Dark Azelf
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An introduction to stall.
Firstly stall is an art. It was a very rare playing style in late Dp and early Dppt which few people could do successfully because of both its difficulty to build and use. Because stall is a solely defensive play style its often overshadowed in an offensive metagame. However, stall is starting to shine with the coming of Platinum and HG/SS and the addition of the Rotom formes, Latias coming down to OU and other tricks for stall to utilize( see things like Trick Scarfers etc). This and the fact stall is being more original now and easier to use than ever before as people have stopped using the obi stall mold. It is a fact that the average battler cannot beat a well built and well played stall team, and even most decent players have trouble with it . Stall can often frustrate people when it is done correctly, there is a reason many top battlers use this style as it is one of the most if not THE most reliable playing styles, especially for laddering. The aim of stall is to wear the opponent down through walling them and forcing switches which are punished through residual damage.
In addition to heavy stall, people are now using a lot of teams which are classified as psuedo/semi stall teams. These teams are often the same as full out stall however they have a bulky sweeper which fits in with the stall theme to benefit from the residual damage (see CM + Roar Latias and CroCune or something like sub and charge beam Rotom).
This is a guide as to how you can optimize your stalling potential and to give you some tips on how to build a successful stall team of your own.
Synergy
Stall isnt just about residual damage (though that is VERY important), like any other team its also about synergy. Your team MUST be able to work together. Its all well and good about having very specific counters to things but if one counter loses to miss prediction or "hax" your team MUST be able to pull it together and stay strong. For example, if you have one Mixape counter and the rest of your team is hit for super effective damage by it this will NOT be successful. Likewise, if your team doesn't have any good resistances it will not work well, these are still extremely important so should be thought over during the team building process.
Stall is also about causing as many switches humanly possible, you WANT them to switch as many times as possible to wear them out with hazards/status etc. Walling alone is not enough to win you matches and so cause switches is very much needed and vital to your success and should be your prime focus, you want phazing moves too to rack up the residual damage, that and getting as many things statused or crippled as you can works massively in your favour too. Also just a note even though stall is about residual damage and not outright attacking, you should still use attacking moves on your pokemon. This is often a mistake that newbies make when attempting stall for example an Iron Defense/Amnesia/Toxic/Rest Registeel does not define stall and is a poor set. You want your pokemon to be able to do at least do SOME damage when called for and not be total set up fodder.
Sometimes people use scarf revenge killers on stall teams, to act as a safety net in case something breaks through their main counter/check. Scarfers also help your team absorb take Trick's from choice item users easier additionally so they wont cripple your team as badly. The most common scarfers seen on stall are scarf Rotom, Scarf Jirachi and Scarf Tyranitar, the former 2 also stop last pokemon sweeps (Pokemon who are the foes last pokemon with Rest and a stat up move, see : Curselax and CM Cune as you cannot Phaze these if they are the last pokemon so nearly always ends in an automatic loss for you) by Tricking their Scarf onto them thus effectively crippling them, so there is a few niches filled without using Perish Song. Scarf Tyranitar on the other hand is a fantastic tool for disposing of many threats, the Rotoms, Latias, Gengar, Mixmence etc are all at risk from being trapped by Pursuit + STAB super effective moves mind games. Not only that but he brings the weather too so is a pretty amazing asset to stall.
Get to know the types of residual damage.
Stealth Rock : - Often hailed THE best move in the game. It is a rock type move which takes one turn to set up. If the opponent is neutral to rock they take 12.5% damage each time they switch into it, if they are 2x weak to rock they take 25% damage each time they switch into it and if they are 4x weak to rock they take 50%. If the opponent 2x resists rock they take 6% damage from it and if they 4x resist rock they take 3% damage from it. Only Clefable takes no damage from this move thanks to Magic Guard.
Why does this help stall ? : An entry hazard that hits pretty much everything bar one pokemon and only takes one turn to set up, a better question would be why wouldn't you want this move ? Stealth Rock is a fantastic move to help you stall. Keeping air bound offensive giants such as Salamence, Gyarados and Zapdos in check is really too good to pass up that and chipping a good 13% off everything each time it comes in. This move should be on every serious stall team, infact any team in general, hands down.
There are MANY viable pokemon who can use Stealth Rock, so its just a matter of finding the ideal pokemon who fits in on your team to set it up.
Spikes : - Spikes is a ground type move, and unlike Stealth Rock it can be stacked up to 3 times. One layer of Spikes will deal 12.5% damage, two will deal 18.75%, and three will deal 25%. Only flying types, levitating pokemon and Clefable are immune to these.
