Desert Storm - Sandstorm Baton Pass and Entry Hazards oh my!

Kane Dunestorm

Okay, so I have been testing and tweaking a Sandstorm team for a short while now, and I think I finally came up with one that works. I decided to mix three strategies into one team for this one - Sandstorm, Entry Hazards and Baton Pass. It might seem kind of odd that I don't have a single Pokemon that is not resistant to Sandstorm, but so far I haven't found that a problem, as I haven't lost a single match. Also, this team is somewhat based around one of my favorites, Cacturne. I know he is a NU Pokemon, but in this team, he performs like a champ.

So, without further ado, here is the team.

swampert.png


Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Roar
---
The standard Lead MixPert. My strategy with him is to set up Stealth Rock early on, and roar away any threats that come in, doing some decent scouting before I actually do my real set up. Earthquake and Ice Beam are for taking out certain threats that could be troublesome now or later.

Here is a summary of common leads and how Swampert deals with them:

Metagross - Earthquake to knock it out quickly.
Azelf - Lay down a Stealth Rock, Roar it away or switch to Tyranitar to take care of it and get the Sandstorm going.
Infernape - Switch to Flygon immediately to attempt to take care of it. Grass Knot could cause problems. Other than that, I can try to take care of it with Earthquake.
Jirachi - Earthquake kills it, as with almost all steels.
Aerodactyl - Ice beam for the OHKO.
Swampert - Try and get set up and roar him away or switch to something like Cacturne to kill him off.
Bronzong - Switch out to Tyranitar, Scizor, or anything else that packs a super effective move against him, though I probably could afford to set up first.
Tyranitar - He won't be doing much to hurt me, likely.
Heatran - He's Earthquake bait, even if he does have a Shuca Berry.
Gengar - Switch over to Tyranitar to take him out.
Mamoswine - I doubt I would hit him very hard, though since he probably can't do much to hurt me, it gives me opportunity to set up Stealth Rock.

tyranitar.png


Tyranitar (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk/48 SpAtk/208 Spd
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast
---
BaitTar does a good job at switching into threats and laying waste to them, or Pursuiting them if they try and get away. So, for that, he is my main switch in, at least for threats he is good against.

jirachi.png


Jirachi @ Light Clay
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP/100 Def/156 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Wish
- U-turn
- Reflect
- Light Screen
---
Oh gosh. This one definitely is a keeper. I don't know what I'd do without dual screens, and U-turn certainly helps too. I haven't tried wish yet, but I'm betting it would help me immensely.

scizor.png


Scizor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/88 Atk/172 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Agility
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
---
A tweaked Baton Pass Scizor, which is the most common switch in from a U-turned out Jirachi. One Agility and Swords Dance is enough to make my usual Baton Pass target (Cacturne) wipe the floor with everything. Scizor also works pretty well as a revenge killer in the late game, thanks to Bullet Punch.

cacturne.png


Cacturne (M) @ Brightpowder
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Seed Bomb
---
Standard Evasive Dancer that gets better when tossed the Baton from Scizor. Not even Infernape can stop it when that happens! With just one passed Agility and Swords Dance, Sucker Punch OHKOes Infernape! Definitely not what they are expecting from a Pokemon who they most likely switched in to kill, but a NU one at that!

flygon.png


Flygon (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
---
Another sweeper, this one however doesn't need much support. Flygon's combination of Ground, Dragon and Fire moves are unresisted, therefore making it pretty hard for an opponent to play around it.

Changelog:

05/01/10 -
Replaced Hippowdon, Gliscor, Forretress and Heatran with Swampert, Tyranitar, Scizor and Flygon.
 
Creative Heatran set :P
Never seen one
Maybe you could replace Leech Seed with Swords Dance for Cacturne?
You'd probably hit much harder with it
Just a suggestion
 
I use a similar team as yours.

Why adamant on Hippowdon? That leaves you able to be two shotted by much more than a Starmie or Suicune before you get Stealth Rock in.

Switch leech seed with Swords Dance on cacturne. I use one as well, and if you can get a substitue off that's a lot more sweeping you can pull off with just one dance.
 
nah. i say keep leech seed. it's a sub seed evaison. try switching gliscor for scizor. it can use agility and swords dance, plus iron defense, but i think just choose two of those. then baton pass and bullet punch is to serve has a late game sweeper capable of 2hkoing tyranitar
 
Yeah, the Leech Seed is on Cacturne as it is an evasive sub-seeder, though I may just switch Leech Seed for Swords Dance anyways, and see how a regular sweeping set does.

I don't know why I chose adamant on Hippowdon, probably did it accidentally when editing my team on Shoddy.

Also, I'm not too sure about Scizor, it makes my team more fire weak than it was before.

Thanks for the comments everyone, keep em coming.
 
