[BW Battle Subway] Super Singles Sandstorm team

[Shadowbane92]

Hey guys and girls. I've decided to take a break from IV breeding in gen VI, so I decided I'd RNG a team for the Battle Subway while I wait for Pokemon bank. I've got no real experience with the Battle Tower or anything similar from previous gens, but I thought it'd be interesting to try it out in pokemon White. I decided I'd do a Sandstorm team.

For the core, I decided on Tyranitar for the weather inducer, mostly because I like him a lot more than Hippowdon, but also because I think a more offensive inducer would be better for 3v3. Excadrill is my sweeper, because I like Sand Rush more than Sand Veil, and I've used Garchomp a fair bit already. I'm not against switching Excadrill for Garchomp, though, if a good enough reason is given. As for the third, I'm a little undecided. At this stage, I'm trying to decide between Magic Guard Reuniclus, Gastrodon and Empoleon. The major weaknesses of my core that I can see are bulky water types, steel types that aren't afraid of EQ, and a lack of a special attacker. Reuniclus provides a good special attacker, and Gastrodon/Empoleon are good checks for bulky water types.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers/Choice Band/Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpAtk)
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch​

This is pretty standard fare. Crunch and Rock Slide are there for STAB. I picked Rock Slide over Stone Edge to reduce the "accuracy hax" I've heard about at higher levels. I decided against Stealth Rock after reading a pretty good post on the subject that basically said that the AI wouldn't switch enough to make use of the damage. I'm currently undecided as to whether a Dragon Dance or Choice Band based set is a better option. If I do opt for Choice Band, I'm not sure what to replace DD with. Maybe Superpower? Fire Punch is there to take care of Bronzong and Ferrothorn.

Excadrill @ Life Orb/Shell Bell
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Aerial Ace​

Excadrill is my main sweeper, and I'm hoping he'll be able to take care of most of the threats I'll face. The EV spread allows Excadrill to outspeed anything in sand. EQ is the main attacking STAB, and Rock Slide is for type coverage. Swords Dance is there for obvious reasons, and Aerial Ace is for any Double Team/Evasion hax I may encounter. I'm considering switching it out, but it is a good check for fighting and grass types. I've considered an Air Balloon for Excadrill, but I'm not sure how much use that'd be. I'm certainly willing to consider it.





These next three I won't be able to go into as much detail, because I'm not really sure what type of role they need to fill, but I'll do my best. Most of them will be pretty standard sets, so they'll probably need some tweaking to fit the 3v3 style.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Focus Blast
- Psychic/Psyshock​

This one I took pretty much verbatim from Smogon's OU page. I chose Life Orb over Leftovers, because I feel I need a more offensive third option when I've only got three pokemon. I'm not sure whether to make him a little more offensive, whether through Nature or adding some SpAtk EV's. I'm likewise uncertain about the movepool, so any advice is welcome there.

Empoleon @ Leftovers/Petaya Berry
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef or 4 SpDef / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Calm Nature (+SpDef, -Atk) or Modest Nature (+SpAtk, -Atk)
- Scald/Surf
- Ice Beam
- Substitute
- Toxic/Agility​

For Empoleon, I'm not sure if I should run with a SubPetaya sweep set to clean up, or a Toxic stall/Status wall type set. I'm not even sure if either are appropriate, as I don't know how god Empoleon is at cleaning up. Maybe he takes too long to set up? In any case, this guy is quite confusing, but I wouldn't mind trying to fit him in, because I do like Empoleon a lot.

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spe)
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Toxic
​

I'm kinda leaning towards this one, cause it completely walls most rain teams. I just wonder if it isn't offensive enough for 3v3's. Scald is for the burn chance, and for a reliable STAB to benefit from any Storm Drain boosts. Earthquake is for a little physical coverage, and to stop certain Calm Minders from treating Gastrodon as setup bait. Recover is to help Toxic Stall for longer, and Toxic ties into that, as well.





I'm open to suggestions on the third pokemon, because I'm not sure what to use. Starmie is another option, cause of it's great coverage, but Life Orb may be better on Excadrill. Choice Specs is a possibility, as Starmie would only have to take out one pokemon, in the best case scenario. Haxorus or even Garchomp is another option, but both leave me vulnerable to some physical walls. I'm also not against using any Legendaries, as long as I can acquire them from Soul Silver, White or Platinum. Anyway, thanks for all of the help I'm sure I'll get :)

 

[Shockedmons]

For Tyranitar: if you decide to go the Choice Band route, replace DD with Ice Punch for coverage against Dragons and other Ground leads (save for Steelix). If you decide to keep a recovery item, I'd suggest using Sitrus Berry over Leftovers. Chople Berry is also an option if you want to opt for a bulkier EV spread.

I can't suggest much for Excadrill since it gets the job done with LO + SD and Sand Rush (though it loses out on Follow Me/Fake Out/Spore support since this's singles).

For Reuniclus, perhaps a spread of 244 HP/180 Def/86 SpDef would also be beneficial in order to have a slim chance of surviving a Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from Latios (whereas it survives with ~25% from an LO set), outright surviving one from special Salamence, surviving a Dark Pulse off Hydreigon, etc. If you wanted to go purely offensive, feel free to move the SpDef EVs into SpAtk and switch it to a Modest or Quiet nature (you may want to hand the Sitrus Berry to Reuniclus in this case). Then again, you could just change the EVs to 252 HP/252 SpAtk/4 SpDef, though you'd lose out on surviving some hits.

Were you thinking of Defiant or Torrent with Empoleon's ability? :P

Anyway, go for the first EV spread, just so it stands a chance at tanking hits while setting up. Go for Agility over Toxic (it's sorta redundant with Toxic on Gastrodon) and Surf for more consistent damage output.

Replace Leftovers with Rindo Berry on Gastrodon. This way Grass-types don't completely trash him (save for, well, Ferrothorn and the like).

You may want to add something that resists Grass- and Ground-type moves in the 6th slot. Gyarados helps soften and immobilize physical attackers with Intimidate and a bulky/support set. Landorus is also good, gaining a boost in SpDef thanks to Sand and having his own uses with or without Sheer Force. Levitate Pokemon are fine as well, such as Rotom-M (since your team desperately needs something that is immune to Ground and bears a Grass-resistance).

Also keep in mind that, when building a weather team, not all of its members need an immunity to being damaged by it, if it has a damaging effect (you only need to worry about minimizing turn-by-turn damage if you're going defensive, or if you're using LO).

That's all I have to say here. I hope what little advice I could give was helpful to you. :)