A Sandy Tomb

Introduction:
After playing with my rain team for a while i decided i needed a change of scenery and after realising that sandstorm teams dominate the top of the leaderboard I decided to have a crack. I started off with tyranitar and excadrill, then i slapped on rotom w who i knew could wreck rain teams from experience, heatran to take care of sun teams, and celebi to deal with psychics, the only thing that was missing was a priority user and so
I used scizor as my last poke. This team has managed to reach around a 1350 rating ranked about 150th last round however i would like to be able to consistently be in the top 150 and this team has many weaknesses in particular to fighting types which is why i am posting it here.
I hope you enjoy...

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Changes will be made in bold



Analysis

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Tyranitar @ chople berry
Nature: Brave (+atk - spe)
Trait: Sandstream
Evs: 252 hp/186 atk/ 68 spdef

- stealth rock
- fire blast
- pursuit
- stone edge

I found this set on the wolfgang rmt posted by Franky and it serves me well with lots of utility, this guy sets up rocks and traps psychics and latios who can wreck this team with powerful draco meteors. Stone edge is a powerful stab move coming off 380 attack and with chople berry i can survive a focus blast off of thundurus and hopefully ko back if stone edge actually hits. Fire blast is a nice move 2hkoing ferrothorn and skarmoury who is a royal pain and also hitting all those cocky excadrills who think they can set up a swords dance as i switch, which they always do. This guy has great bulk and can withstand a lot of punishment however he is at a disadvantage against other weather starters as ninetales tends to burn him and politoed hit him with super effective water moves. I have found pursuit to not be very effective as trapped pokes tend to stay in and jellicent burns me then laughs as i attempt to ko it.

Changes? I am really open to suggestions for this guy, choice band, dragon dance all seem like sets i would like to try out and i also want to switch pursuit for crunch and give this guy enough evs to outspeed jellicent. I have thought of giving him fire puch over fire blast and running modest nature then dumping some hp evs into speed. Please suggest an effective set for this guy and i will try it out as i dont think i am using him to his full potential.


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Excadrill @ air balloon
Nature: Adamant
Trait: sand rush
Evs: 252 atk/ 252 spe

- swords dance
- earthquake
- rock slide
- rapid spin

The king of the sand himself. With 410 attack and 550 speed this guy is a sweeper of monstrous proportions as we all know. Stab earthquake demolishes and rock slide provides great coverage and the insanely broken np thundurus becomes no problem thundurus as is he outsped and koed with rock slide. This guy comes out to wreck late game when his counters are removed which can all be beaten except bronzong with some rock slide flinch hax. Rapid spin is a crazy move on this guy as there isn’t a spin blocker that can survive blocking this guy, and helps to handle stall well. Air balloon gives him some great opportunities to switch in and beat non balloon excadrill. Despite everyone knowing him to be a massive threat this guy still racks up a tonne of kills and is the MVP of the team without a doubt, even without sand he can still cause some damage against rain teams.

Changes: life orb? Suggest away

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Scizor @ life orb
Nature: Adamant
Trait: technician
Evs: 232 hp/ 252 atk/ 24 spe

- Swords dance
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Bug Bite

This gal is probably my favourite pokemon to use and is one every one of my teams. She ( rivalry haxorus usage means she is female) is great for revenging things with her powerful bullet punches and with 2 swords dances the only things that can survive a bullet punch without taking large amounts of damage are 4x resistors. Whilst life orb does reduce her survivability i find that the extra damage output more than makes up for it allowing her to ohko some things with a boosted bullet punch that she wouldn’t normally be able to. Superpower is a good move to ohko ferrothorn after a sd and do 60 percent to skarmoury whilst also being able to hit magnezone and heatran if i predict the switch in. Scizor can also revenge one of the biggest threats to this team, terrakion but she is going to be switching into any close combats because choice band will probably ko. Also after a few close combats she can hopefully revenge infernape if they are causing too much havoc. scizor straight up counters reuniclus and can come in on a -2 latios and do some damage although she isn’t switching into draco meteor which does over 60 percent (p.s latios is broken and needs banned).

Changes: With enter the dragon, magdrag teams are on the increase and if june’s statistics show a significant increase in magnezone usage i might slap on a shed shell as it would be nice to save scizor and grab heatran a flash fire boost off an unsuspecting magnezone.



