Sandstorm Team #16

[Jnbrex]

Hello everyone! This is my 16th revision of my sandstorm team. This gen is the first time I have played Pokemon competitively, and I started about a month ago. I am currently fluctuating between 11 and 16/10000 on the Smogon server, in Dream World OU. I feel that I can't achieve a better ranking unless i make a change, but seeing as I have only played for about a month, I don't know what that change is. Thanks for the help!

Hippowdon (F) @Leftovers
Ground
Ability: Sand Stream
Ev's: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock

Hippowdon is the Pokemon that I most often lead off with, as well as a great
check to Excadrill, Garchomp, Scizor, and Tyranitar, to name a few.
I don't use it much since Ferrothorn does a great job at walling most physical
attackers, but it is much more durable than Tyranitar and can win weather
wars with Politoed and Ninetales that Tyranitar would lose. It's female because I like the coloring better.

Landorus (M) @Life Orb
Ground/Flying
Ability: Sheer Force
Ev's: 252 SAtk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Timid Nature: (+Spe, -Atk)
- Focus Blast
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- HP Ice

A special attack Landorus?! What?! That is the reaction of my opponents as
well, when they encounter one of my deadliest pokemon. The attacking
variant does have more power than a special attacker, but I catch many
Skarmory's, Ferrothorns, and Tyranitar's by surprise with this pokemon.
Focus Blast OHKO's all three of the pokemon listed above, and a 101 base
speed stat outspeeds pokemon such as Ninetales, Dragonite, and Salamence,
all of which it can OHKO. It does, however, have a weakness to ice that
makes it easy prey for a ST chandelure with a choice scarf.

Excadrill (M) @Air Balloon
Ground/Steel
Ability: Sand Rush
Ev's: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly Nature: (+Spe, - SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor

Excadrill is currently one of the deadliest pokemon in the OU metagame.
It can switch in on any defensive pokemon and fire off a swords dance or
two. As long as the pokemon switching in isnt Landorus, Gliscor, Politoed, or
Ninetales, a sweep is practically guaranteed. I chose X-Scissor over Return
or Rapid Spin because 10 base power is often the difference needed to KO a
Reuiclus, which is brought down but not killed by a non-boosted Excadrill.
Unfortunately, Gliscor walls Excadrill perfectly, and forces a switch. The other
weather-summoning pokemon, notably Ninetales, also force Excadrill to switch
out by removing it's speed boost, and putting it at risk of being outsped and KO'd.

Chandelure (M) @Choice Scarf
Ghost/Fire
Ability: Shadow Tag
Ev's: 252 SAtk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature: (+Spe, -Atk)
- Energy Ball
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- HP Ice

The ultimate revenge killer, who is capable of taking down anything slower
than Base 120 speed that isn't holding a choice scarf that is weak to any of
it's moves. Some notable Pokemon are Scizor, Garchomp, Gliscor, and
Ferrothorn. An unboosted Bullet Punch from Scizor never OHKO's Chandelure,
even with Stealth Rock damage. A pursuit Tyranitar is possibly the best
counter to Chandelure, since Chandelure cannot significantly damage Ttar or switch out.

Blissey (F) @Leftovers
Normal
Ability: Natural Cure
Ev's: 252 Def / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Calm Nature: (+Spd, -Atk)
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave

Blissey is an incredible wall against special attacks. It can switch in on any
special attacker and fire off a thunder wave, guaranteeing a paralyze if the
pokemon is not a ground type. It also provides crucial support with
aromatherapy which is great at removing burns, poison, and paralysis, and
sometimes sleep from my other pokemon. Blissey's only downside is that
physical sweepers can switch in and use a stat-boosting move without fear
and force a switch.

Ferrothorn (M) @Shed Shell
Grass/Steel
Ability: Iron Barbs
Ev's: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 Spd
Relaxed Nature: (+Def, -Spe)
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes
- Power Whip

Ferrothorn is my counter to Water-type Pokemon, which most of this team is
weak to. It's main purpose is to counter Pokemon like Kingdra and Poliwrath,
that use physical water attacks that would heavily damage Blissey. Shed
Shell is held instead of Leftovers to prevent an OHKO from any team that
carries a Chandelure. It's ability Iron Barbs is particularly useful for KOing
physical pokemon that are low on HP, but have used a stat-boosting move
and have the potential to sweep. One example is Scizor boosted by Swords
Dance and Bullet Punching.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

You don't have to stick with the cruddy softboiled, if you have aromatherapy. Switch aromatherapy with heal bell, and then you can legally run wish.

 

[Rowol]

What is Ferrothorn's moveset?

 

[Jnbrex]

Thanks for catching my error Rowol, I'll edit the post with the moveset. Scarfwynaut, thanks for the tip. My only concern with taking wish over softboiled is that I'll be limited to healing every two turns which can be costly if i'm taking over 25% damage from an attack, as I frequently use Blissey to take down Heatran.

 

[Rowol]

I've played around with the team on Pokemon Online a little bit and I like what I see, a couple of notes though.

Cons:

First off you are definitely in want when it comes to facing off against some popular fire types Groudon and Ho-oh for example. You don't really have much to counter them other then sheer force (with the exception of Rock Slide on Excadrill).

Second what is your move if you lead with Hippowdon and your opponent leads with Cloyster? Its a pretty popular lead and something to keep in mind, the best strategy I could come up with was to switch to Excadrill and Rock Slide. You won't OHKO (even after shell smash) but it will open you up for a revenge kill. Something to counter that lead wouldn't be a bad idea.

Pros:

Love that Landorus set, its great to switch him into several pokemon (particularly Conkeldurr) and blast them away. Working with Chandelure was a lot of fun too.

Nattorei is one of the best Blissey counters I have seen in a while without smashing it all out with a physical attack. Leech seed, is your best friend!

I like what I see!

 

[Jnbrex]

Haha, I specifically gave the Landorus psychic to take down conkeldurr. It's one of the deadliest counters, because most people expect it to be physical based and don't switch out, then get OHKO'd. Just a question, why the reference to Groudon and Ho-oh? This is a Dream World OU team. For cloyster I actually switch to Ferrothorn, which can survive a boosted Icicle spear and KO with power whip.

 

[Rowol]

I was just referring to what I saw on Pokemon Online :). Several teams were running Groudon and Ho-oh. (But of course depending on the rules, you may not even meet them).

I lost Ferrothorn to a boosted Cloyster, I'll have to run it again.

 

[Jnbrex]

One pokemon that gives me a lot of trouble is Breloom. The only thing I can do is let it sleep a pokemon, then switch to chandelure. The only problem is, if chandelure if Breloom is holding a shed shell and landorus has been KO'd, I have no way to take it down. Anyone have any advice?

 

[Jnbrex]

This team just got me to #1 on the Dream World ladder on the Smogon server with one small change. I changed Hippowdon's defense Ev's to 72 and it's special defense Ev's to 184.