Old-School Patience: Pure Stall

[azureleaf17]

I started playing on the ladder a couple of months ago after I told my roommate that I would sit down and try to create the lamest team possible. It’s been a few weeks of experimentation and switching Pokemon in and out, but I finally managed to crank out a stall team that hasn’t lost for a while, bar a few matches where crits ran like water (which totally destroys stall teams).

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So here’s where I started: with one of my favorite Pokemon in Generation III. I really wanted to make her work, even though she’s barely viable in NU and RU.

Since this was going to be stall, I knew that Gardevoir had to be specially defensive. So I brought in a physical wall as well. I also knew I wanted a Steel-type with Roar and Stealth Rock on the team, so another favorite came in, this time from Gen II...

With two low-tier Pokemon on the team, I needed another Pokemon who could take hits and heal up Steelix, as well as erase status. There was only one real choice for this.

Hmm. Two Bug-weak Pokemon and two Fighting-weak Pokemon? Defenses needed to be shored up. I added a spiker and a spinblocker whose typings helped out a lot.

And finally, I brought in a Pokemon who fit the stall theme really well with its bulky offense, status absorption, and hazard immunity, as well as one that had been a favorite of mine from Generation I.

I tried this team out for numerous battles. Unfortunately, there was one Pokemon that wasn’t holding its weight very much, and it was the spiker. I found quickly that Qwilfish was getting torn apart too quickly without reliable recovery and low defenses (even Intimidate wasn’t helping), and I needed to fix that. I decided to drop the Spikes and go with another one of my favorite Pokemon who could actually endure hits.

I found that I really didn’t need a spinblocker much anymore. I thought about adding a spinner myself, but I really don’t like any of the spinners available in UU or lower (I only use Pokemon I like... so shoot me xD). I also found that not many of my Pokemon really cared about hazards. Steelix doesn’t care about SR or Toxic Spikes, Clefable takes nothing from hazards and even enjoys TSpikes, Milotic can heal and refresh while boosting her Defense, Gardevoir can work around it thanks to Trace and WishProtect, and Umbreon had Heal Bell and Wish/Protect. I decided to drop Rotom (whose design is just mlah) and replace it with one of my first and favorite Gen II Pokemon, whose resistances just so happen to match up pretty well with the others.

And this is the team that has gotten me steadily climbing the ladder for a couple of weeks now. It is incredibly stallish and I’ve had several battles take 100+ moves, but my battle style (patience and prediction) is what makes this team so fun to play for me.

What I really love about this team is that it’s actually a mishmash of various teams that I used in Generations I, II and III. Though it may be foolish of me, I only play Pokemon that I like. For personal reasons, I tried to stay as true as possible to the original in terms of shininess (yes, I did legally have two shiny Pokemon in GSC) and gender. And even though the whole team is made up of Pokemon that I’ve loved throughout the generations, I’m surprised at how well it synergizes.

This team’s goal is pure stall. Most of them also have counters to stall themselves, and the more I play it the better I get an idea of how well everything can take hits. In fact, the main goal is to keep everything alive FIRST by healing health and status, and sneak in hits and my own status whenever possible. There are a couple of counters to this team, but not many, and even if I have to sack a couple of Pokemon to take it out, the rest of my team holds up well enough to take down the remainder.

Steelix

@ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef (IVs: 0 SAtt/0 Spe)
Nature: Relaxed (+Def, -SAtt)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Roar

This Pokemon can take physical hits so well, it’s ridiculous. It’s a pretty standard set, but SR goes up like halfway through most of my matches so I can ensure Steelix gets a switch in on something that absolutely cannot touch it. Bonus points if I can pass in a Wish from either of my special walls on a predicted counter, because he’s the only member on this team without any form of recovery outside of Leftovers.

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpDef (IVs: Att 0/ SAtt 0 )
Nature: Calm (+SDef, -Att)
- Wish
- Foul Play
- Toxic
- Protect

Hits matter so little to this guy. Unlike Steelix, he can sponge attacks from both ends and stall out a lot of things with WishProtect and Toxic. Foul Play really screws over physical attackers who think they can do something about 394 HP and Special Defense. Even though it's specially based, its uninvested Defense has still saved my butt time and time again. It used to be my Heal Beller, but I was sick of only being able to stall for health and not being able to get some residual damage in, so I swapped it out for Toxic, handed Heal Bell duties over to Clefable and suddenly it works a lot better.

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 192 SDef / 64 Spe (IVs: SAtt 0/ Att 0)
Nature: Calm (+SDef, -Att)
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp
- Wish
- Protect

This is one of my favorite Pokemon (yes, I’m a guy... don’t hate), and the Pokemon around which I decided to build a team. It uses a slightly unorthodox set that I use as a lead 75% of the time, but it’s my absolute favorite Gardevoir set that’s screwed over a lot of people. If Gardevoir can Trick something and burn something else, it’s done its job and I can use it as fodder if it comes down to that. The given EVs allow it to outspeed and Trick all max EV/max IV/positive natured base 95ers and all max EV/max IV/neutral nature base 100ers, which gives me most of what I need. However, it’s also fairly good at taking hits, even (surprisingly) from physical ones if it gets a burn off; in fact, since it lures in Pursuit Trappers a lot, landing a Trick on the predict and Will-O-Wisping screws over a lot of them, at which point WishProtect stalls them out or bring them into KO range for something else.

