hi. there have been scarce quality ubers teams posted in this subforum as of late due to spl. due to it ending relatively soon, and out of boredom, here's a pretty fun sand offense i made somewhat recently. this team has a pretty common offensive core that has been seen on sand builds numerous times-- tyranitar + latios + salamence + excadrill; however, the unique factor of this team is the use of wobbuffet. in my opinion, wobbuffet's usage does an injustice to the effect on the gamestate he has. due to the latest release of custap berry, wobbuffet's potency only increased as a result.
as of late, mega dd salamence and wobbuffet as a core is probably one of my favorite things to build around. shown in spl, salamence is one of the impactful sweepers in the modern metagame while also being an effective check to dangerous pokemon such as primal groudon and ekiller arceus. an initial intimidate is a major boon on a set up sweeper, and flying-type is one of the most potent offensive typings in the game. wobbuffet's ability to trap bulky arceus that can check salamence, mainly ground and rock, gives the dragon more liberty to not only more reliably check arceus, but sweep given the proper oppurtunity, typically after a defog.
and yes, this is the team sweep recently used in spl. it may have lost, but i still think this team exemplifies a solid offensive team in a rather matchup based metagame.
Tyranitar @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 72 Atk / 184 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Low Kick
tyranitar has only improved since the dawn of oras imo. although primal groudon is a major thorn in its side, tyranitar gains many more switch in opportunities against the likes of lati@s and salamence, and darkrai is still surging with popularity. i run shuca berry on this team almost exclusively for opposing mega salamence; the ability to halt its sweep with an offensive team is huge and is a trait shared by few pokemon, especially stealth rockers. thus, thunder wave is a given on this set-- it is necessary for salamence and also prevents set up from pokemon such as xerneas which this team lacks a solid 'counter' for. stone edge is only natural so tyranitar can check opposing ho-oh and yveltal especially. it is a solid STAB that does a decent chunk to most pokemon, even primal groudon and kyogre. the last move is low kick which has a purpose of beating arceus-dark, nailing ekiller, and also being cute against opposing tyranitar. it does a few other things such as hit dialga, but these are few and far between. you may notice that i lack a dark-type STAB; this can be attributed to the fact that thunder wave stops lati@s from defogging and i don't have a need to pursuit them. no pokemon on this team really benefits from a dead lati@s, and it is just as well dead when i thunder wave it. smooth rock isn't necessary in oras due to the fact that primal groudon and kyogre are so common; you almost never get over 5 turns of sand regardless. the ev's allow tyranitar to always 2hko 252 hp arceus-dark regardless of sand.
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
when you have tyranitar on an offensive team, it is only natural to pair it with excadrill. having a speedy mole as a failsafe to several mons is a fantastic asset to an offensively inclined team. not only that, but excadrill provides spin support to keep its teammates, especially salamence, healthy. the moveset is pretty standard in and of itself. i run jolly simply due to the fact that xerneas is too major of a threat to risk it being a fast modest spread. i cannot emphasize how fantastic this pokemon is on the team. having a 100% solid switch in to klefki on a team full of sweepers is just unreal in terms of team support. it provides the glorious steel-type which aids against pesky dragons such as lati@s, and excadrill can rock slide opposing ho-oh to death or at least threaten the move. due to primal groudon's dominance, you could argue that sand's viability improved as a result because primal groudon cannot effectively check excadrill like xy groudon could. this just makes the mole all the better. bulky arceus that wall non-sd excadrill are also trapped by wobbuffet which is additional offensive synergy that the pokemon provides. this pokemon can sweep late game if need be as well, but typically salamence is your go-to guy.
Wobbuffet @ Custap Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 80 HP / 176 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Destiny Bond
- Encore
so this is wobbuffet. his role as a shadow tagger is pretty self explanatory. the goal is simply to scout what pokemon he can trap on the opposing team and give teammate set up opportunities. oftentimes, the opponent will play far more defensively with the trappable pokes as well which inherently gives the shadow tagger the advantage. as i said previously, custap berry is just really cool on the blob. having a priority encore or destiny bond, whether its feigned or not, can be gamebreaking in your favor. the ev's i use simply allow wobbuffet to always live a +2 moonblast at full hp. the rest is just thrown into defense. this is a criminally underrated pokemon, with sweep being the only person to even use it in spl ubers thus far, and i would like to highlight how keystone it is to this team's success.
Latios (M) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Roost
actually, this is another pretty underused thing as well. not the pokemon, but the set. cm + draco meteor is a legitimately strong set, and i almost exclusively see players use defog. i mean, that's a cool set too, but this set can legitimately tear balanced and stall teams apart singlehandedly. newer players always question the use of draco meteor on a calm mind set, but typically you're using draco meteor earlier in the game to weaken checks, and you calm mind later in the game to clean up with psyshock. or.. you could just +1, draco meteor nuke, and gtfo. much like all the other set up sweepers on this team, this pokemon heavily benefits from wobbuffet support. its role defensively is to check kyogre and primal groudon. one peculiar thing about pokemon you may notice modest-- i've been using it for a while and have kept it on the DL due to spl purposes. the speed tier between 90+ and 110+ is very abysmal. the only notable benchmark is palkia which is nonexistent due to viability reasons. due to this, the modest boost gives latios over 50 added stats in special attack and 10 hp stats as i don't run full speed-- just enough to outspeed positively natured 90s. i really love having cm latios with a hard counter to klefki, and excadrill provides this utility.
Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 192 HP / 136 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return
- Roost
- Earthquake
hi it's the mvp. salamence is just a ridiculous pokemon in the ubers metagame. its typing and abilities are just so usable. first of all, it's a secondary water resist to help out against primal kyogre. secondly, it has intimidate to help check primal groudon and arceus. thirdly, it has dragon dance and ridiculous natural bulk to pretty much decimate the tier. and lastly, flying-type has hardly any viable resists in the tier, and the pokemon which resist it are almost always earthquake weak. the bulky set for salamence is my favorite. it allows it to repeatedly set up on certain threats and retain longevity. this is especially noticeable with wobbuffet support as it can have many opportunities to roost. as seen in swee's game, you can even roost on ice beam arceus in order to make the opponent scared of double switching their wobbuffet weak pokemon out, because if they do they will be hammered by salamence. this pokemon is just hella strong and it fits ridiculous well here.
Arcieus @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw
- Extreme Speed
- Refresh
it's pretty hard to justify a team without arceus. it simply covers myriad threats while being incredibly Hard Bodied. the opportunity cost of not using arceus is lucidrously colossal. on this team, i use refresh arceus due to the fact that it can check the ever so popular cm wisp arceus. i haven't seen this set much lately. i used it a hearty amount in xy, and here it is again. the set and ev's haven't changed-- shadow claw is still necessary to beat gengar etc. there's not much to say about this pokemon.. it gives up maximum offensive pressure to obtain defensive utility, but it's totally worth it on an offensive team that loves compressing team slots.
Code:
Tyranitar @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 72 Atk / 184 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Low Kick
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
Wobbuffet @ Custap Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 80 HP / 176 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Destiny Bond
- Encore
Latios (M) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Roost
Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 192 HP / 136 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return
- Roost
- Earthquake
Arceus @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw
- Extreme Speed
- Refresh
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