Offensive Sandstorm

[Crispy Pop Tart]

Concept

Sandstorm of course, as well as a good mix of sweeping and walling capabilities. I wanted to use Sandstorm to diminish healing abilities from Blissey and Cresselia as well as use it to buff up my physical wall. The main idea was to eliminate/weaken all threats to Lucario as well as filling in roles for wall-breaking and sponging. Lucario's stats and movepool allows for extreme diversity and is excellent in the lategame. In addition, I have 2 Physical and 2 Special walls, as well as a team Medic and scout.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Waterfall
- Stealth Rock

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Roar
- Slack Off

Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 246 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 236 SDef / 32 Spe
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Wish
- Ice Punch
- Thunderbolt

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Extremespeed
- Close Combat
- Crunch​

Teambuilding

At first, using Sandstorm to my benefit was not the initial goal but seeing how my team performed in friendly battles opened my eyes to its capabilities. In the end, 5 out of the 6 Pokes on my team are immune to SS and only one is weak to Stealth Rock. Lucario's typing shines as it has a whopping 9 resistances and 1 immunity. Everything that counters it is countered by at least 2 other Pokes on my team and in general they even cover each other's counters to an extent.

Weaknesses so far: Fighting, Ground, Fire

Initially my lead was Metagross but someone told me about Swampert's great resistances to the other leads and is only non-effective to Bronzong. It covers Lucario's Ground and Fire weaknesses completely and has a great all-around movepool as well as fulfilling the role as tank if necessary. If it needs to, it can even set up a revenge kill against Metagross and anti-Lead Lucarios, as well as coverage against multiple Dragons.

Versus top 10 OU Leads:

Azelf - Waterfall as it SR
Metagross - EQ as it SR
Jirachi - OHKO EQ
Swampert - Avalanche if it SR
Aerodactyl - Waterfall if it SR/Taunt
Infernape - EQ
Hippowdon - Avalanche
Ninjask - Avalanche
Bronzong - SR and then Waterfall. If not, switch to Latias.
Roserade - If it Sleep Powders, switch to Scizor. If not, Avalanche.

Weaknesses so far: Fighting, Grass

One of the best Physical walls in the game, Hippowdon is a force to be reckoned with. It functions as my second Physical tank and has great coverage to boot. Both Bulky and a tough phazer, it is the lynchpin that holds the team together, surprisingly. It takes almost all of Metagross's and Lucario's counters and can either cripple or haze. It proves its worth with Sand Stream, which offers residual damage that the rest of the team doesn't take damage from, as well as bulking up its SDef. The only true weaknesses so far are from Grass, Water, and Ice moves, which are later covered by...

Weaknesses so far: Fighting, Grass

Latias gives me coverage against enemy Fire attacks and Heatran, as well as a viable counter to Swampert. Its high SDef effectively gives me a Special wall and protection against pesky Ice attacks. Ground types can't do anything and enemy Gyarados are put to rest with T-bolt. A reliable recovery move gives it durability in the long run.

Weaknesses so far: none

A great scouter and all-around fighter, Scizor was a no-brainer to the team. I went with the CB set instead of SD because its role in the team is relegated mainly for support and specific countering, as Lucario takes the SD instead. Superpower was added simply for Steel and Normal-type coverage, as well as adding an active counter to Magnezone and Metagross. The extra tidbit of EV's in Speed are to outspeed other CB Scizors. Its only weakness is covered by the previous two Pokes.

Weaknesses so far: none

Alright, another bulky Special Wall! Ultimately, I chose Jirachi over Slowbro simply because of 1) Wish and 2) SS immunity as well as incredible Def due to its typing. Initially I had Iron Head for a STAB but went with U-turn instead because of many anti-Steel counters out there. Also, I initially had Toxic/T-wave in the last slot but ultimately went with T-bolt for flying coverage as well as a 2HKO for Skarmory. It also covers Hippowdon's and Gyarados's weaknesses somewhat and can actively take on any dragons.

Weaknesses so far: none

Offensive threat list

Aerodactyl: Swampert 2HKO’s with STAB Waterfall. Generally completely outclassed.

Alakazam: Scizor, Swampert

Azelf: Swampert, Hippowdon

Breloom: Latias, Jirachi

Dragonite: Swampert, Scizor, Jirachi, Latias

Dugtrio: Latias, Jirachi

Electivire: Hippowdon, Scizor, Swampert

Empoleon: Lucario, Hippowdon, Scizor

Flygon: Latias, Jirachi

Gengar: Scizor, Swampert

Gyrarados: Latias and Jirachi both OHKO

Heatran: Hippowdon, Lucario

Heracross: Latias, Scizor, Hippowdon

Infernape: Hippowdon, Latias

Jirachi: Swampert, Hippowdon

Jolteon: Hippowdon, Swampert

Kingdra: Swampert can sponge, Scizor can revenge kill, Latias

Hippowdon: Swampert, Latias

Lucario: Latias, Hippowdon

Machamp: Hippowdon sponges and can Roar, Latias

Magnezone: Hippowdon, SCIZOR, Lucario

Mamoswine: Swampert, Scizor

Metagross: Scizor, Lucario

Porygon-Z: Scizor, Hippowdon, Swampert

Rhyperior: Latias, Hippowdon, Scizor

Salamence: Latias, Hippowdon, Jirachi

Scizor: Latias, Hippowdon

Starmie: Scizor, Swampert, Jirachi, Latias

Togekiss: Hippowdon, Latias, Lucario

Tyranitar: Scizor OHKOs with Bullet Punch, if not Superpower

Weavile: Scizor, Swampert

Yanmega: Swampert, Scizor, Jirachi

Defensive Threat List:

