Introduction
Hey everyone, Xerche here. This is my first RMT, but hopefully I can make it readable. Up until recently, I never gave playing stall a shot. I've always been a fan of fat teams, but had never tried playing stall. At first I just wanted to learn it so I could play against it better, but I ended up enjoying stall so I decided I wanted to build my own team. By no means am I the best player, but I have reached my highest ever SS OU ELO of 1447 with this team, and I'm still climbing, so I thought it might be worth sharing and getting some feedback on to make it better. From my experience, Tapu Lele is one of the most problematic mons I have played against for stall in OU. While it's not the only threat, I wanted to build a team around something that did well against Tapu Lele. Jirachi is one of my favorite pokemon, and I figured that it would be a good place to start. It's not particularly great in the SS OU metagame, but it has a niche and I wanted to take advantage of it.
Teambuilding Process
This is the mon I wanted to build this team around. It's not particularly great in this current metagame, but it still is one of the best Tapu Lele checks around. It's good natural bulk and defensive typing allow it to be a good blanket check to quite a few special attackers in the tier.
Classic Stall pokemon, Blissey and Clefable are too good to pass up on for a stall team. Blissey's immense HP stat allows it to stop most special attackers in their tracks. I've learned that an unaware mon is essential for any good stall team, so I chose clefable because of the role compression it provides. These two together provide a solid defensive core that is very frustrating for opposing teams to try to get through.
Instead of choosing a metal bird for this team, I opted for Zapdos instead. Some other challenging mons for stall to deal with are opposing Toxapex and Tapu Fini, and Zapdos provides a solid way of dealing with these threats. It has good bulk when invested into as well as a good defensive typing, and It's a solid defogger that can be difficult to switch into because of the threat of status.
Team Description
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 120 SpD / 136 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Iron Head
- U-turn
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 120 SpD / 136 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Iron Head
- U-turn
I chose this Jirachi spread because it gives Jirachi a good amount of special bulk while being able to outspeed base 85s Like Rillaboom and Tapu Fini. Wish gives Jirachi consistent recovery. as well as a way to heal up teammates who may have takes too much chip so they can check the threats they can come in and check the threats they need to. Protect is used to secure recovery as well as scout for choice locked moves. Iron head doesn't need much explaining, main stab move and provides the chance for hax if things are going terribly. I had a few options for the last spot, but ultimately decided on U-turn because it gives Jirachi a way to maintain momentum and get wishes to teammates who need them, as well as getting a good amount of damage on Rillaboom before bringing in another teammate to check it. Jirachi's typing makes it able to check a good amount of special attackers that can't hit it for supereffective damage, it can also switch into things like choice band Rillaboom's Grassy Glide in a pinch, although it doesn't particularly enjoy it.
Blissey (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
The pink Blob is here to be fat, it can check most special attackers in the tier, including volcarona and kyurem, which can be extremely threatening otherwise. Pretty standard set, Seismic toss is a way to deal consistent damage to targets so that Blissey isn't entirely reliant on toxic to deal damage. Soft-Boiled allows it to heal up after switching into a strong attack and be able to come back in at future points in the game. Toxic is needed to stop theats like Volcarona as well as put mons that might want to switch into Blissey otherwise for free onto a timer. I decided to run rocks on Blissey to free up Clef and because I didn't see another move to be run here.
Clefable @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
- Aromatherapy
The other pink blob serves as the unaware wall for this team. A good defensive typing and decent natural bulk make it a good way to stop pokemon like garchomp and dragonite from setting up on you for free. Moonblast is just a solid move, good base power as well as PP, as well as a chance to drop opponent's special attack and make Clefable even more annoying to deal with. Once again, Soft-Boiled serves to increase Clefable's longevity to keep it healthy and set up. Calm-mind serves to both bolster Clefable's special bulk as well as turn it into a wincon. I chose to run aromatherapy on Clefable so the team would have cleric support, as well as having a way to prevent it's setup being halted by status.
Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Defog
Standard defensive Zapdos set aside from the ability. Pressure was chosen to stop mons like Toxapex and Corvinight from having too much recovery throughout the course of a game, as well as avoiding accidental paralysis. Thunderbolt was chosen over Discharge here because of the higher base power as well as having less of a chance to paralyze targets that might need to be hit with toxic instead. Roost is self-explanitory. Heat Wave allows Zapdos to beat Ferrothorn and makes it difficult for physical attackers to switch in safely because of the threat of a burn. The team needed hazard removal so defog is a must. Zapdos keeps attackers like Kartana and Rillaboom at bay, although it does not like losing its boots at all. So between this mon and buzzwole, it's important to decide which item is needed more before switching into a knock off.
Gastrodon-East @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Toxic
While Gastrodon is here as the team's main check to Heatran, it is also able to relieve pressure from Blissey as a special wall, as it's good bulk allows it to even switch into specs Dragapult. Scald is useful as both a solid damage dealing move and a way for the team to spread burns and threaten physical attackers who would otherwise be able to switch into Gastrodon with little worry. Earthquake was chosen over Earth Power in order to ease the Slowking-Galar matchup for the team, which it would otherwise struggle massively against. Toxic is to cripple switch ins and provide consistent damage to help wear down the opponent.
Buzzwole @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Roost
Threats
In my testing, I haven't come across many mons that this team could not deal with aside from 1. It also struggles with a few defensive pokemon, but this team has been able to play around most situations that arise on the ladder.
While not extremely common, this mon is a big threat to this team. The most worrying variant is choice band because nothing on this team takes a v-create well. Zapdos, Clefable, and Gastrodon are all 2HKOd by V-create, and Buzzwole needs to be at +1 defense in order to avoid the OHKO. The fact that nothing wants to switch into it means that it will most likely claim 1 or 2 when you see it on the opposing team. It is difficult to play around, and quite honestly unless the other player makes a mistake, Banded Victini dismantles this team. Scarf and Boots variants still pose a threat, but a much more manageable than Banded sets.
The most problematic of the slowtwins is Slowking-Galar. Being immune to toxic makes it hard to chip and make progress on due to regenerator. Running into this mon is the reason I decided to run Earthquake on Gastrodon over Earth Power, as it deals a good amount of damage. Blissey can switch into this mon, but seismic toss doesn't deal enough damage to make any meaningful progress. This team lacks knock off, so aside from Slowking-Galar, hazards are not sufficient to beat the Kantonian Slowtwins. The best way to beat these mons is to status them and try to get Zapdos in against them in order to stall PP and force damage on them that way. Status + Hazards + Zapdos is the best way to take these two mons out. Your goal is to outlast them while taking the team out from around them to force them into poor situations that you can take advantage of. Futureport is also an issue, but it can be somewhat mitiated by protect on Jirachi, or in the case of Urshifu-Rapid-Strike, Wish can help to survive. It's not 100% sound, but it's the best way I've found to deal with it.
I haven't fought many weather teams, or opposing stall teams so there may be some threats there that I'm not aware of, but these are the biggest threats I've come across so far.
Replays
These are from before I updated some of the movesets, but you should be able to get a general idea of how I play this team from these.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1341805289-z4smi56i8szvogylxlfoj2o97sjo7dnpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1341460868-ahaghg017uf07uus1a81s9p6jfx0otkpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1341802504
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1341467706
Thanks for reading! As much hate as it gets, I've found Stall to be a very fun playstyle. Making a team with one of my favorite pokemon and seeing success with it has been one of the more enjoyable moments I've had on showdown in recent memory. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them because there is inevitable something I forgot to think about. Although it took a bit of time, writing this RMT was fun and I hope to do more in the future.
Last edited:
