Sanstorm Balance ~1950-2000 ACRE on 3-4 accounts

[Olliert]

Hey smogon, this is the team I’ve been using for the past couple of weeks and with it I have been able to reach ~2000 ACRE on around 3-4 accounts, but have struggled to progress past that point. It is a pretty standard sandstorm balanced team with an emphasis on wearing down the opponent’s fighting resists for a terrakion sweep. Overall I think this team is very solid and has answers to pretty much all types of teams. The synergy works really well and I have the ability to deal with the majority of offensive threats out there whilst being able to sweep the opposing team if the opportunity arises.

Team overview:

The team:

Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off

Hippowdon because I feel like I need the presence of sandstorm to deal with threats such as Volcarona, Venusaur, Tornados and to combat other weathers in general. I also was pretty weak to Toxicroak before adding Hippowdon, but now that is really easy to deal with as Toxicroak cannot hit Hippowdon. Set is pretty standard, fully defensive because Hippowdon needs to check physical threats mostly and this also helps repeatedly coming in on u-turns etc.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 236 HP / 20 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit
- U-turn

Standard CB Scizor, works well with this team as I needed a steel and it can pursuit pokemon that are annoying for my team such as Celebi, Latios and Gengar. Bullet punch helps revenge things and is good against offensive teams which are the most common in this meta. Tested Quick Attack but Superpower is pretty much necessary, especially on this team which is supposed to somewhat overwhelm the opponent with fighting type moves.

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Trick

Originally this spot was taken by Starmie, but hazards aren’t too bad for my team and Rotom – W works much better. It can come in on Skarmory which I sometimes struggle to deal with and is better against rain teams I general in my opinion. I put scarf on it because I lacked a scarfer, not completely sure if it is the best set for this team but I might struggle to deal with some threats if I changed it. I’m not completely sold on HP Ice > Hp Fire or something else but it’s helpful to check dragons in some situations where Latias can’t outspeed or has fainted. Trick helps against stall and there’s not really another option I can think of to go in the fourth spot.

Latias (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Sleep Talk
- Hidden Power [Fire]

I originally had Latios in this spot, but I feel far more comfortable coming in on attacks with Specs Latias and I think the amount of free kills you get because of the surprise factor probably means it’s a better choice imo. Sleep Talk is obviously for Breloom which is also one of the reasons I don’ have surf on this set (although maybe I should). Still not completely sold on this set either, considering trying Latios again or using a different set because I’m quite choice heavy at the moment.

Terrakion @ Rock Gem
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance

This has got to be one of the strongest sweepers in ou. I’m pretty much completely sold on this set. Rock Gem is great as your main sweeping move is Close Combat and there’s usually only one pokemon on the opposing team which can take SD CC or SE such as Jellicent or Landorus – T. This is where Rock Gem comes in as it allows you to take out that pokemon and then continue to sweep once your main counter is gone. The choice of two boosting moves allows Terrakion to adapt to the situation in the match and the type of team the opponent has, if he ever manages to get both a swords dance and a rock polish it’s usually good game.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 244 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Leech Seed
- Superpower
- Facade

So this set is quite strange. I originally used technician but poison heal is pretty much a necessity if I’m to have a chance against stall. I tried to make this Breloom set to combat stall as well as weaken the problem pokemon for Terrakion. The problem with sub seed is that good players will just sit and gyro ball you as ferrothorn, and I find that there’s always at least one or two ways for an opposing stall team to deal with sub seed Breloom. Façade is to hit Lati@s and Celebi hard, Leech Seed is so Breloom is a constant pain to stall and can ease switch ins, Superpower is so that I have a powerful STAB Fighting type move off the bat to hit things such as Ferrothorn and other steels. Having said that, I’m pretty sure this set is sub-optimal and am open to suggestions as to changes I could make to it.




So, there’s the team, whilst it may not be amazing, it is definitely pretty solid and there aren’t too many weaknesses I can see (that’s where you come in I guess). Please rate/comment! =D
P.S. apologies for typos / inconsistencies with capitals etc.

 

[Plus]

Hello,

This team is very solid, and I like the use of Rock Gem Terrakion to fake a Choiced item, which is always devastating when played correctly. However, I still see a weakness to Giga Drain Volcarona despite the presence of Hippowdon. Any other variant would probably give you less issues, but the Giga Drain ones in particular can sweep this team quickly if it has a chance to set up on Scizor. From then, you'd need to whittle down the health through switching and Scizor's Bullet Punch.

