The Stall Bible

Written and Organized by: knexhawk

Assisted by: Quacc and SupaGmoney

Join the Stall Empire!

https://discord.com/invite/dhHjPm2M79 

Some general building advice

Every stall team needs at least one of the following:

• A Nasty Plot Gholdengo counter, also capable of beating Psyshock variants. 99% of the time this will be Calm Mind Tera Dark Blissey or Amnesia Tera Steel/Dark Clodsire, but a few other more niche things can also do this (Ting-Lu, Kingambit, etc).

• Hazards. For Spikes, Gliscor is easily the best, but Skarmory, Clodsire, and Ting-Lu are also good. Niche options like Deoxys-Defense, Quagsire, Gastrodon, and Coalossal also can work. For Stealth Rock, Blissey is the best by a long shot, although basically everything else that learns the move can be a viable user of it. Typically you need at least one reliable setter, and that can make room for a more niche secondary setter (example: Blissey for rocks and Quagsire for Spikes or Gliscor for Spikes and Deoxys-Defense for rocks). Both Stealth Rock and Spikes aren’t required on every team but they are highly recommended.

• A way to manage hazards and Knock Off. A team can either stack knock absorbers (Gliscor, Magic Guard Clefable, Tera Flying Alomomola, Muk, Hydrapple, Skarmory/Corviknight, etc) or fight to try and remove hazards. Remember, you have to be able to remove on Gholdengo, so you can't just throw Defog on a Corviknight and call it a day, you need other things to supplement that.

• A way to counter Future Sight. The most standard technique is giving a psychic resist/immunity or bulky special wall Protect, like Blissey, Ting-Lu, specially defensive Corviknight, Gholdengo, Deoxys-Defense, Tera Steel Cyclizar, or a multitude of others. Substitute on Regenerator users like Slowking or Slowking-Galar is also effective, as Future Sight does very little to them.

• An end-game Kingambit counter. The standard is Dondozo, with Tera Fighting to handle Tera Dark Fallen 5 Kingambit, although there are other ways to deal with this which require more nuance. Moltres, Talonflame, Counter Clodsire/Quagsire, fast Iron Defense Skarmory/Corviknight, and a handful of other niche options. Often, you can’t deal with this with one pokemon, and the counterplay depends on the Kingambit set.

• An Ogerpon-Wellspring switch-in. Ogerpon-Wellspring finds free entry on the slough of water moves that the thousand bulky waters like to use, and is a scary offensive threat. Amoonguss, Wo-Chien, Hydrapple, Tera Grass Talonflame, Tera Dragon Gliscor, Mandibuzz, Brave Bird or Tera Dragon/Grass Skarmory/Corviknight, etc. Some checks here are far better than others. Amoonguss is by far the safest option as it handles every common set without seriously bad RNG.

• A way to make progress. Whether this is trapping, PP stalling, status, item removal, hard hitters, or a combination of the prior, you need to be able to actually make progress over an extended game. Stall can almost never hold out indefinitely, you need to pressure your opponent and remove or limit their key pieces before they break your defensive core. Remember, you only have 8 pp on most recovery moves. This way of making progress also needs to be able to pressure opponents who have pokemon with long or potentially limitless longevity, such as Gliscor or Magic Guard Clefable.

Typically, if you build a stall team, and manage to check off those items, you will have a decent matchup against most teams. There are other things not listed that you often would like to have, but this just gives a general outline on what every stall team needs to have a chance at being successful in current OU.

S Tier

S Tier pokemon are the best of the best on stall. Almost every good stall team will have these pokemon. You need a very good reason to not put these on your team, and there is a serious opportunity cost to not using them. Replacing one of these pokemon will often require multiple slots or the replacement(s) will be far less effective.

Blissey

Blissey is inarguably the best special wall in the game. It is capable of taking on almost every special attacker in the game, even including banned monsters like Chi-Yu and Miraidon. It also is a great status absorber and has access to very many useful utility moves. Blissey should be an auto-include on almost every hard stall team, as its set diversity, sheer bulk, and useful utility allow it to have many useful options for every team. Replacing Blissey will often require 2-3 pokemon to even achieve a similar level of efficacy in the special walling department.

Other Viable Options:

Copycat, Trick, Skill Swap, and most special coverage moves are all very niche but viable on Blissey. Thunder Wave can also work, however, you usually don’t want to paralyze pokemon, and would prefer burn or poison.
Tera Steel is also an option on the general utility set, as it helps Blissey beat unboosted Psyshocks (especially from Slowking-Galar and Calm Mind Iron Valiant) much easier, and owns Glimmora.
Tera Ghost is useful in blanking Body Press and Secret Sword, a fighting immunity, and allows you to escape trapping moves from Volcanion, Heatran, and Toxapex. It's very useful for blocking Torkoal Rapid Spin against sun and can sometimes provide an out against Ursaluna. It also provides STAB to Shadow Ball sets, which while usually irrelevant, the damage buff is never a bad thing.

Weaknesses:
Physical attackers, special attackers with Psyshock (or Secret Sword), Knock Off, trapping, Taunt, faster Psychic Noise users can all destroy Blissey.
Soft-Boiled can get quite easily PP stalled if caution is not taken, and especially when Blissey is tasked at taking on multiple special attackers.
Calm Mind Blissey also requires a bit of luck to not lose. Yes, you wall Gholdengo, Raging Bolt, Darkrai, etc and take like <20% from their attacks, but a crit will likely OHKO you. If a hit does more than 14% (at +6 special defense), a crit into the follow up attack will OHKO you from full. Notably, Darkrai and Raging Bolt can status you and proceed to either PP stall or simply cheese through Calm Mind variants.

Useful Partners:
Blissey loves something to make progress versus Great Tusk and other pokemon who will Rapid Spin the Stealth Rock Blissey sets up. Talonflame/Moltres can do this, so can Rocky Helmet Alomomola and Sticky Barb Clefable. It also pairs well with a Ghost type to block Rapid Spin, and to scout for trapping moves aimed at Blissey, along with something like Cyclizar that can fill this role. Blissey also gets annoyed by switching into pivot moves constantly, such as Volt Switch from Zapdos, Rotom-Wash, and U-Turn from Dragapult. Cyclizar can alleviate a lot of the pressure this adds to Blissey. Overall, Blissey is incredibly passive and teammates that are more aggressive and can take advantage of a strong specially defensive backbone fit well.

Sample Teams:
Standard Rocks-Protect: https://pokepast.es/fc2b19e60a102da6
Offensive CM: https://pokepast.es/412a38a9960da08b
Defensive CM: https://pokepast.es/baa95e83381bc3ac
Heal Bell: https://pokepast.es/f02fc864de246b7f 

Gliscor

Gliscor is unique in the sense it can act as a Knock Off absorber and a status absorber in one, along with great physical defense and an excellent support movepool with a premier defensive typing. It also has insane recovery, and can almost be treated as a pseudo-Regenerator pokemon.

Other Viable Options:

Taunt and U-Turn are decent options on defensive sets, while Ice Fang, Crabhammer and Dual Wingbeat can work on offensive sets.

If you want to troll, Sand Attack or Mud Slap (please don't do this).

Weaknesses:
Anything with an ice type move, special moves overall. Skarmory, Corviknight, and other Gliscor, all entirely blank most sets, while Clefable blanks sets with only Knock Off as an attacking move. Taunt can shut down Gliscor, and it is a victim of getting PP stalled. Weezing-Galar removes its Poison Heal ability and forces it to take damage. Stealth Rock denies Gliscor recovery by just switching in, and can limit it over a game. Gliscor also does not allow Blissey to run Heal Bell, which can be bad on specific teams.

Useful Partners:
Clefable, Muk, Hydrapple, something else to be able to absorb Knock Off from attackers who threaten Gliscor. Ice/water resists are also a must.

Sample Teams:
Standard Poison Jab: https://pokepast.es/fc2b19e60a102da6
Standard Toxic: https://pokepast.es/0767882c698ef17e

Spdef: https://pokepast.es/412a38a9960da08b

Swords Dance: https://pokepast.es/1b7c14be676dc191

A+ Tier

The A tier contains pokemon less mandatory and more replaceable than the S tier, although these pokemon will consistently put work in most/every game. These pokemon are often not worth replacing on a team as they will be high-performers in every matchup.

Dondozo

Dondozo is the premier Unaware physical check in the game, used to beat threats such as Kingambit, Roaring Moon, Weavile, Dragonite, and basically everything else that can click Swords Dance or Dragon Dance. Dondozo is a very straightforward pokemon, it does one thing, but it does it incredibly well, far better than any possible alternatives.

Other Viable Options:
Tera Dark is viable for a Shadow Ball resist and retaining a dark resist for Kingambit (although you are now weak to Low Kick, which can be bad in some matchups). On this set, running Crunch for stab is good to hit Gholdengo and Dragapult.
On the physically defensive Curse set, dropping Waterfall for Avalanche or Body Press is also viable, specifically for Ogerpon-Wellspring, but this creates other issues (inability to hit Kingambit, can’t touch ghosts).

In general, however, Dondozo is a very one-dimensional pokemon.

Weaknesses:

Special moves, specifically electric and grass types.

Water Absorb pokemon.

Choice band users who can simply break through it before it gets set up.

Knock off, Dondozo hates Knock Off more than almost everything else.
Dondozo is exploitable while sleeping, as it is forced to rely on Rest.
Taunt Roaring Moon can break through sometimes, especially if it is Tera Flying and you aren’t Avalanche.
Tera Dark Kingambit can break through late game easily unless you are Tera Fighting and save your tera. Even if you are, Kingambit can fish for two Iron Head flinches in a row, which is usually enough to force you to lose.

Useful Partners:
Alomomola is great with Dondozo, due to its ability to wish-pass and give it effectively free switchins. If running the specially defensive set, a pokemon like Talonflame or Moltres often required to burn Kingambit, or a pokemon like Skarmory or Mandibuzz designed to act is the primary Kingambit answer.

Sample Teams:
Curse-Waterfall: https://pokepast.es/baa95e83381bc3ac
Curse-Body Press: https://pokepast.es/fc2b19e60a102da6
Spdef: https://pokepast.es/0767882c698ef17e
Ava-Press: https://pokepast.es/4d8f44acd58c723c 

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Toxapex

Toxapex is no longer the kingpin bulky water type as it was in past generations, as it lost a lot of useful utility moves between the generations. Because of this, Toxapex is better on stall, as many, many teams are simply not prepared to be able to beat it. Toxapex still has amazing defensive typing, solid enough utility, great bulk, and access to reliable recovery, and Regenerator. It is an excellent check to almost every breaker in the game that isn’t immune to poison, along with outright countering many dangerous threats such as common sets of Iron Valiant, Iron Moth, and Primarina. Toxapex is often able to take over games like little else on stall teams and completely and utterly wall even upwards of 4 or 5 of the opponents pokemon

Other Viable Options:

Just don’t use Assault Vest. That set is trash and has been dead for a year now.

Frankly, any mix of Recover + Haze + one move to poison + any 4th move can be effective. Toxapex can also run whatever defensive spread your team needs, fully physically defensive, specially defensive, or mixed.

Weaknesses:
Toxapex struggles to output meaningful damage this generation, as its utility was severely limited, now mostly consisting of spreading poison. Toxapex can also be very hard to fit and to justify over better water and poison types, specifically Alomomola and Clodsire.
Most things that click Substitute will ruin Toxapex, as Toxapex will be unable to do enough damage to it or simply have zero attacking moves. Taunt similarly destroys many sets.
Various breakers will run Tera Poison or Steel (Darkrai, Sinistcha etc) and be immune to Poison, which can greatly annoy Toxapex. Usually this is a beneficial trade being able to burn the opponents tera and then just Haze their boosts away but it can limit your effectiveness in a game.

Useful Partners:
Toxapex needs a teammate capable of answering pokemon like Great Tusk, Iron Treads, and Landorus-Therian quite badly, so Alomomola, Gliscor, and Talonflame are all solid. It loves being part of a Regenerator core, so feel free to stack up several. Toxapex is the single most splashable stall pokemon outside of S tier, as essentially every single team will benefit from having a Toxapex.

