We Came As Romans (Bulky Offense Sandstorm RMT)

[Ericcc]

great band :)
I assosiate sand with rome, so that explains the title of my rmt xD

Anyway, So I recently got into Sandstorm teams. When people think of SS Teams, the word "Stall" almost immediately comes to mind. Sure , there are very good Sand-Stall teams out there, but its just not my way of playing, therefore I have made a Semi-Bulky Offensive team :) This team was centered around obviously, Sandstorm, and also, Rhyperior. Now, Rhyperior is a very under-rated Pokemon, and nobody uses it anymore, and if they do use it, its generally meant to be bulky, but not mine ;). This team is based on getting a Rhyperior - Sweep, or somewhere near it.

Team Building

So I knew that something with Sand-Stream was going to have to be included. There was T-Tar, Or Hippo. I chose Hippo because of its ability to wall physical hits excellently. Next, I needed something with perfect synergy with these two. Ice, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Water(let me know if i missed more) were the things that hit for SE damage. No poke can resist all of those, but I came to the conclusion that there was one that took them reasonably well;

Thats right, Empoleon. Not Sub - Petaya, a defensive one! It takes hits like SUCH a beast, and provides good synergy for my team, so far. So now I needed something that could cover Empoleon. Fight/Ground/Electric moves are abundant in OU, so I chose my next team slot for;

Gliscor has amazing synergy with Empoleon resisting Fighting moves and having a complete immunity to Electric/Ground moves. So now I had the core of my team, but there was still a huge weakness to Water and Ice moves, and with Empoleon as my only support, I needed something more;

Vaporeon. The "Glue" of the team. Takes hits well , and can also fight back if its needs to, provided its in the right situation. Now, I had 5 Pokes. I needed one more, and I noticed that i had only 1 Steel type, and seeing as how theres so many Mences/Latis around, I needed one more;

Scizor. Resist to Dragon is very important, so I needed another steel, and he was the main candidate. I chose him because he provides good synergy with my team and is one of the most feared Pokemon in the current Metagame.



In Depth Look;

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Hippowdon "Hipposaur" @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Impish 252 HP//252 DEF//6 SP DEF

Stealth Rock
Roar
Earthquake
Stone Edge

A very reliable lead. Gets up rocks most of the time. Dont ask why I dont have Slack Off, I forgot to breed it on, but either way, I find this set to be much more effective-staying with the theme of "Bulky Offense". BP Chains fail with this set and he can also pack quite a punch. Hippo is here to stay

***

Gliscor "Dr. Acula" @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
Jolly 252 HP//216 SPE//40 DEF

Earthquake
Taunt
Roost
U-Turn

OK, So I chose the Stall-Breaker set for various reasons. One being I was trying to stay with my theme of Bulky Offense. And two, I knew I would have problems with Cress/Bliss/and opposing Gliscor. Taunt prevents healing and I immediately U-Turn and switch to an appropriate counter. Its also naturally bulky so it does stay around for quite a while.
***

Empoleon "HappyFeet:)" @ Leftovers
Ablity: Torrent
Calm 252 HP//252 SPDEF//6DEF

Surf
Grass Knot
Toxic
Protect

This is a rather unusual set to see on Empoleon, but this penguin takes hits like a beast and Toxi-Stalls whatever were facing to death. My main counter to opposing walls like Swampert, Hippowdon, Suicune, Blissey and Cresselia. Although Suicune will Rest off Toxic. Its also an amazing counter to Latias, because of its resist to Draco Meteor.This works wonders for my team, annoying the heck out of my opponent because it never dies. Protect is for scouting attacks.

***

Vaporeon "Aqua Lad" @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Bold 252 DEF//188HP//68SPE

Surf
Ice Beam
Wish
Protect

Standard wish support set. This thing takes hits so well, its not even funny. HP Electric isnt here because Gyara isnt such a huge threat to my team. I can usually stall it out with Empoleon. My main counter to opposing Mences, Taking any physical hit and then OHKO'ing with Ice beam. Barely anyone uses DD Mence anymore, but if they do then i'm screwed. Keeps my team alive and well, also provides amazing synergy.

