Introduction
Heya Smogon. This RMT is basically a regular Gen 5 stall team. Thanks to new Pokemon such as the Burungeru/Nattorei core and items like Evolution Stone for Pokemon like Chansey, stall has been as dominating a force as ever. Unfortunately, it has been look down upon in place of more Hyper Offensive teams that erupted when pokemon like Shaymin-S had slipped through the initial banlist, and it looks like the metagame has been cemented into the form of Offense. However, after seeing many various players using stall effectively, I have come to see how stall is still an amazing force in this metagame, and I hope you will too. This team is by no means perfect, and still needs quite a bit of work, so I hope you are willing to chip in your ideas.
Team Building Process
The formula for my stall team follows a very simple premise. Find what is most popular in the metagame, and counter accordingly using bulky walls. Bliss/Skarm has been a core that has proven itself in the past several times, and continues to dominate the face of stall today. It checks many various threats, though with the invention of Psycho Shock, Blissey is not the great special sponge she once was, and there are many physical attackers like Blaziken, Hihidaruma, and to a lesser extent Landlos, which can break Skarmory's defenses.
Evolution Stone Dusclops was used over Burungeru as my spinblocker, specifically for the fact that it can shrug of most of Excadrill's (the most prominent spinner in this metagame) hits and hopefully burn in the process. The lack of leftovers hurts it quite a lot, but its amazing physical bulk and low HP means it is one of the perfect partners for Blissey, as Blissey can wish passes while Dusclops can wall a large portion of physical attackers.
Tentacruel was used because I needed a Toxic Spiker. I also wanted a Rapid Spinner. I shrugged off the idea of Forretress because it was generally too weak. The Explosion and Payback nerfs really crippled it. Starmie was considered for the role of a spinner; however, its lack of Toxic Spikes and inability to break through Burungeru and Dusclops forced me to choose Tentacruel as my Spinner and Toxic Spiker.
Swampert was chosen as a generic mixwall, and also a nice counter to almost all variants of Tyranitar. I chose to put Stealth Rock on it since it is the only Pokemon with a free slot on my team and could carry Stealth Rock. It is also the closest thing I have to a lead, countering the various Tyranitar leads that dominate the metagame.
Finally I needed something to patch up the small spots that the core of my team cannot defeat. I realised that, like with most stall teams, I have problem with Calm Mind / Cursing Rest Talkers such as CroCune, CurseLax and a new threat to stall itself Rankurusu. I chose Psych Up Barujiana for this role, an unorthdox member but a potent glue for my team.
I later weeded out the weaker members of my team and replaced them. Barujiana was replaced by Unaware Quagsire, who also took over for Swampert. Swampert was replaced by Celebi, mostly because I couldn't find a better Stealth Rock setter. Finally, Forretress replaced Tentacruel, as the metagame was generally not very nice to Tentacruel (Ground Attacks, Physical Attacks, etc).
Evolution Stone Dusclops was used over Burungeru as my spinblocker, specifically for the fact that it can shrug of most of Excadrill's (the most prominent spinner in this metagame) hits and hopefully burn in the process. The lack of leftovers hurts it quite a lot, but its amazing physical bulk and low HP means it is one of the perfect partners for Blissey, as Blissey can wish passes while Dusclops can wall a large portion of physical attackers.
Tentacruel was used because I needed a Toxic Spiker. I also wanted a Rapid Spinner. I shrugged off the idea of Forretress because it was generally too weak. The Explosion and Payback nerfs really crippled it. Starmie was considered for the role of a spinner; however, its lack of Toxic Spikes and inability to break through Burungeru and Dusclops forced me to choose Tentacruel as my Spinner and Toxic Spiker.
Swampert was chosen as a generic mixwall, and also a nice counter to almost all variants of Tyranitar. I chose to put Stealth Rock on it since it is the only Pokemon with a free slot on my team and could carry Stealth Rock. It is also the closest thing I have to a lead, countering the various Tyranitar leads that dominate the metagame.
Finally I needed something to patch up the small spots that the core of my team cannot defeat. I realised that, like with most stall teams, I have problem with Calm Mind / Cursing Rest Talkers such as CroCune, CurseLax and a new threat to stall itself Rankurusu. I chose Psych Up Barujiana for this role, an unorthdox member but a potent glue for my team.
