Sand is Overrated
tl;dr Tyranitar has a shitty defensive typing, is slow, is generally inferior to Hippowdon, and has always been one of the most overrated pokemon in OU. This is further demonstrated by the "Save Tyranitar" movement (spam Tyranitar usage to keep it OU) a few months ago and also the amount of people trying to make Dragon Dance Mega Tyranitar sweep in past generations. Sand historically has no real abusers outside of Excadrill (until Sand Rush Dracozolt was released two weeks ago), and Excadrill isn’t even that good at abusing sand compared to what people think; it provides utility in revenge killing and hazard removal, but cannot wallbreak or sweep like many rain abusers because it has no spammable moves and Sand doesn’t do anything cool like power up attacks; even Golduck would probably be better at purely wallbreaking/sweeping compared to Excadrill, but you don’t see it because it’s outclassed. Sand is not a playstyle in the sense that Rain, Sun, or even Trick Room are; most of the time, Sand is merely putting two otherwise viable pokemon on the same team that happen to have synergy. I decided to build a Rain team specifically to make fun of overrated Sand teams.
Disclaimer: I have nothing against Hippowdon and Dracozolt, mainly Tyranitar and also Excadrill
Team Building Process
I knew I wanted to build a Rain team to demonstrate that Sand was overrated because Sun isn’t quite as effective. I had messed around with Rain earlier and realized that Barraskewda was a more effective Swift Swimmer than Kingdra this time around because banded Flip Turn is just that good. Thus, I started with Pelipper and Barraskewda.
Next, I added Zapdos because it can come in on many of the bulky waters and grasses that switch into Barraskewda’s Flip Turn and threaten them out with Thunder and Hurricane, respectfully. Furthermore, Zapdos has Weather Ball, which becomes a base 100 power water attack in the Rain (base 150 if you count the Rain boost) to give it excellent coverage. Although you may not believe it, many teams, possibly even over 50% that I encountered, basically guarantee Zapdos a kill if it comes in for free and the Rain is up. This team is built around Zapdosbecause it can take advantage of the most common Rain checks/counters.
Next, I needed an electric immunity since that seems necessary in this meta, especially on a Rain team. I went with Swampert because it could provide rocks, pivot with a slow Flip Turn, and also get a surprise Toxic on many things I don’t like. Furthermore, many of the same water/grass types that switch in on Barraskewda also get Flip Turned on by Swampert, giving Zapdos another free switch in. I had also used Swampert previously and concluded that it is surprisingly good in this meta.
Next, since Zapdos is such a critical piece to this team, I did not want to use it to defensively check Rain checks/counters; especially because I was running Life Orb > Heavy Duty Boots on Zapdos to maximize its wallbreaking potential. With this in mind, I added HDB Tornadus-T to provide Defog support, check annoying grass types, and function as a good pivot thanks to U-turn and Regenerator.
Finally, I had originally been using CB Genesect in the last spot because I needed a steel type and Genesect was just so good. Ironically, this team actually might’ve gotten better after Genesect was banned because I replaced it with Leftovers Scizor. Scizor did a better job checking things Genesect was supposed to check since Leftovers + Hp investment + Roost gave it much more longevity than Genesect, plus it added in a slow U-turn.
In Depth
Sand is Overrated (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Scald
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Roost
Pelipper is almost always the lead, so it was important to nickname him “Sand is Overrated” so the opponent will get the message right away. The moveset and EVs are pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll elaborate on them now even tho you’ll mostly just be clicking U-turn anyway. Hurricane > Toxic/Knock Off mainly because I’ve tried them all and find Hurricane to be the most useful; Hurricane also allows Pelipper to check both Urshifu’s, who this team greatly struggles against. I could see a case for replacing Scald with Knock Off, but find Scald important to keep the physical attackers Pelipper checks at bay. Roost is surprisingly useful, especially against more passive stuff like Toxapex and Clef, which often switch into Pelipper. U-turn is basically the only move you should click. I don’t use Defog on Pelipper because it is a bad Defogger (weak to SR and can’t run HDB, needs to focus on repeatedly brining Rain up and surviving). I run 30 Spe IVs to underspeed other Pelipper’s U-turn, although I don’t run min speed like some people because I don’t think it’s worth it. Unfortunately, Pelipper is my only water resist (Barraskewda does not count lol) and happens to power up water attacks at that. Sometimes, it can be important to keep Pelipper healthy to check certain threats (e.g. Urshifu’s), but in general, you probably want to aim to keep Pelipper healthy enough to set up two additional rains after the initial one. This team has many pivot moves (Flip/U-turn), which thankfully allow Pelipper to come in for free and U-turn out often enough.
