- A (mostly) Stall Team, by Da Who!
Any of you that have battled me will know that I'm of the defensive style of play. Yet, despite this, I've tended to, up until now, stuck with Bulky Offence. However, I decided to give stall another try.
Stall didn't really work for me in the past because, well, it just didn't. One of the main issues though, was that opposing stall teams gave me a headache. Quite literally, in fact. A game lasting 200+ hours isn't good for you. Bearing this in mind, I decided to stick to a stall team with a wall-breaker, and the initial results have been excellent, as you will see as you keep reading. Gradually, this team has grown and matured, and my love for this type of play has risen. This has been my most successful team so far, peaking at just over 1160 CRT on Smogon something that I, at least, am proud of.
So, without further delay, I present to you, Relentless!
;186; :598: ;073; ;302; ;385; :612:
The team started as a pretty standard Rain Stall team, with Haxorus to wallbreak
;186; :598: ;073; ;302; ;380; :612:
I wanted a ground resist and a phazer. Latias was all of these things, and also retained Jirachi's wish-passing capabilities
;186; ;227; ;073; ;302; ;380; :612:
Putting almost all the hazard laying duties on ferrothorn was a bad idea with no recovery of it's own, so I added Skarmory
;186; ;227; ;073; ;302; :598: :612:
However, I noticed that all my hazard-layers had good recovery, and Leech Seed + Just SR is legal, so I added Ferro back in
The team started as a pretty standard Rain Stall team, with Haxorus to wallbreak
;186; :598: ;073; ;302; ;380; :612:
I wanted a ground resist and a phazer. Latias was all of these things, and also retained Jirachi's wish-passing capabilities
;186; ;227; ;073; ;302; ;380; :612:
Putting almost all the hazard laying duties on ferrothorn was a bad idea with no recovery of it's own, so I added Skarmory
;186; ;227; ;073; ;302; :598: :612:
However, I noticed that all my hazard-layers had good recovery, and Leech Seed + Just SR is legal, so I added Ferro back in
Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Toxic
Contrary to popular opinion, I believe Politoed can do so much more than just set up Rain. This Set makes the most of Politoed's good Base 100 SDef Stat which, along with it's typing and good HP, allow it take many special attacks. Scald is a great move for this set, as the burn chance makes physical attackers wary of taking on Politoed. Perish Song acts as a pseudo-phazing move, and is good for preventing set-up sweepers from rampaging through my team. Finally, Toxic + Protect are obvious on a stall pokemon, and it's great for poisoning those pesky levitators/flying types.
Skarmory (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
Skarmory's a fantastic Stall Team member as it's turned out to be the best Spiker I've ever used thanks to its great typing, bulk and access to instant recovery. Spikes and Roost are, for those reasons, obvious moves. Whirlwind is mainly the reason why Skarmory made this team as it allows me to rack up Entry Hazard damage and stop stuff setting up in my face. Brave Bird is to make sure Skarm's not taunt bait and its a powerful attack in it's own right. The EVs maximise Skarmory's excellent physical bulk, as it only takes 52-61% from a +1 Max Attack Dnite, without the rain
Tentacruel (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SDef / 44 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Protect
Tentacruel is another regular on a Rain Stall Team, thanks to his great ability and access to Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin. This set makes use of it's great special defence, complimented by Scald, which can, like with Politoed, burn physical attackers. Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin are obvious moves and Protect racks up Toxic Spikes damage. Tentacruel is a truly awesome pokemon and is definetly irreplacable on this team
Sableye (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Will-o-wisp
- Taunt
- Recover
- Night Shade
Sableye is perhaps one pokemon you wouldn't normally expect to see. Obviously, he acts as the Team's Spinblocker, but I've used him over Gengar because even SubDisable Gengar is not defensive enough and over Jellicent because that would give me yet another electric and grass weakness. Sableye also has the advantages of being able to stop a sweep short (if they're a physical attacker) with Will-o-wisp, something I've endeavoured to do on this team. The fact he resists many forms of priority is a great bonus for this and, although they seem obvious, the EVs do allow it to survive Scizor's Bullet Punch and Azumarill's Rain Boosted Aqua Jet, when both have Max Attack and a Choice Band. Sableye also has the advantage of being able to abuse priority Recover to rack up Toxic Spikes damage. Onto the other moves: Priority Taunt is to stop pokemon boosting past the range where Sableye can no longer weather (pun intended) their onslaughts with Recover and Night Shade is good because it's good to have an attacking move.
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Power Whip
Another usual suspect, and rightly so, because Ferrothorn is a phenomenal pokemon with great typing, defences and movepool. Ferrothorn is valuable to this team as it checks pokemon such as LO Starmie who would otherwise be an absolute pain to this team. Stealth Rock is the King of Hazards, so it's essential on this team. Leech Seed is Ferrothorn's form of recovery, which, as I explained eariler, is valuable to the team's structure and long-lasting capabilities. It's also very useful for draining the HP of common switch-ins, especially if I have T-spikes down and make good use of Protect. Power Whip is a good strong STAB, and it hits surprisingly hard when I need to and prevents me from being taunt bait.
Haxorus (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
If you look up "destruction" in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of this guy. If I play him right, Haxorus can rip through any team I face: Dragon Dance is for offensive teams, and Swords Dance is for stall ones. If I can get one of each boost up... well, you know what happens next. Dragon Claw is used over Outrage here purely because, although Outrage seems better in theory, I can't count the number of times I've wished Haxorus wasn't locked onto Outrage. Earthquake rounds of the set and works great with Mold Breaker: not even Bronzong is safe! The EVs maxmise attack and give me good bulk while allowing me to outspeed Max Speed Jolteon, the fastest unboosted pokemon in OU, after a Dragon Dance. In summary, Haxorus allows me to smash through opposing Stall Teams and can sweep very well lategame in any team, after it's been worn down by hazards.
This team has been my most successful yet, and has really inflamed my love for more defensive teams, albeit with a little offensive twist. I hope you find this team interesting and will take time to rate it. As I hope you can see, it took me a long while to write the RMT, never mind refining the team! So, I won't keep you any longer, so, thanks for reading, please rate away!
Feel free to use this to test the team, to try out Stall or even use it as your own!
Code:
Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Toxic
Skarmory (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
Tentacruel (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SDef / 44 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Protect
Sableye (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Recover
- Night Shade
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Power Whip
Haxorus (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
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