Sand Streaming

Bluwing · Dec 15, 2013

Sand Streaming

Team Preview

Introduction

So today i'm going to present you guys the team ive been working on over the past weeks, this team is in my opinion finished, but suggestions are always welcome ! So basically I wanted to make a sand team, so why would I do that, well look at Excadrill it was such an fearsome late game cleaner last gen and the thing is that it doesn't need sand to be up all the time, and keeping sand through the game isn't as hard you guys might think and I will tell you a little more about that now. So the team plan is build out to make up for an Exca sweep, to make this possible I have to remove some checks, for that I have Genesect, Conkeldurr and Mega-Absol. They pretty much removes whatever needs to be removed for example, Skarmory, Rotom, Gliscor and Ferrothorn, but also provides me with priceless priority and momentum. Next up is Hippo and Latias those two are my utility mons providing me with Sand, Rocks, Screens and Heal Wish, this lets me play much more reckless as if I get my screens up which is very easy with Latias I can play more reckless with nearly all my mons, and then in the late game ill just heal up the one I need the most, and finish of the game with the remaining pokes. So this was in rough lines on how the team basically works, and it is the easiest team ive ever used it's so easy to use because you can play so reckless, but anyway lets move on to the details.

Team Details

Overview

Hippowdon is very important for this team just because of that important Sand, but also has other perks with it mainly beeing my physical wall, so what I noticed with Hippo is that it really doesn't need Leftovers because it's very bulky and it has reliable recovery in Slack Off, this helps Hippo through the match tanking hits and setting up sand for the team. Next we have some other utility moves it comes with which is Stealth Rocks and Whirlwind both are very important as both of them works extremely well together racking up damage etc. But also Whirlwind lets me phaze out setup sweepers which could be dangerous for my team. In the last slot it has Earthquake mainly for STAB and that it can actually do some damage as well.

Overview

So here is the MVP of the team Excadrill the star pokemon. So basically what this set goes out on is to hit as hard as possible, but also be as quick as possible, sometimes the speed can save you in situations where you would be fucked if you didn't have it, so not taking any risks here. I'm going with Life Orb because Exca needs it to hit hard enough especially late game it serves alot off 1hko's which would be 2hko's without and when I don't have the opportunity to Swords Dance. The moveset is basic Edgequake + Iron Head serves amazing coverage and there is not much stopping this combo late game, and ofc I have Swords Dance as the last moveslot where I can just scare something out and wreck havoc, there is a reason for it getting banned last gen, and this is it.

Overview

Genesect is such an amazing pokemon fitting in to so many teams, but it's not here just for fun, basically it's here to handle with the threats which my other mons barely can't touch one big example is Skarmory. Expert Belt Genesect is just amazing to bluff a scarf it's just so easy, getting easy kills alot and with it's amazing coverage Expert Belt is the perfect item for it. The ev spread is made to outspeed max speed 90's basically outspeeding Lucario on the turn it goes mega, it doesn't need to outspeed something else because it's covered enough anyway and it also let me know what I exactly outspeed or not, the rest is put in to attack to hit as hard as possible when creating momentum. Flamethrower, Ice Beam and Thunderbolt is standard coverage and amazing coverage letting it hit so many pokemon super effective.

Overview

Conkeldurr is such an important member on this team because it brings so much to the table, first of it's bulky like insanely bulky with that Assault Vest, it has Guts which means it's my main status absorber which gives me an advantage +1,5 Atk is nothing to laugh at and not only that I can just heal it with my Latias late game as Conkeldurr is the one I play most reckless. It's also an amazing lead with all those Rotom's running around trying to lead on my Hippo just to give my Conkeldurr a free Knock Off on like everything except I predict otherwise, so easy to use and abuse. Drain Punch and Mach Punch for STAB, recovery and priority, Ice Punch is there for pesky dragons like Garchomp and Dagonite, but mainly and most importantly for Gliscor and Lando-T, so then we are down to the last one and maby one off the best moves in the game this gen Knock Off which is just so usefull.

Overview

And here is Absol which is just such a great pokemon this gen with it's new megaform, gaining blazing speed, amazing base 115 special attack and it features yes you guessed right Knock Off! So Absol is such a huge pokemon on my team being an amazing revenge killer, but also an amazing mixed wallbreaker, it's also my best answer to Gengar outside off Sand, and not only that it outspeed such a huge portion of the meta that it's ridicoulus, and with Magic Bounce there is no such thing as a Thundurus raping this team no matter what. When speaking about Magic Bounce is such a good way to hold rocks off my field if I predict well ingame. So the moveset, ive got Sucker Punch and Knock Off for STAB priority and a way to easely wear down the opposing team with Sand + Rocks, but it's also the strongest STAB move Absol gets. Next up is Superpower which is so usefull for stuff like Heatran, Mega-Kanga, Mega-Lucario etc. Fire Blast is the last move which can be a nasty surprise for pokemon like Ferrothorn, Forretress and Skarmory a very nice coverage move indeed.

