API tools faq
paste
Guest User

Teambuilding: A Guide to Universal Stall (vashta's guide)

a guest
Jul 15th, 2012
1,760
0
Never
Add comment
Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!
text 87.75 KB | None | 0 0
raw download clone embed print report
  1. Team-Building: a guide to universal stall.
  2. Hi, I'm vashta, and this is the universal stall team-building guide. This hopefully goes over the general rules that stall teams should adhere to, how they can be used, and all the other things you'd expect.
  3.  
  4. With regard to the actual team-building process, not much can be written due to the fact that you can only construct a team of your preference then look at the team through process of trial and elimination -- as this is also a universal guide, writing a generic guide would seem much more preferable than writing three separate ones overlooking team-building process for each tier -- it saves space.
  5.  
  6. Who wrote what? Well, I wrote all generic theory and OU work; Bloo wrote Uber-related stuff (with Blissey's Uber description written by Jibaku); Eo Ut Mortus wrote all UU stuff, with the input of august's old work, completely revamped and rewritten -- much appreciated, guys!
  7.  
  8. Proofreads and opinions are appreciated. It's the first project co-ordinated by myself, so I hope it's not a major disappointment, lol.
  9.  
  10. Also, with regards to othe team-building articles: offense should be done by new year's (though this time of year is busy), and balanced should be done soon afterwards.
  11.  
  12.  
  13. Things to add:
  14.  
  15. -- "Win Condition" (won't actually use that phrase, but you get the idea)
  16.  
  17. __________________________________________________ __________
  18.  
  19.  
  20. Team Building: a guide to universal stall.
  21.  
  22. Table of Contents
  23.  
  24. What is Stall?
  25. Stall-Based Balanced
  26. Responsibilities to Consider
  27. Cleric
  28. Dominant Physical Wall
  29. Dominant Special Wall
  30. Pseudo-Hazer (pHazer)
  31. Spiker
  32. Rapid Spin Blocker
  33. Status Absorber
  34. Status Inflictors
  35. Team-Building Process
  36. Example Teams
  37. OU
  38. Ubers
  39. UU
  40. Battle Strategy
  41. ___ ___ ___
  42.  
  43. What is Stall?
  44.  
  45. Stall is one of the three main playstyles in competitive battling. As opposed to "balanced" and "offensive" play, both of which generally use direct damage to defeat the opponents, stall primarily utilizes residual damage. This damage can come in the form of two categories: weather (usually in the form of hail or sandstorm), and entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes). Most of these Pokémon use solid defenses that allows them to force switches, building up residual damage.
  46.  
  47. Stall teams are often misinterpreted as teams that “counter every Pokémon known to man”—this is not the case; stall teams often rely on strategic movements that can beat the metagame indirectly, leading to the defeat of threats, more often than not, through the dominance of entry hazards. However, this isn’t always true, as one will often have to handle certain threats with certain "counters" because residual damage may not be the best way to handle a specific threat.
  48.  
  49. Tactics in stall mainly centralize around entry hazards and rely on one's ability to think ahead of opponents, forcing them into preferable situations, and from there, analyzing an opponent's style of play and team through systematic switches, known as "scouting". Through scouting, one is able to make informed decisions that can become the basis for other moves made throughout the course of the match—ultimately giving one the upper-hand. Tactics based around entry hazards themselves often include the use of Ghost-types’ immunity to Rapid Spin to block its secondary effect of eliminating entry hazards, and pseudo-Hazing ("pHazing"), forcing the build up of residual damage with moves such as Perish Song, Roar, and Whirlwind.
  50.  
  51. There are two main categories of stall: heavy and mild (the latter often referred to as stall-based balance). One may view heavy stall as a genre of team that consists solely of six Pokémon that contribute the various forms of residual damage. These six Pokémon are usually defensively-based to add to the pressure that opponents face when engaging stall teams in battle. With this element, they can potentially force switches, while trying to avoid conceiving too much residual damage while dealing with a team as quickly and efficiently as possible. Mild stall, on the other hand, may consist of various bulky Pokémon that utilize entry hazards to weaken foes enough to allow a set up sweeper(s) or revenge killer(s) to come into play, unexpectedly, and clear weakened opposition with little-or-no hesitation. Though there may be two variations of stall, they both follow the same primary principle: “to utilize the concept of strategic movements that can beat the metagame indirectly”. Regardless of whichever variation of stall one decides to use, one should always keep this in mind, as this determines the potential success or failure of a hopeful stall-based team.
  52.  
  53. In this guide, one will be directed to the various roles that Pokémon in stall-based teams can play to contribute to the success of the whole team, example Pokémon that can utilize these functions, and what sort of strategies a stall team may put into practice. One will also be taken through the construction of an example stall team to give an idea of what generic stall teams look like and how the finished job works—all to help one visualize a stall team.
  54.  
  55. _________________________
  56.  
  57.  
  58. Stall-Based Balanced
  59.  
  60. Similarly to generic "heavy stall" teams, stall-based balanced is a recently introduced style of play that has only just gained the interest of many. A lot of the time, people find heavy stall teams “boring” due to the length of time that it takes to wear down opponents with minimal assaults; however, with stall-based balanced teams, this is not always the case, as they don't always focus on this aspect. Stall-based balanced can come in two forms: revenge-based stall and late-game sweeper-based stall; revenge-based stall usually relies on entry hazards and bulk between Pokémon to accumulate damage throughout the game, while also being able to maintain a particular sense of offense through the continual threat of a revenge killer removing foes at the same time. These types of stall-based balanced teams often have some form of mid-game stat-up sweeper to accompany their entry hazards by increasing damage incurred by pressured foes. Late-game sweeper-stall, on the other hand, works in a way that uses entry hazards and bulk to beat opposing teams' infrastructure and any chance they may have of hindering a potential late-game sweep. In effect, these teams base themselves around defeating potential threats to a selected sweeper through their own direct counter-strikes and abuse of entry hazards. A revenge killer may be included within the team to support the late-game sweeper and help cover up any weaknesses and problems that may pose threatening (similarly to how mid-game sweepers support revenge killers in revenge-based stall).
  61.  
  62. Stall-based balanced teams, when under construction, still follow the basic guidelines that a heavy stall team would, and work similarly to them in battle, too, but one may notice that they are more centralized around specific types of Pokémon themselves and not entry hazards. As a whole, teams of this nature are usually faster than normal stall teams due to the aforementioned descriptions of these types of teams. Because of this added speed, stall-based balanced teams have a slight advantage over their slower counterparts; thanks to this, they usually have a strategy to prevent opposing entry hazard-based teams by Taunting foes and preventing them from setting up, for example—which, in turn, frees up time for the home side, giving it more time to fully establish itself in battle.
  63.  
  64.  
  65. Examples of these types of teams can be found in the RMT Archive; such as "Rose Tyler," "Rotom, CHARGE," and "Team of Torment" which are prime examples of where entry hazards are utilized to achieve a "sweep" of some kind.
  66.  
  67. __________________________
  68.  
  69. Responsibilities to Consider
  70.  
  71. When making a stall team, one should always remember the team's goal: build up passive damage to indirectly defeat the opponent. Team members should be selected on a basis of how they will carry out the overall team plan and not purely to counter a specific threat. The following list outlines basic "roles" and "responsibilities" that can be incorporated into a stall team, along with a description of how they can be used. Remember, however, these aren't requirements; they are only guidelines. The given Pokémon not only achieve their highlighted goals, but they can also perform other duties; with this in mind, one should always open their mind to the vast possibilities that a Pokémon may have—and shouldn't think narrow-mindedly—thinking this way will cause the team to be based around individual Pokémon, and one will most likely find oneself trying to fit too many Pokémon on a team.
  72.  
  73.  
  74. Cleric
  75.  
  76. Having your Pokémon riddled with status effects can hinder, or even completely prevent, them from accomplishing a set task. Statuses play a tremendous role in competitive battling, and for good reason. Status effects can lower stats, deprive one of useful turns, or even damage Pokémon over time, which greatly hinders their ability to do their respective jobs and take direct damage from attacks. For the aforementioned reasons, a cleric, a Pokémon who can rid the team of status, is useful to stall teams. Often on stall teams, one will see a Pokémon who carries the move Rest, coupled with a Pokémon who knows the move Heal Bell or Aromatherapy. This is a classic combination that allows the Pokémon who used Rest, to get away with either zero or one turn(s) of sleep, rather than two; two turns of sleep is long enough for an opponent to set up and end the game depending on the situation at hand. Clerics are usually used on stall teams only if the team has no means of dealing with status that could wear down individual Pokémon, such as burn and poison. An opponent can stall out an effected Pokemon with these statuses or use them as an opportunity to set up.
  77.  
  78.  
  79. OU
  80.  
  81.  
  82.  
  83.  
  84. Celebi
  85. Heal Bell works similarly to Blissey’s Aromatherapy—but fails to work on Pokémon with the ability Soundproof—healing the status problems of teammates, and like Blissey, due to Celebi’s Natural Cure, it can easily act as a temporary status absorber until it switches out and its status problems healed. With equal base defensive stats at 100 and a base HP stat of 100, and its decent Grass / Psychic typing, Celebi makes the ideal physical- or special-based wall; however, due to its ability to effectively counter one of the most prominent threats in the metagame, Gyarados, and other bulky Water-, Ground-, and most Rock-type Pokémon, Celebi is, more often than not, seen as a physical-based wall. Similarly to Blissey, Celebi boasts a variety of moves that shape its role on a team: Thunder Wave’s ability to induce paralysis on faster foes often to act as compensation for stall teams as the majority lack the Speed needed to beat foes in one-on-one situations.
  86.  
  87. Celebi is also a viable user of the pHazing role with the move Perish Song—with this, Celebi effectively forces Pokémon that may set up with a possibly unbreakable Substitute, or Pokémon on Baton Pass teams who utilize Ingrain, which nullifies Roar and Whirlwind’s effects, but cannot bypass Perish Song, and ultimately causes the possible build up of more residual damage to opposing teams. Leech Seed is another method of pHazing of forcing out opposing users, that lack reliable recovery, as it gradually drains health and replenishes Celebi’s.
  88.  
  89. Other notable Pokémon: Blissey.
  90.  
  91.  
  92. Ubers
  93.  
  94.  
