Introduction:
Hey everyone, this is my NU Stall/Semi-Stall that I used to climb up to the number 1 spot on the SS NU Ladder. It features Throh as the team's phaser and main stall breaker, Weezing as the toxic spikes setter as well as a physical wall, Quagsire as the team's main response to opposing set up pokemon, Crobat as the defogger, Cradily as the stealth rock setter, and Miltank as the cleric. Enjoy the team :]
Proof of peak:
Peaked #1 on NU Ladder
The Team:
Throh (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
- Circle Throw
- Rest
To start us off, we have the pokemon that the team was named after, Throh. In testing, the orginal version of team actually had a perish trap Lapras instead of Throh as my main way to deal with stall. However, this proved to be ineffective as ghost types like Sableye and Spiritomb were able to avoid being trapped and thus avoid being killed by perish song. That's when I came up with the idea of using mold breaker Throh as a way to effectively deal with stall. Most Stall's usually have something with unaware like Quagsire or Pyukumuku, so I knew I needed something to break through those while also being able to sit on and abuse the rest of the common pokemon found on stall. That's where This specific Throh set comes in. Knock off will allow this pokemon to annoy opposing stall teams as it is able to sit on the field for a prolonged period of time and spam knock offs, effectively getting rid of annoying items such as heavy-duty boots and leftovers. Bulk up allows it to set up and apply pressure to stall teams, sometimes to the point where this set will win upon matchup as seen here. And thanks to mold breaker, Throh is able to ignore unaware and have its boosts in tact while attacking Pyukumuku or Quagsire, meaning that at +6 Throh will out damage their recovers. Circle throw allows for this pokemon to function well outside of the stall matchup, as it provides a way to phase opposing pokemon, which pairs well with the partner of Weezing which can set toxic spikes. It also provides a decent STAB option as well as prevents wishes from being successfully passed all the time. Rest allows Throh to heal off status ailments and recover HP, which is amazing against stall because you can afford to waste the 2 turns that you are asleep since they do not exert much pressure. And against teams that are not stall, rest paired with heal bell from Miltank make for a solid combo, effectively neutralizing the turns that would otherwise be wasted.
Weezing @ Black Sludge
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Rest
- Will-O-Wisp
Weezing plays and integral role on this team, and that is to serve as a physically defensive grounded poison that can set up toxic spikes. The reason that being grounded is important is because it allows me to absorb toxic spikes set by the opposing team. This is the main reason why I chose to use neutralizing gas as it's ability over levitate. That being said, neutralizing gas is still a very great ability and helps this team's matchup against a couple of things. For example, being neutralizing gas allows Weezing to come in on any attack from Tauros and force it to not only lose its sheer force boost, but also force it to take the life orb recoil that it otherwise would not have. Toxic spikes was the first move of choice on Weezing, as it allows this team to have very solid matchup against offense teams and pairs extremely well with Throh being able to circle throw and phase things onto the toxic spikes. Sludge bomb is the best stab option that it has with a 30% chance to poison, making it extremely spammable against pokemon that are not immune to it. Rest allows for a way for Weezing to sustainably recover off damage without having to rely on pain split, and since this team does not have a wish passer, rest is the most reliable form of recovery that Weezing gets. It also pairs fairly well with heal bell Miltank. And finally, will-o-wisp allows Weezing to cripple physical attackers and also force chip damage on things that may be immune to sludge bomb.
Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Earthquake
- Haze
Quagsire was chosen to be on the team for one main reason, That is, be able to nullify opposing pokemon that may want to set up against my team(mainly physical). For example, pokemon such as swords dance Toxicroak or Sneasel would prove to be very hard to deal with if not for Quagsire. It also serves as a decent physical wall for things like Aggron and Crobat. The first 3 moves are fairly standard, as scald and earthquake prove 2 very spammable STAB moves, and recover allows Quagsire to have a way to reliably heal. As for haze, I chose it as a way to prevent some set up pokemon that Quagsire could not fully deal with from setting up. For example, calm mind/rest/dark pulse/shadow ball Spiritomb is quite difficult to handle, since it can PP stall Quagsire by wasting using its rest. It also is able to get to +6, making it a bad idea for me to switch out Quagsire to try and conserve PP, since it will then just do a large amount of damage/knock out whatever pokemon that I try sending in. However, thanks to haze, I can PP stall Spiritomb instead, as I can switch infinitely back and forth between Throh, Miltank and Quagsire, and then haze when I feel like the Spiritomb has boosted too much. As for EV spread, it is fairly standard, being max HP, max defense, and a little bit of extra speed to outspeed opposing Quagsires.
