Mysteries of the Desert Sands

Chaos Jackal

Chaos Jackal

Legend of the Past
Member
With the nerf of weather this Gen, weather teams have taken a turn for the worst. However, there have also been a few boons for them. Sand teams, namely, once again have access to Excadrill, and that's what gave me the motivation to make this team. Excadrill can serve as a Spinner as well as a sweeper, and Sand teams generally reach amazing brute force with it, which is the playstyle I love the most.


[animate]tyranitar[/animate]
Tyranitar w/Sand Stream @Smooth Rock
Impish/Careful Nature-252HP, 64Atk, 84Def, 108SpD
Stealth Rock
Ice Beam
Pursuit
Taunt
Tyranitar is the weather inducer and the basis of the whole team. This set functions as a lead. It has the needed Stealth Rock and Pursuit, which allows it to significantly dent Pokemon like Deoxys-S or Lati@s. Ice Beam is there for some annoying pests, namely and mostly Gliscor, while Taunt allows for locking enemy hazard setters.
[animate]garchomp[/animate]
Garchomp w/Rough Skin @Lum Berry
Jolly Nature-4HP, 252Atk, 252Spe
Earthquake
Dragon Claw
Stone Edge/Crunch/Fire Fang
Swords Dance
An all-out offensive Chomp. With its trollish 102 Speed, Garchomp outspeeds many key Pokemon in the metagame, and with its perfect type coverage and powerful STAB it can blow through entire teams. One Swords Dance is enough to get it going, and it's gonna be really hard to stop.

[animate]reuniclus[/animate]
Reuniclus w/Magic Guard @Life Orb
Modest Nature-252HP, 252SpA, 4Spe
Psyshock
Shadow Ball
Trick Room
Focus Blast
Reuniclus is a bulky Special Attacker, something that many Sand teams tend to lack. With Magic Guard, it completely ignores Life Orb and Sandstorm, and dishes out some major damage. It's most notable aspect is being able to counter or check fighting types that the team has trouble handling.

[animate]rotom-w[/animate]
Rotom-W w/Levitate @Leftovers
Calm Nature-252HP, 80SpA, 176SpD
Hydro Pump
ThunderBolt
Substitute
Will-o-Wisp
Rotom is a special tank and a counter to Water types, another type that my team despises. It adds to Tyranitar's crippling powers, and its solid bulk allows it to stay out long even in Sandstorm. Its one weakness and good type coverage allow it versatility, and fits well with the rest of the team.

[animate]lucario[/animate]
Lucario w/Justified @Lucarionite
Jolly Nature-4HP, 252Atk, 252Spe
Close Combat
Bullet Punch
Shadow Claw/Crunch
Swrods Dance
Lucario fills my Mega slot. As fearsome as ever, and now with increased Speed, Attack, defenses and Adaptability, Mega Lucario's boosted Close Combat is so strong that it has the potential to OHKO or 2HKO many Pokemon who formerly were able to resist it. STAB Bullet Punch is an excellent priority tool for Fairy disposal. 4MSS appears once again, but with Adaptability this becomes less important.

[animate]excadrill[/animate]
Excadrill w/Sand Rush @Air Baloon
Adamant Nature-4HP, 252Atk, 252Spe
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Rapid Spin
Swords Dance
Excadrill is the star of the team. Sand Rush and Swords Dance turn it into an unstoppable killing machine. Having access to Rapid Spin also means that Excadrill can clear the way for another Pokemon if it happens to be in trouble. Stealth Rock isn't much of an issue, but Spikes definitely are, and not having Taunt or Magic Bounce means that a Spinner is a must-have. All in all, Excadrill is an amazing Pokemon if I can keep the weather up, and very difficult to stop once it gets going.

So go ahead, rate and suggest!
 
Hey man! Solid team, just a couple of comments.

The first one I have is a question, I'm just wondering what the EVs on Tyranitar are doing. Are they doing anything specific, or are they more arbitrarily distributed? I don't want to suggest anything for them if they're set to do something I'm unaware of. I would, however, switch Thunder Wave on Tyranitar to either Crunch, Earthquake, or Fire Blast. Crunch as STAB is better than Stone Edge because it's more accurate and Pursuit because it doesn't rely on somebody switching out. Earthquake hits Heatran, Jirachi, and other Steel-types, while Fire Blast hits Ferrothorn and incoming Scizor. The choice is yours. I'd also consider switching Smooth Rock for Levtovers, but that's more optional since Excadrill loves as many turns as it can get from Sand Stream.

I would use Outrage on Garchomp instead of Dragon Claw because of the extra power. Even though it leaves you vulnerable to Fairy-types, you have very powerful extra coverage options to rely on, so it's not like you're spamming the dragon attack a lot. I'd feel pretty safe having Outrage as a move. Secondly, I'd almost definitely go with Stone Edge in the last slot. Crunch doesn't really hit anything super-effectively that you don't normally hit. For example Aegislash is already hit by Earthquake, and Alakazam already takes a beating from your other physical attacks. Fire Fang and/or Fire Blast are great for Ferrothorn and Scizor, but both of them get nuked by a +2 Earthquake anyways. I almost always prefer Stone Edge because it hits Togekiss, which is huge this generation, and it gives you a way to hit most Flying-types without needing Outrage.

