Stall To A Sweep- Bringing Back Dragon Dance Tyranitar

[m1k3y]

Introduction: Hey Smogon, it's M1k3y with a new RMT, my first one for Black and White Two. I've used this team to considerable success on the Pokemon Online server, peaking near the top, and it is almost absurdly fun to use. However, it's also not perfect and actually quite terrible when faced with several prominent threats in the metagame. Let's improve it, shall we?


Team Building:
My general strategy in competitive Pokemon is to use a balanced offensive technique, not quite hyper offense, but rather a myriad of bulky boosters backed by powerful Choice attackers and a solid wall or two. This team is an extension of that strategy, but relies more on walling the opponent to force timely switches, rather than nuking them with Choice Specs/Choice Band.

First, I chose a set that used to be ubiquitous in competitive battling; bulky Dragon Dance Tyranitar. While once the greatest set in the game, its usage has dropped to the point where it no longer even warrants an official set in the Smogon analysis. I decided to give DD Ttar a chance to punish the nonbelievers.

I immediately ran into trouble after sticking this set on a number of premade testing teams and realizing why it is so criminally underused; fast, powerful fighting types such as Breloom and Terrakion. I almost gave up, until I realized there was a quartet of Pokemon which could wall Ttar's opponents with ease, inflicting status, laying entry hazards, and wrecking my opponents plan to allow Ttar a free Dragon Dance or three. In come Hippowdon, Ferrothorn, Jellicent, and Blissey.

I now have a quintet that look really, really solid together, but I need a glue to mesh everything together. I decide upon another boosting sweeper to take some of the heat off of Tyranitar. I briefly considered a bulky Swords Dance Garchomp, but ultimately decide that I need something immediately fast, as the rest of my team is absurdly slow. I choose Sandslash, which I've used many times with great results.

Honus suggested I use Skamory over Ferrothorn. I tested Skarm out and found it to be a great improvement.

Individual Analyses:
Edits are in green.

Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind

Hippowdon in many ways has stolen the show from Tyranitar, becoming the surprise MVP. With Honus's encouragement, I reluctantly made Hippowdon a mixed wall, and I haven't regretted it whatsoever. In fact, it's a vast improvent. Hippo can take even the strongest physical attacks in the tier, and now even many special ones when necessary, and slack off the damage with ease. Hippo's rocks are essential, because this team relies on hazard switches for almost half of its damage output, but Whirlwind is even more important. The ability to phase out set-up sweepers makes Hippowdon a go-to utility counter. Earthquake hits hard even with no investment. Most importantly, Hippowdon is the slowest weather inducer in the tier, guaranteed to get up the Sandstorm that Sandslash and the others rely upon.

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Crunch

Tyranitar is this team's inspiration, and another MVP. I EV'd this set for max speed and power, but it has leftovers to keep it healthy. The general idea here is to come in late-game (it's rare to see Tyranitar before the opponent's team has at least two fainted and one statused) on something Tyranitar immidiately threatens, and Dragon Dance on the switch. If I've done my job earlier in the game, the switch in will be something that cannot threaten Ttar at +1/+1. From there, I can sweep with incredible ease, especially if I manage to get up two or three Dragon Dances, which is common thanks to Tyranitar's natural bulk.
Stone Edge and Crunch provide nice STAB, and Earthquake provides excellent coverage. Those trio of moves hit almost every common OU Pokemon for at least neutral damage.
Finally, Tyranitar's Sand Stream is useful if Hippowdon went down early and I need to win a weather war. Having two superb users makes Sandstorm the best weather in the tier.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

Ferrothorn was lacking in both phazing abilities, and also fell to fighting types such as Breloom and Conkelldur, which user Honus usefully pointed out to me. To combat this, I took his suggestion and replaced Ferrothorn with Skarmory, and I'm impressed. While the power drop and lack of Thunder Wave is frustrating, Skarmory more than makes up for it with instant recovery (meaning all my walls can heal efficiently) and the ability to phaze with Whirlwind. Skarmory never fails to combat all varieties of Conkeldurr and Breloom with aplomb, and its a great addition to the team.

Supress (Jellicent) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Surf/Scald
- Recover

Jellicent is excellent, but functions mostly as a counter to specific enemy threats rather than a general wall. Jellicent spinblocks, has instant recovery, and burns enemies with ease, incapacitating physical attackers. Taunt stops entry hazards and setup sweepers dead in their tracks. Jellicent continues the theme of having tanks which can bite back in a pinch, with its STAB Surf holding decent power. I currently use Surf over Scald, as the power difference is notable and I can always burn with W-O-W, but I understand Scald's advantages.
Overall, Jellicent works quite well on this team but is not crucial.

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Flamethrower
- Thunder Wave

Blissey is crucial to this team's success, being the best special sponge in the game, as well a cleric to clear status. With excellent recovery and the addition to dish out status of its own, Blissey is a brilliant wall. Flamethrower, while not very powerful, nails Scizor and Breloom on the switch, as well as Genesect and Ferrothorn whom Blissey can take a hit from. Blissey is currently EV'd with max Special Defense in order to take Focus Blasts from the likes of Reuniclus and Thundurus-T, but I'm considering changing it to max HP instead.
Just to forestall the inevitable question, I use Blissey over Chansey for three reasons. A. Lefties recovery in Sandstorm, B. Flamethrower for coverage, and C. I hate Eviolite in general.
(With Ferrothorn replaced, I lost my only paralysis inducer, so I replaced Blissey's Toxic with Thunder Wave.)