I understand that you've been using Quick Attack on Scizor, which is a quick and easy fix against Volcarona as well as some other pokemon such as Keldeo, who can sometimes be a bit annoying for your Latias to deal with if it's running the Expert Belt set with Icy Wind and gets you into 2HKO range with Sandstorm and rocks up. I also understand that you've been using Quick Attack over Superpower, which I wouldn't do as it gives up excellent coverage and the ability to pick off weakened Ferrothorn. I'd instead opt to get rid of Pursuit, as your team isn't completely screwed over by the likes of Latias, Gengar, and Celebi. You should try re-exploring the option of Quick Attack on Scizor to help you with the Volc weakness, as it seems pretty important to address.

If you're willing to experiment with Breloom sets, I'd try running SubPunch Breloom with Seed Bomb, which really hurts stall teams and fares well against Ferrothorn. Having a sub up with Breloom is really nice because it hits like a truck with Focus Punch, and it's relatively slow compared to Latias and Celebi so you'd only get a chance to use Facade on the switchin. Also, for pokemon like Forry, you can set subs up instead of having to spam a combo of Leech Seed and Superpower in order to weaken its health, which is indeed sub-optimal. Substitute gives you the defense against Gyro Ball users that you want for this team.

Anyways, this is a very solid team, and congratulations on its success. Hope I helped.

 

[Patrick1088]

Hey cool team and congrats on the score. Just a few points though...
1. Hippo is great no changes needed.
2. Scizor is a classic but i have a few suggestions. Being pursuit locked is kinda meh imo esp with opposing terrakion around. Honestly most celebi are running baton pass over u-turn so pursuit wont help. The psychics that he could trap like latios latias and alakazam usually carry hp fire. I recommend quick attack over pursuit. Quick attack also allows you to hit volcarona at least neutrally.
3. Specs latias is good, but i think youd be better off with a subcm set with dragon puse and roost. The only pokes that can handle a plus 6 latias is blissey, skarmory and ttar, which your team is good at eliminating with scizor, rotom and terrakion. It gives you a 2nd win condition in latias. Also cmlatias is a great check to rain and sun teams.
4. Subpunchspore facade on breloom. You wont be able to touch gengar but scizors bp and rotoms hydro pump will take care if him.

Other than that good team! : D

 

[Laurel]

The team overall doesn't look that bad, but I can see stall giving you some serious issues. Because you lack a spinner, Defensive Skarm, albeit more rare than it used to be, can lay spikes in your face, and laugh at your physical hits, and crush you with Brave Birds. Breloom seems to be your main stall breaker, but because physical walls are your biggest problem I don't think it works too well. I think if I were you i'd actually try out Hydreigon, which kills both Latias and Celebi, as well as Skarmory. It basically destroys every phazer to stop Terrakion from finishing. In addition, it's not weak to Spikes.

I'd use this set.

Hydreigon (M) @ Expert Belt / Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Mild Nature (+SpA, -Def)
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
- Dark Pulse

The choice between EBelt and Orb is up to you, I put Dark Pulse in the last spot for Jellicent, who might annoy you with out Breloom. It's also secondary stab when you don't want the -2 SpA from Draco. Roost is also an option though. :p I hope this helped, if it didn't that's fine. Overall, nice team!

 

[Grey Knight]

hello, pretty nice team
i believe that focus punch breloom with substitube or not will work as well with a little f.puch predicition this breloom can destroy some of the tier's greatest physical walls.

other than that, you should do something about specs latios especialy the one on drag mag teams, if you opponent is smart enough to use it as a lead against your hippo you will find your self in the hard position of sucrifising something early in game so you can pusuit it safely with scizor but even then you risk of getting charge beam spammed by magnezone.

oh and specs latios is much better than specs latias, it gets some 1hkos that latias can only dream about like
the 1hko on politoed and dragonite (through multiscale) it can also score many 1hkos and 2hkos after the s.attack drop especially helpfull against the myriads of set up sweepers like cloyster often deployed by players in the lower ladder.

sorry for my english i am european

 

[Olliert]

Thanks for the rates =).
@Plus - Quick Attack over Pursuit is a viable option which I haven't really tested yet so I will do that. I feel lie I might miss pursuit quite a bit though. I also find Volcarona to be a bit easier to deal with in practice than in theory but maybe I do need extra precautions against it.
I will try that breloom set as it seems to do what I need, dunno if the lack of leech seed will hurt against stall. Also the problem with Forry is that if it has Gyro Ball it can just spam that unless I get sub up on the switch, but yeah if it only carries volt switch that that's a free sub which is great.

