So after a considerable amount of time of messing about with things in this generation and finding somethings that worked and some things that didn't I found that one thing was always going to be a problem for any team I created. Weather. So I decided to form a team that used weather itself, but without relying on it. The objective is simple, I take out the forms of the other team getting it's weather through however long it takes, and then bring out the tyranitar and use my own to crush what is left of them.
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Trick
- U-turn
The lead- Naturally I needed something that can cripple a weather starting lead as well as many others in the metagame. For this I decided I needed to use a trick lead, that way countering the lead would be a lot easier. After using trick the obvious thing to do is to set up rocks assuming survival of the move they are tricked into using, ten U-turn out. Iron head is filler but with choice scarf we all know how annoying jirachi can be. After that I use it as a dragon resist and mainly use U-turn, often into flygon unless I feel another dragon attack is coming obviously.
Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Dance
My weather starter. I picked sand as it has, in my opinion the best starter for a team not based entirely on that weather, and here it is. Considering it's use is meant for later in the game, I thought I would go for a DD tar. By the time this comes into use, I should be able to adequately predict what my opponent is doing and act accordingly, timing the switch in to get a good DD in before the sweep. This is missing Earthquake which I sometimes wish it had, but the 3 moves here have the best coverage offered as far as I have seen. Usually allows for a late game sweep unless a good counter is still knocking about.
Poliwrath (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Hypnosis
- Focus Punch
- Waterfall
Every team running sand needs to deal with water, no matter what, so here is how I deal with it. Switch in on a water attack, or any other resist. Use hypnosis or sub next turn depending on the predict, then the other next turn assuming hypnosis hits (damn that bad accuracy) then use whichever attacks you feel necessary, once in danger switch out, water absorb will later get back the sub HP loss with good play. Focus punch will put a HUGE dent in pretty much anything while waterfall is good stab for ghosts or 4x resists.
Cacturne (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Seed Bomb
Furthering the ability to beat water, and also one of my favourite sand abusers this cacturne wins me so many games, get the sub up and this will take down almost anything, strong ice shard users sometimes cause problems, as does extremespeed, but other than that SD STAB sucker punch will start taking things down that have any real amount of damage gone and seed bomb is for massive STAB damage elsewhere to take down resists or slow pokemon. Usually used late game unless it's opportunity is presented a lot earlier.
Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind
The classic sand sweeping pokemon, but with a set that doesn't need sand. The scarf variant is usually preferred but I have enough scarf on this team as it is. At +1 this will OHKO pretty much anything you care to try and beat it with that doesn't dodge the focus blast as everything always seems to >.> The coverage works well except for on D-nite, but most don't carry ice so I can usually get the 2HKO except on especially bulky variants.
Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Finally, my scouter. On a team based on late game sweeping by ruining the opposing team's strategy, it is important to see what they are doing quickly to get a good idea of how to break them down, flygon helps with this hugely, almost immune to entry hazards and with a fast U-turn and some strong scarfed moves for taking down lower HP opponents this was the obvious pokemon of choice.
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Trick
- U-turn
The lead- Naturally I needed something that can cripple a weather starting lead as well as many others in the metagame. For this I decided I needed to use a trick lead, that way countering the lead would be a lot easier. After using trick the obvious thing to do is to set up rocks assuming survival of the move they are tricked into using, ten U-turn out. Iron head is filler but with choice scarf we all know how annoying jirachi can be. After that I use it as a dragon resist and mainly use U-turn, often into flygon unless I feel another dragon attack is coming obviously.
Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Dance
My weather starter. I picked sand as it has, in my opinion the best starter for a team not based entirely on that weather, and here it is. Considering it's use is meant for later in the game, I thought I would go for a DD tar. By the time this comes into use, I should be able to adequately predict what my opponent is doing and act accordingly, timing the switch in to get a good DD in before the sweep. This is missing Earthquake which I sometimes wish it had, but the 3 moves here have the best coverage offered as far as I have seen. Usually allows for a late game sweep unless a good counter is still knocking about.
Poliwrath (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Hypnosis
- Focus Punch
- Waterfall
Every team running sand needs to deal with water, no matter what, so here is how I deal with it. Switch in on a water attack, or any other resist. Use hypnosis or sub next turn depending on the predict, then the other next turn assuming hypnosis hits (damn that bad accuracy) then use whichever attacks you feel necessary, once in danger switch out, water absorb will later get back the sub HP loss with good play. Focus punch will put a HUGE dent in pretty much anything while waterfall is good stab for ghosts or 4x resists.
Cacturne (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Seed Bomb
Furthering the ability to beat water, and also one of my favourite sand abusers this cacturne wins me so many games, get the sub up and this will take down almost anything, strong ice shard users sometimes cause problems, as does extremespeed, but other than that SD STAB sucker punch will start taking things down that have any real amount of damage gone and seed bomb is for massive STAB damage elsewhere to take down resists or slow pokemon. Usually used late game unless it's opportunity is presented a lot earlier.
Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind
The classic sand sweeping pokemon, but with a set that doesn't need sand. The scarf variant is usually preferred but I have enough scarf on this team as it is. At +1 this will OHKO pretty much anything you care to try and beat it with that doesn't dodge the focus blast as everything always seems to >.> The coverage works well except for on D-nite, but most don't carry ice so I can usually get the 2HKO except on especially bulky variants.
Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Finally, my scouter. On a team based on late game sweeping by ruining the opposing team's strategy, it is important to see what they are doing quickly to get a good idea of how to break them down, flygon helps with this hugely, almost immune to entry hazards and with a fast U-turn and some strong scarfed moves for taking down lower HP opponents this was the obvious pokemon of choice.
