RMT Sand Switch

Started by §1 November 25th, 2013 9:24 AM
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  • 7 replies
Male
Seen September 1st, 2022
Posted May 13th, 2014
289 posts
14 Years

i'm trying to put together a team that has a decent variety of immunities for switch-ins, and can take advantage of the sandstorm.

this is the first team i've tried to put together since DPPt, and i'm not as familiar with current tactics as i'd like to be.

so far, this what i'm thinking of running:

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Phys Wall
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def/ 12 Speed
Impish
-Earthquake
-Toxic
-Protect
-Substitute

Scizor @ Choice Band
Phys Sweeper
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Sdef
Adamant
-Bullet Punch
-Pursuit
-Brick Break
-U-turn

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Rapid Spinner
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 Sdef / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
Adamant
-Rock Slide
-Earthquake
-Rapid Spin
-Shadow Claw

Heliolisk @ Choice Specs
Spec Sweeper
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Satk / 252 Speed
Timid
-Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
-HP Ice

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Spec Tank
Ability: Sandstream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Sdef
Sassy
-Pursuit
-Fire Blast
-Stone Edge
-Crunch

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Phys Tank
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant
-Shadow Sneak
-Sacred Sword
-King's Shield
-Swords Dance

PlatinumDude

Nyeh?

Age 29
Male
Canada
Seen July 31st, 2020
Posted May 30th, 2020
12,958 posts
12.7 Years
Dedicated leads are risky to use because of Team Preview.

Choice Band Scizor should use a bulky spread because it can take hits more easily this way: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 SDef. Your current EV spread is better off for the offensive Swords Dance variant.

Landorus is illegal until Poke Bank. You'll need to make do with Gliscor, who's your best bet for a Ground physical wall until Poke Bank is released:
-Earthquake
-Toxic
-Protect/Roost
-Substitute/Taunt
Nature: Impish
EVs: 244 HP/252 Def/12 Spe
Item: Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal

or
-Earthquake
-U-turn
-Taunt
-Roost/Knock Off
Nature: Impish
EVs: 244 HP/48 Def/216 Spe
Item: Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal

or
-Substitute
-Baton Pass
-Earthquake
-Taunt/Swords Dance/Agility/Rock Polish
Nature: Impish
EVs: 244 HP/48 Def/216 Spe
Item: Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal

Heliolisk needs a reliable Electric STAB, since Volt Switch will force it to leave battle every time it uses it:
-Thunderbolt
-Volt Switch/U-turn
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power (Ice)/Grass Knot
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Choice Specs
Ability: Dry Skin

Assault Vest Tyranitar should look like this, since I don't think Ice Fang is doing much outside of hitting Dragonite and Salamence, who are already hit hard enough by Stone Edge:
-Crunch
-Pursuit
-Stone Edge
-Fire Blast
Nature: Brave/Sassy
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 SDef or 252 HP/4 Atk/252 SDef
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream

Aegislash should use an Adamant nature with 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def. I don't think you understand how Stance Change works:
Not exactly. Physical Aegislash are commonly seen using Adamant natures with 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def. While this seems pointless, when Stance Change activates, the new 150 base Attack of Aegislash's Blade Forme will use the 252 Attack EVs. Mixed Aegislash are occasionally seen as well.

At level 100, the maximum Attack of Shield Forme Aegislash is 218. In Blade Forme, this becomes 438 when the Attack and Defense switch.
Only the base stats are swapped, not the EVs, IVs, Nature, etc. So, you'd definitely want to invest plenty of EVs into the offensive stats.
Half this team is vulnerable to Ground Pokemon, so something that can eliminate them like Trevenant, Gourgeist and Greninja are good fits to the team.

Trevenant:
-Wood Hammer/Horn Leech
-Earthquake/Rock Slide
-Will-o-Wisp
-Rest
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP/176 Def/80 Spe
Item: Leftovers/Lum Berry
Ability: Natural Cure/Harvest

or
-Substitute
-Leech Seed
-Will-o-Wisp
-Phantom Force
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP/176 Def/80 Spe
Item: Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest

Gourgeist:
-Will-o-Wisp
-Leech Seed
-Protect/Pain Split
-Seed Bomb/Shadow Sneak
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 SDef
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Frisk

Greninja:
-Hydro Pump/Surf
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam
-U-turn/Grass Knot//Hidden Power (Fire)
Nature: Hasty/Timid
EVs: 4 Atk/252 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Protean

or
-Spikes
-Hydro Pump/Surf
-Dark Pulse/Ice Beam
-Hidden Power (Fire)
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Def/252 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Focus Sash

Since Scizor and Heliolisk have a tendency to switch around a lot, consider a Rapid Spinner like Excadrill or Starmie:

Excadrill:
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin
-Shadow Claw/Swords Dance
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Assault Vest/Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush/Mold Breaker

