Gen VI OU Stall team

Question

I was bored, and so I decided to make a stall team, since I've never really made a proper one before. So far it has worked pretty well, I won some, lost some. I would post replays, but since it is a stall team, it does involve a lot of stalling, so it might be boring to watch. It's not boring to battle though, for me anyway, I don't know about my opponents.
Well, let's jump right in then.

---

Obviously a big part of stall teams are entry hazards, so I started with that. The choice was between Skarmory and Forretress. I chose Skarmory, as its access to Roost gives it a reliable source of recovery, and is generally more useful.

Skarmory (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind

It's just a standard Skarmory set, nothing to see here.

---

Next I wanted a Rapid Spin blocker. Mega Sableye is my choice because it can take on any of the Rapid Spinners in OU, and Magic Bounce is always useful.

Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster ---> Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp

With maxed out Defense Mega Sableye can take any physical attack short of Play Rough, and Will-O-Wisp only further assists in this.
Calm Mind allows Mega Sableye to take hits on the special side as well, making it a dangerous bulky sweeper.
Magic Bounce is an extremely useful Ability to have, deflecting status moves and entry hazards.
Defog is still an annoyance, though.

---

Now that I have a Rapid Spin blocker, I want my own Rapid Spinner.

Tentacruel (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 28 SpD / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Acid Spray
- Scald
- Rapid Spin

Toxic Spikes can be useful to have on the field, burn is preferred for physical attackers, but I find it's not much of a problem. If Conkeldurr is on the opponent's team though, I refrain.
Acid Spray is a useful move , especially when facing other bulky Pokemon, particularly Calm Mind Clefable.
Scald is a nice STAB move that has a good chance to burn Pokemon that can't be poisoned.
Rapid Spin for obvious reasons.

---

Since this is a stall team, status conditions are not tolerated, which is why I slapped on Sylveon as a cleric.

Sylveon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpD
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Protect
- Hyper Voice

Wish is for recovery and wish passing, which this team appreciates, especially Tentacruel.
Heal Bell is to cure annoying status conditions. Protect goes with Wish, and Hyper Voice is powerful STAB.
Max HP to pass on the best Wishes. The Defense EVs are to give it some physical bulk and so it fairs better against Latios.

---

I wanted another phazer to go along with Skarmory, and so Hippowdon was added to the team.

Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Stealth Rock

I have Stealth Rock on Hippowdon so that more then one Pokemon can set it up, but I'm wondering wether using the slot for a different move would be more useful.

---

For the last spot, I needed a pokemon that could help with type weaknesses. In the end Gastrodon was picked, because it completely shuts down Pokemon such as Rotom-W and Zapdos. It gives me a Grass weakness, however it solves my Electric problems, and the pros seem to outweigh the cons.

Gastrodon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic
- Ice Beam

I opted for the Defensive set to fit the team. Scald is useful STAB, and Ice Beam hits pokemon such as Landorus-Therian and Garchomp hard. Toxic is to inflict status on bulky Pokemon.

---

That's the team. I know it sucks, it's my first real stall team and I was never good at team building anyway.
Some flaws are that it doesn't have a fast sweeper, which can be a real problem, but I don't know what Pokemon would fit my team. It also has trouble facing Serperior, Manaphy and Keldeo, especially if Tentacruel is down.

Any advice is appreciated :)

Comments

On your Scarmory you should drop its spikes and add drill peck or another physical move so it can still battle when someone taunts it.

Answer 1

You're team looks like it struggles against gengar. Your special wall (sylveon) get 2hkod by sludge wave, tentacruel can't spin on it and after scald is disabled it can't touch it, hipo and skarm are both taunt bait to it (plus they take like 70 from shadow ball), and even sableye can't just switch in on it. It also looks like offensive mega venusaur will give you trouble, as will sub calm mind keldeo (who can hit you phazers for crazy damage before they can try to phaze it out), as a matter of fact almost any calm mind user could give you hastle and it could come down to "who crits first" against another sableye. The last thing that I think your team may have trouble with is both zards, you have no switch into zard y, and zard x can DD on you freely after hippo falls (and even with hippo around, you can't EQ if he doesn't mega evolve, and a flare blitz at plus 1 does a hell of a lot). Oh, and of coarse thundersous-T all but sweeps after a nasty plot, watch out for that thing. And mega Alakazam, depending on it's coverage moves, could very well 6-0 as well. These are all just my oppinoins here, of coarse :3

I haven't tested your team of coarse, so you'll know better than me whether or not your team can handle the aforementioned threats accordingly. Anyhow, here's a few suggestions for the team:

Skarmory: Just mentioning that this is shut down by taunt or magic bounce. You may consider iron head for diancie, or brave bird for a bit better coverage, and drop spikes.

Sableye: No problems here. This mon is so broken that this is all you need to 6-0 any team lacking a fairy. One important thing: if they have a gliscor you CANNOT let this thing die, or you just automatically loose.

Tentaruel: Acid spray can be switched out for knock off if gengar gives you trouble, but I foresee clefable also being a problem, so it's up to you. Problem is acid spray won't break keldeo's sub, and neither will scald or knock off. You could always run haze, and IMO I think you should: it stops sableye, clefable, keldeo, and MOST IMPORTANTLY: last pokemon sweepers (pokemon that you can't phase, because they're the last one left). Also, I think your ev's would be better placed in special defence to take on keldeo, clefable, serperior and gengar on better. The EV placement is one of the strongest recommendations I'm making.

Sylveon: Don't use sylveon. You don't have a dark or fighting weakness prevalent, as a matter of fact you have a fighting resist AND an immunity. Honestly, people talk about sylveon as if it's the second coming of jesus in terms of special walls, and I'm just sitting here using the eeveelutions from UU :/ but seriously, sylveon has no place on your team, and if you're running stal go big or go home... run chansey. Sableye provides a sponge for fighting type attacks as well as for knock off, plus chansey walls gengar barring taunt (but gengar with taunt all but 6-0's your team with a bit of prediction on their part, so meh). Chansey also beats serperior and manaphy before they boost too much (although that should be tentacrual's job IMO, why you want special EVs).

Gastrodon: Lando and garchomp do nothing to your team, so ice beam seems silly to me over earth power. Also, gastro is nice... but isn't unaware better? If you have your heart set on ground-water typing, which I don't know why you would specifically, why not quagsire? Unaware quag seems like a decent enough stop to zard x on your team. The problem goes to the fact that you have way too many grass weaknesses. (Hence the fact that zard y, mega venusaur, breloom and serperior smack your team around a bit). Clefable may be better here, to be honest, as you could run spikes on skarm and rocks on clef. PLus clef has unaware for zard x. Other decent options for this spot are latias and heatran.

But honestly I think your team is a bit too passive (even for a stall team). It's in no way a bad team of coarse, but you asked for advice so this is my oppinions. I think your type synergy could be better on your team, your weaknesses are a bit overlapping at the moment and your resists don't seem like they do too much, but the sheer bulk of some of these pokemon makes up for it sometimes. If you really want my oppinion, I think an offensive mon of some sort (a physical attacker) would better serve your gastro position.

Anyhow, the team isn't bad, for a stall team at least lol. Hope I was able to help you out, at least a bit if nothing else. Good luck out there, and if people get angry at you, at least you aren't using mindless hyper offence.

Comments

Thanks, I took some of your advice, I replaced Sylveon with Chansey and Gastrodon with Clefable. I'm trying out Haze on Tentacruel, it's handy, but I'm still considering sticking to Acid Spray to deal with those Fairies. I've tried the team out with these adjustments and it's working well.