Sample Teams:

Mixed: https://pokepast.es/0944979a633c3045 

Spdef: https://pokepast.es/04b4418e94439b6e 

A Tier

Corviknight

Corviknight is the premier bulky defogger. It has an amazing defensive typing, access to reliable recovery, access to pressure to stall opponents PP, and it isn’t completely passive. It also walls Meowscarada and Rillaboom without Tera and isn’t nearly as susceptible to hazards as other pokemon, so it can often take Knock Off for its teammates. Standard Corviknight should usually run Heavy-Duty Boots as its forced to come in quite commonly and leaves it less vulnerable to double switches and light chip damage like U-Turns.

Other Viable Options:

68 HP / 244+ Def / 196 Spe is another spread capable of outrunning Jolly Kingambit, although you give up a lot of HP investment making you much more susceptible to special attacks, but you take the physical hits very slightly better.

Thief can be argued to be useful in some specific matchups, specifically versus Meowscarada, Weavile, or Rillaboom, although this is mostly a meme.

If running Spite, typically more speed investment is used, enough to hit 220 (200 EVs), although this cuts into bulk a lot.

Weaknesses:

Gholdengo will forever and always block Defog attempts from Corviknight. There is nothing you can do except force it to come in again and again on hazards and double out. Realistically, you are never defogging on Gholdengo if it has Recover. The only scenario you will ever be able to Defog on Gholdengo is if you pop its Air Balloon (or remove its boots), then double out to something that forces Gholdengo out as it comes in (such as a Ting-Lu or Moltres) and force it to take multiple rounds of hazards.

Corviknight often can find itself burning through Roost PP very quickly, especially without Leftovers and forced to take Stealth Rock.

Some Kingambit will run Jolly nature to beat the 120 Speed set.

The uncommon Magnezone also forces Tera or just kills you.

Useful Partners:
Corviknight loves being paired with another remover, such as Cyclizar or Talonflame, although the former has less role-overlap, as these pokemon can attempt to remove on Gholdengo, which Corviknight can realistically never do. But in the non-Gholdengo matchup, Corviknight is the most consistent hazard remover bar none.

Sample Teams:
Physdef: https://pokepast.es/f02fc864de246b7f 
Spdef: https://pokepast.es/baa95e83381bc3ac 

Amoonguss

Amoonguss has and will always have a solid place on stall as a bulky Regenerator grass type. Usually it is paired with one or more different Regenerator pokemon, as Amoonguss isn’t as good against most physical attackers like a pokemon like Alomomola or Toxapex is. Amoonguss stands out among these (get it?) other Regenerator users because it is one of the best checks to Ogerpon-Wellspring in the game.

Other Viable Options:
Worry Seed can be an option to mess with opposing Gliscor and Weezing-Galar, and other annoying pokemon for stall.
Stomping Tantrum can be used to piss off Gholdengo specifically, but it can also be a trap card if you Toxic (or Sludge Bomb) at a Heatran switch, as you survive one Magma Storm (even from offensive Heatran, although Tera Water is also an option here), then OHKO most spreads.

Tera Ghost can be used to block Rapid Spin and trapping immunity.

Tera Flying can be used as a pseudo-Physical defensive Alomomola, although it is barely bulky enough to do this, and is far from effective.

Weaknesses:
Amoonguss fights for a team slot with so many other overall more useful Regenerators, Toxapex with its overall better typing, greater bulk and greater utility. Alomomola has insane bulk and is able to take on Great Tusk and other ground types forever. Slowking-Galar with incredible movepool and strong attacks. Cyclizar has much more useful utility. Overall, Amoonguss is great on specific teams but it can be quite difficult to fit sometimes.
Amoonguss also struggles with 4MSS, as it wants recovery, a way to poison the opponent, Foul Play, and then both a grass STAB move and Clear Smog.
Tera Steel or Substitute on setup sweepers can deny Clear Smog from being effective and allow them to snowball.

Useful Partners:
More Regenerators help Amoonguss stay alive and healthy over a long game.
Dondozo, due to the fact Kingambit will always get a free Swords Dance versus Amoonguss.
Very useful in a Fire-Water-Grass core with one of the fire birds, Alomomola, and itself.

Sample Teams:
Standard: https://pokepast.es/34b2a2f02a5e4368 

Clodsire

A beautiful creature, created without flaw, Clodsire is the premier special unaware tank. It is used for walling dangerous setup special threats such as Gholdengo, Raging Bolt, Clefable, Iron Valiant, Primarina, and more. Clodsire also has a wide utility movepool with numerous setup and disruption options. Every single stall team (for the most part) needs either an Amnesia Clodsire or a Calm Mind Blissey, to handle Nasty Plot or Calm Mind attackers, specifically Gholdengo.

Other Viable Options:
Earthquake can be used as an attacking move over Bulldoze.
Haze can be used as high PP move to spam, and can block Stored Power sweepers or other setup pokemon like Leech Seed Serperior or Curse Garganacl to allow another teammate to switch in.

Clodsire is capable of setting Toxic Spikes, but its other hazards are more valuable overall.
I'm sure there can be an argument to be made for something like Stockpile or Curse as well.

Weaknesses:
Losing the Heavy-Duty Boots for Clodsire is often a death sentence, especially if it gets Tricked a choice item by Gholdengo.

Burn or Paralysis can also limit Clodsire long-term.

Clodsire often will struggle to find entry to the field, especially if it is low HP, it can almost never find a free turn to click Recover.

Strong Draco Meteors, Leaf Storms or Make It Rains can also hurt and drain Recover very quickly, especially if switching in, due to Unaware ignoring the special attack drops.

Useful Partners:
Clodsire loves having something to help bring it in for free, as it can be much easier to PP stall Recover through the likes of spamming Gholdengo Shadow Balls at it. Clodsire also loves being paired with something like Toxapex, Muk, or Corviknight, so it isn’t required to eat a Knock Off from Iron Valiant.

Sample Teams:
Spdef standard: https://pokepast.es/f02fc864de246b7f   
Spdef Poison Sting: https://pokepast.es/ea07630b4864a081 
Physdef Counter: https://pokepast.es/5f1f847947e20714 (outdated team)

Alomomola

Alomomola is currently the best Regenerator pokemon, and has been so all generation long. This is due to having a 16 PP Wish, an insane HP stat, along with passable defenses and a great typing. It is an amazing partner for Dondozo, and other slow walls, to pass its high HP Wishes.

Other Viable Options:

Chilling Water can be used to help check setup sweepers that Dondozo, or other unawares, struggles to handle like Dragon Dance versus Roaring Moon (and to prevent Dondozo from losing boots), some Dragonites (Encore and mixed) and Booster Attack Bulk Up Great Tusk, without having to play the Scald lottery. It is overall more consistent with less of an upside, and has more PP than Scald.

Mirror Coat can be used to surprise-kill a special attacker, specifically on the specially defensive set. It can be great for something like Zapdos or taking a surprise kill vs a bulky team.

Skill Swap is certainly a viable meme option to trap opposing Gliscor with Whirlpool, then take Poison Heal away from them.

Tera Ghost can be used to help combat Ursaluna, although this has mostly fallen off in favor of Tera Steel.

Acrobatics is your best bet to do something to Ogerpon-Wellspring, but you have to let yourself get Knocked before the damage is even worth it, so it’s an expensive moveslot and usually not worth. Typically, you would rather just use Wish on the switch or double out as it comes in.

Weaknesses:
Ogerpon-Wellspring and Volcanion make Alomomola’s life a nightmare because of Water Absorb.

Many strong special attackers force it out, some which it cannot make effective progress against, like Slowking-Galar.

Setup sweepers such as Roaring Moon, Kingambit, Weavile, and others can often break through it unless Scald quickly burns.
Often Alomomola is required to take a Knock Off and let hazards chip into it hard, status, or both, which can severely limit its ability to come in again and again in a long match.

Useful Partners:

Alomomola pairs well with essentially everything, and loves using Flip Turn to Wish-pass to slow pokemon that can struggle to find a chance to safely heal on their own once chipped, like Clodsire, Muk, and Dondozo.

Alomomola also loves a teammate capable of safely beating Ogerpon-Wellspring, such as Amoonguss, Wo-Chien, Hydrapple, or something else.

Sample Teams:
Whirlpool-Scald: https://pokepast.es/3101848525b8c58e 

Mixmola: https://pokepast.es/869344da1e3ec23a 

Clefable

Clefable is essentially two pokemon in one, as it has two very different viable abilities. Magic Guard allows it to function as a Knock Off absorber, specially excelling into defensive Great Tusk, Iron Valiant, Meowscarda, itself, and many Gliscor sets. Unaware allows it to block setup from strong sweepers like Serperior, and beat Stored Power sweepers without Tera, which Blissey or Clodsire cannot do. It also has a wide utility movepool and is a solid Wish-passer. Overall, Magic Guard is generally much more useful.

Other Viable Options:

Moonlight can be used over Wish/Protect for the extra utility moveslot, but this makes you far easier to PP stall and much weaker to Slowking-Galar teams, and sand or rain teams.

Clefable has a vast utility movepool which can be utilized. This ranges from Encore, Thunder Wave, Trick, Moonlight, Light Screen, Reflect, Amnesia, Psych Up, Skill Swap, and more.
Chilling Water can be used to combat Tera Flying Taunt Roaring Moon that knows to not attack and get hit with the Sticky Barb, or if you are holding Leftovers.

It has coverage options and power to run a dedicated Calm Mind set as, with moves like Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Focus Blast, Stored Power, or whatever else it would really want. Consider running Life Orb and more offensive EVs/Tera type on this set.
Moonlight is also alright but is much more vulnerable to getting PP stalled and punished by weather.

Weaknesses:
Clefable’s bulk this generation is overall worse than ever. It is barely up to par and able to check what it needs to check. For example, Adamant Great Tusk has a 15% chance to 2HKO the physical defense Magic Guard with Headlong Rush if Clefable loses its Leftovers. Dragapult with status and Hex, especially Tera Ghost, also can quite hurt Clefable.

Its Unaware sets can struggle with common attacking types, such as Make It Rain from Gholdengo and Iron Head from Kingambit. The Unaware set would likely be a B-/C+ ranking as an individual ability, as Magic Guard is so much better typically.

It is also mostly forced to use Wish, despite being an inferior Wish-passer than Alomomola because it will burn through the 8 PP of Moonlight very quickly, and Moonlight can struggle in Rain, Snow, and Sand.

Useful Partners:
Clefable is often a band-aid pokemon and fills the space left by the rest of the team. Magic Guard sets fit well with Gliscor to form a status and Knock Off resistant core, although several knockers such as Weavile or Swords Dance Gliscor threaten this.

Sample Teams:
Magic Guard: https://pokepast.es/1e0bd1c59b17ccc8 
Unaware: https://pokepast.es/78b896b5b966daa5 (meme team)

A- Tier

Talonflame

Surprisingly, a pokemon with 78/71/69 defenses and a 4x weakness to Stealth Rock is one of the best pokemon on stall this generation. Why? It is the only defogger capable of semi-reliably removing on Gholdengo, can abuse Flame Body, and has an amazing typing for the the meta being able to check common threats such as Meowscarada, Rillaboom, Weavile, Kingambit, and Excadrill which threaten many common stall pokemon, along with its excellent natural speed to stay healthy via fast Roosts.

Other Viable Options:
More speed EVs can be run to speed creep Ogerpon typically, (128+ speed), but this severely decreases your survivability vs pokemon like Kingambit, Weavile and mixed Enamorus. You can also get greedy and run 52 speed EVs to just hit 301 for Great Tusk if you don’t care about Excadrill.

U-turn can be run over Flamethrower if you don’t mind Gholdengo blocking Defog, but allowing you to beat Heatran.

Other Tera types can be used, such as Fairy and Ghost as well, for similar reasons to other pokemon.

Weaknesses:
Losing Heavy-Duty Boots is a death sentence for Talonflame if Talonflame can’t reliably switch into the opponent's Stealth Rock setter (Garganacl, Heatran, most Clodsire, most Gliscor, Etc). Status also almost immediately ruins Talonflame. Lum Berry or Tera Fire Kingambit can reliably break through you as well.

