Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
The face of Sand Stall, Hippowdon is the only weather starter with reliable recovery. With its specially defensive spread and low speed, it makes sure that neither Ninetales nor Politoed can gain an early weather advantage. From there it sets up Stealth Rock and comes back in multiple times throughout the match to change the weather and cockblock various sweepers. Examples of easy hard counters include Specs-less Jolteon, Thundurus without Nasty Plot or Grass Knot, Scarfmence, Gengar, Hydreigon without Specs, Surf, or Taunt, Heatran, Tyranitar, CM Latias, CM Reuniclus (some of these don't hold up vs. last pokemon). Hippowdon is very sturdy up until end-game where it'll most likely be weakened, but it usually wins the weather war, allowing the other 5 members to take advantage of this fact. Hippowdon's biggest downsides are his weakness to common Spikers, elemental special attacks and his desperate plea to be able to fit Ice Fang into his slight-4MSS. All of these are easily covered by teammates though.
Author: Meru
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Stream
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Superpower
Ah yes, here is a Pokemon that is excellent on Sand Stall teams, Choice Scarf Tyranitar. As opposed to it's Choice Band counterpart, this Tyranitar trades in Power for Speed in order to become a potent revenge killer in the current metagame. With so many Psychic types running around in the tier, such as the Lati twins and Reuniclus, in addition Jellicent, can be hard for Stall teams to handle usually, so Scarf Tyranitar is here to save the day. Pursuit is great for getting solid damage on Jellicent and Reuniclus, 2 huge threats to Tyranitar. Crunch is an excellent STAB move, as it can 2HKO, even OHKO such threats like I mentioned before, in Reuniclus, Jellicent and the Lati twins. Stone Edge is for revenging Flying typed Pokes, such as Dragonite and Gyarados, as well as unboosted Volcarona. Finally, Superpower is excellent for catching opposing Lucario and non Scarfed Terrakion off guard. If you need help for revenge killing Gliscor and non Scarfed Landorus, Ice Beam is an option here.
Author: Dr Ciel
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Def / 220 SDef
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt / Scald
- Shadow Ball / Night Shade
STAB Shadow ball makes Alakazam think twice about staying in on Jellicent. Water Absorb is good against rain teams and water attacks in general, allowing Jellicent to act as a reliable counter to pokemon like Keldeo. Will-O-Wisp can cripple physical attackers, and Taunt shuts down annoying pokemon like Ferrothorn or Skarmory, who try to set up hazards in Jellicent's face. Scald and Night shade are alternative attacking moves. Of course, Jellicent's partial ghost typing allows him to act as a spinblocker, which is essential on most dedicated stall teams.
Author: Frankk
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Body Slam / Thunder Wave
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Stealth Rock / Protect / Fire Punch
SpDef Jirachi is very good pokemon on Sand stall teams because of it's ability to check top threats like Latios,Tornadus,Latias and various special threats.In addition to being a steel type and setting up Stealth Rock,Jirachi also provides useful wish support,keeping your mons healthy through out the game. Jirachi can beat a vast amount of threats with it's incredibly annoying paraflinch.It can also run surprise moves like Icy Wind and Fire Punch to get you the advantage.
Author: White Symphoni
Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 12 Def / 16 SAtk / 208 SDef / 24 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Protect
- Roar
- Stealth Rock / Toxic / Earth Power
Heatran is one of the best mons on sand stall. It can find several opportunities to switch in against just about every team so it can set up SR or harass its switchins with status or phazing. Fire typing is incredibly useful, having something to fuck up Skarm/Forre/Cele/Jira/Ferro is invaluable on stall.
