Team-Building: a guide to universal stall.

[vashta]

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[zarator]

Nice guide, vashta.

I glanced through the various paragraphs (I will undertake a more detailed read later), and I noticed that you didn't mention an important role for - especially - heavy stall (at least for OU and UU - I dunno about Ubers), which is what some players refer to as "Win Condition". Basically, the Win Condition is a Pokémon able to defeat a last stand setupper which the phazers can no longer shuffle around. Perish Song, Encore, Trick users all fall into this category.

About the premiere "Win Condition", I'm pretty undecided between Celebi (which dates back to the Obistall era with its Perish Song set) and Trick Scarf Rotom-A. Up to you I guess, but I think the role in itself deserves mention. An heavy stall team which leaves home without such a Pokémon is bound to lose to Curselax, Crocune, Crotomb, Cro*insert Pokémon here*... And it isn't good.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I saw you included it in the sample team, but I think it deserves a more detailed explanation as a standalone role, like you did with Dominant Physical/Special Wall, Spin Blocker etc.

 

[Kaxtar]

It looks really good Vashta, great job. One thing I saw wrong was that in the example Ubers team, Giritina-O's item is Leftovers, but the only item it can hold is the Platinum Orb.

 

[VKCA]

Good read, only thing I noticed was that after you offer celebi as an opption for a cleric, it says

Other notable Pokémon: Celebi and Blissey.

 

[Darkmalice]

Wow. A hell of a lot of stuff in there, but this guide is excellent. Just a few things:

There isn't an UU section for the rapid spinners (below Starmie for OU and Forretress for Ubers).

The names for aggressive and mild stall should be changed to heavy and quick stall respectively. The latter names are more commonly used than the former names.

Also,

Groudon, while commonly seen as a physical sweeper, is one of the most prominent physical-based walls to be seen in the Uber metagame. With a gargantuan base Defense stat of 140, not 150 and an excellent base HP stat of 100, Groudon is capable of taking a multitude of hits from a variety of physical attackers with ease. With access to Stealth Rock, Groudon can serve as a lead and set up an entry hazard, greatly benefiting its teammates.

 

[Zach]

remove
add

Stall is one of the three main styles of play in competitive battling. Alongside ‘balanced’ and ‘offensive’ play, both of which use direct damage to defeat the opponent most of the time, stall uses residual damage to defeat opponents. This damage can come in the form of two categories: weather (usually in the form of hail or sandstorm), and entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes). The majority of Pokémon on teams of this nature have very good defenses, and they using use these defenses to switch between each other to build up residual damage, by forcing opponents to switch, as well as adding to the various forms of residual damage.

also no mention of rapid spinners in uu

 

[vashta]

It looks really good Vashta, great job. One thing I saw wrong was that in the example Ubers team, Giritina-O's item is Leftovers, but the only item it can hold is the Platinum Orb.

mistake from when a c/p from the groudon set was made. will change.

Wow. A hell of a lot of stuff in there, but this guide is excellent. Just a few things:

There isn't an UU section for the rapid spinners (below Starmie for OU and Forretress for Ubers).

The names for aggressive and mild stall should be changed to heavy and quick stall respectively. The latter names are more commonly used than the former names.

Also,

never heard of quick stall in ou, and hardly in uu, but only in ubers; mild stall seems more popular, but i'll change the aggressive stall references

remove
add



also no mention of rapid spinners in uu

k.


about the rapid spinners: i forgot to c/p the description -- will do now.


@zarator: i'll look over what i originally wrote and see if i need to expand. thanks.

 

[The SPrinkLer]

Can I do the HTML for this guide when it's ready? I'd like to start doing HTML for Smogon to contribute. Also, this is a very nice guide Vashta, and it's very thorough and well-written. I only skimmed it, but did you include a section for semi-stall? I know it's a universal guide, but semi-stall is part of stall, so you might want to include something along those lines. Overall a very good article.

 

[vashta]

Can I do the HTML for this guide when it's ready? I'd like to start doing HTML for Smogon to contribute. Also, this is a very nice guide Vashta, and it's very thorough and well-written. I only skimmed it, but did you include a section for semi-stall? I know it's a universal guide, but semi-stall is part of stall, so you might want to include something along those lines. Overall a very good article.

Stall-Based Balanced = Semi-Stall..

Also, I'll be doing the HTML. Thanks for the offer, though.


edit; for some reason I can't update the OP with Rotom-h/Gyara's descriptions. I'll try and get this sorted !__!

 

[Malfunction]

Finally!

I skimmed through the guide, and noticed two small things. First, don't use --, use ―. Second, you should use " instead of '. For example, 'Spikers' should be "Spikers". If I have enough time, I might grammar check the whole thing later on.
Keep up the good work.

 

[vashta]

Finally!

I skimmed through the guide, and noticed two small things. First, don't use --, use ―. Second, you should use " instead of '. For example, 'Spikers' should be "Spikers". If I have enough time, I might grammar check the whole thing later on.
Keep up the good work.

"--" is a default on my PC. When I convert this to HTML, it'll be "―"

I'll look over and omit the use of quotation marks and replace them with speech marks, though I'm never 100% sure.

 

[iKitsune]

2. Wearing and weakening down foes...

 

[Malfunction]

OK I'll be grammar checking this. If anybody else wants to help just post here with what parts you're be doing so that we won't waste time checking the same stuff.

The whole thing looks pretty good at first glance but there's bound to be at least a couple mistakes eh?

 

[Serv]

whereas stall uses residual damage to defeat opponents.

"Whereas stall utilizes residual damage."
Flows better and is shorter as well!

This damage can come in the form of two categories: weather (usually in the form of hail or sandstorm), and entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes).

"This damage can come in the form of either weather (usually in the form of hail or sandstorm), or entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes)."
You're choice.

The majority of Pokémon on teams of this nature have very good defenses and use these defenses to switch between each other to build-up residual damage, by forcing opponents to switch, as well as adding to the various forms of residual damage.

"Most of the Pokemon being used have solid defenses that allows them to force switches, building up residual damage."
Shorter and still gets the point across imo. You may or may not add the part on them "adding various forms of residual damage" but tbh I don't think it's needed.

because residual damage may not be the best way to handle a specific threat.

"because residual damage may not be the best way to handle said threat."

Tactics in stall mainly centralize around entry hazards themselves

I think you can safely omit "themselves".

one's ability to analyse an opponent's style of play and team through systematic switches

"analayzing an opponent's style of play and team through systematic switches"
Flows better.

one is able to make informed decisions that can be the basis for other moves made throughout the course of the match

"one is able to make informed decisions that can be the basis for future moves"
Cutting down.

this will ultimately give one the upper-hand in a match.

"which will ultimately give one the upper-hand in a match."
I think you can do away with "in a match" but I'm not 100% sure, so I'll leave it to you to decide.

(thus preserving any present hazards on the field)

Something I feel can be omitted.

Though there may be to variations of stall

"Two" not "to".

as it is this that determines the potential success or failure of a hopeful stall-based team.

"as this determines the potential success or failure of a hopeful stall-based team."
Shorter.

revenge-based stall usually relies on entry hazards and bulk between Pokémon to accumulate damage throughout the main stages of a game until a certain revenge killer is able to switch-in and KO remaining Pokémon without the need to set-up with any stat-up moves or the like.

"revenge-based stall usually relies on entry hazards and bulk between Pokémon to accumulate damage throughout the main stages of the game, until a certain revenge killer is able to switch-in and KO any remaining Pokémon without the need to set-up."
Shorter and flows better imo.

