ORAS RU End's Embrace(Toxic Spikes+Dugtrio Hard Stall)

eden · Aug 27, 2016

This is one of my favourite songs, and was what I listened to most of the time while using this team. Give it a listen, a lot of people have never discovered the joy of a good Beatles song!

Introduction

Its not surprising that when Mega Steelix left RU changed a lot. The biggest change however was Mega Steelix itself being gone; a very valuable source of offensive presence for slower teams as well as a way to compress valuable roles(normal-resist/flying-resist/Stealth Rocker/way to stop volt switch from being spammed) was now gone. RU had to adapt and Registeel+Alo became the new gold standard for a team's defensive backbone.

This team started off as a standard Registeel+Alo team with Dugtrio just tacked on, but it eventually turned into a team with a focus on spreading status via Toxic Spikes(which is when I added Weezing), and then I kind of noticed that a lot of RU only got around Toxic Spikes via stuff like Registeel or by absorbing them with stuff like Venusaur/Drapion. So Dugtrio became the most important member of the team really quickly, because it actually traps all the counter measures most teams have for Toxic Spikes(offensive Venusaur gets tossed by CB Dugtrio around 60% or so, while a defensive Venusaur can be played around via stalling Synthesis/LS+SR chip damage, which hopefully ends up with it eventually getting burned while trying to either absorb toxic spikes and/or trapped). Toxic Spikes in general is an amazing win condition because offence(especially those using Scarf/Band Flygon) tend to drop hazard removal a lot now, so one layer basically wins me the game, while vs stall my goal usually changes to somehow forcing down two layers(usually achieved by statusing Flygon, and pressuring the opponents Beller which is usually Meloetta); honestly vs stall there are some games, where doing two layers of TSpikes isn't as important as just spreading status and killing the beller.

I've played around 120 games with this team on ladder, and peaked somewhere around 1580 or so with it; and am currently hovering around the lower 1500's under the alt ronin hikikomori with a GXE ~83

I am trying some interesting tweaks on this team, such as trying out double trap in the form of Sneasel or Spiritomb+Dugtrio, trying out Duosion+Braviary+Dugtrio(s/o yuru and aldo), and even going back to experimenting with Flygon>Weezing as a defogger and Alomo>Blastoise, so that the team doesn't crumble vs Emboar.

Notable Achievements - Went 7-1 in RU open solely using this team for the most part. And I also passed this to a bunch of friends(Peli really liked this), who I think all did quite well with this team in seasonals/ru open. It really is easy to get a hang of, and I think stall in general should always have a win condition of some sort to work towards. The fact that there are multiple routes to victory here: - i.e. 1 layer of Toxic Spikes vs offense, spreading status(either via wow or 2 layers of TSpikes) vs stall and trapping the Beller(i.e. Meloetta on stall(PIF stall runs this)/Diancie on balance), and vs balance we have Curse Registeel+possibly toxic spikes(if you're able to remove offensive Venusaur via Dugtrio+chip damage).

Teambuilding - This team was created in the RU chat originally. DTC brought up Dugtrio stall with toxic spikes, and I remember the original variant had a Drapion on it. I took to playing with it on the ladder and eventually landed up with this set of 6.

The basic thought process I think went something a rocker, a win condition,a cleric, hazard removal, methods to spread status, and of course Dugtrio. So Dugtrio was a given

I tried using Registeel as a rocker, but losing to stuff like Sigi in the back eventually got really old. I decided to use Curse Registeel, and settled on Uxie because I was having trouble with stuff like Sawk.

This helpfully made trapping stuff even easier,and also let me shift rocks to the lead slot. The viability of Dugtrio+Toxic Spikes became quickly obvious to me when I noticed I was trapping stuff like Drapion(frequently after having used Knock Off to remove stuff like Choice Scarf from it), chipped Venusaur, healthy Registeel, healthy Diancie, and Meloetta(especially bell variants on stall). So I searched for a Toxic Spiker, and I really only had to choose between Drapion and Weezing, Weezing was much more consistent game to game and so I stuck with it.

