Patience, a RU stall team

[speed ghilliesniper]

Introduction​

Hello y'all, I'v got what has been the most effective team I'v built, if not exactly the most fun to play. Like most stall teams it's a pretty boring team to use if your not patient, and even more boring to ladder with when all the games are 50+ matches; which is why I never bothered to switch off my goof off alt to try and get that coveted number 1 spot. But, with offense being all the rage right now many teams don't prepare for stall teams meaning that this is kind of anti meta and very effective. With college starting soon I plan to take a hiatus from competitive Pokemon and I'd like to do something as a going away of sorts. So without further ado, onto the team.

At a Glance

In Depth

miss missy (Misdreavus) @ Eviolite
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball Foul Play
- Perish Song
- Heal Bell​

The first member of my team is the one I was most interested to use: Misdreavus. I'v never used one before this and I have to say it has performed much better than anticipated. It's role on this team is as both a backup physical wall and as my spin blocker. Levitate is a decent ablility that allows it to come in an a predicted Earthquake while also keeping it free of Spikes damage. Will-O-Wisp is ever useful for burning physical threats, including Kabutops and Sandslash making both of their jobs tougher. I finally did switch out Shadow Ball for Foul Play to help alleviate the Gallade weakness while also combatting the issue of Lum SD spinners. Perish Song is my favorite thing about this set, allowing it to check Cryogonal thanks of Missy's decent natural special bulk coupled with Eviolite, and Perish Song thus forcing it out and making it take more Stealth Rock Damage. It also serves as my primary stop to last mon situations or boosters such as Calm Mind Clefable and Cosmic Power Sigilyph. Heal Bell takes the last slot and gives the team a cleric to reliably eliminate status inflicted on the rest of the members. All in all this is an important member of my team that I prefer to use to wall threats that are less immediately threatening, and is often the recipient of my Wish passers thanks to being the only member with absolutely no recovery due to Eviolite being used over Leftovers.

fat fish (Alomomola) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Scald
- Protect
- Wish​

Alomomomomomomola, other wise known as the Luvdisc evo that also happens to be one of the best Wish passers and physical walls in the tier. This is my primary physical wall, stopping such huge threats such as Entei and Druddigon thanks to her massive bulk. The moves should mostly be self explanatory, Toxic is for poisoning foes allowing them to be stalled if I'm using her early in the game. Scald is chosen over Waterfall as both are pathetically weak and Scald at least has a chance to burn Dangerous foes such as Druddigon and Escavalier who can possibly punch through the fish, crippling them and allowing the Wish Protect cycle to continue. Wish is the key on this set as it allows mons such as Regirock And Misdreavus who have no other healing to be nearly fully healed thanks to those massive wishes. Protect is useful for stalling an extra turn for poison damage and capitalizing on her own wishes if need be. The final piece to the puzzle is Regenerator, one of the best abilities in the game that allows the fat fish to recover it's own health while it passes a Wish allowing it to stay healthy even longer through the match.

knife arms (Gallade) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 248 HP / 244 SDef / 16 Spd
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Drain Punch
- Will-O-Wisp​

Now is possibly the most unorthadox member of this brigade: Wish passing Gallade. If you ask yourself "what is this noob doing using something with base 68 HP for wishes?" well listen up. This guy walls so many special threats it's not even funny, and it's biggest claim to fame is being this teams only real answer to Clefable who other wise can switch in and out with near impunity. As it is it's function is as one of my special walls and as the complimentary Wish passer in the core who can pass some admittedly smaller wishes but pass them off of special attackers which is important for keeping everything healthy throughout the match. Wish and Protect form the crutch of the set, either restoring his or a teammates health though them. Drain Punch gives even more recovery while also dealing respectable damage thanks to it's naturally high base 125 Atk. Will-O-Wisp makes an appearance to allow it to burn either switch ins or slower physical threats, meaning it's more difficult to prey on it's much lower physical bulk.

