my Sand-Based HO Team

voidzone

voidzone

This team started as a heavy offensive Team with Sandstorm support about
6-7 weeks ago. The original team has its moments in the sun, but did not
work too well for me, so I changed a thing or two, tested, changed, tested
until I came with this.


I really liked the idea, since most sand-based teams are rather
defensivly orientated, people sometimes overlook, that the consistant damage
of the sandy storm is pretty nice for an offensive team as well, not only
does it break sashes and multiscale, but also gives most of the team an
easier time to sweep. In addition Tyranitar itself is an wonderful offensive
option with bulk, lots of power and a great movepool that fits nicely into
an HO Team.

But now the Sets :

Tyranitar @Lum Berry
trait: sandstream
nature: jolly (+spe -sp.a.)
split: 4 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spe

Dragon Dance
Crunch
Stone Edge
Superpower

Tar is my preferred lead, setting up the sandstorm. Sadly it is very
predictable and easy to counter, so most times it doesn't do much besides
sandstreaming and switching out for a late game sweep, when its counters
are removed or at least weak. DD Tar hits really hard at +1 and with
lum berry countering status it could easily get a +2 if my opponent
tries to burn or paralyze it instead of taking it out with SE moves.
Crunch, Stone Edge and Superpower provide good coverage,
the latter was suggested by mostwanted to deal with Ferrothorn,
Terrakion and Heatran. I dropped the idea of playing this Tar with
Stealth Rock, since it hurts its offensive power way too much for my
taste.
212.png

Scizor @Life-Orb
trait : technican
nature : adamant
split: 144 hp / 252 att / 112 SDef

Bullet Punch
Superpower
Swords Dance
Bug-Bite

Scizor is my substitute for Exadrill, which had been at my first original version,
but is now banned here and everywhere in OU. I tried a few other options in this
slot (metagross f.e.) and ended up with this armored bug, which I feel it fits
best in this slot.
As hardcore suggested I changed my formerly CBer to the LO-SD variant, because
this set creates a whole lot more offensive pressure, which this team should be
about.

251.png

Celebi @ Leftovers
trait : natural cure
nature : modest
split : 4 hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Nasty Plot
HP Fire
Giga Drain
Earth Power

Well, Nidoking got replaced with this one, sorry Nido ;)
Celebi gives weather teams a harder time and counters
Rotom-W effectively, a threat my team otherwise can't handle
well, while maintaining a lot of offensive pressure and losing not
much of Nido's flexibility. Celebi playes a bit different than Nidoking
does, as it is faster (which is good) and more powerful (which is also very good)
but less surprising. But all in all I think it is a pretty good replacement here.

675.png

Landorus @ Choice Scarf
trait : Sand Force
nature : naive
split : 252 Att / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

Stone Edge
Earthquake
HP Ice
U-Turn
Okay Claydol is gone, since I see it doesn't fit to well into the
team. I'll try this team without a spinner by now, since most of my
pokes don't get hurt by hazards that much anyway, allthough Gyara has to
be careful with SR on the field.
Landorus' set changed to the scarfed variant to form a more decent
revenge killer in change for Latios, which moves to a more
flexible role instead.
Scarfed U-Turn is good for keeping up the offensive momentum, EQ is its powerful STAB-move
that gets an additional 30% boost by sand force and has a pretty good coverage with Stone Edge.
HP Ice is for Gliscor to revenge dragons.

381.png

Latios @ Life-Orb
trait : levitate
nature : timid
split: 4 hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Draco Meteor
Surf
Hp Fire
Psyshock

My odd Starmie got replaced by Latios, I see why this could be
a better option in this slot, posing a big threat to other dragons
due to its speed and having a great coverage at all being
actually a bit more offensive than the little star was, which is
more than nice.
Latios item is switched to Life-Orb instead, to utilize
its variable movepool more and deal serious damage to things
like Conkeldurr.

385.png

Jirachi@Leftovers
trait : serene grace
nature : careful
split : 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe

Iron Head
Thunder Wave
Wish
Stealth Rock

After removing SR from Tar and realising that Gyarados was somehow
my least effective team member, I tried to find a substitute,
that does not lose my team too much of Gyaras bulk, while being able
to setup rocks and provide support for the rest of the team.
I thought, I might give the standard specially defensive Jirachi set a chance,
since it could get the job done.
A dragon resists on the team is infinitely helpful, since I might actually check dragon
DDers/CBers instead of being absolutely dependent on revenging them
and TWave/Wish support doesn't hurt either.


Okay, thats my team, please rate and help me improve it.
Thanks
voidzone

PS: Recently made changes in bold+italics.
 
