SS OU Sandstorm Palace ft. Tyranitar

[tysgod]

Sandstorm Palace ft. Tyranitar

1. Intro

Hi! After so many battles in Showdown, so much of reading the Smogon Strategy Pokedex, I decided to create my first RMT! I hope you guys like it! ( For a little activity make sure to check above for a little poll :D )

2. Thought Process

Here is my thought process to creating this I looked at a lot of RMTs and examples to make this.


I wanted a weather switch-in for my team, and I chose sand. Probably there are so many teams of it. I was leaning toward Hippowdon but it was pretty slow, so I went to Tyranitar. He has pretty good builds on Smogon Strategy Pokedex and viable toward other mons.


Most of my mons are pretty slow compared to others so I put in a Excadrill. Pretty random, I know right? But excadrill really counters really common mons in the meta such as Specs Lele. With Sand Rush, it complements the Sand Stream from Tyranitar and such a threatening sweeper.


You will see this hundred of times, so useful to so many teams. If you say you have never seen Landorus-Therian in OU I wouldn't believe you. This mon is self-explanatory so I don't have to say much about it.


I chose a steel type mon to keep some of ground/stone types in check and melmetal is such a viable mon. It is a huge tank with massive attack power.


Dracozolt is really fast, and with it's special move bolt beak it does so much damage and really threatening. I chose this because it checks water types against Tyranitar, Excadrill and Landorus-T.


Kartana. The paper ninja himself. He is one of the most dangerous ultra beasts in the game. His speed is unbelievable, along with powerful attacks that blow up the enemy. For my team he is the speedy sweeper, taking out as much as it can before it faints or it gets knocked out.


2. Team Stats + In Depth Description

Now let's get into the main event. I will have the stats of each mon here but if you want to whole thing I will provide a importable below.

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

The weather for this switch-in with Sand Stream. I gave it a smooth rock to have it last more turns. Other members of this team has the Sand Rush ability which is really dependent on the sandstorm. His powerful stab moves Crunch and Earthquake keep mons like Heatran and Latios in check. I also had Tyranitar have stealth rock as a hazard so that people who constantly use U-turn and Teleport will be punished. Toxic is to wear down bulky mons so that Tyranitar comes out on top.




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

Excadrill will be one of our Sand Rush sweepers, with Rapid Spin to get rid of annoying hazards like opposing Stealth Rock. Sand Rush allows it to become a threatening sweeper, as it outspeeds the entire metagame because of Tyranitar with Sand Stream and can boost it's Attack to higher levels with Swords Dance. Iron Head can hit mons that resist to Earthquake like Rillaboom. With a side effect to make the enemy flinch, it is very viable. There isn't much to say about Earthquake, just serves as a STAB move.



Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Evs: 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Defog

Landorus-T is in so many teams and incredibly versatile. It is a effective pivot with the Intimidate ability and U-turn. also chose it as the defogger since I didn't find a spot for it in other mons. There isn't much to say about Landorus-T just that it's a really good mon to have in your team.



Melmetal @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 128 HP / 116 Atk / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Thunder Punch

We have Melmetal as our bulky tank here. He does not have buffs from the Sand Storm but he has a really good ability with huge attack points. I gave the giant Assault Vest because I wanted to have more freedom with the moves since there are several counters to my other mons. His special move Double Iron Bash is such a strong STAB move and his other attacks like Ice and Thunder Punch are very powerful. I decided to go with him because he is just a powerhouse and is not affected by the Sand Storm.



Dracozolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 120 Atk / 136 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake

My 5th mon of my team is Dracozolt, and it is absolutely powerful when you set the everything up. It's Sand Rush doubles it's speed during Sand Storm and completely overwhelms the enemy with Bolt Beak. Simply amazing and some players will forfeit after this and getting you ez wins. Draco Meteor is just a great way to counter Garchomp and Dragapult. Fire Blast and Earthquake were just part of the Smogon Strategy Pokedex and pretty much self explanatory.



