-[StallBreaker 2.0]-
The restauration of one my old team from 2009, Stallbreaker, a team which his main purpose was to always beat the stall teams' Pokémon. The Nickname's are a tribute to the best player (and their most common usages) of my community at time.
Team Building Process:
The team's strategy was based on Machamp wallbreaker, with the purpose of destroying the Pokémon that the stalls generally uses: Skarmory, Celebi, Zapdos, Blissey, Suicune, and the rare Wishmence. Supported by Houndoom for Celebi and Dusclops, which was still usable with Restalk at the time. Today the main reason of Houndoom remains Celebi but ensures the elimination of Gengar which is always a big treath in RSE.
Depending on who eliminated Machamp, a back up sweeper is able to take advantage of it. The team has been adapted to the modern metagame, with the main objective of punishing the standard Skarmory without Drill Peck, punishing and eliminating Gengar, while still maintaining the offensive power, capable of penetrating the barriers of solid teams.
So, first Pokémon chose was obviusly Machamp and maintained with the role of the already mentioned Wallbreaker:
after completed his work to weaken Salamence / Zapdos or kill Skarmory, a back up sweeper needs to take advantage of, which leads to the choice of Gyarados. Gyara was the best choice offensively and defensively and his role is foundamental due to the important resistence that gives to the team:
the team needs also to eliminate Gengar and Celebi, since Machamp takes hit from Zapdos and Mence or Drill Peck Skarmory, he can't resist to a Psychic revengkill, so the choice of a supporter like Houndoom was needed.
Now is time to check treath lists and counter half of the meta to close the team and being decent in competitive play, here is the big idea to add Jirachi to the team, which initally was Calm Minder, with the support of Beat Up Houndoom and Will-o-Wisp to burn Tyranitar or Snorlax, it helps him to sweep, but the team lacked of Stayin Power and also Machamp works better with a wishing support, the idea of Jirachi set then changed and it will be later explained.
The team now needs a counter of Zapdos, a counter of special treaths and also a real Tyranitar counter, so here is the final choice which fits the strategy so well. Snorlax and Regirock, both of them has Explosion, both of them have offensive potential and without Gengar, Snorlax is capable of damaging pretty much everyone, including Tyranitar and Metagross. Also, his Selfdestruct most likely ends up on Bulky waters, since Skarmory and Gengar are out of the game, the enemy usually have no normal resistor, this allows Regirock to be the final weapon of curse sweeping, being not revengkillable by things like Aerodactyl ( which also counters hard) or Salamence is so fucking good. Once bulky waters are taken out by Snorlax Self or Jirachi Toxic, or Houndoom continuos pressure, or Gyarados sacrifice, Setting up Curse is unstoppable.
after completed his work to weaken Salamence / Zapdos or kill Skarmory, a back up sweeper needs to take advantage of, which leads to the choice of Gyarados. Gyara was the best choice offensively and defensively and his role is foundamental due to the important resistence that gives to the team:
the team needs also to eliminate Gengar and Celebi, since Machamp takes hit from Zapdos and Mence or Drill Peck Skarmory, he can't resist to a Psychic revengkill, so the choice of a supporter like Houndoom was needed.
Now is time to check treath lists and counter half of the meta to close the team and being decent in competitive play, here is the big idea to add Jirachi to the team, which initally was Calm Minder, with the support of Beat Up Houndoom and Will-o-Wisp to burn Tyranitar or Snorlax, it helps him to sweep, but the team lacked of Stayin Power and also Machamp works better with a wishing support, the idea of Jirachi set then changed and it will be later explained.