Useful Partners:
Talonflame loves to be paired with teammates that get hazards up quite easily like Blissey and Gliscor, as this can bait opponents to click Rapid Spin, along with Fighting and Ice attacks, as long as they are physical contact moves, Talonflame can attempt to punish them with Flame Body.  Notably Wo-Chien pairs amazingly as it constantly baits U-Turn which Talonflame can easily punish.

Talonflame also appreciates being paired with other hazard removers as sometimes Talonflame can’t keep hazards off forever versus some team compositions where it will get its Heavy-Duty Boots removed, (Rillaboom or Meowscrada teams), although as a standalone hazard remover, Talonflame is by far the best and most reliable against Gholdengo teams.

Sample Teams:

Standard physdef: https://pokepast.es/63c152f864762c1c

B+ Tier

The B tier consists of mid picks that are capable of plugging gaps in teams very well. These pokemon often have matchups where they don't do much of anything, but matchups where they excel as well. They often require a bit of support to reach their highest peaks, but they can absolutely carry specific matchups.

Weezing-Galar

Weezing-Galar is unique in its ability to consistently remove on Gholdengo. Its unique defensive profile provides a dragon immunity but also allows it to match up exceptionally into Iron Valiant. Any pokemon reliant on their ability to do damage also gets heavily neutered, such as Rillaboom, Meowscarada, Kingambit, Azumarill, and Ursaluna.

Other Viable Options:
Haze can be used to stop setup. More speed (176+) can be used to creep Jolly Kingambit, or less can be used to max into physical or special bulk. It's a serious tradeoff to not be able to run any defense investment on a pokemon who isn’t even very bulky according to modern standards, so just be careful. Max HP and max defense is also viable if you can handle Kingambit in other ways.

Tera Grass can be used similarly to Tera Flying replacing the ground immunity with a resistance, along with allowing you to handle rock and electric moves better (such as Garganacl and Stealth Rock).

Personally I wouldn’t advise running Levitate over Neutralizing Gas ever, but it is an option, just you are required to run Flamethrower to try and threaten Gholdengo a little bit. This does make your matchup into pokemon such as Great Tusk, Garchomp, and Knock Off  users like Meowscarada and Ogerpon-Wellspring much safer to as you are spike immune.

Weaknesses:
Without Tera, Weezing-Galar does not match up well into most hazard setters. Its typing and stats leave it vulnerable to: Great Tusk, Iron Treads, Deoxys-Speed, Glimmora, Landorus-Therian, Garchomp, and Heatran.

Weezing commonly can struggle to find safe entry, and be forced to dawn Heavy-Duty Botts without reliable recovery.
Pain Split and Rest are both very exploitable.

Useful Partners:
Alomomola for Wish pass reasons, then pokemon that can limit the longevity of hazard setters or deny them in the first place, such as faster Taunt users, Hatterene, then Toxic Gliscor or Whirlpool Alomomola.

Sample Teams:
Physically bulky: https://pokepast.es/f549b6e880e983cb 

Hydrapple

Hydrapple is unique in the fact it's the only Sticky Hold pokemon with a high defense stat. It has solid coverage, access to reliable recovery, and a naturally quite high special attack. Hilariously, this pokemon also has access to Regenerator, but prefers Sticky Hold. Hydrapple can be excellent into specific variants of Ogerpon-Wellspring, which can be invaluable.

Other Viable Options:
Infestation can be cool to piss off an opposing pokemon.
Regenerator can be used if aiming to spec into beating Ogerpon-Wellspring more than eating Knock Off, although this isn’t advised. Amoonguss outclasses it as a Regenerator grass type.

Weaknesses:
Hydrapple is incredibly Tera reliant to wall most users of Knock Off, and it cannot beat some of them as it can’t always have the right tera. Tera Ice beats SD Gliscor, Weavile, and Meowscarada, but will lose to Clefable for example. 

Hydrapple is able to be PP stalled in long games vs Weavile with strong pivoting tools as well.
Hydrapple is also entirely unable to make any progress against Slowking-Galar without Nasty Plot.
Play Rough Ogerpon-Wellspring wins 1v1, while you do live a +2 Play Rough, you are unable to OHKO back with anything. Pollen Puff is the best response you have, as it 2HKOs.

Unlike Muk, Hydrapple does not have amazing natural special defense, so Trick Gholdengo can do a ton of damage with Make-It-Rain or Shadow Ball, making you an ineffective Trick Absorber, not to even mention Darkrai which can OHKO you cleanly.

Useful Partners:
Hydrapple needs teammates to support its anti-knock agenda. Gliscor, Muk, and Clefable all match up decently into pokemon Hydrapple cannot knock absorb safely.

Sample Teams:
Tera Blast Ice: https://pokepast.es/ea07630b4864a081 (link to SupaGmoney’s RMT here)

Nasty Plot: https://pokepast.es/e9da3015fe3a8aef 

Moltres

Talonflame if it was a legendary pokemon. Moltres is effectively a bulkier, slower, and much more offensively potent Talonflame, although where it falls behind so hard is its lack of Defog. Its defensive typing, along with its incredibly special attack and movepool still give Moltres a niche, as it is significantly safer against threats such as Kingambit, Zamazenta, Hex Dragapult, Rillaboom, and Ogerpon-Wellspring (with Tera), which it can subsequently punish with a base 125 special attack Flamethrower, Will-O-Wisp, or Flame Body burn.

Other Viable Options:
Roar is a viable 4th move on Moltres, which can be good for hazard-shuffling, and removing Tera Fire Kingambit from the field if it Swords Dances as you attempted to Will-O-Wisp it, as unlike Talonflame, you survive +2 Kowtow Cleave, with up to Fallen 3, while Fallen 4 is a solid roll to survive.
A set using Pressure with Substitute and/or Protect is also likely possible, but you lose out on lots of potential utility provided by Flame Body.

Weaknesses:
Losing Heavy-Duty Boots is often a death sentence for Moltres if hazards are up, so the main reason Moltres isn’t on every other stall team is because it needs hazard support. Talonflame is capable of removing for itself, while Moltres would be wholly superior if it could do the same. For most teams, this difference of bulk and power is too insignificant to justify using the much more exploitable Moltres instead of Talonflame.
Tera Fire Kingambit can often flip the matchup entirely on its head and allow Kingambit to set up on you for free.

Stray rock moves like Head Smash Great Tusk or Stone Edge Landorus-Therian can surprise you and completely destroy you as well, but these aren't super common.

Useful Partners:
Pair Moltres with solid hazard removal or pokemon to take Knock Off for it.
Moltres also frees up Dondozo, either allowing you to run a different failsafe for Kingambit, or run specially defensive Dondozo as the Moltres backup, or for when Kingambit is already burned.

Sample Teams:
Physically defensive: https://pokepast.es/6a7387f331029794 

Slowking-Galar

Slowking-Galar is excellent as both a pivot on balance and a fat stall pokemon with its strong defensive profile into threats such as Enamorus and Serperior. Its strong special defense allows it to at least check most special attackers as well. Slowking-Galar has an exceptional movepool, so often its move choices can be specifically chosen to patch holes in a team.

Other Viable Options:
Light Screen, Substitute, and Protect are all viable choices to be a consistent switch in for Future Sight.
Other coverage options such as Flamethrower, Focus Blast, Psychic or Eerie Spell, Earthquake, or even Foul Play can be used as well.
Chilly Reception can be dropped for any one of these support moves on most teams.
If you’re psychotic (SupaGmoney), you can run Confusion for having a ton of PP.

If you’re even more psychotic (Quacc) you can run Tera Ghost Curse, which is about as bad as it sounds.
Frankly, you can almost run whatever you want on this guy and he will still put in work.

Weaknesses:
Slowking-Galar is so common on balance, so many pokemon run moves specifically to cripple/remove it. Its average defense stat is very exploitable by many pokemon capable of running mixed sets.

It also struggles from 4MSS. There will almost always be a pokemon capable of fully walling whatever set you choose.

Useful Partners:

Slowking-Galar is a solid, standalone pokemon, although usually it likes something to be able to take Knock Off for it. Depending on the set, it also invites in Kingambit, Corviknight, and other steels essentially for free, as well as ground types like Ting-Lu, along with opposing Slowking-Galar, so just run something capable of dealing with those, one of the fire birds, Rocky Helmet Alomomola, and Gliscor. Ultimately it depends what moves you run as what pokemon will wall you, as you have tools to kill or severely threaten most things in your learnset.

Sample Teams:

Standard pivot: https://pokepast.es/4f93fe1d2a108869 

Sinistcha

A role compression pokemon. A fat physically bulky spinblocker that beats non-Knock Off Ogerpon-Wellspring. Also, a very good check to standard Ursaluna, although Crunch threatens it. It is able to eat 2 Knock Offs or Ice Spinners from Great Tusk, heal to full on it with either Strength Sap or Matcha Gatcha. It also can block Rapid Spin from all Iron Treads sets.

 
Other Viable Options:
Calm Mind can be used over Foul Play as a cleaning or breaking tool.

Tera Fighting or Dark and Iron Defense can be used to allow you to almost always 1v1 Kingambit.

Fitting Scald onto the moveset is also a decent option to fish for burns.

Running max defense also is ok on teams that don’t need the speed for Kingambit or Ursaluna.

Weaknesses:

Knock Off Ogerpon-Wellspring just beats you which defeats the main purpose of using Sinistcha.

Relying on Matcha Gatcha or Scald to fish for burns is also far less reliable than Will-O-Wisp, which Sinistcha does not have access to, and Matcha Gatcha also isn’t perfectly accurate.

Hilariously, Blissey entirely denies this pokemon most of its recovery, along with other incredibly low attack pokemon, like Pelipper or Toxapex.

Gholdengo or Hatterene can deny recovery with Strength Sap, although these can be hurt with a Shadow Ball or Hex.

Useful Partners:
Sinistcha likes to pair with pokemon not scared of Knock Off, and ones that don’t take a great deal of damage from it. Corviknight is a great partner. It also loves being in Fire-Water-Grass cores. Other teammates to spread status such as Toxapex or Slowking-Galar can be great teammates for a Hex Sinistcha.

Sample Teams:
Teapot: https://pokepast.es/2e798dd34e321a86 

B Tier

Quagsire

Quagsire may the cutest pokemon ever designed, and have quite the history of being a staple on stall teams since the gen 4 days, but this generation it struggles with the reduced PP of Recover, Scald moveset cuts, Tera, Booster Energy, the prevalence of hazards, and being outclassed by Dondozo. Quagsire, however, still has access to unique tools Dondozo or Clodsire does not, and it is an amazing role-compression pokemon for this reason.

Other Viable Options:

Some different moveset options are throwing in Toxic Spikes, Amnesia, Encore, Haze, Poison Jab, or Whirlpool into Quagsire’s moveset. A max special defense set where you imitate Clodsire with Amnesia is also okay due to your higher attack and different defensive profile for other pokemon beyond just Psyshock Gholdengo.
Tera types, Quagsire can use essentially whatever type it wants. Tera Fire has been used to beat Sub Hex Dragapult, Tera Normal or Dark to set up Amnesias on Gholdengo easier, Tera Steel to resist Acrobatics from Roaring Moon. Tera Dragon or Grass for Ogerpon. Tera Dark or Fairy for alternative Kingambit resist. Why not? Ultimately, some teams have a Quagsire-shaped hole that only some incredibly specific, seemingly random moveset, EV spread, and Tera type on our resident water/ground Unaware friend can plug effectively. Truly the best pokemon of all time.

Weaknesses:

Grass types/moves, incredibly strong attackers with Tera and Booster Energy, getting PP stalled, 4MSS, status, special moves, hazards. Quagsire is borderline unviable when forced to run Heavy-Duty Boots. Frankly, Quagsire is, and has been known, to be weak to so much in every meta it's been a part of, but that never stopped it from walling Kyogre in the Water Absorb days, or Zacian-Crowned in recent history. Quagsire is truly an anomaly of pokemon, and this world is a better place for having it.

Useful Partners:
Usually Quagsire will be fit on teams that need an Unaware backbone but need extra utility that Dondozo or Clodsire cannot provide. Quagsire is there to fill gaps. If Quagsire can fix a gap on your team, put it on it.

