Arabian Knights! (Dual Sun/Sand)

[Jerp]

Team Arabian Knights!

Team At A Glance:

Introduction:​

Hello Smogon! This is my second RMT, and this time I'm trying something new: a dual weather team. This team isn't meant to be a gimmick. I chose Sun and Sand to be my two weathers since they tended to have the most synergy. Ground and rock types enjoy the sunlight because they only take neutral damage from the water type pokemon running rampant in the OU tier. Fire types benefit because sandstorm overrides rain, removing the 50% bonus water type attacks would have gained. In theory, these two types would work well together. But this team is flawed, mostly due to the movesets I'm using. I've essentially run out of ideas, and I'm willing to make any change necessary to make this team effective in the harsh OU environment. So without further ado, here's the team:​

The Team:

Tyranitar @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- ThunderPunch

SashTar. He tends to serve as my general lead, mainly because he's slower than that annoying Politoed, which means I win the weather war. His sash lets him survive any attack, which gives him time to Dragon Dance. From there, I've given him a variation of the infamous BoltBeam combo, so he hits nearly everything for neutral damage. Pursuit is there to trap opposing Lati twins, and for the STAB bonus. Most teams struggle to find an answer to +1 Ttar, so I bank on him killing the opposing lead, and at least severely damaging the switchin. Now if only he had Sucker Punch. I was considering changing Pursuit to Fire Punch so I could hit any steel type brave enough to switch in to Tyranitar, but I'd lose my STAB move...

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power Grass
- Earth Power

BaloonTran. The Air Balloon temporarily removes his 4x ground weakness, and when he's in the sun, he isn't weak to water either. He serves as a special sweeper on my team. He can set up SR if he gets the chance. Dragon Pulse is there to OHKO any weakened dragon bar multiscale dragonite. Flame Charge serves as a STAB move and allows him to boost his relatively bad speed stat. Earth Power rounds off the coverage given by his pseudo FlamePulse, in that it lets him hit other heatran. ​

Ninetales
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 SAtk / 120 Spd / 136 HP
Modest Nature
- SolarBeam
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Protect

The second part of my weather duo, Ninetales. She serves as another special sweeper on the team. SolarBeam allows her to hit any water type who has the audacity to switch in on her. Fire Blast serves as the STAB of choice, and nails steel types like Ferrothorn and Jirachi. Protect allows me to scout the opponents moveset, and respond accordingly. Sunny Day might seem a bit redundant on a pokemon that induces Sunlight, but it's made a critical difference in battles before. It allows me to lure in opposing weather inducers who think they'll win an easy weather war, and then proceed to blast them with a powerful SolarBeam. I took this set off of Smogon, so I'm assuming the added EV's allow her to survive some type of SE attack, while also outspeed standard <insert threat here>.

Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Shadow Sneak
- Pain Split
- Substitute

Dusknoir acts as my dedicated wall. Shadow Sneak allows for a priority STAB move to pick off weakened sweepers. Substitute grants him immunity from status, at the cost of his health. Pain Split allows him to recover his lost health while leeching the opponent in the process. Earthquake is mostly just filler on this set. Max HP allows him to tank more hits, while the attack investment allows him to KO Gengar w/ Shadow Sneak. The rest of his EV's are poured into defense to maximize his walling potential. I originally intended to use ferrothorn as my wall, but since his weakness to fire would be magnified by Sunlight, I decided against it. I also choose Dusknoir to act as a spin blocker.

Donphan @ Red Card
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard

Donphan acts as my Rapid Spinner and physical attacker. Rapid Spin clears entry hazards. Earthquake was chosen as it is his most powerful STAB move. Fire Fang gains a pseudo STAB in the sun, allowing him to hit grass types who switch in on him. Ice Shard was chosen because of it's priority level and ability to Revenge Kill dragons. Donphan holds a Red Card to get rid of any sweeper who manages to set up on my team. Max HP allows for maximum health, while Max HP makes Earth Quake and Ice Shard deadly. Sturdy allows him to get off a rapid spin most of the time.

