Operation Desert Plant - UU Sandstorm Team

[Benlisted]

After playing with a Sunny Day team in UU for some time, and experimenting with an Ursaring based team, I decided to try my hand at a type of team which had appealed to me for a long time: Sandstorm.

I’ve been playing with this team for some time now, and although I have never seen the number of ragequits it causes before in my life, I feel that me being new to the playstyle means that there is considerable room for improvement. Hence this RMT.

At a Glance:

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Team Building process:

A sandstorm team in UU needs a certain lovable little hippo.

The main reason I was attracted to the Sand team playstyle was one pokemon’s sheer Tankiness: Cradily

Cradily requires a Ghost to take Fighting attacks aimed at it, which are the main threat to the prehistoric plant thing. I had several options - Rotom, Spiritomb, Mismagius being the main ones. Spiritomb’s defensive bulk and lack of weaknesses appealed to me more than the two levitating Ghosts, so I gave him a shot.

At this point I was unsure as to which other Sandstorm abuser I wanted on my team. Rhyperior, Regirock and Cacturne were my main options. Deciding to go for a more unorthodox, if Sand dependent route, I picked out Cacturne, for his ability to sweep with Sub+SD under sandstorm.

Toxic Spikes completely screw over Cacturne, so I now needed a spinner. One with a sandstorm immunity, preferably. Claydol’s Pursuit weakness put me off, so I inserted the ever reliable Donphan, having used him to great effect on a previous team.

Finally, a large water, and ice weakness was evident in my team. Cradily can take water attacks, but their users normally carry an Ice one too. After much deliberation over Milotic, I opted for a much more unusual option - Mantine. It partners well with Donphan, with its Electric Immunity, and ability - Water Absorb. Ground Immunity also helps its case, so I figured I’d give it a go.

With Mantine being underwhelming, I decided to give the omnipresent Milotic a try instead. And instantly my team has improved. Milotic's bulk is fantastic in helping my team take water and Ice attacks, and Recover access means I don't have 3 sleep talkers.

Though reliable, Milotic was then replaced by Toxicroak as a true water absorber and a more offensive presence.

Changes in Bold

Lead:
Hippopotas@Focus Sash

Ability: Sand Stream
Relaxed Nature (+Def -Spe)
EVs: 252 HP/164 Atk/ 92 Def (12 Spe IV)
Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Protect
Yawn

The necessary lead for every UU Sand team, Hippopotas is a lovable but sadly underwhelming creature. Stealth rock is standard fare for leads, and Earthquake is to avoid taunting whilst grabbing some nice KOs on Focus Sash leads like Electrode with Sand’s help. Protect synergises well with Sand, letting Hippopotas dodge Fake Outs, scout lefties and break sashes.Yawn allows me to hit leads with it first turn, and therefore see some of their team on the second when I SR up. I can also Protect on a U-Turn to force their Uxie/Mesprit to sleep.

His EVs give him maximum defensive ability while maintaining a reasonable punch with Earthquake. IVs and Nature are edited to underspeed minimum speed Snover.



Defensive Sandstorm Abuser:
Cradily@Leftovers

Ability: Suction Cups
Careful Nature (+SpDef -SpAtk)
EVs: 252HP/252SpDef/4Def
Curse
Rest
Sleep Talk
Rock Slide

Cradily, a premier Sandstorm abuser, also happens to be one of the toughest Tanks to break in all of UU after a turn or two of cursing. Suction Cups is the key to this set, preventing Roar or Whirlwind from ruining setup. In Sand Cradily gets over 500 Spdef, allowing it to take even Ice Beams with relative ease and come on many special attackers who are utterly unable to harm it. Rest and Sleep Talk allow me to both absorb Sleep and take status with impunity while Cursing up to a total of 750 Atk and 1000Def at +6. Rock Slide as my only attack leaves me somewhat walled by Rocks and Steels, but Donphan can generally deal with them.

Cradily has issues with strong Physical Fighting moves in particular, which Spiritomb is here to absorb. Other problems include the easiness of setting up on the plant while it’s Resting, or in general things boosting up alongside it. Overall though, Cradily is definitely the star of the show, being an almost unbreakable wall to many teams once a few curses are under its belt.



Offensive Spinblocker and Status absorber:
Spiritomb@ Leftovers

Ability: Pressure
Bold Nature (+Def -Atk)
EVs: 252HP/252Def/4SpDef
Calm Mind
Rest
Sleep Talk
Dark Pulse

Primarily here to absorb Fighting attacks for Cradily while posing a threat to their users by setting up with CM. Similarly, this poses a threat to rapid spinners that cannot break it. RestTalk allows status absorption once again, as well as letting Spiritomb last much longer. Burning the odd physical attacker often helps get Cradily in with greater ease.
Lack of WoW allows for better coping with the likes of Houndoom and Arcanine. Again there is the issue of being set up on while asleep, however.



