Pokémon Rate My Team
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Mega // Sand Setter
Tyranitar@Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Rock Slide
Crunch
Brick Break/Earthquake
Protect

Reconsidering Tyranitar's EV spread and nature for more bulk and longevity. Also it bothers me a bit that I don't have an EQ on him with two levitating teammates .

Physical Attacker
Garchomp@Life Orb
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Rock Slide/Iron Head
Protect

Standard Garchomp. Sand veil is very nice for general evasion, and from moves with lower accuracy.

Bulky Attacker
Scizor@Lum Berry
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: (read below)
Bullet Punch
Bug Bite
Knock Off/Superpower
Protect

Scizor's EVs are what I'm struggling a bit with because I already have Garchomp taking up the sweeper spot. They are currently 164 HP, 252 Atk, 92 Spe (credit to Scilicet).

Defensive Support
Suicune@Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP, 156 Def, 76 Sp Atk, 4 Sp Def, 20 Spe (Smogon build.)
Scald
Ice Beam/Icy Wind
Tailwind/Snarl
Protect

Offensive Support
Rotom-Heat@Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest
EVs: 200 HP, 88 Sp Atk, 220 Spe (Smogon build, but read below.)
Overheat
Thunderbolt
Will-O-Wisp
Protect

Overall, Rotom-H has been a great slot with Levitate and typing however, its EV spread is beginning to concern me as I don't have many special attacks on the team. I'd like to make him a bit more offensive if seen fit.

Special Defender
Cresselia@Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP, 126 Def, 126 Sp Def, 4 Sp Atk
Psychic
Helping Hand
Icy Wind
Reflect/Swagger/Light Screen

Cresselia is the one that puzzles me the most because of its versatility. I'd like it to be specially defensive and have overall bulk, but input is definitely welcome.

Here is a visual of type resistances:
http://www.teammagma.net/teambuilder/?248m|488|479h|445|245|212

by
I've done quite a bit of Sand VGC myself, so I'll probably end up rating this :>
Already testing it, making changes along the way. Once I'm done with the changes, I'll post my answer
I want to do a rate on this, many things are good, however some things need to be fixed
Thanks, guys. Looking forward to your answers!
Your team has a bit of a struggle against Mega Salamence, especially one with Wide Guard or Helping Hand support. I suggest Sand Force Landorus-Incarnate with HP Ice instead of Garchomp, as it is only 1 Speed point slower and hits really hard in Sand, plus it lets you KO Heatran with Wide Guard support with Earth Power, which stops your own Garchomp's Earthquake.
Scizor' Speed isn't the greatest, so I would suggest placing those EVs in Defense instead for a bulkier build.
Oh and btw, Suicune's Water Absorb is unreleased. Pressure is it's only legal ability.
@Grime Time, I'll look into this. I agree with you on the Wide Guard issue.

Thanks, @Qwerty_Zoom44. I wasn't aware. In that case do you think I should substitute Suicune for another Water Absorber? I sort of like having that ability on the team.

@Toon_Cerberus :P It was literally the first thing that came to mind. Didn't realize someone already had one.

1 Answer

1 vote
 
Best answer

Welp, that took way too long. But it's here! My first rate in ages. Just know that the following rate is by a newb as well, and all my changes were from practical use. Technically... I guess people may have a say about it xP


And off we are!

Overview:

Believe it or not, this team is pretty stable despite it's seemingly meek nature towards Water types. Sand is the most anti-meta weather, blowing off the Sun and Rain quite easily. Hail is not concerned, as far as I know. Garchomp +Mega Tyranitar still works, and it catches some players off guard as they expect Mega Garchomp (and rightfully so). I'll give more details on that in the individual pokemon review.

Your main concerns here are Rain teams, Trick Room teams and Intimidate.

  • Rain teams because even though you don't let it rain, they are choked with Water types, and they are your team's bane.
  • Trick Room team is more of a threat in Swiss rounds. On the first look, this team doesn't quite look like a Tailwind team, but once it's clear then Trick Room will generate some pressure on you.
  • Intimidate is a lesser threat, but it's there alright. You don't have any Intimidate counters (perhaps this team worked better without one), and your Sand-Dragon lead is somewhat neutralized by it. This would mostly have to be worked around.

Besides this, any Fighting type pokemon would create some strain on you. Most notably Virizion, Machamp / Scrafty and sometimes Terrakion or Conkeldurr. My changes don't really deal with this well enough, so against these you may just have to avoid Sand altogether or work around it.


