Well hello there! I've been planning and waiting to post this team for a while now, though admittedly it has been in concept for far longer than in form. But when 'concept' was a 2.5 month long trial period of scouting OU threats and working to condense all of them into six pokemon, I feel that it was well worth it.
So, assuming you know my one and only playstyle and clicked only because you were interested in that, I'm going to try and condense as much ideology as I can into a few short paragraphs. I would have made this a rather "Joke" RMT but the quality/quantity of work put into this was far more than something I can even joke about... In fact, it is quite sad the amount of active time I spent developing this. I will, however, delve a lot into the teambuilding of this team, and not really focus in the battling aspect. Not interested, really. I play stall pretty well, but it gives me no satisfaction to win and only infuriates me on the rare times I lose. I'll let this team speak for itself in battle, the tests I have put it through have shown it to be a rival (If not a successor) of my previous team.
As we all know, stall aims to wall off the metagame. There have been two major* philosophies in teambuilding... Core design and "target" design. Both are used, but I'm slightly unsure of an official name for the ladder, thus the quotations. This generation in stall, I have only seen core-centered teams. This isn't bad at all, but seeing as that core is almost always the same, it gets boring.
Core design is something like the Dreadnoughts, based off a F/W/G core and pokemon that pair exceptionally well together. Focuses basically on team synergy to float through the metagame. In practice and in theory, core design has two different outputs. Practiced cores (VenuTran/SkarmBliss/RegeneratorDuos) work because they cover threats... Stumbling on these cores can happen when theorizing (I think VenuTran was more a discovery after I put together the F/W/G core). The old Gen4 Celetran core for Gyarados comes to mind. Theory cores (F/W/G) aren't nearly as good in practice because they don't account for dual typings and coverage moves, and as such need practice to round them out.
That being said, they are still largely successful and it should take nothing away from the teams that use them. These cores are far more effective on balanced teams and teams with less than five/six pokemon to give. Even in a 'target' team, a core may be developed simply because a threat can't be fully taken care of otherwise, or because they play so well off each other.
However. This team took the approach of target design, focusing on major threats and listing options to take care of them. I'm not sure how deeply they strive to, but I took about the first 50 off the offensive meta and looked into them. The best example I have is using Mandibuzz to specifically take Bisharp/Deo-S/Aegislash. I didn't really ever "learn" this style from anyone, but C05ta's gen5 stall teams became a large influence to me. Costa always told (Or scolded) me that core teams failed in the ways stated above but at the time I really couldn't put together a team from the target design because I didn't have the time or motivation.
While no team can take away every threat, no matter how well built, this team sought to take away all of the most-seen threats on their most-standard sets, and even attack some standard playstlyes (Fuck your baton pass chains)... Some leniency was given, as for something like Greninja, you want something that can take all moves available to it and Thundurus-i's physical set should be considered. There are threats I KNOW I left out, not because I wanted to, but I simply couldn't get around to with the pokes I chose. If I can make adjustments for it, I will. It's probably better that I can tell you the limits of this team right now. Or, the issues that you'll have unless you play your cards right.
*Whatever the hell people like SansNickel does probably has a name. TFL drabbles with these seemingly gimmick stall styles, but both TFL and Sans have had success with their respective oddball building styles.
Core design is something like the Dreadnoughts, based off a F/W/G core and pokemon that pair exceptionally well together. Focuses basically on team synergy to float through the metagame. In practice and in theory, core design has two different outputs. Practiced cores (VenuTran/SkarmBliss/RegeneratorDuos) work because they cover threats... Stumbling on these cores can happen when theorizing (I think VenuTran was more a discovery after I put together the F/W/G core). The old Gen4 Celetran core for Gyarados comes to mind. Theory cores (F/W/G) aren't nearly as good in practice because they don't account for dual typings and coverage moves, and as such need practice to round them out.
That being said, they are still largely successful and it should take nothing away from the teams that use them. These cores are far more effective on balanced teams and teams with less than five/six pokemon to give. Even in a 'target' team, a core may be developed simply because a threat can't be fully taken care of otherwise, or because they play so well off each other.