  95. Blissey
  96. As one of the only viable clerics in Ubers, and access to Aromatherapy, Blissey easily takes the position of the team’s Cleric, eradicating of any status ailments that are common such as poison, and aiding those users of Rest who are forced to make uncertain moves for two turns. Thanks to Blissey's Natural Cure ability, it is able to do its job as a cleric (an uncommon theme in Ubers), and escape unscathed from these status problems as it switches-out.
  97.  
  98. UU
  99.  
  100.  
  101.  
  102.  
  103. Altaria
  104. Altaria's interesting defensive typing is a godsend in UU. It resists the extremely common Water-, Fire-, Fighting-, and Grass-type attacks and is immune to Ground attacks. This combined with 70 / 90 / 105 defenses and Roost means that Altaria is one of the only safe switch-ins to mixed Blaziken and Magmortar, both huge threats to stall teams. It also has a decent support movepool, with Roar, Perish Song, and Haze available for dealing with stat boosters, and with Heal Bell for eliminating status. To round it off, Altaria's ability, Natural Cure, ensures that status is usually never a long term problem, which is a great asset for a defensive Pokemon.
  105.  
  106. Other notable Pokémon: Chansey, Miltank, Umbreon and Uxie.
  107.  
  108. ___ ___ ___
  109.  
  110.  
  111. Dominant Physical Wall
  112.  
  113. Usually, a physical wall aims to come in on physical attacks; however, having the ability to switch into the odd special-based attack will relieve the stress of having a single Pokémon switch into all special attacks, as this is not always reliable. A wall's physical dominance doesn't mean it should be restricted to taking attacks from just that one side; having a physical wall that can switch in from both sides of the spectrum is key. Being able to switch into various threats and forcing switches, or pHazing them, out is a very important role in terms of stalling. Forcing switches allows the user to gain a turn on the opponent, and helps inflict residual damage on opponents via Stealth Rock, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and in some cases, weather damage as well. Having access to a reliable method of recovery is a good way to ensure survivability, which is a key for a successful stall team. A dominantly physical wall is a Pokémon who is designed specifically to do most, if not all, of the things mentioned above.
  114.  
  115. OU
  116.  
  117.  
  118. Hippowdon
  119. Hippowdon is the most dominant physical-based wall to be seen in the standard metagame. With a base HP stat of 108, and a base Defense of 118, Hippowdon is capable of walling most physical-based attackers with somewhat minimum effort. Hippowdon's Stealth Rock means that it can lead and set up an entry hazard, contributing to the overall success of the team; having the ability Sand Stream also contributes to the build up of residual damage as Hippowdon is one of three Pokémon (the other two being Tyranitar and Hippopotas) able to create permanent sandstorm. Toxic will cripple opposing Pokémon that require a safe passage to sweep or set up, even more so to those frequent special-attacking switch ins; in tandem with Slack Off, Hippowdon’s Toxic can easily stall foes into submission as Hippowdon can recover most damage incurred. Ice Fang makes Hippowdon the ideal Dragon-type check to Pokémon such as Salamence who would otherwise wreak havoc. Roar makes Hippowdon a great pHazer because of its ability to force switches from physical-based and force special-based sweepers to switch-in; this will be in vein, however, as Hippowdon’s Roar will force a potential counter out of the field and possibly out of the game depending on the HP its loses from residual damage.
  120.  
  121. Other notable Pokémon: Gliscor, Gyarados, Skarmory and Swampert.
  122.  
  123.  
  124. Ubers
  125.  
  126.  
  127.  
  128.  
  129.  
  130. Groudon
  131. Groudon, while commonly seen as a physical sweeper, is one of the most prominent physical-based walls to be seen in the Uber metagame. With a gargantuan base Defense stat of 140 and an excellent base HP stat of 100, Groudon is capable of taking a multitude of hits from a variety of physical attackers with ease. With access to Stealth Rock, Groudon can serve as a lead and set up an entry hazard, greatly benefiting its teammates.
  132.  
  133. With Toxic, Groudon can cripple defensive walls such as Lugia and Cresselia, both of whom love switching-in on Groudon. With the aforementioned Pokémon shut down by Toxic, Pokémon such as Rayquaza will be able to pick them off, as Toxic damage will eventually build up, allowing it to rip them apart with a STAB Outrage. Furthermore, Groudon can utilize Thunder Wave to incapacitate sweepers. Groudon makes an excellent pHazer with Roar. With it, Groduon can pHaze and scout an opponent's team, while whittling down the opponent if Stealth Rock is up. Groudon will force opposing Pokémon to switch out with Roar, forcing your foes to be whittled down, especially when paired up with entry hazards, as these forced switches build up damage consistently.
  134.  
  135. Other notable Pokémon: Deoxys-D, Dialga, Giratina, and Lugia.
  136.  
  137.  
  138. UU
  139.  
  140.  
  141.  
  142.  
  143.  
  144. Donphan
  145. Donphan is an excellent Rapid Spinner, setting itself apart from other Rapid Spinners thanks to Roar; much like Claydol sets itself apart with Trick, and Hitmontop with Foresight. With access to Assurance, Donphan can hit every common Rapid Spin blocker in UU for super effective, barring Spiritomb, for quite a large chunk of damage if they were previously harmed or if they are switching in when an entry hazard is on the field. Though it is often overlooked, its 120 base Attack stat, as well as its STAB Earthquake, and access to a variety of physical attacks such as Stone Edge, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Assurance, and Ice Shard—all of which will take its toll on whatever decides to switch into Donphan unless it resists its attacks. Donphan also has an excellent support movepool, consisting of Roar, Rapid Spin, and Stealth Rock. Donphan is an excellent pHazer against other stall teams, due to the fact that they cannot afford (and will not risk) losing their own entry hazards so they are forced to go to their Rapid Spin blocker upon Donphan’s entrance onto the field, only to be pHazed out and have up to 37.5% done to a Pokémon that is grounded, taking a huge chunk out of their health. Because of Donphan’s access to a STAB Earthquake and Roar, paired with its good Defense, it is able to act as one of the few Pokémon able to switch into Curse Registeel and 2-3HKO it; however, depending on the amount of boosts Registeel has acquired, Roar is a useful tool to remove it from play and any other common stat up sweepers or tanks.
  146.  
  147. Other notable Pokémon: Miltank, Nidoqueen, Steelix, and Uxie.
  148.  
  149. ___ ___ ___
  150.  
  151. Dominant Special Wall
  152.  
  153. Typically, a special wall wants to be able to cover many of the most prominent special attackers. The Pokémon chosen to be the special wall should be able to take hits from the special side very well, but at the same time, have the ability to take the odd physical hit as well. Generally, special walls should be able to keep up with the changing metagame, and be able to take on most, if not all, of the common Pokémon being used. Having access to a recovery move is a great way to ensure that one can have more of a dominating effect on the match, as the Pokémon’s survivability rate is increased. Being able to use status moves is another good trait for a special wall, allowing one to cripple an opponent and minimizing the effect that the particular Pokémon has on the match. With entry hazards in play, having a dominant special wall can accomplish much more than just walling specially-based Pokémon, you can force switches, and thus inflict the incoming Pokémon with damage via the entry hazards. A dominant special wall should generally be able to accomplish most, if not all of the traits mentioned above.
  154.  
  155.  
  156. OU
  157.  
  158.  
  159. Blissey
  160. Blissey is the most dominant special-based wall to be seen in the standard metagame. With a base HP stat of 255, and a base Special Defense of 135, Blissey is capable of walling most special-based attackers with somewhat minimum effort. Thanks to its access to Aromatherapy, Blissey easily takes the position of the team’s Cleric, eradicating of any status ailments, including Blissey who also utilizes the effect of Natural Cure, curing all status problems when switching out. Stealth Rock access gives Blissey the capability to set up an entry hazard, contributing to the overall success of the team; being able to wall the majority of special attackers makes Blissey a great Pokémon to switch into these Pokémon and possibly force a switch, while setting up at the same time.
  161.  
  162. Thunder Wave and Toxic cripple opposing Pokémon that require a safe passage to sweep or set up, making Blissey an ideal status inflictor; with paralysis induced by the use of Thunder Wave, stalling becomes much more easier, and grants the rest of the team, including Blissey who may otherwise lack the Speed needed to compete against certain, more offensive Pokémon, the capability to outspeed and thus attack or set up successfully.
  163.  
  164. The move Wish automatically gives Blissey the role of a HP cleric for itself and certain members of a team that may lack reliable methods of recovery. Being so dominant in the special side of the walling spectrum, Blissey can easily switch into most special attacks directed at a physical wall who may be incapable of taking the attack, use Wish as the opposition may switch to a physical attacker, and switch to a physical wall or any other Pokémon that can take the hit from the attacking Pokémon, healing it immediately.
  165.  
  166. Other notable Pokémon: Jirachi, Latias, Tyranitar and Zapdos.
  167.  
  168.  
  169. Ubers
  170.  
  171.  
  172. Blissey
  173. With the omnipresence of special attackers in the Uber metagame, Blissey has become a necessity in Uber stall. Threats like Choice Specs Dialga and Choice Specs Palkia are so absurdly powerful that literally almost every Steel-type Pokémon in the game is 2HKOed by Draco Meteor. However, their insane power is neutered by Blissey, who only takes 44% maximum from Draco Meteor. The most common Blissey in the Uber metagame is the Wish-passing variant, and for a very good reason. Several Pokémon seen in Uber stall, most notably Groudon, Forretress, and Giratina-O lack reliable recovery. With Wish support in the wings, common teammates of Blissey, like Groudon, can keep its health high enough to perhaps survive a Rayquaza’s rampage later in the game. Forretress gains more time to set up entry hazards and sponge Dragon-type attacks such as Outrage and Dragon Claw, while Giratina-O gets more chances to sweep and/or block Rapid Spin.
  174.  
  175. Toxic provides Blissey with a way to stop Latios and Latias from sweeping the entire team, and helps shorten the life-span of set up sweepers such as Rayquaza and Groudon. Seismic Toss is often Blissey’s attack of choice due to her poor Special Attack stat, dealing consistent base 100 damage to every non-Ghost-type Pokémon. It also helps Blissey take down Taunt + Calm Mind Mewtwo, who could otherwise set up and unleash devastation. However, sometimes Blissey will eschew the reliability of Seismic Toss for coverage. For example, Blissey can use Flamethrower to severely hurt Forretress, who enjoys switching into Blissey on a predicted Toxic and set up more entry hazards. Blissey can use Ice Beam to deal with Garchomp, Groudon, and Rayquaza, while doing some sort of damage to Giratina-O. In the end, though, Seismic Toss is often preferable as Blissey is not left doing pathetic damage to those that resist the special attacks. Blissey alone, however, is not the end-all counter to every special sweeper in the game. Kyogre can deal a whooping 60% to Blissey with Choice Specs Water Spout, while Giratina-O’s immunity to Seismic Toss allows it to use Substitute safely on Blissey and proceed to set up with Calm Mind (the latter can be beaten if Blissey is carrying Calm Mind and Ice Beam, however). Despite these limits, no other Pokémon can fulfill Blissey’s crucial role in Uber stall.
