Sand Slashing!

[Sky Saber]

Hi guys! this is my first RMT thread. If i make any horrible typos then let me know!
I'm sort of excited yet nervous to see what kind of feedback i'll get.
This team is centered around one of my favorite pokemon. Sandslash!
It was very exciting to see that he had been given such a great DW ability.
It's sort of saddening that Excadrill is outclassing it in almost every way. But I still chose Sandslash.
And now ladies and gentlemen, my team!

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Hp / 40 Satk / 216 Sdef
Nature: Sassy
- Stealth Rocks
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Crunch

This guy is filled with pure awesomeness. Not only does he get the sandstorm rolling, but he also poses a great threat to a lot of the pokemon i would have problems with. Ferrothorn and Skarmory are fried by Fire Blast. Ice Beam stops Gliscor and Garchomp cold. Crunch is for a reliable STAB attack that can take out the Lati twins and the dreaded Reuniclus. Tyranitar makes a great Stealth Rocker. it's pretty easy to find oppertunities to set them up. But Tyranitar has his bad sides. Low speed and tons of weaknesses is a big turn off. but all in all Tyranitar is a great pokemon for my team.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 Hp / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Nature: Impish
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Taunt

This guy has saved me from many defeats. Gliscor is an excellent wall.
He can even survive unSTABed physical ice attacks with ease.
He is one of my stall breakers, and a good one at that.
Taunt shuts down a lot of pokemon that try to screw my team over with status moves or phazing moves. He's also the only pokemon in my team that can reliabally stand up to Conkeldurr and Excadrill. Ice Fang is a great move to go along side Earthquake. Gliscor is hard to wall with the combination of Ground and Ice attacks. But both of these moves are pretty weak before i get a SD up. but that's no problem since it's so easy to SD multiple times. Now here comes the bad news. Almost any STABed special attack will kill Gliscor. I am forced to switch out whenever a special attacker shows it's ugly head. But other than that, Gliscor is a fantastic pokemon for my team and a great pokemon in general.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Satk
Nature: Bold
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Recover

This is hands down my favorite 5th Gen pokemon. Don't let Reuniclus deceive you with his cheerful smile! This thing will rip stall teams apart!
Reuniclus is one scary pokemon! After one CM he can survice almost any attack and just heal it off with Recover! Reuniclus and Gliscor are beasts on the same team. Anything that Gliscor can't handle, Reuniclus has his back. Psychic and Focus Blast are great moves for Reuniclus. Psychic can kill all of those pesky Fighting types that try to take out Tyranitar. Focus Blast is great coverage with Psychic, and it nails opposing Tyranitars and keeps Reuniclus from getting walled by a lot of stuff. Sadly, Spiritomb and Sableye are 100% counters to Reuniclus. They are immune to all of his attacks and can threaten to set up or Pursuit him as he escapes. But those pokemon are beyond rare, so Reuniclus almost never lets me down.

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multi-Scale
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Sdef / 4 Def
Nature: Careful
- Thunder Wave
- Dragon Tail
- Substitute
- Roost

This thing is awesome! I never knew a Parashuffler could be so useful.
Dragonite can wall tons of things with his incredible bulk.
I usually send him out against a special attacker that won't be killing him anytime soon,
then proceed to paralyze them,then start shuffling.
Dragon Tail is great for doing damage plus phazing the opponent out!
Stealth Rocks and Spikes support are very effective with Dragonite, a lot of foes lose around 50-60% of health everytime they get phazed
out thanks to Dragon Tail, Spikes and Stealth Rocks. Dragonite doesn't have any bad sides when it has full health,
but after Multi-Scale has been deactivated, it can get pretty nasty if i don't Roost in time.
Rock, Ice and Dragon weaknesses are pretty horrible for a defensive pokemon.
Even with it's cons, Dragonite is an excellent member to my team.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Sdef
Nature: Impish
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Spikes

