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This is the first revision of my sandstorm team. please critique it and let me know things I'm missing/what I can do to improve it. [sprite]376[/sprite] Metagross @ Occa Berry Ability: Clear Body EVs: 252 HP/236 Atk/12 Def/8 Spd Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Stealth Rock - Earthquake - Bullet Punch - Explosion --- This is standard lead metagross. It can get rocks in reliably, and take out other suicide leads with priority bullet punch. Earthquake is there for things like heatran or infernape that can serve as leads but resist bullet punch, and explosion is there as a last-resort move that can severely weaken anything not ghost. Occa berry was chosen to help survive special fire-type attacks, because even a hippowdon's Earthquake won't be OHing Metagross unboosted. [sprite]212[/sprite] Scizor (F) @ Choice Band Ability: Technician EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - U-turn - Bullet Punch - Superpower - Pursuit --- Scizor replaces the Clefable I used to have on the team; I had decided that support clefable might not be the best idea for my team, which was very offensive-minded. I'm considering trying to bring back said clefable, however, because wish-passing is amazing. On the vein of Scizor himself, I chose him to support Empoleon, having the ability to hurt things like blissey or bulky waters with pursuit, should they show their face. Bullet Punch is there for reliable damage as well as a priority move. U-turn is there for scouting and utility, and superpower is really only there for filler in this set. [sprite]395[/sprite] Empoleon (M) @ Petaya Berry Ability: Torrent EVs: 12 HP/12 Def/232 Spd/252 SAtk Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Agility - Substitute - Surf - Ice Beam --- Your basic SubAgilityPetaya Empoleon. Once the other team's special wall(s) are taken out, Torrent/Petaya boosted surf will eat most things alive, and ice beam provides good neutral coverage. The idea I have here is to switch him in on something he resists, and then sub on the switch, getting in a free agility should the opponent not carry a priority move. If a priority move such as vacuum wave or mach punch shows itself, I will then move to gengar or scizor to deal with the threat, provided they are still alive. [sprite]450[/sprite] Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers Ability: Sand Stream EVs: 252 HP/52 Atk/32 Def/172 SDef Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Curse - Slack Off - Earthquake - Rock Slide --- Hippowdon is on this team to provide some physical bulk as well as starting up the sandstorm that my team (for the most part) is immune to. I chose Hippo over T-tar because of weaknesses: Fighting and ground weaknesses shared between half my team is not the best choice if I want to survive. [sprite]476[/sprite] Probopass (F) @ Leftovers Ability: Magnet Pull EVs: 252 HP/88 Spd/168 SDef Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Thunderbolt - Earth Power - Flash Cannon - Thunder Wave --- In sandstorm, this probopass breaks past 600 special defense, giving him the ability to absorb all but 4x weak special attacks fairly easily. The set also works well to reliably eliminate magnezone, who could otherwise pose a problem for my steely team. A base defense of 140 is nothing to sneeze at either and provides relative safety from anything it's not weak to. However, due to the prevalence of both ground and fighting moves, I often have to switch him out in favor of either gengar or hippowdon, depending on the counter that comes back at me. Should I run into a lead bronzong, probopass can quite easily deal with the threat: it takes roughly 25% from a bronzong's explosion and nearly nothing from its gyro ball due to sharing a low speed stat. [sprite]094[/sprite] Gengar (F) @ Black Sludge Ability: Levitate EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Shadow Ball - Thunderbolt - Trick - Energy Ball --- Gengar was almost tossed on as an afterthought to fill in the last gaps my team hadn't answered yet. With a bit of prediction, I can switch in on the fighting or ground-type move users that would otherwise slaughter my team and do a bit of my own damage back to them. The way I've played this gengar so far has been to attack until it looked like I might be done in the next turn or two, then trick the black sludge onto an opponent's pokemon, usually taking leftovers with me and crippling said pokemon. Energy ball is there to deal with swampert, who otherwise has a lot of fun with my team. thunderbolt hits a lot of things, including other bulky waters and flying types, for super-effective damage, and shadow ball is a reliable STAB move that deals with anything not dark or steel type reasonably well (especially if you can damage them on the switch with stealth rock) --- All in all, the team has served me well for the short time I've used it. I think it could use a bit of tweaking though because I do end up relying on specific pokemon to handle the huge holes in my team too much. I'm considering going to a scarf on gengar because it will help me deal with lucario better (force lucario into one move, and either hurt it hard with gengar, or, if it's using crunch, switch probopass in to hold luke still until it can finish it with earth power, seeing as crunch doesn't pose a huge threat to the bulky probopass). If I have time before it gets RMTed, I may get the comprehensive list of threats from smogon and go through them one-by-one.

