The 10 Best Pokemon To Use As Stallers | Game Rant
Most Pokémon battles revolve around hitting hard and hitting fast until your opponent drops. That's not the only way to play, though. There's a secondary method of play popular in competitive battling - stalling. This is an indirect playstyle that focuses on heavily defensive Pokémon and wearing down opponents gradually.
Staller Pokémon typically have high defense, a way of healing themselves, and a good selection of passive support moves. It might not sound like the most exciting way to battle, but there's a surprising amount of good Pokémon. Each has its own unique way of grinding down its enemies until they go down.
10 Whimsicott
One of the most underrated stalling Pokémon. Whimsicott can have the ability Prankster, which makes status moves take priority and go first regardless of Speed checks. The combination of Substitute, Leech Seed, and Encore make it extremely annoying and hard to take down. A well-timed Encore can even out-stall other stallers by preventing them from recovering health.
Running Whimsicott can be difficult. Leech Seed has no effect against other Grass-types. It also has low HP compared to others on this list, so once its Substitute goes down, it won't last much longer.
9 Hippowdon
Hippowdon is a pretty standard bulky Pokémon. It has high HP and Defense, a good healing move in Slack Off, and can learn a variety of good support moves. One thing sets it apart from the rest: Sand Stream. This ability kicks up a sandstorm whenever Hippowdon switches in. Combined with Toxic, Hippowdon grinds down opponents at a fast rate.
Sandstorm is a double-edged sword. It'll do damage to your own Pokémon if Hippowdon is switched out. It's also a very passive Pokémon, and isn't great at taking down opponents by itself.
8 Snorlax
Snorlax has been a fixture of competitive play for a long time. It isn't as popular as it once was, but it shouldn't be skipped over. Snorlax has a gigantic HP stat combined with great Attack and Special Defense. One of the most common strategies for Snorlax is using Curse. Curse will cut Snorlax's Speed in exchange for boosting Attack and Defense. Since Snorlax is already very slow, decreasing Speed further won't hurt it too much.
Rest and the Thick Fat ability increase Snorlax's survivability even more. As a Normal-type with rather low Defense, it's a sitting duck for Fighting-type Pokémon. It can also have trouble with Ghost-types and being Burned or Poisoned.
7 Ferrothorn
There was once a time when Ferrothorn ruled the Pokémon metagame. It's no longer the Pokémon to beat, but it's still very popular. Steel/Grass is a good defensive typing, and Ferrothorn can use Leech Seed to keep itself alive. The ability Iron Barbs and hazard moves like Spikes chip down its opponents slowly but surely.
Speed is Ferrothorn's worst stat. Most opponents will be one step ahead of it. It also has a glaring weakness against Fire-type attacks. Trainers who use Ferrothorn should be very aware of their opponent's team setup.
6 Quagsire
Quagsire has access to the ability Unaware. That means it ignores opponents' Attack boosts when it takes damage. Switching in Quagsire is a great way to ruin a sweeper's day, making those three turns of Swords Dance they just did useless. It has decent Defensive stats and HP, and can also use Recover to restore its health. With moves like Earthquake and Scald, it can deal some damage as well.
Like Ferrothorn, Quagsire's typing gives it a huge weakness to Grass-type attacks. Its Special Defense is also somewhat lackluster for a wall.
5 Chansey
Ever since the first games, Chansey has been one of the most effective tanks. Its HP is monstrous, and it has great Special Defense to boot. Chansey also has access to useful healing moves like Heal Bell and Soft-Boiled. Taking a Chansey down can be incredibly difficult. It also can use stall team staples like Toxic and Stealth Rock to dish out some damage.
Why Chansey and not its evolution Blissey? As a not-fully-evolved Pokémon, Chansey can use Eviolite, boosting its Defense even higher than Blissey. Blissey doesn't have access to any particularly useful moves that Chansey doesn't.
4 Aegislash
Aegislash was once so powerful that Smogon banned it from most tiers of competitive play. The ban has since been lifted, but Aegislash is still a powerful and versatile Pokémon. When in the Shield Forme, it has great defenses. It can attack with Shadow Ball or Gyro Ball before switching back to defense mode with its signature move, King's Shield.
One option is running Aegislash with Toxic and Substitute. This will make it extremely annoying to hit while it whittles down its opponent. However, this set means missing out on its powerful attacks.
3 Clefable
Clefable can have two of the best abilities in the game. Unaware, which was already touched on with Quagsire, and Magic Guard. Clefable can be a fantastic medic/wall hybrid with moves like Heal Bell and Wish. It can also be a decent damage dealer with Moonblast and other special attacks. Trainers that love status moves can give it Thunder Wave or Toxic.
Clefable has a wide selection of moves, but it can't counter everyone. It should be especially wary of Steel-type attacks. Physical attacks in general give it a bit more trouble than Special ones.
2 Skarmory
For a very long time, Skarmory was the first Pokémon trainers thought of when it came to stallers. Steel/Flying is a great type that resists most attacks and has no 4x weaknesses. Skarmory also has access to Spikes, Stealth Rock, and a recovery move in Roost. Tie it all together with good Defense and you have a staple of many a team.
There's one issue with Skarmory - it has a hard time dealing damage. Its Attack stats are not great, and it can't use very many offensive moves that work with a staller strategy. Some trainers run Skarmory without any attacking moves at all - but that's a risky game to play.
1 Toxapex
If Skarmory is no longer the number one staller, then who is? It's Toxapex. Toxapex checks all of the boxes needed to make the ideal staller. It resists many move types, has amazing Defense and Special Defense, and can use a huge variety of support moves. Best of all, it can have Regenerator, one of the most powerful abilities in the game. When switching out, it'll regenerate up to a third of its HP.
Toxapex is incredibly strong, but it has its weaknesses like any other. Ground-types are immune to its Poison attacks. It needs to be especially careful of Taunt - without its various status moves, Toxapex is essentially useless.
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