Don’t Forget Your Goggles: A Beginner’s Guide to Sandstorm
Weather conditions are a large part of competitive Pokémon, and it is not uncommon for players to compete for weather supremacy during their battles as having a beneficial weather active can make or break some teams. Sandstorm, just like Hail but unlike Rain and Sun, causes passive damage equal to 1/16 of the total HP of the Pokémon throughout the battle until the weather is changed or negated. Pokémon can benefit from Sandstorm in various ways. Firstly, Rock-, Ground-, and Steel-type Pokémon are immune to the end of turn damage. In addition to being immune to the damage, Rock-type Pokémon also gain a 50% boost to their Special Defence. Abilities like Sand Force and Sand Rush boost certain Pokémon’s offensive stats, while abilities like Sand Veil and Magic Guard allow Pokémon of a different typings than Rock, Ground, and Steel to be immune to Sandstorm’s passive damage. This is just the beginning, though. There are a plethora of other Pokémon and abilities that love to play in the Sand.
Sandstream
No Sandstorm team would be complete without a way to summon the Sand, and the best way to do this is through the ability Sandstream. Sandstream provides Sandstorm for the duration of a battle, or at least until the weather is altered or negated by another ability or move like Cloud Nine or Sunny Day. Luckily, one of the best Pokémon in the game gets this ability: Tyranitar!
Tyranitar boasts a huge base stat total and receives a 50% boost to its Special Defence from its own Sandstorm. It also has a lot of options to use in battle thanks to its wide movepool and excellent base stat total, keeping it unpredictable. The first thing you’ll notice about Tyranitar is its massive 134 base Attack stat, which enables it to be a lethal physical attacker. Due to the prominence of Hitmontop and other Fighting-type Pokémon, it can be difficult to keep Tyranitar in play as often as you’d like, however you can use items like Focus Sash and Chople Berry to survive a hit that would otherwise KO you, potentially a game changer. Iron Ball can also be useful to try and make sure Sandstorm is the weather condition in play, as the Pokémon with the lowest Speed will have their weather condition take effect if more than one ability is activated on the same turn — for example if Abomsnow, whose Snow Warning ability summons Hail, and Tyranitar switch in at the same time. Tyranitar’s movepool is quite something as well, consisting of more standard offensive moves such as Crunch, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Low Kick, and Earthquake as well as supporting moves such as Taunt, which can help against Trick Room teams. Tyranitar can also use Fling with the Iron Ball item for a powerful Dark-type attack, but it will only be a one-time use move as Tyranitar Flings its Iron Ball away. Nearly every Sandstorm based team will run Tyranitar — it even makes its way onto a lot of non-Sandstorm teams, purely because it’s a very effective Pokémon.
Hippowdon, your other option for summoning the Sand, is no Tyranitar, that’s for sure, but it can offer something different. It’s more physically bulky than Tyranitar and is not weak to Fighting-, Steel-, or Bug-type attacks. It also gains STAB on Earthquake and has access to instant recovery in Slack Off. Like Tyranitar’s Taunt, Hippowdon can utilise Roar to prevent Trick Room from being set up as Roar’s priority is actually higher than Trick Room’s. However, thanks to its low Speed, Hippowdon can function quite well in Trick Room itself. One of Hippowdon’s main selling points is that it actually helps counter Tyranitar. While Tyranitar is obviously weak to a lot of the Pokémon that benefit Sandstorm, it can often survive a hit with Focus Sash and KO said Pokémon back in return. It cannot do this to Hippowdon, and Tyranitar will almost always lose a one on one fight. Hippowdon also has access to Crunch, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, and the elemental Fang attacks for offensive options, but it is still generally an inferior choice for that role.
Sand Rush
The Sand Rush ability doubles the Speed of a Pokémon so long as Sandstorm is in play. This has obvious benefits in regards to sweeping potential; if your opponent doesn’t have a way to change the weather or alter Speed, they’re going to have to take significant damage before being able to respond. Excadrill is by far the most common user of this poorly distributed ability, thanks to its excellent Attack and decent Speed stats. Excadrill compounds this with some strong attacking options. With access to moves like Earthquake, Drill Run, Rock Slide, and X-Scissor, you’ll find it very easy to construct an attacking combination that punishes whatever your opponent might throw at you. Generally, Excadrill is a bit of a glass cannon, matching its excellent offensive stats with poor defensive ones, but you might be able to risk Swords Dance to boost your Attack even further with the right support. Excadrill can hold an Air Balloon to avoid Ground-type attacks until hit by any other move or Focus Sash to survive at least one hit so long as your Focus Sash isn’t already spoken for to help make up for its weak defenses. Ground Gem or Life Orb are also options if you just want to go for the big damage.
