I've always had a soft spot in my heart for stalling in any strategy game. For those who play Magic: the Gathering, you would guess that my favorite deck is, obviously, Mono Blue Control (the ability to just say NO is such a wonderful feeling!). So now that I have 'taken the plunge' into competitive battling, I felt I had to keep with the strategy that I have used so many times in other games to great success.
I've been playing with variations of this team on Shoddy with moderate success but I am constantly finding a lack of entire synergy between all the members of the team.
About my guidelines for making a team: My first rule that I like to stick to is I'd eventually like to have these teams available to be used on Wi-Fi, as such, I'd really prefer not to have Rotom-A on my team (I do know that my team desperately would like to have it, but I'd like to see if I can work around it). My second rule has become less strict now that I have a trade thread and am attempting to improve my collection of Pokémon, but I am really bad at RNG abuse and, as such, do not have access to legends worth using on my teams so I try to stick to breedable Pokémon. However, as you will see, my latest version of this team ignores this rule, but the initial version, which I will post also to show the evolution of the team, did abide by this rule. Lastly, I have a few teams, and I like to try different Pokémon, so I try to use different Pokémon from the ones on my other teams. That has limited my choices greatly, but I think I am liking this team the best so I am willing to be lax on this rule by changing the other teams to make room for Pokémon on this team.
I will start with the first draft of the team that I found to be somewhat competitive (the first few versions were absolute failures and will not mention them ever again
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Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
Nature: Jolly
EV: 4 HP, 252 ATK, 252 SPE
~Spore
~Spikes
~Endeavor
~ExtremeSpeed
Notes: I was having very little success with Smeargle as a lead. Sure I might get one or two kills but then my opponent is able to stabilize before I can get back on track. Smeargle didn't do what I wanted it to do: put something to sleep and set up Spikes. Too many times I'd have to go straight for Endeavor and ExtremeSpeed, letting my opponent get through the early parts of the battle without taking any residual damage. Smeargle is not on the current team for these reasons.
Pros: It's commonly eliminated an opponents' Scizor, which is always a plus. After my Sash activates, I've had a lot of opponents switch to Scizor to Bullet Punch while I Endeavor on the switch and, being faster, am able to ExtremeSpeed before the Bullet Punch.
Cons: As I mentioned in the notes, Smeargle didn't do what I needed it to do, and it has been replaced.
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Bold
EV: 188 HP, 252 DEF, 68 SPE
~Wish
~Protect
~Surf
~Roar
Notes: Easily my MVP of the team. Even with no investment, it takes non-electric and non-grass special attacks decently well (Except that it can also take a Grass Knot being very light). Vaporeon is used to take on Infernape, Salamance (although it usually just roars it out until it can KO with Surf), non-Thunderbolt Latias (which have been increasingly common for some reason), and the biggest: Jirachi. In my experience, the average Jirachi's Iron Head does ~11% to Vaporeon, and with leftovers recovery I'm staying alive for a long time even if I flinch.
Pros: I cannot even enumerate the number of pros that Vaporeon has brought to this team. It is easily the most vital member of the team. But if I had to chose one, I'd say that Vaporeon really saves me from wall-breakers. When Infernape or Salamence come in I have something to turn to, rather than having to play a guessing game with my opponent.
Cons: I really struggle when he is my last Pokémon, and it's often against a Latias (see my threats section), I am really agonizing over whether to put Toxic over Protect, but I have not tried that yet.
Foretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Relaxed
IV: 31/31/31/31/31/1 (I don't run Gyro Ball, so I run 1 SPE IV so I'm faster than other Foretresses)
EV: 252 HP, 112 ATK, 144 DEF
~Earthquake
~Spikes
~Toxic Spikes
~Explosion
Notes: First a note on the item of choice. Recently, I have noticed a decline in the usage of Magnezone, so I have changed my item to Leftovers from Shed Shell, but I am not locked into this. If Magnezone starts coming back, I will change back in a heart beat.