However. This team took the approach of target design, focusing on major threats and listing options to take care of them. I'm not sure how deeply they strive to, but I took about the first 50 off the offensive meta and looked into them. The best example I have is using Mandibuzz to specifically take Bisharp/Deo-S/Aegislash. I didn't really ever "learn" this style from anyone, but C05ta's gen5 stall teams became a large influence to me. Costa always told (Or scolded) me that core teams failed in the ways stated above but at the time I really couldn't put together a team from the target design because I didn't have the time or motivation.
While no team can take away every threat, no matter how well built, this team sought to take away all of the most-seen threats on their most-standard sets, and even attack some standard playstlyes (Fuck your baton pass chains)... Some leniency was given, as for something like Greninja, you want something that can take all moves available to it and Thundurus-i's physical set should be considered. There are threats I KNOW I left out, not because I wanted to, but I simply couldn't get around to with the pokes I chose. If I can make adjustments for it, I will. It's probably better that I can tell you the limits of this team right now. Or, the issues that you'll have unless you play your cards right.
*Whatever the hell people like SansNickel does probably has a name. TFL drabbles with these seemingly gimmick stall styles, but both TFL and Sans have had success with their respective oddball building styles.
The objectives. Before starting this team a few months ago, I had some objectives. My main objective, of course, was to build a successful stall team that could wall off the majority of the metagame. The specifics, however, was actually railed completely at Bisharp, who I had grown greatly tired of. The DeoSharp core had gotten annoying and I predicted it to continue to grow more popular. During my work through the suspect test, I mainly paid attention (After I realized I didn't want to put in the amount of games to achieve the reqs) to check up on Deo-S' projected status. Realizing it was staying, I figured DeoSharp would eventually become the most dominant offensive style... Whether this is/will be true, I have no idea. But that's where this team sprang forth from.
The team needed three roles. Cleric, Hazard Setter, Hazard Remover. These are basically the Holy Trinity of Stall. The cleric was allotted to have to take care of Kyurem-black as best as possible. The Hazard Remover was set to either take care of Talonflame or Mega pinsir. The setter, I didn't really focus on, knowing all I'd want is stealth rocks.
There were a few restrictions I placed on this team.
This team was built with a few assumptions about the current meta.
The team needed three roles. Cleric, Hazard Setter, Hazard Remover. These are basically the Holy Trinity of Stall. The cleric was allotted to have to take care of Kyurem-black as best as possible. The Hazard Remover was set to either take care of Talonflame or Mega pinsir. The setter, I didn't really focus on, knowing all I'd want is stealth rocks.
There were a few restrictions I placed on this team.
- It could not use Mega Venusaur. I simply wanted to add more avenues to the style, so Mega Venusaur, which defined Stall, couldn't exist on this team.
- I would not allow more than 2 members from the Dreadnoughts to be on this team. This was just to help me break my own trends.
- I wanted a "Wild Card" slot. A pokemon who served similarly to Tornadus-T did on my Dreadnoughts, by handling threats and giving a change-up of offensive pressure. This slot needed, in essence, to give me a chance at winning an otherwise difficult game. However, this wild card needed to be a free-standing wall. I wasn't sure what exactly would define this role, but I eventually got one.
This team was built with a few assumptions about the current meta.
- The Meta is mainly physical. Most attacks absorbed (I approximated it to about 66% of attacks) would be from the physical side. Also: Most special attackers in the meta are from the same small select group, meaning that just covering four or five would cover the whole invested special meta.
This, of course, is not true case-by-case, but it is certainly a trend that was established.
- The Meta shifts, which are generally based on countering it's own meta, will not affect this team. This is because stall teams stick to the same formula, and since I'm not following that, I'll largely be unaffected by any shifts as I design this team.
- Pokemon run only their best/second best sets. There are no gimmicks. This is obviously a false assumption, but I can't split hairs about it.
- If a pokemon is not seen in 40 matches (per usage statistics), it is largely irrelevant. This means pokemon like Reuniculus, and I'm fairly certain most pokemon in "Limbo B".
- Defensive/support pokemon can be largely ignored and the only ones covered are the ones that have more offensive roles (IE Heatran, Excadrill). There isn't any reason to believe this team CAN'T deal with defensive pokemon, but they weren't looked at due to offensive pokemon being hard enough. This is not the case for Venusaur-mega, who I did look over to make sure I had options against it. Not a lot of options, but there are a few.