All art is from random google search and hosted via free image hosting. Most of it is chosen for the creep factor. But credit is given when I know who to give it to. Starting out is: Bugman the Flygon w/ Choice Scarf Adamant Levitate 82 HP/252 atk/176 speed - Earthquake/Fire Punch - Outrage - U-Turn - Thunder Punch My beautiful lead. I originally had many more EVs dumped into HP so I could outrun Lead Aerodactyl, but then I figured that I wanted this guy around to be my all around revenge killer. Even though Earthquake gets STAB, I started out using Fire Punch to revenge kill Scizor. And my thought process is Heatran is never going to stay in on EQ anyway. But I've found it to be more than useful in a few Wi-Fi matches and Battle Tower runs. I almost always U-Turn right out, since Flygon usually can't score a KO. Then I switch to an appropriate counter. It hits 420 speed, so it really doesn't have anything else to outrun as a lead, besides the occasional Scarf Gengar. Usually, I u-Turn out to this d00d: Weird the Bronzong w/ Light Clay or Leftovers Careful Levitate 88 HP/252 atk/110 Defense/60 Special Defense - Reflect - Stealth Rock/Light Screen - Explosion - Hypnosis Comes in on Flygon, sets up Stealth Rock. Maybe fire off a Hypnosis and sets up a Screen. I've been contemplating Leftovers, since fire moves are running rampant, and what's the point in having a screen or two if you can't survive to set it up. 252 atk is just for a powerful explosion, though I'm considering making it less to get some more bulk out of it. Hypnosis is chosen because Bronzong can usually afford to take some hits, so it can afford to miss once. *credit to Arkeis*ICANFLY! the Claydol w/ Leftovers Bold Levitate 252 HP/252 DEF/6 Sp Atk - Calm Mind - Ice Beam - Earth Power - Rapid Spin While none of my team is weak to SR, it still piles up damage. And it's nice to get rid of spikes. This d00der comes in on Skarmory, takes no damage from spikes and resists SR, spins away, and after a few Calm Minds, can take special hits pretty well. I am considering some EVs in Sp Def, so any recommendations are welcome. The attacks are the best I could do. Ice Beam prevents dragons (sans Kingdra) from coming in unharmed, while Earth Power is there so Heatran won't get the last laugh. The star of the team: *Credit to Deviant Art, to give the "talented" artists a place to be restricted to. Wizard the Tyranitar w/ Leftovers Careful Sand Stream 74 HP/252 atk/8 Def/176 Sp Def - Curse - Sub - Brick Break/Fire Punch - Crunch I originally had Fire Punch, but then it wasn't doing me much. With Brick Break, I can hit Scizor for neutral damage, and Heatran for SE. Crunch for STAB and it has more PP than Payback. And I chose Brick Break over Superpower because of the defense/atk drop, and to break down screens. This guy is so awesome. Screw the DD set. Curse is where it's at. All it really needs is other Pokes to come in and take care of status. I am considering lowering the attack to sink more either into defense or HP. I'm already covered on special defense due to Claydol, and my 6th member. The key to playing Tyranitar is to not come in too early. Too early, and it could get hit with status, or someone has a great counter. Both of these make it harder to get 2-3 Curses in. Also, because two attacks don't allow a lot for coverage. Heatran w/ Choice Scarf Modest Flash Fire 252 sp atk/252 speed/6 HP - Fire Blast - Dark Pulse - Earth Power - Will O Wisp/Overheat/Heat Wave/ Standard set. It's also a revenge killer, but it's mainly here to take poison and fire hits, because my origianl team had a massive fire (And bug) weakness. I'm probably going to end up going for a more defensive set, perhaps a RestTalker. Suggestions are welcome. Heatran's move pool kind of sucks. The 4th slot here is basically filler. Overheat can burn at 30%, Will O Wisp if I think I'm forcing a switch, Heat Wave because why not? *Credit to DEviant Art for creepy picture* Suicune w/ Leftovers Bold Pressure 252 HP/252 Def (no others, from a trade from eons ago) - Calm Mind - Protect - Ice Beam - Surf Not only was my old team heavily fire weak, but it was bug weak too. Which meant Scizor could rip through it. So here is my check on