A Sandstorm Team Without A Witty Title

[papainfernape95]

Hello all. I don't guess I can say I'm new to RMTs anymore, as this is around my fourth or fifth posted. Hopefully this RMT helps more than others, as I did put some thought into this team, though it's still not winning as much as I'd like it to (that's where you come in).

Anyway, this is my first Sandstorm team. I wanted to abuse the three main advantages that come from Sandstorm: the SpDef boost for Rock-types, residual damage, and the Sand Veil ability. Because the only OU with Sand Veil is Gliscor and I prefer Tyranitar to Hippowdon due to its greater defenses and better offense, I decided the best way to approach the team was to make one that could both stall and break stall, leading me to a semi-stallish team. So, without further ado, here's the team!

TYRANITAR @ CHOICE SCARF
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 120 Atk/136 SpAtk/252 Spd​

-Fire Blast
-Ice Beam
-Crunch
-Earthquake​

I knew I wanted to lead with Tyranitar, because I didn't want to wait to abuse Sandstorm, but also because I didn't want to have a hard time bringing Tyranitar in later. I didn't want Tyranitar to be predictable though, so I tried to think of a set that most people wouldn't predict or handle easily. I thought of a ScarfTar. It's worked decently well. Basically, Tyranitar starts the team at a fast pace and is capable of dealing with other leads quite well, OHKOing or 2HKOing most. For example, Azelf is the number one lead. Most will attempt to Taunt me to prevent me from setting up SR and then switch. Those who take this route with Azelf are promptly Crunched and lose their Azelf. If they intelligently switch, I act accordingly. Here's the plan of action on the other top 10 leads:​

Metagross: This one's a coin flip. It's 2HKOed by Fire Blast, while I am 3HKOed by Bullet Punch. Sounds great. Except Fire Blast has accuracy issues. And most people switch to a Heatran after the first Fire Blast. This will require more testing.​

Swampert: I switch to my Rotom-C, forcing it out and getting a Sub up.​

Aerodactyl: Most will Taunt me or SR, so unless they Earthquake first turn, I can 2HKO with Ice Beam.​

Jirachi: Tries to Trick most often, locking itself into Trick when it just gets another Choice Scarf. I can spam Earthquake meanwhile.​

Infernape: I'm faster and can Earthquake to kill it, since the Sash will break (thank you Sandstorm!), but it almost always requires sacrificing Tyranitar to Close Combat.​

Roserade: Haven't seen one. But I'm assuming Fire Blast can 2HKO.​

Heatran: Promptly Earthquaked. Works beautifully.​

Smeargle: Crunch OHKOes.​

Hippowdon: I can only 3HKO with Ice Beam. I stay in and Ice Beam, because Earthquake 2HKOes me, not OHKOes, so I can see what they do. If they SR, I try to KO it. If they Earthquake, I take my almost half damage inflicted and bolt to Gliscor.​

All in all, a decent lead, and it can even come back in late-game to revenge-kill and break stall/set a fast pace. I'm kind of wanting more though, so I'm open to suggestion as far as moves or EVs.​

GLISCOR @ LEFTOVERS
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/40 Def/216 Spd​

-Earthquake
-Taunt
-Roost
-U-turn​

I LOVE this Gliscor. Most definitely the MVP. This is Smogon's Stallbreaker set, but it does an equally good job of stalling. The idea is for Gliscor to Taunt things slower than it hoping to use status moves (Rotom Subbing, Hippowdon SRing or Toxicing, Celebi Recovering, Blissey Softboling, etc.) and then Roosting to recover their attempts to damage it and/or spamming Earthquake for damage and/or U-turning to scout and get an advantageous switch. If I need to stall, I can just alternate Roost and Taunt. Stalling only works whenever Tentacruel's laid down Toxic Spikes, however. I'm considering replacing U-turn with Toxic however, so I can still stall out Levitators and Flying-types. U-turn is useful but not a necessity, so I'm open to change there besides Toxic if you think there's a better option. Still, Gliscor has done a great job overall.​

QUAGSIRE @ LEFTOVERS
Nature: Impish
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP/96 Atk/160 Def​

