SilentVerse
Smash Journeyman
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2009
- Messages
- 386
I, like some other people, wanted to see if stall was still viable in this new hard-hitting generation. Since I started playing Gen 4 UU, I've always favored a defensive playstyle, as I seemed to do better when using these types of teams. Therefore, I wanted to attempt to make a decent defensively oriented team this generation.
Unfortunately, since there are so many hard-hitting Pokemon, it's very hard to use pure stall. I've tried a couple different attempts at pure stall, but none of them seemed to work for me. Finally, I came to the current team that is here, which, despite looking like pure stall, actually ends up playing as a very defensive team - similar to my best Gen 4 UU team. It never truly "stalls", but it's a very stallish team that seems to be quite effective at the moment.
Team at a Glance:
Abomasnow (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Magic Coat
- Blizzard
Abomasnow is my lead for a couple of reasons. First of all, he changes the weather to something that most people aren't abusing at the moment - hail. Since weather is looking to be a very important part of the metagame, I wanted something that could change it so it was favorable to my stall team. Hail is currently the least threatening of all weathers in my opinion, so Abomasnow became my lead.
The moveset is basically the Gen 4 Subseeder with Protect instead of Substitute, and Magic Coat over Focus Punch. Magic Coat is an amazing move this generation, reflecting status, and most importantly, entry hazards, which allows this Abomasnow to serve as an Anti-lead of sorts. The best part is that nobody really expects it at the moment, which gives me a huge advantage, as I can, for the most part, reflect hazards back with ease.
Max Speed and Max SpA are basically used to allows Abomasnow to outspeed stuff, Leech Seed them, and switch out. If it's a Grass, Blizzard hits them for nasty damage. I'm considering a defensive spread though, since half of this Abomasnow's attacks have priority.
Blissey (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss
Blissey is still the specially-defensive behemoth of Gen 5. Her massive defensive stats allow her to sponge all kinds of hits. This Blissey is my team's cleric and Wish supporter, providing two very important, almost essential support options to my team. Shed Shell is THE item of Blissey right now; with all the Shanderaa running around, it's ridiculously unsafe to use Leftovers.
Bold + 252 Defense EVs are very important now. Since attacks like Psycho Shock can hit Blissey on her lower defensive stat, boosting it is more important than ever before. It also helps Blissey if it's the last Pokemon on my team to stand up to physical attackers such as Scarf Ononokusu, and numerous other things. Calm isn't really necessary, since Blissey can sponge most special attacks anyways, even without investment.
Burungeru (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Boil Over
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
Ah yes, my spin-blocker. Burungeru tanks hits easily, and can weaken physical attackers, which attack on my team's weaker side, with burn. Burungeru is also a great tank, dealing decent damage with Boil Over and Shadow Ball, while staying alive with Recover. She also has good synergy with my team, providing a very useful Fighting immunity, and is part of the Nattorei-Burungeru core.
The EVs are kinda weird, but since Burungeru has somewhat similar stats to Milotic, I decided to use Milotic's specially defensive spread. It might change later if a better spread comes up, but right now, it's helpful since it allows Burungeru to sponge hits from both sides decently.
Nattorei (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
Nattorei is a champ defensively, and sets up hazards for my team. Nattorei is perhaps the most important member of my team, since it checks and counters many physical threats that would rip through my team such as Doryanzuu, Tyranitar, and even Ono locked into Outrage. Unfortunately, it can't counter and check these Pokemon all at once, which means that my team can get overwhelmed if the opposing team has numerous physical sweepers. Nattorei finishes the Nattorei-Burungeru core as well.
Shed Shell is used once again since, like Blissey, it's currently the best item for it in my opinion. It prevents Shanderaa and Magnezone for the taking out a crucial member of my team. Unfortunately, since Hail is often up, Nattorei can get worn down.
Max Defense is necessary since Nattorei needs to check most physical attackers. Relaxed is used to boost Gyro Ball's power, and Nattorei also has 0 Speed IVs to boost it further.
Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Boil Over
- Rapid Spin
- Sludge Bomb
Tentacruel sets up Toxic Spikes for opposing stall, and also spins too. His main purpose is to provide a reliable switch in to Shanderaa after it comes in on Nattorei or Blissey, as well as providing a couple of useful resists to this team. Boil Over provides good STAB, and the chance to burn is excellent. Sludge Bomb is used to hit a decent range of Pokemon neutrally alongside Boil Over.
Not much to say about the EVs, as they're the standard EV spread for Tentacruel in Gen 4. Black Sludge is used so I have a decent answer to Trick.
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Wish
- Refresh / Roar
It's Latias! Latias is currently my check to stuff like Blaziken, and provides secondary Wish support. She's also my fastest member of my team, so if necessary, she can come in to occasionally finish some slower Pokemon off. Recover gives her an instant recovery move, and Dragon Pulse is an all around solid attack. I'm currently dabbling between Refresh and Roar as my last move. Roar would give this team a PHazer, which would be exceedingly useful in dealing with Baton Pass, while Refresh is useful to deal with Status when Latias is the last Pokemon.
Max Speed is needed to outspeed most things, while Max HP augments Latias' bulk. I personally think Soul Dew Latias is still too good for OU, so I use Leftovers instead; however, Soul Dew would make Latias much stronger. I guess this a pretty stupid reason not to use it though.
This team has actually been really fun to use. It reminds me of my Gen 4 UU team, since they actually play similarly. However, this team does have some weaknesses. Opposing stall can be an annoyance, and I don't have a win condition to deal with last Pokemon stat-uppers. Some offensive Pokemon such as Terrakion can break through Nattorei and sweep through my team if it doesn't have Life Orb. I hope that by posting this team on SWF, I can get some good advice to make this team even better.
