Gen 4 An A to Z of Monsters

[Pideous]

An A to Z of Monsters

At a Glance

Introduction-

I started trying to build a solid stall team a couple months ago, when I started getting into DPP more seriously, and found it to be a surprisingly difficult task. When building an offense team, it’s mostly a case of developing strong offensive synergy and a game plan you can execute to put your opponent on the back foot. With a more balanced build, you need a defensive backbone you can rely on, but as long as you can dance around most offensive threats and fight back with your own offensive pressure, you can avoid being overwhelmed. Basically, more offensive teams have a much easier time driving the pace of a battle and, as such, are significantly less reactive than a defensive build. Stall takes this to the opposite extreme, as an almost purely reactive playstyle focussed on answering all the threats your opponent presents in a game. That’s not to say stall has no sources of offensive pressure, but being able to exert that pressure consistently comes from having defensive counterplay to your opponents threats. This means that the structure of a stall team is much more dependent on the threats which see play in the meta, and the pokemon and sets which prove effective on stall depend entirely on the kind of offensive threats which inhabit the meta. All this to say, that when I was first getting to grips with the shape of the meta it was very hard to build a resilient defensive structure. Furthermore, even though this particular team has been quite effective, there’s no guarantee that it will remain effective as the meta evolves. That’s really just the nature of stall as a playstyle, it’s very difficult to succeed consistently without adapting to the threats people are using.

However, it's not as though stall is some kind of matchup fish. It’s true that some games will be harder than others, and completely covering every threat is impossible. The thing is, you are very unlikely to run into a game where you can wall everything your opponent brings. The misconception some people seem to have about stall is that you have to eternally wall every pokemon to succeed with stall. In reality, all you have to do to win is outlast their offensive threats, which is facilitated by a number of sources of damage. Hazards, sand and chip from attacks add up quickly, and as long as you preserve the pokemon and pp you need to win, you can afford to take damage and lose pokemon. As long as you make more progress against your opponent than they can against you, you will be successful with stall.

I’ll talk a little about some of the changes the team has gone through to reach this point towards the end of this post since it’s not too relevant to this version and may drag on a bit. As far as the current build goes, I’ll give a brief overview before getting into specifics. There’s so much I still don’t know about this meta and I’m learning all the time, so please let me know if I overlooked a key threat or if there’s a change that would improve the team. That’s why I’m posting this after all!

Overview-

Skarmory checks a wide range of physical attackers and sets up Spikes to apply pressure throughout the game. Clefable handles plenty of special attackers while staying healthy thanks to Magic Guard and wears down the opponent with Knock Off and Seismic Toss. Scarf Rotom-A offers speed control to handle a number of speed boosters and offensive threats, with utility as a Ghost type blanking Explosions and Rapid Spins while threatening offense with burns and defense with Trick. Latias has the resistances to patch up some of the physical threats Skarmory can’t handle and special threats Clefable struggles with. All of these pokemon have an immunity to Spikes, which makes them consistent answers even in adverse conditions and gives them longevity in drawn out games. Jirachi and Hippowdon can’t claim the same, but a resistance to rocks and an immunity to sand ensures it isn’t too easy to wear them down either. Jirachi is essential as a second Dragon resist, and the best defensive pokemon in the tier. Iron Head, Protect and leftovers makes it very difficult for offense to break this monster, and it makes a good win condition given how good it is at wearing down and outlasting its checks. Hippowdon sets sand to wear down anything vulnerable to it, favouring the team with more sand immunities and longevity, which is usually this one. It gets rocks up reliably and handles a large range of offensive threats, particularly some mixed attackers which can potentially put the hurt on stall.

The Team-

Ammit (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off

A closer look -
Sand is extremely valuable here, wearing down anything vulnerable to it. The longer the game goes, the more damage sand will deal, making it an obvious inclusion on stall. I don’t think sand is strictly necessary on stall, but when it comes at the low price of running Hippowdon or Tyranitar it’s too good a deal to pass up. I prefer Hippowdon here for Slack Off and a much better typing. Tyranitar is very bulky on the special side, but can get worn down quickly when you consider its many weaknesses and lack of recovery. Hippowdon is much sturdier in long games, and provides a lot of value even outside of rocks and sand.

Mixed attackers like Flygon and Dragonite are traditionally terrifying for stall, and Hippowdon helps with playing around them, by virtue of being able to take any hit they can dish out and retaliate with Ice Fang. A healthy Hippowdon can take on a large portion of the metagame, from physical attackers like Tyranitar and Metagross to special attackers like Zapdos, Latias, even Gengar. An uninvested surf from a Starmie will miss the 3HKO, while Earthquake against the same target once lefties are knocked is a roll for a 2HKO, so Starmie has to think twice about switching in. Other notable threats to stall such as Infernape and Heatran are also handily dealt with in the 1v1.

Hippowdon’s achilles heel is really the vulnerability it has to hazards. This is often compensated for with spin support, but I much prefer to rely on hazard resilient teammates to pull some slack in Hippowdon’s harder matchups, such as against Toxic Spike builds. With layers of spikes up, Hippowdon has a hard time switching into much of anything. However, once it does find its way and can heal off the hazard damage, it can be difficult to uproot for teams reliant on hazards to do the heavy lifting.

