5th Gen Sandstorm Team

[SuckaPunch123]

Introduction:


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Welcome everyone to my 1st ever competitive RMT. This team is going to be a sand team I made around a week ago with some help from a friend.

At a glance:

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Tyranitar @ Leftovers/Chople
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP | 252 Sp.Def | 4 Atk
Nature: Sassy [+ Sp.Def, - Spe]
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Earthquake/Fire Blast/Low Kick

I chose Tyranitar as my Sand Streamer of choice, for many reasons. One of the major ones is his ability to take down the lati@s twins with ease with either a Crunch or Pursuit depending on the situation. He has Stealth Rock because it is the most important move in the game. I used to run EQ on this set, but I have went back to testing different coverage moves because of the new pokemon on the team. Also I'm testing Chople Berry vs Leftovers.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP | 252 Sp.Atk |252 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk | 30 Sp.Atk | 30 Spe
Nature: Modest
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Hidden Power Fire

Celebi is my main sweeper and helps a bunch against rain teams. Nasty Plot to boost my Sp.Atk by 2 and to aid in a sweep. Giga drain as my stab option, hits really hard against things that don't resist it, and the passive recovery is always nice. Psychic to F**k up frail fighting type pokemon and allow me to hit Dragonite and Salamence for good damage. Hidden Power Fire rounds off the coverage and allows me to KO pokemon such as Scizor and Ferrothorn. 252 Sp.Att evs allows me to hit 654 after a Nasty Plot allowing me to decimate anything that doesn't resist its moves, 252 Spe to be fairly fast and outspeed things like Adamant Lucario and others.

Rotom-W @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 68 HP | 252 Sp.Atk | 190 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk | 30 Sp.Atk
Nature: Timid
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Trick
- Hidden Power Grass

The move set and EVs on this Rotom are fairly straight forward. 252 Sp.attack combined with a Choice Specs allows Rotom to hit like a tank with his STABs while at the same time gaining switch advantage with Volt Switch. The EVs allow Rotom to out speed, adamant Lucario while giving it the most power and bulk available. Volt Switch for switch advantage, Hydro Pump to nail Ground types on the switch, and finally Hidden Power Grass to destroy the uncommon yet extremely annoying, Heatran, Skarmory, Gastrodon core.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP | 232 Def | 24 Spe
Nature: Impish
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Brave Bird

This is my physical wall of the team, it can switch into many things well most notably Scizor and Gliscors and proceed to setup entry hazards, putting pressure on the opponent, making him really have to think about switches. The chosen EVs are used to give Skarmory the maximum amount of physical bulk, while allowing him to outspeed CB Tyranitar.

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Rock Slide

Terrakion has quickly became known as one of the hardest hitters in the current meta, due to its excellent STABs in Close Combat and Stone Edge, and a Great attack, and speed stat, and for icing on the cake, it gets a 1.5x boost to its special defense thanks to the Sand. Close Combat, Stone Edge and X-Scissor are all standard on choiced Terrakion, but its filler move, is Rock Slide. It's Rock Slide because it still has the ability to 1hko a Volcarona, without the huge accuracy loss. Finally it is Choice Scarfed over Banded to allow it to outspeed many threats to my team such as Dragonite after a Dragon Dance and ko through the multiscale with a nice STAB Stone Edge.

Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP | 4 Sp.Atk | 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Roost
- Roar
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse

The standard Roar CM Latias, it's job is to aid in the removal of Pokemon such as Rotom-W, Celebi and other slower Sp.Attackers, not to mentions its ability to shut down most Sun and Rain teams with relative ease. The moves and EVs are pretty obvious, max speed allows Latias to outrun most things and hit hard before they can touch it, Calm mind is to allow latias' Dragon pulse to hit like a truck while making other special attacks bounce off it, Roost to regain health and lengthen the sweep, and roar to allow me to setup on pokes such as CM reuniclus then roar it away.
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[SuckaPunch123]

Reserved for threat list

 

[KorKonT]

Pursuit+Crunch is rather useless, especially considering most Pokemon weak to Crunch will try to switch or be forced to stick in a battle with Tyranitar, with most Ghost or Psychic pokemon being specially based so they can't dent him. I'd use Fire Blast or Fire Punch.
-Why are you using Sassy over Jolly? You should only use Sassy if you are using a mixed set.
-Max Sp. Def on Tyranitar is unnessesary, add some defense EVs to protect it from some select physical threats, such as Scizor.

