Gen 5 [OU] Specs Kyurem Sand

[A Welcome Guest]

Hey, guys! Today, I'm going to be making my first RMT, and what better place to start than in the older generations? Today, I present to you, my Specs Kyurem Sand.

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Blast
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Kyurem has its advantages and disadvantages. Some of its advantages include a 130 Special Attack stat which is equal to Latios. Unlike Latios, it doesn't have to rely on consecutive Draco Meteors, or a Trick to wear down Ferrothorn, as it can go for a mighty Focus (Miss) Blast. It has two great offensive STABs in Dragon, and Ice, which are very effective at hitting most of the metagame at least neutrally, bar steels. Now for its disadvantages. Its Ice typing gives it a Stealth Rock weakness. Also, due to this Kyurem being choice locked, it has no recovery and can be chipped easily by status such as Toxic, or Will-o-Wisp. Be wary that Kyurem is not alone, so it will get help with these issues.


Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Protect
- Rapid Spin

Honestly, I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to use a specially defensive variant of Excadrill or the offensive variant. What I knew I needed was hazard control, and Excadrill excels in that due to its ability to Rapid Spin. They are not perfect partners, however, due to the stacked fighting weakness. What should we do to fix that?


Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Atk / 68 SpA / 100 SpD
Brave Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Pursuit
- Crunch
No, Tyranitar! Bad dino! Go back in your Pokéball! I'm just kidding, we need Tyranitar here for the sand aspect, and to power up Excadrill's Earthquake and Iron Head with the activation of Sand Force. This might be what you call a "Chinese EV" spread due to its intricacy. Max HP for as much bulk as possible, 88 Attack with the Brave Nature 2HKOes Reuniclus with Crunch + Pursuit as it switches out. What is unique about this is the 68 EVs in Special Attack. This causes Tyranitar to 2HKO physically defensive Gastrodon. This can also chip other Pokémon that Kyurem and Excadrill wouldn't want to deal with such as a Will-o-Wisp Rotom-Wash. I made Tyranitar Brave, which I recommend over Lonely to live more physical hits.


Xatu @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- U-turn

Xatu is greatly appreciated on this team, not only because of Magic Bounce being able to put hazards on the opponent's field, but also because it can easily pivot out of something that may threaten it via U-turn. Heat Wave helps kill Steels which can be a problem for Kyurem if Focus Blast misses. Toxic is to wear down opponents because that's how Toxic is. Roost is for longevity so it can keep doing it's Psychic/Flying-type antics.


Latias (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Healing Wish

You all might be saying, "Why use Latias over Latios? It's way weaker and blue dragons are WAY cooler than red girly dragons." Well, first of all, not all Latias fans are girly, and second of all, look in the 4th move slot. You will see a move called Healing Wish a move that Latios wishes it could learn, and its role on this team is very important. If Kyurem is at low HP and is burned by say, a Rotom-Wash, then you could switch in your Latias. Let's say they click Volt Switch, and go to their Ferrothorn. I would Trick here, then Healing Wish. Fun fact, Healing Wish actually activates before rocks. For example if your Kyurem is at 8% and you Healing Wish to it, instead of dying from rocks, it will be healed to 100%, then take rocks damage. Cool, huh?

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Toxic
- Protect
- Scald
- Secret Sword

I had a hard time choosing between this Keldeo set, and a Sub + Calm Mind set. What this Keldeo does is help spread chip and weaken steels such as Heatran, Ferrothorn, Excadrill, Scizor, and Skarmory. (Watch out for Brave Bird!) A Sub + Calm Mind Set would help our Tentacruel matchup so feel free to change this set!

Some Calcs: 252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 208 SpD Ferrothorn: 290-342 (82.3 - 97.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 168+ SpD Chople Berry Tyranitar in Sand: 204-240 (50.4 - 59.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Keldeo: 348-409 (107.7 - 126.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 302-356 (42.2 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Skarmory: 297-349 (89.1 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Shuckle: 123-145 (50.4 - 59.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Shuckle is obviously for memes, but still.
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tentacruel: 271-321 (74.4 - 88.1%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
When you get that high roll.