These types of stall-based balanced teams often have some form of mid-game stat-up sweeper to accompany entry hazards when increasing the damage of incurred damage to the opposition,

"These types of stall-based balanced teams often have some form of mid-game stat-up sweeper to accompany their entry hazards hastening the amount of damage incurred by the opposition,"
Shorter (I think).

adding to the pressure these opposing teams have when attempting to counter-attack.

"adding to the pressure opposing teams have when attempting to counter-attack."

any chance they may have of defeating a potential late-game sweeping threat.

"any chance they may have of hindering a potential late-game sweep."

To support the selected sweeper, a revenge killer may be included within the team to support the late-game sweeper and cover-up any weaknesses that may endanger any chance of a team succeeding in battle

"A revenge killer may be included within the team to support the late-game sweeper and help cover-up any weaknesses that may prevent the team from succeeding in battle"

(similarly to mid-game sweepers supporting revenge killers in revenge-based stall).

"(similarly to how mid-game sweepers support revenge killers in revenge-based stall)."

that they are more centralized around specific types of Pokémon themselves and not entry hazards as such.

Feel free to remove "as such".

As a whole, teams of this nature are usually faster than normal stall teams due to their fast-paceness as they attempt to set-up as soon as possible to add to the opponent's pressure.

"As a whole, teams of this nature are usually faster than normal stall teams as they attempt to set-up as soon as possible to add to the opponent's pressure."

this frees-up time for the home side, enabling it the time needed to fully establish itself in battle.

"which, in turn, frees-up time for the home side, giving it more time to fully establish itself in battle."


As I mentioned in IRC I don't have much time right now so I'll leave it at this, for now.

For anyone who plans on proof-reading this ginormous article (good job Vashta!). I've only read the first two parts (i.e. "What is Stall?" and "Stall-based Balance").

Thanks ^^.

 

[vashta]

thanks for the concision and general proofread of those two sections, Castle -- it's much appreciated indeed! :)

I added most of the stuff you highlighted, and went ahead and cut down on quite a few stuff myself in later stages of the guide, though I may have missed one or two things off in my haste.

 

[Stagnant]

Omastar cannot use Rapid Spin. Kabutops and Blastoise can however.

 

[Eo Ut Mortus]

Posting this piece by piece. One thing I've noticed is that you use unnecessary hyphens a lot (i.e.; switching in does not use a hyphen; switch-in only uses a hyphen if it is being used as a noun)

-------

What is Stall?

Stall is one of three main playstyles in competitive battling. As opposed to "balanced" and "offensive" play, both of which generally use direct damage to defeat opponents, stall relies on residual damage. This damage comes in the form of weather (hail or sandstorm) and entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes). Most of the Pokémon being have solid defenses that allow them to force switches, building up residual damage.

Stall teams are often misinterpreted as teams that “counter every Pokémon known to man” -- this is not the case; stall teams often rely on strategic movements to indirectly beat the metagame, defeating threats, more often than not, through the dominance of entry hazards. However, this isn’t always true; certain threats are sometimes best dealt with specific "counters" rather than residual damage.

Tactics in stall mainly centralize around entry hazards and rely on one's ability to think ahead of opponents, forcing them into preferred situations, and from there, analyzing an opponent's style of play and team through systematic switches, known as "scouting". From scouting, one is able to make informed decisions that can be the basis for other moves made throughout the course of the match -- ultimately giving one the upper-hand in a match. Tactics based around entry hazards themselves often include the use of Ghost-types’ immunity to Rapid Spin to block its secondary effect of eliminating entry hazards, and pseudo-Hazing (pHazing), forcing the build-up of residual damage with moves such as Perish Song, Roar, and Whirlwind.

There are two main categories of stall: heavy and mild stall (the latter often referred to as stall-based balance). One may view heavy stall as a genre of team that consists solely of six Pokémon that all contribute to the various forms of residual damage. These six Pokémon are usually defensively-based to add to the pressure that opponents face when engaging stall teams in battle, thus potentially forcing switches, while trying to avoid conceiving too much residual damage and deal with a team as quickly and efficiently as possible. Mild stall, on the other hand, consists of various bulky Pokémon that utilize entry hazards to weaken foes enough to allow a set-up sweeper(s) or revenge killer(s) to come into play, unexpectedly, and clear the weakened opposition with little-to-no hesitation. Though there may be two variations of stall, they both follow the same primary principle: “utilize strategic movements to indirectly beat the metagame”. Regardless of which variation of stall one decides to utilize, one should always keep this in mind, as this determines the potential success or failure of a hopeful stall-based team.

In this guide, one will be directed to the various roles that Pokémon in stall-based teams can use to contribute to the success of the whole team, example Pokémon that can utilize these functions, and what sort of strategies a stall team may put into practice. One will also be taken through the construction of an example stall team to give an idea of what generic stall teams and how the finished job works -- all to help one visualize a stall team.
_________________________


Stall-Based Balanced


Similarly to generic "heavy stall" teams, stall-based balanced is a recently introduced style of play that has only recently gained the interest of many. A lot of the time, stall teams bore people due to the length of time that it takes to wear down opponents with minimal use of direct assaults; however, with stall-based balanced, this is not always the case, as these types of teams do utilize entry hazards, like heavy stall, but don't purely focus on this aspect. Stall-based balanced can come in two forms: revenge-based stall and late-game sweeper-based stall -- there isn't much difference between the two, though; revenge-based stall usually relies on entry hazards and bulk between Pokémon to accumulate damage throughout the game, until a certain revenge killer is able to switch in and KO any remaining Pokémon without the need to set up. These types of teams often have some form of mid-game stat-up sweeper to accompany entry hazards, hastening the amount of damage incurred by the opposition and adding to the pressure opposing teams have when attempting to counter-attack. Late-game sweeper-stall, on the other hand, uses entry hazards and bulk to beat opposing teams' infrastructures and any chance they may have of hindering a potential late-game sweep. In effect, these teams base themselves around defeating potential threats to a selected sweeper through their own direct counter-strikes and entry hazards. A revenge killer may be included within the team to support the late-game sweeper and help cover up any weaknesses that may prevent the team from succeeding in battle (similarly to how mid-game sweepers support revenge killers in revenge-based stall).

Stall-based balanced teams, when under construction, still follow the basic guidelines that a heavy stall team would, and work similarly to them in battle, too, but one may notice that they are more centralized around specific types of Pokémon themselves and not entry hazards. As a whole, teams of this nature are usually faster than normal stall teams as they attempt to set up as soon as possible to add to the opponent's pressure. Because of this added speed, stall-based balanced teams have a slight advantage over their slower counterparts; thanks to this, they usually have a strategy to prevent opposing entry hazard-based teams, such as by Taunting foes, preventing them from setting up -- which, in turn, frees up time for the home side, giving it more time to fully establish itself in battle.

Examples of these types of teams can be found in the RMT Archive; teams such as "Rose Tyler," "Rotom, CHARGE," and "Team of Torment" are prime examples of where entry hazards are utilized to achieve a "sweep" of some kind or another.

_________________________


Responsibilities to Consider

When making a stall team, one should always remember the goal for the team: build up passive damage to indirectly defeat the opponent. One should never go ahead and create a team with any random Pokémon that counters certain Pokémon and serves no other purpose, nor succeeds in the role it could have potentially satisfied by another[I'm unsure of what this means], but should have a rough idea of how the team will function and then include Pokémon based on how they adhere to the initial team outline and maintain good synergy between other Pokémon on the team. The following list outlines basic "roles" and "responsibilities" that could be incorporated into a stall team through a Pokémon's use of certain moves and includes a description of how they can be used on these types of teams. Remember, however, these aren't requirements; they are only guidelines. The given Pokémon not only achieve their highlighted goals, but they can also perform other duties; with this in mind, one should always open their mind to the vast possibilities that a Pokémon may have -- and shouldn't think single-mindedly; thinking this way will force the team to be more individually-based, and one will most likely find themselves trying to fit too many Pokémon on a team.

