Introduction
Hello, this is a stall team that I made with my friend, one of the greatest ever to touch the game of Pokemon, pokemonisfun aka hilarious, who is writing this RMT with me. This team was a built a couple months ago, before several of the recent drops such a Gyarados, Alakazam, and Gardevoir. To be quite honest, this team has its fair share of weaknesses like any stall team will, but there hasn't been a UU stall team posted to this forum in a while. Regardless, the team definitely holds up against most threats and is pretty consistent in general. Also, this team has been beyond any doubt the most successful one on the ladder, with pif holding the top spot by 100+ points for like five months or something with this team or variations of it. On the other hand it is a disappointing 0-1 in SPL 7 where my friend teal6 prepared well, outplayed me, and won.
The "teambuilding process" was extremely lengthy. I approached pokemonisfun shortly after the Crawdaunt suspect test wanting to make a stall team together as I had yet to make one in ORAS and also because the Crawdaunt suspect thread was filled with "stall is unviable and dead" from the pro-ban side. pif and I tested many many variations of the team trying to minimize its flaws. Even months later, there's no "final" version of the team that we both have agreed upon, but we'll go over the possible variations throughout the write-up.
I will be using red for myself and blue for pif to highlight the differences in our versions of the team.
The Team
snekky snek (Steelix-Mega) @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Toxic / Roar
dodmen: The first Pokemon I had in mind for the team was Mega Steelix, a relatively unexplored C+ rank Pokemon at the time. Steelix provides some essentials for the team; most importantly, it gives us Stealth Rock and a hard Slurpuff counter. Steelix's Ground typing gives us some interesting advantages over Mega Aggron (which has higher bulk and can take Focus Blasts from stuff like Alakazam and Gardevoir better); for one it prevents completely free Volt Switches, but its STAB Earthquake also does a better job of deterring Fire-types from coming in and other things like Cobalion and Doublade from setting up (hitting Forre harder is also a nice advantage at times). Of course, it also performs the normal duties of a Steel-type on stall: countering Mega Aerodactyl, Beedrill, Dragon Dance Salamence, Florges, Espeon, and many others. Steelix definitely does have its pros, but if not played carefully, it can easily get worn down too much to keep Rocks up or consistently counter Gardevoir and Florges; in particular, it must be played extremely carefully around Slurpuff. I run Toxic on mine while pif runs Roar, which I will explain shortly.
pif: I'm still in the mind of utility right now and Steelix fills some roles that I consider essential. For one, most stall teams are going to need a steel type (Forry, Bronzong, Aggron, and Doublade are probably the norm) because only Steel types are really good defensive counters to Slurpuff. For the record this is a big part of why using Registeel in UU has risks, but it can be okay for your stall team if you have something like Nidoqueen or Weezing which technically counter Slurpuff too. Also Steelix blocks Volt Switch, particularly from Ampharos that do not run Focus Blast, but just by virtue of having the immunity I can deter Choiced Electric moves and make desperate doubles. Blissey while in a vacuum is a good counter to Volt Switch, in reality I might get mercilessly pounded by incoming Beedrills and such. Roar is kind of filler but it helps a lot with Baton Pass and Sturdy + Roar can be a life saver.
spikey wikey (Chesnaught) @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spiky Shield
- Synthesis
- Wood Hammer
- Roar
dodmen: Here is the main difference between pif's version of the team and mine. I prefer Chesnaught here for a few reasons, the first and foremost of which is countering Gyarados no matter what set it runs, while Tangrowth has a much harder time playing around it. Chesnaught's more reliable recovery means I can switch into threats like Krookodile and Mega Swampert more easily even if the hazard game gets out of hand. Running Chesnaught over Tangrowth also allows me to run Roar on this Pokemon and Toxic on Steelix, meaning I can deal with mid-game Suicune better as well as Sub+SD Cobalion, which can otherwise get messy with a timely flinch or two. Meanwhile, Steelix can do a better job pressuring Defog Zapdos and Mega Blastoise. Unfortunately I need all my current moves (Wood Hammer is also essential to hit SD Crawdaunt, Suicune, Tentacruel, Mega Absol, and because losing to last mon Curse Mega Swampert is a joke) so I have no room for Spikes, which I could run easily before Gyarados dropped to pressure other defensive teams a lot harder. On the other hand, pif's Tangrowth performs much better against bulkier teams, especially ones with opposing Sableye, where he can knock off Leftovers and wear down through Leech Seed. Between Chesnaught and Alomomola, I feel especially safe against physical Water-types which can often overload other defensive teams, while I don't have to worry about any variant of Feraligatr, Mega Sharpedo, Mega Swampert, Crawdaunt, or Gyarados.
