Playing in the Sand

[ComeAtMe]

The Team​

I've always loved stall teams so I decided to make a sandstall team. These Pokemon can check nearly every major threat in the metagame and stay alive long enough to get a wish from Blissey. The biggest problem with my team is when they KO TTar and put up a different weather they can take advantage of. Help with that is greatly appriciated. Another problem is if Blissey gets KO'd I have no other form of instant recovery. I would also like to fit aromatherapy/heal bell in somewhere on my team, I'm just not sure how.

Team Building

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I Decided I wanted a sand team, so I had to choose between Tyranitar and Hippowdon, and Tyranitar seemed like the better choice.

I wanted the team to be defensive so I chose one of the best walls of the game, Gliscor.

Because I was going to have a stall team I needed spikes, and one of the best spikers in the game is Ferrothorn.

Ferrothron had spikes, Tyranitar had SR, but I still needed toxic spikes, so I piked Tentacruel because he's a great special wall and could rapid spin as well.

I decided I wanted a good wish passer, so I picked Blissey. I picked her over Chansey because in the sand leftover recovery is more important.

I still needed a spin blocker so I found Golurk. While at first he may not seem like too good of an option, he isn't affected by sandstorm, is pretty bulky and has STAB EQ, Stone Edge and Iron Fist boosted Focus Punch, so I decided he would be my last team member.

I decided Golurk wasn't really doing it for me, so I made a few changes on my other guys and brought in Quagsire who can handle most of the threats that my team couldn't before I added him.

Team In Detail​

Tyranitar (M) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252Hp, 64Atk, 192 SpD
Moves:
Stealth Rock
Fire Blast
Rock Slide
Crunch

Man I love this guy. In sand he has 472 Special Defense and is only 2HKO'd by Politoed's Focus Blast which is 4x Super Effective. SR is SR, Crunch is a great physical stab, Fire Blast OHKOs surprised Ferrothorns and Scizors, and Rock Slide gets rid of Thundurus and the like. And he summons permanent sand which is extra residual damage to most opposing Pokemon.

Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252Hp, 184Def, 72Spe
Moves:
Substitute
Protect
Earthquake
Ice Fang

Gliscor does not die. With Poison Heal he recovers 12.5% every turn, and alternating between substitute and protect mean he looses 0 Hp overall. If they are taking any residual damage Gliscor wins. His biggest problem is Ice Shard and Aqua Jet which are rare in OU because they can hit me before I can get a sub up to take the damage. EQ and Ice Fang are there for damage. I am thinking about taking off Ice Fang, but I'm not sure what I'd replace it with. I'm also considering putting the 72 speed EVs into Attack or Defense, and I'd like your thoughts about it.

Ferrothorn (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252Hp, 48Def, 208SpD
Moves:
Spikes
Leech Seed
Power Whip
Protect

Ferrothorn reliably sets up Spikes which is necessary for any stall team. Leech Seed is awesome, and protect gives him an extra turn of leech seed and leftovers recovery and sandstorm and leech seed damage for the opponent. Power Whip is a great STAB that gets rid of any waters. Being the #1 used Pokemon, it didn't come as a surprise that he was very reliable.

Tentacruel (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Ooze
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252Hp, 240Def, 16Spe
Moves:
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Scald
Ice Beam

Tentacruel's main function is to remove opposing entry hazards while setting up Toxic Spikes, which he does very well. He is also a good mixed wall with the EVs and can do a surprising amount with STAB Scald and Ice Beam is nice against Dragons. A very solid Pokemon overall, but I'm considering replacing Ice Beam with something else, possibly a poison attack for STAB, because TTar already has Ice Beam.

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252Hp, 252Def, 4SpD
Moves:
Wish
Protect
Seismic Toss
Toxic

Wish reliably heals my entire team, and Protect is necessary for Wish to be able to recover herself. Seismic Toss is a reliable form of Damage, and Toxic is necessary to hit flying and levitating Pokemon who avoid Toxic Spikes. GODLY special wall, but you already know that.

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252Hp, 4Def, 252SpD
Moves:
Curse
Recover
Waterfall
Earthquake

Quagsire's ability Unaware is a great answer to any boosting sweeper including cloyster, SD Scizor, DD Dragonite, SD/NP Lucario, etc. Curse boosts his attack and defense, and with recover he stays alive a long time. Waterfall and EQ are good STABs with pretty good coverage.

So that's my team, please have CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. I don't need anyone to tell me my team sucks w/o telling me how to improve. Thanks for the comments in advance.

 

[New World Order]

Hello and welcome to Smogon.

Decent stall team, but Thunder Wave on Ferrothorn is screwing around with the synergy of the team since you carry Toxic Spikes and all. I suggest using Power Whip in this slot so you can hit Rotom-W, Starmie and other troublesome threats harder. I also suggest running Gyro Ball instead of Protect so you can hit Haxorus harder. Finally I suggest running Rocky Helmet instead of Leftovers. I learned this from undisputed's rain man team. Its called pseudo spinblocking. Because your opponent loses like 30% of their health each time they rapid spin, they're gonna be discouraged from doing so. You've got Blissey wishpassing, so you wont miss the Leftovers recovery that much.

This allows you to open up an entire teamslot in Golurk's place. I suggest using a specially defensive Heatran to take the pressure off Ferrothorn when it comes to taking dragon moves. It also is a much better check to common sun pokemon like Volcorona and Venusaur than Tentacruel.

