Attempt at a Sandstorm Team

[pattyfatstar]

(CHANGES MADE IN THIS COLOR)

THOUGHT PROCESS​

I know what you're thinking, but he's in every competitive 5th gen sandstorm team for a reason. Being able to outspeed almost every Pokemon whilst in a sandstorm with insane sweeping capabilities is nothing to scuff at.

Ahh, a sandstorm team would be useless without a sandstorm. I personally just prefer TTar over Hippowdon because of personal experience, plus Hippowdon setups are WAY to predictable imo. Correct me if I'm wrong.

At this point, both my Excadrill and TTar have a gaping weakness to the ever so common earthquake. Gliscor is impervious to EQ plus he takes physical attacks like a champ, thanks to its amazing stats. Plus it can do quite a lot of damage on its own, stalling out opposing pokes with roost and toxic.

Now that Gliscor could take the role of my physical wall, I looked for a special wall. I found shuckle to best fulfill this role, plus because no one I've battled has ever ran a shuckle I'd argue its fairly uncommon (And I love putting in surprises :) With the sandstorm Spdef boost and boasting the highest defenses of any Pokemon, this things indestructible.

Rotom-W is there to cover for my glaring water weakness. I was considering other pokemon to fulfill this role, but really couldn't think of anything but this. I'm open to suggestions.

You all should recognize this guy. I now understand why he's banned he rapes face so badly! This Scarfchomp is mainly there to tie up any loose ends and outspeed + decimate any dragon that dares poke its head out at my team.

MORE DETAILS

Tyranitar (Good Game)
Sand Stream
Brave
Leftovers
252 HP / 236 SpAtk / 20 Spe
-substitute
-focus punch
-crunch
-fire blast

Don't underestimate the classic subpunch TTar setup. Most people don't expect this setup. Fire blast is there to deal with steel-type leads such as metagross and Forretress (or the homosexual Ferrothorn). His fairly massive 404 HP makes for some bulky subs.

Excadrill (Excalizorz)
Sand Rush
Adamant
Air Balloon
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
-Swords Dance
-X-Scissor
-Rock Slide
-Earthquake

A standard of 5th Gen Sandstorm teams. I'm debating on weather or not I should run a Jolly nature (which is just to outspeed opposing Excadrills). Not much to say here.

Shuckle (Problem?)
Sturdy
Careful
Leftovers
252 HP / 252 SpDef / 4 Def
-Knock Off
-Rest
-Encore
-Toxic

Shuckle is a beast who just refuses to die, even in the harshest of situations. Max HP EVs and MASSIVE defensive stats make up for his pitiful health. He really is a force to be reckoned with as, with the Sandstorm SpDef boost, his SpDef becomes OVER 900!!! The only real turnoff is is thr lack of a superb movepool.

Gliscor (Gigilo)
Sand Veil
Impish
Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Roost

Yes its name is Gigilo. Although not my lead, Gliscor is my SRer. He does boast the notorious edgequake combo giving him quite a bit of coverage. Roost is there just in case he runs too low on health and for stalling reasons. (considering taking out stone edge for Aerial Ace/Acrobatics)

Rotom-W (ScRotom)
Levitate
Timid
Choice Scarf
252 SpAtk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
-Thunderbolt
-Thunder
-Hydro Pump
-Trick

My ScRotom was first chosen to counteract water types with its powerful STAB T-bolt. He can also trick the opponent a scarf (which has foiled my opponent's plans SO many times) and can guaranteed OHKO/2HKO any pokemon that doesn't resist its Hydro Pump. What started off as almost a filler has turned into an MVP of the team. Thunder is there to rape rain dance teams and take advantage of the rain.

Garchomp (HypeBeast)
Sand Veil
Jolly
Life Orb
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
-Outrage
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge

Man how powerful Garchomp is. It basically outspeeds all other dragons and destroys them with his Outrage. If I manage to get a SD boost up, then this thing can sweep entire teams if they don't have a wall ready. I'm really tempted to replace Stone Edge with Dragon Claw to get a reliable STAB move on this thing. ​

ONE LAST LOOK

Thanks for reading this post! And please help with my team! Again thanks! I know that this isn't the most in depth thread ever, so I apologize. Any help will be appreciated!​

 

[wacky tabaky]

I believe shuckle should have a different set I would suggest:
Shuckle 252hp 200 def 56sp def
Power share
Defence curl
Rollout
Knock off

The strategy is to share the power the have 2-3 curls(knock offs every now and again) then unleash hell with 2x rollouts after a miss curl up and do the old atou-bot cliche and start up again. It helps if you swap onto a life orb pokemon and set up from there. Sandstorm is as you said a great special defense boost which helps even more.