  176.  
  177. Other notable Pokémon: Deoxys-D and Latias.
  178.  
  179.  
  180. UU
  181.  
  182.  
  183. Chansey
  184. Much like Blissey in OU, Chansey is the dominant special wall in UU thanks to its enormous base HP and Special Defense stat of 250 and 105, respectively. Chansey's ability, Natural Cure, allows it to escape the grip of status for long-term situations—this again is important for a wall of this magnitude.
  185.  
  186. Both Thunder Wave or Toxic are more useful than the other in various situations, but keep in mind that Chansey cannot touch Ghost-types without Toxic. Access to Heal Bell and Aromatherapy allows it to rid its teammates of any status ailments, which is crucial in a match up of stall versus stall, in particular. Chansey is arguably the best Wish-passer that UU stall can use, as it can set up Wish even on powerful special attackers, such as Moltres and Alakazam, that other Wish-passers are 2HKOed by. It can even set up Stealth Rock for passive damage, contributing further to the stall team’s overall goal of defeating foes indirectly.
  187.  
  188. Despite being the most specially defensive Pokémon, Chansey does have some drawbacks. Seismic Toss is Chansey's main form of offense, and while it inflicts consistent, decent damage, it leaves Chansey vulnerable to Ghost-types, even more so if they carry Rest or Substitute. Chansey also struggles against Nasty Plotters such as Houndoom; they can boost their Special Attack to lethal levels before Chansey can finish them off. Calm Mind + Rest Pokémon are troublesome as well, negating any damage from Toxic and Seismic Toss. In short, Chansey excels as an immediate special hit taker, but one must make sure to carry something that has enough power to deal with mid to long term threats.
  189.  
  190. Other notable Pokémon: Altaria, Claydol, Spiritomb, and Umbreon.
  191.  
  192. ___ ___ ___
  193.  
  194.  
  195. Pseudo-Hazer (pHazer)
  196.  
  197. Though the main priority for stall teams is to get entry hazards up as quick as possible—this is often looked upon by foes as an opportunity to set up on the Pokémon attempting to set up. Baton Pass teams are a prime example. To prevent this and a possible sweep, one should preferably incorporate a method of forcing the removal of a set up tactic—this is where a Pokémon utilizing the position of pseudo-Hazer (pHazer) can come in. A pHazer is any Pokémon that uses a move that forcibly switches the opposition to switch, removing any stat or other modifications; the moves Roar and Whirlwind are ideal examples of moves that do exactly this. However, with this said, strategies from teams that revolve around the Baton Pass theme often attempt to prevent this from happening through the move Ingrain—a move that nullifies the effects of Roar and Whirlwind. This particular strategy can be bypassed through the move Perish Song. Perish Song is a move that works similarly to Roar and Whirlwind—after three turns the user and the target Pokémon faint unless they switch—it often causes opponents to switch out of the fear of losing a potentially vital member of their team. Perish Song's most notable use over Roar and Whirlwind is the fact that it can remove last-man Pokémon—the last opposing Pokémon that often utilizes a stat-up + recovery move—as they can cause utter havoc amongst all types of stall teams unable to counter-act this movement. PHazing moves also work well in conjunction with the use of entry hazards, causing the build up of passive damage throughout a team as it is forced to shuffle.
  198.  
  199.  
  200. OU
  201.  
  202.  
  203. Skarmory
  204. With access to Whirlwind and Roar, Skarmory can act as a pHazer, forcing any set-up Pokémon that may switch-in out of the field thanks to its excellent Defense, and take further damage from the Spikes that Skarmory has set up. Aside from this useful factor, Skarmory is another dominant force to be reckoned with in terms of taking hits from the physical side of the attacking spectrum; with moderate base HP and excellent base Defense, and weaknesses to only Fire- and Electric-type attacks (both of which are common special-based moves as opposed to physical-based), Skarmory can switch into most physical attacks with ease.
  205.  
  206. Access to both Stealth Rock and Spikes means that Skarmory can switch-in on most physical attackers and set up either, or both, entry hazards with relative ease, meaning Skarmory can act as the ideal spiker. Taunt can also prevent Pokémon that cannot be switched out from setting up, or can just be used over Whirlwind depending on the extent at which you need either move. Toxic can harmfully damage common switch-ins who may be too fast to stop setting up – Pokémon like Gliscor, who may Taunt Skarmory, will hate Toxic as it will shorten its life-span and stalling ability against certain Pokémon including Skarmory itself. Brave Bird hits Pokémon such as Lucario for damage if it is a problem, but this is unreliable; for example, Adamant Lucario with Life Orb will OHKO Skarmory on average with Close Combat after a Swords Dance, and incurred damage from Stealth Rock at least once.
  207.  
  208. Other notable Pokémon: Celebi, Gyarados, Hippowdon, and Swampert.
  209.  
  210.  
  211. Ubers
  212.  
  213.  
  214.  
  215.  
  216. Lugia
  217. Lugia is one of the best pHazers to be found in the Uber tier. With Whirlwind in conjunction with entry hazards, Lugia will force opponents to shuffle around, causing the build up of passive damage. Additionally, Whirlwind is great at stopping physical attackers that use stat boosting moves. Lugia is sturdy enough to take attacks from the likes of Choice Band Metagross' Meteor Mash or Life Orb Rayquaza's Outrage and can pHaze them away with Whirlwind. With a gargantuan 154 base Special Defense, 130 base Defense, and 106 base HP, Lugia becomes one of the most troublesome Pokemon to take down. With Roost, Lugia becomes more difficult to take down due to its increased durability and enables it to heal any prior damage incurred either by Stealth Rock or opponents' attacks. In addition, Lugia's 110 base Speed allows it to outpace a variety of threats such as Garchomp, Palkia, and Rayquaza. Although Lugia has an excellent base Special Defense, it is predominantly used as a physical wall because of its countering ability of the aforementioned Pokémon, and the fact that Blissey surpasses Lugia more often than not. With Whirlwind, Lugia can shuffleenemy Pokémon, building up entry hazard damage. Additionally, thanks to Forretress' Rapid Spin disposing of Stealth Rock, Lugia no long suffers heavily per switch in; damagethat would otherwise bring Lugia's foes closer to hitting crucial knock-outs. The "BoltBeam" combination of Ice Beam and Thunder causes havoc amongst teams after a single Calm Mind boost, making it not only a defensive threat, but also an offensive threat to be reckoned with.
  218.  
  219. Other notable Pokémon: Groudon and Skarmory.
  220.  
  221. UU
  222.  
  223.  
  224.  
  225.  
  226. Steelix
  227. With its wondrous Steel-typing and 200 base Defense makes Steelix an excellent candidate for a dominant physical wall. Unfortunately for Steelix, two of it's common weaknesses are very prominent physical attacking types, making it harder for itself to dominate as much as it should based on its stats alone. Access to Roar, with its Defense, gives Steelix a solid pHazing tool. A Dark-type resist is always appreciated as well, as very few Pokémon in UU, barring the rather common Hitmontop, are reliable switches into Dark-type attacks. Oddly enough, Steelix is one of very few Pokémon in common UU stall capable of beating Dragon Dance Altaria; because of Altaria's immunity to Spikes, and access to Roost, it can easily set up against slower opponents generally seen on stall teams, and proceed to wreak havoc with a STAB Outrage, but Steelix can come in on Outrage and easily pHaze it out or do a pretty large amount of damage with its STAB Gyro Ball. Steelix has relatively poor Special Defense, so it is wise to invest Special Defense EVs on Steelix before Defense, because even without any EVs, Steelix will have a Defense stat greater than 400, and can still perform duties such as setting up Stealth Rock. Gyro Ball allows Steelix to deal a large amount of damage to faster Pokémon like Mismagius who seem to think they can force Steelix out by threatening it with super effective attacks such as Hidden Power Fighting, for example.
  228. ___ ___ ___
  229.  
  230.  
  231. Spiker
  232.  
  233. Setting up entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes) is essential to the overall success of a stall team, as it is the quickest and most effective way of wearing down the opposing team, due to the wide variety of types of damage entry hazards provide. The term “spiker” is a generalization of any Pokémon that has the primary job of setting up a form of entry hazard. Working in tandem with pseudo-Hazers, entry hazards set up by spikers help the build up of passive damage caused by the forced switching of pseudo-Hazing moves. There are various forms of spikes that each depends on a Pokémon’s typing. Some forms of entry hazard are more effective than others, particularly depending on metagame circumstances; for example, in a metagame dominated by Dragon- and Steel-types, the move Toxic Spikes isn’t as effective as a combination of Stealth Rock + Spikes, due to Steel-types and the majority of Dragon-types being immune to Toxic Spikes; this does not rule-out the use of Toxic Spikes, however, as it is still a useful asset for beating opposing stall teams, for example.
  234.  
  235.  
  236. OU
  237.  
  238.  
  239.  
  240. Forretress
  241. With only one weakness, 10 resistances, a base HP stat of 75, an above-average 140 base Defense, and access to three forms of entry hazards, Forretress is one the most dominant physical walls in the standard metagame. With access to three types of spikes, and the capability to wall the majority of physically-based attacks, Forretress can single-handedly set up most of a teams entry hazards without much problem. Depending on what one’s team relies on the most, a selection of Stealth Rock, Spikes, or Toxic Spikes can be chosen. In addition to the fact that Forretress can set up most variations of entry hazard, Forretress also has access to the move Rapid Spin. This in itself provides any stall team ability to remove any form of entry hazard that could pose a potential threat to the team; against opposing stall teams, with the use of intelligent moves, Rapid Spin from Forretress could reset the field against the opposition, forcing them to go all-out offensive or try to set up their entry hazards once again; this will cause the build up of residual damage per switch as the opposition is forced to switch from one Pokémon to another to set up or cushion hits. Unfortunately, this can be prevented by the opposition’s use of Ghost-type Pokémon such as Rotom-A to act as effective “Rapid Spin blockers”. Forretress can use the move Payback that deals heavy, super effective damage upon these Ghost-type Pokémon as its own method of removing these Pokémon to help ensure the Rapid Spinning strategy is not nullified.
