SSSS: SandStorm Semi-Stall: Featuring Double Setters!

[SpiderSlayer]

Introduction:

Hello there, I am SpiderSlayer and this is my first post on Smogon! I've been around for quite a while, looking at various threads, but never really posting. But now I have decided to make a RMT because I have a team that is quite fun to use for me. However, my Elo rating is stuck at around 1500 or so at the moment. There's no glaring flaws as far as I can see, I just seem to be unable to win sometimes. It very well could be just my skills as a player, but I think the team could definitely be better.

The team is partially based around the sandstorm weather, with the members and the sandstorm chipping away damage from the opponent to lead to an end game sweep with either Tyranitar or Landorus-T.

tl;dr: I'm a new Smogoner, this is my first post, this is my team, rate it pls?

The Team at a glance:

Latias and Sylveon look so out of place right? It's so annoying :P.
Pokemon GIFs from: www.pkparaiso.com

In Depth:

Red indicates changes that are almost definitely better than before.
Blue indicates that I'm testing this, and I may change it.
Green indicates that I have decided not to use this, but you might want to.

The Setters:

Tyranitar-Mega @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 224 Spd / 252 Atk / 32 HP
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch / Ice Punch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Tyranitar, the one who started this team. Obviously, Tyranitar is one this team for his ability Sand Stream which is what this whole team revolves around. The moveset is that of a Dragon Dance sweeper, which is Tyranitar-Mega's best set in my opinion, with him being the 2nd or 3rd best Dragon Dancer in OU (behind XZard and possibly M-Gyara). Crunch and Stone edge are obvious STABs, providing surprisingly good neutral coverage. Earthquake provides near-perfect neutral coverage, however I am a bit iffy on that move. The 224 Speed EVs outspeed base 110s (Latis, Gengar, Espeon) and below at +1. Max attack with the rest into Tyranitar's naturally amazing bulk.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 Def / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off

Sand teams seem to normally only feature one setter. However, why not use two? Their typings don't overlap, and they can both utilize the sand. In addition, when one faints, you can set sand with the other! Fairly standard Special Defense Hippo. I chose that over fully physically defensive to provide a hard counter to most aegislash which can be a major nuisance to the rest of the team. He is also my Stealth Rock setter, which is essential for almost any team. Earthquake and Slack Off are both standard. Rock Slide is a tad abnormal though. It makes Hippo an excellent secondary counter to YZard, it is possibly a better switch-in than Latias because of sand.

Standard Pain Split Rotom-Wash (Hydro Pump / Volt Switch / Will-O-Wisp / Pain Split @ Leftovers) is an option here. It provides a secondary water resist and a good Azumarill check. I use 44 Speed EVs to outspeed max speed Azumarill and burn it before it can use Play Rough and kill or severely damage Rotom. With Rocks Hippo gone, I'm using bulky SR Lando-T instead of the Scarf one.

The Revenge:

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Explosion
- U-turn

As the subtitle suggests, this guy is my revenge killer. He can also serve to temporarily weaken a physical sweeper if it is overwhelming the rest of my team. While he is one of the newer additions to the team, he has been performing amazingly, consistently taking out one or two of the opponent's pokemon and weakening sweepers not called Bisharp. The moveset is pretty standard, I think. Earthquake and Stone Edge provide perfect neutral coverage aside from a few Grass/Fighting types and U-turn is almost mandatory on any choiced pokemon. Explosion may be a bit odd, but it is enormously powerful coming off of Lando-T's huge attack stat and can reliably do a ton of damage if I am unsure of what to do. The EV spread may not be the most optimal, so feel free to suggest a different one.

Testing Rush Exca as a Revenge killer instead of Landorus with everything else the same.

The... um.... The Aegislash!:

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 SAtk / 12 Atk / 244 HP
Quiet Nature
- King's Shield
- Iron Head
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak

You all know Aegislash right? No explanation needed here? The rules still say so? Fine.... Aegislash servers as a mixed tank on my team and serves as a switch-in to threats such as Terrakion who could otherwise to irreparable damage to the team. It can also kill CM Clefable who is otherwise a jerk to deal with. He also serves as a backup revenge killer.


