Doduo (Analysis)

bugmaniacbob · Sep 3, 2009

Status: Done; awaiting grammar checks, critiques, etc.

Apologies for not getting this up sooner, my internet was kaput for the last week owing to my clumsiness... still, don't cry over spilt milk.

Initial Changes:

Wrote Mixed LO, Choice and Flail set descriptions
Wrote Team Options
Wrote Other Options, EVs, Opinion, and Counters sections

Stamps:

(Heysup)

(Kannon)

(Fizz)

(Zystral)

(Snorlaxe)

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/doduo
------------------------------------------------------------------

[Overview]

Doduo can perform very well at what it does, being the proud owner of the standard combination of moves granted by both of its types, a useful priority move, and the ability to simply stomp its way through weakened teams with whatever it happens to be running. Sadly for Doduo, its usage is hampered slightly by the presence of Taillow, who can run almost identical movesets but has greater Speed (which in Little Cup can make or break a sweeper), as well as Guts and Facade to compensate for Doduo's slightly higher Attack. Despite the competition, Doduo is undeniably an excellent Pokemon in Little Cup, and is not overshadowed by any means; Doduo's higher Attack and slightly better overall defenses, the ability to use Liechi Berry, Flail, and Roost, as well as freedom from self-inflicted status damage, gives it advantages over Taillow in many situations. Underestimate it at your own peril.

[SET]
name: Mixed Life Orb
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Grass
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 240 Atk / 240 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Doduo boasts decent Speed and Attack, useful STAB moves, and decent coverage, allowing it to function as a fast, physical sweeper. This variant of Doduo aims to sweep, clearing up weakened teams late-game with its powerful STAB moves, while relying on priority to prevent revenge kills by faster foes. Return is the standard Normal-type STAB move, and is a good one at that: with reasonable power, perfect accuracy, and no recoil effects, you will find Doduo using it more than any of its other moves, not only because it has a great deal of neutral coverage, but also because it is Doduo's most reliable attack. Double-Edge is a more powerful but also more risky alternative to Return; it can make the difference between an OHKO and a 2HKO, but lacks Return's long-term reliability. However, it is illegal alongside Brave Bird, and as Brave Bird does not have as reliable an alternative as Double-Edge has, it is usually the more worthwhile investment. For a secondary STAB option, Brave Bird is Doduo's most powerful choice, and as mentioned previously there are few worthwhile alternatives. Pluck is one, allowing you to steal Oran Berries from walls such as Bronzor and Gligar that come in to make your life difficult. While not as powerful as Brave Bird, it can make your life much easier should you happen to catch them on the switch, not only preventing them from healing, but also healing Doduo in the process.

Quick Attack allows Doduo to escape the priority death trap from Pokemon such as Croagunk and Machop that may try to bait Doduo into using Brave Bird, and also allows for an assured end to weakened foes that may be carrying priority. STAB Quick Attack from Doduo can really hurt, and can allow Doduo to act as a fairly good revenge killer. Doduo shares the pain of many Normal / Flying Pokemon in that the Steel- and Rock-types that inhabit Little Cup really make its life a trial, since they resist both of its STAB moves while being naturally very defensive, and Doduo has barely anything to hit back at them with. However, given the low Special Defense of most of the Rock-types in Little Cup, Hidden Power Fighting, even off Doduo's pathetic Special Attack stat, does a lot of damage to many of them, most importantly Aron, who 4x resists both of Doduo's STAB moves. Aron is OHKOed and other Pokemon, such as Onix and offensive Rhyhorn, are 2HKOed. On the other hand, Hidden Power Grass OHKOes Onix and Rhydon, as well as almost always OHKOing Omanyte and Kabuto, though it does not do as much to Aron. Hidden Power Ice is also an option if you are worried about Gligar, OHKOing offensive variants and almost always doing the same to defensive ones.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EVs and nature are incredibly straightforward, with simple sweeper EVs for maximum effectiveness at its job, and a defense-lowering nature to avoid spoiling the power of Hidden Power Fighting. Naughty grants greater attacking power, but Naive grants greater Speed, which can make the difference between death and survival, though the choice is really up to personal preference. Ordinarily, 236 EVs would be sufficient to maximize both Attack and Speed on Doduo; however, due to the lowered IVs from using Hidden Power, 240 EVs are given in each stat to ensure that, whatever Hidden Power you decide to use, Doduo's Attack and Speed are always maximized.

Stealth Rock, despite being resisted by most of Doduo's counters, is as useful as ever to break the common Focus Sashes seen around Little Cup. Doduo is frail even without a defense-lowering nature, and taking into account Stealth Rock damage, Life Orb damage, and Brave Bird recoil, Doduo will not be surviving for long against a team that can potentially hit back. Rapid Spin support can help salvage some bulk, allowing Doduo to come in unscathed, and thus giving it more of a lifeline to hang on should it be struck by a weaker attack or require extra turns of Life Orb recoil in which to do damage. This cannot disguise the fact that Doduo is very prone to revenge killing, particularly from Pokemon such as Scarf Gastly or Scarf Cranidos, both of whom do not mind Quick Attack. You should make sure that you can deal with these threats to Doduo, as being unable to do so is often fatal to both Doduo and your team. As for what Doduo cannot take down through sheer force, Pokemon that resist its STAB moves are the main culprits, in particular those Rock- and Steel-types that do not mind Hidden Power Fighting. Bronzor is the best check around, and Doduo does not like being on the receiving end of a Hidden Power Ice or Psychic. To deal with it, you should take advantage of its sole weakness, Fire-type moves; Houndour beats Bronzor that lack Earthquake. Krabby can take any of its attacks and reply in kind with STAB Crabhammer, as well as easily taking on the Rock-types that also plague Doduo. In the case of Magnemite, Diglett can trap and easily OHKO assuming it does not use Magnet Rise on the switch.

[SET]
name: 3 Attacks + Roost
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Roost
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe
ivs: 29 HP

[SET COMMENTS]

While Roost may seem like a waste of a moveslot on Doduo given its lack of bulk, running Roost comes with a lot of bonuses to Doduo that more than make up for the lost coverage. It is an extremely useful move in the right circumstances, as Doduo often accumulates a very large amount of residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock, Life Orb, and recoil from Brave Bird or Double-Edge. Furthermore, Roost removes Doduo's unfortunate weaknesses to Rock-, Electric-, and Ice-type moves, and provides it with a non-damaging move to avoid Sucker Punch. For the other three moves, Brave Bird and Double-Edge are very powerful and their recoil effect is negated by Roost, as previously mentioned, although since you can only use one of them as they are illegal together, Pluck and Return are still perfectly viable options.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EV spread is the standard max Attack and Speed. The choice of an Adamant or Jolly nature is entirely up to whether you feel the need for more Speed or more Attack. Lastly, if you decide to run a 29 HP IV, Doduo reaches 19 HP, which means that Life Orb will only deduct 1 HP per attack. However, this loss in HP can be critical against Bronzor that invest in Special Attack as well as for taking other neutral hits.