 

[SuckaPunch123]

See that is untrue, Crunch + Pursuit is very useful, for taking out reuniclus, as well as being able to trap other strong special attackers like latias and latios. Also Sassy over Careful as i presumed you meant, allows me to take less damage from gyro ball and max sp.def is really the only viable option on a specially defensive tyranitar because you do not want to stay in on a scizor anyways.

 

[KorKonT]

While it takes out Reuniclus, the only option it has is to use Focus Blast, which isn't terribly powerful considering you have a max sp. def set. removing either Pursuit or Crunch would allow you to use a fire-type move to get the kill on Scizor which would otherwise be troublesome on a team such as this. These are just ideas for a team I never used, excuse me. Not trying to be pushy.

 

[LighTz911]

Uh, I say just use Fire Blast over Earthquake. Earthquake only hits Heatran and Tyranitar, both of which are easily addressed by your team (Latias, Terrakion, Rotom-w for Heatran, and Terrakion, Skarmory, and Rotom-w for Tyranitar). This way, you can both defeat Reuniclus while at the same time trapping Latios, Starmie, etc.

 

[SuckaPunch123]

Yea atm I am trying Fire blast over EQ which is working for me okay, but losing a reliable switch into heatran is annoying sometimes, if its the offensive set latias can wall it all day anyways, as well as defensive without roar. Also jsyk, a focus blast from a reuniclus can ohko a Tyranitar, so the ability to hit it hard and ko quickly is always nice. Even though it only does around 80% so a little prior damage can allow me to ohko it.

 

[LUST]

Hey

Solid team. It is definitely well-built, although it fails to stand up against opposing Calm Mind users such as Jirachi, Reuniclus. Maxed out Hp and Special Defense on Tyranitar doesn't gives you insurance against them as they pack significant amount of bulk paired with super effective moves. Reuniclus can switch in and easily set up on Terrakion as he Close Combats, Rotom-W can Trick it but you don't want to lose it early in the game. +1 Calm Mind Reuniclus's Focus Blast does about 75.25% - 89.11% to Tyranitar under Standstorm which is an easy 2 hits to KO without hazard damage, Trick Room variant's Focus Blast OHKO's Tyranitar effortlessly. Gengar could also be problematic as it utilizes Sub Disable set efficiently. Therefore, I recommend you to run Roar on your Latias. From there, she can set up with Calm Mind, which allows her to hit like a truck after two or three boosts while buffering her against special attacks. Recover further enhances her durability, restoring half of her health in a single turn. Leftovers is also a nice boost, giving her additional recovery while negating damage from sandstorm and hail. In terms of attacking, Dragon Pulse is about as good as it gets, providing solid power before boosting while hitting incredibly hard after Calm Mind. Roar is an interesting option for phazing the opponent and racking up entry hazard damage, while stopping setup sweepers as well. Status is annoying on Latias but Skarmory can absorb potential Thunder Wave and Toxic. Roar fits perfectly in your team because it can do serious damage after the boosts and entry hazards damage. This set let's you defeat opposing Calm Mind users nicely and give your Terrakion opportunity for late game sweeping. You can comfortably predict switches into Tyranitar or Scizor and deal with it appropriately.

Calm Mind Latias

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Roost
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Roar

Next thing you need is Chople Berry on Tyranitar to decimate Gengar which can be troublesome for your other sweepers. Chople Berry + Sandstream definitely shuts down Sub Disable or Sub Split variants of Gengar. You can also run Fire Blast on Tyranitar for Scizors to benefit your Celebi / Latias / Terrakion sweep. I don't know what are you achieving with those evs on Celebi, they don't aid you whatsoever. Thus, Offensive Celebi would be an excellent replacement for your current one. With Nasty Plot, Celebi's power is augmented to astronomical numbers, ensuring it makes maximum impact before fainting. On top of this, because of its high defenses, good typing, access to recovery and convenient ability in Natural Cure, Celebi can survive many attacks, use Nasty Plot, and fire off its boosted attacks with zest. Giga Drain is Celebi's main attacking move, providing consistent stab damage along with gaining HP back. Hidden Power Fire is essential in preventing Celebi from being walled by the likes of Scizor, Ferrothorn and Skarmory. According to your team Earth Power doesn't seems to fits in well, where Psychic lets you stomp on many Fighting mons like Breloom, Conkeldurr who could be problematic with proper support. Leftovers is an ideal option as it provides you with consistent recovery. Modest nature with Maxed out Special Attack and Speed would make Celebi even more threatening. Spikes and Stealth Rocks damages gives your sweepers an upper edge, while your opponent struggles to find a perfect opportunity to spin them away. Good Luck!