The Support:

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power Fire
- Defog

Latias is generally a good & important member of the team, but sometimes I feel it can be a bit... lacking. Latias is really nice for the defog support and as a primary ZardY check, in addition to its great offensive presence with a fully invested Meteor or Psyshock to hit special walls in the face. Psyshock has been changed to HP Fire to smack Scizors and Ferrothorns and Scizors which Tyranitar appreciates to help with its possible end game sweep. With Psyshock gone, it is hard for Latias to do consistent damage so Dragon Pulse replaced Meteor. While none of my team members are weak to rocks, I tend to find myself switching quite a lot especially with U-Turn on Landorus-T and having rocks removed is quite nice. Even though defog and the offensive presence is great, this is one of my more free spots in my opinion. I think one of the main reasons I added Latias was to have a water resist with reliable recover, which is great, but I feel there may be better options.

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 4 SDef / 252 HP / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Protect

Why is the Sylveon sprite so small?! I guess it fits it, sorta. I mean; my team has a dragon, a hippo, a Landoge KittyLandy HumanOnAll4s GameFreak-knows-what, a sword+shield, another dragon... and then there's the fairy. Despite its appearance, Sylveon is a VERY important member to this team. It provides Wish support to Aegislash and Tyranitar, Heal Bell for Tyranitar, Aegislash, and Landorus-T, as well as a nice, strong, fairy attack that passes through subs as a bonus. I chose physically defensive because literally everything else on my team is specially defensive, and I needed a go-to physical wall. It has proved its worth time and time again, not even being 2HKO'd by Scarf Terrakion's Iron Head (useless fact)

Updates:

Update one: changed Latias's moveset, replacing Draco Meteor and Psyshock with Dragon Pulse and Hidden Power Fire.

Conclusion:

Thank you for reading my RMT here on Smogon, and I hope that you will give some constructive criticism to help my team!

Importable

Tyranitar-Mega @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 224 Spd / 252 Atk / 32 HP
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 Def / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 SAtk / 12 Atk / 244 HP
Quiet Nature
- King's Shield
- Iron Head
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Explosion
- U-turn

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power Fire
- Defog

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 4 SDef / 252 HP / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Protect

 

[Jojobobo]

Where's the stall part of your semi-stall? All I'm seeing is residual damage from Sandstorm, which is unlikely to amount to much so you might want to consider Toxic/Roar if you're serious about the Stall component. In terms of support, I'd use Air Balloon Excadrill over Latias, something like:

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head

It's very hard to spin block due to it's high attack and great speed (and in particular because Aegislash is above and beyond the most popular ghost who hates EQ), it also has blazing speed in the sand really allowing you to punch some holes. A Jolly nature could be favoured if you're concerned about what happens when sand isn't in play, but with two setters you'd likely be fine even without a smooth rock anywhere. I realise it perhaps adds more shared weaknesses, but the offensive presence in combo with the utility is IMO worth it.

 

[SpiderSlayer]

Where's the stall part of your semi-stall? All I'm seeing is residual damage from Sandstorm, which is unlikely to amount to much so you might want to consider Toxic/Roar if you're serious about the Stall component. In terms of support, I'd use Air Balloon Excadrill over Latias, something like:

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head

It's very hard to spin block due to it's high attack and great speed (and in particular because Aegislash is above and beyond the most popular ghost who hates EQ), it also has blazing speed in the sand really allowing you to punch some holes. A Jolly nature could be favoured if you're concerned about what happens when sand isn't in play, but with two setters you'd likely be fine even without a smooth rock anywhere. I realise it perhaps adds more shared weaknesses, but the offensive presence in combo with the utility is IMO worth it.

I suppose it is more like balance, but almost all the Pokémon are defensive and it's a cool title to have 4 S's :P.
I'll definitely try out Excadrill to see if it fits in well, though it would probably lean the team toward Bulky Offensive but I'm fine with that. My main concern with Excadrill is it makes 2/3 of my team weak to water, with no resists.

 

[Jojobobo]

I suppose it is more like balance, but almost all the Pokémon are defensive and it's a cool title to have 4 S's :P.
I'll definitely try out Excadrill to see if it fits in well, though it would probably lean the team toward Bulky Offensive but I'm fine with that. My main concern with Excadrill is it makes 2/3 of my team weak to water, with no resists.

