Stalling Frenzy

alexwolf

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STALLING FRENZY



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Introduction

With the advent of 6th gen we received a good Pokemon with Harvest, Trevenant. Harvest is an incredible ability and when combined with Sitrus Berry it offers incredible stalling potential, especially on a Pokemon that gets Leech Seed, Will-O-Wisp, and Phantom Force (which can stall for extra Sitrus Berries and passive damage). So, i decided to make a team around it to see the potential of the set that i had imagined. SubSeed's Trevenant problems are Fire-types that can't be burned with WoW and can OHKO Trevenant, and also very strong special attackers that can OHKO it, such as Greninja, Gengar, Noivern, and Aegislash. So, i picked Tyranitar, Goodra, and Slowbro to deal with any common Fire-type and most special attackers, making sure that the Pokemon that Trevenant invites wouldn't trouble the team. Blaziken was picked for its ability to pass Speed boosts to Trevenant and make it a great late-game staller, able to pick off many teams after it has spread some burns early-game. Finally, Excadrill was added for its fantastic spinning ability, as a good check to Aegislash, and as an alternative Speed boost receiver.


The Team in Details


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Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Nature: Sassy
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Fire Blast

Tyranitar is one of the best Pokemon right now and it's not hard to see why. It's easily the best Stealth Rock user, something invaluable in a metagame with only 3-4 good Stealth Rock users (Mamoswine, Mega Aggron, Ferrothorn), while also being a great special tank that holds back dangerous Pokemon such as Gengar, Talonflame, Noivern, and Togekiss. Rock Slide hits Talonflame, Togekiss, Noivern, Florges, and Sylveon (the last two like to switch into Tyranitar often). Crunch is mainly to deal with Gengar as Tyranitar can take one Shadow Ball + Focus Blast and OHKO back if worst comes to worst. Fire Blast deals good damage to Aegislash without the fear of dropping my Atk, or if i dropped my Attack after trying to Crunch it, while also 2HKOing the annoying Steel-types, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Scizor, Mega Mawile, and Skarmory. Just a great and very reliable Pokemon in general.


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Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Nature: Bold
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off

Slowbro handles most physical attackers. Excadrill, Mega Charizard X, Azumarill, Garchomp, Dragonite, Lucario, Zygarde you name it. Although i rely on it to take on a lot of Pokemon, it manages to do just fine because of Regenerator and the fast pace of the team, which usually puts Excadrill or Trevenant in a position to sweep after ~15-20 turns. Scald is obvious while Ice Beam is for Garchomp and Zygarde mainly, which are big threats to the team. Thunder Wave paralyzes everything that Slowbro can't KO, such as Mega Charizard X, Azumarill, and Lucario. Slowbro is also great at luring Rotom-W in, giving me the chance to go to Blaziken (against which, Rotom-W will almost always stay in), get a few Speed boosts, and then Baton Pass to Trevenant.


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Goodra @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Nature: Calm
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
- Toxic

The last part of my defensive core. Goodra handles the special attackers that Tyranitar can't, such as Rotom-W, Volcarona, Mega Charizard Y, and Greninja. Has good coverage and Toxic covers Volcarona, Tyranitar, and Rotom-W, while also helping Trevenant stall the Toxic'ed Pokemon easier after. I use Sap Sipper because it's very useful against Sleep Powder Venusaur and Roserade, which don't have any troubles getting past Trevenant, my other Pokemon immune to common sleep moves. Does what i want it to do but outside of walling a few problematic special attackers it's not that useful, so it's the one i am most willing the most to replace.


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Blaziken @ Leftovers
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Protect
- Baton Pass
- Fire Blast

