Sandshrew and Sandslash are one of the few Pokemon from Kanto who got regional variants. Instead of being pure Ground types, they are now Ice/Steel types, which is a unique typing. I will be talking about its usefulness and where to find one.
This Pokemon’s biggest flaw is its typing. It is doubly weak to Fire and Fighting, so I would not suggest using one against any Pokemon with those types. It is, however, doubly resistant to Ice type Pokemon, which you may find useful. Unfortunately, you can find this Pokemon late in the game on Ula’ula Island, and it’s not the best choice to use against Hapu due to its weakness to Ground types. There is one trainer where it might be a good idea to use Alola Sandslash: Kahili. Although Ice types are good against Flying types, they take regular damage from Flying type moves. Alola Sandslash’s Steel typing takes away from the problem. Her Oricorio would be your biggest problem if you were planning to use Alola Sandslash, but honestly, a good Rock type would take care of it. Skarmory and Mandibuzz might give you some problems, too, but a well-trained Alola Sandslash might be good enough to take down her whole team.
What about in competitive battles? Sandslash’s best stat is its Defense, and that’s even more true for Alola Sandslash. Although they have the same base stat totals, Alola Sandslash’s Defense is 10 points higher than Sandslash’s. This is also the case for Alola Sandslash’s Special Defense, but, in return, its Special Attack is 20 points lower. It has abilities that are similar to Sandslash’s abilities, except applied with Hail instead of a Sandstorm. Snow Cloak multiplies Alola Sandslash’s by .8 while it is Hailing, and Slush Rush doubles Alola Sandslash’s Speed while it’s Hailing. Snow Cloak is, in my opinion, more useful. Alola Sandslash has a base Speed of 65, which is pretty slow. If you combine Snow Cloak with Double Team, you would have a Pokemon that is pretty difficult to hit. If you also have Swords Dance, Iron Head and Icicle Spear, you could sweep a team with one Pokemon. However, this would mean you needed a Pokemon who could either use Hail or summon it with Snow Warning. Unfortunately, the only Pokemon capable of doing that would be a Vanilluxe with its hidden ability in this game, but at least it can be done.
I have some bad news if you want this Pokemon and you have Pokemon Sun: you can’t get Alola Sandshrew. It’s a version exclusive of Moon. The earliest this Pokemon can be found is Tapu Village. They can be found about 10% of the time with the maximum level being 31. If you wait until Mount Lanakila, you can get a higher level Sandshrew and you can find them more often. They have the maximum level of 45, which is good because they learn their last move Blizzard at level 46. After that, you can use an Ice Stone to evolve it into Alola Sandslash (The Ice Stone, if you didn’t pick it up, can be found in Po Town).
Did you get an Alola Sandslash for your adventure through the Alola region?
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