Sand. Sand Everywhere.

Boomanda

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~Introduction~
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Hello and welcome to my RMT. This is my first attempt at a team in 5th Gen. As I am new to the metagame, I decided to make a thread about my team so I could receive criticism and advice. If you feel there is a way in which my team can be improved, please don't hesitate to comment, I hope you enjoy my RMT!

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~At A Glance~
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~In Further Detail~
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gliscor.png

Batman (Gliscor) (F) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang

Gen 5 brings Poison Heal to Gliscor and this is very beneficial to this Pokemon. Poison Heal allows Gliscor to be protected from any Pokemon that would burn, freeze, paralyse or put him to sleep. It also protects him from teams that sport Toxic Spikes, meaning I can switch into Gliscor without him being harmed, and use U-Turn if I get into a tight spot. Protect is there to take advantage of Gliscor's ability to heal. I gave Gliscor a Jolly ability to bring him up to a 317 speed. Which is necessary if I want to get a Taunt off on a lot of Pokemon. Earthquake's inclusion is for obvious STAB and its ability to hit a wide variety of Pokemon with weaknesses to it.

EDITS: Taunt has been moved to Jellicent, so Gliscor has access to Swords Dance, which is easy to pull off when I come in on something it resists.

U-Turn had never really helped Gliscor, and my weakness to Virizion and Thunderus needed a fix. So U-Turn has been replaced with Ice Fang.

quagsire.png

Quagsire (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Toxic
- Recover
- Stockpile
- Scald

I originally had a Swampert in this team, but he as been replaced with Quagsire. The reason for this is because of Quagsire's great ability, access to Recover and Toxic, and best of all Stockpile. Stockpile is an incredible move that adds sufficient bulk to Quagsire's Defense and Special Defense stats. Since Quagsire resists a lot of Pokemon, it is never difficult to get at least one of these up. He also makes a great counter to Volcarona and Thunderus, two Pokemon this team was previously weak to.

Garchomp.png

TheLarge (Garchomp) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang

What a Pokemon. Garchomp is an creature to be reckoned with once Sandstorm is in place. Sand Veil, Jolly nature and 252 ev's in Speed doesn't leave a lot that can outspeed Garchomp, and not only this, but his ground typing also gives him a STAB boost on Earthquake. All Garchomp needs is to come in on something like Ferrothorn, set up an SD and he's good to go for sweeping. Not much more to be said about that.

EDIT: Stone Edge has been replaced with Fire Fang, this is because Stone Edge isn't really necessary on Garchomp and I rarely use it anyway. Fire Fang can deal with Bronzong, Skarmory, and best of all: Virizion.

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WhatAmI (Ferrothorn) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed

Ferrothorn+Jellicent make a very effective core and they wall a lot of pokemon, so when I made my team I built it around this combo. This set is very effective and Thunder Wave is extremely useful in stopping a lot of potential sweepers in their tracks. Not only this, but Leech Seed is a good way of slowly killing off Pokemon. As I'm not running Gyro Ball on this set I decided to give it an Impish nature in case for whatever reason I need to outspeed anything below 76 speed, or other Ferrothorn with Gyro Ball. Ferrothorn is also an excellent Pokemon for effectively setting up Spikes. Since it is immune to so many Pokemon, there is no reason why I cannot set up at least one layer of spikes each game.

jellicent.jpg

JelliBaby (Jellicent) (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Surf
- Recover

Ferrothorn's partner in crime. This set is perfect for burning things like Scrafty or coming in on a water attack. Recover is an excellent move when switching into Pokemon that Jellicent resists. Surf provides STAB for Jellicent, and Ice Beam is for hitting Dragons mainly. Jellicent is the only Pokemon on this team that is weak to Tyranitar's Sand Stream, but Recover doesn't make that a big deal. Overall, Ferro+Jelli make a very reliable core.