- The assumption of 75% health was made for most counter/checks that I could afford it for. I believe Kyurem-black and a few others were an exception.
Bisharp is a tough pokemon to counter. Now that dark is resisted by dark/fight, I was forced into a limited pool to start. I tried looking into some rather... interesting sets (sleep talk shed skin scrafty ftw?) but eventually found Chesnaught. It wasn't apparent he should be the first slot at first, but eventually he showed to have major resists and great physical bulk to back up those resists (Edgequake, Bisharp, Aegislash are just a few).
This was quickly coupled with a pokemon I was rather unsure about. I have used Gyarados in the past on stall teams to mixed success. The bulk is very real, as is the attack. But the rock weakness, the lack of recovery and the ease of residual damage had always held me back. However, in my calcs for Charizard-X and Y, this guy was clearly the best option, taking approximately 30% from Zard-Y's solar beam. Also nice to note that Gyarados did spectacularly vs Landorus-i.
With the basis of this team in place, I started searching for a mega pinsir counter. I had three pokemon available, but eventually chose Skarmory over Zapdos due to the rock neutrality and the ability to serve as a hazad setter as well. He continued the very physically-based defensive set I had, as the most major threats this generation are physical. He also served as a pretty good mega-heracross check and had a good defensive typing for leading off.
At this point, I needed to add a cleric. Latias had been part of the defog option so the partial cleric idea was more or less dead. Umbreon could still work, but two of his draws (Aegi stopping, Bisharp check) had already been stolen and he didn't deal too well with Kyurem (though didn't do badly). However, in my notes, I had Sylveon down as a "Counter nuke Cleric". Oddly enough, Sylveon was taking down just about every stall and wall breaker I found. Kyurem-black, Gyarados-mega, Garchomp-mega and Heracross-mega all feared Hyper voice, and so it was quickly decided that Sylveon would serve nicely.
These last two spots were rather odd. By this time, I had actually covered the majority of the threats I had looked at. However, I did have at least ONE requirement left to fill in my 'wildcard' and I also needed a better Talonflame check. Manaphy was something I didn't trust was walled off enough (at the time, Sylveon was the best bet) and I simply didn't have a clue what to do vs it. I actually went to the sweeper calc to check what were the best base options and one of the pokes I had been observing popped up. Porygon2, the ultimate wildcard, was the next addition. He had trace, recovery and access to limitless gimmicks if I wanted.
In my last spot, I narrowed it down to Heatran, Nidoqueen... or quagsire. Heatran provided the better Zard-Y check, Quagsire the better X check and Nidoqueen provided a mawile-mega check as well as a second terrakion check. Eventually, though, I decided on quagsire. I knew two water types generally is a risky prospect, but the two water types in question are completely different beasts, as Gyara is neutral to grass, 4x weak to elec and quag is 4x weak to grass, immune to elec. Quagsire's ability to basically "Solve" the set up sweeper issue was also a fantastic selling point, as even his presence can deter setup. He kills brain cells, I swear it.
Gyarados was great, and to be honest there aren't many pokemon that can replace his sheer importance. However, his rock weakness was bothersome, I had a weakness to mawile and Skarmory was locked up in a moveset that left no room for fun. I had to alleviate this and went to Garchomp, who could solve all of this. The alleviation of roles cannot be overstated.
This was quickly coupled with a pokemon I was rather unsure about. I have used Gyarados in the past on stall teams to mixed success. The bulk is very real, as is the attack. But the rock weakness, the lack of recovery and the ease of residual damage had always held me back. However, in my calcs for Charizard-X and Y, this guy was clearly the best option, taking approximately 30% from Zard-Y's solar beam. Also nice to note that Gyarados did spectacularly vs Landorus-i.
With the basis of this team in place, I started searching for a mega pinsir counter. I had three pokemon available, but eventually chose Skarmory over Zapdos due to the rock neutrality and the ability to serve as a hazad setter as well. He continued the very physically-based defensive set I had, as the most major threats this generation are physical. He also served as a pretty good mega-heracross check and had a good defensive typing for leading off.