Sample Teams:
What tier is this?: https://pokepast.es/2e798dd34e321a86 

Skarmory

Skarmory functions almost identically to physically defensive Corviknight, although it is physically bulkier due to higher base stats and it requires less speed to creep Kingambit. It is much more viable on Skarmory to run enough speed investment for Jolly Kingambit, while Corviknight would be making serious compromises to do so.

Other Viable Options:
Running 172 speed EVs allows you to outspeed Jolly Kingambit, and is often worth it.
Whirlwind can be slotted to act as a phaser, usually over Iron Defense, but hazards can be dropped too.

Weaknesses:
Magnezone, special attackers, and getting chipped down from Stealth Rock and U-Turn and being forced to heal. Same things Skarmory has been weak to for almost 20 years.
Notably, many physical attackers will randomly pull out a Tera Blast Fire or Electric, such as Scizor or Rillaboom, which can destroy Skarmory.

Skarmory also has problems competing with Corviknight as in most matchups Skarmory is objectively worse.

Useful Partners:
Use Regenerator pokemon with Skarmory, as Skarmory hates coming into U-Turn after U-Turn, especially with rocks up, and being forced to spam Roost. Run a solid ground type or electric resisting Regenerator, preferably a specially defensive one alongside Skarmory as pokemon like Raging Bolt, Zapdos, and Rotom-Wash will consistently find themselves on the field versus you, and you don’t want to have Blissey just take Volt Switch or U-Turn forever.

The Whirlwind set pairs excellently with lots of hazard support, particularly Toxic Spikes.

Sample Teams:

Standard wall: https://pokepast.es/04b4418e94439b6e 

Ting-Lu

Ting-Lu has fallen off from its peak, but it's still a fat, bulky ground type with hazards and a Future Sight immunity. Its immunity to Thunder Wave from Slowking-Galar is also very useful so it will always be able to click Protect to block Future Sight while other things will be risking a 25%. Its immense bulk is very useful in the likes of Raging Bolt, Iron Crown, Slowking-Galar, Gholdengo and Iron Moth. Notably, Ting-Lu can handle many variants of Psyshock Gholdengo if the Air Balloon isn’t there or it's broken, although this matchup requires some nuance and strong play.

Other Viable Options:
Throat Chop, Heavy Slam, and Ruination are all viable attacking moves. Body Press is also viable, and I would advise running more defense investment, typically subtracting from HP, as this can be used to completely dunk of Kingambit (even Balloon) and the rare Tyranitar or Weavile.
Mean Look is a funny option for trapping Gliscor then switching into Weezing-Galar to watch it die, or using Spite to PP stall it.

Tera Ice is an option to perma-wall all Kyurem sets.

Weaknesses:
Ting-Lu has no reliable recovery, and can’t fit sleep talk. Chip damage adds up on Ting-Lu very quickly. However, using Rest on it isn’t that bad since it's so immensely bulky and will get many free turns to burn sleep.
It also can struggle with Gholdengo sometimes, especially if Gholdengo has an Air Balloon. It has stiff competition with Clodsire or Gliscor as a bulky ground type, and is far worse for most roles. It also cannot touch opposing Gliscor.

Useful Partners:
Ting-Lu loves pairing with Flip Turn Alomomola and Heal Bell Blissey, as it's both vulnerable to chip damage and status, and loves being woken up from sleep due to Rest. Typically, Calm Mind Blissey will be on these teams as Ting-Lu is not infallible to special threats, and Clodsire has some insane role overlap with it. Any non-Alomomola wish passer is a great teammate as well, although due to Ting-Lu’s massive HP, the wishes usually aren't that big (Clefable’s wishes heal it for ~38%).

Sample Teams:
Ting-Poo: https://pokepast.es/1e0bd1c59b17ccc8 

B- Tier

Mandibuzz

Mandibuzz has solid bulk and an excellent support movepool. Unlike other defoggers, Mandibuzz is not a one-trick pony. It can viably run many moves and multiple EVs spreads. It is quite strong against Ogerpon-Wellspring and various Dragapult sets, along with a useful dark typing providing a very relevant dark and ghost resistance and psychic immunity, which Corviknight does not boast.

Other Viable Options:
More speed investment can be used for outspeeding Jolly Kingambit (92 EVs), however, this makes it so Ogerpon-Wellspring is capable of OHKOing you with Tera Water at +2, so it isn’t usually worth it.
U-Turn, Whirlwind, or Protect are also all likely viable moveset options.

Weaknesses:

Mandibuzz hates being a defogger and dark type unable to consistently beat Gholdengo, due to its god awful offenses, and Gholdengo’s low attack stat leading to Foul Play being a 3-4hko. Knock Off does 2-3hko offensive Gholdengo however.

Mandibuzz is also very hard to fit on teams. It also suffers four move-slot syndrome, as it wants Toxic, Defog, Knock Off, Foul Play, and sometimes other moves on one set, which it can't fit. Typically, Corviknight is better than Mandibuzz and building teams with Mandibuzz really necessitates a strong reason to use Mandibuzz over Corviknight.

Gliscor usually entirely walls Mandibuzz and denies any progress while forcing it out by threatening poison.

Useful Partners:
Using another hazard removal method alongside Mandibuzz, along with another Kingambit check is good, as Mandibuzz can struggle to beat Ogerpon-Wellspring, Kingambit, and keep hazards off in one game.

Sample Teams:

Foul Play: https://pokepast.es/04b4418e94439b6e 

Cyclizar

Cyclizar is similar to Talonflame in the fact it has great utility to stall with its speed and utility versus pure bulk. While Talonflame usually leans into physical bulk, Cyclizar typically leans into special bulk and can switch into pokemon like Slowking-Galar, Zapdos, Heatran, Serperior, and Gholdengo. It's very useful for assisting Blissey and Clodsire not get PP stalled by Volt-Turn teams with Rotom-Wash or Zapdos by switching into resisted pivot moves for them. Personally, I believe Cyclizar still has potential and will be on the upswing soon, especially in the bulkier direction this tier appears to be going, with an emphasis on attackers with longevity like Zapdos over downright bulky nukes like Raging Bolt.

Other Viable Options:
Dragon Tail allows Cyclizar to phase setup threats and shuffle the opponent on hazards, such as Manaphy, Ogerpon-Wellspring (without Play Rough), and Serperior. It’s also useful for mid-grounding ghost type switchins, such as Dragapult.
Assault Vest with enough speed for Ogerpon-Wellspring is viable on teams with a lot of hazard control.

Ice Spinner is an option, especially on Tera Flying to chip away at Gliscor and clear terrain from Rillaboom.

I'm sure you can also justify Rain Dance to mess with sun teams as well, due to your great Torkoal matchup. Taunt might also work.
Other tera types like Fairy or Ghost are also viable for their respective immunities.

Weaknesses:
Cyclizar has very bad physical defense, and even special defense. With investment, Cyclizar can take special hits semi-well, but it is never really taking boosted attacks or a super effective stab (and often not even coverage) move. Cyclizar also encourages a lot of 50-50s with non-Gholdengo ghost types with Rapid Spinning, as pokemon such as Skeledirge and Dragapult do not want to switch into Knock Off or Dragon Tail.
Cyclizar also hates Slowking-Galar/Zapdos pairings when tasked to eat Future Sight with Protect, due to Static, and this required careful piloting to avoid getting paralyzed. Tera Electric can be used to counteract this but it's a serious commitment.

Useful Partners:
Cyclizar is frail and likes big bulky teammates that can be used to help support. Toxapex, Alomomola, Blissey, Clodsire, etc. Cyclizar can fit on almost any stall team, its attributes are almost always useful game in and game out in anything but a hyper-offense matchup.

Sample Teams: 

Standard Temper Flare: https://pokepast.es/869344da1e3ec23a 

Assault Vest: https://pokepast.es/f549b6e880e983cb 

C+ Tier

The C tier consists of niche pokemon. These pokemon usually require far extra support to perform at the highest level, but are not worth entirely overlooking as they can provide strong value when on the right team. Typically using one of these pokemon can create some issues with opportunity cost. Often they will not be able to perform in every matchup and as consistently as higher picks, however.

Wo-Chien

Wo-Chien is the single best Ogerpon-Wellspring counter in the game. It has the ability to OHKO Ogerpon at +2 with Foul Play, and it also resists both STABs, lowers Ogerpon’s attack stat, and survives all common coverage moves at +2. It even survives a hit from the U-Turn set, allowing for a better response the next time it comes in. It also has a solid matchup versus many physical attackers, like Kingambit or Ursaluna.

Other Viable Options:
Rest or Protect can be attempted to be fit on the first set, although all of the moves here are useful.
96 speed EVs can be invested to hit 200 speed and outspeed Ursaluna and Adamant Kingambit, but you will also need to go with a minus attack or minus special attack nature, which the 3 attack leech set does not want
In theory, Poison Powder can also do something as a ghetto Toxic.

Weaknesses:

Obviously Wo-Chien is very weak to U-Turn, but surprisingly, it is more weak to hazards and losing its item. Boots are far worse than Leftovers, however a team will be required to fit solid hazard control to use Leftovers.

Wo-Chien ultimately suffers the most as it needs a great deal of support to succeed. However, when this support is given, this pokemon can be one of the most unkillable walls in the game, as proven in the ladder peak RMT from the DLC 1 metagame (link here).

Useful Partners:
Wo-Chien requires incredible levels of support to be a top performer. It loves being part of a Fire-Water-Grass core with Wish Alomomola (also can wish as Ogerpon switches into it and heals Wo-Chien!), and Talonflame, to punish all the 4x super effective U-Turns clicked at Wo-Chien. It also prefers hazard removal, preferably double removal, as without Leftovers, you can get very easily worn down over a game.

Sample Teams:
Mean Look Wo-Chizzy: https://pokepast.es/d44594340c08cff1 

Bronzong

Walls essentially all Kyurem, Enamous, checks Ursaluna, and Future Sight in one slot. Able to run Leftovers due to Levitate and rock resistance. Very weak offenses and major 4MSS. Incredibly scared of Knock Off, unless running Rest. Able to run Iron Defense Body Press with Stealth Rock and Protect for Future Sight. Can use a devilish Block Leppa Berry Recycle Rest set to PP stall many passive things in an absolutely disgusting manner.

Other Viable Options:
Bronzong can use a devilish Block Leppa Berry Recycle Rest set to PP stall many passive things in an absolutely disgusting manner. This is mostly a meme but you hilariously can win the stall mirror on the spot typically.

Gyro Ball, Heavy Slam, or Iron Head can be used over either attack for a different coverage profile.

Iron Defense can be used alongside Body Press for the ability to become a setup sweeper.

If wanting more PP, use Extrasensory as its 32 PP and solid damage output will make it very difficult to PP stall safely.

Earthquake can be used to hit Slowking-Galar and Iron Crown for more damage as well.

Difficult to fit, but Rest can be used so you aren’t deathly afraid of Knock Off or status but it's very hard to fit.

More defensive EVs can be used as well as you handle Kyurem and Slowking-Galar quite easily even without max Special Defense.

Weaknesses:

Knock Off is way too severely punishing for a Levitate pokemon resistant to rock. No reliable recovery means you need to protect your Leftovers like your first born child. Psychic is a pretty bad typing to have as it provides painful weaknesses to Ghost and Dark for little benefit.

Useful Partners:

Similar to anything else weak to Knock Off, pairing this with teammates who can handle it is beneficial. Wish passers or Heal Bell

Sample Team:

The Bell: https://pokepast.es/47548e302b76384c 

Pecharunt

Amazing physical bulk, access to Parting Shot and Recover, able to spin block, but entirely stonewalled by Steel types, and its poison/ghost typing being an overall bad for the metagame. It has access to Foul Play and with Tera Dark this can be a very safe counter to a boosted Ogerpon or Kingambit, as even Low Kick is a measly 20 base power into it.

Other Viable Options:
Parting Shot can be added to this set over one of the attacks for the easier entry of a teammate but this isn’t really a useful characteristic to stall teams.

It has access to Mean Look and Curse to trap and eliminate an enemy threat, such as an SD Gliscor or something bulky without any pivot options.

Foul Play can be dropped and Venoshock can be added if running Toxic (and usually Toxic Spikes on another member) to do some serious poison damage.

Night Shade can be used for consistent damage on steel types like Kingambit and Corviknight.

Spite exists.

