Successful SandStream Team

Yo! I've been tinkering around with this team for the past month or so on the ladder, and decided to finally put it up on the RMT to show you guys what a successful Balanced Sandstorm team should look like. It's based around a DDance haxorus sweep coming in after something on my team gets taken out. I honestly just added haxorus, and it seems to work out great right now! Here is the Team Building Proccess!

Team Building Process:

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Okay, so i decided to start off with Tyranitar because my other Sand Team was getting very old, and i wanted to create a new one. I decided to use the Special Defense set since it could pretty much take every special hit with ease, and it could help win weather wars since all of the other major weather inducers were normally special attackers. I then looked at Tyranitar's weakness' and saw that celebi could take all of them but bug with ease, and Tyranitar could take Celebi's weaknesses to fire, ghost, dark, flying, and ice types. I decided to go with a more defensive Nasty Plot set that would also outspeed Adamant Lucario in the team that i have right now.


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Next, i saw a massive weakness to terrakion and conkeldurr already with this core, so i decided to throw in the standard gliscor set, which can easily wall any fighting type pokemon, as well as giving tyranitar more resistances to his 4x weakness of fighting. Gliscor's weaknesses were easily covered by both Tyranitar with Ice and Celebi with water, although two of the pokemon so far were weak to both of them, which leads me to my next pokemon of choice [No Pun intended]



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Okay, so i decided to add a scarf Rotom-Wash to this equation, because of its synergy with the rest of the team. It covers Celebi's weaknesses to fire, ice, and flying, it covers Tyranitar's weakness to ground and water, and it covers both of Gliscor's reasons. It also gives me a way to beat Choice band and Dragon Dance Dragonite with Hidden Power ice while i am scarfed. also, Rotom-Wash only has one weakness, which is covered by Celebi, so it is a perfect addition to my team. It also helps me force switches, and keep my Offensive momentum with Volt Switch. Finally, Rotom-W helps me check Rain teams very well when partnered with Celebi. At this point though, my team is looking pretty weak to sun teams, so guess who comes in now?



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You guessed it, Heatran! Sorry for no moving sprite, but Heatran is just perfect against sun teams. He fears nothing bar Dugtrio Earthquake Venusaur, and Sawsbuck, where the latter two are rare, and Dugtrio you just have to play around to be honest. Heatran also works as a backup special wall for tyranitar. Heatran has superb defensive and offensive typing, as well as an awesome ability in Flash Fire, which makes my Lava Plume gain a boost everytime i get hit by a Fire Type attack or status. All of heatran's weakness' are covered by Celebi, and he has other ground type immunities in the name of Rotom-Wash and Gliscor. He shares similar weaknesses to Tyranitar, which were easily taken care of earlier in this process. I just added tornadus in here as a filler. It was the Bulk Up set that agemmonon used if you are curious.


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Okay, so now i decided to ask a few friends for help. All of them said that i was pretty weak to CB nite, which i saw, and immediately took action by replacing Gliscor with Skarmory. I honestly like skarmory better since it can also set up spikes, while being able to wall the same stuff gliscor can, and being able to have a better recovery move in Roost IMO. Skarmory can also phaze threats away and stop threats from setting up such as DDance Dragonite. Finally, i decided to replace Tornadus with my own dragon, a Lum Berry Dragon Dance Haxorus. Haxorus also helps against Choice Band Dragonite, as it can come in after i fodder something out and OHKO with Outrage since Multiscale would be negated by stealth rocks/Sandstorm.

AT A CLOSER LOOK:


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Black Santa (Tyranitar) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Rock Slide

So this is pretty much your standard Special Defense Tyranitar set with one notable change, which is Rock Slide over the normal Fire Blast or Ice Beam. The reason for this is to catch many volcarona off guard, and being able to OHKO. The rest of the set, EVs, and Nature are pretty standard for a special defense Tyranitar. I run Superpower over Pursuit to fight against other Tyranitar/Terrakion switch ins thinking they're safe/Heatran. Also, many smart battlers tend to think that all Tyranitar run Pursuit, so they will normally stay in while i Crunch for massive damage against the Lati's/Gengar. Honestly, i think this set is the best set for any Tyranitar, as it also helps to win weather wars against politoed and Ninetales, who are more often than not Specially based attackers.