At this point, I needed to add a cleric. Latias had been part of the defog option so the partial cleric idea was more or less dead. Umbreon could still work, but two of his draws (Aegi stopping, Bisharp check) had already been stolen and he didn't deal too well with Kyurem (though didn't do badly). However, in my notes, I had Sylveon down as a "Counter nuke Cleric". Oddly enough, Sylveon was taking down just about every stall and wall breaker I found. Kyurem-black, Gyarados-mega, Garchomp-mega and Heracross-mega all feared Hyper voice, and so it was quickly decided that Sylveon would serve nicely.
These last two spots were rather odd. By this time, I had actually covered the majority of the threats I had looked at. However, I did have at least ONE requirement left to fill in my 'wildcard' and I also needed a better Talonflame check. Manaphy was something I didn't trust was walled off enough (at the time, Sylveon was the best bet) and I simply didn't have a clue what to do vs it. I actually went to the sweeper calc to check what were the best base options and one of the pokes I had been observing popped up. Porygon2, the ultimate wildcard, was the next addition. He had trace, recovery and access to limitless gimmicks if I wanted.
In my last spot, I narrowed it down to Heatran, Nidoqueen... or quagsire. Heatran provided the better Zard-Y check, Quagsire the better X check and Nidoqueen provided a mawile-mega check as well as a second terrakion check. Eventually, though, I decided on quagsire. I knew two water types generally is a risky prospect, but the two water types in question are completely different beasts, as Gyara is neutral to grass, 4x weak to elec and quag is 4x weak to grass, immune to elec. Quagsire's ability to basically "Solve" the set up sweeper issue was also a fantastic selling point, as even his presence can deter setup. He kills brain cells, I swear it.
Gyarados was great, and to be honest there aren't many pokemon that can replace his sheer importance. However, his rock weakness was bothersome, I had a weakness to mawile and Skarmory was locked up in a moveset that left no room for fun. I had to alleviate this and went to Garchomp, who could solve all of this. The alleviation of roles cannot be overstated.
You may be interested in scrolling through this pastebin. It's all the work I did before starting this team, not including any calculations or formatting to make it easy for me to pick out trends. Checks and counters are kind of loosely put in some places, as some "Checks" were moved to counters simply due to the inability of other pokemon to perform well or that pokemon being one of the consistent pokemon countering others. I paste it because it could be a useful tool in finding counters to threats if you're looking into a stall team. All the pokemon I specifically went over start with a capitalized letter, so they can be control-F searched. There are 32 pokemon that I listed I searched through, all but two offensive. Others were just judged to be outclassed at the time, or just considered later on.
When Marriland finally gets that team chart together, I'd recommend it as a tool to use to check a finished team for weaknesses to mono-types (or get a general judge of what could use more resistances). However, that doesn't seem to be happening. There is, however, another tool that can be very useful.
The "Sweeper Calc" proved useful to me in checking out walls to cover threats. While people have mixed feelings about plugging in teams and checking that way (Spoiler: Rarely ever pretty), plugging in sets of pokemon that threaten your team together and then clicking to "Wall it" works well to find what works vs both threats. I took advantage of this calc a few times to check out walls for both Manaphy and Talonflame, as well ad individual walls for something such as Charizard-X. The only issue is it sticks to "OU common"...
So, shall we start looking through the team?
Chesnaught was the first addition to this team, and probably the single most important to this one. He is responsible for taking the following list:
Bisharp, Aegislash, Conkeldurr, Gyarados-mega, Excadrill, Landorus-t, Terrakion, Keldeo, Tyranitar-mega, Scizor, Check: venusaur-mega. Rotom-w
His move set was tailored to eliminating Aegislash/Bisharp first, and then focused on being able to stall out the rest (or, in Venu's case, wall some sets off). This set used EQ AND Hammer Arm, meaning that Terrakion, Mega Gyarados, Mega Tyranitar and Excadrill could also be slain by attacks alone. I'm still not sure about his moveset, but Aegislash with toxic is becoming too prevalent to just rely on leech seed stalling. Leech seed is a phazing tool that is pretty helpful given his low amount of Synthesis PP and the fact I have him taking weather-setting tyranitar. His special bulk is admittedly awful, but Rotom-w is generally uninvested and Keldeo is still resisted. Besides, I have other Keldeo counters, so it was largely irrelevant if I found a specs keldeo.
