It started when I got beat yet again by that bullshit fucking comeback mechanic. The bitter taste it leaves in your mouth when your team is powerless to stop it has put me off of playing Gen 8 many times. I could have dropped the meta whenever I wanted to pursue the glory of making 6v6 teams, without its constant oppression hanging overhead -- but I was determined to beat it, outplay it, outskill it.
I don't like Dynamax. Many of the people who continue to play this meta don't like it either when it inevitably cuts them down. I think the raw potential to just bruteforce anything, while it does speed up games, ruins any and all competitive integrity of the Singles meta. Maybe it's more manageable in doubles with all the extra bells, whistles, and assorted gubbins that Gamefreak likes to throw their way, I'm not sure, but what I do know is that, in 3v3, the presence of Dynamax makes HO and BO teams king. It's very much a 'my way or the highway' way of doing. It falls to Stall, and Stall alone, to stand up and put a stop to Dynamax from grinding you and your team into nothingness.
Running Stall in this cramped environment isn't easy, though. For one, you can only bring three Pokémon to a match. 3v3 contains the most hidden information out of any meta besides old gens. You can't cover every base with only three Pokémon, and if you bring even one wrong guy, you might as well hit Run. Since you need to minimise risk to overcome the opponent's Dynamax, the odds are usually against Stall in the beginning.
Secondly, although these don't apply to Showdown, I'm laddering entirely on cart, which carries two disadvantages. Firstly, cart is a BO1 format, and has a much larger playerbase. There is no room to adapt to an opponent other than to look at the sprites that are in front of you, predict who they're going to bring, and hope for the best. Cart also has the notorious 20-minute timer. Time is of the essence to get as much damage on the opponent before it runs out. Stall is the only archetype where this is a problem.
Despite these challenges, I managed to successfully ladder with this Stall team to Master Ball rank, where I currently sit at Rank 11111. That rank isn't anything special to the seasoned veteran, but the purpose of building this team was to experiement with an archetype I've never played with before. As it turned out, playing Stall can be very thrilling when there are greater stakes. I learned a lot from my experience, and I hope to build more teams like this one in the future.
This is the original skeleton that I found floating around the BSS Discord. As you can see, there are two regen mons, two mons with Unaware, and the vintage pink blob + skarm core. Overall, an emphasis on slapping together shit that works well together and never ever dies.
On 1_TrickPhony's recommendation, I swapped out Pyukumuku for Pheromosa, but it's slashed here because both Quag and Pyuku are acceptable, they beat and struggle against certain things.
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Toxic
- Recover
The function of Pyukumuku was simple - stall out Dynamax turns with Recover + Sitrus recovery, and fire off Counter/Mirror Coat. For mons that it can't kill, click Toxic and Spam recover. I began noticing very quickly that the only reason Pyuku was going places in most matches was because most people have forgotten that this thing has Unaware as its HA. The joys of Great Ball rank where anything can happen... it's not a perfect answer to Dynamax, nor is it even a novel example.
Lessons Learned in Stall #1 - Role compression is fine, but excessive role overlap is not. This is what I learned from 1TP's recommendation. Playing Stall in this harsh environment, you need to cover as many bases as possible whilst still being flexible. In addition, every mon must do something, that is, must have its own separate niche in addition to sponging hits. It's not enough for, say, Galarian Corsola to sit on your side of the field and click Strength Sap/Night Shade. It's far too passive, and most teams DO have a way to deal with it. It's important to consider each team member's synergies, passivity, and flexibility. For example, having SR on both Skarmory and Chansey is fine, because they serve different purposes as physical and special/mixed walls respectively, and they have different niches - Skarmory punishes physical attackers with helmet chip, and Chansey absorbs status and slows down the enemy team. Pex and Slowking are fine on a team together, because one is a physical wall who stalls out the opponent with Toxic and Baneful Bunker, and the other is a special wall that conditions certain options from the opponent, and when put together, they can be very hard to kill thanks to continuous Regenerator recovery. In comparison, Quag and Pyuku don't really do much when together - even if one were specially defensive and the other physical, they both take hits and don't care about boosts. There will be certain teams where you bring only one over the other, sure, but that violates the principle that every mon must do something, because they share the same niche and don't really have many qualities that separate each other.
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Triple Axel
- Poison Jab
Pheromosa is, at least in my opinion, the least interesting member of the team, which is why I'll start with it first. It's here to do two things - pivot with U-turn, and pick off weakened threats with CC or coverage moves. Max speed + Jolly nature ensures that when you get +1 from Beast Boost, you will outrun every single unboosted mon in the game (yes, even Regieleki), as well as every single mon with a weather speed-boosting ability in its own weather and 252+ Speed. Focus Sash is the item which best benefits this team as it allows Phero to take one hit, thus allowing it to exploit its hit and run nature to the best of its ability. When Phero can't deal with what's in front of it, you U-turn out.