Sandslash (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin

Sandslash is my revenge killer, as a well as a backup sweeper. Its primary purpose is to lure out and cripple threats to a Tyranitar sweep, although more often than not it will end up sweeping itself. This thing is disturbingly powerful after a Swords Dance sweep, proving how much difference a new ability can make to a Pokemon's OU viability. Earthquake and Stone Edge offer excellent, powerful coverage. I used to run Night Slash, which worked well on other teams, but this particular team is ruined by enemy hazards, so I use Rapid Spin. It's rare I get an opportunity to use it, but when I need it, I have it.
Overall, Sandslash is superb, I love it to death, but it is replaceable, due to its exceeding frailty, lack of immediate power, and merely decent coverage.


Final Thoughts:
I like this team quite a bit. It fares well in the current metagame and works nicely with my playstyle. I hope you can help me improve it.

 

[Honus]

Radical team,

Anyways I noticed that some fighting types look like a huge weakness, of which Breloom is probably the most prevalent. Anything can get slept turn 1, netting it a free Swords Dance; and Bullet Seed and Mach Punch can pretty much ruin this team on paper and KO all the Pokemon on when Breloom is at +2. Because of the slow nature of the team and spore, this is a really hard strategy for you to play around and Breloom could net a sweep pretty easily. Conkeldurr's also pretty annoying since he can set up on Blissey/Tyranitar or even Ferrothorn and threaten to KO Jellicent with Payback, in addition to getting his health back in near full after firing off boosted drain punches. I think you can probably absolve this problem by trying out a Skarmory over your Ferrothorn. Skarmory's definitely a fair answer to Breloom and Conkeldurr and also has the added benefit of being immune to all hazards but SR and having instant recovery. It also doesn't fear any Haxorus superpowers or Fire Punches to the extent that Ferrothorn does. Another change I'd make is to try a more specially defensive Hippowdon [well in essence, balance the EVs], I'd run something like 252 HP/16 Def/240 SDef with an Impish nature, which gets you over 240 SDef and 300 Defense. Basically this allows Hippowdon to function a lot better in checking special threats that he otherwise wouldn't have the potential to, one being Sub Calm Mind Jirachi, which even has the ability to get past Blissey thanks to its 101 Subs, and sets up on Ferrothorn. It also gives you another pseudo check to sun, as it doesn't fear coming in on attacks from Pokemon like Ninetales as much, and can withstand attacks from Volcarona, Heatran, etc before roaring them into hazards. Hippowdon still has the ability to take on Luke, Terrakion and other Pokemon that the physically inclined Hippo is supposed to do, though, so you aren't losing a whole lot. Finally, I'd definitely run Taunt>Shadow Ball on Jellicent because it allows you to break stall to an extent with the Taunt/WoW combination and prevents Pokemon like Blissey from recovering. An interesting option for this team in particular is to EV Jellicent to outrun Skarmory so that Taunt can take it on. You sacrifice a bit of bulk but there's definitely benefits with this team, given that you don't have anything to immediately threaten Skarm and discourage it from Spiking, and also because it's probably the main enemy Pokemon walling your Tyranitar and Sandslash and preventing their sweep, so catching it off guard and crippling it early game is awesome. Skarmory hits 182, so you want to run 108 Spe EVs.

Change Summary:

Jellicent:
Shadow Ball->Taunt
Current EVs-> 248 HP / 152 Def / 108 Spd

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

Hippowdon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind

 

[m1k3y]

Honus: I gladly took you up on all of your excellent suggestions except for the extra speed EV's on Jellicent; Skarmory isn't ubiquitous enough for me to EV Jellicent specifically to outspeed it, and the drop in bulk is huge for a Pokemon whose defensive stats aren't all that spectacular. I generally have no trouble handling Skarmory with Tyranitar, or Jellicent itself if the Skarm in question doesn't carry/use Taunt. I admittedly can't stop it from Spiking, but I have Rapid Spin on Sandslash, and I've rarely run into this particular situation.

 

[Sayonara]

Hello, this is an interesting team, but I think it could use some improvement. First off, I don't really think you need Hippowdon on your team, as it doesn't really provide to much usefulness to your team. Tyranitar brings the Sand, you can give Stealth Rock to another team member and while Hippowdon helps tank physical hits, it doesn't really possess any useful type resists while you have Skarmory to tank physical attacks. You seem to be pretty weak to Rain Offense and Rotom-W in particular. With Hippowdon, Tyranitar and Sandslash, Rotom-W can just come in and spam Hydro Pump, and if you send in Jellicent, it will just Volt Switch to do a lot of damage, preventing you from using Will-O-Wisp to burn it or whatever. I think another teammate who can sponge Water hits along with Jellicent would be nice, especially since Rain is so dominant in this metagame. That's why I would recommend a Specially Defensive Celebi instead of Hippowdon.

Celebi

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- U-Turn
- Perish Song

With Natural Cure and an auspicious typing, Celebi gives Rain and Keldeo and Rotom-W problems, as it doesn't care about a Will-O-Wisp as it's cured upon switching out and Celebi can use Giga Drain to take down Rotom-W, while getting its health back. Recover is a very useful move, allowing you to gain half of your health back, while U-Turn can be used to scout and gain momentum for your team. Perish Song lets you beat stuff like Calm Mind Latias and Calm Mind Reuniclus. Finally, since Stealth Rock is now gone, I'd give it to Blissey instead of Thunder Wave, a rather useless move since you want to spread burns with Jellicent, and Sandslash doesn't need the paralysis support under Sand. Anyways, these are just suggestions, I hope this helps.

 

[John the Aussie]

im a fan of ddance ttar and i dont see him round much

luv the team bro will luvdisc. sandslash is great but hes not especially bulky and you may wish to consider giveing him a sash so as that he can always swords dance but thats up to you as with a sash he becomes a burden against priority pokes.