ORAS OU Sand Lopunny Offense

[dole45]

Sand Lopunny Offense​

This is a team built around Mega-Lopunny. This is by far one of the best teams ive made, and ive had great success with it on the ladder, I feel I have also been able to improve as a player aswell as ive gone from mid-1500s to upper 1600s / low 1700s. The team is built to weaken the opponents counters for lopunny to clean up the remains. The team can also use lopunny to weaken things like lando-t, garchomp and rotom-w for excadrill.

Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch

Mega-Lopunny is the teams center point and one of my main answers to stall. I wanted to build around this because of its great speed tier, its good movepool and all in all great power against bulkier team and ability to weaken offensive teams with fake out. I chose to use Ice Punch over Power-up punch simply because i believe ice punch to be better, gives me better coverage against common physical walls like lando-t and garchomp. Its just a pretty standard set.

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance

This is where i decided that my team was gonna be a sand-offense team. I chose excadrill for 3 reasons.
1: A sand rush excadrill will (in sand) outspeed faster than lopunny megas like sceptile, aerodactyl, beedrill and alakazam, that lopunny really doesnt appreciate, despite having fake out.
2: Excadrill lets me have a secondary win-con, and is a great partner to lopunny in that lopunny and excadrill lures in lando-t, garchomp and rotom-w, which from there they can weaken those mon for the other to knock them out.
3: Fairies. Pretty obvious reason as excadrill is a powerful threat to fairies, and puts pressure on my opponent that if they do bring their fairy out excadrill can setup on it.
When using this excadrill i usualy either decide what my win con is gonna be early, if it is lopunny then i use excadrill to weaken and put as much damage out as it can for lopunny to break down the remains.
I was debating between this and a bisharp but i chose excadrill instead as bisharp wouldnt have ohko'd aerodactyl with sucker punch and aero usualy runs earthquake.

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
It should be obvious why this is here, but ima say it anyway. Tyranitar is here to take care of talonflame, setup sand for exca and setup rocks. The set i chose consists of the standard set + Ice Beam. Stealth Rocks for.. well.. rocks. Pursuit for Lati siblings and generaly weakening things for the 2 mons above. Ice Beam is there because of the common leads that are lando-t and garchomp, ensuring that excadrill can KO them both even after intimidate from lando.

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpD
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Bug]
Keldeo is pretty much here for wallbreaking and as a heatran switch in. The reason i chose keldeo over rotom-w or manaphy is that keldeo does not need to setup like manaphy, and puts out more damage than rotom-w, being able to ohko heatran. Its also nice because teams usualy just have lati to check/counter it, making it very easy fo rme to double into tyranitar, and from there keldeo suddenly becomes a huge threat for my opponent. The set is standard all-out attacker BUT it has hidden power bug. Hidden Power Bug is there because the team so far is not able to beat celebi reliably, which hp bug does in 1 hit, and keldeo is a nice celebi lure.

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover
Latios was the next mon i chose. This was originaly gonna be my defogger, and for those who wish it still can, just changes some things on the team, like giving exca rock slide. The reason it is not defog latios you will see on my 6th and final pokemon. I therefore wanted to have HP fire in that open moveslot as my team so far beats down heatran easily, making the main wall left for this lati scizor. Though HP fire doesnt neccisarily ohko a mega scizor from full, it weakens it for excadrill or lopunny, supporting the cleanup later game. Latios is also kind of my way of playing around opposing sand, which has worked out mostly, ut definetly something to be aware about when using this team.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Protect
This is why i did not choose to have defog on latios, spikes. Ferrothorns main role is to setup spikes and wear some pokemon down for the rest of the team, but it also is given protect. Protect is not common for ferrothron to run anymore, making it a good lure for opposing mega-lopunny, being able to live 1 hjk, it often forces the opponent to switch out their mega-lopunny to try and get some chip damage on ferro, so their lopunny doesnt die from the 2 protects ferro can put out.

If you havent noticed yet i really do love my lures and double switches. :P

Some threats to be aware about:

Opoosing sand-offense. -What i usualy do is play around with predictions, or waste turns with protect/fake out.

Scarf excadrill. -Will usualy have to bring in keldeo on a predicted switch to their excadrill, or getup sand for my own excadrill.

Magnezone -While not a huge issue considering keldeo, lopunny and excadrill, it does get annoying if you're not careful with it.

Bulky Starmie -Its quite annoying, but doesnt beat the team as latios has no problem taking it down.

While im not really looking for anyone to try and fix the issues, if you think you have a good solution to some of the problems that wont really change the team too much or change the way it works, im happy to hear it. This is more for sharing my team, seeing as I myself have had a good time using this team.