  242.  
  243. Other notable Pokémon: Nidoqueen, Skarmory, and Tentacruel.
  244.  
  245.  
  246. Ubers
  247.  
  248.  
  249.  
  250.  
  251.  
  252. Forretress
  253. Forretress is one of the Uber metagame’s premier spikers. With a multitude of resistances and a great Steel-/Bug-typing, Forretress can switch-in on a wide variety of attacks and commence setting up entry hazards; for example, it can easily set up on Lugia who fails to scratch Forretress with Ice Beam. Toxic Spikes are extremely deadly in Ubers; this is because it inflicts many dangerous threats that lurk in the Uber metagame with poison; these threats include Kyogre, Groudon, Wobbuffet, Garchomp, and Darkrai, all of which trouble Uber stall teams. With Toxic Spikes in play, the aforementioned threats become much more manageable, making it easier to take them down.
  254.  
  255. Rapid Spin is another extremely helpful move in Ubers, as it allows Forretress to get rid of entry hazard used by the likes of Deoxys-S and opposing Forretress. One of Forretress's most common partners is the Special Defensive behemoth known as Blissey. Groudon is also an imperative part of an Uber stall team, and is thus seen commonly alongside Forretress. This is mostly due to the fact that Bulk Up Dialga can easily set up on Forretress and begin to decimate an Uber stall team. With Groudon, Bulk Up Dialga becomes much eaiser to handle, making it a prime candidate to use with Forretress. Furthermore, Groudon is capable of setting up Stealth Rock, which frees up one of Forretress's moveslots for another attack or utility move such as Spikes. Despite not being used much on Uber stall, Kyogre makes an ideal teammate with Forretress, as it can switch into the Fire-type attacks aimed at Forretress. Finally, Giratina and Giratina-O are excellent Pokemon to use with Forretress, as they block Rapid Spin users from getting rid of the entry hazards Forretress has set up.
  256.  
  257. Other notable Pokémon: Skarmory.
  258.  
  259.  
  260. UU
  261.  
  262.  
  263.  
  264.  
  265. Omastar
  266. With very few viable spikers in UU stall, Omastar stands out as a “one-in-many” type of Pokémon. Omastar has an outstanding 125 base Defense stat, which allows it to switch in against a lot of physical-attacking Pokémon and begin Spiking. Omastar has an often overlook 115 base Special Attack and STAB Surf as well. Sadly, Omastar does not have access to any recovery moves (bar Rest), and therefore needs to rely on Wish-passing from its teammates to regain health, or support from a cleric's Heal Bell/Aromatherapy. Omastar learns the rather invaluable Toxic Spikes, which as mentioned before, does not have much place in UU stall due to the abundance of Poison-type Pokémon. However, Omastar learns Knock Off, which certainly has merit; Knock Off allows Omastar to scout Choice-users and Knock Off their items, which takes away immediate power from them if they were holding Choice Specs or Choice Band, easing the impact inflicted upon teammates that may come into direct combat with users of these items. Haze is another move that Omastar learns in which enables Omastar to negate boosts from the likes of Calm Mind Spiritomb, Curse Registeel, or any other stat-upper, who can easily switch into Omastar as soon as they are aware of Omastar’s moveset being of supportive purposes.
  267.  
  268. Other notable Pokémon: Cloyster, Drapion, Froslass, and Nidoqueen.
  269.  
  270. ___ ___ ___
  271.  
  272. Rapid Spin Blocker
  273.  
  274. Entry hazards play a major role in the success of stall teams, but can be eradicated by the simple method of using the move Rapid Spin which, while attacking the target, removes all forms of spikes / entry hazards from the field. However, as Ghost-type Pokémon are immune to the move Rapid Spin—it's side-effects of removing all forms of entry hazards are nullified, thus preserving those hazards—these Pokémon are effectively “spin blockers”. Without spin blockers, Rapid Spin effectively undoes the set up of these entry hazards, and forces the user of the entry hazard set to attempt to set up once again, increasing the duration of the match, time in which the opposition can set up and sweep.
  275.  
  276.  
  277. OU
  278.  
  279. Rotom-A
  280. Rotom-A has replaced its rival Ghost-type Pokémon as the primary Rapid Spin blocker thanks to its widened movepool; with access to Air Slash, Blizzard, Hydro Pump, Leaf Storm, or Overheat, depending on what forme of Rotom-A is being used. This variety of attacks no longer restricts Rotom-A to the same extent as other Ghost-types with regards to having trouble with certain typed Pokémon such as Scizor. With its unique typing of Ghost and Electric, access to Levitate, only to be complemented by its base HP of 50, and above-average defenses of 107, Rotom-A makes the perfect addition on any team. Though Rotom-A may boast good defenses, it lacks a reliable form of recovery. Because of this, Rotom-A can optionally fulfill the role of status absorbing RestTalker as it can take hits from both sides of the attacking spectrum, and benefits largely from the recovery aspect of the move-combination. Rotom-A’s access to Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp, two of the most dominant status-inflicting moves in the metagame (being able to shut down sweepers in an instant) means that it can easily utilize the role of status absorber with either one or both attacks; though one may rely upon Rotom-A as a status absorber and status inflictor, Rotom-A can utilize its STAB Discharge and Will-O-Wisp, being able to attack foes with a 30% chance of paralysis, or hitting some foes with Will-O-Wisp without nullifying its ability to strike foes back.
  281. Other notable Pokémon: Spiritomb.
  282.  
  283.  
  284. Ubers
  285.  
  286.  
  287.  
  288.  
  289.  
  290. Giratina-O
  291. Giratina-O is no slouch in the offensive department either, sporting base 120 Attack and Special Attack. It can attack from either side of the spectrum with a powerful STAB Draco Meteor on the special side, or STAB Outrage on the physical side. Using Hidden Power Fire, Giratina-O can reliably destroy Forretress who might be tempted to stay in and hurt it with Payback. Unlike with other Ghost-types in the game, Giratina-O’s Shadow Sneak is quite powerful and aids in revenging weakened Pokémon. In a metagame littered with Psychic-types, it can do a considerable amount of damage. Thanks to Levitate, Giratina-O avoids taking damage from Spikes and Toxic Spikes. When combined with its monstrous base 150 HP and base 100 in both Defense and Special Defense, and its six resistances and three immunities, Giratina-O has a relatively easy time switching in, despite having no recovery. Further combined with its offensive prowess, Giratina-O also makes an excellent stall breaker, threatening to 2HKO every member in many stall teams as well as keeping entry hazards intact, compounding the pain. These qualities make Giratina-O an excellent Pokémon to use in Uber stall teams.
  292.  
  293.  
  294. Other notable Pokémon: Giratina.
  295.  
  296.  
  297. UU
  298.  
  299.  
  300.  
  301. Spiritomb
  302. Spiritomb is the premiere Rapid Spin blocker of UU stall; it's excellent defensive typing, lack of weaknesses, three useful immunities, as well as solid defensive stats, are only some of the highlights to Spiritomb’s attributes. Will-O-Wisp aids Spiritomb in being an excellent Rapid Spin blocker as it cripples common Rapid Spinners such as Donphan, Hitmontop, and Sandslash. Though stall is said to lack self-set up (i.e. stat boosting) moves, Calm Mind brings some offense to the table, which is something that is often not prepared for as it is not found much in UU stall. Spiritomb also has Sucker Punch and Pursuit at its disposal; Pursuit is especially helpful because it can remove fleeing Mismagius and Rotom since Chansey has trouble with the Substitute variants of both Pokémon. S Spiritomb's ability, Pressure, is a useful asset by halving the PP of attacks, and aids in stall versus stall situations as it will gradually drain PP from low-PP attacks like Perish Song, common on opposing stall teams that often need to take out Calm Mind Spiritomb. Taunt is another useful tool for Spiritomb as it stops Chansey from healing herself, and prevents Registeel from setting up Curse or using Rest. Taunt breaks down opposing walls and forces switches — these forced switches cause a build up of residual damage when paired with entry hazards. For all it's worth, Spiritomb gets the move Curse to help against last Pokémon stat-uppers such as the aforementioned Curse Registeel, but it comes at a sacrifices of half of Spiritomb's HP each time it is used, therefore, having a method of recovery is always valued, whether it is through Pain Split, Rest, or a teammate’s Wish that has been pseudo-passed to it.
  303.  
  304. Other notable Pokémon: Mismagius and Rotom.
  305.  
  306. ___ ___ ___
  307.  
  308.  
  309. Rapid Spinner
  310.  
  311. Entry hazards are on the field at any one time in a match, and, over time, wear down Pokémon who switch-in the battle, by chipping away at health or inflicting status upon them depending on if the Pokémon is susceptible to the type(s) of entry hazard present. Having a Pokémon who is able to get rid the field of these entry hazards, through the use of Rapid Spin, is always a good precaution to bare in mind to prevent any future problems when setting up with other, potentially prone team members. Ridding the field of entry hazards can be very beneficial as they allow more freedom for switching, and relieve one of the pressures of tricky prediction making.
  312.  
  313.  
  314. OU
  315.  
  316.  
  317.  
  318.  
  319. Starmie
  320. Starmie’s useful Water-/Psychic-typing, base HP of 65, moderate Defense of 85, and vast movepool makes it a viable addition to most stall teams, particularly for the reason that it can effectively counter popular threats such in the form of Infernape and Gyarados thanks to its resistance to their-commonly used-STAB moves, shrugging off any damage with Recover. Starmie’s access to Rapid Spin means that it can deal remove any form of entry hazard and Recover any damage received in the meantime; its ability, Natural Cure, means that even if Starmie came into contact with Toxic Spikes, its affects would wear off on the turn it switches. Starmie's STAB Surf can harm most Rapid Spin blockers, shortening their life-span and eventually allowing Starmie to break through and reset the field. Reflect or Light Screen support from Starmie can benefit Pokémon within a team by allowing them to take hits better from certain potential threats and use that as an opportunity to force them out, finish them off, or set up on them.
  321.  
  322. Other notable Pokémon: Forretress, Hitmontop and Tentacruel.
  323.  
  324.  
  325. Ubers
  326.  
  327.  
  328.  