Other options -

• An Impish nature with minimal investment can be used for more overall bulk and a sturdier check to physical threats, but Hippowdon really excels at taking on mixed attackers and being generally hard to force out. Taking out of SpDef will hurt a lot when taking Draco Meteors and Surfs, which Hippowdon often has to do.
• Ice Fang can be dropped, although this will come at the cost of effectively taking on dragons and doing well vs something like Gengar or Gliscor in a 1v1. Since Hippowdon is often needed to take on MixGon, which is notably resilient to hazards and sand, you may need to make some other changes to feel secure against such threats.
• Stealth Rock can be dropped since Clefable can run rocks instead, although Hippowdon is the best option for reliably getting them up ASAP. This opens a move on Hippowdon and potentially helps vs Starmie, but Hippowdon already does decently vs spin Starmie and Clefable will have to drop a move, probably Encore. This opens a weakness to some setup sweepers, so Hippowdon and/ or Latias would have to compensate with Roar, probably both.
• Roar would make Hippowdon less passive in some matchups and punish switchins like Gyarados with extra hazard damage. Scouting and shutting down some set up mons is useful too.
• Protect makes Hippowdon much harder to break through with extra lefties and scouting Choice locked moves. Helpful in some offensive matchups.
• Thunder Fang could be considered specifically for Gyarados, although the opportunity cost is too high in my opinion. Same story for moves like Toxic, Curse and Yawn - too specific.

Stymphalian (Skarmory) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Protect
- Whirlwind
- Roost

A closer look -
Skarmory has great physical bulk, a top tier typing, reliable recovery and high resilience to hazards and sand. Add in phazing and access to Spikes and Skarmory is a no-brainer on stall. Forretress represents the closest competition, but since this team is emphasising hazard resilience, the spin support isn’t nearly valuable enough to make up for the lack of phazing, recovery and inferior typing.

Spikes represent a large portion of this team's offensive pressure, so getting them up should be a priority. With full defence investment Skarmory can set up against a wide range of physical attackers. Skarmory of course has a lot of defensive utility, but most of its value on this team comes from the hazards it sets.

Protect is good here, particularly with leftovers, and makes Skarmory a nightmare to take out with unboosted attacks. Scouting for doubles, choice locks and coverage moves can be very useful in making more informed plays. That slot is very flexible though, and not too impactful on how the team as a whole functions. It’s very rare for Drill Peck/ Brave Bird to get the chance to hit something like Breloom in most cases anyway, so losing the Stab doesn’t really open the team up to any huge weaknesses I’m aware of.

Other options -

• Shed Shell is always an option, especially on stall. Very beneficial against Magnezone builds, hurts a bit in every other game. I recommend this change for a more well rounded, but potentially slightly less impressive, matchup spread. I go back and forth personally. Right now I prefer Shed Shell but I do consider Leftovers to be a slightly safer pick over a large sample size.
• Spikes, Roost and Whirlwind are basically non-negotiable, but the last move slot comes down to preference.
• Drill Peck/ Brave Bird are always solid options with use against Taunt users or frail pokemon like Infernape, Breloom and Starmie. Burning some of Clefable’s Soft-Boileds can come in handy too.
• Toxic has potential, although it’s completely blanked by a wide range of threats. It can be devastating against something like Zapdos on the switch, and puts a decent number of pokemon on a harsh timer while being somewhat unexpected.
• Counter is an option to take advantage of powerful physical attackers which try to beat Skarmory down with brute force, allowing for an unexpected KO on something like CB Gyarados or Tyranitar.
• Iron Defense takes a different route by adding some security against a range of physical threats and making Skarm nearly unbreakable outside of special attacks. Very win more, in making Skarmory’s good matchups great and doing nothing in games where Skarmory is easily forced out.
• Taunt has some use against other defensive teams, making it harder for them to stack hazards or denying recovery against something Skarmory phazed in. Probably worth running some speed to make the most of this move, although I find it’s not the most valuable option for this team.

Tsukomogami (Rotom-Heat) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 192 HP / 64 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick

A closer look -
Rotom doesn’t usually come into play as many times per game as the other pokemon on the team, but it never fails to have an impact when it does. Primarily, it serves as a check to set up sweepers such as Dragon Dance Gyarados and Dragonite, Swords Dance Lucario and Scizor, Agility Empoleon etc. It does this pretty effectively given the speed and coverage of this set, combined with resistances and immunities to priority like Mach Punch, Extreme Speed and Bullet Punch. Will-O-Wisp shuts down most physical attackers and is a pretty safe move to click in a lot of situations, since there aren’t many good switchins to it and something like a Clefable is quite telegraphed from the team composition.

Trick is effective at shutting down last mon sweep attempts should Clefable be unable to do so, since giving a Suicune, for example, a Choice Scarf will ruin its chances of breaking through this team. It can also ruin defensive answers to Rotom, such as Clefable or even something like a SpDef Heatran. Having a Choice Scarf also means Rotom can absorb an opponent's attempts to Trick, which is valuable given how devastating a successful Trick is against this team.

The weakness to Pursuit combined with locking into relatively weak special attacks has the potential to backfire if Tyranitar isn’t respected, which can limit what Rotom can do, but Tyranitar has to tread carefully around Will-O-Wisp.

Finally, having an immunity to Explosion and Rapid Spin can come in clutch for protecting its teammates and preserving the offensive pressure of hazards, respectively.

Other options -

• Not much I’m aware of, other than running a more offensive spread and potentially dropping Will-O-Wisp, but that move is busted so I don’t recommend it lol.
• If you decide to anyway, Shadow Ball and Overheat are the main options, and it’s pretty obvious what they hit, but losing the ability to hurt pretty much everything with a burn is sad.

Santa Coco (Latias) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 16 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Reflect
- Recover

A closer look -
Latias has some crucial resistances, most notably Fire and Water which the rest of the team is somewhat vulnerable to. The Fighting resistance is excellent as well, and Latias is my best answer to threats such as Breloom and Infernape. Latias is here to switch into such resisted attacks and stay healthy to support the defensive integrity of the team. As such, it tends to be easily forced out, since risking it against super effective hits or status is rarely worth it.

Keeping Latias safe when a threat it keeps in check is paired with Pursuit support can be the deciding factor in thwarting a team’s offense. Reflect and Thunder Wave can make Tyranitar’s life quite difficult, particularly with hazards up and limiting Tyranitar’s opportunities to successfully trap Latias. However, Tyranitar is always threatening, and can absolutely make a mess of Latias when played well so be careful.