Reuniclus is what I think is the "weak link" if you will here. As an offensive Psychic type, it's really only good if you use it with Trick Room (which I would use over Thunderbolt.) However, given that this team could use a resist to both Water and Grass, I would suggest dropping Reuniclus altogether for an Offensive Latias set. Something like this:

[animate]latias[/animate] @Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
4 HP/252 SpAtk/252 Spe
Timid nature
0 Attack IVs
~Draco Meteor
~Psyshock
~Surf/Hidden Power Fire
~Roost/Recover (they do the same thing lol!)

This Latias has all the offensive power that Reuniclus has, but it also has much more bulk, better resistances, more speed, and greater longevity due to its instant recovery move.

That last 3 pokemon are pretty solid, I only have small suggestions for each of them:

On Rotom-W, I'd suggest Volt Switch instead of Thunderbolt. It's weaker, but it lets you maintain momentum a lot more easily. I'd also suggest Pain Split instead of one of your status mvoes, so that it becomes much easier for Rotom to survive into the late-game. On Lucario, you need to have Extremespeed. Extremespeed is what sets Lucario apart from other Swords Dance users. Without it, you'd be better off using Terrakion. I would definitely use Crunch instead of Shadow Claw. It has more power, the chance to drop defense, and nothing's immune to it. Now, I would use Extremespeed instead of either Bullet Punch or Crunch, the choice is yours. Bullet Punch beats Fairy-types and Gengar while Crunch beats Latias, Jellicent, and Trevenant. The choice is yours, it's a pick-your-poison kind of deal.

Excadrill is fine as it is, but I have a couple of optional switches you might want to try out. Chople Berry is a fantastic item on Excadrill. with a spread of 160 HP/136 Atk/140 Def/72 Speed and an Adamant nature, you would always survive a Mega Lucario's Close Combat if you held Chople Berry. Another thing to do is try Assault Vest Excadrill with Mold Breaker as an ability. I don't know the proper EV Spread, but it's very easy to survive a Rotom-W's Hydro Pump and then promptly KO it with Earthquake. However, if you want a more fast and powerful Excadrill, the set is fine as is. I only might consider Lum Berry because I hate losing 10% of my HP when I just want to use Rapid Spin, but again, that's only personal prefrence.
 
Thanks for your suggestions, Teapot.
The EVs on Tyranitar aren't designed for something specific, I just wanted to be covered on all sides (too bored to run calcs). Fire Blast over T-Wave seems like a good idea, I'll try it. Lefties were considered at first, but I decided that 5 turns aren't enough for Excadrill, especially if a chance to switch it in doesn't show up early enough. Plus, a Tyranitar loss would bring me to a very tight spot, so I think I'll go with Smooth Rock.
About Rotom's Volt Switch instead of ThunderBolt, I had again considered it, but truth to tell, I'm not entirely sure. Rotom with Calm nature is a bit underwhelming offensively, and Volt Switch's 105 power with STAB seems just too weak. Lack of a U-Turn user also means I do not form a VoltTurn core. I'll think about it, but I'll probably stick to T-Bolt. Pain Split however, is a great idea, but the move is unreleased due to it being Move Tutor exclusive.
The Latias over Reuniclus suggestion is quite a valid point. Reuniclus' greatest strength is its immunity to recoil and residual damage, but its low Speed compared to the speed tier of Excadrill, Lucario and Garchomp means Trick Room can backfire easily if Reuniclus falls. Only problem is that Latias is currently unreleased. I'll have it in mind though.
Garchomp's Dragon Claw is admittedly low with Jolly over Adamant, so Outrage isn't a bad idea. I was almost ready to select Stone Edge, thanks for giving me the excuse I needed (I had totally forgotten about Togekiss).
Lucario will probably stay as it is. I know that Extreme Speed is the main reason it was so popular last Gen, but with Adaptability Bullet Punch is just as strong, and Lucario's 112 base Speed along with Jolly nature usually make the extra priority tier of Extreme Speed obsolete. I'll look into it, but I probably won't use it.
Excadrill stays as it is. The reason I made the team in the first place was it. I just love being offensive, and Excadrill really helps with that :p.
I'll edit the team once I get to a PC (have I mentioned how I hate the 3DS browser?).
Thanks again!
 
Bump!
I tested my team on PS. It did rather well, but there are a few problems... I don't have anything against Unaware Quagsire, and MegaKan proves to be trouble every time I see it. I haven't yet decided if I should change a mon, but I did change Excadrill's item to Air Baloon and I'm pondering over whether or not to give Lucario Extreme Speed to replace Crunch.
 
Here's another bump.
The final form of the team has been edited in the OP. With the changes it underwent, the team took me to a rating of 1820 in Smogon OU, to date my best ladder result (and I wasn't really dedicated, to tell the truth). RIP, my team. You were truly a wonder.
 
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