ORAS OU Sandstorm Rate Please!

Hi everybody - I'm SteamWitch, and on Showdown I'm known as ReaveroftheSands. Despite my name, I typically don't run Sandstorm teams - I usually run Rain Dance or M-Gallade screens. However I figured it was high time I made myself a strong Sandstorm team - however, I'm not a very good judge of team synchronization to be honest - so I was hoping you'd be willing to rate my team and let me know how I did! ^_^




Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch

Tyranitar is meant for two things - his primary function is to set sandstorm so that M-Steelix can come in for it's sweep. His secondary function is to be a wallbreaker - I know I could run SR instead of Fire Punch, but I feel as nice as SE support would be, giving T-tar the most amount of clearing capability possible seems to be more effective in the long run. D-Dance, Stone Edge and Crunch are all rather self-explanatory choices.

Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 200 HP / 56 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Curse
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Aqua Tail

The ringleader of the sandy circus, M-Steelix has an absolutely monumental amount of defense, and that's something I can't help but get excited about. Yes, M-Aggron has the same defense stat at a lower cost of weaknesses, but I chose M-Steelix instead for three reasons - 1) offensively M-Steelix is a beast - EQ is always just a great STAB move for any Ground type, and Heavy Slam combined with Curse ensures it's hitting at full power almost every time. 2) M-Aggron, while very nice, doesn't fit into the sandstorm team as well as M-Steelix does - this is the one scenario that he can actually utilize his ability, and with a base 125 ATK stat, an extra 30% boost makes both Heavy Slam and EQ not even need the Curse boost to be terrifyingly effective. 3) I just really, really love Steelix - always have since Gen 2. Now most people would probably run SR or Roar over Aqua Tail, but again I say SR doesn't add much to what this bulky team does, and Roar is only really effective if you're using entry hazards.


Mantine @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Aqua Ring
- Scald
- Defog
- Toxic

Man time is the other half of the core - Steelix has four weaknesses, and Mantine doesn't give a flying flip about any of them - Water Absorb kills water types, and Ground types always get frustrated when you switch into a flyer. While most fighting types are gonna hit physically generally speaking, M-Steelix's low SPD stat is going to lure more Focus Blasts than anything else, which Mantine is very well equipped to handle. Aqua Ring is an unorthodox choice, and I'm not entirely sure I'll keep it, but seeing as how it's Mantine's only form of recovery and I'm rather fond of the move in general, I went with it for now. Toxic is always a good special wall crippler, and Defog can dispose of Toxic Spikes should they become an issue. Finally Mantine gets Scald, which is an all-around great move for bulky water types, and it gives him the ability to cripple physical sweepers.

Umbreon @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Baton Pass
- Heal Bell
- Foul Play

Umbreon is a staple cleric of mine, my other favorite being Vaporeon - I chose Umbreon instead, however, simply because Mantine already has Scald, plus Foul Play counters D-Dance users and Swords users pretty well, and as we all know OU is riddled with 'em. Umbreon's main purpose here is to BP Wishes to M-Steelix, but as I said he makes a good sweeper-killer and general cleric as well, so I recommend him on any team that isn't using that psychotically strong monster known as Chansey.


Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis
- Spore
- Sludge Bomb

This one is more of a coverage choice than anything else - one of the types I absolutely despise the most is Fairy-type Pokemon - some of my favorite Pokemon include Sharpedo, Gallade, Absol, Garchomp and Kingdra - these pink jerks counteract every single one of these, so I usually take extra precautions against them. Amoongus is a generally beefy mushroom, and with both Synthesis and Regenerator working in his favor, it's rather difficult to deal with him unless you're wielding some good old fashioned fire. Giga Drain is another way to recover even more HP, and Spore is just a great supporting move in general, especially since the only other Pokemon that gets it that's actually worth his salt is Breloom. Sludge Bomb, as I said, is my fairy-killer - it doesn't one shot very many, but it 2HKO a lot, or at the very least threaten with poisoning them.

Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- X-Scissor

Excadrill was chosen for a couple reasons - while this team is particularly resilient to SR, Toxic Spikes can still mess with me pretty bad - so Excadrill provides that much-needed RS support. Another Pokemon I have it out for is Rotom-W, and Mold Breaker Ex here is the perfect counter to his scrawny little washing machine butt head self. EQ does just that as well as being one of Ex's most powerful STAB moves alongside Iron Head. The last slot has a lot of options, but I chose X-Scissor, because this team lacks a way to seriously deal with Psychic and Dark type Pokemon - Poison Jab and Stone Edge would be redundant since there are others on the team who can use similar, if not the same moves.