Why does this help stall ? : Another great move for stalling which removes 25% from all grounded pokemon when 3 layers are set up. This is a great way to wear the opponent down. It can be hard to set up 3 layers but the pay offs are huge. It also being able to be stacked with both Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes which means it can strip off huge amounts of damage from the foe each time they switch into it. With stealth rock and spikes up grounded foes are looking at ~37% damage each time they switch in which is essentially a 3hko, so the damage adds up very fast. Again this should be on all serious stall team, Spikes are the pillar of stall, remember this.
Toxic Spikes : - Toxic Spikes is a Poison-type move with no base power. If one layer of Toxic Spikes is on the opposing field, your opponent's Pokémon are inflicted with regular Poison upon entry, and lose 12.5% in HP each turn. If two layers of Toxic Spikes are down, increasing Toxic poison is inflicted instead. Flying-types, Steel-types, Poison-types and Pokémon with the Levitate or Immunity abilities are immune to Toxic Spikes. Poison-types that are not immune to Ground will absorb Toxic Spikes upon entry and clear them from the field.
How does this help stall ? : This is stall's answer to most bulky pokemon who are annoying to get rid of (see: things like Swampert) of and is generally a great way to wear non immune pokemon down. The damage with your other entry hazards does add up really quickly if they are taking increasing Toxic poison damage in addition to the possible ~37% damage from your SR and Spikes and weather. If you are using Toxic Spikes it is advised NOT to use other status moves bar Toxic (for flying pokemon who are immune to Toxic Spikes) on your stall team as they conflict. Again a good move but not nearly as 100% needed as the other 2 hazards.
Sandstorm/Hail : - Both these weather effects do 6.25% damage each turn and racking up with possibly Spikes/SR damage they really make life miserable for most sweepers, for example with weather and SR up a LO Salamence loses 41% of its health from just switching in and attacking. The boost from each weather also makes the respective pokemon it benefits even more powerful, Stallrein would not be the same without Hail and various rock types who receive the sp.def boost SS grants would not nearly be as annoying to get rid of. Again not required but its there if you want more residual damage.
The only viable users that set these weather effects up are Abomasnow (hail) and Tyranitar and Hippowdon (Sandstorm). However in UU/NU battles Hippopotas and Snover are perfectly acceptable.
What a good stall team should contain or at least consider : -
Entry Hazards (100% needed) : -
Without these your stall team would be useless, they are needed always, no exceptions. Spikes and Stealth Rock are the heart and soul of stall as explained above. Toxic Spikes arent as required as the other 2 hazards, just make sure you have plenty of status on your team if you dont use them though to cripple bulky pokemon and to make up for it. Again though, I cannot emphasize how much Spikes and Stealth Rock are 100% needed on every stall team.
Rapid Spinner : -
Spin blocker/Anti spin/ghost : -
The ghost on every serious stall team that lets you keep your entry hazards. If you read above you should of noticed this part;
Wish Supporter : -
Toxic Spikes absorber : -
This basically means a poison type. They are not as required as some of the other niche roles (if you have a spinner or your team isnt bothered by Toxic Spikes) but if your team is extremely at risk from Toxic Spikes damage then you should seriously consider adding a grounded poison type. Just a note, levitating ones like Gengar and Weezing do not absorb Toxic Spikes unless equipped with an Iron Ball but then lose their valuable ground immunity.
Last pokemon sweeps : -
Exactly what it says, Pokemon who are the foes last pokemon with Rest and a stat up move or any other pokemon who have a way to bypass status and can stat up, which are huge threats when played correctly. Imagine this scenario, you have beaten all your opponents team and then out comes a Curselax or a CM Cune and starts stat up, you think you have beaten it and then it Rests, this is basically GG as you cannot Phaze these if they are the last pokemon so you nearly auto lose and they can come back with just one pokemon and sweep your entire offensively inept team. You need a way to stop this, fortunately there are several ways to do this and I shall list them for you. It is advised you carry one of these.
Perish Song
The only downside to this is there are not really many viable users of the move.
Trick(or Switcheroo) <Choice Item> user
This is probably the easiest to fit onto your stall team as with of the introduction of Platinum, Trick was given to MANY pokemon. Trick with a choice item stops last pokemon simply by locking them into one move and prevents them from Resting or healing and switching moves so they are VERY easy to wear down now. Remember to keep your choice item on your Tricker for as long as possible if they do have a threatening last pokemon and dont use it unless you really need to!
