National Dex [OU] Napoleon's Conquest of Egypt (Empoleon SteelSpam Sand, Peak 1834 #21)

Kin+ak (✧∇✧) · Mar 13, 2025

Summary

Sets and explanations
Teambuilding Process
Synergies in the team
Strengths & Weaknesses
Replays

1. Sets and explanations

Hippowdon @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Earthquake

Hippowdon is the team's defensive backbone. it deals with relative ease with Great tusk, Zamazenta and Others. It also sets rocks for the team, making it a very solid lead, that is unlikely do get sniped by any unusual set one might see on ladder. This Hippow is Full Physdef to be as hard to remove as possible by the Pokémon it checks for the team. It loves Slack Off's reliable recovery, and Whirlwind lets it stack up Rocks and Sandstorm damage and prevents opposing EQ-immune Pokémon from setting up for a sweep. It does lose some reliability by dropping Toxic, but Whirlwind lets passive damage chip Pokémon that need to be healthy to check some of the mons in this team, such as Terapagos needing Tera Shell to win vs Gholdengo, or Zapdos needing 100% HP to luck through Excadrill with Heat Wave.

4 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 105-124 (25 - 29.5%)
252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 127-150 (30.2 - 35.7%)
+3 88 Def Zamazenta Body Press vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 169-199 (40.2 - 47.3%)
4 Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 94-112 (22.3 - 26.6%)
252 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 114-135 (27.1 - 32.1%)
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 3 allies fainted Kingambit Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 151-178 (35.9 - 42.3%)

Garchomp-Mega @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 120 Atk / 140 SpA / 248 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Stone Edge

Garchomp-Mega. Believe it or not, this Jawline master is this team's Secret weapon vs Stall. Mega Garchomp loves that most stalls drop Gliscor for Clodsire to strengthen the Gholdengo Matchup. Clod Stall absolutely HATES Mega Garchomp in Sand. Mixed Mega chomp in Sand has the ability to take down Corviknight and dozo with its special moves, while the rest of stall Can never Switch in + Threaten it if it clicks Earthquake. The main way around it is obviously Avalanche Dondozo, but that is basically Cteaming as No Dozo in history has ever ran this move. 140 SpA EVs are preferred here over 252 on Standard mixed mchomp because that's all it needs to 2HKO Full HP Landorus-Therian with Draco Meteor over 2 turns with rocks up, and 120 EVs in Phys Attack let it still shred what it wants to shred with Earthquake. Stone Edge is that move that's here because I kinda struggle to switch into Yard so Not Mega'ing T1 when the opp leads Yard lets me Outspeed-OHKO it annd get a bigass lead in the game. Now the 248+ Spe lets Mega Garchomp outspeed Landorus-Therian, the only thing the 92 Speed tier is good for. 252 Obviously makes it outspeed pokémon EV'd to outspeed Lando-T but that's much rarer so not worth it imo.

120 Atk Sand Force Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Kingambit: 410-486 (101.4 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
140 SpA Garchomp-Mega Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 333-394 (87.1 - 103.1%) -- 93.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
120 Atk Sand Force Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Sableye-Mega: 148-175 (48.8 - 57.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage
140 SpA Garchomp-Mega Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Corviknight: 238-280 (59.6 - 70.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
120 Atk Sand Force Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Blissey: 475-561 (72.8 - 86%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage
140 SpA Garchomp-Mega Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Ferrothorn: 316-376 (89.7 - 106.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
120 Atk Sand Force Garchomp-Mega Earthquake over 2 turns vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Shell Terapagos-Terastal: 333-393 (100.6 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed KO in 2 turns after sandstorm damage
120 Atk Sand Force Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 190-225 (51.2 - 60.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Gholdengo @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 100 SpD / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Recover

You know how you drop your loot when you die in various videogames? See Dengo has killed so many it has became a loot itself. Gholdengo is beyond broken. This thing will come in on one of the 400 Mons it walls, get a nasty plot, and obliterate whatever was in its way with Z Ghost. It's also Obscenely Bulky for a mon with that much Breaking power, Being hardly Killable by the numerous Dark-Type moves in the tier because of its sinful Bulk. Not to mention, its Ghost+Fighting Coverage makes it almost Unwallable. It is the team's main answer to Lele, and to Ferro, and to Mmedi, and to Valiant, and to most of whatever is thrown at it because it's so broken. Gholdengo is far from Balanced and invalidates so much mons by existing it's nearly unfun.