  329. Forretress
  330. Rapid Spin is an extremely helpful move in Ubers, as it allows Forretress to get rid of entry hazard used by the likes of Deoxys-S, and opposing Forretress. The ability Forretress' Rapid Spin has on opposing entry hazards is that of which is invaluable due to the vast about of Uber Pokémon that are grounded, specifically (such as Blissey, Kyogre, and Darkrai)—this otherwise poses a problem which could lead to the cut-down in the amount of times members in a team can switch between each other, and, depending on susceptability to Toxic Spikes, cut-down the life-span of a Pokémon. As Rapid Spin blockers are an ever-present strategy alongside entry hazards, Payback can cause these Pokémon to lose a chunk of their health at the expense of switching-in on an expected Rapid Spin—this in turn allows Forretress to deal more damage to the opponent or force them to switch-out, potentially enabling it time to set up more variations of entry hazards.
  331.  
  332.  
  333. UU
  334.  
  335.  
  336.  
  337.  
  338. Hitmontop
  339. Hitmontop, as with other Rapid Spinners, has something unique about it, though this certain advantage is perhaps the most monumental of all: access to Foresight, which allows it to hit Ghost-types with Normal- and Fighting-type attacks, meaning there is nothing that can prevent Rapid Spin. Hitmontop can actually take a Shadow Ball fairly well, too, unlike the specially frail Donphan, who can pull the same trick as well with Odor Sleuth. Because of this, stall teams in UU began to utilize two Ghost-types instead of one, solely to keep their entry hazards up against Foresight / Rapid Spin Hitmontop.
  340.  
  341. Hitmontop's ability, Intimidate, coupled with decent Defense, allows it to switch into constant physical beatings, replenishing its own health with Rest when needed. Hitmontop, in fact, is one of the few common Pokémon in UU that can actually switch into Swords Dance Kabutops, and its aptitude at countering physically-based Pokémon extends to such foes as Aggron, Absol, and Life Orb Clefable, running through each Pokemon with Close Combat. Although most Hitmontop users choose to focus on making Hitmontop more physically defensive, Hitmontop's 110 Base Special Defense is nothing to scoff at; for one, it allows Hitmontop to easily come into Calm Mind Spiritomb, use Foresight, and proceed to 2HKO it with Close Combat, as Spiritomb’s only weakness is exposed. Hitmontop's main problems are its slightly middling Attack and lack of recovery.
  342.  
  343. Other notable Pokémon: Claydol and Donphan.
  344. ___ ___ __
  345.  
  346. Status Absorber
  347.  
  348. With status having such a tremendous effect on the overall outcome of a game—causing the potential limitations to any job a Pokémon can fulfil, and limiting a Pokémon’s life-span—it’s always a good idea to have some way to deal with it. Similarly to clerics, one could use a status absorber; a Pokémon who is designed specifically to take most forms of status ailments. They can absorb status effects in a few ways: one is through the use of a combination using the moves Rest and Sleep Talk so you can free yourself of the status, and still be of somewhat use through Sleep Talk. Another method, though limiting to an extent as you have to be more selective of your choice of Pokémon, could simply be having a Pokémon that immune to a certain status problem (i.e. Electric-type Pokémon that are able to switch into Thunder Wave).
  349.  
  350. There aren't specific status absorbers that are always staples throughout stall teams in certain metagames, because most defensively-orientated Pokémon that can utilize Rest and Sleep Talk effectively, can be branded as equivelants in doing their jobs. There are common Pokémon, though, that do use Rest + Sleep Talk; such as Rotom-A in OU, Kyogre in Ubers, and Rotom in UU—all of which are Pokémon that usually lack their own fast method of recovery, but have the defenses to last two turns while sleeping-off any status ailments sustained.
  351.  
  352. ___ ___ ___
  353.  
  354. Status Inflictors
  355.  
  356. A reliable method to hinder, or even ruin, an opponents Pokémon is to inflict statuses upon them. Having Pokémon that can inflict status upon the opposition is generally a good idea, moves that are certain to cause infliction of status, or moves with a high percentage of status affliction. As stall teams have a specific goal in mind, to defeat foes through the use of entry hazards, status inflictors will help contribute and play a role in accomplishing this. For example, if one decides to use Toxic Spikes to inflict statuses upon Pokémon vulnerable to them, having some sort of status effect to hit the Pokémon that are immune to them is a wise idea to implement as this maximizes the amount of Pokémon that are crippled in any way, shape, or form. Flying-, Poison- and Steel-type Pokémon are both immune to Toxic Spikes / Toxic (for the latter two types at least), so having a move like Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave is a good idea to prevent poison-immune Pokémon from reaching their full potential unscathed.
  357.  
  358. Similarly to status absorbers, there are no such thing as "staple status inflictors," meaning that there is such a wide variety of candidates that can utilize various status-inflicting moves and it all depends on what is needed the most. With that said, however, there are still common users of these moves; Pokémon such as Rotom-A in OU, Mewtwo in Ubers, and Rotom in UU are amongst them.
  359.  
  360. ____________________
  361.  
  362.  
  363. Team-Building Process
  364.  
  365. In this section of the guide, one will look at the stages that can be taken when building certain aspects on a stall team, and then how to bring it togther through the process of trial and error.
  366.  
  367. Firstly, one should establish a brief outline of how the team is to be structured. For example, a small outline could have the following: a dominant physical wall, a dominant special wall, a Rapid Spin blocker, [Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock], a Wish-passer, and a Rapid Spinner. Having an outline in mind is always a useful asset when determining what is wanted on the team, what Pokémon are to use these roles (when looking further into specific features of the outline), and how the team fairs against other common teams and Pokémon.</p>
  368.  
  369. When evaluating several candidates that could fulfil certain roles/responsibilities, one should compare Pokémon and attempt to narrow down listings through the process of mental trial and error to get the best results. A useful method of displaying the differences and similarities between Pokémon, could be as follows:
  370.  
  371.  
  372. [PRODUCTIVE ROLE NAME]:
  373.  
  374. NAME OF POKÉMON: ([Recovery other than Rest])
  375. Base HP / Base Defense / Base Special Defense ; [TYPING]
  376.  
  377. For example:
  378.  
  379. SPIKES:
  380.  
  381. Cloyster: ()
  382. 50 HP / 180 Def / 45 SpD ; Water/Ice
  383.  
  384. Forretress: (Pain Split)
  385. 75 HP / 140 Def / 60 SpD ; Steel/Bug
  386.  
  387. Omastar: ()
  388. 70 HP / 125 Def / 70 SpD ; Water/Rock
  389.  
  390. Skarmory: (Roost)
  391. 65 HP / 140 Def / 70 SpD ; Steel/Flying
  392.  
  393.  
  394. In effect, when listing the useful traits of different Pokémon, for example, Spikes candidates, one is able to list different Pokémon, compare their base defensive stats, possible recovery, and their typings.
  395.  
  396. Obviously, typing is a major asset to any team, particularly stall-based teams as they rely on typing as a primary function to enable them to switch around and wearing down opponents in various different ways. Being able to be aware of opposing strategies, such as trapping strategies, and counter-acting them with the use of defenses and defensive typings is an excellent method of preventing the sudden removal of a team member from the team. Without understanding the usefulness of utilizing typing effectively, one's team will ultimately fail as it lacks basic structure—the loss of one domino from the stack means that the whole thing will fall apart; this is the same for stall teams. One should never forget that maintaining a secure structure (even when one is in the first stages of team-building) and basic synergy between team members is essential to a team's success before any specific details goes into the thought process.
  397.  
  398. Selecting Spikers
  399.  
  400. Secondly, one should establish what entry hazards are wanted on the team. Whether it be Spikes, Stealth Rock, or Toxic Spikes, this must be made absolutely clear. For the purpose of this guide, all three of the aforementioned entry hazards are to be used. To determine what Pokémon (single or multiple), one should list what Pokémon can provide specific entry hazards. Though there are several Pokémon that could use these moves, one must be able to identify what Pokémon would be viable for a stall team based on one's own knowledge, thus a rough idea can be drawn-up to help visualize what sort of spiking core is wanted.
  401.  
  402. When looking for "viable" candidates for using spiking moves, one should never rush into using any old Pokémon, but should always think pratical about how one is to approach: a) setting up entry hazards and b) how the Pokémon can do this, and looking at the pros and cons of each Pokémon. When it comes to setting up entry hazards, one should be aware of the fact that the Pokémon doing so must be able to repeatedly switch into the field at least 2-3 times (if using Toxic Spikes or Spikes), to maximize the effectiveness of entry hazards, and switch-in whenever called upon for other reasons such as if entry hazards have been removed via Rapid Spin (assuming Rapid Spin blockers are not present on the team at a specific time). Being able to switch into and stay in at certain times is absolutely essential: if a Pokémon has the defensive capabilities to stay into multiple moves and switch into them, the more likely it is to set up entry hazards quicker. On the other hand, if a Pokémon is easily forced out of the field because of it's potential weaknesses being a problem which prevents it from switching-into certain moves at times, or the fact that it cannot switch into a variety of moves because it's defensively incapable of doing so, one should review the Pokémon in hand and see if there are any potential fixes to this as the Pokémon selected to do this duty is incapable of setting entry hazards up quickly and effectively without any major issues regarding other aspects of the team.
  403.  
  404. To maximize the effectiveness of "spike stacking", one should look not only at filling a single Pokémon moveslots with Spikes, Stealth Rock, and Toxic Spikes (something Forretress can do), but should open oneself to the possibility of spreading the amount of of entry hazards put onto a team around between several members of the team. A prime example to this is the combination of Tentacruel (Toxic Spikes) and Skarmory (Spikes), compared to Forretress; both combinations have their own pros and cons; for example, having Tentacruel and Skarmory sharing two primary forms of secondary damage, through entry hazards, enables one to switch between the two and set up much more easily and frequently as the two Pokémon complement each other's typing and their defensive basings (i.e. Skarmory is generally a physically-based Pokémon, whereas Tentacruel is generally special-based). Having entry hazards spread out between team members generally means that entry hazards can be set up more fluently; of course typing and defensive basings are the two quintessential factors that make this work, as without the two, it would make setting up entry hazards no quicker or effective because one Pokémon will be forced to wait behind another in turn to set up, hindering chances of one being able to spread-out the amount of entry hazards present at one time. This does not make using a single Pokémon an invalid strategy, however; one will have to put more focus in how that single Pokémon will be able to set up, and bare in mind whether it itself can support the job it has been designated (i.e. if it's typing and defenses can compensate for the many switches it is undoubtedly going to have to make, barring in mind the fact that it will have to evade potential counterstrikes).
