Monotype Hippowdon (Ground) [DONE]

[StupidFlandrs48]

[SET]
Hippowdon @ Eject Button / Leftovers
Name: Sand Support
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD or 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake / Body Press
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind

Hippowdon is a mandatory pick on sand-based Ground teams for its access to Sand Stream, which allows it to enable one of the type's most dangerous offensive threats in Sand Rush Excadrill; in addition, its amazing bulk lets it further support its team as a mixed wall and entry hazard setter. Earthquake is the default attacking move for its STAB-boosted damage, but Body Press can also be useful to harness Hippowdon's huge Defense, letting it KO major threats like Chien-Pao and Air Balloon Kingambit and put more pressure on some hazard removers, most notably Terapagos and Alolan Sandslash. Stealth Rock is an excellent support move that Hippowdon's teammates will enjoy not having to fit into their movesets, and the chip damage it provides is invaluable to make Excadrill and other offensive teammates like Landorus and Mamoswine more threatening. Whirlwind makes for an excellent pairing with Stealth Rock and Sand Stream, letting Hippowdon rack up chip damage at random against the opposing team; it's also excellent for stopping setup sweepers like Swords Dance Gliscor and IronPress Corviknight before they can overwhelm Hippowdon with multiple boosts. With Eject Button as its item, Hippowdon can switch in, set up Sandstorm, take a powerful hit for a teammate, and get Excadrill or another offensive threat onto the field all in the same turn, generating ridiculous amounts of momentum. However, Leftovers is a solid alternative to give Hippowdon extra recovery, reducing the need to spend turns using Slack Off. A physically defensive EV spread is the default, taking advantage of Hippowdon's incredible HP and Defense to let it survive such staggeringly strong hits as Choice Band Chien-Pao's Icicle Crash after Stealth Rock damage. This spread also notably lets it avoid a 2HKO from Ogerpon-H's Horn Leech and Choice Band Hoopa-U's Hyperspace Fury after Leftovers recovery. Alternatively, a more balanced spread of 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD can help Hippowdon deal with mixed attackers like Iron Valiant and Psyshock users like Latios more effectively, the latter being especially important since Hippowdon's favorite specially defensive teammate, Clodsire, is extremely vulnerable to the move. This spread also has great synergy with Eject Button, since it lets Hippowdon soak up powerful special hits like Choice Specs Latios's Draco Meteor for the benefit of its teammates.

As a sand setter, it makes sense that Sand Rush Excadrill is the quintessential offensive teammate for Hippowdon; its Choice Band set provides excellent speed control and wallbreaking power in one teamslot, and its Steel typing also lets it offensively check some attackers that can overwhelm Hippowdon, such as Baxcalibur and Meowscarada. The pairing of Hippowdon and Excadrill is extremely threatening on its own, but it's best complemented by other offensive pieces that can threaten Ground-immune Pokemon which don't care about Iron Head, as well as bulky Grass-types like Amoonguss. Mamoswine checks all of these boxes, 2HKOing Corviknight and OHKOing Amoonguss with Choice Band-boosted Icicle Crash. Thanks to Thick Fat, Mamoswine is also a great switch-in to Ice-type attacks that Hippowdon doesn't enjoy taking from powerful attackers like Kyurem. Gliscor and Landorus are welcome additions to Hippowdon's team, providing useful support with a crucial Grass neutrality and support options like Spikes and Gravity, respectively, the former of which especially synergizes with Hippowdon's focus on passive damage. Landorus isn't as useful as Gliscor defensively, but it's a powerful attacker that's enabled nicely by Hippowdon's entry hazard support and potentially Eject Button, and it also makes an excellent check to common IronPress users like Skarmory, Corviknight, and Zamazenta. Ursaluna-B is a slow but incredibly powerful wallbreaker that's enabled nicely by speed control from Excadrill in sand, and its solid physical bulk lets it take some pressure off of Hippowdon in the hit-taking department; in addition, its Vacuum Wave is great for offensively checking common attackers that threaten Hippowdon like Chien-Pao, Meowscarada, and Greninja. Great Tusk is an incredibly versatile partner, backing up Hippowdon against physical attackers while running a massive variety of sets, letting it fill the role of Rapid Spin support, revenge killer, or setup sweeper with Bulk Up. On the defensive side, Clodsire is an excellent special wall that complements Hippowdon's physical hit-taking ability perfectly, and it can also stack Toxic Spikes to make Whirlwind even more threatening; Clodsire is especially great thanks to its Water immunity and Grass neutrality, letting it stop major threats like Keldeo, Meowscarada, and Ogerpon-W in their tracks. It's worth noting that Clodsire can make the team weak to offensive Psychic-types like Latios; this weakness can be patched up by Hippowdon alongside other teammates like Excadrill. Garchomp is a great addition to sand teams, thanks to its mixed attacking capabilities letting it lure annoying physical walls like Skarmory and Archaludon; it can also go on the offensive with a Swords Dance set if these foes are covered by other means.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Ground
--------
Yawn can be used over Whirlwind to threaten to put foes to sleep, which Ground otherwise has no method of doing, while still forcing switches. Rocky Helmet is a solid alternative item that has great synergy with Sand Stream and Stealth Rock, piling on even more passive damage against the physical attackers Hippowdon switches into. Since Hippowdon can struggle to deal with Spikes at times, Heavy-Duty Boots is another viable item choice to help remedy this weakness.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/stupidflandrs48.633500/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/giyu.574288/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/neko.542526/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/

