I ain't got no service in the club, you stall, stall! [OU RMT]

Introduction
With gen 4 coming to a close soon, I figured I've tried everything it has to offer. Most decent sets, most playstyles.. except stall. I used EW's original stall team as a base for this one and with various tweaks its gotten to where it is now. The team has been experiencing major difficulties breaking the 1400 barrier, which is my checkpoint for every team I make, so I thought I'd put it up here for advice from more experienced stall-ers

The Team
At A Glance:


Up Close and Personal:

@ Leftovers
Sand Stream
Impish (+Def, -SpA)
252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
-Roar
-Slack Off
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock

Priorities on entry hazards go to Stealth Rocks. So of course I wanted a lead to set them up. Hippowdon has instant recovery, Roar and also sets up Sandstorm, which most of my team is shrug off, making it IMO, far and away better than other stall-based leads. EVs and nature are standard, if you need to know what they do, its on the smogondex. BTW, those SpD EVs really ehlp against LeadNite. In the midgame, I find I have him absorbing TrickScarfs most of the time because Skarmory does most of what he does better but with more auspicious typing.

@Leftovers
Intimidate
Impish (+Def, -SpA)
248 HP / 56 Atk / 204 Def
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Waterfall
-Roar

Gyarados is an awesome RestTalker despite its Rock Weakness able to switch into many common threats like Infernape, Lucario, Heatran, Breloom among others. An Impish nature boosts Gyarados' more used defensive side while not deteriorating his nice attack score, and they say Hariyama has a high one for a defensive poke ;). The EVs might seem weird but they allow Gyarados to always break the standard SporePuncher Breloom's subs with Waterfall which helps. Roar phazes many threats while bringing in new ones to be weared down by Hippowdon and Skarmory's handiwork.

@ Leftovers
Liquid Ooze
Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
-Surf
-Rapid Spin
-Toxic Spikes
-Ice Beam
Tentacruel is functioning much better than Heatran ever did, thanks! It serves as the team's check to entry hazards as well as T-Spikes layerer. Surf is the STAB move of choice, which is almost required what with his sad, sad base SpA and Ice Beam for Dragonite, because methinks Gyarados is covered enough. It's a shame he doesn't get Whirlwind though.

@ Leftovers
Levitate
Bold (+Def, -Atk)
-Pain Split
-Will-O-Wisp
-Hydro Pump
-Thunderbolt

I tested each of the Rotom formes separately and I feel that Wash is the best for the team. Hydro Pump is a very nice tool against the likes of tar and tran and gets pretty decent synergy with STAB Thunderbolt. Will-O-Wisp cripples most physical attackers and Pain Split is some form of recovery.

@ Leftovers
Keen Eye
Impish (+Def, -SpA)
252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
-Roost
-Spikes
-Whirlwind
-Brave Bird

My last pHazer, I promise =P. But they're pretty important when you're main form of damage are entry hazards. Skarmory sets up Spikes nice and easy on common things like Metagross, Swampy and a lot of other stuff that can't touch her! Roost is a nice instant recovery and Brave Bird is a nice STAB. It's all just really nice... The SpD EVs prevent Skarmory from being 2HKOed by Flygon's Fire Blast when factoring in leftovers and the rest goes into physical bulk.

@ Leftovers
Natural Cure
Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
252 Def / 80 SpA / 176 SpD
-Softboiled
-Toxic
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam

This bitch walls everything. I don't get it when people say she isn't physically bulky when almost everything physical can only manage a 2HKO on her. Of course, maybe its just because everyone maxes out her defense, who knows. The 80 SpA EVs help OHKO Gyarados and Dragonite's that dare set up on her while also breaking Gengar's subs, this means that she covers just about EVERY goddamn special attacker. Calm is because I like using boosting natures on higher stats. 11 Def points, yea, that's gonna make a difference..

Final Glance:


Parting Words:
Well that's the team. Any and every rate is appreciated, unless you obviously did not read the thread first...

Hi. This looks like a very standard stall team, so I have reasonably few suggestions.