Sand Force
Sand Force grants a 30% power boost to any Rock-, Ground-, and Steel-type attacks used by any Pokémon with the ability while Sandstorm is in play. Landorus is the primary abuser of this ability for a few reasons. Firstly, it has a high base stat total. Secondly, Excadrill often favours Sand Rush over Sand Force, and lastly, the other Pokémon that have access to Sand Force are either not that competitively viable or have a different ability that usually suits them better. Landorus has good Attack, Speed, and Special Attack, so functions very well as a sweeper. Earthquake and Rock Slide are most likely going to be your main offensive arsenal, but Landorus also has access to the hugely powerful Explosion for a last ditch effort. U-turn is great for scouting and breaking opponents’ Focus Sashes because it allows you to switch and also avoid damage if you went first. If you wish to go down the special attacking route, moves such as Earth Power, Grass Knot, Psychic, and various Hidden Powers can be effective. This can work out very nicely as a lot of the useful Sandstorm themed Pokémon are physical attackers, and special attacking Landorus may surprise people a bit more. The Yache Berry item is always a good choice due to Landorus’ 4x Ice-type weakness, but a Life Orb or various Gems can work, as well as Choice Scarf which works particularly well in tandem with U-turn. As for Excadrill, it will function exactly the same as explained in the Sand Rush section, except you’ll have to cope without a Speed increase and likely need to use one of Excadrill’s more defensive item choices. However, Sand Force can be the more useful ability if your team is using a different method of Speed control, such as Tailwind or Trick Room.
Sand Veil
Sand Veil is the bane of many a player. This ability grants a 25% increase to evasion during a Sandstorm and can turn a game in seconds with some luck (while the game states that this is a 20% boost, Sand Veil actually lowers the accuracy threshold, meaning the overall boost to evasion is actually 25%). If it wasn’t enough that such a luck-based ability was available and triggered by perhaps the most common weather condition in VGC 2012, it’s also available to one of the strongest Pokémon in the metagame: Garchomp. Garchomp provides Dragon-type offence for Sandstorm teams backed up by good Attack and Speed. With offensive options like Dragon Claw, Dual Chop, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Crunch, and Fire Fang, Garchomp is a real threat. Garchomp is not frail either, so can often take a hit even if it didn’t manage to avoid it. Some players will use moves like Substitute as well, which means you’ll find it even more difficult to finally KO Garchomp, especiallywhen used in conjunction with the BrightPowder item to boost Garchomp’s evasion another 10%. More popular items, fortunately, include Yache and Haban Berry.
Cacturne is quite unique, thanks to its Dark- and Grass-typing (shared only with Shiftry) which gives some variety to your team and fits in a Sandstorm team using either of its abilities. Sand Veil provides Sandstorm immunity and increased evasion, while Water Absorb is useful for switching in on Water-type attackers, though Cacturne already resists Water, usually making Sand Veil a better option. Cacturne has equal offensive stats, but the physical version is usually better thanks to access to the priority move Sucker Punch.
Storm Drain
Storm Drain draws in all single-target Water-type attacks and grants a boost to the Storm Drain Pokémon’s Special Attack. When your team is likely to consist of many Rock- and Ground-type Pokémon, you can imagine how much of a luxury this is. It forces your opponent to think twice before firing off an attack, as you could easily switch in a Pokémon with Storm Drain and avoid the hit while boosting your Special Attack. Gastrodon is the most popular user of this ability as it is a reliable counter to a lot of common Pokémon. Gastrodon adds another special attacker to the mix, which is very welcome as going down the full Sandstorm theme route will often result in a more physically based team. With access to Scald, Muddy Water, Ice Beam, Icy Wind, and Earth Power, Gastrodon has good type coverage. Gastrodon only has one weakness, Grass, but its Water- and Ground-typing means that Gastrodon takes 4x damage from Grass-type attacks. Because of this, Rindo Berry is generally the preferred item. However, Ground Gem or Water Gem can help net some important knock outs. Cradily is less common because of its slightly weaker offensive stats and more weaknesses, but will gain the Special Defence boost during Standstorm, making it a potent wall in the Sand. Cradily’s movepool is also lacklustre, but Giga Drain is useful for dealing with opposing Gastrodon and Rotom-W. Chople Berry is generally the preferred item to help survive Fighting-type attacks.