Kartana @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off

Last and final one, and I'm getting tired lol. This Kartana set is pretty common and very powerful. A all out attacker and a beast. Try to attack as much as you can before you have to switch it out or it faints. Leaf Blade is probably his best STAB move with Smart Strike just 100% on target. Sacred Sword ignores stat changes of the opposing mon so increases in defense will not count so very good. Knock Off gets rid of mons with items and severely weakens them.
​

3. Outro

Well that was the end of my first RMT! I put a lot of effort into making the team and the RMT and I hope you guys liked it! Let me know if you want to change something or suggest a change! All constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome. :)

Importable of Team = https://pokepast.es/be749772d43fcc8b

 

[Red Raven]

Just one question. What do you do if an opponent's wallbreaker is out? You're team is very hyper offensive with literally no defensive backbone. Tyranitar isn't a backbone because it doesn't have any form of recovery

 

[tysgod]

Just one question. What do you do if an opponent's wallbreaker is out? You're team is very hyper offensive with literally no defensive backbone. Tyranitar isn't a backbone because it doesn't have any form of recovery

Hm well do you have any suggestions for a defense? I tested it out and it worked pretty well for me

 

[glava222]

I would really suggest swapping out AV on melmetal for either band or lefties, preferably band. Even though you are correct that switching moves is nice, melmetal without band just cannot threaten a lot of mons that it should be at least mildly threatening, like corviknight, zapdos, toxapex, slowbro, mandibuzz... and if you go for lefties at least you can spread toxic and use protect to rack up healing giving you some mobility

 

[Red Raven]

To add a bit of defense, I would just drop Landorus and Melmetal. I feel like Landorus has no place on a sand team as you're already weak to Rillaboom as is. Excadrill may not be weak to Rilla but it still horribly dies to it. You're team also has no safe Heatran switch in and three of them are even weak to it

I would change to . This allows you to counter Rillaboom while not allowing Garchomp to get +2 speed. Aside from metal birds, sand teams absolutely hate seeing a Garchomp outspeed their Excadrill even under sand. is also a good option but I just prefer Skarmory due to spikes

I would then change to . Slowking handles all but two of the tier's special attackers, Dragapult and Volcarona, both of which Tyranitar destroys. Most crucially, it has access to teleport, ensuring that your Dracozolt or Kartana gets in safely

This metal bird, godzilla, and dull face is a defensive core I use on my own sand team and it is reliable as hell. Yes it doesn't cover all of the metagame but it doesn't need to. It's just supposed to buy you a couple turns so you can use Dracozolt to start smashing stuff

I would also like to add a couple minor changes

First off, over on Excadrill. You do not want to lose your life when all you wanna do is get rid of rocks. Life orb should only be used if you're using rock slide over rapid spin. Also, I would consider going for an adamant nature. Jolly is good but that amount of power adamant has is just too good. You don't want to speed tie other Excadrill anyway since its stupid losing like that

The next minor change is lash out over crunch on Tyranitar. Lash out is weaker but only by a hair. If Lando switches in, you can pretty much make it regret its existence if it intimidates you as you lash out it. The same goes if something tries to defog against you

Here is also a Dracozolt set you might wanna try out. It's meant to more to be of a wall breaker than a sand abuser. It's called Ocelzolt. Just give it a try and see how it plays for you. I will say this though, this set is slow as hell. Scarf Garchomp even outspeeds it in sand. I believe it outspeeds everything up to scarf Lando under sand

set

Skarmory @ leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Spikes
- Brave Bird
- Body Press / Whirlwind

Slowking @ Heavy Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Teleport
- Slack Off
- Future Sight

Dracozolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 108 Atk / 212 SpA / 188 Spe
Rash Nature
- Fire Blast
- Bolt Beak
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor

 

[tysgod]

I would really suggest swapping out AV on melmetal for either band or lefties, preferably band. Even though you are correct that switching moves is nice, melmetal without band just cannot threaten a lot of mons that it should be at least mildly threatening, like corviknight, zapdos, toxapex, slowbro, mandibuzz... and if you go for lefties at least you can spread toxic and use protect to rack up healing giving you some mobility

But Melmetal already has its ability which boosts all its attacks and it's pretty much the only mon that can counter mons like grass and water. I kind of use it to get rid of mons that are really threatening to my team.