EDIT: Since Ice Beam isn't really necessary on Jellicent as it doesn't do that much damage anyway, it has been replaced with Taunt. This is because Taunt was removed from Gliscor and I need something to stop potential sweepers like Volcorona setting up on me.

tyranitar.png

Cockblock (Tyranitar) (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 182 SAtk / 76 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch

I really like this set, mainly because of the wide coverage it offers and its ability to ruin weather teams, which have become popular in this generation. This also contributes towards Garchomp's speed, which is necessary if it wants to sweep. Tyranitar is what sets up the rocks on my team, add that with the Spikes from Ferrothorn and you have a lot of entry damage. Like I said before, this all works well with Swampert's roar. Fire Blast gets rid of unsuspecting Ferrothorn's and Crunch offers some mighty stab against Jellicent and Chandelure. Overall, a very effective Pokemon and one of my favourites on this team.

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~Final Glance~
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This is a pretty good team, but there are some weaknesses and some problems you can fix from this team.

First, your team fear Garchomp a lot, especially the Substitute Garchomps that abuse Sandstorm under the Sand. So you don't want to weaken your chances of stopping them. I suggest replacing that U-turn from Gliscor for Ice Fang. Not only will Ice Fang help you deal with Garchomps, it will help you deal with other threats like Balloon Excadrill trying to sweep you and Breloom. Breloom can easily sweep your team off the bat since you have nothing to stop it. Now with Ice Fang, you do.

Conkeldurrs can easily set up on you with Bulk Up and sweep your whole team with Drain Punch and Payback. Using WoW on it form Jellicent will only raise its strength due to Guts ability. So instead of giving your Gliscor Taunt, give it Swords Dance. This way it won't lose to Conkeldurr.

Instead of giving your Jellicent Ice Beam, give it Taunt. This will allow you to stop many stall teams. You don't really need Ice Beam, as WoW already cripples those Dragons weak to Ice, like Dragonite. Not much use of Ice Beam for Jellicent. It will fail to beat Garchomps after a SD.

For your Garchomp, instead of giving it Stone Edge (which there aren't even much reasons to give it that move), give it Fire Fang so that you'll be able to handle Skarmory and Bronzong. Or else you'll be easily walled by them.

Instead of the Swampert set, try using Gastrodon. Unlike Swampert, Gastrodon is able to restore its HP. This is something that's very important if you want to counter things like Thundurus or Volcarona, etc. Here's the set:

Gastrodon @ Leftovers -- Storm Drain
Nature: Bold - EVs: 212 HP / 252 Def / 44 SAtk
- Toxic
- Recover
- Earth Power
- Scald
 
Thank you so much Eternal, theres a lot of good criticism there and I will try them out asap. I'm actually excited to try the Gastrodon as I've never used one before. :)
 
Unaware Quagsire > Gastrodon IMO. The ability to switch into a set-up sweeper (like Thundurus and Volcarona) without a care in the world for their buffs and still having access to instant-regen and also Curse is pretty hard to argue with. I think Gastrodon has better SDef, but that's about it.

On Jellicent I'd run Scald over Surf and Toxic over WoW. Scald can burn and does damage in the meanwhile, and Toxic helps stall out other bulky waters. I also say you should give it Taunt over Ice Beam if you want to screw over any Ferrothorn/Forretress switch in.
 
zahariel said:
Unaware Quagsire > Gastrodon IMO. The ability to switch into a set-up sweeper (like Thundurus and Volcarona) without a care in the world for their buffs and still having access to instant-regen and also Curse is pretty hard to argue with. I think Gastrodon has better SDef, but that's about it.
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Yes, you're right. I totally forgot about Quagsire. Since the team already has a water-absorber (Jellicent), there's not much reason to have another. But having Quagsire so counter Thundurus, Garchomp, etc.. is a great option. I would suggest this set:

Quagsire @ Leftovers -- Unaware
Nature: Bold - EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
- Toxic
- Recover
- Stockpile
- Scald

zahariel said:
On Jellicent I'd run Scald over Surf and Toxic over WoW. Scald can burn and does damage in the meanwhile, and Toxic helps stall out other bulky waters. I also say you should give it Taunt over Ice Beam if you want to screw over any Ferrothorn/Forretress switch in.
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Yes, running Scald over Surf is a better option. And I've already suggested Taunt over Ice Beam. But you want to run Will-o-wisp over Toxic because then you won't be able to counter SD Scizor (which this team is really weak against). You would have to rely on the 30% Scald burn, which isn't a good idea. Toxic won't allow you to cripple all bulky Water types. It fails to do anything to Tentacruel. Allowing Tentacruel to set up on it. And from what I see, this team is really weak to Toxic Spikes. I'll try to find a resolution for that.
 
Forretress is the answer to Toxic Spikes. You'd have to trade out Ferrothorn, but it's the easiest way to get a spinner in there without sacrificing set-up and a physical wall. The only other choice is to run more poison-types and flyers (which would ruin the team). Forretress can switch into the T.Spikes and spin unless they have a blocker prepared and only TTar can answer ghosts in this team). I have to say, if you want someone just to burn you'd be better off replacing Jellicent with Eviolite Dusclops (but then you rely on Pain Split for recovery, take sand damage every turn, and have nothing to attack with other than Seismic Toss or Sucker Punch). With the exception of Tentacruel, virtually all Bulky Waters without Hydration (and Drizzletoed) are crippled by Toxic.
 
Thanks, I will definitely try that Quagsire set. However, I think Eternal is right about WoW > Toxic. Burn has saved me in many instances from potential physical sweepers and the likes of Scizor. I'm not really a fan of removing Jellicent or Ferrothorn as if I did it would ruin the core I built the team around.

EDIT: Atm, I'm finding my team pretty weak when a Virizion sets up an SD, my only counter is Gliscor.
 
Gonna have a go at this.

THREATS
Virizion - Both variants actually can be quite a pain, taking out most if not all of your team with a few boosts and a combo of Giga Drain, Focus Blast, and HP Ice hitting every single member super effectively.
Breloom - Rips your main defensive core off ferro and jellicent apart with Seed Bomb and Focus Punch, leaving you wide open to other threats.

Thankfully, both of these can be solved by putting Fire Fang on Garchomp as well as Ice Fang on Gliscor, giving you one and two checks to each, respectively. I also agree with most of the other suggestions Eternal and others have been giving. Quagsire should be replacing Swampert.
 
You can also replace Life Orb from Garchomp for Yache Berry to live from HP Ice from Thundurus', Virizions, etc.
 
Hi

Stallbreaker Mew can be really annoying for you take out. It burns your sweepers and with Taunt your own walls can't do anything against it. While not much of a solid switch-in, using Substitute on Garchomp can at least prevent a burn and lets you set up from there.

Your team is also quite weak to entry hazards, so perhaps you could try Forretress instead of Ferrothorn. You won't gain extra weaknesses and Forretress' ability to Rapid Spin will really benefit you. Forretress also gets Toxic Spikes if that sounds interesting to you.

All-in-all, a good team you have here. Good luck.
 
Thanks for that Delko, I'll definately try out Forretress! Although I won't have any grass moves on my team if I take out Ferrothorn..

Any other suggestions? :)
 
Well if Celebi is that much of a problem you can always try Latias/ Latias instead of Garchomp. The CM Latias set with Roar is actually a very effective set on a team like this.
 
Well in a decision between latias and latias, it'd be quite close but I believe you should choose latias.

In all seriousness though, latios is a great poke, and I believe would fit this team much better than latias (said it 4 times in 2 sentences :D) , even if I usually take her side on other teams.

Whether latios fits better than Garchomp though, I doubt. Celebi dies to a +2 outrage anyway, so I have no idea how it manages to do anything to your team. Plus, idk if running latios instead of the cheapest ability in the game is a good idea.
 
Yeah but Celebi only needs one Nasty Plot to sweep this team, if that happens I'm not gonna be able to get an SD up on chomp?
 
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