Cacturne Is My Bro: A Sandstorm Semi Stall RMT
(art from http://edli-dark.deviantart.com/art/Ricture-the-Cacturne-107420023)
After doing some edits here and there to my team (and lurking moar around the forums), I've been polishing up my strategies and other things to get more advice from the kind RMTers. I've dropped the Baton Pass gimmick of my last team since putting all of my eggs in one basket was a poor plan, and picked up a half offensive, half stalling team that packs a little bit of punch while still remaining defensive.
I give you my team:
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Impish
252 HP/168 Def/88 SpD
Earthquake
Slack Off
Ice Fang
Stealth Rock
I obviously needed a lead who could Sandstorm for the major benefits, and Hippowdon was my choice. His EV's give him enough defense to withstand any unboosted physical attack, super effective or not, which means 90% of the time Stealth Rock is coming up, which is nearly vital to my team. The only leads that scare Hippowdon off are Celebies or Starmies. He can survive a STAB attack from a lead Swampert. Earthquake is a STAB for emergencies, in case Gliscor and Tyranitar fall, he can dole out some pretty decent damage even with no EV's or nature. Ice Fang takes leading Gliscors, Aerodactyls, and Ninjasks completely by surprise, and his bulk also makes him a prime choice to fight off Dragonites, Flygons, and non Mixmence Salamences. Slack Off is to help out his stalling ability.
Taunts and Toxics, however, scare him out of the fight, and if I predict a Trick wrong, it's game over for Hippowdon.
Cacturne @ Brightpowder
252 AtK/ 4 Def/ 252 Spe
Adamant
Sucker Punch
Seed Bomb
Swords Dance
Substitute
The star of the show, though having very little screen time due to his frailness, Cacturne is my only sweeper, and it takes a lot of gambling to set him up. Without Swords Dancing, he's a perfect counter to Swamperts without Ice Beam. He outspeeds them, and one Seed Bomb is enough to down them, and many people take the gamble to go for a set up, thinking they can outspeed him. Brightpowder and Sand Veil is the main gamble of Cacturne and makes up for his featherlike defenses. With luck, with only one Swords Dance and Stealth Rock support, Cacturne is capable of felling entire teams with his high attack and priority STAB Sucker Punch, especially if he got a few dances off. Cacturne's Sucker Punch is able to oneshot threats like Latias and (if stealth rocked) Salamence, completely taking people by surprise sometimes due to his rarity in the OU metagame. I often send Cacturne in to set up safely on Resttalk Pokemon and bulky waters that don't have Ice Beam.
Sadly, due to his high risk high reward playstyle, it's rare that I can sweep that easily with a few turns of undisturbed set up, which come rarely. However, he does fill in the niche I need to counter bulky waters, but even then he falls a little short, often getting razed by Suicune or SubPetaya Empoleon. He counters Swampert, Starmie, and Slowbro like a charm, however.
Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Clear Body
Calm
252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Sp. Defence
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Hidden Power Electric
Surf
A jack of all trades, being a Special wall, a Rapid Spinner/Toxic Spike eater, and a Toxic Spiker. Tentacruel gives my stall team the extra oomph by putting out the godsend Toxic Spikes, whilst the opponent's entry hazards. His attacks are nothing to write home about, but do deal out enough damage to scare some Pokemon away. When Cacturne can't handle things such as Empoleon, Tentacruel's here to whittle away at him with Electric HP. HP is also my only tool to scare of Skarmory, one of the major threats to my team. Tentacruel also provides a perfect switch in to Infernape, an effective hard counter to the flaming spider monkey (I always wanted to say that).
But without any form of recovery and not being able to deal decent enough damage to scare most sweepers off, Tentacruel is often the first Pokemon to go, as once his spikes are out, the enemy spiker's gone, and the hazards have been spinned off, I often don't see much use for him afterwards. Nevertheless, he is an essential part of my team due to the benefits he brings.
(OH LOOK IT'S A BLAND PICTURE HOW FITTING)
Skarmory @ Leftovers
252 HP / 64 AtK/ 176 Defence/ 16 Spe
Impish
Brave Bird
Spikes
Whirlwind
Roost
The red headed step-child of my team.
To be honest, I find Skarmory rather boring and clunky to use, but his benefits to my team are way too big to pass up. The ability to heal, Spikes to complete the entry hazards, being able to phaze, and additional flying STAB to combat irritating grass types such as Celebi or Shaymin reluctantly bought himself a spot on my team.
Skarmory is slow as hell, he often gets Taunted, locking himself into Brave Birding or switching out, he's often paralyzed, and overall is a general pain and nuisance to use, yet essential due to his excellent stalling ability. He often falls prey to Magnezone, Salamence, Togekiss, or other special attackers, and often never has the time to get Spikes off and start whirlwinding.
Any suggestions on another Pokemon that's able to stall and spike like Skarmory does WITHOUT the support of any other Pokemon would be a godsend, or maybe suggesting a moveset or EV change that might give him an extra oomph would be awesome too.