Offensive Sandstorm Abuser:
Cacturne@Leftovers

Ability: Sand Veil
Adamant Nature (+Atk -SpAtk)
EVs: 252Atk/252Spe/4Def
Substitute
Swords Dance
Sucker Punch
Focus Punch/Seed Bomb

Cacturne is a force to be reckoned with once he has a Swords Dance up. No non-resistant pokemon likes taking a boosted sucker punch to the face, and conveniently both Rock and Steel types hate eating Focus Punches. Seed Bomb is an option over FP to deal with Milotic, etc, without a Swords Dance,as well as not relying on FP and SP as offensive moves. His Ability and Sucker Punch make engaging him risky business, but his speed severely hampers him.

Despite his destructive abilities showing themselves in a few games, Cacturne has severe difficulty coming in and setting up, even if I get him in for free. Relying on misses due to Sand Veil to get a Sub and SD up are very annoying. Toxic spikes also utterly destroys him if I’m unable to spin them away, so Toxicroak is being added to the team. He’s been somewhat of a disappointment for me overall, and I’m hoping that my changes improve his performance.



Spinner and Physical Tank:
Donphan@Leftovers

Ability: Sturdy
Adamant Nature (+Atk -SpAtk)
EVs: 252Atk/204Def/52HP
Rapid Spin
Assurance
Earthquake
Ice Shard

Originally put in as an electric absorber for Mantine and a Spinner to rid myself of Toxic Spikes for Cacturne, Donphan has shifted to a much more offensive role, as his EVs show. Rapid Spin and Assurance are the standard spinning and anti-ghost moves. Earthquake provides a devastating STAB, able to counter the Registeels that love to curse up alongside Cradily. Ice Shard gives me an excellent Swellow counter and a Torterra check, as well as just being valuable priority in general.

Donphan is a key member of the team, alongside Spiritomb. I initially wanted him to have a much less offensive role, and one more suited to tanking the Physical attacks my other pokemon couldn’t take, but he seems to perform offensive duties excellently with this spread. He adds to my considerable Grass weakness, however, which is an issue, and I'm not sure how to remedy this.



Water Absorber:
Toxicroak@Leftovers (replacement for Milotic)

Ability: Dry Skin
Adamant Nature (+Atk -SpAtk)
EVs: 252Atk/252Spe/4SpDef
Low Kick
Sucker Punch
Taunt
Swords Dance

Functioning as a counter to the strong water pokemon who plague my team, as well as a threatening late game sweeper, Toxicroak was added in place of Milotic to shore up my team's weaknesses.



PREVIOUS MEMBERS:

Bulky Water:
Milotic@Leftovers

Ability: Marvel Scale
Bold Nature (+Def -Atk)
EVs: 248HP/252Def/4Spe
Surf
HP Grass
Toxic
Recover

The typical Bulky water set, Milotic serves as more than an adequate replacement for Mantine. Losing status absorbtion abilites, and ground and water immunities is less of a price to pay than it would seem. Fantastic defences on both sides, decent offensive abilities as well as reliable recovery all allow milotic to tank water and ice attacks aimed at Donphan, Cacturne, Cradily and Hippopotas, while fighting back against many of their common users too. The only issue this leaves me with is a severe grass weakness, which I am looking for advice on how to remedy.



Special Wall and Hazer:
Mantine@Leftovers

Ability: Water Absorb
Calm Nature (+SpDef -Atk)
EVs: 252HP/216SpDef/40Def
Surf
Haze
Rest
Sleep Talk

Mantine functions as an absorber for the water attacks that Donphan and Hippopotas seems to draw, as well as a ground immunity and a Hazer - for when Hippopotas is down and something tries to set up on me (regularly). Surf is really a filler attack, and Haze was Ice Beam for coverage until I discovered my ability to be set up on very easily. Rest and Sleep Talk are almost essential for its survival over long periods.

Although put off by Milotic’s common occurrence, I am beginning to think that it really would be a better choice for the team than Mantine, as its performance is generally mediocre at best. The great synergy with Donphan in particular are keeping me with it for the while, given that my opinion may well be tarnished by an unbelievable amount of FlinchHax preventing him from doing his job on many occasions. Suggestions as to a set for an alternative water tank would be welcome. I’m even considering a Toxicroak in order to reduce the Grass Weakness in my team.


