Dual Weather: Burning Sand

[damien50]

IN:TRO:DUC:TION​

I was reading up on another RMT where someone had created a dual weather team and I became inspired to create my own using my two favorite types of weather, Drought and Sand, with a bit of bulk here and there. My EV spreads are more than likely not the best but I've gotten a good idea of how to play this team in general except for when it comes to rain teams, which are probably my biggest counter due to Politoed. I wanted this team to be bulky and play on weather well, switching from offense to defense without problems while constantly making the weather beneficial. The team is composed of Ninetales, Venusaur, Deoxys-D, Tyranitar, Skarmory, and Donphan. I've been laughed at pretty badly when laddering recently to be honest.

The:Team:

Ninetales @ Lum Berry
Trait: Drought
EVs: 92 HP / 200 Def / 216 Spd
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot - Boost for a KO
- Hidden Power [Ground] - Deals with some threats like Heatran
- Heat Wave - STAB move that deals with common walls
- Toxic - Weakens walls and sweepers

This is my lead when no weather teams are present. Lum berry is present to stop opposing set ups from crippling Ninetales. Fair amount of speed EV's with Toxic to outspeed most common walls like Blissey and weaken them. Heatwave (when it doesn't miss) with the combination of Def EV's allows me to come in on Scizor hits and kill them if needed while killing other threats like Genesect. Drought helps Venusaur with sweeps and boost fire type hits from Ninetales and Venusaur. Nasty Plot can be used well when predicting a switch out, I can then Heatwave or HP Ground for a significant amount of damage. Lastly HP Ground deals with lead Heatran's that aren't SpD bulky and can elimate opposing fire types. All in all Ninetales is weak to the obvious ground/rock/water threats but can hurt some leads fairly well when trying to set up while weakening walls and sweepers.

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance - To match speed with faster mon and help elimate threats.
- Stone Edge - Deals with flying types and is STAB
- Low Kick - Deals with heatran and hydreigon
- Fire Punch

Tyranitar is used mid to late game to sweep but can come in on set ups to Dragon Dance his way to victory. One dragon dance can deal with a variety of threats including Terrakion/Thundurus-therian who would sweep my team. Dragon Dance gets his speed on par while lum berry saves him from going to sleep or being poisoned/paralyzed. Coming in on a mon setting up spikes grants up to two dragon dances and some essential walls and sweepers being swept. Stone edge for a STAB-Sandstream boosted attack that can take a big chunk from Scizor and OHKO threats like Tornadus-therian. Low Kick deals with heatran and fighting types that would attempt to KO Tyranitar, also killing off Hydreigon. Finishing off the set with Ice Punch which finishes one of my biggest threats - dragons. Mach Punch and Bullet Punch pose a problem if not boosted since he won't have enough Att to KO most fighting types effectively.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 192 HP / 192 Def / 124 SDef
Bold Nature
- Roost - Recovery
- Spikes - Entry hazards to weaken for my sweepers
- Whirlwind - Remove boosted mons/Ditto
- Toxic - To cripple sweepers and walls

Skarmory is the general phaser setting up as many layers of spikes as possible . He can stay in or come in and wall certain mon while whirlwinding them out for entry hazard damage or removing substitute/boosted mon from play. Toxic cripples walls and due to typing, most walls can't do enough damage to KO or force out Skarmory. Roost provides excellent recovery but can be hazardous due to it removing flying typing when healing. Skarmory makes for an excellent soaker and can make a difficult game easy. Working with Tyranitars sandstream, Skarmory can effectively stall and set up hazards while sand stream chips away hp. Obvious threats being fire moves and that ever so annoying Magnezone but predicting switch ins and using whirlwinds can free a turn for spikes or toxic.

Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 100 Def / 156 HP / 252 Atk
Serious Nature
- Ice Shard - Priority that deals with dragons and Landorous
- Superpower - Deals with fighting types
- Earthquake - STAB boosted by sandstream
- Rapid Spin - Remove hazards

My spinner and my counter to dragons - especially Hydreigon who can wall my team. Ice shards makes for excellent priority on common threats and allows me some turns to whittle away sweepers. Superpower deals with fighting types/heatran/hydreigon. Earthquake makes for a powerful stab especially in a sandstorm. 252 Atk EV's for max damage and 156 HP/100 Def for added bulk. Rapid spin ends the set removing hazards. Threats are mostly special attackers and due to low speed, can find Donphan being KOed pretty quickly.

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 100 HP / 128 SDef / 128 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Giga Drain - Recovery and STAB
- Hidden Power Fire
- Growth - Increases damage
- Earthquake - Removes counters like Heatran and Jirachi

My sweeper in the sun and sometimes outside of it. I never have Venusaur out unless it rains or drought. Giga Drain makes for an excellent special STAB+recovery and really only dragons and steel types will hate it. Hidden Power Fire removes other grass types and steel types that would wall or kill Venusaur. Growth increases my sweeping potential greatly in the sun and makes my form of recovery as the better since Life Orb will be draining me. 100 Hp/156 SpD for bulk since the majority of threats wanting to kill Venusaur will be using SpA primarily. 252Spd maximizes Chlorophyll's potential in the sun and keeps me from being too slow Venusaur's typing makes toxic spikes a non issue. The biggest threat comes from dragons since Venusaur can't afford to not have HP Fire, while Tornadus proves to be a problem OHKOing in the rain.