Gliscor @ Leftovers
Sand Veil
Impish
252 HP/ 40 Def/ 216 Spe
Aerial Ace
Knock Off
Roost
Earthquake
Ahhh Gliscor, one of my favorites. With the ability to tank most physical sweepers and healing, along with a little bit of punching power, he's a well loved member of my group. He's a perfect switch in to Earthquakers and Fighting types, and gives me the ability to fight off a MUCH HATED Breloom, with Aerial Ace, that overpowered, hallucinative-inducing, punching mushroom gets oneshotted, much to my glee and snickering. Aerial Ace also lets me cover Machamp, Celebi, and Heracross. Earthquake STAB hits hard and also lets me easily switch in and one shot Lucario, who I outspeed, so no need to worry about Ice Punch. Earthquake's wide coverage only further helps Gliscors amazing switch inducing ability. Roost helps further prolong Gliscors life, along with Sand Veil, which compliment his bulkiness even more. Knock Off annoys the hell out of most of the sweepers whom Gliscor can't handle by taking away a lot of their fighting power, and ruins walls that try to out leftover Sandstorm. I do believe I can switch Knock Off with another attack for more coverage, such as Night Slash, but I would appreciate some input.
Sadly, Weavile or Mamoswine can easily force a switch on Gliscor due to Ice Shard, and any other Pokemon with an ice attack in general can ruin his week. Bulky waters are also a horrible plague on him.
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Jolly
4 Hp/ 252 AtK/ 252 Spe
Crunch
Pursuit
Stone Edge
Earthquake
The revenge killer and Anti-Trick, and Cacturne's backup. He is your run of the mill Scarfitar, being the anti-Rotom and anti-Gengar. He also eats Azelfs for breakfast. Every Azelf lead is a free kill, especially if they're a Trickster. Tyranitar is also the only one that can stand up to most sweepers, clipping the wings of Mixmence, Gyarados, Dragonite, Togekiss, and Yanmega with Stone Edge, crumbling Heatran, other Tyranitars, Metagross, Magnezone, and Jirachis with Earthquake, and noming Gengars, Azelfs, Celebis, and Starmies. Pursuit deftly handles Tricksters, fleeing flimsy Psychic types, and ensures a finishing kill on desperately weakened Pokemon.
Tyranitar's gaping hole in his plan is the damned Scarf. Without it, no revenge killing speedily, with it, constant switch ins after the kill. If I couldn't get the rapid spin off, hazards eventually eat Tyranitar alive.
So there'samahteam. Cacturne and his band of bros (and Skarmory) often get the job done handily, but have a few gaping weaknesses (covered in the next post.) Any thoughts and advice on the things pointed out would be much appreciated.
After doing some edits here and there to my team (and lurking moar around the forums), I've been polishing up my strategies and other things to get more advice from the kind RMTers. I've dropped the Baton Pass gimmick of my last team since putting all of my eggs in one basket was a poor plan, and picked up a half offensive, half stalling team that packs a little bit of punch while still remaining defensive.
I give you my team:
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Impish
252 HP/168 Def/88 SpD
Earthquake
Slack Off
Ice Fang
Stealth Rock
I obviously needed a lead who could Sandstorm for the major benefits, and Hippowdon was my choice. His EV's give him enough defense to withstand any unboosted physical attack, super effective or not, which means 90% of the time Stealth Rock is coming up, which is nearly vital to my team. The only leads that scare Hippowdon off are Celebies or Starmies. He can survive a STAB attack from a lead Swampert. Earthquake is a STAB for emergencies, in case Gliscor and Tyranitar fall, he can dole out some pretty decent damage even with no EV's or nature. Ice Fang takes leading Gliscors, Aerodactyls, and Ninjasks completely by surprise, and his bulk also makes him a prime choice to fight off Dragonites, Flygons, and non Mixmence Salamences. Slack Off is to help out his stalling ability.
Taunts and Toxics, however, scare him out of the fight, and if I predict a Trick wrong, it's game over for Hippowdon.
Cacturne @ Brightpowder
252 AtK/ 4 Def/ 252 Spe
Adamant
Sucker Punch
Seed Bomb
Swords Dance
Substitute
The star of the show, though having very little screen time due to his frailness, Cacturne is my only sweeper, and it takes a lot of gambling to set him up. Without Swords Dancing, he's a perfect counter to Swamperts without Ice Beam. He outspeeds them, and one Seed Bomb is enough to down them, and many people take the gamble to go for a set up, thinking they can outspeed him. Brightpowder and Sand Veil is the main gamble of Cacturne and makes up for his featherlike defenses. With luck, with only one Swords Dance and Stealth Rock support, Cacturne is capable of felling entire teams with his high attack and priority STAB Sucker Punch, especially if he got a few dances off. Cacturne's Sucker Punch is able to oneshot threats like Latias and (if stealth rocked) Salamence, completely taking people by surprise sometimes due to his rarity in the OU metagame. I often send Cacturne in to set up safely on Resttalk Pokemon and bulky waters that don't have Ice Beam.
