.....o0o..... [Introduction] .....o0o.....
With the removal of Greninja from the scene I decided to give a new try to the good old stall.
I will gladly appreciate any suggestion that could improve my team.
.....o0o..... [Building Process] .....o0o.....
With the removal of Greninja from the scene I decided to give a new try to the good old stall.
I will gladly appreciate any suggestion that could improve my team.
.....o0o..... [Building Process] .....o0o.....
My starting point was the clasic SkarmBliss. At this point, the basic idea was to have good special walls and good defensive walls, switching between each other in order to drop free moves when opponents are forced to switch.
I opted for a 3/3 Def/SpD walls, so I added one more wall of each type. My first though were the genies Tornadus and Landorous in their Therian formes. Landy-T works as a nice physical wall thanks to his intimidate, while Assault Vest Tornadus can do a lot of stuff thanks to Regenerator.
Next stop was my Mega. MAggron seemed like the best choice at that point since he has massive Def. Then, as my 6th moon, I went for one of my old Gothitelle sets. That set takes major adventage of mass switchs, so I though it could work. Its basically a bulky setup set that can trap a lot of things and kill them for free.
At this point I started to do some serious testing. The first and most obvious playtest result was that MAggron was mostly useless because he is just big Def and nothing else. His offensive capabilities are non-existent and Rest as his only recovery move is simply put underwhelming. Because of that I went for MSlowbro because he has solid stats and access to solid tools such as Scalad and Slack Off. Second thing was, Chansey was better than Blissey. Blissey is good but Eviolite is just too strong, even in a metagame dominated by Knock Off.
Turns out, MSlowbro has waaaay to many weaknesses, which makes him not reliable as a wall. So after debating weather I should play a Mega or not, I decided to test Sableye. I was very skeptical at first, but he won my heart. Having access to WoW and MBounce is simply huge. Also, I realized that Tornadus-t was kind of underwhelming. The Assault Vest variant doesnt put enough pressure and cant even stall that well. I also didnt had room in my Chansey for both Wish and Heal Bell so I decided to swap my Tornadus-T for Florges. I didnt like Florges on paper BUT she did wonderful when playtesting. Turns out, having 2 Wish pasers in the team is actually pretty good.
The comunity suggested Clefable over Florges, and I loved how she performed, so I did the switch. Also, and after a lot of testing, I decided I wanted to move Stealth Rock into her. As result, I decided to switch back to Blissey since I dont have room for TWave anymore because droping Seismic Toss makes me way to suceptible to Substitute and Taunt, and without TWave I dont need Softboild over Protect, so in the end Blissey becomes better since she has Leftovers to abuse Protect. Finally, the lack of recovery of Landy-T on top of me not needing him for SR anymore made me dislike him enough to switch him for Arcanine, another Inimidate user that has good defensive synergy with Skarm but who also has a recovery in the form of Morning Sun.
.....o0o..... [The Team] .....o0o.....
Without further delay let me introduce you my team...
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Confuse Ray
- Recover
Without further delay let me introduce you my team...
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Confuse Ray
- Recover
Sableye works as a strong defensive wall with access to several crippling moves on top of Magic Bounce. Knock Off not only cripples because of the removal of the item, but also hits pretty much as hard as Landy-T's due to STAB. WoW is the mandatory move that lets me wall even Sword Dancers. Confuse Ray is there because it forces switches, and Recover is pretty much staple.
Sableye provies so many random things for the team. WoW is great with Goth because it allows her to set up on a lot of physical mons. Confuse Ray is a very cool tool to have. If they decide not to switch its almost guaranteed that I get at last 1 full prz turn out of it during its entired duration. Knock Off also really good in this metagame, and having a Magic Bouncer lets me mindgame a lot, there mere fact that there is a MSableye in the team is enough to force opponents to do suboptimal plays. Finally, I have a Spike and SRocks in this team, so having a Ghost to block Rapid Spin is always good.
Arcanine @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Morning Sun
- Protect
Arcanine is a solid defensive wall. While his good Bulk in combination with Intimidate would let me tank a lots of physical hits, his WoW is the big thing here. It shuts down physical attackers on top of the residual damage per turn. Intimidate is really big in this team because it allows Goth to set up on a lot of physical mons she wouldnt be able to set up into (for example, she can set up and take down Ferrothorn at -1 regardless of his moveset). WoW is quite good becauseit shuts down physical attackers damage by half. Morning Sun is my recovery move of choice. Protect is there to help me predict, on top of improving Leftovers recovery and WoW residual damage. Finally, I went for Fire Blast because a) he has solid base SpA and b) most physical attackers who are weak to fire usually have high enough Def to survive the 1HKO without any Atk investment. Fire Blast is perfect in those cases because it 1hkos, among other things, Mega Scizor, Excadrill, Ferrothorn and Skarmory.