The most obvious benefit of Roost is negating the residual damage built up on Doduo. While healing with Roost wastes a turn, it allows Doduo to remain a force for much longer in the battle. While it may seem optimistic to the point of foolishness to try to heal a weakened Doduo at any point, it should be noted that Doduo's presence will often force the opponent to switch, usually to a Pokemon such as Bronzor, whom Doduo can do very little against, and thus it is often a better policy to Roost on the switch. Aside from this, Roost can allow Doduo to beat its usual counters, most notably Bronzor, who has a good chance to fail to 2HKO with Gyro Ball, Psychic, or Hidden Power Ice, allowing Doduo to outstall it with Roost and slowly wear it down over time with repeated attacks. Another great advantage gained by using Roost is the ability to evade Sucker Punch, one of the most common forms of priority. While Doduo has priority of its own, it may not always be enough to avoid a revenge kill, especially with Pokemon such as Diglett. Lastly, although by using Roost you remove Doduo's Rock, Ice, and Electric weaknesses, enabling Doduo to occasionally heal on unSTABed attacks of these types from slower Pokemon, this is a rare occurrence and the users of these moves will often have enough power to cause serious injury to the frail Doduo even without a weakness to prey on.

Stealth Rock support helps greatly to stop Focus Sash teams from interfering. The biggest difference between this Doduo and most others is the presence of Roost and the absence of a last coverage move. This fact makes Doduo a lot more vulnerable to Pokemon that resist its STAB moves, particularly Rock-type Pokemon such as Geodude and Onix. While these are not commonly seen, it may be wise to accompany Doduo with something that has little trouble against them, such as Staryu or Machop, both of whom can OHKO most Rock-types with their STAB moves.

[Team Options]

Doduo is one of those fast but frail sweepers that cannot really afford to take a strong hit. Thus, Stealth Rock is a useful method of supporting Doduo; though it does not severely damage any of Doduo’s usual counters to any great degree, it does help by breaking the Focus Sash on Pokemon such as Abra and Diglett, allowing Doduo to get the kill and live to fight on. Rapid Spin support can be helpful if you are expecting to switch in and out a lot, as Doduo can find itself very short on health very quickly with Stealth Rock on the field.

Bronzor is probably Doduo’s biggest and most common problem, and without a lot of luck, no variant of Doduo can beat it. Although it can be weathered down through repeated assaults, it is best if you include a sound strategy in your team for beating it. Houndour can easily OHKO with its STAB Fire-type moves, and Krabby can pound it with STAB Crabhammer while taking advantage of its excellent natural Defense. If you are not running Hidden Power Fighting, this extends to Aron, Shieldon, Magnemite, and other Steel-types. All of the above can be easily trapped and OHKOed by Diglett; Magnemite can also fare well against them. Diglett and Magnemite can both also switch in on Electric and Rock attacks aimed at Doduo with relative ease. Magnemite in particular makes a good partner for Doduo, as it resists all of Doduo’s weaknesses and can trap and kill Steel-types, while Doduo can switch in on a predicted Earthquake aimed at Magnemite. Aron and Shieldon can both also be taken care of by specially inclined Water-type Pokemon such as Staryu and Chinchou. Water-type Pokemon are also useful to deal with Rock-type Pokemon if you are paranoid about them or if you are not running Steel Wing. Scarf Houndour is also useful, aside from beating Bronzor, in removing Ghost-types that may try to switch in and revenge kill if Doduo is slower or not running a Flying-type attack.

As previously mentioned, Doduo is quite frail, and relatively easy to revenge kill for most of Little Cup, especially with Life Orb, Brave Bird, and Stealth Rock damage taken into account. Priority revenge killers such as Croagunk and Houndour have an easy time on Doduo that lack Quick Attack. Pokemon such as Staryu, Abra, and Taillow all outspeed non-Scarf variants and OHKO with their respective STAB moves. For this reason you should always make sure not to leave any gaps in your team that can be taken advantage of by any one revenge killer, as Doduo cannot always rely on Quick Attack to remove its foes. The best way to deal with it is generally to fight fire with fire; for example, Diglett can survive a Sucker Punch or Vacuum Wave from Houndour and Croagunk, respectively, and OHKO both with STAB Earthquake. The majority of priority users with Aqua Jet can be revenge killed by Croagunk or Mantyke, and Ghost-type Pokemon such as Gastly or Duskull can beat Machop if they don't switch in on Payback or Bullet Punch.

[Optional Changes]

Doduo can use Choice items fairly well, something Taillow cannot do, but more often than not getting locked into a Normal-type move is asking for disaster. As previously mentioned, Doduo has little in the way of alternative moves. Drill Peck is an option if you dislike Brave Bird’s recoil and Pluck’s low Base Power, but is quite average compared to them. Steel Wing allows Doduo to hit Rock-types, but its low power coupled with low damage output against common Rock-types means Doduo is usually better off using Hidden Power. Doduo also has Endeavor, which can be used alongside Quick Attack and Focus Sash for a gimmick combination. Lastly, Pursuit can be used to revenge kill Choice-locked Ghosts.

All you really need to do for Doduo is max out its Attack and Speed, since both stats max out at 236 EVs, and none of its other stats gain a point with the leftover 36 EVs. If you are using Hidden Power Fighting, Doduo loses a point in Speed, so a Naive nature should be used to make up for it. Likewise, if you are using Hidden Power Grass, Doduo loses a point in Attack, so you may want to use a Naughty nature to retain its original Attack. A 29 HP IV allows Doduo to reach 19 HP, letting Doduo take minimum damage from Life Orb, though it does interfere with Hidden Power slightly. If you are using a Substitute + Flail set, 76 EVs in HP gives Doduo a HP stat of 21, allowing it to create four Substitutes with 1 HP remaining.

[Counters]

Far and away the best counters are Steel-types, which resist both of Doduo's STAB moves and usually have naturally high Defense. Bronzor comes to mind as a premier choice, especially considering that it is not bothered by Hidden Power Fighting. Beldum should also be noted as a check, if only for sake of completeness. Magnemite, too, can survive a Hidden Power and OHKO with STAB Thunderbolt. Aron and Shieldon take practically nothing from Doduo's STAB attacks and have their own STAB Rock-type attacks to kill Doduo with, but must be wary of Hidden Power Fighting, as it will OHKO both the majority of the time. Rock-types are next on the list, with naturally great Defense and super effective STAB, though they usually have less than impressive Special Defense stats and must watch out for Hidden Power. Faster Ghosts can come in on Return or Quick Attack and hit Doduo with Thunderbolt, though they need to watch out for Brave Bird or Pluck on the switch. Lastly, Doduo is quite frail and easily revenge killed, and even with Quick Attack taken for granted there are a number of Pokemon faster than it that easily revenge kill it, such as Elekid, Staryu, and Abra. Most Choice Scarf users also outrun it, and priority users such as Houndour and Machop can all come in on a weakened Doduo and revenge kill after it has made a kill, though they must watch out for Quick Attack.

-------------------------------

Post-critique changes:

Grammar check 1, thanks to CardsOfTheHeart
Wrote 3 Attacks + Roost set descriptions
Merged SubLiechi and Flail sets
Updated with new format changes
Removed Misdreavus references
Removed SubLiechi and Choice
Grammar check 2, thanks to Frizy
Grammar check 3, thanks to Aeron Ee1
GP Grammar-Prose Check 1, thanks to Fizz
GP Grammar-Prose Check 2, thanks to Zystral
GP Grammar-Prose Check 3, thanks to Snorlaxe

Black Buddha · Sep 3, 2009

OK although HP Fight takes down Shieldon, I think people would do well to know that SHieldon sees near 0% use, the only reason it popped up was to deal with Murkrow to some extent.
Id rather you use HP Grass so as to deal with Omanyte and Rhyhorn, or HP Ice to kill the evercommon Gligar

Also IMO a Sub Liechi Agility set should be included somehow, thats about the only thing it does better than Tailow

Something like Sub / Agility / Drill Peck / Return. Ofcourse, while using this mention in team options that opposing Rocks and Steels should be removed. Magnemite, Diglett or Gligar as most Rocks cant do anything to it, while it comfortably sets up on them (apart from Rhyhorn Ice Fang, if it gets it)

Choice Band is as always, horrible in LC, especially where Misdreavus can come in on CB Return, and bronzor can come in on CB Flying move. Flail is hard to pull off thanks to numerous scarf users as well as priority moves.

