In a generation ruled by inclement weather and fast paced tempo sweep methods, stall teams have become a bit of a lost art thats lost effectiveness through out the years. With weather prooving the glue of many teams, both to use it to the teams advantage or for a counter to others. Without further adue, here it goes:
The process:
I started with politoed, the true basis of every rain team in OU.
Needed a counter against electric and the occasional grass move, i used a whimsicott SubSeed and Breloom Toxic Orb Spore set, but none sticked with the true basis of the stall aspect of the team, save for sceptile.
Needed a water stall, tried tentacruel but didnt appeal to me as it did to the past, so i used vaporeon instead. Got killed constantly by thundurus', so i implemented zapdos.
Needed a ferrothorn counter and toxicroak really worked.
Finally used what i call a "paste" pokemon, something that really brings the team together as a whole and hasent failed to the slightest
Politoed@Leftovers
Drizzle
Bold
EV's: 252 HP, 200 DEF, 56 SpD
Scald
Ice Beam
Encore
Protect
Well, being a rain team, politoed must be on the team. I went with a more mixed defensive stat base for a well rounded defensive pokemon. (Not saying politoed should be used as a wall by anymeans) but more in a way of allowing politoed to take a hit without dying. Scald is used for STAB+Burn Hax, which i prefer over surf. Ice Beam hits dragons and can be useful with some prediction to take down a thundurus. Encore can be useful if an unwary fellow attempts to set up on the poor little toad, and can be used as a free switch in. Protect allows for some early scouting, and scouting in general.
Sceptile@Big Root
Overgrow
Timid
EV's: 174 HP, 100 Sp.Atk, 4 Sp.Def, 230 Spe.
Substitute
Leech Seed
Giga Drain
Hidden Power Fire
A RU pokemon in OU meta? Madness? No. What we have here is the true fastest SubSeed user in the game (Excuse shaymin-s in ubers). While facing competetion from whimsicott, sheer speed can allow for sceptile to set up a sub and leech seed in two turns (typically). With a solid 105 Sp.Atk, 75 Base Power, STAB, Giga drain does considerable damage while restoring about 70% of the damage dealt, sceptile can become hard to take down. HP fire takes down ferrothorns which are proven to be the biggest wall against sceptile. With rain in the sky, sceptile can take a hp fire, but must be switched out against any heatran, and especially volcarona.
Vaporeon@ Leftovers
Hydration
Bold
EV's: 252 HP, 200 Def, 40 Sp.Atk, 16 Sp.Def
Rest
Scald
Toxic
Protect
This is one of the most annoying sets in the game. This is derived from the same set that has banished manaphy to ubers for several years. But instead of taking a sweep approach, i took a pure stall approach to it. Hydration+Rest Allows for about 34 turns of stalling, without any crits, that is. After a toxic, stalling for several turns takes little to no effort. A real downfall to this set is ferrothorn, with resistance to scald and toxic. Also, electric types can make this set difficult. But with the proper support i put into vaporeon, this set can cause ragequits and turn the tides of a battle.
Zapdos@Leftovers
Pressure
Calm
EV's: 252 HP, 244 Sp.Def, 12 Spe
Thunderbolt
Hidden Power Ice
Roost
Toxic
Again, non-ou pokemon? I must be horrible at this game and be banished, right? Once again, wrong. With Thundurus ruling rain teams, i like to be diffrent and piss off those who think that with this ultimate counter towards it. Specially bulky, and with access to recovery in the form of roost, which also happens to take away its typing of flying in order to take a ice attack and get health recovery. T-bolt for STAB, and HP ice to singlehandedly take down Thundurus. Toxic, for the audicity of it.
Toxicroak@Black Sludge
Dry Skin
Adamant
EV's: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Sp.Def
Swords Dance
Drain Punch
Sucker Punch
Ice Punch
Typical toxicroak set. Really nothing crazy here. Just a surefire counter to ferrothorn and tyranitar... if it dosent run EQ. Sucker Punch for priority, and ice punch for ground/ dragon coverage. True life saver at times
Jirachi@Choice Scarf
Serence Grace
Jolly
EV's: 144 HP, 236 Atk, 128 Spe.
Iron head
Ice Punch
Trick
U-Turn
What i think is a great rachi set. Counters Toxic Orb Gliscor, Set-up sweepers/stallers, and much more with a simple trick. (By counter toxic orb gliscor, i mean taking away the orb and giving it to an unlucky wall.) But before it turns into a annoying item swapper, it can be an effective revenge killer to dragonites, garchomps, hydrogeions, all other dragon types, groundorus, gliscor, kyreum-b, and the list goes on and on. And u-turn is for more "tricking" by fooling the opponent into switching out and in return a free switch in of your own.
Now i know theres a lot of loopholes to this team, such as no rapid spin coverage or entry hazard threats, but as with every rain team, the six pokemon max slot really holds back the capability of it. Ill post changes, swaps, or any found counters i find in the future. As of now, any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, so are any recommendations or compliments.