I find Hippowdon to be a rather ineffective lead, and I feel that you might actually get more mileage out of Skarmory in that position. Though both are easily Taunted, Skarmory can also prevent SR from the opponent, set up more hazards, and deal with sleep leads. Here is the set:

Skarmory @ Lum berry
252hp 128spdef 128 spe
-Brave Bird
-Spikes
-Taunt
-Roost.

Your team already has a wealth of phazers, so I can see few issues arising from the lack of Whirlwind. 128 speed lets it outrun Crocune, RestTalk gyarados and anything slower, including most lead Metagross. Taunt is great on a lead, and makes this Skarmory a weapon against opposing stall teams. Brave Bird, though generally overrated, offers a method of dealing with Machamp, which should lessen the need for Dusknoir rather than Rotom.

Dusknoir is a fairly poor check to Machamp regardless, as it struggles to break Machamp's substitute with Earthquake. If you ran a Rotom-A with Reflect you could soften the blows for the rest of your team, allowing them to deal with Machamp with ease. In general, Rotom outclasses Dusknoir due to superior speed and typing, and this scenario is no different.

I see no reason not to run Lava Plume over Flamethrower on Heatran. Most of Heatran's common switchins, barring Blissey, really do not appreciate being burnt, and will be much easier to deal with if they are. I see no reason for SpA EVs myself either; I feel they could be better placed in special defense or speed.

Good luck.

You already have 3 phazers and I don't really think running that Heatran set will help you very much since it doesn't carry any resistance the rest of the team doesn't really cover and you already have Gyarados and Blissey that can absorb status.
For this reason I'd replace that with a powerful late game sweeper such as SD Infernape who can really benefit entry hazards damage and clean up a weakened team.

But whatever, maybe it's just me and my love for late game sweeps...

Good Luck with the team.

you call dusknoir a spinblocker but i dont understand. how do you deal with spinning starmie, the most common spinner? earthquake doesn't seem that useful since blissey walls heatran left and right... pursuit or shadow sneak in that slot will kill starmie.

~gl

11 Def points, yea, that's gonna make a difference..

Click to expand...

it actually DOES make a huge ass difference. a 10% difference as a matter of fact. just as a big of a difference as a calm nature would make for special defense. it may be only 11 points but since blissey's base defense is so low it makes a LOT bigger difference than say an extra 11 points of defense on something like steelix. I'd personally go with bold. there's not much reason to run calm these days, really. blissey's special defense is so ridiculous that it can still wall without any hp or spd investment. I'd just go 252 hp/252 def bold. it could certainly help you survive when tbolting gyarados or ice beaming flygon that try to attack you since blissey is as bulky as min/min suicune or max hp dusknoir when using bold.

Go with Calm on Bliss, I agree with Fried Rhys.

Also go with Jc104's Skarm suggestion, it's a better lead imo.

Also, your team gets eaten up by Nasty Plot Infernape, so I'd recommend changing your Gyara to:
Careful Nature
248 HP / 64 SDef / 196 Def
-Waterfall
-Roar
-Rest
-Sleep Talk

This lets you take a +2 Grass Knot even after Stealth Rock, and lets you retain your physical bulk.

Overall nice team and good luck.

I'm having trouble seeing what Heatran is doing here, and you still lose to Crocune. I recommend CM/Wish Jirachi over it as a way to handle Crocune.

mtr said:

I'm having trouble seeing what Heatran is doing here, and you still lose to Crocune. I recommend CM/Wish Jirachi over it as a way to handle Crocune.

Click to expand...

After playtesting with the team a bit, I thought the exact same thing. I tried Wish CM Rachi and it helped immensely. Try it out.

Needs a spinner, especially since you are using Dusknoir as a spin blocker, with no way of getting toxic spikes. Heatran dooesn't seem to be doing much, get something like a Tentacruel for Toxic Spiking, Rapid Spinning, and a generic wall.

Thanks everyone! I'm new to stall so I really appreciate the suggestions. Tested them out and the team is where it is now. Thanks again!