Chesnaught @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Hammer Arm
- Spiky Shield
- Leech Seed
- Earthquake
Garchomp was added to alleviate the moveslot syndrome with Skarmory and to help me solve Charizard-Y AND Mawile. This not only allowed CHOMP to take on mawile while at neutral, it allowed SKARM to take on mawile, essentially giving me a lot of hope. The Spedef is spectacular, it resists Zard a little better but is grounded. While considerably different from Gyara, Gyara's primary job overlaps here and most of the other major threats are resisted. Adding more edgequake resist components is nice, too, as now I have 3 rock resists.
Counter: Aegislash, Charizard-Y, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Heatran, Mandibuzz, Zapdos
Checks: Bisharp, Mawile-M, Scizor-M, Tyranitar, Volcarona
Checks: Bisharp, Mawile-M, Scizor-M, Tyranitar, Volcarona
Garchomp can easily appear to make this team semi-stall so him setting rocks may be a nasty surprise to any heatran leads. The three attacks were just chosen for maximum coverage, and fire coverage was needed intensely.
Garchomp @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
Sylveon is an odd cleric... almost an offensive cleric, something stall didn't really have last generation, at least no access to a bulky full cleric with offensive power. How an eeveeloution's generally mediocre base stats turned this one into such a monster, I have to guess it was based on that fairy typing. But, Sylveon is the "Counter Nuke" (President Reagan started funding the Sylveon project back in '88). Meant for taking on Kyurem-black, Garchomp-mega and some other extreme nukes, Sylveon did all this while fulfilling a cleric role. Sylveon differs from Chansey by having a more difficult time COMING in, but keeping more threats out once in.
Greninja, Conkeldurr, Thundurus-i, Kyurem-black, Keldeo, Dragonite, Garchomp-mega, Gyarados-mega, (Checks) Mega Heracross, Landorus-i (Lacking slude wave), Latios
Hyper voice is invaluable to this team, since it doesn't have nearly as many roar users as the Dreadnoughts. Subs are always an issue for Stall, but Sylveon cuts right through subs and makes Kyub shoot itself in the foot when it subs. The physically defensive spread again is just based on what it takes, as even Latios will be spamming psyshock vs this. I've questioned why I've used Yawn over protect, but Yawn has helped keep targets that come in to take Sylveon while it clerics have to stay out/switch out again.
Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Protect
- Wish
- Heal Bell
Skarmory is the bird I just can't get by without. This monstrous beast has been one of the best walls since the start of the SkarmBliss cores. Yeah, it seems time is making it slightly rusty, but this generation Skarmory gained the incredibly important job of countering Pinsir-mega. With Garchomp, Skarmory lives a more relaxing life now defogging when needed and taunting incoming targets. Counter+Taunt is incredibly deadly not only at breaking stall but at preventing sub attackers like Mawile from endgaming me so easily.
Pinsir-mega, Conkeldurr, Gyarados-mega, Excadrill, Azumarill, Landorus-t, Dragonite, Mamoswine, Mega Heracross, Venusaur-mega, Scizor-mega
While he doesn't "Solve" BD azumarill (Dies to it, actually), Gyarados-mega's DD (that's a slight issue, but Gyarados takes it) and Dragonite's DD (Quagsire got it), he does wall off all kinds of attacks and is the best catch for outrage spam (as I don't like to reset them on Sylveon and allow them to choose a new move). Without brave bird, mega venusaur is a bit of a problem, but he doesn't like anything on my team any more than I like him, and I can stall him out with Chenaught, Porygon2 and Skarm, taunting him before he can synthesis if I play well.
Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Counter
- Roost
- Taunt
When you think of Mega Garchomp counters, I'm fairly certain you don't think of this duck. Neverthless, he does do work against Mega Garchomp. My "Wild Card", this guy quickly became probably the mascot of this team. He is a nightmare for teams with Greninja, Gliscor and Landorus-T, as he simply abuses their own abilities while countering them. Don't ask why his pic is huge, I haven't the slightest clue.
