Toxic Spikes Abuse (OU Stall Team)

[HART4FLOON]

This is my 1st RMT so be nice to me please. o.0
I will admit that I have not been laddering with this team and that I've played with it mostly on PO. I will also admit that I am not the best battler ever but this team has given me pretty good success (my ladder points don't reflect this because I play most of my battles unrated. Yes, I'm a wuss! :P) This team's main focus is to abuse Toxic Spikes Forretress and Roar + Protect Heatran. My other teammates are very dedicated to their roles to cover Forry and Ugly Monster's weaknesses. With no further delay, I present to you Toxic Spikes Abuse!

Note: Changes will be bolded

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THE PROCESS:

Forretress was by far one of my most favorite Pokemon (tied with Exeggutor) so I wanted to make a team based around him. I decided to try using Toxic Spikes. He has great synergy with Heatran so those 2 were what I chose.

Next I needed a Pokemon that could cover their weaknesses and take physical beating. Gyarados was the first one that came to mind.

I also thought about adding a special wall, one who could act as a cleric for my team. The Pokemon in the Whore Tier came to mind.

I decided to add in Tyranitar as SS and Toxic stalling are a lethal combination.

And last but not least, I needed a lead with great synergy with the rest of my team. Swampert and Torterra came to mind but eventually I chose Torterra. Torterra also completes the classic F/W/G core.

Eventually I found myself using Tyranitar less and less. I was also vulnerable to my entry hazards to being spun away. I decided to choose a Pokemon that had reliably served me many times before. Enter, Rotom!

<--- Thanks JayyChow

And finally I changed their movesets to their current ones. Presenting, Toxic Spikes Abuse!

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THE LEAD: SexyTortoise (Torterra)

Torterra @ Leftovers

Impish
Overgrow
212 HP / 252 Def / 44 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Wood Hammer
- Roar
- Earthquake

Torterra's natural bulk, great dual STAB, and great typing make it an acceptable lead in OU. He is one of my checks against many physical threats such as Tyranitar and Gyarados. A combination of Earthquake and Wood Hammer will hit common leads like Azelf, Metagross, and Swampert quite hard. If Torterra is facing a bad match-up, he can usually just Roar the opposing Pokemon away or I can switch out to Fortress to take the hit. Getting up Stealth Rock is vital to my team's success and because he also absorbs physical attacks aimed at Forry and Ugly, I try to keep Torterra alive as long as possible.
THE SPECIAL WALL: Whore (Blissey)

Blissey @ Leftovers

Bold
Natural Cure
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Spe
- Wish
- Softboiled
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss
Blissey is, of course, my special wall, whore, call it whatever you want. Wish and Softboiled might seem like overkill on something as bulky as Blissey but they both serve an important purpose. Wish is to heal my teammates while Softboiled is used to heal Blissey. Heal Bell is to rid of any status that afflicts my teammates. Seismic Toss is an obligatory move on any Blissey in order to be able to deal some damage.

And now for the two most important Pokemon on my team...
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THE TOXIC SPIKES SPREADER: Forry (Forretress)

Forretress @ Leftovers

Impish
Sturdy
252 HP / 4 Def/ 252 SpDef
- Toxic Spikes
- Payback
- Revenge
- Rapid Spin
Aah Forretress, you truly do your job too well. He lays down Toxic Spikes while protecting my team from entry hazards at the same time. I'm using the specially defensive variant to take advantage of Forry's unique resistances. Payback and Revenge provide great coverage and work well thanks to Forry's abysmal speed. Rapid Spin is self-explanatory.

THE TOXIC SPIKES ABUSER: Ugly (Heatran)

Heatran @ Leftovers

Calm
Flash Fire
252 HP / 252 SpDef/ 4 Spe
- Roar
- Protect
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power