Only worthy sets IMO are mixed Life Orb, and Sub Agility

CardsOfTheHeart · Sep 3, 2009

*copy-pastes into Word and presses F7

bugmaniacbob said:
[SET]
name: Mixed Life Orb
move1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move2: Return
move3: Quick Attack
move4: Hidden Power Fighting
item: Life Orb
nature: Naughty / Naïve
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Doduo boasts decent Speed and Attack, with useful STAB moves and decent coverage, and this along with the strictly followed pattern for all Normal / Flying Pokemon marks it out as a fast, physical sweeper. This is a role Doduo can perform in very well, being the proud owner of the standard combination of moves granted by both types, a useful priority move, and the ability to simply stamp its way through weakened teams with whatever it happens to be running. Sadly for Doduo, its usage is dampened slightly by the presence of Taillow, who can run almost identical movesets but with greater Speed and more power thanks to Guts. Despite the competition Doduo is undeniably an excellent Pokemon in Little Cup, and is to be underestimated at your peril.

This variant of Doduo is a more sweeper-based option, aimed at clearing up weakened teams lategame with its powerful STAB moves, while relying on its priority to steer it away from revenge-kills by faster foes. Return is the standard Normal-type STAB move, and is a good, strong STAB for Doduo to possess, with reasonable power, perfect accuracy and no recoil effects. You will find yourself using it more than any other of your moves, not only because it has a great deal of neutral coverage, but also because it is your most reliable attack. Your secondary STAB option has a bit more choice involved in the selection; Brave Bird is your most powerful option, though coming with the drawback of potentially costly recoil damage, and being of great use to hit some harder than Return where required, though you will mainly be using it against Ghost-types. Pluck is your other option, allowing you to steal Oran Berries from walls such as Bronzor and Gligar that come in to make your life difficult, and while not as powerful an option as Brave Bird it can make your life much easier should you happen to catch them on the switch, not only preventing their healing, but also healing yourself as you do so. Quick Attack allows you to escape the priority death trap from Pokemon such as Croagunk and Machop that may try to bait you into using Brave Bird, and also allows for an assured end to weakened foes that may be carrying priority. Doduo shares the pain of many a Normal / Flying Pokemon in that the Steel- and Rock-types that inhabit Little Cup really make its life a trial, since they resist both of its STAB moves, quite apart from also being naturally very defensive, and Doduo has barely anything to hit back at them with. However, damage accumulates such in Little Cup that even off its pathetic Special Attack stat, Hidden Power Fighting does a lot of damage to many of them, most importantly Shieldon and Aron, who quad resist both of its STAB moves. Both of them are almost always OHKOed and other, weakened Pokemon, such as Onix and Rhyhorn, often go the same way. The EVs and nature are incredibly straightforward, with simple sweeper EVs for maximum effectiveness at its job, and a defense-lowering nature to avoid spoiling the power of Hidden Power Fighting. Naughty grants greater attacking power, but Naïve allows you greater Speed, which can make the difference between death and survival, though your choice is really up to personal preference.

Stealth Rock is useful as ever to break the common Focus Sashes seen around Little Cup, despite most of Doduo’s counters resisting it. Doduo is frail even without a defense-lowering nature, and on top of this frailty, Stealth Rock damage, Life Orb damage and Brave Bird recoil, Doduo will not be surviving for long against a team that can potentially hit back. Rapid Spin support can potentially help, allowing you to come in unscathed, and thus giving you more of a lifeline to hang on, should you be struck by a weaker attack or require extra turns of Life Orb to do damage in. This cannot disguise the fact that Doduo is very weak to revenge-killing, particularly from Pokemon such as Scarf Gastly or Scarf Cranidos, both of whom do not mind Quick Attack. You should make sure that you can remove these threats to Doduo’s sweep before Doduo is revealed, else your opponent will be doubly sure to safeguard them. As for what Doduo cannot pass through sheer force, those that resist its STAB moves are the main culprits, namely Rock- and Steel-types that do not mind Hidden Power Fighting. Bronzor is the best check around, and Doduo does not like being on the receiving end of a Gyro Ball. To deal with it, you should take advantage of its sole weakness to Fire-type moves; Houndour beats those that lack Earthquake, and Krabby can take any of its attacks and reply in kind with STAB Crabhammer, as well as easily taking on the Rock-types that also plague Doduo. In the case of Magnemite, Diglett can trap and easily OHKO assuming the former does not use Magnet Rise on the switch.

[SET]
name: Choice
move1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move2: Return
move3: Quick Attack
move4: Steel Wing / Double Hit
item: Choice Band / Choice Scarf
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Choice Doduo is another perfectly reasonable way to use Doduo, in the case of the Choice Band mimicking Taillow’s power after a Guts boost, though without the ability to switch attacks and the status damage every turn, and with a Choice Scarf mimicking Taillow’s higher Speed stat. With a Choice item equipped, Doduo exists as a rather more supportive Pokemon than lategame sweeper, unlike the Life Orb set, due to the impracticality of attempting to sweep consistently with only one attack. Thus, with Choice Band Doduo exists more as a powerful wallbreaker, weakening the bulkier Pokemon on the opponent’s side and creating holes for its teammates to exploit, while with a Choice Scarf it functions more as a fast revenge-killer.

Doduo’s movepool is fairly sparse, and so except on gimmick or alternate strategy sets you are unlikely to see a deviation in the composition of Doduo’s moves. It is almost always safe to say that Return, Quick Attack, and a Flying-type STAB move are givens, and each has its own merit to bring to Doduo’s table. In the last slot, however, there is some variation. With a Choice Band bringing extra power to physical moves, Steel Wing is usually the best choice, with a lot of luck maybe catching an unwary Cranidos or other Rock-type on the switch, though it is still useless against Bronzor and his Steel friends. Double Hit is another interesting move, allowing Doduo, and particularly the Choice Scarf variant, to revenge-kill known or suspected Focus Sash Pokemon, such as Abra and Diglett, OHKOing both of them the majority of the time. Hidden Power Fighting is also an option, though without the backing of Life Orb cannot OHKO most of the necessary targets. Lastly, Pursuit can in theory go in the last slot to remove weakened Ghosts such as Gastly, which is especially appealing if they are locked into Shadow Ball, though being locked into Pursuit yourself can be equally suicidal at times. A Jolly nature should be used with Choice Band to recover lost Speed, and Adamant with Choice Scarf to recover lost Attack. The EVs are, again, straightforward; indeed it must be said that little else can be done with Doduo than max Attack and Speed.

Doduo may well find itself switching in and out a great deal owing to its Choice item, and with Stealth Rock on the field Doduo may find itself very short of health, which is a pity considering that Doduo cannot be trapped by Diglett. Thus, you may want to consider Rapid Spin support to get rid of Stealth Rock and perhaps buy Doduo an extra turn or two. Magnemite can make a good partner for Doduo as it resists all of Doduo’s weaknesses and can trap Steel-types such as Bronzor and other Magnemite before disposing of them with STAB Thunderbolt or Hidden Power Fire. Doduo can also switch in on Earthquakes from Pokemon such as Cubone and begin destroying stuff. Doduo also makes a good partner to set-up sweepers such as Bellsprout who dislike having to deal with Bug- and Grass-type foes, as well as Pokemon that lure Earthquakes or Shadow Balls, such as Houndour or Abra. If Abra has a Shed Shell, Scarf Doduo can come in on Diglett’s Earthquake, Shadow Claw or Sucker Punch and destroy it with Return or, if you want to be safe, Double Hit.

