Sandy-Stormy [W2 RMT]

[Gampi]

I'm trying to make a sandstorm team but I'm unsure about what items to use and also would like to see if there are any alternatives to some of the moves I'm using. I don't have a concept of tiers. Just a quick notice: Please don't suggest alternate natures/egg moves or hidden abilities. Feel free to suggest Pokémon, although probably one that is immune to sandstorm damage.

Spoiler: Original Team - 16th July

Pokémon 1:
Dorado - Tyranitar
Ability - Sand Stream
Adamant nature
Held item - n/a
Moveset:
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Dragon Claw

Pokémon 2:
GARCHOMP - Garchomp
Ability - Sand Veil
Jolly nature
Held item - n/a
Moveset:
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Fang

Pokémon 3:
Jupiter - Excadrill
Ability - Sand Force
Jolly nature
Held item - n/a
Moveset:
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor

Pokémon 4:
Bisharp
Ability - Defiant
Adamant nature
Held item - n/a
Moveset:
- X-Scissor
- Sucker Punch
- Stone Edge
- Iron Head

Pokémon 5:
Aella - Gliscor
Ability - Hyper Cutter
Jolly nature
Held item - n/a
Moveset:
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Sky Uppercut

Pokémon 6:
Terrakion
Ability - Justified
Brave nature
Held item - n/a
Moveset:
- Stone Edge
- Sacred Sword or Close Combat - I haven't decided yet.
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake

Spoiler: Revised Team - 17th July

Pokémon 1:
Dorado - Tyranitar
Ability - Sand Stream
Adamant nature
Held item - Choice Band
Moveset:
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Dragon Claw

Pokémon 2:
GARCHOMP - Garchomp
Ability - Sand Veil
Jolly nature
Held item - Persim Berry/Lum Berry
Moveset:
- Outrage
- Swords Dance
- Fire Fang
- Earthquake

Pokémon 3:
Excadrill
Ability - Sand Rush
Jolly nature
Held item - Air Balloon
Moveset:
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Brick Break
- X-Scissor

Pokémon 4:
Matcha - Empoleon
Modest nature
Held item: Choice Scarf
Moveset
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
- Flash Cannon

Pokémon 5:
Aella - Gliscor
Ability - Hyper Cutter
Jolly nature
Held item - Flying Gem
Moveset:
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Acrobatics

Pokémon 6:
Terrakion
Ability - Justified
Brave nature
Held item - Life Orb
Moveset:
- Stone Edge
- Sacred Sword or Close Combat - Still haven't decided.
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake

Spoiler: Teammates I'm considering

Potential Teammate

Potential Teammate
Rufus - Stoutland
Ability - Sand Rush
Adamant nature
Held item: n/a
Moveset
- Superpower
- Ice Fang
- Toxic/Thunder Wave
- Return

Potential Teammate
Sigilyph
Ability - Magic Guard
Modest nature
Held item: n/a
Moveset
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
- Thunderbolt

Potential Teammate
Heatran
Modest nature
Held item: n/a
Moveset
- Lava Plume
- Thunder Wave/Toxic
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power/Earthquake/Stone Edge

Potential Teammate
Rhyperior
Ability - Solid Rock
Adamant nature
Held item: n/a
Moveset
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
- Earthquake
- Brick Break

 

[Macroboom]

Well, I don't have any experience with Weather Teams but , I'd like to think I'm good with movesets.

For Garchomp keep Dragon Claw and replace Outrage with Swords Dance and you could replace Fire Fang with Fire Blast. It is a Special move but it should do more damage than Fire Fang.

For Bisharp I'm pretty sure he can learn either Zen Headbutt or Psycho Cut so you should replace it with X-Scissor.

Everything else seems fine to me.

 

[Gampi]

Well, I don't have any experience with Weather Teams but , I'd like to think I'm good with movesets.

For Garchomp keep Dragon Claw and replace Outrage with Swords Dance and you could replace Fire Fang with Fire Blast. It is a Special move but it should do more damage than Fire Fang.

For Bisharp I'm pretty sure he can learn either Zen Headbutt or Psycho Cut so you should replace it with X-Scissor.

Everything else seems fine to me.

Garchomp has a base Special Attack of 80 and a base Attack of 130, so I'm sorta meh on whether or not to replace it's Fire physical move with a Fire special move. Swords Dance could work but wouldn't it be better to replace Dragon Claw seeing as Garchomp gets STAB on Outrage anyway? (although Outrage does confuse the user after a set amount of turns, probably could counter that with a Persim Berry).

Also as far as I'm aware, Bisharp can't inherit Psycho Cut and Sucker Punch at the same time and it can't learn Zen Headbutt legally.

 

[KillerDraco]

Garchomp has a base Special Attack of 80 and a base Attack of 130, so I'm sorta meh on whether or not to replace it's Fire physical move with a Fire special move. Swords Dance could work but wouldn't it be better to replace Dragon Claw seeing as Garchomp gets STAB on Outrage anyway? (although Outrage does confuse the user after a set amount of turns, probably could counter that with a Persim Berry).

Also as far as I'm aware, Bisharp can't inherit Psycho Cut and Sucker Punch at the same time and it can't learn Zen Headbutt legally.

Outrage vs. Dragon Claw always comes down to personal preference. Some people prefer the raw power of Outrage, but others prefer being able to switch attacks with Dragon Claw (most notably vs. something like Heatran, who resists Dragon but is nailed by Earthquake). As for Fire Fang vs. Fire Blast, Fire Blast will do more damage to physically bulky Pokemon such as Skarmory, but after a Swords Dance, Fire Fang's damage is comparable against physically bulky Pokemon. I could do the math, but... too lazy.