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Dragonite @choice band
Nature: Adamant (+ atk -spa)
Trait: Multi Scale
Evs: 252 atk/ 130 hp/ 122 spe

-Outrage
-extremespeed
-Fire Punch
-Earthquake

Cb dragonite is being used over heatran bringing grass, water, and fighting resistances which helps with the fighting weakness, and also a nice ground immunity like heatran. Outrage does a lot of damage and can 2hko physical walls like gliscor, fire punch is for skarmoury and other steels and earthquake to hit other steels like jirachi.
Extremespeed means he can clean up late game even outspeeding other priority as extremespeed is +2 and he can kill weakened mamoswine and weavile who are trying to ohko with ice shard.
He also fills heatrans role of countering sun teams as the two main stabs of fire and grass that are thrown about in sun are both resisted, seeing as sun teams usually only carry one steel after that is removed extremespeed does a tonne of damage and wrecks sun teams and if they dont have a steel this guy is bound to grab at least 2 kos if i avoid a burn from ninetales.
Overall this guy is doing very well but this spot is still being tested



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Rotom-W @ leftovers
Nature: Modest ( +spa - atk)
Trait: levitate
Evs: 124 hp/ 252 spa/ 132 spe

- hydro pump
- thunderbolt
- will o wisp
- pain split

Rotom W is one of the useful members of the team and never disappoints. One of his key roles is in countering rain teams and in tandem with celebi he can wreck them. His moveset is standard for non choiced rotom-w with 2 stabs, wow for burning ferrothorn and other physical attackers and pain split for recovery. Rotom is fairly bulky and provides a much needed water resist on the team, also at fullish health he can take an infernape close combat and ko back with hydro pump or thunderbolt which is important as infernape is a powerful threat to this team. Levitate also means that this guy can handle common sandstorm threats such as gliscor and excadrill provding that hydro pump hits on the latter and that rock slide does not flinch or crit. Rotom-w also counters dragon dance gyarados who can be a pain to take down if it has bounce for super effective damage on celebi. Theres not much more i can say about this guy, he is a key member of the team and always performs well.

Changes? I would be willing to try out different movesets such as choice on this guy.


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Celebi @ leftovers
Nature: Timid (+ spe -atk)
Trait: Natural Cure
Evs: 252 spa/ 252 spe

-Nasty Plot
-Giga Drain
-Hidden Power fire
-Psychic

Celebi plays a very important role on this team, being able to counter rotom-w and providing an important water resist which is key for taking care of rain teams. Against rain teams this guy and rotom-w are very effective both forcing out politoed with their super effective stabs. Even with no investment celebi is surpisingly bulky and can take some punishment although any bug move is bound to cripple or ko it, and so this guy cannot handle terrakion or excadrill. Having a fighting resist is very key to this team and celebi does well against conkeldur, however mienshao has u-turn, infernape has fire stab and other fighting types has super effective coverage moves on celebi. The moveset aims to provide optimal coverage with psychic hitting fighting types giga drain deaing with rotom-w and rehealing health and hp fire takes care of scizor and ferrothorn easily, however the lati twins and sazandora wall this set all day long. With max speed celebi can outpace a fair few things and is a solid member of the team however with many weaknesess she leaves much to be desired as the main threats to this team are infernape, terrakion can both ohko her.
Overall a core member of the team and one im not willing to replace without good reason.


PAST MEMBERS

This guy used to be in dragonites spot

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Heatran @air balloon
Nature: Modest (+ spa –atk)
Trait: flash Fire
Evs: 252 spa/ 252 spe

- flame charge
- earth power
- flamethrower
- hidden power ice

Heatran is a double edged sword, he provides an important fire immunity but means I am even weaker to fighting and water moves, and whilst he and celebi form the celebtran combo he cannot switch in and absorb attacks aimed at celebi as he is most effective when his air balloon is intact. Heatran also provides a good counter for sun teams although well prepared teams with fellow heatran or dugtrio can handle him as can darmanitan. You don’t see a lot of flame charge heatran and he works best by switching in on something he threatens then flame charging so he can hopefully outspeed the incoming check or counter. Flame charge is a safe move as he can use it on scizor or ferrothorn and still do plenty of damage if they think i will overpredict and so don’t switch out. Balloon is a great item if intact allowing me to beat gliscor, dragonite, landorus and salamence with a 4x effective hp ice. It also allows me to check excadrill unless they predict well and rock slide as i switch in.
Earth power is a nice move for other heatran or balloon tran running less speed and for other fire types and the occasional weakened tyranitar not running superpower. Flamethrower is not as powerful as fire blast, however i prefer the consistency which could make or break a game.