Replays (Will be posted here as I compile them)

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-499146905


In summary, this team seems pretty stable to me, but I can see where there might be a couple holes in it - for one I have no special sweeper, and two there's no Knock Off for dealing with things like Chansey and Scarf Gengar. I don't know how necessary these things are though, so just let me know what I can change to make this team amazing! Thanks in advance!
 
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Hey cool team I liked your idea of having fun with a team and not using standard sand. At that, I noticed a crippling weakness to Charizard-Mega-Y this thing can easily break through your team with it's powerful Fire Blast, Solar Beam, and Focus Blast coverage. With Umbreon's lack of leftovers this makes Zard-Y a lot harder to deal with. Also Landorus-T and any Ground-Type can pressure this team very well, and due to Mantine's lack of reliable recovery it's not that hard for them to catch it on a predict and then spam Earthquake. Stall can easily win vs this team due to it's lack of breaker vs things like Quagsire, Chansey, Skarmory, and Amoonguss, which are all standard pokemon on Stall teams. Finally, I noticed that this team has a lack of Stealth Rock which is almost a necessity, and helps very well in breaking Focus Sashes, Sturdy, and overall pressuring the opposition's team.

--->
This change really helps your team out vs Ground-Types which really put a hole in your team. Landorus-T provides a solid switchin to opposing Landorus-T, Physical Garchomp, and Excadrill which are ORAS OUs primary Ground-Types. With Rocky Helmet this pressures those attackers to hit you with their secondary STAB, as it takes off 17% from their health. U-Turn is a stellar option for this set as it provides a way for you to bring in your Tyranitar safely and possibly setup to victory. Now, taking off Steelix makes your team a bit weaker to Roost 2 attack Mega Scizor, so I suggest using Hidden Power Fire over Stone Edge on this set. With a Relaxed Nature this pressures Mega Scizor very, very well. Landorus-T also hinders Mega Scizor's setup capability and ensuring it doesn't sweep your team. Finally this provides your team with a solid Stealth Rocker, which helps this team out a ton with pressuring Charizard-Y.

--->
Slowbro works very well over Mantine. Firstly, Slowbro has reliable recovery in Slack Off, and even Regenerator and is even a good win condition, access to Calm Mind helps it out a lot. Also this is not weak to Stealth Rock, which is a huge problem for Mantine to deal with, since it loses 25% every time it switches in, and with no reliable recovery that hurts it a lot. Mantine was used on your team to act as a secondary Keldeo counter, a Ground Resist, and a Fighting Resist. Slowbro beats almost every Ground-Type(barring Swords Dance variants) and scares them out with Scald Burns. Slowbro without a Mega Evolution still deals with common fighting threats such as Mega Lopunny and Non-Thunder Punch Medicham. Getting rid of Mantine would hurt your team when it comes to dealing with Choice Banded Ground-Types but with the addition of Landorus-T and Mega Slowbro that won't be a problem as you can pivot between the two.

--->
Smooth Rock DD Tyranitar is quite mediocre due to it lacking offensive potential. Mega Tyranitar gives Tyranitar the speed it needs to outpace common threats in the OU Metagame such as Tornadus-T, Weavile, Alakazam, Dugtrio, and Hawlucha all of which could beat an ordinary Tyranitar even with +1 Speed. The power boost also helps Tyranitar break through fat teams easier which makes it much more threatening. When it comes to moves, I suggest using Ice Punch over Crunch which helps it break through Landorus-T, and Garchomp which are commonly used as Stealth Rockers. Ice Punch still hits threats that Crunch also hits like Latios.

Since this is a Sandstorm team, Excadrill works great in sand. With great Attack, and access to Sand Rush it can become a devastating sweeper. I also don't think Rapid Spin is a necessity for this team so I would suggest changing it to Swords Dance giving you another win condition.

--->
As Umbreon was mainly used as a specially defensive pivot, Tornadus-T does that job a lot better. Also, Umbreon was used to provide a way of healing your Mega Steelix but since that was replaced, there is no real use for this anymore. Tornadus-T also has great coverage which can weaken threats that pressure Mega Tyranitar from setting up such as Mega Venusaur, and Keldeo. This doesn't harm your team too much as it gets

The thing I changed on this was the set, was the EV spread. 92 Special Defense EVs let Amoonguss not to be 2HKOd by Choice Specs Keldeo's Icy Wind, while the rest of the EVs get dumped into Physical Defense allowing it to take on Pokemon like Mega Lopunny better.

this is the final product w my changes half hf :)

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 8 SpA / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Slack Off
- Calm Mind

Tornadus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Knock Off

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SpD
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
 
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