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Heatran @ Leftovers
Flash Fire
Calm
252 Hp/ 252 SpD/ 4 Def
Lava Plume
Toxic
Protect
Roar/ Stealth Rock

If you opt for Stealth Rock on Heatran instead. You can now afford to run Pursuit on Tyranitar and have a checkmate button against the Latii twins. I also suggest a Chople Berry on Tyranitar so you have a better way of dealing with Reuniclus, who would otherwise be a pain in the @hole for you to face.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hey there.

Alright, there are a couple of things that can devastate your team: SD Scizor (Tentacruel has to rely on a Scald burn to defeat offensive versions), DD Gyarados, Sub + 3 Attack Landorus, SD Lucario, Mamoswine, DD Dragonite, CM / SD Virizion, SD Toxicroak, and SD Sawsbuck.

One pokemon that can defeat almost all of these threats is Skarmory, so I suggest that you replace Ferrothorn with him. Tentacruel + Blissey can handle the water attacks that your opponent will use, and Blissey stops Rotom-W easily so Ferrothorn is not needed.

Defensive Skarmory

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Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
Impish nature
252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Speed
~ Spikes
~ Roost
~ Brave Bird
~ Whirlwind

Skarmory will not only defeat most of these threats while retaining the Spikes support that Ferrothorn contributed, but it also provides you with a phazer to rack up entry hazard damage. Skarmory + Gliscor is an extremely solid physical wall combination, and will make it very hard to break your defensive side.

Now that you have Skarmory, change Gliscor's EV Spread to 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Speed. This lets Gliscor outpace standard SD Toxicroak quite easily, and also lets it outspeed Lucario by one point; this takes some of the pressure off of Skarmory, and as an added bonus, it stops SD LO Lucario from sweeping you. Skarmory's presence makes the loss in bulk not as significant, especially since Gliscor can still easily defeat pokemon such as Excadrill.

Now, defeating Virizion is quite simple. i don't particularly think that you need Golurk, as spin blockers aren't necessary for a successful team. Golurk also isn't needed as much to stop threats such as Terrakion seeing as how Skarmory can handle that role pretty well. Having another phazer and another check / counter to sun teams would help as well. Therefore, I suggest that you replace Golurk with a Latias.

Roar + Calm Mind Latias

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Latias @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Speed
Timid nature
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Roar
~ Calm Mind
~ Recover

CM Latias can easily phaze out Virizion, who can't 2HKO with +1 Hidden Power Ice. it can also phaze out other Calm Minders such as Jirachi, and along with Skarmory, can greatly annoy the opponent's team. It can prove to be a fearsome sweeper as well, being able to devastate with Dragon Pulse after a couple of Calm Minds late game.

Overall, nice team. Hope I helped, and good luck!

 

[ComeAtMe]

Thanks a bunch, I'm trying out both of your changes now.

 

[Jirachee]

Hey there,

Thundurus will be quite problematic for your team to deal with. Once it gets a Nasty Plot, it will easily OHKO Tyranitar and Ferrothorn with Focus Blast, 2HKO Blissey with the same move, and finish the rest of your team with either Thunder or Hidden Power Ice. Since your team looks more stallish, you have nothing that can outspeed and OHKO Thundurus. I think that changing Tyranitar's held item to a Chople Berry can be very helpful for your team. First of all, it will help it against Thundurus, but also against Reuniclus, which is equally problematic for your team. Calm Mind versions can sweep your team with ease, OHKOing Tyranitar with Focus Blast when it has enough Calm Minds and only getting 2HKOed by Crunch, you'll need a big team effort to get rid of it. You should also change Tyranitar's moveset a bit to beat these threats. Here's the new set :

Tyranitar's set

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Sassy
Sand Stream
EVs : 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 SpD
-Stealth Rock
-Crunch
-Rock Slide
-Fire Blast

I also agree that you should use Power Whip on Ferrothorn, otherwise it will become dead weight against opposing teams with a rapid spinner.

Good luck!

 

[Iconic]

Reuniclus completely wrecks you just like a lot of stall teams, unless it misses a Focus Blast on Tyranitar that is. Thundurus isn't really that big of a problem considering you have a Blissey, but you could use another check. There are a lot of different directions you can take. Probably the best overall option would be to replace Golurk with a specially defensive Curse Quagsire. This will let you beat and check Reuniclus and Thundurus, unless the latter carries Grass Knot. If you find yourself unable to part ways with a spinblocker, you can run either Spiritomb or Jellicent, because they both have the ability to beat Reuniclus. They obviously can't beat Thundurus, but if you use them then you should probably use Scarf Tyranitar and Calm Blissey. Without mix Tyranitar, though, you have nothing to hurt Gliscor, which is why Quagsire is probably your best bet.

You're actually surprisingly weak to opposing Ferrothorn. You don't really need specially defensive Tyranitar that much, so you could potentially try out Heatran in its place. You seriously have nothing to switch into Ferrothorn and nothing to scare it off. Heatran can set up SR, wall on the special side well, and do pretty much everything Tyranitar does but also scare off Ferrothorn, who, as the #1 most used Pokemon, you'll definitely want to cover.

If I were you I'd run Taunt and Swords Dance on Gliscor over Substitute and Protect because Conkledurr can be quite troublesome with so many Fighting weaknesses. With Taunt and Swords Dance you'll beat BU Conkledurr with a little prediction, and you can also stop Ferrothorn from using Spikes on you.

 

[ComeAtMe]

Thanks for your comments. I decided to give TTar a chople berry and get rid of Ice Beam for Rock Slide. I gave Ferrothorn a rocky helmet and replace TWave with powerwhip. I tried Heatran, Latias and Skarmory, but Quagsire worked the best. Quagsire also covers all the threats ShakeItUp mentioned, gets unaware and doesn't give my team a considerable Magnezone weakness. Thanks so much for your guys' help.