Dream World Sandstorm Team

[SpeedRave13]

Generation 5 RMT, The Sandbar

Hey everyone, Speed here. So, as I'm largely unversed in the ways of Gen 5 (I intend to sign up for the tutoring once it re-opens lol), I still wanted to play it, resulting in a lot of bad teams. I figured picking a weather effect would be the most beneficial since it seems easier to use with my slim knowledge of the meta. I chose sandstorm. I'll improve the thread soon with sprites, I just didn't quite find the time to hunt em down and put em in quite yet. Ironic right?

Changes in RED

TEAM BUILDING PROCESS:

Starting off with sandstorm meant I needed a lead. At first I thought Tyranitar, but I realized that playing against other weather teams would be a gamble to see who's weather user lasted longest. That caused me to go with Hippowdon.

~img coming soon~

Afterwards I thought about other pokemon, and I kept hearing the name Doryuuzu as being unstoppable in sand. Kind of a no-brainer.

~Img coming soon~

I needed another sweeper, and after testing Landlos for a while I actually found it rather sub-par. That could just be because I don't know how to use it, but I really wasn't fond of it. I went with Sandslash instead.

~img coming soon~

With 2 Sand-Abuse sweepers already I thought one more pokemon who enjoyed sand, but didn't REQUIRE it to sweep, would be nice. I went with everyone's favorite (except for flygon's...) Gachomp

~img coming soon~

Next I needed a way to stop rain, the ever constant ever annoying rain. I consulted a friend of mine, and he said Nattorei or bust so, here it is. The most OU of all the OU, Natty!

~img coming soon~

My final pokemon is a safeguard against a lot of threats in the game today. Urugamosu, Blaziken, Dory, Terakion, and a lot of frail but fast sweepers go down to him. Azumarill the blue-bunny!

~img coming soon~

A CLOSER INSPECTION:

Tyranitar @ Focus Sash
Nature: Quiet
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Atk
Ability: Sand Stream
~Flamethrower
~Ice Beam
~Earthquake
~Stealth Rock

Tyranitar replaces Hippodown for a more offensive pace. I have NO IDEA what to do with this set, I simply put on Flamethrower and Ice Beam to deal with Skarm and Glis, Earthquake to deal with common leads, and Stealth Rock as it is a must. ANY ADVICE ON HIM IS GREATLY APPRECIATED

Doryuuzu @ Balloon
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP
Ability: Sand Throw
~Earthquake
~Rock Slide
~X-Scissor
~Swords Dance

The mole-menace Doryuuzu is on the scene! This thing absolutely demolishes teams if I can pull its counters out and beat em first. Swords Dance boosts its attack to over 700 points with just 1 use, even with a Jolly Nature. Earthquake is his main STAB attack and definitely his attack of choice. Rock Slide gives good coverage alongside Earthquake, and has a flinch chance (which is usable thanks to Dory's speed). X-Scizzor is filler mainly, but it lets me deal with Rank and the Lati-Twins reliably. I've changed Dory back to Adamant as I was upset with his damage output!

Genosect @ Life Orb
Nature: Modes
EVs: 252 SpA / 184 Spe / 32 HP
Ability: Download
~Rock Polish
~Bug Buzz
~Flamethrower
~Ice Beam

In order to better handle my glaring weakness to Skarmory and Gliscor, I was trying to find a special attacker. The best rate of success so far has come from Genosect. 184 Spe lets him outspeed Doryuuzu in the sand after a Rock Polish. Bug Buzz is that obligatory STAB move, Flamethrower deals with Steels (especially skarmory) and Ice Beam deals with grounds (especially Gliscor). If download doesn't give me the SpA boost, I usually will just take a potshot at the switch in and then switch myself, no reason to set up RP if I can't sweep


Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP
Ability: Sand Veil
~Swords Dance
~Earthquake
~Fire Fang
~Outrage

Garchomp was banned from Gen 4 for good reason. It's crazy powerful even without Swords Dance, and with a Yache Berry its very easy to crush whatever your opponent intended to counter it with (usually Ice Shard or scarfed Ice attacks) thought I have been noticing a larger number of Dragon revenge killers, making me wonder if I should be using something else? Anyway the moveset is straight forward, Swords Dance for a boost in Atk, Earthquake and Outrage are amazing in the Dual STAB department. Fire Fang covers the steel's who resist the Outrage EQ combo while having more power than Fire Blast thanks to my Jolly nature. I chose to go with Jolly and Fang instead of Naive with Blast to preserve Chomp's respectable bulk.

