First RMT: The Sand Consumes You

Biggiesmawls

Hello Everyone! This is my first RMT ever on Smogon's community forums, and I really appreciate the opportunity, as well as the comments/suggestions from fellow competitive battlers. Anyways, onto the team. So, I tried to recreate an effective sandstorm team as best I could in the UU tier. Without further ado, I'd like to introduce everyone to the team.
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CHANGES IN RED

THE LEAD: JAZZ
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Hippopotas @ Focus Sash
Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP, 164 Att, 92 Def (IVs = 12 speed)
Nature: Relaxed (+Def/-Speed)
-Stealth Rock
-Toxic
-Protect
-Earthquake

Hippopotas was the only viable option to lead a UU sandstorm team, as it is sadly the only Poke with the sand stream ability in the UU tier. Despite that, hippopotas can do its job very well. Stealth rock is the go-to first move, and should be up before hippy goes down or you're forced to switch. Toxic provides a blunting of certain physical sweepers for the rest of the team, as well as a nice damage output over time. Protect is great for stopping those pesky fake-out leads (particularly ambipom), and can stall a turn of SS/Toxic damage or can be used simply to scout a move. Lastly, Earthquake is for STAB damage, duh. EVs changed to underspeed Snover leads, providing more EQ damage.

THE MIXED SWEEPER: MIRAGE
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Nidoking @ Life Orb
Poison Point
EVs: 252 SpA, 176 Speed, 80 Attack
Nature: Rash (+SpA/-SpD)
-Earth Power
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Superpower

Nidoking replaces Omastar as a mixed sweeper, with a much needed typing because of the replacement of Claydol. Earth Power is for STAB damage. Ice Beam is to handle grass types (Venusaur and the like). Thunderbolt is for bulky waters. Superpower is for basic fighting type coverage.

THE REVENGE KILLER: SIDESWIPE
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Hitmontop @ Life Orb
Technician
EVs: 252 Attack,252 HP, 4 Def
Nature: Adamant (+Attack/-SpA)
-Fake Out
-Mach Punch
-Revenge
-Bullet Punch

Priority moves. You name it, Hitmontop's probably got it. After a wall or another sweeper comes down, I can freely switch in to hitmontop to speedily RK, and move on to the next set up. Tech'd Fake Out provides a relatively good damage-dealing flinch. Mach and Bullet punch are situational, depending on the target. Revenge is for additional STAB damage, replacing sucker punch.

THE WALL: RATCHET
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Cradily @ Chesto Berry
Suction Cups
EVs: 252 HP, 252 SpD, 4 Def
Nature: Careful (+SpD/-SpA)
-Curse
-Rest
-Seed Bomb
-Rock Slide

Cradily has been tested over shuckle, and remarkably provides more coverage and damage output, while still being a solid wall to opponent sweepers. Curse can destroy enemy teams depending on the opponent. Rest is for a 1-turn recovery to the hits I take while cursing. Seed Bomb is for heavy STAB damage, as is Rock Slide with a side of flinch.

THE SECOND WALL: IRONHIDE
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Slowbro @ Leftovers
Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD
Nature: Bold (+Def/-Attack)
-Surf
-Psychic
-Slack Off
-Toxic

Slowbro replaces Claydol as a much more useful physical wall, with not to mention, WAY better typing. Surf is for STAB damage, as is Psychic to handle fighting types. Slack Off is to annoy as many teams as possible as a great recovery option. Toxic is for more damage output with SS up.

THE EVASIVE DANCER: PRIME
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Cacturne @ BrightPowder
Sand Veil
Evs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Def
Nature: Adamant (+Attack/-SpA)
-Substitute
-Sucker Punch
-Swords Dance
-Seed Bomb

The mid-to-endgame deathtrap that opposing teams are forced to deal with. Due to Cacturne's hold item and ability, he gains an extra 30% evasion, as long as a sandstorm is on the field. I've had opponents miss 100% accuracy moves four times in a row, followed by an immediate RAAAAGE in the chat log. Some call it hax. I call it......strategy? :D Substitute and high evasion provide excellent SD opportunity, allowing me to occasionally go +8 before finally hitting a target. Sucker Punch is for STAB priority. Seed Bomb replaces Focus Punch with Superpower and Revenge now on other pokes of the team.. If I play my cards right, I can pull off a 4-5 man sweep with this hellish fiend.

