Community POTW #140

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and this week we got o Kanto & Alola

It's Sandslash!

Sandslash #028 - Serebii.net Pokédex

Sandslash Pokémon Serebii.net Pokédex providing all details on moves, stats, abilities, evolution data and locations for Pokémon Sword & Shield and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

www.serebii.net

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Sandslash @ Assault Vest
Adamant nature
Ability: Slush Rush
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
- Icicle Crash
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Drill Run / Stomping Tantrum

Sandslash hasn't changed much in the generation shift, the biggest change is the buffed Rapid Spin, but it was great in gen 7 as kind of a hail version of Excadrill. With excellent speed in hail conditions and the first three moves here all having a good flinch rate, Sandslash can bring quite a lot of flinch hax to your side. Icicle Crash is Ice STAB, and Ice is one of the best offensive types in the game, covering popular stuff like Dragapult, Rillaboom, and Landorus. Note that to outspeed Jolly Scarf Landorus Sandslash does need a Jolly nature, but against Adamant Landorus the Adamant Sandslash is fast enough. Iron Head covers Fairy types, opposing Ice types, and Rock types like Tyranitar, Rock Slide can offer spread damage and covers the likes of Charizard. The last Ground move covers Steel types like Heatran and Magnezone which can otherwise often be bothersome to Hail teams.

This Sandslash has to run in hail teams and can complement them well. Also run a hail setter like Ninetales, and Kommo-o is also a good addition (though Kommo-o's nerf didn't help), Kommo-o can cover virtually any fire or steel type, including Incineroar, and is also immune to hail damage with Overcoat, and can act as a switch in to incoming Fire attacks Sandslash should avoid at all costs while Sandslash can easily cover most Dragon and Fairy targets that could threaten Kommo-o.

 

[XaelOstigian]

Got my hands on a shiny Kanto Sandslash. Here's the set I ran with him.

Shiny Sword Sweep Sandslash
Ability: Sand Rush
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
EVs: (HP 252) (Attack 252) (Speed 252)

Moves:
Agility/Sandstorm
Swords Dance
Earthquake
Stone Edge

Set Details:
Double speed with either Agility or Sandstorm if your team benefits from the weather, set up Swords Dance to double offensive output, and then sweep with Earthquake as STAB and Stone Edge as coverage. Invest all in attack but mostly speed, and use Life Orb for extra damage.

 

[Mestorn]

Kantonian Sandslash benefited more from the changes around it than any buffs it got itself (aside from the Speed Boosting Rapid Spin). The biggest boon in the generation shift for Sandslash was fellow Sand Rush Sweeper Stoutland getting nerfed into the Ground (hah) by the loss of its spammable STAB in Return, giving Sandslash a chance to shine... Except not really. While it is true that Stoutland getting nerfed was a boon for Sandslash, our Sand Echidna is still wholly outclassed by Excadrill, who does everything Sandslash does except better and the new Sand Rush sweeper on the block Dracozolt whose typing doesn't exasperate the Water/Grass weakness that Sand teams already have.

The strategy being unreliable is another nail in Sandslash's coffin, being easy to disrupt thanks to Dynamax and any number of weather changing moves. And out of Sand, Sandslashes woes are quite apparent -weak to many common attacking types with poor Special Defense and Speed makes Sandslash easy to wash away. Additionally, being stonewalled by the perenial Skarmory and Corviknight does not help matters either.

Alolan Sandlash enjoys a small but healthy niche as the best Slush Rush sweeper in the game. While yes Hail is even more unreliable than Sand and Alolan Sandslash's two quadruple weakness are noticeable achilles heels, its Steel typing still provides a decent defensive profile and wide coverage pool makes Alolan Sandslash difficult to stop in the snow.

 

[Luthor]

One thing worth mentioning is that this gen there are 2 more Slush Rush users this gen which potentially adds more competition for Alolan Sandlash. Arctozolt in particular is another good option and with its Bolt Beak can be very strong.