RMT, Stall is not taught, it is learned.
Hi Smogon, this is my first stall team (or at least the the first good one) and it is going pretty well, but I know you can make it better.
I am revamping this thread since the original was pretty mediocre, lacking, etc. I am not that type of person, so I will work hard to make this RMT a masterpiece.
Introduction: My favorite play style is offense, and I have tried all sorts of combinations with that style, I noticed that the leaderboard is full of stall and balance, meaning it is the best style at the moment. There my desire to build a stall team was born. After reading pana´s RMT, Thriller, I liked his theme, especially due to the fact that it was original. So my first pokemon for this team was his Latias, but she was replaced through time. Added Spikes, Stealth Rock, phazers, walls, and my offensive touch.
Team Building:
The first thing I thought of was that I needed a spiker, a good one, there the selection began. I read Smogon´s Spike article and checked the pokes that are able to learn it, I chose the ones that could be considered for a competitive stall team and checked their defensive stats and form of recovery.
Cloyster (Rest)
50 / 180 / 45
Forretress (Rest)
75 / 140 / 60
Omastar (Rest)
70 / 125 / 70
Skarmory (Roost)
65 / 140 / 70
The lack of recovery on most of the spikers was bad, and lead me to chose between Forretress and Skarmory, reliable recovery and phazing vs Rapid Spin and Toxic Spikes. Skarmory was the winner, since I want my Spiker to live long, something Forretress struggles to do. To counter the metagame I decided to use a specially defensive skarmory, to set up on unsuspecting pokes, and gave me a counter to refresh latias.
I know that the Skarmbliss combo works very good since GSC, and it continues to do so until now. Blissey is with no doubt, the best special wall in the game. I like the fact that she can spread status, heal herself, deal heavy damage ( with seismic toss) and it is hard to take down, a great pokemon overall.
The core of my team starts here, Skarmbliss. I have Spikes and WW to abuse it, but I am not going anywere just with that, and I hate the fact that Salamence can easily beat me, here is where the next pokemon enters.
The question here is the following: what Pokémon can counter Salamence and use Stealth Rock?
Again, I checked Smogon and searched for SR, here are the results of my search:
Bronzong
67 / 116 / 116
Donphan
100 / 120 / 60
Registeel
80 / 150 / 150
Swampert
100 / 110 / 90
I wanted him to be my lead, becuase I don´t want to waste more spots in something I can actually cover. Bronzong makes a good lead, since he isn´t OHKOd by any lead but Specs Tran, but none of the others can either. Donphan can use Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin, which is very nice for a lead, Registeel can cripple something with T-wave, set up Stealth Rock and Explode when he is not needed anymore. But what made you chose Swampert?
The fact than he can phaze and it is harder to wall due to his typing and stats, and he can check SD Infernape, that added my third Pokemon to my team.
However, since he is my lead, I cant count on him to be my sure fire mence counter, another steel was needed for this job, The fastest Steel type Pokemon was added to my team. When I was deciding for a set, I thought of Wish Support and Physical Choice, with a Shuca Berry he can save me from a sweep from dd Gyarados or DD Salamence if Swampert dies, but that is too unreliable, and with a Scarf, I am able to outspeed a boosted Salamence, Gyarados, Empoleon, Kingdra, and that added another check for Latias. He tends to cause switches vs oponents fearing an Iron Head, getting Tricked or getting hurt very badly by an elemental punch, this is a great addition to my team.
Since I run Spikes and Stealth Rock, a Rapid Spin Blocker was a must for my team, currently Rotom-A is the best Spin Blocker in OU.
Being honest, Lucario was a problem, so the best thing I could was not running a slow, bulky Rotom, but a fast and offensive one, but with enough to bulk to counter some threads and continually block Rapid Spin.
My last Pokemon was a Latias, but that made all of my battles vs. stall very hard to win, If I was going to replace it, it needed to be an Infernape counter, Starmie was my choice. I know that the defensive Starmie is set up and pursuit bait, and a friend of mine, Stauffen (the Blissey) suggested me using offensive Life Orb with Rapid Spin and Recover. That finished my team.
