Team
Y.et
A.nother
S.andstorm
T.eam
~Changes will be listed bold and blue.~
The ever common Stall based Sandstorm team, hence the acronym *eye roll*
I'm not even going to try and make a team building process. This team has
been tweaked and changed so many times in the past that it's not even the
same team it started as at all, bar lead Hippowdon.
Most of the crew is pretty standard shit, tbh.
At a glance:
The main goal of this team is to well... Stall. Shuffle the opponents team via
Roar and stacking up Sandstorm and Stealth Rock damage, spreading status
and an eventual Empoleon sweep is generally how every match plays out.
1) Hippowdon, Gyarados, and Roserade make up my defensive core of the
team...
2) Dusknoir plays the role of my spin blocker, a must have on any stall
team...
3) Tyranitar acts as a revenge killer, never leave home without one...
4) And Empoleon is the late game sweeper once the team has been softened
up a bit.
A closer look:
Distribute (Hippowdon) @Leftovers
Impish 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 SpD
~ Earthquake
~ Slack Off
~ Roar
~ Stealth Rock
Hippowdon's generic Physical Wall set. This is my lead who starts up my
Sandstorm and sets up Stealth Rock. Hippowdon's job is to wall any Physically
based threat, and it does it's job excessively well. With his massive
defenses, a reliable recovery move in Slack Off, and the ability to phase with
Roar I often find myself sitting with Hippowdon alternating between Roar and
Slack Off stacking up Stealth Rock and Sandstorm damage for what seems
like far too long.
Hippowdon is part of my Defensive Trio consisting of Hippowdon, Gyarados,
and Roserade. Hippowdon absorbs the incoming Electric and Rock attacks
aimed at Gyarados as well as any Physical attacks Gyarados can not.
Cobalt (Gyarados) @Leftovers
Impish 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk
~ Waterfall
~ Roar
I love RestTalk Gyarados. Gyarados has surprisingly good bulk for being
viewed generally as an Offensive pokemon, and coupled with Intimidate he
does a fine job of acting as a Defensive asset to a stall team. I opted to run
with Roar instead of Dragon Dance to give my team another phaser, rather
than using my resting turns to setup up on the opponent. RestTalk Gyarados
can take a hit, and is seriously one tough pokemon to KO. Not only this,
even with the EV investment into nearly all HP / Def, his STAB Waterfall still
packs a punch and threatens enemies who don't resist it.
Gyarados is part of my Defensive Trio consisting of Hippowdon, Gyarados, and
Roserade. Gyarados takes the Water and Ice moves aimed at Hippowdon, as
well as the Fire, Ground and Ice moves aimed at Roserade. And just generally takes
the Physical attacks Hippowdon can not, and the Special Attacks Roserade
can not.
Dispersion (Dusknoir) @Leftovers
Impish 252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Thunderpunch
~ Shadow Sneak [Suggested by: Blazin Kickin Chicken]
~ Pain Split
When one is considering a Spin Blocker to use, one must always instantly
pick a Rotom form. Yes? Probably, yeah. I'm not going to lie, the reason I run
with Dusknoir is because I use this team on HG as well as Shoddy, and don't
have access to Rotom on HG. But that's totally irrelevant! Dusknoir has a
bad-ass name, and is named after one of my favorite Shadow Priests, and
totally not the other way around.
But Dusknoir isn't a bad substitute for Rotom, one must consider the three big
Rapid Spin users: Starmie, Tentacruel, and Forretress. So the job a Spin
Blocker must accomplish is the obvious Immunity to Rapid Spin, and the
ability to threaten these three pokemon. The coverage of Thunderpunch and
Fire Punch allows Dusknoir to hit Starmie and Tentacruel with Thunderpunch,
and Forretress for Fire Punch. But his usefulness doesn't end with countering
these three pokemon.
With his ability to spread burn and cripple physical sweepers, namely the likes
of those who he can come in a predicted Fighting attacking like Lucario and
Machamp. The motto here is "If it can't be poisoned, burn it", unless we're
talking about something like Heatran... *Raises fist in anger*
Cyanide (Roserade) @Leftovers
Natural Cure
Calm 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
~ Spikes
~ Toxic Spikes
~ Energy Ball
~ Rest [Suggested by: Blazin Kickin Chicken]
A double entry hazard Roserade, it's simple really. Come in on Grass attacks
aimed at Hippowdon, setup which entry hazard is appropriate depending on the
opponents team. As by the time Roserade makes an appearance, Gyarados
and Hippowdon have shuffled the enemies team around so much that they've
probably revealed their entire team anyway. As Roserade is nearly
untouchable by most specially based Grass types, it's nearly assured to get
at least one layer of spikes down on the switch. When the job is done, rest
back to full and switch out to remove the sleep and be ready to do it all over
again. Rinse and repeat until the field is stacked high with SR, Spikes, and
Toxic Spikes.