rock solid (Regirock) @ Leftovers
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earthquake​

Bask in the glory of the mon that has some of the most raw mixed bulk of almost anything in the tier. These stats are used to allow Regirock to function as a mixed wall of sorts, with the special EV's used to give this team a reliable switch in to Moltres who other wise mows through this team with it's STABs but who can only muster a 3HKO on this beast with HP Grass. It also functions as the second half of my hazards core. Clear Body seems useless but it does let it ignore Qwilfish's intimidate to deal a good shot if I want to stay in or finish the fish off. Rock Slide is chosen over Stone Edge for it's superior accuracy (stil not perfect ;_;) and the fact it still OHKO's Moltres. Stealth Rock is key for wearing down mons weak to rock such as Entei and Moltres, and for wearing down Levitate users who can float over Spikes such as Rotom-C. Toxic works well on this set as it's often used early, and also allows me to plant a turn 1 Toxic on Uxie who can otherwise be a pain for this team. Earthquake is mainly filler but it gives me pseudo EdgeQuake coverage, allowing me to dish out more quick damage.

​

thorn (Roselia) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest Hidden Power Fire
- Giga Drain
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes​

The second half of my hazards core, and an excellent special wall. Eviolite Boosts her special defense to titanic levels, which working with her excellent typing allowing her to wall the many dangerous Grass, Water, and Electric types while also absorbing Toxic Spikes. Natural Cure is an excellent ability that allows it to sponge random status' and switching out again to passively recover it off. Thanks to the suggestions below I'v switched Rest out for Hidden Power Fire, which allows it to actually threaten the grass types it stops rather than awkwardly stalling and spike stacking and resting. This also lessens my weakness to Lilligant since it can in theory just set up fully and 2HKO with a neutral Hidden Power Giga Drain is the obligatory STAB that allows it to smack around the many bulky waters that it walls while also regaining some health in the process. Spikes are huge as they allow all grounded mons to lose up to a quarter of their health just by switchin in and is her main job on this team. Toxic Spikes serve an equally huge roll of spreading Toxic across a team, meaning that even teams with a cleric that lack a grounded poison type can't rid themselves of it. Roselia is another good wish recipient from Alomomola due to using Eviolite rather than the passive healing of Leftovers, and the 2 compliment each other very well by drawing out each others counters (physical and special, fire and grass) and either stacking spikes or Wish passing off of them resulting in another nifty core.

snowflake (Cryogonal) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Haze

The final member of the team, my Rapid Spinner. Cryogonal serves as another special wall and during the time Hail was here it was my primary Blizzard absorber. But, even though Hail is gone it still carries it's weight by walling many dangerous special attackers and pulling off a spin in the process. Levitate is a good ability on Cryogonal as it allows it to float over the spikes it's trying to spin away. Ice Beam is a reliable and decently powerful STAB that allows it to deal some solid damage and allowing it to beat some spin blockers such as Golurk. Rapid Spin is the biggest asset that the snowflake brings as everything on this team appreciates having hazards gone. Recover is huge as reliable recovery is fantastic to have as it allows it to wall special attackers for an extended time. Haze is the final piece to the puzzle, allowing it to stop many dangerous boosters in their tracks such as Cosmic Power Sigilyph without having to resort to using Perish song to drive them out. I originally ran Toxic here but the utility Haze has brought is amazing on this team.
​

Threat List

Hax​

This seems like something stupid to put on a threatlist but it's the number one thing that can destroy this team. An untimely crit or para hax a mis-predict can spell doom. Nothing is worse than going 60 turns and having your end game set up then having something go down and blow all your efforts. Like I said this is the main reason I never really laddered with this team was to avoid the stress and rage of getting haxed out of a hard fought win.