Here is my team:
Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/16 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Roar
---
Swampert is a viable user of SR and is very bulky, however, I hate instantly losing to Roserade (lack of Restalker), Taunt Azelf and Forretress, so I am considering in changing him. The reason why I dont use a mixed set is to hit Latias harder.
legend (Jirachi) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 40 HP/216 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Iron Head
- Thunderpunch
- Fire Punch
- Trick
---
Props to pana for giving me the idea to use this on stall, with Iron Head, a Jolly nature, and a Choice Scarf, Salamence wont be a problem. ThunderPunch is needed for Gyarados, I have some problems with him, Fire Punch is there so that Scizor can get all the SD´s he wants and dont sweep me, it also checks Lucario. Trick is my way to deal with last pokemon stat upper like Crocune, Snorlax, Tyranitar and Umbreon.
Ciaran (Skarmory) (F) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/20 Atk/20Spd/180 SDef/ 40 Def
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Brave Bird
---
Careful Skarmory is half of the anti metagame couple, with Blissey. If I already used Spikes and I feel that my oponent will switch out, I whirlwind to scout his team and rack some Spikes and SR damage. Brave Bird without leftovers really hurts him though, but I dont Maggy to break my team, any suggestion for a better spread, moves or nature will be apreciated.
Kir (Blissey) @ Leftovers l Calm nature
252 Def / 80 SpA / 176 SpD
~ Softboiled
~ Seismic Toss ( I need it for Empoleon)
~ Toxic
~ Flamethrower
Blissey is a great Pokémon, she is a pretty nice special wall and can help the rest of the team with Toxic. I used to run a Bold Blissey, but some threats gave me problems and Calm fixes the problem. The reason why I use Softboiled over Wish is because I lack Protect, which means I would lack a reliable recovery move, which is a no-no on a Pokemon like her. Seismic Toss is my main attacking move, and helps to wear down Empoleon, it is helpful vs. some walls that lack recovery and pairs very good with Toxic. Toxic is there to steadily weaken my opponent´s team and with some prediction, I can start to make predicted switches which helps a lot to stall, which is the point of this team. Flamethrower, such a good move, Scizor is probably the most common switch-in to Blissey, meaning he falls at his second or third attemp, (I never use flamethrower turn one). The coverage it gives with seismic toss and toxic is perfect.
pana (Rotom-c) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 64 HP/216 Spd/228 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Charge Beam
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Will-o-wisp
---
Although one of the lesser used options, Charge Beam allows Rotom-C to attack while having a large chance to boost its already high Special Attack. When combined with Substitute, Rotom-C is even more capable of setting up on Blissey, a Pokemon that would normally wall a special attacking Rotom-C set. Seismic Toss has no effect on Rotom-C and Flamethrower / Ice Beam do not break Rotom-C's Substitutes due to the slight HP investment. Substitute also allows Rotom to block any Thunder Waves or Toxics that Blissey might launch at it. Shadow Ball is Rotom-C's main form of attack once it has received boosts from Charge Beam, capable of 3HKOing even 252 HP / 96 SpD Sassy Bronzong after a single boost.
This is what Smogon says about this, but my personal comment is that he can function very well as a wall. I use Will-o-Wisp over Thunderbolt or Hidden Power because I want him to last longer rather than attempting a sweep. Timid is necesary to outspeed Lucario and Gyarados after a Dragon Dance, what I like the most about this set is that with WoW most things are unable to break my Substitute, which means free set up, I like this set but I am willing to change it.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Timid
Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
---
Starmie is a great addition to must teams, including stall, like mine. He is the best user of Rapid Spin because it is very hard to spin block him. Defensive Rotom-A are 2HKOd by Hydro Pump and Surf, and offensive variants suffer a OHKO. The choice between my water STAB is between whether to KO Lucario, Scizor, Rotom and Zapdos, vs reliability. I have not tested Surf but I am happy with Hydro till now. I am using the "Rapid Spinner" set with the "Non-Choice Attacker" spread and item to get the respective KOs, it also 3HKOs Snorlax and Cresselia, which is a great thing for my team. Rapid Spin is what makes Starmie and good switch-in to Blissey, since they inmediatly switch to they spin blocker, even if they don´t, I still pack Recover to heal residual damage, Paybacks from Forretress and Close Combats from Infernape and the like.