Unfortunately, since there are so many hard-hitting Pokemon, it's very hard to use pure stall. I've tried a couple different attempts at pure stall, but none of them seemed to work for me. Finally, I came to the current team that is here, which, despite looking like pure stall, actually ends up playing as a very defensive team - similar to my best Gen 4 UU team. It never truly "stalls", but it's a very stallish team that seems to be quite effective at the moment.
Team at a Glance:
Abomasnow (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Magic Coat
- Blizzard
Abomasnow is my lead for a couple of reasons. First of all, he changes the weather to something that most people aren't abusing at the moment - hail. Since weather is looking to be a very important part of the metagame, I wanted something that could change it so it was favorable to my stall team. Hail is currently the least threatening of all weathers in my opinion, so Abomasnow became my lead.
The moveset is basically the Gen 4 Subseeder with Protect instead of Substitute, and Magic Coat over Focus Punch. Magic Coat is an amazing move this generation, reflecting status, and most importantly, entry hazards, which allows this Abomasnow to serve as an Anti-lead of sorts. The best part is that nobody really expects it at the moment, which gives me a huge advantage, as I can, for the most part, reflect hazards back with ease.
Max Speed and Max SpA are basically used to allows Abomasnow to outspeed stuff, Leech Seed them, and switch out. If it's a Grass, Blizzard hits them for nasty damage. I'm considering a defensive spread though, since half of this Abomasnow's attacks have priority.
Blissey (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss
Blissey is still the specially-defensive behemoth of Gen 5. Her massive defensive stats allow her to sponge all kinds of hits. This Blissey is my team's cleric and Wish supporter, providing two very important, almost essential support options to my team. Shed Shell is THE item of Blissey right now; with all the Shanderaa running around, it's ridiculously unsafe to use Leftovers.
Bold + 252 Defense EVs are very important now. Since attacks like Psycho Shock can hit Blissey on her lower defensive stat, boosting it is more important than ever before. It also helps Blissey if it's the last Pokemon on my team to stand up to physical attackers such as Scarf Ononokusu, and numerous other things. Calm isn't really necessary, since Blissey can sponge most special attacks anyways, even without investment.
Burungeru (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Boil Over
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
Ah yes, my spin-blocker. Burungeru tanks hits easily, and can weaken physical attackers, which attack on my team's weaker side, with burn. Burungeru is also a great tank, dealing decent damage with Boil Over and Shadow Ball, while staying alive with Recover. She also has good synergy with my team, providing a very useful Fighting immunity, and is part of the Nattorei-Burungeru core.
The EVs are kinda weird, but since Burungeru has somewhat similar stats to Milotic, I decided to use Milotic's specially defensive spread. It might change later if a better spread comes up, but right now, it's helpful since it allows Burungeru to sponge hits from both sides decently.
Nattorei (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
Nattorei is a champ defensively, and sets up hazards for my team. Nattorei is perhaps the most important member of my team, since it checks and counters many physical threats that would rip through my team such as Doryanzuu, Tyranitar, and even Ono locked into Outrage. Unfortunately, it can't counter and check these Pokemon all at once, which means that my team can get overwhelmed if the opposing team has numerous physical sweepers. Nattorei finishes the Nattorei-Burungeru core as well.
Shed Shell is used once again since, like Blissey, it's currently the best item for it in my opinion. It prevents Shanderaa and Magnezone for the taking out a crucial member of my team. Unfortunately, since Hail is often up, Nattorei can get worn down.
Max Defense is necessary since Nattorei needs to check most physical attackers. Relaxed is used to boost Gyro Ball's power, and Nattorei also has 0 Speed IVs to boost it further.
Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Boil Over
- Rapid Spin
- Sludge Bomb
Tentacruel sets up Toxic Spikes for opposing stall, and also spins too. His main purpose is to provide a reliable switch in to Shanderaa after it comes in on Nattorei or Blissey, as well as providing a couple of useful resists to this team. Boil Over provides good STAB, and the chance to burn is excellent. Sludge Bomb is used to hit a decent range of Pokemon neutrally alongside Boil Over.
Not much to say about the EVs, as they're the standard EV spread for Tentacruel in Gen 4. Black Sludge is used so I have a decent answer to Trick.
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Wish
- Refresh / Roar
It's Latias! Latias is currently my check to stuff like Blaziken, and provides secondary Wish support. She's also my fastest member of my team, so if necessary, she can come in to occasionally finish some slower Pokemon off. Recover gives her an instant recovery move, and Dragon Pulse is an all around solid attack. I'm currently dabbling between Refresh and Roar as my last move. Roar would give this team a PHazer, which would be exceedingly useful in dealing with Baton Pass, while Refresh is useful to deal with Status when Latias is the last Pokemon.
Max Speed is needed to outspeed most things, while Max HP augments Latias' bulk. I personally think Soul Dew Latias is still too good for OU, so I use Leftovers instead; however, Soul Dew would make Latias much stronger. I guess this a pretty stupid reason not to use it though.
This team has actually been really fun to use. It reminds me of my Gen 4 UU team, since they actually play similarly. However, this team does have some weaknesses. Opposing stall can be an annoyance, and I don't have a win condition to deal with last Pokemon stat-uppers. Some offensive Pokemon such as Terrakion can break through Nattorei and sweep through my team if it doesn't have Life Orb. I hope that by posting this team on SWF, I can get some good advice to make this team even better.