Greninja, Garchomp-mega, Gyarados-mega, Mamoswine, Excadrill, Thundrus-i, Landorus-t, Espeon, Rotom-w, Dragonite, Manaphy, Talonflame, Landorus-i
Yes, this thing is so anti-meta, it could easily become OU. The spread is mixed with an emphisis on the physical side. (again, assumed 2/3 of meta physical, target analysis largely physical). He now becomes the most prominent mixed wall on the team, losing nothing but a few percentage on what he counted and gaining the checking of Landorus-i. Covering most bases with boltbeam (and then loltrolling Magnezone by locking it with Magnet lock...), this one has some bulky sweeping ability once a team is warn down enough. Toxic takes care of some other issues (Mamoswine, Rotom-h, Rotom-w too), but in general is used when I expect a switch or haven't gotten the firepower to immediately bring a threat down. It should be noted that discharge paralyzing Skarm and then killing it off is one of the best option I have for opposing skarms (The other being Quaggy Scald burns, and Sylveon's Hyper Voice does like 30%?). Everything on that list is beaten solely by Porygon2 bar espeon... and maybe Excadrill.
I need to devote a paragraph just to talk about this "WildCard". Trace is really the whole basis (and boltbeam the coverage), allowing Porygon2 to take multiple different pokemon that he wouldn't initially take. Gliscor (Poison heal/toxic combination), Greninja (Boltbeam STAB), Dragonite (multiscale) and Espeon (Magic Bounce) are just some of the obvious examples of his helpful this can be. Even abstract combinations (Copying Escadrill's moldbreaker, toxic'ing Espeon) can exist due to this. Given a bunch of helpful abilities on the opposing team, and some creativity, Porygon2 can literally change a battle. Grabbing Poison heal from gliscor as it toxic'd my switch was an instant win as the opponent had no fighting types remaining. The whole objective is to give a clever player a chance to win in any situation while not detracting from the team's goal to wall everything.
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SDef / 4 SAtk / 252 HP
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Magic Coat
My opinion still hasn't changed: This guy kills brain cells. While he is admittedly pretty good, he just seems to inflict cancer of the mind on opponents, who STILL set up with Scizor, Dragonite and other easily counterable pokemon. While he has no defense vs Special attackers and grass attacks, he still does well to anchor the team vs sweepers against players who do recognize what Quagsire does.
Tyranitar-mega, Heatran, Thundurus-i, Landorus-t, Dragonite, Azumarill, Rotom-w (Mostly), Bisharp (mostly), Scizor
The one I'm most iffy about is Azumarill, as CB azumarill breaks Quagsire. The moveset is simple. Recovery, Toxic to take switch-ins (generally special), Haze to take care of BP teams and Mold breakers if I get a shot, and scald to prevent them from having a sweep opportunity in the future. This is purely TFL's quagsire, but I REALLY wanted to mess with Baton Pass teams, especially with their increased popularity.
Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Toxic
- Recover
- Scald
So obviously, through all of this, the pokemon mentioned were just the top threats. Pokemon such as Salamence, for example, were filed under Dragonite and ignored. Flygon/Zygarde under Garchomp-mega, and Tornadus-T under Thundurus-I. While they have their own niche, covering them by and large was the same and thus ignored. Some pokemon simply were ignored due to low usage. Hydregion, Mega Gardevoir both come to mind, and both can cause some issues but handle them with Sylveon/Pory-2 and no harm should arise. This was largely the idea: The biggest fish in the meta are the biggest because they overshadow the smaller fish. Cover them and you're good.
These pokemon, even after being covered, are still problematic.
Charizard-Y destroys if Charchomp is too weak. Pory2 may be able to fill in for a shot.
Belly Drum Azumarill is scarey as hell. Quagsire may be able to take it, but I give no money-back guarantee on this one.
Manaphy ranks as the biggest threat to this team, although I'm not too bothered by the Rain Dance set. Energy ball is a killer of quagsire and the only phazer I have is gyarados. I haven't seen it sweep yet as Sylveon does good damage if I get it in immediately, or if I can toxic it on a switch. It's something I'd like to fix, but haven't had a lot of options for it.
Magic Bounce Espeon might STILL be an issue. Haze quagsire can stop it, Gyarados can phaze it and Skarmory should resist it well enough, but CM on anything I can't toxic immediately is dangerous. This one is largely situational, and based on how healthy Gyarados/Quagsire are.