And now let's begin with the Pokemon that get the job done, those that finish games. SubPass Blaziken is a great Pokemon that can help all those dangerous new and old offensive threats to sweep. Thanks to the Speed boosts you can also use actually bulky Pokemon to sweep, lessening the problem of priority somewhat. Excadrill and Trevenant almost never sweep without the help of Blaziken, so keeping Blaziken alive is vital to this team's success. It gets in on the Grass-types that Excadrill and Slowbro attract or against the Steel-types that Tyranitar and Trevenant lure, and sets up a Sub on a forced switch. If Talonflame is on the opposing team, you should double switch to Tyranitar the first time you bring Blaziken in (no Baton Pass to retain the surprise factor), to force it out and get Stealth Rock up. Then, apply the necessary pressure to hopefully keep Stealth Rock up, so that Trevenant can sweep as fast as possible. Anyway, in mid or late-game, Blaziken sets up a Sub on a forced switch, grabs a few Speed boosts against whatever comes in by alternating between Sub and Protect, and Baton Passes to Excadrill or Trevenant if possible, which is not that hard actually, as most of the common answers to Blaziken other than Talonflame are easy switch-ins to Trevenant, such as Azumarill, Slowbro, and Rotom-W. Sometimes, it's even possible to Baton Pass to Excadrill against Rotom-W, if it misses with Hydro Pump one of the times you use Sub. Fire Blast 2HKOes physically defensive Hippowdon after SR and helps against Aegislash, a big threat to every team. Just switch-in at the right time and from there, magic happens.


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Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 120 HP / 88 Atk / 252 SpD / 48 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Shadow Claw

Excadrill brings some much needed power to the team, but is still quite bulky and provides some helpful resistances to the team, namely to Fairy- and Rock-type attacks. The EV spread allows it to almost always OHKO 252 HP / 252 Def+ Rotom-W after two SR switch-ins and 2HKO 252 HP Trevenant with Shadow Claw without SR or sand up, take one Focus while the Speed EVs let it outrun Choice Scarf Timid Rotom-W at +2. Then, special bulk is maxed to take Aegislash's Shadow Ball as good as possible, as well as have enough special bulk to always tank one Focus Blast from Mega Gengar from full life. Checking Aegislash and spinning are the two main reasons that i put Excadrill on the team, but it proved to be very useful aside from those jobs. It's deceptively hard to wall after a boost, force a ton of Pokemon out and gets easy spins off, and can sweep easily with a few Speed boosts under its belt. Mold Breaker is for Rotom-W obviously and Shadow Claw is for Trevenant. Also, thanks to the lack of fast scarfers, it is often easy to clean-up with just two Speed boosts, and Excadrill takes well most priority hits such as Shadow Sneak, Brave Bird, and Bullet Punch.


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Trevenant @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 140 SpD / 116 Spe
Nature: Careful
- Will-O-Wisp
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Phantom Force

Fun to use but infuriating to face. This set takes the word 'stalling' to whole new levels, as there is almost nothing it can't stall to death if given a free turn and some Speed boosts. After getting the Speed boosts from Blaziken against Water-types usually, Trevenant uses Sub on the forced switch. Then it stalls the shit out of everything, hopefully keeping a Sub up against each Pokemon it KOes. WoW against physical attackers and Leech Seed against special attackers, while alternating between Substitute and Phantom Force to stall for passive damage, Sitrus healing, and Harvest activation.


Importable
Trevenant @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Spd / 136 SDef
Careful Nature
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Will-O-Wisp
- Phantom Force

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 120 HP / 252 SDef / 88 Atk / 48 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw
- Rapid Spin

Blaziken @ Leftovers
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Protect
- Fire Blast

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Atk
Sassy Nature
- Crunch
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Slide
- Fire Blast

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Slack Off
- Thunder Wave
- Scald
- Ice Beam

Goodra @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 4 SAtk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Dragon Pulse
- Toxic

Problematic Threats

The biggest threats are phazers that Blaizken can't 2HKO, such as Roar Vaporeon, Roar Gyarados, and specially defensive Hippowdon. Thankfully, Goodra helps me against all three. It can pressure defensive Gyarados with Thunderbolt and force it out with double switches, slowly weakening Gyarados with Stealth Rock up. Goodra also lures Vaporeon and specially defensive Hippowdon and cripples them with Toxic, making wearing them down a much easier feat. However, if those threats manage to stay healthy throughout the game, Blaziken will be useless. Mega Kangaskhan is also a fucking beast and one of the biggest threats to my team. Destroys most of my team 1 on 1, and after a Power-Up Punch it can muscle through even Slowbro. It's also bulky as fuck, so i must be careful not to give it free switch-ins and catch it with a Toxic / Thunder Wave / WoW as fast as possible. Aegislash is a medium threat to this team, as it happens with any of my teams that don't have Mandibuzz. It switches relatively easy into Goodra and Tyranitar, as well as having good 1 v 1 matchup against most of my team members, especially variants with Shadow Ball, which can OHKO Slowbro and Trevenant. Slowbro and Excadrill can hold back purely physical variants, Excadrill is my usual switch-in to mixed all-out attacking versions and Goodra can deal with Autotomize variants.