Sadly, due to his high risk high reward playstyle, it's rare that I can sweep that easily with a few turns of undisturbed set up, which come rarely. However, he does fill in the niche I need to counter bulky waters, but even then he falls a little short, often getting razed by Suicune or SubPetaya Empoleon. He counters Swampert, Starmie, and Slowbro like a charm, however.
Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Clear Body
Calm
252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Sp. Defence
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Hidden Power Electric
Surf
A jack of all trades, being a Special wall, a Rapid Spinner/Toxic Spike eater, and a Toxic Spiker. Tentacruel gives my stall team the extra oomph by putting out the godsend Toxic Spikes, whilst the opponent's entry hazards. His attacks are nothing to write home about, but do deal out enough damage to scare some Pokemon away. When Cacturne can't handle things such as Empoleon, Tentacruel's here to whittle away at him with Electric HP. HP is also my only tool to scare of Skarmory, one of the major threats to my team. Tentacruel also provides a perfect switch in to Infernape, an effective hard counter to the flaming spider monkey (I always wanted to say that).
But without any form of recovery and not being able to deal decent enough damage to scare most sweepers off, Tentacruel is often the first Pokemon to go, as once his spikes are out, the enemy spiker's gone, and the hazards have been spinned off, I often don't see much use for him afterwards. Nevertheless, he is an essential part of my team due to the benefits he brings.
Skarmory @ Leftovers
252 HP / 64 AtK/ 176 Defence/ 16 Spe
Impish
Brave Bird
Spikes
Whirlwind
Roost
The red headed step-child of my team.
To be honest, I find Skarmory rather boring and clunky to use, but his benefits to my team are way too big to pass up. The ability to heal, Spikes to complete the entry hazards, being able to phaze, and additional flying STAB to combat irritating grass types such as Celebi or Shaymin reluctantly bought himself a spot on my team.
Skarmory is slow as hell, he often gets Taunted, locking himself into Brave Birding or switching out, he's often paralyzed, and overall is a general pain and nuisance to use, yet essential due to his excellent stalling ability. He often falls prey to Magnezone, Salamence, Togekiss, or other special attackers, and often never has the time to get Spikes off and start whirlwinding.
Any suggestions on another Pokemon that's able to stall and spike like Skarmory does WITHOUT the support of any other Pokemon would be a godsend, or maybe suggesting a moveset or EV change that might give him an extra oomph would be awesome too.
Gliscor @ Leftovers
Sand Veil
Impish
252 HP/ 40 Def/ 216 Spe
Aerial Ace
Knock Off
Roost
Earthquake
Ahhh Gliscor, one of my favorites. With the ability to tank most physical sweepers and healing, along with a little bit of punching power, he's a well loved member of my group. He's a perfect switch in to Earthquakers and Fighting types, and gives me the ability to fight off a MUCH HATED Breloom, with Aerial Ace, that overpowered, hallucinative-inducing, punching mushroom gets oneshotted, much to my glee and snickering. Aerial Ace also lets me cover Machamp, Celebi, and Heracross. Earthquake STAB hits hard and also lets me easily switch in and one shot Lucario, who I outspeed, so no need to worry about Ice Punch. Earthquake's wide coverage only further helps Gliscors amazing switch inducing ability. Roost helps further prolong Gliscors life, along with Sand Veil, which compliment his bulkiness even more. Knock Off annoys the hell out of most of the sweepers whom Gliscor can't handle by taking away a lot of their fighting power, and ruins walls that try to out leftover Sandstorm. I do believe I can switch Knock Off with another attack for more coverage, such as Night Slash, but I would appreciate some input.
Sadly, Weavile or Mamoswine can easily force a switch on Gliscor due to Ice Shard, and any other Pokemon with an ice attack in general can ruin his week. Bulky waters are also a horrible plague on him.
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Jolly
4 Hp/ 252 AtK/ 252 Spe
Crunch
Pursuit
Stone Edge
Earthquake
The revenge killer and Anti-Trick, and Cacturne's backup. He is your run of the mill Scarfitar, being the anti-Rotom and anti-Gengar. He also eats Azelfs for breakfast. Every Azelf lead is a free kill, especially if they're a Trickster. Tyranitar is also the only one that can stand up to most sweepers, clipping the wings of Mixmence, Gyarados, Dragonite, Togekiss, and Yanmega with Stone Edge, crumbling Heatran, other Tyranitars, Metagross, Magnezone, and Jirachis with Earthquake, and noming Gengars, Azelfs, Celebis, and Starmies. Pursuit deftly handles Tricksters, fleeing flimsy Psychic types, and ensures a finishing kill on desperately weakened Pokemon.
Tyranitar's gaping hole in his plan is the damned Scarf. Without it, no revenge killing speedily, with it, constant switch ins after the kill. If I couldn't get the rapid spin off, hazards eventually eat Tyranitar alive.
So there'samahteam. Cacturne and his band of bros (and Skarmory) often get the job done handily, but have a few gaping weaknesses (covered in the next post.) Any thoughts and advice on the things pointed out would be much appreciated.
