Regenerating Sand

[Josemi]

So I hadn't played sand in a while and I really wanted to use choice band Terrakion so I started building myself a sand team. After adding the obvious Tyranitar I decided to try out Rock Polish Sheer Force Landorus, and then add a scarfer, a physical wall, and a special wall. I play a lot of uu and the Slowbro Amoonguss regenerator core seemed fun to use in OU so I went with them. I realized I really needed a steel type to take dragon attacks and such so I decided to use Scarf Jirachi because it isn't seen that much nowadays and usually catches your opponent off guard. The result was this team, and its been doing pretty well so I decided to post it here.

CHANGES IN BOLD

Tyranitar @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SPDEF / 4 ATK
Careful Nature (+Spdef, -Spatk)

- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge

First off standard specially defensive Tyranitar with Shed Shell, a very important member on the team since it sets up sand, sponges special hits, hits hard and can trap things like the lati twins. It also sets up rocks which are always important. Shed Shell is for escaping the increasingly common Dugtrio which is a big threat to this team.

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 4 HP / 252 ATK / 252 SPE
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -Spatk)

- U-turn
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- Iron Head

Scarf Jirachi is pretty amazing since these days most Jirachi are specially defensive so no one expects it to be scarfed. It's great against Genesect since people usually lead with it and Jirachi is also a common lead. Thinking I'll set up rocks they go for the U-turn only to get outsped and OHKOd by fire punch. Its also a good revenge killer disposing of dragons and the like with ice punch. U-turn is for momentum, and Iron Head is awesome with a 60% chance to flinch, potentially flinching the opponent to death.

Amoonguss @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 244 HP / 232 SPDEF / 28 SPATK / 4 SPE
Calm Nature (+SPDEF, -ATK)

- Spore
- Stun Spore
- Hidden Power (Ice)
- Giga Drain

The special wall of my regenerator core. This thing can tank pretty much any special attack and when it switches out it regains 1/3 of its health so it's pretty hard to take down. Spore is the only 100% accurate sleeping move in the game and it basically eliminates the opposing pokemon for the remainder of the battle. Stun Spore is to catch things on the switch after using Spore and supports the team allowing for Jirachi to flinch them to death or if they outspeed Terrakion, find themselves at its mercy. HP Ice is for dragons and if Gliscor tries to set up subs. Also to get good damage off of Landorus. Giga Drain is stab and helps to recover some health and to wall bulky waters all day. The EV spread is for breaking +2 Keldeo's subs as well as outspeeding other Amoonguss to get the Spore off first.

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 DEF / 4 SPDEF
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

- Slack Off
- Thunder Wave
- Flamethrower
- Scald

Slowbro is the physical wall of my Regenerator core and damn this thing takes physical hits like a champ. He can switch into CB Terrakion safely as Stone Edge is a 3HKO, as well as many other physical attackers. Slack Off is in case Slowbro has to recover more than regenerator gives him, Thunder Wave is to support the team, same as Amoonguss's Stun Spore, Flamethrower is for Forretress, Scizor, Genesect and Ferrothorn. Scald is STAB and has a hefty 30% chance to burn.

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SPATK / 252 SPE / 4 DEF
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

- Substitute
- Hidden Power (Ice)
- Focus Blast
- Earth Power

I had been wanting to try out Rock Polish Sheer Force Landorus for a long time and when I finally did, boy it did not dissapoint. This thing after a Rock Polish outspeeds everything in the OU metagame including all common scarfers and hits like a TRUCK. HP Ice for dragons, Gliscor, and genies, Focus Blast hits Steels and the sort for huge damage as it is also boosted by Sheer Force (accuracy does suck though) and Earth Power is STAB + Sheer Force and destroys everything. An excellent late game sweeper. As suggested by Pentaworst, I have changed Rock Polish to Substitute because my team already has paralysis support and for that reason Rock Polish becomes somewhat redundant.

