My First Sandstorm Team

dexer007

Hi there, I'm fairly new to the competitive scene and was doing horribly or so until I decided to run a Sandstorm team which people were doing and so far my win percentage rate has increased. My last team was horrible, so after reading some articles and getting to know how to battle more effectively, this is what I've came up with, don't hold back on comments either, as the more I know and learn, the better I can become.

(Leftovers)
Sand Stream
Careful, 252 Hp, 252 Spd, 4 Def

Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Roar
Slack Off

I decided to Lead with a Tank Hippowdon in order to set up my stealth rock and Sand Storm. Taunt kinda cripples him so I switch into a different pokemon depending on what is against me, usually to my empoleon or forrestress, sometimes Garchomp. Roar and Slack Off are such great moves, whittling down my opponent and recovery at the same time is great.

(Leftovers)
Sturdy
Careful, 252 Hp, 252 Def, 4 Spd

Spikes
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Payback

Just your average Forretress, sets up spikes for me and can rapid spin opposing stealth rocks and spikes away, Payback is a fairly good move if forretress survives the hit, or when dealing with psychic types like renuniculus.

(Choice Scarf)
Sand Stream
Jolly, 4 Hp, 252 Atk, 252 Spd

Crunch
Stone Edge
Pursuit
Superpower

Copied this from Smogon tiers listings, he is a good physical beater and starts up Sandstorm. He's high speed means he usually hits first, however I'm still not sure if I should have Choice scarf on him due to his natural bulk and already high attack. Thoughts on this predicament?

(Lum Berry)
Sand Veil
Hasty, 4 Hp, 252 Atk, 252 Spd

Earthquake
Outrage
Sword Dance
Fire Fang

I made my Garchomp a physical sweeper for the tougher opponents I come against, if I know they're going to switch I usually use Swords Dance anyways, then hit them with Outrage next whatever pokemon comes in, then he usually sweeps 1-2 more, then Lum Berry cures his confusion at the end of it. Fire Fang is to cover Ice and Steel pokemon coming in to stop me.

(Petaya Berry)
Torrent
Modest, 12 Hp, 4 Def, 252 SpAtk, 240 Spd

Agility
Ice Beam
Surf
Substitute

Copied this set from Smogon archives as well, he is an amazing special sweeper and the use of substitute has saved my ass a few times. The berry is good when in a pinch, but I sometimes question Agility and wonder if including Aqua Jet as a priority move would be better. Thoughts?

(Choice Scarf)
Serene Grace
Jolly, 4 Hp, 252 Atk, 252 Spd

Iron Head
Trick
Ice Punch
U-Turn

Once again, copied this from smogon archives. I love Jirachi, he's my favorite pokemon and he's yellow, my favorite colour :) This choice scarf set is really good and has helped me out numerous times. Tricking off choice scarf is good as well, and Iron Head is a good way to try and score that free win every once and awhile.

All in all, I really like this team, but I'm free to hear any improvements or testing suggestions. Thanks for taking your time to go through all this.
 
dexer007 said:
Hi there, I'm fairly new to the competitive scene and was doing horribly or so until I decided to run a Sandstorm team which people were doing and so far my win percentage rate has increased. My last team was horrible, so after reading some articles and getting to know how to battle more effectively, this is what I've came up with, don't hold back on comments either, as the more I know and learn, the better I can become.

ALLRIGHT! A SANDSTORM TEAM! Sorry. I am...adept in the arts of Sand based play, after all. Hi dexer, and welcome to Smogon! :)
First off, as I skimmed your team, try to be original and use various sets, and try to include some more descriptions.

(Leftovers)
Sand Stream
Careful, 252 Hp, 252 Spd, 4 Def

Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Roar
Slack Off

I decided to Lead with a Tank Hippowdon in order to set up my stealth rock and Sand Storm. Taunt kinda cripples him so I switch into a different pokemon depending on what is against me, usually to my empoleon or forrestress, sometimes Garchomp. Roar and Slack Off are such great moves, whittling down my opponent and recovery at the same time is great.

Ah, you run the same Sand-summoner as I do(I even run the same moveset)! A good choice, mainly because of his neautrality to Fighting, which is the vein of SS teams. While I have never run a Special spread, your choice in how you use it appears to work, from what I've seen online while testing. Wait, Spd is Special Defense, right? I just got confused since there's SpD and Spe, so I just wanted to make sure.

