VGC Sand Team

[Naruhodou]

Hi all! Recently I built a team on top of an analysis I saw. I really need your advice! I also want to thank Eisen @Eisenherz for sharing the Pokemons!

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Low Kick
- Protect
Of course we need one to set up the sand and I choose Tyranitar for both weather control and offensive pressure. It is able to outspeed PM with 116 species strength without a scarf. Crunch and Rock Slide and STABs, providing damage and flinch for different situations. Protect is needed for handle Fighting Attack. Low Kick provides coverage for PMs like opposite Tyranitar and Kangaskhan.

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 116 SpDef / 100 Spe
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Drill Run
- Protect
The killer in the team. It outspeeds PM with 95 species strength and +1 speed(like Arcanine). Drill Run and Iron Head are STABS, thanks to the boost from Life Orb, it K.Os most PMs with Fire(threatens Excadrill itself), Fairy(Salamence, Tyranitar) and Steel(Tyranitar, Tapu) Type, otherwise they will deal great damage to teammates. Rock Slide is needed for coverage to PMs like Fire/Electirc/Water + Flying. Protect is needed as Excadrill is not very bulky to tank heavy damage especially with the recoil from the life orb.

Rotom-Heat @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest
EVs: 92 HP / 228 SpAtk / 188 Spe
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Protect
Another teammate for tanking Fairy and Iron Type damage. Overheat and Thunderbolt, STAB boosted by expert belt will deal some K.Os when super effective, like taking down some guys damaged by teammate's spread damage. Hidden Power Ice deals with ground types. The Fire-Ice-Electirc move combination provides great coverage for a large amount of PMs. Protect is needed because this Rotom is frail.

Tapu Bulu @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 4 Def / 116 SpDef / 60 Spe
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Rock Edge
- Nature's Madness
Another answer to Earthquake and surf, which are threats to both Excadrill and Tyranitar. Thanks to the assault vest, it can take some Ice type damage from water type PMs and revenge kill with Grass-Surge boosted Horn Leech, remaining healthy. Wood Hammer is another STAB for bulky guys. Nature's Madness will damage some other guys to make it in teammate's range. Rock Edge deal with flying types, like Charlizard Y.

Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate -> Aerilate
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 124 Atk / 132 SpAtk / 252 Spe
- Hyper Voice
- Double-Edge
- Tailwind
- Protect
Teammate for Tyranitar and Excadrill. It handles most of Tyranitar and Excadrill's weakness(Fighting, Ground, Water, Grass, Bug) and revenge kill fight, grass and bug types. Intimidate also support its teamate. Tailwind provides speed support for Excadrill. Hyper Voice is a reliable spread STAB without recoil, able to end some weak guys, while Double-Edge deals heavy damage for something troublesome.

Milotic @ Wacan Berry
Ability: Competitive
Nature: Bold
EVs: 228 HP / 244 Def / 4 SpAtk / 20 SpDef / 12 Spe
- Scald
- Icy Wind
- Recover
- Protect
Answer for intimidate, especially Landorus and Incineroar. Scald will kill them, also burn possible substitutes. Icy Wind provides speed control, make Millotic still useful without the Competitive boost. Recover and Protect, combined with EVs in HP and Def make Milotic bulky, able to tank things like Tapu KoKo's Gigavolt Havoc and Kartana's Leaf Blade.

 

[Bright Size]

Change Protect on your Tyranitar to Ice Punch. Protect isn't a good move to lock yourself into with a Choice item. You have Initimidate support and 2 Fighting resists to help you against Fighting moves. Ice Punch is useful against Landorus-T/Mega Salamence/Grass types like Tapu Bulu, Amoonguss, etc.

Try Groundium Z on Excadrill over Life Orb. You don't have a Z move on your team and having an extremely fast Z move while you're under Sand is really good. Additionally its damage is not reduced by your Tapu Bulu's Grassy Terrain.

Rotom formes often serve better in more defensive supportive roles with their typings than offensive powerhouses. I would change Expert Belt to Wiki Berry for longevity and HP Ice to Will-O-Wisp to nerf the damage of various threats to the team like Mega Metagross. You already have Milotic on the team to help with Landorus-Therian and Mega Salamence, the two Pokemon you generally use HP Ice for, so I don't think it's necessary.

Tapu Bulu can already take Water attacks fairly well because of its typing without an Assault Vest and use Protect to save itself from Ice moves. I recommend using a pinch berry set because it's still pretty bulky and lets you use Protect. Here is a set listed on Trainer Tower:

Tapu Bulu @ Figy Berry
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Atk / 4 Def / 140 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Wood Hammer
– Horn Leech
– Superpower/Substitute
– Protect

Mega Salamence and Milotic don't seem too bad on paper.

I did not bother looking into the EV spreads of the team since you did not list what they do for your team. Please do that in future RMT's and provide more detail so people can help you better.