Sandstorm surprise: a mixed team of stall/offense

[panamaxis]

Hi smogon. I have been testing this team on shoddy battle and it has done great, but I still think it can improve so I have come here for help. This team uses a mixture of both offense and stall which has helped me beat both offensive and defensive teams. I will post the team divided into two parts. So, with out further adieu….
Stall:

Hippowdon @ leftovers:
Impish
252 Def, 252 Hp, 4 attack

• Stealth Rock
• Slack Off
• Earthquake
• Yawn
Hippo is my physical wall and he also sets up the sandstorm and stealth rock which is a big help to my team. I chose Yawn over Roar because I find it so much better at causing switches. Also If I use roar I would take damage every time I caused a switch, but with yawn they have to attack me or fall asleep and most players don’t want to sleep their pokes, so I usually get to scout their team for free.

Cradily @ leftovers
Careful
252 hp, 252 sp. def. 4 attack
• Swords Dance
• Rock Slide
• Seed Bomb
• Recover
Meet the best Special Wall in a sandstorm. Cradily gets rid of my swampert weakness, while helping break down stall due to its suction cups ability. Swords Dance is a great move on a pokemon that can't be phazed and after a couple of boosts cradily is a monster. Also helps beat suicune who can cause a lot of damage to my team.

Gyarados @ leftovers
Impish
252 hp 236 def 20 sp. def
• Dragon Dance
• Waterfall
• Rest
• Sleep Talk
Rest Talk Gyarados is my secondary physical wall and sleep absorber. This helps take out sleep talk machamp and can even get a late game sweep if played correctly. Bulky as hell and it beats scizor, heatran, infernape, lucario and many others. It also offers a fighting and ground resist which is always nice.

Now for the offense:

Tyranitar @ Choice Band:
Adamant
78 Speed, 252 Attack, 174 HP
• Crunch
• Stone Edge
• Aqua Tail
• Pursuit
Tyranitar helps beat stall and combos greatly with hippowdon and heatran. The main things which stay in on hippowdons yawn is pokemon with natural cure such as celebi and starmie. I switch to tyranitar as they attack and now they are sleeping and forced to switch out, only to be demolished by a CB pursuit. Aqua Tail is for gliscor and Hippowdon. 78 Speed to outpace skarmory.

Heatran @ leftovers
Timid
252 sp. Attack, 252 speed, 6 HP

• Flamethrower
• Earth power
• Substitute
• Toxic
Sub heatran is great and full credit to Justinawe as I got the idea from him. Most people expect scarftran which gives me an advantage. Toxic is a great move that helps beat blissey, swampert and the like. When they switch to blissey, they usually take SR and I am behind a sub. I then toxic and blissey breaks my sub. Then, I switch to tyranitar and is blissey didn’t switch out, she’s dead. Blissey can’t stay in and stall out the pursuit due to poison, so she must switch out, and then she dies.

Jirachi @ choice scarf:
Jolly
252 attack, 148 speed, 110 hp

• Iron Head
• Zen Headbutt
• Ice punch
• Trick

No one suspects choice scarf jirachi which has helped me win so many matches. Jirachi provides insurance against threats such as skymin, DD salamence, gengar, DD gyarados the list goes on... His speed hits 450 which is enough to outrun max speed adamant salamence after a DD. The flinching potential of Iron head and zen headbutt is just great. I usually only use trick late game, or If I know my opponent doesn’t use the previously stated threats.

Synergy:
Grass: Heatran and Jirachi
Rock: Hippodon and Jirachi
Water: Gyarados
Fire: Gyarados, Heatran and Tyranitar
Dragon: Jirachi and Heatran
Ice: Jirachi and Heatran
Electric: Hippowdon and Cradily
Fighting: Gyarados
Flying: Heatran, Jirachi and Tyranitar
Psychic: Jirachi, Tyranitar and heatran
Bug: Heatran and Gyarados
Steel: Heatran, Jirachi and Gyarados
Dark: Heatran and Tyranitar
Ground: Gyarados
Poison: Heatran, Jirachi and Hippowdon

Well that’s all I can think of at the moment, so Rate/Comment and enjoy!

 

[yuffie]

I'm not sure but I think others usually say don't use Aqua Tail on T-Tar because you're mainly using it to hit things like Hippowdon etc. and Ice-Beam still does more even with CB (I think). Ice-Beam also makes it a lot easier to hit Gliscor, and possibly catch Salamence on the switch in.

 

[panamaxis]

Okay I will test ice beam on tyranitar and see how it works. Thanks for your post.

 

[thechocolatebunny]

actually salamence has become so popular that 252 speed isnt exactly uncommon, than it just OHKOs with EQ

 

[blasphemy1]

No actually Aqua Tail is still superior as you don't have to split your attacking stats. With your current EVs, Ice Beam does 43% maximum to 252 HP / 0 SpD Impish Hippowdon, while Aqua Tail deals 50-60% to 252 HP / 252 Def Impish Hippowdon, and also hitting Heatran switchins.

 

[panamaxis]

I think I will stick with aqua tail on tyranitar. I have changed jirachi so that it always outspeeds max speed adamant salamence after a DD. Changes are underlined.

 

[Darkartisan]

Cradily< Shuckle as a wall. In the sand, sure Shuckle's a beast, but Cradily lasts. Cradily does almost everything besides Rollout. Besides, After a few boosts, Cradily's a monster. Also because of his ability Suction Cups, and he takes Anything named Donphan or Swampert like a champ with Grass Knot.

Just a small suggestion.

 

[panamaxis]

Updated the team. Changed shuckle into a cradily which also helps deal with offensive suicunes so thank you darkartisan for suggesting that.

 

[Darkmalice]

If Cradily's meant to be a wall, he should have Curse instead of SD.

If Jirachi is meant to counter Salamance, he should have max speed, to tie with Jolly Salamance after a DD.

 

[panamaxis]

I haven't seen any Jolly DD salamence's as adamant outruns everything without a choice scarf, so I'll keep jirachi's speed the same. Cradily can't learn curse so I don't know where you got that from...

 

[panamaxis]

I changed vaporeon to a Resttalk Gyarados which give me a nice ground immunity and fighting resist. Has anyone got anything to add to this team? All comments are appreciated.

 

[panamaxis]

Changed thunderpunch on jirachi to zen headbutt because it helps beat infernape and gengar and its always good to have another stab. I'm thinking of running dragon pulse over toxic on heatran, any ideas/ opinions on that?
I think I will remove most of heatrans speed and give it just enough to outrun tyranitar as it can use that extra bulk.

All ideas/comments for this team are really appreciated.

EDIT: If any of the mods read this RMT can you please lock/delete it? Thank you.

 

[fishlax]

Why not run Thunder punch over iron head, you lose 20% flinch rate but you can take on Gyarados after a DD. Without it only Cradily and Tyrannitar can threaten it. Having watched you battle and i am sure you can work around it though. Great team, hope i helped.

 

[Jibaku]

Closing due to unecessary bumping.