Standard Tyranitar

Tyranitar (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast / Earthquake

Nasty Plot Celebi

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psychic

 

[Shineygengar]

i really like this team, and i think i might use it for unrated battles until i get a decent team of my own (i'll credit you). i'm not that good of a team rater, but i can only really question the use of sub on latias. i know its a subCM set but i never found status being using on my reqular CM latias (same set but w/ hp fire). its not like latias is a status absorber or cleric. so i recommend trying it at least unless you have a real good reason not to. and because you already have a counter to heatran, like, the only thing that resists dragon+fire, you get perfect type coverage.

 

[SuckaPunch123]

Hey

Solid team. It is definitely well-built, although it fails to stand up against opposing Calm Mind users such as Jirachi, Reuniclus. Maxed out Hp and Special Defense on Tyranitar doesn't gives you insurance against them as they pack significant amount of bulk paired with super effective moves. Reuniclus can switch in and easily set up on Terrakion as he Close Combats, Rotom-W can Trick it but you don't want to lose it early in the game. +1 Calm Mind Reuniclus's Focus Blast does about 75.25% - 89.11% to Tyranitar under Standstorm which is an easy 2 hits to KO without hazard damage, Trick Room variant's Focus Blast OHKO's Tyranitar effortlessly. Gengar could also be problematic as it utilizes Sub Disable set efficiently. Therefore, I recommend you to run Roar on your Latias. From there, she can set up with Calm Mind, which allows her to hit like a truck after two or three boosts while buffering her against special attacks. Recover further enhances her durability, restoring half of her health in a single turn. Leftovers is also a nice boost, giving her additional recovery while negating damage from sandstorm and hail. In terms of attacking, Dragon Pulse is about as good as it gets, providing solid power before boosting while hitting incredibly hard after Calm Mind. Roar is an interesting option for phazing the opponent and racking up entry hazard damage, while stopping setup sweepers as well. Status is annoying on Latias but Skarmory can absorb potential Thunder Wave and Toxic. Roar fits perfectly in your team because it can do serious damage after the boosts and entry hazards damage. This set let's you defeat opposing Calm Mind users nicely and give your Terrakion opportunity for late game sweeping. You can comfortably predict switches into Tyranitar or Scizor and deal with it appropriately.

Calm Mind Latias

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Roost
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Roar

Next thing you need is Chople Berry on Tyranitar to decimate Gengar which can be troublesome for your other sweepers. Chople Berry + Sandstream definitely shuts down Sub Disable or Sub Split variants of Gengar. You can also run Fire Blast on Tyranitar for Scizors to benefit your Celebi / Latias / Terrakion sweep. I don't know what are you achieving with those evs on Celebi, they don't aid you whatsoever. Thus, Offensive Celebi would be an excellent replacement for your current one. With Nasty Plot, Celebi's power is augmented to astronomical numbers, ensuring it makes maximum impact before fainting. On top of this, because of its high defenses, good typing, access to recovery and convenient ability in Natural Cure, Celebi can survive many attacks, use Nasty Plot, and fire off its boosted attacks with zest. Giga Drain is Celebi's main attacking move, providing consistent stab damage along with gaining HP back. Hidden Power Fire is essential in preventing Celebi from being walled by the likes of Scizor, Ferrothorn and Skarmory. According to your team Earth Power doesn't seems to fits in well, where Psychic lets you stomp on many Fighting mons like Breloom, Conkeldurr who could be problematic with proper support. Leftovers is an ideal option as it provides you with consistent recovery. Modest nature with Maxed out Special Attack and Speed would make Celebi even more threatening. Spikes and Stealth Rocks damages gives your sweepers an upper edge, while your opponent struggles to find a perfect opportunity to spin them away. Good Luck!