ENDING NOTES:
In terms of threats, I generally find myself having problems with Lead Sleep Powderers, and the occasional bulkier grass types, such as Venusaur. Before adding Claydol, I originally was using a paraflinch Regirock, but found myself vastly outclassed by Machamps and the like. The occasional dragon type can set up on me, seeing as I have no real coverage besides Ice Beam on Omastar, but I rarely find myself having any problems with them in UU. Taunt Gligars can be an occasional problem when I try to wall them, but usually find myself coming out on top. Lastly, Mismagius will occasionally anticipate and avoid my sucker punch from cacturne, and begin to set up on me. Luckily, I have great typing on cacturne, so it doesn't pose too much of a threat.

LASTLY! I encourage EVERYONE to rate this team, and feel free to leave any comments or suggestions that you think suitable to help improve this team.

Thank you!!
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This is quite an effective sandstorm team. Although just a few things to note. Omastar's 50% special defense boost in a sandstorm shouldn't be wasted. With its newfound bulk it should run a support set with spikes and/or toxic spikes to exploit the eternal sandstorm better.

For Hitmontop, I find it strange that you run 252 speed EVs when in fact its entire movepool consists of priority. I suggest shifting those 252 EVs to HP and changing sucker punch to something like Close combat or Revenge as priority moves don't provide much power by itself.

Despite shuckle's great defenses, it is completely stopped by poison and steel types, who can constantly wear shuckle down with their STAB moves. Perhaps a cursing Cradily can be used in place of Shuckle to tank hits and pose an actual threat to your opponent. I suggest using the Curse+ chesto rest set on smogon, here's the link http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/cradily
This set will destroy your opponent after it has amassed a few curse boosts.

A venusaur would also be a big threat to this team as it can fire off powerful leaf storms, which none of your pokes resist excluding cacturne who is just too frail. A choice scarf user (preferably resisting grass) would probably be of use to your team as it will be able to revenge kill venusaur and other boosting threats that hitmontop can't remove.

Overall, this is quite a nice sandstorm team and does look quite fun to play with. gl, hope I helped.
 
Hi, nice to see another SS team user out there. My own one has been the most successful team I've used, so hopefully my advice will be of some value.

My first suggestion would be that Yawn>Toxic on Hippo. He won't be sticking around long enough to Toxic too many opposing members in any case, and Yawn lets him set SR and potentially cripple an enemy team member more easily and effectively. Essentially - if the enemy lead will SR or setup first turn, Yawn, giving them two options, switch, letting you set rocks for free and still have an intact sash to keep yawning; or break your sash/continue setup and then fall asleep.

In either case, you get SR up but also incapacitate at least one of his team (excluding Sub users and Insomniacs), letting you switch something in for free and hopefully begin setup (Cacturne). If they attack first turn then it's up to you to either Yawn and be sure to sleep something or set SR.

Finally, be sure to run a -Spe nature and a 12 Spe IV to underspeed all Snover and instantly give yourself an advantage, and I would also advise using the Smogon spread of 252HP/164Atk/92Def just to give yourself some extra EQ damage if need be.

Omastar seems very slow to be using as a sweeper outside of rain, even with the SS boost to its SpDef. It's gonna get one hit in on the switch and then die or be forced out, for the most part. I can't really recommend anything in particular except maybe a set with Leftovers or something faster, like Kabutops, who also has access to SD.

The Revenger Top looks pretty good, despite the LO and SS damage it seems like it'll serve its purpose well.