Cleric

Having your Pokémon riddled with status effects can hinder, or even completely prevent, them from accomplishing a set task. Statuses play a tremendous role in competitive battling, and for good reason. Status effects can lower stats, deprive one of useful turns, or even damage Pokémon over time, which greatly hinders their ability to do their respective jobs and take direct damage from attacks. For the aforementioned reasons, a cleric, a Pokémon who can rid the team of status, is useful to stall teams. Often on stall teams, one will see a Pokémon who carries the move Rest, coupled with a Pokémon who knows the move Heal Bell or Aromatherapy. This is a classic combination that allows the Pokémon who used Rest to get away with either zero or one turn(s) of sleep rather than two; two turns of sleep is long enough for an opponent to set up and end the game depending on the situation at hand. Clerics are usually used on stall teams only if the team has no means of dealing with status that wears down individual Pokémon, such as burn and poison. An opponent can stall out an effected Pokemon with these statuses or use them as an opportunity to set up.

 

[vashta]

thanks for that eo.

just so you know, i did not implement all suggestions due to the fact that a lot that were highlighted already exsisted from my own changes (though you did say you C+Ped the older copy of the text from a few days before), defeated the flow of the text (once maybe), or missed the point.

i guess it's a matter of opinion, though!

 

[Super]

I'm no English major, but I'll give it a shot and mention a few things. I'll finish up later, here's some junk:

Most of these Pokémon have solid defenses that allows them to force switches, building up residual damage.

Most stall Pokémon have solid defenses that allows them to force switches and build up residual damage. (Makes the sentence clearer. Can't tell if it's allow or allows. Not too sure on it, but you never said what "these" meant. We can assume, but still)

From scouting, one is able to

Change "From" to "Through"

There are two main categories of stall: heavy and mild stall

Remove bolded

A lot of the time, stall teams bore people due to the length of time that it takes to wear down opponents with minimal use of direct assaults; however, with stall-based balanced, this is not always the case, as these types of teams do utilize entry hazards, like heavy stall, but don't purely focus on this aspect.

Stall teams often bore people due to the length of time it takes to wear down opponents through minimal direct damage; however, with stall-based balanced, this is not always the case, as this type of team does utilize entry hazards, like heavy stall, but doesn't purely focus on this aspect. (I'm not happy with this, probably you can build on this one)

When making a stall team, one should always remember the goal for the team:

When making a stall team, one should always remember the team's goal:

One should never go ahead and create a team with any random Pokémon that counters certain Pokémon, and serves no other purpose, nor succeeds in the role it could have potentially satisfied by another, but should have a rough idea of how the team will function and then include Pokémon based on how they adhere to the initial team outline and maintain good synergy between other Pokémon on the team.

WTFUUUUUUUUU I'll try to see if I can clear this up, but it likely won't mean what you want

One should never create a team with random counters that serve no other purpose, nor succeeds in a role that could have been potentially satisfied by another, potentially more useful, Pokémon. Instead, have a rough idea of how the team will function and then include Pokémon based on how they adhere to the team's outline and maintain good synergy with other Pokémon on the team.

(I suck at the game, waiting for the tutor thing to come up again since teaching myself hasn't been going well, but, doesn't it help in certain cases to have a "random counter"?)

The following list outlines basic "roles" and "responsibilities" that could be incorporated into a stall team through a Pokémon's use of certain moves and includes a description of how they can be used on these types of teams.

This confused me, had to reread it, try:
The following list outlines basic "roles" and "responsibilities" that can be incorporated into a stall team along with a description of how they can be used.

OR:
The following list outlines basic "roles" and "responsibilities" that can be incorporated into a stall team through certain moves and includes a description of how they can be used.

(Took off "on these types of teams", we know they're stall.)

 

[shrang]

I think there is a section missing, and that is the one on "Threats". Stall is generally geared to dealing with as many threats as possible, but I think you should put some of the really big threats to stall (ie A Pokemon that rips through stall easier than others). Such threats include (in OU) Heracross, Classic MixMence, CroCune, StallBreaker Gliscor, (in Ubers) Giratina-O, Ho-Oh, Mixed Dialga, etc. It would be good if you wrote down what are good ways in dealing with these threats as well.

Also, I think it would consider writing how to beat Taunt users and Trickers, as they can severely cripple a stall team.

 

[ck49]

i think alot of times the other notable pokemon list should be a bit bigger. I know some of these pokemon are odd but they work well. Please note I dont play Ubers and dont really know about most of those sugestions, I just try to look smart.
Cleric: OU:dragonite, togekiss
uu: ampharos, Meanium, clefable, I'm sure there are others I dont know
uber: manaphy?

defensive wall: ou:gyarados isnt a wall, metagross does it better, with a base 130 defense, dusknoir, and how can you possibly miss bronzong?
uu:steelix, aggron, regirock, golem, torterra
uber: i think manaphy with rain support deserves a shout out.

sp-defensive wall: ou:snorlax, cresselia, dusknoir again, bronzong again, suicune again
uu:milotic, regi steel/ice, hypno, mantine
uber: LUGIA, ho-oh, kyogre, giratina,

Phazer:Ou: suicune,
uu: cant think of anything
uber: ho-oh

spikers:OU: roserade, nidoqueen doesnt deserve a mention in OU
uu: quilfish,

spin blockers: ou: dusknoir
uu: dusclops, drifblim

spinners: Ou: no top, use donphan instead
uu: cloyster, torkoal, blastoise, sandslash

edit: a section on walls which arent special or physical but both might be a good idea, you might have caught that in my post.

 

[vashta]

coolking49: I suggested minimal listings of potential candidates to each "role"—we are trying to minimize the amount of babying in pretty obvious circumstances and examples, though I do appreciate your input on the matter.

I have made some more edits and cut down on quite a bit. I'm still working on the "Win Condition" section, though it'll most likely not be called that. Otherwise, a general proofread would be appreciated now more than ever, especially with the new edits. Thanks.

 

[jc104]

What is Stall:

Hide

"Stall is one of the three main playstyles in competitive battling. As opposed to "balanced" and "offensive" play, both of which generally use direct damage to defeat the opponents, stall utilizes residual damage primarily. This damage can come in the form of two categories: weather (usually in the form of hail or sandstorm), and entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes). Most of the Pokémon use solid defenses that allows them to force switches (this doesn’t make sense. How about “have solid defenses that allow them to force switches”), building up residual damage.

Stall teams are often misinterpreted as teams that “counter every Pokémon known to man”—this is not the case; stall teams often rely on strategic movements (moves?) that can beat the metagame (opponent?) indirectly, leading to the defeat of threats, more often than not, through the dominance of entry hazards (how about through domination by entry hazards?). However, this isn’t always true as one will often have to handle certain threats with certain "counters" because residual damage may not be the best way to handle specific threats (or even just "them").