 

[Giyu]

Reserved

 

[Giyu]

Hippowdon

Hippowdon is a near-mandatory pick on Sand Ground teams for its access to Sand Stream, which allows it to enable one of the type's most dangerous offensive threats in Sand Rush Excadrill; in addition, its amazing bulk lets it further support its team as a mixed wall and entry hazard setter. Stealth Rock is an excellent support move that Hippowdon's teammates will enjoy not having to fit, and the chip damage it provides is invaluable to make Excadrill and other offensive teammates like Landorus and Mamoswine more threatening. Slack Off makes Hippowdon incredibly self-sufficient, giving it reliable recovery and making non-Leftovers items significantly more viable. (This is pretty much dex info, you don't need to specify what recovery/setup moves do) Finally, Whirlwind makes for an excellent pairing with Stealth Rock and Sand Stream, letting Hippowdon rack up chip damage at random against the opposing team; it's also excellent for stopping setup sweepers like Swords Dance Gliscor and IronPress Corviknight before they can overwhelm Hippowdon with multiple boosts. Leftovers are the default item to give Hippowdon additional longevity, letting it last longer before it's pressured to spend a turn on Slack Off; however, on faster-paced Ground teams where Hippowdon can be more of a momentum sink, Eject Button is a solid alternative. With Eject Button, Hippowdon can switch in, set up sandstorm, take a powerful hit for a teammate, and get Excadrill or another offensive threat onto the field all in the same turn, generating ridiculous amounts of momentum. A physically defensive EV spread is the default, taking advantage of Hippowdon's incredible HP and Defense to survive such staggeringly strong hits as Choice Band Chien-Pao's Icicle Crash after Stealth Rock damage. This spread also notably avoids a 2HKO from Ogerpon-H's Horn Leech and Choice Band Hoopa-U's Hyperspace Fury after Leftovers recovery. Alternatively, a more balanced spread of 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD can help Hippowdon deal with mixed attackers like Iron Valiant and Psyshock users like Latios more effectively, with the latter being especially important since Hippowdon's favorite specially defensive teammate, Clodsire, is extremely vulnerable to the move (This spread specifically helps Hippowdon live a Draco Meteor from Choice Specs Latios, synergizing well with Eject Button).

