Tomas Elliot Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Ok so, this is actually a dual sand OU team, but since I made it with the specific purpose to nickname the various members after members of the Pokemon Se7en project (what is that? Check my signature for details ) I thought I'd take the chance to advertise the project a little. With this being said, let's cut the chatter short and have a look at the team, shall we? At a glance Well, I told you it was a dual sand team. It is your bread-and-butter semi-stall team, whose purpose is to wear down opponents with indirect damage, remove walls and threats with Slowbro anf Tyranitar, and allow Excadrill to go to town. Between the fact that weather as a whole mechanic was nerfed (meaning that weather-based teams are now less common) and the fact that Hippo and Ttar work well together (both from an offensive and, surprisingly enough, a defensive standpoint), this team is more or less guaranteed to keep the sandstorm up all the time, so if you don't misplay you WILL pull off a sweep with Excadrill... Or with Slowbro after softening walls with Excadrill, it is always hilarious when that happens. This team brought me to quite a nice ranking, which unfortunately is 8 points short of being in the Showdown top 100... But well, I must focus on studying (and on Se7en) in these days, exams are coming up, so I thought it best not to risk being haxed all the way down and having to climb up again, I don't have much time to dedicate to the ladder... With this being said, let's have a detailed look at each Pokemon. They are all nicknamed after members of the Se7en project, so I will also explain the choice of nickname in the descriptions. In-depth analysis Hukuna @ Rocky HelmetAbility: Iron BarbsEVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 DefRelaxed NatureIVs: 0 Spe- Leech Seed- Protect- Spikes - Gyro Ball Hukuna is always complaining that he hates the whole #FreeHukunaHugs joke, because he hates physical contact... So I gave his name to a Pokemon that punishes opponents for making physical contact. The combination of Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs dishes out some serious indirect damage, with Leech Seed providing recovery, Protect scouting choiced moves (and trolling Mega Lopunny), Spikes helping the general "wear down via indirect damage" strategy, and Gyro Ball punishing switches as well as Dragon Dance attempts. It is important to keep in mind however that this guy is NOT the go-to physical wall of the team (that would be Hippo), because it lacks a reliable form of recovery (Leech Seed is good and all, but switching out removes it and opposing Grass-type Pokemon are immune), so it cannot repeatedly come into moves like Earthquake. This guy is designed specifically to punish opposing attackers that are overly reliant on moves that make physical contact, like Bisharp, Scizor, even Lopunny if you predict right: make sure you only ever switch it into those. Azery @ LeftoversAbility: RegeneratorEVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpABold Nature- Calm Mind- Slack Off- Scald - Fire Blast You would be surprised. With a fantastic physical defense, a fantastic set-up move in Calm Mind, two different ways of recovering reliably and nice coverage in Scald and Fire Blast, Slowbro can not only wall many attackers that are otherwise problematic to the team (like Keldeo), it can also remove many unsuspecting defensive threats like Ferrothorn and Skarmory, and even attempt a pseudo-sweep if opponents are worn down enough. A very interesting fact is that, at +1, Slowbro is guaranteed to suevive any Electric-type attack physically defensive Rotom-W might throw at it... And since nowadays people only ever use Volt Switch, if Rotom is their only out to Slowbro they will be in a lot of troubles, when you survive the Volt Switch and heal off the damage, because they will probably be forced to switch again, at the risk of having their Rotom burned by Scald... As for Slack Off is the reason why this Pokemon is nicknamed after Azery. Elly @ LeftoversAbility: Magic GuardEVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpDCalm Nature- Toxic- Soft-Boiled- Moonblast - Stealth Rock Elly is actually the reason why I made a sand team to begin with: you see, originally I wanted to give her name to a Mega Diancie, because when you think about a feminine Pokemon, you cannot help but think about that gorgeous dress. So I built this team around Mega Diancie, but then I realized that Rotom-W was giving me problems: sure, Slowbro can pull off the sheanigans described above against it, but it cannot SWITCH into it... And even with no SpAtk investiments, Rotom-W will always be able to OHKO Mega Diancie with Hydro Pump, regardless of the sand boost to SpDef. So I decided to put a specially defensive Pokemon in this spot instead, but I still needed a Fairy-type that could give no damns about WoW, to take care of those pesky Sableye... So I ultimately decided to use Clefable. With a very solid SpDef, a reliable form of recovery and immunity to indirect damage, Clefable is impossible to wear down, so she is ideal to set up Stealth Rock in this meta where your hazard users need to be able to stay alive and reuse their hazards over and over again.Toxic punishes careless switches, Soft-Boiled keeps Clefable healthy, and Moonblast is the offensive move of choice. Zim @ Smooth RockAbility: Sand StreamEVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 DefImpish Nature- Slack Off- Toxic- Roar - Earthquake Now this, this is a bulky son of a gun. Its physical bulk is really impressive, making it the go-to out to things like Lando-T and Excadrill, while also allowing it to take boosted hits from dragon dancers and phaze them out. Earthquake hits surprisingly hard even with only 8 EVs in Atk, Toxic is preferred to Stealth Rock so that I have something to fight back against