Tera Ghost can be used to dunk on Great Tusk and Iron Treads as it removes its ground weakness and Pecharunt’s incredibly high physical defense can be used to permanently block Rapid Spin. Extra ghost STAB damage is a nice bonus.

Weaknesses:

Being a spin blocker who struggles into all common removal options is very unfortunate. Its middling special bulk is also highly exploitable, along with its weakness to Knock Off.

Useful Partners:

Teammates that can spread status for Hex bonus damage, particularly burn or even paralysis as this can punish the steel types that often perma-wall Pecharunt. Toxic Spike support can be nice too.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/5dbe46339d7a9e73 (meme team)

Jirachi

Jirachi is probably the safest Future Sight check in the game. While vulnerable to paralysis shenanigans from Thunder Wave Slowking-Galar, it entirely blanks every other set (besides Trick Black Sludge). It even can brush off hits like super effective Flamethrower, and Iron Crown’s STAB moves. It is quite strong into various Psychic Noise users like Latios and the aforementioned Iron Crown due to the fact its 4x psychic resistance essentially just denies healing and does zero damage, while you get to strike back with an attack. Strong natural defenses and decent defensive typing also allows you to check mixed or Calm Mind Enamorus, CM Clefable and, Glimmora, Primarina, and Hatterene.

Other Viable Options:
Jirachi has a strong coverage movepool and many options can be chosen. A primarily special movepool using options such as Psychic Noise and Aura Sphere can be chosen, although you lose benefits from Serene Grace. U-Turn can also be used to ease trapping matchups, such as those against Heatran, Infestation Toxapex, and Whirlpool Alomomola.
Calm Mind can also be used to be able to counter Stored Power sweepers surprisingly well. (You live critical hit +6 +6 Stored Power from Latias from full, although it is a roll if you will survive the follow-up attack.)

Weaknesses:

A ghost weakness severely hurts for beating the likes of Dragapult.
Status also hurts you, as burn eats into you quickly and cripples your attack, and paralysis can stop the Wish-Protect chain.
Continuous volt-turning from the likes of Iron Crown or Primarina can wear down Jirachi and deny a chance to click Wish.
Rocky Helmet Alomomola, Landorus, Garchomp, or anything else can wear it down quickly if continuously attacking into the helmet.

Useful Partners:
Knock Off absorbers such as Gliscor greatly benefit Jirachi, along with a strong switch-in to pokemon like Heatran, Samurott-Hisui, and Great Tusk, as Jirachi is essentially helpless against them.
It also appreciates something that can Knock Off opposing Landorus-Therian’s Rocky Helmet as this can wear Jirachi down relatively quickly.

Sample Teams:
Bulky Spdef: https://pokepast.es/d9cf021f8818ddad

Tornadus-Therian

Tornadus is similar to Cyclizar in that it’s a fast, utility Regenerator pokemon. Its major utility comes from its access to Knock Off and strong coverage movepool. Its access to Foul Play and high speed stat allows it to check, or at minimum revenge kill Ogerpon-Wellspring. Due to its much higher attacking stats, it can actually revenge kill effectively pokemon Cyclizar can’t force out.

Other Viable Options:

Nasty Plot Tornadus is viable, although significantly worse than the above set as it has far less defensive utility, but it can act as a breaker, specifically on semi-stall teams. More speed can be added to outspeed other things(176+ speed can be used to creep Maushold, 216+ to creep non-booster Iron Valiant), however, you are barely bulky enough to deal with Ogerpon sometimes, so be advised.

Taunt is also viable to act as a disrupter.

Weaknesses:
All sorts of things, Tornadus isn’t that bulky, and requires Tera to OHKO Ogerpon-Wellspring, or 25% chip from hazards or other means. Tera Water Ivy Cudgel also does well over 75% of Tornadus.
Tornadus can never make progress against Gliscor, without flying STAB, and even with it, you often find yourself getting PP stalled.

Useful Partners:
Being part of a chain of Regenerators is always useful, but primarily things to get it on the field for free help Tornadus out greatly.
A water resist that will bait Ogerpon-Wellspring to click something aside from Ivy Cudgel as you switch in is also useful.

Sample Teams:
Ogerpon Lure: https://pokepast.es/74cbc917fcc50d3f 

Gholdengo

Bulky spinblocker (and Defog) with Recover and a solid defensive typing. Acts identically on a stall team as on hazard-stacking teams. Can act as a Future sight eater, or a defensive Nasty Plot user. Great status immunity, but man, I hate this guy.

Other Viable Options:

Thunder Wave exists.

Trick can be very cool on this set to punish opponents who knock you such as Clefable, as usually Clefable wants to switch out in the face of this guy. Some speed EVs can also be run to outrun the likes of standard defensive Great Tusk. Smogdex has more details on the more offensive Gholdengo sets.

Weaknesses:
Gholdengo is very common in this meta, so even teams designed without stall in mind will be able to punish this guy. Gholdengo is very weak to Knock Off, and most pokemon carry coverage to be able to hit it super effectively.

Useful Partners:
Pair Gholdengo with as many hazard setters as possible. These Gholdengo teams aim to set as many hazards as possible, as quickly as possible, then keep them up or punish the opponent for removing them. Flame Body users are great here too to punish Rapid Spin from the likes of Great Tusk and Iron Treads.

Sample Teams:
Stalldengo: https://pokepast.es/39a4d41d02db545f 

Skeledirge

We’re approaching the ranks of bulky balance pokemon, versus pokemon that excel specifically on stall. Skeledirge is the beginning of the line between dedicated stall-mons and just bulky attackers. Anyways, Skeledirge is a cool choice as a bulky Unaware win condition late game, and as a check to Stored Power sweepers that doesn’t need to tera. It can also function as a spinblocker, although it hates switching into Great Tusk.

Other Viable Options:
A physically defensive set can also work well, much more apt at beating pokemon such as Iron Valiant, Rillaboom, and Zamazenta.
Substitute over the final coverage option can also work, although this is more effective on much more offensive teams.

128 speed EVs can be used to outrun Adamant Gambit.

Weaknesses:
Skeledirge often requires tera to reach its full potential due to its average bulk and exploitable typing, which on stall can be problematic seeing as there are many threats that can only be answered with your own tera. Although the ghost and fire dual typing can be quite useful, the ground and dark weaknesses are very notable due to how common these moves are.

Useful Partners:
Skeledirge pairs very commonly with Gliscor and Skarmory on balance, and its equally as effective of a trifecta on stall. It also appreciates the more offensive nature of Milotic to check Gholdengo for it, as Gholdengo can destroy Skeledirge.

Sample Teams:

Specially bulky Unaware: https://pokepast.es/215db7838ec5bfdf 

Garganacl

Garganacl excels in games that are over before turn 50. Over an extended game, Garganacl cannot usually hope to last or even apply a great deal of pressure to most defensive pokemon. However, in these short games versus offense, Garganacl can often be the most effective answer as its solid defensive, recover, and defensive setup ability along with consistent spammable passive damage can be the bane of many hyper offense teams. Ultimately, Garganacl is not a stall pokemon but it can be a useful matchup fish against many offense teams.

Other Viable Options:
Stealth Rock Protect, Block, etc. All standard sets on Smogdex. Running boots over lefties also works but this is exploitable due to your middling effective bulk due to poor typing and tera reliance.

Weaknesses:

Garganacl may have incredible defensive stats and Recover but it offers nothing beyond a Hex Dragapult switch-in as far as defensive utility goes. Rock is an awful defensive typing, and you are forced to Tera to be capable of doing much of anything in most games. You can’t reliably sweep bulkier games because the same pokemon resistant to passive damage stall as a whole takes forever to chip down Garganacl struggles with (Gliscor, Alomomola, Slowking-Galar, Clefable, etc).

Ultimately, Garganacl stall is nothing more than a ladder farming tool.

Useful Partners:

Hatterene pairs well with Garganacl, and so does Great Tusk. These both aren't traditionally stall pokemon, so this makes sense. Use Garganacl on bulky offense.

Sample Teams:
Salt?: https://pokepast.es/f02fc864de246b7f (link to showdownfail’s RMT for details here).

Cresselia

Counter to Future Sight, which doesn't need to run Protect. Able to heal its own status with Lunar Blessing. Not scared of Knock Off due to Levitate, although mono-psychic is a bad defensive typing which can drain Tera so Knock Off doesn’t hurt too hard off of the attack itself. Very overall passive and punishable, incredibly easy to PP stall. Access to Lunar Dance to bring another pokemon’s HP and PP back, which can be great for long games where a pokemon like Clodsire is required to wall 3-4 things.

Other Viable Options:
Screens, Protect, and Lunar Dance can all be good on Cresselia, although they are hard to fit. Trick can be used to punish Knock Off by taking the opponent's item, however, Gholdengo which is a great switch-in to Cresselia entirely blocks this.

Stored Power also can function as a bulky setup sweeper.

You can use Thunder Wave to spread paralysis although this isn’t generally very useful.
More specifically defensive EVs can also be used, although this is typically outclassed by Blissey

Weaknesses:
Being a psychic type is an absolutely insane handicap to Cresselia. Unironically, this pokemon would be likely in the A/B tier range with a solid defensive typing. You can tera out of this, but it's a large commitment to have to do this.
It’s also incredibly weak offensively and struggles to apply any offensive pressure.

Useful Partners:

Something to take the stronger Knock Offs, such as Gliscor or Clefable can benefit Cresselia, and in return Cresselia will take hits from the likes of Knock Off Clefable and Gliscor and other weaker Knock Off users.

Sample Teams:
Stall Cress: https://pokepast.es/661696bb6f9c6a2b 

Umbreon

Dark type with Wish and amazing bulk. Can function similarly to Mandibuzz with Foul Play and Toxic. Has an incredibly shallow movepool, and very low offenses. Has Synchronize to punish Dragapult Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave, but hates taking repeated U-Turns.

Other Viable Options:
Wish-Protect is useful to stay healthy, and Toxic can be paired alongside Foul Play, but Umbreon struggles to find anything it can do outside of beating this Gliscor set.

Access to utility moves like Charm, Taunt, Roar, and Alluring Voice to limit physical setup sweepers.

Could possibly also run Calm Mind to match boost sweepers like Raging Bolt, Gholdengo, and non-Focus Blast Darkrai.

Weaknesses:
Poor man's Mandibuzz under most scenarios. Many weaknesses. Dragapult just spamming U-Turn will eventually kill this. It can “kind of handle” most physical setup pokemon but is very much setup fodder for a great fraction of the tier outside of a handful of Swords Dance users.

Useful Partners:

Idk man this guy is just a funny niche dude. Same as the rest of the shitters.

Sample Teams:
Cumbreon: https://pokepast.es/067ec51e3bff4cb6 

---

C Tier

Muk

Why the hell would you use Muk-Kanto? Well, similar to Hydrapple, Muk has Sticky Hold to block item removal from Knock Off and Trick. Muk is capable of blocking far different users of these moves due to its different defensive profile. It can effectively block Knock Off Iron Valiant, Clefable, Meowscarada, non-Earthquake Gliscor, Trick Gholdengo, and Weavile and Life Orb Deoxys-Speed with Tera.  It can also beat Hatterene, Psyshock and Stored Power, if it doesn’t Tera, or you poison it. Defensively, it's solid into mixed Enamorus, mixed Hex Dragapult, and Serperior as well. It is the best counter to Calm Mind Knock Off Clefable in the game.

Other Viable Options:

Honestly, this is all Muk can really do. You could use Tera Dark to resist Knock Off and be immune to Future Sight but Muk typically prefers the mono-poison typing anyways. Tera Grass or Dragon is probably solid to attempt to patch up the Ogerpon-Wellspring matchup, as Poison Jab does around 80% to Ogerpon, you even threaten it if it Tera Waters, just less so. In theory, you can drop one of your moves (Sleep Talk?) for Drain Punch to handle Steel Clefable better but this is super fake.

Notably, a specially defensive set with identical moves and possibly a different tera (Fairy?) would be just as efficient at stopping some Knock users like Clefable and mixed Iron Valiant, but excel more into attackers like Primarina or Enamorus. This set will severely struggle against something like Meowscarada or Weavile, however.