Taunt + Toxic
Taunt their recovery/stat up move and then Toxic them to wear them down, refreshing Taunt each time it wears off so Toxic slowly destroys them as they cant heal. Again there are really not many viable pokemon who can use this combo effectively.
Encore
[P]Hazer : -
PHazers are useful on stall teams as they stop your opponent from setting up on you and can also shuffle the residual damage around their team and also prevent dangerous stat uppers from sweeping you. These should HEAVILY be considered on your stall team. Their pro's are too good to pass up.
Roar/Whirlwind
Haze
There are other Phazing move, some of which have already been covered in other areas of this article, Encore, Taunt, Perish Song etc can all be used as Phazing moves to cause the foe to switch (which is your overall aim in stalling), but when it comes down to it Roar/Whirlwind are the best and should be the Phazing move of choice.
Status Absorber/Healer : -
Stall teams NEED a way to deal with status or you are going to be crippled when something like Breloom or Smeargle show up and decide to Spore something, you must then decide which of your vital members get put to sleep, this is never a good thing.
Rest + Sleep Talk
The best way to deal with status, as it actually activates sleep clause when they put you to sleep without one of your pokemon being out of commission entirely. Rest and Sleep Talk allow you to absorb all status with little fuss as you are able to heal it off easily. This is the method you should be using the most to help your stall team with said status, however there is the downside of this taking a little prediction to use effectively so you should have more than one way to deal with status. A Natural Cure pokemon always helps to support your rest talker and to help your team take status is always helpful too.
Heal Bell / Aromatherapy / Cleric
Natural Cure Ability
Annoying things you should look out for :
Lures : - Be VERY wary of these, there is nothing more annoying than switching in a so called "counter" against a certain pokemon and having it backfire. For example, see switching a Celebi into Suicune expecting a Crocune and then getting OHKO'd with a full powered CM Life Orb Ice Beam from offensive Suicune. Or switching your Blissey in against a Heatran expecting it to be a Scarf Tran and it then using Magma Storm to trap you and then Exploding on you. You should always scout pokemon early game to see what they do and judge from there on how you will handle them. e.g If you see the Suicune has no leftovers recovery, you should NOT switch your Celebi into it. There are often tell tale signs like this you should be aware of, so be on the lookout for them.
Wall breakers : - This is pretty obvious, but for the most part they will or wont be annoying depending on how you build your team. Luckily most of them are pretty easy to wear down thanks to the tendency for them to pack Life Orb. Clever switching helps wear down the powerful ones like Mix Salamence and so do "checks" like Latias and Scarf Ice Punch Jirachi etc. On the other hand other threats like Mix Infernape for example can just be flat out walled by Tentacruel/Gyarados amongst other various pokemon. Powerful wall breakers like Salamence though are one of the reasons a scarfer is decent on stall to drive them away/revenge kill them if they do break through.
Getting out stalled yourself : - This can fit into several categories, but as ironic as it is it CAN happen. Entry hazards, Torment/Sub Heatran, Sub Roost Zapdos, Substitute + Pain Split W-O-W Rotom, Taunt Gliscor and a whole host of others, yes, all these are immensely irritating for your standard stall team in their own individual way so you should be aware of each and plan how you will defeat them.
Trick : - If you dont have anything to absorb the Trick <choice item>, like your own scarfer then prepare for one of your team members to be crippled badly. I advise packing a scarfer but if you cant fit on onto your team, try to sacrifice one of your least needed team members to take the choice item. There is also the rare sticky hold ability which stops Trick but the users of this ability are hard to come by and also not very viable.
Foe Entry Hazards: - If you let them stack up hazards against you (foe stall AND offensive teams) and you cannot get up yours, it will cripple your team badly and put you in a very bad position, so try to not let them do it. If you do let them do it I suggest just trying to get rid of their ghost and try to wear it down so you can spin asap so you have at least a fighting chance.
Foresight Rapid Spinners : - Not as much of a threat in OU, but they can be in UU where they see more use. Foresight allows the Rapid Spinner to spin on your ghost which is of obvious concern, there isnt much you can do apart from trying to wear the spinner down and then set up your Spikes etc again or using 2 ghosts, but that isnt really conventional.
