|
-
Intimidate
- Lowers the foe's Attack 1 stage. Decreases wild encounter rate.
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Frisk
- Shows the foe's item.
|
Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
73
|
- |
287 |
350 |
- |
| Atk |
95
|
203 |
226 |
289 |
317 |
| Def |
62
|
144 |
160 |
223 |
245 |
| SpA |
85
|
185 |
206 |
269 |
295 |
| SpD |
65
|
149 |
166 |
229 |
251 |
| Spe |
85
|
185 |
206 |
269 |
295 |
Try to force a switch out from your opponent with Intimidate, and Thunder Wave whatever comes in. If you can feel Stantler is up to the task, Confuse Ray them and proceed to repeatedly hit the opponent until it goes down. Return is obvious because of its power, but Stomp has a 30% flinch rate. Confusion and paralysis on their own cause your opponent to be able to attack under 40% of the time. Imagine your opponent's fury when Stomp reduces this chance to 26%! The last slot takes care of your offensive weaknesses. Earthquake is for Golem and the numerous Rock/Steels out there, but Bite hurts Banette and other Ghosts and, like Stomp, is capable of flinching opponents.
Hypnosis can be used first to instantly shut down one of Stantler's counters (as long as it's not Banette or a Sleep Talker), and then you can paralyze whatever comes in next.
If you have no problems with Stantler standing in the shadows of Tauros, this is a fine set. Obviously Tauros is not accepted in the lower tiers of competitive play, whereas Stantler is. And while it's by no means a bad set, it's just a shame that Stantler lost the physical Shadow Ball in the transition to Diamond/Pearl. Hits about everything in the lower tiers hard as long as you can predict your opponent.
Other Options
Reflect and Light Screen can keep Stantler alive and support his team. Attract can go with Thunder Wave and/or Confuse Ray and/or Stomp to turn Stantler into an "annoyer". Unfortunately those have never been very effective and it limits your versatility to one attacking move, but at least you can rest assured your opponent will tear their hair out trying to break through. Trick Room can be good if your team is based around it, you'll want to make Stantler as slow as possible when using it. You can attempt a novelty Calm Mind set with Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, Psychic/Extrasensory, Thunderbolt and random Hidden Powers, but it's a shame Stantler's Special STAB is limited to the crappy Hyper Beam. Thief is fun to rob someone's item, Toxic is always a nice filler (though paralysis and sleep are both a lot cooler and more practical) and Zen Headbutt is there if you're one of these people attempting to use Stantler in standard play, where you can use it to maim Gengar. Me First works in very few situations, the only practical one that pops to my mind at the moment is when Stantler is facing Banette in a mind-game: Banette predicts Stantler to switch out and uses Shadow Claw to weaken something else, then Stantler uses Me First and faints her before she knows what hit her!
EVs
If Stantler uses Thunder Wave, there's little need for Speed, making more HP preferable so that you can actually come into stuff thanks to Intimidate. Max out its respectable Attack, go out there and start hurting things!
Opinion
Believe it or not, Stantler can make quite a splash in UU. Thunder Wave and Confuse Ray are two moves that set it apart from your basic Normal-type with physical attacks. It can be quite infuriating with sleep, flinch, paralysis and confusion at its disposal, and Intimidate is always helpful. Just don't use the Choice set in standard unless you're using a Christmas theme or something, because Tauros does it so much better.
Counters
Banette has been mentioned a few times—she's immune to Normal moves and Hypnosis and can Will-o-Wisp Stantler. Sableye may very well be a pain too. If you lack Earthquake Rocks and Steels run over Stantler, especially the likes of Probopass, Aggron and Bastiodon, but let's not forget Golem either. Stantler hates paralysis and burn as well, and its rather mediocre defenses should make sure it dies to any fast hard hitter.