What it does
Stamina raises Defense by one stage every time the holder is hit by a move. Physical or special, direct or spread — as long as it lands, Defense goes up. No move cost, no item slot, no turn investment.
The numbers stack fast. One stage is ×1.5 Defense, two stages is ×2.0, three is ×2.5. Take Mudsdale with base 100 Defense — at Lv50, that's roughly 167 physical Defense with full investment. After one hit: effective 250. After two: 333. After three: 417. At that point, non-super-effective physical moves simply stop threatening it.
One thing to know: Stamina responds to both physical and special hits but only raises Defense, not Special Defense. A savvy opponent will pivot to special moves once they notice the stack climbing — so you need coverage on that side of the matchup, whether through teammates or EVs.
In doubles, spread moves trigger Stamina once per hit, not once per move. If an opponent uses Rock Slide and both hits land, your Stamina Pokémon picks up one Defense stage. An Earthquake hitting two Pokémon will still only give your Stamina holder the single trigger from its own hit.
Who runs it
Archaludon carries Stamina at roughly 77% usage. Its Steel/Dragon typing gives broad resistances — Poison immunity, resisting Grass, Flying, Normal, Dragon, Electric — which gives the ability more chances to stack before anything threatens a KO. It typically runs Electro Shot plus Flash Cannon, and Stamina provides the staying power to absorb a hit during Electro Shot's charge turn without panicking.
Mudsdale leans into pure physical tanking at around 38% usage. Base 100 Defense means stacking starts from a solid floor. In matchups with no super-effective coverage, it can reach Defense levels that make physical attackers completely irrelevant. The threat is simple: either the opponent burns resources to KO it fast, or High Horsepower keeps punishing them while the Defense piles up.
How to use it
The most important thing with Stamina: put your Pokémon somewhere it actually gets hit. That sounds obvious, but in practice it's easy to let the opponent focus elsewhere while your Stamina holder sits at base Defense all game.
Follow Me or Rage Powder on a partner is the textbook amplifier — funnel all attacks into the Stamina holder, let Defense stack every turn. By the time the opponent realizes how high it's climbed, they've already burned too many attacks into it.
Once Defense stacks high enough, you start forcing decisions. Physical attackers on the other side can't break through, but they can't ignore the Stamina holder either — it still threatens damage or pressure. That split-attention effect is the real payoff.
Tips & strategy
Stamina stacks cleanly with Intimidate from a teammate. Intimidate cuts the opponent's Attack, Stamina raises Defense — between the two, physical damage output gets suppressed from both sides. If your team already runs an Intimidate user, your Stamina Pokémon gets more chances to stack before anything close to threatening.
For held items: Assault Vest covers the Special Defense gap and lets Stamina handle the physical side entirely on its own. Rocky Helmet is worth considering if the opponent is relying on contact moves — every trigger that stacks Defense also deals back chip, which adds up over several turns.
The core value of a Stamina Pokémon isn't always the final Defense number it hits. If it forces two or three attacks out of the opponent's plan just to keep it in check, it's already done its job.