Standard Tyranitar

Tyranitar (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast / Earthquake

Nasty Plot Celebi

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psychic

Hey, thanks for the rate, I just made all of the changes bar ones to T-tar, because AB2 once told me "Standard Tyranitar is the worst one" Me- "Why?" Ab2-"Because it should be your main switch in to Latios yet it is 2hkoed by a specs surf hindering its usefulness as a counter" Ever since then I've always just ran specially defensive. But, I did add the chople berry.

 

[SuckaPunch123]

i really like this team, and i think i might use it for unrated battles until i get a decent team of my own (i'll credit you). i'm not that good of a team rater, but i can only really question the use of sub on latias. i know its a subCM set but i never found status being using on my reqular CM latias (same set but w/ hp fire). its not like latias is a status absorber or cleric. so i recommend trying it at least unless you have a real good reason not to. and because you already have a counter to heatran, like, the only thing that resists dragon+fire, you get perfect type coverage.

Subcm latias is actually a great set, because you can come in on a special attacker that cannot do more than 25% damage with its moves, sub, its isnt broken because less than 25% then calm mind and repeat untill you get high enough to sweep, then begin to sweep from behind a sub so nothing can touch you.

 

[Shineygengar]

i see, but i personally don't like the coverage of just dragon. but sub seems fool proof i guess as long as you know the opponents special attack is only going to do 24% or less and if they switch you get a free sub. but did you change it to roar?

 

[SuckaPunch123]

Yes, it is roar for now, just to see how it goes. If it doesnt work out ill be going back to sub.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hey there.

Stall teams seem like they could cause problems for your team, as they can just spin away your hazards and phaze you around. Nothing on your team can really break through Blissey + Gliscor. Terrakion is also your only real physical attacker, and it doesn't hit amazingly hard. In order to alleviate your weakness to stall and give your team much more power on the physical side, I suggest that you change your Tyranitar to a Choice Band variant with an EV Spread of 216 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Speed with an Adamant nature. The moveset should be Crunch / Pursuit / Stone Edge / Superpower. The EV spread lets Tyranitar outrun standard Jellicent and decimate it with Crunch before it can burn Tyranitar. Pursuit lets Tyraitar destroy fleeing Pokemon, which can be especially useful against stall, as Tyranitar can destroy Pokemon such as Blissey, who is otherwise a major threat to your team. Stone Edge hits incredily hard, and Superpower hits Steel-types. This Tyranitar can also destroy Calm Mind Reuniclus, who is a major threat to your team at the moment.

Also, Rock Slide on Terrakion is not really that useful because of its low power, so instead of that, run Earthquake. Earthquake can easily destroy threats such as Toxicroak, who can do some damage to your team otherwise.

Finally, run Psychic over Earth Power on Celebi. Heatran isn't really that much of a threat to your team since you have Terrakion, Latias, and Rotom-W, so Earth Power's utility is lessened. Psychic, on the other hand, is extremely useful since it can allow Celebi to defeat Dragonite after a Nasty Plot (and Stealth Rock support). This is very useful since DD Dragonite can do some damage to your team otherwise, and Celebi is the Pokemon it has the easiest time setting up against.

Very solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!

 

[SuckaPunch123]

Hey there.

Stall teams seem like they could cause problems for your team, as they can just spin away your hazards and phaze you around. Nothing on your team can really break through Blissey + Gliscor. Terrakion is also your only real physical attacker, and it doesn't hit amazingly hard. In order to alleviate your weakness to stall and give your team much more power on the physical side, I suggest that you change your Tyranitar to a Choice Band variant with an EV Spread of 216 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Speed with an Adamant nature. The moveset should be Crunch / Pursuit / Stone Edge / Superpower. The EV spread lets Tyranitar outrun standard Jellicent and decimate it with Crunch before it can burn Tyranitar. Pursuit lets Tyraitar destroy fleeing Pokemon, which can be especially useful against stall, as Tyranitar can destroy Pokemon such as Blissey, who is otherwise a major threat to your team. Stone Edge hits incredily hard, and Superpower hits Steel-types. This Tyranitar can also destroy Calm Mind Reuniclus, who is a major threat to your team at the moment.

Also, Rock Slide on Terrakion is not really that useful because of its low power, so instead of that, run Earthquake. Earthquake can easily destroy threats such as Toxicroak, who can do some damage to your team otherwise.

