Deserted.
A Sandstorm Team.
Building Process
I began this team by trying a concept I’d never tried before; create a Sandstorm Team. Now, I’ve never really been one to use weather but from what I’ve learned, Tyranitar is the most useful lead on one of these teams, so I began with him.
Now, right off the bat, I wanted to counter TTar’s major weaknesses, fighting and ground, while benefiting from the sandstorm. To do this, I looked at the benefits of two pokemon, Gliscor and Skarmory. Skarmory would be good for setting up more entry hazards, but not very offensive whatsoever. With whirlwind, it could still inflict some damage. Gliscor is slightly less defensive, but would be able to inflict more damage than Skarm. Also, Gliscor can use Taunt. After comparing the two, I had to go with a Jolly, physically offensive Gliscor, with 216 Spe EVs to outspeed base 90 speed pokemon.
Now, both Pokemon are weak to water types, so I had to come up with a counter to those, who tend to be bulky (Vaporeon, Jellicent) Also, Gliscor is very weak to Ice types. I searched around for a specially offensive pokemon that could counter both types, and hopefully KO them. I found Starmie. Starmie can take hits from water and ice types, and kill them off with a thunderbolt. Sadly, Starmie is bad against Ground types like TTar, so I’d need to come up with another counter to that. I wasn’t sure whether I should make it my Rapid Spinner, but I thought about it and it seemed reasonable if I could still have Thunderbolt on it.. and Recover would be nice as well.
Now, not having an Ice move on my team after adding Starmie is a problem, so I decided I needed an Ice Type, one that is not weak to dark or ghost like Starmie is. Now, one came to mind, and that was Mamoswine. With his Ice-Typing, he could take out sunny day teams (the Grass-types at least) as well as scare off Dragons. He is weak to several other types, but that could be made up for later. I decided to run a Choice Scarf Mamoswine as a great Revenge Killer to take out threats fast and easily.
Now, Mamoswine is weak to Grass and Steel. What Pokemon could be an effective counter to both of these? None other than Heatran! Send him in to absorb a fire hit and then start a stalling war. The reason I say a stalling war is because I decided to go with a TormenTran. Good Ole’ TormenTran is one of the most annoying Pokemon in the metagame handsdown, and having a good specially defensive pokemon was necessary to my team.
After finding these 5 Pokemon, I realized that 4 of them are 2x Weak to water, and 3 of them are 2x Weak to Grass, so I obviously need a strong counter to get rid of both of those quickly. One of my choices was Toxicroak, who has the ability Dry Skin, allowing to absorb water type moves. He is a powerful physical attacker as well and could Swords Dance his way to a kill or two.. or three. So I chose him. Not quite sure about the choice, yet.
And that, leaves me with these six pokemon.
More Information:
" Summoner "
Tyranitar (Sassy) @Leftovers
252 HP / 64 SpA / 192 SpD
Sandstream
~ Stealth Rock
~ Crunch
~ Fire Blast
~ Ice Beam
A Basic Lead Tyranitar starts us off. Able to setup SR, then provides good type coverage with a STAB Crunch, Ice Beam and Fire Blast. Can take out small threats early in the game, and stay alive thanks to the 192 EVs invested into Special Defense. Common leads such as Metagross will be damaged early in the match, and the Tyranitar will most likely switch out.
" Cruhx "
Gliscor (Jolly) @ Leftovers
40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Sand Veil
~ Stone Edge
~ Earthquake
~ Roost/Protect(?)
~ Taunt
Gliscor provides coverage against both Fighting and Ground type moves, Tyranitar's two major weaknesses, and has the ability to use Taunt, a useful move to prevent setups. With Roost and Leftovers as well as Sand Veil, Gliscor will only be hit 80% of the time, and have the ability to heal himself. This is a mainly Offensive set, so Protect may not seem like the best idea, but it could still be useful to allow sandstorm damage or to scount the other teams pokemon. Roost, at the same time, is useful, as it restores Gliscor's health quickly.
" All Pro "
Starmie (Timid) @Leftovers
252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Natural Cure
~ Rapid Spin
~ Surf
~ Thunderbolt
~ Recover
Sandstorm teams are naturally weak to Water-types, and Starmie provides coverage in this area. It can switch in to take a hit from bulky water types and spin away any entry hazards as they switch out fearing the Thunderbolt, or just go for the thunderbolt, and kill them. Recover to recover, obviously. Surf to provide STAB and a powerful water move against any threats in that area.
" Pigg v2.0 "
Mamoswine (Adamant) @Choice Scarf
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Thick Fat
~ Icicle Crash
~ Superpower
~ Earthquake
~ Stone Edge
Mamoswine is a powerful, and fast pokemon, thanks to his choice scarf, who can take out the oh-so-threatening grass types quickly and with ease, as well as power his way through other pokemon who are weak to his Other moves, including his STAB Earthquake.
" Annoiu "
Heatran (Calm) @Leftovers
244 HP / 44 SpD / 220 Spe
Flash Fire
~ Torment
~ Substitute
~ Protect
~ Lava Plume
Heatran wasa necessary addition to this team, to absorb Fire type moves and annoy the hell out of the opponent with Torment. Torment makes sure that nothing can set up, and a stalling war begins. Protect and Substitute make sure he wins.
" Fury "
Toxicroak (Adamant) @Life Orb
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Dry Skin
~ Swords Dance
~ Cross Chop
~ Sucker Punch
~ Ice Punch
Toxicroak was the final piece of this team. He was added to assure that no water type was safe while battling this team, because of his ability, Dry Skin. Hes a powerful Physical attacker who can take out a few pokes.
