Gengar and Tyranitar's Sand Stall Team!

[RefreezePR]

Welcome to my first OU team that I made myself (mostly, but special thanks to Extroph, KentuckyFriedTorchic, and TrainerChris for helping out on the finer details)! So I really love Gengar and I decided to build a team around him with no real specific goal but to make a good OU team with Gengar in it. So I went to Beldum Labs and found that Gengar and Tyranitar have really good synergy and I kept going from there.

​

Pokemon: Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 Atk/ 252 SpD
Nature: Sassy (+SpD, -Spe)
Moves:
-Stealth Rock
-Stone Edge
-Pursuit
-Fire Blast

I normally lead with this Tyranitar to set up sand stream and maybe stealth rocks if I feel its a good choice. I chose to have a bulkier Tyranitar because I like have a team of bluky mons with good synergy so I can switch around a lot to keep my opponent guessing my next move. Other than Sand Stream I mostly use him to take down any psychic or ghost types that could be a threat to Gengar's late game sweep. I use pursuit on enemy mons that I expect to switch out or Pokemon like Latios, Latias, Alakazam, and others. Stone Edge is great for stab and damage and it makes Tyranitar a good Volcarona counter. Tyranitar can also tank some pretty strong hits and return with equal strength with the amount of bulk it has.

​

Pokemon: Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP/ 32 Def/ 4 SpAtk/ 224Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
Moves:
-Rapid Spin
-Scald
-Psyshock
-Recover

Here's Starmie which I'm kinda new to using but I think I'm getting the hang of it, with Starmie's bulk I can switch into it pretty safely when I need too and still do some very strong damage with Psyshock and Scald, Scald being there for the hopeful burn on an enemy physical attacker. With Starmie's speed I can also outspeed threats like Breloom, Politoed, and recently I've been thinking about changing Psyshock into Thunderbolt to be able to take down Politoed and even Tornadus which it outspeeds.

​

Pokemon: Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpAtk/ 4 SpD/ 252Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
Moves:
-Earth Power
-HP Ice
-Focus Blast
-Substitute

So Landorus is here because I needed a speedy sweeper that I could release in mid game to do some major damage, although that's pretty self explanatory. I usually switch into him when I have a good chance in mid game and when I expect a volt switch or a ground type attack like earthquake. I guess his down sides are that he's kinda squishy but that's mostly fixed by his immunites, he can also be a good revenge killer.

​

Pokemon: Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 SpAtk/ 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
Moves:
-Calm Mind
-Dragon Pulse
-Psyshock
-Roost

Here's a Pokemon that I've used before, so I actually know what I'm doing with this one. I like this Latias build, its pretty good for a number of things: switching into, setting up, and big dragon and psychic damage. Other than that I don't really know how to explain how I often use Latias though, I kinda use it as a pivot if I don't really know what's going on and I need something without many weaknesses and can also deal some good damage. I have roost on it for survivability Dragon Pulse for anti-dragon capability and Psyshock for STAB and those Psychic weak mons like Breloom, Conkeldure and others.

​

Pokemon: Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Spe, -Atk)
Moves:
-Ice Punch
-U-Turn
-Iron Head
-Fire Punch

Here's Jircahi, I use him mostly as a revenge killer and to take down threats that stand to the team like Ferro, Celebi, Dragonite, Alakazam, since he outspeeds them all and does big damage. He's also got that extra hax that makes my frown turn upside down no matter what's happening. One thing I've been thinking about with Jirachi's moveset is to maybe take out one of the moves and add wish to also be able to heal Jirachi and other Pokemon on the team, I don't know which one would be best to remove though. I also have an Adamant nature on him to do even more damage and he still outspeeds his targets. It also confirms a OHKO on Dragonite and with rocks can confirm the OHKO on Garchomp.

​

Pokemon: Gengar @ Black Sludge
Abiltiy: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 SpAtk/ 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
Moves:
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
-Disable
-Substitute

Alright here's the star of the show, and my favorite Pokemon, and the shadow of your nightmares. Gengar is here for that strong end game sweep that I end so many of my battles with, I've got the black sludge to counter sandstorm and sub+disable to take out any super effective moves that people know if I can't take them down in one hit, I guess he's weak to psychic type moves but by the end game I've pretty much always taken them out to clear an easy path for Gengar's sweep.

So looking at this team with all the changes I've made I feel pretty good about it, but I've been having problems with some the Pokemon in the threats list below. Although others I have covered pretty easy.