Things that beat Blissey (if you are using it) : - Blissey is often one of the pillars of stall for a reason, she is VERY heavily relied upon due to her ability to beat nearly every special threat in the game. So it is natural that if a certain something is capable of beating Blissey or removing it then that something is going to cause problems and might possibly break through. You should always cover the threats Blissey cannot or at least take them into mind. For example if you only pack Flamethrower on your Blissey you should watch out things that can set up on her e.g Substitute/Taunt Heatran, CM Sub Raikou, Sub mind Jirachi etc amongst various others. If your Blissey uses only Seismic Toss then you should be careful of the the things that beat her then like Gengar and the Rotoms etc. You should cover the things she cannot beat with the rest of your team, keep this in mind and always take note of it when team building. Also just a note, if Blissey gets Exploded on unexpectedly or trapped by a random Dugtrio your team should still be able to pull together and win, just dont rely on one member too heavily on your stall team.
Trappers : - Yes, here is one of the big ones. These can really break apart your walling so they need careful handling. Magnezone, Dugtrio and Pursuit users mainly. Magnezone makes steel walls lives a living hell and can make it easy for powerful dragons to Outrage/Draco their way to victory by removing them, to avoid this if you are using multiple steel walls I recommend equipping at LEAST one of them with a Shed Shell to avoid Magnezones Magnet Pull and thus keeping your steel types safe. Dugtrio on the other hand is a little trickier to avoid because it traps a wider array of pokemon, just try not to pack your team with too many Dugtrio bait pokemon and you should be fine. It is also frail and thankfully the majority of stall based pokemon are quite bulky so it should be hard pressed getting a kill. Lastly Pursuit users, Tyranitar, Weavile and Scizor are the main suspects here and if you have a lot of psychic/ghost/Blissey basically "pursuit/trap bait" pokemon on your team, they can be annoying. I recommend putting Will-O-Wisp/Reflect on these pokemon to avoid this cushioning the blow from Pursuit if they get either of them. Protect is also a fantastic move to avoid it and is one of the reasons Wish Blissey uses protect so it gets a heads up to see if they will Pursuit her. Substitute is also useful as it allows you to switch out from Pursuit whilst the sub takes the damage.
Some decent stall teams as examples : -
OU
Obi's Classic TSS Stall Team. Aka"Obi Stall"
Jabba the Griffin's "Rotom Charge"
My, Elf Stall
Thriller - by Panamaxis and JLei2k
IPL's Fried Ice Cream.
Philip7086's Team of Torment
Taylor's Tyranitar Stall
Anti's This is not war!
UU
Eo Ut Mortus's UU Stall
My, Team Cursed
pi face's Stall is not Dead
Uber
Theorymon's Wobbuffet and Groudon's SubSeed Machine gun!
Jibaku's Rising From the Storms
By Elfness. I hope this guide helps you. ^^
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So thats it, if you have anything to add please say.
Spotting grammar errors, typos and all that good stuff is greatly appreciated too.
Things i was thinking of adding
- Linking to the smogon pages for like the viable users of moves, for example Heal Bell i would do this "https://www.smogon.com/dp/moves/heal_bell"
- Listing viable pokemon for each role to help people more, like giving sets for the viable OU Spikers, Wishers and what not along with cute pictures.
- Linking to some successful stall teams for more insight.
- A mini check list for the basic roles aka this
- If Beachy/someone comes on here, you can give me a sexy format that would go along way lol
Comments on this?
But yeah suggestions/comments/critique/additions etc are greatly appreciated.^.^
Firstly stall is an art. It was a very rare playing style in late Dp and early Dppt which few people could do successfully because of both its difficulty to build and use. Because stall is a solely defensive play style its often overshadowed in an offensive metagame. However, stall is starting to shine with the coming of Platinum and HG/SS and the addition of the Rotom formes, Latias coming down to OU and other tricks for stall to utilize( see things like Trick Scarfers etc). This and the fact stall is being more original now and easier to use than ever before as people have stopped using the obi stall mold. It is a fact that the average battler cannot beat a well built and well played stall team, and even most decent players have trouble with it . Stall can often frustrate people when it is done correctly, there is a reason many top battlers use this style as it is one of the most if not THE most reliable playing styles, especially for laddering. The aim of stall is to wear the opponent down through walling them and forcing switches which are punished through residual damage.
In addition to heavy stall, people are now using a lot of teams which are classified as psuedo/semi stall teams. These teams are often the same as full out stall however they have a bulky sweeper which fits in with the stall theme to benefit from the residual damage (see CM + Roar Latias and CroCune or something like sub and charge beam Rotom).
This is a guide as to how you can optimize your stalling potential and to give you some tips on how to build a successful stall team of your own.