The team now needs a counter of Zapdos, a counter of special treaths and also a real Tyranitar counter, so here is the final choice which fits the strategy so well. Snorlax and Regirock, both of them has Explosion, both of them have offensive potential and without Gengar, Snorlax is capable of damaging pretty much everyone, including Tyranitar and Metagross. Also, his Selfdestruct most likely ends up on Bulky waters, since Skarmory and Gengar are out of the game, the enemy usually have no normal resistor, this allows Regirock to be the final weapon of curse sweeping, being not revengkillable by things like Aerodactyl ( which also counters hard) or Salamence is so fucking good. Once bulky waters are taken out by Snorlax Self or Jirachi Toxic, or Houndoom continuos pressure, or Gyarados sacrifice, Setting up Curse is unstoppable.
Shar's Fury (Machamp) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Atk / 20 Def / 20 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Revenge
- Focus Punch
- Hidden Power [Rock]
Machamp is not easily countered in RSE, he is always able to do high amount of damage and eliminate at least one Pokémon and this makes him the number one choice for teams that want to beat stall in my opinion, especially with the recent use of Toxic Skarm.
The set was originally: Cross Chop, Hidden power Ghost and Rock slide. However the team has been tested in ladder and on a considerable number of games, (150+) so the RNG factor comes into play with games lost for continuous misses, and no CChop Crits. Having coverage is probably a superior choice in a general context, but since i'm not lucky and I'm using a wallbreaker that must not fail after a boost, the set was then replaced with the winning Focus Punch + Revenge couple.
There was no need to hit Celebi with Bug power thanks to the presence of Houndoom, same for the OHKO on Gengar with Ghost Power (which was so good) was not my primary objective and therefore the set sacrifices Coverage to do what it was intended to do: kill Skarmory, weaken Gengar and weaken Salamence.
After a Bulk up, nothing OHKOs Machamp and makes the enemy think about the Pokémon he could lose. If Skarmory comes is, Focus Punch prevents Pseudo Hazing without having done 90/95% damage to Skarmory at least; exactly in KO range from any move of any Pokémon of the team, which subsequently switch-ins after the Roar. After seeing Focus Punch the opponent is encouraged to attack and Revenge harshly punishes it with a 120 BP + STAB. Hidden Power Rock 2HKOs Gengar and hits the Flying types, weakens Zapdos making it in KO range from Gyarados after a Double-edge at +1.
Carlo's Sweep (Gyarados) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Gyarados is the only immunity to Ground of the team, take advantage of the elimination of Skarmory and the weakening of Zapdos for sweeping.
Unfortunately Gyarados in RSE is a Pokémon with several problems, the most important is the lack of a real movepool that usually makes sweeping difficult. However it plays a foundamental role both defensively and offensively: provides an important Intimidate to help Jirachi counter Swampert with Earthquake and Heracross; Set-up on Dugtrio's lock in Earthquake, which is kinda dangerous in this team due to the general weakening of his counters that Machamp provides.
Double-Edge max Atk has 50% OHKOing Starmie 3 attacks, after just one dance; it also kills weakened Zapdos, annoying treaths for this team.
The set was initally much more bulky oriented, however thanks to the support of Wish I have the possibility to restore him and I therefore adopted a choice for the max damage output, very useful also against Bulky water suicides for Regi sweep. The Evs are pretty much changeable based on players' preferences.
g_f's Signature (Snorlax) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 124 HP / 56 Atk / 96 Def / 56 SpA / 176 SpD
Brave Nature
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Self-Destruct
Snorlax is the special sponge and perfectly tightens the strategy of the team as well as the coverage of the Treath list countering the specials. Thanks to Machamp who eliminates Skarmory, Houndoom who eliminates Gengar / Celebi he is basically free to cause lots of damage to the enemy team.
Metagross takes Earthquake damage as well as Tyranitar, Fire Blast hits and eliminates the remaining Steel types, for example Forretress and Skarmory.
Self-Destruct the emergency button to fight dangerous treath and cause further damage, suicide moves also lands to bulky waters once the enemy has no other resistor in his team.