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Santa's Elf (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Fire]

So Celebi is back this generation with a vengeance thanks to Nasty Plot, which multiplies your Special Attacking stat by two after one boost. The EVs im running allow me to outspeed Adamant Lucario, but also maintain maximum bulk for more longetivity. Honestly, there is no need to run any Special Attack investment because you will boost it very high with Nasty Plot. My moveset and Nature are pretty standard from this point. I run Giga Drain for STAB and an amazing recovery move against pokemon that are weak to grass. Recover is so that i have a reliable recovery move, so that i can have better longitivity, and Hidden Power Fire is to wreck Ferrothorn and Scizor, which are very common these days in BW OU. Celebi also forms an amazing core with Tyranitar and Heatran separately.

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Fenix (Skarmory) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

Skarmory is back again this generation, receiving a very nice boost to his ability Sturdy, allowing it to survive any hit at Full Hit Points. The EV's, nature, and moveset are all standard, and are crucial for my haxorus sweep late game, and to prevent myself from being swept by fighting and dragon types. Spikes is very important, as it helps wear down the opponent's team from my Rotom-Wash constantly forcing switches with Rocks and Three layers of spikes on the field. Roost is there so that i may get a reliable recovery move to get my sturdy back and to help my usefulness. Whirlwind is very important to stop an opponent's sweep, so that they will be forced to switch out to a random pokemon. Brave Bird is the final move so that i can hit fighting types for decent damage, and to stop myself from becoming taunt bait.



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Kenmore (Rotom-W) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick

Rotom-Wash is just amazing this gen. He has great defensive typing now, being only weak to grass, and his stats allow him to run a plethora of movesets. I decided to run the Choice Scarf Set with Hidden Power Ice so that i can check the #1 used pokemon at the moment, even at +1. Volt Switch and Hydro Pump are my STAB moves, and Volt Switch helps me keep my offensive momentum and force switches. Rotom-Wash also assists my Celebi in checking rain teams so that my Tyranitar may have the dominating weather. Trick is in the final moveslot, so that if i need to, i can cripple a sweeper or a wall that i am having difficulty with.

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EP (Heatran) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Protect

Heatran is my main check to sun teams, and does a really good job at walling most of the threats that people run on their sun teams. This Heatran is the standard special defense set, without Stealth Rocks, so i figured that Earth Power would be a good replacement so that i can hit other Heatrans/Pokemon with Flash Fire. Heatran is also a backup to Tyranitar on the special defense side, and can take a lot of special hits well. The EV's, Nature, and moveset from there are rather standard. Lava Plume is used over Flamethrower or Fire Blast so that i can get that 30% burn chance, similar to scald, but with a fire type attack. Toxic is so that i can wear down threats on my team, and protect helps me scout pokemon and to aid in Toxic Stalling.

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Rawr (Haxorus) (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dual Chop


So finally, we have Haxorus, who is just an amazing Dragon Dance Sweeper. His role is to come in when i need him to get rid of a specific threat, or to finish a team off. The EVs and Nature allow Haxorus to get up to 322 speed, which is very good in a generation full of speedy pokemon. I have Lum Berry so that i dont get stopped by something stupid like Prankster pokemon. The moveset is quite standard also, with Outrage and Earthquake + Moldbreaker being an amazing combination. Dual Chop is just for filler honestly, so suggestions for the final moveslot would be very welcome. Honestly, if you haven't tried out a haxorus yet, you really should.


So that's my RMT. I'll reserve the next post for a threatlist that i'll put up in an hour or 2​
 
