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A Sandy Attempt (OU Sand with Lanturn)

OceanicLanturn

Non non non!
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Sand, sand EVERYWHERE.
(btw this picture is from Serebii's Pokearth before anyone sues me)

Anyways, hai guise. I was originally thinking of making an OU Team with Lanturn in it, and put it to some good use. I ran through Lanturn's statistics, positive traits, typing etc and I finally found it to be best working against a rain team. So yeah, I need a counter-weather, so I found Sand... Well long story, I'll start with team building process

(Also, I'm too lazy to copy and paste the pictures in so you guys will have to do with small avatars thingy)
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Lanturn and Hippowdon shares a defensive core. Lanturn tanks special hits while Hippowdon can easily soak up physical bashes with ease like a sponge. It is also my sand setter, and all those other neat stuff.

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Landorus fills in as my special attacker spot, as well as a great sweeper. It has really nice stuff, like sheer force which can effectively abuse special moves.

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Celebi is another great attacker. It's both bulky and has good speed, which usually can be used to pull off a few kills. Yeah, great.

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I realised that I was missing a spinner. I really don't want to use Starmie or Forretress or Tentacruel, so I went with a bouncer, Espeon. Espeon can also be my support, as one might say.

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I needed a nice and steady revenge killer to tidy things up, and that's Victini. I know, three Psychic types blah blah blah. But Victini has awesome coverage with the new attacks it acquired... which can be changed into a ... delicious sweep.​

Now, to business the Team itself.

Defensive Cores
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Lanturn @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP / 216 SDef / 252 Def
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
- Ice Beam

Lanturn is my favourite pokemon, it's so awesome that my sig is covered in it. Lanturn is a fun Pokemon in OU, because some clueless players see that it's blue and immediately call a Thunder, yeah. Lanturn is my fake lead, and most of the time I lead with someone else. Anyways, the EV Spread is pretty simple. 40HP gives the magical 401 HP and 216 S.Def makes it into a strong special wall. The rest is dumped into defense so it can tank some random physical hits. Believe it or not, Lanturn has been known to tank Outrage from Garchomp... without a burn! If the calcs said otherwise, I'll just assume the chomp was running 0 atk ev and 0 atk iv and minus attack nature xD

Scald burns physical attackers, which can be a surprise catch and really shove a middle finger to a physical attacker. Ice Beam beats Garchomp when they don't outright kill me with Earthquake, but nonetheless, it still gets its job done in predicting switches. Volt Switch gets me out of bad situations, and Lanturn's bulkiness can tank a hit for incoming teammates. Thunder Wave is used to predict a switch, and cripple incoming pokemon. I had this really cute battle where I T-waved a Xatu with Magic Bounce, and it was bounced right back to me and I healed 30%. Moral of the lesson? Don't underestimate Lanturn <3

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Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 SDef
Careful Nature
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock

Hippowdon fills in as my physically defensive core, as well as the sand setter for the team. This EV spread is self explanatory as well. Max HP maxes Leftover recovery, while the rest is dumped into Defense and a bit to Special Defense. This allows Hippowdon to tank hits well and retaliate back. It's also a plus over Tyranitar as it doesn't have the nasty x4 fighting weakness. Lanturn and Hippowdon also shares some synergy with each other. Lanturn is weak to ground, most of them from Earthquakes, which Hippowdon can cleanly tank, while Hippowdon's Ice and Water Weakness are covered by Lanturn. They both are weak to grass, but it's also covered in other pokemon.

Ice Fang can beat Dragons and Landorus and some flying types and can catch a surprise hit to those who think I'm gonna use Earthquake. Earthquake is the STAB Move of choice, and turns Heatran into heatran-rubble. Slack Off is a great recovery move, allowing me to get half the hp back and practically reviving me. Stealth Rock on Hippowdon is also lesser seen, and can give
teams with only a Xatu/Espeon a nasty surprise.

Special Attacker
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Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Rock Polish
- Focus Blast
- Earth Power
- Psychic

Landorus is another great pokemon, beinga special attacker. It's completely special, which means the EV spread is simple: Special Attack and Speed with Modest. Landorus is a nasty threat once it gets a Rock Polish up, outspeeding scarfed threats. This Pokemon is another one which is Water weak, which means that Lanturn can soak it up again. Landorus also has a nasty ice weakness, another Lanturn's favourite thing to take. Landorus, on the other hand, is completely immune to Earthquake, and can switch into a banded pokemon lock in earthquake. As they switch out, I set up and the havoc chapter begins...

