Stall Like You've Never Seen It Before
Introduction
It started with Keldeo, then you had the Therian Formes, then Genesect came along. Then Sheer Force Landorus starting surprising the shit out of people. Now the cuckoos at PO want to retest Kyerum B? Haha..hopefully the ever-changing metagame has made its last changes. I seriously do not enjoy constantly having to re-tweak and modify my team to keep up with some of these borderline Uber threats. But hey thats what Stall is for right? Now most people know by now that I love using Snorlax as my main special defensive wall. For this team I decided to give a shot at a Stall team without the Great Wall of Fat. The first teams I tested sans-Snorlax just didnt have a good enough defensive presence to take on a wide variety of threats. It seemed that in order to make up for Snorlaxs lost presence I had to run 3 steel mons to provide my team with a powerful sp. defensive and defensive core. Snorlax shined in countering SmashPass teams, but for this squad, the plan is to get Toxic Spikes up quickly and since i have many mons running protect and Substitute, its just good ol' Stall tactics the rest of the way. It took many tests and moveset changes to arrive at this current team. I dont think this squad will be undergoing any future changes. For now this is one of my better Stall teams for the current metagame. So let me get into the basics....
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Power Whip
- Spikes
Standard defensive Ferrothorn Set. Usually I liked to run a surprise item on my Ferrothorn like Occa Berry or Shed Shell, but since I have 2 other steel types to sponge choiced dragon attacks I figured I might as well go with a Ferrothorn that provided better longevity. Provided I dont need Ferro later in the battle, he normally acts as my primary switch in to Rotom-W. Having protect to scout Rotom really comes in handy for obvious reasons. With a well balanced EV spread Ferrothorns primary responsibilities are to counter Gyarados, sponge water attacks and lay hazards if its safe to do so. Alright... say I dont get toxic spikes up in time and Keldeo decided it wants to sweep my team. Modest 252sp.attk Keldeo Secret Sword at +1 deals 84.1%-99.4% to my Ferrothorn, so his chances at 1HKO'ing ferrothorn if just rocks are up is 0. I am usually on the receiving side of Ferrothorns annoying tactics, so its nice to actually be dishing it out this time.
Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 236 HP / 216 Def / 36 SAtk / 20 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Protect
- Rapid Spin
I know. The days of Acid Spray/Giga Drain Tentacruel are gone. I decided to take advantage of Rain Dish this time and also run protect. I went with a defensive Tentacruel since my team is pretty fighting weak. Cruel can take banded uturns and can act as a back up check to SD scizor if it so happens to be running jolly and outspeeds my Heatran. Adamant 252attk CB Close Combat from Terrakion does around 40%, so while he doesnt take them too comfortably he at least doesnt get 2 hit KO by it. Tentacruel's primary responsibilities are obviously to spin, set up toxic spikes if they will greatly help the team and sponge as many uturns as possible.
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 208 Def / 60 SAtk
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- Toxic
What an underrated Pokemon Bronzong is. He is the sole centerpiece of my stalling efforts in this current metagame. Acrobat Gliscor-Check, Sheer Force Landorus-Check, Tornadus in rain-Check, Mamoswine-Check, Salamence-Check, DD Dragonite-Check. I could go on forever. With Bronzong's Steel typing, many resistances and immunity to Ground attacks and hazards, he was a must have for this team. Bronzong can also help my toxic stalling efforts by inducing toxic on certain mons that dont expect it. I almost decided to remove stealth rocks for Skill Swap for those certain situations and primarily for CM Reuniclus since my team is very weak against it. But the Tyranitar set I will soon reveal was just too hard to pass up on, hence Bronzong had to be my Stealth Rocks carrier. Also for sun teams with Dugtrio its better to have SR on someone other than Tyranitar.
Gengar (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Hypnosis
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
Simply put, whenever Im running a grass mon that doesnt carry a sleep inducing move and Gengar on the same team, more than likely said Gengar will be running Sub/Hypnosis. The set is very low risk, high reward in my opinion. Think of a faster, meaner looking Breloom with better coverage. I know Ive explained it many times, but the theory behind the set is simple. Gengar has fighting, ground, and normal immunities. If you happen to switch into a choiced attack that is resisted or into any mon that doesnt want to deal with Gengar, then after setting substitute you will have 2 shots at landing Hypnosis. If the first misses and you dont want to risk losing Gengar, then switch out. Im no probability expert but I believe if first 60% chance fails, then the chance of it activating on the 2nd shot rises to 84%. But like I said I never looked into it myself. If you happen to land Hypnosis on a mon that walls Gengar like Jirachi or Gastrodon, just switch immediately to the appropriate mon that will threaten the check, namely Heatran and Ferrothorn, respectively. If I can manage to double switch my Gengar into a Xatu, I can really turn the tide against a sun team with a landed Hypnosis. This Gengar also shines in punishing teams using Deoxys lead.
Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 212 HP / 136 SDef / 160 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Protect
- Lava Plume
- Torment
A set that definitely needs to see more use in the OU metagame. If Heatran is near full health and I managed to get up toxic spikes or toxic enough pokes earlier in the battle, then Heatran's red eyes are seeing "good game." Without a hard counter or phazer to impede it, Torment Tran can easily stall out multiple pokes if he needs to. If you so happen to be burned or toxic'd, then facing this thing can be a hair pulling experience for you. Need I mention that this thing is basically the best Genesect check around. While I can definitely use Heatran to sponge dragon attacks and the occasional expected Tornadus Hurricane, I usually like to save my Heatran for late game cleanup stalling after all hazards have been set and all spinners have been eliminated.
Tyranitar (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: ? HP / ? SDef / ? Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Block
- Dragon Dance
- Rest
- Rock Slide
Alright. Here We Go. The "Wild Card" of this team. The featured Gimmick shall you say. I really never wanted to reveal this set, because much of the sucess of it relies on it being a total surprise, but what type of RMT would it be if I left a poke out. Anyway, I remember a guy using this set on me a couple of times in the early days of PO. As laughable as it seems, it actually does have some great uses. I cannot disclose the exact EV spread, but I can tell you that HP and Sp. Def are good enough to take weak scalds from Jellicent or Politoed and Tentacruel in sand, effortlessly. With this set obviously I dont have to worry about the 107% scald burn rate. This Tyrantiar can switch into a Tentacruel and just dare it to stay in and spin. With its ability to fend off weak scalds and rest off any burns, water type spinners like Blastoise, Tentacruel, and Starmie, if not LO Hydropump, can be trapped and eliminated, thus clearing the path for Tentacruel, Ferrothorn, and Bronzong to go Hazard-crazy on the opponent. As I said before if standard bulky politoed ever dares to stay in on Tyranitar in sand becuse he thinks he can get lucky with a burn, and you manage to block and set up on it, then the weather war should be won right then and there. Just get to +3 or +4, rest when needed and take it out. It is nearly impossible to lose the weather war against rain if youre using this Tyranitar set. The decision to go with this Tyranitar was made primarily because I needed a mon to act as a reliable status fodder. In the event that Ferrothorn is ever burned, then bulky waters like Milotic, Jellicent and Vaporeon could really run a number on my team, but with Sp. Def DD Blocking Tyrantiar that threat was taken care of.
Closing Remarks
Alright guys there you have it. This Stall team has definitely proven its worth against even the best Hyper Offense teams on the PO ladder (I really dont know how competitive "Showdown" is at the moment. Not to mention many of Smogons best battlers now battle primarily at PO anyway). I mentioned earlier the gaping CM Reuniclus weakness, but Torment Tran can stall that to a degree. Feel free to rate and let me know of any other big holes in this team.