THE BEST SAND TEAM EVER I SWEAR CHECK THIS OUT

[termi]

The title is a lie. I just wanted to grab your attention.

So yeah, I used to have a rating of about 1500 in OU thanks to some mono's I used (steel and fighting, in particular), but I couldn't seem to get myself more up there, so I built a more balanced team in the hope that something nice would come along, and it did, in the form of a sand semistall team. My rating's 1620 as of now, so it did have success, but I'd like to perfectionize my team a bit and I hope some people culd give me advice. So without further ado:

The team:

Team building:
So basically, I wanted Heatran in my team regardless of what kind it would be because It's fucking Heatran. I was quite curious what the TormenTran set could do, since it sounded incredibly annoying when used correctly, so that was my starting point.

Now when you have such a stallish Heatran, what's better than weather conditions that slowly chip away at your opponent's health? I needed a sandstorm inducer, and whiel Tyranitar is the obvious choice, he shares no less than 3 weaknesses with Heatran and therefor they have awful defensive synergy, so I went with Hippowdon instead. He's more cut out to stall anyway.

TormenTran forces many switches out, so some (Toxic) Spikes support is a great thing. While I usually prefer Ferrothorn because he's great against rain teams, has a better way of recovery and has more offensive presence, I went for Forretress this time because he can use Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin, which is very important for a team that requires a lot of switches.

So I have a spiker/spinner, a sand streamer/phazer/rocker and an annoyer, so now what I need is a spinblocker. Jellicent fits the role excellently with his great bulk and his ability to stop a plethora of rain abusers.

Now team support and all is fine and all, but I need something that can actually kill troublesome things without having to setup or anything, so I go for Landorus (used to be Terrakion) because he can deal damage on both the physical and special side, has his power enhanced in a sandstorm and can scou with U-Turn.

Finally, I choose Celebi in the last team slot for its ability to form a great defensive core with Tran and Jelly.

Team Details

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EV's: HP 244/SpD 44/Spe 220
Calm Nature

Moveset:
-Torment
-Substitute
-Protect
-Lava Plume

This guy is an absolute beast and the cause of many, many ragequits. Basically, the idea of this set is to switch into one of the many mons that can't do shit to Heatran. The opponent will surely switch out (unless he carries HP Ground by accident, in which case you're gonna have to fold your hands and pray really hard for Heatran to survive) and on the switchin, use Substitute. While the mon that switched in breaks Heatran's Substitute with a supereffective move, Heatran uses Torment. The opponent can't use its supereffective move now and will have to resort to something that's probably much weaker. Now Heatran can put up a Substitute, Protect for an incoming supereffective move and fix his Substitute or deal damage and potentially burn the opponent with Lava Plume while the opponent uses some move that barely affects Heatran. This will turn the battle into a long and annoying stall war, where the opponent tries to predict what move Heatran will use, switches other Pokemon in and out and eventually either finds a way to beat Heatran or give up out of frustration.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EV's: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpD
Careful Nature

Moveset:
-Slack Off
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Whirlwind

Your average Hippowdon. The investment in SpD makes him a great mixed wall because his phsyical bulk is great even without investment. Slack Off keeps him healthy during the weather war, Stealth Rock is mandatory in every team, Earthquake deals some damage and prevents Hippowdon from being Taunt bait and Whirlwind phazes those who think they can set up on Hippowdon and don't care about Earthquake. I might slap Stealth Rock onto Forretress instead though, to give Hippowdon room for a coverage move in the form of Ice Fang, allowing him to deal massive damage to many dragons, Gliscor and the brothers Landorus.

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EV's: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD

Moveset:
-Spikes
-Volt Switch
-Gyro Ball
-Rapid Spin

Well, it's Forretress, can't say much more than that, really. I find it kind of a lackluster Pokemon, sadly, because a ton of Pokemon can set up on him or simply kill him with a strong specal attack, but alas, Forretress is the best when it comes to utility. I used to have Toxic Spikes instead of Volt Switch, but I never actually got to used Toxic Spikes and therefor, I might as well use Volt Switch instead to scout.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EV's: 252 HP/232 SpD/20 Spe
Calm Nature

Moveset:
-Recover
-Giga Drain
-U-Turn
-Perish Song

Kind of a filler, but his defensive synergy with Heatran is just too great to ignore. Also, his ability to absorb Breloom's annoying Spore, among many status inducers, is quite a boon. Gentle nature isn't exactly ideal, but U-Turn has proven to be very useful against some mons that give my team trouble, like Alakazam, and I don't want it to decrease in power, although I might want to change the nature anyways. Recover and Giga Drain give Celebi a reliable way of recovering after absorbing a powerful blow. Perish Song is there to stop boosting sweepers before they cause too much damage in case I can't use Hippowdon to phaze them out.

Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Force
EV's: 252 Atk/4 SpA/252 Spe
Naive Nature

Moveset:
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-Turn
-HP Ice

This slot used to be filled by a Scarfed Terrakion in order to deal some heavy damage when walling and stalling just won't cut it, but ganj4lF recommended Landorus-I with scarf instead and I must say, it performs a lot better. With Sand Force, Earthquake hits REALLY hard and Stone Edge does great as a coverage move, but whereas Terrakion couldn't really do much besides using his STABs, Landorus can still scout with U-Turn or kill many dragons, Gliscor and fellow Landoruses with HP Ice, which is quite a boon because this team can't handle Landorus all that well. Overall, a really effective revenge killer, scout and even late-game sweeper

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EV's: 252 HP/32 Def/220 SpD
Calm Nature

Moveset:
-Scald
-Shadow Ball
-Will-o-Wisp
-Recover

Jellicent is another sturdy special wall with reliable recovery and an incredible niche in spinblocking and rain countering. Scald burns his opponents every now and then, granting him more support on the physical side, while Shadow Ball takes care of Gengar, Alakazam etc. Will-o-Wisp grants Jellicent more protection on the physical side if I need to use a more reliable way of burning opponents. It's really great to use when opponents are switching their water-type out for something that can harm Jellicent and are caught off-guard. However, the shaky accuracy is quite a nuisance, for it seems to miss just when you need it to hit. Overall, Jellicent's a really solid option to the team with its great defensive synergy with Celebi and Heatran and its ability to spread status, spinblock and checking water types.

Please help me out, guys! Thanks in advance.

 

[ganj4lF]

Just some quick feedback. You don't want a Gentle nature on Celebi, you want Calm even if it diminishes U-Turn's power: U-Turn is generally used only for momentum purposes (it doesn't really deal any damage except to opposing Celebi or something like that) so weakening it is not a big deal, while Celebi's good Defense (even uninvested) is vital to deal with some threats, most notably Breloom, but also Bounce-less Gyarados and, well, anything not excessively powerful that tries to hit you from the physical side. Also, I'd drop Taunt to use a status move on Jellicent (Toxic / WoW as you please): being that slow, you won't be able to Taunt many targets before they throw status at you, and not being able to status something on the switch is a quite big deal to me.

Overall the team is not bad, CeleTran works great as usual especially if paired with Jellicent. The most evident problem, to me, is your weakness to Sheer Force Landorus-I with U-Turn (RP versions are well checked by Jelli and Celebi, although you must watch out for TTar, another reason to use WoW on Jellicent I guess): it can just OHKO / 2HKO everything in your team after SR, except Jellicent (which however will go down after an additional layer of Spikes anyway...), and Terrakion fails to revenge kill it even with Hidden Power Ice. Since said set cannot boost its speed, I guess testing out a Choice Scarf Landorus (instead of Terrakion) can be a good idea: it's more powerful than Terrakion if you manage to keep up your own weather, can OHKO opposing Lando most of the times with Hidden Power Ice, and keeps the ability to hit Psychics for SE damage, even granting you momentum. Its weaknesses to Water and Ice are extremely well handled by your team already, so the only noticeable difference is the speed drop. However, I don't think that will be a huge concern, since the only relevant threats in the 101-108 bracket you're missing out are Garchomp and Musketeers, which you mostly have no problem handling anyway.

Landorus-I @ Choice Scarf | Sand Force
Naive | 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Hidden Power Ice
- Stone Edge / Rock Slide

 

[Sayonara]

Hey, nice team. The biggest threat I see right now would be a Life Orb Latios with Recover, which can be really problematic for your team to handle. The only guy on your team who can actually hit it for decent damage would be Terrakion, but it's pretty limited with a Scarf. Latios' Surf gets rid of Heatran, Forretress and Hippowdon, and everything else gets crushed by Draco Meteor. Something I'd try would be a Choice Scarf Jirachi over Heatran. While this change makes you weaker to stuff like Volcarona, I don't think it's too hard for your team to handle it with Jellicent and Scarf Terrakion to revenge-kill it. It's not like Heatran could do anything against Volcarona with the set it had anyways. Jirachi also solves your weakness to stuff like Alakazam and Reuniclus.