Thanks for reading and RMT!
Hi Smogon, this is my first stall team (or at least the the first good one) and it is going pretty well, but I know you can make it better.
I am revamping this thread since the original was pretty mediocre, lacking, etc. I am not that type of person, so I will work hard to make this RMT a masterpiece.
Introduction: My favorite play style is offense, and I have tried all sorts of combinations with that style, I noticed that the leaderboard is full of stall and balance, meaning it is the best style at the moment. There my desire to build a stall team was born. After reading pana´s RMT, Thriller, I liked his theme, especially due to the fact that it was original. So my first pokemon for this team was his Latias, but she was replaced through time. Added Spikes, Stealth Rock, phazers, walls, and my offensive touch.
Team Building:
The first thing I thought of was that I needed a spiker, a good one, there the selection began. I read Smogon´s Spike article and checked the pokes that are able to learn it, I chose the ones that could be considered for a competitive stall team and checked their defensive stats and form of recovery.
Cloyster (Rest)
50 / 180 / 45
Forretress (Rest)
75 / 140 / 60
Omastar (Rest)
70 / 125 / 70
Skarmory (Roost)
65 / 140 / 70
The lack of recovery on most of the spikers was bad, and lead me to chose between Forretress and Skarmory, reliable recovery and phazing vs Rapid Spin and Toxic Spikes. Skarmory was the winner, since I want my Spiker to live long, something Forretress struggles to do. To counter the metagame I decided to use a specially defensive skarmory, to set up on unsuspecting pokes, and gave me a counter to refresh latias.
I know that the Skarmbliss combo works very good since GSC, and it continues to do so until now. Blissey is with no doubt, the best special wall in the game. I like the fact that she can spread status, heal herself, deal heavy damage ( with seismic toss) and it is hard to take down, a great pokemon overall.
The core of my team starts here, Skarmbliss. I have Spikes and WW to abuse it, but I am not going anywere just with that, and I hate the fact that Salamence can easily beat me, here is where the next pokemon enters.
The question here is the following: what Pokémon can counter Salamence and use Stealth Rock?
Again, I checked Smogon and searched for SR, here are the results of my search:
Bronzong
67 / 116 / 116
Donphan
100 / 120 / 60
Registeel
80 / 150 / 150
Swampert
100 / 110 / 90
I wanted him to be my lead, becuase I don´t want to waste more spots in something I can actually cover. Bronzong makes a good lead, since he isn´t OHKOd by any lead but Specs Tran, but none of the others can either. Donphan can use Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin, which is very nice for a lead, Registeel can cripple something with T-wave, set up Stealth Rock and Explode when he is not needed anymore. But what made you chose Swampert?
The fact than he can phaze and it is harder to wall due to his typing and stats, and he can check SD Infernape, that added my third Pokemon to my team.
However, since he is my lead, I cant count on him to be my sure fire mence counter, another steel was needed for this job, The fastest Steel type Pokemon was added to my team. When I was deciding for a set, I thought of Wish Support and Physical Choice, with a Shuca Berry he can save me from a sweep from dd Gyarados or DD Salamence if Swampert dies, but that is too unreliable, and with a Scarf, I am able to outspeed a boosted Salamence, Gyarados, Empoleon, Kingdra, and that added another check for Latias. He tends to cause switches vs oponents fearing an Iron Head, getting Tricked or getting hurt very badly by an elemental punch, this is a great addition to my team.
Since I run Spikes and Stealth Rock, a Rapid Spin Blocker was a must for my team, currently Rotom-A is the best Spin Blocker in OU.
Being honest, Lucario was a problem, so the best thing I could was not running a slow, bulky Rotom, but a fast and offensive one, but with enough to bulk to counter some threads and continually block Rapid Spin.
My last Pokemon was a Latias, but that made all of my battles vs. stall very hard to win, If I was going to replace it, it needed to be an Infernape counter, Starmie was my choice. I know that the defensive Starmie is set up and pursuit bait, and a friend of mine, Stauffen (the Blissey) suggested me using offensive Life Orb with Rapid Spin and Recover. That finished my team.
