Hello! Welcome to my first rate my team thread! I tend to lurk here a lot and after experimentation on the ladder I decided to see what others think of my team.
This team is based around the sand weather effect and its benefits to certain pokemon. So, lets get to it shall we?
The team!
Set details!
Hippowdon @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 DEF/ 4 ATK
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Roar
The backbone of the team. Hippowdon is mainly used to whip up the sandstorm. I chose hippowodon for this role over the ever so common tyranitar for a few reasons. Hippowodon is one of the best physical walls in the game, it has a huge HP stat and a great defence stat allowing it to switch out on so many physical threats and just laugh at the damage. The EVs reflect this as they are for maximum walling. It also has reliable recovery in the form of slack off which helps its longevity and walling capabilities. I use it to set up rocks and phase, which is something tyranitar can also do, but tyranitar can't deal with some of OU's most terrifying threats quite like hippowdon can. Can you guess what pokemon I'm talking about? I'll give you a clue, it's a fire/dragon type and it scares me. A lot. Yep, megazard x! Hippowodon is a great stop to this thing, being able to tank its hits and phase it out if necessary.
Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Force
Nature: Naughty
EVs: 252 SPATK/ 224 SPE/ 32 ATK
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
- Fire Blast
Garchomp was kind of the inspiration for this team. As I'm sure you know mega garchomp doesn't see a big amount of usage because lets face it, regular garchomp can perform so many roles arguably much better than its mega. Well, with the exception of one, the mixed attacker. Some of the EVs are a little wonky so let me explain. 252 SPATK is self explanatory, the 224 speed EVs are there so that I can outspeed adamant excadrill, and the rest are dumped into attack to ensure I can land a 2HKO EQ on chansey in the sand. The moves again should be self explanatory. Draco gives me a huge 130 BP stab to dent special walls and fire blast allows me to get through ferrothorn, scizor and skarmory. Earthquake is just earthquake, you don't have a chomp without it. The last move is a toss up between stone edge and rock slide to hit things like togekiss and rotom-w. I tend to go with rock slide for the better accuracy but from my experience rock slide misses a hell of a lot too.
Mega chomp is not without flaws, you really don't understand how huge the speed nerf is until you use it, but with the right support and smart play it can be a great pokemon.
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 ATK/ 196 HP/ 60 SPE
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
Pretty obvious here. If you're using sand support to help out a pokemon you would be foolish to leave out excadrill. I have only gotten into competitive battling in generation 6 but I have heard that excadrill with sand rush was banned previously and I can understand why, but weather has taken a rather huge nerf this generation and because of that sand rush excadrill here to stay. With sand rush and sand support excadrill turns into a very fearsome late game cleaner. EVs ensure max attack, enough speed to outspeed jolly scarfdrill in the sand and the rest are in HP for as much bulk as possible. I am undecided on air ballon or life orb. Life orb would ensure extreme power but air ballon allows me to switch in on something like a scarf or banded EQ and spin away hazards. No pokemon fits this role as good as excadrill and so it really had no competition here.
Galvantula - Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SPE/ 252 SPATK/ 4 HP
- Sticky Web
- Bug Buzz
- Thunder
- Thunder Wave
Say hello to one of the most important and valued members of the team. I hate spiders but galvantula is pretty cute and extremely useful. Galvantula's main role is, predictably, sticky web support. I believe sticky web support is absolutely vital to mega garchomp otherwise it gets outspeed and OHKO'd by an ice attack or worn down way too fast due to mediocre bulk and lack of recovery. Sticky web is basically only for megachomp, although if I lose sand support during the game sticky web helps excadrill a lot too. I use galvantula as my lead unless I see an immediate threat because most people see galvantula and then lead with something to dispose of it. I try and keep galvantula alive after sticky web is up so that if they defog or spin the web away I can reset it once their hazard remover is gone.
The EVs are for max speed and the rest are for max special attack and a tiny bit of extra HP. Do not underestimate galvantulas power because even with a relatively mediocre 293 special attack a STAB thunder hurts. Bug buzz is for a decent dual STAB combination and it also deals with magic bouncing espeon admirably well. Thunder wave is in the last slot in case something goes wrong and I need to cripple an opposing pokemon.
