Stall in National Dex OU

By slopcat. Released: 2026/08/11.
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Introduction

Stall has been around for forever. Ritually hated and eternally played, stall has managed to adapt to the additions of each generation with solid success. Even in the modern generation, it still has its rock-solid niche in tournament and ladder play. However, when the dex cuts occurred in the eighth generation and the National Dex format was brought to fruition, the capacity for stall to keep up with the ever-expanding movepools and additions (especially since no removals were considered, leading to amalgamations like Dragapult with Z-Crystals being initially allowed) led to some rhetorical questions about stall's viability. After the Tera ban in SV, stall had to reckon with the most powerful OU format ever, with insane threats like Gholdengo, Kingambit, and Ogerpon-W and without any additional mechanics by its side. However, just like we've seen in SV OU, stall in SV ND has an extremely powerful niche.

Stall in National Dex is popular in ladder play with some limited tournament usage, but the tools it has to make use of are really varied and sometimes a bit jank. This popularity stems from a couple of main traits: the ability to crush unprepared teams, the ability to control even poor matchups, and the customizability of builds to enhance matchups versus specific threats. Stall can spread burns and poison extremely well in a tier without many common status absorbers: Garganacl and Clefable are not extremely common, and although Gliscor is still very strong in ND, Swords Dance or Knock Off sets are not nearly as ubiquitous as they are in SV, so the threat posed by Gliscor is lower on average. Additionally, even with the conservation of Defog on many viable Pokémon, entry hazards are still fairly difficult for many teams to deal with, as those teams are reliant on spinners that are susceptible to either being blocked or chipped down by many common stall facets. The customizability of stall in ND is also extremely enticing, and stacking counters well can make the game almost wholly unplayable. As one would expect, stuff like Gliscor, Blissey, Corviknight, Dondozo, and Clodsire are all still staples, but there is one Pokémon that defines hard stall in NatDex.

Mega Sableye is one of the strongest Pokémon stall could really ever ask for. Knock Off, Will-O-Wisp, Magic Bounce, great typing, the ability to absorb Knock Off, and solid bulk with access to recovery make it the most defining Pokémon for stall in NatDex. The usual stall counterplay for teams without dedicated anti-stall measures (Future Sight + Fighting-type, hazard stacking + Taunt) falls apart completely versus Mega Sableye. The existence of Sableye also enhances the strength of other stall facets through its entry hazard control. When it's paired with Corviknight to use Defog on any hazards that slip through, the efficacy of wallbreakers like Ogerpon-W and Mega Lopunny can very quickly fall apart, as they cannot secure the needed chip damage on their respective checks. Mega Sableye is also extremely proactive: almost every move it makes is going to progress the game in the stall player's favor or lock down potential wincons if the game state allows it. Will-O-Wisp + Knock Off is a devastating combo that most of the tier simply cannot deal with, since any Pokémon that could theoretically absorb Will-O-Wisp, like Galarian Slowking and Tornadus-T, absolutely despises having its Heavy-Duty Boots removed, and most Mega Evolutions and Z-Move users absolutely despise taking the burn chip damage. This warps the counterplay to stall in a very lopsided direction: use the Pokémon that can get past Mega Sableye consistently or fall apart very quickly to the onslaught of passive damage from burns and hazards. Of course, no team is a one-man band, and the other regulars are all incredibly central to making stall functional in SV ND.

Other National Dex Stall Staples

  • Blissey @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
  • Ability: Natural Cure
  • EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
  • IVs: 0 Atk
  • Calm Nature
  • - Seismic Toss
  • - Soft-Boiled / Wish
  • - Toxic / Calm Mind / Shadow Ball
  • - Stealth Rock
  • Chansey @ Eviolite
  • Ability: Natural Cure
  • EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
  • Bold Nature
  • - Seismic Toss
  • - Toxic
  • - Soft-Boiled / Wish
  • - Stealth Rock

Blissey and Chansey are the bread and butter of stall in almost any generation. The choice between them comes down to the utility of items, and given that Blissey gets to choose between being immune to entry hazard damage or being able to passively recover, it is usually a better choice, especially for teams lacking Mega Sableye or Wish support. Chansey sees some usage due to its better bulk making it almost completely impenetrable, but its weakness to chip damage makes it much easier to exploit than Blissey. These two are used as blanket checks to the tier's most threatening special attackers: Mega Charizard Y, Tapu Lele, Gholdengo, and Kyurem are all handled solidly by the blobs and must be handled by other teammates if neither Blissey nor Chansey is included. With access to Stealth Rock, Light Screen or Calm Mind, and the coveted Wish + Teleport combo, Blissey and Chansey can provide extremely valued utility while still being nigh-impenetrable on their own merits.

