OU Sandstorm
I've played for most the year locally with a group of Pokemon players, and I'm new to the online metagame for the most part. I use the same team for online play that I use for WiFi and local play, just because I'm trying to hammer out the best team that I have real access too. This was the first real team that I built to use really competitively, and it has worked pretty well in my experience, but it needs a little tweaking so I present it here to see what you all think. I don't have immediate access to a few TMs with these Pokemon, however, I do realize I need to put Stealth Rock on someone, I just need to trade for the TM at some point. Also, we generally play with an Item Clause, hence why there is only one Leftovers.
The team was put together to maximize use of Tyranitar's sandstream. I was starting with him for the longest time and switching out to Bronzong against most leads I come into, however, in recent days I've lead with Bronzong and that's what I'll present below. Everyone on the team is at the very least indifferent to the sandstream, even Blissey who's Leftovers at least balances is it out. The biggest problems I've run into as far as other weather teams go is Hail teams and Rain Dance teams, but I've been able to hold my own versus both thus far in this teams progression.
There is definite problems with faster users of Earthquake, as well as teams heavy on Water and Fighting, but there are some ok counters in there to deal with those threats. I've been debating a Grass type to throw in, like Roserade, to sort of help deal with Water types, but I already have two team members ruined by Fire, a third would make me to vulnerable to Ground AND Fire I think.
Dispater (Bronzong) Male @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 62 Atk / 104 Def / 92 SpD
Moves:
-Hypnosis
-Gyro Ball
-Light Screen
-Reflect
I use Bronzong as my lead, and on the team in general, for a variety of reasons. He can survive an Explosion from a lot of leads, and generally even better after he's thrown up a Reflect. A lot of leads tend to be on the faster end of the spectrum and get hit pretty hard by Gyro Ball, slower bulkier ones I tend to try to sleep first with Hypnosis. Folks that lead with Metagross and other Pokemon that are weak to Earthquake sometime assume I'm running a set with Earthquake on it and go with an early switch, generally I throw Hypnosis their way just in case so that I can get my screens up and move on. After he's done his job he makes a great switch in later on in the game to take hits with, he's not to dangerous but the defense boosts reflect and lightscreen have brought me have really pulled me through a number of games so I keep him the way he is.
If Fire threatens him (and most often anytime Bronzong is done setting up) I switch to:
Mammon (Tyranitar) Male @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sandstream
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moves:
-Crunch
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Dragon Dance
Sorta standard Dragon Dancer, Tyranitar serves a few roles on the team. He can and has swept for me in the past after getting a few Dragon Dances in, however, more often then not he's not the main sweeper of the team, but serves me better keeping him alive to switch in to keep Sandstream up. He does this fairly well, as he can take a good number of special attacks with the boost to Special Defense from Sandstream. I used Hippowdon in this role for the longest time, but he really lacked the bite I needed in the event Empoleon or Metagross went down. Chople berry will, on a few occasions, allow me to to take a hit from a Fighting attack so that I have a round to set up a Dragon Dance, and then kill the opposing poke the next round.
More often then not, though, if someone with Steel, Ground, Grass, or Fighting attacks switches in I turn to:
Moloch (Gliscor) Male @ Yache Berry
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Impish
Evs: 252 Hp/ 4 Def/ 252 Spe
Moves:
-Earthquake
-Ice Fang
-Roost
-Knock Off
Gliscor has been able to save my ass a number of different times, mostly from being able to go toe to toe with a number of the Dragons and outlast them with Roost. Went with Knock Off as there are a number of times when he's in against high defense pokes who he can only hit neutral, so I generally take the opportunity to Knock Off their item before a switch. Sand Veil and Yache Berry allow me to occasionally stay in on an Ice attack I normally shouldn't to sometimes surprise an opponent when they weren't expecting me to stay in and live through the attack. 252 speed EVs so that Roost can more effectively strip me of the Flying type if I need to do so.
If an Ice or Water attacker comes in I generally switch to:
Cassie (Blissey) Female @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 Hp/ 252 Def/ 4 Spa
Moves:
-Toxic
-Flamethrower
-Softboiled
-Aromatherapy
Another indispensible member of my team, I'm running pretty much all physical attackers and paralysis and burn really, really screw me. Aromatherapy is a great boon to the team in generally, and if Suicune or a similiar bulky Water shows up I bring Blissey in to Toxic stall them to death. They switch out most the time, fearing that I'm running Thunderbolt or something, but I put Flamethrower on instead so that I can catch steels like Lucario and grass pokemon like Abomasnow and Tangrowth (who are so fond of leech seeding my poor Blissey) on the switch.
If a Fighting or similiar physical attacker switches in I generally defer to Gliscor.
Caym (Empoleon) Male @ Mystic Water
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Hp/252 Atk/4 Def
Moves:
-Aqua Jet
-Avalanche
-Drill Peck
-Swords Dance
The star of my team, and my favorite addition. I recently added him, and he has been nothing short of amazing. There are a few quirks to work out, but really he has completely changed my mind about Empoleon as a Pokemon in general. His defense typing is great for allowing him to switch in, especially with regards to what alot of my team is weak too. (Ice and Water in particular) In my experience most my opponents expect a special attacking Empoleon, and react accordingly with their switches. When they see a Swords Dance on their switch oftentimes they'll switch again, as they didn't anticipate dealing with a physical attacker. This allows me to get in two sword dances pretty often, and once he has those under his belt he's able to hit most anything hard enough to at least dent it significantly. The biggest problem he has is Salamence and Flygon who outrun him with Earthquake, as he generally can't survive them. If Salamence is running special attack though I generally ruin him.
Abigor (Metagross) Male @ Wide Lens
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 Hp/252 Atk/252 Spe
Moves:
-Bullet Punch
-Meteor Mash
-Zen Headbutt
-Hammer Arm
One of my team's last resorts if things are going badly is Metagross. He's just an overall great Pokemon, with pretty decent defenses to allow him to get in, and a good priority move in Bullet Punch. He's great late in the game to clean up a few low health Pokemon that I normally wouldn't be able to outspeed.
Alternates/Previous Members
Astarte (Forretress) Male @ Occa Berry
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 252 Hp/162 Atk/96 Def
Moves:
-Gyro Ball
-Explosion
-Toxic Spikes
-Rapid Spin
Previous lead Pokemon for my team, and he works well, but I always had problems with him. He doesn't have the surviveability Bronzong does in my opinion, although Rapid Spin did indeed come in handy, and I do occasionally dust him off and switch him for Bronzong.
Helga (Hippowdon) Female @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sandstream
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 Hp/168 Def/88 SpD
Moves:
-Crunch
-Ice Fang
-Earthquake
-Slack Off
I used Hippowdon in place of Tyranitar, or early on in the team's evolution with Tyranitar to ensure I could keep Sandstream up. She does decently, but I feel like Tyranitar ends up doing a much better job for my team then she does, and in addition her moveset makes her overly similiar in niche to Gliscor, who fills the role much better.