Changes: Heatran is the guy im least sure about as he makes me very weak to strong fighting types like mienshao, terrakion and infernape. I would like to find a replacement for him who resists fighting and or water, i have considered gyarados, latias and dragonite for the position. Cb dragonite seems like a good member as i run him on my rain team and he obliterates sun teams with extremespeed as they generally only carry one steel. Please suggest a replacement


Threats:
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In general fighting types plague this team with only one resist and 3 weaknesses, also my only resist celebi is outsped and hit supereffectively by common moves carried by these 3. note this is pre dragonite
DRAGONITE HELPS COVER THIS WEAKNESS UNFORTUNATELY TERAKION HAS STONE EDGE, AND INFERNAPE AND MIENSHAO SOMETIMES USE HP ICE SO THEY ARE STILL A THREAT

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These two used in tandem can wreck me as nothing on my team can take repeated draco meteors and so i have to trap latios with tyranitar who has a hard time keeping up ss when weakened by latios

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With rain up thundurus completely sweeps me after a nasty plot, but everyone knows he is broken and he will hopefully be banned soon.


Conclusion, thanks for reading this rmt I really love playing with this team and i would like some suggestions to make it better although i don’t want it to end up looking like a cookie cutter sandteam and so i don’t really fancy putting gliscor, latios or jirachi on this team unless it will make a huge difference. Please give me a rate and I will try out all suggestions

Have a good day :) x



Credit for sprites goes to "Aragornbird"

 
This is a pretty solid team and I can see why you have such a problem against Fighting-types. The one Pokemon to save yourself from Fighting types is Celebi. And looking at Celebi, the only way you allow it to recover it's precious HP is from Giga Drain, which isn't that great. Celebi would easily die and you would easily be swept by something like a Conkeldurr. I recommend trying out this Celebi set instead:

Celebi @ Leftovers -- Natural Cure
Nature: Modest
EVs: 216 Def / 252 SAtk / 40 Spd
- Recover
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Nasty Plot

Should help you stay consistent and not lose it so easily and be so easily weak to Fighting-types.
 
Thanks for the rate eternal
However the problem is not that celebi can't handle too many fighting types it's that the common fightin types the plague me are Terrakion who outspeed and ohkos with Xscissor mienshao who outspeeds and does over 80 percent with u turn usually a Ohko and infernape who Ohko,s with flare blitz or overheat.
I'm really looking for a replacement poke to help cover the fighting and to a lesser extent water weakness of the team and heatran contributes to both these and in my opinion is the most replaceable member
 
try wobbuffet over celebi, it trap and kill things (fighting pokemon included) and help you to set up scizor and excadrill with encore
Wobbuffet @ leftovers 4 hp/252def/252Sdef. bold/calm
Encore
counter
mirror coat
safeguard

Also, you can try vaporeon over rotom-W as it can also counter rain team, can also pass wish to heal every member of your team and provide you a water immunity.
Vaporeon@leftovers, bold, 252hp/252def/6Sdef
scald/surf
wish
protect
toxic
 
Life orb and Swords Dance are slightly redundent on Scizor. Make a decision about which you prefer to keep and then use either roost/life orb or SD/leftovers (or the appropriate berry if you really fear fire moves). Also, i know you want to change heatran, but i think adding jellicent instead of rotom would really benefit you. He allows to be complelty immune to fighting moves, and with water aborb, can really help you against rain teams as well. HE can spread status and has access to instant recovery. However, it does make your team have 3 members weak to bug moves, and 3 who resist bug moves, but bug moves are fairly uncommon, and even less common as STAB (really only decent bug STAB user, volcarona, is crippled by SR and could induce HEatran's flash fire). You could also run latias in this slot, although he only resists fighting (obviously jelli is immune), he has far better stats, and with a few boosts can turn around into a powerful sweeper, and your team is one of the few lacking a dragon, so you can afford the ice weakness. Latias also resists water, which can help agaisnt raint eams, plus he can ruin walls with trick. One last note, as i mentioned, you dont run a dragon, and your team wouldnt be crippled by an ice weakness, so just something to think about, adding a powerhouse like HAxorus or better yet Salamence/Dragonite (fighting resist!). GReat team man, good luck!
 