Offensive Threats


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Tyranitar
  • Choice Band - Skarmory can take any of its moves and use it as setup fodder if it's running the Standard Set
  • Choice Scarf - See Choice Band
  • Dragon Dance - If its running Fire Punch, Heatran can take care of it pretty well, if not, See Choice Band
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Rotom-W:
  • Choice Scarf / Specs - Celebi can pretty much wall this thing to death
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Scizor:
  • Choice Band - Skarmory resists all of its moves and uses it as SetUp Fodder
  • Swords Dance - See Choice Band
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Dragonite: Pretty big threat
  • Choice Band - Ive pretty much got to sac something and HP Ice with Rotom-W, If its someone smart and predicts a skarm switch in and Fire Punches, it also just gives Haxorus free time to set up
  • Dragon Dance - Ive got to go into Skarmory and Whirlwind it out or HP Ice with Rotom-W if he only gets up one boost
  • Mixed - No one in their right mind would run this set
  • Parashuffler - Go into skarmory and whirlwind it out.
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Politoed:
  • Choice Specs / Scarf -Celebi can take anymove with ease and threaten to deal tons of damage with Giga Drain
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Heatran:
  • Standard - Rotom-W can come in and threaten it out with Hydro Pump
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Jirachi:
  • Substitute + Calm Mind / Wish + Calm Mind - Heatran and Tyranitar can come in and wall it pretty well. If its in rain, go into Tyranitar to stop rain.
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Latios:
  • Life Orb - Tyranitar and Heatran can wall this thing for days
  • Choice Scarf / Specs - See life Orb
  • Calm Mind - It cant touch Tyranitar, and Tyranitar can threaten it out with STAB Crunch
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Reuniclus: Decent threat. Just annoying
  • Calm Mind - I just have to go into Tyranitar and hope that i can do decent amount of damage before i die. If that doesnt work, i can just Trick with Rotom-W, and work around it from there
  • Offensive Trick Room - See Calm Mind, but with more emphasis with Trick on Rotom-W
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Deoxys-S:
  • Standard - Well, its pretty easy to beat. Lead off with Skarmory and set up next to it, if it taunts, just BraveBird until it dies. Could also switch in Tyranitar and only allow it to get up rocks, but its kinda Risky with Superpower.
  • Dual Screens - I guess Tyranitar?
  • Life Orb Sweeper -This one is just annoying. I guess Celebi would be my best bet against this thing, being able to take an Ice Beam easily and recover off the damage. Rotom-W would also work well if it's already used a psycho boost.
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Haxorus:
  • Choice Scarf / Choice Band - See Dragonite, but more emphasis on skarmory
  • Dragon Dance - Just gotta hope to trick it into outrage or something. Skarmory can also phaze
  • Double Dance -Ive never seen this set before.
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Ninetales:
  • Nasty Plot - Tyranitar can easily come in and threaten it out. Heatran can come in also
  • Choice Specs - See Nasty Plot
  • Special Attacker - See Nasty Plot
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Conkeldurr:
  • Bulk Up - Celebi can take a Payback decently and Nasty Plot up and Giga Drain all of the HP back. Skarmory can wall it/deal massive Damage with BraveBird also.
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Celebi:
  • Nasty Plot Sweeper - Heatran walls it unless it has Earth Power, than go into Tyranitar, which can take a +2 Giga Drain and deal good damage with Crunch
  • Tinkerbell - Heatran can wall it
  • Choice Specs / Choice Scarf -Gotta just work around its moves.
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Terrakion:
  • Double Dance - Skarmory does well against it. I can easily phaze out if he try's to set up on me also, and roost off all damage
  • Choice Scarf / Choice Band - See Double Dance. I can also work around its moves if its banded and doing a lot to skarmory.
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Gyarados:
  • Offensive / Bulky Dragon Dance - Rotom-Wash. Nuff said.