I never used Skarmory before, so i decided to give it a try, and it's a good thing i did!
Skarmory walls my former nemesis Scrafty like there's no tomorrow!
Skarmory also walls a truckload of physical attackers, and if they try to set up on it, I just phaze them ou.
Spikes is great for a pokemon like Skarmory. He can set Spikes when he gets the chance, and start Whirlwinding away!
Roost keeps him in the game for as long as possible, while Brave Bird is an excellent form of attack.
Speaking of Brave Bird, It's great for taking out the Fighting types that haunt today's metagame.
Skarmory, like any other pokemon has his downsides. Taunt is terrible! Skarmory almost becomes useless if he gets taunted,
so i am forced to switch out. Skarmory is still a fantastic wall and support pokemon, and i'm glad to add him to my team.

Sandslash @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Nature: Adamant
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor

Give it up for Sandslash! *crowd cheers* In the past I was terribally heart broken at the fact that Sandslash was an inferior Donphan, and i knew it wouldn't make much sense to use him when Donphan was present. But now, behold! Sandslash has one of the best abilities in the game, and can now rip through teams! People may look at Sandslash as an inferior Excadrill, and that's true to a certain extent. But Sandslash has a few things going for it. It trades some power and speed for more defense, which actually comes in handy when dealing with priority attacks. Being a pure Ground type also mean Mach Punch won't be ruining it's day any time soon. Sandslash has above average attack power, but after a SD it can hit like a freaking truck! Earthquake is his main attack, and it can OHKO anything that doesn't resist it after a SD! Stone Edge has great coverage with EQ, letting it whack the Flying types extremely hard!
X-Scissor nails the Grass and Psychic types for super effective damage! X-Scissor also provides great coverage with Sandslash's other moves!
Sandslash isn't without his faults. I'm not too concerned about the loss in power compared to Excadrill, but the speed loss can really mess things up if given the chance. Any pokemon with a positive speed nature with 90 base speed and a Scarf can outspeed Sandslash, even in the sand! With that aside, Sandslash has made me very proud! He went from one of the most useless pokemon to a UU version of Excadrill! He tears teams apart, and that really brings tears of joy to my eyes :,)




Previous members:

I miss these guys :(


Threats:

Genesect:
He toys around with my team with his unpredictability! U-Turn is especially annoying. Once my team has been weakened it starts using it's other moves and pretty much kills my team.

Chandelure:
There's nowhere to run once Chandelure shows it's ugly head! once Tyranitar and Sandslash are out of the way, It's pretty much Game Over!




Conclusion:

Well it's been fun guys! I hope you enjoyed reading about my team. Feel free to suggest anything that may help my team out. Here's my team bunched up like one big happy family!

 

[mukery]

Looks good, though in my oppinion, Sandslash should be exchanged for an Excadrill.
Life Orb Starmie looks like it could potentially be a problem, since a lot of them tend to run HP Fire now, although Jellicent and Tyranitar can handle it. I suggest you put pursuit instead of Crunch on Tyranitar, since it'll get rid of the fleeing Lati twins.

 

[Immoral Wombat]

Looks good, though in my oppinion, Sandslash should be exchanged for an Excadrill.
Life Orb Starmie looks like it could potentially be a problem, since a lot of them tend to run HP Fire now, although Jellicent and Tyranitar can handle it. I suggest you put pursuit instead of Crunch on Tyranitar, since it'll get rid of the fleeing Lati twins.

That's a bit strange to say, given that Sandslash is pretty much the point of this team.

OT: I liked how you went out of your way and forwent one of the most hyped pokes in the metagame (not that the hype is unfounded).

However, since your team lacks electric attacks, and the only rock attack is from a water weak pokemon, I think your team is weak to Dragon Dance Gyarados, especially bulky variants.

 

[Sky Saber]

@mukery. Sandslash was the reason i made this team, so I'll pass on the Excadrill thing. Starmie never was a problem for me, but i do like the idea of Pursuit on Tyranitar. I'll try that out. Thanks :)

@Immoral Wombat. Hmm...it never occured to me that i lacked electric attacks. DD Gyarados seriously could be a problem if Ferrothorn was out of the picture. What do you suggest i do about that?