Weaknesses:

Muk cannot stand up to Ogerpon-Wellspring like Hydrapple can, and is reliant on Rest for recovery, although Ogerpon needs Tera to OHKO you at +2. Although you are a max defense grass resist, Rillaboom with a Choice Band still 2HKOs you with Wood Hammer.

Opposing Gliscor entirely stonewalls any progress Muk makes.
Tera Steel Clefable turns into a PP stalling war, which Muk should win, but it can make the matchup far hairier and deny Muk progress on the remainder of the opponents team. Calm Mind + Knock Clefable does beat Muk long-term if you don’t run Drain Punch.

Useful Partners:
Muk loves pairing with Gliscor as when they are paired up, you at minimum check every single user of Knock Off and deny the opponent item removal. Muk also loves being paired with Flip Turn Alomomola, as it can be difficult to rely on only rest and your low base speed to heal up sometimes.

Sample Teams:

Rest-Talk: https://pokepast.es/fc2b19e60a102da6 

Great Tusk

Amazing HP, attack, and defense alongside a solid speed stat allow Great Tusk, the current king of OU, to fit on stall as well. It is one of the few rapid spinners capable of threatening Gholdengo, and spinning on it. A solid defensive typing allows you to check Kingambit, although it will likely use Tera Fairy or Flying to beat you.

Smogdex has details on the more offensive Great Tusk sets.

Other Viable Options:
It's Great Tusk, you can throw on essentially whatever you want. Body Press over Earthquake? Sure. Give Stealth Rock to someone else so you can run Ice Spinner? Why not? Run Temper Flare to destroy Air Balloon Gholdengo? Absolutely. Taunt, and run enough speed EVs for Gliscor? For sure. Other Tera types? Naturally. Seriously, you have an immense amount of freedom to run Great Tusk how you please and it will almost surely net you success.

Personally the only Great Tusk I really enjoy running on stall teams is Temper Flare to punish greedy Air Balloon Gholdengo for attempting to spin block.

Weaknesses:
Great Tusk is forced to use Rest for recovery, or rely on Wish passing from the likes of Alomomola or Clefable.
Along with its trash special defense, Great Tusk matches up badly into most electric types, despite being a ground type.
Great Tusk also usually wants to fit more than four moves, as it can’t deal with everything with just choosing 4.
The lack of reliable recovery severely hurts, especially since there’s no room to run Rest and Sleep Talk like other pokemon.
Gholdengo can severely limit Great Tusk’s ability to spin as well.

Useful Partners:

Alomomola and Heal Bell Blissey are always useful for a pokemon that runs only Rest as recovery. Slowking-Galar also has great synergy with Great Tusk as you eat special moves aimed at it, specifically water or fairy moves which are usually special attacks, and isn't such a massive momentum drain like most stall pokemon.

Sample Teams:
Stall Tusk: https://pokepast.es/4a972a28092a7c20 

Reuniclus

Reuniclus is a Clefable wannabe. Magic Guard is an incredible ability, along with moveset options like Calm Mind and Knock Off. Reuniclus has a good matchup into Slowking-Galar, however as it can come into it, use Protect to block Future Sight, set its own Future Sight, and ignore poison from Sludge Bomb.

Other Viable Options:
Thunder, Focus Blast, and Shadow Ball are viable attacking options if opting for a more offensive spread, while dropping Knock Off.

Stored Power can also work, and Acid Armor can be run alongside it.

Adding 44 speed EVs to outspeed Toxapex’s Haze is an option,  however this can allow specific variants of Great Tusk to 2HKO you with Knock Off into Headlong Rush. And frankly, Toxapex isn’t that common on non-stall teams..
Trick can be used to donate your Sticky Barb to an unsuspecting opponent easier if desired.

Weaknesses:

Larping as a Knock Off absorber, although being weak to the move can drain Recover PP very quickly.

Far less useful utility than Clefable. Struggles to break through balance staples like Slowking-Galar.

Typically for a bulky psychic type, Hatterene dodges status and Calm Mind breaks more effectively, and Deoxys-Defense has more useful utility options.

Useful Partners:
Reuniclus is a bulk Knock Off absorber, so pair it with other absorbers, ones that help rectify Reuniclus dark weakness, such as physically bulky pokemon like Gliscor, Skarmory, Corviknight, and Tera Flying Alomomola.

Sample Teams:
Clefable LARP: https://pokepast.es/04b4418e94439b6e 

Iron Treads

Future Sight answer that has access to Knock Off, Rapid Spin, and can attempt to threaten Gholdengo with Earthquake. Functions as a bulky Rapid Spinner. Solid typing for the metagame but without access to reliably recovery it can heavily struggle sticking around throughout a game.

Other Viable Options

Stomping Tantrum can be used over EQ to drop Gholdengo (OHKOs offensive, high 70s to defensive) if it attempts to come in on Rapid Spin without an Air Balloon intact.
104 speed with a jolly nature can be used to hit 301 speed, but honestly hitting 299 speed for Glimmora with 96+ is likely enough as Great Tusk is your dad for life no matter what..

Weaknesses:
Rest. Said it before, I’ll say it again. Need I say more? It can’t run Rest and Protect on the same set either.

Like most other spinners, it lacks effective longevity and one wrong prediction in the Gholdengo matchup can ensure you never threaten spin again. Focus Blast Gholdengo in particular destroys you, as you can’t even use a good tera to resist it.

That base 70 special defense and 90 hp are also not winning any awards.

Useful Partners:
Wish passers and/or Heal Bell is almost a necessity when running Iron Treads. Also, relying on it for sole hazard removal seems quite unreliable as it doesn’t have a good matchup into most hazard setters, except Glimmora, Clefable, and Clodsire. Skarmory, Gliscor, Great Tusk, Landorus-Therian, and Ting-Lu all shut it down almost entirely, and can threaten it hard in return with strong super effective attacks. It does excel on stall teams that don’t rely on spamming Heavy-Duty Boots, however.

Sample teams:
Le elephant: https://pokepast.es/a1e2f2dbc1c583f3 

Kingambit

While Kingambit may be the most potent endgame sweeper in the tier, it also can function as a Pressure staller with very solid defenses. It also can counter most Nasty Plot Psyshock Gholdengo, due to its resistance to its STABs and immunity to Psyshock. It also has strong matchups into many hazard-stack teams, and can wall Hex Dragapult forever. This analysis will only consist of the stall-based set.

Other Viable Options:
Stealth Rock or Metal Burst can replace Rest if you want to rely on Wish passing. If running Metal Burst, run 0 speed IVs.

Foul Play can be used to stop Swords Dance from pokemon like Ogerpon-Wellspring, and all sorts of various setups, although unlike other dark STAB, you do very little to even offensive Gholdengo.

Weaknesses:

Kingambit is incredibly weak to a surprise Focus Blast or Low Kick from the likes of Gholdengo, Weavile, or Meowscarada. Granted, this is not the standard set for any of these pokemon so more often than not you will wall them.
Rest is not incredibly reliable long term.
Thunder Wave Slowking-Galar can also very easily cause your Future Sight answer to faint with a little unfortunate luck.

Useful Partners:
Wishpass Alomomola and Heal Bell Blissey as expected, then something to punish the variety of fighting moves that will be coming Kingambit’s way.

Sample Teams:
Stallgambit: https://pokepast.es/412a38a9960da08b 

Milotic

Milotic has been doing it on stall teams since adv. However, it's nowhere near as good as itself in a past life, having its Recover PP quartered over the years. Now, just a mid-tier special wall with lots of redeeming qualities. Often requiring the use of specific builds, Milotic is not a very splashable option and requires a decent amount of support to be used efficiently. However, there are lots of good specially defensive waters (and special walls in general) for use, giving Milotic loads of competition to deal with.

Other Viable Options:

Flip Turn can be used in order to function as a solid pivot, but it can be outclassed by Alomomola due to a lack of Regenerator. Rest Talk sets can be used to capitalize on Marvel Scale, but this is often a noob trap due to the amount of move slots it takes as well as the inconsistent results you get with this set. Tera Dragon can also be used to check certain Manaphy sets better, but Manaphy is quite rare and often uses Alluring Voice when it is used.

Weaknesses:

Despite being incredibly annoying for certain offense teams, Slowking-Galar is a very decent pivot into Milotic’s Scald, meaning you need to dedicate a slot to try to force in and Knock Off Slowking-Galar, such as a Clefable. Additionally, Milotic is incredibly weak to Ogerpon-Wellspring; at least Alomomola can still click Wish, all Milotic can do is click Haze and Mirror Coat. Milotic is also unable to check certain strong special attackers such as Raging Bolt.

Useful Partners:
Milotic likes pairing with Skeledirge, Skarmory, and Gliscor as a slightly less do-nothing wall than the likes of Clodsire, Calm Mind Blissey, and Ting-Lu.

Sample Teams:

Countercoat: https://pokepast.es/c96439687d86151e 

Slowking

Overshadowed by its Galarian cousin, Slowking provides a different typing and different utility in the same Regenerator package. Slowking can disrupt weather with Chilly Reception, solidifying itself as the best Choice Specs Walking Wake in sun counter in the game, excluding Tera Water Blissey. Slowking also is capable of dealing with Future Sight quite well, and even setting it itself, if desired. Slowking stands out as it can battle Taunt Heatran band for band and win. It also is unique with access to Scald and Reflect.

Other Viable Options:
Similar to its cousin, Slowking has every move under the sun, so it can run whatever choice of coverage it desires. This is usually less required due to the spamability of Scald, but it is an option, specifically if you want a move to hit Ogerpon-Wellspring or Volcanion.
Slowking can run a Calm Mind or Amnesia moveset to beat any Stored Power user without Tera while risking crit, it can also act as a late game win condition.

Weaknesses:

Slowking has major role overlap with other Regenerator pokemon, specifically Toxapex and Alomomola, along with its cousin, Slowking-Galar. Although Slowking has its own unique functions to these guys, it can be hard to justify using it over one of them.
Blocking Future Sight without Tera Steel from Slowking-Galar can also get you Sludge Bomb poisoned, which cuts into your longevity.

Useful Partners:
More regenerators like Amoongus and Toxapex pair well with Slowking. Also, put something that can beat Gholdengo and Dragapult with Slowking.

Sample Teams:

Spdef Pivot: https://pokepast.es/7865e4b4f6818f04 

Hatterene

Hatterene can be used to facilitate a whole different type of stall aimed at blocking Hazards from being set up in the first place, instead of either choosing to ignore them and the subsequent Knock Offs, or to remove them as fast as possible. A Hatterene team will opt for items like Rocky Helmet and Leftovers on almost everything else, which is the primary purpose of using Hatterene. Some pokemon are very ineffective when forced to run Heavy-Duty Boots.

Other Viable Options:
Light Screen or Reflect can be used over Calm Mind to assist blocking hazards from bulky attackers, such as Heavy Slam Ting-Lu. Hatterene overall does not usually want to stray away from this set, however. Psyshock can be used over Psychic or Psychic Noise but this is overall worse since it can’t handle Gliscor very well, although it can let you beat Slowking-Galar eventually.

Weaknesses:
Hatterene has many, many weaknesses, which leads to these teams it anchors being flawed and inconsistent. Hatterene can’t deny hazards from pokemon such as Excadrill and Samurott-Hisui, ever, and then it can be forced out or beat by common setters such as Iron Treads, Torkoal, Poison Jab Clodsire/Gliscor, Tyranitar, Sandy Shocks, and Glimmora, while pokemon like Landorus-Therian, Great Tusk, and Clefable can often brute force through Hatterene and click Stealth Rock. Hatterene teams will always run another form of removal to attempt to assist against this. Through strong play, hazards can be limited to one layer at most, or kept off entirely, in some matchups.

Slowking-Galar entirely stonewalls Hatterene at almost any level of setup, effectively denies recovery through Draining Kiss, and uses Hatterene as a free momentum tool or set up Future Sight on it. To rub salt in the wound, the pairing of Future Sight with many hazard setters can try and punish Hatterene as it needs to take Future Sight and whatever attack the setter wants to throw out, but screens can assist with this. Overall, this leaves Hatterene based teams struggling with consistency in some matchups, especially if Hatterene just dies early, sometimes you just lose. These teams can be worth using, as it allows non-HDB items on most of the team, which is a distinct advantage if hazards stay off. This leads these teams to be far harder to pilot than standard stall, but have an incredibly high skill ceiling.