DD/BU Scraggy
I've ran into this exactly once, and it was a nightmare. Dual STAB's that put the hurt on my Perish Song user and Haze user, and Shed Skin to relieve itself of status. Ended up winning because the player rage quit before it was even dead but if he had stayed at it or in the hands of a competent player this is something that can really mess with this team. Gallade checks it but it can't OHKO it from full health while a +1 Crunch is a 2HKO.

Lum SD Gallade
Big threat if it comes in before T-Spikes are set, I usually try to burn these with mola and if it get's enough boosts it can OHKO the fish before I realize it's Lum. With proper play it can be beaten it's still a big threat though. Now further checked through Misdreavus running Foul Play so this is now less of a threat.

Sceptile
Both sets are walled but deciding which one it is can mean the difference between losing a mon or setting up hazards. I've gotten decent at guessing which it is from the team around it but it's still a kick in the nuts when it sets up a Swords Dance as I switch in Rose.

Offensive Slowking
If it runs Grass Knot with Psyshock and Surf it can in theory mow through this team. Thankfully most run Fire Blast or Trick over Grass Knot so Alomomola walls it but I still have to be careful. Defensive sets are a pain to wear down but they often end up as the last mon that gets slowly toxic stalled or sung the Perish Song.

Aggron
So manly, I can't believe I didn't get wrecked by this thing more. It gets a completely free switch off of Cryogonal and 2HKO's at worst everything here with Head Smash alone. Gallade can check it, living one Head Smash and OHKOing in return with Regirock being in the same boat but played well it can wear one or both of these down to open up a sweep for something else later on.

Importable​

miss missy (Misdreavus) @ Eviolite
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Foul Play
- Perish Song
- Heal Bell

fat fish (Alomomola) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Scald
- Protect
- Wish

knife arms (Gallade) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 248 HP / 244 SDef / 16 Spd
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Drain Punch
- Will-O-Wisp

rock solid (Regirock) @ Leftovers
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earthquake

thorn (Roselia) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Hidden Power Fire
- Giga Drain
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes

snowflake (Cryogonal) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Haze

 

[col49]

Hey speed ghilliesniper, really cool team n_n Its really cool to see some of the less "standard" RU defensive 'mons used to good effect, and in doing so this team definitely manages to combat certain inherent threats to stall (such as Moltres) much better than more traditional builds. However, as I'm sure you've noticed, this does act as a double-edged sword in many respects, as in dropping certain RU stall "staples", such as Steelix, you become more susceptible to certain other noteworthy threats (tip-toeing around Aggron, being careful to keep Momo very healthy in the case of CB Drudd, etc.). Notwithstanding, I'd like to recommend a few minor changes that I feel will improve the cohesiveness of your team as a whole.

First and fore-most, I'd like to recommend you opt out for Foul Play over Shadow Ball on Misdreavus; while the extra damage on 'mons such as Entei is fairly inconsequential, Gallade (and to a lesser extent, CB Druddigon) is a very important target for Misdreavus, and the ability to more comfortably dispatch it is largely beneficial to your team (as you point out so graciously yourself :p ). Secondly, I would the use of Pain Split over Heal Bell (trust me here, I'll go into further detail '~'), putting so much strain on your Wish users, despite their flexibility, is never particularly healthy for stall from my experiences, and Pain Split gives Missy significantly better staying power and gives it a bit better chance at surviving a match-up with something like Pursuit Absol, that otherwise might open up some pretty big holes for your team. Moreover, as a minor point, I'd consider a spread of 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe, the ability to grab a burn on DD Crawdaunt before it can set up a sub is absolutely crucial, as otherwise it can cleanly run through your team (considering it can ohko everything barring Momo at +1, and she can get set up on and lose 1v1 assuming she comes in on a sub / dd :[ ).

