types, such as the aforementioned ones, as well as providing an extra check to sun and rain, which although not all that common, can be troubling for your team. your team seems to have a fairly easy time getting past most of latios's checks, meaning it can usually grab a few boosts and sweep.

i'd recommend running stealth rock > stone edge on hippowdon, as it allows you to cripple sweepers like dragonite and gyarados who can be slightly annoying to ko at +1, and it lets you net some extra 2hkos. whirlwind > ice fang would be a good change as well, so you're not helpless when something sets up on you. change your evs to max hp as well, so you can tank extra hits such as mega-lucario's unboosted close combat (avoiding the 2hko iirc).

lum berry > leftovers on dragonite would really help increase dragonite's chances of sweeping, as it lets you get a free +1 on things trying to status you such as the aforementioned defensive rotom-w, who can survive +1 dragon claw and burn with will o wisp. lum berry lets you get past rotom-w if you've boosted prior to it coming in.
i don't really see a point in running thunderbolt. your reasoning is to hit water types and skarmory, but if it's uninvested it won't be doing a lot. extremespeed would be a better option, as it allows you to revenge weakened mons that have already set up, and lets you get past things such as mamoswine (assuming it's weakened) who try to stop your sweep. finally, i'd recommend adamant nature w/ 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe for the evs.

hope this helps.

sets and changes

hippowdon - stealth rock > stone edge, whirlwind > ice fang & change evs to max hp

dragonite - lum berry > leftovers, extremespeed > thunderbolt & change evs to 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe

Latios (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]

 

[Kaifi]

hey kaifi, cool team you have there. whilst sand is more difficult to utilize this gen, you seem to have established a solid team.

first thing i noticed by looking through your team is you are really weak to water types in general. physically defensive rotom-w, probably the most popular rotom-w right now, gives this team a lot of trouble. you have no switch-ins to it at all besides rotom-w who can be worn down quickly. with the right move, it can ko or cripple everything on your team with little trouble. keldeo also seems to crap on your team, only fearing rotom-w and talonflame (who can't switch-in anyways). unfortunately, it's somewhat difficult to fix these problems without creating more problems for this team. i'd like to recommend running cm latios > greninja. whilst it's not exactly common anymore due to the fairy typing emerging in gen 6, it's still a very solid mon. cm latios sets up on water types, such as the aforementioned ones, as well as providing an extra check to sun and rain, which although not all that common, can be troubling for your team. your team seems to have a fairly easy time getting past most of latios's checks, meaning it can usually grab a few boosts and sweep.

i'd recommend running stealth rock > stone edge on hippowdon, as it allows you to cripple sweepers like dragonite and gyarados who can be slightly annoying to ko at +1, and it lets you net some extra 2hkos. whirlwind > ice fang would be a good change as well, so you're not helpless when something sets up on you. change your evs to max hp as well, so you can tank extra hits such as mega-lucario's unboosted close combat (avoiding the 2hko iirc).

lum berry > leftovers on dragonite would really help increase dragonite's chances of sweeping, as it lets you get a free +1 on things trying to status you such as the aforementioned defensive rotom-w, who can survive +1 dragon claw and burn with will o wisp. lum berry lets you get past rotom-w if you've boosted prior to it coming in.
i don't really see a point in running thunderbolt. your reasoning is to hit water types and skarmory, but if it's uninvested it won't be doing a lot. extremespeed would be a better option, as it allows you to revenge weakened mons that have already set up, and lets you get past things such as mamoswine (assuming it's weakened) who try to stop your sweep. finally, i'd recommend adamant nature w/ 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe for the evs.

hope this helps.

Thanks for the suggestions, and while it can't switch in to Keldeo still, Choice Scarf Magnezone can out speed all variants of Keldeo but Scarfed, and can OHKO with Thunderbolt. And I can't run stealth rock on Hippowdon because of its non-legality in X and Y Non-Bank OU. I also need Stone Edge or I have non good counters to Talonflame. But you inspired me to put on Magnezone, so thanks.

 

[Argue]

This team puts in work!

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-139760254

Thank you!