Synergy
Stall isnt just about residual damage (though that is VERY important), like any other team its also about synergy. Your team MUST be able to work together. Its all well and good about having very specific counters to things but if one counter loses to miss prediction or "hax" your team MUST be able to pull it together and stay strong. For example, if you have one Mixape counter and the rest of your team is hit for super effective damage by it this will NOT be successful. Likewise, if your team doesn't have any good resistances it will not work well, these are still extremely important so should be thought over during the team building process.
Stall is also about causing as many switches humanly possible, you WANT them to switch as many times as possible to wear them out with hazards/status etc. Walling alone is not enough to win you matches and so cause switches is very much needed and vital to your success and should be your prime focus, you want phazing moves too to rack up the residual damage, that and getting as many things statused or crippled as you can works massively in your favour too. Also just a note even though stall is about residual damage and not outright attacking, you should still use attacking moves on your pokemon. This is often a mistake that newbies make when attempting stall for example an Iron Defense/Amnesia/Toxic/Rest Registeel does not define stall and is a poor set. You want your pokemon to be able to do at least do SOME damage when called for and not be total set up fodder.
Sometimes people use scarf revenge killers on stall teams, to act as a safety net in case something breaks through their main counter/check. Scarfers also help your team absorb take Trick's from choice item users easier additionally so they wont cripple your team as badly. The most common scarfers seen on stall are scarf Rotom, Scarf Jirachi and Scarf Tyranitar, the former 2 also stop last pokemon sweeps (Pokemon who are the foes last pokemon with Rest and a stat up move, see : Curselax and CM Cune as you cannot Phaze these if they are the last pokemon so nearly always ends in an automatic loss for you) by Tricking their Scarf onto them thus effectively crippling them, so there is a few niches filled without using Perish Song. Scarf Tyranitar on the other hand is a fantastic tool for disposing of many threats, the Rotoms, Latias, Gengar, Mixmence etc are all at risk from being trapped by Pursuit + STAB super effective moves mind games. Not only that but he brings the weather too so is a pretty amazing asset to stall.
Get to know the types of residual damage.
Stealth Rock : - Often hailed THE best move in the game. It is a rock type move which takes one turn to set up. If the opponent is neutral to rock they take 12.5% damage each time they switch into it, if they are 2x weak to rock they take 25% damage each time they switch into it and if they are 4x weak to rock they take 50%. If the opponent 2x resists rock they take 6% damage from it and if they 4x resist rock they take 3% damage from it. Only Clefable takes no damage from this move thanks to Magic Guard.
Why does this help stall ? : An entry hazard that hits pretty much everything bar one pokemon and only takes one turn to set up, a better question would be why wouldn't you want this move ? Stealth Rock is a fantastic move to help you stall. Keeping air bound offensive giants such as Salamence, Gyarados and Zapdos in check is really too good to pass up that and chipping a good 13% off everything each time it comes in. This move should be on every serious stall team, infact any team in general, hands down.
There are MANY viable pokemon who can use Stealth Rock, so its just a matter of finding the ideal pokemon who fits in on your team to set it up.
Spikes : - Spikes is a ground type move, and unlike Stealth Rock it can be stacked up to 3 times. One layer of Spikes will deal 12.5% damage, two will deal 18.75%, and three will deal 25%. Only flying types, levitating pokemon and Clefable are immune to these.
Why does this help stall ? : Another great move for stalling which removes 25% from all grounded pokemon when 3 layers are set up. This is a great way to wear the opponent down. It can be hard to set up 3 layers but the pay offs are huge. It also being able to be stacked with both Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes which means it can strip off huge amounts of damage from the foe each time they switch into it. With stealth rock and spikes up grounded foes are looking at ~37% damage each time they switch in which is essentially a 3hko, so the damage adds up very fast. Again this should be on all serious stall team, Spikes are the pillar of stall, remember this.
Toxic Spikes : - Toxic Spikes is a Poison-type move with no base power. If one layer of Toxic Spikes is on the opposing field, your opponent's Pokémon are inflicted with regular Poison upon entry, and lose 12.5% in HP each turn. If two layers of Toxic Spikes are down, increasing Toxic poison is inflicted instead. Flying-types, Steel-types, Poison-types and Pokémon with the Levitate or Immunity abilities are immune to Toxic Spikes. Poison-types that are not immune to Ground will absorb Toxic Spikes upon entry and clear them from the field.
How does this help stall ? : This is stall's answer to most bulky pokemon who are annoying to get rid of (see: things like Swampert) of and is generally a great way to wear non immune pokemon down. The damage with your other entry hazards does add up really quickly if they are taking increasing Toxic poison damage in addition to the possible ~37% damage from your SR and Spikes and weather. If you are using Toxic Spikes it is advised NOT to use other status moves bar Toxic (for flying pokemon who are immune to Toxic Spikes) on your stall team as they conflict. Again a good move but not nearly as 100% needed as the other 2 hazards.