Prime threats:
Rain. Rain Dance teams generally have their wicked way with me unless I really pull one out of the hat, as my team is setup weak and nobody likes taking boosted Waterfalls and Surfs aside from Croak.

Setup sweepers in general are somewhat of an issue, due to my 2 RestTalkers. Curse Registeel can only really be taken out if Cacturne is set up already, or by Donphan. Houndoom loves to Nasty Plot up and to come in on Spiritomb’s Will-O-Wisp and Sleep Talk to do so. Rock Polish Torterra has to be weakened before Donphan can revenge it, as nothing likes taking immensely powerful Wood Hammers. Substitute users also pose issues for a lot of my pokemon, mostly when they’re asleep (moreover as my Roar user will typically be dead). Submagius is reasonably well countered by Cradily, however, due to its colossal SpDef. In general strong grass attacks pose issues for over half my team, though Cradily does a reasonable job of walling Sceptile and a good one of walling Venusaur.



In any case, that's the RMT, so suggest and criticise away. Oh, and thanks for reading, too.

 

[Benlisted]

Bump: no replies and team changes made.

 

[Acklow]

Alright, I've had a SS team for quite a while, and I have a bit experience with this:
First off, you want Yawn on Hippopotas instead of Roar. Using the same EV spread that Smogon has, you can get off on a good start. Make sure you don't waste time setting up SR right away, because it forces Hippo to be attack bait, unless you know that the Lead you are facing is in fact an Anti-Lead (Like Ambipom or Alakazam). If they are SR, then Yawn em instead. Roar can be effective, but Yawn is just meaner and can force constant switches, they can stay in sometimes and take the sleep.

Milotic sounds good on paper and pen, but looking at your team right now, you have a major weakness to Venusaur, plus Milotic doesn't pull the true resistance to Water as I personally would like. Mantine can be used. Make sure that you put CR instead of Haze, because Mantine is not a good Hazer, plus it can force switches and/or cause them to damage themselves (which can be a pain). If you don't want Mantine, run Toxicroak instead. It adds a vital Fighting/Dark/Grass immunity plus can absorb water, which is a plus to taking out any Rain team. Not only that, but he can nicely absorb Toxic Spikes for your Cacturne and Cradily. You could keep Milotic and put Toxicroak in place of Donphan if you want more Offense in the SS.

Cradily: A beast. But one thing it lacks, coverage. Thus, instead, you could run the Chesto-Rest version of Cradily. I'm a bit lazy so I won't pull up the set, but you can check it in the Smogon Dex. It nicely builds Cradily's defense and allows him to hit harder and faster.

Your Spiritomb is nice, but not nice enough for my liking. Spiritomb is very fragile, and can't be Resting and Wowing when the likes of Houndoom and Arcanine, who are in fact very common will be switching in. Using the Calm-Rest set, you can take advantage of Spiritomb's SpAtk stat to boost his SpAtk & SpDef up to nice levels. Plus, you can easily Rest out any damage, and Sleep Talk to gain some more boosts or deal more damage.

And lastly, I generally run Seed Bomb over Focus punch because it takes away the susceptibility Cacturne has to any counters that might be sent out. Plus, Seed Bomb doesn't always hit last, and it allows you to "pseudo-scout" whether or not you are faster than the counter (as long as you're under a sub, you have no worries).

Otherwise, it is a semi-solid team, you definitely have a weakness to Venusaur and of course Rain. Play around with my suggestions, you might like them.

 

[S7atcat]

Replace Donphan with a support based Kabutops. He's got more of an offensive presence and he gives you a fighting chance should the other team manage a rain dance. Then replace Cradily with Tortera!

Also give Milotic Ice beam D<

 

[Benlisted]

First off, you want Yawn on Hippopotas instead of Roar. Using the same EV spread that Smogon has, you can get off on a good start. Make sure you don't waste time setting up SR right away, because it forces Hippo to be attack bait, unless you know that the Lead you are facing is in fact an Anti-Lead (Like Ambipom or Alakazam). If they are SR, then Yawn em instead. Roar can be effective, but Yawn is just meaner and can force constant switches, they can stay in sometimes and take the sleep.

Sounds like a plan. I'll try Yawn out for sure, I never really considered not setting up SR first in most situations, so it looks like it's gonna improve my chances against all but possibly trick scarfers, who it will force out. I guess having a possibility to fulfil the sleep clause can't be a bad thing either.

