[OVERVIEW]
<p>As usual, the Ice-type is very much a mixed blessing. Ice attacks are always useful on a team, but the trade off for gaining a STAB boost on them is an unfortunate list of defensive weaknesses. Stealth Rock can hinder Walrein's ability to function as a tank somewhat, as taking 25% each time it comes in will wear it down a little faster than is preferable. Even with those drawbacks considered, Walrein is a fine tank in OU play, sporting handy resists to Ice and Water, and while its offensive stats are nothing special, they are more than adequate for a predominantly defensive Pokémon.</p>
<p>Back in ADV, the sight of Walrein in OU matches was rare to say the least. However, with its cool new Ice Body ability, it can be a very useful - often integral - part of a hail-based team when it receives support from Abomasnow. Its stalling abilities with hail support are impressive and with Toxic and/or Toxic Spikes, he can be surprisingly difficult to take down. Overall, Walrein got some very useful boosts in the transition from ADV to DP. Whether it is tanking in OU or stalling on hail teams, the sturdy walrus can prove to be a difficult opponent to beat.</p>
[SET]
name: Stallrein
move 1: Protect
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Toxic / Roar / Super Fang
move 4: Surf / Blizzard
item: Leftovers
ability: Ice Body
nature: Bold
evs: 220 HP / 252 Def / 36 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set is centered around making use of Walrein's Ice Body ability, so you will need to pair it up with Abomasnow to get a constant stream of hail going. With Ice Body activated and Leftovers equipped, Walrein can use Protect to score some free healing.</p>
<p>Poisoning opponents is key to this set's success. Once Walrein has infected an opponent with Toxic, the stalling can commence. Simply alternate between Protect and Substitute, healing yourself and intensifying the poison damage each turn, draining your opponent of its HP. This is the more direct approach. Although, it requires some additional support., Using using a Toxic Spiker - Forretress and Tentacruel are both fine choices - into the mix can really add to this set's effectiveness. Bear in mind that if you are unable to get both layers of Toxic Spikes in play, you will be inflicting the weaker variety of poison, making poisoning stalling opponents a slightly slower process.</p>
<p>With Toxic Spikes support, Walrein can afford to drop Toxic from its moveset. However, you may still want to hold onto it to enable Walrein to poison Flying and Levitating enemies, specifically Gyarados. If you decide to dispense with Toxic, you have a couple of useful options to use in its place. Roar works if your team is in need of a phazer, and it also has applications more specific to this set. First of all, you can shuffle another opponent in to let Toxic Spikes take hold. Secondly, you can prevent Skarmory from Whirlwinding your Substitute away by Roaring it out first. Roar will also mean that Gyarados cannot simply Dragon Dance in Walrein's face, and will force it to take even more residual damage upon re-entry. Earthquake is a great choice to hit Poison-types like Tentacruel by coming in to absorb Toxic Spikes, thus ruining your set up. It also helps to wear down Steel-types, who are also immune to poison and can generally make nuisances of themselves. You could space in Super Fang on the final slot in order to slice the opponent’s HP in half. This ultimately makes the stalling process much faster with Toxic Spikes down.</p>
<p>Finally, you have your choice of a STAB move so Walrein's respectable Special Attack doesn't go to waste. Blizzard may seem the more tempting choice as you can take advantage of the 100% accuracy it has during hail, but Surf is generally the superior choice. Surf helps to wear down Tyranitar, whose ability to change the weather and powerful Rock attacks are a huge problem. Not only does Tyranitar affect Walrein, but it affects many hail teams in general. Unlike Blizzard, it hits Steel-types for neutral damage, and has the potential to 2HKO Forretress, whose immunity to Toxic and ability to Spin away Toxic Spikes can ruin Walrein's strategy. It also has a lot more PP than Blizzard, meaning that Walrein won't become quite so vulnerable to Taunt. However, Blizzard is still a worthy option, as it provides Walrein with good attacking coverage and smacks around most Flying-types and Grass/Poison-types who are immune to Toxic Spikes, and in the latter case, the poison status altogether.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>As previously mentioned, Abomasnow is absolutely required in order to take full advantage of Walrein's ability. Since Walrein is normally used with hail, Abomasnow could support the entire team as a whole. Toxic Spikes will allow Walrein to successfully stall out the opponent, so make sure to pack a reliable Toxic Spikes user. Tentacruel and Forretress could reliably place down Toxic Spikes, while providing Rapid Spin support as an added bonus. Rapid Spin removes Stealth Rock from the field, and it allows Walrein to come in on physical hits without taking a quarter of its HP.</p>
<p>The EVs allow Walrein's Speed stat to be divisible by 16. Speed EVs can be used on Walrein in order to foil some common phazers such as Skarmory and Vaporeon. However, this might reduce Walrein's overall physical walling abilities, albeit not too much.</p>
<p>Tyranitar can give Walrein some trouble since it can remove hail from the field, while dishing out high-powered Stone Edges. Make sure to bring Swampert to keep Tyranitar at bay, since it could be problematic the entire match. In addition to this, Swampert could also set up Stealth Rock in order to help Walrein shuffle through the opponent’s team. Choice Band Dugtrio is another optional as well since it can trap and OHKO Tyranitar with Earthquake.</p>