I dont know much about HO teams to be honest.
One thing i did notice is that your dual screener better not die to make this work.
In order keep it alive it would need recovery.
How much i like claydol i have to say it simply will die too fast with the given setup.

What i advise is changing it for a Reuniclus.
This because reuniclus is unaffected by status,hazards,weather... and is pretty bulky too.
He finds a decent recovery move in Recover :)
And i've had an opponent with a dual screen reuniclus once and i have to say , with screens up its a damn strong wall !

Set would be :

Reuniclus @ Light Clay
Ability: Magic Guard
Evs: 252 Hp , 252 Defense (or mix it in both defenses)
Bold Nature (Def+ , Att -)
- Recover
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Psychic
 
Just a minor nitpick, but Starmie is normally faster than Gengar, it won't switch in anyways. I have run a HO Sand team before, so I know for a fact you want a sweeper benefiting from the sand. Three pokes come to mind: Landorus, Terrakion, and Stoutland. Stoutland has never gotten popularity in OU, but I used it to considerable success. With a movepool as big as Nidoking and the speed and strength to strike down pokes, Stoutland is a top notch revenge killer using Return as its STAB of choice and using elemental fangs combined with Wild Charge to sweep. Another option is a Smack Down Landorus, which is a great counter sweeper in sand with great coverage and power. It easily knocks down its common counters and proceeds to spam insane Earthquakes. The final option is a double dance Terrakion, which has incredible power and speed to sweep, and sand gives it a mighty SpD boost. Here are the sets:

Stoutland @Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
-Return
-Fire Fang
-Wild Charge
-Ice Fang

Landorus @Leftovers
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Naive
-Smack Down
-Earthquake
-Hidden Power Ice
-Substitute

Terrakion @Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
-Rock Polish
-Swords Dance
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge

I hope this helped, gl with your team :D
 
thank you guys :-)

@Soulfly
Reuniclus is definitely on option over Claydol, more bulk + recovery +
magic guard is really nice, i'll give it a try.
Sadly it can't spin, maybe i'll replace psyshock on starmie with rs.

@Dcae

To be honest this is my very first HO team I created, after I playing
several more stallish/balanced teams, and I have to admit I like playing
it :-)
The three sets you mentioned look good enough to try them, especially
double boost terrakion catches my eye.
 
I've played Ho a good amount and something that is practically a necessity is stealth rock. While your forcing switches for the other team to avoid a OHKO Rocks provide free damage and really do add up. They also break sturdy, and multiscales, and in many cases can mean the difference between a 1HKO and 2HKO. So I suggest on Nidoking swiching ice beam to Stealth Rocks. You have two others with it and your team would love the rocks pressure. However because of this you may choose to switch from LO to Leftovers because you'd lose 10% on the SR usage. This isn't a terrible loss for you IMO, since it'll provide a way to heal up NK.

**edit: I just saw that you had Tyran running SR as a choice. So you can choose which spot you wanna put it in. Actually putting it on your lead is prolly better.

Next you seem to use starmie as a scarfed special sweeper which seems odd to me. If you look at the stats, latios has way higher SPA, and only 5 less speed stat. And all latios's other stats are higher. So I suggest running a scarfed latios, with a set something like this:

Choice Scarf Timid
Moveset EVs 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~ Draco Meteor
~ Surf
~ Hidden Power Fire
~ Psyshock
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
(you can also find this as the first set here http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/latios)

This lets you kill lots of other dragons since your faster, and still has great coverage of attack and is a ridiculously fast pokemon.

You also may consider espeon over claydol for a dual screener. He is faster, and can more easily set up screens, while forcing switches more often if the other pokemon is trying to use SR or Spikes. Magic Bounce will replace his Rapid Spin. Yes I know it's nice to have a spinner but HO and especially this team, with most pokemon not affected much by SR, or spikkes, doesn't trully need it and Magic bounce helps keep up the pressure by forcing switches even while your setting up screens which is good.

Lastly how does your team trully benifit from Sandstorm? I can only see it being there to win the weather war, which is good i guess. But if you didn't need to rely on it, and you don't then you could open yourself to plenty of other, more powerful and more suited leads. This is just an idea if your happy with tyran and wanna win the WeatherWar, then thats cool to.

Summary of changes:
-put SR SoMeWhErE on the team whether Nido or tyran
-Change starmie to latios (please try this I really think you'll like it!)
-Try espeon over claydol
-Consider the importance of sandstorm to you and your team, and think about different more benifical leads (mienshao is a favorite of mine, who adds fightin type to the team!)
 