Rock Polish is the star of this set. It doubles speed, and allows Landorus to outspeed many many stuff. Focus Miss blasts Steel types like Nuttrey into Oblivion while Earth Power deals with Heatran, and murder the poor volcano thingy with ease. Psychic deals with Gengar, which would wall Landorus otherwise. It also gets a neat mention for psyching out Breloom, Keldeo, Conkderule (whatever) and Gengar, all of which gets outsped after a Rock Polish setup if I'm not wong.

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Celebi @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 220 HP / 36 Spd
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- U-turn
- Recover

O Celebi~ O Celebi~ Thy sweep is so amazing O Celebi~ O Celebi! Thy sweep are so amazing Not only sweep when sun is bright, but also when rain is high. O Celebi~ O Celebi~ Thy sweep is so amazing

And yeah. Celebi is pretty good. It's my Gastrodon killer and other cool monkeys. Celebi has 100 all stats, which makes it pretty unpredictable. Right now, I'm running a special sweeper Deluxe Set. It also has a great ability in Natural Cure and won't fear any status. The EV Spread is pretty simple, turning it into a healthy special attacker, with some nice speed investment there.

Giga Drain is used over Leaf Storm because it can heal HP while still scoring a few hard hits. This especially helps when Celebi is holding a Life Orb. Earth Power destroys Non-Balloon Heatrans who think they're so mighty to switch into me, until Earth Power is unleashed and boom! U-Turn is a nice way to do some damage (not much though) while getting a Natural Cure healing. Recover recovers, when I'm at 10% against something that can't be hit very hard with Giga Drain. Many wall this set, such as the dragons. For specially inclined dragon like Hydreigon, I switch Lanturn in. Meanwhile, physical ones belong to Hippowdon, who can try and beat them with Ice Fang. Though the Parashuffling D-nite is a welcoming sign for Lanturn for free hp.

Physical Attacker
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Victini @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Trick
- Bolt Strike
- V-create
- U-turn

Victini, after getting Bolt Strike from an event, becomes a huge powerhouse with the best coverage it wil ever get. Besides from a revenge killer, Victini also does its job well by screwing walls. The EV Spread is also pretty simple, max speed and attack for maximum jelly. Adamant gives that extra boost in power, which may be the source of ouches.

Trick is a great move to mess up walls by tricking a scarf there and getting some Leftovers. Bolt Strike beats water types and flying types, and can stir fry some poor pokemon that come into the line of fire. V-Create is literally fire, with 210 BP after STAB nothing to laugh about. It also does a great job of stir frying Nuttrey. Yeah, eat that you nut! U-Turn gives quick escape while doing good damage to Celebi and Lati@s.

Supporter
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Espeon @ Light Clay
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Psyshock
- Baton Pass

Espeon is probably one of the best DuoScreener ever. And of course I'd use Espeon! One thing fun about Espeon is that not only does it only function as a Taunter or hazard bouncer, I can switch into a Breloom, which is gonna use Spore, and spore back, making the Breloom sleep. Or I could switch into Will-o-Wisp Rotom-W that will come in and all the other neat stuff. The EV Spread is so that Espeon swiftly set up screens while able to tank a hit before setting up.

