The Desert is Neverending Introduction Hello, I am Dice also known as Princess Bri. This is a Sand team upon which I reached #1 on the ladder a few weeks ago, and after I saw two people using it today, and having a few people asking me to post it, I decided to do so. The team was originally created in the Excadrill metagame when Dream World was the favored tier for most. It was a weatherless stall team which was effective, reaching the top 50 of the ladder. Ever since Dream World fell out of favor and Wifi was what almost every experienced player reverted to, I eventually scrapped this team and it lie in my Save File until the released of Black and White 2, upon which I improved and eventually peaked with the team. The team itself, manifested by the sprites above, is the product of my improvements, featuring the up-and-coming FWG core coined the name "HAS", better known as Heatran-Amoonguss-Slowbro. The original weatherless stall team included SkarmChanse with Amoonguss as my counter for a myriad of threats such as Serperior, Breloom, and Rotom-W, however it suffered from lacking a weather inducer, and naturally I was hard-pressed versus strong weather-based Pokémon, namely Choice Specs Tornadus with hazards support, and most Chlorophyll sweepers. Naturally, remembering the flaws from the previous version, I added a Tyranitar as it can act as a Special tank with its mammoth Special Defensive acquired from the boost Sandstorm provides to Rock-type Pokémon. Forretress was added as my spinner because of its ability to counter Subsitute + Protect Toxic-Stalling Gliscor with Hidden Power Ice, which troubles the HAS core greatly, as well as the fact it is one of the few viable Spike-setters in the tier. Lastly Landorus was added as an all-catch revenge killer and end-game sweeper for both a glue and a win condition. The team was complete, and after working on the sets some to justify the weaknesses, below is the final result. I present to you, The Desert is Neverending! Team Tyranitar @ Chople Berry Trait: Sand Stream EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Stone Edge - Stealth Rock - Crunch - Pursuit In BW I typically try to have a purpose for having a Pokémon in the lead position of Team Preview in attempt to gain advantage Turn 1, and this is no exception. Having Tyranitar in the lead position is beneficial to the team for a few reasons: For starters Sand Inducers are the slowest Pokémon out of all the weather inducers, meaning that your opponent is typically not going to lead with their weather, so you don't have to either. This may seem confusing, but if you and your opponent both do not lead with your weather inducers while you're using sand, you inherently gain advantage in the ubiquitous weather war from Turn 1 due to the fact you are slower and can switch into their weather inducer with ease. Tyranitar also lures key threats to the team to lead-off against him, such as Thundurus and Tornadus. With a Chople Berry Tyranitar can simply stay in as they Focus Blast or Superpower and simply kill them with Stone Edge. One last thing Tyranitar lures in as being the lead position of Team Preview is Landorus, meaning if you predict correctly and lead with Forretress you get a free Volt Switch, gaining momentum, or a free layer of Spikes. Tyranitar provides the team a solid check to several things that typically trouble Stall and Semi-Stall teams, mainly Gengar, Alakazam, and Lati@s. His ability to Pursuit-trap Ghost and Psychic-type Pokémon is appreciated since they could otherise trouble the rest of the team. Without Chople Berry Tyranitr would be susceptible to Focus Blasts, which is the purpose of the item, so it is the obligatory item of choice. Another perk Chople Berry provides is if Dugtrio switches into your Tyranitar to attempt to trap it, its Reversal doesn't OHKO when it is at 1 HP. If you wish to attempt to Pursuit-trap Jellicent, Lum Berry is an option. You can opt to use Leftovers for more overall survivability which is useful to win the weather war, however it isn't necessary since Tyranitar has a Type-advantage over 2/3's other weather inducers. While at a glance it seems to be redundant to run two Dark-type STAB's, they both are unique as one is the STAB that you use for consistent damage, while the other allows you to trap, as previously mentioned. Stone Edge is chosen over the usual Superpower to OHKO the Rain genies, Thundurus-T and Tornadus-T, which are troublesome to the