Some replays:

vs. MrJamvad (iplaychess was his streaming name)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-397550066

While this wasnt my best showcase of the team, it does show WHY i felt i need hp bug on keldeo.

vs. Pxxx Gxxxxx (While a bit weird, it does showcase some of the teams abilties)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-402169253
​

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Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpD
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Bug]

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Recover
- Earthquake

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Protect

 

[Pirouette]

The team is really solid and i'v actually seen my freind greninjawarrior use that exact team when we were laddering together i have had great success with that team myself and once again the team is very good and doesn't really needs much to change, although i did go against a couple of rain teams with it and it was very annoying although latios can survive 1 boosted water attack or 2 and hit back,switching in ttar to get up sand is very risky vs rain but if successful it can be a total game changer luckily you have ferrothorn though so its not too hard to go up against but still rain boosted hydro and even scald can wear down ferrothorn with ease,thats also why i would use power whip over gyro ball to have a better matchup vs rain teams and water types in general.

 

[Cenamazing]

This is a pretty well made team, but I feel there are a few ways it could be made better.
Banded Tyranitar > Smooth Rock Tyranitar
Word of advice: NEVER EVER EVER RUN SUPPORT TYRANITAR. I honestly have no clue why it's a set on smogon, it's a waste of Tyranitar's talents. Excadrill doesn't need 8 turns of sand to do work, generally, 4 turns is more than enough for it to do it's job. Banded Tyranitar not only fixes your celebi problem, it also makes it much easier to kill all psychic types. Both Pursuit and Crunch are almost Guarenteed to OHKO Celebi after Rocks (we'll add rocks back to your team later, don't worry).

252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Pursuit vs. 252 HP / 148+ Def Celebi: 174-206 (43 - 50.9%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock, sandstorm damage, and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 148+ Def Celebi: 348-410 (86.1 - 101.4%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

(Remeber, that 2HKO will be an OHKO if the Celebi Swaps out)
It also makes it easier to deal with flying types, as you aren't running rock slide on Excadrill*. Overall, this set will make your team much more effective.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Run Rock Slide over Rapid Spin on Excadrill
Running rock slide on offensive Excadrill is almost vital. It allows you to hit Thundurus, Talonflame, and Mega Pinsir super effectively. It is also Excadrill's best option against Rotom-W and Skarmory. Don't worry, you're team will be better because of this.

Run Icy Wind over HP Bug on Keldeo
No reason not to do this now that Celebi is no longer a problem

Choose between Stealth Rocks or Spikes on Ferrothorn
The calcs I made for Celebi work the same with Spikes or Rocks, so that isn't a reason to choose one over the other. With the dominant presence of the Charizards in this meta, it may seem almost vital to run rocks, but that really isn't the case. At the end of the day, it's your choice. Spikes hit pokemon like Mega Scizor and Excadrill harder, but rocks only take 1 turn to set up and destroy pokemon like Talonflame or Weavile.

Run Defog over HP Fire OR Recover
Again, I'm leaving it up to you. Recover gives you longevity and a way to clear hazards throughout the match, while HP Fire gives you much needed fire coverage and a way to get the jump on unsuspecting steel types. I would usually run HP Fire, but it's you're choice.

 

[Pirouette]

This is a pretty well made team, but I feel there are a few ways it could be made better.
Banded Tyranitar > Smooth Rock Tyranitar
Word of advice: NEVER EVER EVER RUN SUPPORT TYRANITAR. I honestly have no clue why it's a set on smogon, it's a waste of Tyranitar's talents. Excadrill doesn't need 8 turns of sand to do work, generally, 4 turns is more than enough for it to do it's job. Banded Tyranitar not only fixes your celebi problem, it also makes it much easier to kill all psychic types. Both Pursuit and Crunch are almost Guarenteed to OHKO Celebi after Rocks (we'll add rocks back to your team later, don't worry).

252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Pursuit vs. 252 HP / 148+ Def Celebi: 174-206 (43 - 50.9%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock, sandstorm damage, and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 148+ Def Celebi: 348-410 (86.1 - 101.4%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

(Remeber, that 2HKO will be an OHKO if the Celebi Swaps out)
It also makes it easier to deal with flying types, as you aren't running rock slide on Excadrill*. Overall, this set will make your team much more effective.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Run Rock Slide over Rapid Spin on Excadrill
Running rock slide on offensive Excadrill is almost vital. It allows you to hit Thundurus, Talonflame, and Mega Pinsir super effectively. It is also Excadrill's best option against Rotom-W and Skarmory. Don't worry, you're team will be better because of this.

Run Icy Wind over HP Bug on Keldeo
No reason not to do this now that Celebi is no longer a problem

Choose between Stealth Rocks or Spikes on Ferrothorn
The calcs I made for Celebi work the same with Spikes or Rocks, so that isn't a reason to choose one over the other. With the dominant presence of the Charizards in this meta, it may seem almost vital to run rocks, but that really isn't the case. At the end of the day, it's your choice. Spikes hit pokemon like Mega Scizor and Excadrill harder, but rocks only take 1 turn to set up and destroy pokemon like Talonflame or Weavile.

Run Defog over HP Fire OR Recover
Again, I'm leaving it up to you. Recover gives you longevity and a way to clear hazards throughout the match, while HP Fire gives you much needed fire coverage and a way to get the jump on unsuspecting steel types. I would usually run HP Fire, but it's you're choice.

He needs hp bug for starmie plus it defeats all of keldeos counters bar amoonguss its very useful a d also i feel he needs sand support ttar as it extends the sweeping time for excadrill which can turn around the game,i think rapid spin on excadrill is fine as well and he dosnt need defog his team is hazard balance and with excadrill on a hazard team is straight power and is very effective

 

[Cenamazing]

Trust me, sand support Tyranitar seems useful on paper, but it practically makes Tyranitar itself a waste of a slot on your team. It can't effectively kill anything because it's not strong enough. Tyranitar can do so much more, it's strong can counter all the psychic types Keldeo fears. If you want to run a sand support pokemon, run hippodown, but Tyranitar's offensive typing means that running a sand stone is completely wasteful.
Also, Icy Wind hits Amongus too, and it gives you a chance to deal with other counters like Dragonite, Latios, and it lowers enemy pokemon's speed to allow Keldeo to kill them afterwards. Keldeo can't kill faster pokemon like latios without the speed drop of Icy wind.
But, you dont particularly need defog. That's more optional, and may be counterproductive if you run spikes. It's you're choice though

 

[Pirouette]

Trust me, sand support Tyranitar seems useful on paper, but it practically makes Tyranitar itself a waste of a slot on your team. It can't effectively kill anything because it's not strong enough. Tyranitar can do so much more, it's strong can counter all the psychic types Keldeo fears. If you want to run a sand support pokemon, run hippodown, but Tyranitar's offensive typing means that running a sand stone is completely wasteful.
Also, Icy Wind hits Amongus too, and it gives you a chance to deal with other counters like Dragonite, Latios, and it lowers enemy pokemon's speed to allow Keldeo to kill them afterwards. Keldeo can't kill faster pokemon like latios without the speed drop of Icy wind.
But, you dont particularly need defog. That's more optional, and may be counterproductive if you run spikes. It's you're choice though

Hp bug hits latios all ready and he doesn't have dragonite problems either plus hp bug hits starmie which is annoying and hits slowbro so excadrill can sweep more effectively hp bug is fine and sand support tar is fine its a good bulky alternative than hippowdon plus hippowdon and tyranitar wall different things,so theres a reason why hes using support instead of hippo

 

[Cenamazing]

Hp bug hits latios all ready and he doesn't have dragonite problems either plus hp bug hits starmie which is annoying and hits slowbro so excadrill can sweep more effectively hp bug is fine and sand support tar is fine its a good bulky alternative than hippowdon plus hippowdon and tyranitar wall different things,so theres a reason why hes using support instead of hippo

Whatever you say. I'm just going to let him choose whoever's advice he wants instead of escalating this into an argument. He can either go with my advice or advice from the guy who doesn't understand how to use periods

 

[Pirouette]

Whatever you say. I'm just going to let him choose whoever's advice he wants instead of escalating this into an argument. He can either go with my advice or advice from the guy who doesn't understand how to use periods

Its the internet lol you dont need everything grammatically correct especially on a pokemon site.I try my best to keep my responses fast while still containing good grammar plus that isn't even something to bring up.

 

[Pirouette]

From here on though i will try my hardest to fix any mistakes because this is the reason,people criticize me because of comma's/periods.