This Phero does NOT punch holes in the opponent's team. It relies on its fellow team members to soften up the opponent first. Although Triple Axel deals a considerable amount to mons that are weak to it, you are wasting Phero's potential if you press Triple Axel against a full-health Togekiss and end up wasting your sash vs. Max Airstream. Taking risks like that playing Stall is a big no-no.
Lessons Learned in Stall #2 - Avoid chance. This became very apparent the more I played and lost to hax. For the HO fan, where the reward from taking a risk greatly outweighs it, that would be acceptable. For the Stall Enjoyer, risk is something quite different. RNG is a cornerstone of Pokemon, and next to good plays, the decider of battles, so there's no running away from it. You can and will frequently lose to things like critical hits, stat drops, and your opponent freezing that game-winning mon. It can't be helped. You can, however, play things safe and reduce risk. Can the mon you're about to switch in really afford to sustain damage? Do you want to risk by reading an opponent's switch and catching it with a move that might miss, or switch out yourself to get that regen recovery? How confident are you that X threat doesn't have the appropriate coverage move for the mon that should otherwise stall it out? Risk is an inherent byproduct of your understanding of a match. Thus, as more information is revealed to you, or heavily implied, the less risk that should be present in the plays you make. On the flipside, by exploiting risk to force your opponent into making unsavory plays, Stall gains an advantage.
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Yawn
- Recover
Quagsire should be self-explanitory. It's here to not give a shit about setup/dynamax sweepers, spread burn, and weaken threats for phero/other team members with EQ, which is why it's Impish. The number of setup sweepers in 3v3 is disproportionately physical - special sweepers are handled pretty well by Slowking and Chansey. Also present in 3v3 is the absence of Sleep Clause, which makes Yawn a very spammable move, and an essential bit of kit on anything that learns it. You'll commonly see it on almost every single legal mon bar Togekiss and Darmanitan, and for good reason - it forces switches. A sleeping Pokemon essentially means that for 1-3 turns, the opponent has one less mon. To try and burn sleep turns is a waste of tempo - for any team that ISN'T Stall, tempo is precious. If the opponent doesn't have Sleep Talk or a status absorber, that is not a risk that they want to take.
Lessons Learned in Stall #3: Force the opponent to take risks. I've built a few unsuccessful Stall teams in the past, and this realisation is what separates the passive wall sitting duck from the proactive damage sponge juggernaut. Forcing your opponent to take a risk, you increase the chance that the one and only answer to your team is weakaned, or KO'd, the primary win condition for Stall. This team has a few ways to force risks, and Yawn is one of them. The others will be covered as we go along.
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
A lot of mons that are slightly slower than Skarmory like to run weird Speed spreads to speedcreep certain things, so Skarm was given 20 Speed EVs to outspeed these. Bold 0 Atk is to minimise damage from Foul Play and confusion, as Body Press is this set's only attacking move. Skarm was chosen over something like Ferrothorn because it's moderately fast for a wall, has an immunity to OHKO moves with Sturdy, 20 Speed EVs really doesn't take away from its gargantuan 140 Defense, and it also has a crucial Ground immunity. It serves as another win condition for the team by setting up Iron Defense and slamming the opponent with powerful Body Presses. Skarmory's secondary purpose is to set up Stealth Rock, which is significantly buffed in 3v3 - for most mons, HDB is a suboptimal item. It's used to some extent, it's just not as crucial as it is in 6v6 metas. Defog is also never seen, as is Rapid Spin on anything not named Excadrill. Rocks synergises with Yawn, and another tool I'll explain down the line, because it punishes switches. Another item that is influenced by the 3v3 meta in a few different ways is Rocky Helmet. Since Dynamax moves don't make contact, helmet doesn't trigger; however, a lot of physical threats in this metagame use moves that do make contact, and so, Skarm can punish these heavy threats without so much as lifting a single finger. If the opponent has no special attackers, most mons will struggle to find an answer to Skarmory without scoring a crit. Cinderace, the meta's most notorious cleaner, can't even dent Skarm if it's at +2.
