I've realized that it is close to impossible to win without a weather team. I always thought weather teams kind of took the creativity out of teambuilding and made battles go the same way each time. However, I think I have made a somewhat out of the ordinary sandstorm team, one that has boosted me to rank 170 with 1381.
It is as follows:
Rant (Tyranitar) (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 216 Atk / 240 SAtk / 52 Spd
Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
Well, you can't have a sandstorm team without setting up sandstorm. Tyranitar is a beast, and always has been. Expert Belt can be used to bluff a choice item and hit for surprise damage. This set covers quite a bit. I give him 52 Evs, because most people give Tyranitar 44, and I'm OCD enough to believe that there are people who give it 48. He always Ko's an opposing Tyranitar with Superpower. I've found recently that it has become common to run 2 fighting types on a team. Kinda causes problems, especially since so many lead.
Coon (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Roar
My team has a massive water weakness, so I put in Suicune to help. Coon is very bulky, and can usually take a few unboosted moves, even if super effective. After two calm minds, he is pretty hard to stop. Water absorb is essential to dealing with the water weakness. Leftovers is to prevent him from losing health over time in the sandstorm.
Drillz (Excadrill) (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor
- Rock Slide
Not much needs to be said about this one. Scary. Sweeps teams. Immune to thunder wave and poison. Needs to be hit in order to be earthquaked. The only things that are going to be outspeeding this guy are speed boost blazikens and rock polishers, like landorus. It seems nowadays that people are carrying about 3 excadrill counters, which makes me think it should be banned. Until it is, he remains the superstar of my team. I gave him adamant so he could guarantee some kills on bulkier opponents. I don't put him against other excadrills, because most run jolly.
Ferrus (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
Nice synergy with Jellicent. He can survive pretty much any attack that doesn't involve fire and is fierce with his rocky helmet and iron barbs. I usually switch him in on something like swampert and thunderwave, usually on the switched dragonite or blaziken. Stealth rock is nice, but I don't always get it up. Gyro ball at minimum speed off his respectable attack leaves quite the mark.
Jellz (Jellicent) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Surf
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Ice Beam
As said above, great synergy with Ferrothorn. Suicune really wasn't enough to take care of the water weakness on my team, so I added another water absorber. The extra electric weakness isn't a problem since landorus and excadrill both have immunity, and ferrothorn resists. Grass... don't see much of that. Will-o-wisp makes physical sweepers pretty much useless and lets jellicent stall with recover as they die from sandstorm and burn.
Dor (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
Great wall-breaker. He lures a lot of stuff that excadrill wouldn't like and takes them out. After a rock polish, he can actually outrun a jolly excadrill. He doesn't take hits too well, but he's my makeshift excadrill counter once my defensive pokemon are dead. Earthquake and stone edge give out massive damage in the sandstorm, and with 125 base attack, any hit is going to hurt. The two moves have near perfect coverage. With base 101 speed, he easily outruns all the base 100 speed pokemon, assuming no scarf, and can snag some neat kills. Hidden power ice hits salamence and dragonite pretty hard.
Give me any comments, good or bad.
Threat list and pics soon to come (someone want to tell me how to insert images?)
It is as follows:
Rant (Tyranitar) (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 216 Atk / 240 SAtk / 52 Spd
Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
Well, you can't have a sandstorm team without setting up sandstorm. Tyranitar is a beast, and always has been. Expert Belt can be used to bluff a choice item and hit for surprise damage. This set covers quite a bit. I give him 52 Evs, because most people give Tyranitar 44, and I'm OCD enough to believe that there are people who give it 48. He always Ko's an opposing Tyranitar with Superpower. I've found recently that it has become common to run 2 fighting types on a team. Kinda causes problems, especially since so many lead.
Coon (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Roar
My team has a massive water weakness, so I put in Suicune to help. Coon is very bulky, and can usually take a few unboosted moves, even if super effective. After two calm minds, he is pretty hard to stop. Water absorb is essential to dealing with the water weakness. Leftovers is to prevent him from losing health over time in the sandstorm.
Drillz (Excadrill) (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor
- Rock Slide
Not much needs to be said about this one. Scary. Sweeps teams. Immune to thunder wave and poison. Needs to be hit in order to be earthquaked. The only things that are going to be outspeeding this guy are speed boost blazikens and rock polishers, like landorus. It seems nowadays that people are carrying about 3 excadrill counters, which makes me think it should be banned. Until it is, he remains the superstar of my team. I gave him adamant so he could guarantee some kills on bulkier opponents. I don't put him against other excadrills, because most run jolly.
Ferrus (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
Nice synergy with Jellicent. He can survive pretty much any attack that doesn't involve fire and is fierce with his rocky helmet and iron barbs. I usually switch him in on something like swampert and thunderwave, usually on the switched dragonite or blaziken. Stealth rock is nice, but I don't always get it up. Gyro ball at minimum speed off his respectable attack leaves quite the mark.
Jellz (Jellicent) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Surf
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Ice Beam
As said above, great synergy with Ferrothorn. Suicune really wasn't enough to take care of the water weakness on my team, so I added another water absorber. The extra electric weakness isn't a problem since landorus and excadrill both have immunity, and ferrothorn resists. Grass... don't see much of that. Will-o-wisp makes physical sweepers pretty much useless and lets jellicent stall with recover as they die from sandstorm and burn.
Dor (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
Great wall-breaker. He lures a lot of stuff that excadrill wouldn't like and takes them out. After a rock polish, he can actually outrun a jolly excadrill. He doesn't take hits too well, but he's my makeshift excadrill counter once my defensive pokemon are dead. Earthquake and stone edge give out massive damage in the sandstorm, and with 125 base attack, any hit is going to hurt. The two moves have near perfect coverage. With base 101 speed, he easily outruns all the base 100 speed pokemon, assuming no scarf, and can snag some neat kills. Hidden power ice hits salamence and dragonite pretty hard.
Give me any comments, good or bad.
Threat list and pics soon to come (someone want to tell me how to insert images?)