team. I have considered using Superpower or Fire Blast instead of Crunch, a change I still ponder current, and they all have tested decently in the moveslot and I am still uncertain of which would be the most beneficial. These Tyranitar EV's allow it to always OHKO Latios with no defensive investment with Pursuit if it is fleeing, or Crunch if it decides to be brave and stay in, fearing a Pursuit. Heatran @ Leftovers Trait: Flash Fire EVs: 252 HP / 228 SDef / 28 Spd Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Will-O-Wisp - Roar - Lava Plume - Protect Heatran is the beginning of the infamous up-and-coming HAS core, and is the teams primary check to Chlorophyll Pokémon and sun itself. Even with Dugtrio, sun can still have a hard time with Heatran if I manage to set-up Stealth Rock and Roar around their Dugtrio switch-in. Specially Defensive Heatran is practically a staple on most of my Sand Stall and Semi-Stall teams due to its unique typing being able to take on several common OU threats. First of all it's a good Tornadus check with proper prediction, as it takes Hurricanes with ease and can take a supereffective Superpower or Focus Blast if need be. As of late Heatran has been put aside on most teams for Jirachi, as Rain's prevalence really hinders Heatran's ability to perform if played incorrectly, however his typing and large(r) defenses along with sand make this beast a true force to be scared of. Overall, the set itself is fairly standard. I run Stealth Rock on Tyranitar so I use Toxic on Heatran, and its a very fantastic move to have on Heatran. Protect in conjuction with Toxic makes for Sand + Toxic + Hazards damage building up, hurting my opponent extremely. Protect is the MVP move of the set to give Heatran a free 6.66% of his health back and to scout the oppositions moves since a lot of Heatran switch-in's are typically Choice'd or sets are unknown, such as Rotom-W and Tyranitar. Heatran helps win the weather war versus rain, surprisingly, as versus Rain Politoed is the most common switch-in to Heatran and it is met with an untimely Toxic. Roar is cute and gives me the team's only source of phazing, and Lava Plume is obligatory STAB since it has the same chance to burn as Scald, although it never burns for me. The EV's allow me to outspeed most outschool Bulk Up Breloom and minimum-speed Dragonite along with most Jellicent and most other Specially Defensive Heatran. Amoonguss @ Black Sludge Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 28 SpA / 216 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Clear Smog - Hidden Power [Fire] - Giga Drain - Spore In a metagame filled with rain, Amoonguss is an amazing Pokémon to have on most teams. Amoonguss's key resistances to Electric-type moves and Water-type moves make it a very fantastic Rain check as the moves those types of teams use most are Surfs and Thunders. Amoonguss counters a plethora of Pokémon in the current metagame and is part 2 of the HAS core. The newly released Keldeo and Breloom cry when they see an Amoonguss on your side of the field. Even if Breloom sleeps you, you still can typically stay in and beat it 1v1 if the Breloom user doesn't get lucky with the amount of times Bullet Seed lands. A valuable asset Amoonguss provides is its Poison typing. With Toxic Spikes being known to hurt almost every team except Rain teams with Tentacruel, Amoonguss is a fantastic answer to Toxic Spikes as he can simply switch in and absorb them.. somehow. The moveset I chose for Amoonguss is not the typical one you find most people running, mainly Hidden Power Fire. The team has an overall weakness to Swords Dance Scizor varients once they set up, and one of Scizor's few chances to set up versus my team is on Amoonguss lacking Hidden Power Fire, so I added the move to prevent Scizor from being as problematic. Hidden Power Fire also has other uses besides hitting Scizor; it can also hit Ferrothorn in Sand for good damage and prevent it from setting up several hazards. Spore is a pseudo-kill in one move because of BW's attrocious sleep mechanics, and it neuders a Pokémon on the opposing team for pretty much the entire match. A word of advice is to not use Spore turn 1 like I see most beginning players. Preserve the Spore as it is a valuable asset and, if used correct, can Sleep a Pokémon you choose, not one that your opponent sacrifices. Giga Drain is the main STAB move, and it's cute since you can recover health back as well. With