A Sand Team: in today's format.

Disconnectedamilliontimes · Apr 22, 2013

So this is my very, very, VERY first RMT! So I want to get a few things straight: I'm what many of you would call, "noob" but I came here to get some help with this team, which mainly needs help on movesets. So first of all I will introduce the team. Oh, and did I mention that its a sand team? :naughty:

=== [ou] The Sand Team ===

FatHippy (Hippowdon) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 244 Def / 12 SDef
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind

cutie (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 240 HP / 248 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave

Mantis (Scizor) (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- U-turn
- Superpower

Miami (Heatran) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 56 HP / 252 SAtk / 200 Spd
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse

shiningrust (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Surf

washer (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 20 SAtk / 232 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

And yes, this is Pokemon Showdown readable.

NOTE: skip this part until the next note if you're not a fan of reading.

So my inspiration for this team was from Bribery's RMT, and my team was like boring. It had basically the exact same thing, except I had scizor instead of Genesect and dugtrio instead of Gothitelle. As you can tell, it didn't do well. So I changed dugtrio to sandslash, but I didn't like that either. So made a new team with hippowdon, thundurus-t, starmie, scizor, gothitelle, and terrakion. That wasn't terribly good, but it was pretty okay-ish (actually terrible). So then i changed thundurus-t for rotom-w and gothitelle for latias. The team was still "okay", but i decided to remove terrakion for heatran. And then celebi replaced latias, and i have my team now.

NOTE: you may start reading again

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FatHippy (Hippowdon) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 244 Def / 12 SDef
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind

Hippowdon or Tyranitar? One of the biggest decisions to make. Its not like there's any other weather with two viable weather starters (in ubers, kyogre outclasses politoed). I would've chose tyranitar if this was ubers, but I think there's a LOT of physical attackers in OU so i chose Hippowdon. I use a Physically defensive set, and standard moves.

cutie (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave

Another classic. This has near-perfect synergy with heatran, and thats something i enjoy. Its an amazing special tank for its typing, what can i say. Thunder wave stops speedy sweepers like latios, and u turn and give celebi a getaway from scizors with pursuit. Giga Drain and Recover sounds redundant, but it works!

Mantis (Scizor) (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- U-turn
- Superpower

One of the most important pokemon on my team. It just destroys blissey and riolu. It's also the pokemon on my team with the priority move. And it resists dragon AND ice AND grass. Its very important on this team, and it works well with the rotom-w-celebi-scizor VoltTurn.

shiningrust (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Surf

My spinner! it uses leftovers, not life orb becaus starmie dies way too easily with life orb. Ice beam is great coverage move, and thunderbolt destroys +0 speed gyarados or other pesky water types. Surf is STAB and its surf becaus Rotom has Hydro pump.

Miami (Heatran) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse

mY LEAD.(sorry, caps lock. :nerd: ) It destroys breloom who think its defensive, and is a great surprise pokemon. Overheat is STAB, and the rest is coverage.

washer (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 24 SAtk / 232 SDef /4 Spd
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Rotom, the mighty enemy of Politoed and special attackers! Rotom will annihilate politoed if played correctly and if it predicts a switch, can burn mighty physical attackers. Pain Split for recovery (works great on reuniclus!) and volt switch is for scouting.

Now, let the rating begin!

AJR · Apr 23, 2013

Kinda confusing because you've copied your team down twice? Anyway you might want to fix the formatting if you want to get some rates. It's a shame because off the top of my head it actually looks really solid. The only issue is that it doesn't seem to have any clear focus; you've got some heavy stall elements, but no hazards beyond SR; and a little bit of offense, but it's unfocused and won't put any pressure on a solid defensive core. Basically, you can probably handle offensive teams really well, but something like Skarmory or Ferrothorn will just stack spikes against you and there's really nothing you can do to stop yourself being eventually shredded.

Disconnectedamilliontimes · Apr 23, 2013

AJR said:
Kinda confusing because you've copied your team down twice? Anyway you might want to fix the formatting if you want to get some rates. It's a shame because off the top of my head it actually looks really solid. The only issue is that it doesn't seem to have any clear focus; you've got some heavy stall elements, but no hazards beyond SR; and a little bit of offense, but it's unfocused and won't put any pressure on a solid defensive core. Basically, you can probably handle offensive teams really well, but something like Skarmory or Ferrothorn will just stack spikes against you and there's really nothing you can do to stop yourself being eventually shredded.

Any changes that you would like to make? after all, this IS a Rate My Team.

George Eliot · Apr 23, 2013

Try like SpDef Heatran over your current set, and Skarmory instead of Scizor. SpDef Heatran + SpDef Celebi + Skarm covers Latios sufficiently, but Skarm provides you with Spikes which are invaluable for defensive teams. On Starmie go for a bulky Rapid Spin set (personally I'd use Scald / Rapid Spin / Recover / Reflect Type) with 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe) so it can survive in drawn out battles and vs Pursuit users.

Basically, what these changes do is remove the extra offense from your team, which like AJR said isn't really helping much (offense in small quantities just isn't effective against anything but opposing hyperoffense), and replacing it with more stalling capacity, which seems to be the natural focus of your team.