Hey

Cool team bud but this team doesn't seems too offensive to me. I can see you want to be unique with your sets but this won't get you far. Atm you are massively weak to Defensive Rotom-W, Sun and Rain teams. To fix this problem I'd suggest you to replace Nidoking with Nasty Plot Celebi.This will take care majority of Rain teams with an ease. Celebi also counters Rotom-W and supports Gyarados which will give you an upper edge. I'm suggesting this offensive Celebi set which will fit in well in your HO team.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Natural Cure | Modest
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Nasty Plot / Giga Drain / Hidden Power [Fire] / Earth Power

Now Claydol needs to go. I don't see a point of a dual screener in your team so might as well remove it. Choice Band Terrakion seems like an ideal change. It will be a good team mate with your Celebi countering Heatran, Tyranitar.

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Justified | Jolly
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Close Combat / Stone Edge / X-Scissor / Earthquake

You should try Aqua Tail or SuperPower on Tyranitar instead of Stealth Rock / EarthQuake. SuperPower let's you beat Terrakion, Ferrothorn, Heatran with +1 while Aqua Tail surprises Gliscor. You're running a weird Gyarados set I highly recommend replacing it with Adamant | 252 Attk / 252 Sp / 4 Hp | Substitute / Waterfall / Bounce / Dragon Dance| This set is more up to date and will be an excellent team mate with the rest of your team. You can also fit Rapid Spin over Psyshock on your Starmie, just make it a LO set with Timid Nature. Last but not least you should make your Scizor Specially Bulky while holding Choice Band with these EVs: 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 SDef | Adamant This will let you take Special hits better and counter Reuniclus which is a pain to your team.
 
mostwanted said:
Hey

Cool team bud but this team doesn't seems too offensive to me. I can see you want to be unique with your sets but this won't get you far. Atm you are massively weak to Defensive Rotom-W, Sun and Rain teams. To fix this problem I'd suggest you to replace Nidoking with Nasty Plot Celebi.This will take care majority of Rain teams with an ease. Celebi also counters Rotom-W and supports Gyarados which will give you an upper edge. I'm suggesting this offensive Celebi set which will fit in well in your HO team.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Natural Cure | Modest
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Nasty Plot / Giga Drain / Hidden Power [Fire] / Earth Power

Now Claydol needs to go. I don't see a point of a dual screener in your team so might as well remove it. Choice Band Terrakion seems like an ideal change. It will be a good team mate with your Celebi countering Heatran, Tyranitar.

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Justified | Jolly
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Close Combat / Stone Edge / X-Scissor / Earthquake

You should try Aqua Tail or SuperPower on Tyranitar instead of Stealth Rock / EarthQuake. SuperPower let's you beat Terrakion, Ferrothorn, Heatran with +1 while Aqua Tail surprises Gliscor. You're running a weird Gyarados set I highly recommend replacing it with Adamant | 252 Attk / 252 Sp / 4 Hp | Substitute / Waterfall / Bounce / Dragon Dance| This set is more up to date and will be an excellent team mate with the rest of your team. You can also fit Rapid Spin over Psyshock on your Starmie, just make it a LO set with Timid Nature. Last but not least you should make your Scizor Specially Bulky while holding Choice Band with these EVs: 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 SDef | Adamant This will let you take Special hits better and counter Reuniclus which is a pain to your team.
Click to expand...

Thank you, really nice rate :-)
You're actually right, my team indeed has a massive Rotom-W weak as it is atm. Nasty Plot Celebi is definitetly something I will try on this team to fix this. Claydol is almost gone, trying your Terrakion/Dcae's Landorus in its place and see which one will fit better.
I have to admit I'm not a big fan of Bounce on Gyara, but I might give it a try as well.

mklo14 said:
I've played Ho a good amount and something that is practically a necessity is stealth rock. While your forcing switches for the other team to avoid a OHKO Rocks provide free damage and really do add up. They also break sturdy, and multiscales, and in many cases can mean the difference between a 1HKO and 2HKO. So I suggest on Nidoking swiching ice beam to Stealth Rocks. You have two others with it and your team would love the rocks pressure. However because of this you may choose to switch from LO to Leftovers because you'd lose 10% on the SR usage. This isn't a terrible loss for you IMO, since it'll provide a way to heal up NK.

**edit: I just saw that you had Tyran running SR as a choice. So you can choose which spot you wanna put it in. Actually putting it on your lead is prolly better.