I would advocate Cradily or Registeel over Shuckle as a bulky Mon for several reasons. Firstly, they can both actually do damage outside of Toxic, though they can both run Toxistalling sets. Boosting sets like Cursedily are simply amazingly deadly if used correctly, so I would definitely test them out in Shuckle's place at the very least.

My issue with Claydol is that he cannot touch Ghosts like Rotom and Mismagius with only Psychic and Earth Power. I would definitely ditch SR for Shadow Ball, and use a Ghost type if you want to stop Rapid Spin that badly. To the end of defeating ghosts it may be worth shifting some EVs to SpAtk. Your team badly needs Rapid Spin for T-Spikes in particular - Cacturne, Omastar, Hitmontop, Hipopotas and to an extent Shuckle are all hit by it. Due to this you could add in a grounded poison to absorb them, if you so wish.

On Cacturne I would recommend Lefties>Brightpowder, as it means you get 5 chances to Sub rather than 4 with 4 HP EVs rather than Def, as well as being useful for restoring the health from Subs in general in case you need to switch out. Using Brightpowder = 4 chances of 28% for a 100% move to miss, Lefties = 5 chances of 20% for a 100% move to miss. Overall, there is only a minor difference, and the benefits of using Lefties (and that extra RNG roll) are enough to make up for it.

Also, consider Seed Bomb over Focus Punch, making yourself not entirely prediction reliant.

Hope that wall has helped and gl.
 
First of all, thanks so much for the help those suggestions really enlightened me.

@ Myrrh: I was thinking of dropping protect for a hazard on Omastar, as the only real use is to scout, I'll definitely try it out. Secondly, the Hitmontop EV's were a complete mistype, I have them set to HP on my team, just a silly error there. I was definitely thinking about switching to a curser, cradily in particular. I'm glad you didnt suggest the resttalk set, because I feel that that would completely throw off the pace of the team. I'll definitely try her out. Lastly, as I said, Venusaur is one of the biggest threats to this team, and a scarfed grass counter would be huge. Sadly the only mildly appealing one I can think of in UU/NU is scarfed Mawile.

@ Benlisted: The reason I run toxic > yawn on hippy is because I can set up hazards and status and protect stall SS/psn/rocks damage to have Hitmontop be able to come in for the quicker kill. Having said that, the yawn strat sounds effective and I'll definitely try it out. Secondly, I noted the fact that Omastar is a little slow, but Kabutops lacks some of the coverage that omastar does. However, I also noted your mention of toxic spikes, and was considering one of the nidos. Thoughts? The ditch of SR for shadow ball is definitely correct, Ill make the change right away. Although switching to Leftovers on Cacturne is a wiser decision, I usually dont find myself having to Sub up anymore than 1-2 times. Seed bomb for Falcon PAWNCH is definitely an interesting idea, I'll test it and get back to you.
 
I see some nice ideas in here but I still think you'll have to change a few things to make this a strong competitive team.

First of all I really think Sucker Punch is not useful on your Hitmontop since you already have Cacturne and most people will easily predict it coming on their Alakazam/Mismagius/Whatever and use Substitute or simply switch. Revenge (or Close Combat if you don't mind defenses drop) is a much useful alternative and provides a lot of power that can be useful in many situations (and also a STAB that is not Mach Punch).

Now the second thing I really think you should change to improve the effectiveness of this team is Toxic Spikes (as a replacement of Toxic on Hippopotas and Shuckle). There are many UU pokes that can set them up but if you really like it then you can keep Omastar in the team and replace HP Grass (or Protect) with the poisoning entry hazard.

At this point Shuckle is really useless on the team and the best alternatives for it are Cradily and Registeel. Personally I think Sleep Talking Registeel with Curse is what you really need since it covers you Venusaur Weakness, helps in absorbing status, and can easily sweep the entire opponent team with the help of Toxic Spikes and Sandstorm.

I hope my suggestions have helped, good luck at sweeping teams.
 
