I've always liked stall as a playstyle. Part of it is the joy of infuriating opponents, part of it is the slower pace, and a lot of it is the fact that when I was younger, I was the only one who ever used defensive strategies in any game I played, and so it won me a lot of victories in and out of pokemon.
I've been trying to build a strong stall team around my personal favorite mega, Mega-Venusaur, but I'm definitely noticed it has serious trouble with certain mons, and would like to work on making it more balanced and removing the fluff (I would love to find a replacement for Clefable, who so far has mostly felt like dead weight).
So without further ado
Venusaur-Mega @ Venusaurite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis
- Leech Seed
Mega Venusaur is just a superb defensive pokemon. It effectively walls many physical attackers, eating hits from most things that aren't Talonflame. It stops pretty much ever water type including top tier threats like Azumaril, Keldeo and Rotom-W, and eats Loppuny-M for brekfast. It can even handle a number of special attackers, thanks to it's beefy special defense and resistance to fairy.
In practice, I've found Venusaur struggles most against teams that are heavily loaded with steel types, and special attackers with psychic moves.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
Heatran has great synergy with Venusaur-M, handling fire and psychic types. The protect set helps a lot with scouting opponents moves and playing prediction mind-games. I've also found opponents tend to underestimate it's special bulk and assume they can take it down with special water types. However, the team does tend to be a little too dependent on Heatran surviving, since it's the only good counter to several steel types (RE: Magnezone), and is very important for dealing with Latios.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Scald
- Toxic
Slowbro rounds out the Fire-Water-Grass core. It serves as an secondary physical wall. And (as with Heatran) I find people tend to underestimate it's bulk and waste their time trying to take it down with Volt Switch.
That said, it's very vulnerable to knock off and doesn't have a very high damage output.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Heal Bell
Clefable is on the team to nerf setup sweepers. In practice, I've found I use it more often to drop thunder wave on fast threats (esp. Alteria-M and both Charizard-Ms) and to use Heal Bell if Venusaur-M or Conkledurr get burned.
Mandibuzz (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Roost
- Foul Play
- Defog
- Taunt
I was suprised at how much I liked Mandibuzz. Originally I just needed a defogger or spinner, but quickly found that taunt could be quite valuable and that Foul Play could, under the right circumstances, deal really ridiculous damage.
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off
Conkledurr was originally added to the team, because I found myself struggling against Bisharp and Landrous. Conkledurr takes down the former easily and if it can switch in unmolested can deal a lot of damage to the latter with Ice Punch. Mach Punch is also a nice addition, as the team lacks another priority user. It has the added benefit of destroying Chansey, who otherwise presents the team a serious problem
Overall, I've found the team gets utterly wrecked by Aegislash in the suspect test (unsurprising, it was built in a Aegislash-free meta). It struggles with steel types quite generally despite Conkeldurr and Heatran. It also struggles with Landorous-I and Gengar. Also, it's far to dependent on Heatran and Venusaur, and it feels like Slowbro and Clefable are almost dead weight.
Any suggestions appreciated
I've been trying to build a strong stall team around my personal favorite mega, Mega-Venusaur, but I'm definitely noticed it has serious trouble with certain mons, and would like to work on making it more balanced and removing the fluff (I would love to find a replacement for Clefable, who so far has mostly felt like dead weight).
So without further ado
Venusaur-Mega @ Venusaurite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis
- Leech Seed
Mega Venusaur is just a superb defensive pokemon. It effectively walls many physical attackers, eating hits from most things that aren't Talonflame. It stops pretty much ever water type including top tier threats like Azumaril, Keldeo and Rotom-W, and eats Loppuny-M for brekfast. It can even handle a number of special attackers, thanks to it's beefy special defense and resistance to fairy.
In practice, I've found Venusaur struggles most against teams that are heavily loaded with steel types, and special attackers with psychic moves.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
Heatran has great synergy with Venusaur-M, handling fire and psychic types. The protect set helps a lot with scouting opponents moves and playing prediction mind-games. I've also found opponents tend to underestimate it's special bulk and assume they can take it down with special water types. However, the team does tend to be a little too dependent on Heatran surviving, since it's the only good counter to several steel types (RE: Magnezone), and is very important for dealing with Latios.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Scald
- Toxic
Slowbro rounds out the Fire-Water-Grass core. It serves as an secondary physical wall. And (as with Heatran) I find people tend to underestimate it's bulk and waste their time trying to take it down with Volt Switch.
That said, it's very vulnerable to knock off and doesn't have a very high damage output.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Heal Bell
Clefable is on the team to nerf setup sweepers. In practice, I've found I use it more often to drop thunder wave on fast threats (esp. Alteria-M and both Charizard-Ms) and to use Heal Bell if Venusaur-M or Conkledurr get burned.
Mandibuzz (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Roost
- Foul Play
- Defog
- Taunt
I was suprised at how much I liked Mandibuzz. Originally I just needed a defogger or spinner, but quickly found that taunt could be quite valuable and that Foul Play could, under the right circumstances, deal really ridiculous damage.
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off
Conkledurr was originally added to the team, because I found myself struggling against Bisharp and Landrous. Conkledurr takes down the former easily and if it can switch in unmolested can deal a lot of damage to the latter with Ice Punch. Mach Punch is also a nice addition, as the team lacks another priority user. It has the added benefit of destroying Chansey, who otherwise presents the team a serious problem
Overall, I've found the team gets utterly wrecked by Aegislash in the suspect test (unsurprising, it was built in a Aegislash-free meta). It struggles with steel types quite generally despite Conkeldurr and Heatran. It also struggles with Landorous-I and Gengar. Also, it's far to dependent on Heatran and Venusaur, and it feels like Slowbro and Clefable are almost dead weight.
Any suggestions appreciated