Mawile-M is the most dangerous wall breaker for this team, though I now have two pokemon that can sort of handle it.
Mega Venusaur may take you a while to kill. It isn't going to sweep anything unless you leave something in that shouldn't be (aka Sylveon/Quagsire) but it will never be "easy" to kill.
Boost special attacking Grass types basically GG this team unless P2 can do some quick work or Gyara gets in before they get to like +4... Not so much any more with Garchomp fire blasting stuff.
I'm sure there are more. We'll find them eventually.
Charizard-Y destroys if Charchomp is too weak. Pory2 may be able to fill in for a shot.
Belly Drum Azumarill is scarey as hell. Quagsire may be able to take it, but I give no money-back guarantee on this one.
Manaphy ranks as the biggest threat to this team, although I'm not too bothered by the Rain Dance set. Energy ball is a killer of quagsire and the only phazer I have is gyarados. I haven't seen it sweep yet as Sylveon does good damage if I get it in immediately, or if I can toxic it on a switch. It's something I'd like to fix, but haven't had a lot of options for it.
Magic Bounce Espeon might STILL be an issue. Haze quagsire can stop it, Gyarados can phaze it and Skarmory should resist it well enough, but CM on anything I can't toxic immediately is dangerous. This one is largely situational, and based on how healthy Gyarados/Quagsire are.
Mawile-M is the most dangerous wall breaker for this team, though I now have two pokemon that can sort of handle it.
Mega Venusaur may take you a while to kill. It isn't going to sweep anything unless you leave something in that shouldn't be (aka Sylveon/Quagsire) but it will never be "easy" to kill.
Boost special attacking Grass types basically GG this team unless P2 can do some quick work or Gyara gets in before they get to like +4... Not so much any more with Garchomp fire blasting stuff.
I'm sure there are more. We'll find them eventually.
TFL who once again not only inspired the quagsire set, but is a great source for advice and lesser-known stall strategies.
MegaScizor for constantly bugging me to continue work on it (Probably increased my productiveness on this project 10fold).
rdjacobian for his long/intensive rate, which prompted quite a few changes.
And the countless people in the PS! OU room who helped give me advice for specific counterings and random tidbits of meta trends. Their personal experience was invaluable to me when I was gauging what sets could easily become a threat in the near future.
MegaScizor for constantly bugging me to continue work on it (Probably increased my productiveness on this project 10fold).
rdjacobian for his long/intensive rate, which prompted quite a few changes.
And the countless people in the PS! OU room who helped give me advice for specific counterings and random tidbits of meta trends. Their personal experience was invaluable to me when I was gauging what sets could easily become a threat in the near future.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-94761468
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-94836223
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95072002
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95266272
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95298930
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95502529
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95717049
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-96214742
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-100761311
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-103003324
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-94836223
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95072002
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95266272
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95298930
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95502529
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-95717049
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-96214742
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-100761311
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-103003324
Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Toxic
- Recover
- Scald
Garchomp @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Counter
- Roost
- Taunt
Chesnaught @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Hammer Arm
- Spiky Shield
- Leech Seed
- Earthquake
Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Protect
- Wish
- Heal Bell
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SDef / 4 SAtk / 252 HP
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Magic Coat
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Toxic
- Recover
- Scald
Garchomp @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Counter
- Roost
- Taunt
Chesnaught @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Hammer Arm
- Spiky Shield
- Leech Seed
- Earthquake
Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Protect
- Wish
- Heal Bell
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SDef / 4 SAtk / 252 HP
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Magic Coat
As always, I'd like help on this team. It's further along to completion simply due to the amount of legwork on specific threats, but there is never a time when a Stall team can be considered "Complete". As always, all help will be cited, and I'll try to keep an active change log. Even field testing with just general qualitative data is nice, for instance if a core is forcing too much pressure on a specific pokemon in my team, if there seems to be a trend this team just doesn't have an answer for, or if there's a pokemon that was overlooked due to it being overshadowed that needs specific countering.
In short, all advice/rates are welcome and please feel free not only to use this team, but modify it to your own use (I'd still like to hear the modifications to garner ideas myself).
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