BW2 Sand Team

[Keiran]

This will be the first of many teams I will be making for BW2. I chose this route first because I wanted to make use of Landorus' awesome new forme, among other things. I should mention that this is for Wi-Fi singles, not PO. I'm especially looking for any holes or weaknesses it may have.

The Lineup

In-depth Profiles

Relaxed Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Sand Stream / 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD

-Stealth Rock
-Ice Punch
-Crunch
-Iron Defense

With this set, I can always lead with Tyranitar and decide what to do depending on what my opponent leads with. I chose to go a physically defensive route for 2 reasons;

-If my opponent leads with hazard user, a taunter or anything of the sort I can swap to my Xatu and use it to my advantage
-If my opponent leads with a special attacker, I can swap to my Gothitelle and trap it

The moveset of this Tyranitar serves 2 goals, getting Rocks up and setting up on physical opponents, especially outraging dragons, with Iron Defense - something that will upset my opponents life if all they have left are physical attackers after my Gothitelle does its job. The Chople berry will allow getting rocks up at least without risking losing my weather inducer.

Timid Raikou @ Choice Scarf
Pressure / 4 Def, 252 SpA, 252 Spe

-Weather Ball (100 BP Rock attack during a Sandstorm)
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-Aura Sphere

This is pretty straight forward. I chose these moves because I tried to avoid the most popular Raikou build and end up being predictable. Some other choices were HP Ice, Grass and Fire or Extrasensory, but I thought what I chose would compliment my team the best, but I could be wrong. Aura Sphere is for hitting steels and Mamoswine.

Adamant Excadrill @ Shed Shell
Sand Rush, 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 SpE

-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin

I went for the typical build for sweeping. I gave it a shed shell because arena trap Dugtrio could be a problem.

Bold Xatu @ Leftovers
Magic Bounce / 252 Hp, 252 Def, 4 SpD

-Night Shade
-Thunder Wave
-Reflect
-Roost

I love Magic Bounce for obvious reasons. I've incorporated Xatu/Espeon into almost all of my teams. For this one, I chose it to be physically defensive because Gothitelle should be able to handle all special attackers. It also gives Thunder Wave support. In the past, I've been able to score a lot of KOs spamming Night Shade/Roost against a crippled opponent.

Adamant Therian Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Intimidate / 4 Hp, 252 Atk, 252 Spe

-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-turn
-Outrage

Also a pretty standard build for Landorus. But I chose Outrage over HP Ice, so I could keep Adamant etc

Calm Gothitelle @ Shell Bell
Shadow Tag / 92 Hp, 164 SpA, 252 SpD

-Calm Mind
-Heal Bell
-Hidden Power Rock
-Thunder Bolt

This is a Pokemon I'm pretty excited to test out. It was finally released as an event recently. Basically my build for this Gothitelle revolves around it switching in on special attackers and trapping them in combat, so naturally I went for a Calm nature and max Special Defense with some HP.

I chose HP Rock because a huge threat to my team are enemy weather inducers. Rock hits both Abomasnow and Ninetales, while Thunder Bolt hits Politoad. I also gave it Heal Bell so that it can't be Toxic stalled while also supporting the team. I figured I'd round off the build with Calm Mind since I could use its trapping powers and defenses to set up.

The main goal of this Gothitelle is to trap enemy weather inducers and kill them so that my the rest of my team can do its job without interruptions.




That should be everything, so thanks for reading. I'm really looking forward to any changes people may suggest. I'm a bit unsure about some movesets, and maybe some EVs, and probably a few items.


EDIT: After talking to someone, I'll probably be swapping Raikou for a Storm Drain Cradily. :C

 

[PlatinumDude]

Iron Defense seems tempting on Tyranitar, but Defense-boosting moves aren't worth using outside of Baton Pass teams, due to Tyranitar's 4x Fighting weakness in conjunction with its low Speed. While the below set limits Tyranitar's coverage a tad, it has more utility in countering Psychics and Ghosts:
-Stealth Rock
-Pursuit
-Crunch
-Fire Blast/Superpower/Stone Edge
Nature: Sassy/Careful
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 SDef
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream

Excadrill is better off with Air Balloon as its item because a temporary Ground immunity is a lot more useful than switching out against Dugtrio or Magnezone for free. Excadrill outspeeds Dugtrio in Sandstorm while non-Air Balloon/Magnet Rise Magnezone is outright countered by Excadrill.

IMO, Reuniclus is a better option over Xatu because of its immunity to Sandstorm damage thanks to Magic Guard:
-Calm Mind
-Psychic/Psyshock
-Focus Blast
-Recover
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Item: Life Orb/Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard

or
-Trick Room
-Psychic/Psyshock
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
Nature: Quiet
EVs: 192 HP/64 Def/252 SAtk
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard

IMO, Incarnate Landorus is better in the team than its Therian forme because of Sand Force making its Rock and Ground moves stronger. Change the nature to Naive and Outrage to HP Ice. While Outrage seems tempting to use with Landorus' higher Attack, it leaves Landorus helpless against Gliscor, who can take physical moves easily.

Ferrothorn is a better choice over Raikou because not only does it check Waters that could be threats to the team, it's very defensively capable and not completely screwed over by Ground Pokemon:
-Spikes/Stealth Rock
-Leech Seed
-Power Whip/Protect
-Gyro Ball/Thunder Wave/Protect
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 252 HP/48 Def/208 SDef
Item: Leftovers/Shed Shell

If you're using Calm Mind on Gothitelle, a max HP/max Defense spread with a Bold nature is still preferred because Bold makes up for the lack of Defense boosts. Lack of STAB hurts here, though; I'll let someone else build up on this, since I don't have much time left on here before I head out for the day.

 

[Keiran]

Thanks for the reply. :] I think I'll be going with the changes to Tyranitar and Excadrill. And I agree that I need something to check water- I was thinking either Cradily, DW Seismitoad, or Gastrodon but Ferrothorn would work, too.

I'm not too sure about losing a bouncer, though. If anything, I'd drop Gothitelle and save him for a more lolzy team.

Also, I just acquired No Guard Golurk (haven't caught it yet, new version of rng reporter doesnt work for me so it's build is entirely flexible). I was thinking of going with an Adamant Rock Polish build;

-Rock Polish
-Dynamic Punch
-Earthquake
-Ice Punch/Stone Edge/Shadow Punch

I wasn't too sure about the last move..No Guard makes Stone Edge reliable but I already have Excadrill/Landorus/Tyranitar. If I go with HP Ice Landorus would getting Thunder Punch be better than Ice Punch (since I'm losing Raikou)? Or maybe I can go a mixed build with Ice Beam to check Gliscor.