After the Dynamax ban, I set out to build a full stall team, which I thought was going to be a strong and relatively underexplored playstyle post Dynamax ban.
I ended up doing fairly well with it on ladder, and I've gotten many requests for the team, so I decided to RMT it, especially since the meta is likely going to change post Darmanitan ban.
P.S Darmanitan didn't deserve to be quickbanned ):
Team Details:
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Body Press
- Taunt
- Defog
- Roost
Main Role:
Corviknight is by far the best hazard control in the tier right now, beating nearly every hazard setter in the tier with Taunt + Pressure, which is quite useful for stall teams.
Set Details:
Body Press allows Corviknight to beat SD Excadrill, Bisharp and Tyranitar, while Taunt prevents hazard setters such as Ferrothorn and Corsola from staying in and spamming hazards while draining Corviknight's HP and PP. Its also useful situationally to shut down slower passive pokemon such as Toxapex and Snorlax.
Physically Defensive is chosen over Specially Defensive to better answer Excadrill and Bisharp, while the special fairies are already well handled by Sylveon and Gastrodon.
Relaxed 0 Speed IV's lets Corviknight underspeed 0 speed Conkeldurr by one point, allowing it to spam Roost and stall it out of PP if it is not carrying Thunder Punch.
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Baneful Bunker
- Recover
Main Role:
Toxapex is an excellent blanket check for threats such as Cinderace and Dracovish, and can be very difficult to kill for many teams between Regenerator and Baneful Bunker.
Set Details:
Toxic threatens bulkier pokemon that are otherwise difficult to break such as Mandibuzz and Seismitoad, and also puts offensive threats that try to switch in or set up on a timer. Baneful Bunker scouts Dracovish and puts it on a timer while also stalling poisoned pokemon, and was also useful for scouting Darmanitan.
Physically Defensive Pex is chosen over Specially Defensive Toxapex to better answer Dracovish and rain.
Shed Shell is opted for over Black Sludge, as Toxapex already has high longevity with Regenerator, and in many matchups losing Toxapex to Dugtrio is suboptimal.
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Calm Mind
Main Role:
Sylveon replaces Chansey as the blanket special defensive wall, capable of answering threats such as Dragapult, Hydreigon and LO Clef that can be otherwise difficult to switch into.
Set Details:
Calm Mind is preferred over Mystical Fire, as this team typically does not mind letting in Ferrothorn or Excadrill, while choiced Aegislash can be scouted with Protect. In comparison, Calm Mind allows Sylveon to win in endgame situations and boost alongside threats such as Hatterene and CM Clefable.
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 148 Def / 64 SpD / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Rest
- Nasty Plot
Main Role:
This NP Rotom-Heat set given to me by power is a very reliable win condition, capable of threatening standard Ferro-Pex-Corviknight defensive cores while being untrappable by Dugtrio, that can otherwise be troublesome to break through.
Its also got good defensive utility, capable of switching into LO Clef, Rotom-Mow, Corviknight and the now banned Darmanitan.
Set Details:
Thunderbolt is preferable over Discharge to secure certain damage benchmarks such as against Toxapex and Snorlax, while the team prefers most threats to be burned or poisoned rather than paralysed. Rest is chosen as it is the best form of recovery Rotom has access to, which allows it to be a long-term wincon, and outlast most of its checks.
Leftovers is preferable over Heavy-Duty Boots, as paired with Taunt Corviknight the vast majority of games Stealth Rock is down, and Leftovers significantly increases Rotom's longevity.
The speed investment creeps 252 speed Aegislash and Clefable, while the special defense investment recommended by stfu itz a cartoon prevents Seismitoad's Scald from 2hkoing and Toxapex's Scald from 3hkoing. The rest of the bulk went into defense to cushion hits from physical threats such as the late Darmanitan-Galar.
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Clear Smog
Main Role:
Gastrodon is one of the only reliable counters to Rotom-Wash and Rotom-Heat. Its also the primary switchin to Aegislash, and defeats CM Hatterene sets, especially Psyshock or Stored Power sets that can break Sylveon.
Set Details:
Scald allows Gastrodon to threaten Rotom-Heat and burn switchins, while Earth Power primarily hits Aegislash that attempt to stay in while in Blade form while avoiding burns. Clear Smog is used to remove boosts from threats such as Hatterene, although having less PP than Calm Mind must be taken into account.