-Earthquake
-Ice Beam
-Yawn
-Recover​

Now, before you tell me to run a virtually identical set with Swampert, NO. I will not. This is why. The first two members of my team I decided on were Tyranitar and Gliscor. They shared a glaring Water weakness that I wanted to fix, but I still wanted the Pokémon to be immune to Sandstorm. Unlike Swampert, Quagsire has Water Absorb, allowing it to come in with impunity on Water attacks aimed at the two, and heal some damage. Not only that, Quagsire's movepool is better. Recover is great for both stalling (again, Toxic Spikes down is necessary) and keeping Quagsire alive to tank. Yawn lets me pHaze and send out something that either threatens Quagsire or isn't poisoned by the Toxic Spikes and thus can't be stalled to death. The EVs in Attack let Quagsire OHKO even 252 HP Heatran even without SR using Earthquake, so the Attack EVs and Earthquake stay. However, Ice Beam's not seen much use, so I am open to another attack. I've considered Stone Edge to help cover Gyarados.​

TENTACRUEL @ LEFTOVERS
Nature: Calm
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP/120 Def/136 SpDef​

-Toxic Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Sludge Bomb
-Surf​

Tentacruel feels a little out of place on this team, and only does a mediocre job. While it does usually get the TSpikes up (if I manage to get it out early game and even then it isn't easy), afterward it contributes very little. It's pretty bulky and is something of a special sponge, but it still doesn't do much. I'm considering dropping Rapid Spin for something else, really anything else, because nothing on my team is weak to SR, two-thirds is immune to TSpikes and half is immune to Spikes, not to mention that half the team has reliable recovery. The question is with what to replace it. I'd even be open to another Toxic Spiker IF you can find a really good one, becuase this is also another much-needed Water resist for me, as well as being my only Ice resistant team member.​

ROTOM-C @ LEFTOVERS
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP/68 Def/188 Spd​

-Substitute
-Will-O-Wisp
-Discharge
-Leaf Storm​

This is my variation on Smogon's Defensive Substitute set. I needed a spin-blocker to keep my T-Spikes down, so I already knew I wanted a Rotom-Appliance. Then I realized that the most common one (Rotom-H) really didn't do anything more for my team, as I already had a Scizor counter in Gliscor (and to an extent Quagsire). However, I did see a slight problem with Swampert, and so Rotom-C came in. Quite honestly, it does the aforementioned jobs excellently but I feel this set doesn't help it reach its fullest potential. However, WoW is great for crippling physical attackers to keep the team alive and for stalling out burn damage (which still does substantial damage through Lefties when factoring in Sandstorm), and of course Leaf Storm can heavily damage bulky Waters and Grounds. The other two moveslots are just kinda there though, and I'm once again open to suggestion.​

LATIAS @ LEFTOVERS
Nature: Timid
EVs: 128 HP/128 SpAtk/128 Spd​

-Calm Mind
-Recover
-Dragon Pulse
-Refresh​

Ah, Latias. An old favorite of mine. She excels at so much. Anyway, I'm using a Defensive Calm Mind Latias. This works quite well, and the point is simple. Latias is another valuable Water resist and she can either stall by alternating CM and Recover or she can break stall and hit hard by taking only a couple CMs and then sweeping with her naturally high speed. Dragon Pulse's famed neutral coverage is fantastic and appreciated on a set like this, and Refresh rids her of annoying paralysis and poison. She's magnificent. I generally bring Latias out late-game when the Steels are gone or weakened and nothing can pose an immediate threat so she has time to set up enough CMs.​

And that's the team! The main issues I think are synergy and move choices, but that's of course for you to decide. Credit goes to Arkeis.com for the images. Thanks for reading and rating!!​

 

[iShedinja]

A couple of things. I don't think I can offiicially call this a Sand storm team since you have, what 3 pokemon to abuse it? A real sandstorm team abuses sandstorm and has 6 pokemon to do it. I'll recommend to either change the team entirely to a more traditional balanced OU, or change more pokemon to those that abuse sandstorm.


Now to rate what you have~!