Overview

Latias the last brick in the puzzle and what an inforcement it is, this dragon is such an insane dual screener it got everything, good typing, great bulk, speed and Healing Wish, all of this helps the team out a shitload and Latias is probably the main reason for making this team so hard to face, it literally just makes the team crazy hard to break down. Also Latias is my main check to Landorus easely setting up screens on it. So the moveset, I run Psyshock over Draco Meteor because Conkeldurr can be hard for the team to face otherwise and it's a nice STAB move in general. Reflect and Light Screen is here for obvious reasons make my team harder to take down, but also to let me play more recklessly, and it's also here Healing Wish comes in, whenever Latias is at low health I can use Healing Wish and heal another pokemon on my team which is priceless no matter what.

A Last Glance

Conclusion

I had a lot of fun making this team, testing it out and laddering with it, it's such a fun team to use because it features alot of cool sets and pokemons which works great together, and it's a team which is eas to play with. For anyone that wanna know my record on the team now for the moment it's just a testing alt, and I will ladder alot more with this team, but on the alt i'm using now i'm 36-12, but with latest changes on the team ive only lost one match in the last 15 and that due to a huge hax, but i'm not gonna bitch about that, anyway thanks for reading and bye.

DickTurbaaasz · Dec 15, 2013

No defog on Latias?

or

Rapid spin on Excadrill?

Bluwing · Dec 15, 2013

I don't need that because me team is that weak to hazards, also Absol gets Magic Bounce when going mega and can prevent the opponent from getting their hazards up tho it isn't an reliable way.

Bluwing · Dec 16, 2013

I'm bumping this now as I want feedback, it's always nice hear what other people think if they think it's good, bad, decent or whatever.

_Tonks_ · Dec 18, 2013

Yeah, I really can't see any problem with this team. Hippo is underrated and I think he does wonders in the meta. I think it's a great team, isn't really much I can say aside from that..I personally don't like Absol at all, but I can see his set helping out this team. I'd probably use Gastrodon instead of Absol, but that's completely your choice.

Bluwing · Dec 18, 2013

Thank you for the rate! Well Absol is highly needed for dealing with Gengar as if I would have used Gastrodon it could just spammed Shadow Ball, same with Aegislash. Also Absol can work as a way to prevent status and hazards on my team which I find vert usefull.

BackStreetTabby · Dec 18, 2013

Hey there,

As the previous user said, Absol is just not a very good choice in a metagame where stall is all but non-existent. Furthermore, Sucker Punch is too unreliable and anything with Sub and a bit of prediction can defeat it. May I suggest mixed Mega Garchomp? It takes advantage of the Sandstorm and boosts EQ and Stone edge to sky-high levels of power. Fire Blast can deal with bothersome Skarmory and Physically Defensive Ferrothorn. Here's the set:

Garchomp @ Garchompinite (I forgot the exact name)
EVs: 64 HP / 196 Atk / 244 Spd
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Claw

Hope I helped, and let me know how the team goes!

Bluwing · Dec 18, 2013

Thank you for the rate. But here is the problem Ghost types are really good this gen and having Absol for them is really good. I also don't understand why everyone seem to don't like Mega-Absol it's strong and has the same SAtk stat as Garchomp, also it has the Dark typing + Knock Off. Nearly every pokemon switching into Absol will be either a fighting pokemon or fairy pokemon eases up everything for me, and Sucker Punch might be unreliable in some cases, but it's a mind game also Absol is really fast and Sucker Punch are in most cases not even needed, but priority is just to good to not be used imo. Garchomp is a decent replacement, but then my team gets way to weak to Ice, and as I said I don't really want that Ghost weakness. I'm not trying to be difficult here, but when I make my teams I want to cover as many types as possible which I find very crusial, but in this gen maby idk it won't even be needed.

PkMn Gravija · Dec 18, 2013

"Nearly every pokemon switching into Absol will be either a fighting pokemon or fairy pokemon eases up everything for me"

So knock off gets resisted, so does sucker punch and fairies resist both superpower and your dark stabs if you're saying they always switch in... plus fire blast doesn't really do anything to most fairies since they're mostly sp def. Imo I would lose knock off/sucker punch and replace it with play rough, at least it hits fighting types SE and fairies for a strong neutral hit.

But it's already been mentioned you don't have any method of getting rid of any hazards, you may think mega absols magic bounce is gonna save u but I guarantee galvantula will get sticky web up against this team, since you'd be stupid to switch mega absol into a stab bug buzz.