MAudino and Blastoise came about quite naturally to be honest, because my first iterations were severely weak to Taunt/WoW jellicent, so I needed a way to beat it and ALSO a fairy. I had the option between Aromatisse and Mega Audino, and Mega Audino was settled on thanks to its amazing early/mid game capabilities.

Aromatisse might also work as a way to take status, and stop taunt jellicent from destroying the team. I had Alomomola before, but noticed status was irritating, and the fact that I had no hazard removal. Enter Blastoise :D

-----------------------------------

Flexikarp (Uxie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 108 Spe
Bold Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic

Uxie basically sets the tone for this stall team, and compresses a large amount of utility in one slot. Gives me a check to a variant of irritating threats, while at the same time giving me hazards, a way to pivot in to Fighting type attacks comfortably as well as Stealth Rock. This also has the benefit of setting up easy trapping situations for Dugtrio in some cases with Diancie, and Registeel possibly being the most notable examples. Uxie offers a lot of role compression, and being able to lay down Stealth Rock, removing items with Knock Off, and pivoting with U-Turn in one slot is really valuable to this team in particular.

Wastelands (Weezing) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Sludge Bomb
- Toxic Spikes

Weezing contributes to my win conditions via Toxic Spikes, has Taunt to help me ironically stall break. This helps alleviate pressure from Uxie to check stuff like Sawk; while helping Registeel take on stuff like Venusaur a little more easily. Also helps pressure the most common Heal Bell user on opposing stall in Aromatisse, which means in some cases I can outright win just by spreading burns/posion. Mixed defense weezing really helps this team to not lean on Registeel/Uxie for fighting types/and venusaur,also helps with stuff like opposing SD Escavalier/Curse Registeel, via Taunt+WoW which means I'm not leaning on Registeel too much early game.

Hikari (Audino-Mega) @ Audinite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Dazzling Gleam
- Heal Bell

Crux of the team. Removes status for my team, checks some stuff like Scrafty and Malamar that really threaten me. Regenerator, lets it play really nicely mid game and pivot in and out of things(valuable especially versus Taunt+WoW jellicent) and only mega evolves when fairy typing is absolutely required.Protect also helps it waste PP of moves like Close Combat which further reduces the strain on the rest of my team. Obviously the wishes it passes sadly aren't anywhere near as big as Alomo's which is sad, but I'm more than happy with it. The dash of sp.attack evs is supposed to help with Malamar to an extent, but I don't remember the benchmark I went for offhand.

End's Embrace (Registeel) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Atk / 136 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Toxic/Sleep Talk
- Iron Head
- Curse

Registeel usually can end most games if the situation is right. Helpfully gives me a way to take status with no lasting effects, while giving me a check AND win condition which is insanely valuable. Stops dangerous things like Sub BU Braviary/CM Air Slash Sigi/SD Escavalier from ever getting out of hand. The fact that a large amount of the tier is easy set up bait for this to an extent, is something that I really enjoyed; 120 attack EVs on Registeel hits a benchmark for breaking SubBu Braviary's substitute's 100% assuming that both have accrued an equal number of boosts. Registeel plays consistently game to game, and in general is one of the cornerstones of the team.(the fact that I can get rid of opposing Registeel with Dugtrio, only helps me late game)

EDIT: DTC suggested running Toxic>Sleep Talk which actually handles Sub BU Braviary way more reliably, so that change is probably for the better.

Tsunami (Blastoise) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Scald
- Refresh

Hazard removal, speed creep is for Taunt+WoW Jellicent, also gives me yet another way to take status in a non-lasting way. The fact that I can't run Alomomola with this is a little sad, but Blastoise has more than proven itself here. The sad thing is that this perhaps leaves me a little more open to Emboar than I should be, but there's not much I can do about that. I can run Alomo but then you are basically forced to try to fit Flygon somewhere here, over Weezing is probably the most logical choice, and then hopefully manually spread toxics can make up for the loss of Toxic Spikes.