In that case you could always use something like Gastrodon to cover that weakness (who doesn't take any damage from sandstorm to boot). Having said that, it's difficult to say who you would swap it for if you want two setters, also I'd say for the most part Aegislash is more consistently good than something like Gastrodon.

 

[SpiderSlayer]

In that case you could always use something like Gastrodon to cover that weakness (who doesn't take any damage from sandstorm to boot). Having said that, it's difficult to say who you would swap it for if you want two setters, also I'd say for the most part Aegislash is more consistently good than something like Gastrodon.

Gastrodon could be cool, but it is pretty much just bad, it has poor stats (aside from HP, but it doesn't have the defenses to use it very well), terrible offensive presence (aside from status), and stacks a grass weakness with Ttar and Hippo with only Aegislash to counteract it and he doesn't have any recovery aside from wish support. I think Latias is pretty important on this team if you leave all the other members as is, since it helps a ton with the water weakness.

 

[fimbu1vetr]

Use excadrill plz it's so good in sand. Life orb for extra powa if you want that; this prolly replaces lando T. Also I'd run ice punch over crunch on ttar for moar coverages. You could use a keldeo it Kyurem B as ur water resist with good mixed coverage which you seem to lack (bisharp beats all your special attackers badly)

 

[forestflamerunner]

Hey SpiderSlayer, nice team and nice name. It covers most of the megapokemon very well, but you do have some difficulty dealing with certain water types such as Greninja and Azumarill. Belly Drum Azumarill is especially threatening since it can come in on latias as it defogs, survive a psyshock, and then proceed to decimate your team with aqua jet and play rough. Even aegislash, who can weaken it with King's Shield, wont be able to slow it down enough to prevent a sweep. Landorus-t and Hippodon serve very similar roles, so i'd suggest you replace one of them with Rotom-W:

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp

Rotom-W is one of the most reliable counters to Azumarill. It takes all of its attacks very well and can fight back with volt switch to grab momentum or Will-O-Wisp to cripple it for the whole game. WoW is especially useful for your team as it can cripple a lot of the priority users that check Mega Tyranitar, and, along with sandstorm, can quickly wear down the opponents team for a cleanup sweep. Because of.Rotom-W's amazing synergy with Landorus, I'd suggest replacing Hippodon and moving SR over to Landy over explosion. However, you should try Rotom over both of them to see which combination works best for you.

For a smaller change, I'd suggest using Dragon Pulse over Draco Meteor and HP fire over Psyshock. Scizors love switching in on Latias, and Latias can cripple/ko them with hp fire in order to open up your Tyranitar sweep. Dragon pulse over Draco Meteor in order to deal consistent damage with Latias since you'd be losing Psyshock.

Finally, don't replace Latias with Excadrill. Being that weak to water types is never a good idea no matter how amazing Excadrill is in the sand.

GL with the team and I hope I helped!!

 

[SpiderSlayer]

Use excadrill plz it's so good in sand. Life orb for extra powa if you want that; this prolly replaces lando T. Also I'd run ice punch over crunch on ttar for moar coverages. You could use a keldeo it Kyurem B as ur water resist with good mixed coverage which you seem to lack (bisharp beats all your special attackers badly)

As I stated previously, Excadrill gives the team a major water weakness, a common attacking type in this meta. Ice punch can hit certain threats, however if I would add that I'd add it over Earthquake, Crunch is a very important STAB that can be used for its 100% accuracy instead of Stone Edge's unreliability.

Hey SpiderSlayer, nice team and nice name. It covers most of the megapokemon very well, but you do have some difficulty dealing with certain water types such as Greninja and Azumarill. Belly Drum Azumarill is especially threatening since it can come in on latias as it defogs, survive a psyshock, and then proceed to decimate your team with aqua jet and play rough. Even aegislash, who can weaken it with King's Shield, wont be able to slow it down enough to prevent a sweep. Landorus-t and Hippodon serve very similar roles, so i'd suggest you replace one of them with Rotom-W:

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp

Rotom-W is one of the most reliable counters to Azumarill. It takes all of its attacks very well and can fight back with volt switch to grab momentum or Will-O-Wisp to cripple it for the whole game. WoW is especially useful for your team as it can cripple a lot of the priority users that check Mega Tyranitar, and, along with sandstorm, can quickly wear down the opponents team for a cleanup sweep. Because of.Rotom-W's amazing synergy with Landorus, I'd suggest replacing Hippodon and moving SR over to Landy over explosion. However, you should try Rotom over both of them to see which combination works best for you.

