Other OU Playstyle of the Week - Stall

[Emmy2]

A few things that I've tried experimenting with over the generation might be interesting to discuss. A while back, I created a project for a possible branch of stall, Momentum Stall. While the concept is rather limited by bulky pokemon with Volt-Turn, U-turn at first glance, other moves such as intimidate, regenerator and natural cure also proved to maintain momentum. As stall consistently gets bitten by being on the defensive, I wanted to change the concept of defense from "switching to being in the best position" aka losing momentum on that turn to "Always being in the best position, or close to it".

I'll just link the team here... As it was built a while ago, the "Omg ZardXY weakness" is irrelevant to me... It was a Lucario-M era team. I could adjust it but the concept remains. Stall this way could easily be in a defensive position as soon as needed, not a turn later. The major point was I could stop Set up sweepers from having much time to do any work and counters to wall breakers wouldn't be down 50% coming in. I do a similar strategy with a bulky Eelektross to dugtrio right now, mainly for ZardX (who likes resisting VoltTurn) and Heatran.

I can say it was largely effective and could be again if I wanted it to be... I'd need a few extra counters but with a volt turn core of 3-4 and a few regenereator/intimidate ability users, a stall team can basically go easy mode (it is, in fact, a fantastic beginner stall team style).

Thoughts?

I actually took that team and built upon it. Might do a detailed write up on my team later, but main things it needed = taunt, and more threatening statuses (spore).

No mention of Slowbro or Amoonguss yet? :( Regen is amazing. Both of them are pretty safe switches into Keldeo (though Amoonguss still has to look out for hp flying, which is only a 2hko with specs)

I'm seeing a lot of discussion about stallbreakers but haven't seen anyone mention Mega Medicham. While not as common as the others being discussed I think it deserves to be mentioned as its ability to smash through walls in unsurpassed (notably including OHKOing M-Venusaur, Heatran, AND Chansey), and it easily outspeeds most stallmons.

I'd be really interested to hear how stall teams might prepare for Megacham, if there is in fact any way to prepare. Perhaps you need to run one check who is fast enough to outspeed/prioritize and KO? In that case you still need a ton of skill and prediction to not have Megacham wreak havoc and then just switch out when your check comes in. There's no real counter to it in the metagame as nothing can switch in more than a couple times.

I've yet to see one run a set that can do anything significant to Slowbro.

 

[jbtc10]

Megacham actually has nothing at all for bulky Psychics in general, like Mew and Cresselia (it can Thunderpunch Slowbro, but it pretty much never uses that). Physically defensive Mew can come in on anything and cripple it permanently with WoW and Cress can just use it as CM bait or paralyze it with T-Wave.

 

[WebBowser]

Megacham actually has nothing at all for bulky Psychics in general, like Mew and Cresselia (it can Thunderpunch Slowbro, but it pretty much never uses that). Physically defensive Mew can come in on anything and cripple it permanently with WoW and Cress can just use it as CM bait or paralyze it with T-Wave.

Heck, back when mega-medi was in UU, I would swap in specially defensive mew and still wall it. It wasn't even running WoW. Bulky Psychics > mega-medi all around.

Also, I made a volt-turn stall team awhile back. I made it largely because my normal volt-turn teams kept getting mauled by priority (y u no let me use CB ninjask in OU Talonflame?), so I tried a bulkier team. Hav'nt had much time to test it just because of finals. Not sure if I want it to be full stall or bulky offense. SP defensive mega scizor is one of my favorite general use defoggers just because it can wall darn near anything that isn't a fire type attack, and even then it frequently takes a hit. Not dieing on sight to Bisharp is always a big plus too.

 

[kirant]

SP defensive mega scizor is one of my favorite general use defoggers just because it can wall darn near anything that isn't a fire type attack, and even then it frequently takes a hit. Not dieing on sight to Bisharp is always a big plus too.

I'm actually testing one right now. It seems to work great as a U-Turn pair when combined with a Wish supported Landorus-T. Specially defensive Mega Scizor also plugs up most of the psychic threats if given Knock Off.

I'm kind of curious if others have found some interesting unexpected stall oriented pokemon. Although niche, Ajwf has previously identified Sassy Garchomp as a Mega Charizard Y counter at high HP that can check Mega Mawile. I've tried out Mega Charizard X and it can do decently as an alternative to Heatran and Rotom for Will-O-Wisp burns. Nothing great, mind you, but it certainly is more fun to play with as it breaks away from the Heatran/Venusaur/Quagsire/Chansey/Skarmory/??? mentality many stall teams have. And, while not unexpected by any stretch at higher levels, almost nobody imagines RestTalk Gyarados at lower rankings. It's a great way to get unexpected Dragon Tails in.

 

[Excitement]

Mew's great 100/100 bulk allows it to get by with an investment in Speed as opposed to its defenses.