Bluwing · Dec 18, 2013

Removing Assault Vest from Conkeldurr and Choice Band from Azumarill can be very crucial, doesn't even matter if they resist it, and also don't be cocky. I never said that Magic Bounce would save my ass, but it's usefull and a gret ability, it becomes more of a mind game. Sticky Web doesn't even bother me, I can set up screens with Latias so I can't say I care to much about it. Also Galvantula is almost never used in OU... If you are just going to coment to be cocky or just beat me with arguements don't post thanks, I said I want opinions and ideas not this.

Knight of Cydonia · Dec 18, 2013

Well you seem pretty happy with this team so I've got three small changes to maybe fine tune it.

First thing, unless there is a specific reason to run Jolly nature on Excadrill I would go with Adamant. In the sand you outspeed all relevant Scarfers with an Adamant nature anyway and the power increase is valuable. I guess jolly could be nice in some cases (timid Heatran and the like) but you really won't be sweeping much with Excadrill outside of sand anyway and those pokemon would be taking a big risk relying on you being Adamant rather than Jolly.

Second, since you don't have Mold Breaker on your Excadrill, Rotom-w is going to be a real pain if you are trying to sweep with Exca. You could definitely try Energy Ball on your Genesect over Thunderbolt to possibly lure and take it out and assist a sweep.

Finally I always use a Naive Nature on Absol - Genesect gets a special attack boost rather than the Attack boost so another team member doesn't have to eat the stronger U-turn, plus you take a bit less from opposing Sucker Punch.

Robqq · Dec 19, 2013

Knight of Cydonia said:

Second, since you don't have Mold Breaker on your Excadrill, Rotom-w is going to be a real pain if you are trying to sweep with Exca. You could definitely try Energy Ball on your Genesect over Thunderbolt to possibly lure and take it out and assist a sweep.

Click to expand...

I agree with everything Knight said except for energy ball > thunderbolt.

+1 252 SpA Genesect Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W: 131-155 (43 - 50.9%) -- 3.9% chance to 2HKO

Rotom-W doesn't want to take that big of a hit. Thunderbolt is a better coverage move on Genesect, energy ball would be useful in some occasions but thunderbolt is better in most situations.

I've used this team plenty of times and it's really good, the only problems I've had is with ground/water types and when I make mistakes. T-bolt has helped me more times than energy ball could have helped.

Good team.

PkMn Gravija · Dec 19, 2013

BROStime said:
Removing Assault Vest from Conkeldurr and Choice Band from Azumarill can be very crucial, doesn't even matter if they resist it, and also don't be cocky. I never said that Magic Bounce would save my ass, but it's usefull and a gret ability, it becomes more of a mind game. Sticky Web doesn't even bother me, I can set up screens with Latias so I can't say I care to much about it. Also Galvantula is almost never used in OU... If you are just going to coment to be cocky or just beat me with arguements don't post thanks, I said I want opinions and ideas not this.

You didn't read what I said properly, you was saying that dark and fighting mons switch into your mega absol and I was telling you that you have no coverage move for this major weakness that you've noticed in your team, so I suggested a good solution for this, plus it gives you another method of beating conkeldur which you're currently only using latias for iirc even though you know it can sweep your team. You really should consider something to get rid of hazards, you're best bet is to consider which screen gives you the most support and swap the least favourable one for defog, or alternatively lose both and run dual stabs, because latias is your only fast mon capable of hitting dragons in the 95-110 tier (Haxorus, Hydreigon, Salamence, Garchomp, Lati@s). The aforementioned 5 mons give this team a hard time, and I'm assuming dnite after a dragon dance can be tricky for you too.

Bluwing · Dec 19, 2013

I'm not gonna discuss this with you, dark is not threathening my team anytime soon also yes Conk can be annoying, but I can play around it. Any off the five "threats you've noticed is easely handable as 3 off these gets walled cold by Hippo, Hydreigon and Latias is handled easely by Absol and Conk.

tcr · Dec 19, 2013

Hey man this looks like a pretty cool team! Absol is underrated and so is Conkelldurr, and I like the way you formed this team! From what it looks like you aim to sweep with Excadrill. You use Hippowdon for obvious reasons, with a smooth rock to boost sand as long as possible. Conkelldurr helps lure in landorus t and spread knock offs around, while also being a nice backbone. Latias is there to put up screens, allowing excadrill to set up easily. Absol is there to also spread out knock offs and being a quick stop to HO leads. Lastly Genesect seems to be there for momentum and quickly wearing things down. Nice!

However, things like Charizard Y give you trouble, as well as the obvious rotom W. nothing on your team wants to take a Fire Blast. The only thing that can is conkelldurr, who really doesnt want to keep switching in and cant do much anyway to Charizard. You also have trouble switching in and forcing Lucario out.