As a sand setter, it makes sense that Sand Rush Excadrill is the quintessential offensive teammate for Hippowdon; its Choice Band set provides excellent speed control and wallbreaking power in one teamslot, and its Steel typing also lets it offensively check some attackers that can overwhelm Hippowdon, such as Enamorus and Baxcalibur. The pairing of Hippowdon and Excadrill is extremely threatening on its own, but it's best complemented by other offensive pieces that can threaten Ground-immune Pokemon and don't care about Iron Head, as well as bulky Grass-types like Amoonguss. Mamoswine checks all of these boxes, 2HKOing Skarmory (Mamoswine can't break Skarmory after an Iron Defense and can be hit by Body Press) and Corviknight and OHKOing Amoonguss with Choice Band-boosted Icicle Crash. Thanks to Thick Fat, Mamoswine is also a great switch-in to Ice-type attacks that Hippowdon doesn't enjoy taking from powerful attackers like Kyurem and Chien-Pao. Gliscor and Landorus-T are welcome additions to Hippowdon's team, providing useful support with a crucial Grass neutrality and support options like Spikes and Gravity, respectively, the former of which especially synergizes with Hippowdon's focus on passive damage. Landorus's Incarnate forme isn't as useful defensively, but it's another powerful attacker that's enabled nicely by Hippowdon's hazard support and potentially Eject Button (Landorus is a lot better than Gliscor or Landorus-T due to its breaking power and ability to use Gravity freely, it's also really good versus common threats like IronPress Skarmory/Corviknight because of its nature as a special attacker. Gliscor is a bit niche on Sand but it at least provides chip via Spikes and Toxic, Landorus-T doesn't really have either and overlaps with Excadrill/Mamoswine/Garchomp which do their job a lot better. Remove Landorus-T's mention entirely and change Landorus' sentence as it's definitely a lot better than you make it out to be). Ursaluna-B is a slow but incredibly powerful wallbreaker that's enabled nicely by speed control from Excadrill in sand, and its solid physical bulk lets it take some pressure off of HIppowdon in the hit-taking department (It's incredibly useful versus Chien-Pao due to Vacuum Wave and even picks off weakened Meowscarada and Greninja). On the defensive side, Clodsire and Ting-Lu are both excellent special walls that complement Hippowdon's physical hit-taking ability perfectly, and both can stack Spikes to make Whirlwind even more threatening. (Clodsire is your Water-type immunity and Meowscarada answer) It's worth noting that Clodsire can make the team weak to offensive Psychic-types like Latios, while Ting-Lu struggles against Ogerpon formes; these weaknesses can be patched up by other teammates like Iron Treads and defensive Garchomp, respectively. (Give Iron Treads and Garchomp their own sentences, Great Tusk too)

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Ground
--------
Yawn can be used over Whirlwind to threaten to put foes to sleep, which Ground otherwise has no method of doing, while still forcing switches. If Hippowdon's Stealth Rock duties are outsourced to another teammate, a few secondary attacking options become viable to deal with certain Pokemon that don't care about Earthquake: Ice Fang can 2HKO targets like Dragonite, Garchomp, and Gliscor after Stealth Rock, with the former not being safe due to sandstorm's ability to break Multiscale. Stone Edge can be used to lure Gyarados and Araquanid before 2HKOing them, taking care of two threats that Ground traditionally dislikes dealing with; the move also scores a harder hit on Ogerpon-H, potentially OHKOing it after Stealth Rock. Rocky Helmet is a solid alternative item that has great synergy with Sand Stream and Stealth Rock, piling on even more passive damage against the physical attackers Hippowdon switches into. (Mention Heavy-Duty Boots)

QC: 1/2, well done!

 

[Neko]

monster car

obesity
[SET]
Hippowdon @ Leftovers / Eject Button (swap positions, Ebutton>Leftos)
Name: Sand Support (Ground) (uneeded since its singly typed)
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD or 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake / Body Press
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind

[SET COMMENTS]
Hippowdon is a near-mandatory pick on (its not near-mandatory, its only mandatory if you want to use sand) Ground teams for its access to Sand Stream, which allows it to enable one of the type's most dangerous offensive threats in Sand Rush Excadrill; in addition, its amazing bulk lets it further support its team as a mixed wall and entry hazard setter. Stealth Rock is an excellent support move that Hippowdon's teammates will enjoy not having to fit, and the chip damage it provides is invaluable to make Excadrill and other offensive teammates like Landorus and Mamoswine more threatening. Slack Off makes Hippowdon incredibly self-sufficient, giving it reliable recovery and making non-Leftovers items significantly more viable. Finally, Whirlwind makes for an excellent pairing with Stealth Rock and Sand Stream, letting Hippowdon rack up chip damage at random against the opposing team; it's also excellent for stopping setup sweepers like Swords Dance Gliscor and IronPress Corviknight before they can overwhelm Hippowdon with multiple boosts (also phazes out cursed stuff like Air Balloon Kingambit which uses Hippo as setup). Leftovers are the default item to give Hippowdon additional longevity, letting it last longer before it's pressured to spend a turn on Slack Off; however, on faster-paced Ground teams where Hippowdon can be more of a momentum sink, Eject Button is a solid alternative. (swap this, ebutton is generally better) With Eject Button, Hippowdon can switch in, set up sandstorm, take a powerful hit for a teammate, and get Excadrill or another offensive threat onto the field all in the same turn, generating ridiculous amounts of momentum. A physically defensive EV spread is the default, taking advantage of Hippowdon's incredible HP and Defense to survive such staggeringly strong hits as Choice Band Chien-Pao's Icicle Crash after Stealth Rock damage. This spread also notably avoids a 2HKO from Ogerpon-H's Horn Leech and Choice Band Hoopa-U's Hyperspace Fury after Leftovers recovery. Alternatively, a more balanced spread of 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD can help Hippowdon deal with mixed attackers like Iron Valiant and Psyshock users like Latios more effectively, with the latter being especially important since Hippowdon's favorite specially defensive teammate, Clodsire, is extremely vulnerable to the move.
*add body press, its an option because as you said its bulky...bulky enough to slap Chien-Pao to OHKO it

As a sand setter, it makes sense that Sand Rush Excadrill is the quintessential offensive teammate for Hippowdon; its Choice Band set provides excellent speed control and wallbreaking power in one teamslot, and its Steel typing also lets it offensively check some attackers that can overwhelm Hippowdon, such as Enamorus (enam gets EP, maybe meowscarada would be better?) and Baxcalibur. The pairing of Hippowdon and Excadrill is extremely threatening on its own, but it's best complemented by other offensive pieces that can threaten Ground-immune Pokemon and don't care about Iron Head, as well as bulky Grass-types like Amoonguss. Mamoswine checks all of these boxes, 2HKOing Skarmory and Corviknight and OHKOing Amoonguss with Choice Band-boosted Icicle Crash. Thanks to Thick Fat, Mamoswine is also a great switch-in to Ice-type attacks that Hippowdon doesn't enjoy taking from powerful attackers like Kyurem and Chien-Pao. Gliscor and Landorus-T are welcome additions to Hippowdon's team, providing useful support with a crucial Grass neutrality and support options like Spikes and Gravity, respectively, the former of which especially synergizes with Hippowdon's focus on passive damage. Landorus's Incarnate forme isn't as useful defensively, but it's another powerful attacker that's enabled nicely by Hippowdon's hazard support and potentially Eject Button. Ursaluna-B is a slow but incredibly powerful wallbreaker that's enabled nicely by speed control from Excadrill in sand, and its solid physical bulk lets it take some pressure off of HIppowdon in the hit-taking department (it also packs vacuum wave to meow chien-pao and kingambit). On the defensive side, Clodsire and Ting-Lu are both excellent special walls that complement Hippowdon's physical hit-taking ability perfectly, and both can stack Spikes to make Whirlwind even more threatening. It's worth noting that Clodsire can make the team weak to offensive Psychic-types like Latios, while Ting-Lu struggles against Ogerpon formes; these weaknesses can be patched up by other teammates like Iron Treads and defensive Garchomp, respectively.
*Ting-Lu and treads arent options because they just dont fit sand teams at all
*Garchomp can go mixed, letting it bonk skarmory and Archuladon which is annoying for the type
*keep clodsire because Water absorb + Tspikes support