A Sandstorm Team.
At a Glance:
Building Process
I began this team by trying a concept I’d never tried before; create a Sandstorm Team. Now, I’ve never really been one to use weather but from what I’ve learned, Tyranitar is the most useful lead on one of these teams, so I began with him.
Now, right off the bat, I wanted to counter TTar’s major weaknesses, fighting and ground, while benefiting from the sandstorm. To do this, I looked at the benefits of two pokemon, Gliscor and Skarmory. Skarmory would be good for setting up more entry hazards, but not very offensive whatsoever. With whirlwind, it could still inflict some damage. Gliscor is slightly less defensive, but would be able to inflict more damage than Skarm. Also, Gliscor can use Taunt. After comparing the two, I had to go with a Jolly, physically offensive Gliscor, with 216 Spe EVs to outspeed base 90 speed pokemon.
Now, both Pokemon are weak to water types, so I had to come up with a counter to those, who tend to be bulky (Vaporeon, Jellicent) Also, Gliscor is very weak to Ice types. I searched around for a specially offensive pokemon that could counter both types, and hopefully KO them. I found Starmie. Starmie can take hits from water and ice types, and kill them off with a thunderbolt. Sadly, Starmie is bad against Ground types like TTar, so I’d need to come up with another counter to that. I wasn’t sure whether I should make it my Rapid Spinner, but I thought about it and it seemed reasonable if I could still have Thunderbolt on it.. and Recover would be nice as well.
Now, not having an Ice move on my team after adding Starmie is a problem, so I decided I needed an Ice Type, one that is not weak to dark or ghost like Starmie is. Now, one came to mind, and that was Mamoswine. With his Ice-Typing, he could take out sunny day teams (the Grass-types at least) as well as scare off Dragons. He is weak to several other types, but that could be made up for later. I decided to run a Choice Scarf Mamoswine as a great Revenge Killer to take out threats fast and easily.
Now, Mamoswine is weak to Grass and Steel. What Pokemon could be an effective counter to both of these? None other than Heatran! Send him in to absorb a fire hit and then start a stalling war. The reason I say a stalling war is because I decided to go with a TormenTran. Good Ole’ TormenTran is one of the most annoying Pokemon in the metagame handsdown, and having a good specially defensive pokemon was necessary to my team.
After finding these 5 Pokemon, I realized that 4 of them are 2x Weak to water, and 3 of them are 2x Weak to Grass, so I obviously need a strong counter to get rid of both of those quickly. One of my choices was Toxicroak, who has the ability Dry Skin, allowing to absorb water type moves. He is a powerful physical attacker as well and could Swords Dance his way to a kill or two.. or three. So I chose him. Not quite sure about the choice, yet.
And that, leaves me with these six pokemon.
More Information:
" Summoner "
Tyranitar (Sassy) @Leftovers
252 HP / 64 SpA / 192 SpD
Sandstream
~ Stealth Rock
~ Crunch
~ Fire Blast
~ Ice Beam
A Basic Lead Tyranitar starts us off. Able to setup SR, then provides good type coverage with a STAB Crunch, Ice Beam and Fire Blast. Can take out small threats early in the game, and stay alive thanks to the 192 EVs invested into Special Defense. Common leads such as Metagross will be damaged early in the match, and the Tyranitar will most likely switch out.
" Cruhx "
Gliscor (Jolly) @ Leftovers
40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Sand Veil
~ Stone Edge
~ Earthquake
~ Roost/Protect(?)
~ Taunt
Gliscor provides coverage against both Fighting and Ground type moves, Tyranitar's two major weaknesses, and has the ability to use Taunt, a useful move to prevent setups. With Roost and Leftovers as well as Sand Veil, Gliscor will only be hit 80% of the time, and have the ability to heal himself. This is a mainly Offensive set, so Protect may not seem like the best idea, but it could still be useful to allow sandstorm damage or to scount the other teams pokemon. Roost, at the same time, is useful, as it restores Gliscor's health quickly.
" All Pro "
Starmie (Timid) @Leftovers
252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Natural Cure
~ Rapid Spin
~ Surf
~ Thunderbolt
~ Recover
Sandstorm teams are naturally weak to Water-types, and Starmie provides coverage in this area. It can switch in to take a hit from bulky water types and spin away any entry hazards as they switch out fearing the Thunderbolt, or just go for the thunderbolt, and kill them. Recover to recover, obviously. Surf to provide STAB and a powerful water move against any threats in that area.
" Pigg v2.0 "
Mamoswine (Adamant) @Choice Scarf
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Thick Fat
~ Icicle Crash
~ Superpower
~ Earthquake
~ Stone Edge
Mamoswine is a powerful, and fast pokemon, thanks to his choice scarf, who can take out the oh-so-threatening grass types quickly and with ease, as well as power his way through other pokemon who are weak to his Other moves, including his STAB Earthquake.
" Annoiu "
Heatran (Calm) @Leftovers
244 HP / 44 SpD / 220 Spe
Flash Fire
~ Torment
~ Substitute
~ Protect
~ Lava Plume
Heatran wasa necessary addition to this team, to absorb Fire type moves and annoy the hell out of the opponent with Torment. Torment makes sure that nothing can set up, and a stalling war begins. Protect and Substitute make sure he wins.
" Fury "
Toxicroak (Adamant) @Life Orb
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Dry Skin
~ Swords Dance
~ Cross Chop
~ Sucker Punch
~ Ice Punch
Toxicroak was the final piece of this team. He was added to assure that no water type was safe while battling this team, because of his ability, Dry Skin. Hes a powerful Physical attacker who can take out a few pokes.
