First team (Sandstorm)

[Vlach]

This is my first time making a team for competitive play, so I probably no doubt have some glaring weaknesses. Maybe you guys can help me out a bit. We'll start with my thought process.

I knew that I had wanted to make a weather based team, and Sandstorm was a personal favorite, so I figured I should start with a Sand Stream user. Tyranitar is one of my favorite pokemon, but I knew my team would be offense-heavy so I opted for the more defensive pokemon, Hippowdon. I like Hippos anyways, so I am cool with it.

Excadrill was a must have on my team. I had wanted him on my story-team but couldn't fit him on. So far he seems pretty strong, and the sandstorm only makes him stronger.

Archeops was next. I never planned a use for him, since his ability is very detrimental. However, I found out about the Acrobatics-bomb with Flying Gem and have been in love with him ever since.

After Archeops came Garchomp. I looked through pokemon with Sand Veil, and he was an obvious choice. He is not uber yet, so I might as well reap his benefits. Outrage is awesome to have and does some killer damage.

Then I came to the conclusion that I have a lot of weaknesses to water and the like, so I need to change it up from rock and ground. Lucario always seemed like a cool pokemon, and i needed a special attacker anyways.

Last up is Nidoking. I was still lacking in the special attack department, and I saw him with the large variety of special moves. He was probably my favorite pokemon from Gen 1, so I naturally wanted him on my team when I found out there was a way for him to be powerful.


Details:

Hippowdon (Anonymous)
Sand Stream
Impish
Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
*Earthquake
*Slack Off
*Stealth Rock
*Roar

Hippowdon is about my only defensive wall. I'm relying on him to set up SR and then tank it out from there. I am sure he will do fine for the job.

Excadrill (Moley Mole)
Sand Rush
Adamant
Air Balloon
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
*Swords Dance
*Earthquake
*Rock Slide
*X-Scissor

Excadrill is my reliable powerhouse. He doesn't get outsped in a Sandstorm, and can do a variety of attacks to crush his enemies.

Archeops (PrettyBird)
Defeatist
Adamant
Flying Gem
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
*Acrobatics
*Earthquake
*Stone Edge
*U-Turn

Archeops is useful for the Acrobatics-bomb technique that often times will one shot a lot of pokemon. Not to mention he can use U-Turn to get the heck out when need be. He is one of my favorites, even if he is a glass cannon.

Garchomp (GarChamp)
Sand Veil
Jolly
Choice Scarf
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
*Fire Blast
*Outrage
*Earthquake
*Dragon Claw

Garchomp can oftentimes just power through situations with STAB Outrage. Confusion is risky business, but Outrage often pays out enough to outweigh the consequences.

Lucario (Anubis)
Inner Focus
Modest
Life Orb
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
*Nasty Plot
*Aura Sphere
*Dark Pulse
*Vacuum Wave

Lucario is my primary special sweeper. He has a very high sp. attack stat, and can easily take advantage of it. He suffers from only 2 types for attacks, but they get the task done.

Nidoking (Thrasher)
Inner Focus
Modest
Life Orb
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
*Thunderbolt
*Flamethrower
*Ice Beam
*Earth Power

Nidoking is there to break stalls with his various moves. Very few types are safe from each of his attacks.

Thanks in advance guys. Any little help is appreciated. Help me make my first team an awesome one.

 

[LightningNapkin]

Smart move putting Excadrill after Hippowdon

 

[Vlach]

Smart move putting Excadrill after Hippowdon

Well the way I see it, is that he benefits the absolute most from sandstorm being up, so if for some reason it stopped, I would have at least wanted him to get its usefulness.

 

[Zarco]

Hey, I know where you are, making your first team (I'm relatively new). It's a decent team, but it's incredibly weak to water-types, as you have no resists and many also take SE damage from ice moves, which many bulky waters carry. I also don't see the purpose of SS (you obviously based the team around it), besides breaking sashes and abusing Excadrill and occasionally Chomp (though its really a negligible difference). You might have more reasoning, but your descriptions were pretty short. Through this, you locked yourself into 3 types which share common water, ice, ground and fighting weaknesses most of the time- this is the problem with a lot of SS teams, including my first team. You need some other things that use sandstorm to their advantage- offensively, defensively, or somewhere in between.