Have a nice day everyone. Or night. Or afternoon.
The process:
I started with politoed, the true basis of every rain team in OU.
Needed a counter against electric and the occasional grass move, i used a whimsicott SubSeed and Breloom Toxic Orb Spore set, but none sticked with the true basis of the stall aspect of the team, save for sceptile.
Needed a water stall, tried tentacruel but didnt appeal to me as it did to the past, so i used vaporeon instead. Got killed constantly by thundurus', so i implemented zapdos.
Needed a ferrothorn counter and toxicroak really worked.
Finally used what i call a "paste" pokemon, something that really brings the team together as a whole and hasent failed to the slightest
Politoed@Leftovers
Drizzle
Bold
EV's: 252 HP, 200 DEF, 56 SpD
Scald
Ice Beam
Encore
Protect
Well, being a rain team, politoed must be on the team. I went with a more mixed defensive stat base for a well rounded defensive pokemon. (Not saying politoed should be used as a wall by anymeans) but more in a way of allowing politoed to take a hit without dying. Scald is used for STAB+Burn Hax, which i prefer over surf. Ice Beam hits dragons and can be useful with some prediction to take down a thundurus. Encore can be useful if an unwary fellow attempts to set up on the poor little toad, and can be used as a free switch in. Protect allows for some early scouting, and scouting in general.
Sceptile@Big Root
Overgrow
Timid
EV's: 174 HP, 100 Sp.Atk, 4 Sp.Def, 230 Spe.
Substitute
Leech Seed
Giga Drain
Hidden Power Fire
A RU pokemon in OU meta? Madness? No. What we have here is the true fastest SubSeed user in the game (Excuse shaymin-s in ubers). While facing competetion from whimsicott, sheer speed can allow for sceptile to set up a sub and leech seed in two turns (typically). With a solid 105 Sp.Atk, 75 Base Power, STAB, Giga drain does considerable damage while restoring about 70% of the damage dealt, sceptile can become hard to take down. HP fire takes down ferrothorns which are proven to be the biggest wall against sceptile. With rain in the sky, sceptile can take a hp fire, but must be switched out against any heatran, and especially volcarona.
Vaporeon@ Leftovers
Hydration
Bold
EV's: 252 HP, 200 Def, 40 Sp.Atk, 16 Sp.Def
Rest
Scald
Toxic
Protect
This is one of the most annoying sets in the game. This is derived from the same set that has banished manaphy to ubers for several years. But instead of taking a sweep approach, i took a pure stall approach to it. Hydration+Rest Allows for about 34 turns of stalling, without any crits, that is. After a toxic, stalling for several turns takes little to no effort. A real downfall to this set is ferrothorn, with resistance to scald and toxic. Also, electric types can make this set difficult. But with the proper support i put into vaporeon, this set can cause ragequits and turn the tides of a battle.
Zapdos@Leftovers
Pressure
Calm
EV's: 252 HP, 244 Sp.Def, 12 Spe
Thunderbolt
Hidden Power Ice
Roost
Toxic
Again, non-ou pokemon? I must be horrible at this game and be banished, right? Once again, wrong. With Thundurus ruling rain teams, i like to be diffrent and piss off those who think that with this ultimate counter towards it. Specially bulky, and with access to recovery in the form of roost, which also happens to take away its typing of flying in order to take a ice attack and get health recovery. T-bolt for STAB, and HP ice to singlehandedly take down Thundurus. Toxic, for the audicity of it.
Toxicroak@Black Sludge
Dry Skin
Adamant
EV's: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Sp.Def
Swords Dance
Drain Punch
Sucker Punch
Ice Punch
Typical toxicroak set. Really nothing crazy here. Just a surefire counter to ferrothorn and tyranitar... if it dosent run EQ. Sucker Punch for priority, and ice punch for ground/ dragon coverage. True life saver at times
Jirachi@Choice Scarf
Serence Grace
Jolly
EV's: 144 HP, 236 Atk, 128 Spe.
Iron head
Ice Punch
Trick
U-Turn
What i think is a great rachi set. Counters Toxic Orb Gliscor, Set-up sweepers/stallers, and much more with a simple trick. (By counter toxic orb gliscor, i mean taking away the orb and giving it to an unlucky wall.) But before it turns into a annoying item swapper, it can be an effective revenge killer to dragonites, garchomps, hydrogeions, all other dragon types, groundorus, gliscor, kyreum-b, and the list goes on and on. And u-turn is for more "tricking" by fooling the opponent into switching out and in return a free switch in of your own.
Now i know theres a lot of loopholes to this team, such as no rapid spin coverage or entry hazard threats, but as with every rain team, the six pokemon max slot really holds back the capability of it. Ill post changes, swaps, or any found counters i find in the future. As of now, any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, so are any recommendations or compliments.
Have a nice day everyone. Or night. Or afternoon.
