SS OU Hazard stacking sand balance (Ft: Superpower Ttar)

[658Greninja]

This is my first attempt at a RMT. After the Urshifu ban I wanted to experiment with different Reuniclus teams, and I found this one to be the most consistent.

The whole idea with this team is to wear down the opponent slowly with hazards, sand damage, and/or status while trying to outlast the opponents defogger/spinner to keep rocks up. The team is centered around Reuniclus and Specs Spectrier who can overwhelm bulkier teams especially after dealing with residual damage.

The Squad

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 188 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Toxic

Ttar is the team’s rocker and special sponge who sets sand up for Drill and checks Spectrier, Zapdos, Tran, and NP Hydreigon. Superpower is old school Ttar tech all the way back in BW OU. Here it is meant to lure in Hydreigon or opposing Ttar and remove it for Spectrier. With 56 Atk you 2HKO standard Ferro, OHKO Ttar and Drill after rocks, and 12 Speed lets you outspeed opposing Ttar and 12 Speed Clefable.

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Body Press

Skarm is the team’s main physical wall and answer to SD Chomp/Lando, Rilla, SG Stored Power Mag, Drill, Melmetal, and Kart. It’s job is plain and simple, set up spikes and rack up dmg with Whirlwind and Body Press. 136 Sped evs let it outspeed Adamant Azumarill and Crawdaunt.

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 SpD / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Rapid Spin

Drill is the team’s hazard control, speed control and Volt Switch immunity. It’s the teams check to Lele. Not much to say about Drill here since the set is pretty standard except for one thing. I adjusted the evs so it has more bulk to deal with Magearna and Lele while having enough speed to outrun Timid Heatran and Nidoking.

Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Knock Off
- Recover
- Scald

The team’s bulky water, Knock abuser, Regen pivot, TSpike absorber and setter. Pex is meant to set up Tspikes and cripple mons the team might otherwise struggle with as well as spread burns for Spectrier and Reuniclus late game. Forgone Haze for Scald to be able to inflict burns and cripple most relevant defoggers.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Recover

Reuniclus is the main star, status absorber, and wincon of the team. It’s gameplan is plain and simple. Let 5 of the other members cripple and wear down the opponent’s team via hazards and status, then go Reuniclus to finish the job. Focus Blast over Thunder cause Focus Blast has more coverage against the overall meta and Mandi ain’t doing anything to Reuniclus. 48 Speed is to outrun opposing Reuniclus and most importantly, outrun AV Melmetal to 2HKO it with Focus Blast after a boost (if it lands lol). It’s also the teams answer to opposing CM sweepers like Vinecune and Clef.

Spectrier @ Choice Specs
Ability: Grim Neigh
EVs: 68 Def / 252 SpA / 188 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Hex
- Mud Shot
- Will-O-Wisp

Spectrier is our cleaner and emergency speed control in case Drill dies or sand isn’t up in the right time. It’s meant to check threats and cripple things with Wisp or stray hits in early game before cleaning late game. Sand + Rocks means Hydreigon has a more difficult time with checking the horse. 188 Speed evs lets it outspeed Torn allowing it to run more Dfse evs.

Threats

Specs Magearna
The team can handle SG Mag fine but Specs is a bit of an issue. It does a huge chunk to Drill and cripples everything here except Spect with Trick. Best way to deal with it is pivot around between Pex and Drill.

Cinderace
Zen Headbutt Ace can be problematic for the team however it is possible to play around it depending on the coverage. If it’s Sucker Punch then it is most likely missing either HJK, Zen, or U-Turn.

CM Tapu Fini
If your not careful vs CM Fini it’ll be dangerous for the team to handle. Wear it down with hazards and Knock til it can be checked by Spectrier or Reuniclus.

Nidoking
It’s problematic for the team to switch into it but it can be checked by Drill, Reuniclus, Spectrier.

Tapu Lele
The team doesn’t have great Lele switch ins especially vs the occasional Calm Mind set. Drill can’t take repeated Psychics or Moonblasts, and Reuniclus can only switch into Psychic/Psyshock. Best way to deal with it is by dancing around its stabs and Focus Blast.

 

[StegosarausRex]

I have some questions.

Question 1: How do you deal with opposing weather? There are rain teams that are actually pretty frequent. You say that if sand isn't up at right time on spectrier, you can pull it in. However, most rain teams feature Barraskewda which outspeeds it without rain. This just wrecks it.