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Ground
--------
Yawn can be used over Whirlwind to threaten to put foes to sleep, which Ground otherwise has no method of doing, while still forcing switches. If Hippowdon's Stealth Rock duties are outsourced to another teammate, a few secondary attacking options become viable to deal with certain Pokemon that don't care about Earthquake: Ice Fang can 2HKO targets like Dragonite, Garchomp, and Gliscor after Stealth Rock, with the former not being safe due to sandstorm's ability to break Multiscale. Stone Edge can be used to lure Gyarados and Araquanid before 2HKOing them, taking care of two threats that Ground traditionally dislikes dealing with; the move also scores a harder hit on Ogerpon-H, potentially OHKOing it after Stealth Rock. (SR will never be outsourced on hippo) Rocky Helmet is a solid alternative item that has great synergy with Sand Stream and Stealth Rock, piling on even more passive damage against the physical attackers Hippowdon switches into.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/stupidflandrs48.633500/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/giyu.574288/
Grammar checked by:

QC 2/2, thankie StupidFlandrs48

 

[StupidFlandrs48]

Both checks implemented! GP Team

 

[SolarBeam]

1/1, GP Team done

moto moto

blue = add
red = remove
(orange) = comment

[SET]
Hippowdon @ Eject Button / Leftovers
Name: Sand Support
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD or 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake / Body Press
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind

Hippowdon is a mandatory pick on sand-based Ground teams for its access to Sand Stream, which allows it to enable one of the type's most dangerous offensive threats in Sand Rush Excadrill; in addition, its amazing bulk lets it further support its team as a mixed wall and entry hazard setter. Earthquake is the default attacking move for its STAB-boosted damage, but Body Press can also be useful to harness Hippowdon's huge Defense, letting it KO major threats like Chien-Pao and Air Balloon Kingambit and put more pressure on some hazard removers, most notably Terapagos and Alolan Sandslash. Stealth Rock is an excellent support move that Hippowdon's teammates will enjoy not having to fit into their moveslots, and the chip damage it provides is invaluable to make Excadrill and other offensive teammates like Landorus and Mamoswine more threatening. Whirlwind makes for an excellent pairing with Stealth Rock and Sand Stream, letting Hippowdon rack up chip damage at random against the opposing team; it's also excellent for stopping setup sweepers like Swords Dance Gliscor and IronPress Corviknight before they can overwhelm Hippowdon with multiple boosts. With Eject Button as its item, Hippowdon can switch in, set up sandstorm sand (or Sandstorm but pick one), take a powerful hit for a teammate, and get Excadrill or another offensive threat onto the field all in the same turn, generating ridiculous amounts of momentum. However, Leftovers are is a solid alternative to give Hippowdon extra recovery, reducing the need to spend turns using Slack Off. A physically defensive EV spread is the default, taking advantage of Hippowdon's incredible HP and Defense to let it survive such staggeringly strong hits as Choice Band Chien-Pao's Icicle Crash after Stealth Rock damage. This spread also notably avoids lets it avoid a 2HKO from Ogerpon-H's Horn Leech and Choice Band Hoopa-U's Hyperspace Fury after Leftovers recovery. Alternatively, a more balanced spread of 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD can help Hippowdon deal with mixed attackers like Iron Valiant and Psyshock users like Latios more effectively, with the latter being especially important, (AC) since Hippowdon's favorite specially defensive teammate, Clodsire, is extremely vulnerable to the move. This spread also has great synergy with Eject Button, since it lets Hippowdon soak up powerful special hits like Choice Specs Latios's Draco Meteor for the benefit of its teammates.

