RMT: Sandstorm Stallers

[-Achilles-]

Stalling Sandstorm Team​

This is a team that has been in the making for me for some time now, and it has been undergoing changes and testing through Shoddy. The main way this team is able to win is simply by prediction. With Skarmbliss, it can wall most physical and special attacks that can be predicted. Hippowdon and Bronzong are two more bulky pokes on the list, both are mixed tanks. The two "sweepers" are Donphan and CBtar, though the entire team is somewhat defensive as you will see. So, without further ado, I present the Stalling Sandstorm Team:​

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 200 HP / 58 Def / 252 SpDef
Careful nature (+ SpDef, - SpAtk)
- Stockpile
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Thunder Fang

My lead, Hippowdon, is somewhat risky but if he can set up, he can sweep entire teams. Ive done it before. On sending him out, Sand Stream sets up sandstorm for you. Stockpile gives a boost in both defensive stats, adding to his tanking capability. Stockpile until you feel safe, then heal up with Slack Off, its main form of healing along with leftovers. From there, you can simply smash the opponent with a nasty STAB earthquake, or if it has levitate/flying type, hit it with a Thunder Fang. You could also run an Ice Fang in this slot if you are afraid of Gliscor or Flygon running loose, or just for Latias and Mence.

Donphan @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 6 HP
Adamant nature (+ Atk, - SpAtk)
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Earthquake

The first "sweeper" on this team, isnt so much of a sweeper. Its made to be fairly bulky so that it can come in and Rapid Spin to take care of entry hazards. Knock Off is for pesky walls with leftovers that you just cant seem to take out (on a side note, when using this team for a double battle, use knock off to rid T-Tar of its choice band along with minimal damage). Ice Shard to take out Dragons, or to finish off Focus Sashers. STAB earthquake once again here to deal massive damage to most of non-flying/non-levitaters. The Lum Berry here is for when switching in on Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spinning.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Spd
Impish nature (+ Def, - SpAtk)
- Drill Peck
- Spikes
- Whirlwind / Roar
- Roost / Rest

Here we have a fairly standard Skarm set, with Spikes and Whirlwind for 25% damage to most pokes when three layers are down. Im sure everyone knows the strategy here. Drill Peck for a clean STAB move, hitting Heracross, Breloom, and Infernape quite nicely. Rest if plan to use Aromatherapy on Blissey, Roost if not. When you expect any physical move, you can switch in to this for minimal damage assuming you arent going up against a mixed sweeper. 6 Spd EVs to outspeed other no-speed Skarmorys.

Bronzong @ Shed Shell
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 186 SpDef
Impish nature (+ Def, - SpAtk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock

Bronzong, the second mixed tank in this team, can set up Stealth Rock, Reflect and Light Screen, then Explode away to take out mostly anything that isnt resistant to normal. Shed Shell on Bronzong in an attempt to get rid of any status problems, as you wont need leftovers because this guy goes in, sets up, and explodes quickly.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 129 Def / 129 SpDef
Adamant nature (+ Atk, - SpAtk)
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Brick Break
- Stone Edge

The main sweeper for this team, CBtar. He can set up a secondary sandstorm if you are going up against another weather team when he switches in. Crunch for STAB damage, and for Gengar and Latias, but watch out for Focus Blast on the Gengar. Pursuit to hit those fleeing pokemon for decent damage. Brick Break for opposing T-Tars, Heatran, Blissey, and if you predict a switch into a Vile. Stone Edge should only be used when it is the only super-effective move you have against them because of its 80% accuracy. Go with Rock Slide for less power and more accuracy. EVs in Def and SpDef to take small hits with relative ease, as you will probably be going after the foe.

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpDef
Bold nature (+ Def, - Atk)
- Toxic
- Softboiled
- Aromatherapy / Protect
- Flamethrower

My Blissey moveset and build, mostly for a wide coverage of moves by going bold and 252 Def. Still works for a special wall, though. Toxic immediately on anything not poison or steel type. Then stall out with softboiled or switch if you cant heal off the damage. Aromatherapy for Rest Skarm, and for other pokes with status conditions in your team. Protect for extra toxic damage and leftover heals if you dont like running aromatherapy. Flamethrower for everything poison or steel pokemon if Blissey is your last pokemon. With 186 SpAtk, it can do decent damage to Scizors, Skarms, and Forretress, for example.


So, there it is. The main weakness of this team is the lack of a grass type move to take out Swampert. In my opinion, the lack of true sweepers isnt much of a problem, but hey this is rate my team so have at it!

 

[tab]

Hi, welcome to Smogon.

