Hey guys, I've been on Smogon and Pokemon Showdown for awhile now, just really reading up on stuff and playing games, never really contributing or posting anything. I've experimented with creating teams before, but this is the first time I have really created my own team completely and would love some feedback. So far its been working really well for me and I am just interested and seeing what other people have to say.
Garchomp (M) @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin (Sand Force)
EVs: 224 Atk / 32 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naughty Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
Garchomp has always been one of my favorite pokemon, so when I learned he had a mega I just had to use him. Mega Garchomp is incredible both in and out of sandstorm, both physically and special. With sand force and his massive attack stat he can make short work of many different pokemon. Specially Draco Meteor and Fire Blast allow Garchomp to bust down physical walls like gliscor, ferrothorn, etc. very easily, which makes him very valuable. He also is great for late game clean up once any of his true threats are taken care of.
Excadrill (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Rapid Spin
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 28 SAtk / 232 SDef
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom-Wash is a great bulky water type that can really handle himself well in a lot of different situations. I chose to make him a more special wall since my team needed one, and he has yet to disappoint. His typing gives him a lot of key resistances which allow him to be extra annoying, and leftovers allows him to last and annoy even longer. Hydro pump is great for coverage and damaging, volt switch is too and allows me to not only deal a fair amount of damage, but switch pokemon. Will-o-wisp takes any physical threat down quickly, and pain split is so he can last as long as possible.
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 Atk / 8 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- U-turn
Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Alakazam is a great fast special sweeper, and even better he is unaffected by the sandstorm. Focus sash ensures he almost always gets one kill. His move pool is pretty normal, gave him energy ball to deal with water types which the rest of my team has somewhat trouble with.
Team Building Process
I decided early on I wanted to run a sandstorm team, mainly because I like weather teams, and I felt like with the addition of Excadrill into OU and Mega Garchomp, sandstorm teams were in a great place. I decided that I would need the two sandstorm starters so that I could have the sandstorm up at all times and obviously I wanted to try out Excadrill and Mega Garchomp as well.
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From There I needed to have a reliable wall and someone to set up traps and be annoying, so I went straight for Ferrothorn, since he had leech seed, thunder wave, spikes, stealth rock, and power whip would be good for coverage
I stuck with this setup for a while rotating in random pokemon in the last spot like alakazam, reuniclus, rotom-w, etc. but had not much success. At some point I decided to scrap tyranitar and ferrothorn because they just were not working for me and replaced them with rotom-w for coverage and special bulk, and talonflame for quick sweeping capabilities and coverage as well.
I tried a couple of different things here and there, but eventually settled on Alakazam for his ability to be unaffected from leech seed, burn, sandstorm, etc.
Builds
Hippowdon (F) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
Obviously I needed someone to initiate sand, and Hippowdon is able to do that and more. With his massive HP and Defense I use him as the physical wall of team, able to switch in very well to physical threats and keep the sandstorm up as much as possible. The Smooth Rock greatly helps keeps the weather in my favor throughout the battle. The move set is pretty traditional for Hippowdon, Earthquake for stab damage, Ice Fang for dragons and coverage, stealth rock for traps and Slack Off for recovery so Hippowdon can last as long as possible.
I decided early on I wanted to run a sandstorm team, mainly because I like weather teams, and I felt like with the addition of Excadrill into OU and Mega Garchomp, sandstorm teams were in a great place. I decided that I would need the two sandstorm starters so that I could have the sandstorm up at all times and obviously I wanted to try out Excadrill and Mega Garchomp as well.
.gif)
From There I needed to have a reliable wall and someone to set up traps and be annoying, so I went straight for Ferrothorn, since he had leech seed, thunder wave, spikes, stealth rock, and power whip would be good for coverage
I stuck with this setup for a while rotating in random pokemon in the last spot like alakazam, reuniclus, rotom-w, etc. but had not much success. At some point I decided to scrap tyranitar and ferrothorn because they just were not working for me and replaced them with rotom-w for coverage and special bulk, and talonflame for quick sweeping capabilities and coverage as well.
I tried a couple of different things here and there, but eventually settled on Alakazam for his ability to be unaffected from leech seed, burn, sandstorm, etc.
Builds
Hippowdon (F) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
Garchomp (M) @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin (Sand Force)
EVs: 224 Atk / 32 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naughty Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
Garchomp has always been one of my favorite pokemon, so when I learned he had a mega I just had to use him. Mega Garchomp is incredible both in and out of sandstorm, both physically and special. With sand force and his massive attack stat he can make short work of many different pokemon. Specially Draco Meteor and Fire Blast allow Garchomp to bust down physical walls like gliscor, ferrothorn, etc. very easily, which makes him very valuable. He also is great for late game clean up once any of his true threats are taken care of.
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Rapid Spin
Excadrill is a great sweeper in sand, and now that he is OU he can really do some damage. With sand rush he has no trouble out speeding many threats and with earthquake and rock slide, he has quite a bit of coverage too. The life orb raises the power of his attacks greatly and allows him to one shot a lot of more often. Swords Dance is for those pokemon that has high defense or play games with recovery and protect, giving excadrill the chance to become even stronger. And rapid spin is to get rid of any traps so that the rest of my team can shine.
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 28 SAtk / 232 SDef
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom-Wash is a great bulky water type that can really handle himself well in a lot of different situations. I chose to make him a more special wall since my team needed one, and he has yet to disappoint. His typing gives him a lot of key resistances which allow him to be extra annoying, and leftovers allows him to last and annoy even longer. Hydro pump is great for coverage and damaging, volt switch is too and allows me to not only deal a fair amount of damage, but switch pokemon. Will-o-wisp takes any physical threat down quickly, and pain split is so he can last as long as possible.
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 Atk / 8 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- U-turn
Talonflame for quick cleanup and coverage. His speed along with Gale Wings allows him to out speed a lot of the meta. Choice band increases his attack to be much more dangerous, allowing him to one shot multiple pokes in a row. Brave bird and flare blitz are great STAB he can take advantage of, U-Turn allows him to scout and get out of there if needed, and Hidden Power ground allows him to have a little extra coverage.
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Alakazam is a great fast special sweeper, and even better he is unaffected by the sandstorm. Focus sash ensures he almost always gets one kill. His move pool is pretty normal, gave him energy ball to deal with water types which the rest of my team has somewhat trouble with.