Ice Beam allows Latias to answer Gliscor comfortably, while retaining coverage on Dragon types not called Kingdra. The chance for a freeze should also not be underestimated. I know relying on “hax” is frowned upon, but when Latias gets the opportunity to throw off an Ice Beam the potential for a freeze can be gamewinning. This is especially true in stall mirrors, where Latias may find numerous opportunities to fish against something like Clefable.

Thunder Wave is a more reliable source of status, and makes Latias significantly more threatening against offensive builds. Few pokemon appreciate paralysis, and the potential to completely stymie a large range of offensive threats can’t be ignored.

Other options -

• The big thing would be changing the nature to Bold and simply running more defense. Useful against physical attackers like Breloom and especially for surviving encounters with Tyranitar, but in practice I find I use Latias to sponge a lot of special attacks, so I prefer to make the most of her special bulk.
• Running more speed is another consideration, but I don’t want to take too much out of bulk. I find neutral natured Dragonite to be a good benchmark, but it wouldn’t take much to outspeed Jolly Breloom for example.
• Ice Beam could be replaced with Dragon Pulse for a Stab option with no secondary effect but better neutral coverage. Notable against frail Ice resists like Starmie and Infernape. In this case, Gliscor becomes a bit more threatening so at least keep Ice Fang on Hippowdon.
• Thunder Wave could be dropped, although losing the ability to cripple such a variety of threats is concerning. Still, there is a decent amount of status on this team, and Latias does have other good options.
• Roar is the most notable, and combined with hazards makes Latias notoriously difficult to deal with. It’s useful in a variety of situations, and punishes switchins quite effectively. It also helps play around stuff like CM Clefable or CroCune, although in the first case the chance of a freeze is concerning, and it won’t get worn down by entry hazards on phazing.
• Thunderbolt has some potential for the famed BoltBeam coverage it provides. Most useful against Gyarados, although also solid vs Empoleon and Starmie. Considering how effective paralysis can be against some of Thunderbolt’s targets it has a hard time outperforming Thunder Wave, but can be considered an option.

Babaroga (Clefable) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Soft-Boiled

A closer look -
Magic Guard must be the best ability in the game, as the longevity and consistency provided by an immunity to hazards, sand, and status (bar sleep, even full paralysis in this gen) is unparalleled. Blissey may have more bulk, but it can't compete when sand wears it down and hazards cut so deep into its hp. Clefable can switch into every hazard in the game and gain hp with leftovers, even in sand.

Clefable is my answer to most special attackers, which struggle to wear it down and struggle to outlast crippling Knock Offs and reliable Seismic Tosses. That combination makes Clefable surprisingly hard to switch into, especially for more balanced builds which rely heavily on leftovers for longevity.

Against certain boosted special attacks Clefable can falter, such as when Heatran or Zapdos equip a Choice Specs. In these cases, being able to rely on teammates to use their resistances can help keep Clefable safe.

Encore with slight speed investment gives my Clefable the edge in Clefable wars, and is especially important in warding off stall killers like CM variants of Clefable or Substitute/ set up users in general. Lasting for an insane 3-7 turns, any victim of Encore will most likely have to switch out or fall.

Other options -

• Honestly, Calm Mind Clefable isn’t out of the question for this team, but the game to game consistency of the SpDef Knock set outshines it in my eyes.
• Some PhysDef EVs can help with taking some attacks, up to you.
• Encore can be dropped if you really want, although I consider the move quite important against a variety of threats to this team. Shutting down set up attempts so effectively is incredibly desirable on an archetype so easily set up on. Sub CM Jirachi, CM Clefable and CroCune stand out as threats to this team Encore provides extra security against, and the extra weakness here should be addressed.
• I guess you could replace Knock Off if you really wanted to, but it’s so good I can’t really support it. Maybe Trick + Sticky Barb could serve as an alternative if you particularly fear Trick/ Breloom. Flame Orb could work as well but I definitely prefer Knock Off.
• If you do squeeze an extra moveslot out of Clefable, Stealth Rock is an option as mentioned with Hippowdon
• Protect is incredible, especially with Magic Guard, and I wish I could fit it here. Greater confidence against Heatran and potential Explosions comes to mind as a key selling point.
• Speaking of, Wish is cool, although Soft-Boiled is generally better, even with Protect.
• Clefable has a great movepool, and an appropriately high opportunity cost, so moves like Thunder Wave or Aromatherapy come at a high price. The benefits of these moves are obvious, if you can fit them.

Djinni (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 44 SpD / 36 Spe
Impish Nature
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- Wish
- Protect

A closer look -
Jirachi is not the most dominant pokemon in the tier for no reason; with great stats, a strong typing, an expansive movepool and an incredible ability it fits on basically every team style. Stall is no exception, as Jirachi has exceptional defensive utility with great resistances and bulk. Serene Grace Body Slams and Iron Heads are also quite punishing to switch into, and pair very well with Clefable’s Knock Off to really wear down the opposition.

This paraflinch combo with Protect and leftovers makes Jirachi one of the most difficult pokemon to KO in the tier, especially with Wish for even more recovery and situationally useful team support. With sand, some hazards and some patience, Jirachi can often outlast its offensive checks and proceed to completely lock down games against a lot of offensive builds.

A resistance to Dragon is noteworthy here, making Jirachi a good switch into Draco Meteors and Outrages, with the ability to punish Outrage locks in particular with crippling paralysis.

Jirachi does well against a wide range of threats, from Breloom to Gengar and even to Dragon Dance sweepers. The ability to take a hit and retaliate with status can put a stop to a lot of dangerous situations, although the inconsistency of Body Slam can backfire.