First of all, I'm not really seeing the point of your current Hippowdon set, it's based on Special Defense, but you already have a Blissey, so the standard physically defensive set would be much more effective. Stockpile and that EV spread does make him extremely bulky, but it's really unnecesarry, and puts extra burden on the rest of your team, Skarmory in particular.
Run the physically defensive set with Earthquake/Stealth Rock/Slack Off/Roar. Alternatively, Swampert is a good choice that works just as well as Hippowdon does with a moveset of Earthquake/Ice Beam/Stealth Rock/Roar.

Donphan is a decent Rapid Spinner, but there's really a lot of better options. Starmie and Tentacruel would both be better choices for this team, as you lack a reliable MixApe counter. Starmie should run Surf/Rapid Spin/Recover and either Ice Beam or Thunderbolt, while Tentacruel should run Surf/Rapid Spin/Toxic Spikes and either Knock Off or HP Electric. Obviously, it's a case of recovery without relying on Blissey against Toxic Spikes, depending on which you find more useful.

Skarmory is fine, but Roost and Whirlwind should be your final two moves. Rest isn't worth it on Skarmory, as you need to be awake to Whirlwind/set up Spikes reliably, and Whirlwind is preferable to Roar due to hitting through Soundproof.

I don't think Bronzong is at all useful here. Dual Screens are supposed to help offensive teams by allowing the frailer sweepers to find time to set up Swords Dance/Dragon Dance/whatever and sweep, while in stall they're just going to make walling a bit easier, but the fact is that a well made stall team should be able to wall pretty much everything that can be walled without a Dual Screener. Having something that simply sets up 5 turns of reduced damage and explodes is detrimental to the team more than anything else. I would suggest that you replace Bronzong with a defensive Gyarados using a moveset of Waterfall/Roar/Rest/Sleep Talk, which gives you a way of dealing with Lucario, who can otherwise destroy this team. Stealth Rock being relocated to Hippowdon means you don't really lose anything much by dropping Bronzong.

Tyranitar is really quite out of place here, and I'm not seeing what it accomplishes here. CB Tyranitars job is pretty much to make a hole in the opposing team, allowing a different pokemon to sweep (ie Pursuiting Blissey so that CM Latias can sweep). With stall, you don't really need a sweeper, as residual damage from Spikes+Stealth Rock+Sandstorm in combination with the attacks on various members means that you can wear down most teams extremely quickly anyway.
I would suggest going with a Rotom-H/W here, which gives you a Rapid Spin blocker, which is essential to stall teams. The Rest/Sleep Talk in his analysis works perfectly in this kind of team, both giving you a much better chance against opposing stall teams, as well as support from Will-o-Wisp, and another extremely sturdy pokemon to solidify your defenses.

Blissey should run a Calm nature with an EV spread of 252 Def/80 SAtk/176 SDef. As Skarmory shouldn't be using Rest, and the rest of the status on your team should be manageable, especailly with 1-2 Natural Cure pokemon, Protect is a better choice than Aromatherapy. Running Protect means you should run Wish so that Blissey can heal the other team members aswell when necesarry.

It's worth noting that even with these changes, you're going to have a big weakness to pokemon with Rest/Sleep Talk/Curse. The best way of dealing with these using a stall team is to use a Celebi with Perish Song, which would be used over Gyarados/Bronzong. Choosing which to run depends whether you have bigger problems with Lucario or Cursers.

Hope this helps, good luck with the team!

 

[-Achilles-]

Thank you alot Tab, your suggestions took the team to a new level. However, the team isnt really a "sandstorm" stallers team anymore, so it is more of a different team than just upgrading what I had. After testing out some of your suggestions, I found a set I enjoy playing. I took your advice, and went with a Gyrados, Tentacruel, and a Rotom-H, instead of Bronzong, Tyranitar, and Donphan. Like I said, this kinda took the team away from a "sandstorm" team, but whatever. It works fairly well. I just played some shoddy and won about 15 straight matches with it, so it seems to work well for me. Thanks for welcoming me and thanks for the RMT. I look forward to contributing here on the forums!

 

[locopoke]

Hey there.

My rate will be based off of the team and how it looks on the actual RMT, not based off of the suggestions given by Tab.

Anyway, Hippowdon definetely needs work. The set you're using seems like a gimmick and it's really not the set you want to be using on a stall team, or any team for that matter. I suggest using the standard lead set, as it's pretty much the most viable set that Hippowdon can use.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sandstream
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Moveset:
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Roar / Ice Fang

Roar and Ice Fang are both pretty viable as a 4th move on Hippowdon, though I definetely would reccomend using Roar. Ice Fang was much more useful in an OU Metagame where Garchomp was on almost every team. Now that he's gone, I find Roar to be a lot more useful. Shuffling around your opponent's Pokemon is definetely important when it comes to stalling, and Hippowdon does a good job of that. The lack of Ice Fang makes it seem like Salamence stops you, but Hippowdon takes barely any damage from Physical varients and can easily Slack Off the damage and then Roar them away.