As a sand setter, it makes sense that Sand Rush Excadrill is the quintessential offensive teammate for Hippowdon; its Choice Band set provides excellent speed control and wallbreaking power in one teamslot, and its Steel typing also lets it offensively check some attackers that can overwhelm Hippowdon, such as Baxcalibur and Meowscarada. The pairing of Hippowdon and Excadrill is extremely threatening on its own, but it's best complemented by other offensive pieces that can threaten Ground-immune Pokemon which that don't care about Iron Head, as well as bulky Grass-types like Amoonguss. Mamoswine checks all of these boxes, 2HKOing Corviknight and OHKOing Amoonguss with Choice Band-boosted Icicle Crash. Thanks to Thick Fat, Mamoswine is also a great switch-in to Ice-type attacks that Hippowdon doesn't enjoy taking from powerful attackers like Kyurem. Gliscor and Landorus are welcome additions to Hippowdon's team, providing useful support with a crucial Grass neutrality and support options like Spikes and Gravity, respectively, the former of which especially synergizes with Hippowdon's focus on passive damage. Landorus isn't as useful as Gliscor defensively, but it's a powerful attacker that's enabled nicely by Hippowdon's entry hazard support and potentially Eject Button, and it also makes an excellent check to common IronPress users like Skarmory, Corviknight, and Zamazenta. Ursaluna-B is a slow but incredibly powerful wallbreaker that's enabled nicely by speed control from Excadrill in sand, and its solid physical bulk lets it take some pressure off of HIppowdon Hippowdon in the hit-taking department; in addition, its Vacuum Wave is great for offensively checking common attackers that threaten Hippowdon like Chien-Pao, Meowscarada, and Greninja. Great Tusk is an incredibly versatile partner, backing up Hippowdon against physical attackers while running a massive variety of sets, letting it fill the role of Rapid Spin support, revenge killer, or wincon setup sweeper with Bulk Up. On the defensive side, Clodsire is an excellent special wall that complements Hippowdon's physical hit-taking ability perfectly, and it can also stack Toxic Spikes to make Whirlwind even more threatening; Clodsire is especially great thanks to its Water immunity and Grass neutrality, letting it stop major threats like Keldeo, Meowscarada, and Ogerpon-W in their tracks. It's worth noting that Clodsire can make the team weak to offensive Psychic-types like Latios; this weakness can be patched up by Hippowdon alongside other teammates like Excadrill. Garchomp is a great addition to sand teams, (AC) thanks to its mixed attacking capabilities (RC) letting it lure annoying physical walls like Skarmory and Archaludon; it can also go on the offensive with a Swords Dance set if these foes are covered by other means.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Ground
--------
Yawn can be used over Whirlwind to threaten to put foes to sleep, which Ground otherwise has no method of doing, while still forcing switches. Rocky Helmet is a solid alternative item that has great synergy with Sand Stream and Stealth Rock, piling on even more passive damage against the physical attackers Hippowdon switches into. Since Hippowdon can struggle to deal with Spikes at times, Heavy-Duty Boots is another viable item choice to help remedy this weakness.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/stupidflandrs48.633500/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/giyu.574288/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/neko.542526/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/

 

[StupidFlandrs48]

1/1, GP Team done

moto moto

blue = add
red = remove
(orange) = comment

[SET]
Hippowdon @ Eject Button / Leftovers
Name: Sand Support
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD or 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake / Body Press
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind

Hippowdon is a mandatory pick on sand-based Ground teams for its access to Sand Stream, which allows it to enable one of the type's most dangerous offensive threats in Sand Rush Excadrill; in addition, its amazing bulk lets it further support its team as a mixed wall and entry hazard setter. Earthquake is the default attacking move for its STAB-boosted damage, but Body Press can also be useful to harness Hippowdon's huge Defense, letting it KO major threats like Chien-Pao and Air Balloon Kingambit and put more pressure on some hazard removers, most notably Terapagos and Alolan Sandslash. Stealth Rock is an excellent support move that Hippowdon's teammates will enjoy not having to fit into their moveslots, and the chip damage it provides is invaluable to make Excadrill and other offensive teammates like Landorus and Mamoswine more threatening. Whirlwind makes for an excellent pairing with Stealth Rock and Sand Stream, letting Hippowdon rack up chip damage at random against the opposing team; it's also excellent for stopping setup sweepers like Swords Dance Gliscor and IronPress Corviknight before they can overwhelm Hippowdon with multiple boosts. With Eject Button as its item, Hippowdon can switch in, set up sandstorm sand (or Sandstorm but pick one), take a powerful hit for a teammate, and get Excadrill or another offensive threat onto the field all in the same turn, generating ridiculous amounts of momentum. However, Leftovers are is a solid alternative to give Hippowdon extra recovery, reducing the need to spend turns using Slack Off. A physically defensive EV spread is the default, taking advantage of Hippowdon's incredible HP and Defense to let it survive such staggeringly strong hits as Choice Band Chien-Pao's Icicle Crash after Stealth Rock damage. This spread also notably avoids lets it avoid a 2HKO from Ogerpon-H's Horn Leech and Choice Band Hoopa-U's Hyperspace Fury after Leftovers recovery. Alternatively, a more balanced spread of 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD can help Hippowdon deal with mixed attackers like Iron Valiant and Psyshock users like Latios more effectively, with the latter being especially important, (AC) since Hippowdon's favorite specially defensive teammate, Clodsire, is extremely vulnerable to the move. This spread also has great synergy with Eject Button, since it lets Hippowdon soak up powerful special hits like Choice Specs Latios's Draco Meteor for the benefit of its teammates.