Chansey @Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 DEF/ 4SPDEF
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Soft Boiled
- Toxic
Fat Blob. Pink blob. Fat pink blob. Ugly fat pink mother******.
Chansey goes by quite a few names, most of them hateful and insulting and it's not hard to understand why. This role has been auditioned by a few other pokemon. I tried sylveon, umbreon and florges. Each of these pokemon are great in their own way but I gave in, I swallowed my pride and I selected Chansey. The ability to do what those other pokemon do as well as absorb powerful hits on both sides of the attacking spectrum is just too good. Passing off huge wishes is nice, but chansey's main role is to tank powerful hits and remove status because burns are a huge problem to my team.
Chansey is awesome.
Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 SPDEF/ 252 ATK/ 4HP
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
I love azumarill. What was once a cute and useless pokemon is now an OU staple. Thanks to huge power azumarill's attack is doubled and crosses over the 400 mark. However, azumarills job on this team is not that of all out offensive, but rather an offensive tank. Thanks to great information here at smogon I decided to go with the assault vest variant. Assault vest azumarill is extremely bulky, I believe its special defence with max investment and AV reaches 399! And because of azumarills great HP stat you don't have to sacrifice any attacking power for this bulk.
It compliments the team well, being able to switch in on fire attacks directed at excadrill or ice attacks directed at hippowodon and chomp. After taking the hit azumarill can strike back hard with a waterfall, play rough or knock off on the switch. Aqua jet is just icing on the cake and helps azumarill be a decent revenge killer or bag some 2HKO's thanks to the priority.
This is pretty much why I chose azumarill over other pokemon. Great special bulk, great physical power with STAB play rough and waterfall and good STAB priority in aqua jet.
So there it is. My sand team. I have been using this team quite a bit on the ladder recently but I'm not 100% comfortable with it yet. Any advice on flaws that you noticed or suggestions based on your experiences would be greatly appreciated!
Also, as mentioned at the start this is my first RMT post. I read through the rules and I read over some older articles on how to present rate my team posts but if there is something wrong with how it's presented or structured then please let me know and I will be sure to change it. Thank you. :)
This team is based around the sand weather effect and its benefits to certain pokemon. So, lets get to it shall we?
The team!
Set details!
Hippowdon @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 DEF/ 4 ATK
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Roar
The backbone of the team. Hippowdon is mainly used to whip up the sandstorm. I chose hippowodon for this role over the ever so common tyranitar for a few reasons. Hippowodon is one of the best physical walls in the game, it has a huge HP stat and a great defence stat allowing it to switch out on so many physical threats and just laugh at the damage. The EVs reflect this as they are for maximum walling. It also has reliable recovery in the form of slack off which helps its longevity and walling capabilities. I use it to set up rocks and phase, which is something tyranitar can also do, but tyranitar can't deal with some of OU's most terrifying threats quite like hippowdon can. Can you guess what pokemon I'm talking about? I'll give you a clue, it's a fire/dragon type and it scares me. A lot. Yep, megazard x! Hippowodon is a great stop to this thing, being able to tank its hits and phase it out if necessary.
Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Force
Nature: Naughty
EVs: 252 SPATK/ 224 SPE/ 32 ATK
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
- Fire Blast
Garchomp was kind of the inspiration for this team. As I'm sure you know mega garchomp doesn't see a big amount of usage because lets face it, regular garchomp can perform so many roles arguably much better than its mega. Well, with the exception of one, the mixed attacker. Some of the EVs are a little wonky so let me explain. 252 SPATK is self explanatory, the 224 speed EVs are there so that I can outspeed adamant excadrill, and the rest are dumped into attack to ensure I can land a 2HKO EQ on chansey in the sand. The moves again should be self explanatory. Draco gives me a huge 130 BP stab to dent special walls and fire blast allows me to get through ferrothorn, scizor and skarmory. Earthquake is just earthquake, you don't have a chomp without it. The last move is a toss up between stone edge and rock slide to hit things like togekiss and rotom-w. I tend to go with rock slide for the better accuracy but from my experience rock slide misses a hell of a lot too.