Next you seem to use starmie as a scarfed special sweeper which seems odd to me. If you look at the stats, latios has way higher SPA, and only 5 less speed stat. And all latios's other stats are higher. So I suggest running a scarfed latios, with a set something like this:

Choice Scarf Timid
Moveset EVs 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~ Draco Meteor
~ Surf
~ Hidden Power Fire
~ Psyshock
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
(you can also find this as the first set here http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/latios)

This lets you kill lots of other dragons since your faster, and still has great coverage of attack and is a ridiculously fast pokemon.

You also may consider espeon over claydol for a dual screener. He is faster, and can more easily set up screens, while forcing switches more often if the other pokemon is trying to use SR or Spikes. Magic Bounce will replace his Rapid Spin. Yes I know it's nice to have a spinner but HO and especially this team, with most pokemon not affected much by SR, or spikkes, doesn't trully need it and Magic bounce helps keep up the pressure by forcing switches even while your setting up screens which is good.

Lastly how does your team trully benifit from Sandstorm? I can only see it being there to win the weather war, which is good i guess. But if you didn't need to rely on it, and you don't then you could open yourself to plenty of other, more powerful and more suited leads. This is just an idea if your happy with tyran and wanna win the WeatherWar, then thats cool to.

Summary of changes:
-put SR SoMeWhErE on the team whether Nido or tyran
-Change starmie to latios (please try this I really think you'll like it!)
-Try espeon over claydol
-Consider the importance of sandstorm to you and your team, and think about different more benifical leads (mienshao is a favorite of mine, who adds fightin type to the team!)
Click to expand...

Thank you very much as well !
I agree with you, that SR are a plain necessity on this team, I prefer them on Tar. Latios > Starmie sounds worth trying, but I have to keep in mind, that without Starmie and Claydol I lose the ability to spin, which hurts at least Gyarados a bit. Espeon is a cool mon indeed, but I experienced that a Espeon switch vs. hazards is very predictable, I gyroballed a lot of Espeons to death with my ferrothorn lead on my last team that switched in predicting LS or hazards. :-D But nevertheless it could work here...


I will change the team keeping your rates in mind, test and repost
what it became :-)
 
Unfortunately this really isn't HO at all. This team isn't all offensive or a mix of sp atk and offensive techniques. In HO you have mostly set up sweepers with screen support or just a taunter. Other members would have Life Orb or Expert Belt. Your team is extremely Conkeldur weak even with Gyarados and Latios. Your Tyranitar set isn't doing you any favors withut Fireblast. If you are considering HO I would suggest LO SD Scizor. Switching leftovers Landorus to scarf and latios to Expert Belt could work out a lot better than your scarf Latios that can't hurt much except with Draco meteor. Landorus is a better scarfer anyway with Uturn, EQ, ST, Hp ice. Naive Nature. Max speed and attack.
Instead of Gyarados I would try Mence or Dragonite. Good luck
 
Cool team. I suggest changing your Tyranitar set to the more standard set. I don't see how you'll be able to dent an opponent's team with that set, mostly because you're running Stealth Rock on an offensive set. I know that this will make your team a little less offensive, but I feel like having a more efficient stealth rock supporter is going to be more useful, because I don't see your Tyranitar doing too much outside of setting up Stealth Rock

Also, I feel like Latios should be running Dragon Pulse, as opposed to Psyshock. Dragon Pulse is Latio's second most powerful special STAB move, and it can sweep teams late in the game.
Summary:
1. This set over your set.
Tyranitar@Leftovers or Chople Berry
Nature:Sassy
evs:252 hp, 168 def, 64 spa
moves:
fire blast
crunch
pursuit/Superpower/Ice Beam
stealth rock
2.Dragon Pulse>Psyshock on Latios
 
@hardcore

I guess you mentioned a good point, the team did evolve a bit away from being HO, what it definitely was once it started out. It is more of a "normal" offensive team with sand-support by now, but that's fine was well I suppose.
However I consider your changes concerning Latios and Landorus, since they make sense to me. Thank you !

@Sir

You're absolutely right on Tar, thats exactly what I experienced. SR hurts the coverage of the formerly pure offensive Set a lot, which relegates him to a mere setup lead without too much offensive power anymore.
One option would be to replace Tar's set with the standard, which means I give up it's sweeping power at all, I don't like this too much to be honest, but I keep that in mind.
The other option would be to substitute Gyara, because I think it is the weakest part of the team atm, with something that can setup SR, while
bringing in at least decent offensive power, without losing to much of Gyara's resists. Maybe Swampert ?
Psyshock lets Latios do something serious to Tentacruel / Blissey / Conkeldurr, so I don't feel too comfortable with the idea of playing
Dragon Pulse over it.
However, thank you for pointing out !
 
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