Sandstorm/Hail : - Both these weather effects do 6.25% damage each turn and racking up with possibly Spikes/SR damage they really make life miserable for most sweepers, for example with weather and SR up a LO Salamence loses 41% of its health from just switching in and attacking. The boost from each weather also makes the respective pokemon it benefits even more powerful, Stallrein would not be the same without Hail and various rock types who receive the sp.def boost SS grants would not nearly be as annoying to get rid of. Again not required but its there if you want more residual damage.
The only viable users that set these weather effects up are Abomasnow (hail) and Tyranitar and Hippowdon (Sandstorm). However in UU/NU battles Hippopotas and Snover are perfectly acceptable.
What a good stall team should contain or at least consider : -
Entry Hazards (100% needed) : -
Without these your stall team would be useless, they are needed always, no exceptions. Spikes and Stealth Rock are the heart and soul of stall as explained above. Toxic Spikes arent as required as the other 2 hazards, just make sure you have plenty of status on your team if you dont use them though to cripple bulky pokemon and to make up for it. Again though, I cannot emphasize how much Spikes and Stealth Rock are 100% needed on every stall team.
Rapid Spinner : -
Rapid Spin, whilst not the most important move on a stall team it is imo one of the most important ones. Rapid Spin protects your team from entry hazards, there is nothing less fun than your team/walling getting crippled badly by hazards. Basically if you cannot remove their stacked entry hazards its pretty rough sailing and you will be hard pressed to even last long, never mind winning.
Spin blocker/Anti spin/ghost : -
The ghost on every serious stall team that lets you keep your entry hazards. If you read above you should of noticed this part;
It is is pretty obvious as to why you would want that, a ghost basically stops the foe from removing your hazards. Ghosts also are also excellent niche Pokemon too for stopping the over powerful Explosion and absorbing powerful fighting attacks like Close Combat etc. When building your stall team this again is 100% required and I put emphasis on the 100%. In contrast you should also figure out how you will deal with your opponents "Anti Spin" too, if you can remove it you are nearly guaranteed the win if you can spin away their hazards and they cant remove yours.Rapid Spin Explanation said:
Wish Supporter : -
Wish is always a great move to have, on the turn after you "cast" the Wish, you can switch (or stay in to take the Wish yourself, depending on the situation) and heal the pokemon of your choosing with it! This also puts less pressure on you and can ease up prediction when switching into attacks to cushion the blows you take when switching in significantly. Not needed if nearly everything has a recovery move on your team, buts its still a great move to have around, especially if you pack your team with things with no reliable recovery like Forretress and Swampert.
Toxic Spikes absorber : -
This basically means a poison type. They are not as required as some of the other niche roles (if you have a spinner or your team isnt bothered by Toxic Spikes) but if your team is extremely at risk from Toxic Spikes damage then you should seriously consider adding a grounded poison type. Just a note, levitating ones like Gengar and Weezing do not absorb Toxic Spikes unless equipped with an Iron Ball but then lose their valuable ground immunity.
Last pokemon sweeps : -
Exactly what it says, Pokemon who are the foes last pokemon with Rest and a stat up move or any other pokemon who have a way to bypass status and can stat up, which are huge threats when played correctly. Imagine this scenario, you have beaten all your opponents team and then out comes a Curselax or a CM Cune and starts stat up, you think you have beaten it and then it Rests, this is basically GG as you cannot Phaze these if they are the last pokemon so you nearly auto lose and they can come back with just one pokemon and sweep your entire offensively inept team. You need a way to stop this, fortunately there are several ways to do this and I shall list them for you. It is advised you carry one of these.
Perish Song
Perish Song is a very good niche move, not only does it act as a last pokemon stopper as they will die in 3 turns but it also acts as a stop to most Ingrain Baton Pass teams (read : without Mr. Mime due to Soundproof) as you cannot Phaze Ingrained pokemon. Additionally it is a decent general Phazing move in general.
The only downside to this is there are not really many viable users of the move.
Trick(or Switcheroo) <Choice Item> user
This is probably the easiest to fit onto your stall team as with of the introduction of Platinum, Trick was given to MANY pokemon. Trick with a choice item stops last pokemon simply by locking them into one move and prevents them from Resting or healing and switching moves so they are VERY easy to wear down now. Remember to keep your choice item on your Tricker for as long as possible if they do have a threatening last pokemon and dont use it unless you really need to!
