My First Team (sandstorm)

CaseyL

Hi everyone, I'm new to Smogon and I thought I'd try putting a sandstorm team together. Here goes nothing.

Tyranitar
zerochan.Tyranitar.357372.jpg

Sand Stream
Leftovers
Sassy
252 HP, 118 Sp. Def, 4 Defence, 64 Sp.Atk
Crunch
Stealth Rock
Stone Edge / Rock Slide
Ice Beam
I'm using a Special Wall Tyranitar here, since both Politoed and Ninetails are specially based pokemon, and I want to keep this guy alive for as long as possible. Crunch and Stone Edge are for STAB, Ice Beam for coverage, and Stealth Rock for hazards. I'm not sure if I should go with Stone Edge or Rock Slide, because the lack of accuracy and PP is worrying.

Fighting: Latias
Grass: Scizor, Latias
Water: Gastrodon, Latias
Steel (lol): Scizor, Gastrodon, Excadrill
Ground: Latias, Terrakion (Air Baloon)

Gastrodon
gastrodoony.jpg

Storm Drain
Choice Specs
Modest
252 Sp.Atk, 240 HP, 16 Sp.Def.

Surf
Earth Power
Ice Beam
Recover

Gastrodon is AMAZING, especially on a sandstorm team, where nearly everything is hit super effectively by water. This little guy is designed to take Water type moves and hit back hard. Surf and Earth Power are STAB, Ice Beam is coverage, and Recover is for, uhm, recovery? Choice Specs are simply so I can go in on a water move and hit back for serious damage.

Grass: Scizor, Latias

Scizor
lol_Scizor.jpg

Technician
Leftovers
Adamant
248HP, 252 Attack, 8 Speed.

Swords Dance
Bullet Punch
Bug Bite
Brick Break

I’ve never used Scizor before, but I understand it’s in OU for a reason. I’m using the All Out Attacker set, but I’m going with a bulkier EV spread so it can switch into attacks easily. How I’ll use this guy; switch into a resist, Swords Dance on the switch, and use whatever move would work best. Bullet Punch for stuff faster than me, Bug Bite when I need to do stupidly powerful damage, and Brick Break for hitting Steel types..

Fire: Gastrodon, Tyranitar, Latias, Terrakion

Excadrill
530Excadrill.png

Sand Rush
Life Orb
Jolly
252 Attack, 252 Speed.

Earthquake
Rock Slide
X-Scissor
Swords Dance

I'm giving Swords Dance a shot. Basic strategy for this guy, switch in on a resist, boost on the switch (or whack him if the opponent stays in), and procede to crush anything that stands in the way of victory.

Fighting: Latias
Water: Gastrodon
Ground: Latias, Terrakion (before air Baloon pops)

Latias
Wink_Wink_Latias_by_NightComet.png

Levitate
Leftovers
Timid
252 Speed, 252 HP, 4 Defence.

Calm Mind
Recover
Dragon Pulse
HP (Fire)

Latias is a replacement for Reuniclus. While Reuniclus hit harder, Latias has bigger defences, better speed, and also has better synergy with this team. Latias is here to switch into a resist and Calm Mind, Recovering when neccesary, and when ready, fire off Dragon Pulses and Hidden Powers for perfect coverage on everything except Heatran.

Bug: Scizor, Excadrill
Dark: Scizor, Excadrill, Tyranitar, Terrakion
Ghost: Scizor, Excadrill, Tyranitar
Dragon: Scizor, Excadrill
Ice: Scizor


Terrakion
terakion_terrakion_by_cursors-d30a0x0.png

Justified
Air Baloon
Jolly
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP

Stone Edge
Sacred Sword/Close Combat
Rock Polish
Swords Dance

Anyone who has used this set or played against this set knows how dangerous it is. For those who haven't played against this guy, let me explain. Terrakion's massive Attack stat, good speed stat, and decent defences let it set up with either Rock Polish (for speed) or Swords Dance (for attack, if I'm up against a stall team I will Swords Dance to destroy walls, if I'm against an offensive team with faster Pokemon, I'll Rock Polish to get a boost to be faster than they are. Stone Edge is necesary, but Close Combat worries me with it's drop in Terrakion's defences, since it's weak to both Azumarill's Aqua Jet and Conkledurr's Mach Punch. Is it neccesary to go with Close Combat, or can I get away with Sacred Sword's lower Base Power? Jolly nature is so I can outspeed as much as possible, since Terrakion has a lot of attack even without an Adamant nature. Air Baloon is simply because if opposing Excadrill get a boost and start wrecking, Terrakion can come in, survive Rock Slide, and KO with super effective fighting STAB. (My Excadrill can't do this because it has an Adamant nature, so if the opposing Excadrill is Jolly, holding an Air Baloon, or wins the speed tie, my Excadrill is a goner.

