Discussion on Stall
i've probably played stall more than any other playstyle within bdsp ou. it's extremely prevalent, especially within the higher ladder range. more than half of the current top 100 are stall players with multiple alt accounts. and despite the fact that i contribute to the stall mess by using the playstyle, i can't really give an answer as to why it's so popular. i personally think it's not that great of a playstyle, it can be exploited quite easily in this metagame, unlike ss ou, it just performs so well because most teams don't properly prepare against stall. i understand that discussion and player base for the bdsp ou metagame is dead and lacking, which may have some influence as to why stall thrives.
so, why did stall get so popular?
here are some sample stall teams i've constantly encountered at around the 1600 range and up. i've attempted to rebuild them from replays, just know that some of the sets and evs are unconfirmed.
timid heatran stall (sets and evs confirmed, used by Emma Roids/Aerodactylik)
protect + rotom-wash stall (sets and evs confirmed (r-wash set is correct, unsure about ev spreads), used by grossefrappe)
weezing + non-blissey stall (evs not confirmed, used by itsJustRps)
scizor stall (sets and evs confirmed)
poliwrath + slowking stall (evs unconfirmed)
hazard stack + non gliscor stall (slowbro evs unconfirmed)
salamence + protect blissey + reflect tangrowth stall (stall team i tested out, salamence completely walls crawdaunt (helps against sludge bomb variants for tangrowth) and checks a huge amount of the metagame because of intimidate and typing, peaked #13)
classic skarmbliss stall (sets and evs confirmed)
as you can see most stall teams rely on the blissey/clefable/gliscor core. take this as you will when building teams. mixed speical attackers, setup mons with steel/poison coverage, and hazard setters with ice coverage can typically perform well against stall.
again, i still dont understand as to why this playstyle is so common for this specific metagame, maybe these rebuilds can help provide an answer. but after watching the premier league, it quite clear that stall is recognized as a weak playstyle among the best competitive players for bdsp ou, because
only 3 of the 50+ games featured a stall team.
anti-stall cores/pokemon
after giving a rundown on some of the most popular stall teams, i think it's only fair to list off threats to stall. as someone who's had a lot of experience will this metagame's stall, i feel as though i can give really good answer to what exactly threatens it.
1. mixed nidoking
example set
other than alakazam, mixed nidoking is by far the best threat to stall that actually has viability. the only stall teams that can deal with this are those that include slowking, max special defense gastrodon, and protect blissey. it's practically an automatic forfeit if they don't. keep in mind, if an opposing stall player can catch your predictons, you can lose. for example, never click focus punch in front of a gliscor because you're anticipating the blissey switch. only click focus punch when the risk is less than the reward.
2. sludge bomb crawdaunt
example set
this one is not as fantastic as it use to be, as most stall players can recognize when crawdaunt is going to click sludge bomb, or they have a poliwrath. this pokemon is an amazing breaker in general though. make sure you have proper pivoting and hazard control when you use this, as it can get chipped fairly easily and its bulk is laughable.
3. togekiss
example set
the conjunction of t-wave, air slash, and serene grace allow it to break past blissey and clefable. if you're able to get a nasty plot up on a blissey, it's going to be very difficult for them to wall you as they won't be able to recover due to flinching and paralysis. it's best to switch this in on a tangrowth, as they are generally forced to switch out. try not to let blissey use t-wave on this, and only stay in on heatran if it's paralyzed or you're +2.
4. gardevior future sight + choice band
example set +
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eample sets
future sight and a choice banded user of course has its reputation of breaking past bulkier teams. this offensive style is not seen much in bdsp ou due to the slow-twins losing teleport. however, i cannot stress enough how effective enough gardevior performs against stall teams. its ability, trace, is what makes it have such an amazing matchup. you're essentially going to switch into either regenerator, natural cure, or unaware. gardevior will always manage to stay healthy when facing a stall team. simply switch gardevior into anything that isn't a gliscor or heatran, click future sight, and teleport into a strong physical attacker. future sight is useless against stall teams using protect, but other than that, slowbro is the only thing that can stomach a future sight + a physical move. so, i highly encourage using banded users with moves that threaten slowbro.
5. 4 attacks + life orb alakazam
example set
it 2hkos everything on stall besides slowking. bring this in when you know your opponent is going to switch and don't let gliscor knock it off.
6. choice band tyranitar
example set
choice band tyranitar only has one switch-in, which is poliwrath. outside of that, nothing can truly come in on it. stall teams with protect can scout, which somewhat invalidates the breaking power of tyranitar, so be careful.
7. offensive scizor + rotom-wash
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example sets
volt-turn in general can be pretty troublesome for stall, due to stall teams relying on defensive pivoting to maintain momentum. an offensive spin on this core has no walls whatsoever.
8. guts
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example sets
heracross and ursaring are hard to fit onto a team, but stall will always lose against this matchup. neutralizing gas weezing handles heracross, but ursaring literally has no walls with facade + close combat + crunch.
9. power herb + taunt heatran
example set
stall teams rely on either gliscor or slowbro/slowking as a heatran check because blissey loses to heatran if it comes in on a magma storm. i've yet to find a single stall team that invests a lot of speed into gliscor, so you'll usually outspeed. with rocks up, gliscor dies to two magma storms.
10. mixed honchkrow
example set
mixed honchkrow with dark pulse and brave bird 2hkos everything on stall besides physically defensive heatran. it's also a great check to alakazam and latias.
11. swords dance drapion
example set
after a swords dance, nothing walls this. it outspeeds everything on stall, and due to its great natural bulk and typing, it's very difficult to remove. poison jab hits tangrowth and clefable, knock off hits gliscor, slowbro, and blissey, and earthquake is for heatran.
12. iron tail + belly drum azumarill
example set
sacrificing waterfall for iron tail makes azumarill a fantastic wallbreaker. outside of stall teams with rotom-wash (which is uncommon to begin with) stall relies on clefable to handle belly drum azumarill and iron tail completely invalidates clefable. once clefable dies, it's an automatic win.
keep in mind, there are many ways to beat stall, these are just some of the more accessible ways i've come up with. generally, most things with taunt will win against stall.
anti-stall example teams:
roserade hazard stack + togekiss offense
honchkrow balance
mew + crawdaunt balance
iron tail azumarill + scarf mismagius HO
nidoking + doom desire BO
future sight gardevior + choice band weavile BO
conclusion:
it's important to understand that stall will make whatever risk to defeat your team's breaker. when there is a stall-breaker alive that threatens their defensive core, make sure it only comes in on a volt switch or u-turn.
most stall teams will lose to well-constructed teams that have the cores above, and there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. most counters assume ideal circumstances: walls at 100%, no hazards, no status, etc. most people don't consider stall when they build. it is the biggest match-up fish of all playstyles, and thus it wins or loses in teambuilder. stall teams will still be losing the vast majority of the time when faced against well-built teams with alakazam, nidoking, and crawdaunt, etc. for every odd wall, there are 10 strange stall breakers too.
keep in mind, i'm not arguing against stall, it's my favorite playstyle. i believe it's healthy for a metagame to have stall capabilities. i just wanted to talk about its role within bdsp ou.