Please Rate This SemiStall Sandstorm Team

[Znyper]

This is my first post on these forums, but be as critical as possible. The more critiques there are, the more improvements I can make.

My team is a sort of semi-stall Sandstorm team, with half of them being able to take strong hits and the other half dishing out said strong hits.

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 128 HP / 64 Def / 64 SAtk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Pursuit

Used primarily for Sandstorm and Stealth Rocks, Tyranitar felt much better than Hippowdon for my Sand Stream Pokemon because of its Special Defense and Special Attack. The idea with this guy is to get started on the right foot with my weather and Rocks up. Max Special Defense with HP investment ensures multiple Switch-ins, and can mess up Sun and Rain teams. I tend to keep this guy healthy until the opponent's weather inducer is dead. Unfortunately, Tyranitar fails against Deoxys-S leads.

Skarmory (M) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Brave Bird

My complement to Tyranitar, Skarmory takes Physical hits better than any Pokemon in the game (correct me if I'm wrong). Number one priority for this guy is to set up Spikes and blow away set-up sweepers. Shed Shell gives me a free switch to Excadrill if the opponent tries to trap with Magnezone. Against Special attacks, can switch to Tyranitar, especially if I need more Sandstorm.

Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt
- Shadow Ball

This set was suggested mostly by TheMasterOfOz. The plan is Spinblocking and Stallbreaking. Taunt stops passive moves, the favorite of stall teams, and lets me wall opposing stall teams and wear them down with Will-O-Wisp. Will-O-Wisp also helps with Physical attackers.

Excadrill (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor

The stalling strategy stops when this guy comes in. With Air Balloon, he almost always either forces a switch or gets hit with a weak attack to pop the Balloon. I normally save this guy for last because opposing weather wrecks him (namely Ninetails, who can switch in on Swords Dance, outspeed, and OHKO with Fire Blast). Opposing Excadrill are bad because of my Adamant nature, but Skarmory can Whirlwind Excadrill with Swords Dance and tank those who lack it.

Latios (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Expert Belt here feigns Choice Specs, giving me some surprise KOs on switch-ins. Not really much to say here; Latios is here to deal damage on the Special Side, and is really my only Special Sweeper.

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Brick Break/Superpower
- Pursuit

This is my main revenge killer. With Swords Dance boosted Bullet Punch dealing so much damage, Scizor takes out opponents quick and easy. U-Turn is for scouting, and the Fighting move handles some Steel-Types trying to wall Bullet Punch. Pursuit can handle some fleeing Pokemon, but its targets (Latios, Jellicent) might just attack instead. Help here would be appreciated

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. If this team sucks, please tell me so. I would also like if you told me it rocks ;). Thank you for reading this long.

And one last look at my team:

All pictures from Pokestadium.com

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hey there.

One problem I noticed is that you have nothing to take powerful water attacks (ie: Specs Hydro Pump from Politoed). I would change Dusknoir to a Jellicent in order to fix this problem.

Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Speed
Bold Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp

Jellicent would take the place of Dusknoir as your spin blocker. Taunt + Will-O-Wisp breaks stall pretty well. Shadow ball is chosen to damage water types, especially Starmie, more. Water Absorb is chosen over Cursed Body because it will let you gain health from powerful water attacks.

On Tyranitar, replace Stone Edge with Pursuit. That will allow you to kill Latios on the switch, which is very important as it can severely damage your team if it is the Choice Specs set.

I understand the point of Reflect on Latios, but Psyshock would be better. It would allow you to hurt Blissey switch-ins, while also being able to destroy Calm Mind Virizion.

Replace Return on Azumarill with Waterfall, as a powerful stab, instead of just a 40 base power one, is always important. Return is not that useful regardless; Waterfall, on the other hand, can do much more damage to pokemon like Skarmory, and due to Azumarill's decent bulk, he can live a hit in order to get off a Waterfall.

Overall, solid team.

 

[Aerrow]

Hey, cool team you have here. Definitely replace your Dusknoir with Jellicent to help with strong water type attacks from Pokemon like the aforementioned Specs Politoed; additionally replace Stone Edge on Tyranitar with either Pursuit or Crunch, and you may want to consider replacing Rapid Spin with X-Scissor on Excadrill to help deal with Celebi, which poses a threat to this team. Also, replace Thunderbolt and Reflect on Latios with Hidden Power Fire and Psyshock/Recover for optimal move coverage and, in Recover's case, longevity. To be honest, Azumarill looks out of place on this team as the main Pokemon it revenge kills (Landorus, Excadrill), are already dealt with by your Skarmory; I recommend you replace it with a SD Scizor as it fits well into the whole strategy of this team and can help weaken both offensive and defensive cores, making it easier for Excadrill to sweep late game. Good Luck.