[SET]
name: Flail
move1: Endure
move2: Flail
move3: Agility
move4: Drill Peck
item: Liechi Berry
nature: Adamant
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Doduo can run an incredibly destructive Flail set to great success, with very few Pokemon in Little Cup having even a hope of withstanding a STAB Flail from Doduo after a Liechi boost. Endure + Flail, apart from being of devastating power in Little Cup, is one thing that Doduo can do that Taillow cannot, making it a very appealing option for Doduo to run. Ideally, Doduo should come in on a move that does not hurt it, such as Shadow Ball or Earthquake, as well as coming in on a Pokemon that is likely to switch out. From there, Doduo can Agility as it is hit by a weak attack, or on the switch, boosting its Speed to an almost unbeatable 34, then surviving the death blow thanks to Endure, thus activating the Liechi Berry and allowing Doduo to power its way through an opponent’s team.

Flail is the core move of this set, reaching 150 base power when Doduo is at 1 HP, and 225 base power factoring in the STAB boost, which off of 28 Attack after a Liechi boost makes for a very potent weapon indeed. As previously mentioned, Agility is there to ensure you are not outrun before you can complete your sweep, and Endure allows you to survive any blow at 1 HP. Doduo’s defenses are not the best, and this fact coupled with the generally much higher damage output in Little Cup means that it is almost assured that you will be at 1 HP after enduring, assuming they do not attack you. Drill Peck works as secondary STAB, though its main use is to take care of Ghost-types such as Scarf Gastly and Misdreavus, who are immune to Flail. If you want to run a similar set with Substitute over Endure, in order to hopefully dodge crippling status from Pokemon who may switch in, such as Slowpoke, you should run a spread of 76 HP / 236 Atk / 160 Spe to give you an odd HP number, thereby allowing you to Substitute down to 1 HP after four Substitutes. Be warned, however, that if Doduo takes too much damage switching in, or any residual damage other than Stealth Rock damage, it is likely that you will be unable to hit 1 HP after Substituting down, and thus Flail’s power will be considerably weakened.

The greatest threats to this set are usually those that resist both of its STAB moves. While Gastly and Misdreavus are immune to Flail they detest a Liechi-boosted Drill Peck, and thankfully Doduo is immune to Shadow Sneak. Bronzor often takes a lot of damage from Flail, but it, Aron, and Shieldon can all take a hit before OHKOing with any of their moves, considering that Doduo is at 1 HP. To deal with them, it is feasible that a dedicated Magnemite or Diglett be assigned to removing them, though usually a special Water-type such as Chinchou or Slowpoke can deal with them. For Bronzor, Houndour can OHKO with STAB Fire moves, while Krabby can also do a large amount of damage thanks to Crabhammer. Other than the problem of walls bothering you, Doduo is also weak to status and priority. The former is the less bothersome problem, owing to the considerable lack of both Thunder Wave and Will-o-Wisp in Little Cup, given the relative pace of the average game, though if Slowpoke uses Thunder Wave while you Endure it is pretty much game over. The latter on the other hand is a massive problem, considering that Doduo does not use priority itself and it will, for the most part, be sitting at 1 HP. Croagunk, Diglett and all the rest can come in after a kill and remove you with ease. It is, therefore, imperative that you have a reliable way to check or remove most of the popular priority-users, such as Houndour, Croagunk, Diglett and Buizel among others, before Doduo is revealed. Doduo could in theory run Quick Attack over Drill Peck, lessening the need for checking these Pokemon, but this leaves you helpless against Ghost-types. If you really want to run Quick Attack, a strong Pursuit-user such as Scarf Houndour should be included to remove your opponent’s Ghost-types before they can do any harm.

[Other Options]

As previously mentioned, Doduo has little in the way of alternative moves. Drill Peck is an option if you dislike Brave Bird’s recoil and Pluck’s comparatively low power, but is quite average compared to them. Doduo also has Endeavour, which can be used alongside Quick Attack and Focus Sash for a gimmick combination, using Endeavour as your opponent breaks your Focus Sash, then using Quick Attack for the KO, and hopefully weakening another Pokemon as well. Lastly, Pursuit can be used to revenge-kill Choice-locked Ghosts.

[Team Options]

Doduo is one of those fast but frail sweepers that cannot really afford to take a strong hit if they can help it. As such, Stealth Rock is a useful method of supporting Doduo; though it does not severely damage any of Doduo’s usual counters to any great degree, it does help by breaking the Focus Sash on Pokemon such as Abra and Diglett, hopefully allowing Doduo to get a kill and live to fight on. Rapid Spin support can be helpful for the Choice sets especially, as Doduo can find itself very short on health very quickly with Stealth Rock on the field.

Bronzor is probably Doduo’s biggest and most common problem, and without a lot of luck no variant of Doduo can beat it. Although it can be weathered down through repeated assaults, it is best that you include a sound strategy in your team for beating it. Houndour can easily OHKO with its STAB Fire-type moves, and Krabby can pound it with STAB Crabhammer, while taking advantage of its excellent natural Defense. If you are not running Hidden Power Fighting, this extends to Aron, Shieldon, Magnemite, and other Steel-types. All of the above can be easily trapped and OHKOed by Diglett; Magnemite can also fare well against them. Diglett and Magnemite can both also switch in on Electric and Rock attacks aimed at Doduo with relative ease; Magnemite in particular makes a good partner for Doduo in any case, as it resists all of Doduo’s weaknesses, can trap and kill Steel-types, and Doduo can switch in on Earthquakes that Magnemite baits. Aron and Shieldon can both also be taken care of by specially inclined Water-types such as Staryu and Chinchou. Water-types are also useful to deal with Rock-types if you are paranoid about them or if you are not running Steel Wing. Scarf Houndour is also useful, aside from beating Bronzor, to remove Ghost-types that may try to switch in and revenge-kill, if you are slower or for whatever reason not running a Flying-type attack.

As previously mentioned, Doduo is quite frail, and easily revenge-killed by most of Little Cup, with Life Orb, Brave Bird and Stealth Rock damage taken into account as well. Priority revenge killers such as Croagunk and Houndour have an easy time on variants without Quick Attack, and Pokemon such as Gastly, Abra and Misdreavus all outspeed non-Scarf variants and OHKO with their respective moves. For this reason you should always make sure to take note of and then get rid of all Pokemon that potentially threaten Doduo, as letting even one live can prove a costly mistake as far as Doduo is concerned. The best way to deal with it is generally to fight fire with fire, for example Diglett can live through a Vacuum Wave or Sucker Punch from Houndour and Croagunk respectively and OHKO both with STAB Earthquake, and still has its own Sucker Punch for other priority-wielders. The majority of those with Aqua Jet can be revenge-killed by Croagunk or Mantyke, and Ghost-types such as Gastly or Misdreavus can beat Machop and Makuhita, with luck.

[EVs]

All you really need to do for Doduo is max out its Attack and Speed. The only time you would deviate from this pattern is for a Substitute + Flail set, where 76 EVs in HP gives you a HP stat of 21.

[Opinion]

Doduo is one of those Pokemon with big capabilities, but who is almost completely outclassed by another. Taillow has higher Speed as well as Guts, which in a fast-paced metagame such as Little Cup are the more desirable traits. In Doduo’s favor, however, there are some things that it can do that Taillow simply cannot. For one, Doduo has access to Flail, and another, that Doduo does not need to carry and activate Toxic Orb to hit hard. All in all, Doduo is one of those Pokemon that, at the end of the day, is undoubtedly very good at doing what it does best, and should thus never be underestimated as a threat.