Here is my team:
Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/16 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Roar
---
Swampert is a viable user of SR and is very bulky, however, I hate instantly losing to Roserade (lack of Restalker), Taunt Azelf and Forretress, so I am considering in changing him. The reason why I dont use a mixed set is to hit Latias harder.
legend (Jirachi) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 40 HP/216 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Iron Head
- Thunderpunch
- Fire Punch
- Trick
---
Props to pana for giving me the idea to use this on stall, with Iron Head, a Jolly nature, and a Choice Scarf, Salamence wont be a problem. ThunderPunch is needed for Gyarados, I have some problems with him, Fire Punch is there so that Scizor can get all the SD´s he wants and dont sweep me, it also checks Lucario. Trick is my way to deal with last pokemon stat upper like Crocune, Snorlax, Tyranitar and Umbreon.
Ciaran (Skarmory) (F) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/20 Atk/20Spd/180 SDef/ 40 Def
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Brave Bird
---
Careful Skarmory is half of the anti metagame couple, with Blissey. If I already used Spikes and I feel that my oponent will switch out, I whirlwind to scout his team and rack some Spikes and SR damage. Brave Bird without leftovers really hurts him though, but I dont Maggy to break my team, any suggestion for a better spread, moves or nature will be apreciated.
Kir (Blissey) @ Leftovers l Calm nature
252 Def / 80 SpA / 176 SpD
~ Softboiled
~ Seismic Toss ( I need it for Empoleon)
~ Toxic
~ Flamethrower
Blissey is a great Pokémon, she is a pretty nice special wall and can help the rest of the team with Toxic. I used to run a Bold Blissey, but some threats gave me problems and Calm fixes the problem. The reason why I use Softboiled over Wish is because I lack Protect, which means I would lack a reliable recovery move, which is a no-no on a Pokemon like her. Seismic Toss is my main attacking move, and helps to wear down Empoleon, it is helpful vs. some walls that lack recovery and pairs very good with Toxic. Toxic is there to steadily weaken my opponent´s team and with some prediction, I can start to make predicted switches which helps a lot to stall, which is the point of this team. Flamethrower, such a good move, Scizor is probably the most common switch-in to Blissey, meaning he falls at his second or third attemp, (I never use flamethrower turn one). The coverage it gives with seismic toss and toxic is perfect.
pana (Rotom-c) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 64 HP/216 Spd/228 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Charge Beam
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Will-o-wisp
---
Although one of the lesser used options, Charge Beam allows Rotom-C to attack while having a large chance to boost its already high Special Attack. When combined with Substitute, Rotom-C is even more capable of setting up on Blissey, a Pokemon that would normally wall a special attacking Rotom-C set. Seismic Toss has no effect on Rotom-C and Flamethrower / Ice Beam do not break Rotom-C's Substitutes due to the slight HP investment. Substitute also allows Rotom to block any Thunder Waves or Toxics that Blissey might launch at it. Shadow Ball is Rotom-C's main form of attack once it has received boosts from Charge Beam, capable of 3HKOing even 252 HP / 96 SpD Sassy Bronzong after a single boost.
This is what Smogon says about this, but my personal comment is that he can function very well as a wall. I use Will-o-Wisp over Thunderbolt or Hidden Power because I want him to last longer rather than attempting a sweep. Timid is necesary to outspeed Lucario and Gyarados after a Dragon Dance, what I like the most about this set is that with WoW most things are unable to break my Substitute, which means free set up, I like this set but I am willing to change it.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Timid
Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
---
Starmie is a great addition to must teams, including stall, like mine. He is the best user of Rapid Spin because it is very hard to spin block him. Defensive Rotom-A are 2HKOd by Hydro Pump and Surf, and offensive variants suffer a OHKO. The choice between my water STAB is between whether to KO Lucario, Scizor, Rotom and Zapdos, vs reliability. I have not tested Surf but I am happy with Hydro till now. I am using the "Rapid Spinner" set with the "Non-Choice Attacker" spread and item to get the respective KOs, it also 3HKOs Snorlax and Cresselia, which is a great thing for my team. Rapid Spin is what makes Starmie and good switch-in to Blissey, since they inmediatly switch to they spin blocker, even if they don´t, I still pack Recover to heal residual damage, Paybacks from Forretress and Close Combats from Infernape and the like.
Thanks for reading and RMT!