For a smaller change, I'd suggest using Dragon Pulse over Draco Meteor and HP fire over Psyshock. Scizors love switching in on Latias, and Latias can cripple/ko them with hp fire in order to open up your Tyranitar sweep. Dragon pulse over Draco Meteor in order to deal consistent damage with Latias since you'd be losing Psyshock.

Finally, don't replace Latias with Excadrill. Being that weak to water types is never a good idea no matter how amazing Excadrill is in the sand.

GL with the team and I hope I helped!!

I agree that certain water types can have a field day with my team, especially ones with super-effective coverage against Latias which is unfortunately a lot of them. I think that Rotom-Wash is a great member to the team; I used to actually have it in place in Latias but removed it because of its lack of reliable recovery. With Sylveon now though, it may be a great member to the team and I'll definitely test it, and probably use it permanently (I'm going to replace Hippo and change Landorus to a bulky SR set, I think). I'll also change Latias's moveset, thanks. I was a bit unsure about its moves and EVs.

 

[aPandaCub]

I would suggest replacing Landorus with Sand Rush Excadrill.

I believe someone already gave the set.

Under sand, it basically gives you an even more effective revenge killer than Landorus. Its faster, and also has the ability to switch up moves, AND can provide spinning. Also means you dont have to ditch Latias.

I would really suggest changing Slyveon then to Physically defensive Rotom Wash, to then check all the other Sand Rush Excadrills running around. Hippo probably does a good job at this though.

I would suggest putting Smooth Stone over Lefties on Hippo. With Slack Off, it basically still recovers alot of HP. All up to you though.

All of these changes are up to you.

 

[PR0F3550R_B055]

The posts above me have some very good suggestions, but I've got one quick little thing to add that could really help your team. I've been using D-Dance Mega Tyranitar for months now in every one of my teams and yeah, it's awesome. (Remind me to change my profile pic to ttar, k?) Here's the exact set I use every time. There are many different viable T-Tar sets, but this is by far the best Mega T-Tar Dragon Dance set. Here it is.
GODZILLA (Tyranitar) @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch
You really don't need Crunch, SE is a great STAB and Ice Punch hits things that otherwise wall you like Garchomp and Gliscor. Only things you can't hit are things like Skarmory, and you could run fire punch but there isn't any room with D-Dance on.

 

[SpiderSlayer]

I would suggest replacing Landorus with Sand Rush Excadrill.

I believe someone already gave the set.

Under sand, it basically gives you an even more effective revenge killer than Landorus. Its faster, and also has the ability to switch up moves, AND can provide spinning. Also means you dont have to ditch Latias.

I would really suggest changing Slyveon then to Physically defensive Rotom Wash, to then check all the other Sand Rush Excadrills running around. Hippo probably does a good job at this though.

I would suggest putting Smooth Stone over Lefties on Hippo. With Slack Off, it basically still recovers alot of HP. All up to you though.

All of these changes are up to you.

The posts above me have some very good suggestions, but I've got one quick little thing to add that could really help your team. I've been using D-Dance Mega Tyranitar for months now in every one of my teams and yeah, it's awesome. (Remind me to change my profile pic to ttar, k?) Here's the exact set I use every time. There are many different viable T-Tar sets, but this is by far the best Mega T-Tar Dragon Dance set. Here it is.
GODZILLA (Tyranitar) @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch
You really don't need Crunch, SE is a great STAB and Ice Punch hits things that otherwise wall you like Garchomp and Gliscor. Only things you can't hit are things like Skarmory, and you could run fire punch but there isn't any room with D-Dance on.

I'll try all these variations, I'll get pack on the post and edit it when I have done enough testing which can be difficulty since the main Showdown server is down like HALF THE TIME.