Against defensive teams, Jirachi is much less oppressive. The vulnerability to spikes combined with a lack of instant recovery can make phazing with hazards up quite threatening, and without attack investment, Jirachi won’t break through walls quickly. However, even here Jirachi has value with Wish support, spreading paralysis, and always having the potential to break through with some lucky flinches.

Other options -

• Of course you can mess with the EV spread, running more physical bulk or speed creep as you desire. It should be fine however you prefer, although I’m happy with this.
• SpDef is an option, running a Careful nature with heavy investment, although physical defence is my preference for security against a ton of stuff, like Breloom and Dragon Dancers. SpDef might make more sense if you decide to run a Bold CM Clefable, but be conscious of Heatran and Dragon Dance Tyranitar.
• I wouldn’t change the moves, although I suppose Thunder/ Thunderbolt is pretty reasonable over Body Slam. The coverage costs a lot of consistency with paralysis though, as well as missing out on Ground types which hurts vs Swampert, Gliscor and Flygon.
• Not much else to say, although you could try a more offensive variant with some coverage like Fire Punch over Wish. I put too much value on Jirachi’s defensive traits for that though.

Threat List-

• Abomasnow - Hail isn’t too bad, but Abomasnow is still dangerous. Leech Seed sets will probably force me to switch around carefully, but I have pretty good counterplay between my Steels and Clefable. Swords Dance is threatening when Skarmory lacks Shed Shell, since Magnezone support is likely. However, Latias and Rotom can live boosted Ice Shard to cripple it with status, Jirachi beats it as long as it doesn’t get trapped and Clefable can potentially Encore it. Shed Shell Skarmory does very well.
• Aerodactyl - Generic suicide lead, Hippowdon Ice Fangs it and gets rocks up later.
• Azelf - Much scarier suicide lead, due to its unpredictability. Jirachi can do well, but Thunder Wave is annoying while Fire Blast and Explosion sting. Hopefully I never see Nasty Plot, or it’s missing coverage for Latias. Banded shouldn’t be too bad, although Explosion will probably just kill something if I can’t Protect or go to Rotom on it.
• Blissey - Hazards and sand are Blissey’s big weaknesses so this team does well. Can get in and burn some pp from something, but not much more.
• Breloom - One of the biggest problems for any stall team, since Breloom can take something out with sleep while finding plenty of chances to get in thanks to Poison Heal. I don’t have sleep fodder, so it comes down to the least valuable member in the current game state. Latias handles it once something is asleep, but considering how often Breloom is paired with Tyranitar, these can be tough games. Jirachi is my next best response, although Focus Punch is brutal.
• Bronzong - Rarely too impactful, Skarmory is safe against basically everything and Rotom and Jirachi should also beat it.
• Celebi - Defensive sets aren’t scary, but Nasty Plot can be a real issue. Latias should handle it well though, and Skarmory is OK vs Earth Power variants. Clefable and Jirachi also do well 1v1.
• Clefable - Support sets are generally effective against my team, given my reliance on passive damage but my own Clefable should have the advantage with Encore. CM is very effective at dismantling stall, and I don’t have an abundance of phazers so it’s definitely a hard matchup. Encore has limited pp and Jirachi is entirely unreliable as an answer. That said, once it’s been Knocked Off, Jirachi does well. I have to hope my Encores and Jirachi will give me enough time to wear down Clefable’s team.
• Dragonite - Very consistent at blasting a hole in stall, and therefore a problem for this team. That said, my team should handle it quite well. Hippowdon takes a hit and Ice Fangs, Skarmory is a problem for physical Dragonite, Rotom can revenge kill it, Latias outspeeds non Jolly and OHKOs non yache variants, Clefable could Encore if absolutely necessary and Jirachi can take a hit to paralyse it.
• Donphan - Potentially problematic, especially with rest to avoid getting worn down. However, once it’s sleeping I can get some hazards up to keep some pressure up, and Rotom spin blocks while threatening Trick. Highlights the reliance this team has on wearing the opponent down with hazards and sand, and poses a pretty interesting threat, but it’s surprisingly rare for how decent it is.
• Empoleon - I hate this thing. Clefable with Encore is helpful for sure, and Rotom can revenge kill non Timid Agility Sets but when it comes out I always feel like I’m treading on thin ice. The potential for a Choice Specs or Swords Dance set doesn’t help matters, although both struggle with Latias.
• Flygon - Scarf is whatever, Banded is more dangerous but Skarmory is solid regardless. Mixed sets thrive in this matchup, but Hippowdon will stuff them for as long as it remains healthy.
• Froslass - Sets spikes and not much else. I built this team to operate even under hazards, and Froslass doesn’t bring anything too special as a spike setter so it's very manageable.
• Forretress - If it can keep hazards off then it’s a real pain, but I should at least keep rocks with Hippowdon and it can get worn down so it’s a very winnable matchup. If all my hazards go up I can potentially spin block with Rotom and threaten with Wisp.
• Gallade - Quite an uncommon lead, but good against stall. Trick in particular deserves mention, so Rotom is a decent option to absorb that and Close Combat, although Latias does well if they don’t Trick. Difficult to deal with though, because Zen Headbutt and Will-O-Wisp are also very real possibilities.
• Gengar - Pain in the ass, but not the end of the world. It often switches into Hippowdon which can do well in the 1v1, at least against non Wisp variants. Jirachi does even better, but also hates burn. Rotom can potentially pivot into Focus Blast to threaten it out. Latias can take a hit if necessary to paralyse Gengar, which will effectively neuter it.
• Gliscor - Another effective stallbreaker, the abundance of Ice moves on this team is testament to how threatening it can be. That said, I should be adequately prepared to handle it with this build.
• Gyarados - A big threat, and one of the best ways to exploit Hippowdon. Skarmory and Latias do well, phasing or paralysing it respectively, while Jirachi can take a hit to Body Slam it and Rotom can revenge kill it effectively. The Taunt set beating Latias and Skarmory is annoying, so moves like Brave Bird or Thunderbolt can be considered if you want.
• Heatran - IMO Heatran is one of the biggest threats to stall, whether it goes for power with Specs, luring Clefable with Explosion or a Trapping set with Magma Storm and Taunt. One of Tyranitar’s selling points over Hippowdon is handling this beast, but Hippowdon does quite well against it too, at least in the 1v1.
• Heracross - Despite being a slightly forgotten, and arguably underrated, pokemon Heracross can still put the hurt on. Skarmory and Rotom are good checks, but not foolproof, and Heracross could prove to be quite effective at breaking this team, if anyone used it. Rest Talk in particular can be nightmarish if Skarmory lacks Stab.
• Hippowdon - Spider-Man pointing. Stacking hazards and sitting on it with Skarmory is enough to handle it usually. Hitting it with status and/ or Knock Off helps a lot too.
• Infernape - I don’t really have any respect for Infernape. I guess it could be a threat, if it didn’t instantly die to hazards, sand and recoil. Hippowdon and Latias beat it and Rotom can help too.