Thick fat or Immunity is based on people preferences, I prefer Thick Fat usually because Snorlax will die and will not last long anyway, he must enter with less damage as possible. Selfdestruct is there on purpose, Toxic prevents being burned, which is good and generally due to team support, it won't end like Snorlax being stalled and killed by Toxic.
Zetsu's Bane (Houndoom) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire / Early Bird
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Beat Up / Crunch / Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pursuit
Phenomenal supporter for Snorlax, it is here for this reason as well as for treath list needs. Houndoom hardly counters Celebi 3 attacks, Jirachi 3 attacks, Moltres and revengkills Swords Dance Heracross. Flash Fire is undoubtedly a higher trait but Early Bird has a big utility to counter the sleep moves that are often present in ladder, also Gengar Hypnosis ( which is the reason of Thick Fat Snorlax, otherwise Moltres hits too hard).
However the increased usage of Moltres makes Flash Fire preferable for his countering and trapping, preventing any chances of sweeping. Beat Up due to the high power ATK base that the team has is able to inflict 80% damage to Blissey, killing her after she enters the Fire blast. Yes, it happens and is so good.
Blissey doesn't expect Beat up and dies and Houndoom wins. Houndoom also wins thanks to the elimination of the Bulky water with the Explosion or the Self-Destructs of Snorlax and Regirock, which is why Beat up is a move to be reckoned with. However, slashes are present as Houndoom should have 5 or 6 moves. Crunch is perhaps the least useful but has a good neutrality of damage in general, Hidden Power Grass allows you to hit Swampert hard, but an offensive team should not have the chance to be completely walled by his Counters, so my main choice is Beat Up, however, due to its exclusive use for Blissey, many players may prefer other moves. There are some battles which I need Beat up, others which I need HP Grass, the 4th slot on Houndoom is still under test to find the better option; probably we can discuss about this.
Dino's Trademark (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Fire Punch
- Toxic
This Pokémon is Mega-Venusaur.
Thanks to its incredible bulkyness it is able to counter many physical and even special treaths, he can handle Zapdos and Starmie 3 attacks.
Jirachi is the main bait of Tyranitar that will be Toxic-stalled thanks to the intimidated of Gyarados + the Protect. Swampert's Toxic bait that will have the same destiny, Fire punch completes the coverage, resisted only by the Steel Types, while the 20% chances of burn ruins the physical attackers that switch in on him, Metagross / Flygon or Gyarados. Jirachi is the team wisher and an important defensive pivot for the team's overall strength, he is an excellent Wisher for Machamp and Gyarados since his primarly switch in are: Tyranitar and Swampert mainly, but also Blissey and Snorlax.
Seymour's Solidity (Regirock) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Atk / 52 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Curse
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Superpower
Regirock is the final sweeper and a deadly counter of every Curselax set. Regirock always wins the cursewar against every possible Curselax set and counters Tyranitar thanks to its titanic defense. Counters Salamence / Aerodactyl / Gyarados and after that even a single Curse is no longer revengkillable from their Choice Bander versions. Intimidate does not stop OHKOs of Hidden Power Rock, thanks to Clear Body. Tyranitar gets OHKO from Super Power if he stays on the field to use Earthquake after 1 Dragon Dance, Jirachi restores Regirock as many times as he wants after having been hit thanks to the switch ins of Blissey, Snorlax and Tyranitar that lures. Explosion and the Evs in Spd allows to outspeed defensive Swampert or Blissey and explode, always useful to the team in case of emergency.
The team has a general weakness to Dugtrio and Spikes, but it is arguable by playing well, I don't think it can be solved honestly without distorting it or changing it. It almost never lose against Spikes anyway, and it never happened on 150 games to have 3 layer of spikes under my feet, except very very few games like 2 or 3, without exagerating.
It's very fun to use as well as seriously competitive. It peaked +1450 ladder and I think it can be even higher. Have lots of replays with this team which I can eventually post if needed or want to discuss about in game performances.
I Hope this team likes to people that will read this RMT
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