loaf of growth (Tangrowth)
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Fire]
pif: I could use Chesnaught like how dodmen prefers but I prefer Tangrowth mainly because I get Regenerator which is more forgiving of the many mistakes I make. However this does make me weaker to Gyarados in exchange for being able to sort of check Psyshock Alakazam. Itemless is so Crawdaunt can only KO me with special moves but if it runs that I have Alomomola at least to counter it because they rarely run SD + Knock Off + Special move + Crabhammer. Unfortunately the lack of Leftovers really can matter, for instance +2 Adamant LO Lucario can do 88% to Tangrowth but not 93%. That is irrelevant compared to Chesnaught though since Chesnaught will drop. Tangrowth doesn't scout as much as Alomomola since it has much worse mixed bulk and random Fire Blasts can often KO such as with Salamence.
airy scary (Salamence) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 68 Def / 192 Spe / 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flamethrower
- Earthquake
- Defog
- Roost
dodmen: Fat Salamence is one of the best catch-all checks to Fighting-types in the tier and is a lot more reliable than others like Weezing and Nidoqueen. This Salamence is very specifically tailored to do exactly what it has to. With my EV spread, it outspeeds Krookodile meaning it can Roost before a CB Stone Edge or a Taunt (non-CB EQ on the Roost does nothing). It also outspeeds key threats such as Chandelure, Nidoking, Lucario, Toxicroak, and Heracross. Its moves are meant to deal with these threats specifically. Flamethrower also has the advantage of 2HKOing Doublade and Cobalion and OHKOing Forretress (Naive is not needed, Jolly acquires the same KOs), while Earthquake takes care of Infernape and Entei and prevent Empoleon from coming in completely for free. Defog Salamence also clears hazards against many common Stealth Rock users such as Cobalion, Krookodile, Mega Aggron, Forretress, and also Defogs on opposing Chesnaught.
pif: I use my own Salamence with a somewhat unorthodox set. The speed is nice first of all because I like having some type of safety net on my teams either with priority or a decently fast Pokemon, even if its full stall. The main reason to use it though is to out speed and counter Lucario, Spikes Roserade, Heracross, and Chandelure, all of which can be dangerous to slower teams. This does mean I am not very bulky though and can lose very easily to Cobalion so Flamethrower is nice to have a chance of at least doing lots of damage since its always a 2HKO. Defog is great for this team since it doesn't use many hazards while Spikes and Toxic Spikes really do damage it. Aerial Ace could be picked over Flamethrower because Roserade and Heracross and the epic BD Chesnaught better but the Cobalion weakness is large as it is and Flamethrower is usually enough for those threats.
fancy chansey (Blissey) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Def / 236 SpD / 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Calm Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
dodmen: Blissey is absolutely essential here, other special "walls"/clerics just fold to Nasty Plot Houndoom, offensive Suicune, Roserade, Mega Abomasnow, Porygon-Z, Scald burns, and Volt Switch. In fact, I use an even more SpDef variant than pif just to have that extra insurance versus Mega Houndoom who sets up for free on Sableye and Chesnaught and forces Steelix out. Of course, this makes me weaker to LO Psyshock Alakazam and Azelf. Stall teams that try to use combinations of other Pokemon to counter every special attacker in the tier (something like SpDef Swampert + Forry + Florges or something) are much less efficient, always end up weak to one threat or another (Grass-types in particular) and are very weak to Mega Houndoom and possibly to CM Florges. The moves are very straightforward.
pif: Blissey is an obvious choice for any stall team because it has very good utility moves and with its unrivaled special bulk it also is very good at using them. When I make stall teams I look not just to fill certain moves (Heal Bell is usually mandatory for instance) but I also try to make sure I have quality users (Granbull learns Heal Bell but is a pretty bad user of it since it can't take Scalds well and has no good instant Recovery. Blissey also counters almost all of the tier's special attackers that don't boost and even some that do like Florges so she is quite useful in this regard. Calm is picked because UU has some obscene special attackers like NP PZ and NP Houndoom, Calm nature really helps counter them more reliably, particularly if Blissey is not at full health. However complete max defense with Bold is a little more viable now to counter LO Psyshocks from Alakazam.
wishy fishy (Alomomola) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Def / 136 SpD
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Scald
- Toxic
dodmen: Alomomola is another near essential to this team, most importantly as a counter to Mamoswine which no other Pokemon can really do; the EV spread is actually made to live two EQs after Stealth Rock from Adamant LO Mamoswine without having to use Protect. While I wish I could run more SpDef on this thing, the investment I do have goes a really long way against certain special attackers like Florges and Mega Blastoise. Alomomola also relieves Chesnaught from being overloaded by offensive Water-types, since "Water-spam" is an excellent offensive strategy in UU, and I will usually use this as my initial switchin to Feraligatr. Alomomola and Blissey together are very good against mindless bulky offense since Alomomola's checks on these teams are easily whittled down by Toxic and Protect.
pif: Another RU Pokemon that fits quite well in this team. It offers Wish support which helps out Steelix a lot. I could use Waterfall over Scald in order to help combat the weakness to Sub CM Chandelure and Infernape but I do think Scald is also useful overall. Leftovers is over Rocky Helmet because it helps counter Mamoswine and Entei if it gets a burn. Rocky Helmet would mainly target Beedrill which can Knock Off anyways. The large amount of Special Defense is essential so I can scout potential surprises like Superpower on Hydreigon or Nidoking or take their strongest STABs with plenty to spare after Regenerator.
