Making sandstorm teams

eA-Zaku

Is it all right if 1 or 2 of the slots in a sand stream team is NOT immune to sandstorm?

I was thinking perhaps a Gengar shores up some holes as well as opens up attack slots for my other guys (tyranitar can take pursuit over ice beam, etc. or can have a team with 3 ice beamers: gengar/tyranitar/swampert)

But I also noticed Gengar dies really fast already for a few unlucky predictions or critical hits without the help of sand storm making it worse.

Is it even possible to make a team that is 6/6 immune to sand storm without crippling yourself due to type weakness?

Thanks in advance and sorry for asking such an elementary question.
 
You don't have to make every pokemon in a sandstorm team immune to it (it's up to personal preference there), and it is possible to make a team that's immune to sandstream without any glaring weaknesses, although you have to make good use of resistances (ie: you need to have something that can take ground attacks if you have a lot of rock or steel pokes, you need something to take fire attacks if you have lots of steel pokes), it helps that Ground/Rock/Steel are quite defensively orientated types.
 
i actually think it's better if they are not all immune. as demon said, it's just too hard to get good defensive type coverage if you're limited to steel, rock and ground (i think i got it right). go ahead and make 2 pokes the exception, you'll need it. same for hail teams.
 
Don't forget that some interesting UU Pokemon like Golduck, Cacturne and Clefable are immune to Sand Storm. Cacturne's Sucker Punch and its Sash Counter can be very useful. Golduck is a weak but occasionally nasty surprise (great after a few Calm Minds) and Clefable with Magic Guard is never expected.
 
Roserade with Weather Ball gets a 100 BP rock special attack.
Cacturne has Sand Veil, and Sash+Counter+Sucker Punch+Swords Dance hurts.
Cradily and Shuckle work great with a Special Defense boost.
I like ScarfGolduck(xD), which counters Tyranitar with Focus Blast (no boost because of Golduck's ability) and Garchomp with Ice Beam (no Sand Veil).
Clefable is great too, because it can absorb some status, like Toxic or W-o-W.
 
Abut the Cacturne part. It really sucks if your opponent miss you when you try yocounter his attack. Personnaly i would try something else like for example the sub puncher version instead.
 
It's fine to have pokemon who don't resist the SS, but half the team at least should resist it imo.

Something to take advantage of is to keep lowering their HP, then you can stall things out until the ss kills them - that's why a lot of ss teams carry pokemon that can use toxic and SR (TSS).

Dosaidon is really good in the sand, solid rock + sdef boost makes him fucking good at taking hits, his big attack is cool too. Cradily is really stable as well.

Also use Garchomp for epic lulz (sand veil).
 
dynamo said:
Dosaidon is really good in the sand, solid rock + sdef boost makes him fucking good at taking hits, his big attack is cool too.
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Have you been away for that long?

And yes, it's all right if 1 or 2 slots in a team are not immune to sandstorm. I think I've had teams where 3 Pokemon have not been immune to Sandstream actually.

I quite like using Roserade on Sandstorm teams. WeatherBall-Rock is nice for type coverage.
 
I use Roserade as a lead on one of my teams. Laying down Toxic Spikes and then setting up Sandstream is fun.
 
In theory: it's to have the majority, if not all your Pokemon immune to Sandstorm. That is because you want to benifit from it while some of your opponent's team lose their health because they're not equiped with Leftovers, or that they're not Rock/Steel or Ground-type Pokemon.

I sometimes like Blissey in SS teams in Advance and DP. It takes up the special weakness very well while supporting your team with Wish/Aroma. That is if Cradily isn't acting as your special wall while it benifits from Sandstream.

To your last question, this team works well.

Hippowdon Garchomp Skarmory Cradily Gliscor Swampert

There is one major, and I mean major weakness, to the team. That is Skarmory, who can Spike all over you and not care at all. So you could actually replace Swampert for Donphan, Starmie (who recks the question) and even Claydol ( who suprisingly fits into the team).
 
Have you been away for that long?
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I'm used to Dosaidon rather than Rhyperior, can't help it. Before we had DP everyone was like DOSAIDON IS THE SHIT, and since it's hardly ever talked about during current times I still think of the jap name whenever I think of it :x
 
MUKKUHAWK FTW!

Anyways, the only Rhyperior I have ever found useful would be the following:

Rhyperior @Leftovers
Careful (I think that's the one that's +Sp. Def -Sp. Atk)
Solid Rock ability
Enough HP for 404 / enough speed for 157 (or 147 if you don't care about dodging Weezing's WoW) / rest in Sp. Def
Substitute
Swords Dance
Stone Edge
Earthquake

Works wonders in a sandstorm.
 
Thanks for all the replies. It was so helpful, it helped me pick my last two slots.

I have another question though. It says Stealth Rock is better if your team has problems with Gyarados and Salamence. I have 2 Ice Beamers and a lot of Dragon counters already, but no Thunderbolters, so should I put Stealth Rock on Skarmory instead of Spikes?

This would mean I have 2 Stealth Rockers instead of 1 Spiker and 1 Stealth Rocker. Spikes takes a while to set up and I don't like the thought of losing 3 turns of hard work to a Rapid Spin, and having more than one guy able to Stealth Rock is also nice. I'm thinking of trying to rearrange the movesets to accommodate a Forretress, so that I can have Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock, Sandstorm AND a Rapid Spinner.