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock

Trick Latios. This set I'm seriously considering changing. Anyways, Latios tends to force switches, so I carry trick to cripple the incoming wall. Other than that, it's a pretty standard set. Draco Meteor is the STAB move of choice. Ice Beam hits many types for SE damage, especially opposing dragons. HP Fire allows latios to murder opposing steel types. He still acts as the generic Latios revenge killer, one that's time tested and proven itself many times, albeit not with this moveset. I'v never used a Trick Latios before, and I'm about ready to get rid of it.

Conclusion:

I've never done too well in the OU environment, but I've performed very well in the Ubers playground, peaking at #7. This team was run on my alts and performed sub par, and I know it needs some major changes. The only thing I will never change is the Desert idea (Dual Sun/Sand). Other than that, please feel free to suggest any change that could improve the team. Thanks for your time!

EDIT: At this time, don't read the descriptions on all pokemon besides Ninetales and Dusknoir​

 

[Episode36]

I'll try giving some advice on the movesets, as that is what you primarily asked for. I like the team, btw, and might make a sun/sand one of my own. :)

I don't understand the Focus Sash on Tyranitar. Say Politoed switches in. He Hydro Pumps. You go down to 1 health. You Dragon Dance. Politoed might be scarf'd, so he kills you still. Or, he might switch to Scizor, who you can't really hurt, and who will kill you. So, for his case, you might try something like a berry to reduce Scizor trying to revenge you, or even a Lum berry in case of Status. I'm honestly not sure what to do with Tyranitar. I might be inclined to give him Fire Punch, though. Even if you can't trap opposing Gengar/Latios, your coverage quite a bit. I don't know, though.

For Heatran, you might consider moving SR to Donphan in favor of another coverage move. You might want Flamethrower or something to use after you've Flame Charged, or you might add a HP such as grass or ice, and if you do ice, you might get rid of Dragon Pulse for the special attack fire move like Flamethrower. If you do this, I'd probably get rid of Fire Fang on Donphan, which is somewhat redundant coverage with STAB Earthquake.

Ninetales and Dusknoir look good to me.

I would suggest changing Latios from scarf to specs, or even to Life Orb or Expert Belt, which can be unexpected, while still giving power and the ability to change moves, though they are no longer as good for Trick. In the Specs case, give it Draco Meteor (the main move you'll use), Surf, Psyshock, and Trick. Quite a good set, but 90% of people use it. For Expert Belt or LO, fill it up with coverage moves of your choice (probably Dragon Pulse over Draco Meteor though so you can stay in if you desire). If you go with Hidden Power fire, be aware that you'll be slower than positive nature invested base 110 speed Pokemon, such as Gengar, rather than speed tying. I'd probably just go with the specs set, though.

If you want to stay with Choice Scarf for that revenge killer role, you should get rid of Ice Beam, which has redundant coverage with his main move, Draco Meteor. Add in Thunderbolt/Surf/Energy Ball/Psyshock based on what types give your team trouble. I'd probably recommend Psyshock to attack the defense stat of Blissey if she switches in, and to get rid of fighting types that Tyranitar doesn't like, as well as for extra STAB power.

Edit: One last thing. If Donphan is coming in on Entry Hazards to spin, Sturdy won't be too useful to you. Seeing as you are a partial sand team, you might want to try Sand Veil, which reduces attacks at 100 accuracy down to 80 I believe, which can be very beneficial, especially against an already 80 accuracy attack like Hydro Pump, and that will give you the turn you need to spin more often than Sturdy will, I think. On PO server, you can even give it Brighpowder to further this effect, which might be better than Leftovers if you're going with Sand Veil. Smogon server doesn't allow Brightpowder, though.

Edit 2: Oh, I almost forgot! Instead of your Latios, you could also run a Chlorophyll abuser! Venusaur/Sawsbuck/Leafeon etc will all be faster than scarf users in sun, and they can really do some damage in that sweeper/revenge killer role. If you're running sun, you should probably consider adding one of those to your team, and I think Latios is the most expendable.

 

[Jerp]

@Episode36

Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for. I switched Pursuit to Fire Punch on Tyranitar. Granted, scarf leads and priority scizor will be the death of him, but Fire/Ice/Electric is unresisted, and Dragon Dance will let me hit faster and harder. I also made Donphan the SR setter, and changed the Heatran set from Flame Charge to Standard. I decided against using a chlorophyll abuser because it could offset the offensive synergy of the team by being dependent on the sun. That said, I did follow your advice on Latios.

