Hi everybody, today i wanna present you my very original stall team, based on Shadow Tag. Before we get started, i prefer to inform you that even if this team seems gimmicky, it works perfectly well at all ladders, and especially at high ladders (1600+).
So let's get started with my three trappers, presented together :
One! (Wobbuffet) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Safeguard
Two! (Gothitelle) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Trick
- Magic Coat
- Foul Play / Psychic
Three!(Dugtrio) @ Leftovers
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Hone Claws
- Stone Edge
- Substitute
Let's begin with a replay to show you how the trap works :
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-177430856
Easy, huh ?
This trap requires the foe to be a grounded non ghost-type pokemon.
Here we go. I lead with Wobbuffet or switch it in. When you face a Wobbuffet, often you won't attack immediately, right ? So Wobbuffet will move last, lock my opponent on status moves like Stealth Rock, Swords Dance, Toxic or any other non-damaging move with Encore: that's the first step. Once the opponent is locked, it's over : he's trapped and he CAN'T escape from that incoming, unexpected Dugtrio sweep :)
So, then I switch to Gothitelle. With Trick, Gothitelle will give my opponent the Choice Scarf, so he will keep doing the same status move even after the three turns of Encore. That is the second step. My opponent still can't switch. If the opponent is locked into Toxic, Leech Seed or Will-O-Wisp, taunt will be necessary : otherwise dugtrio won't be able to set up. In that case, my opponent will struggle 2 times, then I switch to Dugtrio, immediately Dugtrio hides himself behind his substitute so opponents status move won't affect him anymore. Furthermore, if the opponent is locked into SR/Spikes, I can set these on my opponent's side with Magic Coat. For the 4th move, i use Foul Play over Psychic because it gives me free kills when Wobbuffet locks the opponent on moves like SD or DD.
Once Trick done, I switch to Dugtrio... While my opponent keep doing the same useless move, Dugtrio immediately uses Substitute + 6*Hone Claws. After that, Dugtrio is completly unstoppable. With his phenomenal 120 base speed, he's able to 0HKO almost everything with EdgeQuake combo, while Substitute protects him against priority moves and the few faster and maybe scarved pokemons. Of course, at high ladders that Dugtrio can't usually sweep one entire team. But it does take down 2-3 pokemons before being KOed back ( the locked pokemon, the one who breaks the substitute with priority, and the 3rd who takes a hit then Ko back).
As this trap is pretty easy to set up and completely unpredictable unless you have once fallen into it, often my opponent will get trapped.
However, sometimes, there is no pokemon in my opponent team that can be easily trapped. So here I need three more pokemons that can take care of the rest. As a stall player (I once rushed to 1800 with a complete stall team), I chose my favorite stall core, Zapdos and Quagsire, plus my wallbreaker and late-game sweeper Gardevoir.
PhysicalWall(Quagsire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Scald
- Protect
- Recover
For me, Quagsire is the BEST physical wall of the whole metagame. You may argue that Ferrothorn, Skarmory etc have better stats and movepool, but all of them can be completly destroyed by at least one overused physical sweeper (Xzard for example here) and are often set up baits. Well, Quagsire isn't. With an amazing typing paired with an even greater ability, and a good movepool with recovery, Quagsire is able to handle every single common physical threats in the OU metagame. With Recover+Protect, Quagsire is able to outstall every pokemon that can't deal over 56% damage in one hit to him and kill them with poison or burn. Just to show you how powerful is Quagsire, here is a short list of common threats that just can't do anything but dying little by little against Quagsire : Xzard (47% with Dragon Claw), Azumarill(44% with Play Rough), Talonflame(54% if Banded), (M-)Scizor, Excadrill(52% Earthquake), Landorus-T, Garchomp, M-Pinsir(55% Return) and the list goes on...
Quagsire is also able to stall some electric based special sweepers as life orb Thundurus (without Taunt), Choice Specs Magnezone etc.
What makes Quagsire an amazing wall is his ability to get rid of a pokemon and stay at full health (just spam recover while the opponent is dying of poison).
SpecialWal (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
- Heat Wave
- Toxic
- Roost
- Substitute
This Zapdos is also a monster in terms of stalling. Heat wave + Toxic hits everything but Heatran which is easily trap-killed by Dugtrio. It handles most of the special attacking threats as Landorus, Gengar, Lati@s, Togekiss. It has also good synergy with Quagsire as it resists Grass and Quagsire resists Rock-type moves. Pressure is a key ability : it allows Zapdos to PPstall Yzard's Fire Blast, Keldeo's Hydro Pump and, the most important, Heal Bells.