Foretress was an unfortunate member of my team. I really like it, and it makes a really good switch-in to Outraging Salamance/Flygon and can set-up in their faces. It's an unfortunate member because of Smeargle. Smeargle was never getting the job done, so often Foretress had to come in and finish it for him which meant I had to run both Spikes and Toxic Spikes.
Pros: Great at its job. Can usually take out a pokemon who tries to set up in his face (I'm looking at you Gyarados!) with Explosion. Running Earthquake over Gyro Ball has netted me quite a few surprise KO's.
Cons: Having to run both types of Spikes means I have to find Rapid Spin support elsewhere (something the current version of the team doesn't need:naughty:).
Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Impish
EV: 252 HP, 28 ATK, 228 DEF
~Will-O-Wisp
~Pain Split
~Earthquake
~Ice Punch
Notes: Would I like Dusknoir to be Rotom-A? Absolutely. But as I mentioned before, I want to use my teams on Wi-Fi, and until they make it so Rotom-A can be used on Wi-Fi, I'll have to make do. Obviously, every stall team needs a spin blocker, otherwise, all the work you did to set up will be for naught. Dusknoir has been very hit or miss. He either does his job really well and seals a win, or, he just seems to take up a spot on my team.
Pros: He is a very sturdy spin-blocker that beats most of the common spinners in OU (Tentacruel, Donphan, and Foretress). Since this is really his only role on the team, I feel he merits a spot. Plus, being able to switch in on an Explosion and being able to spread Burn around always helps.
Cons: He cannot deal with Starmie. I don't mean to be so short, but that is my biggest problem with Dusknoir. I've even thought of running ThunderPunch over Ice Punch, but I don't think even that will solve the issue. I think it's just something that my team is going to have to live with if I cannot use Rotom-A.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Calm
EV: 252 DEF, 40 SATK, 216 SDEF
~Aromatherapy
~Softboiled
~Flamethrower
~Stealth Rock
Notes: If Vaporeon is my MVP, Blissey would be my runner-up. Yes, it's so unorigional; we've all known for a long time that Blissey is the best special wall in the game, but I truly began to fully appreciate why when playing this team. Blissey complements the physical walls that comprise most of my team and is surprisingly able to take 95% of all special threats that would cause problems for the rest of my team. I had mentioned that my team had synergy issues, for the record, I highly doubt Blissey is the cause, she has been the solution to so many wins all by herself.
Pros: She takes the special hits that her teamates cannot handle and she does her job nigh perfectly. She nabs powerful hits on incoming Scizors and sometimes I might hax a burn on an incoming physical attacker. Truly, Flamethrower has been a great move choice, despite my total lack of ability to hit Heatran.
Cons: She shares the same problems that all Blissey's do in that they really cannot take a physical hit. Also, she was a victim of the trickle down effect that Smeargle was having on my team, hence the reason Stealth Rock is on the set. As such, I would often get into struggle wars with non-Recover Latias (see threats section).
Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Ooze
Nature: Calm
EV: 252 HP, 120 DEF, 136 SDEF
~Toxic Spikes
~Rapid Spin
~Sludge Bomb
~Surf
Notes: The last of the trickle down effect of Smeargle. With forcing Foretress to use both spikes, I needed to find Rapid Spin support elsewhere. Also, I noticed that too much of my team was dedicated to physical sponging, and I was relying entirely on Blissey for taking special hits. Tentacruel allows me to take non-electric special attacks with someone else.
Pros: He does his job quite well. He gets rid of the Toxic Spikes that would otherwise plague my team and is able to take some stuff down with him.
Cons: He didn't really fit in my team. He never really seemed to be very useful. He was usually used to scout for mixed attackers and maybe finish up the Toxic Spikes if Forretress couldn't get the job done.
I've been playing with variations of this team on Shoddy with moderate success but I am constantly finding a lack of entire synergy between all the members of the team.
