Monotype Team Ground

Good, old Ground-type is a balanced type. On the negative side, Water, a common type has an advantageg against it and Flying-types have immunity from it. On the positive side it has an advantage against common types such as Fire and Steel, an immunity to Electric-type moves and deals heavy damage to Rock-type pokémon. Furthermore, Ground-type has its own weather condition, Sand Stream, and the tools to benefit from it in Sand Rush. With this information I set out to make a Monotype Ground team.

All help is welcome.



Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind

Hippowdon is my common lead, due to Sand Stream, which causes constant damage, aids Excadrill's Sand Rush and combined with Stealth Rock and Whirlwind can whittle the opponent team. Earthquake is a fine stab move and Slack Off allows Hippowdon to recover HP in a pinch. Leftovers adds some recovery power to it.


Excadrill @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

Excadrill hits like a truck with its superb attack and Choice Band. When it comes under the sandstorm, its decent speed doubles allowing it to sweep under the condition it is not hit by a priority move or a faster attack since such investement in attack and speed took its toll on its defenses. Iron Head is a stab and the flinching rate is a very welcome addition, and the other stab is Earthquake. Rock Slide allows Excadrill to KO flying threats and Rapid Spin takes entry hazards from the field.


Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Recover
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Scald

Gastrodon is my first odd choice. Since this is a Ground-type team, Water is always a point to consider. Gastrodon is a almost perfect counter to water since Storm Drain negates the attack and boosts its Special Attack (not very relevant but always good). Since Gastrodon isn't known for its attacking capabilities, it has to rely on Toxic and Recover in conjunction with Leftovers to drain the opponent of HP while recovering it itself. Earthquake and Scald are stabs, the lattrer with the added benefit of habing a burn chance.


Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Wave
- Earthquake

Nidoking is my second odd choice. I know it is not a perfect pokémon and its stats are somewhat lacking, especially on defense, but its versatility and attack options are a good argument for its use. Sheer Force, Life Orb and its jolly nature raise its Special Attack to the maximum and Flamethrower and Ice Beam give it coverage against a wide range of targets. Sludge Wave and Earthquake are powerful stabs.


Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Gravity
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Wave

unlike the former entry Landorus is a obvious choice. Gravity bring Flying-type pokémon to the Ground, so Earth Power can reach them, Focus Blast delas with Normal- and Steel-types and Sludge Wave (with some help from Nidoking) deals with Fairy-types. Like Nidoking, Landorus also uses Sheer Forcer and Life Orb to boost its Special Attack to hte limit.


Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Fang

Garchomp benefits the team because of its Dragon typing and fantastic stats. SInce Sand Force is illegal in teams with a Sand Stream user, Rough Skin is the only option. Earthquake and Outrage are its stabs and the former can use Dragonium Z to KO almost any threat that does not resist it. Swords Dance can be used to set up Garchomp to sweep and Fire Fang uses its high attack to deal with the menace from Ice and certain Steel types.
 
Hey this looks like a pretty nice team! I have a couple major suggestions to help you with a few matchups I suspect might be a bit difficult right now.

First, Gastrodon is a great Water-immune option, but if you use it, you'll need something to check Azumarill for you, since Azumarill outspeeds and OHKOes Azumarill. For this team, the best option is simply to use Mega Garchomp instead of Garchomp. You can still run a SD set, but unlike Garchomp, Mega Garchomp is able to survive even a +6 Aqua Jet from Azumarill, something that OHKOes Garchomp more than half the time. Mega Garchomp is also a great option for helping you beat Normal teams because it doesn't need a powerful Outrage to break Porygon2; Mega Garchomp can run EdgeQuake and avoid being a problem if Ditto Imposters it. Mega Garchomp's Fire Fang is also much stronger against Celesteela, and offensive +4 Jolly Mega Scizor's Bullet Punch cannot OHKO Mega Garchomp either, making it a great help vs Steel teams. (By the way as a side comment, Sand Veil isn't banned on sand teams. You could use it if you really wanted to, but Rough Skin is better)

One of the biggest threats that Ground teams need to face is Tapu Bulu. Your team unfortunately will slowly drop one by one to a Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu, and if Sticky Web is up, then not even Excadrill can save you. While Nidoking is generally good against Fairy-types, it's OHKOed by Tapu Bulu's Wood Hammer, making it not really at all effective as one might have hoped. As a result, I think you should run Dugtrio over Nidoking. Dugtrio may seem to be an odd choice for checking Tapu Bulu, but it's actually Ground's most effective check. With Focus Sash, Dugtrio can survive a hit and fire off a 4x super effective Sludge Wave to deal huge damage. Thanks to Arena Trap, Tapu Bulu can't escape and can be eliminated. While it doesn't OHKO from full HP, the fact is that Tapu Bulu will be forced to use Wood Hammer to OHKO threats, and when you combine that with potential sand damage counteracting Grassy Terrain and Garchomp's Rough Skin, it's easy to put Tapu Bulu into range of Dugtrio. This isn't Dugtrio's only use, though. It also helps you against the dangerous Assault Vest Celesteela set. If your Landorus sets Gravity on it, Dugtrio can trap Celesteela, preventing it from being a serious threat in the future. In general, Dugtrio just has fantastic synergy with Gravity, trapping Mega Charizard Y, Skarmory, Rotom-W, and many others. Of course, it also has other good uses such as trapping and seriously damaging the Normal-type Eviolite core and trapping Alolan Raichu, which is surprisingly effective against Ground teams.

With those two important changes out of the way, there are just small optimizations I think you should try. Excadrill should typically be Jolly nature not Adamant. While Adamant's damage is nice, the problem is that Choice Scarf Greninja actually outspeeds Adamant Excadrill in the sand. As a result, Jolly is very important for making sure Greninja can't stop you. As a side benefit, Gyarados would need to be +3 to outspeed Excadrill as well, although that isn't the main concern.

You should also drop Earthquake for Earth Power on Gastrodon. Earthquake used to be the better attack so that Gastrodon could beat Substitute + Calm Mind Keldeo. however, as that set is completely unused in Monotype now, Earth Power should be used instead. Notably, it lets Gastrodon actually threaten Toxapex. Most Calm Mind users in Monotype, such as Mega Latias, either don't care about Gastrodon or wouldn't be threatened by Earthquake anyway. Thus, there's really no reason to use Earthquake at this point.

I hope that helps in making the Fairy and Steel matchups a lot easier along with the other optimizations. Good luck with the team!
Excadrill @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Toxic
- Earth Power
- Scald

Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Fire Fang

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 244 Atk / 12 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 21 HP / 14 Def / 14 SpD
- Earthquake
- Reversal
- Sludge Wave
- Sucker Punch
 

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