Bilzy's Sandstorm and Swords Dance
At a glance
I. Introduction
This team was built as soon 5th gen was released, and as soon as I saw Doryuzu's ability I knew sandstorm was a priority, I experimented with many different sandstorm viable pokemon before I came to this team (such as Heatran, Terakion, Goruugu, Tyranitar and a couple others). The main aim of this team is constantly put pressure on the opponent, and even though three pokemon on my team have swords dance, they don't need it to put massive dents in the opponents team. Another big focus of the team is to try and avoid having to many common weaknesses commonly associated with sandstorm, that's why Empoleon and Latios are in the team, It has peaked at #1 at the PO server
Changes in Bold
II. Closer look
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Sand stream
EVs:252 hp/ 152 Def/ 104 Sp.Def
Nature: Impish
- Yawn
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Fang
-Earthquake
I tried having both tyranitar and Hippowdon in my team at first, however not only was two sandstorm inducers not necessary, but i found Hippowdon much more suited to my team, the thing that stands out on my hippowdon is it's moveset, at first I had Slack Off in place of Yawn, as most sets do, however yawn is what truly makes him so useful, most people underestimate Yawn, it forces leads out that would typically get many layers of spikes in, and quite often, after setting Stealth Rocks up can spam Yawn forcing the opponent to constantly switch or give up a pokemon to sleep (I have only ever seen one person switch till there was no PP left, not only this but many opponents switch a couple of times before giving up a pokemon to sleep, while this happens they take sandstorm and stealth rock damage, and because of the new sleep mechanic Hippowdon can just Roar the sleeping pokemon out to reset its sleep counter), my Hippowdon has favorable match ups against most of the leads i have seen, the only pokemon that give it trouble are: Erufuun (which I havn't seen in a lead spot for months), Sazandora due to the fact it can OHKO with Draco meteor, so i switch to Empoleon (same goes for Latios), and finally Borutorosu, which I also switch to Empoleon, because it cant be KO'd by max sp. atk thunderbolt, and does alot of damage with ice beam, and takes little damage form the incomming grass knot or HP-ice. Also note that against polytoad lead make sure I switch out to Latios and make sure Hippodown lives longer than it, and against the rare Ninetails, earthquake off the bat.
Added ice fang in the place of Roar for now, Glisgor leads completly shut it down, and it would be nice to have a solution to glisgor even if it isnt at the lead position, also the ability to break balloons is needed
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Sand Veil
EV's:4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spd
Nature: jolly
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
I can see how this got moved to Ubers in Gen 4, it hits like a tank, even without the swords dance, has a reasonable amount of bulk, quite fast and has fantastic coverage. The reason for jolly is because his speed is fantastic and there are many other pokemon around his speed, and I also want to at least tie with other Garchomp. Originally I had Stone Edge instead of Fire Fang, and was sceptical about the change, however I'm glad i made the change, my team needed a fire move, and hitting some of my biggest threats super effectively was needed (such as scarmory, Scisor, and mainly Nattori). This is probably the pokemon I'm most willing to replace, because the majority of it's roles are filled by other pokemon. Another thing to note is its ability, it is so game changing, I almost feel bad for using something so luck based (but not really).
Empoleon @ Leftovers
Torrent
EV's: 252 HP/ 160 Def/ 92 Sp.Def/ 4 Spd
Nature: Calm
- Yawn
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
Empoleon is my most individual set, so many people underestimate its bulk, and as I previously stated so many people underestimate Yawn, the reason I initially picked Empoleon was his low usage and fantastic typing, it can take so many hits aimed at the rest of my pokemon can't (ice, water ect.) and is really the glue that holds my team together. I have debated replacing one of the moves to put in toxic, but decided against it, surf is a great STAB, ice beam is great for dealing with Dragons locked into Outrage, and grass knot for the many swampert that think they can KO with earthquake. The EV's were taken from a deffensive smogon set, and they are still fantastic this gen, the most important thing is being able to take a thunderbolt from Borutorosu, and hit back with an ice beam.
Randorosu @ Leftovers
Sand Power
EV's: 8 HP/ 252 Atk/ 248 Spd
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
When i was originally testing this team, i went through many pokemon that seemed to be useful in a sandstorm, most of them were horrible, however this very much under used pokemon is so underrated. He is often my MVP, especially against inexperienced players, this was the first set I tested (have only seen one other player with a sword dance set, none with substitute) and I havn't looked back, he makes a solid counter to Roobushin, and a good check to Breloom (because of substitute). I often bring him in on Chansey/ Blissy or anything else that will be tempted to lay status on him (also Nattori) then substitute and sword dance. Or if i bring him out after someone has been KO'd substitute and then deal with the pokemon that comes in, which works on many pokemon that expect an earthquake and are faster than Randorusu (Lati@s, Borutorosu), the only situation where i would sword dance before the sub, is if i expect a phaser, which 99 times out of 100 is scarmory and hit them back before they roar me out. The EV's are to outspeed positive nature and EV's base 100's.
Latios @ Choice Specs
Levitate
EV's: 4 HP/ 252 Sp.Atk/ 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
- Surf
- Trick
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
My most recent addition to the team, added because it can do heavy damage to anything not Blissy or Steel. Most people run Trick instead of the two Dragon moves, however I have never had a situation where that would be useful. Anther thing Latios has going for it is it's natural bulk and fantastic typing, Surf is generally for other sandstorm teams, Dragon Pulse is a late game move, when steel types have been removes or weakened enough to KO, Draco Meteor is for early game mayhem especially when trying to remove that daym Polytoad, and thunderbolt is almost entirely for Scarmory, which was previously one of the biggest problems for my team.
Added Trick because having two dragon moves is not productive, decided to keep draco meteor as it helps the hit and run strategy of choice items, and helps with the elimination of polytoad
Doryuuzu @ Balloon
Sand Throw
EV's: 4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spd
Nature: Jolly
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Easily the best Doryuuzu set (although putting Rapid Spin is also accceptable), theres a reason this thing is so popular, and even though people now pack so many counters to it, it still remains a fantastic sweeper, and a perfect revenge killer. Some people use return or Brick Break, I prefer pefect neutral coverage! I could go into more deatail about this thing, but I'm sure it has been done by many different people in many different ways (anyone who says this is overated is wrong).
III. Conclusion
I would like some feedback on this team, however mainly I would just like to share this creation with everyone, and contribute to the many examples of succesful sandstorm team. Even with the many threats being released in the wifi tier, this team still holds up.
Update 20/12/10-Threat List
OTHER HIGH THREATS