 

[Immoral Wombat]

You could replace Jellicent with Rotom-w, which is great at countering bulky waters given it's bulk and typing. You probably won't miss the ghost typing too much since both your Gliscor and Reuniclus can deal with Fighting pokemon quite well. Additionaly, it can Will-O-Wisp too, and Taunt is already employed by Gliscor. It's drawback is the lack of reliably recovery, but both Pain Split and RestTalk are good options. Since you already have two status absorbers in (again) Gliscor and Reuniclus, rest doesn't seem neccesary. I think a set consisting of Scald/Thunderbolt or Discharge/Will-O-Wisp/Pain Split works best for your team but you might want to test that. Look up the analysis for more info.

EDIT: If you want to keep Jellicent though, think about replacing Will-O-Wisp with Toxic so you can stall out bulky waters including most Gyarados, except ones with Taunt (which are, unfortunately for you, rather common). You can dish out burn already with Scald, although not reliably.

EDIT 2: Oh damn do I love Sandslash's animation.

 

[awyp]

Hey Sky Saber, I'll give you a few recommendations on to improve your team.

First off the team looks quite decent and I know it looks like you're trying to go through with being original and using the team with Sand-slash but to be honest, it isn't going to be that successful as Excadrill, I just wanted you to know that. Now on with the team looks like a well blended team that works together the only problem that you might have other then the threats you have listed probably would be weather teams or Rain-Dance team in particular, so to maintain that I recommend you to keep Tyranitar as long as you can for the time being since your entire team is depending on it. So I definitely want you to try a more bulkier set to see how long it'll be able to stay alive against a weather based team.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 HP / 40 SpAtt / 216 SpD
Moveset: Crunch, Stealth Rock, Ice Beam, Flamethrower

So the changes here is to keep Tyranitar bulky and well so I don't see that much use for Shuca berry since, you really don't know how often you'll run against someone using Earthquake and leftovers will be steady on gaining you HP. The EVs is used to help your Special attack slightly but keep you well against the Lati-Twins if they ever try to hit you with a Spec'd surf.

The other minor change you might want to add is Reuniclus, due to it's ability it doesn't take on any damage from any item or from any status or even weather so since you have sandstorm it isn't necessary to add leftovers to it since you won't be really losing anything and you can put use into another item namely Life Orb to help you add more damage in your attacks but no -10% of your full health each time, so try it out.

Good luck with the team in the future.

 

[Sky Saber]

@Immoral Wombat. I like the idea of using Rotom-W over Jelliicent. I must admit Jellicent is pretty much useless other than walling certain pokemon. My only concern is Volcarona. If it uses Quiver Dance just once it's pretty much gonna end badly, so if i get rid of Jellicent I won't have a reliable counter for it. Oh and i also love Sandslash's animation XD


@AndViet. Hi! thanks for posting. Well about the Sandslash/Excadrill thing, I already knew he wasn't gonna be as successful as Excadrill. It may seem dumb for me to pass up Excadrill for Sandslash, but as i said earlier I just can't pass up the chance to finally use my favorite pokemon with great success.

Now as for that Tyranitar set, It looks beastly! I do count on Tyranitar a lot, so I agree that this set would be better. You're also right about Reuniclus. Life Orb certainly would be more useful than Leftovers! Thanks for your words of wisdom, and thanks for the good luck! :)

 

[idkpokemon123]

In my personal opinion, Jellicent and Ferrothorn are both overrated walls. Fire/fighting type moves added in with entry hazards is simply too much for Ferrothorn to handle, and as you mentioned, Jellicent simply has too many weaknesses. Let's not forget all those possible mixed attackers: Lucario with both dark/fighting moves, Tyranitar with Crunch/flamethrower, etc. Probably the biggest threat to this team is Techniloom, capable of setting up on Ferrothorn or Jellicent, Swords Dancing, and then preparing a sweep. You will simply have to pray that Bullet Seed only hits Gliscor or Reuniculus two/three times w/o any crits for you to have any chance of stopping it.

