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Sand Switch

§1

Rocket grunt
  • 289
    Posts
    15
    Years
    • Seen Sep 1, 2022
    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​
     
    Last edited:
    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
     
    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?
     
    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.
     
    there, i made some changes.

    should i still run landorus-t after poke bank? i'm concerned that he might hurt more than help at this point.
     
    Last edited:
    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
     
    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
     
    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.
     
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