Useful Partners:
Hatterene helps a whole style of bootsless stall exist. Pair Hatterene with pokemon to help against the setters it is unable to beat. Whirlpool Rocky Helmet Alomomola is great at trapping and eliminating Samurott-Hisui and Excadrill. Quagsire, Wo-Chien, hell, even Garganacl, along with other pokemon that hate hazards and being forced to run boots all can fit on Hatterne teams. Pair Hatterene with at least one other form of hazard removal, as it can’t always block them. Screen setters assist Hatterene too.

Sample Teams:

Calm Mind: https://pokepast.es/767bcaf705a138d4 

Coalossal

The bulkiest Flame Body pokemon in the game. No recovery unfortunately, but it has access to Will-O-Wisp, Rapid Spin, Stealth Rock, and Spikes. Unfortunately bad defensive typing, although it does provide value vs some opponents with its 7 resists. Many games Coalossal is tasked with burning one key threat, potentially removing hazards once, then dying.

Other Viable Options:

Temper Flare is a viable option with an Impish nature to drop Gholdengo in a different manner. A more specially defensive spread could also work to help into pokemon such as CM Iron Valiant or Clefable (although you need Heavy Slam for this), as less special threats carry ground, fighting, or water moves.

Weaknesses:

No recovery, very weak to status and Knock Off, and is a pretty bad defensive typing. Honestly, use Talonflame or Moltres 99% of the time you need a Flame Body pokemon.

Useful Partners:
Wish passers can help Coalossal a great deal.

Sample Teams:

CTC Fight Night squad:

Komala

This pokemon has completely terrible defensive stats, and unlike Talonflame or Cyclizar, it severely suffers from them. Although beyond this, it has just enough to wall pokemon such as Slowking-Galar Future Sight and heal with Wish-Protect and attempt to remove hazards with Rapid Spin and disrupt with Knock Off. This pokemon only has the tiniest niche due to Comatose denying all status.

Other Viable Options:
A different EV spread with more special defense can work, or Tera type, but Steel is by far the best type. All four of this pokemon’s moves are auto-locked. Don't even try to experiment with anything else.

Weaknesses:

Very frail, very slow, completely walled by Gliscor, very weak to Knock Off, oh what have we not heard before. It’s basically Cyclizar-Lite with a status immunity and no Regenerator. Fighting moves, Knock Off, strong neutral moves, anything capable of punishing attacks with Rocky Helmet, etc.

Useful Partners:

None. This dude is just like some standalone idiot. Something that doesn’t care about Gliscor, I guess.

Sample Teams:

Shit bear: https://pokepast.es/569a82586caaa459 (link to the RMT here)

C- Tier

Deoxys-Defense

Deoxys-Defense on paper is one of the best stall pokemon, due to reliably recovery, an insanely large and useful movepool, Pressure to PP stall, and base 160 defenses. Its movepool has so many amazing options, and it's got options to do almost everything, except directly spread status and remove hazards.

Other Viable Options:

Essentially, Deoxys-Defense can use whatever move it wants. Taunt, Teleport, Counter, Mirror Coat, Poison Jab, Imprison, Psychic Noise, Stored Power, Light Screen, Reflect, Skill Swap, Wrap, Amnesia, Iron Defense, Trick, Calm Mind, Substitute or even Pain Split. Any move can be used alongside almost any tera type.

A spread using more defense EVs over special defense is also an option.

Weaknesses:

Deoxys-Defense can only run four moves, one of which will be dedicated to recovery. It loves to slot protect for Future Sight, and this leaves it with very limited moveslots for showing off its gargantuan movepool.
Psychic is also a god-awful defensive type, and for you to get the most out of Deoxys-Defense, you are going to have to Tera to literally anything else.

Useful Partners:
Deoxys-Defense works well with Ting-Lu and Skarmory for hazard support, as it can use Knock Off for them. It pairs uniquely with Corviknight or Kingambit as a Pressure stalling core. It loves the support of Heal Bell Blissey, as if it gets Sludge Bomb poisoned, it's not the end of the world and can save its tera.

Sample Teams:
Hazard spammer: https://pokepast.es/0023b45b835db38d 

Goodra-Hisui

Goodra has a great defensive typing, a massive special defense stat, solid defense, HP, and offensive stats, and an insane  movepool for coverage and utility. The few things it lacks is reliably recovery, a consistent status option, and any way to influence the hazard game.

Other Viable Options:

Goodra-Hisui can make use of almost any attacking move in its movepool, including but not limited to: Thunderbolt, Draco Meteor/Dragon Pulse, Hydro Pump/Surf/Muddy Water, Flash Cannon/Heavy Slam, Acid Spray, Fire Blast/Flamethrower, Earthquake, and Dragon Tail. Protect can also work for Future Sight.

Notably, a set with Sludge Bomb, Ice Beam, Counter, and Knock Off can be a great Ogerpon counter as they will always attack you at +2, which you will survive to OHKO back.

More special defense can be used to still remain an effective check to Ogerpon while giving it a better matchup into something like Dragpult or Raging Bolt.

Sap Sipper and something like Tera Water or Ground can also be used, to remain a counter to Rillaboom after commiting Tera.

Weaknesses:

Encore Ogerpon-Wellspring can seriously disrupt Acid Armor Body Press sets. Gliscor and Clefable entirely wall this set, but they also can be scared of the potential for coverage moves. Knock Off seriously hurts Goodra-Hisui due to it forcing it to take hazards and relying on Rest.
Running the 4 attack set makes you basically play 5v5, as you have a Ogerpon-Wellspring counter that does almost nothing else as it has no reliable recovery. Typically this pokemon just plays to trade, and if you remove a strong wall breaker with this C tier shitter, you are definitely trading up.

Useful Partners:
Alomomola is incredible at Wishpassing to Goodra-Hisui, to the extent that even balance teams regularly would run this pairing. Dondozo loves to fit in cores with these guys, as with Sap Sipper, you don’t really mind stacking grass weak pokemon. Even without it, it'https://pokepast.es/d097cddab0da6a72s a 4 times grass resist that beats Rillaboom unless it has a fighting move, which they commonly don’t run.

Sample Teams:
Counter: https://pokepast.es/d097cddab0da6a72 

Iron Defense: https://pokepast.es/596d3bb5ad01c2e2 (outdated)

Tinkaton

Access to Pickpocket plus a resistance to Weavile and Meowscarada STAB moves allows Tinkaton to switch into a Knock Off and steal the attackers’ Heavy-Duty Boots. Useful utility moves in Stealth Rock, Knock Off, Thief, screens, and Encore. Amazing defensive typing provides some use, especially against stuff like Kyurem, but no reliable recovery and struggles to find use beyond robbing an item or two, then dying. It is very good against Ogerpon-Cornerstone, even if it decides to tera, which is relatively uncommon on stall, as it resists STABs and is neutral to fighting moves.

Other Viable Options:
Ice Hammer can be used to chunk opposing Gliscors, although it doesn’t do a lot.
Encore can be used to pivot in on a Kingambit and lock it into Swords Dance or Sucker Punch.
Thief can be used to take an item instead of knocking one off, so you can steal something else’s item as it removes the stolen item.

Weaknesses:
Frankly any team that isn’t a hazard stack structure will destroy Tinkaton. At best you set hazards once or twice or MAYBE click Knock Off against something of little value. Relying on rest or wish passing is unreliable at best, especially with middling bulk.
Something with Knock Off and a move that hurts Tinkaton a lot
Gliscor, unless they are dumb and knock while they are non-poisoned and you switch in, you cannot touch it.
Unfortunately suffering right now due to a hyper offense meta. This will pick up if the meta becomes more hazard stack based.

Useful Partners:
Teammates to reliably bait Knock Off spam help Tinkaton. Fire birds, Blissey, Dondozo, Clodsire, etc. Frankly most things on stall teams do this, so just take your pick. Hilariously, while bad, Tinkaton fits on far more teams than a lot of the pokemon this low do.
Run something that can sit on opposing Gliscor.

Sample Team: 
Pickpocket: https://pokepast.es/254404fd7f636b8f (bad team)

Regice

Regice does one thing INCREDIBLY well. It is the best Kyurem counter in the game, bar none. Its massive base 200 special defense even eclipsing Blissey allows it to handle special Kyurem without any investment, and its ice resistance and freeze immunity deny the ability to get cheesed as well. Body Press and a decent physical defense stat allow it to threaten Kyurem in return. It also naturally can take hits from many sets of Raging Bolt and Darkrai and hurt them in return with your solid base 100 special attack Ice Beams.

Other Viable Options

Thunder Wave exists and you can always be MORE annoying besides using stall.

Focus Blast is an inaccurate option to OHKO Kingambit and does more to Kyurem. Flash Cannon does the same to Kyurem and doesn’t miss.

My personal favorite option, Amnesia can be used to also wall Raging Bolt as you have 436 special defense with no investment.. I would advise running a Calm nature if opting for this, although this allows Dragapult to have a low chance to 3hko with Dragon Darts.

Weaknesses:

Sub-Protect Kyurem can actually PP stall Regice eventually, although if playing well you take most of its moves before dying. Not really a major issue since most other things can cover that.

Mid physical defense, crippling weakness to Knock Off, and its god awful ice typing relegates it to being good for very little else aside from handling Kyurem.

Useful Partners:

Most standard stall pokemon can compliment Regice as its poor typing and utility basically only allow it to do one thing well. If opting for a no-Blissey stall for some reason, Regice is not a bad choice although it can’t fill this role alone.

Sample teams:

No Kyurem here!: https://pokepast.es/97ca24f2c5507f4d 

Altaria

Can check Ogerpon-Wellspring and Heatran in one slot with Will-O-Wisp/Brave Bird and Earthquake. Access to Defog. Can also run Fire Spin + Perish Song to trap something and eliminate it. Access to Natural Cure and Roost to stay healthy. Although it has very weak offenses and mid overall bulk, especially physical, it has a very strong supportive movepool to partially make up for it.

Other Viable Options

You could run a special move over EQ/Brave Bird. It has great options like Moonblast, Draco Meteor, Ice Beam, and Flamethrower. Just has an awful 70 special attack stat (worse than Blissey), so it only does real damage with moves it hits super effectively. Notably, 16 speed EVs can be used to just creep Adamant Kingambit.
Haze and Cotton Guard can be cool and uncommon tools. Just hard to fit.
Perish Song and Fire Spin can catch opponents off guard and trap and kill something such as Gliscor or anything else bulky without a pivot move.

Weaknesses:

Ice moves, Knock Off, Play Rough Ogerpon-Wellspring, boost sweepers, middling bulk. It would be easier to name what Altaria isn’t weak to. Just know that while Altaria is not good, it's not entirely awful and it has some redeeming characteristics for some teams.

Useful Partners:

Something useful to beat Play Rough Ogerpon-Wellspring.
Knock Off absorbers, specifically good into Weavile and Meowscarada(Brave Bird is a roll to OHKO, it's that weak), as the 4x ice weakness and pitiful offensive stats can easily invite them in.

Sample teams:

Defog: https://pokepast.es/ff9c42b1ac73dce3 

Rotom-Mow

Rotom-Mow resists Ogerpon-Wellspring’s STABs, neutral to Play Rough and even Superpower/Low Kick, and isn’t just effectively killed by Knock Off, due to levitate. It also has access to Will-O-Wisp along with solid defensive stats. Unfortunately forced to rely on Rest or Pain Split for reliably recovery.

Other Viable Options:
Tera Blast Ice or Water seems decent to dunk on an unsuspecting Gliscor. I would recommend slightly more speed investment if you plan on using it. Trick can take items as well (Do not steal Gliscor’s Toxic Orb, you will regret it). Hex can be used to hit Gliscor.

Weaknesses:

I’ve said it 400 times at this point. Being forced to use Rest or Pain Split absolutely sucks. It is also entirely walled by Gliscor if not running Hex.  Notably, on Rotom, Pain Split isn’t the absolute worst move ever because of your awful base HP. This is only the silver lining though.