Individual Analysis:

(changes in bold)

image image

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 164 SpA / 92 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Rock Slide
- Crunch

Enter the man of the match. Tyranitar has got some new things on him now. I changed him to a mixed attacker. The obvious reason would be to demolish any Landog that dares try raining on T-tar's parade. But it also takes care of some more unseen (but obvious nonetheless) threats, such as Flying or Dragon types such as Salamence and the Genie duo. All this comes at the cost of Speed, but given speed is sufficient for Tyranitar to outspeed uninvested Heatrans, so it's workable.


image

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect

I made no changes here, Garchomp was working fine and dandy along everything. Sand Veil is a cruel ability by the way, sometimes to the opponent and sometimes to you. Just remember to let it do it's own thing, don't rely on it until you're a cornered rat with no choices.


image

Suicune @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Tailwind
- Protect

Aside from the change in ability and item, Suicune also sees no change. I didn't really get why you needed Leftovers, because in the same manner it neutralizes Sandstorm it also neutralizes recovery. Sitrus all the way.

Although you wanted to replace it, Suicune's presence itself is actually quite crucial for this team. It is your defensive standpoint; it doesn't drop quick even in sand. Secondly, it's what your primary protection against Landorus, Terrakion and Hydreigon. Lastly, Suicune is the Tailwind to your team. This allows Garchomp to outspeed what it would originally have underspeeded, and proceed to sweep.

To put it informally, Suicune is your bro and always has your back.


image

Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 196 HP / 4 Def / 160 SpA / 148 Spe
Modest Nature
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Rotom was made a bit more offensive, since you did lack strong counters to opposing Grass types. Overheat hurts like a truck, striking down half the HP to anything that doesn't resist it (even more so if Helping Hand is accounted for).

This EV spread mainly centralizes a bit on Rotom-Heat's bulk, having enough special attack to OHKO nearly all Amoonguss out there. Best part is that alongside being immune to sandstorm and hail, it is also immune to Sleep Powder, Spore and Rage Powder; a perfect Amoonguss foil. Alongside that, it survives random stuff like LO Terrakion's Rock Slide and completely invested Milotic's Scald.


image

Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet / Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 12 SpA / 36 SpD / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
- Psychic
- Icy Wind
- Helping Hand
- Trick Room

By now, the team looked ultra vulnerable to Trick Room. Your pokemon are too fast to afford a slow pokemon to take control of Tricky times. So I decided that Cress should carry around Trick Room as well, just to switch the dimensions back to normal when things get sticky. Mental Herb is good for when you are hit by Taunt, but Rocky Helmet is also good as a punishment for physical attackers.

The given EV spread makes Cress tough as nails, surviving the strongest of physical and special attacks, including but not limited to Max offense Kangaskhan Double Edge, Salamence Double Edge, LO Bisharp Knock Off and Choiced Hydra's Dark Pulse. All this while speed creeping opposing Cresselia's by 1 speed point (courtesy of EVs). Thing's all kinds of awesome.


image

CrayCrayLovr (Cradily) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 92 SpA / 116 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Ancient Power
- Gastro Acid
- Protect

After countless bouts of testing, grueling Swiss rounds and several other opinions, I just couldn't find any use for Scizor. It went to almost no matches with me, and whenever it came I never got to use it as much. Although I can see that the Fairy weakness has increased with this, your team needed the Water counter more.

Almost all the Fairy types I saw (Mega Gardevoir, Sylveon, Azumarill) fell to one hit from Garchomp and Tyranitar anyways, although Tailwind had a hand somewhere in there. Cradily is by definition the check to Water types in a Sand team. It's spread, like Cress', is meant to be supremely bulky and as slow as needed for Trick Room mishaps. Rest is dumped special attack, just so I can KO random stuff like Talonflame and Gastrodon, while do just below 50% to Milotic (to avoid activating Sitrus).

It also does this, although this was by no means the benchmark I aimed for:

>252+ Atk Adaptability Mega Lucario Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 48 Def Chople Berry Cradily: 158-188 (81.8 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


I'm pretty sure you're "TL;DR, meh" right now, so here you go:

Original:
1 1 1 1 1 1

Final:
2 2 2 2 2 2


Hope you found this useful!

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Thanks, pleasure's all mine :D, and I'm simply recommending what you recommended to me Astro. And yes, it's because I've used that team so much that I was confident enough to do an RMT after a year now. Scary how similar sand teams end up looking like
Funny how some teams are so different in theory than in actual gameplay. Without a doubt, this team is stable. But if anyone was to observe it, they would immediately call all kinds of problems with it xD

IMO rating through practice is definitely the way to go, and commendable effort Q :D
Ok, so I've tested this team and it's done extremely well. I think I won 14 matches in a row before I lost. I did however, notice that it has trouble dealing with common pokemon such as Mega-Kang, Gardevior, Sylveon, etc. because the team lacks poison, steel, and fighting type move coverage.
I noticed, and I've also tried using an Aegislash in Cradily's place. On paper it looked like a great plan, but then I found myself in a tough spot against Water types again… You could try that as well, maybe it would work out for you
I'l mess around with Aegislash. I love having Cradily on the team because I can't even describe the terror it brings to rain teams, which I see a good amount. I was considering putting Iron Head onto Garchomp instead of Rock Slide to help with Fairy types since Tyranitar already has it, and Cradily has Ancient Power.