I need a couple opinions on a replacement for Omastar in order to obtain better coverage, and a faster special/mixed sweeper. Some suggestions that have come up:
Mawile running a mixed Choice Scarf set
Nidoking running a mixed Life Orb set
Nidoqueen running a more offensive Spiker set (mainly for Tspikes)

Any other suggestions are heavily appreciated, please let me know. If you catch me online my user is Edizzy27, feel free to send me a message
 
Mawile running choice scarf is definitly not recommended, as it is weak offensively and defensively, I was trying to suggest perhaps a scarfed Venusaur to take down the water and grass types that could possibly ravage through your team. Venusaur also provides a good set of resistances to water, grass and fighting for your team. The scarf venusaur should generally replace omastar as without swift swim boosting its speed, it will easily be revenge killed by fighting and grass types that are very common in UU. Omastar is also perhaps the weak link on your team as it doesn't provide any useful resistances for your team and lacks synergy.

Claydol's current set seems a bit strange. The only support it is actually offering is rapid spin, which isn't really necessary on your team as they are all neutral to stealth rock. Perhaps replacing psychic with stealth rock would help as you can't guarantee that Hippopotas will always set up rocks due to the prevalence of taunt leads, also running 3 offensive moves on Claydol is unorthodox with no special attack EVs. (base 70 spatk). I would probably scrap claydol altogether for a registeel as it can provide much more support and resistances. Maybe the sleeptalk set so that you will have a decent status absorber.
 
Why the hell would you need to run a Scarfed Venusaur/Mawile/anything else ?
Aren't TechniTop and Cacturne there for revenge killing with priority moves (and hopefully sweep in Cacturne case...)? Most UU sweepers aren't bulky enough to survive entry hazards and Fake Out + BP or Sucker Punch.
I still think Omastar spot should be filled with a Toxic Spiker (that have immense synergy with SS Teams).

@Myrrh: If you take out Claydol and replace it with Registeel his team has a HUGE weakness to the one of the most common moves ever: Earthquake. Haven't think about that, did you ? At this point scarf Venusaur may seem useful to revenge kill things like Rhyperior but it doesn't resist EQ and can't switch in almost any move Rhyperior runs.
 
Sorry if I offended you Uncommon Madness,

Just to clarify, I suggested Venusaur mainly for the grass, water and fighting resistance that is lacking in this team. And although a scarf may not have been absolutely necessary, it does provide a decent way in removing water and grass types (leaf storm and sludge bomb respectively) who may survive a few priority moves eg. azumarill, milotic,feraligatr, leafeon etc. and also because it can incapacitate a troublesome pokemon with sleep powder so cacturne and Cradily can set up easier.

I suggested changing the moveset on claydol as it had 3 offensive moves+ rapid spin. The 3 offensive moves particularly annoyed me as Claydol's special attack was a terrible base 70 and with no EV investment, it'd be struggling to do significant damage. I also questioned the reason to running rapid spin as none of his pokes were actually weak to SR. Suggesting a registeel may have been perhaps a lapse on my part, but it does solve the grass and ice weakness.

Just a note, none of his pokes are actually weak to EQ except Omastar and you could similarly say that this team has a 'huge' weakness to the common moves ice beam, surf and leaf storm but that's not the case.
 
Right now, I am seeing a major weakness you have coming from the likes of Jinx and Milotic. Jinx can incapcitate some of your team and can proceed to NP and sweep with Ice Beam, leaving you with just Sucker Punch from Cacturne (but even then, your only final choice is bringing in Hitmontop. Milotic walks all over your team, bar Cradily, with Ice Beam. This is why I recommend bringing in something that can resist the likes of Milotic. Milotic itself can become a decent glue to your team:

Milotic @ Leftovers
Marvel Scale
Bold
Ev's: 248 HP/252 Def/8 Spe
-Surf
-Hidden Power Grass/Ice Beam
-Recover
-Ice Beam/Toxic/Haze

This Milotic (especially if you are running Toxic), can outstall and beat any enemy Milotic. However, you will want to watch out, as you don't want a Milotic Toxicing you as well. The moves are from the actual Smogon Set.