Alright, enjoy!​

 

[majority]

Hey kalifguest22, my friend! The team is looking pretty good! But i think some changes like changing Excadrill to a Sand Rush user, and maybe changing Keldeo to a Specs user to deal alot of serious damage! There will be alot of pokemon that will pressure your mons. Those include, Breloom due to it's spore and put your biggest threat to sleep. Another one may be Alakazam. Once it sets up, your pretty much a goner, there's more but I won't list them.

Changes:

- Excadrill should be a Sand Rush user, but i just realized it was banned in BW OU. I think your item should be a Choice Scarf, so you can with adamant nature, so your do a lot of damage! Poison Jab should replace Protect, incase for any grass-types! With some Sandstorm support, Excadrill is really capable of doing alot of damage.

- Keldeo is okay on this team, but Choice Specs or Life Orb would be more ideal than leftovers and a more defensive set. Protect should be changed to Icy Wind, while Toxic should be changed to Hidden Power [Ghost] to hit any ghost types trying to come in on your Secret Sword. Keldeo can punch a lot of holes in the other team with this recommended set which makes it a great Special Attacker. It can break down the special walls with Secret Sword so your Kyurem doesnt have trouble taking care of the other team.

Other than that, this team is pretty amazing! Try these changes out and tell me how it goes!​

 

[A Welcome Guest]

Hey kalifguest22, my friend! The team is looking pretty good! But i think some changes like changing Excadrill to a Sand Rush user, and maybe changing Keldeo to a Specs user to deal alot of serious damage! There will be alot of pokemon that will pressure your mons. Those include, Breloom due to it's spore and put your biggest threat to sleep. Another one may be Alakazam. Once it sets up, your pretty much a goner, there's more but I won't list them.

Changes:

- Excadrill should be a Sand Rush user, but i just realized it was banned in BW OU. I think your item should be a Choice Scarf, so you can with adamant nature, so your do a lot of damage! Poison Jab should replace Protect, incase for any grass-types! With some Sandstorm support, Excadrill is really capable of doing alot of damage.

- Keldeo is okay on this team, but Choice Specs or Life Orb would be more ideal than leftovers and a more defensive set. Protect should be changed to Icy Wind, while Toxic should be changed to Hidden Power [Ghost] to hit any ghost types trying to come in on your Secret Sword. Keldeo can punch a lot of holes in the other team with this recommended set which makes it a great Special Attacker. It can break down the special walls with Secret Sword so your Kyurem doesnt have trouble taking care of the other team.

Other than that, this team is pretty amazing! Try these changes out and tell me how it goes!​

Sand Rush is illegal in BW. I feel like, in my opinion, Poison Jab is not very worthwhile on Excadrill because there aren't many grasses in the meta, and the main grass, Ferrothorn is immune to Poison, so if I were to run scarf, I could run Rock Slide instead. I also feel like I should make my Keldeo less passive but I'm not very in favor of Specs. As I mentioned in my RMT, I would prefer a Substitute + Calm Mind set, and Specs doesn't help the Tentacruel matchup unless I run like, HP Ground/Psychic/Electric, which probably wouldn't 2HKO especially if they have rain. I do like the recommendation of Life Orb, but I feel like due to Keldeo being worn down easily with Life Orb recoil, and sand chip, it would create an extra obstacle where you have to either heal Kyurem, or Keldeo with your Latias. Thanks for suggesting changes though!

 

[Caetano93]

Heloo, kalifguest22 cool team idea but it can be optimized. As a fan of Xatu Sand, i'm happy to see more players trying it out.
Firstly, I will list the possible Pokémon changes you can do to make your team better but if you don't want to make any species changes, then i'm listing some better spreads and moveset ideas.

1) or >>

Hydreigon does everything normal Kyurem do with a beter defensive type, better ability and no hazard weakness. KyuB is also a better option here as it can function as an mixed breaker or even a surprise specs mon (bit less power than normal kyu but with better surprise factor).
If you really want to keep normal Kyu, then you can try a sub set here to combo with the Xatu control potential.

2) >>

The reason for the change is because you are absurdly weak to Thundurus rains. You have a fair point that Healing Wish is a good move but it is also a move that is very dificult to use in BW. Most of the times you will be cursing the fact that Scarf Latias ofensive power is very lame (Latios attacks does around 20% more damage, this is huge). Also, a better set here for any Lati is Trick + Recover to have a way better MU versus rains or Bulky Sand teams.