• Jirachi - I won’t go in depth here, because this can be a million things and the response can vary drastically. Special sets are mostly handled by Hippowdon and Clefable. Physical sets have to get through Skarmory. Everything on this team can do well vs at least one variant of Jirachi, and everything can lose to at least one variant as well. It’s just that there’s no one set to solo this entire team. Obviously dangerous, playing sloppily around it can be gg, as can a string of rough luck, but in general it’s manageable.
• Kingdra - Yikes, my only Water resist is weak to Dragon. Specs forces me to switch around and play some prediction games, but I do have the resistances and Protects to get out with my life. Physical sets aren’t too bad, with a Skarmory, PhysDef Jirachi and Encore Clefable to handle Dragon Dance sweep attempts. On the other hand, a mixed Kingdra can be pretty nasty. Jirachi helps, and it can definitely get worn down by hazards and life orb, but setting rain is scary.
• Latias - No worries outside of Trick, or maybe offensive Calm Mind, but between Jirachi and Clefable, Latias is put in a pretty tight spot.
• Lucario - If Rotom is dead, then the only shot against a +2 Lucario is going to Latias and hoping they don’t have Crunch. On the bright side, it doesn’t have too many chances to set up, they rarely run Crunch, and Rotom is often alive. Agility or Scarf are less scary.
• Machamp - Between Wisp Rotom, Reflect Latias, Jirachi and Skarmory, Machamp should be covered decently well. Never count it out, Dynamic Punch can cheese a win at any time, but I don’t feel too bad about my odds.
• Magnezone - Does Skarmory have Shed Shell? If yes, then Magnezone is fine. If not, then this will be tough. Latias can eat anything and paralyse it, which allows Hippowdon to beat Magnet Rise sets and makes it harder to trap Jirachi. Clefable does well apart from maybe getting Exploded on.
• Mamoswine - Can Knock Off Skarmory’s Shed Shell for Magnezone to trap it easily, otherwise Skarmory should be fine. Also Latias is surprisingly OK, since they rarely have an Ice move stronger than Ice Shard. Same for Hippowdon I guess.
• Mesprit - The bias in including this is obvious lol. Copycat would be effective against this team, for spikes, Knock Off and recovery but Protect on Skarmory almost completely shuts it down. Without Protect, then Mesprit could potentially cut into the lifespan of Jirachi and Hippowdon, and dissuade the use of Whirlwind.
• Metagross - Hippowdon does well, forcing Explosion or a switch. Skarmory walls as long as I dodge a potential Trick. Rotom also beats it, and Latias and Jirachi can do surprisingly well against it.
• Milotic - Aside from the rare and unreliable Hypnosis, there isn’t much Milotic can do to threaten this team, and it gets worn down super hard.
• Moltres - If rocks stay up, it's going to have a hard time. If not, then Clefable will still handle it pretty comfortably.
• Nidoqueen - Poisoning Hippowdon is annoying, but that’s usually about it for Nidoqueen. It would be more dangerous with moves like Taunt or Super Fang, which wouldn’t be too much fun to deal with.
• Rhyperior - Can be dangerous, but this team is quite good at mitigating set up opportunities. That said, Encore with Clefable is a risky proposition, so it’s a real threat to this team. The damage this thing does at +2 is alarming, to say the least.
• Roserade - Sleep is sleep, but other than that Roserade isn’t too bad. Spikes and Toxic Spikes aren’t ideal, but they also aren’t the end of the world.
• Rotom-A - Clefable is a great answer, as long as it doesn’t get Tricked. Protect on Skarmory would help in that case, but with some smart switching it’s not necessary.
• Scizor - Choice Band Scizor can be annoying if I don’t get hazards up, but with Skarmory and Rotom I have good answers. Swords Dance is mostly taken care of by Rotom, but Skarmory, Hippowdon, Jirachi and even Encore Clefable can do well depending on the situation.
• Shaymin - Between Clefable, Jirachi and Latias it should have a hard time making too much progress, and is vulnerable to hazards and sand in return.
• Skarmory - I have had to pp stall Skarmory quite often, since nothing outside of Rotom and sometimes Clefable can really hurt it. That tends to be fine though, since in exchange for their spikes I’ll usually get my own hazards up as well.
• Slowbro - Uncommon indeed, and pretty harmless without Calm Mind. With Calm Mind, it still finds Clefable obnoxious. Knock Off, sand, hazards and potential status all really hurt Slowbro, so the chances of it outlasting my Encore pp are slim.
• Smeargle - Sleep and spikes. Basically a worse Roserade, and I have a good chance of waking up at some point since Smeargle will probably go down quite quickly.
• Starmie - Pretty interesting hazard wars can result from Starmie. This team has the tools to come out on top, or at least to keep up rocks, but it’s definitely one of the more interesting pokemon to run up against. Could go either way, but I tend to feel pretty good about my chances against Starmie teams. Specs Starmie is entirely different of course, as a pure offensive threat. Latias takes Hydro Pump with ease but hates Ice Beam and Trick, so it can become another case of prediction.
• Suicune - Makes me wish I had Roar on Latias. 8 Encore pp isn’t all that much, but between that, Trick, sand and hazards then I have a good shot against Rest Suicune. Offensive Suicune is a different beast - more immediately threatening but much easier to wear down. I don’t like seeing Suicune with this team, but I think the tools to play around it are there.
• Swampert - Skarmory can usually come in to lay some spikes. Burning it with Rotom works, but it also hates Knock Off and really hates switching into fully stacked hazards.
• Tangrowth - More sleep. Potentially a physically offensive set with Knock Off and Magnezone support, but it won’t do much to Latias.
• Tentacruel - As a spinner, Tentacruel will almost surely lose the hazard war given its complete lack of longevity in sand, especially when switching into hazards. Toxic Spikes only hit Hippowdon so Tentacruel is quite bad against this team.
• Togekiss - Sub Roost Nasty Plot is quite yucky, but it doesn’t set up too easily without fishing for full paralysis. It also needs a bit of luck to flinch through this team, and Rotom helps. Keeping rocks up makes it easier to handle. Unethical mon.
• Tyranitar - Choice Band is probably the most dangerous. I have answers to it, the issue is how much pressure it can put on Latias on top of potentially removing Rotom. Scarf is similar. In both cases, it just seems to be a case of outplaying and outlasting them with Latias. I prefer to see Dragon Dance, since I have Hippowdon, Jirachi, Skarmory, Scarf Wisp Rotom and Encore Clefable.
• Uxie - Trick Scarf can be a problem, and I don’t enjoy the matchup vs full rain at all. However, with Latias, Jirachi, Clefable, and Rotom being quite useful, and Hippowdon’s Sand Stream, it’s not really that bad. Other than that, the most Uxie can really do is Knock Off, which is annoying but not too bad.
• Zapdos - Pressure means Zapdos can be annoying in pp stall wars, but a weakness to Ice, coupled with a vulnerability to Knock Off Clefable and sand chip means defensive Zapdos will struggle to make much headway against this team. Offensive variants are on a much faster timer, and without Specs Clefable is a good answer. With Specs, they have to contend with choosing the right move against Hippowdon, Latias, Clefable and Jirachi, so I should be favoured in that case.