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Gengar:
  • Substitute + Disable / Pain Split -Rotom-Wash can come in on a substitute and Volt Switch to break sub into Tyranitar on the shadow ball/Disable Crunch from their to force it out. Can definately live an unboosted Focus Blast
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Starmie:
  • Life Orb - Rotom-W works around its moves nicely
  • Rapid Spin - See Life Orb
  • Choice Specs -See Life Orb
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Landorus:
  • Rock Polish / Swords Dance - Rotom-Wash is a good counter, forcing him to go for Stone Edge. Celebi and skarmory work well also, unless it has U-Turn against Celebi.
  • Choice Scarf - Skarmory walls it
  • Substitute + 3 Attacks -Skarmory walls it unless its Smack Down, than i gotta phaze it out right after he smackdowns.
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Infernape:
  • Mixed Attacker - Gotta absorb the Overheat with Tyranitar and then switch to celebi to take all of his other moves. Rotom-Wash also outspeeds and can KO with Hydro Pump
  • Nasty Plot / Swords Dance Booster - See Mixed attacker, but with more emphasis on Rotom-Wash
  • Choice Band - Heatran and Celebi core wreck it.
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Volcarona:
  • Offensive Quiver Dance - Tyranitar with Rock Slide and Stealth Rocks
  • Bulky Quiver Dance - See Offensive Quiver Dance
  • Chesto Rest - See Offensive Quiver Dance
  • Substitute - See Offensive Quiver Dance, but with more stalling
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Magnezone:
  • Substitute - Heatran does well against it
  • Choice Scarf - See Substitute
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Espeon:
  • Calm Mind - Tyranitar can take the Psychic and Shadow Ball and hit back hard with Crunch
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Salamence:
  • Dragon Dance - Skarmory does well against it. Rotom-Wash with Hidden Power Ice also is nice.
  • Mixed - Rotom-Wash switch in on a fire Blast and HP Ice
  • Defensive - HP Ice Rotom-Wash
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Hydreigon:
  • Offensive - Tyranitar can take most of its hits, including Focus Blast, and KO with Superpower
  • Choice Specs / Choice Scarf - Scarf just need to play around.
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Breloom:
  • Sub Seed - Celebi can wall its stab's and can KO with HP Fire
  • Sub Punch - Celebi or Skarmory are nice to take this set on
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Latias:
  • Calm Mind -Tyranitar can Crunch and force a switch
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Toxicroak:
  • Swords Dance - Celebi works well against it. Just have to watch out for Ice Punch Skarmory works well also
  • Bulk Up - see Swords Dance
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Lucario: big threat
  • Swords Dance - Come in with Celebi and hope he's not Jolly, although i might live an Ice Punch either way
  • Nasty Plot -See Swords Dance
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Virizion:
  • Calm Mind - Celebi can take it on well
  • Swords Dance - See Calm Mind
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Scrafty:
  • Dragon Dance - Skarmory can wall it well
  • Bulk Up -Skarmory can wall it well
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Venusaur:
  • Special Growth - Heatran
  • Mixed Growth - Heatran
  • SubSeed -Celebi
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Metagross:
  • Stealth Rock - Rotom-Wash does well against Metagross
  • Choice Scarf / Choice Band - See Stealth Rock
  • Agility -See Stealth Rock
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Mienshao:
  • All-Out Attacker - Skarmory walls it
  • Choice Scarf / Choice Band - Skarmory walls it
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Cloyster:
  • Shell Smash - Rotom-Wash does well against it
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Mamoswine:
  • Physical Attacker - Rotom-Wash does well against it
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Darmanitan:
  • Choice Scarf - I just got to play around its moves like most scarfers, but Skarmory and Heatran can pretty much wall it
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Tornadus:
  • Rain Abuser - Heatran can take him on and Toxic Stall him