[Counters]

Far and away the best counters are Steel-types, who resist both of its STAB moves and usually have naturally high Defense. Bronzor comes to mind as a premier choice, especially considering that it is not bothered by Hidden Power Fighting. Beldum should also be noted as a check, if only for sake of completeness. Magnemite, too, can survive a Hidden Power and OHKO with STAB Thunderbolt. Aron and Shieldon take practically nothing from its STAB attacks and have their own STAB Rock-type attacks to kill Doduo with but must be wary of Hidden Power Fighting, as it will do a ton of damage to both. Rock-types are next on the list, with naturally great Defense and super effective STAB, though they usually have less than impressive Special Defense and must watch out for Hidden Power. Faster Ghosts can come in on Choice-locked Return and hit Doduo with a Thunderbolt, though they need to watch out for Brave Bird or Drill Peck on the switch. Lastly, Doduo is quite frail and easily revenge-killed, and even with Quick Attack taken for granted there are a number of Pokemon faster than it that easily revenge-kill it, such as Elekid, Staryu, and Abra.

Changed:
1. American spelling of words (Defense > Defence)
2. 1 HP > 1HP
3. Run-on sentence in Team Options changed to semicolon (personal preference)
4. Mentions of Mismagius (oops!) changed to Misdreavus
5. Magnemite > Magneton

The rest looks fine.

eric the espeon · Sep 3, 2009

Initial Changes:

Wrote Swift Swim, Choice Band and Utility set descriptions

none of those sets are in this analysis :p

and this along with the strictly followed pattern for all Normal / Flying Pokemon marks it out as a fast, physical sweeper.

Can think of some that don't fit that pattern, Togekiss, Noctowl and Charot (Farfy can hardly be called fast) for example. That's almost half the fully evolved fly/normals.

Sadly for Doduo, its usage is dampened slightly by the presence of Taillow, who can run almost identical movesets but with greater Speed and more power thanks to Guts. Despite the competition Doduo is undeniably an excellent Pokemon in Little Cup, and is to be underestimated at your peril.

How about giving some of Doduo's advantages? Slightly better defences all round, no damage from burn/toxic, no need for a status orb letting you use another item. Double Edge could get a slash over Return, that or a bit in OO about it. Actually, Taillow does not have more power than Doduo, Guts Taillow hits 22/24 attack and LO Dodou gets 23/24, though Taillow does have Facade with 38 more BP than Return or 20 more than Double Edge. Taillow's main advantage is that it hits the all important 19 speed, Doduo only gets 18 failing to tie a large number of key threats.

Quick Attack allows you to escape the priority death trap from Pokemon such as Croagunk and Machop that may try to bait you into using Brave Bird, and also allows for an assured end to weakened foes that may be carrying priority.

LO STAB QA from 18 Atk powerful for a priority move, it can be used to take down slightly weakened scarfers and give you a fighting chance against the other Pokemon who outspeed you.

However, damage accumulates such in Little Cup that even off its pathetic Special Attack stat, Hidden Power Fighting does a lot of damage to many of them,

accumulates is not the right word, and saying "in Little Cup" is a bit odd really.. maybe say "with a LO boost" or something like that?

Both of them are almost always OHKOed and other, weakened Pokemon, such as Onix and Rhyhorn, often go the same way.

This implies that those are always weakened, and I'd like to see some figures for how hard they are actually hit in the analysis.

and a defence-lowering nature to avoid spoiling the power of Hidden Power Fighting.

Why defence lowering not SpD lowering? Does the point of SpA really make much difference against key opponents?

can potentially hit back. Rapid Spin support can potentially help,

double use of potentially and both are not really needed.

You should make sure that you can remove these threats to Doduo’s sweep before Doduo is revealed, else your opponent will be doubly sure to safeguard them.

This kind of long term thinking and careful team scouting may be common in OU, but will almost never be workable in LC. If you can bring Dodou in and get the momentum+maybe a KO, its easily worth the risk of your opponent getting a chance to revenge you.

For Choice:
Probably best to run some calcs, I I would be very surprised if Steel Wing was at all effective on the non CB set compared to HP Fight against a vast majority of the rock or steel types around. Double Hit is OO at best really, given that many of the most common subbers are Ghost types. HP Grass or Water may be viable to hit the different groups of Rock/Ground, Rock/Steel and Rock/Water for as many SE hits as possible, especially if Fight does not hit the /Grounds hard enough without the LO boost.

Choice Doduo is another perfectly reasonable way to use Doduo,

sounds awkward to me.

in the case of the Choice Band mimicking Taillow’s power after a Guts boost,

Actually, it gets 27/28 Atk compared to Taillow's 22/24, but again the extra base power of Facade makes comparisons less simple.

and with a Choice Scarf mimicking Taillow’s higher Speed stat.

There is a massive difference between 19 speed and 25/27. Scarf is not about mimicking Taillow, but about doing something that Taillow is really bad at because it needs the guts boost to do much.

Drill Peck works as secondary STAB, though its main use is to take care of Ghost-types such as Scarf Gastly and Misdreavus, who are immune to Flail.

maybe say why not to use Brave Bird?

While Gastly and Misdreavus are immune to Flail they detest a Liechi-boosted Drill Peck,

Say if they are 1KOd.

Bronzor often takes a lot of damage from Flail

How much is a lot? and why do you say "often"?

The former is the less bothersome problem, owing to the considerable lack of both Thunder Wave and Will-o-Wisp in Little Cup, given the relative pace of the average game, though if Slowpoke uses Thunder Wave while you Endure it is pretty much game over.

rarity > considerable lack
its not game over, but you are almost useless.

a strong Pursuit-user such as Scarf Houndour

Stunky would be another good example.

Double-Edge should go in OO, especially if you don't add it to the first set. Double Edge and, depending on calcs, Steel Wing should go here as well. Focus Sash is worth mentioning, as is a non-flail Agility set. Roost could be mentioned, Doduo does not have good defences but they are somewhat passable. Substitute is a reasonably good option, but you have to lose another move for it and passive damage can add up fast.

and easily revenge-killed by most of Little Cup,

"and relatively easily to revenge-kill, " sounds better.

and Pokemon such as Gastly, Abra and Mismagius all outspeed non-Scarf variants

Gastly only ties speed with it, and Mismagius is not allowed in LC :p You want Misdreavus.

For this reason you should always make sure to take note of and then get rid of all Pokemon that potentially threaten Doduo, as letting even one live can prove a costly mistake as far as Doduo is concerned.

Not realistic at all, you can't play like this in LC without going to massive lengths, and Doduo far from the best Pokemon to centre a team around.

EVs section needs a lot more, you need to say about how many points it needs to max out and how to make up for the IV loss that hidden power causes.

Opinion is a bit short, and lacks much real info other than a quick comparison to Taillow.

Magneton, too,

Magnemite

but must be wary of Hidden Power Fighting, as it will do a ton of damage to both.

Calc it and if it 1KOs (it should easily) say that they are KOd. It really helps the reader a lot more.

Note Scarfers as revenge killers, and priority users to take out the flail set.

Heysup · Sep 3, 2009

You seem to have missed one of Doduo's best sets (if not its best).

