XY/ORAS Singles Crushed by Stalls!

[Silver-Solis]

So, recently I have been experiencing more losses. It tends to come from stall Pokemon (Such as the Whirlwind Skarmory) I would expect my Talonflame to be able to take care of this with flare blitz, but for some reason, they are surviving with just a bit of health, and it just cracks me open from there. The only time I actually manage to take care of this is when my Sceptile is switched in, which I go for a Dragon Pulse. Gliscors are also causing me a bit of trouble if they are specially defensive. They get the Poison off and it goes down hill for me there, seems how my sceptile-mega is glass. Is there any way to fix this without changing my team?

Silver's Feraligatr (Feraligatr) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Ice Punch


大蜥蜴 (Great Lizard) (Sceptile-Mega) (M) @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Acrobatics


Violet (Florges) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Aromatherapy
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Synthesis


Raptor (Talonflame) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird
- Aerial Ace
- U-turn


鑽頭 (Drilla) (Excadrill) (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor
- Drill Run


穗種子 (Spike Seed) (Ferrothorn) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 128 HP / 128 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Seed Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball


(Resources Used:http://www.teammagma.net/teambuilder/ (Pokémon X/Y/ORAS Team Builder - Team Magma)
http://sweepercalc.com/swc/ (SweeperCalc - A Generation VI Pokemon Damage Calculator)
pokemonshowdown.com/
www.smogon.com/ )

 

[Shiny Motley]

I can tell you that right off the bat, Talonflame has no reason to be Naive if you're not going for special moves. Just stick with Jolly. On the same vein, Aerial Ace is not the best move for the burd as it's relatively weak; if survivability is a problem, you could go with Roost. Will-O-Wisp, Bulk Up, Swords Dance, and Taunt are also good moves you can consider.

Most of your Pokemon are Physical in nature, with Sceptile and Florges being the only exception. This lets you be walled by physical attackers pretty well; just something to think about.

Speaking of Florges, Calm Mind is a greatmove, but for your team I might suggest Wish and replace Synthesis with Protect. This does leave Florges to be set-up bait and stuff, but it also increases survivability of your other 'mons. Could also look at other wish-passing 'mons with higher HP, if that floats your boat (its abilities are also sub-par, especially for singles, so I'd suggest looking at other potential special walls to fill its place).

I need to go to class now but those are my two cents, for now.

 

[Silver-Solis]

Oh, I Knew I made a copy error in here back when I first created this team, I just couldn't find where. So an Adamant or Jolly nature would work alot better. I run Talonflame as a suicide attacker, so moves that don't deal damage are not the greatest for it. Possibly steel wing for Aerial ace, for a bit more fairy coverage I'm lacking even though it isn't the greatest power. Also, I sometimes use wish Instead of synthesis, just posted the un-varianted version of the team. Protect on the other hand I have tried, but it doesn't work the greatest. It's much better to heal, mainly because it can take most of the damage and heal extra rather than taking nothing at all. Protect just doesn't work as well.

 

[KoL]

I'll just bullet point the basic things:

- Feraligatr is fine.

- Acrobatics on a Mega is a complete waste and not having Leaf Storm on a purely offensive Sceptile is also a complete waste. For a more stall-breaker set, Substitute + Leech Seed + two attacks is the best idea. Or just use Contrary Serperior instead since you can't stall that.

- Protect on Wish Florges is not meant to just prevent a turn of damage, it's there to prevent you from getting hit during Wish's delay if you can't afford to get hit again before the heal drops. Also, being able to heal team-mates with Wish will help against teams trying to stall you out.

- What Shiny said about Talonflame is fine. Brave Bird is by far the best STAB for Talonflame, although Acrobatics + an item that doesn't stick around works too. Don't use Steel Wing, it's awful.

