Sandstorm V.1

[Conan Edogawa415]

So I have always had an interested in Sandstorm Teams since I began playing competitively, and thus the reason I have decided to make a team for my wifi battles. I decided to use Hippowdon over Tyranitar because the Fighting/Ground Weaknesses I already have. If I made changes though, I would defintely use TTar if needed. Without any more introduction, here is a look at the team.

Team at a Glance

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Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252HP/168Def/88Sp.Def
Nature: Impish
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Earthquake
- Slack Off

Hippowdon is obviously here for 2 reasons. One, he starts the sandstorm and gets the team moving, and 2, he is a great physical wall, who almost always gets rocks up. Like I said in the intro, another reason I used him over Tyranitar was based on Fighting and Ground Weaknesses. I was thinking of adding a second attack to Hippowdon though, because Lead Aerodactyl can be pretty good against my team If I cant get rid of it early. He does make for an effective user of roar though, so he defintely has his uses on the team.

Heatran @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4Atk/252Sp.Atk/252Speed
Nature: Naive
- Dragon Pulse
- Explosion
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast

Like I said on my other RMT I posted, Life Orb Heatran does good damage to anything trying to switch in on him, and can really wreck unprepared teams. He makes for a very good Special Attacker on this sandstorm team because he fits the criteria of being Unaffected by the sandstorm, he gives me a needed fire type, and just is a major threat all around really.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188HP/252Def/68Speed
Nature: Bold
- HP Electric
- Protect
- Surf
- Wish

Vaporeon is almost a staple on my sandstorm teams now it seems like. Being able to absorb water attacks that would just destroy Sandstorm teams most of the time is always nice, plus being able to pass wishes to team members in need, being an excellent gyarados counter, its just an obvious choice for sandstorm teams. Also with its awesome bulk, it can switch in on many things. Vaporeon pairs well with heatran and gliscor, so thats another reason I added it to this team.

Gliscor @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252HP/4Def/252Speed
Nature: Jolly
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Roost
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Stall Breaking Gliscor is just awesome. First things first, 317 speed is going to outspeed most Ou threats, so I can usually get a toxic up, or earthquake something that I would want to earthquake. Taunt/Toxic is just a great way to wear downs walls that could otherwise be a problem. Roost is the obvious recovery move here, being able to recover stall after setting up toxic. Gliscor is an obvious fit in here as well being a ground immunity, Fighting resist, and Sand Veil is nice sometimes im not gonna lie. Gliscor is a great Lucario and Scizor counter, and just had a lot of use on this team.

Gengar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4HP/252Sp.Atk/252Speed
Nature: Modest
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

There is usually a ghost on sandstorm teams, for obvious immunities/resistances, and to provide a rapid spin blocker, so I went with gengar. I chose to use Scarf Gengar, in order to revenge kill things that would otherwise prove to be difficult to take down. I went with modest over timid for the extra power, which always proves to be nice. Even going with modest, there are not a ton of things that are gonna outspeed scarf gengar, Starmie, Infernape are 2 scarfers that come to mind that will, but scarf starmie is gonna outspeed scarf gengar anyway, and Scarfed Ape is really not that common anymore, so I felt it was good to go with Modest here.

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4HP/252Atk/252Speed
Nature: Adamant
- Extremespeed
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Crunch

Life Orb Lucario is pretty straight foward, hes a deadly sweeper late game if given the opprotunity to set up, even without swords dance, he can clean up late game with a sweep. I chose Lucario for my sweeper as I felt I was a little weak on the physical side, and blissey could really give me problems if I didnt grab a fighting type for this team, and Lucario also fits the sandstorm mold, so it seemed like a perfect fit to me. Lucario and Gengar work really well together as well, so the synergy there was another easy reason to go with Luke.

 

[nesan]

Nice team. It's pretty solid. First try an EV spread like 252 HP / 24 Atk / 192 Def / 40 SpD on Hippowdon . Best defense and with 24 attack EV it can hit quite hard. You have more than enough defenses from Gliscor and Vaporeon. Hippowdon can help against dudes like Tyranitar. You team is pretty solid like I said before and each member seems to be a crucial part of the team. Well that's the problem. It's not a good idea to just reply on one Pokemon. Bulky waters such as Swampert and Suicune can cause trouble for Lucario. K so Gliscor can Toxic. But it's not the wisest choice to use Gliscor against Swampert or Suicune. Gengar can handle Suicune with Trick/Thunderbolt. But who's dumb enough to keep in a Suicune on Gengar. Probably a Tyranitar will come out and Pursuit you to hell. Gliscor and Hippowdon can handle Tyranitar so give Gengar Hidden Power Ice over Focus Blast to stop Dragon Dancing Dragons. Next is to switch Dragon Pulse into Hidden Power Grass on Heatran. Plus replace Life Orb with a Passho Berry. HP Grass hits water types or you can actually explode on thing such as Starmie which can cause problems if one or two dudes from your team go down. Actually if Gengar dies Starmie will be sweeping unless Lucario gets a Critical hit on Extremespeed before Starmie hits it with a Hydro Pump. Just a few suggestions. Here's a good EV spread for Heatran. 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed / 6 HP. Give it more HP if you want. Make it a Plus Special Defense Nature. Mild would be best. It can survive any water moves with Passho Berry. Unless the move is boosted.

 

[Conan Edogawa415]

Hey thanks for the rate, Let me start by asking if there are any benefits from running that hippowdon spread over the current standard one I am using now. HP Grass does seem like a must on Heatran now that you mention it, as bulky waters can be an issue. I assume passho is water weak berry, havent used it before. I like to have the extra speed on Heatran to outrun other threats. Thanks again though, and Ill test out some things that you have mentioned.

By the way, the only thing HP Ice is gonna hit is Flygon, Gliscor, and Dragonite, and a modest shadow ball will do a lot to any of them.

 

[Conan Edogawa415]

bump this team up