Finally, run Psychic over Earth Power on Celebi. Heatran isn't really that much of a threat to your team since you have Terrakion, Latias, and Rotom-W, so Earth Power's utility is lessened. Psychic, on the other hand, is extremely useful since it can allow Celebi to defeat Dragonite after a Nasty Plot (and Stealth Rock support). This is very useful since DD Dragonite can do some damage to your team otherwise, and Celebi is the Pokemon it has the easiest time setting up against.

Very solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!

Sorry, a CB tyranitar is not an option, and Rock slide on terrakion gives me a better accuracy rock type move to hit Volcarona and flying types.

 

[coughing]

Hi there, nice team,
i couldn't help but notice that you mention crunch and pursuit being useful against reuniclus, whereas KorKonT said it was useless. Now you have made changes to your latias the calm mind variant of reuniclus is taken care of. Of course to every team TR reuniclus is trouble, so i'd definitely use that chople berry on T-tar, and also remove either crunch or pursuit IMO, superpower or stone edge would be more useful in its place now. With chople you can switch in on the trick room, take a hit from focus blast, hit back, take another hit (not likely due to focus miss) if you run pursuit or the crunch should KO

 

[SuckaPunch123]

Sorry, once again, Crunch and Pursuit on Tyranitar is non-negotiable because depending on the situation both are nice, example switching into a Choice specs latias that used Hidden power fire, Pursuit will bring a quick end to it because it is doing almost nothing with hp fire so it must switch, however the chople berry is now on tyranitar even though sometimes I wish I had leftovers.

 

[Jets]

i recommend running recover>roost since STAB

okay so your running the standard skarm + latias combo. why dont you carry a spin blocker? most teams like this are built with jellicent and scarf ttar (OHKO and outspeeds starmie). so you should try and fit in jellicent somewhere, maybe over celebi since you already have a special sweeper in latias.

 

[SuckaPunch123]

Sorry jets, as that would give me yet another grass weakness as well as another defensive pokemon which I do not need. As well as T-tar is for setting up rocks, and I already have a much better choice scarfer in Terrakion. And idc what you say, roost is cooler than recover ;) Some interesting ideas though.

 

[Aichan]

I don't think Tyranitar is neccessary in this team. Rotom, Celebi, Latios have trouble with the sandstorm so you either should replace them with something else (especially Rotom-W should go). That being said, the whole concept in a sand team would be wrecked anyways so you should either decide to keep it as it is or (what i recommend) change Tyranitar into Metagross or Heatran.

 

[SuckaPunch123]

Tyranitar is very necessary for this team, Rotom W and Celebi are completely walled by Latios and Latias, while Tyranitar allows me to eliminate them easily. Also you tell me to do things with no justification behind it whatsoever. So I don't think I will be making any changes to my team regarding your suggestions.

 

[CaseyL]

Sorry jets, as that would give me yet another grass weakness as well as another defensive pokemon which I do not need. As well as T-tar is for setting up rocks, and I already have a much better choice scarfer in Terrakion. And idc what you say, roost is cooler than recover ;) Some interesting ideas though.

Recover is a lot better than Roost, Latias will lose its ground immunity if it Roosts, but otherwise they're identical.

 

[Methmite]

Recover is a lot better than Roost, Latias will lose its ground immunity if it Roosts, but otherwise they're identical.

Roost removes the flying type, not ground immunity. Since Latias isn't flying type, and gains its immunity from Levitate, It will not lose its immunity.

<edit>: did some one really credit Recover > Roost due to STAB? I'm not sure if trolling...

I like the team a lot. My biggest complain would be Skarmory; it looks like it would slow the team down a lot. I dont really have a replacement for it though.

Maybe concider a Tinkerbell set on Celebi over a Nasty Plot? I've always enjoyed using it and it's worked awesome; but thats just preference. Great team guy.

 

[KorKonT]

One idea would be to replace Choice Scarf Terrakion with Choice Band Scizor. This allows one to remove Tyranitar's pursuit and replace with Superpower.

 

[SuckaPunch123]

Choice Scarfed Terrakion is used to remove Dragonite and Volcarona from the game with a swift stone edge/rock slide allowing celebi to sweep easier, and skarm is there to give me a solid switch into CB scizor that other wise, wrecks this team. And finally I wish people would stop trying to convince me to get rid of pursuit/crunch on Tyranitar, its staying the way it is because it works. The only move im unsure of atm is the filler move which right now is low kick.