Dondozo is the premier physical wall on stall. With gargantuan physical bulk, Unaware, Curse, and Rest + Sleep Talk, it can easily sit in front of almost every physical attacker in the tier without a care in the world. Waterfall is generally preferred for STAB damage, but Body Press is very solid as a way to hit Ogerpon-W while dealing extremely solid damage to anything else Dondozo is attempting to check. Dondozo is very susceptible to Knock Off, so having a way to handle common Knock Off users (either with Mega Sableye or a Z-Crystal user like Hydrapple) is very helpful for ensuring it can make full use of its Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots.

Corviknight is one of the most customizable stall Pokémon of all time. Either as an Iron Defense + Body Press physical wall, a Substitute + Protect Pressure staller, or a specially defensive wall with Mirror Armor and Iron Head to check Mega Diancie and Tapu Lele, Corviknight can really do it all. Corviknight often functions as a bit of a redundancy for stall, aiming to check threats that the primary wall would otherwise be unable to while being able to use Defog to remove entry hazards even if its backup is not needed. Being able to check Mega Diancie alongside Clodsire means that Clodsire is much more able to conserve itself for other threats, while checking Ogerpon-W means that Dondozo can rest easy knowing that it isn't forced to try and absorb 16 Ivy Cudgels to win. Corviknight's redundancy with other stall threats, combined with its access to Defog, makes it integral on almost every stall build. Double Defog builds featuring Gliscor have also seen some success, which means that even Corviknight can sit back and know that it isn't alone in controlling the hazard game.

Clodsire is essentially a special Dondozo: it's extremely effective at stopping special attackers that are reliant on boosts to make their progress. Wallbreakers like Gholdengo, Raging Bolt, and Tornadus-T all find themselves walled, but the passivity of Clodsire remains its eternal Achilles' heel. If Clodsire opts to use Toxic and an entry hazard of choice along with the mandatory Earthquake and Recover, it cannot touch a Taunt Tornadus-T or an Air Balloon Gholdengo. The latter is essentially always going to get around Clodsire, but with the tech option of Poison Jab, Tornadus-T can be circumvented with some support from Blissey or a bit of luck with Poison Jab's poison chance. Black Sludge is almost mandatory for this reason, although Heavy-Duty Boots are technically usable. Clodsire necessitates solid hazard removal and a teammate that can pop Gholdengo's Air Balloon, so layering of walls (and especially ones that can either handle Gholdengo alone, like Calm Mind Blissey or Chansey, or hit it once like Knock Off Gliscor and specially defensive Corviknight) is key. Without Clodsire, Taunt Flyinium Z Tornadus-T becomes too great a threat, and other defensive counterplay is difficult to find.

Gliscor is another customizable staple. With access to Knock Off, Spikes, Defog, and Swords Dance, Gliscor can serve a multitude of roles depending on what the team needs. Knock Off is always an amazing move to ensure double Regenerator swapping is punishable with entry hazards (especially Gliscor's own Spikes). Meanwhile, Defog is always excellent, and Swords Dance can make the stall matchup incredibly favorable for your own build, provided Gliscor also slots in Knock Off for opposing Dondozo. Gliscor itself is a fantastic Knock Off absorber once Toxic Orb has activated, giving it immense utility in the matchup versus other fat teams, which usually sport Clefable that would threaten Mega Sableye. Gliscor is a bit harder to fit than most of the other staples discussed above, but that mostly stems from its role being filled by other Pokémon on most stall builds and its overlapping weaknesses with them.

Toxapex is an extremely solid Pokémon on stall as always, but it definitely falls outside of the more common seven discussed above that you see on most teams. Toxapex, due to its overlapping weaknesses with Dondozo and Clodsire, is more difficult to justify for some teams. Make no mistake, however; Toxapex is still extremely valued on the teams it works on. Packing Regenerator, Toxic Spikes, Scald, Haze, Knock Off, Light Screen, and Poison-type STAB moves means that it can contribute in almost every game. Its primary niche is preventing Dondozo from accumulating too much chip damage or even replacing Dondozo entirely on some teams: with a Rocky Helmet, it can absorb and punish the strong Close Combats that Dondozo can be worn down by. Mega Lopunny, Cinderace, Urshifu-R, and Mega Scizor all have much more of a headache dealing with Toxapex as opposed to Dondozo, especially since they are so prone to accumulating contact chip damage or are vulnerable to Toxic Spikes. Light Screen on Toxapex is a niche option that can enhance matchups against Mega Diancie, Mega Charizard Y, and Calm Mind Tapu Lele, either giving Toxapex itself a greater ability to handle the Ground-type coverage of the former two or creating cleaner avenues for teammates like Blissey to come in and absorb pressure without needing to slot in Calm Mind. Toxapex does face some competition, however, as both it and Dondozo are weak to Ogerpon-W, often necessitating something else in one of those slots.