Checkmate. (Dugtrio) @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 16 HP / 236 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

The god himself. Dugtrio checks and defeats almost everything that single handedly tears apart this team, and is the concept around which this team was built. I used to use Sub LO while Tangrowth was in the tier, but with its depature has proven to be much better; letting me do things like remove an unhealthy offensive Venusaur from a game so that Toxic Spikes can end a game,trapping CM Meloetta and CB Sawk as well as Camerupt, trapping opposing Registeel, Diancie, and in some cases managing to even remove extremely unhealthy Alomomola. i believe that trapping in general is a broken mechanic, and hopefully my using of Toxic Spikes in conjunction with Dugtrio to end games is a lesson in how slept on Dugtrio used to be, as well as Toxic Spikes.

Conclusion

Using this makes people hate you lol. but if you're gonna be hated might as well win while doing it right? But seriously I feel that this team shows how trapping as a mechanic, supports win conditions in an unparalleled way, and maybe someone else can now take the idea of Toxic Spikes as a team focus even further. This team hopefully shows that stall doesn't have to be played with a mindless a-b-c switch mentality, with no actual win condition in mind. Playing stall can be rewarding, if you learn how to play a team at your pace, while consistently furthering your win conditions. Enjoy!(well if you're facing this you'll cry but w/e)

Emboar - ScarfBoar ironically for my team is actually way harder to deal with than Band Emboar.

Meloetta - SubCM Meloetta if I let it get a free sub up(which will never happen because when i see this I keep Uxie alive to break the sub via U-Turn)

Jellicent - Taunt+WoW is terrible lol, but Maudino and stuff like fast Blastoise means I still have a shot, but I have to play well, and try to get Dugtrio in on a statused Jellicent to severely threaten it.

Sigi - LO 3 attacks is a terrible matchup for me, I basically have to try to threaten it with Knock Off Uxie-> Pursuit Dugtrio. Or in some cases just doing a 50/50 with Stone Edge/Pursuit. Irritating.

DD Scrafty - very irritating to deal with. Forces me to mega evolve Audino early, can cheese me via Iron Head. and if i haven't mega evolved yet; I have to play some terribly weighted 50/50s to get it in safely.

Rest/Talk/Superpower/Knock Off malamar - this mon again forces me to mega evo early, and you also have to do it before it gets too many boosts and can safely lock itself into a rest/talk cycle.(note it needs to be at +6 to 2hko Maudino with superpower consistently, and at +5 its really unlikely)

SD Escavalier - forces me to lean on Weezing/Regi a lot. Push comes to push I dug trap it.

Mega Camerupt - no real switchins, have to try to pop dugtrio on it via a double or get it in after sacrificing something else.

Exploud - very tough, only real switchin is Registeel; once again hazards+dugtrio usually does it for me.

Magneton - on paper its very irritating but Specs basically holds zero threat to me, since they basically are forced to flash cannon most of the time out of fear of Dugtrio.

Duosion - This is actually an unwinnable mu almost. Mirror it with Registeel

Sub BU Braviary - you can beat it, but are vulnerable to a crit. worst comes to worst you can PP stall, but most of the time even after a crit you're still safe.

CM Slowking - can be troublesome if you don't manage to keep Blastoise around long enough, to make it eat a toxic(actually if you can't make it take Toxic, you just lose to it lol).