Starmie:
-Hydro Pump/Surf
-Thunderbolt/Psyshock
-Ice Beam
-Rapid Spin
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SAtk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Leftovers/Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure

or
-Scald
-Rapid Spin
-Psyshock/Ice Beam/Thunderbolt
-Recover
Nature: Timid
EVs: 248 HP/32 Def/4 SAtk/224 Spe
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure

Male
Seen September 1st, 2022
Posted May 13th, 2014
289 posts
14 Years

Aegislash should use an Adamant nature with 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def. I don't think you understand how Stance Change works:

Since Scizor and Heliolisk have a tendency to switch around a lot, consider a Rapid Spinner like Excadrill or Starmie:

Excadrill:
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin
-Shadow Claw/Swords Dance
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Assault Vest/Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush/Mold Breaker

i tend to use aegislash on switch-ins alot and 70% of the time its from someone using a physical fighting type attack on tyranitar; and made it defensively built for this reason, because sometimes they don't use what i expect. (though, if i run gliscor, that should help balance it out.)

and i thought excadrill was considered uber?

PlatinumDude

Nyeh?

Age 29
Male
Canada
Seen July 31st, 2020
Posted May 30th, 2020
12,958 posts
12.7 Years
i tend to use aegislash on switch-ins alot and 70% of the time its from someone using a physical fighting type attack on tyranitar; and made it defensively built for this reason, because sometimes they don't use what i expect.

and i thought excadrill was considered uber?
It's not an Uber yet. As of now, it's still OU, but it got nerfed because Sandstorm and other weather effects now last 5-8 turns.

While Aegislash's Blade Forme has high offenses, it also has crummy defenses, even with defensive investment, so investing in Aegislash's offenses is generally better, and its Shield Forme has great natural bulk anyways.

champagnepapi

exile

Male
new england
Seen September 4th, 2016
Posted June 25th, 2016
1,795 posts
12.5 Years
Youre incredibly weak to anything that uses a water move, most notably scald. The most obvious change is to get rid of heliolisk for the standard Rotom-W set, they're similar as pokemon [although you do lose offensive power from specs but ill get to that later], but rotom-w makes you a lot less weak to water type attacks and counters a ton of big xy ou threats. Aside from that you're team has very little offensive power, even with specs heliolisk being present, yet at the same time all the pokemon are so similar defensively that you don't cover a wide range of threats. The TTar set you have is really just going to be standing there doing nothing. Id switch to mega dragon dance ttar to work with aegislash to help break down walls, i'd also consider changing aegislash to the mix [shadow ball] variant since it's an incredibly effective wallbreaker. Team is also insanely luke weak; i'd run defog and sr on gliscor or something [although it will lose poison heal so you might want to consider garchomp>glisc then a skarmory or something over scizor] and then use a genesect with a scarf over excadrill to revenge kill lucario

paired to kaori & vrai
Male
Seen September 1st, 2022
Posted May 13th, 2014
289 posts
14 Years
ok, here's what i'm generally going for now...

still has a couple kinks i need to work out.
specifically, i need a better special sweeper. heliolisk isn't cutting it, he's either too slow with specs, or too weak with scarf; i can use him to lure moves for free rotom-w/gliscor/aegislash switch-ins, but that's its only redeeming quality...what i really need is a gyarados killer


Tyranitar:
-pursuit
-stone edge
-fire blast
-crunch
Nature: sassy
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Sdef
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: sand stream

Garchomp:
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang
-Dragon Claw
-Poison Jab
Nature: jolly
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Speed
Item: choice band
Ability: rough skin

Heliolisk:
-Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
-HP ice
Nature: timid
EVs: 4 HP/252 Satk/252 Speed
Item: choice specs
Ability: dry skin

Rotom-W:
-Volt Switch
-Hydro Pump
-Will-O-Wisp
-HP ice (until i can breed pain split into it)
Nature: calm
EVs: 248 HP/28 Satk/232 Sdef
Item: leftovers
Ability: levitate

Gliscor:
-Baton Pass
-Substitute
-Agility (might switch to taunt if i get a better spec sweeper)
-Earthquake
Nature: impish
EVs: 244 HP/100 def/152 Speed
Item: toxic orb
Ability: poison heal

Aegislash:
-Swords Dance
-King's Shield
-Sacred Sword
-Shadow Sneak
Nature: adamant
EVs: 252 HP/4 def/252 Atk
Item: air balloon
Ability: stance change

PlatinumDude

Nyeh?

Age 29
Male
Canada
Seen July 31st, 2020
Posted May 30th, 2020
12,958 posts
12.7 Years
Earthquake already handles Fairies, so Garchomp is better off using Outrage instead of Poison Jab.

Wash Rotom should use a physically defensive spread to check/counter Talonflame better:
-Volt Switch
-Hydro Pump
-Will-o-Wisp
-Rest
Nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP/252 Def/8 SAtk
Item: Chesto Berry

Gliscor needs 216 Speed EVs to outspeed Adamant Lucario and Timid/Jolly Smeargle.