Roserade is part of a Defensive trio consisting of Hippowdon, Gyarados, and
Roserade. She takes the Grass and Water attacks aimed at Hippowdon, and
any Special based attacks that Gyarados can not.
Invalid (Empoleon) @Petaya Berry
Modest 12 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
~ Surf
~ Substitue
~ Agility
~ Grass Knot
The infamous SubPetaya Empoleon. Everyone knows how this works, come in
on one of the many resisted attacks due to his great typing, Agility on the
switch, Sub down to activate Petaya and sweep their entire team. I took
Grass Knot over Ice Beam as his secondary attack because my team as a
whole struggles more so with bulky Water types than anything, and it's a bit
more of a surprise factor when every one expects you to be running Surf/Ice
Beam.
Empoleon is my late game sweeper, once the enemy team has been Roared
around, scouted out, and softened up it's time to claim victory. Once he's
setup properly there's just no stopping him, even those that resist his STAB
surf can't stand up the sheer damage he inflicts, and often has the team in
a checkmate position once he gets set. This is how 80% of my wins occur.
And yes, I did just pull that percentage right out of my ass as I was typing
that sentence. But that's most statistics for you.
Initiative (Tyranitar) @Choice Scarf
Jolly 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Stone Edge
~ Earthquake
~ Crunch
~ Pursuit
Choice Scarf Tyranitar plays the role of my revenge killer. With Choice Scarf
equip he is given the ability to outspeed Pokemon with 115 base Speed and
below, even with a positive nature, which allows it to outspeed notable foes
such as Starmie, Azelf, and Gengar. The coverage between STAB Stone
Edge and Earthquake allows Tyranitar to pickoff nearly any weakened foe,
and then some. Also, running with a second source of Sand Stream ensures I
can keep good uptime on Sandstorm.
Y.et
A.nother
S.andstorm
T.eam
~Changes will be listed bold and blue.~
The ever common Stall based Sandstorm team, hence the acronym *eye roll*
I'm not even going to try and make a team building process. This team has
been tweaked and changed so many times in the past that it's not even the
same team it started as at all, bar lead Hippowdon.
Most of the crew is pretty standard shit, tbh.
At a glance:
The main goal of this team is to well... Stall. Shuffle the opponents team via
Roar and stacking up Sandstorm and Stealth Rock damage, spreading status
and an eventual Empoleon sweep is generally how every match plays out.
1) Hippowdon, Gyarados, and Roserade make up my defensive core of the
team...
2) Dusknoir plays the role of my spin blocker, a must have on any stall
team...
3) Tyranitar acts as a revenge killer, never leave home without one...
4) And Empoleon is the late game sweeper once the team has been softened
up a bit.
A closer look:
Distribute (Hippowdon) @Leftovers
Impish 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 SpD
~ Earthquake
~ Slack Off
~ Roar
~ Stealth Rock
Hippowdon's generic Physical Wall set. This is my lead who starts up my
Sandstorm and sets up Stealth Rock. Hippowdon's job is to wall any Physically
based threat, and it does it's job excessively well. With his massive
defenses, a reliable recovery move in Slack Off, and the ability to phase with
Roar I often find myself sitting with Hippowdon alternating between Roar and
Slack Off stacking up Stealth Rock and Sandstorm damage for what seems
like far too long.
Hippowdon is part of my Defensive Trio consisting of Hippowdon, Gyarados,
and Roserade. Hippowdon absorbs the incoming Electric and Rock attacks
aimed at Gyarados as well as any Physical attacks Gyarados can not.
Cobalt (Gyarados) @Leftovers
Impish 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk
~ Waterfall
~ Roar
I love RestTalk Gyarados. Gyarados has surprisingly good bulk for being
viewed generally as an Offensive pokemon, and coupled with Intimidate he
does a fine job of acting as a Defensive asset to a stall team. I opted to run
with Roar instead of Dragon Dance to give my team another phaser, rather
than using my resting turns to setup up on the opponent. RestTalk Gyarados
can take a hit, and is seriously one tough pokemon to KO. Not only this,
even with the EV investment into nearly all HP / Def, his STAB Waterfall still
packs a punch and threatens enemies who don't resist it.