As a sand setter, it makes sense that Sand Rush Excadrill is the quintessential offensive teammate for Hippowdon; its Choice Band set provides excellent speed control and wallbreaking power in one teamslot, and its Steel typing also lets it offensively check some attackers that can overwhelm Hippowdon, such as Baxcalibur and Meowscarada. The pairing of Hippowdon and Excadrill is extremely threatening on its own, but it's best complemented by other offensive pieces that can threaten Ground-immune Pokemon which that don't care about Iron Head, as well as bulky Grass-types like Amoonguss. Mamoswine checks all of these boxes, 2HKOing Corviknight and OHKOing Amoonguss with Choice Band-boosted Icicle Crash. Thanks to Thick Fat, Mamoswine is also a great switch-in to Ice-type attacks that Hippowdon doesn't enjoy taking from powerful attackers like Kyurem. Gliscor and Landorus are welcome additions to Hippowdon's team, providing useful support with a crucial Grass neutrality and support options like Spikes and Gravity, respectively, the former of which especially synergizes with Hippowdon's focus on passive damage. Landorus isn't as useful as Gliscor defensively, but it's a powerful attacker that's enabled nicely by Hippowdon's entry hazard support and potentially Eject Button, and it also makes an excellent check to common IronPress users like Skarmory, Corviknight, and Zamazenta. Ursaluna-B is a slow but incredibly powerful wallbreaker that's enabled nicely by speed control from Excadrill in sand, and its solid physical bulk lets it take some pressure off of HIppowdon Hippowdon in the hit-taking department; in addition, its Vacuum Wave is great for offensively checking common attackers that threaten Hippowdon like Chien-Pao, Meowscarada, and Greninja. Great Tusk is an incredibly versatile partner, backing up Hippowdon against physical attackers while running a massive variety of sets, letting it fill the role of Rapid Spin support, revenge killer, or wincon setup sweeper with Bulk Up. On the defensive side, Clodsire is an excellent special wall that complements Hippowdon's physical hit-taking ability perfectly, and it can also stack Toxic Spikes to make Whirlwind even more threatening; Clodsire is especially great thanks to its Water immunity and Grass neutrality, letting it stop major threats like Keldeo, Meowscarada, and Ogerpon-W in their tracks. It's worth noting that Clodsire can make the team weak to offensive Psychic-types like Latios; this weakness can be patched up by Hippowdon alongside other teammates like Excadrill. Garchomp is a great addition to sand teams, (AC) thanks to its mixed attacking capabilities (RC) letting it lure annoying physical walls like Skarmory and Archaludon; it can also go on the offensive with a Swords Dance set if these foes are covered by other means.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Ground
--------
Yawn can be used over Whirlwind to threaten to put foes to sleep, which Ground otherwise has no method of doing, while still forcing switches. Rocky Helmet is a solid alternative item that has great synergy with Sand Stream and Stealth Rock, piling on even more passive damage against the physical attackers Hippowdon switches into. Since Hippowdon can struggle to deal with Spikes at times, Heavy-Duty Boots is another viable item choice to help remedy this weakness.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/stupidflandrs48.633500/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/giyu.574288/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/neko.542526/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/

Implemented with slight tweaks (discussed via Discord). Upload time!!!