Offensive Sandstorm

[KarateF22]

I've always found sandstorm teams fun; however ive only played several defensive and balanced ones. In this team i went full offensive with hard-hitters designed to crack an opponents team apart. Without further ado, i present my team

The Team:

Gliscor @ Leftovers

Jolly - Sand Veil
252 HP / 32 Def / 224 Spe

Earthquake
U-turn
Taunt
Roost

Gliscor is a tricky lead, and there is no real way to immediately counter it on the first turn without good prediction or a supereffective move. Against faster SR leads i typically U-turn to anticipate the taunt while slower leads are taunted. Through this i can defeat Azelf and Aerodactyl by u-turning into rotom while killing off slower leads such as Metagross. Gliscor remains useful even later on as an excellent stallbreaker utilizing a combination of either taunt/Earthquake/roost or taunt/Uturn to counter. Sand Veil was chosen because i dont care much for firepower and the extra evasion once Ttar enters the field assists his tanking prowess. Once the lead is dealt with i can u-turn to Jirachi to setup dual screens or one of my two choice poke's to do some damage.

Tyranitar @ Life Orb

Jolly - Sand Stream
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Stone Edge
Crunch
Fire Punch
Dragon Dance

Dragon Dance Tyranitar is a fearsome sweeper, outspeeding almost all non-scarfed pokes after a single DD, scoring OHKOs and 2HKOs on virtually every poke in the metagame. If the opponent lacks or has used up all his scarf and priority users, its essentially gg. Ttar usually comes in after Jirachi's dual screens to begin his rampage. If Ttar is crippled, but not KO'd he can come in again later courtesy of Jirachi's Healing Wish. With screens up Scizor's Bullet punch only deals around 50%, meaning Ttar can strike back for a OHKO with fire punch.

Rotom-C @ Choice Scarf

Timid - Levitate
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Thunderbolt
Shadow Ball
Leaf Storm
Trick

Scarf Rotom is well known for its antics, KOing many pokes and tricking scarfs onto walls. He remains useful on my team serving as a revenge killer against scizor among other things Tbolt and Leaf Storm provide good coverage while Shadow Ball is a nice secondary STAB which also is great for killing off non-scarved Gengars. If Rotom faces a wall he can trick his scarf off, granting him more freedom in the process.

Starmie @ Wise Glasses / Expert Belt

Modest - Natural Cure
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Hydro Pump
Psychic
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam

Starmie is an excellent special attacker due to its high speed and above average special attack. Wise Glasses is good for the small amount of extra firepower while retaining flexibility and possibly faking a choice item. I considered Expert Belt, but figured that most switch-ins to Starmie would be neutral to boltbeam and probably hydro pump as well so i usually use the Wise Glasses. Psychic enables Starmie to become my teams counter to hard hitting fighting types like machamp, as well as providing a strong secondary STAB.

Rhyperior @ Life Orb

Jolly - Solid Rock
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Stone Edge
Earthquake
Megahorn
Rock Polish

Rhyperior makes a great cleaner after Tyranitar has done as much as he can against the opponent. He, of course, also appreciates dual screens and the sandstorm generated by Tyranitar to boost his measly special defense. After a single Rock Polish, Rhyperior outspeeds nearly everything not scarved and hits everything for neutral damage (correct me if im wrong). Megahorn annihilates non-choiced Celebi's who love to grassknot him, while his dual STAB base 100 EdgeQuake is infamous for its great coverage against opposing Pokes. Like TTar, it can also get a chance to sweep twice with Jirachi's Healing Wish.

Jirachi @ Light Clay

Careful - Serene Grace
252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SDef

U-turn
Healing Wish
Reflect
Light Screen

Jirachi plays an incredibly important role on my team by setting up dual screens for both Tyranitar and Rhyperior to take advantage of. I opted for Healing Wish over Wish due to my teams vulnerability to tspikes. With that vulnerability eliminated for a single time along with a full HP restoration, my sweepers get a chance to sweep unhindered by entry hazards. U-turn is useful for scouting switches and escaping Magnezone after Dual-Screens are in place.

Thanks for taking the time to read my team, please rate!

 

[Curtains]

This is a good team with good support but i think there can be changes.

#1: change the item on t-tar to lum berry or babiri berry. Lum helps you survive the status filled metagame today. babiri berry is for scizor.

#2 change the item on starmie to life orb or the water plate. You still get the same ko's on scizor and such and specs isnt really effective when life orb grants you the option to change moves

 

[KarateF22]

thanks for the advice curtains, ill definitely consider option 2. I will probably not do option 1 however because it causes ttar to lose a couple OHKOs and 2HKOs.