mostly ghostly (Sableye) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Recover
dodmen: Sableye rounds out the team by preventing sweeps from Reuniclus, Snorlax, last Pokemon Suicune, Toxicroak, Cobalion, SD Abomasnow, Jellicent. Sableye provides a secondary check to a lot of threats in case something went wrong with one of my normal counters, and it also is my main way of wearing down bulkier teams. Snarl is an option to help with Sub CM Chandelure and Alakazam, but in general Knock Off is much much more useful against things like Florges (where I can Taunt the switch after I've burned it and removed its item), Entei, other Sableye, and fatter teams as a whole. Sableye is also my Sableye check, so I run an ungodly amount of Speed on it for that reason (also helps to outprioritize Mega Abomasnow's Ice Shard though).
pif: This counters two of the most common stall breakers, Reuniclus and Sableye that don't speed creep enough (although Tangrowth + Alomomola does the latter pretty well too). Also it can beat most Cobalion which is a large threat and is a form of the safety I mentioned I like to have (priority Wow). It is one of the only things that can beat SD Mienshao on this team which is basically never used but thats good to know, still I would have to predict the Baton Pass though.
Threatlist
The single biggest threats to this team are offensive special sweepers that can beat Blissey and that the rest of our team doesn't have a different specific way to deal with. Nasty Plot Azelf is the prime example of this, and depending on its coverage I might have to sack multiple Pokemon before I can KO it. Similarly, Nasty Plot Hoopa has the potential to destroy this team although that set is almost never used (standard Hoopa can put dents in too, however). Sub CM Chandelure is what teal6 used to prepare against stall in our SPL 7 match and played it extremely well to win the game, it might be the single most threatening Pokemon to the team due to the fact that there's not too much counterplay (Salamence has to revenge kill) and the fact that it's actually sees a respectable amount of usage unlike most of the other threats. Nasty Plot Porygon-Z and Mega Houndoom are potentially threats with Pursuit support on Blissey and the appropriate damage on Sableye and Salamence/Alomomola respectively. Venomoth (Sleep Powder/Quiver Dance/Bug Buzz/Roost)can be played around, but still poses a threat on paper; same with Gardevoir (CM/Moonblast/Psyshock/Focus Blast).
In theory, Alakazam is checked by the various members of the team - Psychic variants are easily handled by Blissey, CM sets are taken care of by Sableye, some Alakazams weirdly don't use Focus Blast so they are walled by Steelix. The most threatening set is LO with Psyshock / Focus Blast / Dazzling Gleam / Calm Mind, which straight up sweeps the team, but luckily most people run Shadow Ball or some other coverage move / TWave (unless they're specifically trying to cteam this team). In general, scouting Zam can be a massive pain though.
As I mentioned before, Sableye is my "check" to opposing Sableye. Thankfully I've never had my own outsped by another Sableye, but if it should, that's a big problem. Pif handles it a little better with Tangrowth. Sableye also checks Jellicent but is annoyed by Scald burns and getting Taunted on the switch, so this must be played around carefully too. Mew dropping to UU would also cause problems for this team.
Certain Fighting-types are threatening as well, since the wide diversity of Fighting-types in UU makes it hard to counter them all in two slots. I've mentioned that Cobalion can get a kill with some flinches and if it's Lum. Virizion is a larger threat, since +2 Leaf Blade straight OHKOs Sableye (as opposed to Cobalion's Iron Head), commonly carries a Lum Berry and uses Stone Edge. It does need a fair bit of prior damage on the whole team to straight up sweep, but otherwise it can pick up a few kills. 4 attacks Infernape with HP Ice can do some work if it predicts every switch correctly (Salamence lives an HP Ice though), but most these days are either purely physical or Nasty Plot. SD Leftovers Heracross might be the largest Fighting-type threat since Salamence is literally my only counter and that doesn't appreciate taking +1 Knock Offs; even CB Heracross can be a pain to deal with if it catches Salamence with a Stone Edge.
Toxic Spikes wear down the team a lot especially since Salamence can't directly deal with most of its users. Against bulky offense with something like Dragalge + Feraligatr, it's probably in my best interest to suicide Defog after I've removed their TSpiker.
Re: threats, by pif: Overall the team covers most threats but I like how you can poke holes in it by looking at it logically. Swords Dance Grass types are a big problem - this is logical because Grass types can bypass my physical walls by typing and as they are often seen as Special attackers they can surprise Blissey. The only special wall I really have is Blissey so it makes sense I am weak to Psyshock users like LO/CM Alakazam (which OHKOs Sableye) and Azelf (which OHKOs everything lol). Additionally this team was not able to fit an extra Spinner or even a grounded Poison so naturally I am weak to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. This isn't of course meant to say the team is bad - its really consistent and is one of my main laddering teams - but it really provides evidence that despite the crazy amount of luck in this game, there are general logical trends I can follow.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading! Big thanks to IronBullet, Christo, and the rest of the UU RMT staff for suggesting this team for the archives. Hope you enjoy the team :)
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