Exca skips leg day (Barraskewda) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Psychic Fangs / Aqua Jet
- Flip Turn
I originally nicknamed Barraskewda “Exca for breakfast” until I decided Excadrill would not fill Barraskewda up. To keep with the theme of making fun of Excadrill, I switched the nickname to “Exca skips leg day” because it’s true. Choice Band Barreskewda is a phenomenal set in my opinion and is much better than Kingdra or any other Swift Swimmer. I can see the merits of Life Orb, but Barraskewda is my only Swift Swimmer and is too important to this team (I use it early, mid, and late game) that the Life Orb chip would potentially wear it down too fast. Furthermore, Life Orb would probably be more valuable if I was running Crunch somewhere, but I could not fit it in this set anyway (Close Combat is a must, Flip Turn is too good, hitting Pex is more useful than hitting Slowbro/Dragapult/Lati@s, and Liquidation is needed for late game). I originally had Aqua Jet instead of Psychic Fangs because the utility of revenging certain sweepers outside of Rain was useful, but after the Lando-I ban I started seeing too many Toxapex’s that Psychic Fangs clearly became the optimal choice. This is especially because my team struggled to break through Toxapex + Blob teams since the Blobs can deal with Zapdos pretty handily. Most of the time, particularly early/mid game, you will be clicking Flip Turn on something that is weak to water/would die from Flip Turn. This ideally checkmates the opponent because if they don’t switch out, they die, but if they do, I maintain momentum and often get a free kill with Zapdos. Barraskewda is generally my win condition endgame because under rain it literally outspeeds the whole meta bar priority users and still hits like a truck.
Ttar girl stealer (Zapdos) @ Life Orb
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Rain Dance / Roost / Volt Switch / Agility / Toxic / Heat Wave / Defog / Rock Smash / Thunderbolt
I wanted to name Tornadus-T Ttar girl stealer so my opponents would fear I’m carrying Superpower/Focus Blast, but Zapdos just looks like he’s much more likely to steal someone’s girl.The first three moves are completely self-explanatory and are all you need for most of the meta besides the Blobs and Hippo/Tyranitar (lol). What goes in the last moveslot is honestly beyond me. I initially used Agility to try and sweep, but this rarely worked in practice. In theory, Agility would give me a more reliable way to beat opposing rain teams, which this team mightily struggles against due to a lack of a good water resist, but I only ever pulled off one Agility sweep ever when I used it so it doesn’t seem practical. Next, I used Volt Switch for a while. This kept up momentum against Blobs/Tyranitar and also was a 100% accurate move outside of Rain, but I often found the Life Orb chip from Volt Switch to not be worth it, especially because you can usually predict the Blob/Tyranitar switch anyway. Roost is good for increasing longevity, which is an issue with Life Orb and potentially Stealth Rock, but I’d almost always rather be attacking with Zapdos. It’s still probably the next best option after Rain Dance. I’ve settled on Rain Dance for now because you can use it on the predicted Tyranitar/Hippo switch (trust me this steals the girl) and thus increase the percentage of teams Zapdos is guaranteed a KO when it switches in against (as well as keep up momentum against Sand—trust me these matchups get intense when they see the nicknames haha). Rain Dance also throws off the opponents who think they can be cute and switch around to stall out the rain turns and try and check Zapdos with Lando-T or something; Rain Dance can also provide emergency rain if Pelipper faints. I have not tried Toxic, Heat Wave, Defog, or Thunderbolt but can see their potential merits. Run a Naive nature if you’re using Rock Smash; this will hit Ttar on the switch and might proceed to KO it if you have some chip and if Rock Smash gets its 50% defense drop. This is clearly an inferior option to Rain Dance, but will guarantee you steal the girl and should piss off sand players more, which is also a plus. Anyway, Zapdos is a phenomenal wallbreakers and gets plenty of switch ins on water/grass types that fear it thanks to Barraskewda. Unfortunately, it can be a bit of a glass cannon due to Life Orb and SR weakness, HDB is an option, but I like the extra power. Finally, Zapdos struggles to OHKO somewhat bulky neutral targets like Kyurem and Zygarde; it is most effective when brought in against something it has super effective coverage against. Also, don’t forget about Static.
EZ sand check (Swampert) @ Leftovers
Ability: Damp
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Flip Turn
I nicknamed Swampert EZ sand check because Sand is so bad that Swampert does in fact check all four users/abusers (Hippowdown, Tyranitar, Excadrill, Dracozolt). Swampert is essentially my only switch into electric types and often sees action early game since my opponents seem to anticipate me leading with Pelipper. I opted for physically defensive to better deal with CB Melmetal and slow pivot something in against Zygarde, although I can see the merits for specially defensive as well. I think all of the moves are pretty self-explanatory and Swampert is probably the only ‘mon on this team that I would not consider changing its moveset. Swampert is good at setting up Stealth Rock, being annoying with Toxic if needed, and being bulky enough to slow pivot something in a couple times before sacrificing itself as death fodder (Swampert is usually the first pokemon on my team to faint, unless I decide my opponent has a particularly bad matchup against him). Definitely stick with Damp > Torrent because of screens Regieleki.
Rainz = gainz (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Defog
- Knock Off
- U-turn
This is probably my weakest nickname, but I struggled to find something better since I had already made fun of Tyranitar, Sand in general, and Excadrill. Perhaps “Ttar belongs in UU” or “Sand isn’t a playstyle” or something along those lines would be better, but I decided someone’s nickname should brag about rain being good opposed to sand being bad. Anyway, Tornadus-T functions as the much-needed glue for this team, mostly thanks to Regenerator and HDB. I went with a Timid nature since I don’t care about hitting hard with Knock Off / U-turn, but still invested in special attack so Hurricane would sting. Perhaps I should invest some of that special attack in Hp? Hurricane, Defog, and U-turn are obvious, but I went with Knock Off over Taunt/Fighting coverage to hit Lati@s, (faster than Latios and removes its Specs to allow you to survive) and remove the items of annoying things like Blobs, Clef, Pex, etc. Not much else to say other than that Tornadus-T is really good and gets a ton of mid game action. However, if I could somehow fit Defog in on Pelipper, Zapdos, or Scizor I could be open to replacing Tornadus-T.
We like Hippo (Scizor) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
I realized that if I was going to make a team with the purpose of making fun of Sand, I should be clear that I have nothing against Hippowdon, only Tyranitar; Scizor lets the opponent know that. Scizor is my main switch in to Kyurem-B and Rillaboom and is more effective than you might imagine at keeping them at bay the entire game even if the opponent has both. Whenever, Kyurem-B comes in on something, immediately switch in Scizor. They almost never go for Fusion Bolt, which could eventually be a problem if they did. Usually they Dragon Dance or Sub. If they Dragon Dance, pick between Bullet Punch and U-turn. If they Sub, obviously Bullet Punch them first as they Fusion Bolt you. Usually, they switch out so I don’t Bullet Punch again. If you predict this, almost always go for Roost instead of U-turn; the momentum from U-turn is nice, but being able to consistently check Kyurem-B throughout the match is better. This logic applies if you switch directly into a Fusion Bolt; Roost back to full health even if you predict they’ll switch out. Anyway, Scizor gets most of its action dealing with the ever present Kyurem-B and Rillaboom (same logic applies with Rillaboom, prioritize Roosting back to full health opposed to U-turning for momentum while at ~half health so you can keep checking it). I want a slow U-turn and need to check these threats so Hp investment makes sense. I also invested in Attack opposed to Defense because I feel this makes Scizor less passive, although this could be changed. Honestly, Swords Dance could be replaced by Knock Off, Defog, or maybe something else. However, Swords Dance makes it harder for Coil Zygarde to take advantage of you, can sometimes function as a surprise win condition, and is the only pokemon on my team that can boost its stats (I feel strange making an offensive team without a stat booster).
