Any and All Ways to Lose (BW2 Stall)

[deinosaur]

Any and All Ways to Lose

Its been a long, long time since I posted an RMT. Well, its been a long time since I built a team of my own. Normally, I just take other people's teams and use them on ladder for fun. Anyway, this is my first BW2 team that I have made, and it is definitely far from perfect. I don't really have time to write lengthy descriptions, I just want to get some help.

I feel like I should warn you all that I am not an offensive player. I love using stall or semi-stall teams as much as possible. So the first month or two of BW2 are gonna be tough for me, but I'll keep pushing through with stall.

This is a rain-based stall team that I call: "Any and All Ways to Lose."


In-Depth Analysis

Politoed @ Leftovers
Drizzle | Relaxed (+Def, -Spe)
252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SpD
-Scald
-Toxic
-Protect
-Perish Song
(Spe IV: 10)

Politoed has a very simple role on this team: Make it rain. Essentially, I just need Toed to live longer than the opposing weather starter. The rain does many wonderful things for my team, liking making Tentacruel unkillable and providing powerful Scalds for the members of my team that make use of the boiling water. Politoed will often lead when the opponent has no weather starter, and usually when they do, to get the rain up. But if the opponent has Politoed as well, I will lead with whatever I see fit.

Scald is a STAB move for Politoed that gets boosted in the self-brought rain and burns everything. It is fairly strong, and with some luck, it can bring sweeps to a halt before they even happen. Toxic is another great move, even though I'm using Toxic Spikes, because I won't set them up if there is a poison type on the opposing team. Protect is basically for scouting purposes, and also to get a little bit of extra lefties recovery. And finally, Perish Song is for last Pokemon set-uppers and Baton Pass chains.

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Rain Dish | Bold (+Def, -Atk)
252 HP / 208 Def / 4 SpD / 44 Spe
-Scald
-Toxic Spikes
-Protect
-Rapid Spin

Tentacruel fills an important role in my team as the bulky water and Rapid Spinner. Not only can Tentacruel fulfill both of these roles, it can lay down Toxic Spikes to ruin my enemies. Toxic Spikes are such an underrated hazard, they can shorten or even halt sweeps, or prevent support Pokemon from doing their thing. With Rain Dish, 12% recovery every turn, Tenta doesn't die nearly as fast as most opponents would hope. Tentacruel is an important Pokemon to this team most definitely.

Scald is there for a STAB attack and the lucky burn chance. With rain it becomes a decent power move. Toxic Spikes, as I explained, are incredible. They shorten the life spans of anything they touch, except stinky Steel- or Poison-types. Usually I will look at a team in preview, and if important members of their team are affected by TSpikes, I'll put 'em down. PROtect is amazing on Tentacruel because every turn it gets 18% of its health back, and it also allows scouting of choiced mons. Rapid Spin is one of the most coveted moves in Pokemon. It allows the user to remove any entry hazards the opponent has set up, meaning my team won't have to worry about it. Toxic Spikes usually gets rid of most spinblockers, and Gengar can get beaten by a couple good Scalds.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Serene Grace | Careful (+SpD, -SpA)
252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
-Stealth Rock
-Wish
-Body Slam
-Iron Head

Jirachi is my foremost special sponge. It can take on Tornadus-T and Thunderus-T usually without a huge amount of difficulty. It is also my Stealth Rock user, which definitely helps me wear down the genies. Throwing out paralysis and wishes is quite helpful for my slow and bulky team, meaning Jirachi is a lovely team player. Basically, I like to have two special sponges, and Jirachi + Tentacruel so far has worked quite well.

Stealth Rock is important for a team who loves to use entry hazards because it hits everything, especially those who don't touch my spikes or toxic spikes. Wish is important for keeping both Jirachi alive and Politoed, who my team depends on. Body Slam is great for paralysis, I would have preferred to use Thunder Wave, but Volt Absorb Thunderus-T shot that idea down quickly. And last, but most definitely not least, Iron Head. What the haxmaster Jirachi is known for. After paralysis, Jirachi will usually outspeed (Quick Feet Jolteon ._.) and can flinch to death if need be.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Sturdy | Impish (+Def, -SpA)
252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
-Spikes
-Roost
-Whirlwind
-Brave Bird

Skarmory is one of my physical defensive core. Skarmory + Gliscor is very good and can stop a lot of physical sweepers in the metagame. Also, Spike-stacking is used on this team as my main way of dishing out damage. Without these hazards and phazing, my team would have trouble with everything.

