VGC (Rate My Team) VGC Team

[SkeleyTheDunsparce]

Hello the peoples of Smogon Forums! Lately, I have been creating a Sandstorm VGC team. I've been really wanting to participate in VGC. I've been doing Competitive singles for about a year, but I looked more into VGC and it looks like a blast- and it has been a blast! I tried to be original and unique with my team while also trying to disguise it as much as I can to throw them off, so they don't know it a sandstorm team in general. Anyways, I'll stop talking and get to the sets I've used. I've also thrown some links of my uses of this team below. Thank you.

Also, my play style tends to be a slower, offensive style. I tend to use some tanks/walls, but not frequent enough to called me balanced. NOW, let's continue.


Darude Sandstorm Team:

Hippowdon @ Smooth Rock - Tanky Sand Setter (Sand Stream Tank)
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Slack Off
- Stockpile
- Body Slam
- Earthquake

I've learned for sandstorm teams; Tyranitar and Hippowdon are your best choices. I chose Hippowdon over Tyranitar because Hippowdon has overall better bulk and can sustain hits while also dishing them out. Tyranitar on the other hand, I'd say is more on the offensive side, maybe in the middle if you will. Even though VGC is only 4 v 4, and generally stays within 7-11 turns of play, I want to have Hippowdon alive because Excadrill, Stoutland, and Heliolisk depend on sandstorm to give them their sweeping capabilities. Looking at Hippowdon's stats, it has some great natural bulk in defense with high HP. Even his Special Defense isn't terrible. Yet, I maxed Special Defense so he can also eat up Special Attacks- again, with the sustaining plan. I put HP into Hippowdon to furthur increase his bulk, to again, eat more hits. These last 4 are very pointless, but I threw them into defense because Hippowdon's attack is already high enough for reasonable damage.

Stoutland @ Normal Gem - Hyper Physical Offense (Sand Rush Sweeper)
Ability: Sand Rush
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Last Resort

Well, if you've already red the set, you know where this is going. Stoutland is the Rattata of gen 5. Not only does Stoutland have a sweeper attack stat, his speed and natural bulk shined out to me. His 80 speed allows him to outspeed about 70% of the Pokedex while being able to adsorb a hit and throw one out. Yet, that's not where the madness ends. The Sand Rush ability doubles a Pokemon's speed in a sandstorm. Take 80 base and multiply that by 2. You have 160 base, which outspeeds every Pokemon except Ninjask who isn't frequent enough in VGC play and Deoxys who is banned by normal VGC play rules. These EVs just add the frosting on the cake with max attack, to throw out ginormous hits, and max speed, to further increase Stoutland's agility in case of speed boosts on other Pokemon like lopunny and salamance. Since odd numbers in HP are always better, I put the EV remainders in Def. so I could keep my odd HP numbers. Oh, and...

252+ Atk Normal Gem Stoutland Last Resort vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Landorus: 165-195 (100.6 - 118.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Normal Gem Stoutland Last Resort vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Lopunny: 159-187 (113.5 - 133.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Normal Gem Stoutland Last Resort vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Amoonguss: 136-162 (61.5 - 73.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Mini-Battle: In this scenario, with a sandstorm active, Stoutland out-speeds Mega Salamance. Anyways...
Stoutland: 252+ Atk Normal Gem Stoutland Last Resort vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Salamence: 121-144 (71.1 - 84.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Salamance: 252 SpA Mega Salamence Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Stoutland: 115-136 (71.4 - 84.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Stoutland: 252+ Atk Stoutland Last Resort vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Salamence: 93-111 (54.7 - 65.2%) -- Final OHKO.

Notice how even without the normal gem, Stoutland gets the kill

Also, you see my point.