Taunt + Toxic
Taunt their recovery/stat up move and then Toxic them to wear them down, refreshing Taunt each time it wears off so Toxic slowly destroys them as they cant heal. Again there are really not many viable pokemon who can use this combo effectively.
Encore
With HG/SS introduction Encore was given out to a few pokemon. Encore locks them into the move they used last, so a speedy Encore user can act like a Trick Scarfer when used well and thus prevent them from healing and again make them easy to wear down. Sadly the users of this move are few and far between and even then, most of them cannot fit well into a stall oriented team.
[P]Hazer : -
PHazers are useful on stall teams as they stop your opponent from setting up on you and can also shuffle the residual damage around their team and also prevent dangerous stat uppers from sweeping you. These should HEAVILY be considered on your stall team. Their pro's are too good to pass up.
Roar/Whirlwind
Roar/Whirlwind are the best ways of Phazing, hands down. They force the target out of play which stops stat up attempts, baton pass attempts, Substitute attempts and a whole host of other things cold. As an added bonus it racks up damage with Spikes/SR/T-Spikes etc by FORCING them to switch random pokemon into the hazards so a Whirlwind/Roar user is HIGHLY advised as its just too good to pass up. Id say its nearly 100% required. This also nearly ensure your team isnt swept by stat boost baton passing attempts.
Haze
Same as Roar/Whirlwind as far as canceling stat up attempts go, but it is not a very good move otherwise. It wont stop Substitute, nor does it force your opponent out. That and most the users of this move arent too viable otherwise.
There are other Phazing move, some of which have already been covered in other areas of this article, Encore, Taunt, Perish Song etc can all be used as Phazing moves to cause the foe to switch (which is your overall aim in stalling), but when it comes down to it Roar/Whirlwind are the best and should be the Phazing move of choice.
Status Absorber/Healer : -
Stall teams NEED a way to deal with status or you are going to be crippled when something like Breloom or Smeargle show up and decide to Spore something, you must then decide which of your vital members get put to sleep, this is never a good thing.
Rest + Sleep Talk
The best way to deal with status, as it actually activates sleep clause when they put you to sleep without one of your pokemon being out of commission entirely. Rest and Sleep Talk allow you to absorb all status with little fuss as you are able to heal it off easily. This is the method you should be using the most to help your stall team with said status, however there is the downside of this taking a little prediction to use effectively so you should have more than one way to deal with status. A Natural Cure pokemon always helps to support your rest talker and to help your team take status is always helpful too.
Heal Bell / Aromatherapy / Cleric
If you cant find space for a rest talker, this is the next best thing. You can heal your entire team, completely. However this doesn't activate sleep clause so it it often easy for your opponent to predict when you will send in your cleric after they have statused a member of your team and use this as a free turn to set up which is never a good thing. The number of viable pokemon who can effectively use these two moves is also significantly small.
Natural Cure Ability
A very elusive ability which only a few viable pokemon have, it is obvious as to why this ability is amazing when it comes to dealing with status. 100% Cure from status each time you switch in and out of play is very hard to pass up. As said though not many pokemon have access to this ability. Dont rely on a natural cure pokemon to take all your status though as this is very predictable and doesnt activate sleep clause.
Annoying things you should look out for :
Lures : - Be VERY wary of these, there is nothing more annoying than switching in a so called "counter" against a certain pokemon and having it backfire. For example, see switching a Celebi into Suicune expecting a Crocune and then getting OHKO'd with a full powered CM Life Orb Ice Beam from offensive Suicune. Or switching your Blissey in against a Heatran expecting it to be a Scarf Tran and it then using Magma Storm to trap you and then Exploding on you. You should always scout pokemon early game to see what they do and judge from there on how you will handle them. e.g If you see the Suicune has no leftovers recovery, you should NOT switch your Celebi into it. There are often tell tale signs like this you should be aware of, so be on the lookout for them.
Wall breakers : - This is pretty obvious, but for the most part they will or wont be annoying depending on how you build your team. Luckily most of them are pretty easy to wear down thanks to the tendency for them to pack Life Orb. Clever switching helps wear down the powerful ones like Mix Salamence and so do "checks" like Latias and Scarf Ice Punch Jirachi etc. On the other hand other threats like Mix Infernape for example can just be flat out walled by Tentacruel/Gyarados amongst other various pokemon. Powerful wall breakers like Salamence though are one of the reasons a scarfer is decent on stall to drive them away/revenge kill them if they do break through.