 

[august]

If you do so choose to use Jellicent over Dusknoir, it is crucial that you use Hidden Power [Fire] over Reflect on Latios. As it is right now, Ferrothorn and Forretress both trouble your team. Ferrothorn can come in easily against Latios and Azumarill (assuming you do not Superpower, which can be a dangerous move right off the bat). Ferro can also easily come into Jellicent and 2HKO with Power Whip, and your 2 main pokemon capable of defeating Ferrothorn (Tyranitar and and Excadrill) and also 2HKO'd. I also agree with the poster above about Psyshock, which I would use in place of Thunderbolt.

You also seem to have slight trouble breaking Taunt Gliscor, as Sand wears down both Azu and Latios whom have no recovery. Although Jellicent does help this situation, it does not account for the ever popular Rotom-w / Jirachi / Gliscor core that still walls your team. If this becomes a large problem, you can potentially try Adamant LO Frustration Excadrill, which does a boatload to Gliscor after the boost and I believe OHKOs Rotom W. This also helps against Rain stall (where that core can be often seen) and Life Orb in general compliments Azu and Latios by making Exca harder to switch into.

I will post again with more suggestions but i'm on the run right now sorry!

EDIT: my bad i took too long to post this and Aerrow covered most of it already !

@august: I prefer Swords Dance Excadrill to Life Orb.

uh life orb drill runs sd.. ?_?

 

[Znyper]

@Jellicent lovers above

Okay, Dusknoir is getting the boot. Thanks, I wasn't sure I was doing it right.

Psyshock and HP [Fire] are going on Latios. I knew the trickery would be subpar anyway.

@Aerrow: Yes, I am aware of Azumarill's incongruity, but he makes a nice revenge killer, and I wanted another Fire resist. Originally, without Tyranitar, Fire attacks would sting too much to the rest of my team. However, with Jellicent, Fire attacks should be less of a problem. Trying Scizor for now.

@august: I prefer Swords Dance Excadrill to Life Orb.

Also, to whomever posted X-Scissor on Excadrill, I'm taking that.

@TheMasterOfOz: I will use Pursuit on Tyranitar as well.

 

[Shiny4Etress]

Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt
- Shadow Ball

And one last look at my team:

All pictures from Pokestadium.com

Um, on the set you have a Jellicent but on the last look at your team you have an Azumarill. You should fix that.

 

[Delko]

Hi

This is a solid, well build team and you have gotten some good suggestions so far. I got some small suggestions though.

First of all I suggest you to try out Rapid Spin instead of Sword Dance on Excadrill. This will greatly help you against opposing stall teams who can still be a bit annoying for you despite the fact you have somewhat of a stallbreaker in Jellicent. You can use Rapid Spin instead of X-scissor as well but then the likes of Nasty Plot Celebi will be a bit harder to handle. Besides, late game, when Scizor weakened opposing walls, Excadrill doesn't really need the extra boost from Sword Dance.

Skarmory can use half your team as set up fodder so if you don't like the Rapid Spin suggestion you could try to use 88 Spe EV's on Jellicent to make sure you're faster then the standard Skarmory and thus prevent it from setting up Spikes on Jellicent. I also suggest you to try out Scald or Surf instead of Shadow Ball on Jellicent. Jellicent will be your main switch-in to the likes of Heatran and Infernape (since Latios doesn't have a recovery move) so it would be appreciated if Jellicent has a SE move against them. A Water type move will also help you against Taunt Gliscor, which is mentioned as an annoyance for your team, as well as being a last resort for hitting opposing Excadrill and the likes.

EDIT: august was right that Rotom-W + Jirachi + Gliscor cores can wall you. To help with this you could consider Landorus instead of Scizor. With a moveset of Substitute / Hidden Power [Ice] / Earthquake / Smack Down Landorus can take out the aformentioned threats as well as lure out the pokes that could stand in the way of a late-game Excadrill sweep (Bronzong, Skarmory, ...).

Hope this helped and good luck with the team!