Regenerator released you can spam switching between this mushroom and Slowbro to keep both healthy. These two, along with Heatran, are a very hard core to break if played correctly since they are very hard to kill. Clear Smog prevents my Amoonguss from being set-up bait versus sweepers such as ballsy Dragons, and Thundurus. The EV's make SubCM Keldeo less problematic as I can also 2HKO its +2 Subsitute, so I don't have to rely on prediction between Clear Smog and Giga Drain to kill it. Slowbro @ Leftovers Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef | IVs: 19 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Toxic - Psychic - Ice Beam - Scald Slowbro is the primary physical wall of the team and he can pretty much take on all physical sweepers. Even the strongest of physical attackers fail to OHKO it. Terrakion? +2 Stone Edge with Rock Gem can't OHKO. Lucario? +2 Crunch isn't OHKO'ing this fatman. Even Dragonite only does ~70% with a +1 Outrage, and Scarf Salamence can only dream of beating me. Slowbro counters so many threat, and it forms part 3 of the HAS core. Slowbro just doesn't die. Slowbro has amazing synergy with Amoonguss as it can take Fire, Ice, and Psychic-type attacks directed at Amoonguss while Amoonguss can take Electric and Grass-type attacks directed at Slowbro. The way I play this core is constantly switching every one to three turns between these two Pokémon to get all their health back as soon as possible. The lack of VoltTurn due to the power Bw2 gave Rain makes Slowbro so much better as he is weak to both Volt Switch and U-turn. The set I run is pretty awkward looking, so say the least. My philosophy when using Amoongbro is that you should Switch-spam a lot. This means you don't have much time to use Slack Off, so I omitted it from the set. The lack of Slack Off hasn't mattered really at all, and quite frankily I enjoy it because the extra coverage move that Slowbro gets makes it even better. Scald is the main STAB and we all know how Scald is. Scald basically means that all Physical attackers are going to fall to this fatman. Catching Scizor and Jirachi on the switch with a Scald feels so good internally. Psychic is mainly for hitting Conkeldurr and Breloom on the switch. It's a nice secondary STAB to have and it does have some other perks, like hitting Venusaur and Tentacruel. The final attacking move is Ice Beam which is necessary to hit Dragons like Salamence and Dragonite who otherwise would be troublesome for my team to handle. The EV's are standard, maximum defensive prowess is wanted for Slowbro to do his thing. The Speed IV's outslow minimum speed Conkeldurr by one point so that Payback does minimal damage. Forretress @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SAtk | IVs: 2 Spd Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd) - Spikes - Rapid Spin - Hidden Power [Ice] - Volt Switch Forretress is the team's Rapid Spinner and Spike-setter. Forretress's unique typing, only shared by Scizor, gives Forretress a whooping ten resistances and only one weakness. It's only weakness is what Heatran is immune to, giving the team even more synergy. Forretress is my favorite spinner in OU because of the large amount of things he can lay spikes on. Ferrothorn, a Pokémon getting more common due to rain's prevalence, screams at Forretress to set-up alongside of him. Forretress cannot beat Ferrothorn 1v1, however Ferrothorn isn't beating him anytime soon and I get a free three layer of Spikes. Skarmory is another Pokémon that Forretress can set-up freely on, and he is fairly common as well. Forretress's main perk as a spinner is being able to gain momentum through the use of Volt Switch, and it forms a cute VoltTurn core with Landorus. The set Forretress uses is pretty standard, and its about what most other Forretress run except Hidden Power Ice. Hidden Power Ice is a move on Forretress that is basically standard on Smogon, although it hasn't caught on entirely on Beta yet. It ensures I have a counter to Dragons locked in Outrage, Landorus, and Gliscor, mainly. It's a great move to have and it forms a pseudo Bolt-Beam combination with Volt Switch. Spikes wear down my opponent's team, and even without a spinblocker smart switching can prevent a spin. Starmie is Pursuit-trapped, Donphan is Giga Drain'd, Forretress is Lava Plume'd, Tentacruel is weakened and then Pursuit trapped.. the lack of a spinblocker isn't that big of a deal. The EV's give Forretress