Milotic sounds good on paper and pen, but looking at your team right now, you have a major weakness to Venusaur, plus Milotic doesn't pull the true resistance to Water as I personally would like. Mantine can be used. Make sure that you put CR instead of Haze, because Mantine is not a good Hazer, plus it can force switches and/or cause them to damage themselves (which can be a pain). If you don't want Mantine, run Toxicroak instead. It adds a vital Fighting/Dark/Grass immunity plus can absorb water, which is a plus to taking out any Rain team. Not only that, but he can nicely absorb Toxic Spikes for your Cacturne and Cradily. You could keep Milotic and put Toxicroak in place of Donphan if you want more Offense in the SS.

In all honesty, most Venusaurs are fairly utterly walled by Cradily - they just don't have the power to break it, although Sleep Powder makes doing so a bit risky of course. I haven't had as much of a problem with them as with other grass types, although admittedly I haven't faced a SD one in my memory with this team. Even so, I can see the Grass weakness I have, and the advantage in having a true water absorber.

Was fully confused as to what CR on Mantine was for a small time lol... But I can see that it'd be more benficial than Haze, I just hadn't considered it at all. I really do dislike his Rock weakness, however, so I think that I'd prefer Toxicroak (looks badass too). I'll slot him in instead of Milotic and see how he performs, and if lacking I'll try swapping Donphan for Milotic as you recommend. Any advice as to which set to run? I lean toward NP, as I lack any real form of special offence on this team and avoid Cross Chop and SE's awful accuracy, but then I lose SD's ability to beat Registeel and co.

Cradily: A beast. But one thing it lacks, coverage. Thus, instead, you could run the Chesto-Rest version of Cradily. I'm a bit lazy so I won't pull up the set, but you can check it in the Smogon Dex. It nicely builds Cradily's defense and allows him to hit harder and faster.

Indeed it does, luckily this is generally a non-issue as few teams have so many Rock resists that the rest of my team can't deal with. I considered thi Chesto set when making the team, and I'll keep it in mind, but for the time being I'll alter the rest of my team and see if extra coverage for him(?) would be beneficial.

Your Spiritomb is nice, but not nice enough for my liking. Spiritomb is very fragile, and can't be Resting and Wowing when the likes of Houndoom and Arcanine, who are in fact very common will be switching in. Using the Calm-Rest set, you can take advantage of Spiritomb's SpAtk stat to boost his SpAtk & SpDef up to nice levels. Plus, you can easily Rest out any damage, and Sleep Talk to gain some more boosts or deal more damage.

Haha, true, Will-o-Wisp misses have saved me from flaming dog based death a few times. I'll definitely try this out, hopefully making him more independent will improve him and the other alterations to the team will mean WoW is needed less.

And lastly, I generally run Seed Bomb over Focus punch because it takes away the susceptibility Cacturne has to any counters that might be sent out. Plus, Seed Bomb doesn't always hit last, and it allows you to "pseudo-scout" whether or not you are faster than the counter (as long as you're under a sub, you have no worries).

Aside from Donphan, Cacturne is my best answer to Registeel, which is why I'm slightly opposed to removing FP. However, with the possibility of SD Toxicroak, I may well lose vulnerability to him, so I will likely try this change out alongside Croak too.

Otherwise, it is a semi-solid team, you definitely have a weakness to Venusaur and of course Rain. Play around with my suggestions, you might like them.

Thanks a lot for all the advice, in any case.


@S7atcat: Kabutops is indeed awesome, and I never actually considered it as my spinner. The problem with putting it into my current team is that I lose my only real Registeel counter. However, with a possible SD Toxicroak coming and CM/Resttalk Tomb I may well lose the issues I have with this, so I'll bear Kabutops in mind.

Also, I'm probably switching Milotic out, but I really did need HP Grass in order to beat the opposing waters which plague this team.

Thankyou for the feedback.

 

[Acklow]

I forgot to mention, running SD Toxicroak, you probably would want to run Low Kick instead of Cross Chop, because Low Kick has better accuracy, and most OU and UU pokemon that Toxicroak will be up against will take about as much damage from an SDed Low Kick. If you don't like the SD set, try out the NP instead, I personally haven't tried it out, but I'm sure it can work very nicely, unless it's up against ghosts.

 

[Benlisted]

I forgot to mention, running SD Toxicroak, you probably would want to run Low Kick instead of Cross Chop, because Low Kick has better accuracy, and most OU and UU pokemon that Toxicroak will be up against will take about as much damage from an SDed Low Kick. If you don't like the SD set, try out the NP instead, I personally haven't tried it out, but I'm sure it can work very nicely, unless it's up against ghosts.

Alright, thanks, I'll give that a shot. Possibly Lefties over LO though to mitigate rather than exacerbate the Sand damage seems like a good idea, however.

 

[Acklow]

Also: one last nitpick, you should run Lefties over Brightpowder on Cacturne to maximize the amounts of subs you can throw up. Hax isn't always reliable.

