"How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to win?"
Hey Smogon, this is my first RMT and for today I wanted to showcase a team I've been ranking with in UU. Stall is perhaps one of the many playstyles I enjoy, due to the constant decision making and "outplay" potential required to win. However, recently it has been more difficult playing stall in gen 8 due to the introduction of dynamax. With dynamax banned, stall now has somewhat of a chance to shine and I think UU is the perfect place to showcase it, thanks to no Hatterene. Without furthur ado, here is the team.
Teambuilding Process
I chose Vaporeon simply because it's my favorite eeveelution. Nothing much to it, but I knew it would play an integral part of the team.
In order to actually deal consistent damage, I needed a hazard setter. Coal here seemed perfect for the job. not to mention it can spin as well to keep our team alive.
Drapion is such a cool Pokemon, so it's nice to see him get some love (rip him once the 200 Pokemon arrive to outshine him.) Since Toxic is scarce for now, I chose Drapion as our poison/toxic pressure.
This is where Pokemon I like start to be less important and more about helping out the team. I chose Hippo since it can set up rocks, self-sustain itself and check physical sweepers.
Galarian Weezing used to be Diggersby, but it wasnt providing anything defensively to the team, so it got dropped. I miss regular Weezing, but our factory friend was desperately needed to switch into Sir'fetched and Haxorus.
Cofagrigus is perhaps the most odd choice here(personally,) but plays a very specific niche. Rotom-Mow used to take up this slot, but it was too passive without toxic and some holes needed to be filled offensively and defensively.
The Squad
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Scald
- Haze
- Yawn
Vaporeon serves as the team's wish passer. Reliable recovery is scarce, so Vaporeon functions as a great wish passer thanks to its high HP. It's secondary role is to outstall bulky waters that have been poisoned, force switches with yawn, which will rack up spikes damage and attempt to halt sweeps with haze. Vaporeon is very good at making players quit games, as a lot of players dont like dealing with wish+yawn. Vapor's role is the most important for the team, as without it, our team would have needed to rely on another eeveelution for its wish passing. Although Umbreon is objectively more effective in the overall tanking role, water immunity helps out with our water weak team. EV's are spread around for maximum overall bulk and most effective wish passing. Vaporeon is literally the MVP of every match, no questions asked.
Coalossal @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Heat Crash
Enter the Pokemon that should've been a locomotive train. Coalossal acts as the hazard setter and removal. Rocks+Spikes is a nice combination to rack up passive damage. Heat Crash is the preferred damaging move, as Flare Blitz has recoil and I'd rather not have Coal take too much blows. Heat Crash usually gets the job done. With this EV spread, it can take 100% advantage of Hippo's sand stream for the Sp.def boost, as well as better matchups into popular spin blockers, such as Gengar and Polteageist. Gengar's specs Shadow Ball is a 3HKO, while Tea's Stored Power at 180 BP does up to 94%, with Heat Crash 2HKO both. Chandelure does hard wall this set, but with flash fire and most Chandelure's being specs or scarf, predicting the greedy fire type move will pay off with a free hazard. Heavy Duty Boots is a must on most spinners, which greatly patches Coal's weakness to hazards.
Drapion @ Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Whirlwind
Drapion excels at pressuring the opponent with knock off and whirlwind. WW phazes setup sweepers and racks up hazard damage. Toxic is our poison pressure, as it has limited distribution for now. Knock Off is our premier damaging move that cripples the opponent's mons by removing their passive recovery, their boots to make them suseptible to hazards, and their band/specs to halt their wall breaking prowess, all which can damage the integrity of our team. Taunt, while not clicked often stops Reuniclus from spamming recover and forcing it into focus blast, and also stopping curselax from being annoying. Although with Whirlwind and Vapor having Haze, perhaps Taunt can be replaced with Toxic Spikes or Poison Fang(It secretly got buffed to badly poison 50% of the time.) I'm also considering Screech to break through Reuniclus and curselax. EV spread maximizes its best defensive stats and Battle Armor is preferred to not get haxed by crit and gives me peace of mind when its put into tougher matchups such as Gengar and physical sweepers.
Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind
Hippowdon, the classic Gen 4 wall. 4 generations later and nothing this mon does hasn't changed. Sets up rocks and acts annoying as a physical wall with recovery. Although it lost Toxic, Whirlwind is a nice way to halt sweepers and rack up passive damage, combined with the sandstorm. EV spread is for maximum protection against physical hits, although in hindsight, investing some Sp.Def EV's may prove beneficial in the long run.
Weezing-Galar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pain Split
- Aromatherapy
- Toxic
- Dazzling Gleam
Galarian Factorious plays the cleric role of our team, while also being able to check and counter Sir'fetched and can switch ito Haxorous save for Earthquake. Pain Split gives Weezing an alternate way to deal damage and keep itself alive without the reliance of Vaporeon all the time. Aromatherapy clears up any pesky status that may annoy our team, Toxic is used for once again, poison pressure and Dazzling Gleam takes care of dragons and fighting types. I opted out for Wil-o-Wisp., because I personally felt it would interfere with whittling down their team with poison damage and most physical attackers are prone to switching out, so for this stall team, I'd rather catch switch ins with Toxic. WoW MAY replace toxic, as a way to burn poison types, which can open up opportunities for a teammate to deal extra damage. Levitate is extremely useful for ground immunity, as our team lacks any ground resist and is otherwise our only dragon counter as well. EV spreads are used for maximum defensive pressure.
Cofagrigus @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Mummy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Body Press
- Hex
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes
Cofgagrigus glues the team together with a very specific set to counter very specific mons. Body Press is its main damaging move and coming off a 427 Defence makes it a potent move. Specifically, it 3HKO's curselax, OHKO's Obstagoon and Crawdaunt, all which greatly threaten our team. Hex 2HKO's Reuniclus once its statused, and in general will deal solid damage to any mon that is poisoned(or burned by Vaporeon and potentially Weezing if I decide to give it WoW.) Haze once again is to stop curselax and Reuniclus from setting up for free. Toxic Spikes helps spread poison around and will force the opponent to pull out their Gengar eventually, while also giving Cof something to do when they switch out. The EV spread is to maximize Body Press' damage, while the 4 Spe Ev is there to outspeed curselax and Reuniclus. I know I mention those two Pokemon a lot, but they are very powerful against the other 5 members and can end a game by themselves. Colbur Berry is held to only take 38% from Obstagoon's Knock Off, while also giving it Mummy to force it to switch out. It also baits players into thinking their knock off will KO. Colbur is also great against Crawdaunt, who otherwise also greatly threatens our team and allows more breathing room for our other team members. Also it's a nice spinblocker and has great matchups into Avalugg(if poisoned), Morpeko, Coalossal and Claydol.
Threats
Xatu bounces back our hazards and toxics, Snorlax can rest through all the damage and attempt to end with curse, Reuniclus literally takes nothing from passive damage and recovers through non-hex damage, Crawdaunt wallbreaks through the team and very tough to switch into, while Cloyster and Polteageist will try to end through Shell Smash. KEEP THIS MONS AWAY AND PRIORITIZE ENDING THEM.
Replays/Ranking
(As of Jan, 11th 2020)
"It ain't much, but it's honest work"
No plans to really rank any higher, I'm quite satisfied with this team and will probably play one or two games a day, since the ladder is scarce right now. (This is my alt account, I don't play much on my main)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1044787036
(I'll try to grab more replays, but this is all I have at this moment, sadly.)
Thanks for reading and checking out my team. My next project is likely going to be Cramorant stall on my main account. Stay tuned!