Spikes are on the bird for obvious purposes. Skarmory's bulk gives it free turns to put down the real damage-getters. Roost allows Skarmory to stay alive much, much longer, and to stop many threats without breaking stride. Whirlwind is used to get rid of set-up sweepers and force mons to eat Spikes and likely Toxic Spikes, while Skarmory calmly takes their hits and Roosts himself back to good health.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal | Impish (+Def, -SpA)
252 HP / 174 Def / 72 Spe
-Toxic
-Taunt
-Roost
-Earthquake

Gliscor fits with Skarmory to stop many physical threats. Gliscor deals with a lot of Fighting-types because his resistance makes it easy. Also the new toy it obtained is Roost, meaning he can stay alive for much longer than usual and stop more threats. I also have thought about fitting SR on Gliscor, but it has 4MSS sometimes. :/

Toxic is a great move for Gliscor because it can wall sweepers for days on end while they die slowly to a powerful poison. Taunt is so slower set-up mons like Forretress can't do their stuff, and to keep set-up sweepers from boosting to +6 to break through me. Roost is the move Gliscor was looking for, in my opinion. Instant 50% recovery, followed by 12% recovery, and you still can't be statused. Just wonderful. :D And Earthquake is for simple STAB and decent power, I really don't use it unless I need just a little extra to knock something out or weaken it to death by poison.

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Water Absorb | Bold (+Def, -Atk)
248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
-Scald
-Will-O-Wisp
-Taunt
-Recover

Jellicent is the other half of my bulky water core, with Tentacruel, and I suppose Politoed gets a mention, too. Jelli is my spinblocker, which is an important role for a team that relies on indirect damage, so it can't be spun away. Jellicent beats Forretress and Tentacruel, but Starmie is troublesome if played well. Stinker.

Scald is a lovely move for all bulky waters, as it can burn and ruin a sweeper's day. Rain boosted Scald isn't too weak coming off Jellicent's alright Special Attack stat, either. Will-O-Wisp is a great move for when something is immune to TSpikes or hasn't been statused. It absolutely ruins Forretress and it will mess with any defensive mon by eliminating leftovers recovery. Taunt once again stops slower Pokemon from statusing or putting up hazards. Set-uppers beware. I think that Recover is fairly self-explanatory, any bulky Pokemon loves instant recovery, and Jellicent is no different.





So that's the team, sorry about the short descriptions. Thanks for reading!

Importable

Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 10 Spd
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Perish Song

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 4 SDef / 44 Spd
Bold Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Protect

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- Stealth Rock

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Brave Bird
- Whirlwind
- Roost

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Taunt
- Toxic

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Recover

 

[Sayonara]

Hi, Deinosaur! Nice team. I notice a big weakness to Pokemon like Rotom-W and Thundurus-T, who can easily sweep your team. They can both spam Thunder to take out Politoed, Skarmory, Tentacruel and Jellicent, while Rotom-W takes out Gliscor with Hydro Pump and Thundurus-T takes him out with Hidden Power Ice. Jirachi also doesn't like to get struck by a STAB Thunder coming off a 145 Special Attack Stat from Thundurus. To fix this problem, I would replace Jellicent by a Wish Blissey (see set below).

To be honest, I find it redundant to be using 3 Water-type Pokemon on your team. Removing Jellicent in favor of Blissey allows your team to deal with Rotom-W and Thundurus-T with more ease, thanks to its gargantuan HP stat of 255 and a fantastic 135 special defense stat. While Blissey is weak to Fighting-type moves, Tentacruel, Skarmory and Gliscor can easily deal with those. Those Pokemon are weak to Rotom-W, which Blissey walls, so they have good synergy. Wish allows Blissey to gain a lot of its health back, or Wish pass it to a teammate, keeping your team in top shape. Seismic Toss deals damage and break Substitutes, while Toxic is very useful for your stall team. It lets you stall out opponents like Rotom-W, Latios and Latias, who are immune to Toxic Spikes because of their Levitate ability. Finally, Protect assures that Blissey will get her health back thanks to Wish, as well as scouting and racking up Toxic damage inflicted to your opponent. Natural Cure is a useful ability that cures Blissey's status upon switching out. Cool team, and good luck!

Blissey @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Bold Nature | 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Wish | Protect | Seismic Toss | Toxic

 

[Zero Hour 17]

Pretty good team, though I have some suggestions, but I think they are mostly play style related.