@ sammamo thanks for the rate, i tried wobbuffet over heatran for a few games but he didnt really suit my playstyle and was often koed without doing much.
I also tried out vaporeon but i really missed out on rotom-w abiltiy to check excadrill and his electric stab

@wraiders cheers for the rate also, on scizor i have used leftovers but i find life orbs power better and if i was going to use a different item it would probably be shed shell for magnezone. Also jellicent didnt work out so well as rotom w has electric stab and can check most excadrill which i missed out on, I have taken your suggestion of dragonite and slapped on a choice band and he is currently doing very well as i test him out over heatran, although i am intrigued by latias, if you could suggest some sets that you think would be effective,

again thanks for the rates guys they have really helped
 
AS you said you do have a fair fighting weakness as well a a weakness to Rain, easily being able to switch into 4/6 of your mons. The quickest solution I see is trying a Life Orb Latios, which can Draco Meteor on Politoed and Psyshock on most fighters that you listed (Terrakion is usually Banded/Scarfed, Infernape can't touch you and Psyshock Mienshao = dead iirc)

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Surf
- Recover

Hidden Power or Surf depending on what your team needs to handle. I wouls suggest running him over Scizor.

I would also suggest Frustration > Rapid Spin on Excadrill to revenge some Fighter's.

GL
 
Alright, let's see here...

Terrakion instantly comes to mind as a huge problem for this team. There are a few ways to handle him, but Gliscor is generally the most solid. I would recommend replacing Heatran for Gliscor. Gliscor gives you the ground immunity that you were going for with Heatran, except he doesn't have to worry about losing his balloon. Heatran doesn't look like it adds much for your team and only gives you another pokemon weak to fighting, and not to mention its huge bait for Politoed.

Since Scizor happens to be your only steel type, it might be wise to run a bulkier set to keep him in the game. Replace life orb for leftovers, and if you don't mind losing the coverage, give roost a try in place of superpower.

Latios also seems like a big deal, as you have no reliable method of switching in to it. CB Tyranitar does a great job filling that role, as it can switch in to Latios and then finish it off with pursuit whether it chooses to switch or not.

Overall, this is a pretty solid team, and aside from what was mentioned, you should easily be able to maintain a decent rating with it on the ladder. Good luck in your future battles!
 
@ fried rhys thanks for the rate. I think dragonite will replace heatran permanently now and other pokes will now be tested in dragonites spot

@dezza cheers for rate, life orb intrigues me and I will try it out by I will use wiseglasses to bluff specs as well I'm also trying out cm latias while I'm on the lati twins

@ tezeon thanks as well for the rate, I have been trying out Gliscor and it certainly helps with the fighting types and excadrill, but I will need to fight a few sun teams and see how he fares before think about him replacing dragonite

I think this team is looking pretty solid right now and is almost complete but it could still use a few tweaks and a rate would be appreciated, and I will test out al suggestions :)
 
If you are looking to try out a choice set, I suspect that Scarf Rotom-W would be the most useful considering the team at the moment. It will outrun and damage your non-scarfed threats and still acts as a DD Gyarados counter.

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt/Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Trick

Extra stuff:

A bulkier Celebi EV spread (just replace the Def EVs from Eternal's suggested spread with HP EVs) would allow you to take certain non-STAB Ice Beam and Hidden Power Ice attacks; however, that set usually carries Recovery for longevity and you would probably miss the speed.

Also keep in mind that SD Scizor can run a SDef variant with only 16 Atk EVs reasonably well. Roost would probably be substituted over Superpower to benefit the nature of the set though.
 
Considering you have Rotom to handle opposing Excadrill, have you ever considered making your Excadrill the LO Adamant/Jolly version? It adds the power you need to finish off certain Pokemon after an SD. It also makes it so that you might not even need SD to sweep a team that has been softened by Dragonite. A Rapid Spin set wouldn't be needed if you lead with Dragonite. Therefore, you can use a coverage move. Return seems to be the best as it gives you a strong move to finish off opposing Rotom and Gliscor. gl, and nice team. :)
 
@ metagross66 thanks for the rate
well dnite is mainly for handling sun teams and when he leads he usually ends up with a burn from ninetales but i will try out that lo idea as it sounds good probs adamant, also i will try out return>rapid spin as i dont really use it, but against stally teams it really helps
 
My only stipulation after not reading it over much is that without Roost/ Lefties, especially in Sandstorm, Multiscale is useless.
 
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