Sandstorm Team - Second Draft

[Jaspp]

Hello everyone. It's been a while since I have posted any sort of update with my Sandstorm Team, but it's been through a lot and might as well start a new thread instead of necroing. So, here we go.

*Abilities, Natures, EV's and Attacks that are in red, are ones that I am unsure of.

Tyranitar @ Air Balloon
Sassy Nature - 252 HP, 180 Sp. Attack, 76 Sp. Defense

Stealth Rock
Crunch
Fire Blast
Ice Beam

• EV Spread gives Tyranitar some bulk to switch in-and-out while still exploiting his great Sp. Defense and given his Sp. Attacks a little more 'Oomph'.
• Stealth Rock provides the only entry hazard for this team while severely hampers Zapdos and Volcarona. Two Pokemon that could cause a lot of trouble given that proper circumstances.
• Crunch is a strong STAB attack even without any Attack EV's invested. Crunch provides a 2HKO on Reuniclus who is very likely to switch in on Tyranitar.
• Fire Blast demolishes Scizor, Ferrothorn and even Skarmory. This move alone clears out a lot of counters / checks to my team, and even removes opposing leads.
• Ice Beam ties up for some pretty good coverage with this set. Ice Beam OHKO's Pokemon that have a 4x weakness to Ice such as: Landorus, Garchomp and even Gliscor.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Bold Nature - 252 HP, 252 Defense, 4 Sp. Defense

Wish
Protect
Scald
Roar

• EV Spread gives Vaporeon fantastic bulk and great support via Wish Healing.
• Wish is a must for Vaporeon. It heals itself for 50% of it's HP, given it takes an additional turn to receive the heal, but Protect fills that gap. Or, I can pass the Wish to another Pokemon and heal him for 232 HP.
• Protect is there for scouting opposing Pokemon on the switch in, namely Rotom-W, to see if it's Choice'd in one way or another. Also used for Toxic Stalling for when I carry Toxic, and Burn Stalling for when I carry Scald.
• Scald is a great moe for a Bulky Water. Not only does it provide a decent STAB Attack, it also has a chance to burn, crippling the opponents Physical Attackers.
• Roar is a great way to send out Pokemon that are trying to setup, or I can try to Roar out Volcarona or Zapdos to get some needed Entry Hazard Damage out.

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Bold Nature - 252 HP, 252 Defense, 4 Sp. Defense

Calm Mind
Recover
Psychic
Hidden Power [Fire]

• EV Spread gives Reuniclus more time to start Calm Minding, and allows him to switch in to a Conkelderr or Machamp without any worries.
• Calm Mind is the crux of this set. After Reuniclus gets a few of these off, there is not a Sp. Attack in the game that will bring me down past 50% and that's only one side of the coin. Reuniclus is already blessed with an amazing base Sp. Attack and Calm Mind let's it shine.
• Recover (aside from Wish Support from Vaporeon) is the only sort of healing Reuniclus will be getting. With Reuniclus' bulk, Recover can usually come in after a Recover, and it just gets easier from there.
• Psychic is Reuniclus' best STAB attack. I prefer Psychic over Psyshock just to make switching into a Conkelderr during a Bulk-Up less risky.
• Hidden Power [Fire] is there to stop Reuniclus' strongest counter. Scizor. Scizor has the capabilities to OHKO Reuniclus after 1 Swords Dance, and Hidden Power [Fire] OHKO's him during his Swords Dance.

Garchomp @ Salac Berry
Adamant Nature - 88 HP, 168 Attack, 252 Speed

Swords Dance
Substitute
Dragon Claw
Earthquake

• EV Spread gives Garchomp enough power to OHKO the bulkiest of Pokemon after 2 Swords Dances, which is usually reached by exploiting Sand Veil and Substitute. Salac Berry to boost his speed to amazing levels after the initial setup.
• Swords Dance has always been a favorite to Garchomp, boosting his already great Attack to obscene levels.
• Substitute is the key to this set. While this set may seem a bit gimicky, it does wonders. While hiding behind a Sandstorm, Garchomp gets a 25% evasion boost, and with Substitute, Garchomp is almost guaranteed a +2 Attack.
• Dragon Claw is a strong, reliable STAB that after boosted by a few Swords Dances, will OHKO most Pokemon that even resist it.
• Earthquake is Garchomps main attack. 100 Base Power, 100 Base Accuracy, it doesn't get much better than that. Once again, after a few Swords Dances, nothing will be able to live one of these.

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Jolly Nature - 4 HP, 252 Attack, 252 Speed

Swords Dance
Earthquake
Rock Slide
X-Scissor

• EV Spread is fairly Standard. 252 Attack for Damage, and 252 Speed + Jolly Nature to ensure that I can outspeed / tie other Excadrills.
• Swords Dance is used when I predict a switch-out. Once a Swords Dance is up, I can break down most Walls and most checks to Excadrill.
• Earthquake is any Physical Ground Pokemon's choice of STAB for obvious reasons, and Excadrill is no exception.
• Rock Slide is for Zapdos, Volcarona and other obnoxious Flying Pokemon who would otherwise pose a serious threat to my team.
• X-Scissor is there to round out my coverage. X-Scissor hits Grass Pokemon fairly hard, such as Whimsicott, and after a Swords Dance and a Stealth Rock, will break down a Latios.

