Playing In The Sand

[XomOfChaos]

Introduction: I've been lurking around the competitive Pokemon scene on and off since Emerald. Just last week I decided to download Shoddy and make a go at it. After fiddling around and mostly losing with a group built out of assorted sweepers, I decided to build a real OU team. Several hours of research and team building I had something capable of propelling me up from the ladder's bottommost rungs. I now feel that I am on the brink of being decent; Help Push me Over.

My team is a group of walls, stallers, scouts, and revenge killers backed up by a late game sweeper and unified by a common immunity to the sandstorm that accompanies them into battle.

Details:

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sandstream
EVs: 252 hp, 168 def, 88 Sdef
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Roar
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Description: Hippowdon serves as my lead, main physical wall, and early scout. Stealth Rock is important to me, but not worth sacrificing Hippowdon's health or usefulness. If I suspect a crippling special attack, taunt, or trick on turn one I will switch right away to something that can take it. Ideally it will lay out the pointed stones and roar until it finds something that it can KO or that Cacturne can set up on. If I get Hippow out of harms way before it takes significant dammage the threat posed by the likes of Ttar and Scizor will be much smaller later on in the match.
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Cacturne @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 204 hp, 252 def, 52 speed
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Sucker Punch
- Focus Punch
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Description: Early in the match I am constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to switch in Cacturne and set up a sub. If I'm forced to reveal Sucker Punch early a game of prediction begins; Winning means the foe eats a focus punch or a new sub goes up on a turn where Cacturne is otherwise vulnerable. On the other hand if I conceal Sucker Punch's presence Cacturne can come back later as a one shot revenge killer, or counter to Starmie, Gengar, and Kazam. Besides posing a decent offensive threat it can also stall out tough foes by subseeding. Sand Veil is obviously awesome for the sandstorm immunity and the occasional dose of 'sandhax'.
Currently Experimenting with various Other Move Sets/Pokemon in this slot.
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Lucario @ Salac Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 atk, 252 speed
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Endure
- Reversal
- Crunch
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Description: My late game sweeper surprise. Few people expect to see Endure/Reversal in the sandrenched environment of OU. This Lucario is deadly once the rest of my team handles all of the foes priority move using Pokemon. Should it get a swords dance in before enduring even fighting resistant physical walls will topple. Swords Dance also encourages foes to hit it hard, as they will most likely assume a standard physical move set and will want it dead as soon as possible. Crunch handles ghost types, although I try to get rid of the spooks before Lucario comes out.
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Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 hp, 216 def, 52 Satk
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Protect
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Description: Mixed Swampert has many uses on my team. It can break walls, hit pesky dragon types, and scout the foes moves with protect. Sadly Swampert is the closest thing I have to a water type counter. I send it in and pray that it can weaken the foe enough for one of my revenge killers to pick up the slack once it faints. I also use it to absorb sleep attacks so my other Pokemon can try to stop the sleep user from doing anything too evil. Although not exactly a weak link, this is the Pokemon that I am most willing to replace, perhaps with something that can better deal with water types.
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Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 hp, 252 Satk, 252 speed
Naive Nature
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Pulse
- Earthpower
- Explosion
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Description: A basic revenge killing scarfed Heatran. I switch it in on the first turn if I suspect the opponent's lead will try to trick specs or scarf to Hippowdon. I try to save 'Splosion for bulky waters, as the special walls it is traditionally used against pose little threat to my physically oriented team. Dragon Pulse catches Dragons who attempt to switch in on Flamethrower or Earthpower. Earthpower is for dealing with other Heatran. Heatran is important for my team, but I may replace it with a staller if Swampert gets replaced by a special sweeper.
Will likely experiment with Magnezone once I am done experimenting with Cacturne's slot.
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Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 hp, 252 atk, 8 speed
Adamant Nature
- U-Turn
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
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Description: A standard Scizor for revenge killing and scouting. I will switch into Scizor on the first turn when suspect a taunt. I have honestly yet to get the feel for scouting with U-Turn, and I've made some dumb mistakes with the move, however I am aware of how useful that move is, and intend to stick with the attack until I can use it to its full potential. I like the fact that pursuit nail's anything with a dark weakness weather they switch out or not thanks to Technician. Scizor's only weakness happens to be fire, so he often sets up an easy switch in for Swampert or Heatran.
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[boredomisbliss]

hmm this is an ok team

first comment goes to cacturne:
if you are going to have a sub-seed cacturne take the hp out, since then it is easier to set up a substitute in a punch, put those EVs in attack since without them you might find yourself lacking the power

interesting lucario, and here i note your skarmory weakness, only heatran is equipped to kill skarmory, and skarmory can just run and roost the damage later, while heatran is going to be packing up the entry hazard damage pretty fast
you also lack a way to properly kill swampert another way to stop lucario, i dont expect it will be hard for them to find out all of cacturnes moves very fast and see that it doesnt run a grass attack, its not going to fear staying in that much, except maybe heatrans explosion

also run 8 defense on scizor, not 8 speed

if i had to change anything it would be cacturne, its not really doing much besides harassing the opponent, and a faster substituter (who resists f-punch) could shut it down pretty fast

this slot should be used to counter as many of lucarios counters as possible, zapdos, anything with priority, rotom, you also lack coverage against the (rare) heracross by the way, to counter these i would opt for tyranitar, who can threaten zapdos and rotom, although this increases your scizor weakness you can bring in heatran to take the u-turn, and because its scarfed can hit many switchins
also, since you have a tyranitar bringing in the storm (by the way i barely classify this as a sand team anyways) you can probably replace hippowdon with a different lead, for a bulky lead you can use metagross, which resists sand, but for an offensive lead that can come back you can use azelf or infernape