Anyway.

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Your team has a glaring weakness to water types. Everything on your team is hit for at least neutral damage by water attacks, and most of them take super effective damage from them. Not only that, but you have zero special attacks. Three of your team members are Swords Dancers too, so there's not much in the way of variety. It's just... the team has so many holes in it. It really needs at least one special attacker, and something that can take a water attack. But, if you're not willing to change any of them, that's your decision I guess.

Bisharp needs a fighting type move, not X-Scissor (and not Psycho Cut either). Fighting deals with Dark types just as well, while simultaneously destroying steel types who otherwise wall Bisharp completely. Brick Break or Low Kick are the best options for a fighting type move; Brick Break's damage is more consistent and it can destroy any (rare) screens that come up, but Low Kick can potentially do more damage when it comes to heavier foes. Replace X-Scissor with either Brick Break or Low Kick.

Gliscor doesn't benefit immensely from Sky Uppercut. The EdgeQuake combo hits most relevant foes hard enough, and Sky Uppercut doesn't add any noticeably coverage there. Replace Sky Uppercut with Acrobatics. If you don't want to deal with Held Items, or if you use a consumable (Berries, Gems, etc.) then Acrobatics will serve as a reliable, high-powered STAB.

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This final section is going to be sort of a "for future reference" deal, since you said you're not going to change abilities or natures, but it's helpful to know for knowledge's sake.

-Excadrill would really prefer Sand Rush to Sand Force. Swords Dance covers your offensive needs well enough, while Sand Rush can cover your speed needs. Without Sand Rush, Excadrill is actually not especially fast, as base 88 speed falls well short of the "golden standard" of base 100, which makes it much easier to counter.

-Hyper Cutter pales in Comparison to Poison Heal on Gliscor. Hyper Cutter very rarely does anything, since Intimidate (the most common attack lowerer) is not especially common. Meanwhile, Poison Heal in conjunction with Toxic Orb effectively gives you double-leftovers recovery, while giving you an immunity to more harmful status (Burn, Sleep, etc.). Though, Gliscor tends to be more defensive anyway. I'd go with Adamant to give it a little more punch rather than Jolly, personally. Though for more of a physical wall Gliscor, Impish works better.

-Brave is not a good nature for Terrakion. Not at all. Its speed is one of its main selling points, and should never be lowered for any reason whatsoever.

And I'll leave the rest to someone else because I'm tired (as I always am).

 

[Macroboom]

I must be losing my rating skills. I keep missing important stuff and then KillerDraco comes and clears evrrything up(good job KD).

I take back the Fire Blast suggestion. After a couple Swords Dances, Fire Fang should overpower Fire Blast.

You could use a Pokemon with Magic Guard for your team, for example: Sigilyph or Reuniclus.

Sigilyph@Life Orb
Modest/Timid
Magic Guard
Moves:
·Psychic
·Air Slash
·Ice Beam
·Flash Canon

This is the set I like to use for Sigilyph. KillerDraco will probably tell you to use Psyshock over Psychic and Heat Wave over Flash Canon.

Reuniclus@Life Orb
Modest
Magic Guard
Moves:
·Psychic/Psyshock
·Focus Blast
·Calm Mind
·Energy Ball/Thunder/etc.

I'm not sure there are many Special Attackers that benefit from Sand except this one:

Empoleon@Wise Galsses
Torrent
Modest/Timid
Moves:
·Surf
·Ice Beam
·Grass Knot
·HP Ground/Flash Canon

I don't think you'll need HP Ground due to the rest of your team.

Looks like I need some sleep so I quit missing stuff and you too Killer because, like you said you're always tired.

P.S.
Sorry for the stuff below. My phone messed up and it won't let me delete it.
(Yes, I do this all from a phone.)

Sigilyph
Magic Guard

 

[Gampi]

-text-

I think I'll go with keeping Outrage then, and replace Dragon Claw with Swords Dance.


I have a Modest Empoleon who is a decent special attacker, any suggestions on who I should swap out of my team?

Pokémon:
Matcha - Empoleon
Modest nature
Held item: Choice Scarf (Empoleon generally has a low speed, but I think Choice Specs would have also worked?)
Moveset
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot (this could work as a solution to my team's overall Water weakness)
- Flash Cannon

X-Scissor is pretty much a placeholder move, and I was debating whether or not to teach Bisharp Brick Break. I was also thinking about giving Aella Acrobatics (why do all these moves start with the same letter as my Pokémon's name?), since Acrobatics + Flying Gem is a combination which has worked fine for me in the past.

I only had a Sand Force Excadrill listed because most of the Drilbur I've been breeding keep having it as their ability, I'll be fine to change it once I manage to breed a Sand Rush Drilbur with decent stats. I pretty much detest hidden abilities, so I doubt I'll change Aella anytime soon.

And finally, isn't it a bit too late to suggest changing Terrakion's nature?
Not to come off as rude, but I've caught one on each of my Gen5 games and since I haven't learned that soft resetting for a better natured legend is a good thing, they all have natures which don't really benefit them. Guess I could probably trade for an Adamant Terrakion though, since it doesn't really rely on Sp. Atk at all.

-text-

Sigilyph has a decent speed, so I'd prefer to use it above Reuniclus. Plus I once used Magic Guard Sigilyph, so I'll consider using it, although it has a lower Sp. Atk and HP base stat than Reuniclus. Pretty much covered the Empoleon suggestion with what I've already written, but I'm unsure about Surf because if I'm in a double battle, then my partner's just going to get knocked out 99.9% of the time, seeing as Surf hits everything except the user.

Could anyone suggest some good items to use? I'm not good when it comes to things like that.