Getting out stalled yourself : - This can fit into several categories, but as ironic as it is it CAN happen. Entry hazards, Torment/Sub Heatran, Sub Roost Zapdos, Substitute + Pain Split W-O-W Rotom, Taunt Gliscor and a whole host of others, yes, all these are immensely irritating for your standard stall team in their own individual way so you should be aware of each and plan how you will defeat them.
Trick : - If you dont have anything to absorb the Trick <choice item>, like your own scarfer then prepare for one of your team members to be crippled badly. I advise packing a scarfer but if you cant fit on onto your team, try to sacrifice one of your least needed team members to take the choice item. There is also the rare sticky hold ability which stops Trick but the users of this ability are hard to come by and also not very viable.
Foe Entry Hazards: - If you let them stack up hazards against you (foe stall AND offensive teams) and you cannot get up yours, it will cripple your team badly and put you in a very bad position, so try to not let them do it. If you do let them do it I suggest just trying to get rid of their ghost and try to wear it down so you can spin asap so you have at least a fighting chance.
Foresight Rapid Spinners : - Not as much of a threat in OU, but they can be in UU where they see more use. Foresight allows the Rapid Spinner to spin on your ghost which is of obvious concern, there isnt much you can do apart from trying to wear the spinner down and then set up your Spikes etc again or using 2 ghosts, but that isnt really conventional.
Things that beat Blissey (if you are using it) : - Blissey is often one of the pillars of stall for a reason, she is VERY heavily relied upon due to her ability to beat nearly every special threat in the game. So it is natural that if a certain something is capable of beating Blissey or removing it then that something is going to cause problems and might possibly break through. You should always cover the threats Blissey cannot or at least take them into mind. For example if you only pack Flamethrower on your Blissey you should watch out things that can set up on her e.g Substitute/Taunt Heatran, CM Sub Raikou, Sub mind Jirachi etc amongst various others. If your Blissey uses only Seismic Toss then you should be careful of the the things that beat her then like Gengar and the Rotoms etc. You should cover the things she cannot beat with the rest of your team, keep this in mind and always take note of it when team building. Also just a note, if Blissey gets Exploded on unexpectedly or trapped by a random Dugtrio your team should still be able to pull together and win, just dont rely on one member too heavily on your stall team.
Trappers : - Yes, here is one of the big ones. These can really break apart your walling so they need careful handling. Magnezone, Dugtrio and Pursuit users mainly. Magnezone makes steel walls lives a living hell and can make it easy for powerful dragons to Outrage/Draco their way to victory by removing them, to avoid this if you are using multiple steel walls I recommend equipping at LEAST one of them with a Shed Shell to avoid Magnezones Magnet Pull and thus keeping your steel types safe. Dugtrio on the other hand is a little trickier to avoid because it traps a wider array of pokemon, just try not to pack your team with too many Dugtrio bait pokemon and you should be fine. It is also frail and thankfully the majority of stall based pokemon are quite bulky so it should be hard pressed getting a kill. Lastly Pursuit users, Tyranitar, Weavile and Scizor are the main suspects here and if you have a lot of psychic/ghost/Blissey basically "pursuit/trap bait" pokemon on your team, they can be annoying. I recommend putting Will-O-Wisp/Reflect on these pokemon to avoid this cushioning the blow from Pursuit if they get either of them. Protect is also a fantastic move to avoid it and is one of the reasons Wish Blissey uses protect so it gets a heads up to see if they will Pursuit her. Substitute is also useful as it allows you to switch out from Pursuit whilst the sub takes the damage.
Some decent stall teams as examples : -
OU
Obi's Classic TSS Stall Team. Aka"Obi Stall"
Jabba the Griffin's "Rotom Charge"
My, Elf Stall
Thriller - by Panamaxis and JLei2k
IPL's Fried Ice Cream.
Philip7086's Team of Torment
Taylor's Tyranitar Stall
Anti's This is not war!
UU
Eo Ut Mortus's UU Stall
My, Team Cursed
pi face's Stall is not Dead
Uber
Theorymon's Wobbuffet and Groudon's SubSeed Machine gun!
Jibaku's Rising From the Storms
Mini Stall Check List For Personal Use said:
By Elfness. I hope this guide helps you. ^^
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So thats it, if you have anything to add please say.
Spotting grammar errors, typos and all that good stuff is greatly appreciated too.
Things i was thinking of adding
- Listing viable pokemon for each role to help people more, like giving sets for the viable OU Spikers, Wishers and what not along with cute pictures.
Comments on this?
But yeah suggestions/comments/critique/additions etc are greatly appreciated.^.^
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