Conclusion
Hopefully you all realize how bad Sand is after seeing this team. I find this team fun to play with because Flip / U-turning as they switch out is satisfying, wisely picking your death fodder is important, and strategically breaking down the opponent’s team for a Barreskewda sweep is engaging. My games don’t usually last super long either. Cannot overstate how much fun Flip-Turning with Barraskewda on something annoying like Toxapex followed by a guaranteed Zapdos kill is. If you also pick logical options with Zapdos (e.g. Hurricane on a Magearna at 15% opposed to Thunder/Weather Ball because Hurricane hits the opponent’s remaining 4 pokemon neutrally) you’ll get even more kills. Hope you had fun reading if you got this far and enjoy using the team yourself. I am also very open to making changes.
***OPEN TO FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS***
Introduction
I joined Smogon back in Gen 5 when I learned that Politoed got Drizzle. As you might imagine, I almost exclusively played rain and always loved the weather wars that took place back then. It was clear that permanent weather was incredibly powerful (which is why weather was nerfed in Gen 6 and on) and it was also clear that rain and sand have always generally been considered the "best" weathers.
Long Version: I'm gonna be honest. Call me biased, but Sand is fucking overrated. I have never understood the community's obsession with Tyranitar particularly and don't think I ever will. First of all, Hippowdon has always been roughly just as, if not more viable than Tyranitar across many generations. Tyranitar has a shitty defensive typing, is slow as fuck, and the only notable pros it has over Hippowdon are high special defenseand Pursuit. But somehow, without a doubt, Tyranitar has always been thought of as “the face” of sand and Hippowdon has always been in its shadow despite having a better defensive typing, reliable recovery, and also good all-around bulk and stealth rock. Secondly, does everyone remember the beginning of this gen where Tyranitar sucked, yet people went out of their way to "Save Tyranitar" by absolutely spamming its usage to attempt to keep it OU?? Tyranitar is honestly just a more viable version of Charizard/UU Ambipom. This wasn't the first generation people attempted to use Tyranitar against the face of logic either. Remember Mega Tyranitar? Of course, gamefreak blessed Tyranitar with a mega evolution back in Gen 6 and it was clearly the least effective Dragon-Dancing Mega out of Mega Charizard X and Mega Gyarados; Mega Altaria and Mega Salamence were released later and were also much more effective. And if we're talking about Mega's that boost their attack in attempt to sweep, Mega Scizor and Mega Pinsir, to name a few that weren't broken, also had a much bigger niche than Mega Tyranitar. Hell, even Mega Latios using a physical Dragon Dancing set was probably better. Naturally, this put people on a quest to make Mega Tyranitar work as a set-up sweeper. I suppose if one put in a large amount of effort in team building, was a skilled player, and was lucky enough to get off a couple dragon dances (despite no recovery and a vulnerable defensive typing), you might be able to pull off the sweep if you happened to have the two correct coverage moves, didn't get bopped by super effective priority (Bullet Punch, Mach Punch, Aqua Jet), and managed to hit Stone Edge. Speaking of dumb Mega's people went out of their way to try and make work, we also have Mega Garchomp. Of course, the only possible way for Mega Garchomp to possibly be not outclassed by its base form was to put in on, you guessed it, Sand teams, thanks to its rather lackluster ability Sand Force. Things get crazier though. If I asked you to name sand abusers across the past few generations, I think many of you might even list Mega Garchomp in your top 5! This isn't surprising because rain is and always has been so much cooler than sand. Rain powers up water attacks, reduces fire attacks, enables a plethora of Swift Swimmers, and has other cool effects such as making high base power moves like Thunder and Hurricane perfectly accurate (in fact, Thunder, Hurricane, Hydro Pump, Surf, and Scald have all been nerfed by gamefreak since Gen 5). How many viable rain abusers can you name across the past few generation? There are way too many to even begin coming up with a list. You have the crazy wallbreakers like Crawduant, plenty of cleaners in the form of Swift Swimmers, things that appreciate the reduced power of fire attacks like Ferrothorn and Scizor, Hurricane