Rate my Gen 8 OU Sand Team

Question

Hippowdon @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Whirlwind
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off

This is my primary sand setter. Smooth Rock extends Sand longevity and Stealth Rock sets up hazards. Pretty self explanatory EVs and Moves. However, I'm in between Toxic and Whirlwind. I've run into problems with Sub Hawlucha and Swords Dance Rillaboom with Toxic, but Whirlwind leaves me lacking against some bulkier mons.

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake

This is my secondary sand setter. Assault Vest boosts SpD to high levels where even things like Tapu Lele and Dragapult fail against it. Flamethrower and Ice Beam hits unsuspecting switch-ins like Landorus and Ferrothorn. Earthquake targets Heatran, and Rock Blast is STAB.

Dracozolt @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 96 Atk / 212 SpA / 200 Spe
Modest Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake

This is my main sweeper. EVs allow it to effectively run a mixed set and hit important benchmarks in Speed, Atk and SpA against switchins like 2HKO non-SpD Landorus and the like. EVs could change though as I just found this set on another sand team that peaked at 1900 ELO.

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

Again, Fairly simple sweeping set. Not much to explain here, so I'll skip it.

Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 76 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Roost

Buzzwole is my main Defensive wall that deals with threats such as Landorus, Non-Grassy Seed Rillaboom and other physical sweepers. The SpD EVs give it enough bulk to get off a Roost to continue to survive. I'm unsure about the EVs, so improvements are welcome.

Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 168 SpA / 92 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Defog
- Hurricane
- Volt Switch

Finally Zapdos rounds off my team. Zapdos hits targets like Buzzwole, Pelipper, Volcanion and other threats that can hurt my team. Volt Switch allows for tempo, Defog removes hazards that reduce Dracozolt's and Tyranitar's longevity and Roost is recovery. I used SpD to help Tyranitar not take the full blunt of SpA.

Threats and Problems of the Team

• Whirlwind or Toxic on Hippowdon? As I mentioned before, when I had Toxic, I got murdered by Grassy Seed Rillaboom and Sub Hawlucha very often. However, by not running Toxic, I lack the ability to threaten bulkier walls.
• Tyranitar's Longevity Even with Tyranitar's massive Special Bulk, it gets worn down rather quickly, so I need a way to reduce this. It gets worn down by Tapu Lele and Volcanion.

Any ideas would be helpful! I've peaked around 1750, but I feel this team can be better.

Comments

I feel like you should switch tyranitar’s flamethrower and ice beam with fire and ice punch, so you can take advantage of its great attack stat and invest more evs into Spd or Attack.

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The OP does explain why Flamethrower and Ice Beam were used instead.

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Ice Beam and Flamethrower are meant to cover primarily Defensive Walls like Ferro, Chomp and Landorus, so that's why I don't use The Punches.

Answer 1

This team structure is kinda outdated not gonna lie. Physdef Hippo, av Tyranitar and Dracozolt are things of the past. Based on my experience with sand, here are my suggestions

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Av Tyranitar is not a thing anymore and there's a good reason for that. With Tapu Lele being the only common focus miss user, you don't really need that extra spd bulk not to mention a couple moonblasts will hurt, a lot. Excadrill can't even tank Lele at all because it doesn't really have the best defensive stats. As such, Slowking will fit you very well since it can make Lele miserable for days while also being able to wall Volcanion, another pokemon that griefs sand teams

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As of right now, Dracozolt is not a good choice at all. Spdef Landorus is everywhere and may Trigon help you if you draco a Ferrothorn, or any other steel for that matter. Instead, either Blacephalon or Lele can take this slot. These two are really the best candidates because Blacephalon has a very powerful and spammable stab while Lele's terrain makes even steels shaky checks and above all, checks the rare Rillaboom. While checking Rillaboom is no longer that mandatory, it's still nice to be prepared for it just in case especially when the one you're using to check it isn't a bad pokemon

Physical defense Hippowdon has no place in the current meta. You still lose to the likes of Weavile and Urshifu even with hpysdef. Instead, use it as a spdef pokemon. WIth max spdef, you can answer Dragapult, one of the tier's most dangerous pokemon while still not immediately dying to most boosted non super effective hits. While not mandatory, you might wanna consider using lefties instead of smooth rock as its item since you don't need to hard support Excadrill on its own

For Excadrill, you do not want a life orb rn. One of Excadrill's biggest perks is its quad rock resistance which means you stick around very long. As such, lefties is probably the best item for Drill. You can also use air balloon as another option if you want. Lastly, rapid spin is much better than rock slide rn. Even with rock slide, you're still gonna get walled by Corviknight and Zapdos could still pose a problem. Spin will provide you with more utility in keeping hazards off without conceding your own

For Buzzwall, you really want close combat over drain punch. The last thing you want is for an opposing Kartana to live and kill you if you're low enough. CC would also guarantee the kill against mons like spdef Heatran or Ferrothorn or another annoying mons in the tier. It's also better if you ditch bulk up. Setting up with this thing isn't really a good idea and it's a very pathetic win con because neutral special hits maul you and you die to a single hurricane from the very common Zapdos and Tornadus. Lastly, use the standard set for this thing. You are vulnerable to special attacks either way so just maximize your damage output without giving up too much physical bulk

For the last mon, with Excadrill now taking up hazard removal duties, you might wanna consider offensive Zapdos. This thing actually hurts with its strong stab combination, high speed and decent spa. With a powerful hurricane, you can maul common checks to Excadrill like Landorus and Garchomp while taking full advantage of opposing rain teams' weather

Here's my suggested team

Comments

Thank you!  I think I'll keep Zolt for right now because it runs Fire Blast to specifically beat Ferro, but I'll try your other options if it doesn't work.