Once again, thanks for your help!

Now if only more people commented...

 

[Episode36]

No problem. As I said, I don't really know what to do for Tyranitar, so it's all up to you as far as I'm concerned. I like the change from SR from Heatran to Donphan. Fire Fang just isn't important enough on Donphan to warrant merit, when you can give Heatran more coverage, especially with Flame Charge.

The Latios change helps, even if you lose a scarf user, as you have priority in Ice Shard in Donphan, or even Dusknoir and his walling capabilities, especially with Pain Split. That will definitely help against threats to your team.

Hope more people comment, as I think Sun/Sand is a cool idea and works well as a team. I'm no means the best at rates, so, my advice isn't the spoken word of God or anything. But yeah, good luck with the team. :)

 

[Itchni]

Well the first comment I Will have is that the pictures are WAY too big and the font is a bit off putting.

Second is that ninetales is considered to be a pretty inferior pokemon in many many ways. The only saving grace is that he does indeed set up sunlight. Your team doesn't really abuse sunlight enough in my opinion to warrant the use of ninetales.

If you want to use dusknoir was a dedicated wall then eviolite dusclops completely outclasses it. If you are using it as a tank, many many (many) other pokemon outclass it as a tank.

Donphan is a great pokemon and I love seeing it used. But it has some problems. Right now your team is actually really quite resistant to Rocks. Because of that, hippowdon or gliscor might serve your purposes better.

 

[Episode36]

The pictures are big, but I had no problem with the font or color. It goes with the nature of his team, and it isn't yellow or silver or anything like that, which is almost impossible to read. Orange is actually a relatively nice color for reading.

I also think that Dusknoir isn't supposed to be complete wall to everything as Dusclops is. Dusclops can't do damage worth anything, wheras Dusnoir has quite good attack even uninvested, so I can see why he uses Dusknoir. Dusclops is a fine suggestion, however, I think it's unwarranted here for this team, unless he wants to lose all offensive momentum.

I don't think Hippo or Gliscor would serve him better when replacing Donphan. Maybe a different rapid spinner might, though, such as Starmie, or Tentacruel. Donphan is pretty worthy of this team, though, especially if it uses Sand Veil.

 

[Jerp]

Episode36 pretty much summed up why I don't use Dusclops. Dusknoir actually has a viable attacking capability. Though if it isn't too much to ask, can somebody prove a sun abuser set? I tend to play in the rain and sand, so this isn't really my natural weather...

Edit: Actually, come to think of it, I don't have any sweepers who can hit hard right off the bat, like a life orb sweeper... Hmm, I think I might need to replace Dusknoir and Donphan, any ideas?

 

[Asek]

Hey,
You are correct in saying replacing Dusknoir would be good for the team. The only reason Dusknoir is used over other walls his is ability to spinblock, and on a team only utilizing Stealth Rock as your hazards, Dusknoir's services are not needed. However Dusknoirs job at being immune to Fighting does help your team as an answer to Terrakion. Therefore i think You should switch Dusknoir for a Utility Jellicent. A water immunity would be welcomed on this team and he can also act as your defensive backbone. Noted also was your want for a Life Orb / Set Up sweeper. To accomplish this i suggest switching Donphan for a Swords Dance Lucario. As of now your team lacks a Powerful Fighting type and although losing Donphan makes you weaker to Spike Stacking Strategies, Lucario makes a devastating late game cleaner and would benefit your team as its only Fighting type
GL with the team, sets below.

Hide

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold (+Def -Atk)
Trait: Water Absorb
EV's: 252HP/ 220Def / 36Spe
-Scald
-Toxic
-Recover
-Shadow Ball

Lucario @ Life Orb
Nature: Adamant (+Atk - SpA)
Trait: Inner Focus
EV's: 252Atk / 4Def / 252Spe
-Swords Dance
-Close Combat
-ExtremeSpeed
-Crunch

 

[Jerp]

Thanks for that Guys, I'll try the changes!