MostPokemonbattles revolve around hitting hard and hitting fast until your opponent drops. That’s not the only way to play, though. There’s a secondarymethod of play popular in competitive battling- stalling. This is an indirect playstyle that focuses on heavily defensive Pokemon and wearing down opponents gradually.
The best stall Pokemon 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 Pokemon. Each has its own unique way of grinding down its enemies until they go down.
Updated July 06, 2025, by Hamza Haq:Stalling is one of the most annoying tactics in competitive Pokemon battling, but its effectiveness for securing wins is undeniable. Pokemon that excel at stalling typically need an ability to complement this playstyle, decent defensive stats, and good defensive typing, preferably a combination of all three. With new generations of Pokemon being introduced every day, it’s hard to keep track of the current meta and who thebest Pokemon for stallingare.
17Tentacruel
Generation 1
With average Attack and Special Attack, Tentacruel’s offensive capabilities aren’t going to scare many trainers off. But if used right, it can make for a solid staller.
Its 120 Special Defense really compensates for the 65 base Defense. Trainers should prioritizeinvesting EV’s into Tentacruel’s speed, as well as its HP and bulking up its Defense. Moves like Rapid Spin, Protect and Toxic Spikes, coupled with Black Sludge as its held Item make Tentacruel a fun stalking option for any party.
16Gliscor
Generation 4
Gliscor might not seem like a natural staller, but trainers can definitely pull it off. With 125 Defense and 95 Speed to go alongside 95 Attack, Gliscor can take on a much more active role in battle.
Its Poison Heal ability,coupled with a Toxic Orbmake for a surefire way to raise its HP. Gliscor’s Special Defense stat is still a little too low, so putting EVs into that as well as its HP would be beneficial. Teaching it Roost, Swords Dance and Venoshock can let Gliscor serve as a secondary sweeper as well.
15Comfey
Generation 7
It might not look the part, but Comfey is one of the tougher Pokemon on this list. The little Fairy-type has great base stats, with the exception of its low HP and Attack. High Defense and Special Defense make Comfey a durable option in battle.
Its 100 Speed and 82 Special Attack allow trainers the versatility to use Comfey in a more attack-heavy role.Giving it a Rocky Helmetand teaching it Protect, Draining Kiss and U-Turn would really help round out its role.
14Milotic
Generation 3
With its only real weakness being its base Attack, Mioltic would be a great stall Pokemon on most teams. High HP and Special Defense help balance out its average Defense, and its high Special Attack give trainers plenty of options.
Give Miotic leftovers and teach it Rest to take advantage of its Marvel Scale ability. Be sure to add Protect and Hydro Pump to its moveset as well.
13Clawitzer
Generation 6
Solid Defense and Special Defense stats give Clawitzer a fighting chance in most battles. Subpar Speed likely means that trainers won’t be able to take advantage of Clawitzer’s 120 Special Attack as often as they’d like.
Clawitzer’s Mega Launcher ability allows it to take advantage of some useful moves in its learnset. Aura Sphere’s power gets a 50% boost because of it, and trainers can use a combination of Protect and Heal Pulse to keep Clawitzer in the fight. Heal Pulse’s effectiveness increases from ½ HP restored to ¾ with the Mega Launcher ability.
12Amoongus
Generation 5
A Grass/Poison Pokemon, Amoongus has an extremely defensive typing, one that makes it resistant to Water, Electric, Grass, Fighting, and Fairy, all extremely common offensive typings that are often a part of a competitive team. It also has balanced bulk (114 HP, 70 Def, 80 Sp. Def), which ensures that it doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses for the enemy to take advantage of.
But the reason it’s one of the best Pokemon to use a Staller is its hidden ability, Regenerator, which allows it to recover ⅓ of its maximum HP when switched out. This allows Amoongus to come in,tank a couple of moves, and switch out with basically full health. Its best move is Spore, which is one of the only ways to inflict the Sleep status with a 100 accuracy. While this move doesn’t work on Grass types, that’s a small price to pay to cover every other type.
11Quagsire
Generation 2
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.
Unfortunately, Quagsire’s typing gives it a huge weakness to Grass-type attacks. Its Special Defense is also somewhat lackluster for a wall.
10Whimsicott
One ofthe most underratedstalling Pokemon. 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.
9Hippowdon
Hippowdon is a pretty standard bulky Pokemon. 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 Pokemon if Hippowdon is switched out. It’s also a very passive Pokemon, and isn’t great at taking down opponents by itself.
8Snorlax
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 agigantic HP statcombined 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 Pokemon. It can also have trouble with Ghost-types and being Burned or Poisoned.
