RMT please!

[cbd98]

Hello everybody. You might have seen me around the forums, and I'm starting to get into more competitive battling. I've been screwing around with my team and I want to see what you guys think. I know my team is far from perfect, so make suggestions please!

SANDSTORM TEAM

Hippowdon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- CurseRoar
Her job is to set up Sandstorm and SR. She can heal the damage she takes with Slack Off and if she survive a few turns can start dealing damage with Earthquake.She now Roars for phazing and to spread the SR love :).

Gligar (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Roost
- Toxic
- Earthquake
This little guy is awesome. Evolite boosts his defenses to very high levels, and he has Roost to heal the little damage he takes. Toxic to do some actual damage to them, Protect to stall Toxic, and Earthquake so he's not useless if he's taunted. Plus Sand Veil boosts his evasion so he's really annoying.

Skarmory (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
- Roost
She's another wall for my team. She sets up Spikes, then Whirlwinds them to start picking away at their team or starts attacking with Brave Bird. Roost is for when she needs to recover.

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
This guy is kind of my revenge killer. He outspeeds most things and kills whatever my other guys can't finish off. I think I need to change his moveset a little though, because of a few problematic Pokemon. ELIMINATED

Excadrill (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw
- X-ScissorRapid SpinReturn
- Brick BreakSwords Dance
This guy is unstoppable. I sacrificed an Air Balloon for another revenge killer kind of.Nevermind, he has a Life Orb now. Sand Rush gives him more speed than a Scarf, so I gave him a Band to kill things. I'm also probably going to change this guy's moveset, I just don't like it as much. Changed to Life Orb and changed moveset.

Alakazam (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Charge Beam
- Energy Ball
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
I really don't know what I put in Alakazam for. I needed something resistant to SS and she came to mind. I might swap her for Heatran if it's a good idea. ELIMINATED.

Reuniclus (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
He's my special attacker. Enough said.

Gastrodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Toxic
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

I'm totally open to suggestions, if you want to make them. Thanks!

 

[PlatinumDude]

Hippowdon's main purpose is to support the team through Sandstorm (and Stealth Rock). It doesn't really have time to set up Curse because of its common weaknesses to Water, Ice and Grass. You can use Ice Fang or Stone Edge for coverage or Roar for phazing.

Excadrill appreciates the freedom of switching between its moves, so have it hold an Air Balloon for a temporary Ground immunity or Life Orb for more power at the cost of HP. If you go that way, replace X-Scissor and Brick Break with Swords Dance and Rapid Spin (or X-Scissor/Shadow Claw/Return).

Alakazam is just too defensively weak. I'd have Reuniclus instead for more bulk:
-Calm Mind
-Recover
-Psychic/Psyshock
-Focus Blast
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SAtk
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard

or

-Trick Room
-Psychic/Psyshock
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
Nature: Quiet
EVs: 252 HP/252 SAtk/4 SDef
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard

Also, DW Alakazam is unreleased.

 

[cbd98]

Thanks for the tips. I'll update my team right after I post this.

 

[Vrai]

You don't have any SR weak Pokemon really and it seems like you don't mind hazards much in general, so you can probably forgo Rapid Spin for a coverage move (preferably Return).

You might want to look into picking up a Grass-type of some kind - your team is overrun by Rotom-W very easily right now and it comes in for free on a move that's on half of your team. Celebi, Shaymin, and Virizion are all solid choices. Gastrodon is also an option - with Storm Drain, it flat-out stops Rotom-W without trying. (Volt Change/Thunderbolt are stopped by Ground-type, and Water-type moves give Gastrodon a SpA boost).

 

[Anti]

Vrai is definitely right, especially when Water-types in general are an enormous pain. I would probably go with one of the Natural Cure Grass-types, though I don't know if either of them are that good. You might as well try Shaymin though, who has a pretty spammable STAB and good bulk. It can also deal with status reasonably well.

I would replace Gligar. Its Earthquake is coming off a remarkably weak 187 Attack stat so Toxic is the only thing that's doing damage. With so much that stops it, it's not worth it. Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress get a free layer of Spikes, for example. You'd be much better off using something that isn't trying to be annoying while inviting your opponent to take away the momentum in the battle.

 

[cbd98]

Ok, I'm making the changes right after I post this. Thanks again for all the tips!