About my guidelines for making a team: My first rule that I like to stick to is I'd eventually like to have these teams available to be used on Wi-Fi, as such, I'd really prefer not to have Rotom-A on my team (I do know that my team desperately would like to have it, but I'd like to see if I can work around it). My second rule has become less strict now that I have a trade thread and am attempting to improve my collection of Pokémon, but I am really bad at RNG abuse and, as such, do not have access to legends worth using on my teams so I try to stick to breedable Pokémon. However, as you will see, my latest version of this team ignores this rule, but the initial version, which I will post also to show the evolution of the team, did abide by this rule. Lastly, I have a few teams, and I like to try different Pokémon, so I try to use different Pokémon from the ones on my other teams. That has limited my choices greatly, but I think I am liking this team the best so I am willing to be lax on this rule by changing the other teams to make room for Pokémon on this team.
I will start with the first draft of the team that I found to be somewhat competitive (the first few versions were absolute failures and will not mention them ever again
):THE FIRST ATTEMPT:
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
Nature: Jolly
EV: 4 HP, 252 ATK, 252 SPE
~Spore
~Spikes
~Endeavor
~ExtremeSpeed
Notes: I was having very little success with Smeargle as a lead. Sure I might get one or two kills but then my opponent is able to stabilize before I can get back on track. Smeargle didn't do what I wanted it to do: put something to sleep and set up Spikes. Too many times I'd have to go straight for Endeavor and ExtremeSpeed, letting my opponent get through the early parts of the battle without taking any residual damage. Smeargle is not on the current team for these reasons.
Pros: It's commonly eliminated an opponents' Scizor, which is always a plus. After my Sash activates, I've had a lot of opponents switch to Scizor to Bullet Punch while I Endeavor on the switch and, being faster, am able to ExtremeSpeed before the Bullet Punch.
Cons: As I mentioned in the notes, Smeargle didn't do what I needed it to do, and it has been replaced.
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Bold
EV: 188 HP, 252 DEF, 68 SPE
~Wish
~Protect
~Surf
~Roar
Notes: Easily my MVP of the team. Even with no investment, it takes non-electric and non-grass special attacks decently well (Except that it can also take a Grass Knot being very light). Vaporeon is used to take on Infernape, Salamance (although it usually just roars it out until it can KO with Surf), non-Thunderbolt Latias (which have been increasingly common for some reason), and the biggest: Jirachi. In my experience, the average Jirachi's Iron Head does ~11% to Vaporeon, and with leftovers recovery I'm staying alive for a long time even if I flinch.
Pros: I cannot even enumerate the number of pros that Vaporeon has brought to this team. It is easily the most vital member of the team. But if I had to chose one, I'd say that Vaporeon really saves me from wall-breakers. When Infernape or Salamence come in I have something to turn to, rather than having to play a guessing game with my opponent.
Cons: I really struggle when he is my last Pokémon, and it's often against a Latias (see my threats section), I am really agonizing over whether to put Toxic over Protect, but I have not tried that yet.
Foretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Relaxed
IV: 31/31/31/31/31/1 (I don't run Gyro Ball, so I run 1 SPE IV so I'm faster than other Foretresses)
EV: 252 HP, 112 ATK, 144 DEF
~Earthquake
~Spikes
~Toxic Spikes
~Explosion
Notes: First a note on the item of choice. Recently, I have noticed a decline in the usage of Magnezone, so I have changed my item to Leftovers from Shed Shell, but I am not locked into this. If Magnezone starts coming back, I will change back in a heart beat.
Foretress was an unfortunate member of my team. I really like it, and it makes a really good switch-in to Outraging Salamance/Flygon and can set-up in their faces. It's an unfortunate member because of Smeargle. Smeargle was never getting the job done, so often Foretress had to come in and finish it for him which meant I had to run both Spikes and Toxic Spikes.
Pros: Great at its job. Can usually take out a pokemon who tries to set up in his face (I'm looking at you Gyarados!) with Explosion. Running Earthquake over Gyro Ball has netted me quite a few surprise KO's.
Cons: Having to run both types of Spikes means I have to find Rapid Spin support elsewhere (something the current version of the team doesn't need:naughty:).
Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Impish
EV: 252 HP, 28 ATK, 228 DEF
~Will-O-Wisp
~Pain Split
~Earthquake
~Ice Punch
Notes: Would I like Dusknoir to be Rotom-A? Absolutely. But as I mentioned before, I want to use my teams on Wi-Fi, and until they make it so Rotom-A can be used on Wi-Fi, I'll have to make do. Obviously, every stall team needs a spin blocker, otherwise, all the work you did to set up will be for naught. Dusknoir has been very hit or miss. He either does his job really well and seals a win, or, he just seems to take up a spot on my team.
Pros: He is a very sturdy spin-blocker that beats most of the common spinners in OU (Tentacruel, Donphan, and Foretress). Since this is really his only role on the team, I feel he merits a spot. Plus, being able to switch in on an Explosion and being able to spread Burn around always helps.
Cons: He cannot deal with Starmie. I don't mean to be so short, but that is my biggest problem with Dusknoir. I've even thought of running ThunderPunch over Ice Punch, but I don't think even that will solve the issue. I think it's just something that my team is going to have to live with if I cannot use Rotom-A.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Calm
EV: 252 DEF, 40 SATK, 216 SDEF
~Aromatherapy
~Softboiled
~Flamethrower
~Stealth Rock
Notes: If Vaporeon is my MVP, Blissey would be my runner-up. Yes, it's so unorigional; we've all known for a long time that Blissey is the best special wall in the game, but I truly began to fully appreciate why when playing this team. Blissey complements the physical walls that comprise most of my team and is surprisingly able to take 95% of all special threats that would cause problems for the rest of my team. I had mentioned that my team had synergy issues, for the record, I highly doubt Blissey is the cause, she has been the solution to so many wins all by herself.
Pros: She takes the special hits that her teamates cannot handle and she does her job nigh perfectly. She nabs powerful hits on incoming Scizors and sometimes I might hax a burn on an incoming physical attacker. Truly, Flamethrower has been a great move choice, despite my total lack of ability to hit Heatran.
Cons: She shares the same problems that all Blissey's do in that they really cannot take a physical hit. Also, she was a victim of the trickle down effect that Smeargle was having on my team, hence the reason Stealth Rock is on the set. As such, I would often get into struggle wars with non-Recover Latias (see threats section).
Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Ooze
Nature: Calm
EV: 252 HP, 120 DEF, 136 SDEF
~Toxic Spikes
~Rapid Spin
~Sludge Bomb
~Surf
Notes: The last of the trickle down effect of Smeargle. With forcing Foretress to use both spikes, I needed to find Rapid Spin support elsewhere. Also, I noticed that too much of my team was dedicated to physical sponging, and I was relying entirely on Blissey for taking special hits. Tentacruel allows me to take non-electric special attacks with someone else.
Pros: He does his job quite well. He gets rid of the Toxic Spikes that would otherwise plague my team and is able to take some stuff down with him.
Cons: He didn't really fit in my team. He never really seemed to be very useful. He was usually used to scout for mixed attackers and maybe finish up the Toxic Spikes if Forretress couldn't get the job done.
THE CURRENT TEAM:
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NOTE: All the Pokémon that are carry overs from the previous list hold the same EV's and Natures, some of their movesets have changed slightly and I will mention those.
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly
EV: 80 HP, 252 ATK, 176 SPE
~Trick
~Stealth Rock
~Iron Head
~U-Turn
Notes: I have finally decided to give up on making my teams full of only breedable Pokémon, so I turned the leading role of my team over to Jirachi. While Jirachi has not been perfect, it does the job a lot better than Smeargle. That is, being able to reliably set up an entry hazard. With the move of Stealth Rock to the lead, the entry hazards have moved around on the team and, currently, Toxic Spikes is absent. I will go into my reasoning for this in my threats section.
Pros: Much more reliable than Smeargle. I've yet to have a game where Jirachi has not done something positive. He can incapacitate an opposing lead with Trick, allowing the rest of my team to set up, or take out a threat with Iron Head. Smeargle really struggled with a lot of leads and was not giving me the consistency that Jirachi has been providing me.
Cons: There is a moderate synergy issue with Jirachi. A lot of the time, Jirachi needs to go on the offensive with detrimental impact on the rest of the team.
