Help Building Johto Rotation Team

[twindelphine]

Help Building Full Sandstorm Team

Hi, this is my first time forming a team for competitive Pokemon Battle. I do not really know what to do so I'm posting here to seek some advise.

EDIT: I originally planned this for an upcoming Pokemon tournament, but it has not been successful. Either way, I would post this up so as to look for advise to how my first planned team looked.

Tyranitar
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Sassy
Held Item: Leftovers
Moves:
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
EV: 252 HP / 180 Sp. Att / 76 Sp. D

Nidoking
Ability: Sheer Force
Nature: Timid
Held Item: Life Orb
Moves:
- Earth Power
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
EV: 4 Def / 252 Sp. Att / 252 Spd

Skarmory
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
Held Item: Shell Bell
Moves:
- Taunt
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Protect
EV: 252 HP / 252 Sp. Def / 4 Def

Ninetales
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Timid
Held Item: Wide Lens
Moves:
- Hypnosis
- Will-O-Wisp
- Energy Ball
- Flamethrower

Quagsire
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Impish
Held Item: Choice Band
Moves:
- Recover
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Yawn
EV: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Att

Dugtrio
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Jolly
Held Item: Life Orb
Move:
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Sucker Punch
- Substitute

The Pokemon below was originally part of the Johto team, but he does not belong to the original classic Johto Pokedex.

Mamoswine
Ability: Snow Cloak / Thick Fat
Nature: Adamant
Held Item: Choice Band
Moves:
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
EV: 252 Att / 252 Spd / 4 HP

 

[twindelphine]

I have no idea why no one posted any comments to my team, but I hope that now with a full team I can get some comments. Please, provide your comments on this Sandstorm team.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Skarmory: use Spikes/Stealth Rock and Whirlwind instead of Protect and Taunt. That way, it can support the team with entry hazards

Ninetales isn't very good unless you're using the Drought version. Since you're using a Kanto/Johto team, and I want to keep to the theme, try out Arcanine, but good luck trying to keep it alive:
-Flare Blitz
-Close Combat
-Wild Charge
-ExtremeSpeed
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Item: Leftovers/Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire/Intimidate

You're using a defensive Quagsire yet you're using a Choice Band? No. Bad idea. Change the item to Leftovers and try:
-Scald
-Recover
-Yawn/Toxic
-Earthquake
Nature: Sassy/Relaxed
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SDef or 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Unaware

Why doesn't Dugtrio have Earthquake? Use that instead of Aerial Ace. Oh and give it Arena Trap too.

Just a heads-up: Icicle Crash is illegal on Mamoswine because it comes as a male and males can't pass their Dream World abilities down.

 

[twindelphine]

If given the chance I would get more Leftovers, but at the moment I only got one and it's given to Tyranitar.

 

[champagnepapi]

Use Excadrill over Dugtrio, while it lacks Arena trap it's one of the better rapid spinners in the game and easily the game's best Revenge Killer.

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Rush [needs to be Sand Rush]
4 HP/252 Attack/252 Speed
Adamant Nature
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin
-Swords Dance

Your Tyranitar looks nice, but I really prefer the following set:

Tyranitar @ Leftovers/Chople Berry
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Attack/80 Def
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
-Fire Blast
- Pursuit
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge

The special attack EVs aren't really needed, and Ice Beam is kind of ehh, since Garchomp is banned if you're using Smogon tiers, so you're either hitting Gliscor or Dragons, the latter of which rarely switch in to Tyranitar. Fire Blast can gain a ton of momentum for your team, since both Ferrothorn and Scizor are immediate threats to any type of team.

You really want to use Defensive Skarmory, otherwise Haxorus will just completely slay you with Outrage,.

Skarmory @ Leftovers/Shed Shell [to prevent getting trapped by Magnezone]
Impish Nature
Trait: Sturdy
252 HP/248 Def/8 Spe
-Roost
-Brave Bird/Drill Peck
-Whirlwind
-Spikes

The 8 speed evs is to ensure you aren't outrun by other Skarmory.


Also, you should try the following Quagsire, you WILL need Scald to burn your opponent or it will be a matter of time before they crit you to death. Physically Defensive Quag is also the best way to go, as the metagame is Physically oriented.

Quagsire @ Leftovers
252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
-Scald
-Recover
-Ice Beam [for Dragons]

Finally, Ninetales is a pretty awful Pokemon, you may want to considering using Nasty Plot Celebi, otherwise Rotom-W will beat this team with ease.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
-Earthquake/Toxic/Yawn

 

[twindelphine]

@Karpman: Thanks for the suggestion for Unova Pokemon, but this is a Johto team so it doesn't really fit in that category. :)

Does Johto Pokemon stand equally with other region Pokemon, or will they fare badly against them? That's why I want to find out here with a team. :)

Thanks both of you for the advice.

 

[Dark Azelf]

Tyranitar does kinda need Ice Beam imo. Especially on the same team as an Excadrill, as it lures in and crushes common checks to Excadrill (Hippow, Gliscor etc). It also needs Sassy to cushion Draco Meteors from Latios and other special attacks it CAN take. That is the utility of tank tar.

Either way Ninetales is useless and really is just dead weight taking up a vital slot and is outclassed by basically every fire type in the game apart from like Magcargo lol.

Dug is dead weight too since it kinda doesn't do anything productive for this team.

 

[twindelphine]

I want to change this to a regular 3-out-of-6 Pokemon battle, so it should be more appropriate to add in Excadrill. I intend to use him in the upcoming event.

EDIT: I do not know if this is allowed, but I have updated the team to include Pokemon outside the Johto region. I wish I can change the name of the title right now. Anyways, here's the modified Sandstorm team.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Attack/80 Def
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
-Fire Blast
- Pursuit
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge

Based on Karpman's suggestion. Setting up the stage with Sand/Stealth combo, then sweeping the enemy.

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def/252 Sp. Att/252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Att)
Moves:
- Earth Power
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower/Sludge Wave

My main wall breaker. A wide moveset to counter every move possible except Fighting types. Even with coverage from Skarmory (Fighting types), Sludge Wave may be used as a countereffect against Fighting Types, but it will give up the advantage against Steel types.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/248 Def/8 Spe
Impish Nature (+Def, -SpA)
-Roost
-Brave Bird/Drill Peck
-Whirlwind
-Spikes

Another suggestion by Karpman. Not sure why Spikes are used but I'm guessing for additional damage against switching. Another defensive against hard hitters.

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP/252 Attack/252 Speed
Adamant Nature (+Att, -SpA)
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin
-Swords Dance

Can't emphasize how many builds I got recommended from Karpman, but I find this build really good recently. Which is why I'm placing it on the team.

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spe)
-Scald
-Recover
-Stone Edge/Brick Break
-Protect/Safe Guard

If you'd ask me, I would prefer Stone Edge than Ice Beam since the latter move is already covered by Nidoking. Physically strong defense with recovering and status-inflicting attacks should do the trick.

Mamoswine @ Choice Band
Ability: Snow Cloak / Thick Fat
EV: 252 Att / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature (+Att, -SpA)
Held Item: Choice Band
Moves:
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Another one to fight against Dragon-types. Although Thick Fat is currently unobtainable in the English Pokemon world, unless you have a Japanese B/W cartridge or have someone who have the ability trade a Mamoswine. But even without it's ability being useful, Mamoswine is a good attacker.