Reflect and Light Screen are the cores of Espeon's moveset. Once the two screens are up, Lanturn and Hippowdon become much harder to take down, and the sweepers won't instantly die to say, STAB Hydro Pump from a Rotom-W. Psyshock does its job well to beat fighting types while Baton Pass prevents me from being Pursuit-Trapped, which isn't the best situation the Espeon would like to be stuck at...

~~~~~
Changes:
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Anyways, I'm done everyone, thanks for reading and drop a comment please!
 

SkyDriver

Hiding in the grass
took a quick look and immediately noticed a huge 3/0 weakness to both dark and ghost. Also no steel type may make it harder to counter Dragons.
Landorus HP ice > Psychic for hitting Dragons harder
full review later
 
I notice a lack of a Steel type. This means Dragon types can come in and sweep you to hell and back, aswell as no resist to Dark & Ghost. For this, I suggest a Heatran over Victini or Espeon. This also has the added bonus of synergizing with Celebi extremely well (CeleTran core)

will do moar later prolly
 

SoulMuse

Shadow of nothing
Hm....Yeah, as stated above Dragons can come in, and frankly most of them are going to get at least on kill off before you hit back. To fix this, I would suggest changing Lanturns Ablity to Water Absorb, if that is released (I don't know), and placing a Specially Defensive Heatran over Espeon.

Heatran@Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP, 244 Special Defense, 12 Speed.
Lava Plume
Toxic
Earth Power/Roar
Protect

Mostly standard Specially Defensive Heatran. Maxed Hp and nearly maxed Special Defense makes it very hard to take Heatran down, and thanks to his good base defense, you can also use Heatran to tank Outrages from dragons as well. Beyond that, you already have Hippowdon to lay Stealth Rocks, so you don't need those here. I would suggest running Earth Power to get the jump on other Heatran, non balloon, while the extra 12 speed EVs let you beat out other specially defensive Heatran, and beat them 1 on 1.
 

Sparkbeat

FLASH! AAAHHHAAA!
Yeah, I agree to go with heatran over espeon since you're team doesn't have any stealth rock weak pokemon. Just try not to let many layers of spikes get up. As for celebi, keep the ev's, but Leaf Storm>Giga Drain. It OHKO's most jellicent and all gastrodon, and you have recover for longevity. Also, go thunder wave>u-turn for the sole purpose of hitting tornadus-t, venusaur, or dragons on the switch.
 
I agree with everything above except for possibly the u turn to t wave switch.
Landorus should run timid, hippo impish, and victini jolly
 

spooky96

New Member
As most people said, you don't have any Steel types, so strong Dragon moves can really be trouble for you and you also miss out on some common resistances. Though Hipppodown does have Ice Fang to beat Dragons, its not very powerful since you have no investment in Attack, I mean Dragonite [A Choice Band set] can survive one Ice Fang even after Stealth Rock damage. I think instead of Ice Fang I suggest using Whirlwind, which won't allow your enemy to set up more than 1 entry hazard. Oh and by the way, every Dragon Out speeds Lanturn anyways.

Celebi, I think instead of Recover you should go for more coverage moves - such as Hidden Power Fire to gain advantage over Grass and Steel types, especially threats such as Scizor and Ferrothorn.

I also suggest to run a Heatran (Preferably a Defensive variant) over Espeon, Celebi baits your enemy to go for Fire moves, so Flash Fire can be activated. That's all I can think as of now...
 

OceanicLanturn

Non non non!
Okay, so the general advice is Sp. Def Heatran > Espeon. I'll try it out as a dragon resist. But I will sure miss the DuoScreen combo.

And yeah, the natures will be changed!!
 

Psycho Cut

Well-Known Member
Yep, the main thing is a Dragon Resist (as many Latios and Hydreigon (among others) sets can really lay the hurt on your team), I'd go for a more defensive Dragon resist though, personally, because I think it would be beneficial to run a spread of 228 HP / 252 SDef / 28 Spd on Lanturn (maybe even invest in some SAtk). This gives it enough Speed to outrun uninvested Politoed and Skarmory, allowing you to nail them with a SE Volt Switch and it maximises Laturn's great SDef. You have Scald too, which is enough to dissuade many Physical attackers.

As for that Dragon Resist, I would dissuade against SDef Heatran, since it would open up your team further to Mamoswine (who is a pain as Victini's your only decent check and even he can't switch in). Something like Bronzong or Scizor, or to a lesser extent Jirachi would be a good fit. I can help further with sets and whatnot if you'll take my advice (send me a VM/PM) but otherwise it's food for thought!

Finally, kudos for using RP Landorus, it is awesome! I'd definitely suggest HP Ice over Psychic though. Although you lose the Sheer Force boost and take LO Recoil, it's worth it for the extra coverage.
 

SkyDriver

Hiding in the grass
As replacement for Espeon, Scizor w/ roost would be best, as it resists the Ghost 'n' Dark moves you are weak to. Roost for recovery, Pursuit to trap them. SuperPower for Zone and Bullet Punch for STAB. LO would make for a good item.

Landorus should stay modest, as RP already makes it fast as hell.
 

OceanicLanturn

Non non non!
Okay, here's an updated list on what I'm going to possibly test:

Sp. Def Heatran > Espeon
Scizor > Espeon
EV spread that focuses on Lanturn's Sp.Def, I might try that.
Impish > Careful on Hippowdon

Psycho Cut's point kinda made sense. Mamoswine could beat the living daylight out of this team. If I try Heatran, it would just emphasise more on the Mamoswine weakness. Anyways, I'll try Scizor first :3
 
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