Sandfull of trouble

[Swifter]

Hello everyone, this is my first team to show on internet, and I would like you guys to rate it so I can create this team for real on pokemon white 2.
I already tested it on PS, and it did quite well, still I want my team to get better, and I hope you guys can help me with it.

My sandstorm team doesn't really abuse sandstorm as much as other sandstorm teams may do, but originally it wasn't ment as a sandstorm team. I wanted to have a team with zapdos being the most important member.

Goal: Try to take out anything that resists moves from flygon or starmie, while damaging the rest of the opponents team with sandstorm and u-turn, and then proceed to kill the rest with flygons outrage/earthquake or starmies hydro pump

So this is my team for now:

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw


Thank you for the advice to use Salamence instead of Flygon, salamence gets past ferrothorn while flygon would have always had to switch to another pokemon. And Salamance does quite well as revenge killer, and can also sweep late-game.

Scizor @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite

Scizor is also a really cool, bullet punch has helped me many times, sword dance is great to use on pokemon like ferrothorn, as they won't stay in after a sword dance, and I will kill the incoming pokemon with superpower or bug bite. He usually will just kill two or three pokemon before getting killed, as he is slow now, but I felt like scizor would be too fragile with less hp and more speed.. Scizor also covers my grass weaknesses quite well, and I had to give him leftovers as I usually will lose if he dies too soon.

Gastrodon @ Choise Specs
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Or

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Taunt
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover


I needed something to check hydro pump, as I hate the likes of politoed switching in on scizor and scare him away, as none of my other pokemon will appreciate it. Gastrodon can now actually harm pokemon without using toxic, but I'm not sure if that is what this team needs, sandstorm ánd toxic can also hurt quite much, but then I don't know what move I should drop.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Def
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin/psyshock
- Hydro Pump

This starmie is really for revenge killing, it can kill dragonite after two dragon dances, which is just great, trick will catch blissey etc.. off guard, while thunderbolt will hit pokemon like jellicent hard. I do sometimes miss rapid spin, or a psychic move, but I just miss room for them. I also like starmie for still being able to outspeed most pokemon after he has tricked its scarf away. I do wanna try psyschoc out too, it can catch some pokemon off guard, and as I haven't found much use with rapid spin yet I wanna see how this will do


Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Ok, this is my favorite pokemon, and it was the first reason to build this team,
it can switch in easily on scizor, breloom, metagross and ferrothorn. And scare them away with Heat Wave, hidden power ice will kill incoming dragon pokemon like salamence, and it will also kill gliscor.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk

I really had problem with sun teams, so I decided to use sand to get rid of sun, and I especially chose tyranitar, as moves like fireblast won't do anything to him, while he also gets such a high special defense in sand, that even politoed won't 2HKO him. Rest will help him to restore it's health, while Sleep Talk will help him to still do something while asleep. Stone Edge just does great damage and pursuit traps things like latios.

-I do have some problems with this team, as moves like solarbeam ( when sun is up, and tyranitar can't switch in anymore ). Will hit most of my pokemon hard, as I have three pokemon weak to it. Yes, zapdos and scizor resist it, but when they are gone ( zapdos still has SR weakness, and scizor won't survive HP fire, especially not in sun )nothing will stop pokemon like Chandelure from killing me.

-Keldeo is another threat, and maybe even the biggest threat, as after a calm mind, I will have a hard time taking it down. Tyranitar can't switch in on keldeo, so he can't get rid of the rain, while gastrodon won't be able to take a from it secret sword, and flygon won't survive a hit, nor am I confident zapdos will survive two hits in rain, as I don't think zapdos will OHKO back with T-Bolt. Starmie is my best best, unless keldeo is carrying hidden power ghost, and already calm minded once.

-I also sometimes am sorry I don't have SR on my team, but I just can't find a moveslot for it.


I hope you guys can foresee problems I haven't conquered yet, or help with the other problems.

 

[Governess]

Hello! This is a nice team! Haven't rated in a little bit, so let's get to it!

-Firstly, I'd replace Gastrodon with Jellicent. One reason for this is that Jellicent can handle all the threats you listed for Gastro, as well as check Keldeo. Even if Keldeo has Hidden Power Ghost, Jellicent's bulk is great enough to handle Keldeo, and can even Taunt it to prevent its Calm Mind setup. Jelli can take both of its STAB moves, and Toxic Keldeo, making it not as threatening to the team. It also has overall better bulk than Gastrodon.

-Next, I'd change the RestTalk set on Tyranitar to a Support Set. Tyranitar's current set isn't that good to be honest, and you need Stealth Rock, a move that has deeply affected competitive Pokemon. Not only is T-Tar suited for setting up Stealth Rock, it can still use Pursuit to trap Pokemon like Lati@s, and packs Fire Blast to check Scizor.

-Next, I'd replace Starmie's current set with an Offensive Rapid Spinning Set. You did mention that your team is weak to all forms of entry hazards, which can ruin your switching momentum. Starmie still keeps all of its amazing coverage moves in this set, it just replaces Trick with Rapid Spin and Choice Scarf for Life Orb / Leftovers. It also makes Starmie more versatile, not needing to switch out everytime it makes a bad move, and Rapid Spinning entry hazards away.

-Finally, I'd replace Flygon with Choice Scarf Salamence. The reason for this is because despite U-Turn and Levitate, Flygon is completely outclassed by Garchomp in every aspect. Also, Flygon doesn't help much against weather inductors, such as Politoed and Ninetales. Also, your team has a stinging weakness to sun teams in general, specifically Venusaur and Ninetales. Salamence can handle both of them with his coverage moves, and is an overall powerful Dragon-type revenge killer to handle a weakened Keldeo, etc.

**This isn't a big change, but maybe you should try 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe on Scizor, just to outspeed other Scizors and Tyranitar's. Not exactly needed, but a valid option.***

That's all I have for your team. Hopefully, my changes have aided your team; good luck with it in the future!

Sets

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 Def / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover
- Taunt

Toxic helps cripple the opponent, Scald is its STAB move with Burn chance, Recover is to maintain its lifespan, and Taunt is great against setup sweepers who may otherwise destroy your team.

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Claw

Pretty self explanatory set; coverage moves to handle other Pokemon, very versatile, Hasty Nature to outspeed other Salamences and Pokemon over base 100 Speed.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Fire Blast

Self explanatory; explained above.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt

Didn't change much from the previous set.

Summary of Key Points

Pokemon Change(s):

----->

------>

Set Change(s):
Choice Scarf --> Offensive Rapid Spin =

RestTalk --> Support Set =

**Optional**: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe --->

 

[deadflame]

I completely agree with Governess, and I would like to throw in my own two cents. I would definitely change Flygon to Salamence, but if you're absolutely deadset on keeping him on your team, change Superpower to Firepunch, so you can wreck things 4X weak to it like Scizor and Ferrothorn.

If you're going to keep Gastrodon, give it a Choice Specs, and replace Recover and Scald with Hidden Power Grass and Surf. They offer better coverage and do more damage, and with all your investment in Special Attack, it's better off running a completely offensive set, anyway. This thing wrecks in the Rain. Otherwise, change it to Jellicient, as previously stated above.

 

[Swifter]

Thank you guys for the replies.
I will definitely try some of it, ok, salamence will be on my new team. As my team has made improvement with him. Also thank you for the advice about running 8 sp evs on scizor, because last time I got killed by a scizor who was dancing with my scizor.
I do still have to see if jellicent and rappid spinning starmie will be an improvement, as till now starmie just didn't have enough time to rapid spin. And with jellicent, I have a tough time countering Rotom-W.