Tactics in stall mainly centralize around entry hazards and rely on one's ability to think ahead of opponents, forcing them into preferable situations, and from there, analyzing an opponent's style of play and team through systematic switches, known as "scouting". (shorten this sentence) Through scouting, one is able to make informed decisions that can be (how about “become”) the basis for other moves made throughout the course of the match—ultimately giving one the upper-hand in a match. Tactics based around entry hazards themselves often include the use of Ghost-types’ immunity to Rapid Spin to block its secondary effect of eliminating entry hazards, and pseudo-Hazing (“pHazing”) (you need quotation marks here), forcing the build up of residual damage with moves such as Perish Song, Roar, and Whirlwind.(perish song is pretty uncommon, so try to make this clear. Yawn is probably about as common)

There are two main categories of stall: heavy and mild (the latter often referred to as stall-based balance). One may view heavy stall as a genre of team that consists solely of six Pokémon that all contribute to the various forms of residual damage. These six Pokémon are usually defensively-based to add to the pressure that opponents face when engaging stall teams in battle, thus potentially forcing switches, while trying to avoid conceiving too much residual damage while dealing with a team as quickly and efficiently as possible. (this sentence is also too long) Mild stall, on the other hand, may consist of various bulky Pokémon that utilize entry hazards to weaken foes enough to allow a set up sweeper(s) or revenge killer(s) to come into play, unexpectedly, and clear weakened opposition with little-to-no (I think little-or-no sounds better) hesitation. Though there may be to (Two?) variations of stall, they both follow the same primary principle: “to utilize the concept of strategic movements that can beat the metagame indirectly”. (this sounds iffy enough already without you repeating it) Regardless of whichever (one word) variation of stall one decides to utilize (“use” sounds better – don’t just default to the longer word)), one should always keep this in mind, as this determines the potential success or failure of a hopeful stall-based team.

In this guide, one will be directed to the various roles that Pokémon in stall-based teams can play to contribute to the success of the whole team, example Pokémon that can utilize these functions, (remove comma) and what sort of strategies a stall team may put into practice. One will also be taken through the construction of an example stall team to give an idea of what generic stall teams look like and how the finished job works—all to help one visualize a stall team.

Stall Based Balance:

Hide

Similar to generic "heavy stall" teams, stall-based balanced is a recently introduced style of play that has only recently gained the interest of many (repetition of “recently”). A lot of the time, people find heavy stall teams “boring” due to the length of time that it takes to wear down opponents with minimal use of direct assaults; however, with stall-based balance (otherwise you need the word “team” in there), this is not always the case, as although these types of teams do utilize entry hazards, like heavy stall, they don't purely focus on this aspect. (this sentence is way too long as well) Stall-based balanced can come in two forms: revenge-based stall and late-game sweeper-based stall—there isn't much difference between the two, though (then why are you telling me?); revenge-based stall usually relies on entry hazards and bulk between Pokémon to accumulate damage throughout the game, until a certain revenge killer is able to switch in and KO any remaining Pokémon without the need to set up.(is it really a revenge killer when playing this role?) These types of stall-based balanced teams often have some form of mid-game stat-up sweeper to accompany their entry hazards,increasing the amount of damage incurred by the opposition and adding to the pressure opposing teams have when attempting to counter-attack. (too long again)Late-game sweeper-stall, on the other hand, works in a way that uses entry hazards and bulk to beat opposing teams' infrastructure and any chance they may have of hindering (how about “obstacles to”) a potential late-game sweep. In effect, these teams base themselves around defeating potential threats to a selected sweeper through their own direct counter-strikes and entry hazards. (this makes entry hazards sound direct) A revenge killer may be included within the team to support the late-game sweeper and help cover up any weaknesses that may prevent the team from succeeding in battle (what is a weakness?) (similarly to how mid-game sweepers support revenge killers in revenge-based stall).

Stall-based balanced teams, when under construction, still follow the basic guidelines that a heavy stall team would, and work similarly to them in battle, too, but one may notice that they are more centralized around specific types of Pokémon themselves and not entry hazards. As a whole, teams of this type are usually faster than normal stall teams due to their fast-paced nature (try to prevent repetition of “fast;” I dont think fast-paceness is a word either) as they attempt to set up as soon as possible (sooner than heavy stall)to add to the opponent's pressure. Because of this added speed, stall-based balanced teams have a slight advantage over their slower counterparts; thanks to this, they usually have a strategy to prevent opposing entry hazard-based teams by Taunting foes and preventing them from setting up, for example—which, in turn, frees up time for the home side (this isn’t football), giving it more time to fully establish itself in battle.

Examples of these types of teams can be found in the RMT Archive; teams (remove) such as "Rose Tyler," "Rotom, CHARGE," and "Team of Torment," which are prime examples of where entry hazards are utilized to achieve a "sweep" of some kind." (The quotation marks already fill the role of "of some kind" - remove either one or the other. It’s a bit cheeky to put your own team in there, but anyway…)

Responsibilities to Consider:

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When making a stall team, one should always remember the team's goal: build up passive damage to indirectly defeat the opponent. One should never go ahead and create a team with any random Pokémon that counters certain Pokémon, and serves no other purpose, nor succeeds in the role it could have potentially satisfied by another, but should have a rough idea of how the team will function and then include Pokémon to include based on how they adhere to the initial team outline and maintain good synergy between other Pokémon on the team. (This sentence is much too long and a little clumsy. The word “random” is very frequently misused and should be avoided. Perhaps replace with something like “team members should be selected on a basis of how they will carry out the overall team plan and not purely to counter a specific threat”) The following list outlines basic "roles" and "responsibilities" that may be incorporated into a stall team, along with a description of how they can be used on stall teams(I think that’s a given). Remember, however, these aren't requirements; they are only guidelines. The given Pokémon not only achieve their highlighted goals, but they can also perform other duties; with this in mind, one should always open their mind to the vast possibilities that a Pokémon may have—and shouldn't think single-mindedly (be narrow-minded?)—thinking this way will force the team to be more individually-based (I assume you mean "based around individual pokemon" - its a bit unclear), and one will most likely find themselves (the correct word would be oneself) trying to fit too many Pokémon on a team."

Remove stuff in green.

Changes/sugestions in red. May do some more later. I think possibly you should not include two pictures of forretress/blissey - it looks a bit silly. Maybe you should have a section for mixed walls, like Bronzong (OK not the best example), even though they may be used on more balaced teams to fill multiple roles? Oh and sorry some stuff isn't colour coded because its awkward when using the tiny editing box.

Edit: Yes, you probably did change some of the things while I was proof-reading. Please change that sentence at the end of the first paragraph though. The rest of the suggestions you ignored were entirely subjective so its fine. I have no doubts about the worthiness of your team (it is a very good one) but I was thinking about the responses of readers. Here is some more proof reading:

Cleric:

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Cleric

Having your Pokémon riddled with status effects can hinder, or even completely prevent, them from accomplishing a set task. Statuses play a tremendous role in competitive battling, (Remove comma) and for good reason. Status effects can lower stats, deprive one of useful turns, or even damage Pokémon over time, which greatly hinders their ability to do their respective jobs and take direct damage from attacks. For the aforementioned reasons, a cleric, a Pokémon that (actually this is wrong so ignore) can rid the team of status, is useful to stall teams. Often on stall teams, (repetition) one will see a Pokémon who carries the move Rest, coupled with a Pokémon who knows the move Heal Bell or Aromatherapy. This is a classic combination that allows the Pokémon who (are pokemon personal enough for "who" over "that?") used Rest, to get away with either zero or one turn(s) of sleep, rather than two; two turns of sleep is long enough for an opponent to set up and end the game depending on the situation at hand. Clerics are usually used on stall teams only if the team has no means of dealing with status that could wear down individual Pokémon, such as burn and poison. An opponent can stall out an affected Pokemon with these statuses or use them as an opportunity to set up.