(Leftovers)
Sturdy
Careful, 252 Hp, 252 Def, 4 Spd

Spikes
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Payback

Just your average Forretress, sets up spikes for me and can rapid spin opposing stealth rocks and spikes away, Payback is a fairly good move if forretress survives the hit, or when dealing with psychic types like renuniculus.
Remember that Payback allows you to hit Spinblockers as well, a valuable asset. Nothing to say about it really, but if you ever feel unhappy with this, remember that you can also use Donphan or Claydol.


(Choice Scarf)
Sand Stream
Jolly, 4 Hp, 252 Atk, 252 Spd (Speed, correct?)

Crunch
Stone Edge
Pursuit
Superpower

Copied this from Smogon tiers listings, he is a good physical beater and starts up Sandstorm. He's high speed means he usually hits first, however I'm still not sure if I should have Choice scarf on him due to his natural bulk and already high attack. Thoughts on this predicament?
ScarfTar has always been of good use, but only when used right. I would suggest replacing Superpower with Brick Break to maintain your Attack while keeping up your momentum and your sweep.


(Lum Berry)
Sand Veil
Hasty, 4 Hp, 252 Atk, 252 Spd

Earthquake
Outrage
Sword Dance
Fire Fang

I made my Garchomp a physical sweeper for the tougher opponents I come against, if I know they're going to switch I usually use Swords Dance anyways, then hit them with Outrage next whatever pokemon comes in, then he usually sweeps 1-2 more, then Lum Berry cures his confusion at the end of it. Fire Fang is to cover Ice and Steel pokemon coming in to stop me.
While I've always been a fan of Garchomp, I figured out one crucial thing about him. Outrage should only be used in Ubers or in conjunction with a Scarf/Band. Reason being, running could have you walled and phazed by, say, Skarmory, while also losing your momentum because of it. This is why Dragon Claw is often superior. The Lum Berry could still be helpful, but Leftovers, Life Orb, or BrightPowder could be used for longer, stronger, and more effective sweeps.

(Petaya Berry)
Torrent
Modest, 12 Hp, 4 Def, 252 SpAtk, 240 Spd

Agility
Ice Beam
Surf
Substitute

Copied this set from Smogon archives as well, he is an amazing special sweeper and the use of substitute has saved my ass a few times. The berry is good when in a pinch, but I sometimes question Agility and wonder if including Aqua Jet as a priority move would be better. Thoughts?

Ah SubPetayOn. I've never used it, but seeing it in action has made me appreciate it. With the Petaya boost, I would actually scrap Agility and Aqua Jet for eithe HP Electric or HP Fire. HP Electric will allow you to get bulky waters, including Gyarados and Vaporeon, as well as Politoed, Kabutops, and Cloyster. HP Fire, however, will allow you to crush Ferrothorn, Scizor, Forretress, and Skarmory if they try to get in your way.
(Choice Scarf)
Serene Grace
Jolly, 4 Hp, 252 Atk, 252 Spd

Iron Head
Trick
Ice Punch
U-Turn

Once again, copied this from smogon archives. I love Jirachi, he's my favorite pokemon and he's yellow, my favorite colour :) This choice scarf set is really good and has helped me out numerous times. Tricking off choice scarf is good as well, and Iron Head is a good way to try and score that free win every once and awhile.
A good choice, albeit adding a 3rd weakness to Ground, and a second to fire. Not much to say except that you should be careful to never trick a sweeper. Even if you gain a Life Orb out of it, you just gave them a Scarf.

All in all, I really like this team, but I'm free to hear any improvements or testing suggestions. Thanks for taking your time to go through all this.
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I can see that you put alot of effort and thought into this team. I would, however, like to ask if this is 4th Gen or 5th Gen. Also, you should add some more descriptions into your commentary to help the raters, yourself, and your team. While you do provide good information, 2-3 sentences is a bit short for the raters whom would love to rate it.

Make sure to consider...(# of sentences you could provide. :D)

~What does this pokemon do for my team? (1-3 lines)
~What is the purpose of the EVs/Nature/Moveset/Item(1-4)
~What to I do with this pokemon in certain situations.(1-3)
~How does this work well with my teammates(ie type synnergy, defensive stats)? (1-2)
~What do I do if this pokemon faints, is crippled to the point of unusability? (1-2)
~How do I deal with threats that would usually counter my pokemon? (1-3)

Here's an example of what you could do with, say, a Scizor. I used this example to help another member earlier.