Here are some calcs:

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 68 Def Spectrier in Rain: 450-531 (131.9 - 155.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

While pulling in T-tar seems logical, it can still wreck it with Liquidation.

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 764-900 (189.1 - 222.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Question 2: Not a question but just something that you could add. You could add Choice Band for Excadrill to cause more havoc without having to wait a turn to setup. Not only does this open up an opposing pokemon to attack you and possibly kill it, it stops the sweeping chances, or just having a chance to kill a mon before dying itself.


Yeah not really sure what else to say. I just wanna see how u deal with weather

 

[658Greninja]

I have some questions.

Question 1: How do you deal with opposing weather? There are rain teams that are actually pretty frequent. You say that if sand isn't up at right time on spectrier, you can pull it in. However, most rain teams feature Barraskewda which outspeeds it without rain. This just wrecks it.

Here are some calcs:

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 68 Def Spectrier in Rain: 450-531 (131.9 - 155.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

While pulling in T-tar seems logical, it can still wreck it with Liquidation.

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 764-900 (189.1 - 222.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Question 2: Not a question but just something that you could add. You could add Choice Band for Excadrill to cause more havoc without having to wait a turn to setup. Not only does this open up an opposing pokemon to attack you and possibly kill it, it stops the sweeping chances, or just having a chance to kill a mon before dying itself.


Yeah not really sure what else to say. I just wanna see how u deal with weather

Pex + Ttar is generally enough to deal with most rain teams. Barra is forced to go for Psychic Fangs which does 2HKO Pex but you can basically swap out into Skarm or Reuniclus as Pex recovers hp from Regenerator. Also Barra doesn’t wanna take chip from Rocky Helmet. I wanted to have a bit more defensive utility and longevity on Drill so I went with Lefties. Otherwise the team would be very easy to wear down for offensive fairies like Koko, Lele, and Mag.

 

[StegosarausRex]

Yeah thats all I was wondering. Nice team

 

[ElStefano]

Have you tried specially defensive reuniclus with acid armor over focus blast ans stored power? Beats Magearna and eases the lele matchup. Of course, you can't touch dark types anymore, but they are worn down by toxic spikes and the other hazards. And you have Knock off and spectrier to pressure mandibuzz and hydreigon. I think it's worth a try.

 

[lycan2500]

I have some questions.

Question 1: How do you deal with opposing weather? There are rain teams that are actually pretty frequent. You say that if sand isn't up at right time on spectrier, you can pull it in. However, most rain teams feature Barraskewda which outspeeds it without rain. This just wrecks it.

Here are some calcs:

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 68 Def Spectrier in Rain: 450-531 (131.9 - 155.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

While pulling in T-tar seems logical, it can still wreck it with Liquidation.

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 764-900 (189.1 - 222.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Question 2: Not a question but just something that you could add. You could add Choice Band for Excadrill to cause more havoc without having to wait a turn to setup. Not only does this open up an opposing pokemon to attack you and possibly kill it, it stops the sweeping chances, or just having a chance to kill a mon before dying itself.


Yeah not really sure what else to say. I just wanna see how u deal with weather

So, I like this team quite a bit but do have some thoughts:

1. Superpower Ttar is pretty heat, but I believe Toxic already helps against Darks. Not running Earthquake makes the Magearna matchup much harder, as it allows it to come in without much to do about it. You could alternatively run Thunder Wave over Toxic to cripple Magearna on the switch and keep Superpower.

2. A lot of Ttar are running 252 HP 216 SpD and 40 Spe Careful. So your spread would be slower than that spread. It does outsped standard Clef though.

3. Very creative way of using Skarm. It gives you a great check to mons like Rilla and Lando and it sets Spikes greatly. Nice pick. I do think Toxic might be more reliable than Whirlwind to make it less passive against common Defoggers like Zapdos or Mandibuzz

 

[Smashburn]

So, I like this team quite a bit but do have some thoughts:

1. Superpower Ttar is pretty heat, but I believe Toxic already helps against Darks. Not running Earthquake makes the Magearna matchup much harder, as it allows it to come in without much to do about it. You could alternatively run Thunder Wave over Toxic to cripple Magearna on the switch and keep Superpower.

2. A lot of Ttar are running 252 HP 216 SpD and 40 Spe Careful. So your spread would be slower than that spread. It does outsped standard Clef though.