DTC - for coming up with the backbone for this team in RU chat
MrAldo - for helping my friend yuru with Duosion+Dug which inspired me to finish this
123Fakestreet - rip RU stall
yuruuu - for encouraging my taste for Dugtrio
Cyndequil. - One of my first friends on PS! Still awesome.
Hairy Toenail - 4-0 nail heh.
Eyan - Our esteemed RO, great to see you still around n_n
Peli - PSPL god.
GradeAGarchomp - VGC God
Contact - RU cancer perfected.
Arifeen - Bangladeshi parkour.
obii - Look at this filth bro. This is how you make people pick a different team
Starmei - Anime addict.
DaAwesomeDude1 - Anime Addict
MrAldo - The wise old man of ct :^); also one of the three ro's of legend, he hates me for using Dugtrio...but eh.
Mahmudkipz -.....watfor? huehuehue. also ty for all the teams!
nv - gj on OTOm team man. Gonna talk to you way more often from now hopefully
AM - RO in my heart.
North Gate - Anime suggestions please.
p2 - great scot,,,,
IronBullet - esteemed global who always lets me test x_x. gj on everything so far man! hopefully you start to build for this uu meta again at some point. Keeping fingers crossed for another suspect tho.
cfdba - quality smasher, stay smashing :x. ALSO FK BAYO
ADustyGlommer - Dad :3
Teamcali15 - its been fun merging ladder and stuf, let's Blade and Soul later.
AllAttack - again one of my first PS friends; Finally back :D
Drangonn. - (flex)
TheWall22 - The wall has fallen :v
Snowy. - AustraloWeeb

I've probably forgotten a lot of friends on PS lol

Flexikarp (Uxie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 148 HP / 252 Def / 108 Spe
Bold Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic

Wastelands (Weezing) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Sludge Bomb
- Toxic Spikes

Hikari (Audino-Mega) @ Audinite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Dazzling Gleam
- Heal Bell

End's Embrace (Registeel) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Atk / 136 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Iron Head
- Curse

Tsunami (Blastoise) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Scald
- Refresh

Checkmate. (Dugtrio) @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

DTC · Aug 27, 2016

you can use curse / rest / iron head / toxic registeel so registeel can do more to pokemon like emboar, mega camerupt, cm slowking, jellicent, etc . it's also a much better subbu brav answer since you don't have to play the crit game, which is a really unreliable way of beating subbu braviary.

it's also a much more reliable win condition than resttalk registeel since you don't get walled as much w/ toxic vs pokemon like alomomola. sleep talk is a garbage move anyways that fails more than focus blast so i don't really like using it when i have a cleric. also having an additional pokemon that can spread poison is a really understated quality, having only 1 pokemon (and toxic spikes but that has different implications) that can spread poison blows sometimes if they don't really mind coming in on blastoise (who is incredibly easy to switch into). meanwhile, registeel forces different switchins allowing you to spread poison to more mons.

eden · Aug 29, 2016

Tested said change and it indeed works much better. Edited to reflect changes thanks man!

col49 · Aug 29, 2016

oh, that team. cool stuff dude, i'm a really big advocate of this variation on balance (one of mine that's been circling around is real fundamentally similar, w/slight role shifts and similar typed dudes > others), and this is a pretty efficient iteration on it. that in mind, i can really only offer minor edits, since the formula itself is pretty tried n trve, w/matters of role on point.

i'm not 100% on prioritizing defense evs on uxie; on a team such as this, you'd pretty commonly be initial switching this on psychics, and having max hp > defense will definitely pan out more comfortably when you run into dudes like dark pulse sigilyph for instance. furthermore, i would be giving consideration to 16 hp evs on dugtrio, ensuring both that you a.are never 2hkoed by stoss after sr and b.you avoid the ko from minimally invested houndoom sucker punch from full. nominal investment, you really don't lose out on significant damage, etc.

lastly, i have no idea what the value in refresh is on blastoise. with a cleric and status absorber, it feels like just a tool to give a lil less leeway to jellicent, which idt is broad enough to work off. i'd give some consideration to roar here, having the panic button seems really nice on a team that might otherwise piece apart on a heavy reliance on registeel (ex: brav baits registeel, gets caught by dugtrio double). just something to consider.

gl in the future, hope any of that was helpful

eden · Aug 30, 2016

Refresh is basically just something to ease problems vs Jellicent, which is honestly one of the worst match ups I could find myself in; Roar is worth a try, defense is useless for the most part I think cause this indeed is my initial switch in to stuff like Sigi to scout the set. Making changes, because both EVs suggestions were on point. I really hope, there is a way to make Jellicent a bit less of a problem but the way I've been handling it is by speed creep on Blastoise to hopefully invalidate it with Toxic.Curse/Toxic Regi handles Brav way better so there's that; thanks for the rate dude!

eden · Sep 5, 2016

Bump just so it doesn't fall too far behind.