+2 0 SpA Gholdengo Never-Ending Nightmare (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Moltres: 352-415 (91.6 - 108%) -- 50% chance to OHKO (87.5% chance to OHKO after sandstorm damage)
0 SpA Zapdos Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 100 SpD Gholdengo: 160-190 (42.3 - 50.2%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO
+2 0 SpA Gholdengo Never-Ending Nightmare (160 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 480-565 (125.3 - 147.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 0 SpA Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Ferrothorn: 338-398 (96 - 113%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 0 SpA Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu: 274-324 (53.3 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 0 SpA Gholdengo Never-Ending Nightmare (160 BP) vs. 244 HP / 228+ SpD Gliscor: 390-459 (110.7 - 130.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 96+ Def Gholdengo: 254-302 (67.1 - 79.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 0 SpA Gholdengo Never-Ending Nightmare (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 529-624 (138.4 - 163.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Gholdengo Focus Blast over 2 turns vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tera Shell Terapagos: 315-372 (98.1 - 115.8%) -- guaranteed KO in 2 turns after sandstorm damage
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 96+ Def Gholdengo: 332-392 (87.8 - 103.7%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
0 SpA Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Kingambit: 504-596 (147.8 - 174.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Kingambit @ Assault Vest
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- Low Kick

AV Kingambit is much less common since the Dragapult ban but I still use it because the Assault Vest does wonders to Kingambit, doing wonders to its longevity, doing wonders to Pursuit since a lot of mons it'll blanket will switch out and take hefty damage from Pursuit. "In Natdex, we love Kingambling" has never been so true. in front of a weakened Pokémon, it can Sucker Punch to kill it, Knock off if it doesn't use an attacking move, and Pursuit if it tries to flee the problem. 3 possibilities, 3 where Kingambit wins if it choses the right move, isn't that FUN? Kingambit strengthens the Yard Matchup by Sucker Punching/Pursuiting it after a kill, and is reliable at removing opps' items. then Obviously Low Kick to Snipe Other KGBs, Mtars, and to deal a good chunk to opposing Melmetals. Very Basic mon, everybody knows what it's going to do but not how it's going to end. That's what's fun about Kingambling.

252+ Atk Kingambit Low Kick (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Kingambit: 420-496 (123.1 - 145.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Kingambit Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 92 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar-Mega: 416-492 (114.2 - 135.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 172 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Kingambit: 118-141 (30.7 - 36.7%) -- 64.9% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Kingambit Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Lele: 228-268 (81.1 - 95.3%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (93.8% chance to OHKO after sandstorm damage)
0 SpA Gholdengo Focus Blast vs. 172 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Kingambit: 340-400 (88.5 - 104.1%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Protosynthesis Roaring Moon Earthquake vs. 172 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 256-302 (66.6 - 78.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Kingambit Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Roaring Moon: 392-462 (111.6 - 131.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
and that's Supreme Overlord 0

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

The OG Sand Rush mon. Excadrill has insane Cleaning capabilities and oftentimes it can just end a game in a few turns. Excadrill is not too frail thanks to a massive ~~Low Taper Fade~~ HP Stat, and uses this Pseudo-Bulk and the Holy Air balloon to get SDs on Mons like Clodsire, Gliscor or Brave bird Corviknight. +2 Excadrill is a BEAST and it doesn't help that two of its moves have a Bloody (and often decisive) 30% Flinch chance, letting Excadrill Win duels vs behemoths such as Great Tusk or LandoT. Some people run Rapid Spin but I feel that's the worst one can cook with sand rush because of how useful Rock slide is in Moltres and Zapdos Meta. GameFreak won't give it Stone edge, se we gotta win with what we have. Again, the explanation is pretty short, but what is more straightforward than an SD Excadrill in Sand?

+2 252+ Atk Excadrill Iron Head vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 234-276 (63 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Excadrill: 132-156 (36.5 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252+ Atk Excadrill Iron Head vs. 8 HP / 0 Def Landorus-Therian: 322-381 (100.3 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ferrothorn: 291-343 (82.6 - 97.4%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Excadrill Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 112+ Def Scizor-Mega: 231-273 (67.3 - 79.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Excadrill Rock Slide vs. 248 HP / 244+ Def Zapdos: 298-352 (77.8 - 91.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage
+2 252+ Atk Excadrill Rock Slide vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Corviknight: 175-207 (43.8 - 51.8%) -- 73.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 16 SpA / 240 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Roost
- Scald
- Defog
- Flip Turn