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Roost
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Knock Off

Anyone running stall playing OU knows how annoying it is to face an opposing Deoxys. There are very few leads out there that can reliably take care of both the blazing-fast bendy monster Deo-S and the magical punching bag Deo-D. I've found Mew to be one of those leads, and it's worked wonders for my team.

Running max Speed allows you to outspeed Deoxys-D without the opponent knowing until after the first turn; he or she will almost always try to Taunt you, only to be out-sped and out-Taunted. If they don't switch it out, it'll meet a slow and painful death to repeated Knock Offs. Deoxys-S also falls to Mew, getting Knocked Off in two hits. This allows you to prevent it from setting up more than one layer of Spikes initially.

Speedy burns in conjunction with an actual attack are a great thing to have on a stall team, and Mew can somewhat-reliably deal with a bunch of annoying wall-crushers that normally wreck stall teams, such as Kyurem-B. Mew's moveset is also perfectly suited for cracking rival stall. For me, Mew is like a more versatile, less definite form of stall-glue - the "tape" of my team, so to speak.

 

[WECAMEASROMANS]

Every time I build a stall team I always make sure I HAVE to have certain mons covered. Mega pinsir is one of them. Landorus, dragonite, charizard (both formes), thundurus, aegislash, keldeo are some others on the top of my head. A bulky grass is usually required for my team, because they wall so many prominent threats in the metagame. venusaur walls keldeo breloom conk mega mawile, thundurus and many others. amoongus is a really solid mon as well due to spore and regenerator and ferro is still extremely good for walling the fuck out of manaphy and lati@s.

another requirement on all my stall teams is that they must have at least one defogger, and several ofmy stalls have two. skarm is a great one obviously, because outside of defog, it is a great mega pinsir, mega mawile, mamo, scizor, lando-t, excadrill counter among many others. For my skarms, i always run a spread of 252 hp/168 def/88 speed with an impish nature. with this speed investment, you outspeed mandibuzz and venusaur so you get to taunt them before they defog/leech seed you. it also obviously beats other skarms to the taunt. Another cool defogger for me is zapdos. not only does it counter mega pinsir as well, it has access to heat wave which makes it a reliable check against ferro scizor aegi, and to an extent mega mawile. pressure is also godly on stall teams for PP stalling other stall teams. the best spread for me is 252 hp/240 def/16 speed bold. 252 hits the magic lefties number, and 16 speed lets you outspeed adamant bisharp and breloom. Moving to some less popular defoggers, mew is one of my favorites. naturally high speed and access to taunt and will o wisp make it a pain for opposing stall teams. I like to run EQ on it personally just to have a defensive defogger that beats heatran. 252/148 def or spdef/108 timid is the best spread imo. 252 for overall highest bulk and lefties number, 108 speed with a positive nature lets you outspeed stuff like adamant gyarados, meaning you get to burn it before it subs or taunts you or w/e.

one of the hardest things to check in the current metagame using stall right now is Mega Charizard X. its power is terrifying. most teams run quagsire just for that thing, but since ive never been a fan of typical stall ive tried my best to utilize other mons capable of beating it. these include hippo, defensive gliscor, lando-t, and the uncommon rhyperior. oh btw, the best krookodile spread would have to be 252 hp/176 def/80 speed impish to outspeed adamant bisharp and ko it before it wrecks you with +3 ironhead.

some other uncommon shit ive used on stall to great success (1900+ in OU):

mega aggron: ice punch, iron head, earthquake, counter with an EV spread of 252 HP 236 def 20 attack relaxed. 236 def hits the crucial 500 def on regular aggron and the 20 evs are placed in attack for slight power increase. ice punch nails the dragons and bulky grounds like dnite and gliscor. counter is something few people expect, but having the ability to tank HJKs from mega medicham and +2 fire fangs from mega mawile and +2 eq from mega pinsir and KO all of them back is priceless.

cresselia with ice beam, psychic, moonlight, reflect and 252 hp 240 def 16 spdef. prolly the best switch in to landorus in existence, as even knock off wont do shit. it also hard walls terrakion dnite, garchomp, and mega medicham. its a great switch in for keldeo and lati@s as well.

hardest threats to wall in OU atm: mega mawile, landorus, thundurus, mega charizard X, LO kyurem-b. oh & also, fuck anyone who uses that (BAN ME PLEASE)y trick + taunt gothitelle.

all in all, stall is a very tricky style to use, and is prone to getting haxed more than offensive teams. however a well built stall team is near unbeatable and will make children cry. make sure you have a lot of patience if you plan on running stall

 

[ItoI6]

dont really understand why anyone would use taunt on that set tbh all you need is 80hp evs + rest for chansey. It's much more useful to have an extra coverage move in addition to psychic/trick/rest like energyball, tbolt or a hp. The only legit use I can think of is trolling deo-d red card leads with scarf taunt but you can still limit those to just one layer with trick then trick back at the end.