252 Atk Life Orb Cinderace-Gmax Pyro Ball vs. +2 252 HP / 236+ Def Skarmory: 73-88 (42.4 - 51.1%) -- 9.8% chance to 2HKO (7.94% chance to 2HKO after accuracy)
If you wanted to be truly optimised vs. Cinderace, and put investment elsewhere, you could run 252 HP/196 Def/24 SpDef/36 Speed, giving Skarm just enough speed to speedcreep Ace when it's paralysed, as well as no speed Seismitoad. 196 Defense still yields the same damage calc as above, but I'm not sure how it will impact other MUs.
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Recover
- Scald
- Baneful Bunker
Well, here it is. The cold sore that never fucking dies. It's part one of a two-part Regen core, spreads a never-missing Toxic, and scouts for coverage moves with Baneful Bunker. Did I mention it also spreads burns like cold sores? What can I say that's not already known about Pex in BSS and OU? If you have no answers for Pex, it wins on the spot. It seems quite passive at first, until I learned the next lesson in playing Stall:
Lessons Learned in Stall #4: Regenerator needs to be significantly toned down. Which is what I would have said, were I not the one abusing Regenerator to begin with. Getting 33% health back just by switching reduces the risk of dying to damage rolls so much. If you have a partner with an immunity or 4x resist to something, you can stall while switching, thus making the situation much less favourable for the opponent, who has to make the choice of switching to something that might get ruined by Toxic, or dealing a little extra damage to pex or its partner in crime - a guess that is not in their favour. If their attack doesn't outright do over half to Pex, it can Recover, switch out, and all of a sudden it's healthy again. I might argue that Regenerator is so much more important than passive recovery in playing Stall, but I will have to make more teams to come to judge that better. I've been on the receiving end of being stalled out by Pex many times, it is the apex of suffering in this game.
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 132 SpD
Bold Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock
Chansey is the team's second rocker and first special wall. Although it's probably the most passive member of the team, it serves a few important roles besides being the top patron of the all-you-can eat Ice Beam Buffet: Natural Cure allows Chansey to be a pseudo status-absorber, letting you breathe a little vs. Yawn, a safety net vs. the odd freeze, and the saviour of getting haxed by Thunder Wave. You wouldn't think it at first, but paralysis is low-key a very dangerous status to deal with as Stall, because unless you have Heal Bell or something that can absorb it, a paralyzed mon must always take a risk with a 25% chance of not moving on any given turn, potentially locking you out of a vital Recover, or game winning move. By the same token, Chansey can support the team by spreading paralysis and forcing the opponent to take such a risk themselves, a good example of Lesson #3. You might also notice when playing that Chansey has a LOT of PP, allowing it to PP stall when needed. Although Chansey cannot beat certain things that it would like to switch into to defend Skarm, like Zapdos, it's still a good in-between pivot nonetheless.
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Future Sight
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam / Scald / Hydro Pump
I've saved who I think is the star of the team for last. Galarian Slowking is not a very popular mon in BSS (not even top 100 according to Pikalytics), but in OU, it's a very popular staple on Balance teams and the like for its Regen passive healing and access to Future Sight, which has taken three generations to see use since its buff to 120 BP. This surgence of Future Sight as a wallbreaking option is not without reason in OU, and I think its success can be replicated in BSS on not just Stall teams, but any team that would fit Galarian Slowking. The reasons why anyone would use Future Sight on the Slows in any meta are because it deals chip damage without having to have the mon on the field; it forces switches; and can pick up potential KOs where other teammates would struggle to break through. I use Ice Beam to beat Dragon types and Zapdos, which will often try and Roost off the damage, but Scald and Hydro Pump are valid options to not get invalidated by a random freeze and or to touch Heatran. Sludge Bomb rounds off the set with good coverage, an answer for the ever-present fairies in this meta, and a 30% chance of regular poison isn't something to write off, as chip is everything.
Now that I've concluded the rolecall, let's take a look at some common cores that I've used when laddering:
These cores try to win by creating as much risk for the opponent as possible using a combination of Future Sight, Rocks, Yawn/Thunder Wave, and Regenerator to try and coax the opponent into bruteforcing their way through the team with risky reads.
Even though the team has answers to it,
Trick + Choice Item invalidates something, and you need to make sure it's something that can still kinda function in the lategame or has already served its purpose.
Lessons Learned in Stall #5 - If you bring the wrong guys, congratulations, you played yourself. This goes for any team in 3v3, but especially stall, since your goal is to keep everyone as healthy as possible whilst whittling your opponent's answers to your team down to 0. So, if you don't bring Quag to a game where the opponent is very clearly going to bring Dracozolt, that's on you buddy. There will be games where you just lose because you didn't bring the right mons. That's the nature of the team preview mindgame in a 3v3 meta, and it's as likely to happen to the opponent as it is to you.
With thanks to 1_TrickPhony, who coached me.