OU


Celebi
Heal Bell works similarly to Blissey’s Aromatherapy—but fails to work on Pokémon with the ability Soundproof (nobody would ever dream of using a soundproof pokemon on an OU stall team – you make it sound like a major drawback. Also, blissey sometimes uses Heal Bell because its legal with wish and other moves)—healing the status problems of teammates, (no commas before “and” EDIT : except at the end of a list) and like Blissey, due to Celebi’s Natural Cure, it can easily act as a temporary status absorber until it switches out and its status problems are healed. With equal base defensive stats at 100 and a base HP stat of 100, and its decent Grass / Psychic typing, Celebi makes the ideal physical- or special-based wall; however, due to its ability to effectively counter one of the most prominent threats in the metagame, Gyarados, and other bulky Water-, Ground-, and most Rock-type Pokémon, Celebi is, more often than not, seen as a physical-based wall. Similar to Blissey, Celebi boasts a variety of moves that shape its role on a team: Thunder Wave’s ability to induce paralysis on faster foes often acts as compensation for stall teams, as the majority lack the Speed needed to beat foes in one-on-one situations.

Celebi is also a viable user of the “pHazing” role with the move Perish Song—with this, Celebi effectively forces Pokémon that may set up with a possibly unbreakable Substitute, or Pokémon on Baton Pass teams who utilize Ingrain, which nullifies Roar and Whirlwind’s effects, but cannot bypass Perish Song, and ultimately causes the possible build up of more residual damage to opposing teams. Leech Seed is another method of pHazing of forcing out opposing users, that lack reliable recovery, as it gradually drains health and replenishes Celebi’s (I think that leech seed should go ahead of perish song here as it is more common)

Ubers

Blissey
As one of the only viable clerics in Ubers, and access to Aromatherapy and heal bell, Blissey easily takes the position of the team’s Cleric, eradicating of any status ailments that are common such as poison, (remove comma) and aiding those users of Rest who are forced to make uncertain moves for two turns (or not make moves if they lack Sleep talk). Thanks to Blissey's Natural Cure ability, it is able to do its job as a cleric (an uncommon theme in Ubers), and escape unscathed from these status problems as it switches - out.

Altaria is fine in every way except for another comma before the word "and," which I suggest you search the whole article for. (EDIT: Ignore this; the comma is fine)

Dominant Physical Wall

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Usually, a physical wall aims to come in on physical attacks; however, having the ability to switch into the odd special-based attack will relieve the stress of having a single Pokémon switch into all special attacks, as this is not always reliable. (perhaps mention partially mixed attackers like salamence) A wall's physical dominance doesn't mean it should be restricted to taking attacks from just that one side; having a physical wall that can switch in from both sides of the spectrum is key. Being able to switch into various threats and forcing switches, or pHazing them, out is a very important role in terms of stalling. Forcing switches allows the user to gain a turn on the opponent, and helps inflict residual damage on opponents via Stealth Rock, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and, in some cases, weather damage as well. Having access to a reliable method of recovery is a good way to ensure survivability, which is a key for a successful stall team. A dominantly physical wall is a Pokémon who is designed specifically to do most, if not all, of the things mentioned above.

OU

Hippowdon
Hippowdon is the most dominant physical-based wall to be seen in the standard metagame. With a base HP stat of 108, (remove comma) and a base Defense of 118, Hippowdon is capable of walling most physical-based attackers with somewhat minimum effort. Hippowdon's Stealth Rock means that it can lead and set up an entry hazard contributing to the overall success of the team; having the ability Sand Stream also contributes to the build up of residual damage as Hippowdon is one of three Pokémon (the other two being Tyranitar and Hippopotas) able to create permanent sandstorm. Toxic will cripple opposing Pokémon that require a safe passage to sweep or set up, even more so to those frequent special-attacking switch-ins. In tandem with Slack Off, Hippowdon’s Toxic can easily stall foes into submission as Hippowdon can recover most damage incurred. Ice Fang makes Hippowdon the ideal check to physically based Dragon-type Pokémon such as Salamence who would otherwise wreak havoc. Roar makes Hippowdon a great pHazer because of its ability to force switches from physical-based (I think you need a word like "pokemon," "sweepers" or "attackers" in here) and force special-based sweepers to switch-in; this will be in vain (you spelt it "vein"), however, as Hippowdon’s Roar will force a potential counter out of the field and possibly out of the game depending on the HP it loses from residual damage.

Other notable Pokémon: Gliscor, Gyarados, Skarmory and Swampert.


Ubers

Groudon
Groudon, while commonly seen as a physical sweeper, is one of the most prominent physical-based walls to be seen in the Uber metagame. With a gargantuan base Defense stat of 140 and an excellent base HP stat of 100, Groudon is capable of taking a multitude of hits from a variety of physical attackers with ease. With access to Stealth Rock, Groudon can serve as a lead and set up an entry hazard, greatly benefiting its teammates.

With Toxic, Groudon can cripple defensive walls such as Lugia and Cresselia, both of whom love switching-in on Groudon. With the aforementioned Pokémon shut down by Toxic, Pokémon such as Rayquaza will be able to pick them off, as Toxic damage will eventually build up, allowing it to rip them apart with a STAB Outrage. Furthermore, Groudon can utilize Thunder Wave to incapacitate sweepers. Groudon makes an excellent pHazer with Roar – it can scout an opponent's team, while whittling down the opponent if Stealth Rock is up. Groudon will force opposing Pokémon to switch out with Roar, forcing your foes to be whittled down (quite a bit of repetition here), especially when paired up with entry hazards, as these forced switches build up damage consistently.

Other notable Pokémon: Deoxys-D, Dialga, Giratina, and Lugia.


UU

Donphan (I suggest you talk about its defences first because this is the physical wall section)
Donphan is an excellent Rapid Spinner, setting itself apart from other Rapid Spinners thanks to Roar; ( I think this is an incorrect semicolon use - the second part should be able to form a complete sentece on its own) much like Claydol sets itself apart with Trick, and Hitmontop with Foresight. With access to Assurance, Donphan can hit every common Rapid Spin blocker in UU super effectively, barring Spiritomb, resulting in quite a large chunk of damage if they were previously harmed or if they are switching in with an entry hazards is on the field. Though it is often overlooked, it has a 120 base Attack stat, as well as its STAB Earthquake, and access to a variety of physical attacks such as Stone Edge, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Assurance, and Ice Shard —all of which will take their toll on whatever decides to switch into Donphan unless they resist its attacks. Donphan also has an excellent support movepool, consisting of Roar, Rapid Spin, and Stealth Rock. Donphan is an excellent pHazer against other stall teams, due to the fact that they cannot afford (and will not risk) losing their own entry hazards. Therefore they are forced to go to their Rapid Spin blocker upon Donphan’s entrance onto the field, only to be pHazed out and have up to 37.5% done to a Pokémon if it is grounded,taking a huge chunk out of their health. Because of Donphan’s access to a STAB Earthquake and Roar, paired with its good Defense, it is able to act as one of the few Pokémon able to switch into Curse Registeel and 2-3HKO it; however, depending on the amount of boosts Registeel has acquired, Roar is a useful tool to remove it and any other common stat up sweepers or tanks from play.

Dominant Special Wall

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Typically, a special wall wants to be able to cover many of the most prominent special attackers. The Pokémon chosen to be the special wall should be able to take hits from the special side very well, but at the same time, (should be either "but, at the same time, have..." or "but at the same time have...") have the ability to take the odd physical hit as well. Generally, special walls should be able to keep up with the changing metagame, (remove comma) and be able to take on most, if not all, of the common specially-based Pokémon being used. Having access to a recovery move is a great way to ensure that one can have more of a dominating effect on the match, as the Pokémon’s survivability rate is increased. Being able to use status moves is another good trait for a special wall, allowing one to cripple an opponent and minimizing (should be "minimize") the effect that the particular Pokémon has on the match. With entry hazards in play, having a dominant special wall can accomplish much more than just walling specially-based Pokémon, (you need a semicolon here) you can force switches, and thus inflict the incoming Pokémon with damage via the entry hazards. A dominant special wall should generally have most, if not all, of the traits mentioned above.


