Storm Chasers

[Icy Arcanine]

Storm Chasers

Intro

Hi guys! So this is my second RMT. Before Black and White 2 came out I took a break from pokemon for a while. Prior to the break I was using a team very similar to this. So far this has easily been the best team I’ve made and after updating it for new threats like the Landorus-T, Black Kyurem, and Keldeo I’ve been doing better than ever on Showdown (which admittedly is still pretty mediocre). So now I’d like to get some opinions from Smogon.

This team was actually inspired by Bloo’s frontier team Tabloo (though it may not look like it). It’s designed to be able to be able to work outside of sandstorm and to be able to remove opposing weather, set up sandstorm and clean up the opposing team with Landorus. So now without further ado here is the team.

The Team

Tyranitar
@ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit​

So naturally since this is a sandstorm team I need either Tyranitar or Hippowdon. Since this team tends to lean towards the offensive side of balanced, I chose Tyranitar. Tyranitar has three jobs to do during a battle: set up stealth rocks, start sandstorm for Landorus sweep and finally to take out some particular threats such as Latios, Gengar, Alakazam, and other pursuit-trappable special threats. This is the main reason that I run a very specially defensive spread. Pursuit and Stealth rocks are two obvious move choices based on its jobs outlined above. Stone Edge and Superpower are just coverage moves to round out the set. Finally the item might seem a little strange, but it helps when dealing with certain threats like Gengar and Alakazam that generally run Focus Blast for coverage. The only change that I’m considering is swapping out Superpower for Crunch to more easily deal with Pokemon that won’t immediately switch out against Ttar.

Gengar
@ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Pain Split
- Substitute
- Focus Blast​

Gengar is one of my two main attackers and is generally my mid game sweeper. Gengar’s job is to weaken the opponent’s walls and in general just wear down the enemy team. I decided to go with the Sub-split set mainly because it can stick around a little longer than other Gengar sets and because my team lacks a lot of strong physical attackers so another answer to Blissey was needed. Otherwise, he works like any other Gengar, coming in on fighting and ground-type moves, setting up a sub and attacking. Finally, I use Life Orb because when you factor in sandstorm damage it allows Gengar to capitalized on Pain Split more readily with the bonus of hitting really hard.

Jellicent
@ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Bold Nature
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Scald​

Before B&W2 I used Gastrodon here, but then I realized that Keldeo walked all over me and I switched to Jellicent. Jelli is here to help neuter physical threats and be the first part of my weather-defeating core. Jelli is really used to take on rain abusers. It’s not as effective at handling rain as Gastrodon was, but the added ability to cripple physical attackers on a more consistant basis is nice. Finally it has the added bonus of being a phenomenal spinblocker, which is really necessary on a team that relies on entry hazards. Otherwise, the spread and moveset is right off the smogon site. It’s physically defensive and the move set focuses on crippling the opponent. Will-o-Wisp and Scald naturally are there to burn the opponent, taunt helps to keep things like Forretress and Ferrothorn from setting up hazards and Recover is there to keep Jelli healthy.

Skarmory
@ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Def / 32 Spd
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind​

Skarmory is the second piece of my core and is mainly here to set up spikes, and is my primary weapon against sand teams. Skarmory works really well in conjunction with Jellicent to handle nearly every physical attacker. The set is nothing more than a standard Skarmory. Roost is for durability. Spikes is self explanatory. Whirlwind to avoid being set up bait. And finally, Brave Bird is to avoid being taunt bait.

Heatran
@ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Toxic​

Heatran is probably my favorite team member. He is the last part of the core and helps deal with sun teams. This set has become my favorite Heatran set that I have ever come across. I originally had been using a choice specs Heatran in this position, but changed it for a bit more versatility. Ideally this guy waits for a Pokemon that it can easily come in on like Ferrothorn, Forretress, or Celebi, and sets up a sub on the switch. From there its next move depends on what comes in. The nice thing about this set is that it’s really difficult to wall completely. If Fire Blast does not hit it hard than Earth power will probably do a number on it. If it also happens to be immune or resistant to Earth Power (i.e. levitating or flying dragons) then it’ll be crippled by toxic. In fact the only Pokemon that I can think of that truly walls this set is opposing Heatran @Air Balloon. Once Heatran’s behind a sub, it’s very difficult for the other team to come out unscathed.