 

[Spaceneil8]

I would switch out cacturne for a breloom that does the same job better. Or maybe even a torterra who avoids Sandstorm damage.

 

[Snorlaxe]

Hi, welcome to Smogon! :)

If you insist on using Cacture, then the best set would be the Evasion one:

Cacture @ Brightpowder
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant nature (+Attack, -Special Attack)
~ Sucker Punch
~ Substitute
~ Swords Dance / Focus Punch
~ Seed Bomb / Focus Punch

This set can make your opponent want to rip their hair out in agony. In the sand, Brightpowder combined with Sand Veil makes moves that have 100% accuracy only hit 70% of the time. This means that Will-O-Wisp would only hit you about 45% of the time, and it wouldnt at all if you have a Substitute up.

Sucker Punch is a necissity on all Cacturne, allowing a very powerful STAB move that will always go first (provided your opponent attacks). Substitute is equally important, allowing no status to penetrate you. In the third slot, you can choose between Swords Dance and Focus Punch. Swords Dance makes Sucker Punch into a ridiculously powerful STAB move, and Focus Punch lets you hit steels hard (provided you have a Substitute up). The last slot should probably be Seed Bomb, as it can score some crucial KOes against Water types that can bug sandstorm teams, although Focus Punch is also an option.

This isnt really a traditional Sandstorm team, and I really like that. It isnt filled with the gaping weaknesses that plague most Sandstorm teams. It is relatively well balanced, and can probably counter many threats. As for your Lucario, I feel that you maybe arent using it to its best potential, but hey, I havent played this team, so I wouldnt know.

Anyway, try and change the Cacturne set, I think you'll be surprised with how well it works. Good luck :)​

 

[Rezon]

I suggest replacing someone with Tyranitar. This way if you go against a hail team you will have a higher chaace of still having Sand Stream the whole time. next replace Cacturne with Scarfed Magnezone. This will get rid of priorty user Scizor and will get Skarmory out of the way much easier for you. It also does the same thing for other Lucario (Extremespeed/Bullet Punch) as you will be faster and able to OHKO with HP Fire or Thunderbolt.

 

[XomOfChaos]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I'll experiment with the evasion set on Cacturne, although shocking as it the walking NU pincushion is one of the more reliable Pokemon on my team as is. If I must replace it I'd like to use another staller/harasser. I like to force as many switch as many switches as possible early so that I can see the foe's team and figure out what needs to die before I can bring in Lucario.

I run 8 speed on Scizor so that I can avoid the speed tie with other Scizor. The Iorn Mantis has been the death of me on more than one occaision, so I'd as many ways to kill it as possible.

Swampert is a decent Skarm killer. Hydro Pump can 2HKO it, and EQ can catch it on the roost. Same goes for any Zapdos that isn't running HP Grass. However I do like the idea of running Scarfed Magnezone, perhaps I'll experement with it in Heatrans slot. I don't need two special revenge killers and 'Zone may help me better deal with Steel and Water Types that give me trouble. I'd just need to find someother way to hit the dragon's hard without Heatran's Pulse.

As I said, I play very conservatively with Hippowdon, And I can count the number of Hail teams I've seen in my week here on two fingers, so they aren't a huge concern of mine. However if I were to run Ttar which set would you recommend?

Once again thank you all so much for the good advice and warm reception.

 

[petrie911]

I'll experiment with the evasion set on Cacturne, although shocking as it the walking NU pincushion is one of the more reliable Pokemon on my team as is. If I must replace it I'd like to use another staller/harasser. I like to force as many switch as many switches as possible early so that I can see the foe's team and figure out what needs to die before I can bring in Lucario.

Cradily and Shuckle both make fairly good harassers in Sand. Shuckle can Encore moves and Knock Off items, and has amazing defenses in the Sand. Knock Off can also remove Choice Scarves, making Lucario harder to revenge kill.

Cradily can come in on any Bulky water and start Toxicing things. It can also Mirror Coat back special attacks if you need it to, but it does a great job just sitting there taking special attacks. Alternatively, you can also turn Cradily a bit more offensive with Swords Dance. SD Cradily can beat most defensive Pokemon that lack WoW orToxic one-on-one. Cradily has to watch out for powerful STAB fighting and Steel moves, though.