So, I'd try a set of Iron Head / U-Turn / Ice Punch / Trick, an EV spread of 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with a Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA). Iron Head for a strong STAB, since you hit first most of the time when Scarfed you can flinch stuff, U-Turn the fleeing Latios / Latias to gain momentum and Ice Punch is useful to hit and kill Landorus, Gliscor and dragons like Dragonite, Salamence, etc. Trick helps you against stall, which can be slightly tough to handle, stuff like Bronzong can be annoying. I also recommend changing Celebi's nature to Calm, like ganj4lf said, Gentle Nature is useless. Finally, I'd try Volt Switch over Toxic Spikes on Forretress so you can gain momentum, anyways good luck.

 

[termi]

Thanks for commenting you guys. I changed Celebi's nature and gave Jelly WoW, although I would like to have a taunter around, but alas, I'll see how this turns out. Forretress now has Volt Switch because Toxic Spikes didn't receive much use anyways. Landorus-I as a scarfer rather than Terrakion might be a good idea, actually, because of its mixed offenses. In fact, I'll try it out right away, for it greatly complements Celebi and Forretress' VoltTurning.

Now as for that Jirachi idea of Sayonara: I don't think it'll work. First of all, I barely encounter any LO Latios', most of the ones I see are choiced and can be taken care of. Second of all, Heatran is very valuable for the defensive synergy in my team and responsible for about half of my victories, not even kidding. Last of all, I think one scarfer is enough, adding Jirachi would be a very situational thing because he'd be there just to stop that one counter and a couple of walls.

Thanks for your help, guys. If anyone else is willing to comment on this team, feel free to do so! When I have tested the new changes to this team and they turn out succesful, I will add them to the OP.

E: Yep, Landorus is doing great. Thank you so much ganj4lF!

 

[termi]

Updated OP with recent additions. Criticism would still be appreciated.

 

[deadflame]

Lovely team, friend. I strongly suggest Psychic on your Celebi, instead of Giga Drain. Breloom looks to be a problem to your team, as do Fighting Types in general, so the most important recommendation I have for you is to find an open slot for Psychic.

I also think you would do better to have Ferrothorn on your team over Forettress. He has amazing Defensive Synergy with Jellicient, resisting everything except for Flying and Ground. If you use Ferrothorn, here is the set I recommend:

Ferrothorn: Relaxed @ Leftovers. 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD. Power Whip, Gyro Ball, Leech Seed, Spikes. This set tanks hits on both sides, hits Bulky Waters and Grounds, hurts Gengar and quicker Pokemon like Alakazam and the Dragons, forces switches with Leech Seed, and sets up Spikes. I couldn't recommend Ferrothorn highly enough, to be perfectly frank.

 

[termi]

Lovely team, friend. I strongly suggest Psychic on your Celebi, instead of Giga Drain. Breloom looks to be a problem to your team, as do Fighting Types in general, so the most important recommendation I have for you is to find an open slot for Psychic.

I also think you would do better to have Ferrothorn on your team over Forettress. He has amazing Defensive Synergy with Jellicient, resisting everything except for Flying and Ground. If you use Ferrothorn, here is the set I recommend:

Ferrothorn: Relaxed @ Leftovers. 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD. Power Whip, Gyro Ball, Leech Seed, Spikes. This set tanks hits on both sides, hits Bulky Waters and Grounds, hurts Gengar and quicker Pokemon like Alakazam and the Dragons, forces switches with Leech Seed, and sets up Spikes. I couldn't recommend Ferrothorn highly enough, to be perfectly frank.

Psychic might be a viable option, for I do indeed hate to face Breloom and I barely even click Giga Drain anyways. I'll try it out. While I love Ferrothorn and would generally prefer him over Forretress, I just can't afford to lose Rapid Spin. This team requires a ton of switching so I really don't want too many entry hazards around. Also, Ferrothorn wouldn't help in the fight against fighting types because he's weak to their STABs. So yeah, while I definitely love Ferrothorn and have considered him before, I'd rather stick to Forretress. Psychic on Celebi will be tried though. Thanks for your comment!