Sandstorm the 2nd Least Used Weather

[NezumiX3]

So with my 3rd RMT I tried to make a Sandstorm team. Utilized Less then Sun and Rain with the introduction of Drizzle Politoed and Drought Ninetales because of many more viable fire and water attackers not to mention swift swimmers. Any help on this would be appreciated!

Team At A Glance

Batman Returns?

Gliscor @ Flying Gem
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Substitute

I have absolutely fallen in love with this Gliscor set. An acrobatics boosted Gliscor with a Flying Gem does massive amounts of damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Even Gliscor's worst enemy, Rotom-W can be damaged on the switch in and subsequently outsped and KO'ed. With Tyranitar to set up sandstorm sand veil abuse was the obvious choice, reducing many reliable moves to the level of almost Fire Blast and Thunder accuracy. This provide more opportunities to set up successfully.


A Dinosaur? Really Gamefreak?

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Atk / 20 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Fire Punch
- Crunch

I decided that I would rather have fire punch to be able to invest all my EV's into attack instead of splitting them up into SpA and Att. This set may stop me from checking Skarmory and Ferrothorn, but with Espeon his allows me to check those threats as well allowing me to bounce back their attempts to set up entry hazards.


Wishing On a New Level

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 160 Def / 32 Spd / 76 SDef
Calm Nature
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Hidden Power (Ground)
- Fire Punch

Jirachi sets up a good type synergy with Landorus, while Jirachi can support the team and heal with Wish passing, Landorus with a Choice Scarf can take out faster threats and even dealing significant damage to common switch ins to it like Heatran, Scizor, and other steel types are smashed by Fire Punch and Hidden Power Ground.


Females Aren't as Bad as You Think

Latias @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Hidden Power (Fire)
Latias came off as a better alternative to Espeon as reliable recovery in the form of recovery rather then a a Morning Sun in Sandstorm. Hidden Power Fire allows for coverage on steel type threats that otherwise wall a mono-attacking Dragon Pulse set. Being much more defensive then her brother Latios, Latias can take hits well can fry Scizor with HP Fire.

Flying Land Paradox

Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn
- Hidden Power (Ice)

Landorus is in OU for a reason, whatever job you choose for it, it will perform it admirably. In this case Landorus can be a counter to cover my team's weaknesses which would otherwise tear my defensive core apart. Hidden Power Ice tears apart dragon types that otherwise threaten this team. With all the switches forced by Landorus entry hazard support is a must. Bringing in the next member of my team


Tinkerbell, but More Annoying

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 220 HP / 252 SAtk / 36 Spd
Modest Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power (Fire)

Taking and offensive Celebi allows this team to check threats like other Tyranitar that would otherwise tear holes in he defensive core. With Nasty Plot Celebi quickly becomes a massive threat to the opponents team with it's Dual STABS of Psychich and Giga Drain. Hidden Power Takes down Scizor which as mentioned, threatens this team greatly.

I tested this team pretty extensively on Pokemon Showdown. It worked out pretty well with a record of 21-5. Some problems I encountered were:

Stall
Yes. Stall completely annoys this team to no end. Due to the lack of taunt and other methods to prevent stall Pokemon from walling me.

Anyways this team took awhile to make various changes were made, I turned away from a possible Bulk Up Tornadus because of residual damage from sandstorm. I tried a Dual Screen Espeon but with the nice defensive coverage I found it unneeded.

 

[IbanezObsession]

Hey there, nice team you have here, not to mention you're also bringing sand, which I'm a big fan of.

Anyways, your team seems very Rotom-W weak, seeing as how water is super-effective against three of your pokes and only resisted by Ferrothorn, and Ferro won't enjoy taking a burn if it's not choiced (or a Trick if it is choiced). I would recommend replacing Espeon for Latias in order to counter Rotom-W and also add another water resistance to your team (as well as a Fire resistance which you also have problems with). With more bulk and speed, Latias is a much better choice than Espeon.

Calm Mind Latias

Hide

Latias (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover

You can always run a mono-attacking set with Dragon Pulse only and remove Hidden Power Fire for Roar in order to win Calm Mind wars with Reuniclus, but that's always your choice.