Landlos @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Ability: Sand Power
~Swords Dance
~Earthquake
~Stone Edge
~Rock Polish

Thanks to DarkAzelf for the suggestion to bring this guy back somewhere. He's been amazing with this set, as I can boost accordingly depending on what team I'm facing, and QuakeEdge is all he needs to crush entire teams. Swords Dance up on Stallish teams for enough power to OHKO natty with EQ, or Rock Polish against offensive teams to sweep them clean!

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spe
Ability: Huge Power
~Aqua Jet
~Waterfall
~Super Power
~Ice Punch

Azumarill is an awesome pokemon because it counters just so many huge metagame threats. Aqua Jet specifically kills so many things its just great. Waterfall is for high powered STAB on slower things, and Ice Punch gives me a method to beat slow grass types. Super Power is for Chansey, Blissey, and Natty.

Anyway, Thats it so far! I'll get the sprites on here ASAP to make it look prettier, until then any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks :3

 

[PlatinumDude]

For now, your team looks okay, but try to find a place for Rapid Spin on either Excadrill or Sandslash.

 

[Vrai]

For now, your team looks okay, but try to find a place for Rapid Spin on either Excadrill or Sandslash.

What? Why? There's nothing SR weak on his team... Besides, if you're going to offer a suggestion, at least provide reasoning. x_x

Comments in bold yo

A CLOSER INSPECTION:

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def / 4 SpD
Ability: Sand Stream
~Earthquake
~Ice Fang
~Stealth Rock
~Slack Off

Hippowdon is a great lead from what I've seen, always has been even in Gen 4. Earthquake and Stone Edge are there for damage, regardless of how slim my damage dealing potential really is. Stealth Rock is for the most common move ever used, breaking sash's, breaking sturdy, and putting more pokemon into KO range just by switching in. Slack Off is to help keep him alive, as he is the key to this team.
I max'd his HP for survivability and his SpD to pump his weaker defense. His physical defense was already fine, so I threw the remaining 4 into it. I chose a -Speed Nature to insure that my weather goes first.

Running Special Defense on Hippowdon really doesn't do much for it at all ever really never no. See, its main draw is that it can basically be a full stop to many physical threats in this metagame. Trying to add to its mediocre at best Special Defense basically makes it easier for all of the hard-hitting threats this generation to break through your defenses. It's just not very effective that way.

Also, Ice Fang is more reliable to hit silly things like Garchomp and Mence and it lets you break Excadrill Balloons.

Doryuuzu @ Balloon
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP
Ability: Sand Throw
~Earthquake
~Rock Slide
~X-Scissor
~Swords Dance

The mole-menace Doryuuzu is on the scene! This thing absolutely demolishes teams if I can pull its counters out and beat em first. Swords Dance boosts its attack to over 700 points with just 1 use, even with a Jolly Nature. Earthquake is his main STAB attack and definitely his attack of choice. Rock Slide gives good coverage alongside Earthquake, and has a flinch chance (which is usable thanks to Dory's speed). X-Scizzor is filler mainly, but it lets me deal with Rank and the Lati-Twins reliably. I was using Adamant but i went for a Jolly Nature instead to stop losing to all the other Dory's.

Seems good.

Nattorei @ Leftovers
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
IVs: 0 Speed
Ability: Iron barbs
~Spikes
~Power Whip
~Gyro Ball
~Leech Seed

Nattorei is on just about every team, but for good reason. Great typing gives it only 2 weaknesses, and its defensive stats are monstrous. It also has a usable attack stat that can abuse its high powered moves. I went with Spikes first because its what Nattorei is famous for. Leech Seed is his only reliable method of healing, and it can also force some switches to help rack up hazard damage. Power Whip is a good STAB attack that hurts a lot of Rain and Sand abusers, and Gyro Ball is his strongest STAB attack that can do some good damage even with no investment. His Sassy nature and 0 speed IV lets him get maximum power out of Gyro Ball, and he wasn't outspeeding anything anyway so there's not much of a loss.

Standaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard so no qualms here, either.

Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP
Ability: Sand Veil
~Swords Dance
~Earthquake
~Fire Fang
~Outrage

Garchomp was banned from Gen 4 for good reason. It's crazy powerful even without Swords Dance, and with a Yache Berry its very easy to crush whatever your opponent intended to counter it with (usually Ice Shard or scarfed Ice attacks) thought I have been noticing a larger number of Dragon revenge killers, making me wonder if I should be using something else? Anyway the moveset is straight forward, Swords Dance for a boost in Atk, Earthquake and Outrage are amazing in the Dual STAB department. Fire Fang covers the steel's who resist the Outrage EQ combo while having more power than Fire Blast thanks to my Jolly nature. I chose to go with Jolly and Fang instead of Naive with Blast to preserve Chomp's respectable bulk.