First, if all you want out of Politoed is to get and keep up the weather, try replacing Protect and Perish song with Rest talk and Toxic with Ice Beam. I've been running that lately and it kills. You already have soo much status on your team, another Toxic seams redundant. It also isn't set up fodder. Physical attackers still have to worry about a Rest Talk Scald burn and those pesky Dragonites/Salamences along with the new Therian forms will think twice about switching in knowing they could be eating an ice beam at any time.

The other thing is, I would suggest running Amoonguss over Tentacruel. I personally don't think running a defensive core with similar types is a good idea. Amoonguss with it's dream world ability is an absolutely amazing wall. I would use the standard smogon set which is,

Amoongus @Leftovers/Black Sludge
Nature: Calm
Ability: Regenerator
EVs:252hp/40def/216spD
Move:Spore
Move:Stun Spore
Move:Giga Drain
Move:Hidden Power Ice

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

First off, nice stally team. I do support the Blissey suggestion here, but since you run a rain team, you might be better off running Chansey instead. I run a spread of 116 HP / 252 Def / 140 SDef Calm on Chansey which has enough defenses and still amazing special defense. You may also want to run a set of instead toxic / softboiled / seismic toss / stealth rock to set up rocks and give Jirachi more reliable recovery with protect. Finally if you do run Blissey, run calm > bold, trust me the drop in defenses is worth the special bulk (you still take pursuits fine).

I do like the amoonguss suggestion to, but not over tentacruel, but Gliscor to cover all in all the same physical theats. But make sure you run clear smog > stun spore for conkeldurr, keldeo, and breloom.

I also suggest you run a a more specially defensive spread on Politoed to take on CM reunicles and other calm minders if you need to. Also on Gliscor I suggest ice fang > toxic to hit dragons much harder.

good luck man

 

[chimpact]

Your team struggles greatly with Magnezone. It can beat 5 of your 6 pokemon 1v1. And with magnet pull, it's going to get a lot of opportunities to take your essential pokemon out.

Running 3 water types and skarmory is just asking for yourself to be destroyed by tbolt. I would definitely replace 2 of Jellicent, Skarmory, Tentacruel with pokemon that are more adept at taking thunderbolts and hidden power ice/ground. Tangrowth/Amoongus/Chansey/Celebi/ all fit the bill. The ladder 2 are capable of setting up stealth rock if you want to free up a moveslot of jirachi to hit magnezone.

If you do decide to keep skarmory, I would add Shed Shell to skarmory as it would allow you to switch into one of those thunderbolt resists. there isn't much need for a rapid spin blocker if you can whittle down their rapid spinner or pressure them into not bringing it in.

one last thing I want to address is that roost may look great on paper on gliscor, it's not that effective when you're running toxic. The common physical attackers in 5th gen are more than capable of taking down a gliscor and you are never guaranteed that you will be able to get off a roost. faster pokemon that you may have toxic'd earlier will still be able to outspeed you and that extra turn of toxic and 12% recovery could be crucial, so I suggest Protect > Roost. It not only GUARANTEES you that you get your hp back, but it allows for you to scout out your opponent, give you another turn of toxic damage (or even perish song), and if they predict the protect you can double switch or hit them with an EQ/Taunt :].

ultimately, if you want to know what I would test. I would replace Jellicent with Celebi.

Hide

Celebi @ Leftovers Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 236 HP / 60 Def / 176 SDef / 36 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave
- Recover
- Stealth Rock / Zen Headbutt / Earth Power / Seed Bomb

Stealth Rock will free up a movselot on Jirachi so that it will be able to combat Magnezone better, but you can use another attacking move if you desire. Celebi baits out Tyranitar and Tornadus, so hitting them with a U-turn on the switch or a thunderwave is pretty effective. A paralyzed tornadus-T is really crippled. If you run Stealth rock, you still struggle against thundurus-T.

I would also replace Tentacruel with Latias. The standard Sub CM or , CM Roar set will be fine. If you really fear Scizor/Tyranitar you can opt to go with rest.

 

[Motagua]

Hey there I agree with Scarfwynaut´s suggestion of using Chansey on your team but I would replace it for Jirachi instead since you already appointed that Jirachi´s main function is to stop Tornadus-T and Thundurus-T. Use a moveset of Wish / Protect / Seismic Toss / Stealth Rock with an EV spread of 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Sp.Def. It might sound crazy to use this moveset, but consider that half of your team is able to spread burns, while Gliscor is excellent in poisoning most common switch-ins. Although you might miss some of the paralysis you might gain with Jirachi, you aren´t missing a lot as you have a response to almost any pokemon in this new metagame. Hope I helped and good luck!