users, Thunder users, etc. There are so many viable strategies to abuse rain across the past few generations that it would be very hard to comprehensively describe them in a single post. Now let's look at sand. Sand does passage damage each turn to certain types, boosts the special defense of rock types (the worst defensive typing after ice), and enabled literally only Excadrill as a viable Sand Rusher for years until Sand Rush Dracozolt was released a couple weeks ago. And if we're being generous, I guess Sand Rush Sandslash/Stoutland, as well as a couple gimmick Sand Force/Sand Veil users could count as well if you're still trying to keep Mega Garchomp out of your top 5. Speaking of sand abusers, Excadrill it is not nearly as bad as Tyranitar, but still overrated as a sand abuser. Don’t get me wrong, Excadrill is a decent pokemon, but that is precisely why it is overrated as a sand abuser. A niche typing, reasonable stats, and access to Rapid Spin/SR has allowed it to fulfill a variety of roles outside of sand; for example, as a suicide lead and also running more defensive sets to provide hazard removal, mold breaker earthquakes, and even surprise toxics. Yet on sand teams, Excadrill provides hazard removal and revenge killing; it does not function nearly as well as a wallbreaker or sweeper unlike many rain abusers. This is because Excadrill is vulnerable to common priority, has poor bulk, doesn’t have any spammable moves, is checked by a plethora of common threats, and must give up perhaps its biggest niche as a great rapid spinner if it wants to sweep/wallbreak effectively since it would probably need both swords dance and rock slide. Let me ask you this: If Excadrill was that dangerous under Sand, wouldn’t Hippo/Ttar run Smooth Rock more often?? There’s a reason why Pelipper almost always runs Damp Rock and Hipp/Ttar rarely run Smooth Rock (they do, but I guarantee you Damp Rock sees significantly more usage than Smooth Rock); Swift Swimmers and other rain abusers are actually very dangerous under rain while Excadrill can be more easily played around under Sand unless your team is exceptionally weak to it. Point is, Rain is an actual dangerous play-style that you build your team around and is much more comparable to Trick Room or Sun; Sand is usually just throwing two pokemon onto a team that happen to be viable in general outside of Sand and offer good utility (e.g. Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin, Revenge Killing). Throughout my time battling, I have very rarely gotten shit on by Sand Rush Excadrill and have far more often gotten my ass handed to me by Swift Swimmers if I decide to only include one water resist on my team.
I joined Smogon back in Gen 5 when I learned that Politoed got Drizzle. As you might imagine, I almost exclusively played rain and always loved the weather wars that took place back then. It was clear that permanent weather was incredibly powerful (which is why weather was nerfed in Gen 6 and on) and it was also clear that rain and sand have always generally been considered the "best" weathers.
Long Version: I'm gonna be honest. Call me biased, but Sand is fucking overrated. I have never understood the community's obsession with Tyranitar particularly and don't think I ever will. First of all, Hippowdon has always been roughly just as, if not more viable than Tyranitar across many generations. Tyranitar has a shitty defensive typing, is slow as fuck, and the only notable pros it has over Hippowdon are high special defense
Disclaimer: I have nothing against Hippowdon and Dracozolt, mainly Tyranitar and also Excadrill
Team Building Process
I knew I wanted to build a Rain team to demonstrate that Sand was overrated because Sun isn’t quite as effective. I had messed around with Rain earlier and realized that Barraskewda was a more effective Swift Swimmer than Kingdra this time around because banded Flip Turn is just that good. Thus, I started with Pelipper and Barraskewda.
Next, I added Zapdos because it can come in on many of the bulky waters and grasses that switch into Barraskewda’s Flip Turn and threaten them out with Thunder and Hurricane, respectfully. Furthermore, Zapdos has Weather Ball, which becomes a base 100 power water attack in the Rain (base 150 if you count the Rain boost) to give it excellent coverage. Although you may not believe it, many teams, possibly even over 50% that I encountered, basically guarantee Zapdos a kill if it comes in for free and the Rain is up. This team is built around Zapdosbecause it can take advantage of the most common Rain checks/counters.