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 ATK / 252 SPE / 4 HP
Jolly Nature: (+Spe, -Spatk)

- Quick Attack
- X-Scissor
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat

Adamant Choice Band Terrakion. This thing is literally so powerful that the strategy is usually click Close Combat and watch things die. Adamant CB Terrakion does 63% - 75% to Latios. Thats a resisted hit. For everything immune to Close Combat or that resists it you have Stone Edge which will annhilate them (provided it doesn't miss). X-Scissor is to hit bulky Psychics like Reuniclus and Celebi harder, and Quick Attack is the only priority move on the team, and actually packs a decent punch with a Choice Band. I have really been considering changing to Jolly which is standard but I love the extra power and I haven't been in a situation yet where if I was running Jolly I would win. I have decided to change to Jolly as the increase in power is not worth losing the extra speed.


Well that's the team, I've been doing rather well with it but I know it needs improvement, hoping for some helpful feedback!

 

[TheStarRapper]

Hey Josemi,

This seems to be a really good team. Only a couple suggestions.

First off, you might want to consider using Shed Shell on Tyranitar. With Dugtrio being so common nowadays, the ability to escape is clutches is invaluable in the fight against other weathers.

CM HP Ghost Keldeo appears to be a particular threat if Amoonguss goes down. To prepare for this eventuality, I would use Jolly instead of Adamant for Terrakion's nature. You did say that you haven't lost a game yet because of your nature, but I view the ability to speed tie fellow Musketeers as far more useful than the power associated with being outsped by base 95's and above.

I would also put the 4 Def Evs on Amoonguss to Speed, in the scenario that you need to outspeed fellow Amoongi, and make sure your HP Ice Es are 30/30/30/31/31/31 to complement this fact.

Without a spinner, your team seems quite weak to hazards, but I think that without the right amount of offensive momentum you should be alright.

Good luck on the ladder!

 

[Josemi]

Thanks for the suggestions man, I did implement them and I know Jolly Terrakion is definitely better I just wanted to try out Adamant and enjoy the extra power, but speed tying Keldeo and outspeeding base 95s is way more important.

 

[PentaWorst]

Hi,
I tried this team and it's very nice but I have some devices. Use EVs: 244 HP / 28 SAtk / 236 SDef on amoonguss, with 28 spatk you can kill +2 keldeo's substitute and you have a major recover by regenerator. Then I found usefull psyshock>flamethrower on Slowbro. Last, you can use substitute>rock polish on Landorus to exploit the paralysis spam.

 

[Prinz]

Hello there, nice team you have here! Dugtrio is a problem for your team because it can trap-kill Tyranitar, Terrakion and Jirachi, if it choicelockes itself into fire punch, or tricks its scarf so I suggest you to put Shed Shell on your Tyranitar. Also, I'd use SubSwordDance Terrakion in place of your current Terrakion here because you have a nice paralysis spam with Slowbro's Thunder Wave and with Amoonguss's Stun Spore.

Hope it helped, best of luck with your team!

Set:

Hide

Terrakion:

Terrakion @ Rock Gem
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

 

[Josemi]

Thanks for the feedback!

Pentaworst, the EV spread on Amoonguss is useful and I'll definitely try it out. I also agree with your suggestion of Substitute over Rock Polish as with the paralysis support Rock Polish is not as needed. However I disagree with Psyshock over Flamethrower as this makes me much weaker to Ferrothorn, especially if Terrakion is already dead.

A l e x a n d e r, I agree with your suggestion of Shed Shell over Chople Berry as Dugtrio is a threat to the team. I disagree though with using SubSD Terrakion over my current CB set as I have changed Landrus to a Substitute variant and I enjoy the immediate power of the CB set.

 

[GC7]

Hello There Josemi, this is a pretty nice team, Ive used a very similar one before, I can tell that you would have some problem with some pokemon that like to use swords dance, dd, cm etc, i'd suggest maybe using clear smog on amoongus over stun spore, it it's very good specially on pokemon who have boosted their stats high enough to sweep through your team, another thing would also be perhaps trying the Swords dance-substitute set on terrakion with a jolly nature, after one swords dance terrakion does some real hard damage to pretty much every pokemon with either of it's 2 attacking moves, close combat and stone edge, well over all pretty nice team and good luck with it:)