Useful Rock-type Pokémon
As mentioned already, Rock-type Pokémon are both immune to Sandstorm and gain a 50% boost to their Special Defence during Sandstorm. It’s no surprise then that Rock-types love to play in sand. Terrakion is fast and powerful, with STAB Close Combat or Sacred Sword and Rock Slide to do heavy damage and Quick Attack, Earthquake, and X-Scissor as alternative damaging moves, while Safeguard and Quick Guard can provide you with some support options if you’re not going for all-out offence.
Rhyperior already reduces the damage from super effective hits with its Solid Rock ability, so it loves Sandstorm’s Special Defence boost even more. Rhyperior is slow and bulky, with a huge Attack stat to cause massive damage. Sadly, it’s Special Defence is very low, but with its high HP, Solid Rock, and Sandstorm, it has a chance to survive some hard Special hits, especially with a resist Berry like Rindo or Passho. With STAB Rock Slide and Earthquake, along with Megahorn, Rhyperior has great coverage and will do heavy damage to almost everything. Because of its slow Speed, Rhyperior enjoys Trick Room support, but its general bulkiness means it can still function outside of Trick Room.
Useful Ground- and Steel-type Pokémon
Ground- and Steel-type Pokémon are immune to Sandstorm damage thanks to their typing, so it’s not unusual for Sandstorm teams to be constructed of mainly these types, along with Rock-type Pokémon. You’re more likely to see the already-mentioned Ground-type Pokémon such as Garchomp, Landorus, Excadrill, and Gastrodon on a Sandstorm team, but there are other alternatives. Krookodile adds Intimidate support to the mix as well as Dark-type offence and decent Attack & Speed stats. Chople Berry or Choice Scarf tend to be the most used items to make sure Krookodile gets a hit off. Nidoking’s Sheer Force ability allows it to become a lethal Special attacker with Life Orb, as Sheer Force negates Life Orb’s recoil damage. STAB Sludge Bomb is of great benefit to help deal with pests like Ludicolo and other Grass-types who are top-tier threats to Sandstorm teams. Other special attacking options include Earth Power, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, and Thunderbolt.
You’re very likely to see at least one Steel-type on VGC 2012 teams due to the great immunities and resistances they offer — Latios is probably the main reason for this as Steel is the only type that resists its Dragon attacks. Steel-type Pokémon take no damage from Sandstorm and one of their main weaknesses, Fire-type Pokémon, can often be dealt with by the abundance of Rock- and Ground-type attacks on a Sandstorm team, making Steel-types a natural fit on Sandstorm teams.
Scizor can be key in taking out some problem Pokémon for Sandstorm teams. Scizor’s only weakness is Fire-type attacks, which can be helped with Occa Berry (although you won’t be surviving anything too strong regardless without defensive investment) or just by partnering Scizor with a Pokémon that threatens Fire-types. Scizor can make good use of Steel or Bug Gem, as well as Flying Gem coupled with Acrobatics for big damage. This is useful for taking out Fighting-type Pokémon such as Hitmontop that can disrupt you with Wide Guard or devastate the likes of Tyranitar and Excadrill with Close Combat. Acrobatics and Bug Bite decimate Ludicolo which is a huge problem for Sandstorm teams even outside of Rain. Scizor also helps remove one of the other weather disrupting Pokémon, Abomasnow. Abomasnow can bring in Hail and hurt your Ground- and Rock-type Pokémon with its STAB moves, but Scizor is able to Bullet Punch it into oblivion, even if it’s a Choice Scarf version, thanks to the boost from Technician.