 

[NeoSeth]

A Shuckle? I'm not sure that's the best idea. It has no reliable recovery (Rest sucks this gen), and a tiny HP stat that ruins it's amazing defenses. I'd recommend replacing him with Ferrothorn, who has better bulk, a more useful typing, and actually DOES stuff, like Spiking, Leech Seeding and T-Waving faster threats. Bulky DDnite, or CM Latias, for example, sets up on Shuckle all day. Heal Bell means Toxic does nothing. It also acts as a tiny check to Kyurem. BTW, Scarf Kyurem rapes this team with a bit of correct prediction. Draco Meteor 2HKOs Rotom, and Blizzard does a number to everything else. Ferrothorn can take a Draco Meteor far better than Shucke can.

Rotom seems to be your primary check to Rain. He's not bad, but he also seems to be your only one. Rain can break through him eventually, especially considering he has no recovery and you have no Wish passer. Ferrothorn also patches this weakness up quite nicely, stopping a lot of Rain-sweepers in their tracks. I would also go as far as to suggest replacing T-Bolt, Trick or Shadow Ball with Thunder (Shadow Ball isn't STAB anymore, really crippling it's effectiveness), since Thunder has 100% accuracy in the rain.

I might have more later. This is just a casual glance.

 

[pattyfatstar]

Thanks! I only used Shuckle over Ferrothorn for originality, but I guess there are many much more effective pokes. Thanks for the responses guys!

 

[NeVeR]

You should replace Gliscor with a cleric (someone with heal bell), most likely Celebi so you can still stealth rock and have similar resistances, as then it will be much more viable for you to run Shuckle with Rest.
Other benefits : A bit stronger against rain teams, removing too many similarity (3 Earthquake, Rock Slide/Stone Edge users) letting more diverse play.

 

[Motion]

I've recently made a team involving shuckle, and rather than power share, I just for the power trick. It's really unexpected when you can sweep with a shuckle, and to top it off, he still takes special attacks like a beast. Beware though, any kind of physical move jet owns him cuz of the 50~ base atk which got swapped into def...

Also have you thought about running pursuit instead of crunch? Much easier to revenge kill, and sub might cause a switch because of a predicted focus punch or just something that can break it.

 

[pattyfatstar]

I've recently made a team involving shuckle, and rather than power share, I just for the power trick. It's really unexpected when you can sweep with a shuckle, and to top it off, he still takes special attacks like a beast. Beware though, any kind of physical move jet owns him cuz of the 50~ base atk which got swapped into def...

Also have you thought about running pursuit instead of crunch? Much easier to revenge kill, and sub might cause a switch because of a predicted focus punch or just something that can break it.

have you had any success with that shuckle set? seems really risky because with max 244 HP and 50 defense, basically any physical attack will be able to bring it down. Like I said any success? might try it out! Again thanks for the responses guys! Really do appreciate it.

 

[min min]

Stone Edge on Garchomp should be replaced with Fire Blast or Fire Fang to beat Skarmory and Ferrothorn. It's a 2HKO on both even with no SAtk EVs and a Jolly Nature.

 

[pattyfatstar]

Stone Edge on Garchomp should be replaced with Fire Blast or Fire Fang to beat Skarmory and Ferrothorn. It's a 2HKO on both even with no SAtk EVs and a Jolly Nature.

sounds like a good idea, you have any personal preference of the two?

 

[Motion]

have you had any success with that shuckle set? seems really risky because with max 244 HP and 50 defense, basically any physical attack will be able to bring it down. Like I said any success? might try it out! Again thanks for the responses guys! Really do appreciate it.

I have had success with it before - I took out 4 pokes on someones team after a rollout once (but I guess I was lucky because he didnt have any physical pokes...) Regardless, I guess if you switch it into a special attacker, they won't switch because they likely won't suspect a power trick. You could always go for a gyro ball right after to hit whatever switches in, and unless it's a slow wall physical wall like ferrothorn, youd still be taking out a significant still. I guess this set is a bit gimmicky, but it does work if used correctly.