A bulky water type like Vaporeon or Jellicent could help your weaknesses a lot- Vappy can pass wishes, and Jellicent gets better self-recovery in recover (though it can't be passed) and more reliable burn than Scald through will-o-wisp. Its ghost typing is also good because it nets you great resistances, while will-o-wisp beats pursuit users. Lefties negate SS damage and both get a move to heal, so look into them.

Landlos could easily replace Chomp and obsolete Archeops, getting a boost to Stone Edge and (STAB) EQ with sand force and getting U-turn and a higher special attack than Chomp, at the cost of 2 base speed and 5 base attack.

Rock types like curse Regirock, TTar (also can set up SS and can be a stat booster, mixed attacker, or lead), and my favorite, curse+recover Cradily (gets either an immunity to water or to phazers through your ability choice) all get a 50% Sp. Def. boost and are all useful, especially the first and last as last-stand pokes for their ability to boost both defenses and hit hard at the same time.

Other walls like Ferrothorn (helps against rain too) and Gliscor could benefit from residual damage and add all-around bulk to your team, and Heatran both gets an immunity to SS and destroys sun teams.

Sorry for the length, and that I'm kinda harsh. For more help with resistances and covering weaknesses (your main problem, IMO), check out a team weakness calculator- it will add up the typings of your entire team and determine what types you're weak to. Play around on Pokemon Online as well to get a feel for the metagame and what threats destroy your team.

 

[jle1076]

Excadrill (Moley Mole)
Sand Rush
Adamant
Air Balloon
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
*Swords Dance
*Earthquake
*Rock Slide
*X-Scissor

My Excadrill would outspeed yours in a sandstorm :P and you need more of a description for your pokemon..thats like a sentence each. Also, Id opt for Shadow Ball over Dark Pulse for coverage reasons on Lucario, and Id actually go with a SD Physical Sweeper.

 

[Vlach]

Hey, I know where you are, making your first team (I'm relatively new). It's a decent team, but it's incredibly weak to water-types, as you have no resists and many also take SE damage from ice moves, which many bulky waters carry. I also don't see the purpose of SS (you obviously based the team around it), besides breaking sashes and abusing Excadrill and occasionally Chomp (though its really a negligible difference). You might have more reasoning, but your descriptions were pretty short. Through this, you locked yourself into 3 types which share common water, ice, ground and fighting weaknesses most of the time- this is the problem with a lot of SS teams, including my first team. You need some other things that use sandstorm to their advantage- offensively, defensively, or somewhere in between.

A bulky water type like Vaporeon or Jellicent could help your weaknesses a lot- Vappy can pass wishes, and Jellicent gets better self-recovery in recover (though it can't be passed) and more reliable burn than Scald through will-o-wisp. Its ghost typing is also good because it nets you great resistances, while will-o-wisp beats pursuit users. Lefties negate SS damage and both get a move to heal, so look into them.

Landlos could easily replace Chomp and obsolete Archeops, getting a boost to Stone Edge and (STAB) EQ with sand force and getting U-turn and a higher special attack than Chomp, at the cost of 2 base speed and 5 base attack.

Rock types like curse Regirock, TTar (also can set up SS and can be a stat booster, mixed attacker, or lead), and my favorite, curse+recover Cradily (gets either an immunity to water or to phazers through your ability choice) all get a 50% Sp. Def. boost and are all useful, especially the first and last as last-stand pokes for their ability to boost both defenses and hit hard at the same time.

Other walls like Ferrothorn (helps against rain too) and Gliscor could benefit from residual damage and add all-around bulk to your team, and Heatran both gets an immunity to SS and destroys sun teams.

Sorry for the length, and that I'm kinda harsh. For more help with resistances and covering weaknesses (your main problem, IMO), check out a team weakness calculator- it will add up the typings of your entire team and determine what types you're weak to. Play around on Pokemon Online as well to get a feel for the metagame and what threats destroy your team.

I appreciate the help. I know that I would like to get Ferrothorn on the team but it might not be workable - Cradily sounds like a good possibility though. Thanks for the insight!