Lando-T and other fliers Hippo can wall, like for example Talonflame, and Slack Off is the reason why this Pokemon is named after Zim. Darius @ TyranitariteAbility: Sand StreamEVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpAQuiet Nature- Pursuit- Earthquake- Ice Beam - Fire Blast Weird set, right? Well here is the thing: this guy is supposed to switch into a plethora of threats and to hit them hard in return, meaning that, in order to catch enemies off-guard, it needs to invest on both offensive stats... But it cannot sacrifice either defensive stat, so Speed is sacrificed instead, given that realistically, it would be impossible for it to outspeed most of the threats it is supposed to take on anyway. Upon mega evolving, you get a nice boost to your overall bulk, making it even easier to take on said threats, all the while getting a boost to Atk that will guarantee you to always OHKO the Lati twins with Pursuit and Heatran with EQ (which is particularly important because, burn hax from Lava Plume nonwithstanding, this guy is the only member of the team who can freely switch into Heatran). In turn, this means you can afford a Quiet nature over a Brave one, allowing you to always OHKO Ferrothorn and physically defensive Skarmory with Fire Blast, and Gliscor, Garchomp and Lando-T with Ice Beam (however, Lando-T can OHKO TTar with EQ, so you should try and catch it on the switch, rather than taking it on one on one). A wise thing to do would be to use Pursuit on something you know you can kill without mega evolving (or to use EQ on Heatran without mega evolving), in order to fake the Choice Band set and bait opponents into doing things like sending out Skarm/Ferro, setting up SR with their bulky Garchomp or Swords Dance with their offensive one, and the likes, and THAT is where you mega evolve and score the surprise kill... As far as the name goes, this Pokemon is of the Dark type, so it of course made sense to nickname it Dark... But I didn't want to leave Calvius out, so I fused their names and came up with "Darius". Nova @ Life OrbAbility: Sand RushEVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 SpeAdamant Nature- Swords Dance- Earthquake- Iron Head- Rock Slide And then there is the win condition. A win condition that is immune to Toxic Spikes and double resistant to Stealth Rock, mind you, and this is exactly why I am not running Defog or Rapid spin in this team. Swords Dance should only be used when you are absolutely certain that your opponent will switch out, because LO Excadrill really cannot afford taking any hits, EQ and Iron Head provide fantastic STAB coverage, and Rock Slide is for fliers that resist Iron Head. Adamant Nature to hit as hard as possible: with Sand Rush you hit 550 speed, meaning you are already faster than more or less anything... DO NOT carelessly stay in against an enemy Excadrill if you don't see the "the foe's Excadrill breaks the mold!" message, because it might be Jolly and screw you. In the event of a Exca vs Exca situation, you should always switch to Hippo (meaning that, if you see an Excadrill in the team preview, you should adjust your strategy to focus on keeping Hippo healthy, just in case). Named after Nova because, just like Nova, this guy is the fastest member of the team when it comes to doing its job. Well, this is all. As usual, try to make constructive criticism, don't point out problems if you cannot suggest adequate solutions, and feel free to try the test for yourself, the importable is below. And if you liked this thread, please do check out Pokemon Se7en! Hukuna (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Rocky HelmetAbility: Iron BarbsEVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 DefRelaxed NatureIVs: 0 Spe- Leech Seed- Protect- Spikes- Gyro BallAzery (Slowbro) (M) @ LeftoversAbility: RegeneratorEVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpABold Nature- Calm Mind- Slack Off- Scald- Fire BlastElly (Clefable) (F) @ LeftoversAbility: Magic GuardEVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpDCalm Nature- Toxic- Soft-Boiled- Moonblast- Stealth RockZim (Hippowdon) (M) @ Smooth RockAbility: Sand StreamEVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 DefImpish Nature- Slack Off- Toxic- Roar- EarthquakeDarius (Tyranitar) (M) @ TyranitariteAbility: Sand StreamEVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpAQuiet Nature- Pursuit- Earthquake- Ice Beam- Fire BlastNova (Excadrill) (M) @ Life OrbAbility: Sand RushEVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 SpeAdamant Nature- Swords Dance- Earthquake- Iron Head- Rock Slide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peepeepoopoo Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Calvius and I have become one if you know what I mean ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Also why give Elly a fairy type? I think a poison type would suit her much better. Should've just put a Scolipede on your team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Elliot Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Also why give Elly a fairy type? I think a poison type would suit her much better. Should've just put a Scolipede on your team. As mentioned, my reasoning didn't encompass types at all. I just wanted to have a Mega Diancie named Elly because Mega Diancie has that gorgeous dress... And then I realized that this team with Mega Diancie had problems against Rotom-W, so I just put there a Pokemon that could solve the problem while still looking feminine enough. I wouldn't even know what to ditch to make room for a Scolipede, without dramatically altering the team... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red_Chaos Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 pretty sure this means you can't hire anybody else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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