@Patrick - Pursuit will never get used against opposing terrakion, you would just switch out, and being locked in to quick attack against it would probably be almost as bad. As I said above I will definitely try Quick Attack > Pursuit.
SubCM Latias might be a good idea, but I might miss the immediate threat that I get from Specs which allows me to chunk Rotom - W and Celebi etc. , If I start having trouble with Sun/Rain I'll definitely try this though.
Sub F Punch Facade is kinda like Sub F Punch Seed Bomb, bug I dunno if not being able to hit ghosts is worth it.

@Laurel When I first looked at your post I thought using Hydreigon could never work as it seemed like too much of a change from Breloom, but when I thought about it, it basically takes anything Breloom could, and probably a couple more things and serves a different role which may amount to the same result (setting up Terrakion for a sweep) so I will probably try it. I think I'd use roost though as otherwise I see stall playing around it too easily.

@Grey Knight - yeah well played dragons especially drag mag teams etc. are probably the things I have most difficulty against which is one of the main reasons I don't want to get rid of pursuit. Latios does score some amazing OHKOs that Latias doesn't (like Poli) which would be really nice, but how often is it actually hitting those things? It's not uncommon for latias to actually get to hit Poli with a Draco Meteor. Given that it might be the better option, but might leave me a bit weaker to sun and rain.

 

[Starline]

Someone earlier mentioned Quick Attack over Pursuit on Scizor. Now, while that is a good option, it's not really superior to Pursuit when you have no other pokemon knowing that move. In general, when I'm using CB Scizor and have a Tyranitar on my team, I'll either run Quick Attack (to hit Gyarados Infernape Volcarona Keldeo etc, which Scizor has huge trouble with otherwise) or Sleep Talk, an excellent option since Scizor can be a sleep absorber for almost anything, even Breloom if you're at full health when you come in on Spore. I also strongly agree with the earlier suggestion of CM Latias. It's, as was stated, an excellent check for Rain and Sun teams (which helps take a lot of pressure off Hippowdon) and gives you a good win condition, if your opponents play carelessly and end up losing their team members who can stop a CM Latias.

Anyway it looks like a great team. If I could mention one last thing, I believe your Latias' attack IV is incorrect. You should make it 2 (not 0) to have a base-70 HP (it's currently 68).

 

[TGMD]

Hey Instynct, nice team!

First of all, I really don't think all that speed on Rotom-W is necessary, Scarf Rotom-W only outspeeds the following +1 Pokemon: DD Gyarados, DD Dragonite, Scarf Heatran, and Scarf Politoed. All of these are rare sets, and none of them are very threatening to this team, other than Dragonite with the correct coverage moves. You could argue that it outspeeds neutral natured +1 Pokemon up to base 99 speed, but there aren't any common ones. I recommend a Modest Nature with a spread of 140 HP / 228 SpA / 140 Spe on Rotom-W. This spread outspeeds Starmie (you can tweak it to outspeed Alakazam and Dugtrio if you wish) and gives you a ton of bulk. The bulk will be incredibly useful for tanking hits, especially those coming from from offensive rain teams which you're currently somewhat weak to, as none of your current water resists have recovery moves, and the rest of your team is OHKOed by most rain abusers.

I also think Healing Wish or Grass Knot / Surf over Sleep Talk on Latias is worth a shot. Healing Wish is an amazing move that allows you to commit suicide and then fully heal all hp and status ailments, and it takes effect before hazard damage. You could have a frozen / asleep mon at 1% under Sandstorm with three layers of Spikes, and Rocks on your side of the field and still be able preserve it (only described the move because it's rare). This move is probably the most clutch move in the game, and it can easily turn a game that your opponent is convinced they've won into a win of your own. For example, your Latias is currently Tyranitar bait, your opponent has their healthy CB Tyranitar out to kill with Pursuit, but Healing Wish can turn this situation into a set up opportunity for your "dead" Terrakion (less hp than what it'd take from entry hazards). The possibilities are endless. It's unfortunate you have to switch out, then back in again to use it due to your choice item, but it's still a great move. Grass Knot and Surf are there to prevent Latias from being Tyranitar bait, which is pretty important considering Latias checks so many Pokemon your team would otherwise against. I know Sleep Talk is great for Breloom, but I just think that slot would be put better to use with these moves.

Anyway, I hope this rate helped and GL with the team :)