Gen 3 Sandstorm Team

[HobbesI]

Well, this is my Sandstorm team on NetBattle, and I've never done this type before, so I'd like some opinions on how is it. well, here it is:

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
EV's: 62 HP; 252 Atk; 196 Spe
Jolly (+Spe -SpA) - Sand Stream
~ Dragon Dance
~ Rock Slide
~ Earthquake
~ Taunt

Well, here's my lead DDtar, to setup sandstorm and handle most some common leads. It handles Salamence pretty well, as it OKHOs after one DD. It can taunt sleepers/t-wavers as its Lum Berry cures any sleep or paralysis problems, and then DD. These EV's let Tyrannitar, and after one DD, outrun a Dugtrio trying to revenge kill.

Milotic @ Leftovers
EV's: 252 HP; 184 Def; 56 SpA; 16 Spe
Bold (+Def -Atk) - Marvel Scale
~ Light Screen
~ Ice Beam
~ Surf
~ Recover

Screener and Special Wall.

Dugtrio @ Choice Band
EV's: 232 Atk; 228 Spe; 48 SpD
Jolly (+Spe -SpA) - Arena Trap
~ Earthquake
~ Rock Slide
~ Hidden Power [Bug]
~ Aerial Ace

My trapper. It's EV's allow it to survive a HP [Grass/Ice] from Jolteon and Raikou.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
EV's: 240 HP; 136 Def; 32 Spe; 100 SpA
Bold - (+Def -Atk) Serene Grace
~ Calm Mind
~ Psychic
~ Fire Punch
~ Wish

CM Jirachi. It can Calm Mind easily, and pass Wish to a teammate if needed. Fire Punch puts a dent in Skarmory, and Psychic's for STAB.

Claydol @ Leftovers
EV's: 252 HP; 144 Def; 122 SpA
Relaxed (+Def -Spe) - Levitate
~ Earthquake
~ Rapid Spin
~ Explosion
~ Ice Beam

My Rapid Spinner. He explodes if there's something I really need to kill.

Swampert @ Leftovers
EV's: 252 HP; 136 Def; 122 SpA
Relaxed (+Def -Spe) - Torrent
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk
~ Earthquake
~ Ice Beam

My status absorbing sleep talker. That's pretty much it...

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Well, there's my NetBattle Sandstorm team.

 

[Pocket]

Mixmence (FBlast, HP Grass, Brick Break, and Dragon Claw / Rock Slide) hurts this team, which is not a surprise, because Sandstorm teams are usually weak at the special side. Cradily with Rock Slide or HP Ice can be a pretty decent counter, just make sure that it has enough Defense to take two Brick Breaks with ease, which shouldn't be hard. Cradily will also be of great help against the occasional FBlast, HP Grass, Rock Slide, Substitute Tyranitar. The only viable replacement seems like Claydol or Dugtrio at the moment..

If Cradily does not seem fitting, Aerodactyl's Speed advantage over Mixmence makes it a perfect alternative as well; (resistance to fire and neutrality to Grass is good).

Houndoom with Fire Blast, HP Grass, Wisp, and Crunch / Pursuit is also a pain in the ass. Aerodactyl possibly provide the most protection against it thanks to its Speed, but it will be crippled if it switches into a Wisp. The only reliable way of dispatching it as of moment is sacking one of your Pokemon to bring in Dugtrio for the kill.

Adding Milotic would solve this Fire problem. I'd suggest it over Skarmory, since this Pokemon often times contribute little due to Magneton being added into types of teams that usually players rely on Skarmory to deal with. Give Milotic Hidden Power Electric, and it can counter Gyarados. Hypnosis or Light Screen would be best on Milotic for team support.

If a bulky Salamence is added, physical threats such as Heracross, Medicham, Breloom, and CB Normals become less of an issue. For Salamence, Flamethrower / Fire Blast, Toxic, Roar, Wish / Rock Slide / HP Grass can be a great support Pokemon, providing you with useful resistances, Roar / extra Wish support, and an ability to wear down Ttar's counter with Toxic / HP Grass. I will personally use Roar, since it could then effectively replace Skarmory as a Celebi Phazer. Rock Slide is for hitting Flyers, especially Zapdos, who can wall this team easily (except for TTar and Jirachi).