maximum defensive prowess while still being able to 2HKO Landorus and 2HKO Gliscor after Stealth Rock. 0 Speed IV's are so you win the Forretress vs Forretress war if need be, because the slower Forretress always wins. Landorus-T @ Choice Scarf Trait: Intimidate EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spd Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef) - U-turn - Earthquake - Hidden Power [Ice] - Stone Edge Landorus is the team's revenge killer, end game sweeper, and win condition. Landorus is such a strong Pokémon and with Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Sand damage haunting my opponent's team, Landorus can simply come in and take a toll endgame. Landorus's job just doesn't stop there though-- he is my main Celebi with Earth Power check, as without Landorus I have to rely on Tyranitar which isn't the safest bet. I originally had a Landorus-T here to help buffer physical hits from the likes of Scizor and Lucario, however the lack of Speed meant I became much more weaker to Volcarona and MixMence so I reverted back to Landorus-I. The set is bog standard and the EV's are too. U-turn forms a VoltSwitch combo with Forretress and gains momentum, which is useful for a stall-based team. Stone Edge is for Flying-type Pokémon like Tornadus and Thundurus that Hidden Power Ice cannot kill. Earthquake is for STAB and for just sweeping lategame, and Hidden Power Ice hits things like opposing Landorus and Gliscor, and Dragonite and Salamence as well. Importable Spoiler Tyranitar (M) @ Chople Berry Trait: Sand Stream EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Stone Edge - Stealth Rock - Crunch - Pursuit Heatran (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Flash Fire EVs: 252 HP / 228 SDef / 28 Spd Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Toxic - Roar - Lava Plume - Protect Amoonguss (M) @ Black Sludge Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 28 SpA / 216 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Clear Smog - Hidden Power [Fire] - Giga Drain - Spore Slowbro (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Toxic - Psychic - Ice Beam - Scald Forretress (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SAtk Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd) - Spikes - Rapid Spin - Hidden Power [Ice] - Volt Switch Landorus-T (M) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Intimidate EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spd Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef) - U-turn - Earthquake - Hidden Power [Ice] - Stone Edge [/HIDE] Conclusion This is a very effective team when used correct, and it has relatively few weaknesses. If you're new to BW2 or you just want to give the team a spin, I don't mind. Thank you Kevin Garrett for providing the RMT layout, and thank you for reading the RMT!
I can see why you got to number one. I think you'd be cautious against Politoed, simply for scald, even though Ttar will take the hit well, and you've got two great options to absorb that, though a burn is uncomfortable on anything, probably only a niggle when your counters have regenerator. politoed will likely switch and whoever comes in either gets spored or poisoned. You ask about threats, obviously Gliscor, any strong physical player...but you've taken care of that with slowbro :), as your Landy is scarfed, however, and HP Ice is quite common, a nice switch to politoed swings the weather back...not that a gliscor/politoed combo is something I've seen too often. I still think a DD/banded dragonite might enjoy some freedom, a hurricane runner too in the right weather, I've seen quite a few carry thunder/surf. You're right about Forretress, but it doesn't take too much abuse from special water/electric/fighting....wait you've got coverage for this! I don't ladder, and I don't know tiers too well, who's used etc., but Shaymin with Earth power/seed flare/air slash is a possible weakness, I think it will take a HP Ice/fire hit well, and it obviously won't mind status too much, its a long shot, but even 2 of those three moves and rest could make it a viable counter (do some damage/heal/switch/herro again!). Starmie too as a spinner/with good attacking options but it would take some very clever and cautious play, any player worth their salt would consider a U-Turn from landorus. In all honesty, I'm very impressed, for what its worth, its a very well designed team, hope I've helped, and good luck.