Next, I needed an electric immunity since that seems necessary in this meta, especially on a Rain team. I went with Swampert because it could provide rocks, pivot with a slow Flip Turn, and also get a surprise Toxic on many things I don’t like. Furthermore, many of the same water/grass types that switch in on Barraskewda also get Flip Turned on by Swampert, giving Zapdos another free switch in. I had also used Swampert previously and concluded that it is surprisingly good in this meta.
Next, since Zapdos is such a critical piece to this team, I did not want to use it to defensively check Rain checks/counters; especially because I was running Life Orb > Heavy Duty Boots on Zapdos to maximize its wallbreaking potential. With this in mind, I added HDB Tornadus-T to provide Defog support, check annoying grass types, and function as a good pivot thanks to U-turn and Regenerator.
Finally, I had originally been using CB Genesect in the last spot because I needed a steel type and Genesect was just so good. Ironically, this team actually might’ve gotten better after Genesect was banned because I replaced it with Leftovers Scizor. Scizor did a better job checking things Genesect was supposed to check since Leftovers + Hp investment + Roost gave it much more longevity than Genesect, plus it added in a slow U-turn.
In Depth
Sand is Overrated (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Scald
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Roost
Pelipper is almost always the lead, so it was important to nickname him “Sand is Overrated” so the opponent will get the message right away. The moveset and EVs are pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll elaborate on them now even tho you’ll mostly just be clicking U-turn anyway. Hurricane > Toxic/Knock Off mainly because I’ve tried them all and find Hurricane to be the most useful; Hurricane also allows Pelipper to check both Urshifu’s, who this team greatly struggles against. I could see a case for replacing Scald with Knock Off, but find Scald important to keep the physical attackers Pelipper checks at bay. Roost is surprisingly useful, especially against more passive stuff like Toxapex and Clef, which often switch into Pelipper. U-turn is basically the only move you should click. I don’t use Defog on Pelipper because it is a bad Defogger (weak to SR and can’t run HDB, needs to focus on repeatedly brining Rain up and surviving). I run 30 Spe IVs to underspeed other Pelipper’s U-turn, although I don’t run min speed like some people because I don’t think it’s worth it. Unfortunately, Pelipper is my only water resist (Barraskewda does not count lol) and happens to power up water attacks at that. Sometimes, it can be important to keep Pelipper healthy to check certain threats (e.g. Urshifu’s), but in general, you probably want to aim to keep Pelipper healthy enough to set up two additional rains after the initial one. This team has many pivot moves (Flip/U-turn), which thankfully allow Pelipper to come in for free and U-turn out often enough.
Exca skips leg day (Barraskewda) @ Choice Band
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Psychic Fangs / Aqua Jet
- Flip Turn
I originally nicknamed Barraskewda “Exca for breakfast” until I decided Excadrill would not fill Barraskewda up. To keep with the theme of making fun of Excadrill, I switched the nickname to “Exca skips leg day” because it’s true. Choice Band Barreskewda is a phenomenal set in my opinion and is much better than Kingdra or any other Swift Swimmer. I can see the merits of Life Orb, but Barraskewda is my only Swift Swimmer and is too important to this team (I use it early, mid, and late game) that the Life Orb chip would potentially wear it down too fast. Furthermore, Life Orb would probably be more valuable if I was running Crunch somewhere, but I could not fit it in this set anyway (Close Combat is a must, Flip Turn is too good, hitting Pex is more useful than hitting Slowbro/Dragapult/Lati@s, and Liquidation is needed for late game). I originally had Aqua Jet instead of Psychic Fangs because the utility of revenging certain sweepers outside of Rain was useful, but after the Lando-I ban I started seeing too many Toxapex’s that Psychic Fangs clearly became the optimal choice. This is especially because my team struggled to break through Toxapex + Blob teams since the Blobs can deal with Zapdos pretty handily. Most of the time, particularly early/mid game, you will be clicking Flip Turn on something that is weak to water/would die from Flip Turn. This ideally checkmates the opponent because if they don’t switch out, they die, but if they do, I maintain momentum and often get a free kill with Zapdos. Barraskewda is generally my win condition endgame because under rain it literally outspeeds the whole meta bar priority users and still hits like a truck.