***

Scizor "Red X" @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Adamant 252 ATT//224 SPE//32 HP(Need Some Suggestions for changes)

Swords Dance
Bullet Punch
Brick Break
X-Scissor

Ok, I'm sort of stuck here. Seeing how its supposed to counter Dragons, it doesnt do it so well. I'm aware there is an Specially defensive set? If anyone could give it to me it would be greatly appreciated.
Basic SD Scizor. Not much to say here.

***

Rhyperior "Bigfoot" @ Life Orb
Ability: Sold Rock
Jolly 252 ATT//252 SPE//6 HP

Rock Polish
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Megahorn

I'd like to start off by saying this thing is EXTREMELY effective at sweeping late game and is so under-rated. The MVP of my team. I love this thing. After a Rock Polish it reaches a stat of 392 which outspeeds a HUGE majority of OU Pokes. Aero/Crobat/Jolteon arent really problems and it doesnt really fear a SB coming from Jolteon. However, HP Grass usually KO's. Once all of its counters are out, I bring this out, and start surprising my opponent because its suddenly faster than a Gengar xD . I originally had FirePunch in the slot of Megahorn, but I found Megahorn really has its uses, OHKO'ing Celebi.

***
Threat List;

Latias. CM Variants are beasts and if Empoleon is out, I honestly have nothing against it. Scizor usually always BP's because some Lati's have HP Fire, and they use it when expecting me to use Pursuit(which I dont have).

Mix ape spells disaster for my team. OHKO'ing Everything after it get a Nastly plot in. The only thing I can do is hope Rhyperior has its Speed Boosted, and if it is, then its the thing thats I'm least worried about, but Its still a huge threat.

Zapdos can take quite a beating and nothing on my team really is meant to counter it. Rhyperior does KO with Stone Edge, but prior to the speed boost, theres nothing I can really do except try to toxi-stall or something d;

DD Mences, however rare, rip through my team like a hot knife through butter. Even Hippo is near KO'd by a +1 Outrage, obviously.

Abomasnow can cause a LOT of damage to most of my team members. I have a very hard time figuring out what to do against it.

Suicune laughs at my whole team. It takes minimal damage from EVERY attack I have and its faster than Scizor so I cant get an X-Scissor in. Need Help for countering this.

Most threats are covered by Rhyperior once it has its speed boost in, but because it doesnt come out usually until late game, and the threats are seen early, I have serious problems with them.

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OK well thats my team I hope you guys enjoy rating it and whatnot :D . I have played with it a couple of times on WiFi and have have a very good success rate. Suggestions though, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :)




"We Came As Romans" Semi Offensive / Bulky Sandstorm :)

 

[Cherub Agent]

Your Scizor sadly isn't able to counter dragons because I assume that when you switch into them you use SD, then getting killed by Fire Blast, HP Fire, Fire Punch, whatever. You need the CB set to 2HKO Salamence and Flygon with BP, and take out Latias with U-Turn or Pursuit. One more thing. For a Bulky Offensive SS team, I'm surprised that you chose Hippowdon over Tyranitar. Everything about Ttar screams: Bulky-Offensive! And anyway, when it comes to physical walling on your team, I think you'd be able to rely on Gliscor to do the job. Not sure what could be your lead though... GL with the team

 

[sora13]

You really don't need to counter these Dragons, most of them can't set-up on any of your pokes and Hippo can wall them if necessary. For this reason, I'm suggesting you change Rhyperior's and Scizor's sets to accomodate this combo......

Scizor @ Occa Berry
Technician
Careful
84 HP / 252 SpD / 172 Spe
- Agility
- Light Screen
- Baton Pass
- Bullet Punch

Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Solid Rock
Jolly
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
- Swords Dance

Scizor lures in a lot of common counters: Heatran, Zapdos, Rotom-h and Magnezone are the big ones. Even better, though, is that this one stays in on opponents like T-tar, Salamence, Blissey and Celebi who expect to OHKO with a Fire attack.

Agility turn 1 as a counter is swapped in or a weakened fire attack is thrown carelessly your way. Light Screen turn 2 if you can, then pass on the next incoming fire attack. Scizor's EVs allow it to take a SpecsTran Flamethrower or ScarfTran Fire Blast, and it outspeeds ScarfTran after an agility.

With a screen up and in a Sandstorm, you are almost guaranteed a Swords Dance. To give some measure of durability, 0 SpA Celebi fails to OHKO with Grass Knot, dealing a peasley maximum of 91%. Surfs from regular bulky waters deal about 50% on average.