I recommend switching out Ferrothorn with Skarmory, which has access to Roost (a much more reliable recovery mood than the too predictable leech seed) and Whirlwind (phazing is always great!) as well as SR and spikes. I think you should try a specially defensive Dragonite, with max sp. def and max. hp. The moveset would be TWave, Dragon Tail, Roost, and Substitute, along with its helpful Multiscale ability. It's a very underrated Dragonite, but its goal is to come in on something weak, TWave or Sub, and start to phaze. Once you have a sub up and phaze, you can start to TWave the other pokemon and continue to sub/roost for multiscale until they paralyze, then continue the process as they futilely try to harm you. It's a great stall Pokemon, and when played correctly, it can easily weaken and KO some big threats and allow another Pokemon for a sweep. Finally, I might try to replace Gliscor with something more offensive now that Skarmory and Dragonite are the walls. Perhaps a Garchomp to take advantage of the sand or maybe use BOTH an Excadrill and Sandslash? A Bulk Up Conkeldurr might work too, since he can get rid of all 3 of your threats given the proper set up before Scrafty starts setting up itself. Its bulk is good enough to tank attacks by Genesect and Chandelure before proceeding to KO.

 

[Sky Saber]

In my personal opinion, Jellicent and Ferrothorn are both overrated walls. Fire/fighting type moves added in with entry hazards is simply too much for Ferrothorn to handle, and as you mentioned, Jellicent simply has too many weaknesses. Let's not forget all those possible mixed attackers: Lucario with both dark/fighting moves, Tyranitar with Crunch/flamethrower, etc. Probably the biggest threat to this team is Techniloom, capable of setting up on Ferrothorn or Jellicent, Swords Dancing, and then preparing a sweep. You will simply have to pray that Bullet Seed only hits Gliscor or Reuniculus two/three times w/o any crits for you to have any chance of stopping it.

I recommend switching out Ferrothorn with Skarmory, which has access to Roost (a much more reliable recovery mood than the too predictable leech seed) and Whirlwind (phazing is always great!) as well as SR and spikes. I think you should try a specially defensive Dragonite, with max sp. def and max. hp. The moveset would be TWave, Dragon Tail, Roost, and Substitute, along with its helpful Multiscale ability. It's a very underrated Dragonite, but its goal is to come in on something weak, TWave or Sub, and start to phaze. Once you have a sub up and phaze, you can start to TWave the other pokemon and continue to sub/roost for multiscale until they paralyze, then continue the process as they futilely try to harm you. It's a great stall Pokemon, and when played correctly, it can easily weaken and KO some big threats and allow another Pokemon for a sweep. Finally, I might try to replace Gliscor with something more offensive now that Skarmory and Dragonite are the walls. Perhaps a Garchomp to take advantage of the sand or maybe use BOTH an Excadrill and Sandslash? A Bulk Up Conkeldurr might work too, since he can get rid of all 3 of your threats given the proper set up before Scrafty starts setting up itself. Its bulk is good enough to tank attacks by Genesect and Chandelure before proceeding to KO.

Thanks for your input. I was considering taking Jellicent out from the beginning, so i'll totally try Skarmory or Dragonite. But Ferrothorn has proven to be one of the best pokemon i could ever hope for, so it's kind of hard just letting it go like that. I'll at least test your idea, But i'm seriously thinking about using Dragonite instead of Jellicent.

Gliscor is really useful to my team, but it carries the same weaknesses as Sandslash, so i'll try Conkeldurr. Excadrill AND Sandslash doesn't really seem like a good idea in my opinion since they almost have the exact same counters, but that's just me.

 

[Sky Saber]

I gave Reuniclus and Tyranitar new items now. I also used AndViet's Tyranitar idea, and it's pretty sweet! the only thing that bothers me is that it can no longer OHKO Ferrothorn, but other than that it's awesome, so i added the new stuff on Tyranitar.