Ground (after Air Balloon is popped): Latias
Fighting: Latias
Psychic: Latias, Tyranitar, Scizor, Excadrill
Grass: Latias, Scizor

I think that for my first competitive team, it’s OK, but it needs some work. Ice types can have their way with this team, as two of my Pokemon are weak to Ice and I have only one resist. Advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Alright, firstly, I don't see a need for both Hippowdon AND Tyranitar on the team together. Using both brings a huge Water and Grass weakness. Since the only thing resisting Grass on the team is Scizor, who is vulnerable to HP Fire, I suggest removing Hippowdon for something that can wall Grass types all day long such as Thundurus or Latios, as both are strong, immune to Ground are resist Grass.

Next, change Excadrill to Jolly instead of Adamant. Even though Excadrill can outspeed almost everything, using Adamant Excadrill makes you much weaker to Excadrill, which you are quite weak to since you have no ground resists and 2 Pokemon that are Ground weak.

For your items, I suggest Tyranitar have Leftovers since its designed to be bulky. Scizor should have either Life Orb or Leftovers, depending on if you prefer bulk or power. For Gastrodon, to avoid being locked into a move with Specs or taking Life Orb recoil, try Wise Glasses or Leftovers.

I hope I helped!
Good luck! :)
 
i would recommend changing hippowdon either to cm latias or bronzong as xephiroth said you have a huge ground/grass/ water weakness, if politoed gets a switch in its going to do work on y our team especially with some running hp grass and also rotom-w could be very dangerous in the rain
 
Excadrill is now Jolly, Scizor and Tyranitar have Leftovers, Gastrodon has Wise Glasses.

If I do change Hippowdon, (probably will) I will need to give Tyranitar Stealth Rock instead. What move should I get rid of?

Also, Calm Mind Latias is actually a great idea, but it makes Reuniclus almost entirely outclassed. I'm just going to replace Reuniclus with Latias.
 
I understand this is your first team, so I'll go easy on you. I'll go in parts. *ahem*
-Latias is okay, but I know for a fact that I have had far more success with Calm Mind+Softboiled Mew, you might want to try that.
-Get rid of Hippowdon. You only need one sand starter.
-Your RMT is hard to read and very dull. Check out my old RMT for inspiration if you can find it(OU RMT SmashRoom).
-Choice band Excadrill is a bad idea, especially on a team with the structure of yours. Excadrill has enough power to OHKO without one. Run a Swords Dance+LO set.

Excadrill (M) @ Life Orb/Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Rush
Adamant Nature(+Atk,-SpAtk)
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Swords Dance
~ Earthquake
~ Rock Slide
~ Return / Rapid Spin / X-Scissor

-With Hippowdon gone, may I suggest adding a Bulky Gliscor? A gliscor will absorb most physical hits like a brick wall. be wary of ice moves though, but with scizor on the team it will be less issue.

-Your team is critically weak to fighting, grass, and the such. you are gonna want to get as wide a team as possible. Synergy > Brute force

-Scizor should go in favor of something with more brute force. I would suggest Flygon or Haxorus personally. If you use those two, use my suggestion of mew above, as you don't want yet another ice weakness.
Make the above changes and you will win a LOT more in my opinion.
 
I would replace Latias for the raw power of Latios, since you have a special wall the real purpose of latias has been taken away, so I would go for this Latios:
Item: Life Orb Nature: Modest
252 SP.Attack 252 Speed 4 Sp.Defense
Moveset:
Dragon Pulse - Stab and its just for stab and taking out dragons, It replaces draco meteor because -2 isn't really attractive for a special sweeper
Surf - Coverage, gets rid of the likes of ninetails or such that try to get rid of your sandstorm
Hidden Power Fire - More coverage, gets rid of grass types and ice types that threaten your team
Recover - Life orb will take you out a bit, so you need recovery when your low on hp.
I had latias as a special wall but I find Special Defense Tyranitar much better due to the 50% boost by sandstorm
 
I'll give Specs Gastrodon a shot, I'd like him to be offensive here.
I'd prefer switching Latias with Latios over Mew because Latias blocked Ground type moves with Levitate and has better typing with the rest of the team. Latios does the same thing, and gets a lot more power, but Mew doesn't. (Although I'm not sure why, it is floating, so it should get Levitate.) The issue I have with Latios is its typing and defences. My original choice, Reuniclus, was chosen because of Magic Guard, which blocked out Life Orb and sandstorm damage. Latias was okay too because it has better defences, better typing, and it was a bulky variant, so it had plenty of ability to take damage and could nullify sandstorm with Leftovers. Latios, on the other hand, is running the same set as Reuniclus, but it'll be taking Life Orb and sandstorm damage, not to mention whatever damage the opponent can dish out.
SD+LO Excadrill never worked for me on the Battle Subway, he would get off Swords Dance, rip through the first opponent and then the next opponent comes out, Earthquake would do around 90%, and the opponent would just KO it. (Although I'm looking in the PC and its a Serious Excadrill, probably if I had gone Adamant I never would have had that problem. I'll give it a shot.)
I always thought Flygon was pretty cool, not to mention underrated, I could switch him for Scizor, but that's just asking to get swept by a Hail team. What I'm thinking, (for the moment) is switching Hippowdon with Flygon. I'll put Flygon in the RMT for now.
Tyranitar knows Stealth Rock instead of Pursuit, and the EV spread is now 64 Sp. Atk, 252 HP, 118 Sp.Def, 4 Defence.
Finally, I feel really stupid for asking this, but how do I put pictures into the RMT? I tried the first time, but I just ended up with random spaces.
 
