Sandstorm OU

Sandstorm has currently been my most successful team I ever played with. But I would like to make some changes to it. Spice things up a little bit.

Tyranitar (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
Main guy here. Self-Explanatory.


Scizor (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Roost
Was never a really big fan of him but he works well in most situations. May look into switching him out.


Cradily (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Suction Cups
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Toxic
- Recover
- Protect
- Seed Bomb
By far my favorite. Toxic the opponent then spam with Protect & Recover until they faint. Amazing Stall. Plus, he gets the Special Defense boost from the sandstorm.


Gliscor (F) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Substitute
One of my favorite sweepers. Most will see him switch in and predict using protect for Toxic Orb to activate. Instead I slam with Substitute, maybe even a Swords Dance and sweep from there.


Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Bullet Punch
Very Good sweeper, too. But everyone predicts a Lucario on Sandstorm. Would like to spice things up.


Ferrothorn (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Power Whip
He doesn't work well with me as he does for other people, maybe I'm using him wrong or something. Would like to switch if possible.

Well. First of all, there are a lot more useful items to use in your Tyranitar. Focus Sash is a waste on such a bulky Pokémon. With that set I would recomend Special Defensive Tyranitar with 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Atk with a Sassy Nature and Leftovers or Chople Berry as the held item. That way you have a much more durable weather inducer.

Secondly, you have 3 Pokémon with a weakness to common Fire moves (2 with a x4 weakness) and 4 (!) with a Fighting weakness. I would remove Scizor and replace it for anything resistant to Fire AND Fighting (Latias, Jellicent- a nice spin blocker - for example), since you already have 2 sweepers (Lucario and Gliscor).

In Cradily's set i would remove Seed Bomb and replace it with Giga Drain which is in most cases the best choice. Change your nature to Bold. Keep in mind that your Cradily s screaming "come and setup in my face" at Steel Types.

Nothing to criticize about Gliscor and Lucario, except that they both play the very same role in your team.

Arceus_17 said:

Well. First of all, there are a lot more useful items to use in your Tyranitar. Focus Sash is a waste on such a bulky Pokémon. With that set I would recomend Special Defensive Tyranitar with 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Atk with a Sassy Nature and Leftovers or Chople Berry as the held item. That way you have a much more durable weather inducer.

Secondly, you have 3 Pokémon with a weakness to common Fire moves (2 with a x4 weakness) and 4 (!) with a Fighting weakness. I would remove Scizor and replace it for anything resistant to Fire AND Fighting (Latias, Jellicent- a nice spin blocker - for example), since you already have 2 sweepers (Lucario and Gliscor).

In Cradily's set i would remove Seed Bomb and replace it with Giga Drain which is in most cases the best choice. Change your nature to Bold. Keep in mind that your Cradily s screaming "come and setup in my face" at Steel Types.

Nothing to criticize about Gliscor and Lucario, except that they both play the very same role in your team.

Click to expand...

Mixed lead Tyranitar is perfectly viable, as while it doesn't have the best Special Attack, it can use its wide special movepool to surprise its counters, so the OP probably chose its current set for the surprise factor.

I'd say that Gastrodon is the better option over Cradily because of its ability to function against rain teams:
-Earthquake/Earth Power
-Scald/Ice Beam
-Toxic
-Recover
Nature: Sassy/Calm
EVs: 252 HP/84 Def/172 SDef
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain

or
-Surf
-Earth Power
-Ice Beam
-Recover/Hidden Power (Grass)
Nature: Modest
EVs: 124 HP/252 SAtk/132 SDef
Item: Life Orb/Choice Specs
Ability: Storm Drain

If you want to keep Cradily, change the ability to Storm Drain, the nature to Bold and the offensive move to Giga Drain.