Where is Thunderbolt ? You may ask. And my answer is : there is no use of that. Thunderbolt on zapdos is so obvious that in fact nobody will switch into a pokemon weak to it, so thunderbolt serves as a "bluff", it is my Zapdos' "fifth move". That's why I never reveal Heat Wave unless it's absolutely necessary, for example when the opponent switches into Excadrill, Scizor, or Ferrothorn in which case I will get a free suprise 2HKO.
Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish
Mega Gardevoir is also a key stone in my stall team. Her powerful Hyper Voice 2HKO everything not resisting it. As Heatran is not a problem due to the presence of Dugtrio, i use HP Fire over HP ground to get rid of Steel types. Psyshock takes down special walls. The last move is Healing Wish, which allows me to revive a heavily damaged Wobbuffet or Quagsire. She has also the power to sweep late game, and OHKO threats that Quag and Zapdos cannot handle (like Bullet Seed MHeracross, Substitute KyuremB)
The great effectiveness of this team is also due to the fact that the trap doesn't need to be used on the first coming pokemon. You just need to "catch" one of your opponent's grounded pokemon, then calmly set up the trap, as once you switch in Wobbuffet or Gothitelle your opponent can't switch out anymore. The most easily trapped pokemon are SR leads (Garchomp, Mamoswine...), Ferrothorn (he's slower than Wobbuffet so I can just switch into Wobbuffet and lock it into Leech Seed with "priority" encore), Chansey/Blissey etc.
Sometimes (I'd say 40% of the case), there are no pokemon to be easily trapped. Then I change my strategy, my three trappers will work together in order to take down the 1-2 pokemons that breaks my stall core. For example, Gothitelle+Wobbuffet takes down Clefable, one of the most annoying pokemon to face for a stall team; a "cleric" pokemon (Chansey, Sylveon..) or any stall pokemon (Gliscor) are also easily taken down by Trick, or at least rendered useless (i leave the pleasure to you to imagine the details).
To conclude, like every team this team has weaknesses against few pokemons. But all of them are pretty rare: notably, stallkiller Gothitelle and Taunt Talonflame. But this team is still very competitive, and very fun to use, honestly I took a lot of pleasure trolling trapped opponents who curses me and complaining about that "shitty strategy" :DD
Some replays (I haven't saved much);
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-179245231
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-177708851
And sorry for my english ^^
So let's get started with my three trappers, presented together :
One! (Wobbuffet) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Safeguard
Two! (Gothitelle) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Trick
- Magic Coat
- Foul Play / Psychic
Three!(Dugtrio) @ Leftovers
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Hone Claws
- Stone Edge
- Substitute
Let's begin with a replay to show you how the trap works :
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-177430856
Easy, huh ?
This trap requires the foe to be a grounded non ghost-type pokemon.
Here we go. I lead with Wobbuffet or switch it in. When you face a Wobbuffet, often you won't attack immediately, right ? So Wobbuffet will move last, lock my opponent on status moves like Stealth Rock, Swords Dance, Toxic or any other non-damaging move with Encore: that's the first step. Once the opponent is locked, it's over : he's trapped and he CAN'T escape from that incoming, unexpected Dugtrio sweep :)
So, then I switch to Gothitelle. With Trick, Gothitelle will give my opponent the Choice Scarf, so he will keep doing the same status move even after the three turns of Encore. That is the second step. My opponent still can't switch. If the opponent is locked into Toxic, Leech Seed or Will-O-Wisp, taunt will be necessary : otherwise dugtrio won't be able to set up. In that case, my opponent will struggle 2 times, then I switch to Dugtrio, immediately Dugtrio hides himself behind his substitute so opponents status move won't affect him anymore. Furthermore, if the opponent is locked into SR/Spikes, I can set these on my opponent's side with Magic Coat. For the 4th move, i use Foul Play over Psychic because it gives me free kills when Wobbuffet locks the opponent on moves like SD or DD.
Once Trick done, I switch to Dugtrio... While my opponent keep doing the same useless move, Dugtrio immediately uses Substitute + 6*Hone Claws. After that, Dugtrio is completly unstoppable. With his phenomenal 120 base speed, he's able to 0HKO almost everything with EdgeQuake combo, while Substitute protects him against priority moves and the few faster and maybe scarved pokemons. Of course, at high ladders that Dugtrio can't usually sweep one entire team. But it does take down 2-3 pokemons before being KOed back ( the locked pokemon, the one who breaks the substitute with priority, and the 3rd who takes a hit then Ko back).