These are the two in question, so if it'll help which combination is better, I'd be really grateful:

Swampert @ Leftovers
Torrent
240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpA
Relaxed
~ Earthquake
~ Ice Beam
~ Surf / Hydro Pump
~ Stealth Rock / Roar

Skarmory @ Leftovers / Shed Shell
Sturdy
Impish
~ Brave Bird
~ Roost
~ Spikes / Stealth Rock
~ Whirlwind

Edit: Oh yeah, I'd like to add that I'm still very much a beginner, so I'm not making something as multi-managed as a Spike team. My main "strategy" was just Sandstorm, Stealth Rock when the opportunity arises (if it gets Rapid Spun, then oh well), and then sweep with guys like Infernape, Mixpert, Garchomp, and CBTyranitar.
 
Ok lets see: Heatran/Quagsire/Gliscor/Tyranitar/Lucario/Skarmary work well together.

Quagsire takes Water attacks sent to Heatran/Gliscor/Tyranitar. Takes Electric attacks sent to Skarmary.

Gliscor takes Eqs sent to Tyranitar/Heatran/Lucario. Takes Electric attacks sent to Skarmary. Counters Heracross, and takes Fighting attacks sent to Lucario/Heatran and Tyranitar.

Heatran takes Fire attacks sent to Skarmary/Lucario.

Tyranitar takes Psychic Attacks and starts the sandstorm.

These are all pokemon immune to Sandstorm, and cover eachother's weaknesses. Skarm sets up Spikes, and Psuedo hazes, Quagsire counters Gyarados, Glsicor can Baton Pass/Taunt or set up Stealth Rocks.

Tyrantiar sweeps, Heatran sweeps, and Lucario is there to sweep.

Skarm takes Eqs, and Poison Attacks (Toxic).

Lucario can be replaced by Cradily, but Lucario works wonders with Sdance Xspeed.
 
I'm thinking of trying to rearrange the movesets to accommodate a Forretress, so that I can have Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock, Sandstorm AND a Rapid Spinner.
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If you're going to have Skarmory, don't have Forretress as well. Double Special Fire Weakness is not happiness. Don't fear inserting UU Pokemon into your team just because they're UU. You'd be amazed how long a Quagsire with Water Absorb can last if he's always switching into Water and Electric attacks.

Keep in mind that Cacturne can Thunderpunch and Clefable can Calm Mind into a great Special Wall and T-Bolt. Both are slow, but there are strategies to make slow Pokemon work just as well as fast ones (and no, I don't mean Trick Room).
 
tea_and_blues said:
Don't fear inserting UU Pokemon into your team just because they're UU. You'd be amazed how long a Quagsire with Water Absorb can last if he's always switching into Water and Electric attacks.
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Oh, ok. Thank you. I'm going to start browsing the BL and UU list because I had not even looked at them before, because I thought that it would be best for a beginner to stick with an OU lineup.

Quagsire was awesome in GSC :)
 
Haha any pure rock/steel/ground team will get fucked by Infernape if you're not using a Dugtrio lol.

My sandstorm team has just Tyranitar and that's about it. I don't even bring Tyranitar in the match for the most part, it just kinds of start the sand and then I proceed to do w/e.
 
eA-Zaku said:
Is it all right if 1 or 2 of the slots in a sand stream team is NOT immune to sandstorm?
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Of course it is, having a team that is only composed of 3 types, that share a bunch of the same weaknesses, is a bad idea. I use a gengar on mine. It is immune to ground and fighting so it has plenty of chances to grab a free switch in and it scares a lot of stuff.

If you want to make a team of your own I would suggest lurking in the RMT forum and going on shoddy an starting to put a team together and try it out. The best way to learn is from experience.
 
When considering Pokemon that do not have Sand Storm Immunities the first idea that comes to mind is OBVIOUSLY Tentacruel. A Pokemon capable of taking hits for the common weaknesses of teams, he resists Fighting moves (Rock and Steel Pokemon) and he resists Ice Beam (Ground Pokemon). It sure as hell is a requirement to not have Pokemon immune to Sand Storm or else youll have a very difficult time dealing with speedy Pokemon and an even harder time dealing with Water Pokemon
 
If you're going down the route of full SS immunity I highly suggest a strong priority move (I use a specs Lucario Vacuum Wave), you'll probably be lacking pokemon with huge speed (there's uhh, Garchomp, I think that's it), you need to be able to rip through those Infernapes and Weaviles and weakened pokemon really badly. A full SS immune team can work, however expect to do some major refining as you cover the glaring weaknesses that will pop up (make sure you can beat Gyarados and Infernape when building it).

On team selection it also presents some cool pokemon to take roles you'd normally fill with more common things. Special walls can include Cradily, Shuckle (although those two are too weak offensively for my liking), Registeel and Regirock (great type coverage on the Regi's attacks). On this note, when making your team, Bronzong is like awesome, if you have a glaring weakness, there's a decent chance 'Zong will be able to fill it (I use one to cover Gyarados', which would otherwise fuck me for example). And look for immunities while filling roles, stuff such as Claydol can easily fill a needed role while providing a much-needed immunity.
 
Don't forget you can also try running Magneton, it's immune and the +10 base speed could help more than you might expect. And Demon, you've forgotten the speedy Aerodactyl (+ SpDef boost). Scarfgon is also pretty quick and a standard.
 
If you are going to set up spikes/stealth rock, it may be worthwhile putting a defensive ghost type on your team to stop the opponent from spinning away the spikes and ruining all the hard work it took to set them up. Dusknoir works for me.
 
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