LMK if I forgot something major!

Old Members-

Godzilla (Tyranitar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Rest/ Protect

Tyranitar is a pretty intuitive pokemon for a build like this - sand, rocks, ridiculous special bulk. I dropped it for Hippowdon, who has better typing and Slack Off, but being able to shrug off anything Heatran can do is amazing. For some idea of how bulky this is, at full health, it lives a life orb Gengar Focus Blast...

Bean Sídhe (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Grass Knot/ Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]/ Thunder Wave
- Perish Song/ Stealth Rock
- Recover

Before I considered Latias, Celebi filled some of the same roles, while also putting a stop to any last insert CM mon sweep. Now that I run Encore Clefable, this is not too needed, which is good because Perish Song has quite a narrow application and doesn’t come into play often enough to earn a spot on the team. I like Celebi with rocks better, since it dominates Starmie while still handling plenty of physical threats, like Gyarados, Swampert and Breloom. With HP Ice it also does pretty well against Dragonite. Not a bad mon at all, but with Hippowdon and Latias it doesn’t quite fit this build anymore.

Nessie (Milotic) @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def/ 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Haze
- Recover

Being somewhat unsatisfied with Celebi as a water resist with set up counterplay, I turned to Milotic. It certainly did the job, but there was still a problem. Just like Celebi, Milotic is neutral to rocks, vulnerable to sand and hit by (toxic) spikes. I found that it was too easy to overwhelm with the right conditions in play, so I finally moved towards Latias. Thanks to levitate, it becomes much harder to pressure with hazards and I’ve been much happier with it so far.

Nosferatu (Gliscor) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Wing Attack/ Ice Fang
- Taunt
- Roost

One of my first thoughts when building stall was Gliscor. It’s very hard to wear down and can pressure other stall quite effectively with Taunt for such a defensively sound pokemon. Handling threats like Breloom and Lucario is appealing, and it did well enough on the team. However, it wasn’t super important or irreplaceable, and with Hippowdon, Latias and Rotom-A I’ve covered the hole it left quite nicely.

Closing Thoughts-

As far as ladder success goes, my current peak is 2nd place with this team, but I’m still going for 1st. Not too important since the ladder is quite inactive, but at least it shows I’ve played with this team a decent amount. I know it’s not an especially innovative or unique build, but I did put quite a lot of thought into it so I hope it has at least some flavour. Thanks for reading, I know this was a long one lol. Feel free to try the team and let me know what you think. Bye!

Importable

Ammit (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off

Stymphalian (Skarmory) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Protect
- Whirlwind
- Roost

Tsukomogami (Rotom-Heat) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 192 HP / 64 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick

Santa Coco (Latias) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 16 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Reflect
- Recover

Babaroga (Clefable) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Soft-Boiled

Djinni (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 44 SpD / 36 Spe
Impish Nature
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- Wish
- Protect

Update - It's been a few months, and I wanted to add a couple replays and mention the changes I've made with the feedback I got in case anyone reads this in the future. I don't save too many replays but I used it in a few tournament games this year, so here they are.

vs CyberOdin (w)
vs MAX UND MAX (L)
vs SFG (w)

And the updated team would look something like this.