"Scizor is one of my heavy hitters, and a nice
way to deal with wreched Rankurusus (or is it Rankurusi?). Anyways, I'm running a Specially bulky spread in order to deal with said Rankurusu, as well as things like Gengar, Sazandora, and other Special attackers, while still maintaining a decent amount of Attack to dish out damage. Bullet Punch is Scizors powerful STAB, priority move that we all know and love. It allows me to wreck things like T-Tar, Terrakion, and those pesky Cloyster if they try to set up a Shell Smash sweep, as well as many other 'monz. Bug Bite is a nice, STAB, Technician boosted move that allows me to hit Rankurusu, Sazandora, and Latios/as, etc, rather hard, while being able to strip away the Lum Berry of things like Hippowdon and Machamp. Roost allows me to maintain my survivability while Swords Dance allows me to hit things EXTREMELY hard with my already decent attack. If I encounter things like Urugamosu or Shandera, I can switch out to my Terrakion or Tyranitar respectively to wreck them with Stone Edge and Crunch...respectively. Hopefully I can keep my Scizor on the field until he's done the job, but if he happens to fail, I can summon Latios or Froslass to finish the job."

It doesn't even have to be this long! :D
Basicly, you want to try to get into the readers head. Make it possible for them to visualize what you are trying to do and how things would work out. Besides, Haunter, Faladran, and all of the other mods like to see that you have a well built and detailed RMT. If not, short descriptions usually=locked thread.

~ToastTyrant13:toast:
 
Lol, thankyou so much ToastTyrant13 for the in-depth analysis. With Hippowdon, spd is ment to represent speed, so sorry for the confusion. I will test brick break and see how it goes. What other walls and phazers would stop Garchomp may I ask? Because, well, your example of Skarmory gets eaten by Garchomps Fire Fang. I like would like to try bright powder idea, but until I'm convinced to run a scarf or band over it, then I'll stick to what I have now.Oh, and since I use Jirachi, I sometimes come across Uber Players, so Outrage is needed, plus its great to sweep 1-2 pokemon in confidence. I agree on Empoleon, I've actually hardly used Agility with it, and Aqua Jet hasn't been getting much use either. HP Electric would work better then fire in my opinion because I generally don't have to much trouble with Stallers. Thats one of the bad choices I don't like about Jirachi either, and yeah I figured out real quickly not to give scarf to sweepers. Quick question, if they switch out the tricked pokemon, does my pokemon get back the item? Also, does Choice Scarf Raise Speed? I will try to also put more in-depth details as soon as I can, but school exams are taking up a big part of my time right now, and making this short summary took me an hr just like that.
 
dexer007 said:
Lol, thankyou so much ToastTyrant13 for the in-depth analysis. With Hippowdon, spd is ment to represent speed[Oh...then why are you running Speed on Hippowdon, if I may ask?], so sorry for the confusion. I will test brick break and see how it goes. What other walls and phazers would stop Garchomp may I ask?[Hippowdon and bulky Gyarados do a very good job.] Because, well, your example of Skarmory gets eaten by Garchomps Fire Fang. I would like to try bright powder idea, but until I'm convinced to run a scarf or band over it, then I'll stick to what I have now.Oh, and since I use Jirachi, I sometimes come across Uber Players[How, if Jirachi is OU?], so Outrage is needed, plus its great to sweep 1-2 pokemon in confidence. I agree on Empoleon, I've actually hardly used Agility with it, and Aqua Jet hasn't been getting much use either. HP Electric would work better then fire in my opinion because I generally don't have to much trouble with Stallers. Thats one of the bad choices I don't like about Jirachi either, and yeah I figured out real quickly not to give scarf to sweepers. Quick question, if they switch out the tricked pokemon, does my pokemon get back the item?[No, you keep their item, and they keep the Scarf.] Also, does Choice Scarf Raise Speed?[Yes] I will try to also put more in-depth details as soon as I can, but school exams are taking up a big part of my time right now, and making this short summary took me an hr just like that.[No prob! I know what that's like.]
Click to expand...
 
To be honest, idk why I have speed on Hippowdon, he was yet again another pokemon I copied off a stall team, but I'm not complaining since Hippowdon has been fast enough at times to use slack off or roar before the opponent could hit me, especially on stallers or bad types, I only really switch hippowdon if it comes against a weak match-up or a sweeper that bulks itself up. I'm still reluctant to get rid of lum berry and outrage. In the last 3 hrs, I've gotten about 4-5 +3 and over sweeps with Sword Dance and Continous Outraging. Also my bad, I thought Jirachi must've been a uber since I've come up against some Legendaries like Mewtwo or Palkia.
 
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