Author: BKC
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 232 SDef / 24 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Giga Drain / Psychic
- Perish Song
Yeah, Special Defensive Celebi is a very excellent Pokemon for Sand Stall playstyle. It's a great check to Special Landorus, Keldeo, Calm Mind Jirachi, Calm Mind Latias and Calm Mind Reuniclus which sand stall usually struggle with, especially Calm Mind Reuniclus and Special Landorus can very troublesome for any sand stall. Perish Song is a very nice move to use in a stall team since it allows to take advantage of entry hazards, which is always good. Perish Song is here to avoid Tyranitar and Scizor's Pursuit, which are very common with Special Landorus and Keldeo so if Tyranitar or Scizor traps and kills Celebi, Keldeo and especially Landorus can give some problem to the sand stall which I'm using. Finally, Giga Drain is a useful STAB to damage Water-types such as Starmie and Politoed but Psychic is a useful move too since it allows to hit stuff such as Breloom, Thundurus-T, Tentacruel, Conkeldurr, Amoonguss and Terrakion and Keldeo as well. If you decide to use Psychic, you should have some problem versus Life Orb Starmie and Choice Specs Politoed which don't take much damages from Psychic and can have a critical hit or freeze Celebi with Ice Beam.
Author: Alexander.
Aerodactyl (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fly/Roost
- Protect
- Substitute
- Toxic
This set is sort of weird a pain in the rear for pokemon who cannot stop it. Stall Aero is a lot like stall gliscor except faster. While stall gliscor trembles against faster foes who can defeat it, Aero doesn't have this problem since he carries a base speed stat of 130(which out speeds every pokemon in OU except Jolteon whom he ties with). The idea isn't even to just toxic stall, Aero also abuses its ability pressure to stall your opponent out of moves. An interesting thing is that Aero can wall on the special side due to it gaining sp def in the sand which is what makes it very good for sand stall. Protect can be used to scout and provide a turn of invulnerability for Aero + leftover recovery, it also works well in conjunction with substitute. Substitute sacrifices your health for a shield which can be used to block incoming status that would cripple Aero like twave or willo and if you're lucky, take hits. these 2 moves together can be used to stall out your opponent's PP while Aero chills behind protect and sub. Toxic lets you not only PP stall, but stall out their health meaning your opponent will be very pressured to kill aero due to the fact that he's on a double time limit. The last move it optional. You can use roost to keep yourself alive so you can keep stalling. Another move that I tried out with is Fly. Its a weird combination but it works. Fly sends you up in the air for some invulnerability(besides the sky uppercut) gaining even more leftover recovery, then you swoop down for damage. If you're behind a sub then its just more infuriating to your opponent. 252 in hp to give overall damage taking while max speed investment and a jolly nature makes sure you out speed your opponent. Leftovers helps with recovery while you are abusing your moves. This set has some downsides as well. Notably the fact that steel types run over this set easily due to no taunt or EQ. You can check that with Magnezone as a partner but just be careful. Aero get checked by other common things like scarfers and priority moves. Blissey doesn't mind Aero either due to it not taking much from fly and its status curing capabilities. When Aero is brought in at the proper time and pokemon, he can be devistating, steer clear of its threats!
Author: Zeta5
Skarmory @ Leftovers / Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spd
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird / Taunt
Originally i was going to talk about hippo, but i got late. Anyways this is a secondary physical wall, if hippo is phys defensive obviously, but most importantly it sets up spikes, an essential move for stall. Also it has reliable recovery, something a lot of walls would kill for; a phazing move, and decent speed in case youre using taunt. Not much else to say here, everybody knows what skarm does: hes an asshole, and if you have a blissey in your team, be more of an asshole.
Author: Stoned Fgt
Sandslash (M) @ Leftovers / Ghost Gem
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spd
Impish Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Toxic/X-Scissor
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
Sandslash has often been neglected for the role of an offensive poke on most Sand Offense teams mostly due to the fact that Stoutland has a higher attack stat and a higher base speed. With max investment, Sandslash only reaches a disappointing 502 speed, not even being able to outspeed the common scarfers of terrakion and keldeo. However, with Sand Stall, Sandslash has actually carved a great niche in itself, being able to be a fast Stealth Rock user, AND a fast rapid spin user. With the speed investment, Sandslash is able to outspeed Max speed base 110's, most notable Gengar and Latios. Unfortunately, the only move that Sandslash has to be able to hit Gengar with is Stone Edge. On Sand Stall, Sandslash isn't really geared to have an offensive set, so stone edge is usually traded out for a supporting move such as stealth rock. With this set, Sandslash is meant to be someone who can come in for a fast spin, or a fast stealth rock set up, while also being able to hit something with an earthquake coming off of 100 base attack. Toxic is a great move in order to wear down physical opponents thanks to Sandslash's base 110 defenses, while X-scissor can be used to score the 2HKO on non Scarf Latios's after sandstorm damage.