  • Amoonguss @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Rocky Helmet
  • Ability: Regenerator
  • EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
  • IVs: 0 Atk
  • Bold Nature
  • - Giga Drain
  • - Synthesis
  • - Spore
  • - Sludge Bomb / Clear Smog
  • Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
  • Ability: Regenerator
  • EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpD
  • Relaxed Nature
  • - Giga Drain
  • - Knock Off
  • - Focus Blast
  • - Toxic / Hidden Power Ice
  • Hydrapple @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Dragonium Z
  • Ability: Regenerator
  • Tera Type: Poison
  • EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
  • IVs: 0 Atk
  • Bold Nature
  • - Nasty Plot
  • - Fickle Beam / Draco Meteor
  • - Giga Drain
  • - Earth Power
  • Chesnaught @ Rocky Helmet
  • Ability: Bulletproof
  • Tera Type: Ghost
  • EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
  • Impish Nature
  • - Body Press
  • - Knock Off
  • - Synthesis
  • - Spikes

These Grass-types have found a home on stall, also filling the mandatory niche of dealing with Ogerpon-W. They each add different elements to a composition, but their primary role is the same: answer Ogerpon-W. Amoonguss, Tangrowth, and Hydrapple all sport Regenerator, which makes them able to come in on Ogerpon-W almost perpetually, especially when paired with Heavy-Duty Boots. All three can also very viably run Rocky Helmet to make them more effective against other physical threats and to alleviate the pressure on Dondozo to accrue chip damage. Amoonguss sports a typing that makes it essentially impossible for any Ogerpon-W set to break through, taking neutral damage from U-turn and resisting its STAB moves and Play Rough. However, Amoonguss can feel like a bit of a dead slot versus much else, since its tools are so centralized around handling the menace. Tangrowth is more proactive, with the ability to use Knock Off to make progress without needing to rely on lucky Sludge Bomb poisonings. Hydrapple is the most offensive of the four; with access to Nasty Plot and strong STAB moves like Draco Meteor and Leaf Storm, it can very reliably make progress against most balances and secure chip damage against opposing stall. A Z-Crystal is an excellent fit for Hydrapple, and it can very easily secure momentum on Ogerpon-W sets that do not sport Play Rough or U-turn. Hydrapple's affinity with Z-Crystals makes it a great Knock Off absorber as well, ensuring that even Ogerpon-W sets that attempt to remove Dondozo's Leftovers are totally blanked. Chesnaught is the definite worst of the quartet but has useful tools in Spikes and STAB-boosted Body Press to help with the Kingambit matchup.

Pecharunt is the least common stall feature, mostly due to how much it overlaps with Mega Sableye and Toxapex without much of their utility. Pecharunt matches up much better against Mega Lopunny and Ogerpon-W with its access to Foul Play and resistance to Fighting-type moves, but other than that, it is generally a bit lacking in comparison to these other staples. Pecharunt has found success on squads that are more reliant on Defog as opposed to Magic Bounce from Mega Sableye, and as such, you see Pecharunt paired with Toxapex more often than with Dondozo due to Toxapex's access to Regenerator and lower vulnerability to Knock Off. Still extremely solid, but it requires different approaches than the usual Sableye-based squads that make up a majority of NatDex stall teams.

With a picture of stall's tools in mind, how does stall fare at a high level? The answer is that it's undergoing somewhat of a renaissance. Formerly regarded as a matchup fish by many high-level players, stall saw little team tour usage despite its apparent strengths and the very strong asset of Mega Sableye. If stall in SV OU can find such success, even with the addition of the strong new wallbreakers, how does that make it untenable in the eyes of many players? The answer is fairly direct: stall doesn't have a Pokémon with the tools to truly check most of these difficult threats all by itself. Pokémon that greatly aided with these difficult counters in SV, like Galarian Weezing, Sinistcha, and Iron Defense Corviknight and Skarmory, all fall relatively flat in NatDex for varying reasons. Galarian Weezing having to contest with Ogerpon-W, Swords Dance Garchomp, Kingambit, and Urshifu-R without Tera makes it extremely passive and unable to fulfill its role as a physical check that can remove the entry hazards that Hisuian Samurott sets with Defog. Sinistcha with Ghostium Z is seeing more success on bulky offenses as a solid Ogerpon-W, Zamazenta, and Urshifu-R check, but on stall, it is so exploitable by Kingambit, Tornadus-T, and Heatran that it winds up allowing threats to make progress on its teammates for little to no recourse. Iron Defense users are stall staples in SV, but in NatDex, the prevalence of Gholdengo armed with Z-Crystals makes that a difficult solution to justify using, as allowing powerful Z-boosted wallbreakers to accrue free chip damage on Clodsire or Blissey is just not tenable. It calls into question how much stall is actually a matchup fish or if it can achieve consistent results even in poorer matchups like many popular offenses or bulky offenses can. I'm being a bit negative, though. Stall is very powerful even at the top level, as seen during the most recent National Dex World Cup, and a main feature of the archetype is just how freeform the teambuilding can be. While other archetypes have some almost mandatory Pokémon, stall can push the limits of creativity fairly well even when building with the most common staples. When building stall, there are a few threats that are mandatory to cover to not instantly lose when they appear.