Gyarados is part of my Defensive Trio consisting of Hippowdon, Gyarados, and
Roserade. Gyarados takes the Water and Ice moves aimed at Hippowdon, as
well as the Fire, Ground and Ice moves aimed at Roserade. And just generally takes
the Physical attacks Hippowdon can not, and the Special Attacks Roserade
can not.
Dispersion (Dusknoir) @Leftovers
Impish 252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Thunderpunch
~ Shadow Sneak [Suggested by: Blazin Kickin Chicken]
~ Pain Split
When one is considering a Spin Blocker to use, one must always instantly
pick a Rotom form. Yes? Probably, yeah. I'm not going to lie, the reason I run
with Dusknoir is because I use this team on HG as well as Shoddy, and don't
have access to Rotom on HG. But that's totally irrelevant! Dusknoir has a
bad-ass name, and is named after one of my favorite Shadow Priests, and
totally not the other way around.
But Dusknoir isn't a bad substitute for Rotom, one must consider the three big
Rapid Spin users: Starmie, Tentacruel, and Forretress. So the job a Spin
Blocker must accomplish is the obvious Immunity to Rapid Spin, and the
ability to threaten these three pokemon. The coverage of Thunderpunch and
Fire Punch allows Dusknoir to hit Starmie and Tentacruel with Thunderpunch,
and Forretress for Fire Punch. But his usefulness doesn't end with countering
these three pokemon.
With his ability to spread burn and cripple physical sweepers, namely the likes
of those who he can come in a predicted Fighting attacking like Lucario and
Machamp. The motto here is "If it can't be poisoned, burn it", unless we're
talking about something like Heatran... *Raises fist in anger*
Cyanide (Roserade) @Leftovers
Natural Cure
Calm 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
~ Spikes
~ Toxic Spikes
~ Energy Ball
~ Rest [Suggested by: Blazin Kickin Chicken]
A double entry hazard Roserade, it's simple really. Come in on Grass attacks
aimed at Hippowdon, setup which entry hazard is appropriate depending on the
opponents team. As by the time Roserade makes an appearance, Gyarados
and Hippowdon have shuffled the enemies team around so much that they've
probably revealed their entire team anyway. As Roserade is nearly
untouchable by most specially based Grass types, it's nearly assured to get
at least one layer of spikes down on the switch. When the job is done, rest
back to full and switch out to remove the sleep and be ready to do it all over
again. Rinse and repeat until the field is stacked high with SR, Spikes, and
Toxic Spikes.
Roserade is part of a Defensive trio consisting of Hippowdon, Gyarados, and
Roserade. She takes the Grass and Water attacks aimed at Hippowdon, and
any Special based attacks that Gyarados can not.
Invalid (Empoleon) @Petaya Berry
Modest 12 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
~ Surf
~ Substitue
~ Agility
~ Grass Knot
The infamous SubPetaya Empoleon. Everyone knows how this works, come in
on one of the many resisted attacks due to his great typing, Agility on the
switch, Sub down to activate Petaya and sweep their entire team. I took
Grass Knot over Ice Beam as his secondary attack because my team as a
whole struggles more so with bulky Water types than anything, and it's a bit
more of a surprise factor when every one expects you to be running Surf/Ice
Beam.
Empoleon is my late game sweeper, once the enemy team has been Roared
around, scouted out, and softened up it's time to claim victory. Once he's
setup properly there's just no stopping him, even those that resist his STAB
surf can't stand up the sheer damage he inflicts, and often has the team in
a checkmate position once he gets set. This is how 80% of my wins occur.
And yes, I did just pull that percentage right out of my ass as I was typing
that sentence. But that's most statistics for you.
Initiative (Tyranitar) @Choice Scarf
Jolly 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Stone Edge
~ Earthquake
~ Crunch
~ Pursuit
Choice Scarf Tyranitar plays the role of my revenge killer. With Choice Scarf
equip he is given the ability to outspeed Pokemon with 115 base Speed and
below, even with a positive nature, which allows it to outspeed notable foes
such as Starmie, Azelf, and Gengar. The coverage between STAB Stone
Edge and Earthquake allows Tyranitar to pickoff nearly any weakened foe,
and then some. Also, running with a second source of Sand Stream ensures I
can keep good uptime on Sandstorm.