Closing Words

6th gen has been very fun so far and me making a RMT is a testament to this. That's all i am tired of writing... Oh, thx for reading, rate, hate, steal, bla, bla.
 
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you might as well run mega tyranitar, considering you have no other mega. You might miss lefties but mega ttar is a lot bulkier overall, and it also hits harder considering you haven't got a boosting item. I'd run 248 hp(avoids taking more damage from sr, spikes etc.) and 132 spdef because that's what you need to survive a mega gengar focus blast after sr. The other 128 evs can be put into anything rlly, but the extra defense ev's allow you to take a LO secret sword from max attack aegislash(without LO)and also from LO aegi without attack investment-basically you can beat all aegislash sets. Cool team, liked.
 
you might as well run mega tyranitar, considering you have no other mega. You might miss lefties but mega ttar is a lot bulkier overall, and it also hits harder considering you haven't got a boosting item. I'd run 248 hp(avoids taking more damage from sr, spikes etc.) and 132 spdef because that's what you need to survive a mega gengar focus blast after sr. The other 128 evs can be put into anything rlly, but the extra defense ev's allow you to take a LO secret sword from max attack aegislash(without LO)and also from LO aegi without attack investment-basically you can beat all aegislash sets. Cool team, liked.
The same thought crossed my mind a while ago and so i tried it, but i was disappointed. The extra longevity is crucial, as Tyranitar is my SR setter and i want him as durable as possible. Thx for the suggestion and the good words though!
 
Your team has three ground weaknesses to one resist. No immunity, either. This is going to make it extremely difficult for you to stop threats like garchomp, lando-t and probably especially gliscor (although blaz could risk it and maybe beat glisc) once treevant is gone. And treevant is going to hold off these too well either, as it prefers to be behind subs to make up for it's only slightly above average bulk. Sure, it can in theory kill anything that can't deal more than 75% to it, but those are rare even among ground users as pokes will either lay down a toxic on it (glisc) or have ways to hit it for SE (Garchomp generally carries fire blast or fire fang).

More importantly, to represent full stall as I think you half want to, you do need to have some more reliable recovery on the field. Right now you have slowbro as your only 'reliable' recovery user and trevenant as a slightly unreliable (but generally solid) item restoration user. If you were to run pokebank, or WHEN it comes out, I suggest finding a spot on your team for blissey, for a few reasons as explained below.

First off, Assault vest tyranitar (or mega ttar should you go that route) is a very good special d wall. I really do suggest assault vest, as max SpA mega venusaur did a grand total of 6% to AV ttar in sand with giga drain. What was the ev set of that ttar? No idea, but it walled me good. You lose lefties recovery but gain so much more in Blissey's wish bombs.

Secondly, blissey has the stealth rocks that you would lose using assault vest. Does this make blissey useless in taunt? Absolutely, as your set probably looks like wish/heal bell/protect/rocks, but you could adjust protect if you really wanted seismic toss (It won't save you vs mega gengar, mind you, but that's just the unfortunate result until smogon decides to ban mega gengar).

Third, you NEED a heal bell to help with your stall purposes. You're semi-stall at best right now, lacking the late game ability to hang with the large and in charge stall teams that are starting to filter into gen6. Trevenant dies to toxic, his purpose is done. Slowbro doesn't mind, but his ability to wall is going to be greatly reduced while on a clock. Twave on blaz or a burn on excadrill are all incredibly game changing for you.

Until pokebank, if you stick with ou, you have a few options. You COULD try florges, but you lose rocks. You could switch in togekiss for excadrill, run defog and then just let ttar go mega and receive wishes from toge, but those are a lot less powerful. Although, togekiss does seem to ease in easier than the rest. The only other solid wish passer that I can even fathom working in OU is umbreon with his heal bell/wish set. But again, rocks are an issue.

(And no, seeing that this is not pokebank, I have no idea if that toge set is possible. You're just going to struggle without wish/heal bell)
 
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