Crobat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Defog
- Poison Fang
Next up we have Crobat. This pokemon provides the team with a defogger as well as fairly decent way to revenge kill opposing pokemon due to Crobat's stellar speed. It also allows this team to take on nasty plot Toxicroak, as it is not afraid of any of its attacks and can immediately threaten a OHKO with brave bird. The items choice is heavy-duty boots as it allows Crobat to ignore stealth rock damage, which is highly useful since it is the team's way to get rid of hazards. The first 3 moves are fairly standard. Brave bird is a solid STAB move which is very spammable, roost allows Crobat to have reliable recovery, and defog allows the team to remove hazards which may be annoying. As for poison fang, this is a niche pick meant to deal with taunt Sableye. Without poison fang, taunt sableye can in theory spam taunt, recover, knock off, and will-o-wisp until it kills every pokemon on the team. With poison fang however, I am able to slightly combat the problematic Sableye set as I can click poison fang even while taunted, allowing me a 50% chance to essentially toxic the Sableye every time I click it. As for the EV spread, it is simply the standard utility spread, with max speed and max HP.
Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Toxic
Cradily provides this team with a stealth rocker as well as solid specially defensive wall. Cradily also helps deal with some specific threats to the team such as Eldegoss and nasty plot Crobat. It helps against Eldegoss since it can prevent it from spamming leech seed which would otherwise be very annoying. It also ensures that I can keep rocks up against Eldegoss since I can toxic it and then proceed to spam stealth rock if they are clicking rapid spin repeatedly. The moves are all pretty much fairly standard. Recover provides Cradily with a way to heal, stealth rock helps force chip against opposing teams, and toxic helps break down opposing pokemon via passive damage. Rock blast was chosen in order to deal with the previously mentioned nasty plot Crobat, as well as help against lead Galvantula and Ribombee. As for the EV spread, it is a fairly standard max HP, max special defense spread.
Miltank (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 240 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Milk Drink
- Toxic
- Seismic Toss
- Heal Bell
Finally, we have Miltank, which provides this team with another specially defensive wall, ice resist, and cleric. First and foremost, Miltank's main role is to heal off any status ailments that the team has which were caused by opposing pokemon or self inflicted by rest in the case of Weezing and Throh. It also provides a fairly solid specially defensive pokemon that resists ice, which is important because it allows me to take on Aurorus, which would otherwise be free to spam freeze dry against all members of my team. I chose thick fat as the ability due to the aforementioned necessity for an ice resist. Heavy-duty boots was chosen over leftovers because I found that nullifying the damage from spikes, stealth rocks, and being immune to toxic spikes allowed for miltank to perform much better than it did with leftovers. The moves are fairly standard. Milk drink allows for Miltank to have a reliable way to heal, toxic helps break down opposing pokemon via passive damage, Seismic toss gives consistent damage against everything and allows Miltank to break a substitute from most opposing pokemon, and heal bell allows Miltank to heal off status ailments of its allies and fulfill the role of cleric. As for EV spread, it is almost completely max HP, max special defense, but with a little bit of extra speed. This extra speed allows Miltank to guarantee out speed Jellicent, meaning that Miltank will be able to toxic Jellicent before it can taunt Miltank.
Conclusion:
I had a blast building and playing with this team. Never would I have thought that I would be using mold breaker Throh as way to break through stall, but it is surprisingly effective. A couple of key things to note are that this team struggles slightly against Centiskorch and haze Quagsire. The main way to deal with Centiskorch is to pivot out from Quagsire/Miltink into Crobat after you have baited it to use power whip or leech life. That being said, Centiskorch is definitely manageable with correct play, as you have many options to slowly kill it with toxic from Miltank or revenge it with brave bird from Crobat. Cradily can also take 1 leech life and do significant damage with rock blast and sometimes kill it outright. As for why haze Quagsire is an issue, it is because it can haze away Throh's boosts before Throh is able to hit it with a cirlce throw. Again though, this is only mildly annoying since you can still knock off the Quagsire and if its is toxic'd via manual toxic from either Cradily or Miltank, it will still lose 1v1 to the Throh. If toxic spikes are up, then Quagsire will also eventually lose to Throh as it will be forced to use up all of its recover PP before Throh runs out of attacks. Anyways, with the list of threats out of the way, I hope you enjoyed reading this RMT. Good luck and have fun with this team everyone :]
Importable:
https://pokepast.es/b10c45be925cb884
