Sand Duo: Kill the Weather Wars

KoopaTheLegend

Hello Smogon! This is my first post even though I've been on here for almost a year now, and with that said, this is clearly my first RMT. I hope you enjoy it. I've just gotten into really competitive battles and this team is doing pretty well so far. I've been fighting off many weather wars now and like many battlers, I like to have my weather up. I know I'm not the first to do this but I think that running double sand inducers (obviously Tyranitar and Hippowdon) is the simplest way to win the wars besides not running any weather at all. These two help me keep my weather up and provide a nice defensive core as I run alternatively bulky defensive sets. Also, I've been moving a bunch of Pokemon around that haven't really done this team justice, but they'll be named below my current team. So before you get tired of reading all of this, here's my team:​

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El Peligro (Hippowdon) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 SDef
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind
Oh Hippowdon. How you wall a plethora of physical attackers. Nothing can set up on this thing with a DD, SD, or BU. He walls them all and can either whirlwind them out right away or set rocks up on their face then recover off any damage they may have done to me. I usually lead with this guy and just set up rocks if I don't need him for anything else or I use him to get sand up right away against the majority of faster weather inducers. He gets the job done and is one of the three only guys that are set in stone on this team.

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El Cañón (Tyranitar) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Fire Blast
Easy comes as easy goes. T-Tar is the second Pokemon on this team that will stay on here no matter what. He’s the cream of the crop and goes hand-in-hand with the hippo. He’s the specially bulky side of the two weather starters and he is usually used late game. Not much more to say here.

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El Poder (Latios) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
This is a pretty standard Latios. I’ve considered taking off TBolt for HP Ice, but I feel like with the amount of bulky waters around that stick around for late game, I can use TBolt to clean everything up. This guy gets me through a lot but I feel like he’s not really needed and wouldn’t mind doing without him on the team. Obviously Draco Meteor hits everything hard when it’s coupled with a Choice Specs, but there are too many Steel type running around now for me to get off either of my main STABs.

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La Limpieza (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp
The best guy on this team in my opinion. Rotom has been able to survive plenty of hits that I would otherwise thing he would die from, so he can clearly hold up on his own. I almost always lead with him just to Volt Switch out or hit anything with a Hydro Pump. What I like doing is in mid to late game I’ll send him back out when the opponent’s rain is up and just fire off as many Hydro Pumps as I can. He does so much work on the enemy team that he’s earned the third and final permanent spot on this team.

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El Daño (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SDef / 252 Atk
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit
I don’t know what exactly to say about this set. It’s the classic Banded Scizor and he helps me Pursuit trap Celebi or get switch initiative with U-Turn. He’s good at any time of the game to just fir e off some Buller Punches, but I feel like I should switch him out for some a bit more bulky.

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El Mago (Alakazam) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
I love Alakazam. I always have and I always will. He’s great on stally teams or offensive teams. With Magic Guard he can come in safely after a thought out death fodder in late game and sweep up anything. He’s a great counter to scarf Terrakion which usually beats down on this team if I don’t take it out early. The moveset I run on it helps me take out anything that doesn’t resist my STAB with Psychic, take out Lando, Mence, and Dragonite with HP Ice, Deal heavy damage with Focus Blast against Ferro, and take out Jellicent with Shadow Ball. I love this set but I think that a faster Scarf abuser or LO sweeper would fit better in this spot.

Past Team Members:
-Jirachi
-Latias
-Landorus
-Landorus-T
-Ferrothorn
-Terrakion (considering bringing him back)
-Keldeo (considering bringing him back)

Importable
El Peligro (Hippowdon) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 SDef
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind

El Cañón (Tyranitar) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Fire Blast

El Poder (Latios) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Thunderbolt

La Limpieza (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp

El Daño (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SDef / 252 Atk
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

El Mago (Alakazam) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
 
Hey!

This is not a bad team so good job for have built it.

Looking at it, I see that Keldeo can be problematic for your team since your only resistors are Latios and Rotom-W but they haven't a recovery move so they can't tank Keldeo's attacks all the battle. Another threat can be Rock Polish Landorus which can smash your team easily, especially in the late game if Alakazam's Focus Sash is broken for some reason. Therefore, I suggest you to change Rotom-W's set in a Specially Defensive one because it can help you against both Landorus and Keldeo, and in general against rain teams; you don't need Choice Scarf Rotom-W anyway because you have already Alakazam and Scizor which are both a really good revenge-killers. I'd use an EV spread of 248 HP / 28 SpA / 232 SpD with a moveset of Volt Switch, Hydro Pump, Will-O-Wisp and Pain Split, with Calm nature and with Leftovers of course.

Even if you decide to use Specially Defensive Rotom-W, rain teams and Landorus can be still problematic so I'd change Latios' set in a Life Orb one with the same EV spread and with Recover replacing Thunderbolt. Life Orb is a great pokèmon and he's in general a better wall-breaker than Choice Specs Latios because it can change move when he's attacking and he's a better check for Landorus, Keldeo and in general to Rain teams too because it has more staying power thanks to Recover.

As last thing, I suggest you to use Chople Berry on Tyranitar which can be useful against Gengar, Reuniclus and opposing Alakazam which can be troublesome for this team. Chople Berry allows Tyranitar to resist to a Focus Blast and to hit hard with Crunch or Pursuit back so it would help you a lot against Gengar, Reuniclus and Alakazam. If you prefer Leftovers because it gives Tyranitar more staying power, which is always good, you can keep it but you can try anyway Chople Berry and see how it works on your team, if you decide to keep Leftovers, play carefully against Reuniclus, Alakazam and Gengar because they can be problematic in some chances for your team.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the feedback. I've been trying out that bulky set on Rotom and it's working magic. Also, that LO set for Latios is great but It's taking a lot of residual damage from sand and LO. As for Chople Berry on Tyranitar, I don't really face too many Reunicluses or Alakazams anymore and I usually take Gengar out right away with Scizor. Thanks again :)
 
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