Hope I helped, and good luck!

 

[Swag]

Morning sun on espeon in the sand won't do anything. Like the person above me said, a latias replacement could work better.

 

[blunder]

Yeah I agree with the Top 2. I'd just like to say that the new Scarf Infernape that is being popularized will run train on your team Being able to Kill Ferrothorn, Gliscor / Landorus, Tyranitar, Espeon (2hko) and Jirachi. I prescribe replacing The Espeon with Jellicent

 

[BTzz]

Solid team, currently Mamoswine is your biggest threat; it 2HKOs Ferrothron and OHKOs the rest of your team (it can even KO Gliscor through its Substitute provided Icicle Crash hits). I'm also seeing a weakness to sun as your only fire resist lacks reliable recovery (and is a Substitute user). Volcarona in particular will do some serious damage to your team at +1, while your only hope of taking it down is Landorus' Stone Edge, which we all know doesn't hit all the time. Growth Venusaur can also sweep your team if you fail to keep sand up and even then it can hit most of your team hard. To patch up these weaknesses I suggest using a Specially Defensive Heatran with Air Balloon over Espeon. Heatran will give Tyranitar some much needed help against sun as it is a great switch-in to Volcarona and Venusaur. With Air Balloon, Heatran also makes a makeshift check to Mamoswine lacking Superpower. Using Air Balloon over Leftovers on a defensive Pokemon such as Heatran is ok in this case as you have Jirachi to supply Heatran with Wishes. You don't lose much with Espeon barring a special sweeper as Heatran cam easily switch into Ferrothorn and Forretress, in addition to Fire Punch on Jiraci, meaning the hazards won't be stacking up too much. Now that you have Heatran to take strong special attacks, Jirachi can afford to run more speed to give toy some additional insurance against Mamoswine. A spread of Timid; 252 HP / 80 SpD / 176 Spe is what you'll want. The addition of Heatran leaves more you open to Fighting-types such as Conkeldurr as your Gliscor isn't the bulkier variant so I suggest a Nasty Plot Celebi over Ferrothorn. Celebi fills the role of Fighting check, rain check and special sweeper (which you lost with Espeon). Celebi is also pretty good at breaking stall which yoy mentioned as a problem and has really good type synergy with your team, particularly Tyranitar and Heatran. Finally I suggest using Body Slam over Hidden Power Ground on Celebi. With three Gound-type attacks on your team, and a great switch into opposing Heatran with your own, it won't be very useful. Spreading paralysis trough Body Slam would be great for your team; the parahax coupled with Sand Veil will make Gliscor extremely hard to hit, as well as asisting a Nasty Plot Celebi sweep.

Heatran | Flash Fire | Air Balloon
Calm | 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Lava Plume | Stealth Rock | Roar | Earth Power

Celebi | Natural Cure | Leftovers
Modest | 220 HP / 252 SpA / 36 Spe
Nasty Plot | Psychic | Giga Drain | Hidden Power Fire

Good luck with the team!

 

[NezumiX3]

Changes have been made to the team and they really helped! I went into testing and re-testing the team again. So far they've worked out well. Going 10-1 right now. The only issue right now is status, an extremely common problem to be sure but right now I find that I am getting burned at the worst possible times and have no way to cure it. For that Reason I find myself tempted to run Heal Bell on Celebi Instead of HP Fire

 

[Lavos]

sand is actually the 2nd most used weather next to rain. this title is so misleading a_a

 

[XcRunner]

Good team. There are only a few things I would change just at a pretty quick glance. You have no stealth rock on the team, which is probably a factor as to why you have a hard time with stall teams. I'd recommend putting it on Tyranitar and making it the standard mixed attacking one. Also, I'd recommend putting body slam > hp ground on jirachi to spread paralysis as you already have Gliscor and Landorus hitting really hard w/ their Earthquakes. Other than that you could switch Landorus' set to sub + 3 attacks to destroy stall, but losing your only scarfer may be a problem.
Hope this helped and good luck with the team!

 

[Nova]

sand is actually the 2nd most used weather next to rain. this title is so misleading a_a

No, it is the most used