3)

Plz change the Xatu moveset and it's EVs as they are realy bad to use in the tour metagame. Xatu only viable set is Roost / Uturn / Night Shade / Reflect, with 248 HP / 188+ Def / 72 Spe (speed to creep max speed ttar and reflect first, def evs to never be 2hkoed by any ttar spread and stall it out with Rocky Helmet). Also make note that NShade is the better move on Xatu over Heat Wave since almost all Steel mons can't touch it (and Excadrill is faster anyway and Scizor rarely see play).

4)

When paired with Xatu, normally Spin is droped out in favor of Substitute. Xatu already control the field preventing Spikes from Ferrothorn and Skarmory and also hard stop SR from Landorus-T, Gliscor and Tyranitar so there will be very few games where you want the Rapid Spin. Also, Sub Drill is a monster than win games alone when played correctly.

5)

Drop the HP Grass. It's not needed and a waste of moveslot. Go for Superpower or Earthquake so you have ways to deal damage to Heatran, Excadrill, Ferrothorn and Skarmory (quake also help x Tentacruel rains). A little bit of speed to creep other ttars is also a good option since your team can struggle a bit with it if your RNG luck is awfull.

 

[A Welcome Guest]

Heloo, kalifguest22 cool team idea but it can be optimized. As a fan of Xatu Sand, i'm happy to see more players trying it out.
Firstly, I will list the possible Pokémon changes you can do to make your team better but if you don't want to make any species changes, then i'm listing some better spreads and moveset ideas.

1) or >>

Hydreigon does everything normal Kyurem do with a beter defensive type, better ability and no hazard weakness. KyuB is also a better option here as it can function as an mixed breaker or even a surprise specs mon (bit less power than normal kyu but with better surprise factor).
If you really want to keep normal Kyu, then you can try a sub set here to combo with the Xatu control potential.

2) >>

The reason for the change is because you are absurdly weak to Thundurus rains. You have a fair point that Healing Wish is a good move but it is also a move that is very dificult to use in BW. Most of the times you will be cursing the fact that Scarf Latias ofensive power is very lame (Latios attacks does around 20% more damage, this is huge). Also, a better set here for any Lati is Trick + Recover to have a way better MU versus rains or Bulky Sand teams.

3)

Plz change the Xatu moveset and it's EVs as they are realy bad to use in the tour metagame. Xatu only viable set is Roost / Uturn / Night Shade / Reflect, with 248 HP / 188+ Def / 72 Spe (speed to creep max speed ttar and reflect first, def evs to never be 2hkoed by any ttar spread and stall it out with Rocky Helmet). Also make note that NShade is the better move on Xatu over Heat Wave since almost all Steel mons can't touch it (and Excadrill is faster anyway and Scizor rarely see play).

4)

When paired with Xatu, normally Spin is droped out in favor of Substitute. Xatu already control the field preventing Spikes from Ferrothorn and Skarmory and also hard stop SR from Landorus-T, Gliscor and Tyranitar so there will be very few games where you want the Rapid Spin. Also, Sub Drill is a monster than win games alone when played correctly.

5)

Drop the HP Grass. It's not needed and a waste of moveslot. Go for Superpower or Earthquake so you have ways to deal damage to Heatran, Excadrill, Ferrothorn and Skarmory (quake also help x Tentacruel rains). A little bit of speed to creep other ttars is also a good option since your team can struggle a bit with it if your RNG luck is awfull.

Thanks for the tips! For the Xatu spread, I actually didn't know what to use so I used the Smogon sample spread and replaced Lefties with Helmet. What I didn't know was that it might have been outdated so I'm glad you informed me of a more optimal set. True, Hidden Power Grass Tyranitar isn't really needed as Gastrodon isn't the most common thing in the world and it gets 2HKOed by Specs Kyurem anyway. Also, I have never used Substitute Excadrill before so I might try it on this team. I have noticed that the breaking power of Latias is quite weak at times so I understand your recommendation to use Latios instead, which I will try out. Also, you can't have Specs Kyurem sand without Kyurem, so I'm not changing it to Hydreigon, or even Kyurem-B. You're very helpful!