3. Very creative way of using Skarm. It gives you a great check to mons like Rilla and Lando and it sets Spikes greatly. Nice pick. I do think Toxic might be more reliable than Whirlwind to make it less passive against common Defoggers like Zapdos or Mandibuzz

Personally, I think the whirlwind is actually great. With spikes it allows for switching out threats and setups consistantly. But I agree, Whirlwind is a heavy cost for not doing so hot in staller MUs which are common. Plus, this team only has 1 Toxic user and that's Ttar, who gets worn down easily with not much recovery.

The main thing I will add after playing this team is that Reun gets worn down really fast consistantly between wanting to set up on CM, coming into Rocks and Spikes, having faster mons hit it, etc. I think that it would be better if Reun did have something like Leftovers or HDB plus Acid and Calm Mind, I like the unique threat with pex too because although Reun gets completely walled by unaware mons and dark types, it can stay in for a moment to heal up. Also, I would personally run Regen over Magic Guard if you do keep your current set in case you do need to swap out. Sure, it makes you weak to Toxic, but really it isn't that big of a deal when your function is to hit for high damage and leave. If you do go with Regen on your Reun for the Acid set, I think it definitely helps allowing Reun to act as a sponge to soak up small hits, and when it comes in / out it build up more and more HP as your reliable final killer.

Another issue I have is with Spectrier. Sure, Spectrier gets good usage out of the Hex set, but really it cannot for the love of it recover (much like Ttar), setup, or be a true sweeper during most matches in a meta where stall / Magearna offenses are becoming popular. Not to mention this set is outsped by max Spe Koko, max Spe Barra, max Spe Spectrier, CS Spectrier, CSpecs Dragapult (Dragapult in General), Scarf Lando, and CS Gapdos. This is a huge problem because even though you can answer the threats in terms of defense, offensively you are outclassed and as your defensive mons show, you are not well equipped for using status well. Especially because to take out tankier mons you'll rely on TSpikes since I'd bet knowing Exca is around your opponent will be aiming to pick off or keep out Tyranitar slowly, who is your only Toxic. To add to the treat of chipping, you have to worry about actually getting Spec in, ehich is difficult in a team like this. As I said, I like the set, Wil-O-Wisp is particularly good for it, but it just doesn't work well with the lack of status utility from the mons in the team.

My other concern for his/her team is the same as this commenter's, Superpower just isn't that good. You have Toxic, are weak to many otherwise easy matchups for EQ Ttar, it simply doesn't work in a team like this especially with coverage. Earthquake is the Rose in a bouquet of wildflowers for Ttar concerning many of this team's weaknesses.

Again, OP, changes are up to you but coming from myself and others, this team will benefit from them I'm sure.

 

[658Greninja]

Personally, I think the whirlwind is actually great. With spikes it allows for switching out threats and setups consistantly. But I agree, Whirlwind is a heavy cost for not doing so hot in staller MUs which are common. Plus, this team only has 1 Toxic user and that's Ttar, who gets worn down easily with not much recovery.

The main thing I will add after playing this team is that Reun gets worn down really fast consistantly between wanting to set up on CM, coming into Rocks and Spikes, having faster mons hit it, etc. I think that it would be better if Reun did have something like Leftovers or HDB plus Acid and Calm Mind, I like the unique threat with pex too because although Reun gets completely walled by unaware mons and dark types, it can stay in for a moment to heal up. Also, I would personally run Regen over Magic Guard if you do keep your current set in case you do need to swap out. Sure, it makes you weak to Toxic, but really it isn't that big of a deal when your function is to hit for high damage and leave. If you do go with Regen on your Reun for the Acid set, I think it definitely helps allowing Reun to act as a sponge to soak up small hits, and when it comes in / out it build up more and more HP as your reliable final killer.

Another issue I have is with Spectrier. Sure, Spectrier gets good usage out of the Hex set, but really it cannot for the love of it recover (much like Ttar), setup, or be a true sweeper during most matches in a meta where stall / Magearna offenses are becoming popular. Not to mention this set is outsped by max Spe Koko, max Spe Barra, max Spe Spectrier, CS Spectrier, CSpecs Dragapult (Dragapult in General), Scarf Lando, and CS Gapdos. This is a huge problem because even though you can answer the threats in terms of defense, offensively you are outclassed and as your defensive mons show, you are not well equipped for using status well. Especially because to take out tankier mons you'll rely on TSpikes since I'd bet knowing Exca is around your opponent will be aiming to pick off or keep out Tyranitar slowly, who is your only Toxic. To add to the treat of chipping, you have to worry about actually getting Spec in, ehich is difficult in a team like this. As I said, I like the set, Wil-O-Wisp is particularly good for it, but it just doesn't work well with the lack of status utility from the mons in the team.