- Excadrill's set is bad. You don't need both Drill Run and Earthquake, and Drill Run's imperfect accuracy makes it junk compared to Earthquake anyway. Rock Slide is crucial to avoid being walled forever by anything with Flying in its type. Swords Dance on Excadrill can prevent people stalling it forever, but without Sand Rush it's not really quick enough to pull off a proper sweep. Also why does it have a Sitrus Berry?

- Ferrothorn is OK, although a more offense-oriented Stealth Rocker can ease the stall issue.

As for beating stall teams, there's a good list of things that can help shut them down. Bulky stat-boosters that can heal themselves are by far the best things, especially if your opponent has no safe way of removing them from the board. Skarmory won't be able to safely Whirlwind away a Mega Charizard X after a Dragon Dance for example due to Flare Blitz, and Mega Sableye can't be hit with Whirlwind at all thanks to Magic Bounce while it Calm Minds away. Fast Pokemon with Taunt can shut down the status and recovery moves you're likely to see, Substitute can prevent status moves from hitting you while you do whatever you want as well. Status moves of your own, such as Toxic and any sleep move, can really help too if the opponent can't remove these status effects. Finally, any mixed attackers like Infernape and Mega Garchomp can catch more specialized defenders by surprise by hitting their weaker defensive stat, and if you can KO one Pokemon on a full-stall team you've gone a long way in breaking their defensive core already, and the rest will drop a lot easier.

 

[Silver-Solis]

Some moves on this team are not the greatest, I understood that when I made it because most of the Pokemon on this team don't have the greatest move pool.

Sub out Acrobatics for Leafstorm?

Taunt on Talonflame can beat out stalls too, fact is just I have to predict them... Though again, I run Suicide/Revenge Talonflame, so taunt wont be the greatest, but it might solve this problem. I will test it out this weekend for results

So on Ferro thorn, say around 40 EV out of DEF to ATK?

Rockslide instead of Drill Run, how did I forget Excadrill learns this. (dye gliscor, even if I don't out speed you) As for the Sitrus berry, I couldn't think of any Items to use. So I just popped that on and hoped for the best. I have been meaning to give it an other item, I just couldn't think of what. It did have a choice scarf at one point, but it just didn't work out so well.
(Note on my Alternate, I run Mega-Absol Instead of Florges and the Hydra Himself instead of Sceptile. Sword dance baton pass Absol)

 

[Shiny Motley]

Protect on Wish Florges is not meant to just prevent a turn of damage, it's there to prevent you from getting hit during Wish's delay if you can't afford to get hit again before the heal drops.

Also like to add that I like using Protect to scout out what moves my opponent might have, in case I get caught off-guard. Wish+Protect is a bit of a game of prediction that might take some time to perfect, but it's pretty well worth it if you can pull it off well.

Rockslide instead of Drill Run, how did I forget Excadrill learns this. (dye gliscor, even if I don't out speed you)

Gliscor's part ground, so unfortunately Rock Slide isn't super effective against it. I'd also throw in Iron Head as a suggestion because STAB, but it's not entirely necessary. As for the item, I know some people use Air Balloon; I could suggest a Band or a Life Orb, possibly.

Also, fairly certain what KoL meant re: Ferrothorn wasn't that Ferrothorn should have some EVs in attack, but that you could use a more offensive-oriented Pokemon that can set up rocks.

And... don't use Mega Absol+Serperior if you plan to replace Florges and Mega Sceptile with them. Then 5/6 of your team will be physically oriented. Have fun with those physical walls.

 

[Silver-Solis]

On a completely unrelated note on my team, would a Gen VII Mantine work out well? Due to the +20 SPD and getting roost, I was feeling a Toxic, roost, Scald, and Calm Mind/Aqua Ring with a left overs

EDIT EDITrobably air balloon on Drilla

 

[KoL]

On a completely unrelated note on my team, would a Gen VII Mantine work out well? Due to the +20 SPD and getting roost, I was feeling a Toxic, roost, Scald, and Calm Mind/Aqua Ring with a left overs

Even if it did work, there's at least 10 other Water-types who can do this better.