Ttar girl stealer (Zapdos) @ Life Orb
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Rain Dance / Roost / Volt Switch / Agility / Toxic / Heat Wave / Defog / Rock Smash / Thunderbolt
I wanted to name Tornadus-T Ttar girl stealer so my opponents would fear I’m carrying Superpower/Focus Blast, but Zapdos just looks like he’s much more likely to steal someone’s girl.The first three moves are completely self-explanatory and are all you need for most of the meta besides the Blobs and Hippo/Tyranitar (lol). What goes in the last moveslot is honestly beyond me. I initially used Agility to try and sweep, but this rarely worked in practice. In theory, Agility would give me a more reliable way to beat opposing rain teams, which this team mightily struggles against due to a lack of a good water resist, but I only ever pulled off one Agility sweep ever when I used it so it doesn’t seem practical. Next, I used Volt Switch for a while. This kept up momentum against Blobs/Tyranitar and also was a 100% accurate move outside of Rain, but I often found the Life Orb chip from Volt Switch to not be worth it, especially because you can usually predict the Blob/Tyranitar switch anyway. Roost is good for increasing longevity, which is an issue with Life Orb and potentially Stealth Rock, but I’d almost always rather be attacking with Zapdos. It’s still probably the next best option after Rain Dance. I’ve settled on Rain Dance for now because you can use it on the predicted Tyranitar/Hippo switch (trust me this steals the girl) and thus increase the percentage of teams Zapdos is guaranteed a KO when it switches in against (as well as keep up momentum against Sand—trust me these matchups get intense when they see the nicknames haha). Rain Dance also throws off the opponents who think they can be cute and switch around to stall out the rain turns and try and check Zapdos with Lando-T or something; Rain Dance can also provide emergency rain if Pelipper faints. I have not tried Toxic, Heat Wave, Defog, or Thunderbolt but can see their potential merits. Run a Naive nature if you’re using Rock Smash; this will hit Ttar on the switch and might proceed to KO it if you have some chip and if Rock Smash gets its 50% defense drop. This is clearly an inferior option to Rain Dance, but will guarantee you steal the girl and should piss off sand players more, which is also a plus. Anyway, Zapdos is a phenomenal wallbreakers and gets plenty of switch ins on water/grass types that fear it thanks to Barraskewda. Unfortunately, it can be a bit of a glass cannon due to Life Orb and SR weakness, HDB is an option, but I like the extra power. Finally, Zapdos struggles to OHKO somewhat bulky neutral targets like Kyurem and Zygarde; it is most effective when brought in against something it has super effective coverage against. Also, don’t forget about Static.
EZ sand check (Swampert) @ Leftovers
Ability: Damp
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Flip Turn
I nicknamed Swampert EZ sand check because Sand is so bad that Swampert does in fact check all four users/abusers (Hippowdown, Tyranitar, Excadrill, Dracozolt). Swampert is essentially my only switch into electric types and often sees action early game since my opponents seem to anticipate me leading with Pelipper. I opted for physically defensive to better deal with CB Melmetal and slow pivot something in against Zygarde, although I can see the merits for specially defensive as well. I think all of the moves are pretty self-explanatory and Swampert is probably the only ‘mon on this team that I would not consider changing its moveset. Swampert is good at setting up Stealth Rock, being annoying with Toxic if needed, and being bulky enough to slow pivot something in a couple times before sacrificing itself as death fodder (Swampert is usually the first pokemon on my team to faint, unless I decide my opponent has a particularly bad matchup against him). Definitely stick with Damp > Torrent because of screens Regieleki.