*edit* A question... Im considering running either HP Fire or HP Dark over Psychic on Starmie to deal supereffective damage against Steels and Ghosts respectively..... good idea or no?

 

[ginganinja]

Don't use Hp dark or fire as Starmie cannot really make much use of it.

It seems to me that Scizor really hurts this team with its U-turns and Bullet Punch's and some Scizor run Brick Break (usually the SD sets though)
Also both your sweepers are in danger from scizor as well.

A quich fix is a Agility metagross over Rhyperior as it still does much the same things but can set up on Bullet Punch's from Scizor.

 

[Nosferalto]

Hi. This team has a weakness to almost every offensive threat out there. While I would usually suggest a remake of the whole team, I've managed to come up with solution to those problems that aren't that big, just a Pokemon change and two moveset changes and you'll have all those threats checked. Let's start:

First of all, I'd like to inform you something about the current metagame. As of now, the second most common used Pokemon in the OU metagame is currently Tyranitar, which carries almost all of the time the move Pursuit. With that being said, if your opponent has Tyranitar in his team, the first time you switch-in your Choice Scarf Rotom-C, it will get Pursuited for sure. I wouldn't recommend Scarf on a Pursuit weak Pokemon for that very reason, because of the abundance of Pursuiters. Choice Scarf on Rotom-C is completely useless on this team since Lucario is handled by Gliscor and Gyarados can still be countered without a Scarf and Starmie does a decent job against it. So, I'd like you to try a regular defensive Rotom-H to take on Scizor better and take on Tyranitar more easily:

Rotom-H @ Leftovers
Bold | 252 HP / 4 SpAtk / 252 Def
Thunderbolt | Will-o-Wisp | Shadow Ball | Overheat

Without the Scarf, you are much less vulnerable to Pusuit since you can burn Tyranitar, switch-out and you're not locked on any moves.

This team is massacred by ennemy Salamence as well as Tyranitar. Salamence is by far the greatest threat of them all, since it has some opportunities to set-up such as Rotom-C locked onto Leaf Storm and proceed to sweep. MixMence versions are also very dangerous since nothing can safely switch-in without taking a big risk. Tyranitar is a minor issue, a better check than Gliscor is needed, as he is your lead meaning he won't last long probably, and a +1 Stone Edge 2HKOes. Scarf Tar will beat your Starmie and pose a threat to Rotom-H.

Now, I don't like your Jirachi set, at all. It is completely outclassed by Bronzong at what you're trying to achieve. Bronzong has better defensive stats, as well as Levitate which means that he can counter Tyranitar and Salamence, two major threats to your team. It can take a Fire Blast from Salamence and threaten with Gyro Ball or Explosion. An option over Light Clay would be Occa Berry if you want to avoid the 2HKO from Fire Blast coming from Salamence but Zong can take Mence on without it anyway. If Salamence is locked onto Outrage, just Gyro Ball, if it isn't just take the Fire Blast and boom on it. Here's the set:

Bronzong @ Light Clay
Sassy | 252 HP / 86 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SpD
Gyro Ball | Explosion | Light Screen | Reflect

Now, your only check against Infernape and Heatran is Starmie. However, with that EV Spread and moveset, you won't be able to check them effectively, a simple fix to this problem would be to change your EV Spread to 136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe which provides some bulk (against Gyarados) and enough speed to outspeed all you need to outspeed which is max speed + spe nature MixApe, max speed Timid Latias and Gengar. Also, Psychic may seem tempting because of STAB but you'll use it very little since it provides awful coverage and other moves will hit harder and super effectively. So, use Recover instead of Psychic for added survivability and Surf over Hydro Pump for accuracy reasons. Also, since Salamence actually outspeeds you after a DD so Ice Beam won't be used much. Since you mentioned you were having trouble with entry hazards, Rapid Spin will work over IB.

Finally, my last change, will be a change that will ensure that special attackers aren't a problem, since Latias, Rotom-A and especially Starmie and Gengar could be hard to get past. LO Starmie and Gengar alone can 6-0 your team with the appropriate move. Tyranitar with LO wearing him down more quickly and no Pursuit cannot keep Latias and Rotom-A at bay. So, in order to solve, this issue, I'd like to reccomend using Scarf Tyranitar over your current Tyranitar set since it outspeeds all three of those special attackers that constitute a huge danger.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Jolly | 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Earthquake | Stone Edge | Pursuit | Crunch

• Scarf Rotom-C --> Defensive Rotom-H
• Jirachi --> Bronzong
• Starmie --> Defensive set
• Tyranitar --> Scarf Tar

Well, that's it. I enjoyed the use of Rock Polish Rhyperior, it is a great Pokemon to use indeed. Good Luck.