As this trap is pretty easy to set up and completely unpredictable unless you have once fallen into it, often my opponent will get trapped.
However, sometimes, there is no pokemon in my opponent team that can be easily trapped. So here I need three more pokemons that can take care of the rest. As a stall player (I once rushed to 1800 with a complete stall team), I chose my favorite stall core, Zapdos and Quagsire, plus my wallbreaker and late-game sweeper Gardevoir.
PhysicalWall(Quagsire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Scald
- Protect
- Recover
For me, Quagsire is the BEST physical wall of the whole metagame. You may argue that Ferrothorn, Skarmory etc have better stats and movepool, but all of them can be completly destroyed by at least one overused physical sweeper (Xzard for example here) and are often set up baits. Well, Quagsire isn't. With an amazing typing paired with an even greater ability, and a good movepool with recovery, Quagsire is able to handle every single common physical threats in the OU metagame. With Recover+Protect, Quagsire is able to outstall every pokemon that can't deal over 56% damage in one hit to him and kill them with poison or burn. Just to show you how powerful is Quagsire, here is a short list of common threats that just can't do anything but dying little by little against Quagsire : Xzard (47% with Dragon Claw), Azumarill(44% with Play Rough), Talonflame(54% if Banded), (M-)Scizor, Excadrill(52% Earthquake), Landorus-T, Garchomp, M-Pinsir(55% Return) and the list goes on...
Quagsire is also able to stall some electric based special sweepers as life orb Thundurus (without Taunt), Choice Specs Magnezone etc.
What makes Quagsire an amazing wall is his ability to get rid of a pokemon and stay at full health (just spam recover while the opponent is dying of poison).
SpecialWal (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
- Heat Wave
- Toxic
- Roost
- Substitute
This Zapdos is also a monster in terms of stalling. Heat wave + Toxic hits everything but Heatran which is easily trap-killed by Dugtrio. It handles most of the special attacking threats as Landorus, Gengar, Lati@s, Togekiss. It has also good synergy with Quagsire as it resists Grass and Quagsire resists Rock-type moves. Pressure is a key ability : it allows Zapdos to PPstall Yzard's Fire Blast, Keldeo's Hydro Pump and, the most important, Heal Bells.
Where is Thunderbolt ? You may ask. And my answer is : there is no use of that. Thunderbolt on zapdos is so obvious that in fact nobody will switch into a pokemon weak to it, so thunderbolt serves as a "bluff", it is my Zapdos' "fifth move". That's why I never reveal Heat Wave unless it's absolutely necessary, for example when the opponent switches into Excadrill, Scizor, or Ferrothorn in which case I will get a free suprise 2HKO.
Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish
Mega Gardevoir is also a key stone in my stall team. Her powerful Hyper Voice 2HKO everything not resisting it. As Heatran is not a problem due to the presence of Dugtrio, i use HP Fire over HP ground to get rid of Steel types. Psyshock takes down special walls. The last move is Healing Wish, which allows me to revive a heavily damaged Wobbuffet or Quagsire. She has also the power to sweep late game, and OHKO threats that Quag and Zapdos cannot handle (like Bullet Seed MHeracross, Substitute KyuremB)
The great effectiveness of this team is also due to the fact that the trap doesn't need to be used on the first coming pokemon. You just need to "catch" one of your opponent's grounded pokemon, then calmly set up the trap, as once you switch in Wobbuffet or Gothitelle your opponent can't switch out anymore. The most easily trapped pokemon are SR leads (Garchomp, Mamoswine...), Ferrothorn (he's slower than Wobbuffet so I can just switch into Wobbuffet and lock it into Leech Seed with "priority" encore), Chansey/Blissey etc.
Sometimes (I'd say 40% of the case), there are no pokemon to be easily trapped. Then I change my strategy, my three trappers will work together in order to take down the 1-2 pokemons that breaks my stall core. For example, Gothitelle+Wobbuffet takes down Clefable, one of the most annoying pokemon to face for a stall team; a "cleric" pokemon (Chansey, Sylveon..) or any stall pokemon (Gliscor) are also easily taken down by Trick, or at least rendered useless (i leave the pleasure to you to imagine the details).
To conclude, like every team this team has weaknesses against few pokemons. But all of them are pretty rare: notably, stallkiller Gothitelle and Taunt Talonflame. But this team is still very competitive, and very fun to use, honestly I took a lot of pleasure trolling trapped opponents who curses me and complaining about that "shitty strategy" :DD
Some replays (I haven't saved much);
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-179245231
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-177708851
And sorry for my english ^^