Excadrill @ Air Balloon - Hyper Physical Offense (Sand Rush Sweeper)
Ability: Sand Rush
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drill Run
- Iron Head
- Protect
- Swords Dance

If your looking for the ultimate sand sweeper of Pokemon, you've found the right one! In singles OU, Excadrill does well as a Rock Setter or a Rapid Spinner. Yet when it's dancing to Darude - Sandstorm, it goes beserker mode on everything with it's Sand Rush. Kangaskhan - DEAD. Landorus - Nice try. Amoongus - In your dreams. This thing mows throw the opponents team, usually picking up 1-3 KOs. For the EVs, I have max attack so Excadrill can throw out even harder hits while it has swift and speedy attacks with Sand Rush and max speed. I threw the 4 EVs into Def. for the odd HP, as most would.

Heliolisk @ Life Orb - Hyper Special Offense (Sand Veil Sweeper)
Ability: Sand Veil
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Electroweb
- Hyper Voice
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect

Definitely, not one of the most successful and prominent on the team. Sure, Heliolisk can throw damage and even dodge hits with it's Sand Veil, but overall, does the least amount of work on the team. I assigned Heliolisk last minute because of my weakness to Gyarados and dragon types overall. Still, these are constant threats to a lesser degree. This set is used by most doubles Heliolisk- Your Electroweb, Hyper Voice which are your STAB along with Dragon Pulse for coverage and protect to seek out hits. Timid with max special attack and speed explains itself and to keep the HP odd, again, I threw the last 4 EVs in Sp. Def. because it's Heliolisk's higher Defensive stat. Very interesting. Yay.

Archeops @ Power Herb - Hyper Physical Offense (This Explains Itself)
Ability: Defeatist
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sky Attack
- Acrobatics
- U-Turn
- Knock-Off

Ahh, Archeops. When flying gem was still out... Never mind that, He's Back! With astounding attack and speed, this guy will blow your mind! Even though he has no sandstorm boosting abilities, his rock typing allows for him to take no sandstorm chip damage, while allowing him to gain a 30% boost in his Sp. Def.. Basicially, the plan is to use Sky Attack and hopefully earn a flinch, or even a straight up critical, both increased by this move. After that, if you know your going to die next turn, I try taking their item with me, by using switcheroo. Or, if I'm going to live, Acrobatics' is doubled due to Archeops holding no item, so now, that's a 110 base STAB move heading straight into the opponents face. In testing, Archeops carried Rock Slide instead of Knock-Off, but Later, Aegislash happened and gave me some issues, so i developed Crunch for him, which does the deal right. Maxing out speed and attack like any normal physical sweeper is obvious, but since this guy didn't have odd HP, I put the 4 EVs into HP to make that number odd.

Swampert-Mega @ Swampertite - Mega Physical Tank (Bulky Physical Offense)
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Waterfall
- Brick Break

So I herd u leik mudkips. I do atleast.. when it evolves of course! Mega Swampert, being my mega, is the one who can bulk hits, then serve them on a golden platter. If only Mega Swampert got Sand Rush instead of Swift Swim, It's be the god of gods. Anyways, this guy grabbed my attention when i saw 150 attack, 100 HP, and 110 on the defenses. I don't have to much to say when it comes to this guy except that he is the clutch warrior of amazement. Max HP and Attack to further increase the shine on that gold platter along with some more bulky stats to die for. To increase the speed point by one, I threw the remainder 4 into speed due to It's natural defensive stats. That's all I have to say- done.

This is myself playing with this team during practice and just overall testing. I am SkeleyIsASnivy (Let me explain this, my new permanent account is SkeleyTheDunsaprce, in these battles, I happen to be using my old account :3) in case your wondering! Thank you!

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/vgc2015-286912463
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/vgc2015-286933699
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/vgc2015-286934760
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/vgc2015-286936463

 

[Kialandi]

Its an interesting team with some really cool choices in pokemon but Ill give a bit of feedback if you don't mind.