Useful Partners:

Wish Alomomola is a major help to an Ogerpon counter that lacks reliably recovery, similar to Wo-Chien. While you can absorb Knock Off better than most things, you would still rather not, so removal or other more resistant teammates like Gliscor or Clefable are always helpful. Talonflame or Moltres pair well with Flame Body to punish U-Turns targeted at Rotom-Mow.

Sample Teams:

Mowtom: https://pokepast.es/61f9427c222903b2 

Porygon2

Overall, not a good pokemon. However, Trace alongside a decent neutral typing and Recover gives it a unique defensive profile. Trace allows you to copy Water Absorb as you switch into Ogerpon-Wellspring. Foul Play also lets you attempt to check physical sweepers.

Other Viable Options:

Eviolite would be a much preferred item on Porygon2, although without extreme hazard removal, this is unviable. Extreme hazard removal to justify using Porygon2 is not worth it, you would much prefer using a pokemon that is actually capable of taking some games over, like leftovers Wo-Chien or Chansey.

Weaknesses:

So very many. Can’t run eviolite, so ultimately isn’t very bulky on both sides of the spectrum. Can’t reliably beat Ogerpon if the opponent plays well, or teras, then switches out. If it does this, you no longer copy Water Absorb and get absolutely dropped by +2 Ivy Cudgel.

Even in good matchups, 8 Recover PP does not last long on a pokemon like this with such middling bulk.

Knock Off also destroys it.

Useful Partners:
Knock absorbers, special walls, clerics/wish passers, hazard setters, etc. Basically everything. Porygon2 does not provide much for a team, so the rest of the team needs to be top tier pokemon capable of picking up the slack.

Sample teams:
Porygoob: https://pokepast.es/56ced5d72844fef2 

D Tier

The unofficial D tier is pokemon that are not advised for use, at least for beginners, and while they may provide some merit over previously listed pokemon but they are either too niche to achieve consistent success or require too much support to function. Even if supported, these pokemon are rarely, if ever, capable of taking over a game. These pokemon all have a major opportunity cost to using them over something better and more consistent.

Many of these pokemon are here as a meme or to answer the question, “What about X pokemon?”. They are listed in alphabetical order. Some of these pokemon may be voted on to be included in future iterations of the VR, along with the C rank, so this list will remain relatively dynamic.

The only pokemon on here with full analyses are the ones that have been ranked in the past. Reach out to knexhawk on discord if you really want one of these guys to get an analysis and maybe you’ll get lucky.

Avalugg

Immense physical bulk. Can essentially never Rapid Spin on Gholdengo as even with Earthquake or Crunch coverage, you are out-healed by Recover and OHKOed. Unfortunately, it does not have almost any relevant role to fill in a tier without Baxcalibur, and DD Kyurem being uncommon, due to its terrible defensive typing. Mirror Coat with Sturdy is incredibly funny, however.
Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/f57370e0dfc03b26 

Bastiodon 

Similar to Avalugg, Bastiodon has great tools and an incredible defense stat (and solid special defense too), but a terrible defensive typing, which will often mandate tera. Has access to Body Press, Foul Play, Stealth Rock, Scorching Sands, and other useful tools. Can wall Future Sight from Slowking-Galar with Protect. Walls some Psychic Noise Primarina with Soundproof and a fairy resistance, which is unique. Unfortunately, it's stuck using Rest.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/f2b71f47f77f498f  

Chansey

Blissey-lite. Technically viable on Hatterene or multi-removal teams, although it is almost always inferior to Leftovers Blissey. Cannot effectively use special moves like Blissey due to its base 35 special attack. The extra bulk Chansey has is almost never necessary due to Blissey rarely taking physical hits this generation and investing fully in special defense. The primary purpose is to run this alongside Blissey, which can double up on so many weaknesses.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/ec7136576094f7a5 

Chesnaught

Decent Kingambit and Ogerpon-Wellspring check, although scared of Play Rough from the latter and Tera Blast Fairy from the former. Solid physical defense, access to Leech Seed, Knock Off, Spikes, and other useful utility moves. Immunity to Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, and Focus Blast, thanks to Bulletproof. Unfortunately, very mediocre special defense, and it can only fit 4 moves, which leaves it

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/0767882c698ef17e (outdated)

Drifblim

Best Ursaluna counter in the game hands down. Capable of walling all sets outside of Trick Room, and STAB immunity in Trick Room. Has Strength Sap and Haze to always deny Ursaluna setup. Access to Defog and a STAB Shadow Ball or Hex to scare Gholdengo. Will-O-Wisp to spread status. Capable of spin blocking on Great Tusk, although Knock Off stings and removes your boots, and Ice Spinner hurts. Unfortunately, it can't fit all the utility it wants in 4 moves.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/22be84f33167b901 (outdated)

Gastrodon

Gastrodon is another user of Sticky Hold, however it has worse typing and stats for using this. It has reliable recovery, some unique utility options, and some solid coverage to try and make up for this. Counter Sticky Hold and a decent enough special defense stat to stomach a Scarf Gholdengo Shadow Ball allows it to stand out over Muk or Hydrapple.

Other Viable Options:
Other attacking moves such as Surf, Ice Beam, Sludge Bomb, Earth Power, and Earthquake are viable, and are good for Heatran and dragons, although you are weak and immediately threaten very little.
Sludge Bomb in particular is a ghetto way to attempt to spread poison like your gen 8 set loved to do so much.

Weaknesses:

Look at the set. This is the only way to transform Gastrodon from a passive blob with weak attacks to a pokemon capable of beating users of Knock Off, and not getting purely pp stalled. You are weak to most special moves, rely on accurate predictions, and are deathly afraid of grass moves. Even in good matchups, it is very easy to get PP stalled out of Recovers and just die. Frankly, this should be D tier, but the concept of Sticky Hold has everyone excited, especially with the semi-recent discovery of should-be-shitmon, Muk, being actually decent.

Without a ground move, Heatran beats you, without Clear Smog, you die to every setup sweeper in the game, and without hazards, you make zero real progress beyond Counter fishing. However, Counter can take out a terrifying threat from the enemy team semi-consistently, and Gastrodon is the best user of using Counter against many Knock Off spammers.

Overall, Gastrodon is very scarcely worth using over even Quagsire as a defensive water/ground, or a better Sticky Hold user like Hydrapple or Muk.

Useful Partners:
Gastrodon has incredible defensive synergy with Skarmory and Corviknight, and it loves the support from a dark resist for if a Knock Off user gets out of hand. Run a grass resist, as you will be inviting Rillaboom in time and time again.

Sample Teams:
Counter: https://pokepast.es/38494ebe59522cb6 (very outdated)

Hawlucha

Can use Defog on Gholdengo and check (I say this very loosely) Kingambit, Samurott-Hisui, and Great Tusk. Access to Encore with a solid speed stat and reliable recovery with roost. Incredibly weak and very frail, even frailer than Talonflame and Cyclizar. Almost every non-resisted move will OHKO or 2HKO you. Rocky Helmet can make you less passive, and Covert Cloak allows you to beat Razor Shell Samurott-Hisui. Almost entirely outclassed by Talonflame and Weezing-Galar.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/9f6507bb96aff7f8 (outdated)

Hippowdon

Sand Stream can be a mixed bag, but mostly outclassed by Ting-Lu. Only things that make it stand out from Ting-Lu are Curse, Ice Fang, and Scorching Sands, along with reliable recovery in Slack Off. Typically, sand is bad for stall this generation, as less things are holding leftovers, it will cause permanent chip damage to pokemon like Blissey and Dondozo. It also has Body Press which is a roll to OHKO offensive gambit with its great physical bulk it can handle the demon, or force it to tera and take sand damage.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/8941a7fe9f59835b 

Orthworm

Another incredible Ursaluna counter, this time capable of setting Stealth Rock or Spikes up, and using Iron Defense Body Press, or Coil Iron Tail. Forced to use Rest for reliable recovery, and mostly outclassed by Skarmory or Corviknight. Technically can run Metal Burst to make it stand out from these birds, and nab a surprise KO, although this is essentially a gimmick. Sand Tomb can be funny to trap something and wear it down.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/15ff8b28f994fd23 

Pawmot

Revival Blessing the pokemon. Used to be used on that one semi-stall team with sub-icicle spear Kyurem, so you can sack your Cressellia numerous times to restore its PP. Very, very frail, mostly bad typing, inability to run more than one move (usually Knock Off), due to requiring Rest and Sleep Talk. If it dies, the whole PP stall potential is entirely gone. So don’t sack it. But you need it to take damage to click Rest. Very inconsistent but can be legit.

Other Viable Options:

You can run an offensive set but then it isn’t stall. No real other defensive utility. More speed is an option if you want to outrun base 100s. Less or more speed can be used, maybe outrun the likes of Garchomp or run less for Great Tusk or Landorus. Frankly it doesn’t matter much.

Weaknesses:

Very, Very, Very frail, and relies heavily on Sleep Talk rolls. You almost want to be asleep constantly to even have the chance to fish for it.

Useful Partners:
I don’t know man this guy sucks. I’d advise against using this guy on stall. Even most of the time bringing one of your pieces back on 50% health just isn’t worth it.

Sample teams:
Revival Blessing: https://pokepast.es/7baefe1c1c69b4ec 

Sableye

Capable of blocking Rapid Spin and Future Sight. Prankster Will-O-Wisp and access to Recover. Very frail, and cannot inflict burn in dark types. Very weak to all status. Has access to Encore and Taunt for disruption as well. It's also the only ghost type not weak to dark, although it might as well be since it can’t do anything to them bar clicking Knock Off for 5%.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/0767882c698ef17e (outdated)

Scream Tail

Scream Tail is incredibly passive, but with a great natural speed and defensive stats, along with the solid typing of Psychic/Fairy and access to Wish it can be a useful defensive piece. Has some useful utility in Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, Encore, Noble Roar, and Psychic Noise, Amnesia, along with some other niche options. Can be incredibly passive however outside of setting Stealth Rocks or burn fishing with Flamethrower, and in most scenarios it is just a worse Clefable, but its speed and access to Psychic Noise give it a unique role Clefable cannot fill. It also has the unique role of being incredibly useful into something like a booster special attack Walking Wake on sun with Tera Water due to its shared Protosynthesis Ability.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/bce9271a68e91a39 

Swalot

This is Muk from China. Slightly less bulk, and far lower attack, but access to unique moves like Body Press, Gastro Acid, and Encore. In theory it can be used over Muk, however, special threats will be far scarier. Notably hits far weaker, almost to the point it probably isn’t worth using poison STAB and just slotting Toxic if anything. Has a very funny pun with its name and Muk’s name which is very much worth noting.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/c15577ecf46a066c 

Trevenant

Ghetto Sinistcha, but it has access to some useful tools Sinistcha doesn’t. Will-O-Wisp and Knock Off are as always amazing but that isn’t what makes Trevenant have a use case. Trevenant’s Natural Cure allows it to rest to full HP and switch out to immediately be woken up, but it can also be skill swapped to an opposing Gliscor with its Toxic Orb removed, and when that Gliscor switches out, it will have its poison removed.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/40b7fbd5e72c2f3a (bad team)

Vileplume

Ghetto Amoonguss. It has the nuts move Strength Sap and a high special attack, along with being able to handle Ogerpon. Effect Spore gives you the chance to cheese for status effects. 99% of the time this is an inferior Amoonguss. However, the one set I think may be able to actually do something is Strength Sap, Moonlight, Synthesis, Sludge Bomb. Literally just sit there and click recovery moves forever and PP stall Ogerpon and status fish.

Sample Team: https://pokepast.es/c3f45cf71cdfdef1 

F Tier

Please stop suggesting these pokemon. They serve effectively no niche, and the niche they attempt to fill is taken by far better and more consistent pokemon. Maybe future meta developments can give them a chance but these are just outright terrible on STALL (it does not mean they are all bad pokemon overall, although many are). Just because a pokemon is bulky or has recovery does not mean it is good on stall. They are in no particular order.

• Avalugg-Hisui
• Cryogonal
• Ditto
• Fezandipiti
• Garchomp
• Goodra (regular)
• Klawf
• Latias
• Muk-Alola
• Palossand
• Pelipper
• Registeel
• Shaymin
• Suicune
• Slowbro
• Zapdos

So far the list of pokemon that have moved out of F tier are as follows:

• Pecharunt
• Regice
• Scream Tail