ORAS OU Da very rude sandstorm (Featuring TheInsanity's lure Sandnite)

[Thunderorange]

This is an amazingly fun sand team featuring a dragonite set I adored from the moment I laid eyes on it. It was made by TheInsanity in the Next Best Thing Thread ORAS OU edition and it actually won the round which I was very happy about. Without further rambling on ado I present to you the squad.

Teambuilding Process

After reading TheInsanity's post that introduced lure Sandnite I knew I had to build a team around it. If you want to build a sand team the first two things you need are Excadrill and a sand setter. I prefer Hippowdon over Tyranitar because Hippowdon is bulkier with more staying power and shares less weaknesses than Tyranitar with Excadrill.


(this is mega. can't you see it?)

Next I added RP Mega Diancie as a secondary sweeper. Diancie's checks are similar to Excadrill's : Scizor, Ferrothorn, Lando-T and stuff like that which are all lured and killed by Dragonite.



Next I added Ferrothorn and Rotom to help pivot into my sweepers and take hits in general. These two are probably the team members I have the most doubts about so I would appreciate some options to replace/improve these two.

Quite Rude (Hippowdon) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Def / 20 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind/Stone Edge/Ice Fang
- Slack Off
- Earthquake

Hippowdon is my sandstorm setter, my SR setter and a vital member of this team. His set and EVs are quite standard with Stealth Rock because Stealth Rocks, Whirlwind for spreading chip damage from rocks and sandstorm, Slack Off so Hippo doesn't die and EQ so I don't start struggling after a taunt.





GGF (Excadrill) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin/Swords Dance

Excadrill is my sand sweeper who is a terror to all offensive teams. Armed with life orb and max attack + Adamant he tears through weakened teams like butter. I am not sure rapid spin is necessary since the only two members who care about rocks are Dragonite and Rotom and really Dragonite's multiscale isn't that important and Rotom only pivots a couple of times and burns things.


Insane (Dragonite) @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 96 HP / 128 SpA / 80 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Roost

Credit to TheInsanity for this beautiful moveset.

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 96 HP / 128 SpA / 80 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
- Roost

This is SandNite, a pokemon able to lure the main checks/counters of the famous core tyranitar + excadrill and act like a sort of pivot during the match, checking the pokemons able to threat ttar and exca.
In xy excadrill with dragonite was used for the ability of excadrill of spinning rocks for dnite, and dnite was immune to ground and resistant to fire/fight/water. In oras things aren't changed so much, they are both viable together, but exca is awesome with ttar for sand rush, but dnite didn't like the sand. So i created this set.
Obviously this set is useful ONLY if used in the sand.
Leftovers are here so the sand didn't break multiscale, so we have always an improved version of sturdy.
The evs spread can seems strange, maybe random:

128 SpA: we can kill landorus therian and gliscor 100% of times with ice beam, okho mega scizor with fire blast and dent ferrothorn/skarmory, and do some damages to everything with draco meteor.

96 HP + 80 SpD: we can tank a greninja‘s ice beam 100% of times, lure him and okho with fire blast (greninja becomes ice type with protean), also general bulkyness. Also we have roost for recovering hp,

204 Spe: with 204 evs we reach 247 speed, so we can outspeed gliscor with 72 evs in speed and other random things like zapdos, celebi, tentacruel, adamant bisharp/breloom/heracross.

Calcs:

Hide

128+ SpA Dragonite Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-T: 388-460 (101.5 - 120.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
128+ SpA Dragonite Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Gliscor: 408-484 (115.5 - 137.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
128+ SpA Dragonite Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 300-356 (85.2 - 101.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
212 SpA Life Orb Protean Greninja Ice Beam vs. 96 HP / 80 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 291-346 (83.8 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
128+ SpA Dragonite Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Skarmory: 264-312 (79.2 - 93.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Polished (Diancie-Mega) @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Mild/Rash Nature
- Rock Polish
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power

Mega Diancie is my secondary wincon who also benefits from Dragonite's removal of checks/counters including Ferrothorn, Lando-T (psuedo check), Scizor and Skarmory. Her moveset is pretty straightforward and standard. Her EVs in speed is to outspeed Adamant Excadrill in sand after a rock polish. Nothing really special here but she is a very handy addition to the team nonetheless.





I'm Out! (Ferrothorn) @ Eject Button
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball

My Ferrothorn is pretty much your typical, average, everyday Ferrothorn with an Eject Button attached. Eject Button allows Ferrothorn to switch in, take a resisited/neutral hit and switch out into one of my sweepers (usually excadrill) for free without sacrificing a pokemon and without wasting an extra turn of sand. It also has the added benefit of stopping a volt/turning poke from switching out. Eject button is one time use so Ferrothorn acts like a normal Ferrothorn after his one pivot ticket is spent.



Washtom-Posh (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Rotom-Wash is my bulky pivot who has a pretty much the standard set apart from one thing: 52 speed EVs. These EVs allow Rotom-W to outspeed defensive SR Lando-Ts who run 8 speed to speed creep standard speed creeping Rotom-W (44 speed EVs). This allows Rotom to burn/hydro pump the Lando-T who thinks he can U-turn out into another poke.