Again standard sooo yup.

Sandslash @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/ 252 Speed / 4 HP
Ability: Sand Throw
~Earthquake
~Swords Dance
~Brick Break
~Stone Edge

I know I know, he's just a worse Doryuuzu. I hear that everywhere. BUT, He's Sandslash, and he's awesome. Set follows the exact same principle as Doryuuzu's but I went with Brick Break because I have X-Scissor on Dory.

Mini-Dory is mini.

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spe
Ability: Huge Power
~Aqua Jet
~Waterfall
~Super Power
~Ice Punch

Azumarill is an awesome pokemon because it counters just so many huge metagame threats. Aqua Jet specifically kills so many things its just great. Waterfall is for high powered STAB on slower things, and Ice Punch gives me a method to beat slow grass types. Super Power is for Chansey, Blissey, and Natty.

tbh, Azu is so slow - and so entirely walled by Burungeru - that I've actually taken to running Toxic over Waterfall. It's entirely your option though and I might just be weird. :Va

Anyway, Thats it so far! I'll get the sprites on here ASAP to make it look prettier, until then any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks :3

Anyway I think one of the bigger threats to your team is like Skarmory. I mean, it walls everything except Garchomp with Fire Fang to death and even then it can just keep Whirlwinding it away and healing up on stuff like Hippo and Sandslash that really just can't do enough to it. Gliscor also kind of does the same thing except Azumarill hits it better. I dunno what else, though. I'm not good at this yet ;A;

Hope I at least somewhat tried to help. x_x

 

[Dark Azelf]

Yeah you pretty much need a special attacker. Put some over Natt and Slash, they dont seem to be doing anything. Gliscor walls the whole team so does Skarm.

Tyranitar would be much better than Hippow on an offensive team like this and is basically dead weight. Tyranitar can also use Fire Blast and Ice Beam to lure in and cripple counters of Excadrill whilst still setting up SR.

Id also try and find a place for Landlorus, its THE most broken Pokemon in sand and arguably in the metagame. Also helps with the rather big Conkeldurr weakness to an extent.

 

[PlatinumDude]

What? Why? There's nothing SR weak on his team... Besides, if you're going to offer a suggestion, at least provide reasoning. x_x

The reason why I suggested Rapid Spin on Excadrill or Sandslash is because SR isn't the only entry hazard out there. Spikes and Toxic Spikes are also there to wear down the team if they switch too often.

Following the suggestion of Dark_Azelf, I'd replace Sanslash with Landlos:
-Swords Dance/Rock Polish
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-turn/Explosion
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Power

 

[Dark Azelf]

The reason why I suggested Rapid Spin on Excadrill or Sandslash is because SR isn't the only entry hazard out there. Spikes and Toxic Spikes are also there to wear down the team if they switch too often.

Following the suggestion of Dark_Azelf, I'd replace Sanslash with Landlos:
-Swords Dance/Rock Polish
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-turn/Explosion
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Power

Run both Rock Polish/SE/EQ/SD @ Jolly. Last slot is uneeded as boom was nerfed. RP crushes offense and SD shreds slower teams.

 

[SpeedRave13]

Updated the OP with suggested changes~

 

[PlatinumDude]

Tyranitar @ Focus Sash
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Ability: Sand Stream
~Flamethrower
~Pursuit/Crunch
~Stone Edge/Dragon Tail
~Stealth Rock

Tyranitar replaces Hippodown for a more offensive pace. I have NO IDEA what to do with this set, I simply put on Flamethrower and Ice Beam to deal with Skarm and Glis, Earthquake to deal with common leads, and Stealth Rock as it is a must. ANY ADVICE ON HIM IS GREATLY APPRECIATED

The coverage is good on Tyranitar, but the lack of STAB hurts. Once again, suggestions/changes in bold.

 

[SpeedRave13]

The coverage is good on Tyranitar, but the lack of STAB hurts. Once again, suggestions/changes in bold.

I could change EQ to Stone Edge, but Ice beam is there for Gliscor which comes in more often than you'd think.

EDIT: I was thinking of changing Genosect to Balloon Heatran. Thoughts?