Scizor. Since it already needs 2 calm minds to do any worthwhile damage to non SE hits, I'm thinking of turning it into a complete support set. Or maybe digging through my boxes and see if I have any other options so I can EV train a new one to run Calm Mind. Mybe this 252/252 spread could run a nice Mirror Coat, Swagger, Roar, Toxic set? It might get replaced by Marvel Scale Rest Talk Milotic. Maybe. Overall, I got the following things covered with my team: Status: No one can really absorb sleep or paralysis, unless I change Suicune or Heatran to RestTalk. But Suicune won't mind the paralysis, and T-Tar's sub prevents status altgoether. Heatran absorbs fire, and all steels absorb toxic. Other weaknesses: Bronzong and Flygon cover ground weakness, Heatran covers fire and can take a variety of other hits, Suicune doesn't resist much but is incredibly bulky. Flygon revenge kills like nothing matters. Tyranitar will stay out of danger so it can keep changing weather patterns in my favor. My original team included the following: Skarmory w/ Leftovers Impish Keen Eye 252 HP/252 DEF/6 sp DEF - Roost/Counter - Stealth Rock - Spikes - Roar I quickly ditched Counter because I wasn't taking much damage from physical attacks. It served it's purpose well, but it mostly just sat there. It could still be viable on this team, but I'm not sure how beneficial it would be. This is why Bronzong now carries SR. Though if I continue to fail to set up screens and explode, this guy might make his way back. Torterra w/ Leftovers Impish Overgrow 212 HP/252 DEF/44 Speed - Leech Seed - Protect - Earthquake - Wood Hammer Standard set from Smogon. 44 Speed didn't help at all in outrunning Swampert. I guess most are running more speed nowadays. Otherwise it just added another fire and bug AND Ice weak Poke. I got Leech Seed off quite a few times, but I'm not sure how worth it it was. It could force switches because of Leech Seed, but other Pokes can do that too. So, go on, rate the team.

Sand-Stall General strategy of the team – Sandstorm to damage my opponent in combination with entry hazards while my team aren't hurt by sandstorm and recover with leftovers. Also contains a couple of powerhouses for lategame sweeping and after all the hazards are set up. This isn't something i've tested just an idea i've had Hippowdon @ Leftovers 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD Ability - Sand Stream Nature - Impish Earthquake Stone Edge Stealth Rock Roar My lead, sets up sandstorm with its ability and can set up rocks. It actually outspeeds more than most people think and earthquake will always hurt Skarmory @ Leftovers 252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 16 Spe Ability - Keen Eye Nature - Impish Brave Bird Roost Spikes Whirlwind Similar to hippowdon, he sets up entry hazards and then walls to hell while cycling the opponents team with whirlwind Forretress @ Leftovers 252 HP / 112 Atk / 144 Def Abiltity - Sturdy (not that it matters or i have a choice) Nature - Relaxed Toxic Spikes Gyro Ball Rapid Spin Explosion My third entry-hazard-setter-upper which can also get rid of my opponents rocks and explode to take down a key target. Tyranitar @ Choice Band 176 HP / 252 Atk / 80 Spe Ability - Sand stream Nature - Adamant Stone Edge Crunch Pursuit Aqua Tail Standard ChoiceTar who isn't hurt by storm and packs as much of a punch as usual. Also sets up sandstorm again with his ability if the opponent has rain danced etc. Heatran @ Leftovers 252 HP / 16 SpA / 240 SpD Ability - Flash Fire Nature - Modest Will-O-Wisp Substitute Overheat Roar Burns things for even MORE damage over time and extra rawr support. Also another good lategame special sweeper Zapdos @ Leftovers / Life orb (help deciding) 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Ability - Pressure Nature - Timid Thunderbolt Thunderwave U-Turn Roost Leftovers cancels out sandstorm but life orb really hurts things. This is mainly used to kill water types which destroy most of my team and can then escape again with U-Turn. Thunderwave is to keep with the general stalling strategy Yeah like i said i haven't tested this at all and a lot of things will probably need changing but yeah, criticize constructively