Deoxys-Defense @ Ice Gem
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 31 SAtk / 31 Spd
- Stealth Rock - Hazard set up
- Ice Beam - Removes dragons
- Taunt - Stops set ups and boost
- Psycho Boost - Powerful STAB

This is my lead, allowing me to set up and stop set ups. 252 Spd and 252 SAtk helps me outspeed a lot of threats while taunting set ups. Ice beam with Ice gem can eliminate bulky dragons easily, especially if I psycho boosted another mon. Stealth rock brings hazards when Spikes just won't do it and helps my sweepers. Taunt stops potential set ups and gives a turn for spikes or and offensive move. The huge amount of defensive he already has is only destroyed by status or Bug/Dark/Ghost moves.

Ou:tro:

I thought a lot about this team and read some guides on prediction and how to compose a team. The bulk and offense this team brings is beneficial but speed is the biggest weakness this team has besides Hydreigon walling the hell out of the team. Rain teams truly pose a big threat as I have yet to find an effective way to function in the rain and dispose of Politoed. Dual weather isn't something that is commonly seen at all and in an attempt to be different I've failed to some extent but I would love opinions and suggestions to better this team.

*Edits
Changed Tyranitar's EVs/Fire Punch>Ice Punch1
Changed Venusaur's HP to Sleep Powder - Changed back to HPFire
Changed Skarmory to Sturdy from Keen Eye
Changed Venusaur's EV spread to 128 Def/128 SpD/100 HP/100 Spd
Solar Beam over HP Ground on Ninetales

 

[GoHardPanda]

Hey, I was just trying to make my own dual Sun/Sand team (but gave up due to deciding that mono-weather would be better), however I did learn several things

First off, use Volcarona for sweeping, always. It's god in the sun, and it got giga drain from BW2 to deal with rain. Some rain teams even put volcarona on (for different reason), but that should still show you that it is perfectly capable of functioning there.

Second, add a pokemon or two that can abuse sand well, such as Landorus or Stoutland. Sending out Ninetails against a rain team is basically asking for them to send out Politoed. So when you send out Ninetails, they send out Politoed, then you deliver an Energy Ball or two before you die, then Pursuit trap with Tyranitar. Now they have no rain and you have permanent sand, which you can take full advantage of with the abusers you just added

Lastly, you have 2 defensive walls and a mixed wall, but your team is not geared towards stall? It seems to me like you want a bulky offense team, but unfortunately since you have the Sun side of your team, this will never happen as Sun abusers are ridiculously frail

Take out Skarmory and Defense Deoxys and replace with whichever pokemon I reccomended/whatever you think fits best, and leave Donphan in there to spin for Volcarona

 

[MikeHawk]

As you have stated rain teams pose a huge problem against your team. To fix this I would change Ninetales to having either energy ball or solar beam with 4 Hp/ 252 SDef/ 252/ Spd
this can OHKO most water pokemon. Remove that for toxic and also remove nasty plot probably for will-o-wisp to severely cripple physical attackers. Also a bulkier Tyranitar would function more effectively for Dragon Dance. Try 252 Hp/ 252 Def/ 4 SDef because special defense is increased in a sandstorm and no EVs in attack are needed since you will dragon dance. Also put a Chople Berry so Tyranitar can survive a fighting attack. You might want to replace the moveset with thunder fang if you are having trouble with water pokemon. And if Venusaur is a sweeper I don't know how you expect to sweep with no special attack or attack investment and you might need more bulk if you are going to use growth. What I would try instead would be to invest less in speed since your speed will be doubled and add more bulk. Replace earthquake for sleep powder to set up freely with growth and then begin to sweep. Try the Evs 252 HP/ 128 Def/ 128 SDef.

 

[Shurtugal]

I just have some nitpicks -

Tyranitar: Lum Berry, however good, isn't the best option for DD Tyranitar. Usually, you want a type resist berry so you can set up a DD on threats. For instance, a Bug Resist / Ground Resist / Steel Resist berries can all be used on Tyranitar. Bug Resist makes it so you can set one up on Genesect (bar banded versions; and you'll need +2 to outspeed them) but you can at least get a free boost on Genesect (just adjust EVs so that Genesect gets a special attack boost on Tyranitar rather than an attack boost, I forget what EV / IV spread does it though so sorry). Ground Resist laugh at non-scarf Landorus / Mamoswine, and allows you to set up on them. Steel Resist can help you escape Bullet Punches, but they aren't as common this meta anymore.

Skarm: I like the idea of toxic, but either Taunt or Brave Bird would be better. I would give it Shed Shell to avoid Zone completely, and stick to Taunt so you can set up spikes on Ferrothorn.



I like the other creative sets your using and I wouldn't change them. GL and Luvdisc'ed

 

[damien50]

@Panda
Without stealth rock/taunt I lose a valuable tool to my team if I get rid of Deoxys D and getting rid of Skarmory makes it impossible for me to remove boosters and lay spikes among other things. Volcarona would be a great addition but has no place on the team

@Mike
Went with a 252 Def/252 Spd EV on Ttar and Chople Berry will be happening. The Ninetales spread still leaves me hanging because I don't have a problem with anything but Politoed and toed has a decent SpD stat

I will be trying the Venusaur spread however

@Shurtgal
The bad thing about Taunt is Skarmory is so slow and Ferrothorn coming out is an amazing chance for a DD Ttar set up or for me to finish laying my hazards then whirlwind him out.

Edit*
Chople Berry was a no go. Lum berry saves me from some very crippling statuses especially if I havent gotten enough DD's or I get spored.

Considering Ferrothorn>Skarmory

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 128 Def / 252 SDef / 128 HP
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Leech Seed - Viable recovery for the entire team
- Gyro Ball - Form of offense
- Spikes - Entry Hazards
- Toxic - Whittle away opposing team

His role would be almost exactly the same as Skarmory's minus whirlwind but having a STAB form of offense in a sandstorm. Providing recovery for the team and entry hazards would be his main benefit over Skarmory. Toxic would be there to slow down and harm the opposing team. He can make an excellent lead