  405.  
  406. With regards to switching when forced by an opponent, one should always remember bear in mind that the Pokémon setting up entry hazards must be able to cope with switching-into opposing ones, especially if no spinner is present on one's team. For example, if a potential candidate was weak 4x to Stealth Rock, it would be undoubtedly unpractical to implement this Pokémon on the team, due to the limited amount of switches it would be able to make, particularly if it has no form of recovery. For this reason, checking if a Pokémon has access to recovery or not (preferably other than from the move Rest) is a wise choice when looking at the amount of potential switches it can make when opposing entry hazards are present. The same applies for Rapid Spinners who's primary job it is to switch into any present entry hazards and remove them at benefit for itself and teammates.
  407.  
  408.  
  409. Rapid Spin Blockers
  410.  
  411.  
  412. When determining potential Rapid Spin blockers (Ghost-types, effectively), one must bare in mind the following key points.
  413.  
  414. A Rapid Spin blocker must be able to switch into the field several times -- this is quite a simple concept to grasp, as a Rapid Spin blocker's job is to intercept any Rapid Spinning attempts, and thus, risk switching-into opposing entry hazards. To limit the damage incurred when switching-in, one could implement a system (such as Wish-passing) in which enables the Ghost-type to gain some form of recovery (whether it has access to instant recovery methods of its own or not), to prolong its stay.
  415. Beware of Pursuit-users -- this cannot be emphasized enough. In general, most Rapid Spin blockers are prone to trappings from the likes of Tyranitar and Scizor. Having a Rapid Spin blocker capable of withstanding these onslaughts is a useful asset, or, better yet, having one that can hinder the damage done to themselves when encountering a strong Pursuiter. With the loss of a Rapid Spin blocker, one could effectively lose their intial chances of having a secure strategy of preventing the removal of entry hazards, and will increase the pressure on oneself to preserve them to back-up the viability of their primary battle plan.
  416. With these preservation methods said, one must always understand that a Rapid Spin blocker should have some way of removing opposing Rapid Spinners themselves, or have some sort of support from the team in general or one is at deadlock as a lot of the match will be focused around one protecting their entry hazards, and the opposition attempting to get rid of them, which isn't at all the best end scenario, nor the primary focus in a game.
  417.  
  418.  
  419. Rapid Spinners
  420.  
  421. Rapid Spinners should be able to switch into the field whenever and wherever called upon. Therefore, one should always keep in mind the fact that, when determining potential Rapid Spinners, Rapid Spinners shouldn't have massive weaknesses/troubles with various forms of entry hazards as it not only puts that Pokémon in danger, but having a limited amount of switches means that the Pokémon is limited to the amount of times it can perform its job; and when those switches are gone, an opponent is able to yield the opportunity to re-establish their own entry hazards with nothing to stop them. With this in mind, one should always attempt to implement a Rapid Spinner with exceptional typing with regards to its ability to switch into various types of entry hazards, and then compare if it has any way of regaining any health during the battle itself (with the possible exception of Rest). If not, one could possibly pair such a Rapid Spinner with a Wish-passing Pokémon, who could replenish its health every so often.
  422.  
  423.  
  424. Wish-passers
  425.  
  426. One should always implement Wish-passers where it seems fit. In most cases, Wish-passing is only included within teams because of the support it brings when switching between Pokémon who may rely on the health replenishment to perform its primary and secondary jobs correctly and effectively. In other situations, though, Wish-passers are useful to attempt to implement on teams that have Pokémon that lack their own method of reliable recovery, prolonging individual life-span within battle, and the life-span of the team in general, by extension.
  427.  
  428. Putting it together
  429.  
  430. In general, when building a stall team, one should remember to evaluate the pros and cons of certain roles on a potential stall team, then look into individual Pokémon themselves whom may perform these jobs. When it comes to bringing the shortlist together, one should always keep the following factors in mind: typing issues and actual Pokémon threats. When these two aspects are looked at in-depth, one can then build around the core of the shortlist and begin to include some other Pokémon that may fill-in other minor roles or defensive requirements/support (physical- and special-based walls may provide this).
  431.  
  432. __________________
  433.  
  434.  
  435.  
  436. Example Teams
  437.  
  438. Now one understands what a stall team is, what sort of stuff can be incorporated in these teams, including example Pokémon that can do these things, and how one should approach building the actual team, a picture can be drawn up of what these teams look like. In this section, one will look at three different teams from each of the mainstream tiers, and will be led to understand how each member of the teams work.
  439.  
  440.  
  441. OU
  442.  
  443.  
  444. Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
  445. Ability: Sand Stream
  446. EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
  447. Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
  448. - Roar
  449. - Stealth Rock
  450. - Slack Off
  451. - Earthquake
  452.  
  453. Hippowdon is an excellent lead of choice. It acts as the team's primary check to threats such as Choice Band Tyranitar, who could prove troublesome by removing the only Rapid Spin blocker on the team: Rotom-H, Dragon-types such as Flygon and most non-special variants of Salamence -- Hippowdon is an excellent choice of Pokémon for that can deal with a wide variety of physical threats that dominate in this current metagame. Slack Off gives Hippowdon durability throughout the game.
  454.  
  455. Because of the fact that Hippowdon can deal with most physical threats, it can easily set up on those physical-based leads that it may engage during battle, and set up the first form of entry hazard on this team: Stealth Rock. To back up Stealth Rock's damage inflicting effects, Hippowdon's ability, Sand Stream, creates automatic sandstorm which negates Leftovers recovery of Pokémon that are hit by sandstorm, and wears down threatening foes who may carry Life Orb. Due to Hippowdon's walling ability, it can easily switch into a wide variety of physical attacks, and pHaze out those Pokémon and any potential switch-ins that may have attempted to force Hippowdon out—because of Stealth Rock, Pokémon forced to switch-in, and Pokémon who attempt to switch-in, all lose HP—two Pokémon hit by one stone.
  456.  
  457.  
  458. Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
  459. Ability: Natural Cure
  460. EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
  461. Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
  462. - Wish
  463. - Protect
  464. - Seismic Toss
  465. - Toxic
  466.  
  467. Blissey acts as the team's check to many special-based threats such as Life Orb Heatran, Life Orb Starmie, Latias, and Empoleon, just to name a few Pokémon. Thanks to its gargantuous HP and Special Defense stat, Blissey can more or less act as a check to most special attacking threats; though this is a plus, it lacks in Defense, meaning that it is almost a physical attack magnet—luckily Hippowdon can deal with most of these also—Blissey doesn't go out without an impact though, as Toxic can severely ruin any susceptible Pokémon's chances of making a long-term impact against the team, meaning they are easier to ware down thanks to entry hazards and sandstorm present. Seismic Toss acts as a reliable attacking move against all Pokémon, except Ghost-types such as Gengar, dealing a consistent 100 damage; because of this, Blissey still threatens potential switch-ins that may lack their own personal recovery methods, Pokémon become more reluctant to switch-in also.
  468.  
  469. Wish is an excellent move that benefits all members of the team, especially Forretress who lacks its own method of reliable recovery outside of Rest, meaning it can continue to perform its job much more efficiently without being underthreat from entry hazard damage it may incur on switch. The move Wish also benefits Pokémon that Blissey may pass Wish to, especially if a Pokémon, such as Gyarados, requires immediate replenishment to deal with foes instantaneously.
  470.  
  471.  
  472. Forretress (M) @ Shed Shell
  473. Ability: Sturdy
  474. EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
  475. Careful nature (+SpD, -SpA)
  476. - Payback
  477. - Rapid Spin
  478. - Spikes
  479. - Toxic Spikes
  480.  
  481. Thanks to Forretress' excellent typing, with a myriad of resistances, it can easily come in on various attacks that it resists, such as Dark- and Dragon-type attacks, and use that as an opportunity to lay down entry hazards to contribute to the build up of passive damage. The use of both Spikes and Toxic Spikes are for the purpose of maximizing all potential indirect damage afflicted upon foes, and the latter specifically so the team can handle certain grounded Pokémon more efficiently. Forretress, as well as it being able to set up all remaining entry hazards, can also utilize Rapid Spin -- even though Ghost-type spin blockers prove a nuisance to most Rapid Spinners, Forretress can actually work against them through Payback which hits the majority of Ghost-types (barring Spiritomb, and to a small extent, Sableye) for heavy damage -- the removal of opposing entry hazards against a team such as this one is largely beneficial, especially as the majority of Pokémon on this team are susceptible to most types of entry hazards which is a massive problem which affects the way the team performs in general, as it's efficiency is generally hindered dearly by them usually.
  482.  
  483. The EV spread given is simple and maximizes Forretress' HP so it can take attacks from both sides of the spectrum reasonably well thanks to its good Defense and improved Special Defense -- the latter means that Forretress can act as a reasonable check to foes such as Substitute Rotom-H and Gengar, both of which aren't hit by Blissey.
  484.  
  485.  
  486. Celebi @ Leftovers
  487. Ability: Natural Cure
  488. EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spe
  489. Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
  490. - Grass Knot
  491. - Perish Song
  492. - Reflect
  493. - Recover
  494.  
  495. Celebi acts as a primary check to threats such as Vaporeon, Calm Mind Suicune, and Gyarados. Thanks to its STAB Grass Knot, Celebi is able to put most Water-type Pokémon back where they belong, and when paired with Reflect, it can easily deal with one of the most prominent threats in this current metagame: Dragon Dance + Life Orb Gyarados. Reflect in general is a useful tool for weakening the impact of physical attacks, meaning that the team can handle hits from the likes of Dragon Dance Salamence, etc, much more easily and abuse Reflect's effects to the extent in which the team can fight back against these Pokémon in which it targets.
  496.  
  497. Perish Song is a fundamental pHazing tool which usually forces foes out of play or causes them to die after three successive turns. Thanks to these forceful effects, late-game attackers such as Calm Mind Suicune, Curse Snorlax, and Curse Tyranitar all lack the chance to set up on the team when they appear as 'last man Pokémon', which are probably the biggest problems to stall teams besides pure anti-stall teams, generally. Recover gives Celebi access to its own reliable method of recovery so that it can attempt to stall out opponents when paired with entry hazards, potential poison, sandstorm, and any other external methods of inflicting indirect damage such as Life Orb.