The biggest thing is i think you should try Tyranitar over Hippowdon. This gives you literally the best weather setter right now, and completely counters Charizard Y. It also gives you a quick check to Rock Polish Genesect, which is nice as well. Talonflame is a much easier problem to handle, and landorus is nice to lure in as well. Handling Latios lets you rest easy as meteor spam really hurts your team.

Next, Absol is meh with what your are trying to do. Screens really help it greatly, and it is very threatening when setting up. I'd consider a SD Set to have a secondary sweeper/cleaner. This entails the change of Superpower-->Play Rough and Knock Off-->Swords Dance. Next, run Energy Ball on Genesect. Rotom W is a huge threat and you want it out as fast as possible. Genesect by itself scares out so many things, allowing you to trick rotom into switching in. Since you are now running Tyranitar, try out Wish on Latias. This lets you bypass no hazard control a little and helps with the good synergy you have.

Good Luck with your team! Its pretty cool, but hippo is kinda meh this generation.

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry/ Smooth Rock
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 Def/ 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Pursuit
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast/ Stone Edge

Ogami · Dec 19, 2013

I'm not sure if switching Hippowdon to Tyranitar is necessarily a good idea. They have similarities but there respective bulk and typing allow them to come in on different sets of threats. I like the idea of both of them being on the team, allowing for dual setters. While it may not be necessary it could ease the use of both pokemon, with redundancy making them a little less precious to your game plan. Tyranitar also eats the psychic and ghost types that absol is there to supposedly fight so I could see some Tyranitar set being a good replacement for Absol. It can easily trap and kill the pokemon that threaten Hippowdon and Conkeldurr. That's pretty good synergy. With an assault vest you wouldn't be that greninja weak either, although with conk I doubt greninja is much of a problem. If you want to use mega-tyranitar it can even use a dragon dance set to some effect for a secondary sweeper or to soften up the enemy team for an excadrill clean up.

Here are some possible sets:

Tyranitar@Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 SpD Sassy/Gentle (I'm actually not sure what the preferred nature is on a mixed AVTar is)
-Pursuit
-Crunch
-Fire Blast/ Ice Beam
-Superpower/Stone Edge

This is a pretty standard Tyranitar set by now. Since Hippowdon can run rocks, AV seems to make even more sense on tar.

Tyranitar@Tyranitarite
Ability: Sandstream
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Spe Jolly/ Naive
-Dragon Dance
-Crunch
-Stone Edge
-Fire Punch/ Ice Beam

This set is a more unorthadox. The investment in Hp is because Tyranitar already has monstrous attack after a dance, and its improved bulk allows it to set up on a lot of things. The coverage goes with the different natures. This set has the luxury of being able to set up a dance on something it scares out, live through a scizor bullet punch and ohko with fire punch. If that isn't your cup of tea, it can also lure in gliscor, landorus-t and garchomp and kill with ice beam. This could be very useful for clearing a path for excadrill. The added bulk means that this thing can set up more than once in a battle. Don't be afraid to switch this thing out if it's done some damage after a dance but could be useful later on in the battle if something like azumarilll scares it out.

I've had some pretty decent success with this set but it definitely needs more support than the av set to succeed as its job is a little less clear cut. AV Tar knows what it does and does it incredibly well.

I love this team in concept, as I've been interested in abusing weather again. Having two setters may be unnecessary but I think the main draw to me is it's ability to be the defensive or offensive pivot counterpart to hippowdon. An offense fueled by excadrill and genesect would really benefit from having a t-tar to come in and take fire attacks and most other special attacks, cause switches you can capitalize on and reset sand.

Other than those reasons I just ranted about I'm pretty underwhelmed with absol-mega in general and especially on this team. This team isn't fully offensive with hippowdon, so things that can't switch into much of anything are a suspect choice to me. The psychics and ghosts that absol wants to fight destroy this thing with predicted coverage and the turn it needs to evolve sucks. This is all coming from someone that really wanted it to work. Absol was the first mega I went to and it ended up getting pretty disappointing results after people got used to it.

I would also definitely consider rapid spin on excadrill. With the more consistent offensive presence of tyranitar you may be able to forego swords dance. As I've never played the team though I couldn't say for sure.

Three pokemon I see being a big problem for this team are garchomp, azumarill and especially rotom-w. Energy Ball on Genesect is one way but I agree grass coverage on Genesect is usually pretty underwhelming compared to electric. I'm wondering if latias could change it's moveset or become a different pokemon to help agains garchomp and azumarill but more importantly rotom-w who will dance circles around this team.

Hope I helped at all.

Sand Streaming

Bluwing

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_Tonks_

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I COULD BE BANNED!

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