Spoiler: Threat List

Alakazam-----Handled with U-Turn on Jirachi, Pursuit on Tyranitar, and stealth rocks to break sashed ones.

Politoed-----No real plan to handle him, but I've found Latias works pretty well, perish song forces me to switch out though. I've thought about giving Starmie Thunderbolt instead of Psyshock to handle this guy, what do you think?

Hippowdown-----Tornadus does a big number on Hippowdown but with life orb damage and no healing capabilites Whirlwhind and Slack Off tends do me in if played right but Jirachi with Ice punch also does a fair amount.

Scizor-----No real counter as of yet because of its U-Turn but I'll keep looking into it, however if I do catch it out Fire Punch on Jirachi or Fire Blast on Tyranitar I can do a pretty good number on it.

Dragonite-----Ice Punch on Rachi outspeeds and kills 95% of the time with 4X effectiveness and is confirmed with rocks, I also have HP Ice on Landorus and Dragon Pulse on Latias should do a number if it survives the first hit (I haven't done the damage calcs yet)

Garchomp-----Same goes for what I said about Dragonite ^

Terrakion-----No real plan here because of his speed, although half my Pokemon have moves that are supereffective against him so I just try to catch him out when he switches in or hope for some sort of lucky play suggestions would be great for this one.

Spoiler: Import List

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Def / 4 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Substitute

Latias @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Roost
- Psyshock

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Disable
- Substitute

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Atk
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast

 

[Messuduppotatoasia]

It seems to me that anything fast can just rip straight through this team without much troubles. Especially things like Dragon Dance Dragonite and Scarf Tyranitar are just two of which that are particularly worrisome to this team. I would strongly recommend getting a revenge killer, perhaps using a Choice Scarf Jirachi over your current build would be a start to counteract the two. There are a lot more threats to this team, but that's just something quick that I just suggest to test out.

 

[RefreezePR]

Thanks Messuduppotatoasia! Choice Scarfed Jirachi does seem like a much better option than what I have, I'm also adding a threats list and I'll put an import in a spoiler for anyone who'd like to test out my team.

Also I've been informed that this isn't a sand stall team, just a bulky sand team, I don't think I can change the title now though =/

 

[CedOmega]

Hello RefreezePR, nice sand team you've got here. First, I want to start off by saying yes, this is a bulky sand team & not a sand stall. However, the name can be as offsetting as you want it to be. It doesn't change the team, so it doesn't really matter in the end.

That aside, I'll get down to the suggestions. I want to start off by noting that you have great synergy between your Pokémon. The most useful change I can see as of now is to use a Jolly nature of Jirachi over your current Adamant nature to allow it to outpace or speed tie common threats like +1 Salamence, +1 Volcarona, Scarfed and/or DD Haxorus, etc.

Spoiler: Scarfed Jirachi

;385;
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
Jolly nature
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 SDef/ 252 Spd
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch/ Trick
- U-turn

Also something to consider is Thunderbolt on Starmie over either Scald or Psyshock to allow Starmie to counter rain for the team aside from Tyranitar's switching in being needed. It also helps Starmie handle opposing bulky waters and opposing Starmie better. Gengar could also use a SubSplit set here; as the recoil from Sand, Life Orb and maybe a weak attack adds up to be very annoying once Gengar has Pain Split. Life Orb only further benefits you due to the boost it gives Gengar's attacks.

Next, I'd also like to recommend Rock Polish over Substitute on Landorus. Substitute is better suited for Pokémon with a recovery move/item, setup move, or stat boosting berry in my opinion, though that may be just a preference. Rock Polish does, however, help outpace Scarf common users and aid Landorus in handling them. If you do this, I highly suggest a Modest nature over the current Timid. You may prefer a more assuring spread of 252 SAtk/ 252 Spd, though I will give you a spread I personally found to be very effective. It adds a bit of useful bulk and makes setting up Rock Polish much easier, all the while maintaining the threat that Landorus proposes in battle.

Spoiler: RP Landorus-I

:645:
Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
Modest nature
EVs: 42 Hp/ 252 SAtk/ 216 Spd
IVs: 02 Atk/ 30 Def
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast
- Rock Polish

Other than the above listed suggestions, I don't see any other changes that could be of use. Great team build overall. Good luck with the team and I hope this was of some help.