Maximum Special Defense is opted for to minimise the damage taken from Specs Aegislash in particular, which 2hkos mixed bulk spreads.
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
IVs: 21 HP / 0 Def
- Earthquake
- Reversal
- Sucker Punch
- Stone Edge
Main Role:
The arena trapper himself returns to stall after three generations of Arena Trap bans. Dugtrios traps a variety of wallbreakers that otherwise don't have good switchins, such as Obstagoon, Toxtricity, Dracozolt, Tyranitar and the late CBCB Darmanitan. In general, if its groundbound and not a ghost, its probably trappable by Dugtrio.
Set Details:
Sucker Punch threatens out Gengar and kills weakened Dragapult in a pinch, while Stone Edge threatens out Rotom-Heat/Togekiss, and can kill weakened Mandibuzz.
A Lonely nature and 0 Defense is used to bring Dugtrio to its sash after switching into non CB Tyranitar's Stone Edge, while not minimising Special Defense is preferred to survive weak special attacks such as Toxapex Scald. 21 HP ivs brings Dugtrio to 1 hp after two Night Shades or Seismic Tosses.
A speed-boosting nature is not required, as the only pokemon sitting between Dugtrio's neutral and + speed tiers are Gengar, Cinderace and +1 Tyranitar, which is threatened by Sucker Punch, not a threat with Toxapex and trapped anyway respectively.
Threatlist:
Conkeldurr: Standard Facade or Defog sets are walled by Corviknight. If its running Close Combat, Dugtrio can trap it, while Thunder Punch and Bulk Up sets can nominally be forced out by Sylveon if slower. Running speed on Sylveon is a good idea to creep Conkeldurrs.
Crawdaunt: Banded sets are trapped by Dugtrio: SD sets are much more threatening. Dugtrio can trap after a sac if hazards are down, and Toxapex can threaten a Bunker poison to wear it down.
Corviknight: Notable not for being able to break, but rather for being able to Pressure Defogs. With only a single defogger, Defog pp will run out before Stealth Rock pp. Typically in this match-up, either the Stealth Rocker needs to be neutered using trapping or status , or the game won before Defog pp becomes problematic by using Rotom-Heat.
Ghost-types: With the lack of a ghost resist, ghosts like Specs Aegislash, NP Gengar and even Chandelure spamming Shadow Ball can threaten crits/spdef drops. Gastrodon nominally walls these pokemon, but in practice is getting crit or spdef dropped. Sylveon can pivot into choiced ghost moves, while Rotom-Heat forces out Aegislash and Dugtrio forces out both Aegis and Gengar.
Swords Dance Aegislash sets are also somewhat threatening, but can be threatened with Scald burns/ Earth Power, or forced out with Rotom-Heat.
Kommo-O: Walls Rotom and Sylveon, so it can be difficult to play around. Soundproof Belly Drum running Earthquake has no counterplay: other offensive Throat Spray or DD sets can be threatened with Toxic from Toxapex. Defensive sets are defogged on by Corviknight and can be chipped and trapped using Rotom-Heat and Dugtrio. Running Moonblast on Sylveon can help with this matchup.
Substitute: Setup sweepers such as SubDD Dragapult and SubDD Gyarados can set up on most of the team and sweep. Sylveon can beat SubDD Dragapult at full HP, but Gyarados sets running Substitute can't be reliably threatened by the team. Running Haze on Toxapex to remove boosts or Brave Bird on Corviknight to break subs can improve these matchups.
Trick: With the lack of Megas and Z-Moves, tricking a Choice item is guaranteed to cripple one pokemon. Trick is usually limited to Rotoms and Gengar, meaning that usually Gastrodon can absorb the Trick, although cores such as Trick Rotom + Specs Aegislash can be difficult to handle . Try to get the scarf on Rotom-Heat or Dugtrio depending on the matchup. Sticky Hold on Gastrodon can beat trick users, although losing out on Storm Drain can make Dracovish and Rotom-Wash harder to handle.
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Body Press
- Taunt
- Defog
- Roost
Toxapex @ Shed Shell
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Baneful Bunker
- Recover
Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Calm Mind
Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 148 Def / 64 SpD / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Rest
- Nasty Plot
Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Clear Smog
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
IVs: 21 HP / 0 Def
- Earthquake
- Reversal
- Sucker Punch
- Stone Edge
