Sand Storm

It2Zoroark

Aspiring Trainer
Member
First off, I'd like to start by saying that this is my very first attempt at a competitive team so I went with something I thought would be pretty easy (sand team) even though I know this kind of team is widely disliked and to be honest this doesn't really abuse sandstorm to any significant extent since excadrill is banned. Also, I know almost nothing about the actual rules, regulations, or bannings as far as pokes and abilities go. I know evasion/OHKO moves are banned, but is sandveil banned? Anyway on to the point.

1. Team Lead
Tyranitar (M) @Leftovers
Careful/Sandstream
IVs 31 SpD/Def
EVs 200 SpD/ 200Def / 108Atk
Stealth Rocks
Payback
Stone Edge
Super Power

Tyranitar's role in this team is obviously to set up the sand storm/stealth rocks. He can also do massive damage with STAB payback since he will generally be slower than the opponents lead. Stone edge cleans up fire/ice/flying nicely and super power is for taking down Normal walls such as blissy and snorlax as well as ferrothorn.

2. Lead Support
Galvantula (F) @Choice Scarf
Modest/Compoundeyes
IVs 31 Spe/SpA
EVs 252 Spe/SpA/ 4 Hp
Thunder Bolt
Signal Beam
Toxic
Energy Ball

Galvantula is one of my favorite Gen 5 pokes because of how versatile it is. This guy fills in support for tyranitar because it can learn a wide range of moves that beat tyranitar's weaknesses (water, grass, and ground are highly used). It is very fast and has a solid SpA stat so it packs a punch. It carries toxic incase its about to die so I can get that affliction going. Its very well typed offensively and defensively IMO, especially defensively as it only has two weaknesses for a dual type and four resistances.

3. Wall
Ferrothorn (M) @Lum Berry
Careful/Iron Barbs
IVs 31 SpD/Def
EVs 252 SpD/Def/ 4Atk
Spikes
Explosion
Power Whip
Thunder Wave

Ferrothorn's place in the metagame is pretty easy to determine. Here it set up to layout additional ground hazards, T-wave, and hit rock/water/ground types such as swampert, seismitoad, and carracosta particularly; however it is not limited to these three pokes of course. Explosion is a power move that hopefully takes down a weak opponent once ferrothorn has been weakened. This poke is often used as a scout to see what moves my opponents have as well.

4. Water Sweeper
Kingdra (M) @Choice Specs
Modest/Sniper
IVs 31 Spa/Hp
EVs 252 Spa/ 128 Hp/ 128 Spe
Draco Meteor
Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Signal Beam

Kingdra is also one of my favorite pokes. This guy is a powerhouse, he comes into to sweep with his big move set. His move set is super effective against 7 or 8 types (I cant remember) he also has really good stats all around and is able to take hits.

5. Fire Sweeper
Chandelure (M) @Spell Tag
Modest/Flame Body
IVs 31 SpA/Spe
EVs 252 SpA/Spe/ 4 Hp
Shadow Ball
Flamethrower (over fireblast for consistency)
Energy Ball
Confuse Ray (over WoWisp because of flame body)

Chandelure is my favorite Gen 5 poke. Ghost/fire is a cool type set and the concept of this pokemon is wicked awesome. With such an incredibly high Special Attack this guy will OHKO its target almost every time. Ice/ghost/psychic/grass should all be very scared of this thing.

6. Clean-Up Sweeper/Support
Garchomp (F) @Choice Band
Adamant/Sand Veil
IVs 31 Atk/Spe
EVs 252 Atk/Spe/ 4 HP
Aerial Ace
Earthquake
Sunny Day
Thunder Punch

Garchomp is cool because it can set up sunny day to help Chandelure/Ferrothorn/Galvantula as well as carry aerial ace to hit fighting types which this team does not have any other answers to. Thunder Punch is here to counter gyarados, milotic, legend birds, skarmory, or any other flying or water types that give me trouble. STAB Equake is also never a bad option to have.

So there it is. I have no idea if it is any good at all but its a team I like. Ive spent a lot of time breeding it and developing it. Please offer any advice on how to improve offer replacements for bad pokes. Also rules help would be nice too.
 
First off, Sand Veil is banned under the evasion clause, and since Garchomp now legally has Rough Skin, it was allowed back in OU after serving it's time in Ubers. Chandelure is inferior to Heatran for sand teams, in my opinion, since it takes damage from the weather and is much more frail.

I'll be back later for specific recomendations for the sets, but I notice you only have one wall, which means if you get hit by a fast, strong fighting or fire move, you're down for the count defensively. You may want look into adding Jellicent as a special wall and divert 252 of Ferro's defensive EVs to HP, making it bulkier (the Jelli-thorn core is an effective, and somewhat common defensive duo since each practically walls the other's mortal weaknesses). Lastly, with the nerf to explosion/self-destruct in gen 5, it's generally not worth using unless the pokemon has a massive attack stat (like Landorus). I would specifically recommend Leech Seed, since it both supplies a way of healing Ferrothorn as well as making physically bulky sweepers like Dragonite less of a threat (you'll then be able to paralyze, nerfing Dragon Dance's speed boosts and break Multiscale, preventing the defensive boost)
 
I would recommend replacing Kingdra with Keldeo. This little pony has much higher Special Attack and Speed, and Keldeo is a dangerous wallbreaker with Choice Specs. For Garchomp, remove all moves except for Earthquake and focus on Garchomp's STAB and a sole coverage move (Fire Fang or Stone Edge). Galvantula is running Toxic with a Choice Scarf, which is never effective. Just my two cents.
 
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