 

[NightShadow]

i seriously do not recommend focus sash on hippopotas because of its good bulk. leftovers give it some much needed longevity.

i agree with S7atcat, kabutops gives you a fighting chance against rain dance teams.

 

[vraikou]

i seriously do not recommend focus sash on hippopotas because of its good bulk. leftovers give it some much needed longevity.

i agree with S7atcat, kabutops gives you a fighting chance against rain dance teams.

...bulk? What are you talking about? Hippo has incredibly little bulk. The sash allows him to always be able to set up SR before moving on, which is basically the only thing it really needs to do. If the opponent opts for some kind of set-up, whether that's SR or a stat-up move, your sash remains intact, allowing you to phaze the opponent using the appropriate move (yawn or roar). Hippo doesn't need to live long, thus leftovers being unimportant.

Toxicroak is a neat check to rain teams, yes. Most sets will have little trouble dealing with most rain sweepers, I believe, although you should take into account running priority (vacuum wave or sucker punch).

 

[Benlisted]

Alright thanks guys for all the advice :)

Acklow - you are right, Brightpowder just seems too much like a fun gimmick, which I guess is why I picked it. I'll change it to Lefties.

Nightshadow - Focus sash is needed on Hippo for literally every special attacking lead in UU, so I can't get rid of it. Hopefully Croak will serve me well against rain teams, so Kabutops will be unneeded.

Vrai - I'm using the SD set at the minute, so Sucker Punch it is, but Vacuum Wave would ofc be better for Kabutops in particular.

OP updated.

 

[The Cicada]

i would suggest quagsire over toxiccroak to deal with bluky waters(not sure if any1 else suggested this already),quagsire is immune to water type attacks,has great physical bulk,encore,and recover all of those things suit SS teams greatly( i should know,all of my UU teams are sandstorm).

 

[Meru]

Quagsire is ridiculously easy to set up on, and doesn't have a grass resist that he needs like Toxicroak does.

 

[Benlisted]

Yeah, quaggy would be ideal for me if it weren't for its massive grass weakness, which I really need whatever's in that slot to counter, sadly :\.

 

[The Cicada]

hmmm maybe registeel?it's immune to sandstorm,can deal with grass and bulky waters,and capable of spreading around some status

 

[Benlisted]

hmmm maybe registeel?it's immune to sandstorm,can deal with grass and bulky waters,and capable of spreading around some status

I had thought of using Registeel, but I wasn't sure what I could lose for it to be honest.

Toxicroak as a SD set doesn't seem to be doing too great, so I'm going to try the NP set before altering it. It just doesn't have the power even after a SD to deal with the things I need it to, and its just so frail its untrue.

 

[Acklow]

What type of Pokemon do you bring it in on? If you're using SD, don't run the Sub and run SE instead for coverage. I've taken out quite a few moltres using that move.

And of course, bringing it in on water moves makes for the easiest entry...

 

[Benlisted]

What type of Pokemon do you bring it in on? If you're using SD, don't run the Sub and run SE instead for coverage. I've taken out quite a few moltres using that move.

And of course, bringing it in on water moves makes for the easiest entry...

I pretty much always bring it in on Milotic and other water move users, and I also have tried out SE over taunt for the coverage. Even so, neither seem to make Croak a particularly valuable addition to my team to be honest, which is very disappointing :\.

 

[Acklow]

I know this may sound stupid, but you should try LO out, the extra punch might help, although it makes Toxicroak alot frailer. Also: If you want to try it out, have Blastoise in place of Donphan, so that you can have a bulky spinner that is water based. It can decrease the Milotic threat with Toxic (unless it's a Sleeper, in which you bring in Toxicroak (the Taunt varient) and use it as set up bait).

 

[Benlisted]

I know this may sound stupid, but you should try LO out, the extra punch might help, although it makes Toxicroak alot frailer. Also: If you want to try it out, have Blastoise in place of Donphan, so that you can have a bulky spinner that is water based. It can decrease the Milotic threat with Toxic (unless it's a Sleeper, in which you bring in Toxicroak (the Taunt varient) and use it as set up bait).

I'll give it a go, but if someone predicts around me (and with a set with Sucker Punch and a fighting move this is reasonably likely) I have an awful feeling he's going to die very quickly. Blastoise sounds like a reasonable option in general as a spinner, but it and Croak sounds promising.

EDIT: Upon further testing, Toxicroak with lefties alone seems to be doing much better after more battles. I'm going to try out the LO orb set without Blastoise soon too, to see if the power is better than survivability, but hopefully my team will remain as is for a while :).