Importable2

Ammit (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Atk / 112 Def / 120 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off

Stymphalian (Skarmory) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 56 SpD / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Drill Peck
- Whirlwind
- Spikes
- Roost

Tsukomogami (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Santa Coco (Latias) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 8 SpD / 32 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Roar
- Recover

Babaroga (Clefable) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 72 Def / 184 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Soft-Boiled

Djinni (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Wish
- Protect

I'm not sure about Fire Punch/ U-Turn on this Jirachi, but I feel one of these or Shed Shell on Skarmory is unfortunately quite important in this Magnezone riddled metagame. That's all from me. If you happen to read this tomorrow, merry Christmas!

 

[BKC]

This is quite a solid team and the only changes you might want to test are minor tweaks. My biggest suggestion is to make Rotom a ResTalk variant. I know the Speed is nice, but it's not really needed on stall teams like these, which have an incredible defensive core that doesn't really need to revenge kill threats - in fact, doing this bolsters the core further by adding a sleep absorber, making Breloom and friends significantly easier to deal with. This also helps a lot with annoying paralysis teams and the longevity is great against more defensive stuff.

I usually like Shadow Ball as the attacking move on RT Rotom, and it's definitely the move here - this team is exceedingly well-equipped against Gyarados, and SBall does a lot of important things for you. In addition to actually hitting Breloom if push comes to shove, you also gain a method of battering away at Taunt Gliscor, forcing it to expend more Roost PP. However, the main reason is so you have a tool for threatening the single biggest threat to the team, TauntWisp Gengar. (I suggest a healthy chunk of SpDef EVs.) Yeah, Calm max Clef (definitely keep this) can try to pivot in and get the Knock Off, but it's not as effective at this without Protect (and even then it's still shaky, and this team really loves Encore), so it's important to shore up this weakness wherever you can.

In a similar vein, I would consider Psychic somewhere on Latias, especially because you already run Calm (ps you can consider adding 8 more SpDef EVs so you always live +Speed MixGon from full). Unfortunately, it's difficult to fit - though I definitely don't think you need both Thunder Wave and Reflect, whereas you definitely need Ice Beam for Gliscor - but this would let you go from 5/6 Pokemon dominated by Gar and a shaky half-check to not only having three Pokemon that can handle it somewhat, but also having have two Pokemon that can pivot into Focus Blast and then actually threaten it back.

Nice work on the team and congrats on ladder. Best of luck!

 

[Pideous]

This is quite a solid team and the only changes you might want to test are minor tweaks. My biggest suggestion is to make Rotom a ResTalk variant. I know the Speed is nice, but it's not really needed on stall teams like these, which have an incredible defensive core that doesn't really need to revenge kill threats - in fact, doing this bolsters the core further by adding a sleep absorber, making Breloom and friends significantly easier to deal with. This also helps a lot with annoying paralysis teams and the longevity is great against more defensive stuff.

I usually like Shadow Ball as the attacking move on RT Rotom, and it's definitely the move here - this team is exceedingly well-equipped against Gyarados, and SBall does a lot of important things for you. In addition to actually hitting Breloom if push comes to shove, you also gain a method of battering away at Taunt Gliscor, forcing it to expend more Roost PP. However, the main reason is so you have a tool for threatening the single biggest threat to the team, TauntWisp Gengar. (I suggest a healthy chunk of SpDef EVs.) Yeah, Calm max Clef (definitely keep this) can try to pivot in and get the Knock Off, but it's not as effective at this without Protect (and even then it's still shaky, and this team really loves Encore), so it's important to shore up this weakness wherever you can.

In a similar vein, I would consider Psychic somewhere on Latias, especially because you already run Calm (ps you can consider adding 8 more SpDef EVs so you always live +Speed MixGon from full). Unfortunately, it's difficult to fit - though I definitely don't think you need both Thunder Wave and Reflect, whereas you definitely need Ice Beam for Gliscor - but this would let you go from 5/6 Pokemon dominated by Gar and a shaky half-check to not only having three Pokemon that can handle it somewhat, but also having have two Pokemon that can pivot into Focus Blast and then actually threaten it back.

Nice work on the team and congrats on ladder. Best of luck!

I like the idea of RT Rotom as a sleep absorber, and Psychic is a good thought for Gengar. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll be sure to give them a go!

 

[Excal]

I made this 6 in late 2018 to get reqs for the Latias suspect test. This suspect test was particularly brutal, with high GXE requirements, a high # of required games, and a ton of sweaty tryhards eager to try a rejuvenated DPP metagame. This was one of the first new stalls made in the Latias meta, along with august's hippo zap stall and bkc's hippo gliscor stall. The difference in this one between those other two was that it went for increased spikes immunity alongside hippo dropping rapid spin (Starmie). I used an aged variant, with Wish Thunder IH Tect Jirachi to deny/lure Skarmory as well as old pieces of stall like Scarf Rotom. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-830250209

I used this team quite a bit after the Latias suspect with several different tweaks and variations, tailoring it to face the different constantly popping up metagame trends that came with a very unexplored metagame. Unfortunately these days, this 6 is not nearly as serviceable, and has fundamental + unsolvable issues. My rate will explore those, and will be based on the exact variant you have in your RMT, ignoring the other options you list.

With Leftovers Skarmory + Leftovers WishTectIHSlam Jirachi, Magnezone will be a dehabilitating matchup, as you'll inevitably lose two tremendous defensive pieces without having much counterplay at all. Recover Starmie teams should have a winning matchup because Scarf Rotom can't last long term (and will be quite predictable), and the Latias set is completely walled by mie. You have the right idea to use Ice Beam to slightly compensate for the crippling Gliscor weakness this 6 is prone to, but you probably can't afford Reflect and Twave together on this, like BKC alluded to above. BKC is also right that Scarf Rotom is pretty much obsolete on modern stall. It doesn't last long enough and this team in particular cannot pair it with any sort of offensive pressure, meaning you will have to unreliably win several 50/50s to execute your gameplan. It's hard to blame the choice for Scarf Rotom though, as without it the team is extremely slow and if you try to give it more speed by, for example, making Jirachi offensive, you get ran over by Latias which will have very little defensive counterplay and you're slower than it for the most part anyway. Protect on Skarmory is a wasted slot. You need that slot to wear down the likes of Gliscor/Clefable/Gyarados, as well as OHKO Breloom, which becomes a huge issue. In the replay I linked if I had no flying attack (although I'm using shed), Gliscor would be absolutely unplayable.