SAME AS ABOVE
Moveset:
~Rapid Spin
~Spikes
~Earthquake
~Explosion
Notes: Ah, how Foretress is a very happy bagworm. It no longer needs to clean up the mess that Smeargle left behind and is finally able to get back to doing what he does best. Setting up Spikes and only Spikes and being able to Rapid Spin, killing two birds with one stone (note the lack of Tentacruel in this team).
SAME AS ABOVE
Moveset:
~Aromatherapy
~Softboiled
~Flamethrower
~Toxic
Notes: Thank goodness I found another source of Stealth Rock. With Toxic, I can finally avoid the struggle wars that usually ensue with opposing Latias. Aromatherapy is of even more importance due to the lack of a poison type to soak up the Toxic Spikes if I cannot get off a Rapid Spin. Also, Blissey has become my lone pure special wall (though Vaporeon can take some hits) and as such has become a vital member of this team.
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
EV: 252 HP, 220 DEF, 36 SPE
~Grass Knot
~Perish Song
~Recover
~U-turn
Notes: To be honest, Celebi is a very new addition to the team. As such, I have not tested it that much as the rest of the team, but the results have been above average. Although, I do sense a strong synergy with the rest of the team (as opposed to Tentacruel in this spot). As mentioned in the analysis (where I was aided in my decision for the final spot on my team), I noticed that the biggest problem I was having was with the final Pokémon of my opponent. Celebi solves that problem with Perish Song. I was unaware before putting this team together that Perish Song breaks through Substitute (another problem if Vaporeon is gone), and as such Celebi has made it's way onto my team.
Pros: Celebi deals with my troubles with final Pokémon and also can take some hits pretty well. I am a bit cautious with Celebi, (moreso than other members of the team), but I believe that it's been doing it's job well. I can also use Perish Song earlier in the match to force switches which is always a benefit for a stall team.
Cons: Celebi brings my Fire weakness to half my team. While I have Blissey and Vaporeon, sometimes, Heatran can be a real problem.
NOTE: All the Pokémon that are carry overs from the previous list hold the same EV's and Natures, some of their movesets have changed slightly and I will mention those.
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly
EV: 80 HP, 252 ATK, 176 SPE
~Trick
~Stealth Rock
~Iron Head
~U-Turn
Notes: I have finally decided to give up on making my teams full of only breedable Pokémon, so I turned the leading role of my team over to Jirachi. While Jirachi has not been perfect, it does the job a lot better than Smeargle. That is, being able to reliably set up an entry hazard. With the move of Stealth Rock to the lead, the entry hazards have moved around on the team and, currently, Toxic Spikes is absent. I will go into my reasoning for this in my threats section.
Pros: Much more reliable than Smeargle. I've yet to have a game where Jirachi has not done something positive. He can incapacitate an opposing lead with Trick, allowing the rest of my team to set up, or take out a threat with Iron Head. Smeargle really struggled with a lot of leads and was not giving me the consistency that Jirachi has been providing me.
Cons: There is a moderate synergy issue with Jirachi. A lot of the time, Jirachi needs to go on the offensive with detrimental impact on the rest of the team.
SAME AS ABOVE
Moveset:
~Rapid Spin
~Spikes
~Earthquake
~Explosion
Notes: Ah, how Foretress is a very happy bagworm. It no longer needs to clean up the mess that Smeargle left behind and is finally able to get back to doing what he does best. Setting up Spikes and only Spikes and being able to Rapid Spin, killing two birds with one stone (note the lack of Tentacruel in this team).
SAME AS ABOVE
Moveset:
~Aromatherapy
~Softboiled
~Flamethrower
~Toxic
Notes: Thank goodness I found another source of Stealth Rock. With Toxic, I can finally avoid the struggle wars that usually ensue with opposing Latias. Aromatherapy is of even more importance due to the lack of a poison type to soak up the Toxic Spikes if I cannot get off a Rapid Spin. Also, Blissey has become my lone pure special wall (though Vaporeon can take some hits) and as such has become a vital member of this team.