Alternatively, you can add another Fighting Resist to your team and put Slowbro on your team instead:

Slowking @ Leftovers
Own Tempo
Calm
EV's: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpD
-Slack Off
-Surf
-Psychic
-Toxic

Since this team is more stall oriented, I would either replace Omastar or Claydol with one of these two. Preferably Claydol, as you aren't going to need Rapid Spin too much. Slowking would definitely fit over Claydol. Milotic could work as a Tank that replaces Omastar. It is your choice with whom you choose as a Milotic counter, Just make sure that you keep in mind your major Ice weakness.
 
First, thanks to all three of you for your suggestions.

@Myrrh: Venusaur can be a great choiced poke, but I mainly have the most trouble with him when its running a Sub set, giving a free turn of damage/SD.
I was thinking of scrapping Claydol all together anyways, rapid spin has proven to be useless and hes weak in general.

@Uncommon Madness: I agree that a Tspiker would provide great synergy to the team, and am currently thinking about replacing Omastar with a little more offensive version of the Tspike nidoqueen.

@Acklow: Slowking > Claydol is probably one of the best ideas i've heard yet. The only problem is if i switch to a Tspiker, I'll have 3 pokes with 3 moves rendered useless. I'd probably switch the toxic out for a screen, making my guys borderline invincible to special attacks. Surprisingly enough milotic doesnt actually sweep the likes of my team, Cradily is borderline unstoppable with +1-2 when running chesto rest, and im not really afraid of bulky waters.

I'll make some tests and get back to ya'll
 
Whatever changes you make, if you remove Claydol then you need to have a grounded poison type or other spinner.

I'd agree that Claydol and Omastar are your weak links - try out Slowbro and IMO an offensive Nidoking. T-Spikes do help a SandStall team a lot but you seem to be moving somewhat away from that with your changes, so more offense may help. Also consider Toxicroak as a Poison over Nidoking if he seems lacking.

I'll keep looking at this thread and help more once I see what changes you make.
 
@ Benlisted: I've actually been trying Nidoking in a mixed set as a more covered sweeper and it seems to be going very well. Slowbro for Claydol has also worked incredibly. I'll make the changes.
 
I've officially made the (somewhat final) changes to this team, and I'll be honest, it's working beautifully. I'm up to around 1350 on the UU ladder and climbing.
 
Nice changes you've made. I still have a few things for you to consider, however.

Focus Punch>Seed Bomb on Cacturne. With Superpower and Revenge now on other members of your team, It's definitely worth considering dropping FP and using Seed Bomb, allowing you to have STAB and a reliable move to take out the occasional slower Quagsire etc that may switch in with ease. I used to run FP/SP but personally I find Seed Bomb a lot more useful as other members of my team pack strong fighting moves. Another advantage is that against slower opponents it helps you keep your Sub up longer and keep causing damage.

My second recommendation links into this somewhat. Try out Resttalk Cursedily over the ChestoRest variant you have now, with Rock Slide as its attack. This gives you an excellent counter to all but SD Venusaur variants, which I believe you were having issues with(?), as its attacks do minimal damage to Cradily and it can shrug off sleep caused while switching in with ease. With a strong Grass move elsewhere I believe you will feel the loss of an attack less as well. Ofc it does somewhat become setup fodder, but with the rest of your team to help or a few Curses under your belt (even SD or NP boosted attacks will be doing minimal damage unless STAB and Super Effective) I don't think it should impact you too much.

That's pretty much it. Sucker Punch is an option on Nido but isn't really needed with all your priority, and I'm still pushing for Yawn on Hippo :P. Anyway even now this team looks excellent, so GL!
 
Last change will be Seed Bomb > Falcon PAWNCH on Cacturne. Will try TalkDily over ChestoDily, but for now i'm loving the chesto set. Thanks so much to EVERYONE; you're ratings and suggestions have helped way more than you know.
 
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