Blissey: Everything on my team can kill or use the opportunity to set up

Bronzong: Scizor, Lucario

Celebi: Latias, Scizor

Cresselia: Sandstorm limits healing from ½ to ¼ . Scizor does a lot of damage with U-turn, Jirachi, Latias

Donphan: Latias, Lucario

Foretress: Hippowdon, Lucario

Gliscor: Swampert, Latias

Skarmory: Hippowdon, Latias, JIRACHI :)

Snorlax: Lucario, Scizor

Suicune: Swampert, Jirachi, Latias

Swampert: Latias. Scizor can U-turn and at the very least Lucario/Jirachi can revenge kill.

Tentacruel: Hippowdon, Latias

Vaporeon: JIRACHI, Latias

Zapdos: Hippowdon, Jirachi


I've been playing with this team for the past week and haven't lost yet. Ironically, I usually never even get to Lucario simply because Gyarados and Scizor can sometimes start a sweep and Jirachi is capable of being the team medic for a long time with rock hard defenses. TTar and Rhyperior are nothing against this team and a large amount of walls are broken with Lucario and Scizor. Again, Swampert/Kingdra are somewhat larger threats than others but by the time they come out I can wall and revenge kill if necessary.

All criticism is welcome :)

 

[agiyr]

Problem:

No proper counter to Nasty Plot Mixape


How to solve:

Rather than using Gyarados, Salamence would work. Not only does it solve your MixApe counter, but DDMence is a better Sweeper than Gyarados, as it can take down walls. Look up sets in the analys. You may want to use a Dragon Dancing one.


Also, the threat list is in some places incorrect. Just to mention one thing, Scarfed Magnezones with Hidden Power Fire would sweep you 4 steel types, and Gyarados (wouldn't sweep Salamence), but Hippowdon counters. Scizor isn't a counter. Hidden Power Fire is a OHKO.

 

[Crispy Pop Tart]

Thanks for the suggestion I'll look into a set and tweak it.

 

[ToF]

Yeah you are pretty Infernape weak, and not having a recovery move on Gyarados doesn't help at all. In addition, the above poster is incorrect calling Salamence an 'Infernape counter', since you know most Infernape have HP Ice for all dragons. There are a few things you can do.

I'd swap Gyarados for Latias. For one thing, Infernape is no longer a problem. Additionally, you now have a switch into Swampert that can threaten to take out a chunk of its health with Draco Meteor. I'd just run the traditional Life Orb set with Draco Meteor / Surf / Tbolt / Recover. Although you lose Scizor coverage with Gyarados now gone, you still have Hippowdon to tank more than enough of Scizor's hits anyway.

It's also kinda ridiculous how Scarftran weak you are. Latias remedies this problem as well (just watch out for Explosion). I mean four Pokemon weak to fire is kind of excessive. For this reason, I'd swap the Metagross lead for something like Swampert. Basically have the same function, but I'm sure you'd appreciate the extra resistances Swampert brings to the table.

 

[Crispy Pop Tart]

Re-tweaked the team.

I looked into some specific sets for Swampert and I'm still not quite sure whether Waterfall was better than Stone Edge because I lose some coverage against Gyarados, but since I have Latias and Jirachi to cover it I went with a hard Physical STAB.

Is that the right choice or should I even go with a phaze or status inflicting move?

 

[Crispy Pop Tart]

Also, does anyone else care to rate?

Suggestions are appreciated.

 

[ToF]

Oh right you have Gyarados issues...completely looked over that. Well Stone Edge is the optimal move on Swampert then, since it seems like nothing else is replaceable. Or you could even go the HP Electric route and surprise it for a ko. Both options work. I'd probably replace Waterfall, never really found the need for a water attack on Swampert with its Ice / Ground combination.

 

[SlottedPig]

Quick Attack over Pursuit (honestly, your better off using U-Turn most of the time to avoid Magnezone) on Scizor gives you a way to check MixApe, it is an easy OHKO. Also gives you a good option to smack Gyarados with.

 

[Brass]

U need to drop one of your steel pokemon. You fire weakness is just to profound I recommend changing jirachi into a standard vaporeon so it can still give wish support.
I don't understand the evs of Swampert. I would also recommend changing him into a mixpert.
And ur latias is in no way taking out a scizor. I recommend making him a little more bulkier and maybe try giving her calm mind.
Hope i helped