[SET]
name: 3 Attacks + Roost
move1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move2: Return / Double-Edge
move3: Quick Attack
move4: Roost
item: Life Orb
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

Roost on Doduo? Am I serious? Actually yes, I am. This set has so many advantages over the Choice set and the mixed set alike, lets start with the most important one though: Beating Bronzor. This doduo can actually beat (yes, beat) Bronzor with Roost and Return. Roost outstall's Bronzor's Gyro Ball, Psychic, and HP Ice, while it also gets a chance to attack when Bronzor uses any sort of support move (such as Reflect, Hypnosis, Light Screen, etc). Bronzor can't even really incapitate Doduo effectively, due to Early Bird.

Roost is also quite useful to avoid Sucker Punch, a very very popular move in this metagame. Against Diglett who only has Sucker Punch, Earthquake, SR and Protect, this Doduo can easily heal its Health back up from the Stealth Rock damage while Diglett tries to finish Doduo off with Sucker Punch. With Doduo's BB/DE recoil, LO recoil, and SR weakness, it can run out of HP fast, so taking the opportunity to roost is a good plan.

Doduo also forces switches into Pokemon it can barely dent (such as Bronzor), making Roost a much better option anyway.

bugmaniacbob · Sep 4, 2009

MetalGarX said:
OK although HP Fight takes down Shieldon, I think people would do well to know that SHieldon sees near 0% use, the only reason it popped up was to deal with Murkrow to some extent.
Id rather you use HP Grass so as to deal with Omanyte and Rhyhorn, or HP Ice to kill the evercommon Gligar

I've added mentions to the first set and EV sections about alternative Hidden Powers, thanks very much.

Also IMO a Sub Liechi Agility set should be included somehow, thats about the only thing it does better than Tailow

Something like Sub / Agility / Drill Peck / Return. Ofcourse, while using this mention in team options that opposing Rocks and Steels should be removed. Magnemite, Diglett or Gligar as most Rocks cant do anything to it, while it comfortably sets up on them (apart from Rhyhorn Ice Fang, if it gets it)

I've used a set rather like that one, and I would tend to agree with you, though I do not believe I used Liechi with it. I'll write up another set, if applicable.

Also, thank you eric for the vast number of corrections.

A couple of points I would like to address:

eric the espeon said:
Why defence lowering not SpD lowering? Does the point of SpA really make much difference against key opponents?

In regards to 'defence-lowering' I meant that as a general term, as in a nature that lowers a defensive stat, since for Doduo its defences are not so important as its offences, and for ease of explaining the reason for not running Jolly or Adamant. Also, Shieldon and defensive Rhyhorn/Onix are only just OHKOed by HP Fighting and HP Grass respectively; HP Fighting does about 90-110% to Shieldon, OHKOing on average, but with a lower stat total I believe it will fail to OHKO on average. Therefore, defence-lowering nature.

This kind of long term thinking and careful team scouting may be common in OU, but will almost never be workable in LC. If you can bring Dodou in and get the momentum+maybe a KO, its easily worth the risk of your opponent getting a chance to revenge you.

Not realistic at all, you can't play like this in LC without going to massive lengths, and Doduo far from the best Pokemon to centre a team around.

I meant more in terms of your own team than Doduo, for both of the areas you highlighted; it is advisable to carry a team well-equipped to deal with most revenge-killers should you be carrying Doduo. I did not mean that you should eliminate Doduo's threats through scouting, and I have removed the comments you picked out and replaced them.

Heysup said:
You seem to have missed one of Doduo's best sets (if not its best).

[SET]
name: Mixed Life Orb
move1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move2: Return / Double-Edge
move3: Quick Attack
move4: Roost
item: Life Orb
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

Roost on Doduo? Am I serious? Actually yes, I am. This set has so many advantages over the Choice set and the mixed set alike, lets start with the most important one though: Beating Bronzor. This doduo can actually beat (yes, beat) Bronzor with Roost and Return. Roost outstall's Bronzor's Gyro Ball, Psychic, and HP Ice, while it also gets a chance to attack when Bronzor uses any sort of support move (such as Reflect, Hypnosis, Light Screen, etc). Bronzor can't even really incapitate Doduo effectively, due to Early Bird.

Roost is also quite useful to avoid Sucker Punch, a very very popular move in this metagame. Against Diglett who only has Sucker Punch, Earthquake, SR and Protect, this Doduo can easily heal its Health back up from the Stealth Rock damage while Diglett tries to finish Doduo off with Sucker Punch. With Doduo's BB/DE recoil, LO recoil, and SR weakness, it can run out of HP fast, so taking the opportunity to roost is a good plan.

Doduo also forces switches into Pokemon it can barely dent (such as Bronzor), making Roost a much better option anyway.

That does look like an interesting set, although I believe 9 SAtk Bronzor's Psychic does more than 50%, and not forgetting Psychic's chance to drop SDef, which will theoretically happen if you try to stall Bronzor out with Roost, after which Doduo is forced out. I also can't see Doduo Roosting off damage as well as Gligar in a metagame that revolves around priority, especially considering that Doduo does not resist Fighting-type attacks. Still, I'll have to try the set out, unless you want to write the descriptions yourself, as it does look like it could work.

Heysup · Sep 4, 2009

It's not meant to Roost-Stall, its meant to take the extra turns it might get from Sucker Punch, Opponent's switches (into something too bulky for Doduo to take down), and etc.

It can Roost stall most Bronzor though, maybe not Psychic variants, but that could always be changed with some EVs.

But yea, try it out.

Lee · Sep 4, 2009

Flail is the core move of this set, reaching 150 base power when Doduo is at 1 HP, and 225 base power factoring in the STAB boost,

Actually Flail maxes at 200BP, so it's 300BP with STAB.

http://www.smogon.com/dp/moves/flail

Seven Deadly Sins · Sep 4, 2009

In LC, you cannot reach the required 3% HP needed to max at 200, so at 1 HP in LC, Flail maxes at 150. It's a side effect of low level battling.

bugmaniacbob · Oct 29, 2009

Nearly forgot about this, only remembered yesterday. New set:

[SET]
name: 3 Attacks + Roost
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Double-Edge / Return
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Roost
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe
ivs: 29 HP

[SET COMMENTS]

While it may seem like a wasted moveslot to run Roost on Doduo, given that it is not exactly the most bulky of Pokemon, in fact running Roost comes with a lot of bonuses to Doduo that more than make up for the lost coverage move.

The first and most obvious benefit is negating the damage built up over time that is usually the death of standard Doduo, built up by Life Orb and Stealth Rock damage alongside Brave Bird or Double-Edge recoil. Healing with Roost, while wasting a turn can occasionally allow Doduo to remain a force for much longer in the battle than it would otherwise. While it may seem optimistic to the point of foolishness to try to heal a weakened Doduo at any point, it should be noted that Doduo's presence will often force the opponent to switch, usually to a Pokemon such as Bronzor, whom Doduo can do very little against, and thus it is often a better policy to Roost on the switch. Aside from this, Roost allows Doduo to beat its usual counters, most notably Bronzor, who has a good chance to fail to 2HKO with Gyro Ball, Psychic or Hidden Power Ice, allowing Doduo to outstall it with Roost, and slowly wear it down over time with repeated attacks. Another great advantage gained by using Roost is the ability to evade Sucker Punch, one of the most common forms of priority. Despite the fact that Doduo has priority of its own, it may not always be enough to avoid a revenge-kill, and especially with Pokemon such as Diglett, if you can predict the Sucker Punch and use Roost, you should have enough HP left to beat the Diglett with, not to mention the fact that Doduo is immune to Arena Trap. Lastly, although by using Roost you remove your Rock, Ice, and Electric weaknesses, enabling you to occasionally heal on unSTABed attacks from slower Pokemon of that nature, this is a rare occurrence and the users of these moves will often have enough power to cause serious injury to the frail Doduo even without a weakness to prey on.