Ferrothorn provides more defensive support than the other Steel-type Pokémon you’re likely to see, and thanks to being part Grass-type, it is a good counter to Rain teams. Ferrothorn is also useful against Trick Room teams due to its very low Speed. Power Whip will be of great benefit against the majority of Water-type Pokémon, while Leech Seed provides you with recovery and a way around very bulky opponents such as Cresselia whose ability, Levitate, makes it immune to Sandstorm teams’ strongest assaults. Gyro Ball is generally the only other attacking option, unless you’re running Thunder Wave on Ferrothorn, in which case you should probably use Iron Head instead. Leftovers offers the most survivability for Ferrothorn, but type resist berries to help survive a Fire- or Fighting-type move may suit you better.
Other Pokémon
Just because you’re using a Sandstorm based team doesn’t mean everything has to be immune the passive Sandstorm damage or take advantage of the weather explicitly. This is where team building becomes more strategic and complex.
Cresselia is incredibly bulky, and her Levitate ability allows you to use Earthquake at will. The Sandstorm damage is of minimal consequence to Cresselia, and she can simply survive longer through the use of Leftovers, Sitrus Berry, or Rest combined with the Chesto Berry for an instant wake up. With useful supporting moves such as Helping Hand, Swagger, Reflect, Light Screen, and Safeguard, Cresselia is an easy fit for most teams. She also learns Trick Room, Thunder Wave, and Icy Wind as ways of altering your Speed or your opponent’s Speed.
Reuinclus isn’t that commonly seen in the 2012 metagame, but it is still a Pokémon to consider if you’re going down the full Sandstorm route. Thanks to Reuniclus’ Magic Guard ability, Sandstorm’s passive damage isn’t a concern, and Reuniclus can abuse a recoil-free Life Orb like Nidoking. There aren’t many powerful special attacking Psychic-type Pokémon viable in Sandstorm, but taking no damage from the weather allows Reuniclus to slot in nicely. Psychic, Focus Blast, Shadow Ball, and Grass Knot are the main offensive weapons, but Trick Room is probably Reuniclus’ niche. Given the abundance of slower, bulkier Pokémon like Tyranitar and Rhyperior that can find their way onto Sandstorm teams, Reuniclus’ ability to set and then abuse Trick Room is a valuable asset.
Zapdos, like Cresselia, is immune to Ground-type attacks, while adding Electric typing to the team. Zapdos has good all-round stats and useful attacking moves in Thunderbolt, Discharge, Volt Switch, Heat Wave, and Hidden Power (Flying, Grass, and Ice) which provide coverage on the Water- and Grass-type Pokémon that threaten Sandstorm teams. Zapdos can also provide support with Tailwind to speed up your slower, bulkier Pokémon. Zapdos will often carry a type resist berry or Sitrus Berry, although Electric Gem and, to a lesser extent, Choice Specs are choices to boost its offensive power. A popular combination in the VGC metagame, historically, has been the use of Discharge and Earthquake together, when the partner Pokémon are immune to each other’s attacks. This is often seen with Zapdos and Garchomp for strong spread damage. However, you’re not just limited to Zapdos in this regard. The various formes of Rotom can do a similar job as they’re Electric-type Pokémon that are immune to Ground-type attacks thanks to their Levitate ability. The Water- and Grass-type versions of Rotom are generally the most preferred, as they resist Water-type attacks and offer unique offensive coverage in Hydro Pump and Leaf Storm.
Conclusion
Sandstorm can be very effective to base a team around as it is very broad, with plenty of options to choose from. However, a lot of the time, players will just settle on a core such as Tyranitar / Garchomp / Steel-type and then mix in Pokémon such as Cresselia, Zapdos, Hitmontop, or Gastrodon. You don’t have to fall into the trap of making sure everything is immune to Sandstorm — diversity is the key to long-term success. Just by studying the Pokémon in this article, you can see how many options really fit in. Vary your typing so you can cover more bases. Being able to hit a wider ranger of Pokémon with effective attacks will always increase your chances of winning. Good synergy is easily obtainable with this kind of team, with Discharge + Earthquake with a Ground-type, Trick Room, Tailwind, Icy Wind, and Thunder Wave all available to make the slower Pokémon move first as well as boosting abilities and even ways to avoid super effective hits with niche Pokémon such as Gastrodon. Sandstorm is a good place to start, so bring your goggles and get battling.
About the Author
Havak has competed in the VGC series since 2009 when it was first introduced to Europe, qualifying for the World Championships in 2011. Since 2009, he has also been a big influence in the United Kingdom's competitive scene by helping run local tournaments.
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