Hey ladies, first time I'm trying a Sand Offense team, and I'd love to hear what everyone thinks about it. I'll give a small explanation why I chose that exact moveset/ev spread/pokemon etc. with each Pokemon, but for those who don't know: The overall strategy as Sand Offense is to get rid (or weaken) every check for a Sand Rush Excadrill, then set up 8 turns of Sandstorm with a Smooth Rock Tyranitar and sweep with Excadrill. Now on to the team:
1) I started building the team, because I got adviced to try Balance or Offense as my first team, instead of Stall/Semistall, and Sand was the most appealing to me. Logically, I started out with Excadrill, who's the defining Sweeper of Sand Offense teams.
Most choices are sefl-explaining, like the Stabmoves and ability. I chose Life Orb over Air Baloon because I knew I didn't want to rely only on a one-off item to handle Ground threats. Rock Slide is good coverage and I chose SD over Rapid Spin because I planned to have Hazard Removal in another team slot, and SD will let me power through even the last Pokemon that could wall me otherwise. Also Adamant over Jolly, because I almost always want to use Excadrill during Sandstorm, so I don't think I'll need to outspeed others outside of Sand.
2) Now to even trigger my Excadrill's ability, I needed a Sandsetter. I picked Tyranitar over Hippowdon because the latter fits more into balanced or stall(ish) teams.
Tyranitars set actually gave me the biggest headache of all of my team, since I liked all of his options for different reasons. In the end I chose a supportive and more durable set, because you never know when things might go wrong, so I wanted the option to have him set up SR and Sand possibly multiple times per battle. Smooth Rock to give me a whopping 8 turns of Sand for Excadrill to sweep in, Stone Edge & Pursuit as Stabmoves (also lets me trap Lati twins), and Ice Beam as coverage.
3) With the sand core done, I was looking to check threats of different types that cause trouble for my main Sweeper. The first one I wanted, was a Grass type to check Water types and maybe the occassional rain team. I thought about this slot quite long, because I couldn't decide between Celebi and Venusaur-M. Celebi was a bit weaker Pokemon for itself, but would've given me not only Healing Wish to give Excadrill a second chance at sweeping, but also a check to Keldeo. Venusaur is stronger overall, but had the downside of having his Synthesis heal reduced during sand. In the end I still chose Venusaur, because I wanted to include Latias later on anyways, giving me both the Healing Wish and Keldeo check that I wanted, and I was fairly sure I can play around having to Synthesis during Sand (This is one of the slots I might change again in the future though)
I went for another more defensively oriented EV spread, to be able to actually check and switch in to the Pokemon I want to use it for more often and reliably. Synthesis for staying power, Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb as Stab, HP Fire as Coverage.
4) Next up, since I already had a grass type, I wanted to include a Fire and Water type too, to form a Grass/Water/Fire core, to have my Pokemon complement each other and check each others weaknesses. As my Water type, my first idea was to grab Keldeo, since it's just insanely strong, but in the end I chose Starmie instead, because it was able to provide me with the Hazard Removal I left out in my Excadrill build, and also just overall it felt more "fitting" to have Natural Cure, Recover, etc. to sustain the Pokemons that I wanted to use as checks.
This is another pretty basic build I think, Natural Cure to remove Status, Scald to cripple problematic switch-ins and as a Stab, Psyshock 2nd stab, Rapid Spin because I really wanted the Hazard Removal, and Recover for staying power.
5) To finish the core, I now needed a fire pokemon. I chose Talonflame because it's a really strong Pokemon overall, and gave me the option to go for several different builds depending on what I meet on ladder.
For it's build, I again went for a bulky and supportive one, for the same reasons given above at the Venusaur + Starmie entries. Acrobatics is a nice priority stab move without recoil, Roost gives me Sustain and SD let's me break through several Pokemon that would otherwise wall it. In the last slot I went for Taunt, because I still needed a dedicated Stallbreaker and since it let my Talonflame beat Clefables.
6) Now for my last spot I wanted one of the lati twins, just because of their overall strength and because I think their typing and movepools complement the rest of my team pretty good. I chose Latias over Latios because it gave me the Healing Wish to "revive" my Excadrill should it fail to sweep on it's first attempt, and because I left out Celebi for Venusaur earlier.
I wanted Latias to be another offensive Pokemon in my team, because I picked so many defensive or support builds in my G/F/W core, hence the Life Orb and EV spread. Draco Meteor and Psyshock are once more hardhitting stabmoves, Recover is for staying power as always, and Healing Wish, as I stated above, to in theory give me "two" Excadrills on my team.
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I haven't yet tried the team on ladder admittedly, because I'm a big theorycrafting nerd, so I wanted to make the best out of it, before actually using it "in the field", so I sadly can't provide you with replays. I'd still love to hear what you guys think of the team and if there's something I can improve in the moveslots, EVs or even Pokemon itself.
Already thanks for your replys :)
1) I started building the team, because I got adviced to try Balance or Offense as my first team, instead of Stall/Semistall, and Sand was the most appealing to me. Logically, I started out with Excadrill, who's the defining Sweeper of Sand Offense teams.
Excadrill (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
2) Now to even trigger my Excadrill's ability, I needed a Sandsetter. I picked Tyranitar over Hippowdon because the latter fits more into balanced or stall(ish) teams.
Tyranitar (F) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
3) With the sand core done, I was looking to check threats of different types that cause trouble for my main Sweeper. The first one I wanted, was a Grass type to check Water types and maybe the occassional rain team. I thought about this slot quite long, because I couldn't decide between Celebi and Venusaur-M. Celebi was a bit weaker Pokemon for itself, but would've given me not only Healing Wish to give Excadrill a second chance at sweeping, but also a check to Keldeo. Venusaur is stronger overall, but had the downside of having his Synthesis heal reduced during sand. In the end I still chose Venusaur, because I wanted to include Latias later on anyways, giving me both the Healing Wish and Keldeo check that I wanted, and I was fairly sure I can play around having to Synthesis during Sand (This is one of the slots I might change again in the future though)
Venusaur-Mega (F) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 96 Def / 144 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 96 Def / 144 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Hidden Power [Fire]
4) Next up, since I already had a grass type, I wanted to include a Fire and Water type too, to form a Grass/Water/Fire core, to have my Pokemon complement each other and check each others weaknesses. As my Water type, my first idea was to grab Keldeo, since it's just insanely strong, but in the end I chose Starmie instead, because it was able to provide me with the Hazard Removal I left out in my Excadrill build, and also just overall it felt more "fitting" to have Natural Cure, Recover, etc. to sustain the Pokemons that I wanted to use as checks.
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Psyshock
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Psyshock
5) To finish the core, I now needed a fire pokemon. I chose Talonflame because it's a really strong Pokemon overall, and gave me the option to go for several different builds depending on what I meet on ladder.
Talonflame (F)
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
6) Now for my last spot I wanted one of the lati twins, just because of their overall strength and because I think their typing and movepools complement the rest of my team pretty good. I chose Latias over Latios because it gave me the Healing Wish to "revive" my Excadrill should it fail to sweep on it's first attempt, and because I left out Celebi for Venusaur earlier.
Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish
- Recover
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish
- Recover
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I haven't yet tried the team on ladder admittedly, because I'm a big theorycrafting nerd, so I wanted to make the best out of it, before actually using it "in the field", so I sadly can't provide you with replays. I'd still love to hear what you guys think of the team and if there's something I can improve in the moveslots, EVs or even Pokemon itself.
Already thanks for your replys :)