I'm testing Rotom-W, Dragonite and Skarmory as some of you guys suggested. I'll test them for a while and report the success i have with them.

 

[lostaurora]

I would still recommend X-Scissor over Night Slash on Sandslash. A SE Night Slash doesn't hit for as much power as a neutral Earthquake, so it'll only be useful on Levitating Ghosts, the only remotely common one being Gengar. X-Scissor allows you to muscle your way through Breloom (who can easily be an issue for this team) and also allows you to beat things like Virizion, Shaymin, Celebi, Tangrowth, Serperior, and the rare Rotom-C. X-Scissor also provides more power against Reuniclus and Lati@s, which can be essential in netting a KO considering Sandslash's lower Attack when compared to Excadrill.
Speaking of Gengar, it can pose quite a problem to all of your Pokemon. I recommend Rotom-W, because it can still cripple opposing bulky Waters with WoW and you can even run HP Fire to give a nasty surprise to opposing Ferrothorn. Dragonite is usually a solid choice, but it amplifies your team's Ice weakness (think of the damage a Download boosted Scarf Genesect could do with Ice Beam).

 

[Sky Saber]

I would still recommend X-Scissor over Night Slash on Sandslash. A SE Night Slash doesn't hit for as much power as a neutral Earthquake, so it'll only be useful on Levitating Ghosts, the only remotely common one being Gengar. X-Scissor allows you to muscle your way through Breloom (who can easily be an issue for this team) and also allows you to beat things like Virizion, Shaymin, Celebi, Tangrowth, Serperior, and the rare Rotom-C. X-Scissor also provides more power against Reuniclus and Lati@s, which can be essential in netting a KO considering Sandslash's lower Attack when compared to Excadrill.
Speaking of Gengar, it can pose quite a problem to all of your Pokemon. I recommend Rotom-W, because it can still cripple opposing bulky Waters with WoW and you can even run HP Fire to give a nasty surprise to opposing Ferrothorn. Dragonite is usually a solid choice, but it amplifies your team's Ice weakness (think of the damage a Download boosted Scarf Genesect could do with Ice Beam).

Hmm......didn't really see the importance of X-Scissor until now. I'll edit that in. Thanks :)

I'm still testing those pokemon everyone suggested though. Rotom-W is awesome, but it's harder to deal with the Dragons than it was with Jellicent. Dragonite is pretty awesome, but Reuniclus is a HUGE problem when I run out of Dragon Tails or it's the last pokemon, so i can't phaze it out, and it pretty much kills me when Tyranitar is gone. I haven't tested Skarmory yet though.

 

[Sky Saber]

Testing Skarmory and Blissey now. they seem to work great with Gliscor. I'll test them out for another day and give the verdict.

 

[Sky Saber]

Changes made. feel free to comment.

 

[Boarbaque]

How does Sandslash hold up against an Excadrill? I have a feeling that in the Dream World he doesn't stand a chance in comparison.

 

[TheGreatMilenko]

Why don't you ask the PSBG what they think of the team?

 

[InfernoJesus]

So many exclamation points!

Consider a scarfchomp over dragonite for the advantage in sand. It's a much better revengekiller than unboosted sandslash and dragonite phasing is unnecessary with whirlwind on scarmory.

 

[Sky Saber]

How does Sandslash hold up against an Excadrill? I have a feeling that in the Dream World he doesn't stand a chance in comparison.

Believe it or not, Sandslash does a perfect job.

It's also easier to deal with Conkeldurr. Excadrill may be better, but i seriously don't care.

 

[Sky Saber]

@GreatMilenko. I take it you're from Gamefaqs eh? xD

@InfernoJesus. Are the exclaimation points really a problem? Anyway I may try that. ScarfChomp really could outspeed almost every pokemon out there. I'll give it some thought. But Dragonite was really there for paralysis, not just for shuffling.