Lastly, I recommend having Flygon for not only perfecting your electric coverage (takes TBolt + HP Grass, while Swampert takes TBolt + HP Ice) but to also wreak havoc in the sandstorm to set the stage up for Ttar's DD sweep. Screech, Rock Slide, EQ, Fire Blast is the set I prefer over a Choice Band set, because this also provides some answers to the last-pokemon Curselax problem (alongside with Taunt DDTar + CM Jirachi). You could possibly add Liechi Berry > Leftovers on Flygon for some sweeping power, since you have two Wishers to work with, but Flygon can provide some useful defensive coverage as well (a decent electric and fire counter, as well as ddtar counter) - you may want to invest in some HP / Def Evs to take Hidden Power Grasses easier and also survive a Double-Edge from Ttar after a DD. For instance 220 HP / 240 Atk / 16 Def / 32 Spd, Adamant nature provides enough endurance to make a Timid Max SAtk Raikou's HP Grass to become an average 5HKO with Leftovers and CBand Tyranitar's Focus Punch and DD Ttar's D-Edge to do 98~99% and 79% on average, respectively. Of course, this is the bulky end of a spectrum, and it's just as fine to lose those defense and slight offense (by going Jolly) to beat down on Heracross, Adamant Salamence, Adamant Slaking, Houndoom, etc.

I apologize if you were not looking for suggestions outside of sandstream-immune Pokemon. However, it is very hard to cover threats with only a restricted pool of pokemon, and Salamence and Milotic would definitely provide the support that you're looking for.

 

[HobbesI]

Thanks for the suggestions, and I've found out the hard way that MixMence is hard to deal with. Three of my pokes died from him...

But anyways, I guess I'll replace Skarmory with Milotic like you said, and I'd like to put in Flygon, Salamence, and Aerodactyl, but I'm not sure what to replace. I'll try swapping in and out some pokemon and see how it effects my team.

 

[dekzeh]

So, Dugtrio problems with TTar, Jirachi and your own Duggy who's not at max Speed. DD Gyara looks like it could 6-0 with only one DD assumining 2 or so layers of spikes are out.
Big Hera weak that your only hope is to revenge with Duggy. Mop Cross instantly 6-0's you.

If you don't care about this team becoming more standard (it's already pretty standard and predictable anyway, so it's not like it's changing much) Calm Restalk Zapdos can go over Milotic. Zapdos + Swampert + Tyranitar should handle most Fire types, especially with Lum Berry on TTar. It does help a little vs Heracross but so much but whateverr...

The main problem with this team for me is: You're not really going offensive nor defensive. You have a somewhat sturdy team but do not abuse that in forms of Spikes/Toxic etc, and honesly, Dugtrio, Standard DDTar, Standard CM Jirachi should not be sweeping teams anytime soon (I'm talking about good players, who cares about the noobs who infest NB).

What I suggest is decide the route you're going when building the team because for me it just seems you slapped random Sandstorm immune pokes on a team and then replaced Milotic in it.

 

[Pocket]

For Salamence and Flygon, I figured Salamence > Claydol and Dugtrio > Flygon. You still retain Claydol's awesome RockQuake resist, as well as Fighting resist, and Dugtrio's ability to take down Electrics, Heracross, and Celebi is covered by Salamence and Flygon.

And please HP Ele on Milotic; Swampert already has Ice Beam for dragons, so Milotic can replace HP Ele for its Ice move. Celebi and Zapdos that would then wall Milotic without Ice Beam are countered by your other members; Celebi, Salamence can Roar whatever boosts it has; Zapdos is countered by Flygon, Ttar, and Jirachi. Celebi and Zapdos both wall Milotic regardless of Ice Beam anyways. Without HP Ele, Gyarados can sweep.