My other concern for his/her team is the same as this commenter's, Superpower just isn't that good. You have Toxic, are weak to many otherwise easy matchups for EQ Ttar, it simply doesn't work in a team like this especially with coverage. Earthquake is the Rose in a bouquet of wildflowers for Ttar concerning many of this team's weaknesses.

Again, OP, changes are up to you but coming from myself and others, this team will benefit from them I'm sure.

I’ll take note on the switch from Whirlwind to Toxic. I def agree that the team could use more ways to pressure Defoggers. As for Reuniclus.

Regen is bad on CM Reuniclus and on this team for several reasons. Without Magic Guard you take residual dmg from hazards, Toxic, burns, and sand chip. It also means your mu vs stall and especially Blissey much worse. Also you don’t need boots if your essentially immune to hazard dmg. I couldn’t fit in Acid Armor due to how much support is required to make it work. LO over Lefties was chosen in order to

A. 2HKO AV Melmetal with Focus Blast after a CM

B. Gives Reuniclus more of an immediate offensive presence

C. Makes it even better vs opposing CM sweepers like Clef, Suicune, Fini, and opposing Reuniclus.

The mons you mentioned that outspeed Spectrier aren’t a problem for this team other than maybe Pult who can be pivoted around. Koko is walled by Drill, Barra is walled by Pex + Skarm, Scarf Lando and Gapdos are not a threat to this team concidering all the switch ins here. Also Drill in sand outspeeds all of them. Stall and SG Magearna aren’t problematic for a team that has Reuniclus for Stall and Drill for SG Mag. The team relies on constant chip damage from hazards, sand, and status to cripple fatter mons for Drill, Reuniclus, Spect, or even Ttar to finish off. Just wanted to state the whys regarding the team.

Also I do agree that Spectrier is hard to bring in for this team but I’m not sure how I can fix that (pivots perhaps?). Any suggestions would help. Thx in advance.

 

[Smashburn]

I’ll take note on the switch from Whirlwind to Toxic. I def agree that the team could use more ways to pressure Defoggers. As for Reuniclus.

Regen is bad on CM Reuniclus and on this team for several reasons. Without Magic Guard you take residual dmg from hazards, Toxic, burns, and sand chip. It also means your mu vs stall and especially Blissey much worse. Also you don’t need boots if your essentially immune to hazard dmg. I couldn’t fit in Acid Armor due to how much support is required to make it work. LO over Lefties was chosen in order to

A. 2HKO AV Melmetal with Focus Blast after a CM

B. Gives Reuniclus more of an immediate offensive presence

C. Makes it even better vs opposing CM sweepers like Clef, Suicune, Fini, and opposing Reuniclus.

The mons you mentioned that outspeed Spectrier aren’t a problem for this team other than maybe Pult who can be pivoted around. Koko is walled by Drill, Barra is walled by Pex + Skarm, Scarf Lando and Gapdos are not a threat to this team concidering all the switch ins here. Also Drill in sand outspeeds all of them. Stall and SG Magearna aren’t problematic for a team that has Reuniclus for Stall and Drill for SG Mag. The team relies on constant chip damage from hazards, sand, and status to cripple fatter mons for Drill, Reuniclus, Spect, or even Ttar to finish off. Just wanted to state the whys regarding the team.

Also I do agree that Spectrier is hard to bring in for this team but I’m not sure how I can fix that (pivots perhaps?). Any suggestions would help. Thx in advance.

Perhaps you could share a replay of you playing around the mons I said were threats? I can understand some of what you are saying with your team, but when I played it I only found that momentum killed this team because your mons that cover each other only take chip off of that momentum and the endgame is very difficult when your opponent can easily predict when you will use, because the function of the mons in this team is very linear and clear to see, as well as the fact that the team doesn't have an electric immunity outside of Exca who is walled by a decent amount of the meta, and needs more turns- at least from what I found- of sand to get setup and actually begin dealing damage because those threats I mentioned don't need time to set up like yours do. It's why I mentioned that offensively you are outclassed and you need more status to wear down opposing mons.