Next, I feel that Donphan has no place on this team. You definetely have some solid physical walls already and Donphan is really outclassed by the majority of the Pokemon in OU. I've noticed that you lack a Spin Blocker and this gives your team a serious disadvantage. All stall teams need to have a Spin Blocker, as once your entry hazards are gone, your team is put at a big disadvantage and you're pretty much defenseless against your opponent's Pokemon. After that being said, I suggest adding in a Rotom-H who is probably the most useful Spin Blocker in the current metagame. In early DP, Dusknoir and Spiritomb were the main ghosts used for spin blocking, but thanks to Rotom's resistance to Steel and Bug he makes for an amazing Scizor counter, as well as having a nifty immunity to Ground.

Rotom-H @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
Moveset:
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunderbolt / Discharge
- Shadow Ball

Normally this would not be the standard moveset to use for RestTalk Rotom-H, but I feel that it's possibly the most useful moveset. You lack an effective way of dealing damage (and/or crippling Tyranitar) but two STAB attacks gives you pretty good coverage. I'd choose Thunderbolt over Discharge because of the fact that it has more power. The occasional paralysis from Discharge may be useful at times, but sometimes all you need is a little more BP to get the KO on certain Pokemon and overall the extra power is cool.

Skarmory is pretty much fine how he is, but Rest is pretty useless when he gets Roost, so I'd definetely suggest using that, as well as Whirlwind over Roar. Also, try Brave Bird instead of Drill Peck, it's pretty much become the new standard on Skarmory and the extra BP is nice.

As for Bronzong, I really do not see what purpose he serves on this team. If you take my suggestions, Hippowdon will already provide Stealth Rock, so Bronzong isn't needed. Dual Screens barely help your team at all, or any stall team for that matter. As of now you have a pretty big Lucario weakness so I suggest replacing Bronzong with RestTalk Gyarados. Two RestTalkers on one team may seem like a bit much, but thanks to Blissey and Aromatherapy, that isn't much of a problem as long as you play right.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Impish / Careful
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpD
Moveset:
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Waterfall
- Roar

Thanks to Intimidate and some pretty good defenses, this thing has a really hard time dying. Not only that but it makes for an amazing Lucario counter as well as providing you with a 3rd Pokemon utilizing Roar which is great for stall. Impish is generally the standard, but I enjoy using Careful for a little more SpD than usual. Thanks to 252 Defense EVs and Intimidate, Impish isn't nessecary for counting standard physical sweepers and Careful gives you a little more bulk on the special side. It's your choice though, either work fine.

Lastly, definetely change Tyranitar. CBTar has no place whatsoever on this team and you could make much better use of that slot. You have a pretty big weakness to CurseTar and CM Latias (but all stall teams do, so don't worry yourself too much). For this problem I suggest adding in Perish Song Celebi who has become pretty standard on stall teams. It'll definetely help you for when that last Pokemon just isn't going to get KO'd any time soon which happens often on stall, mostly with bulky stat boosters.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
Moveset:
- U-turn
- Grass Knot
- Perish Song
- Recover

This is a pretty basic moveset and gives you an answer to stat boosters who are giving you trouble as well as Swampert (who may fall under both categories!). Reflect and HP Fire can both be used instead of U-Turn, but U-Turn is pretty much the better choice so I would leave it like that.

That's about it, I'm sorry for changing so many things on your team but it needed a lot of help and I wanted to make it as good as possible. If you ever need any help in the future then be sure to PM me!

 

[-Achilles-]

Thanks for the suggestions, locopoke. You basically summed up the changes that I made to the team with your post. The only difference is that I am running a Tentacruel in the place of Celebi to take out apes and to rapid spin. I made those changes to Hippowdon and that is the exact Gyrados I put in the place of Bronzong. My Rotom-H is the same except he has will-o-wisp to deal damage and to cut the power of physical attakers.

If this team ends up having a problem because of its two water types, then i can definitely switch either Gyrados or Tentacruel for Celebi. I would just like to know, in your opinion, what would be the better choice for the swap? In my head, Gyrados sounded like the better swap just because the only synergy he has with the other members is being able to roar away to create residual entry hazard damage. Just wondering what you believe the better choice is.

As I noted to Tab, the changes made here have shifted the team away from what I originally intended it to be, a sandstorm team. Thats okay though, because you have helped me to transform it into a succesful, if unoriginal, stall team.