Metagross @ Choice Band
Adamant Nature - 252 HP, 176 Attack, 80 Sp. Defense

Meteor Mash
Bullet Punch
Hammer Arm
Thunderpunch

• EV Spread allows Metagross to switch into Latios' Surf, then take another and OHKO with Meteor Mash.
• Meteor Mash is Metagross' strongest STAB. It hits hard. The chance to grant Metagross +1 Attack is just a plus. It hits hard.
• Bullet Punch let's Metagross switch in to finish off most Pokemon and is also the only form of Priority that I carry on this team.
• Hammer Arm gives Metagross great coverage against commong switch-ins such as Ferrothorn, Skarmory and the likes.
• Thunderpunch gives Metagross some much needed coverage. Thunderpunch hits many of Metagross' switch-ins such as a Gyarados for 4x damage, and 2x damage on any Water Pokemon that was expecting to take a Meteor Mash.


That's it for now. I'll be posting edits and such as i'm sure this team is not near perfect yet.

Thanks all!

 

[Jaspp]

Bump?

 

[SteelPokemonFan]

Why Air Balloon on Tyranitar? Leftovers or Chople Berry would be much more useful.

Reuniclus should have Focus Blast instead of HP Fire. It can hit Ferrothorn with Focus Blast, and you are just letting Reuniclus become Tyranitar bait otherwise. At +6, Reuniclus with Life Orb and 252+ SpA does 34.4% maximum to 252/80+ Tyranitar. At +0, it does 8.7%. Also, Reuniclus' HP Fire does 80.2% max to Bulky SD Scizor, who can use SD, and then OHKO with Big Bite.

I think Salac Berry is illegal atm, so use Lefties on Garchomp. I may be wrong though. Also, 188 HP provides 101 Subs, not 88.

Don't use Air Balloon on Excadrill, Life Orb is much better, as it provides the attack boost that it needs if you are hitting something on the switch, and you can't SD.

With 252n Atk and no LO, Excadrill fails to 2HKO Reuniclus, who can OHKO with Focus Blast if it has a Life Orb. However, if you must use Air Balloon then you need an Adamant Nature. Otherwise, it simply won't do enough damage.

To me it seems as though you are not using Excadrill mainly as a sweeper, but as a check to other Excadrill, whereas Hippowdon could do that job instead, and still provide Sandstorm. Also, if your opponent has a Jolly Air Balloon Excadrill, then it's completely up to luck, and if they win the speed tie where you each use EQ, then if they switch it in later and SD, then it can cause trouble for your team (but still, Jolly Air Balloon is so weak that it can't OHKO Vaporeon or Reuniclus at +2)

I can't give much feedback on Metagross because I haven't used it, but it seems solid.

 

[Jaspp]

Why Air Balloon on Tyranitar? Leftovers or Chople Berry would be much more useful.

Reuniclus should have Focus Blast instead of HP Fire. It can hit Ferrothorn with Focus Blast, and you are just letting Reuniclus become Tyranitar bait otherwise. At +6, Reuniclus with Life Orb and 252+ SpA does 34.4% maximum to 252/80+ Tyranitar. At +0, it does 8.7%. Also, Reuniclus' HP Fire does 80.2% max to Bulky SD Scizor, who can use SD, and then OHKO with Big Bite.

I think Salac Berry is illegal atm, so use Lefties on Garchomp. I may be wrong though. Also, 188 HP provides 101 Subs, not 88.

Don't use Air Balloon on Excadrill, Life Orb is much better, as it provides the attack boost that it needs if you are hitting something on the switch, and you can't SD.

With 252n Atk and no LO, Excadrill fails to 2HKO Reuniclus, who can OHKO with Focus Blast if it has a Life Orb. However, if you must use Air Balloon then you need an Adamant Nature. Otherwise, it simply won't do enough damage.

To me it seems as though you are not using Excadrill mainly as a sweeper, but as a check to other Excadrill, whereas Hippowdon could do that job instead, and still provide Sandstorm. Also, if your opponent has a Jolly Air Balloon Excadrill, then it's completely up to luck, and if they win the speed tie where you each use EQ, then if they switch it in later and SD, then it can cause trouble for your team (but still, Jolly Air Balloon is so weak that it can't OHKO Vaporeon or Reuniclus at +2)

I can't give much feedback on Metagross because I haven't used it, but it seems solid.

I was having problems with Landorus and some problems with Gliscor, and Balloon MixTar checks them superbly. Send him out into a predicted EQ, then Ice Beam for the OHKO.
• I did try using Leftovers, but I just felt like it wasn't regenerating enough HP to be effective.
• I also tried Chople Berry, but it still didn't stop the majority of Fighting attacks from OHKO'ing Tyranitar.


I used to run Focus Blast on my Reuniclus, but Skarmory was giving me massive problems. Hidden Power [Fire] takes care of Skarmory and still hit Ferrothorn.
• Tyranitar does force me to switch out, everytime. However, Metagross has been a great switch-in to take the crunch, and send out a Meteor Mash or Hammer Arm.
• I actually haven't ran into a Bulky Scizor in quite sometime now so I can't give a fair explanation on it, but I will look into it.


I do like your analysis about my Excadrill, and yes he is not my primary sweeper, but more of a cleaner-upper. I will look into running a Life Orb Jolly set, but Air Balloon is going to be hard to walk away from.