Rainz = gainz (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Defog
- Knock Off
- U-turn
This is probably my weakest nickname, but I struggled to find something better since I had already made fun of Tyranitar, Sand in general, and Excadrill. Perhaps “Ttar belongs in UU” or “Sand isn’t a playstyle” or something along those lines would be better, but I decided someone’s nickname should brag about rain being good opposed to sand being bad. Anyway, Tornadus-T functions as the much-needed glue for this team, mostly thanks to Regenerator and HDB. I went with a Timid nature since I don’t care about hitting hard with Knock Off / U-turn, but still invested in special attack so Hurricane would sting. Perhaps I should invest some of that special attack in Hp? Hurricane, Defog, and U-turn are obvious, but I went with Knock Off over Taunt/Fighting coverage to hit Lati@s, (faster than Latios and removes its Specs to allow you to survive) and remove the items of annoying things like Blobs, Clef, Pex, etc. Not much else to say other than that Tornadus-T is really good and gets a ton of mid game action. However, if I could somehow fit Defog in on Pelipper, Zapdos, or Scizor I could be open to replacing Tornadus-T.
We like Hippo (Scizor) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
I realized that if I was going to make a team with the purpose of making fun of Sand, I should be clear that I have nothing against Hippowdon, only Tyranitar; Scizor lets the opponent know that. Scizor is my main switch in to Kyurem-B and Rillaboom and is more effective than you might imagine at keeping them at bay the entire game even if the opponent has both. Whenever, Kyurem-B comes in on something, immediately switch in Scizor. They almost never go for Fusion Bolt, which could eventually be a problem if they did. Usually they Dragon Dance or Sub. If they Dragon Dance, pick between Bullet Punch and U-turn. If they Sub, obviously Bullet Punch them first as they Fusion Bolt you. Usually, they switch out so I don’t Bullet Punch again. If you predict this, almost always go for Roost instead of U-turn; the momentum from U-turn is nice, but being able to consistently check Kyurem-B throughout the match is better. This logic applies if you switch directly into a Fusion Bolt; Roost back to full health even if you predict they’ll switch out. Anyway, Scizor gets most of its action dealing with the ever present Kyurem-B and Rillaboom (same logic applies with Rillaboom, prioritize Roosting back to full health opposed to U-turning for momentum while at ~half health so you can keep checking it). I want a slow U-turn and need to check these threats so Hp investment makes sense. I also invested in Attack opposed to Defense because I feel this makes Scizor less passive, although this could be changed. Honestly, Swords Dance could be replaced by Knock Off, Defog, or maybe something else. However, Swords Dance makes it harder for Coil Zygarde to take advantage of you, can sometimes function as a surprise win condition, and is the only pokemon on my team that can boost its stats (I feel strange making an offensive team without a stat booster).
Conclusion
Hopefully you all realize how bad Sand is after seeing this team. I find this team fun to play with because Flip / U-turning as they switch out is satisfying, wisely picking your death fodder is important, and strategically breaking down the opponent’s team for a Barreskewda sweep is engaging. My games don’t usually last super long either. Cannot overstate how much fun Flip-Turning with Barraskewda on something annoying like Toxapex followed by a guaranteed Zapdos kill is. If you also pick logical options with Zapdos (e.g. Hurricane on a Magearna at 15% opposed to Thunder/Weather Ball because Hurricane hits the opponent’s remaining 4 pokemon neutrally) you’ll get even more kills. Hope you had fun reading if you got this far and enjoy using the team yourself. I am also very open to making changes.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1216960192-7q2g7o5nxiyd6meps9deqs54jwfrgrapw
“Zapdos and Regieleki face off in epic dual”
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1216777517-3y74nww56abus5mmdj6eh9e661f8jiwpw
“Barraskewda applies pressure for the win”
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1216769706-novu8p4hdhxxzi1w53oea917jm06c8zpw
“Zapdos shreds Lando-T/Heatran/Ferro core”
More to come...
“Zapdos and Regieleki face off in epic dual”
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1216777517-3y74nww56abus5mmdj6eh9e661f8jiwpw
“Barraskewda applies pressure for the win”
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1216769706-novu8p4hdhxxzi1w53oea917jm06c8zpw
“Zapdos shreds Lando-T/Heatran/Ferro core”
More to come...
***OPEN TO FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS***
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