 

[tysgod]

To add a bit of defense, I would just drop Landorus and Melmetal. I feel like Landorus has no place on a sand team as you're already weak to Rillaboom as is. Excadrill may not be weak to Rilla but it still horribly dies to it. You're team also has no safe Heatran switch in and three of them are even weak to it

I would change to . This allows you to counter Rillaboom while not allowing Garchomp to get +2 speed. Aside from metal birds, sand teams absolutely hate seeing a Garchomp outspeed their Excadrill even under sand. is also a good option but I just prefer Skarmory due to spikes

I would then change to . Slowking handles all but two of the tier's special attackers, Dragapult and Volcarona, both of which Tyranitar destroys. Most crucially, it has access to teleport, ensuring that your Dracozolt or Kartana gets in safely

This metal bird, godzilla, and dull face is a defensive core I use on my own sand team and it is reliable as hell. Yes it doesn't cover all of the metagame but it doesn't need to. It's just supposed to buy you a couple turns so you can use Dracozolt to start smashing stuff

I would also like to add a couple minor changes

First off, over on Excadrill. You do not want to lose your life when all you wanna do is get rid of rocks. Life orb should only be used if you're using rock slide over rapid spin. Also, I would consider going for an adamant nature. Jolly is good but that amount of power adamant has is just too good. You don't want to speed tie other Excadrill anyway since its stupid losing like that

The next minor change is lash out over crunch on Tyranitar. Lash out is weaker but only by a hair. If Lando switches in, you can pretty much make it regret its existence if it intimidates you as you lash out it. The same goes if something tries to defog against you

Here is also a Dracozolt set you might wanna try out. It's meant to more to be of a wall breaker than a sand abuser. It's called Ocelzolt. Just give it a try and see how it plays for you. I will say this though, this set is slow as hell. Scarf Garchomp even outspeeds it in sand. I believe it outspeeds everything up to scarf Lando under sand

set

Skarmory @ leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Spikes
- Brave Bird
- Body Press / Whirlwind

Slowking @ Heavy Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Teleport
- Slack Off
- Future Sight

Dracozolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 108 Atk / 212 SpA / 188 Spe
Rash Nature
- Fire Blast
- Bolt Beak
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor

thx for the suggestion! i will try using Skarmory instead of Landorus-T and the Dracozolt set. But I don't want to get rid of Melmetal because as I said, it is the counter to some super effective mons.

 

[Red Raven]

Keeping Melmetal on the team would make you more vulnerable to Heatran. You have Excadrill, Kartana and Skarmory, all of which cannot switch in to Heatran at all

 

[xXHyenaXx]

Consider going earth power over earthquake on Dracozolt

 

[tysgod]

Keeping Melmetal on the team would make you more vulnerable to Heatran. You have Excadrill, Kartana and Skarmory, all of which cannot switch in to Heatran at all

Well that was why I put in Landorus-T for momentum and pivoting. Also your replacement for Melmetal gets no advantage from the Sand Storm and pretty much the only thing it contributes to the team is pivoting, and that is about it. Also Skarmory doesn't have much health and easily KO by other faster mons. I'm thinking of using Corviknight for it instead. Melmetal is crucial to the team where it counters the team's weaknesses and a huge tank.

 

[Lando-San]

Consider going earth power over earthquake on Dracozolt

There is absolutelly no reason to use EP over EQ, because the main target of Ground-type move is Heatran. And SpDef Heatran lives an EP even with that investment. EQ straight OHKOes it.

Look at this:

108 Atk Life Orb Dracozolt Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 400-473 (103.6 - 122.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
212+ SpA Life Orb Dracozolt Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 128+ SpD Heatran: 302-359 (78.2 - 93%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[tysgod]

Consider going earth power over earthquake on Dracozolt

Dracozolt's biggest stat is it's attack and speed.

 

[xXHyenaXx]

Ah you are right my bad

There is absolutelly no reason to use EP over EQ, because the main target of Ground-type move is Heatran. And SpDef Heatran lives an EP even with that investment. EQ straight OHKOes it.

Look at this:

108 Atk Life Orb Dracozolt Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 400-473 (103.6 - 122.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
212+ SpA Life Orb Dracozolt Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 128+ SpD Heatran: 302-359 (78.2 - 93%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[Red Raven]

Well that was why I put in Landorus-T for momentum and pivoting. Also your replacement for Melmetal gets no advantage from the Sand Storm and pretty much the only thing it contributes to the team is pivoting, and that is about it. Also Skarmory doesn't have much health and easily KO by other faster mons. I'm thinking of using Corviknight for it instead. Melmetal is crucial to the team where it counters the team's weaknesses and a huge tank.