OU

Blissey
Blissey is the most dominant special-based wall to be seen in the standard metagame. With a base HP stat of 255, (remove comma) and a base Special Defense of 135, Blissey is capable of walling most special-based attackers with somewhat minimum effort. (You should play up Blissey’s special defence more than you played up Hippowdon’s physical defence. The word somewhat is probably unnecessary. It really is no effort) Thanks to its access to Aromatherapy, Blissey easily takes the position of the team’s Cleric, eradicating the team of any status ailments, including itself. It also has Natural Cure, curing all status problems when switching out. Stealth Rock access gives Blissey the capability to set up an entry hazard, contributing to the overall success of the team; being able to wall the majority of special attackers makes Blissey a great switch-in to these Pokémon, possibly forcing a switch while setting up at the same time.

Thunder Wave and Toxic cripple opposing Pokémon that require a safe passage to sweep or set up, making Blissey an ideal status inflictor. With paralysis induced by the use of Thunder Wave, stalling becomes much more easier, (remove comma) and grants the rest of the team,(including Blissey, who may otherwise lack the Speed needed to compete against certain, more offensive Pokémon) the capability to outrun opponents (outspeed is not a word) and thus attack or set up successfully. (This whole paragraph was one sentence!)

The move Wish automatically gives Blissey the role of a HP cleric for itself and certain members of a team, particularly those that lack reliable methods of recovery. Being so dominant in the special side of the walling spectrum, Blissey can easily switch into most special attacks directed at a physical walls(who may be incapable of taking the attacks,) use Wish as the opposition switches to a physical attacker, and switch back to a physical wall or any other Pokémon that can take the hit (such as a physical wall)from the attacking Pokémon, healing it immediately.

Other notable Pokémon: Jirachi, Latias, Tyranitar and Zapdos. (I think you should put these in order of special walling ability, so Jirachi should not come first. Also, Snorlax, as pointed out above, is a great special wall, much better for this purpose than Jirachi)

Ubers


Blissey
With the omnipresence of special attackers in the Uber metagame, Blissey has become a necessity in Uber stall. Threats like Choice Specs Dialga and Choice Specs Palkia are so absurdly powerful that literally ("almost" is undefined so literally sounds odd here) almost every Steel-type Pokémon in the game is 2HKOed by Draco Meteor. However, their insane power is neutered by Blissey, who only takes 44% maximum from Draco Meteor. The most common Blissey in the Uber metagame is the Wish-passing variant, and for a very good reason; several Pokémon seen in Uber stall, most notably Groudon, Forretress, and Giratina-O lack reliable recovery. With Wish support in the wings, common teammates of Blissey, like Groudon, can keep their health high enough to perhaps survive a Rayquaza’s rampage later in the game. Forretress gains more time to set up entry hazards and sponge Dragon-type attacks such as Outrage and Dragon Claw, while Giratina-O gets more chances to sweep and/or block Rapid Spin.

Toxic provides Blissey with a way to stop Latios and Latias from sweeping the entire team, (remove comma) and helps shorten the life-span of set up sweepers such as Rayquaza and Groudon. Seismic Toss is often Blissey’s attack of choice due to her poor Special Attack stat, dealing consistent base 100 damage to every non-Ghost-type Pokémon. It also helps Blissey take down Taunt + Calm Mind Mewtwo, who could otherwise set up and unleash devastation. However, sometimes Blissey will eschew the reliability of Seismic Toss for coverage. For example, Blissey can use Flamethrower to severely hurt Forretress, who enjoys switching into Blissey on a predicted Toxic and setting up more entry hazards. Blissey can use Ice Beam to deal with Garchomp, Groudon, and Rayquaza, while doing some sort of damage to Giratina-O. In the end, though, Seismic Toss is often preferable as Blissey is not left doing pathetic damage to those that resist the special attacks. Blissey alone, however, is not the end-all counter to every special sweeper in the game. Kyogre can deal a whopping 60% to Blissey with Choice Specs Water Spout, while Giratina-O’s immunity to Seismic Toss allows it to use Substitute safely on Blissey and proceed to set up with Calm Mind (the latter can be beaten if Blissey is carrying Calm Mind and Ice Beam, however.) Despite these limits, no other Pokémon can play (also I think it is spelt "fulfil" if you don't decide to change. EDIT:US spelling is generally "fulfill," sorry) Blissey’s crucial role in Uber stall.

Other notable Pokémon: Deoxys-D and Latias.


UU


Chansey
Much like Blissey in OU, Chansey is the dominant special wall in UU thanks to its enormous base HP and Special Defense stats of 250 and 105, respectively. Chansey's ability, Natural Cure, allows it to escape the problem of long-term status—this again is important for a wall of this magnitude. (magnitude means "size" - I would change this)

Both Thunder Wave and Toxic are more useful than the other in various situations, but keep in mind that Chansey cannot touch Ghost-types without Toxic, because seismic toss is usually its only attacking move. Access to Heal Bell and Aromatherapy allows it to rid its teammates of any status ailments, which is crucial in the match-up of stall versus stall, in particular. Chansey is arguably the best Wish-passer that UU stall can use, as it can set up Wish even on powerful special attackers, such as Moltres and Alakazam, by whom other Wish-passers are 2HKOed. It can even set up Stealth Rock for passive damage, contributing further to the stall team’s overall goal of defeating foes indirectly.

Despite being the most specially defensive Pokémon, Chansey does have some drawbacks. Seismic Toss is Chansey's main form of offense, and while it inflicts consistent, decent damage, it leaves Chansey vulnerable to Ghost-types, even more so if they carry Rest or Substitute. Chansey also struggles against Nasty Plotters such as Houndoom; they can boost their Special Attack to lethal levels before Chansey can finish them off. Calm Mind + Rest Pokémon are troublesome as well, negating any damage from Toxic and Seismic Toss. In short, Chansey excels as an immediate special hit taker, but one must make sure to carry something that has enough power to deal with mid to long term threats.

Other notable Pokémon: Altaria, Claydol, Spiritomb, and Umbreon.

Phazing:

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Though the main priority for stall teams is to get entry hazards up as quickly as possible, this is often looked upon by foes as an opportunity to set up on the Pokémon attempting to set up (It is difficult to convey the necessary meaning here without it sounding ridiculous). Baton Pass teams are a prime example. To prevent this and a hence a possible sweep, one should preferably incorporate a method of forcing the removal of the pokémon setting up—this is where a Pokémon utilizing the position of (not incorrect but superfluous) pseudo-Hazer (pHazer) can come in. A pHazer is any Pokémon that uses a move that forces the opposition to switch, removing any stat boosts or other modifications; the moves Roar and Whirlwind are ideal examples of moves that do exactly this. However, with this said, strategies from teams that revolve around the Baton Pass theme (how about simply “Baton Pass teams,” or “Baton Pass themed teams”) often attempt to prevent this from happening through the move Ingrain—a move that nullifies the effects of Roar and Whirlwind. This particular strategy can be bypassed through the move Perish Song. Perish Song is a move that works similarly to Roar and Whirlwind (after three turns the user and the target Pokémon faint unless they switch;) it often causes opponents to switch out of the fear of losing a potentially vital member of their team. Perish Song's most notable advantage over Roar and Whirlwind is the fact that it can remove the opponent’s last (it’s not a “last man” – it’s a Pokémon)Pokémon; the last opposing Pokémon that often utilizes a stat-up and a recovery move. They can cause utter havoc against all types of stall teams unable to counter-act this tactic. PHazing moves also work well in conjunction with the use of entry hazards, causing the build up of passive damage throughout a team as it is forced to shuffle.