Threatlist

Azumaril- Azumaril is annoying as it forces Ferrothorn to use up his eject button unless I want Rotom to take a ton of damage. Azumaril deals with the remaining four pokes I haven't mentioned.

Sableye before Mega Evolving- Priority will-o-wisp is difficult to handle if Diancie is gone/hasn't mega evolved.

Players who know about lure Sandnite- Pretty much anyone who read the Next Best Thing thread and saw the lure Sandnite and realised my dragonite had that set will be able to keep their sand check alive to screw my team over.

steal my team here

Hippowdon @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Def / 20 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off
- Earthquake

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 96 HP / 128 SpA / 80 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Roost

Ferrothorn @ Eject Button
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Mild Nature
- Rock Polish
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power

Any suggestions, espeically regarding Rotom-W replacments (I am open to Ferrothorn replacements too) as well as minor changes to the rest of the team is appreciated. (Changes will be bolded).

 

[SuperEffectiveAttack]

This team is really fun especially the Dragonite and Ferrothorn movesets. I don't see much to correct though I will give it a shot.

Slash Stone Edge and Ice Fang with whirlwind.

While Whirlwind is useful in some situations I believe both Stone Edge and Ice Fang deserve a mention. Stone Edge hits flying types and Ice Fang serves as an additional lure for Lando/Gliscor.

Change Diancie's nature to Rash

Rash helps her take less from priority which is almost always physical.



That's all I got right now I will test this team further. I really like using it.

 

[TKGriffiths]

Change Diancie's nature to Rash

Rash helps her take less from priority which is almost always physical.

I never quite understood this logic. Lets consider these priority moves.

Bullet Punch? Not surviving that either way.
Mach Punch? What fighting type is going to stay in on Diancie's Moonblast?
Extremespeed? Resisted anyway and also uncommon. Most common user by far, Dragonite, often can't stay in on Diancie anyway.
Brave Bird? Resisted and Talonflame is destroyed by Diancie anyway so won't be staying in.
Sucker Punch? Resisted and most (dark-type) users are afraid of Diancie anyway, similar to the above.
Aqua Jet? You might be able to make a case here, though it won't help against +6 Aqua Jet obviously.

Especially on a sand team I would imagine the extra SpDef would be more useful to fare better against special attackers, which Diancie is more suited for fighting than physical attackers anyway.

 

[Froppe]

What the above said. In normal conditions, I would advocate for a -sdef nature, but Diancie is a Rock type in the sand, therefore it makes sense to not limit Your spdef stat.

 

[TKGriffiths]

I do like the team in general though.

A few things I might change, I definitely prefer Power Whip to Gyro Ball on Ferrothorn for Grass coverage and more PP.

No time to do calcs but is it worth considering Hidden Power Rock > Diamond Storm for Diancie considering it has full investment and a + SpAtk nature and no Atk investment? If there's not much difference you get a more accurate higher PP move and this would let you use a -Atk nature which would be a nice plus. Might be worth considering a -Atk nature anyway if the Atk lost doesn't lose any notable K.Os.

 

[You...You...]

I really like this team, it's Hella fun to use and that dragonite set is beautiful (I used it against my friend and the look on face was priceless when I Ice Beamed his Lando-T and even more priceless when he realised my excadrill swept with it gone).


In the Rash vs Mild debate I think there is a reasonable reason to run both. Rash DOES help against priority. TK, you need to remember that since Mega Diancie is a sweeper people will be using priority on it to stop its sweep. Also rash helps Diancie set up safely 100% on lati@s barring the rare surf because it lessens the damage of
psyshock which, in many cases, is the only move lati@s has that affects Diancie. But yes there is some merit for Mild for general special bulkiness in sandstorm which gives Diancie more set up opportunities. However I am leaning towards rash because Diancie is specially bulky enough in Sandstorm as it is and setting up on the common Lati twins and having your sweep more likely to be prevented is too much to pass up for extra special bulkiness in sand.

 

[leremyju]

hold on HP rock when there is ancient power? Ik ancient power only has like 8 PP but its way better than HP rock

 

[Celticpride]

hold on HP rock when there is ancient power? Ik ancient power only has like 8 PP but its way better than HP rock

The 10% chance doesn't make it too much better. More PP might be more helpful in the long run. The only time Ancientpower is clearly better is with regards to Sheer Force. Other than that, it's a toss-up.

With regards to HP Rock vs Diamond Storm, Diamond Storm out damages on basically every relevant target except Mega Pinsir, where they do that same.

Calcs

0- Atk Mega Diancie Diamond Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Charizard Y: 712-844 (239.7 - 284.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Mega Diancie Hidden Power Rock vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 408-484 (137.3 - 162.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

0- Atk Mega Diancie Diamond Storm vs. 120 HP / 0 Def Talonflame: 780-916 (238.5 - 280.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Mega Diancie Hidden Power Rock vs. 120 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 624-736 (190.8 - 225%) -- guaranteed OHKO

0- Atk Mega Diancie Diamond Storm vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 504-592 (185.9 - 218.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Mega Diancie Hidden Power Rock vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mega Pinsir: 504-592 (185.9 - 218.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Edit: HP Rock does interfere with your ability to use HP Fire or something similar, but in a vacuum HP Rock might be preferable to Ancientpower.