For the other three moves, Brave Bird and Double-Edge are very powerful and their recoil effect is negated by Roost, as previously mentioned, although Pluck and Return are still perfectly viable options respectively. The EV spread is the standard max Attack and Speed, and unfortunately the leftover EVs have to go to waste. The choicce of an Adamant or Jolly nature is entirely up to you and whether you feel the need for more Speed or more Attack. Lastly, if you decide to run a 29 HP IV, you can get 19 HP, which means that Life Orb will only deduct 1 HP per usage. However, this loss in HP can be critical against Bronzor that invest in Attack as well as for taking other neutral hits.

Stealth Rock support helps greatly, again, to stop Focus Sash teams from interfering. The biggest difference between this Doduo and most others is the presence of Roost but the absence of a last coverage move. This fact makes it a lot more susceptible to those that resist its STAB moves, in particular Rock-types such as Geodude and Onix. While these are uncommonly seen, it may be wise to accompany Doduo with something that has little trouble against them, such as Staryu or Machop, both of whom can OHKO most Rock-types with their STAB moves.

As recommended by HeYsUp. Any edits or grammar checks are appreciated.

I've also merged the Flail set with SubLiechi (with emphasis on the latter).

bugmaniacbob · Feb 15, 2010

Updated with new format changes.

EDIT: Misdreavus is banned and removed from this analysis.

bugmaniacbob · Sep 3, 2010

Bump. Still trying to reactivate these analyses.

Again, sorry for the triple post.

As for updates - I removed the SubLiechi set, since apparently there is a C&C-wide rule that SubBerry sets are no longer viable, which is even more true in LC. Secondly, I've removed the Choice set, seeing as I wouldn't want to be locked into either of Doduo's STAB moves, for fear of allowing Gastly or something to utterly wreck your team. Both are now in Optional Changes. I also reworded some sentences here and there.

Rising_Dusk · Sep 3, 2010

Again, like with Kabuto, the removal or adjustment of sets needs to be approved by the LC QC team before this can receive any sanctioned GP checks.

Heysup · Sep 3, 2010

Done and

Kannon · Sep 3, 2010

needs mentioning that brave bird + double edge is illegal, but it's good enough otherwise.

Frizy · Sep 9, 2010

[Overview]

Doduo can perform very well at what it does, being the proud owner of the standard combination of moves granted by both types, a useful priority move, and the ability to simply stamp its way through weakened teams with whatever it happens to be running. Sadly for Doduo, its usage is dampened slightly by the presence of Taillow, who can run almost identical movesets but with greater Speed which, in Little Cup, can make or break a sweeper, not forgetting Guts and Facade to compensate for Doduo's slightly higher Attack. Despite the competition, Doduo is undeniably an excellent Pokemon in Little Cup, and is not overshadowed by any means; Doduo's higher Attack and slightly better overall defenses, the ability to use Liechi Berry, Flail, and Roost, as well as freedom from self-inflicted status damage, gives it an advantage over Taillow in many situations., and is to be uUnderestimated it at your peril.

[SET]
name: Mixed Life Orb
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Grass
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Doduo boasts decent Speed and Attack, with useful STAB moves and decent coverage, and this along with the general pattern for most Normal / Flying Pokemon markings it out as a fast, physical sweeper. This variant of Doduo is a more sweeper-based option, aimed at clearing up weakened teams lategame with its powerful STAB moves, while relying on its priority to steer it away from revenge-kills by faster foes. Return is the standard Normal-type STAB move, and is a good, strong STAB for Doduo to possess,; with reasonable power, perfect accuracy and no recoil effects. You will find yourself using it more than any other of your moves, not only because it has a great deal of neutral coverage, but also because it is your most reliable attack. Double-Edge is a more powerful but also more risky alternative to Return, that can do that little bit more power that can make the difference between an OHKO and a 2HKO, but without Return's longer-term reliability. However, it is illegal with Brave Bird, and as Brave Bird does not have such a reliable alternative as Return, so Brave Bird is usually the more worthwhile investment. Your secondary STAB option has a bit more choice involved in the selection; Brave Bird is your most powerful option, though coming with the drawback of potentially costly recoil damage, and being of great use to hit some harder than Return where required, though you will mainly be using it against Ghost-types. Pluck is your other option, allowing you to steal Oran Berries from walls such as Bronzor and Gligar that come in to make your life difficult., and wWhile it is not as powerful an option as Brave Bird it can make your life much easier should you happen to catch them on the switch, not only preventing their healing, but also healing yourself as you do so.

Quick Attack allows you to escape the priority death trap from Pokemon such as Croagunk and Machop that may try to bait you into using Brave Bird, and also allows for an assured end to weakened foes that may be carrying priority. STAB Quick Attack from Doduo can really hurt, and can allow Doduo to act as a fairly good revenge killer in its own right. Doduo shares the pain of many a Normal / Flying Pokemon in that the Steel- and Rock-types that inhabit Little Cup really make its life a trial, since they resist both of its STAB moves, quite apart from also being naturally very defensive, and Doduo has barely anything to hit back at them with. However, given the usually weaker Special Defense of most of the Rock-types in Little Cup that Hidden Power Fighting, that even off its pathetic Special Attack stat, Hidden Power Fighting does a lot of damage to many of them, most importantly Aron, who 4x resists both of its STAB moves. Thus, Aron is OHKOed and other Pokemon, such as Onix and offensive Rhyhorn, are always 2HKOed. Hidden Power Grass OHKOes Onix and Rhydon, as well as almost always OHKOing Omanyte and Kabuto, though it does not do as much to Aron. Hidden Power Ice is also an option if you are worried about Gligar, OHKOing offensive variants and almost always doing the same to defensive ones.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EVs and nature are incredibly straightforward, with simple sweeper EVs for maximum effectiveness at its job, and a defense-lowering nature to avoid spoiling the power of Hidden Power Fighting. Naughty grants greater attacking power, but Naïive (Accented i) allows you greater Speed, which can make the difference between death and survival, though the your choice is really up to personal preference. If you choose to use Hidden Power Fighting, you lose a point in Speed, so it is recommended that you run a Naive nature to restore your Speed, and if you run Hidden Power Grass or Ice you lose a point in Attack, so you should run a Naughty nature for the same reason.

Stealth Rock is useful as ever to break the common Focus Sashes seen around Little Cup, despite most of Doduo’s counters resisting it. Doduo is frail even without a defense-lowering nature, and on top of this frailty, Stealth Rock damage, Life Orb damage and Brave Bird recoil, Doduo will not be surviving for long against a team that can potentially hit back. Rapid Spin support can help salvage some bulk, allowing you to come in unscathed, and thus giving you more of a lifeline to hang on, should you be struck by a weaker attack or require extra turns of Life Orb to do damage in. This cannot disguise the fact that Doduo is very weak to revenge-killing, particularly from Pokemon such as Scarf Gastly or Scarf Cranidos, both of whom do not mind Quick Attack. You should make sure that you can remove these threats to Doduo, as being unable to deal with a revenge-killers such as the aforementioned threats is often fatal for both Doduo's sweep and your team, especially when your team is weak to any one Pokemon. As for what Doduo cannot pass through sheer force, those that resist its STAB moves are the main culprits, namely Rock- and Steel-types that do not mind Hidden Power Fighting. Bronzor is the best check around, and Doduo does not like being on the receiving end of a Gyro Ball. To deal with it, you should take advantage of its sole weakness to Fire-type moves; Houndour beats those that lack Earthquake, and Krabby can take any of its attacks and reply in kind with STAB Crabhammer, as well as easily taking on the Rock-types that also plague Doduo. In the case of Magnemite, Diglett can trap and easily OHKO assuming it the former does not use Magnet Rise on the switch.