Hope those suggestions work out, good luck with the team :)

Disconnectedamilliontimes · Apr 24, 2013

George Eliot said:
Try like SpDef Heatran over your current set, and Skarmory instead of Scizor. SpDef Heatran + SpDef Celebi + Skarm covers Latios sufficiently, but Skarm provides you with Spikes which are invaluable for defensive teams. On Starmie go for a bulky Rapid Spin set (personally I'd use Scald / Rapid Spin / Recover / Reflect Type) with 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe) so it can survive in drawn out battles and vs Pursuit users.

Basically, what these changes do is remove the extra offense from your team, which like AJR said isn't really helping much (offense in small quantities just isn't effective against anything but opposing hyperoffense), and replacing it with more stalling capacity, which seems to be the natural focus of your team.

Hope those suggestions work out, good luck with the team :)

Blissey would kill this team after that, i need plysical attackers and skarmory doesn't exactly support that. Skarmory would be another physical wall, and thats handy but to fit everything elese, there's no room. If there's any other physcial attacker alternative, i'll take it.

Psylink · Apr 24, 2013

Add images and descriptions to each of the Pokemon's sets to make sure this thread isn't locked.

George Eliot · Apr 24, 2013

Blissey shouldn't be an issue. You have Starmie and Celebi after all, and Blissey can't touch either of them through Recover except in last mon scenarios. I'd still go with the changes I suggested and if Blissey worries you, use Taunt Skarm and TrickScarf Rotom-W (which would be useful anyway to replace Heatran as your revenge killer).

Disconnectedamilliontimes · May 5, 2013

bump!

Disconnectedamilliontimes · May 11, 2013

will someone please read this? i desperately need help

HuckenbergID · May 15, 2013

If your rotom is your main special sweeper, i think lucario is better. You can set a nasty plot move set on him and you can equip him with a choice scarf since you didn't have any fast sweeper also he's resistant to the sand storm. Meanwhile, this will make your team suffer from the earthquake but if you can get the timing right it won't be a problem :)

I dont care · May 15, 2013

Tar can hits hard celebi and starmie (starmie under sand vs Cbtar: 299 Atk VS 236 Def and 386 HP (95 Base Power): 176 - 208 (45.59% - 53.88%) ) if it's SDefTar is more difficult.

Then, Keldeo can destroy all your team.

So I suggest baton pass on Celebi. With U-turn, CbandTar or Scizor can trap you, with Baton pass they can't.

After all, it's very nice team. ScarfHeatran is interesting for a little surprise versus Landorus (second me hp ice>grass ). X) But pay attention at dragons, maybe Forretress>Starmie, you can also lay spikes.

Disconnectedamilliontimes · May 15, 2013

HuckenbergID said:
If your rotom is your main special sweeper, i think lucario is better. You can set a nasty plot move set on him and you can equip him with a choice scarf since you didn't have any fast sweeper also he's resistant to the sand storm. Meanwhile, this will make your team suffer from the earthquake but if you can get the timing right it won't be a problem :)

Scarftran. Period. Since my team is a little more defensive, I don't think i really need lucario (MUCH too frail). This isn't a sweeping team; its set on annoying your opponent with celebi+heatran+hippowdon+rotom-w and then taking down one poke with scizor/starmie one by one. And starmie is another special sweeper. :)

mafreel said:
Tar can hits hard celebi and starmie (starmie under sand vs Cbtar: 299 Atk VS 236 Def and 386 HP (95 Base Power): 176 - 208 (45.59% - 53.88%) ) if it's SDefTar is more difficult.

Then, Keldeo can destroy all your team.

So I suggest baton pass on Celebi. With U-turn, CbandTar or Scizor can trap you, with Baton pass they can't.

After all, it's very nice team. ScarfHeatran is interesting for a little surprise versus Landorus (second me hp ice>grass ). X) But pay attention at dragons, maybe Forretress>Starmie, you can also lay spikes.

Who will take the physical hits then? But then again I can use forretress+tyranitar. Baton pass, seems good, I'll try it. A keldeo is chekcked by starmie, but the problem is i don't have counters to keldeo. celebi is a check that would work without Icy wind or HP ice. If i use HP ice, do i still have to use dragon pulse? or can i use something else.

I dont care · May 16, 2013

Disconnectedamilliontimes said:
Who will take the physical hits then? But then again I can use forretress+tyranitar. Baton pass, seems good, I'll try it. A keldeo is chekcked by starmie, but the problem is i don't have counters to keldeo. celebi is a check that would work without Icy wind or HP ice. If i use HP ice, do i still have to use dragon pulse? or can i use something else.

Hah? Hippowdon and Forretress (if you want it) can take the physical hits. Starmie check keldeo but it is scared by tyranitar or scizors' pursuit.

Second me celebi hasn't problems versus keldeo's Hp ice, but I didn't calculate; if keldeo is specser, well, it's a problem.

So Psyshock>Thunderbolt on starmie, With psyshock you can kill terrakion and keldeo (i think that terrakion under sand resists at Surf)