Fireflame · Sep 5, 2016

The above posts basically summarized what I had to say. However, I feel that I can contribute to your Audino. There is a lot of math on this page so hopefully I didn't confuse you (really just simple multiplication).

According to Smogon, the "48 Special Attack EVs give Mega Audino an 87% chance to 3HKO specially defensive Malamar so it doesn't have to use Calm Mind to stop Malamar from using RestTalk." This is just absurd. 87% chance isn't guaranteed. Furthermore, if you have 0 SpA EVs it can still happen, just not as likely. Also, the 48 SpA EVs don't confirm any OHKOs or 2HKOs on anything of interest.

48 SpA Mega Audino Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Malamar: 134-158 (35.6 - 42%) -- 87.1% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

0 SpA Mega Audino Dazzling Gleam vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Malamar: 126-150 (33.6 - 40%) -- 25.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

In your ladder score, 1580, Malamar is seen on around 1.9%-2.2% of RU teams. In higher ladder, Malamar is seen on only 3.1% of teams. Likewise, Mega-Audino is seen on around 1.9%-2.1% of RU teams. In higher ladder, it is seen on 2.4% of teams. The general Smogon rule is that anything that's 3.41% or higher is viable. So technically, both Malamar and Mega-Audino aren't viable in RU and are rarely seen.

We have to remember that the above scenario only applies when Malamar is using a spread of 252 HP and 252+ SpD or 248 / 252+. In the higher ladder, 69% of all Malamar run max HP. Of those that run max HP, around 24% run the above spread. Also, only 41% of all Malamar run max SpD with a boosting nature. Of these Malamar, exactly 47.62% run the given spread. Using simple multiplication, the likelihood of finding a 252 HP / 252+ SpD Malamar is approximately:

(Likelihood of finding a Malamar * % of Malamars that run max HP with 252 HP / 252+ SpD)
+
(Likelihood of finding a Malamar * % of Malamars that run max SpD with 252 HP / 252+ SpD)

(3.1% * 24%) + (3.1% * 47.62%) =
((0.031 * 0.24)*100) + ((0.031 * 0.4762)*100) =
(0.00744 * 100) + (0.0147622 * 100) =
0.744 + 1.47622 = 2.22%

This calculation is an over-estimate since I calculated for the higher ladder. In your ladder, Malamar is used less. And remember, those 48 SpA EVs only make it 87% likely to 3HKO Malamar.

If you've played 100 battles and the scenario hasn't happened twice, then it's not worth it!

Moving those 48 SpA EVs into Def or SpD is a lot better. If you put those EVs into SpD, you avoid the 2HKO from timid specs Meloetta's Hyper Voice and Psychic. If you put those EVs into Def, then you avoid the 2HKO from adamant banded Sawk's Poison Jab. This happens A LOT more than the whole Malamar scenario.

252 SpA Choice Specs Meloetta Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 48 SpD Mega Audino: 172-204 (41.9 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Meloetta Psychic vs. 252 HP / 48 SpD Mega Audino: 172-204 (41.9 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Sawk Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Audino: 170-202 (41.4 - 49.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Senpai D.M · Sep 5, 2016

Eh cool team I guess only suggest lo > cb lo does the same role you set out to do and it doesn't risk being locked into eq etc. and you could also try sucker punch / pursuit for niche prio :3

eden · Sep 6, 2016

I'll try Life Orb, Sucker+Pursuit means I'll drop Stone Edge which is fine. LO possibly stops me being locked into the wrong move in a number of cases anyway. Thanks!

ORAS RU End's Embrace(Toxic Spikes+Dugtrio Hard Stall)

eden

DTC

eden

col49

eden

eden

Fireflame

Silksong when

Senpai D.M

さようなら

eden