24 hours is up! Bump! I've also been thinking about the following changes in lineup: Forretress for Scizor, and Heatran for Dugtrio. Here are their movesets in case you are interested:

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP/112 Atk/72 Def/72 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Iron Defense
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
---
Dugtrio (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Aerial Ace
- Earthquake
- Night Slash
- Stone Edge
---

These changes give me an extra baton passer/late game sweeper in Scizor, and then a revenge killer in Dugtrio, who can also be passed the baton pretty well for a pretty good sweeping - Arena Trap will force them to lose the first Pokemon it faces, and possibly even more, thanks to Dugtrio's already awesome speed.
 
Even with Sand Veil active, thus increasing his evasion even higher (Makes 100% accurate moves have 72% accuracy)? However, I do see the potential for Leftovers to make him last longer, so I may give it a try.
 
I use Brightpowder on my Cacturne as well. Leftovers isn't worth it, I've tried it, keep your powder. It's a nasty surprise when Scizor's keep missing their U-Turn and Cacturne sets up.
 
Hi there, and your team's a bit interesting to use.

I say no to scizor and dugtrio because zone can come in on scizor and set up, while dugtrio fails to any priority attack, especially since this metagame has t-spikes, spikes, SR, and burn bombs dropping all over the place.

Heatran is a huge problem for this team. A set with HP Ice/ Fire Blast/ Earth Power can really harm your team. I recommend that you use a bulky water such as swampert over your own heatran so that way if it has hidden power grass, you can go to gliscor and attempt to set up (assuming it's choiced of course, considering your gliscor doesn't have EQ so it can't really threaten his heatran.) However, another advantage of using swampert over heatran is Roar. Dragon Dancers such as Salamence or Gyarados won't be able to set up as freely. (If the opposing gyara runs taunt, then try to outmaneuver it since he's only got three moves left. Worst case possible is that the opposing gyara has waterfall and ice fang.

Another change that I'd like to recommend is switching Hippo to Tyranitar. Scarftar is still an amazing set, although tauntskarm can put a dent into your team with spikes and since cacturne doesn't have any lefties and your cacturne has nothing that's super effective vs skarm. If you fear physical walls, baittar is also acceptable. A set of Expert Belt with Fire Blast/Stone Edge/ Crunch/ Filler may help you out in the long run.
 
@StevenSnype: Thanks, I actually like those ideas. I'll definitely try them out.

One question though: What would I be using as lead with those changes? Tyranitar, or Swampert (because it seems like you are suggesting the Lead Mixpert set)? If not lead Swampert, what would the set you recommend for Swampert be? This one?

Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 136 HP/204 Atk/68 Def/100 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Avalanche
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Roar
---
 
Run the mixpert lead set. That swampert is your only SR user on the team, and now that I think about entry hazards, I question as to why you have forretress on there without a ghost to block opposing team spins, those would just be wasted turns. If you do take my suggestions, I also recommend you remove forry and place something offensive, such as MixMence, Latias, or some other sweeper. If you want, you can choose something that can trick a Choice item onto your opponent, like Starmie or Latias to allow gliscor to come in on this poke later and set up.
 
What about Flygon in place of Forry? Would he work? What moveset should I use if he works? I've been eyeing the Choice Band or the Physical Life Orb. Choice Band does more damage, but Life Orb has the potential to be more stable, and has better synergy with the team (works really well in tandem with Tyranitar).
 
you should keep forretress if you want those spikes down. i don't really see the need for them since you don't have loads of sweepers. so if you want, get rid of forretress and place flygon to give your team more damage. life orb is better so he can also run fire blast. however i think scizor would be better here. see how many weakness's you team has. if it can spare some more fire, then use scizor set u mentioned. if not, flygon
p.s. above, u said choice band does more damage than life orb. they both increase moves power by 1.5?
 
Oh, wow, you are right, Life Orb definitely seems to be the better choice then.

Also, about running Scizor, I'm not entirely sure whether I can run it or not, since the type effectiveness generator I use (Marrilland's Diamond/Pearl Team Builder) is down. Does anyone know any other ways of determining whether I can take another fire weakness? I do know that already two of my Pokemon are weak to fire type attacks. (Jirachi and Cacturne)
 
you have 4 fire weaknesses (2 from scizor) and one immunity (heatran). this means that you should kick one of. i say keep scizor since it's a killer and can kill magenezone with super power and kick off gliscor, granted it's the glue of your team. if scizor is ur baton passer then kick off gliscor, other wise keep. tyranitar can be used instead, so can lucario.
a new pokemon thats intresting is cradily. seriously, with curse and sandstorm up this thing is a killer. i have tried a lillep and it worked in UU without sandstrom (the opponents weren't very good) but still, cradily is amazing
 
Oh, I should probably update the first post - I switched Heatran for mixpert in lead position, and then Hippowdon for Tyranitar (Baittar).

I may try Scizor in place of Gliscor, and Life Orb Flygon or maybe even Cursing Cradily in place of Forretress.
 
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