SS OU Dragapult+ Rillaboom Sand team

[Typhoonflame]

Hello everyone!

This is a team I built for the Cinderace suspect, based around SB Rillaboom and Dragapult as an offensive core. The rest of the Pokemon were added as an afterthought, more or less, but I've found this team to struggle in the current meta and I can't quite pinpoint why. Any help would be appreciated! Note that this is my first SS RMT and I'm still learning the gen 8 meta.

The team:

Rillaboom:

Rillaboom @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- U-turn
- Knock Off

This thing is my main sweeper and revenge killer, essentially. It serves as a quasi-Azu and Toxapex check while just being pretty busted with its damage on neutral moves such as Knock Off. Pretty standard set, not much to say here.

Dragapult

Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt

Rillaboom's offensive partner is just your standard Specs Pult. Not much to say here, execpt I'm not entirely sure if having Tbolt on it is worth it, considering Pex barely takes any damage from it (maybe some 55%), which it just recovers anyway. Debating putting U-Turn on it?


Clefable

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic

Clef is just my status absorber and healer, essentially. Pretty standard SpDef set with Toxic to cripple things that may switch in on it. I debated putting TWave on it, but decided against it since the residual poison damage helps out quite a bit vs things like Mandibuzz.

Toxapex

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 108 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Scald
- Knock Off
- Haze
- Recover

Just a standard Pex set, mixed defenses so it survives more and it has Haze for Volc. It acts as my usual pivot and status absorber, since it really doesn't care if it gets burned or paralyzed and even sleep doesn't bother it, since it has Regenerator to heal any damage it takes.

Tyranitar

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Atk / 60 Def / 144 SpD / 24 Spe
Careful Nature
- Rock Blast
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch

Now comes the odd part of this team. I saw Pokeaim use this set in a recent video and liked it, so I threw Ttar in here for the Rocks and the Twave utility I couldn't get on Clef. Plus, it provides sand for Ecadrill, which is just a bonus, and checks Volc, which can be a huge threat to this team.

Excadrill

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic

Excadrill is the last member of the team and honestly just a filler Mon to abuse the sand. It serves as a spinner and Toxic spreader more than anything else, but it can also be a decent revenge killer if it's required.

Threat list:

- can be really annoying unless I catch it with Fire Blast on Pult

- generally hard to deal with unless Pex can haze it

- generally annoying, it takes so long to die and barely takes any damage from Exca's EQ or Pul's TBolt, so Rillaboom is my only real "check" and even that gets burned.



Conclusion

So, that's the team!
As I said, it struggles against the meta quite a bit, so it definitely needs fixing. I started using it because Cinderace isn't a problem for it, but then it turned out a lot of other staples in the meta were ^^'.
Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

[Edy]

Hey great team it’s got great versatility here are some things I noticed most of your Pokémon lack power or set up I think you should ditch the sand aspect and or ditch t tar who is a bit passive and excadrill who is a fine spinner but most stealth rock weak Pokémon have heavy duty boots as a choice. Or go all in with offensive t tar and sword dance excadrill and also volcaron a con also be a good choice instead of pull and also since pex has regenerator and black sludge it doesn’t need recover so use baneful bunker

 

[Typhoonflame]

Hey great team it’s got great versatility here are some things I noticed most of your Pokémon lack power or set up I think you should ditch the sand aspect and or ditch t tar who is a bit passive and excadrill who is a fine spinner but most stealth rock weak Pokémon have heavy duty boots as a choice. Or go all in with offensive t tar and sword dance excadrill and also volcaron a con also be a good choice instead of pull and also since pex has regenerator and black sludge it doesn’t need recover so use baneful bunker

Good advice, but I'll keep Recover, every single Pex uses Recover and it IS needed to survive and stall.

 

[StepC]

Yo bro welk on rmt,

Nice team, i like the core Exca + Ttar in sand team. The rise of Ttar is a must to check better Volcarona (Safeguard Set or Dual Atk Set) n Ghost types like Gengar, Dpult, also is the best option vs Togekiss (very annoying atm) n Rotom H.
I'm in disagree with your consideration that Volcarona could be problematic for u cuz Toxa n Ttar can lure that threat.
Ferro is a bad wall for u, of course, Dragapult can't switch in n Clefable hasn't Teleport to give momentum and the same thing is for Pex.
Also Urshifu can be very dangerous if your Clef isn't full Def !

I hope with my changes can help u. Let's start.

needs 252 HP + 252 Def + Bold nature to check better Urshifu n scout the Band / Orb item, also is a good solution vs Zeraora especially if is with the pivot set.
is the item that i advise with Calm Mind to clean in mind game, also Flamethrower is the best option to the Exca switch in n thx that u can make also preassure at Skarmory, Ferrothorn n Corvi.
For

with i think that can be better used as Status + Hex, the reason is easy to understand, with WoW u can burn Urshifu, Bisharp, SD Aegi, Mandi and Exca, also is used vs Hippo, Corvi and Toxapex to improve Hex damage. U-turn is very good for the pivot utility n gives momentum to Band Rillaboom, also i think that Dragon Darts is a good option for use that as Mixed n chip vs Blissey.
In my opinion

when is used in Sand Teams needs Superpower > Knock Off + Jolly nature to outspeed n own better Modest Specs Kyurem.
252 Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Superpower vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyurem: 418-492 (106.9 - 125.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
At this point

can run Sword Dance > Toxic to sweep better vs balance and bulky offensive teams.

>>>>> The Team <<<<<
​

Optional: High Horsepower istead on Excadrill is a valid solution if the Grassy Terrein is active and evit the nerf of Earthquake.

 

[Typhoonflame]

Thank you so much!! I'll definitely use your version, you have a very good point with the Clef and Pult sets! I guess I just needed more meta knowledge :)

 

[Typhoonflame]

One question tho, sorry for my lack of knowledge: Why is EQ worse in Grassy Terrain?

 

[Jamez]

One question tho, sorry for my lack of knowledge: Why is EQ worse in Grassy Terrain?

The power of earthquake is halved in grassy terrain, meaning it won’t deal as much damage as a move like high horsepower which has 95 power. There is that drawback of using high horsepower though, the 5 percent miss chance and the 5 less power than earthquake out of grassy terrain. imo though I still like high horsepower but it’s your call on what you want to use

 

[Typhoonflame]

Fair, since I like to keep Grassy terrain up as much as possible, I'll use Horsepower