Mega chomp is not without flaws, you really don't understand how huge the speed nerf is until you use it, but with the right support and smart play it can be a great pokemon.
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 ATK/ 196 HP/ 60 SPE
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
Pretty obvious here. If you're using sand support to help out a pokemon you would be foolish to leave out excadrill. I have only gotten into competitive battling in generation 6 but I have heard that excadrill with sand rush was banned previously and I can understand why, but weather has taken a rather huge nerf this generation and because of that sand rush excadrill here to stay. With sand rush and sand support excadrill turns into a very fearsome late game cleaner. EVs ensure max attack, enough speed to outspeed jolly scarfdrill in the sand and the rest are in HP for as much bulk as possible. I am undecided on air ballon or life orb. Life orb would ensure extreme power but air ballon allows me to switch in on something like a scarf or banded EQ and spin away hazards. No pokemon fits this role as good as excadrill and so it really had no competition here.
Galvantula - Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SPE/ 252 SPATK/ 4 HP
- Sticky Web
- Bug Buzz
- Thunder
- Thunder Wave
Say hello to one of the most important and valued members of the team. I hate spiders but galvantula is pretty cute and extremely useful. Galvantula's main role is, predictably, sticky web support. I believe sticky web support is absolutely vital to mega garchomp otherwise it gets outspeed and OHKO'd by an ice attack or worn down way too fast due to mediocre bulk and lack of recovery. Sticky web is basically only for megachomp, although if I lose sand support during the game sticky web helps excadrill a lot too. I use galvantula as my lead unless I see an immediate threat because most people see galvantula and then lead with something to dispose of it. I try and keep galvantula alive after sticky web is up so that if they defog or spin the web away I can reset it once their hazard remover is gone.
The EVs are for max speed and the rest are for max special attack and a tiny bit of extra HP. Do not underestimate galvantulas power because even with a relatively mediocre 293 special attack a STAB thunder hurts. Bug buzz is for a decent dual STAB combination and it also deals with magic bouncing espeon admirably well. Thunder wave is in the last slot in case something goes wrong and I need to cripple an opposing pokemon.
Chansey @Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 DEF/ 4SPDEF
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Soft Boiled
- Toxic
Fat Blob. Pink blob. Fat pink blob. Ugly fat pink mother******.
Chansey goes by quite a few names, most of them hateful and insulting and it's not hard to understand why. This role has been auditioned by a few other pokemon. I tried sylveon, umbreon and florges. Each of these pokemon are great in their own way but I gave in, I swallowed my pride and I selected Chansey. The ability to do what those other pokemon do as well as absorb powerful hits on both sides of the attacking spectrum is just too good. Passing off huge wishes is nice, but chansey's main role is to tank powerful hits and remove status because burns are a huge problem to my team.
Chansey is awesome.
Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 SPDEF/ 252 ATK/ 4HP
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
I love azumarill. What was once a cute and useless pokemon is now an OU staple. Thanks to huge power azumarill's attack is doubled and crosses over the 400 mark. However, azumarills job on this team is not that of all out offensive, but rather an offensive tank. Thanks to great information here at smogon I decided to go with the assault vest variant. Assault vest azumarill is extremely bulky, I believe its special defence with max investment and AV reaches 399! And because of azumarills great HP stat you don't have to sacrifice any attacking power for this bulk.
It compliments the team well, being able to switch in on fire attacks directed at excadrill or ice attacks directed at hippowodon and chomp. After taking the hit azumarill can strike back hard with a waterfall, play rough or knock off on the switch. Aqua jet is just icing on the cake and helps azumarill be a decent revenge killer or bag some 2HKO's thanks to the priority.
This is pretty much why I chose azumarill over other pokemon. Great special bulk, great physical power with STAB play rough and waterfall and good STAB priority in aqua jet.
So there it is. My sand team. I have been using this team quite a bit on the ladder recently but I'm not 100% comfortable with it yet. Any advice on flaws that you noticed or suggestions based on your experiences would be greatly appreciated!
Also, as mentioned at the start this is my first RMT post. I read through the rules and I read over some older articles on how to present rate my team posts but if there is something wrong with how it's presented or structured then please let me know and I will be sure to change it. Thank you. :)
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