  498.  
  499. The given EV spread maximizes Celebi's physical defensiveness, with a slight investment in Speed for the purpose of outpacing Jolly Tyranitar and setting up Reflect so it takes less from it's Pursuit, etc.
  500.  
  501.  
  502. Rotom-H @ Leftovers
  503. Ability: Levitate
  504. EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 40 SpD / 8 Spe
  505. Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
  506. - Rest
  507. - Sleep Talk
  508. - Thunderbolt
  509. - Will-O-wisp
  510.  
  511. Rotom-H acts as the team's only spin blocker, but it does an excellent job at what it does. Thanks to Rest + Sleep Talk, Rotom-h also acts as one of the teams status absorbers, particularly sleep. Rotom-H's excellent defensive stats means that it is able to act as a counter to almost any Gyarados, physically mixed Jirachi, and Agility Metagross, to name the least. Thunderbolt is Rotom-H's STAB move and does heavy damage to the aforementioned Pokémon and most Pokémon that switch into it. Unfortunately, as Rotom-H is weak to Dark-type moves, and is the team's only Rapid Spin blocker, it is prone to the onslaughts of Tyranitar and some Scizor in the form of Crunch / Pursuit, respectively. As it is particularly difficult for Rotom-h to escape the grasps of the latter, Will-O-Wisp allows it to weaken the hit it takes as it Thunderbolts or Rests off any damage incurred in the meantime—this not only goes for the aforementioned Pokémon, but other mainstream physical attackers that may come into play, too.
  512.  
  513. The HP and Defense EVs together allow Rotom-H to take hits from Gyarados, including a +1 Adamant Waterfall (with Life Orb attached), as well as taking other generic physical attacks from the likes of Lucario, Heracross, and Swords Dance Scizor. The 40 SpD EVs allow Rotom-H to take two consecutive Surfs from Starmie, or just a single Life Orbed Hydro Pump. The 8 Speed EVs give Rotom-h the ability to outpace most other heavily defensive Rotom-A.
  514.  
  515. Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
  516. Ability: Intimidate
  517. EVs: 248 HP / 228 Def / 24 SpD / 8 Spe
  518. Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
  519. - Rest
  520. - Sleep Talk
  521. - Roar
  522. - Waterfall
  523.  
  524. With a unique typing, moderate defenses, and Intimidate, Gyarados acts as the team's check to many physical-based threats such as Swords Dance Lucario, Breloom, and mixed Infernape, all of which could otherwise prove troublesome without the inclusion of Gyarados on the team. Due to Gyarados' defensive prowess, it can switch into numerous physical attacks with relative ease, and pHaze out those Pokémon with Roar; with the opponent being shuffled around by Roar, they will be forced to take damage upon switching thanks to the entry hazards being set up by Forretress and Hippowdon, thus, making it easier to wear down an opposing team via residual damage.
  525.  
  526. Waterfall serves as Gyarados' STAB move and primary way of dishing out damage to the opponent. Although this Gyarados does not invest heavily in Attack, it is still capable of putting a decent-sized dent into the opponent. Luckily, most of the Pokémon that Gyarados shields this team against, mainly Lucario and Infernape, are 2HKOed / OHKOed, respectively. With Rest, Gyarados is able to replenish its health, allowing it to stay alive for a relatively long period of time. With Gyarados rejuvinating itself with Rest, it can stick around to serve as a check to the aforementioned physical threats. While sleeping, Gyarados is a sitting duck, however, this is where Sleep Talk comes into play, as it allows Gyarados to defend itself while slumbering.
  527.  
  528.  
  529. ___ ___ ___
  530.  
  531.  
  532.  
  533. Ubers
  534.  
  535.  
  536. Groudon @ Leftovers
  537. Ability: Drought
  538. EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 196 Def / 32 Spe
  539. Nature: Impish (+Def, -SpA)
  540. - Earthquake
  541. - Dragon Claw
  542. - Stealth Rock
  543. - Roar
  544.  
  545. Groudon is an excellent candidate for a lead and physical wall who can reliable set up Stealth Rock against the majority of leads. Groudon is a welcome addition to any stall team due to the fact that Groudon is a remarkable check against strong physical attackers such as Tyranitar, Garchomp, Rayquaza and Metagross. Not only is Groudon capable of taking hits considerably well, however, Groudon is also capable of dealing a big blow to the opposition. The above EVs give Groudon the durability to survive a Life Orbed Dragon Dancing Outrage from an Adamant Rayquaza. With Roar, Groudon acts as the team phazer, allowing the add up of residual damage. Roar also allows Groudon to get rid of harmful stat-up users such as Bulk Up Dialga if it has recieved to many boosts beforehand. If Giratina-O manages to grab a Calm Mind or Substitute on any Pokémon on the team, Groudon's Roar can stop any sweeping attempts. With Roar, Groudon makes an excellent pHazer. With it, Groudon can phaze and scout an opponent's team, while whittling down the opponent if Stealth Rock is up. Furthermore, it can get blow away stat boosting users such as Dragon Dance Rayquaza and Bulk Up Dialga, allowing my team to deal with it more effectively later on in the match nce they have taken a toll from my entry hazards.
  546.  
  547.  
  548. Forretress @ Leftovers
  549. Ability: Sturdy
  550. EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
  551. Nature: Careful (+SpD, -SpA)
  552. - Payback
  553. - Toxic Spikes
  554. - Spikes
  555. - Rapid Spin
  556.  
  557. Thanks to Forretress' excellent typing, it can easily come in on various attacks that it resists, such as Dragon-type attacks, and proceed to lay down entry hazards to aid with the build up of passive damage. The above EVs give Forretress max HP allowing him to survive for a longer period of time. Forretress also makes an excellent switch into Scizor, Deoxys-E and every wall without a Fire-type move including Lugia and Giratina, allowing it to set up entry hazards. Forretress also has great synergy with Groudon as Forretress resist the the Grass Knot and Ice Beam combo that Groudon is weak to. With Payback, Forretress is able to hit the dangerous Giratina-O super effectively, making Forretress a great defense against the aforementioned Giratina-O. Rapid Spin is an amazing tool against opposing stall teams. With Forretress spinning away opposing entry hazards, the team will have a significantly easier time switching-in.
  558.  
  559. Blissey @ Leftovers
  560. Ability: Natural Cure
  561. EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpD / 252 Def
  562. Nature: Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
  563. - Wish
  564. - Toxic
  565. - Protect
  566. - Seismic Toss
  567.  
  568. Blissey has the capability to wall a variety of special attackers making it a great candidate for a special wall. Coupled with a large HP and Special Defense stat, Blissey should last for a long period of time. With 252 Defense and Special Defense EVs, Blissey can take hits from both sides of the spectrum relatively well. Toxic is used to wear down walls such as Latias and Lugia, specifically the Calm Mind versions. Wish heals your team members that lack recovery such as Forretress, in addition to being able to spread recovery, Blissey is also a reliable check to Palkia and Kyogre. Protect is amazingly useful, scouting Choice Pokémon and grabbing extra Toxic damage and Leftovers recovery. With the combination of Toxic and Seismic Toss, Blissey can outstall most walls while healing its HP with Wish, making it an excellent addition to the team.
  569.  
  570. Giratina-O @ Platinum Orb
  571. Ability: Pressure
  572. EVs: 248 Atk / 64 SpA / 196 Spe
  573. Nature: Naive (+Spe, -SpD)
  574. - Draco Meteor
  575. - Outrage
  576. - Hidden Power Fire
  577. - Shadow Sneak
  578.  
  579. Every Uber stall team needs something to block Rapid Spin, and Giratina-O is the prime candidate. Giratina-O has the ever elusive immunity to the item-removing effects of Trick and Knock Off, as the only item Giratina-O can hold is Griseous Orb. This allows Giratina-O to switch into a predicted Trick from a Choice item user and punish the opponent with its powerful Draco Meteor. Hidden Power Fire quickly annihilates Forretress, halting it from causing more harm by setting up more entry hazards or striking Giratina-O with Payback. Shadow Sneak can destroy stall-threatening Pokemon such as Mewtwo and Deoxys-A, as well as picking off weakened but faster Pokémon. Outrage is a risky attack to use, but it helps the team combat the Boosting Tank Kyogre and obliterates Ho-oh after Stealth Rock damage.
  580.  
  581. Palkia @ Choice Scarf
  582. Ability: Pressure
  583. EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spe / 252 SpA
  584. Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
  585. - Spacial Rend
  586. - Surf
  587. - Thunder
  588. - Outrage
  589.  
  590. Palkia is an excellent addition to this team. It makes a great check to dangerous threats that this team struggle against, mainly Pokemon such as Rayquaza and Choice Specs Kyogre. Defensively, Palkia is one of the very few Pokemon capable of taking a Choice Specs Water Spout from Kyogre, which is proclaimed as the most powerful special attack in the Uber tier. Palkia's typing gives it handy resistances to Fire-, Water- and Steel-type moves, while leaving Dragon-type moves as its sole weakness. This makes Palkia an excellent addition to this team, as it was in dire need of a switch-in to Kyogre's herculean Water Spouts. Spacial Rend is Palkia's main STAB move, allowing it to deal consistent damage to many of the Pokemon that lurk in the Uber tier. Surf provides a secondary STAB and is extremely powerful under rainy conditions. Outrage allows me to strike Latias on her weaker defensive stat while Thunder zaps Lugia and other Pokémon such as Kyogre.
  591.  
  592. Kyogre @ Leftovers
  593. Ability: Drizzle
  594. EVs: 240 HP / 244 Def / 24 Spe
  595. Modest nature (+SpA, -Atk)
  596. - Calm Mind
  597. - Surf
  598. - Rest
  599. - Sleep Talk
  600.  
  601. Kyogre is the teams sleep absorber and late game sweeper. Once the opposing team has been worn down by entry hazards, Kyogre comes in and starts to wreak havoc. Kyogre makes a great switch-in on the likes of Toxic Blissey and Darkrai's Dark Void. With Calm Mind, Kyogre can easily beat non Calm Mind Blissey and Giratina. Surf is a powerful STAB move that deals massive damage to most of the Pokemon that do not resist it. The Defense and HP EVs allow Kyogre to survive a Swords Danced Earthquake from Groudon most of the time while the speed EVs allow Kyogre to outrun Adamant Tyranitar.
  602. ___ ___ ___
  603.  
  604. UU
  605.  
  606.  