Main Threats to Stall That Should Be Covered

With Calm Mind and Z-Crystal access, Tapu Lele is absurdly good versus most stall builds. If the stall player does not have specially defensive Corviknight or Light Screen support along with Chansey or Blissey (or a Calm Mind Blissey of their own), they can just get completely 6-0'd. These counters are not even infallible, as Corviknight is just as susceptible to chip damage as anything else, and the blobs become extremely shaky checks once Light Screen ends. In terms of checks, entry hazards are a must; attempting to PP stall a Tapu Lele is completely impossible. Specially defensive Iron Head Corviknight is also an extremely robust check and can serve to answer Mega Diancie, which can sometimes be a bit of a headache. Generally, limiting the number of times Tapu Lele is allowed to come in via entry hazard chip damage is at the forefront of any successful gameplan versus it, and ensuring that Blissey or Chansey is able to check it throughout the game will almost always decide the match.

Kingambit and Hisuian Samurott are the two strongest Knock Off users in the history of OU. With Kingambit boasting absurd power that overwhelms Unaware users and Hisuian Samurott setting up Spikes through Magic Bounce as well as removing items and using Taunt to prevent recovery, these Dark-types are absurdly powerful forces for even offensive teams to contest. Kingambit also gains access to Bisharp's Pursuit, making it extremely dangerous for Chansey and Blissey to attempt their walling duties. Generally, this necessitates the presence of Spikes as well as a contact punisher in the form of Rocky Helmet in order to deter Hisuian Samurott from clicking Ceaseless Edge forever. Kingambit almost always necessitates Dondozo or Body Press Corviknight as well as extremely careful play to avoid Knock Off, which could otherwise ruin your gameplan to deter its aggression.

With Nasty Plot, Taunt, and Flyinium Z, Tornadus-T is one of stall's most brutal matchups. Able to handle Chansey and Blissey with ease and bypass other forms of counterplay like Light Screen and Haze, Tornadus-T is a one-slot stall mauler unless you slot in Poison Jab + Black Sludge Clodsire. With Clodsire, the matchup becomes playable, but if it's unlucky with Poison Jab's poison chance, the matchup still necessitates baiting out the Z-Move, ideally with Chansey or Corviknight, as well as sequencing well to avoid Clodsire getting too massively chipped afterward.

Ogerpon-W receives an honorable mention for stall nightmare matchups, as access to Knock Off, Synthesis, and Swords Dance makes the process of holistically covering all of its possible sets a nauseating prospect. Dondozo is unable to check any Ogerpon-W variant carrying Knock Off or Power Whip, while other checks like Toxapex, Pecharunt, and physically defensive Corviknight and Skarmory are left in the dust by Swords Dance sets after some chip damage. Ogerpon-W is not as bad as those listed above, however, as Amoonguss, Chesnaught, Hydrapple, and Tangrowth can all check it very comfortably.

Gholdengo is similar to Ogerpon-W in that it requires an answer to it, but those answers are not necessarily the hardest to come by. Modest Steelium Z Gholdengo, its strongest set versus stall, is still shut down well by Clodsire and Calm Mind or Light Screen Blissey. This does essentially mandate one of these two, but these are Pokémon that you would likely use regardless. With Mega Sableye in the picture, Gholdengo's ability to deny the removal of entry hazards with Good as Gold is less impactful, but it makes dealing with Hisuian Samurott much more difficult.

Closing Thoughts

As the metagame progresses, stall is gaining traction as a viable style in tournament play and is starting to demand respect in the builder. As NDWC progressed, we saw a couple of squads from Asia (one with the Pecharunt / Toxapex triple Poison style and one with the more traditional Sableye + Dondozo core), as well as some from Northeast featuring Skarmory and Sinistcha. As stall gains legitimacy, perhaps some titans of the metagame will be forced to adapt in their EV spreads (like Tornadus-T running 12 HP EVs to Nasty Plot three times on the blobs, allowing a clean KO with Flyinium Z) or their sets. See you out there and get to stalling!

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