Ghost Gem Shadow Claw lets Sandslash OHKO Gengar and 2HKO Jellicent, something that you probably would want in a defensive spinning 'Slash.
Author: Sork,
Additional comment by ClubbingSealCub
Mandibuzz (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Roost
- Foul Play
- U-turn
Mandibuzz resist many special attacks ( and others physicals ) and some V-Switchs, at same time have access to Roost and his ability, Overcoat, prevents to SS damage. Its speed allows it to pass other walls and taunt them, preventing SR, Spikes and others, of most of wall. Foul Play hits hard against most of the Pokemon like Landorus, Reuniclus, Latios, Latias, Celebi and others. At the end, u-turn no needs information, for example, scout against physical pokemon to send out Hippowdon.
Author: J O G A
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes
Ferrothorn can absorb all kinds of hits with great defensive stats and typing, and he is able to effectively check many of the top threats in the metagame. Functions as a pseudo spin-blocker with his ability (especially with Rocky Helmet) for those who can't fit one of the few decent real spin-blockers on their teams (Jellicent is really the only one that comes to mind). Additionally, he is one of the few pokemon remaining in OU who can set up Spikes effectively, and we all know how frustrating Spikes can be for an opponent to deal with, especially on top of Stealth Rock. A Protect + Leech Seed combo makes the most sense for a defensive team in a Sandstorm, racking up maximum residual damage. Power Whip is the attacking move of choice because it hits Starmie, Tentacruel, and various Rain and Sand mons, though its inability to hurt Dragons like Gyro Ball is quite unfortunate. Ferrothorn's 4x Fire weakness out of Rain is an issue, as is his susceptibility to burns, but overall he's a great team player.
Author: Kaos
Forretress @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 Sdef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Rapid spin
- Volt switch
- Gyro ball
forretress is cool on sand stall, since every good sand stall team needs a physically defensive steel, which gives you the two options of forretress and skarmory (ferro isn't very good on sand stall). skarm can roost and phaze, which forry can't, but forry can spin, and that's arguably more important than both of skarm's advantages combined. since basically every effective sand stall except meru's needs a spinner too, if you go with skarm over forry, your only real option for a spinner is starmie, and starmie's easy pursuit bait for tyranitar and scizor, which makes it unreliable and less likely to do its assigned job. forry not only takes care of that problem, but frees up a team slot for something else that's critical to your team's success, like jellicent or latias. overall i'd say forry + extra team member outclasses skarm + starmie in the realm of sand stall. here's a sample set. (btw run 0 spd ivs)
Author: Lavos Spawn
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Thunder Wave / Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Crunch / Pursuit
- Fire Blast
This set is great for pretty much any sand team, although it will probably shine the most on balanced-stall teams. Since this is a sand stall thread, I'm assuming every team has hazards setters. Tyranitar sp. def in sand is ridiculously high. It can with ease switch in on things like latias/latios/celebi. Crunch is prefered over pursuit, because of the damage and pokemons suchs as latias will rarely switch out because they expect the pursuit. Thunder Wave is great for crippling switch outs, and works great with Roar, if your team doesnt have a stealth rock setter, Tyranitar can use it. Fire Blast is for ferrothorns, forretress, skarm, etc. and thunder waved scizors which, from experience, tends to switch in on Tyranitar. Roar is what makes this set shine though. Awesome for phasing and easing a late game sweep with something like Stoutland. Edit: Roar is also really good for phasing sp atking threats behind substitute.
Author: Liked