NAPOLEON!!! Empoleon is not my favorite Pokémon. It doesn't even rank in top 30. It's also just a shiny among all I have got. I added it not because I like it, but because it fills gaps in my team. Empoleon has a super underrated Water-Steel Typing, recently got Competitive over defiant, and got roost, and got flip turn. Empoleon for the team acts as a Terapagos stopper, since Flamethrower/IceBeam could hit my whole team for supereffective damage, and Empoleon takes very minimal damage from it. Empoleon is Minimal speed so it can Uno Reverse Alomomola: Mola can usually Tox and get momentum with Flip Turn, however Empoleon is immune to tox and has a slower flip turn to gain momentum on every known alo. While that is already a nice niche, it also resists Water and Ice better than Gholdengo does, making it a cool mon to have in a Sand team, especially since its Steel type gives it immunity to Sandstorm chip. It doesn't end there though, as its newfound competitive strengthen the webs MU as it more easily will force switches and get a defog off. Besides, Scald is always nice to have to burn mons that'd switchin like AV Melm or Dnite. Finally, Along with the recovery of Roost and the good Typing, Empoleon's defensive utility is found in its high invested Special Bulk (84/101), letting it switchin on Would-be threats like Volcarona and gain momentum with Flip turn.

252 SpA Terapagos Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Empoleon: 90-108 (24.1 - 29%) -- possible 5HKO
252 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Empoleon: 109-130 (29.3 - 34.9%) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Empoleon: 120-142 (32.2 - 38.1%) -- 1.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Latios-Mega Aura Sphere vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Empoleon: 148-176 (39.7 - 47.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Diancie-Mega Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Empoleon: 166-196 (44.6 - 52.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

2. Teambuilding Process

-

I started with the Idea of a Mega Garchomp Hippowdon Sand team, as I wanted it to be full sand, thus having the Sand setter hold a Smooth Rock, and tyranitar is not great as a Smooth Rock Holder, and Tyranitar-Mega is straight-up unable to hold an item, and Gigalith is out of the picture.
I wanted Garchomp-Mega to be my Mega, as I felt like Mchomp wasn't in a spot as tough as it used to be in Older gens. This gen, it was more of a "no1 uses this mon" rather than a "conventional trashmon". I wanted to go Mixed to smack Ferro Lando Corv N Msciz, mons that Sand teams can struggle to get rid of. I Didn't Change Moves or EVs since I added 'em to the team
:hippowdon:

-

Gholdengo is pretty broken as I've said earlier, and it kinda fit as an Ice resist, not to stack up too much Ice weaknesses before it gets out of control. I chose a Bulky Nasty Plot set, because it's really annoying to deal with and is the one that makes its counters Evaporate the best imo (Steel Z offensive gholdengo comes right next). Pretty basic addition, moved on to the next mon.
:hippowdon:

-

For good measure, as I had multiple mons to deal with Fighting types, and because I needed something to deal with SD Kingambits, and for Late Game insurance, I brought Kingambit so it could Kingamble my way to victory. It Makes me much less weak to fast 'n' frail Sweepers, and Pursuit here and there could secure games from time to time. Also had the now-banned Dragapult when I put this mon in, but it's solid regardless.

:hippowdon:

-

I then added Excadrill as I severely lacked speed control in a speedcrept metagame that left no place for slow teams in the meta. So I added the 3rd fastest mon usable in OU (#1 is unburden Hawlucha, #2 is Proto speed Roaring moon), Sand Rush Excadrill. with SD and 135 Base attack, this was just the mon I needed. it smacks a lot of the tier, and thanks to the totally not toxic mechanic of Flinch, can work throu entire teams by weakening its 2 main counters (LandoT, tusk) or wait that Mchomp does it and thn sweep. I put balloon on it so it could set SD on LandoT, Clod and Glisc, but it can also set it on Choice-locked mons like Band Roaring Moon (locked Earthquake) or Scarf Great tusk (locked Headlong rush).

:hippowdon:

-

As Mega garchomp was already a niche mon, I wanted the rest of the team to be standard, so haters wouldn't say it's "unconsistent MU fishing", so I added a Zap.
I put the team to practice, and while it wasn't unusable/terrible, it was very hard to play around Hydro Pumps and Fire Blasts, since garchomp is -SpDef nature and can't switchin on surfs or risk a burn when taking 25% from flamethrower from random mons. Besides, rain MU was dogwater, I might as well forfeit at the sight of a pelipper.

:hippowdon:

-

I knew I needed a hazard remover, but also a water resist and an Ice resist that could heal.

so among Fully evolved Legal mons, I had the choice between ZU fish, ZU Arceus, NU Glass canon Star, RU noobtrap Oyster Bomb, Blastoise, Quaquaval, Tentacruel, Washtom, Fini and Empoleon. Barring the obvious useless mons, there was very few options. Not only do all of Tentacruel, Washtom, Blastoise and Fini dislike sandstorm, they do not have a form of reliable recovery/not any at all since leftovers are nullified by Sandstorm. Quaquaval and Starmie are Far from Bulky and also Dislike Sandstorm, so I only really had Empoleon as an option.

:hippowdon:

-

(physdef)
I added Empoleon to the team, with the current moves, but it was full Physdef and was not putting in as much work as I wanted it to. sure it could live a zama's hits and burn it, but unless they had their alo switching in to wish on a turn where I could roost, it was essentially dead and setup fodder. It didn't find occasions to defog, it was basically just zapdos but I lost 15 turns later.

:hippowdon:

-

(spdef)
this is the actual state of the team, the one with which I peaked 1834. not my all-time peak tho, that'd be achieved by Tera Meta Funsies.

3. Synergies in the team
:garchomp-mega:

+

Mchomp and Empoleon are basically best buds, Empol likes Mchomp eating Electric moves, and Mchomp likes Empol taking ice, dragon and fairy hits like they were nothing, and Mchomp generally likes the safe switchins offered by Flip turn
:excadrill:

+

Excadrill loves how Easily Mchomp tears down LandoT and Gtusk, Mchomp loves how Exca Sits on Gliscor when Balloon is not popped. Stall-killing duo.
:gholdengo:

+

While they share a Fire Weakness, they help each other offensively bloody effectively, One takes on Zamazenta, the other takes on Clod and Glisc.
:hippowdon:

+

Sand, duh. Hippow also sets rocks for Exca and takes on Great Tusk.

4. Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths:

:castform:

Teams with No weather Control obviously are much easier to deal with in General.

The Matchup vs. Stall is pretty easy thanks to Ghold+3 strong grounds that take Clodsire on

Teams that have Skarmory or Physdef Corv as their main/sole way of dealing with grounds get eaten live

Weaknesses:

:castform-rainy:

Rain teams that get to smack Empoleon are a major struggle, but they're so bloody rare it wasn't a real struggle. Super common in Low-to-mid ladder, so if anyone wants to use the team I recommend going 'round 1550 beforehand.
:castform-sunny:

CalamityISComing · Apr 7, 2025

waterpon looks pretty strong into you, since nothing particularly wants to take an ivy cudgel except emp which takes 70 to a power whip. It also has plenty of chances to switch in against flip turn or the two eq ers. Urshifu looks similarly annoying. albeit it needs more prediction to be effective.

Zamazenta also does something similar and if ghold is removed, or chipped into crunch range followed by a correct position, banded cc is impossible to switch into

also obviously any ground type has a field day into you since youre only immunity is off an air balloon. lando might u-turn, and tusk can spin or cc or whatever.

tbh id start over from ghold+chomp+hippow. but the team performed well so maybe im talking outta my ass

Kin+ak (✧∇✧) · Apr 7, 2025

CalamityISComing said:
waterpon looks pretty strong into you, since nothing particularly wants to take an ivy cudgel except emp which takes 70 to a power whip. It also has plenty of chances to switch in against flip turn or the two eq ers. Urshifu looks similarly annoying. albeit it needs more prediction to be effective.

Zamazenta also does something similar and if ghold is removed, or chipped into crunch range followed by a correct position, banded cc is impossible to switch into

also obviously any ground type has a field day into you since youre only immunity is off an air balloon. lando might u-turn, and tusk can spin or cc or whatever.

tbh id start over from ghold+chomp+hippow. but the team performed well so maybe im talking outta my ass

yes there are some weaknesses but Most a that Is patched if you Put offensive pressure with Mchomp or Ghold. Bandes Zama Cc Is also scary but quite easy to play around tbf. But yea right now Waterpon Is kinda pushing the Team back a bit

National Dex [OU] Napoleon's Conquest of Egypt (Empoleon SteelSpam Sand, Peak 1834 #21)

Kin+ak (✧∇✧)

CalamityISComing

Kin+ak (✧∇✧)