Landorus
@ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn​

Finally, we have Landorus. Landorus is my lead 9 times out of 10, only to U-Turn out to an appropriate response to the opposing lead. Landorus’ main job is to revenge kill and clean up late game. Once Sandstorm is up and the opposing ground-immune pokemon have been taken out Landorus can easily come through and take out any remaining weakened pokemon. The set itself is pretty standard. U-Turn is for leading. Stone Edge and Earthquake are pretty standard coverage and Hidden Power Ice is for taking threats like Garchomp, Dragonite, and opposing Landorus.

Notable Threats

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Rotom – This guy is a big issue for my team. Generally I try to Toxic him and stall him out, but it doesn't always work. Especially if the team doesn't make it easy for Heatran to get a sub up.

Thundurus-T - With agility this guy is awful for my team to deal with. Generally I rely on revenge killing this guy with Landorus, but if he has agility it causes huge issues

Breloom - This guy can be a huge pain to deal with if a sub is set up instead of spore being the first move.

There are probably others too. I just can't think of them right now

Importable

Just in Case anyone wants to try it out.

Hide

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

Gengar @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Pain Split
- Substitute
- Focus Blast

jellicent (Jellicent) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Bold Nature
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Scald

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Def / 32 Spd
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind

Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Toxic

Landorus (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

 

[whitney]

Hey, cool team :) You do have a pretty massive weakness to Rotom-W and Thundurus in particular though, both of them just flat out win against you. Also, you're pretty Water weak, given that you have just one immunity (Pursuit-trappable, as well as being your spinblocker) and everything else is OHKO'd by Scarf Keldeo's Surf in Rain.

Luckily, there's a pretty simple solution; replace Gengar with a specially defensive Celebi (you could also use Amoonguss or Roserade). Celebi gives you another durable Water resist, which isn't crippled by status unlike Jellicent; and it hard counters Rotom-W, Breloom, and Thundurus-T. You lose a little offensive presence from Gengar, but I feel like between Heatran + Lando + Spikes you have enough already, and being able to handle the threats mentioned is much more important.

Good luck with the team :)

 

[Delko]

Hello nice team, you asked for a rate so I'll try to do my best :3

Anyway, all the threats in your threatlist (Rotom-w, Thunderus-t, Breloom and to an extend even Keldeo and Landorus-i) can be handled by Lati@s. To not change the idea of the team to much, what about an offensive Latias instead of Gengar? You don't need 2 spinblockers anyway, and they both have their offensive pressure, but Latias makes it "easier" to handle the threats to your team;

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Latias @ Life Orb / Timid / Levitate
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Roost

Alternatively, if you want to a more defensive option, then the above Celebi suggestion is also solid.

Good luck !

 

[Toxzn]

Good team, very standard and for good reason, but here's just a couple way I think you can improve it.
Agreed with Delko, offensive Latias or sleep talk choice specs latios would have you significantly. Sleep talk latios is often a great way to kill look who will usually try and sd on you or something only to be OHKOed.
On top of the you may as well utilize the speed of you Landorus, change the nature to naive, you have other mons to take hits so it really should be an issue.
I can't see chople helping too much either it literally will only really help with Gengar and Reuniclus which are big threats to you I guess but lefties would generally be more useful IMO. But that's just a thing of opinion, I can understand why you want chople. Other than that I think the other 2 changes suggest would help you greatly.

 

[Icy Arcanine]

Thanks for the rates guys. I'm definitely going to test out Celebi and Latias. I appreciate it.