OU


Skarmory
With access to Whirlwind and Roar, Skarmory can act as a pHazer, forcing any set-up Pokémon that may switch-in out of the field thanks to its excellent Defense, and take further damage from any Spikes that Skarmory mayhave set up. Aside from this useful factor, Skarmory is another dominant force to be reckoned with in terms of taking hits from the physical side of the attacking spectrum; with moderate base HP and excellent base Defense, and weaknesses to only Fire- and Electric-type attacks (both of which are commonlyspecially-based movesas opposed to physical-based), Skarmory can switch into most physical attacks with ease.

Access to both Stealth Rock and Spikes means that Skarmory can switch-in on most physical attackers and set up either, or both, entry hazards with relative ease meaning Skarmory can act as the ideal spiker. Taunt can also prevent Pokémon that cannot be forced out from setting up; it can actually be used over Whirlwind, depending on the extent at which you need it. Toxic can harmfully damage common switch-ins who may be too fast to prevent from setting up – Pokémon like Gliscor, who may Taunt Skarmory, will hate Toxic as it will shorten its life-span and stalling ability against certain Pokémon, including Skarmory itself. Brave Bird hits Pokémon such as Lucario for damage if it is a problem, but this is unreliable; for example, Adamant Lucario with Life Orb will OHKO Skarmory on average with Close Combat after a Swords Dance, and incurred damage from Stealth Rock at least once.

Other notable Pokémon: Celebi, Gyarados, Hippowdon, and Swampert. (roar is uncommon, although effective, on Gyarados.)

Ubers




Lugia
Lugia is one of the best pHazers to be found in the Uber tier. With Whirlwind in conjunction with entry hazards, Lugia will force opponents to shuffle around, causing the build up of passive damage. Additionally, Whirlwind is great at stopping physical attackers that use stat boosting moves. Lugia is sturdy enough to take attacks like Choice Band Metagross's Meteor Mash or Life Orb Rayquaza's Outrage and can pHaze them away with Whirlwind. With a gargantuan 154 base Special Defense, 130 base Defense, and 106 base HP, Lugia becomes one of the most troublesome Pokemon to take down. With Roost, Lugia becomes even more difficult to take down due to its increased durability and enables it to heal any prior damage incurred either by Stealth Rock or opponents' attacks. In addition, Lugia's 110 base Speed allows it to outpace a variety of threats such as Garchomp, Palkia, and Rayquaza. Although Lugia has an excellent base Special Defense, it is predominantly used as a physical wall because of its countering ability of the aforementioned Pokémon, (remove comma) and the fact that Blissey surpasses Lugia more often than not as a special wall. With Whirlwind, Lugia can shuffle (space) enemy Pokémon, building up entry hazard damage. Additionally, thanks to Forretress' Rapid Spin disposing of Stealth Rock (I don’t think it should be assumed a Forretress is being used even if it usually is. Go for something like: "if one has a rapid spinner, such as Forretress, to remove stealth rock") , Lugia no long suffers heavily per switch in; damage (space) that would otherwise bring Lugia's foes closer to hitting crucial knock-outs. The "BoltBeam" combination of Ice Beam and Thunder (mention ubiquitous rain?) causes havoc amongst teams after a single Calm Mind boost, making it not only a defensive threat, but also an offensive threat to be reckoned with.

Other notable Pokémon: Groudon and Skarmory.

UU




Steelix
With its wondrous Steel-typing and 200 base Defense makes Steelix an excellent candidate for a dominant physical wall. Unfortunately for Steelix, two of its common weaknesses are very prominent physical attacking types, making it harder for it to dominate as much as it would based on its stats alone. Access to Roar, with its Defense, gives Steelix a solid pHazing tool. A Dark-type resist is always appreciated as well, as very few Pokémon in UU, barring the rather common Hitmontop, are reliable switches into Dark-type attacks. Oddly enough (why oddly?), Steelix is one of very few Pokémon in common UU stall capable of beating Dragon Dance Altaria; because of Altaria's immunity to Spikes, and access to Roost, it can easily set up against slower opponents generally seen on stall teams, and proceed to wreak havoc with a STAB Outrage. However, (splitting the sentence because it was too long) Steelix can come in on Outrage and easily pHaze it out or do a pretty large amount of damage with its STAB Gyro Ball. Steelix has relatively poor Special Defense, so it is wise to invest Special Defense EVs on Steelix before Defense, because even without any EVs, Steelix will have a Defense stat greater than 400, (remove comma) and can still perform duties such as setting up Stealth Rock. Gyro Ball allows Steelix to deal a large amount of damage to faster Pokémon like Mismagius who seem to think they can force Steelix out by threatening it with super effective attacks such as Hidden Power Fighting, for example. (Maybe mention low speed)
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Spiker

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Spiker

Setting up entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes) is essential to the overall success of a stall team, as it is the quickest and most effective way of wearing down the opposing team,(due to the wide variety of types of damage entry hazards provide.) The term “spiker” is a generalization of any Pokémon that has the primary job of setting up a form of entry hazard. Working in tandem with pseudo-Hazers, entry hazards set up by spikers help the build up of passive damage caused by the forced switching from pseudo-Hazing moves. There are various forms of “spikes” that each depend on a Pokémon’s typing. Some forms of entry hazard are more effective than others, particularly depending on metagame circumstances; for example, in a metagame dominated by Dragon- and Steel-types, the move Toxic Spikes isn’t as effective as a combination of Stealth Rock + Spikes, due to Steel-types and the majority of Dragon-types being immune to Toxic Spikes; this does not rule-out the use of Toxic Spikes, however, as it is still a useful asset for beating opposing stall teams, for example.


OU

Forretress
With only one weakness, 10 resistances, a base HP stat of 75, an above-average (by “above average” you mean huge) 140 base Defense, and access to three forms of entry hazards, Forretress is one the most dominant physical walls in the standard metagame. With access to three types of spikes, and the capability to wall the majority of physically-based attacks, Forretress can single-handedly set up most of a team’s entry hazards without much problem (“many problems” or “much of a problem” would be better). Depending on what one’s team relies on the most, a selection of Stealth Rock, Spikes, or Toxic Spikes can be chosen. In addition to the fact that Forretress can set up most variations of entry hazard, Forretress also has access to the move Rapid Spin. This in itself provides any stall team ability to remove any form of entry hazard that could pose a potential threat to the team. Against opposing stall teams, with the use of intelligent moves, Rapid Spin from Forretress could reset the field against the opposition, forcing them to go all-out offensive or try to set up their entry hazards once again; this will cause the build up of residual damage per switch as the opposition is forced to switch from one Pokémon to another to set up or cushion hits. Unfortunately, this can be prevented by the opposition’s use of Ghost-type Pokémon such as Rotom-A to act as effective “Rapid Spin blockers”. Forretress can use the move Payback that deals heavy, super effective damage upon these Ghost-type Pokémon as its own method of removing these Pokémon to help ensure the Rapid Spinning strategy is not nullified.

Other notable Pokémon: Nidoqueen, Skarmory, and Tentacruel. (Roserade is used frequently on Semi-Stall teams and is much more common than Nidoqueen)


Ubers

Forretress
Forretress is one of the Uber metagame’s premier spikers. With a multitude of resistances and a great Steel-/Bug-typing, Forretress can switch-in on a wide variety of attacks and commence setting up entry hazards; for example, it can easily set up on Lugia, who fails to scratch Forretress with Ice Beam. Toxic Spikes are extremely deadly in Ubers; this is because it afflicts many dangerous threats that lurk in the Uber metagame with poison; these threats include Kyogre, Groudon, Wobbuffet, Garchomp, and Darkrai, all of whom trouble Uber stall teams. With Toxic Spikes in play, the aforementioned threats become much more manageable, making it easier to take them down.