First of all, I feel as if hippowdon will be a more sturdier lead than tyranitar. It does a fantastic job getting rocks up, and it even roars away opponents. This team can seriously use stealth rocks, and a scarfed tyranitar can't even ohko an Areodactel due to the focus sash.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Impish| 252 hp/168 def/88 sp.def
Earthquake / Roar / Stealth rocks / Slack off

You're also terribly Salamence weak. You have nothing that can outspeed it after a dragon dance. This is why I'll recommend you add a choice scarf on Latias

Latias @ Scarf
Timid | 252 sp.atk/4 hp/252 spe
Draco meteor / Surf / Trick / HP fire



-iShedinja

 

[The SPrinkLer]

Currently, you have nothing to take strong dragon type attacks. I think a better Pokemon would work in place of it. Use the standard Forretress with Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, Earthquake, and Gyro Ball. This will allow you to at least have an answer to Salamence, as well as Latias. You also do the same things Tentacruel does by Spinning away hazards and laying down Toxic Spikes. You could change the set up some, but since it's almost like Tentacruel's I wouldn't advise it. I hope this helps, and good luck with the team!

 

[papainfernape95]

Currently, you have nothing to take strong dragon type attacks. I think a better Pokemon would work in place of it. Use the standard Forretress with Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, Earthquake, and Gyro Ball. This will allow you to at least have an answer to Salamence, as well as Latias. You also do the same things Tentacruel does by Spinning away hazards and laying down Toxic Spikes. You could change the set up some, but since it's almost like Tentacruel's I wouldn't advise it. I hope this helps, and good luck with the team!

I really like that suggestion, Sprinkles. I'll definitely put Forry in. Do I still need Rapid Spin, though, given the reasons I suggested? If you think so then I'll probably keep it. Also, I don't think I'd use Earthquake for much, so should I replace it with something like Spikes or Rest? And one last question: after putting him in, won't I need more special bulk? The only specially sturdy members of my team would then be Latias and Tyranitar.

And would it be a good idea to switch Latias to a defensive Empoleon? I'm not losing that much special bulk, and Empoleon can get Lefties recovery in Sandstorm, and can set up SR and shuffle with Roar.

To iShedinja (I can't double quote, sorry), I listed the reasons why I'm using Tyranitar over Hippowdon. And if every member had a way to abuse Sandstorm, I'd have some major typing weaknesses both defensively and offensively. A core of 3 is about right, with 3 supporters so the Sandstorm abusers don't get wiped out.

 

[Sheshi]

Just a minor nitpick. On Tentacruel, as it stands, its Gyarados set-up bait. To solve this, I suggest HP Electric over Ice Beam. Also, have you considered using a TauntSkarm? It deals with opposing stall teams while helping you rack up residual damage with Spikes.
Skarmory @ Leftovers
Impish Nature, 252 HP, 216 SPD, 16 ATK, 26 DEF
-Taunt
-Spikes
-Whirlwind / Brave Bird
-Roost
The third slot depends on whether you want to phaze/you don't want to be taunt bait. If you do use Skarmory, then I suggest maybe putting it in over Latias.

 

[The SPrinkLer]

Well, if you don't find yourself using Earthquake much, use Spikes I guess. I generally find that it's hard-pressed to get up 5 layers of Spikes total, though. I don't think you should replace Latias, because currently, that's your answer to Infernape. =[

EDIT: Here are some things I forgot to mention earlier, and I think I can help you with some other things on your team. Forrtress generally isn't the best answer to any variant of Salamence, only the ones locked into Outrage. Salamence can set up on Gliscor, and proceed to OHKO every one of your team members. To help with Salamence even better, I think you should replace Quagsire with a Swampert. Swampert runs an almost identical moveset, except it can actually stand up to a +1 Salamence, and OHKO it with Ice Beam. Since you currently lack a restalker, I want you to try a standard Swampert with the moveset of Ice Beam, Earthquake, Stealth Rock, and Yawn. This will provide an answer to Salamence, as well as providing a user of Stealth Rock and tank. Go with EVs of 252 HP, 252 Def and 6 SpA, with a Relaxed nature. Stealth Rock is a neccessity on almost every team, and you currently lack it. Use this change, along with the suggestion of Forretress. I hope this helps, and good luck with the team!