Swampert < Gastrodon

To be honest I reckon you'd be better off with gastrodon (or cradily I suppose) for its ability storm drain, which directs all water moves towards itself which boosts its SpA stat. Very useful on a sand team! Especially considering you have three pokemon weak to water and Heliolisk wont be staying around for a heck of a long time due to it being so frail. Swampert could be useful as a wide guard variant, but I find that it would still be outclassed by a storm drain user.

Hippowdon < Mega Tyranitar

Alright, you did state that you wanted to use the Hippo, but I really think that Tyranitar would work better on this team, especially since you would have a mega slot free if you tried Gastrodon or Cradily. Mega Ttar has quite high attack/defense stats and a boost in SpD can turn this thing into quite the stalwart, which may be useful, especially given the fact that VGC is a VERY offense orientated meta and bulky pokemon still don't spend a huge amount of time on the field.

Heliolisk< Rotom-Heat/Rotom-Wash

These useful appliances do more than clean your clothes and cook your pizza, these are both bulky pokemon that can take care of water types and also shut down Mega Kangaskhan (Which I see your team might have a small problem with) If you like Heliolisk, keep it by all means as these are really necessary, but I find they work really well in the sand.

Moves

Excadrill - Drill Run > Earthquake

Probably a tad more useful for a team that has at least 2 members weak to ground.

Overall, its a really cool team!!

 

[SkeleyTheDunsparce]

Its an interesting team with some really cool choices in pokemon but Ill give a bit of feedback if you don't mind.

Swampert < Gastrodon

To be honest I reckon you'd be better off with gastrodon (or cradily I suppose) for its ability storm drain, which directs all water moves towards itself which boosts its SpA stat. Very useful on a sand team! Especially considering you have three pokemon weak to water and Heliolisk wont be staying around for a heck of a long time due to it being so frail. Swampert could be useful as a wide guard variant, but I find that it would still be outclassed by a storm drain user.

Hippowdon < Mega Tyranitar

Alright, you did state that you wanted to use the Hippo, but I really think that Tyranitar would work better on this team, especially since you would have a mega slot free if you tried Gastrodon or Cradily. Mega Ttar has quite high attack/defense stats and a boost in SpD can turn this thing into quite the stalwart, which may be useful, especially given the fact that VGC is a VERY offense orientated meta and bulky pokemon still don't spend a huge amount of time on the field.
Heliolisk< Rotom-Heat/Rotom-Wash

These useful appliances do more than clean your clothes and cook your pizza, these are both bulky pokemon that can take care of water types and also shut down Mega Kangaskhan (Which I see your team might have a small problem with) If you like Heliolisk, keep it by all means as these are really necessary, but I find they work really well in the sand.

Moves

Excadrill - Drill Run > Earthquake

Probably a tad more useful for a team that has at least 2 members weak to ground.

Overall, its a really cool team!!

Thank you for the suggestions, I'll take them into thorough consideration. I'll probably end up throwing out Mega-Swampert and Heliolisk. I'll need more thought into Hippowdon < Mega-Tyranitar before I make a final decision! Of course, during the alpha of my team, I used no mega and I still got the same ratio of wins to loss that I do now, so I don't exactly know if a mega would help me more effectively. As always, Thank you for the hasty response :)

 

[R-B-Y]

First thing, tyranitar is better than hippowdon, as it megazard much better than hippowdon, which is weak to solar beam.
Second thing, you have too many sand ruch sweepers on your team. These teamslots could be better used to counter other playstyles, like sun or rain.
Third, stoutland, archeops, and heliolisk are not as viable in vgc as singles.
And finally, focus sash>air balloon. In vgc, air balloon doesn't cut it. Excadrill is too frail to use it.
Overall, great team, just needs some polishing up and optimizing.

 

[edwartexe]

if you decide to go on with hippo, you could run mega garchomp for some scary sand force. his speed can be solved by giving tailwind to archeops (or aerodactyl)

 

[R-B-Y]

Mega garchomp is highly situational, and generally not worth it. Running both sand and tailwind is going to be hard to set up. Excadrill is better than Garchomp, as you don't waste a mega slot and have sand rush.