After a Swords Dance, you'll be 2HKOing Skarm with Leftovers Stone Edge or Life Orb Rock Slide. Pretty much everything else is at least 2HKO'd, and you have (I believe) complete coverage with your three moves.

Gyarados, Skarmory, Hippowdon and Swampert cause the combo some problems, so make sure you have an alternate passee - Zapdos, Suicune, Starmie, Celebi all work, provided you don't get phazed.

 

[Ericcc]

@Sora13

Thanks for the advice :D

But i think that combo is a little too risky for my taste :/

And can Scizor really survive a specs flamethrower from tran? @_@

I'll look into changing scizors evs to make it specially defensive though

 

[CABBAGE]

Yes they are a nice band :P

Your team is full of tanks :O teams like this generally have trouble dealing any damage at all :S

You don't need BOTH Vaporeon and Empoleon in the same team. I'd say go for Vaporeon as Empoleon has similar weakness to that of Rhyperior and Hippodown. The only problem is you will lose the +50% special defence bonus from sandstorm so maybe remove Vaporeon instead it's your choice.

As for your threats list may i recommend replacing one of the above with a Gengar or Specsjolteon as they can prove the speed and type coverage in order to deal with your threats list (with hidden power ice):

Gengar @ Life Orb
Timid
4 hp / 252 spA / 252 speed
-focus blast
-shadow ball
-thunder bolt
- hidden power ice 70

Jolteon @ choice specs
Timid
4 hp / 252 spA / 252 speed
-thunderbolt
-shadow ball
-hidden power ice 70
-wish/baton pass

for your scizor may i recommend shuffling your ev spread to something close to 252 hp / 252 att / 4 def as it should deal with your dragon problems better. I don't really understand why scizor is plastered with speed evs when it has a perfectly good priority move and a very low base speed anyway :S

Your teams sweeping ability seems to be very limited and probably works around being lucky by the looks of it D:
May i recommend planting this in your team somewhere:

Infernape @ Expert Belt / Life Orb
Naive
64 att / 192 spA / 252 speed
-Close Combat
-Fire Blast
-Hidden Power Ice 70
-Grass Knot

Infernape seems to be rising in popularity as a lead (with rather poor movesets and ev spreads imo :/) but don't let them disguise it's amazing late game sweeping potential. Max Speed will beat modest Gengar and other neutral base 110s OHKOings with fire blast or hidden power ice if you're up against that latias you fear so much. Just remember to put up SR or this won't be able to do it's job all so well. Grass Knot is also useful for taking out those swamperts that seem to wall your team easily.

 

[Ericcc]

@ CABBAGE.

xD No, my team is efficient at dealing damage, It works trust me

But I dont have an actual way of KO'ing Skarm, as i have no fire type on my team, i'll consider Ape. If I added it in, which pokeshould I take out?

 

[frogbandit]

I, like Cabbage, suggest an Infernape. I like this set the best:

Infernape @ Life Orb
Naive
64 Atk / 192 SpA / 252 Spe
-Close Combat
-Fire Blast
-HP Ice
-Nasty Plot

This set, in my opinion, functions MUCH better than rhyperior as a late game sweeper. Or, you can use lucario.

 

[Cooltrainer]

Your entire team would get ridiculously raped by a bulky gyara once Empoleon is gone. Even a pure offensive one, w\ the moveset EQ, Stone Edge, Waterfall, Dragon Dance @ leftovers can put a MASSIVE dent in your team. With sandstorm inhibiting Vaporeon's ability to stall to its potential, you're looking at a 2hko from the aforementioned Gyarados. Then you have .. a sand veil hax to hope for? Cause Scizor aint doing anything for ya there. Id listen to the suggestion about the Jolteon since most Gyarados dont run max speed. But its your preference.

 

[CABBAGE]

@frog bandit - grass knot is by far superior then nasty plot late game as it gives great type coverage and late game generally means most pokemon are weakened already so a +2 SPA is a little bit unnecessary

vaporeon has wish support so go for that one over empoleon and see how it goes on shoddy. (switch out emp. for inf.)

 

[haunter]

Your description for Scizor is not acceptable. Expand it and PM me the fixed description if you want this unlocked. Locking under rule 3 in the meanwhile.