DEFENSIVE THREATS

Defensive Threats

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Tyranitar:
  • Specially Defensive -Go in with Tyranitar and Superpower
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Rotom-W:
  • Standard - Celebi can resist it's stab's and has natural cure
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Ferrothorn:
  • Standard - Heatran or Celebi can take it on nicely
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Politoed:
  • Defensive -Celebi can safely switch in
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Gliscor:
  • Swords Dance - Rotom-Wash
  • Substitute + Protect - Rotom-Wash
  • AcroBat - Rotom-Wash
  • Defensive -Rotom-Wash
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Heatran:
  • Specially Defensive - Rotom-Wash can do a decent job at dealing damage to it and forcing it out
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Jirachi:
  • Specially Defensive -This thing is annoying. I basically just go out in to Skarmory and use it as Setup Fodder though. Same with Celebi.
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Skarmory:
  • Physically Defensive Spiker - Heatran forces it out. Same with Rotom-Wash, along with giving me switch initiative
  • Specially Defensive Spiker - See physically defensive Spiker
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Ninetales:
  • Specially Defensive -Tyranitar can come in and Crunch it. Get my weather and rocks up
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Celebi:
  • Physically Defensive -Heatran works well against it.
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Forretress:
  • Physically Defensive Spiker - Celebi can wreck this thing. Tran forces it out
  • Specially Defensive Spiker -Celebi can wreck this thing. Tran forces it out
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Gyarados:
  • RestTalk -Rotom-Wash wrecks this thing
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Jellicent:
  • Utility Counter - Celebi can take it on really well. Tyranitar can also if it doesnt get burned
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Tentacruel:
  • Toxic Spikes -Heatran and Rotom-Wash can really hurt this thing. Haxorus also sets up on it if its not carrying Ice Beam?
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Gastrodon:
  • Tank -Celebi can just wreck this thing
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Espeon:
  • Dual Screens - Tyranitar can just wreck it
  • Baton Pass - I can go out to skarmory and Whirlwind if it tries to set up many boosts
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Blissey:
  • Support - DD Haxorus sets up on it
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Vaporeon:
  • Wish Support -Celebi can setup on it
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Latias:
  • Support - Tyranitar can come in and Force it out with Crunch
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Bronzong:
  • Tank - My best bet would be celebi since these things tend to carry Earthquake, and i can use it for setup fodder
  • Dual Screens - See Tank
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Swampert:
  • Defensive - Celebi just wrecks it
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Mew:
  • Stallbreaker - Heatran can just forece this thing out
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Slowbro:
  • Tank - Celebi just wrecks this thing. Also Haxorus can use it as setup fodder with Lum Berry for no burn
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Quagsire:
  • Curse - Celebi just wrecks this thing
  • Specially Defensive - See Curse
  • Physically Defensive -See Curse
 
I would definitely consider putting Taunt on haxorus over dual chop, that way you can prevent stuff like ferro, skarm and statusers from screwing over your sweep and set up for free on them
 
Nice formatting, and great job on the threat list. Solid team. Put taunt on Haxorus as cowfish said.
How do you deal with DD salamence with fire blast? Your team seems to be highly threatened by it.
 
Nice formatting, and great job on the threat list. Solid team. Put taunt on Haxorus as cowfish said.
How do you deal with DD salamence with fire blast? Your team seems to be highly threatened by it.
Ok. I'll definately put Taunt on Haxorus then, and to deal with threats, i pretty much just hope to trick them with Rotom-Wash, or shoot off a hidden power ice. Im not the best team builder, so any suggestions would be nice. I guess i do need some priority though or something to deal with a mixmence set. But to be honest, i havent seen any form of Salamence since Thundurus and Excadrill got banned.
 
Hello ITSU,

On Tyranitar I'd suggest running Shed Shell instead of Leftovers. No recovery on Tyranitar isn't the end of world, but by running Shed Shell it will give you a good counter against Sun teams followed by Dugtrio. In my opinion you should try out this Tyranitar set

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Tyranitar (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Atk / 168 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
This set performs almost the same role as your previous one. Crunch + Pursuit is a must on your Tyranitar, since your team is weak to Reuniclus and Latios. I know Crunch or Pursuit won't OHKO them but it will provide enough damage so you can kill them off later on in the game.

You should really try out the Double Dance Haxorus set by replacing Dual Chop for Swords Dance. Swords Dance + Dragon Dance makes Haxorus hit extremely hard which can extend it's sweeping capabilities. You should also make your Heatran and Skarmory Female, since your team doesn't appreciate CB Outrage from a Rivalry Haxorus.

One other thing your team lacking is Rapid Spin support but I'm not sure what should be replaced. Perhaps you can replace Haxorus for a spinner. By doing that you'll have to replace Haxorus for Forretress and Skarmory for a Gliscor. CB Terrakion can also destroy most of your team easily where Gliscor can counter him well. I'd suggest running

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Gliscor (F) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 148 Def / 116 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Taunt / Protect
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang / Facade
This Gliscor will help you check Toxicroak and Lucario better. It provides you with protection against Breloom which is also good. Rest of the set is self explanatory. For Forretress you should run

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Forretress (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd) 0 speed evs!
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic / Gyro Ball
- Volt Switch
Forretress will provide your team Rapid Spin support which is really essential in the current metagame. It can also become your another check to Gengar. Rest of the set is self explanatory once again. Glad it helped. Good Luck!
 
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