  607. Omastar @ Leftovers
  608. Ability: Shell Armor
  609. EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
  610. Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
  611. - Spikes
  612. - Surf
  613. - Stealth Rock
  614. - Protect
  615.  
  616. Omastar is chosen to lead this team as doing so gives us more of a chance to set up our entry hazards more quickly and because it matches up pretty well against many common leads, including Ambipom, Uxie, and Spiritomb. While spreading entry hazards out over various Pokémon will grant a greater chance of success in laying them out, Omastar has enough available moveslots to accommodate both Stealth Rock and Spikes, as opposed to Chansey, the only other Pokémon on our team that can learn Stealth Rock as well. Other than entry hazard support, Omastar plays a role in dealing with dangerous physical Flying-types such as Swellow, Scyther, and Honchkrow. It also provides a much needed Normal resistance, mainly of use against Choice Band Kangaskhan. The first three moves of Omastar's moveset are pretty straightforward; the final move, Protect, allows for much needed Leftovers recovery and scouting.
  617.  
  618. Spiritomb @ Leftovers
  619. Ability: Pressure
  620. EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
  621. Nature: Bold (+Def, - Atk)
  622. - Shadow Ball
  623. - Will-O-Wisp
  624. - Rest
  625. - Sleep Talk
  626.  
  627. Spiritomb is our spin-blocker. While the more popular Spiritomb moveset is that of "CroTomb", a mono-attacking Calm Minding set, this set is more appropriate now in order to impede the great threat that is Gallade. Shadow Ball helps more than Dark Pulse against numerous other Fighting-types as well. Rest / Sleep Talk turns Spiritomb into a sleep absorber, which is always helpful, and provides a method of recovery somewhat more consistent than Pain Split.
  628.  
  629. Hitmontop @ Leftovers
  630. Ability: Intimidate
  631. EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
  632. Nature: Impish (+Def, - SpA)
  633. - Close Combat
  634. - Foresight
  635. - Rapid Spin
  636. - Mach Punch
  637.  
  638. Hitmontop is our choice of spinner, and it also counters various physical threats that this team would otherwise struggle with including Absol, Aggron, and Drapion. Foresight + Rapid Spin ensure the greatest likelihood of spinning if the opponent's team carries a Ghost. Mach Punch is added as a safety measure against Pokémon like Houndoom, whom our team might be unable to counter if certain Pokémon are at low healths.
  639.  
  640. Chansey @ Leftovers
  641. Ability: Natural Cure
  642. EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
  643. Nature: Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
  644. - Wish
  645. - Toxic
  646. - Seismic Toss
  647. - Protect
  648.  
  649. Chansey gives us Wish support and acts as a sponge to the majority of UU's special attackers. Protect has excellent synergy with both Wish and Toxic, allowing Chansey to potentially stall out both Houndoom and Ninetales if necessary. For most special attackers, Chansey will be our primary switch-in.
  650.  
  651. Altaria @ Leftovers
  652. Ability: Natural Cure
  653. EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
  654. Nature: Careful (+SpD, -SpA)
  655. - Dragon Claw
  656. - Earthquake
  657. - Roost
  658. - Roar
  659.  
  660. Altaria provides pseudo-hazing support with Roar, enabling us to accumulate Spikes damage on our opponent's team and to better deal with SubSeeders and boosting sweepers, such as Venusaur, Mismagius, and Rotom. Earthquake is used for Fire-types like Blaziken and Magmortar, and since it is physical, Dragon Claw is our choice for Altaria's STAB move.
  661.  
  662. Slowbro @ Leftovers
  663. Ability: Own Tempo
  664. EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
  665. Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
  666. - Surf
  667. - Psychic
  668. - Thunder Wave
  669. - Slack Off
  670.  
  671. Rounding off the team is the bulky Water-type Slowbro, a sort of "catch-all" Pokémon. Surf and Psychic are both for STAB; the first helps us in dealing with Pokémon like Rhyperior and Arcanine, the second is for Pokemon like Feraligatr and Azumarill. Thunder Wave ensures that Pokémon like Drapion and Honchkrow cannot switch-in on us completely for free.
  672.  
  673. ____________________
  674.  
  675.  
  676. Battle Strategy
  677.  
  678. Hopefully, by this stage in the guide, one has constructed an effective stall team. All that is left now, is to get ready and go battle with it! However, just constructing a team doesn't mean that "all that's well, ends well"—one has to know how to use a team as well as build one, or else a team has just been built for no reason, more or less. In that case, here are some tips that can be used when battling and re-evaluating recently constructed stall teams to make sure it is exploited to the maximum:
  679.  
  680. 1. What forms of entry hazards shall be in this team?
  681. This alone can be determined by what the metagame in hand is weak to; sometimes, it may be dominated by Levitators, and thus, the move Spikes cannot work as effectively as Stealth Rock, and at times it may be dominated by ground-borne Pokémon, and thus, both Spikes and Stealth Rock are very effective strategies to incorporate. Methods of entry hazard removal-prevention can often be useful in this case, meaning the use of Ghost-type Pokémon that are essentially “Rapid Spin blockers” ensures the entry hazard strategy is not hindered throughout the process of a game. Knowing how to abuse these entry hazards are important also; with pHazers, the build up of damage incurred by opponents is maximized if one can force a switch naturally, meaning that entry hazards cause damage to the intial switch-in, but thanks to moves such as Roar, another switch is made forcefully, meaning another Pokémon is, too. And so the cycle continues.
  682.  
  683. 2. Wearing and weakening down foes...
  684. Status can be a key element on any stall team. Common forms of status such as burn, most commonly used to weaken physical opponents, allowing the set up of entry hazards with ease. One may opt to use poison as a form of wearing down sweepers, and in particular setup sweepers, causing switches to be made, or limiting the survivability of an opposing Pokémon – this in itself is great for easing strain on a stall team that may need to work around certain Pokémon. Paralysis, yet another useful form of status, speeds up the process of entry hazards being set up, and often cripples certain stat-up Pokémon from fully functioning. Utilizing moves that can force opposing Pokémon to switch out is another good method of weakening foes when paired up with active entry hazards as the forced switches cause a build up of residual damage consistently, which can overwhelm foes to the extent of which they lose focus of their own initial goal.
  685.  
  686. 3. Maximizing the survivability rate of a Pokémon...
  687. Ensuring that a Pokémon has a method of recovery, through Rest, Wish-passing, Recover, or any other form of recovery, will be beneficial to any stall team, as without it, out-stalling one’s opponent could be a lot difficult if they attempt to out-stall you also; this also goes for status problems—clerics (Pokémon that heal teammates of status problems) are useful assets to teams as they can heal team members from suffering further from HP-leeching status such as burn and poison, meaning teammates can stay in play for much longer than otherwise possible. Preventing an opponent from setting up entry hazards of their own is a useful way of preventing any further damage from being incurred because it is this “extra damage” that could make the difference between one’s only way of working around a threat being alive and able to deal with the threat, and almost certain defeat.
  688.  
  689. Utilizing a user of the move Rapid Spin will allow other team members to switch into certain foes and potentially force a switch without taking much damage in the meantime, whereas the difference entry hazards’ effects on Pokémon could potentially cause an upset in a match because one’s only check to a threat has been removed when this could have been prevented—a full-on sweep could therefore occur, or severe prediction and switching could be forced upon one, causing the build up of residual damage, further weakening a team.
  690.  
  691. 4. Prediction and forceful play...
  692. The less progress has been made in battle, the less information one can have becomes more apparent, both about the opponent's team, and about how they play. This lack of information means that one becomes limited with the use of prediction and long-term thinking. Instead, one is almost forced into working with guesswork. However, because of the bulk that stall teams usually consist of, games are usually more spread-out than in other games versus other types of
  693. teams—the time it takes to smash through stall's general bulk is often the cause of this—having matches spread-out across a longer period of time means that one is more than likely able to find 'free turns' in which setting up entry hazards can proceed.
  694.  
  695. To gather information on the opponent's team, primarily, one's switches can first focus on forcing the opponent's switches through one-on-one miss-matching, where one deliberately switches themselves into a Pokémon that will undoubtedly switch-out to another Pokémon, then, as one is to be aware of this, a counter-switch can force yet another switch by the opponent—obviously this can be done while setting up as it creates "free turns" for one to exploit—this not only informs one of various team members of the opposition, but it may give some in-sight, no matter how slight, on how the opponent deals with certain switches against their liking. Without a shadow of a doubt, this strategy does have its flaws, as opponents will notice a common trend in the switches one makes. Because of this, one will need to think several turns ahead to be able to do any damage to them, otherwise you'll be getting worn down just as much as they are as they can potentially counter-switch—this is especially true when opposing other stall teams. An example of this would be as follows in the following scenario:
  696.  
  697. Opponent A switches-in Forretress onto the field.
  698. Opponent B switches-in Skarmory onto the field.
  699.  
  700. Now, in this situation, Forretress is more or less happy to use Rapid Spin, however, Opponent A is already aware of the fact that Opponent B has a spin blocker in the form of Rotom-A that was used prior to this particular engagement, and knows that if they use Rapid Spin, their attempts will be nullified and thus a turn is wasted. Therefore, they anticipate the switch-in:
  701.  
  702. Opponent B switches Rotom-A onto the field.
  703. Opponent A's Forretress used Payback.
  704. Opponent B's Rotom-A lost X% damage.
  705.  
  706. Now, in this situation, Opponent A may switch-out, but depending on if they have already scouted (notice that prior switching/scouting is useful for this particular circumstance) and what moves they may have already noticed, they can proceed to set up even more entry hazards on the basis that they believe Opponent B has done enough to force Forretress out of the battle and wants to preserve their precious spin blocker, thus they too may switch-out to attempt a counter-switch or just use Rest—using information from previous turns prior to certain situations means that one is able to gain an extra turn or two in which they can get the upper-hand on the opponent.
  707.  
  708. If another situation similar to this was to occur again in the same game, then one would be able to think more elaborately as they would know that an Opponent B would use Rotom-A more cautiously—even to the extent in which they don't switch at all as they anticipate move Y (Payback) instead of move Z (Rapid Spin) in a last-ditch attempt to force them into Rapid Spinning later on—because of this, one is able to use the most predictable of moves to throw-off opponents.
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Public Pastes
We use cookies for various purposes including analytics. By continuing to use Pastebin, you agree to our use of cookies as described in the Cookies Policy.  OK, I Understand
Not a member of Pastebin yet?
Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!