I later weeded out the weaker members of my team and replaced them. Barujiana was replaced by Unaware Quagsire, who also took over for Swampert. Swampert was replaced by Celebi, mostly because I couldn't find a better Stealth Rock setter. Finally, Forretress replaced Tentacruel, as the metagame was generally not very nice to Tentacruel (Ground Attacks, Physical Attacks, etc).
In-Depth Analysis
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Psychic
- Heal Bell
The closest thing I have to a lead, though Team Preview really destroyed the concept of a lead slot. It is my Stealth Rock user, as well as my Cleric. It walls other threats and is my trick absorber, hitting pretty hard with 100 base Special Attack, even uninvested. Psychic was used over Grass Knot to counter Breloom, who is a real pain in the neck for this team. It also hits Rotom-W harder (who weighs like -10 grams), despite being not as effective . It can take out weakened fighting threats also, such as Conkeldurr, who is also a real pain. I'm considering pasting more Special Defensive EV's on Celebi just to make it more of a Mix-Wall, but I'm not sure how much I should shove in.
Spinblocker (Dusclops) (M) @ Evolution Stone
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Night Shade
- Will-O-Wisp
A super bulky spinblocker arrived in Generation 3 in the name of Dusclops. His standing as the premier spinblocker had been crushed in Generation 4, when his evolution Dusknoir arrived on the scene, and the extremely annoying Rotom-Appliance forms were introduced. However, he arrives back in the game with a new trick in the form of Evolution Stone. Thanks to his low HP and super high defenses, Dusclops is an amazing spinblocker. Unfortunately, he has no passive recovery, takes a ton from entry hazards and his defenses are only so high.
His set is relatively simple, a rest talker mimicking that of Rotom-A. Will-O-Wisp will make most physical threats think twice about staying in, if they're not getting walled in the first place. EV's were initially dumped into Special Defense to handle Starmie better; however, I have been seeing less and less of Starmie around, probably thanks to the mass usage of Ferrothorn.
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
- Toxic
Other than Tentacruel, Cloyster, and Omystar, Forretress is the only Pokemon capable of Rapid Spinning and setting up Toxic Spikes at the same Time. Cloyster has Cloyster syndrome, taking 25% from SR and thus getting wrecked by the hazards which he attempts to spin away, which really makes its life a living hell. Tentacruel on the other hand, is generally too frail for my liking as I stated earlier. Omystar has a horrible typing, and even though it can "counter" Darmartian, it has less defenses than Forretress.
Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin are a staple for most stall teams, and is even more important for hard stall. Gyro Ball was chosen as a general STAB and pretty heavy hitting move. Unfortunately for Forretress, he is unhappily walled by Burungeru, the most used spinblocker of 5th generation. The payback nerf did not help his cause either. Toxic was used as a what the hell move, and it really suprises Pokemon who use Forretress as setup fodder. It also helps against Burungeru.
Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
Skarmory was the main physical wall since Generation 2; not much has changed about it. Generation 4 just enhanced its dominance with the addition of Roost, and it is still much the same as it always has been in Generation 5. My dominant physical wall, my spiker, my phazor, it serves a lot of roles and is top of the class in every single one. Walls Excadrill and Scizor, both being extremely common in this metagame. I'm thinking of adding some Special Defense EVs, but for now I'm sticking with 252/252/4. One half of the BlissSkarm core that my team is comprised of.
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
Blissey was the main special wall since Generation 2, and much like Skarmory, not much has changed for it. Like Skarmory, it serves many roles, from being a Wish Passer to Forretress (who has no reliable recovery) and Dusclops to being a Status Absorber. It's mediocre physical defense is patched up somewhat by it's EV Spread, and Blissey is generally good enough at walling Special Threats that it doesn't many special defense EV's. Toxic is to slowly wear down opposing threats and works great when used with Protect. Protect is a nice scouting move in general, helping against things like CBTTar and CB Scizor.
Quagsire (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Recover
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
Unaware Quagsire is my answer for almost every setup sweeper that is not handled already by my team. It is a potent glue that helps against things like Rankurusu, some Ulgamoth, etc. It's movesest is fairly siimple, with Curse used to heighten it's already decent physical defense, and Special Defense to help with things like Rankurusu. The reason why I have EV's invested into defense is because there are many times when I will get 2HKO'd by physical attackers, even if I get a curse in my belt. Waterfall and EQ are basic STAB moves.