Next, I would consider the use of Hidden Power Fire over Rest on Roselia. While this point seems to conflict with my prior statements about relieving pressure from your Wish users, the necessity of a move to hit opposing Grass-types (who it otherwise doesn't really check so much as awkwardly stalemate with), as well as apply pressure to Escavalier (another pretty large threat) is too crucial to not use as it stands. Moreover, the synergy between Roselia and Alomomola is strong enough that Roselia can much more regularly find opportunities to receive Wishes from it, making it somewhat less of an issue than in the case of Misdreavus. Nextly, and this may come across as odd, but I would consider investing in Defense in order to buff Roselia out somewhat to Pursuit attempts. While your team already packs a fair sum of 'mons capable of combatting a wide spectrum of special-based attackers, Roselia stands out as a crucial member of your team in the hazards game, and by investing so little in physical bulk you make it vulnerable to a well-timed Pursuit (a very common utility for offensive teams nowadays) and potentially limit yourself to SR+l layer, if that. I would consider tinkering with a spread of 248 HP / 140 Def / 120 SpD, the increase in physical bulk really helps Roselia work its way around such tactics, and even gives it the ability to soft-check physically based Water-types in a pinch as well (which is nice because SD+Lum 'Tops is never fun to play against when running Stall w/no Poliwrath :[ ).

Lastly, and this is perhaps my most unorthodox suggestion yet so bear with me, is to run Support Altaria over Gallade. While I understand the value of dual Wish supporters, aside from this I detect a pretty large case of redundancy of role; your team is currently handling most special attackers rather well even without Gallade taken into account, and while I won't deny that extra Wish support is by no means a bad thing, there reaches a point where you're stretching the rest of your team too thin in other regards that the issues such a choice presents outweigh the benefits of them (in this case Missy dropping Pain Split, among other smaller, in-practice issues that I noticed in playing around with the team). That said, Altaria provides your team a similar defensive pivot that, while not providing the Wish support Gallade did, offers your team a solid Heal Bell user to accommodate Missy's moveslot change, a secondary Natural Cure user to relieve pressure from Roselia to check such Pokemon (therefore minimizing the risk associated with dropping Rest), and an immediate phazer a la Roar (which was a pretty big grievance I had with this team while testing it). Altaria also gives your team a solid immediate switch-in to Slowking and Sceptile, and even a check to Scraggy :p I myself ran a variant with a fairly heft investment in physical bulk (which I will put in a spoiler below), though I encourage you to experiment with EVs spread to see what works best for you personally n_n

tl;dr:

Hide

• Heal Bell --> Pain Split
• 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD --> 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe

-->

• Rest --> Hidden Power Fire
• 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD --> 248 HP / 140 Def / 120 SpD

Set:

Hide

Altaria @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Calm | 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 SpD
Heal Bell | Dragon Pulse | Roost | Whirlwind

I hope you found some of my comments useful, GL in the future and in college =)
oh, and dropping a like 'cuz this deserves it, hope that's ok '-'

edit: sowwy SV :[ To sorta spring-board off that a bit, I definitely agree that CB Aggron is a pretty big threat (I only mentioned it minutely in my comments, but it stands out as a particularly dangerous 'mon), and would definitely consider trying Poliwrath. My main concern with that change, and what deterred me from making that suggestion in my post, is that 'Wrath is less self-sufficient than Momo and essentially meant you were dropping Wish support if you considered both 'mon changes (as well as opening up a slight birds+spikes weakness, but that can be played around), though I would definitely encourage you try both routes, since patching up that Aggron weakness and adding another phazer is really cool too :)

 

[SilentVerse]

Hi there! This is a really good stall team that manages to be very different from august stall, and still manages to beat most of the threats in the metagame. I also happened to use a very similar team in last year's RU open haha, so I know just how effectively it can beat most stuff ;p. Good job on making such a solid stall team!