Crobat

@ Black Sludge
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Att / 4 SpDef / 136 Spd (IVs: SAtt 0)
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SAtt)
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Taunt
- Toxic

This is my other lead when Gardevoir doesn’t cut it (especially if I see another potential lead that Gardevoir can’t handle, like faster physical attackers and potential lead Scarfers like Victini and Darmanitan), and it fits surprisingly well with Gardevoir - it takes hits Gardevoir doesn’t and vice versa, not to mention they play rather similarly in smashing stall wars. Being immune to two of the three entry hazards really helps out this team. Though Rotom covered the key resistances to Bug, Ground, and Fighting just as well or better, I just didn't like him very much and a fast Taunt is a godsend sometimes, especially against opposing stall teams; everything Rotom did, the rest of the team could cover (besides spinblocking, but entry hazards don't pose a major problem for this team).

Milotic @ Leftovers
Trait: Marvel Scale
EVs: 252 Att / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Att)
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Scald
- Sleep Talk

Another one of my favorite Pokemon from Gen III... I’m sorry, but I really like elegant designs on Pokemon. That being said, I don’t understand why more people don’t use this absolutely beastly set. I was running 0 IVs in Attack like a moron for a while until I remembered that Dragon Tail runs off Attack, and it was still stalling out teams to the point when people would start calling me names and forfeiting with 4-5 Pokemon left on the opponent’s team because this thing JUST... DOESN’T... DIE. Between burning things with Scald, phazing out potential counters with Dragon Tail, and boosting defenses and healing off with Rest, this thing takes nothing from physical attacks and absolutely laughs at most everything that’s thrown at it. If I have SR up, it’s even better.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Att / 236 Def / 20 SpDef (IVs: SpAtt 0)
Nature: Careful(+SpDef, -SAtt)
- Seismic Toss
- Softboiled
- Heal Bell
- Knock Off

The final key to this whole team, and with a moveset that supports and complements the rest of the team. Being able to laugh at hazards and status while absorbing hits and healing itself and the team has been the main draw of this Pokemon (that and the fact that this is one of my favorite Pokes from Gen I). I used to run Calm Mind with BoltBeam for a while when Qwilfish and Rotom were on the team, but I really wanted a team that would work together as a unit, and Heal Bell and Knock Off aid the team extremely well. Knock Off synergizes really weirdly with Gardevoir’s Trick so I have to play a little cautiously, but for the most part things don’t like losing items. Weird defensive IV's are for balanced defenses with a little extra in Special Defense for Porygon-Z; I know split defenses are usually frowned upon, but this thing takes hits incredibly well.

So... yeah. That's my team. It plays very, very well for me, and because I love stall and have figured out how to counter so many things with smart switches and slight variations on expected movesets, I've enjoyed this team immensely and its so much fun to play, particularly because it's made of my favorite Pokemon.

 

[GenXXZ]

Hey, this is a great team, I always love seeing stall. I have a few suggestions though that might make the team better.

You have a lot of Pokemon from lower tiers in this team. Now, this is perfectly fine, but you have to make sure that the job your low-tier Pokemon does is not outclassed by better options. For example, Clefable. I think I good replacement for her would be Togekiss, which has Heal Bell, a recovery move, and it's generally more bulky from both sides. Gardevoir could be switched with Cresselia who has an INSANE amount of bulk. You would lose the trick functionality but Cresselia's support movepool more than makes up for it.
One thing that I believe really needs to be on this team is Toxic Spikes. It's a personal preference of mine but I believe no stall team is complete without Toxic Spikes. However, it seems like you are in favor of working without it because you have a tonnnn of status moves on this team so I wouldn't worry about putting in on too much because you will have to revamp a lot of sets. I'd get it a shot though. Some notable Toxic spikers are Nidoqueen, Qwilfish, Drapion, Scolipede and Roserade.
Also just a minor point but a stall team should really have Haze somewhere so you don't get set up on. You have nothing to stop strategies like Baton Pass from setting up and demolishing. Milotic and Crobat are the two Pokemon on this team that can learn Haze.

 

[Moose V]

Ok a couple of things you need to consider when running a stall team like this:
-You have no spinner, no spikes or toxic spikes and no spinblocker. You're gonna want these.
-There's no reason to run that milotic set over a rest talk roar suicune, suicune just takes hits better.
-Your entire team, even though very stally, gets 2HKO'd by specs chadelure and banded victini. I'd change steelix to rhyperior and umbreon to snorlax.
-You need something to stop heracross. If crobat dies to a stone edge, SD heracross destroys your entire team with ease.
-Even on primarily stally teams, you need something that can do damage. You have none and I really don't see how this team even scores a KO outside of your opponent just giving up.

 

[toasteduck]

Main problem I can see is the lack of spikes/ toxic spikes, it adds up a lot more damage for phazing. You also need a ghost type to spin block as a stall team. I am also a little concerned with your phazer steelix being slow (Blastoise comes to mind with both roar and rocks available, and he can spin too). Otherwise I agree with what the other guys have mentioned already. Good luck!