Awwwwww he's so cute. o3o In case you haven't noticed yet, every single one of my Pokemon have Leftovers. :P Heatran has great synergy with Forretress, able to absorb powerful Fire type attacks and then retaliate. First off before I begin, I'd like to thank Delko for thinking up of this amazing set. It really works wonders. :)
Now back on topic, I use a standard 252/4/252+ spread. Even with no investment, Heatran still has a potent special attack of 296, allowing him to put a dent in Pokemon with Lava Plume and Earth Power. The reason I use Lava Plume is for the same reason some people use Discharge over Thunderbolt: Burn hax is nice, and some threats like Dragonite and Flygon that are immune to Toxic Spikes don't like losing attack power. Protect is to allow Toxic damage to build up and to scout for moves. Roar is to phaze away certain threats and to rack up residual damage.
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THE THING WITH ANGER ISSUES: CEHIdsf (Gyarados)

Gyarados @ Leftovers

Careful
Intimidate
248 HP / 164 Def/ 96 SpDef
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
Already having two phazers, I thought it would be too excessive to have a third. This set I stole from RaikouLover and it's a great defensive and offensive Pokemon. Waterfall provides reliable STAB, as the only things Gyarados will have trouble with will be bulky waters and grasses. Bulky waters get decimated by Torterra (see above) and Rotom-H (see below) while grasses will not enjoy a Lava Plume from Heatran and Overheat from Rotom-H.
Gyarados is one of the main reasons that this team does well. Intimidating powerful threats like Flygon and Tyranitar is so useful as it will lighten the pressure put on my other physical tank Torterra. The EVs guarantee that Gyarados is never 3HKOed by Celebi's Grass Knot, maxing at about 32% iirc. Toxic Spikes will allow me to outstall Celebi in case Heatran and Rotom-H aren't there to help me. This set can also beat Crocune most of the time as this Gyarados is never 2HKOed by a +6 Surf. He also serves as my check against Heatran, Lucario, Scizor, special Infernapes, and Agility Empoleon.
THE TOASTER: Rotom-Hot (Rotom-H)

Rotom-H @ Leftovers

Bold
Levitate
252 HP / 168 Def/ 88 Spe
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat
No one likes it when they see Rotom's stupid face because it guarantees that there's gonna be hell. This is a physically bulky Rotom that is meant to spread burns around that could be essential late-game. For example, I might switch into a Choiced Flygon's EQ and scout with Will-O-Wisp. A combination of Rotom-H's STAB moves and signature move provide great neutral coverage. Above everything else Rotom-H is my spinblocker. He insures that rival stupid-ass Forretresses (Mine's da best >:D) and Starmies won't be able to get rid of my rocks and toxic spikes.
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Thank you very much for reading. :)
One of my main issues is having to play around opposing stall teams mainly because my team focuses so much on defense. As a result, battles against good teams usually take well over 50 turns and I would like to know if there's anything I could do remedy this. I also sometimes have trouble against MixApe if Gyarados is down.
Any constructive criticism will be taken into appreciation and considerated. And again, thank you!

 

[FalknerLevel7Pidgey]

This is a pretty solid team, and Forretress and Heatran have excellent synergy, especially the Heatran you have. I just have a few suggestions.

1) Do you really need Heal Bell on Blissey? You can usually predict which status moves your opponents will use (e.g., if you see a Rotom-A, you would naturally switch to either Blissey or Heatran to take the Will-O-Wisp. Blisseys that spread around status are a little bit more tricky because you don't know whether they will use Toxic or Thunder Wave, but you can still work around that... if it's a stall team, chances are they will use Toxic, so just switch to either Forretress, Heatran or Blissey. If it's more offensive, and you know they carry Thunder Wave, switch to either Blissey or Torterra) Since this team is built around Toxic abuse, I recommend giving Blissey Toxic to deal with flying types. I think that would help you a lot more than Heal Bell.

2) Have you tried giving Forretress Spikes? You'd be surprised at how often you're able to get 2 layers of Toxic Spikes AND at least 1 layer of Spikes in a battle. I would give Forretress Spikes instead of Revenge. Has that move been of any use to you?

