Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Roar
Hippowdon lead to start the sandstorm and put up stealth rocks. He can wall like a beast but is sometimes completely shut down by taunt or sleep. I don't know what to do about that, though, since sandstorm is pretty central to my stalling strategy and it never hurts to have stealth rocks up early. It's also funny when people put Hippowdon to sleep thinking that they can just send in physical sweepers, 'cause then I can bring out Skarmory.
Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/64 Atk/176 Def/16 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
Second physical wall/phazer/spiker. It may seem superfluous, but skarmory really does do a lot of walling, and spikes often help tremendously against opposing sweepers. People tend to think twice about switching in infernape if he's going to take 25% (31% with sandstorm) each time he switches in. Magnezone screws him over completely, but I don't see magnezone very often on shoddy, for whatever reason.
Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 180 HP/76 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Dark Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
- Superpower
This guy wasn't in the original version of this team. I added him because I kept getting walls completely screwed over by pokemon using trick. He makes a nice Latias switch in, provided he can avoid surf. The only poke who commonly uses trick that Ttar can't counter is Jirachi (iron head) but he can be dealt with in other ways. Also, the surprise factor never ceases to amaze me. It's always hilarious when my opponent thinks they can switch in scizor to counter, only to take a flamethrower to the face.
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/80 SAtk/176 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Thunderbolt
I can afford to give blissy a lot of special defense, since I have two physical walls and dusknoir to deal with the physical side of things. Wish and protect are great because they take two turns, and with toxic spikes down they make a deadly stalling combination. Toxic hits flying pokemon and levitating pokes who would otherwise go unpoisoned. Thunderbolt over flamethrower or ice beam because it hits heatran for semi-decent damage, and I also manage to surprise (and OHKO with stealth rocks) anyone who thinks gyarados can come in to set up.
Dusknoir (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/28 Atk/228 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Pain Split
- Shadow Sneak
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
Dusknoir is my spin blocker, and a pretty decent wall in case I lose skarmory or hippowdon. I don't carry Will-O-Wisp because I normally have toxic spikes set up, so it would be a waste of a move slot. Starmie gets screwed over by entry hazards and Shadow Sneak. Forre can't take a fire punch. Tentacruel in general would have no hope of breaking dusknoir, and I have actually never seen anyone using donphan in competetive play anymore. If I ran into donphan, though, I could ice punch and pain split if my health got too low.
Tentacruel (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP/120 Def/136 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Surf
- Toxic Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Tentacruel really ties everything together. It's nice to have a mixape switch in to protect skarmory and blissey. Tenta's typing + rapid spin makes it easy to get rid of entry hazards and protect my team from getting outstalled. The number of things tenta can switch in on and set up toxic spikes is actually pretty surprising, and toxic spikes are a staller's best friend.
--
So, there's my team. Any critiques or advice would be entirely welcome. I only ask that any advice respects that this is a stall team - that is, I will not change my strategy with this team. So any changes in roster or movesets will have to reflect this. Also, I can't possibly counter every pokemon in the metagame. If you think I have problems countering a specific threat, try to make sure that it's something very common, otherwise your advice is really not very practical. Thanks in advance!
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Roar
Hippowdon lead to start the sandstorm and put up stealth rocks. He can wall like a beast but is sometimes completely shut down by taunt or sleep. I don't know what to do about that, though, since sandstorm is pretty central to my stalling strategy and it never hurts to have stealth rocks up early. It's also funny when people put Hippowdon to sleep thinking that they can just send in physical sweepers, 'cause then I can bring out Skarmory.
Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/64 Atk/176 Def/16 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
Second physical wall/phazer/spiker. It may seem superfluous, but skarmory really does do a lot of walling, and spikes often help tremendously against opposing sweepers. People tend to think twice about switching in infernape if he's going to take 25% (31% with sandstorm) each time he switches in. Magnezone screws him over completely, but I don't see magnezone very often on shoddy, for whatever reason.
Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 180 HP/76 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Dark Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
- Superpower
This guy wasn't in the original version of this team. I added him because I kept getting walls completely screwed over by pokemon using trick. He makes a nice Latias switch in, provided he can avoid surf. The only poke who commonly uses trick that Ttar can't counter is Jirachi (iron head) but he can be dealt with in other ways. Also, the surprise factor never ceases to amaze me. It's always hilarious when my opponent thinks they can switch in scizor to counter, only to take a flamethrower to the face.
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/80 SAtk/176 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Thunderbolt
I can afford to give blissy a lot of special defense, since I have two physical walls and dusknoir to deal with the physical side of things. Wish and protect are great because they take two turns, and with toxic spikes down they make a deadly stalling combination. Toxic hits flying pokemon and levitating pokes who would otherwise go unpoisoned. Thunderbolt over flamethrower or ice beam because it hits heatran for semi-decent damage, and I also manage to surprise (and OHKO with stealth rocks) anyone who thinks gyarados can come in to set up.
Dusknoir (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/28 Atk/228 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Pain Split
- Shadow Sneak
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
Dusknoir is my spin blocker, and a pretty decent wall in case I lose skarmory or hippowdon. I don't carry Will-O-Wisp because I normally have toxic spikes set up, so it would be a waste of a move slot. Starmie gets screwed over by entry hazards and Shadow Sneak. Forre can't take a fire punch. Tentacruel in general would have no hope of breaking dusknoir, and I have actually never seen anyone using donphan in competetive play anymore. If I ran into donphan, though, I could ice punch and pain split if my health got too low.
Tentacruel (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP/120 Def/136 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Surf
- Toxic Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Tentacruel really ties everything together. It's nice to have a mixape switch in to protect skarmory and blissey. Tenta's typing + rapid spin makes it easy to get rid of entry hazards and protect my team from getting outstalled. The number of things tenta can switch in on and set up toxic spikes is actually pretty surprising, and toxic spikes are a staller's best friend.
--
So, there's my team. Any critiques or advice would be entirely welcome. I only ask that any advice respects that this is a stall team - that is, I will not change my strategy with this team. So any changes in roster or movesets will have to reflect this. Also, I can't possibly counter every pokemon in the metagame. If you think I have problems countering a specific threat, try to make sure that it's something very common, otherwise your advice is really not very practical. Thanks in advance!