The biggest issue this type of stall team has is opposing defense: a well-played Gliscor + friends should outlast and tear this team apart. In addition, a defensive team with Bold Calm Mind Clefable will similarly be very difficult to deal with. After realizing the unsolvable weakness of this team, I only loaded it if I felt better than my opponent by a significant margin, to the point where even if they loaded a defensive Gliscor team, I could outmaneuver them and make it work in a losing matchup. If you want to make a defensive hippo team work well these days without very pronounced weaknesses, look at the sample BKC stall team for a decent basis with tools to overcome defense as well as more modern Hippo + Magnezone balances. Osgoode's 6 of Hippo / Mag / Lati / Clef / Gliscor / Jirachi took last SPL and classic by storm with some very consistent results. The metagame has adapted a bit more to it but nonetheless it's serviceable.

I hope you don't interpret this as overly harsh; I'm assuming you built this in good faith and really explored & optimized this on your own, which is commendable. But it's true that this 6 has been used for around 3 years now and has seen several variations in smaller tournaments. Other games that come to my mind besides my own are cased vs tama in the dpp latias suspect tour, emeral vs pkel sweetforu in dpp global, and sfg vs pheo in dpp ribbon poffs. I hope you found this informative and good luck continuing to build in DPP.

 

[Pideous]

I made this 6 in late 2018 to get reqs for the Latias suspect test. This suspect test was particularly brutal, with high GXE requirements, a high # of required games, and a ton of sweaty tryhards eager to try a rejuvenated DPP metagame. This was one of the first new stalls made in the Latias meta, along with august's hippo zap stall and bkc's hippo gliscor stall. The difference in this one between those other two was that it went for increased spikes immunity alongside hippo dropping rapid spin (Starmie). I used an aged variant, with Wish Thunder IH Tect Jirachi to deny/lure Skarmory as well as old pieces of stall like Scarf Rotom. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-830250209

I used this team quite a bit after the Latias suspect with several different tweaks and variations, tailoring it to face the different constantly popping up metagame trends that came with a very unexplored metagame. Unfortunately these days, this 6 is not nearly as serviceable, and has fundamental + unsolvable issues. My rate will explore those, and will be based on the exact variant you have in your RMT, ignoring the other options you list.

With Leftovers Skarmory + Leftovers WishTectIHSlam Jirachi, Magnezone will be a dehabilitating matchup, as you'll inevitably lose two tremendous defensive pieces without having much counterplay at all. Recover Starmie teams should have a winning matchup because Scarf Rotom can't last long term (and will be quite predictable), and the Latias set is completely walled by mie. You have the right idea to use Ice Beam to slightly compensate for the crippling Gliscor weakness this 6 is prone to, but you probably can't afford Reflect and Twave together on this, like BKC alluded to above. BKC is also right that Scarf Rotom is pretty much obsolete on modern stall. It doesn't last long enough and this team in particular cannot pair it with any sort of offensive pressure, meaning you will have to unreliably win several 50/50s to execute your gameplan. It's hard to blame the choice for Scarf Rotom though, as without it the team is extremely slow and if you try to give it more speed by, for example, making Jirachi offensive, you get ran over by Latias which will have very little defensive counterplay and you're slower than it for the most part anyway. Protect on Skarmory is a wasted slot. You need that slot to wear down the likes of Gliscor/Clefable/Gyarados, as well as OHKO Breloom, which becomes a huge issue. In the replay I linked if I had no flying attack (although I'm using shed), Gliscor would be absolutely unplayable.

The biggest issue this type of stall team has is opposing defense: a well-played Gliscor + friends should outlast and tear this team apart. In addition, a defensive team with Bold Calm Mind Clefable will similarly be very difficult to deal with. After realizing the unsolvable weakness of this team, I only loaded it if I felt better than my opponent by a significant margin, to the point where even if they loaded a defensive Gliscor team, I could outmaneuver them and make it work in a losing matchup. If you want to make a defensive hippo team work well these days without very pronounced weaknesses, look at the sample BKC stall team for a decent basis with tools to overcome defense as well as more modern Hippo + Magnezone balances. Osgoode's 6 of Hippo / Mag / Lati / Clef / Gliscor / Jirachi took last SPL and classic by storm with some very consistent results. The metagame has adapted a bit more to it but nonetheless it's serviceable.

I hope you don't interpret this as overly-harsh; I'm assuming you built this in good faith and really explored & optimized this on your own, which is commendable. But it's true that this 6 has been used for around 3 years now and has seen several variations in smaller tournaments. Other games that come to my mind besides my own are cased vs tama in the dpp latias suspect tour, emeral vs pkel sweetforu in dpp global, and sfg vs pheo in dpp ribbon poffs. I hope you found this informative and good luck continuing to build in DPP.

Thanks for the feedback, it's very much appreciated! It's a shame to hear this team has been explored before and isn't as viable these days at a high level of play, but the flaws you point out make a lot of sense. It's an archetype I've enjoyed on the ladder, but against stronger opponents the weaknesses do become very hard to outplay. It's a bit embarrassing to learn that I haven't really come up with anything new here, but I definitely didn't mean to rip anyone off, I really had no idea this 6 had seen such use. Thanks for the pointers on some other effective defensive builds, I'll be sure to check them out!

Also, Rest Talk Rotom has felt a lot better, the scarf Rotom wasn't a very good fit for the build and the change was a big improvement. Going back to a Flying move on Skarm seems wise. Not having anything to hit those targets you mentioned does seem like quite the handicap. Thanks for all the help :)