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Spikes
My 3rd physical wall is Skarmory. Whirlwind/Sturdy can either maximise hazard impact aswell as phazing threats that just set up on somebody. Roost is obviously staple, while Spikes are needed in any stall team. I didnt go for Stealth Rocks because I already have them on Blissey. I went for Brave Bird because I dont want to be destroyed by Taunt, and its always good to have an attacking option. Shed Shell is my item of choice because I cant expect Leftovers to be there long enough to have an impact due to the omnipresent Knock Off. Its there basically so Magnezone cant kill Skarm for free.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 216 HP / 252 Def / 40 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seismic Toss
- Stealth Rock
- Wish
- Protect
Blissey is the big SpD wall. She is there to drop Random Seismic Toss to wear down targets, on top been able to pass huge Wishes. Seismic Toss also lets me take down Substitute and not been shut down by Taunt. She is my Stealth Rock user because, this way, I have one wall of each type (SpD/Def) with hazards, so regardless of what my opponent has in front, I will be able to switch into a wall and set up hazards. Protect turns Wish into a reliable recovery on top of maximising Leftovers recovery and burn damage.
216 HP gives me the highest Leftovers magic number. Max Def because I dont want to be shut down by random U-Turns or Knock Offs on special attackers. It also lets me tank mixed attackers quite well. Rest in SpD because I dont use her other stats. Minimum Atk to reduce Foul Play as much as possible.
Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy
- Wish
- Protect
Clefable is my secondary special wall. The main reason she is there is Unaware, which basically makes Calm Mind and Nasty Plot useless. Her typing is fantastic and has great synergy with Blissey and Gothitelle since she can absorb the super effective moves directed at Blissey and Goth.
Moonblast is there because she has solid SpA on top of Fairy been a solid attack type. On top of that, the -SpA drops are pretty relevant since a) it may mean that I could switch into Goth and trap b) it may force a switch because their damage is not strong enough). Also, it can counter Taunt and Substitute. Aromatherapy was needed because several of my mons are suceptible to status. On top of that if I go for Rest on Goth I can wake her up with Clefable to have her ready for action. Next up is Wish, having 2 Wish passers is (imo) solid because Blissey is not always ready for combat. It also works as a recovery move for Clefable itself. Finally, I have Protect because a) its free Leftovers recovery b) it turns Wish into a reliable recovery for Clefable c) scouting (or any form of information) is always good in stall d) its free burn damage if target is already burned.
Gothitelle @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Rest
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
My last mon is kind of the boss of the team. She is there to switch into certain mons that cant kill her for whatever reason (not enough dmg by itself, Intimidate, WoW, Moonblast SpA drop, TWave, etc). Once she arrives they cant switch so at that point they will eventually die, which means you took down one of their pokemons for free. Thats insanely good in stall.
The set basically revolves arround CM/Sub/Rest. Crippled physical attackers whoo cant 1HKO Subs allow you to use 1 free CM every Sub, which means that you will eventually set up to +6 and kill them. Special attackers will eventually be unable to break Subs because of CM, so you again will go to +6 and kill them. The idea is to end up with +6 SpA/SpD and behind a Sub, at that point you Psyshook until you take them down and they have to send something to adress the +6 Goth behind a Sub which is a lot of pressure and can mean a sweep by itself in some cases. Obviously, the moveset is completely walled by Dark types so dont expect to always be able to sweep after a set up (thats not the main objetive, the main obvjective is to take down a mon for free).
.....o0o..... [Replays] .....o0o.....
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-198505693
A solid game in which you can see a bit of everything.
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-198474495
A nice game with several predictions that shows the full power of Goth when she can set up into something.
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-198455129
A good example on how I get free moves with the forced switches. Goth also takes down a Knock Off Mew who is also his Defoger, leaving him vulnerable to my hazards.
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-198710317
Stall vs Stall. MegaSableye putting some work. In the end I outpredict him + trap his Porygon2 with Goth for the KO. He FFs there.
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-199590415
211 turns long game vs a balanced team.
.....o0o..... [Changelog] .....o0o.....
12/31/14 - This team was posted.
01/02/15 - Removed Landorus-T, Chansey and Florges. Added Arcanine, Blissey and Clefable.
01/06/15 - Added Rocky Helmet over Shed Shell on Skarmory.
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