3) Torterra seems good, but he's helpless against Gliscor... in fact, most of your Pokemon are. Why not try out a Swampert lead with Ice Beam? Swampert is a better response to Tyranitar IMO, because mixed Tyranitars (with Flamethrower) are not too uncommon... and they can really hurt Torterra. Also, Dragonite gives this team major problems (not uncommon now that Salamence and Latias are in Ubers... one dragon goes to Ubers, another takes its place and becomes the centerpiece of the OU metagame--another reason why the ban on Salamence and Latias were stupid, and why Dragonite will be the next to leave, but that's another story) if Rotom-H goes down... especially if they carry Thunderbolt, and although Swampert's Ice Beam might not OHKO it, it will still wear it down A LOT. Swampert might yield better results, it's worth a try. You lose the water/grass/fire core, but Swampert is not your typical water type since he is immune to electric... and you have two Pokemon that take 1/4 damage from grass-type moves aimed at him. If you use Rotom-H or Gyarados to deal with Gliscor, and they've worked for you, then forget what I said. But you still need to work around the Dragonite problem. Torterra is an underrated but bulky Pokemon, so at the same time I would hate to see him leave your team!

 

[HART4FLOON]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I might end up trying out all of these. I appreciated your input :)

 

[RampancyVI]

I like the nice synergy on your team, but you leave a mixed/ physical nape weakness to an extent, just thought I should bring that up, plus, your Rotom isnt really impish is it? It should be bold. All lefties isnt such a great idea either, but thats just my opinion, because every pokemon has the same item and people will not be afraid of potential choice users. Thats my opinion so far. So after re-reading this, I noticed that your ev's are indeed messed up, and Torterra just doesnt sound like a good lead to me, but Icant say that because Royale with Cheese already pointed out what I was thinking.

 

[Zacchaeus]

I don't see what Torterra has over Hippowdon outside of Grass STAB, but if the Torterra is trying to be bulky, Wood Hammer seems like an odd choice. Hippowdon also gets a Sandstorm. You also say Stealth Rock is vital, but Torterra is outsped by any common Taunt used in OU. Vaporen easily takes care of Heatran and Gyarados, but you have Rotom and Blissey to cover it, and if Vaporeon has Ice Beam it will gladly take out Torterra as well. And I'm assuming you meant 4 Speed on Blissey, instead of 44. You gave Forretress 756 EVs, fix that. Dragon Dance Tyranitar wrecks your team, outside of Forretress Revenge, and I'm not sure if that will cut it. Rotom should also be Bold, and I have no idea at all why you run 0 HP EVs on Blissey. I would definitely reconsider the EV spread on Blissey

 

[HART4FLOON]

Yeah sorry for some of the typos. I copy-pasted a lot of this.

 

[Chateau]

I'm no expert on stall, but wouldn't phazing be better with regular Spikes? Toxic does most damage when the opponent stays in a few turns. I'd consider adding a Trapper to your team to make best use of Toxic Spikes. Now the team member I would think is most changable is Gyara, so maybe you could use Lapras as your bulky water with a set like this-

Lapras @Leftovers
Nature: Calm
Ev's: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SDef
-Block
-Protect
-Dive
-Rest

Block whatever switches in, Protect + Dive stalls time while Toxic does its job. Rest for an extra turn or two of Toxic damage.
Note: Lapras' page doesn't have Dive, but it definitely gets it, both by HM in RSE and tutor in Platinum and HGSS.

 

[HART4FLOON]

That Lapras isn't as good of a bulky water as Gyarados mainly because it can't sweep late-game and it lacks the important resistances against Fighting type attacks from things like Machamp and Fire type attacks from Heatran.

 

[Zacchaeus]

That Lapras isn't as good of a bulky water as Gyarados mainly because it can't sweep late-game and it lacks the important resistances against Fighting type attacks from things like Machamp and Fire type attacks from Heatran.

You generally don't try to sweep on a stall team, so which is it you're going for?

 

[Super Mario Bro]

You generally don't try to sweep on a stall team, so which is it you're going for?

DD RestTalk Gyarados is a great Toxic Spikes abuser, as well as a good "win condition" Pokemon against opposing stall teams once its counters are gone. Lapras is not good at all for this team because he needs a Mixape check.

Nice team! It's very similar to mine. ;)

 

[HART4FLOON]

Meh I didn't really word that correctly. Block is too risky imo because I can just end up trapping one of Lapras's counters. Dive just isn't that good, even when stalling. Also when I use Gyarados his main priority is as a physical stopper but he can also set up or finish off a weakened opponent.

 

[JayyChow]

here's the toaster sprite URL i believe.

http://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/5/5b/Ani479OMS.png