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
EV: 252 HP, 220 DEF, 36 SPE
~Grass Knot
~Perish Song
~Recover
~U-turn
Notes: To be honest, Celebi is a very new addition to the team. As such, I have not tested it that much as the rest of the team, but the results have been above average. Although, I do sense a strong synergy with the rest of the team (as opposed to Tentacruel in this spot). As mentioned in the analysis (where I was aided in my decision for the final spot on my team), I noticed that the biggest problem I was having was with the final Pokémon of my opponent. Celebi solves that problem with Perish Song. I was unaware before putting this team together that Perish Song breaks through Substitute (another problem if Vaporeon is gone), and as such Celebi has made it's way onto my team.
Pros: Celebi deals with my troubles with final Pokémon and also can take some hits pretty well. I am a bit cautious with Celebi, (moreso than other members of the team), but I believe that it's been doing it's job well. I can also use Perish Song earlier in the match to force switches which is always a benefit for a stall team.
Cons: Celebi brings my Fire weakness to half my team. While I have Blissey and Vaporeon, sometimes, Heatran can be a real problem.
THREATS
There are five main threats that I have experienced with my team. First and foremost is Latias. Latias is immune to Spikes and can stall out my Blissey. I have tried to rectify this weakness with Celebi, but I think it is too early to draw any conclusions and still, Latias is a really big threat especially if it has Thunderbolt to stop my Vaporeon from Roaring it out when it tries to Calm Mind up.
The second threat is a common threat to all stall teams. That is Taunt users, more specifically, Taunt Gyarados. Often, I am forced to have to give up my Foretress via Explosion just to get back on my feet.
The third threat is Heatran. My team has to really tackle him as a group in order to bring him down. The biggest problem is that Blissey cannot touch him. Hopefully, I can wear it down and knock it out with Vaporeon or an Earthquake from Dusknoir.
The fourth threat is Rotom-A. The problem is mainly with the Trick varients (other's I can try and tackle with Blissey). Also, it demolishes Dusknoir and thus, my opponent can Rapid Spin to his hearts content.
The final threat is Starmie. In a similar vein to Rotom-A, Starmie does a very good job at handling Dusknoir, then being able to Spin on top of that.
Finally, I'd like to make a note on Toxic Spikes. I have found through my testing that they are really redundant on most Pokémon and sometimes even hurt my cause (My opponent switches in Machamp, now I cannot Will-O-Wisp it...). The other problem is that most of the Pokémon I would like to have them effect are immune to them (Rotom-A, Latias, and Heatran). I found that they were rarely helping me very much and as such have left them off my team at the present moment, opting instead to give Blissey Toxic (Even though this does not solve my Heatran issue).
Hopefully my goals are clear and I appreciate any feedback (positive or negative) you may have.
Thank you for reading!
The second threat is a common threat to all stall teams. That is Taunt users, more specifically, Taunt Gyarados. Often, I am forced to have to give up my Foretress via Explosion just to get back on my feet.
The third threat is Heatran. My team has to really tackle him as a group in order to bring him down. The biggest problem is that Blissey cannot touch him. Hopefully, I can wear it down and knock it out with Vaporeon or an Earthquake from Dusknoir.
The fourth threat is Rotom-A. The problem is mainly with the Trick varients (other's I can try and tackle with Blissey). Also, it demolishes Dusknoir and thus, my opponent can Rapid Spin to his hearts content.
The final threat is Starmie. In a similar vein to Rotom-A, Starmie does a very good job at handling Dusknoir, then being able to Spin on top of that.
CONCLUSION
Finally, I'd like to make a note on Toxic Spikes. I have found through my testing that they are really redundant on most Pokémon and sometimes even hurt my cause (My opponent switches in Machamp, now I cannot Will-O-Wisp it...). The other problem is that most of the Pokémon I would like to have them effect are immune to them (Rotom-A, Latias, and Heatran). I found that they were rarely helping me very much and as such have left them off my team at the present moment, opting instead to give Blissey Toxic (Even though this does not solve my Heatran issue).
Hopefully my goals are clear and I appreciate any feedback (positive or negative) you may have.
Thank you for reading!