<p>Walrein’s typing gives it an undesirable weakness to a number of commonly used attacks. Fighting-types who are immune to poison, such as Lucario and RestTalk Machamp, could effectively counter Walrein thanks to Lucario's Steel-typing and Machamp's ability to heal off status with the use of Rest. Gliscor or Rotom-A can deal with the aforementioned threats. Gliscor could provide Stealth Rock as an added bonus, while Rotom-A can prevent the opponent from removing your entry hazards on the field. Taunt Gyarados could be problematic since it could prevent Walrein from alternating between Protect and Substitute. Rotom-A could check Gyarados nicely since it can usually check bulky variants effectively.</p>
[Team Options]
<p>Support is absolutely required for the main set to function, otherwise you’re not taking full advantage of Walrein’s potential. For starters, Abomasnow is a staple with Walrein since it can provide hail which activates Walrein's near-exclusive ability, Ice Body. Toxic Spikes is probably the second-most important support required because it allows Walrein to stall out the opponent. There are a number of candidates for Toxic Spike users, but Tentacruel and Forretress are the best users with Walrein since they have Rapid Spin under their belt to remove entry hazards. Tentacruel in particular can add a sweet Fighting-type resist, along with having the ability to absorb Toxic Spikes for Walrein.</p>
<p>Outside of support, there are several threats Walrein can’t handle, particularly Tyranitar since it can remove hail. You can approach Tyranitar two ways: remove it beforehand or check it the entire match. If you plan to remove it beforehand, Choice Band Dugtrio can reliably remove Tyranitar from the match with Earthquake. However, if you plan to choose the latter option, Swampert makes an excellent counter to Tyranitar since it resists Stone Edge. As an added bonus, Swampert could also set up Stealth Rock to help Walrein stack more residual damage while it phazes with Roar. Outside of hail, Lucario and RestTalk Machamp could handle Walrein since Lucario is immune to poison status while Machamp can easily cleanse its status with Rest. Gliscor and Rotom-A could effectively check the aforementioned threats. Other than checking Lucario and Machamp, Gliscor can also provide Stealth Rock support. Rotom-A on the other hand makes a fine example of someone who works great with Walrein. With its unique typing, it can take hits from Walrein while effectively blocking any attempts from the opponent from removing your entry hazards. Furthermore, Rotom-A could also check Taunt Gyarados to a good extent, who troubles Walrein since it can sponge Blizzard and Surf, while using Taunt and Dragon Dance to deal with Walrein.</p>
[Optional Changes]
<p>Charm can be used to annoy physical attackers. Stockpile is available if you wish to boost both of Walrein's defenses. Hidden Power Electric works okay alongside Blizzard, hitting Water-types for reasonable damage, especially Gyarados. A Choice Band set is plausible but isn't really where Walrein's strengths lie. If you want a Choice Band set, then Crunch, Body Slam, Rock Slide, Avalanche and Waterfall are available for physical attacks. Walrein could also run a RestTalk set, but its terrible defensive typing and weakness to Stealth Rock makes the sets viability questionable. Walrein can also run a Curse set to further boost its high Defense and Attack stat, but there are far better options for Curse users in the OU tier including Swampert and Snorlax. The only distinct advantage Walrein has over the former two is that no one is immune to Avalanche. Lastly, Encore can be spaced in on the main set in order to force switch outs on the opponent. However, Roar is probably the better option since it has more PP. Thick Fat can replace Ice Body on any of the sets listed, but with support from Abomasnow, you're usually better off going with Stallrein.</p>
[Counters]
<p>Since Walrein relies on Toxic to deal damage, most Steel-types can cause problems. Earthquake can dent them, but the likes of Metagross and Jirachi have the defenses to handle a few hits. Metagross can fire off Meteor Mash or ThunderPunch, while Jirachi can smack Walrein around with Thunderbolt or Grass Knot. Empoleon can beat it down with Grass Knot and also resists Water, making switching in a little easier. Empoleon can also Roar away Walrein's Substitute, but rarely has enough Speed EVs to ensure it will phaze Walrein before being phazed itself. Before setting up Substitute, Lucario and Machamp can scare away Walrein with their high-powered STAB moves.</p>
<p>Tyranitar screws up its Walrein’s Leftovers recovery and also removes hail for a sandstorm, making Ice Body useless. Repeated hits from Surf hurt, but Tyranitar will likely come out on top by firing off powerful Stone Edges and can also Taunt Walrein, effectively shutting it down. Gyarados can sponge hits from Ice- and Water-type attacks and set up with Dragon Dance before KOing Walrein with Stone Edge. Like Tyranitar, Gyarados also has access to Taunt. Suicune is faster than Walrein and can easily Roar it out, taking minimal damage from any of the Walrein's attacks. Clefable was already mentioned, but it makes an even better counter to Stallrein than it does for the other sets. It is immune to the effects of hail and poison and can Encore Walrein's attacks, before setting up Calm Mind or simply hitting back with Thunderbolt. Breloom can be a problem if you don't have Blizzard, as like Clefable, it is still able to recover HP during hail from its Poison Heal ability and can't be worn down by poison due to its typing.</p>