Anyway, there's a few suggestions I have that could help patch up some holes this team currently has. First of all, have you tried Foul Play over Shadow Ball on Misdreavus? Foul Play gives you a very solid answer to SD Lum Gallade, since after an SD Misdreavus OHKOs Gallade while Gallade fails to OHKO in return with +2 Night Slash. It also gives you a better answer to SD Sceptile, since after Stealth Rock you can OHKO it outright with Foul Play after it's used Swords Dance. This way, you don't have to rely on Will-O-Wisp to cripple those physical threats, since lets face it, Will-O-Wisp always misses when you least want it to. Essentially, replacing Shadow Ball with Foul Play makes Misdreavus a better answer to most physical attackers, and help minimize losses caused when you have to rely on Will-O-Wisp to beat certain physical attackers.

The second suggestion I have is pretty big I guess, and might cause some pretty big changes to the team and how it works. Right now, though you don't have it in your threat list, I see CB Aggron being a HUGE threat to you. Everything on this team gets 2HKOed by it, and it can easily switch in on Cryogonal to start spamming Head Smashes everywhere. Gallade can sorta switch into a Head Smash once, but doing so makes it so crippled that you would be unable to use it to handle the specially offensive threats that it needs to beat. Escavalier is similarly deadly; even though you do have Misdreavus to take a Megahorn and force it out, it comes in so easily vs Cryogonal and Roselia, and with no recovery, Misdreavus will just get worn down to the point where it can no longer reliably answer Escavalier. Therefore, I would like to suggest using Poliwrath over Alomomola. While this does mean you lose a Wishpasser, Poliwrath gives you a very solid answer to Escavalier and Aggron, and still covers most of the threats that Alomomola beats, while also beating other niche threats like Scraggy (lol). The downside of doing this is that you become slightly weaker to stuff like CB Druddigon (tbh I think you're actually kinda weak to this right now anyway, since I bet CB Drudd 2HKOes Alomomola with hazard support :<), Offensive Slowking, and SD LO Gallade (you still might be able to beat this with Misdreavus though, especially if you speed creep Adamant Gallade), so in the end, it really comes down to which threats you'd rather be weaker to.

Other than that though, very good team :).

Edit: Ninja'd by col n_n.

 

[speed ghilliesniper]

Thanks for the rate guys, not having a direct phazer but rather a Haze and Perish Song user was my biggest irk here as it meant this team was painful to use against certain boosting sweepers, especially if they use a sub. I honestly didn't know Missy learned Foul Play so that's a definite switch to better stop Gallade and Lum SD spinners, plus the EV spread it perfect for outrunning Crawdaunt and other pokes in the same speed tier like offensive Golurk and what not. HP Fire seems like a good option since I do sort of run into a stalemate against the things it walls sometimes and I've seriously debated running Sludge Bomb there before. Catching Esca is really good as well so that will probably make me switch that over for good. The 2 switches of using Altaria and Mola and Poli and Gallade I'll have to test later on when I get the chance, Altaria seems like my favorite right now since probably %75 of the wishes come from Mola anyways and it gives me a phazer I need while taking some of the burden of Misdreavus of trying to spin block Perish Song and Heal Bell all at once while giving it semi-reliable recovery. I absolutely love Poliwrath as a pokemon, and he covers the Aggron Weakness and slight Esca weakness so well while giving me a phazer but I'm just hesitant to give up those huge wishes from Mola. I'll have to play test with both when I can, I actually never ran into an Aggron in all my matches except one trick room team but now that I look it's only really barely checked by Gallade with Drain Punch and Regi with EQ (I knew there was a reason I put that there) since neither are OHKO'd from full health and can OHKO in return. It's still a big threat though as it get's a free switch of Cryogonal and can just spam away with Head Smash, definitely adding it to the threat list. The subtle EV tweaks are excellent, on Misdreavus I love the idea of being able to burn Crawdaunt before it can set up or sub or OHKO our friendly little ghost and on Roselia being able to limit the pressure of physical attackers can be very helpful so I might play with that some later on since I'm still a little hesitant to subtract from her amazing special bulk without testing it. Again, thanks so much for the advice and I look foreward to trying out the new mons when I get the chance.