 

[zbr]

ahhhh. beautiful mlop sand. being a fellow mlop connoisseur i too have tried many different styles of mlop (which also include rain mlop and mlop stall). i want to preface off by mentioning that while this is not the most original team, it is an effective team that really puts in work whenever it's played properly and that is the beauty of such teams. i actually do not have much suggestion for this team but i just want to mention a few things that might help improve this team better against it's matchups.

naturally, this team is quite weak to stall. it's almost effectively 6-0d by a well played stall squad and as such i think a few changes are in order. first off, it would be to use lum tg fwg manaphy over keldeo. in case you aren't aware tg fwg manaphy is basically just hp fire scald and energy ball variants of manaphy coupled with tail glow and lum berry (sounds like a dish i would ea- nvm). this variant helps you deal with not just stall but also balanced teams since it's effective at just tearing teams up.

unfortunately, i don't agree with the users above to run defog / change your ttar set. if you were to change your ttar set it would be to change it to chople berry so that you don't get rolled over by m-zam and you can trap it / kill it / weaken it with stone edge or stealth rocks. stacking hazards on this team is amazing since it not only strengthens your gameplay but it also helps deter stall (although ferro is hard walled by m-sab stall)

next, your only ground spam resist is to click x so my suggestion here is to run spikes helmet skarm over ferro. this is because it not only has reliable recovery but it also ensures that you don't auto-lose to scarf lando or other variants of it. this change also makes you less weak to offensive teams that pack multiple ground spamming users to overload your team.

e - one more thing, you can run air balloon over LO on drill to give you more of a "defense" against grounded spam

hopefully my suggestions help you climb up the ladder more and improve your team so that it rectifies some of the weaknesses that are present. good luck and have fun in the game! /cheers/

 

[Pirouette]

ahhhh. beautiful mlop sand. being a fellow mlop connoisseur i too have tried many different styles of mlop (which also include rain mlop and mlop stall). i want to preface off by mentioning that while this is not the most original team, it is an effective team that really puts in work whenever it's played properly and that is the beauty of such teams. i actually do not have much suggestion for this team but i just want to mention a few things that might help improve this team better against it's matchups.

naturally, this team is quite weak to stall. it's almost effectively 6-0d by a well played stall squad and as such i think a few changes are in order. first off, it would be to use lum tg fwg manaphy over keldeo. in case you aren't aware tg fwg manaphy is basically just hp fire scald and energy ball variants of manaphy coupled with tail glow and lum berry (sounds like a dish i would ea- nvm). this variant helps you deal with not just stall but also balanced teams since it's effective at just tearing teams up.

unfortunately, i don't agree with the users above to run defog / change your ttar set. if you were to change your ttar set it would be to change it to chople berry so that you don't get rolled over by m-zam and you can trap it / kill it / weaken it with stone edge or stealth rocks. stacking hazards on this team is amazing since it not only strengthens your gameplay but it also helps deter stall (although ferro is hard walled by m-sab stall)

next, your only ground spam resist is to click x so my suggestion here is to run spikes helmet skarm over ferro. this is because it not only has reliable recovery but it also ensures that you don't auto-lose to scarf lando or other variants of it. this change also makes you less weak to offensive teams that pack multiple ground spamming users to overload your team.

hopefully my suggestions help you climb up the ladder more and improve your team so that it rectifies some of the weaknesses that are present. good luck and have fun in the game! /cheers/

I definitely agree with most of your advice and the tyranitar and latios definitely do not need any change at all(aparently support tyanitar is bad lol)but what does hp fire serve for his team over ice beam?Just a quick question.

 

[Lixis]

It seems like running CB ttar would only give excadrill 3 turns of sweeping after the switch, assuming you can net the 2hko on the opposing poke, that really is only one poke taken out. Hpfire, Keldio seems to dismantle this team, stopping excadrill and punishing ferrothorn. Switching away from lati into a pursuit trapper can end your team, simply because you have no other way to stop him besides sacking mons for fake out damage.

 

[Pirouette]

It seems like running CB ttar would only give excadrill 3 turns of sweeping after the switch, assuming you can net the 2hko on the opposing poke, that really is only one poke taken out. Hpfire Keldio seems to dismantle this team, stopping excadrill and punishing ferrothorn. Switching away from lati into a pursuit trapper can end your team, simply because you have no other way to stop him besides sacking mons for fake out damage.

Lmao hp fire keldeo is not a thing plus if the opp has a keldeo and ttar he should know to just go into lopunny or keldeo predicting it.

 

[Lixis]

Lmao hp fire keldeo is not a thing plus if the opp has a keldeo and ttar he should know to just go into lopunny or keldeo predicting it.

Excuse me, unexpected Hpfire users and keldio.
And what? Loppuny will get destroyed if the opponent calls your bluff, keldio won't do much better just because it's a full turn behind itself.

 

[dole45]

Excuse me, unexpected Hpfire users and keldio.
And what? Loppuny will get destroyed if the opponent calls your bluff, keldio won't do much better just because it's a full turn behind itself.

Thx, but keldeos dont run hp fire as scald and secret sword hits the same that hp fire would.

Also, I do like ZANBAKUResh's advice, and i am gonna try it. Thx to eevryone that has left their suggestions and tips :)