Well, the only thing that hard counters Heatran that doesn't mind sandstorm is Gliscor, which isn't in the game. Landorus Therian does not switch in against Heatran because it takes too much damage from Heatran's stabs, not to mention the coverage overlap with Excadrill. You already have Excadrill as a Heatran check so you don't need a second one. Slowking allows you not to instantly lose to magma taunt Heatran

Skarmory's job is simply to fight off the physical attackers barring the rare Blaziken. It gives you insurance against Garchomp, Rillaboom and other Kartanas. You can use Corviknight instead if you want pivoting since their jobs is merely to ensure you don't lose to the physical attackers of the game

Melmetal may be a tank but it loses to Garchomp and cannot switch in to Heatran at all. Your original team only has Tyranitar to switch in to it and you do not want your sand summoner to be switching in since I believe they're starting to bring body press for Blissey which would also instantly kill Tyranitar

 

[tysgod]

Well, the only thing that hard counters Heatran that doesn't mind sandstorm is Gliscor, which isn't in the game. Landorus Therian does not switch in against Heatran because it takes too much damage from Heatran's stabs, not to mention the coverage overlap with Excadrill. You already have Excadrill as a Heatran check so you don't need a second one. Slowking allows you not to instantly lose to magma taunt Heatran

Skarmory's job is simply to fight off the physical attackers barring the rare Blaziken. It gives you insurance against Garchomp, Rillaboom and other Kartanas. You can use Corviknight instead if you want pivoting since their jobs is merely to ensure you don't lose to the physical attackers of the game

Melmetal may be a tank but it loses to Garchomp and cannot switch in to Heatran at all. Your original team only has Tyranitar to switch in to it and you do not want your sand summoner to be switching in since I believe they're starting to bring body press for Blissey which would also instantly kill Tyranitar

I like your theory, but most of my mons are really offensive, and I was switching between Corviknight and Landorus-T seeing which one would fit my team. And well Melmetal is so versatile right now, I really like it. I am thinking of using your suggestion of Slowking but then I would really have no bulky mons. Ask for Blaziken my Dracozolt hard counters it with Bolt Beak, instantly kicking it out. I wasn't really vibing Skarmory and didn't really think it worked well with my team. Also, I am also thinking of using Garchomp because that mon is really good right now. Heatran is a good choice for my sand team but I didn't know what to replace. Do you have any thoughts about this? And also tysm for giving me really great suggestions :)

 

[Red Raven]

Melmetal, Excadrill and Kartana are all hard walled by Zapdos and Corviknight. Metal birds are kinda okay but it's never good when half the team cannot break past a single mon. Dracozolt sort of deals with it but that thing has a lot of issues like life orb recoil and stealth rock. Those two shouldn't prove too much if you play Dracozolt right

Since when is Slowking not a bulky mon?

If you wanna use Garchomp then you should drop Excadrill and use a sand veil sub set with sd and scale shot. You can use brightpowder or leftovers as the item

 

[tysgod]

Melmetal, Excadrill and Kartana are all hard walled by Zapdos and Corviknight. Metal birds are kinda okay but it's never good when half the team cannot break past a single mon. Dracozolt sort of deals with it but that thing has a lot of issues like life orb recoil and stealth rock. Those two shouldn't prove too much if you play Dracozolt right

Since when is Slowking not a bulky mon?

If you wanna use Garchomp then you should drop Excadrill and use a sand veil sub set with sd and scale shot. You can use brightpowder or leftovers as the item

Thx! I will be trying out those mons today. I really like Dracozolt and I try to play him as much as I can to get a big lead and 0HKO mons as much as I can And I might be adding Mandibuzz, since it is so good in sand and hail teams :)

 

[Red Raven]

Be aware that adding Mandibuzz and Garchomp will make you vulnerable to fairy types, especially Tapu Lele because Kartana can't take any special hits that isn't giga drain

You might want to consider replacing Tyranitar with Hippowdon if you wanna put in Mandibuzz and Slowking will be more crucial than ever because Lele will just spam moonblast like nobody's busniess

 

[airfare]

threats to your current team:
- rain/urshifu-r
- garchomp
- most special attackers including nidoking, tapu lele
- rillaboom/kartana/hawlucha/other physical attackers that can beat lando

i would recommend:
--->

major changes:

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet / Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Spe
- Spikes
- Body Press
- Roost
- Iron Defense / Whirlwind

skarm patches up defensive holes for this team, mainly against the ground and grass-types that i mentioned above. it also provides spikes support to make an exca lategame sweep easier. it is a better physically defensive wall than scarf landorus-t in basically every way, providing more support and longevity than lando could. speed control is unnecessary because of exca and dracozolt's sand rush


Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Slack Off
- Teleport

slowking would be a great specially defensive wall for this team because of its resistance to water and ability to check special attackers like nidoking, tapu lele, and tornadus-t that you currently struggle against. in addition to its defensive value, it can provide valuable future sight support for excadrill or dracozolt. it is great at pivoting with teleport into dracozolt in particular, which would otherwise be hard to switch in safely as well. although av melmetal is an ok special tank, it doesn't have the longevity or momentum that slowking provides for the rest of your team


Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Heat Wave / Knock Off / Weather Ball / Substitute / any other filler u want

in addition to providing more wallbreaking opportunities for the rest of your team, torn-t can provide extra insurance vs offensive threats like kartana or hawlucha. np torn is especially good at breaking past corviknight, zapdos, or other flying types for an excadrill cleanup, and putting pressure on defensive grass and water-types for both dracozolt and exca. it provides a good balance of wallbreaking and defense to help out your offensive core while having defensive utility.

minor changes:

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rock Blast > Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

rock blast lets tyranitar check flying-types like tornadus-t, zapdos, or dragonite while also targeting annoying special attackers like volcarona, sub dragapult, or kyurem. crunch doesn't have much purpose in this metagame, only really hitting the slowtwins which you would rather toxic anyway.

lmk if you have any questions or comments about the changes i suggested

 

[tysgod]

threats to your current team:
- rain/urshifu-r
- garchomp
- most special attackers including nidoking, tapu lele
- rillaboom/kartana/hawlucha/other physical attackers that can beat lando

i would recommend:
--->

major changes:

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet / Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Spe
- Spikes
- Body Press
- Roost
- Iron Defense / Whirlwind

skarm patches up defensive holes for this team, mainly against the ground and grass-types that i mentioned above. it also provides spikes support to make an exca lategame sweep easier. it is a better physically defensive wall than scarf landorus-t in basically every way, providing more support and longevity than lando could. speed control is unnecessary because of exca and dracozolt's sand rush


Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Slack Off
- Teleport

slowking would be a great specially defensive wall for this team because of its resistance to water and ability to check special attackers like nidoking, tapu lele, and tornadus-t that you currently struggle against. in addition to its defensive value, it can provide valuable future sight support for excadrill or dracozolt. it is great at pivoting with teleport into dracozolt in particular, which would otherwise be hard to switch in safely as well. although av melmetal is an ok special tank, it doesn't have the longevity or momentum that slowking provides for the rest of your team


Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Heat Wave / Knock Off / Weather Ball / Substitute / any other filler u want

in addition to providing more wallbreaking opportunities for the rest of your team, torn-t can provide extra insurance vs offensive threats like kartana or hawlucha. np torn is especially good at breaking past corviknight, zapdos, or other flying types for an excadrill cleanup, and putting pressure on defensive grass and water-types for both dracozolt and exca. it provides a good balance of wallbreaking and defense to help out your offensive core while having defensive utility.

minor changes:

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rock Blast > Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

rock blast lets tyranitar check flying-types like tornadus-t, zapdos, or dragonite while also targeting annoying special attackers like volcarona, sub dragapult, or kyurem. crunch doesn't have much purpose in this metagame, only really hitting the slowtwins which you would rather toxic anyway.

lmk if you have any questions or comments about the changes i suggested

that looks good! but honestly tyranitar doesn't need rock blast because i already have dracozolt with super speed bolt beak. I was thinking of using Corviknight instead of Skarmory simply because it is bulky and provides a good defense, and Skarmory doesn't really fit my needs. I am thinking of using your suggestion of Slowking and Tornadus-T. The problem with Tornadus-T is that it's moves are really hard to hit, like the move accuracy is pretty bad ( bc i have bad luck lol ) but thx for your suggestion!

 

[tysgod]

Be aware that adding Mandibuzz and Garchomp will make you vulnerable to fairy types, especially Tapu Lele because Kartana can't take any special hits that isn't giga drain

You might want to consider replacing Tyranitar with Hippowdon if you wanna put in Mandibuzz and Slowking will be more crucial than ever because Lele will just spam moonblast like nobody's busniess

Got it! I am thinking that corviknight should be able to resist Lele, and maybe have Iron Head to counter. Hippowdon is slow, and really stops all momentum.