A couple of quick suggestions, I like the core of the team, just some things I noticed. Right now your team is gonna have a lot of trouble with Excadrill, whether they be Return variants or X-Scissor variants. To alleviate some of that stress, may I suggest switching Flygon to a Skarmory or Gliscor? You gain almost no weaknesses, except a slight fire weakness with Skarm, but the fact that you pick up an extremely valuable check to a glaring weakness can help you out a lot. They will also help you with Conkelderp, who can come in on half your pokes, set up and proceed to sweep your team. Same with Machamp. Just something to think about. GLB.
 
Hey CaseyL, pretty cool team you've got here although I do see several ways it could be further improved. First of all, I suggest that you replace Flygon with Landorus. It has much better offensive capabilty and speed while also working exceptionally well along side Excadrill by luring in and destroying its two biggest counters: Skarmory and Gliscor. Another plus is that its Ground/Rock-type moves get a boost whenever Sandstorm is in play thanks to its ability, Sand Force.

I don't really see the need to use Scizor on this team when you already have Tyranitar handling the Lati@s twins and meanwhile you desperately need to have a physical wall. My suggestion here is that you replace Scizor with Skarmory. It can handle all of those physical threats such as Conkeldurr, Scrafty, and opposing Excadrill that could run through your team before while also providing you with Spikes. With this change I suggest using Roar in place of Hidden Power [Fire] on Latias to take full advantage of the entry hazards. After being forced out of battle and being weakened by the entry hazards any Pokemon hindering Latias from sweeping will be KO'd by Dragon Pulse making a late-game sweep nearly impossible to stop. Overall, good team and good luck.

In-Summary:
- Landorus > Flygon
- Skarmory > Scizor
- Roar > Hidden Power [Fire] on Latias

Movesets:

Landorus @ Leftovers l Naive l 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Earthquake l Smack Down* l Hidden Power [Ice] l Substitute

*This may seem like an odd choice for a move at first but it's crucial to the success of this set. By eliminating Skarmory's Flying-typing Smack Down allows you to decimate it the following turn with Earthquake.
Skarmory @ Shed Shell l Impish l 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SDef
Brave Bird l Roost l Whirlwind l Spikes
 
I think I will go with Landorus, but instead of Skarmory, I would prefer replacing Scizor with Concledurr. His defense stat is massive, and he can deal with Excadrill with Mach Punch. This is the set I feel comfortable with.

Conkledurr
Guts
Adamant
Leftovers
252 Attack, 252 HP, 4 Defence

Bulk Up
Drain Punch
Mach Punch
Stone Edge

Scizor's purpose on the team was more to be a boosting sweeper than anything else. Conkledurr probably does an even better job than Scizor, since it can also be my status absorber and an answer to Excadrill. Thoughts on Conkledurr before I put it in?
 
You'll lose a lot of synergy then if you replace Scizor and Conkeldurr. Speaking of Scizor, switch out Superpower for Brick Break or Roost (preferable). Superpower + SD kinda contradicts with each other. I agree that you should have Landorus over Flygon. Why not? Landorus has better speed, bulk and power. It also has a better ability (in this case). You can even use HP Ice to OHKO Gliscor with Life Orb. A set like this would work:

Landorus @ Leftovers / Life Orb
Jolly Nature (+Spd,-SpA)
252 atk, 252 spd, 4 def

- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
- Sub/HP Ice

or if you want to keep a banded pokemon/add a scarfer

Landorus @ Choice Scarf / Choice Band
Naive (+Spd, - SpA)
252 atk, 252 spd, 4 SpA

- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn
- Hidder Power Ice / Hammer Arm

Depends how you handle balloon steels such as Exca or Heatran. Oh yeah, you forgot to mention the ice weakness on Latias and Flygon
 
Thanks for the advice Cheezy, since I'm running a bulky attacker, why would I use a move that lowers Attack AND Defence? No idea where my brain was on that one. Also it's true I would lose a lot of synergy with Scizor gone, so I think Scizor is here to stay.

As far as Landorus is concerned, I think it's a lot better than Flygon. I also think that it still won't help my Ice weakness. I think there are a couple options that could work here instead of Flygon, so I made a list.

Oblivion IX's Landorus
Bulk up Conkledurr
Double Dance Terrakion (uses sandstorm for extra bulk, which makes it easier to set up. Also, both STABs are supereffective on Ice.)
Shell Smash Omastar (Sandstorm fixes its low SpDef, at least until Shell Smash kicks in)
Heatran (Air Balloon+Flamethrower+EarthPower+HPIce+FlameCharge)
Lucario (NastyPlot, SwordsDance)

Which one has the most potential for this team?
 
Added pics.
I'm putting Double Dance Terrakion in for the moment, so far it looks decent, synergizes well with Latias, helps weaken Excadrill checks (although Excadrill may end up weakening Terrakion's checks). Looks really good on paper.
 
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