Rapid Spin is another extremely helpful move in Ubers, as it allows Forretress to get rid of entry hazards used by the likes of Deoxys-S and opposing Forretress. One of Forretress's most common partners is the Special Defensive behemoth known as Blissey. Groudon is also an imperative part of an Uber stall team, and is thus seen commonly alongside Forretress. This is mostly due to the fact that Bulk Up Dialga can easily set up on Forretress and begin to decimate an Uber stall team. With Groudon, Bulk Up Dialga becomes much eaiser to handle, making it a prime candidate to use with Forretress. Furthermore, Groudon is capable of setting up Stealth Rock, which frees up one of Forretress's moveslots for another attack or utility move such as Spikes. Despite not being used much on Uber stall, Kyogre makes an ideal teammate with Forretress, as it can switch into the Fire-type attacks aimed at it. Finally, Giratina and Giratina-O are excellent Pokemon to use with Forretress, as they block Rapid Spin users from getting rid of the entry hazards Forretress has set up.

Other notable Pokémon:Skarmory.


UU

Omastar
With very few viable spikers in UU stall, Omastar stands out as a “one-in-many” type of Pokémon. Omastar has an outstanding 125 base Defense stat, which allows it to switch in against a lot of physical-attacking Pokémon and begin Spiking. Omastar has an often overlooked 115 base Special Attack and STAB Surf as well. Sadly, Omastar does not have access to any recovery moves (bar Rest), and therefore needs to rely on Wish-passing from its teammates to regain health, or support from a cleric's Heal Bell/Aromatherapy. Omastar learns the rather invaluable (I trust you are aware that “invaluable” means roughly the same as, rather than the opposite to, “valuable.” You should mention SR and Spikes as well. If toxic spikes is not useful, omit it.) Toxic Spikes, which as mentioned before, does not have much place in UU stall due to the abundance of Poison-type Pokémon. However, Omastar learns Knock Off, which certainly has merit; Knock Off allows Omastar to scout Choice-users and Knock Off their items, which takes away immediate power from them if they were holding Choice Specs or Choice Band, easing the impact inflicted upon teammates that may come into direct combat with users of these items. Haze is another move that Omastar learns in which enables Omastar to negate boosts from the likes of Calm Mind Spiritomb, Curse Registeel, or any other stat-upper, who can easily switch into Omastar as soon as they are aware of Omastar’s moveset being of supportive purposes.

Other notable Pokémon: Cloyster, Drapion, Froslass, and Nidoqueen

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edit: just noticed that the smogon standard is to put commas before the word "and" in some instances when in a list (the serial comma.) Disregard all statements and suggestions regarding this when applied to a list - that is with 3 or more items. EDIT 2: I have now checked through, since it is often difficult to determine whether the comma is correct or not. I may still have missed some though. Also, why does it sometimes go bold when you put hide tags on?

 

[vashta]

OK I've implement some of the stuff you highlighted for removal/change. Thanks for that proofread. However, some of the stuff you pointed out weren't actually in the article (now, this may be because I was editing the article around about the time you posted this check—I don't know). Some of the things you mentioned about particular roles didn't actually make sense and seemed to defeat the purpose of the idea of "stall", so they weren't implemented.

Now, to be clear, the reference to Rose Tyler was implemented on request of other users who had seen this article way before posting via GoogleDocs, so no, it was not of my accord. <__<

Maybe you should have a section for mixed walls, like Bronzong, even though they may be used on more balaced teams to fill multiple roles?

We had/have a section about "mixed walls" saved from an earlier version of this article, but it was deemed unnecessary as very few Pokémon could do this successfully, bar the likes of Cresselia, for example. Your example, Bronzong, is one of which isn't exactly the most reliable, just to clarify.

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Thanks goes to MetaNite who proofread the article, too, and sent it to me via Private Message. His changes were implement also.

 

[Jibaku]

Giratina-O’s standard set has changed due to the rise of Payback Forretress.

Giratina-O @ Platinum Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 Atk / 196 Spe / 64 SpA
Nature: Naive (+Spe, -SpD)
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Hidden Power Fire
- Shadow Sneak

Giratina-O is no slouch in the offensive department either; it can attack from either side of the spectrum with a powerful STAB Dragon Pulse and Shadow Ball on the special side, or STAB Outrage on the physical side. Giratina-O is an amazing stall breaker, as it is immune to Toxic Spikes and Spikes, and can use Calm Mind too boost its marvelous Special Attack stat, and use Substitute to block status, ready to sweep. When Giratina-O comes onto the field, it can proceed set up a Substitute, blocking any attempts stall teams have to Thunder Wave, Toxic, and Burn, Giratina-O. It can then proceed to Calm Mind and potentially sweep. With a fantastic base 120 Attack and Special Attack stat, combined with a monstrous 150 base HP and base 100 in both Defense and Special Defense, Giratina-O makes for an excellent Pokémon to use on Uber stall teams.

Let’s change this up a bit:

Giratina-O is no slouch in the offensive department either, sporting base 120 Attack and Special Attack. It can attack from either side of the spectrum with a powerful STAB Draco Meteor on the special side, or STAB Outrage on the physical side. Using Hidden Power Fire, Giratina-O can reliably destroy Forretress who might be tempted to stay in and hurt it with Payback. Unlike with other Ghost-types in the game, Giratina-O’s Shadow Sneak is quite powerful and aids in revenging weakened Pokemon. In a metagame littered with Psychic-types, it can do a considerable amount of damage. Thanks to Levitate, Giratina-O avoids taking damage from Spikes and Toxic Spikes. When combined with its monstrous base 150 HP and base 100 in both Defense and Special Defense, and its six resistances and three immunities, Giratina-O has a relatively easy time switching in, despite having no recovery. Further combined with its offensive prowess, Giratina-O also makes an excellent stall breaker, threatening to 2HKO every member in many stall teams as well as keeping entry hazards intact, compounding the pain. These qualities make Giratina-O an excellent Pokemon to use in Uber stall teams.

Every stall team needs something to block Rapid Spin, and Giratina-O was the prime candidate. Giratina-O has the ever elusive immunity to the item-removing effects of Trick and Knock Off, as the only item Giratina-O can hold is Griseous Orb, also known as Platinum Orb. This allows Giratina-O to switch into a predicted Trick from a Choice item user, and use the time to set up, making it a great asset to an Uber stall team. Dragon Pulse is the primary STAB move of this set, only resisted by Steel-types not named Dialga. Dragon Pulse OHKOes both Rayquaza and Palkia, and has a 90% chance of 2HKOing max HP/no Special Defense Groudon. Shadow Ball helps against the Pokemon who resist Dragon Pulse, such as Metagross, while helping against Lugia as well.

Every Uber stall team needs something to block Rapid Spin, and Giratina-O is the prime candidate. Giratina-O has the ever elusive immunity to the item-removing effects of Trick and Knock Off, as the only item Giratina-O can hold is Griseous Orb. This allows Giratina-O to switch into a predicted Trick from a Choice item user and punish the opponent with its powerful Draco Meteor. Hidden Power Fire quickly annihilates Forretress, halting it from causing more harm by setting up more entry hazards or striking Giratina-O with Payback. Shadow Sneak can destroy stall-threatening Pokemon such as Mewtwo and Deoxys-A, as well as picking off weakened but faster Pokemon. Outrage is a risky attack to use, but it helps the team combat the Boosting Tank Kyogre and obliterates Ho-oh after Stealth Rock damage.