Politoed's Scald is taken by Amoonguss who doesn't mind a burn. Shaymin is countered by Amoognuss, Starmie is Pursuited-trapped by Tyranitar and counteed by Amoonguss. Thanks! I had that in teambuilder, but I just automatically put here since I usually run 0. Thanks!
Dice it sucks!. But joking aside nice team, very standard core but with a few changes it looks very balanced. Only change I would suggest is superpower over stone edge.
Why not try an investment of 40 spe on tyranitar. This small investment allows you to outspeed 44 spe Jellicent, which means you can crunch it while it tries to WoW miss. This team is well built, but I daresay that most HAS team cores are. There are many versions of this team and the only changes (including the one I suggested) are nit-pick based so I don't think it can improve really. I'm sure you feel the same way o.O Anyways, with that said, since this is the "standard" team, most changes would be opinion based and would probably ruin the team. I think 40 spe investment is about the only change you could make without ruining the entire team. GL. Shurtugal
Jellicent typically runs enough to to outspeed Skarmory so I feel like that's just a waste of EV's.. thanks!
Nice team bro.If you play it well of course.If played bad Nadus can destroy the team.And you just kicked Landorus-T for Landorus I guess since then.
i originally had landorus-t but the ability to outspeed scarf mence (+speed) and hp ground volc makes landorus more helpful imo. Thanks!
I'm not surprised you got #1, the team is incredibly solid, I'd usually just rage at you for using a standard regenerator core but I'll forgive you since you're Bri D:
Thanks, everyone! Made a change of using Landorus-T > Landorus. From testing the ability to check Lucario and Scizor with Intimidate was appreciated as they could be problematic, and its overall better for the team. I also use Will-O-Wisp on Heatran to cripple Physical attackers. The importable reflects this, not the descriptions.
Isn't WoW and Lava Plume a bit redundant. Lava Plume burns quite often and and WoW is pretty shakey. Maybe dump Will O Wisp for toxic or Earth Power as you can't do anything to opposing Heatran. Just my 2 cents.
Nice team, I can see the strategy and know it works. Slowbro and Amoonguss is really annoying in UU especially, with heatran backing them up I can see that being even harder to break. Just one thing... I think you should call the core ASH instead of HAS. It's a cooler word. And it's named after the pokemon great himself. Your core though, so your pick XD
Does anybody know how this team beats Reuniculus? I'm pretty sure CM Reuni can 6-0 by itself if the opponent sleep fodders something (happened to me when I was winning 6-2)
Tyranitar and a combo of (assuming that it will survive so many hits) Clear Smog from Amoo + EQ/Uturn from Lando.
252Atk Landorus Therian Earthquake vs 252HP/252Def Reuniclus (+Def): 36% - 42% (153 - 181 HP). Guaranteed 3HKO. 252Atk Landorus Therian U-turn vs 252HP/252Def Reuniclus (+Def): 33% - 40% (144 - 170 HP). Guaranteed 3HKO. 76Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs 252HP/252Def Reuniclus (+Def): 48% - 57% (204 - 242 HP). Guaranteed 3HKO. 21% chance to 2HKO. 0SpAtk Reuniclus Focus Blast vs 252HP/180SpDef Tyranitar: 87% - 102% (352 - 416 HP). Guaranteed 2HKO. 18% chance to OHKO. 0SpAtk Reuniclus Psyshock vs 252HP/12Def Amoonguss: 63% - 75% (276 - 326 HP). Guaranteed 2HKO. Recover on U-turn, CM and Recover on EQ, Clear smog user gets 2/3HKO'd, plenty of chances to switch in safely to set up/recover damage, and add in the fact that Tyrantitar is usually gone at late game, there is nothing you can really do to prevent a Reuniculus sweep (although this is true for most stall teams) Edit: Now that I think about it, using 8 Spd on Amoonguss might not be a bad idea to outspeed and sleep the Reuniculus if they aren't smart enough to fodder something else
If played correctly, Reuniculus sweeps. However, it has to avoid missing all of its focus blasts, being crit / -Defenses by crunch(es), and any other Hax / bein slept.