[SET]
name: 3 Attacks + Roost
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Roost
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe
ivs: 29 HP

[SET COMMENTS]

While it may seem like a wasted moveslot to run Roost on Doduo, given that it is not exactly the most bulky of Pokemon, in fact running Roost comes with a lot of bonuses to Doduo that more than make up for the lost coverage move. It is an extremely useful move in the right circumstances, as Doduo is often liable to accumulate a very large amount of residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock, Life Orb, and recoil from Brave Bird or Double-Edge, which Roost helps to offset. Furthermore, it also removes its unfortunate weaknesses to Rock, Electric, and Ice, and also provides Doduo with a non-combatitive move to avoid Sucker Punch. For the other three moves, Brave Bird and Double-Edge are very powerful and their recoil effect is negated by Roost, as previously mentioned, although since you can only use one of them as they are illegal together, Pluck and Return are still perfectly viable options respectively.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EV spread is the standard max Attack and Speed, and unfortunately the leftover EVs have to go to waste. The choice of an Adamant or Jolly nature is entirely up to you and whether you feel the need for more Speed or more Attack. Lastly, if you decide to run a 29 HP IV, you can get 19 HP, which means that Life Orb will only deduct 1 HP per usage. However, this loss in HP can be critical against Bronzor that invest in Attack as well as for taking other neutral hits.

The first and most obvious benefit of Roost is negating the damage built up from Life Orb, Stealth Rock, and Brave Bird or Double-Edge recoil over time that is usually the death of standard Doduo, built up by Life Orb and Stealth Rock damage alongside Brave Bird or Double-Edge recoil. While Hhealing with Roost, while wastesing a turn, it can occasionally allows Doduo to remain a force for much longer in the battle than it would otherwise. While it may seem optimistic to the point of foolishness to try to heal a weakened Doduo at any point, it should be noted that Doduo's presence will often force the opponent to switch, usually to a Pokemon such as Bronzor, whom Doduo can do very little against, and thus it is often a better policy to Roost on the switch. Aside from this, Roost can allow Doduo to beat its usual counters, most notably Bronzor, who has a good chance to fail to 2HKO with Gyro Ball, Psychic or Hidden Power Ice, allowing Doduo to outstall it with Roost, and slowly wear it down over time with repeated attacks. Another great advantage gained by using Roost is the ability to evade Sucker Punch, one of the most common forms of priority. Despite the fact that Doduo has priority of its own, it may not always be enough to avoid a revenge-kill, and especially with Pokemon such as Diglett;, if you can predict the Sucker Punch and use Roost, you should have enough HP left to beat the Diglett with, not to mention the fact that Doduo is immune to Arena Trap. Lastly, although by using Roost you remove your Rock, Ice, and Electric weaknesses, enabling you to occasionally heal on unSTABed attacks from slower Pokemon of that nature, this is a rare occurrence and the users of these moves will often have enough power to cause serious injury to the frail Doduo even without a weakness to prey on.

Stealth Rock support helps greatly, again, to stop Focus Sash teams from interfering. The biggest difference between this Doduo and most others is the presence of Roost but the absence of a last coverage move. This fact makes it a lot more susceptible to those that resist its STAB moves, in particular Rock-types such as Geodude and Onix. While these are uncommonly seen, it may be wise to accompany Doduo with something that has little trouble against them, such as Staryu or Machop, both of whom can OHKO most Rock-types with their STAB moves.

[Team Options]

Doduo is one of those fast but frail sweepers that cannot really afford to take a strong hit if they can help it. As such, Stealth Rock is a useful method of supporting Doduo; though it does not severely damage any of Doduo’s usual counters to any great degree, it does help by breaking the Focus Sash on Pokemon such as Abra and Diglett, hopefully allowing Doduo to get the a kill and live to fight on. Rapid Spin support can be helpful for the Choice sets especially (What Choice set??), as Doduo can find itself very short on health very quickly with Stealth Rock on the field.

Bronzor is probably Doduo’s biggest and most common problem, and without a lot of luck no variant of Doduo can beat it. Although it can be weathered down through repeated assaults, it is best that you include a sound strategy in your team for beating it. Houndour can easily OHKO with its STAB Fire-type moves, and Krabby can pound it with STAB Crabhammer, while taking advantage of its excellent natural Defense. If you are not running Hidden Power Fighting, this extends to Aron, Shieldon, Magnemite, and other Steel-types. All of the above can be easily trapped and OHKOed by Diglett; Magnemite can also fare well against them. Diglett and Magnemite can both also switch in on Electric and Rock attacks aimed at Doduo with relative ease; Magnemite in particular makes a good partner for Doduo in any case, as it resists all of Doduo’s weaknesses, can trap and kill Steel-types, and Doduo can switch in on Earthquakes that Magnemite baits. Aron and Shieldon can both also be taken care of by specially inclined Water-types such as Staryu and Chinchou. Water-types are also useful to deal with Rock-types if you are paranoid about them or if you are not running Steel Wing. Scarf Houndour is also useful, aside from beating Bronzor, to remove Ghost-types that may try to switch in and revenge-kill, if you are slower or for whatever reason not running a Flying-type attack.

As previously mentioned, Doduo is quite frail, and relatively easy to revenge kill for most of Little Cup, with Life Orb, Brave Bird and Stealth Rock damage taken into account as well. Priority revenge killers such as Croagunk and Houndour have an easy time on variants without Quick Attack, and Pokemon such as Staryu, Abra and Taillow all outspeed non-Scarf variants and OHKO with their respective STAB moves. For this reason you should always make sure not to leave any gaps in your team that can be taken advantage of by any one revenge killer, as Doduo cannot always rely on Quick Attack to remove its foes. The best way to deal with it is generally to fight fire with fire, for example Diglett can live through a Vacuum Wave or Sucker Punch from Houndour and Croagunk respectively and OHKO both with STAB Earthquake, and still has its own Sucker Punch for other priority-wielders. The majority of those with Aqua Jet can be revenge-killed by Croagunk or Mantyke, and Ghost-types such as Gastly or Duskull can beat Machop and Makuhita, with luck.

[Optional Changes]

Doduo can use Choice items fairly well, something Taillow cannot do, but more often than not getting locked into a Normal-type move is asking for disaster. As previously mentioned, Doduo has little in the way of alternative moves. Drill Peck is an option if you dislike Brave Bird’s recoil and Pluck’s comparatively low power, but is quite average compared to them. Steel Wing allows you to hit Rock-types but its low power coupled with usually low damage output against common Rock-types means you are usually better off using Hidden Power. Doduo also has Endeavor, which can be used alongside Quick Attack and Focus Sash for a gimmick combination;, using Endeavor as your opponent breaks your Focus Sash, then using Quick Attack for the KO, and hopefully weakening another Pokemon as well. Lastly, Pursuit can be used to revenge-kill Choice-locked Ghosts.

All you really need to do for Doduo is max out its Attack and Speed, since both stats max out at 236 EVs, and none of its other stats gain a point with the leftover 36 EVs. If you are using Hidden Power Fighting, Doduo loses a point in Speed, and so a Naive nature should be used to make up for it. Likewise, if you are using Hidden Power Grass, you lose a point in Attack, so you may want to use a Naughty nature to retain your original Attack. A 29 HP IV allows you to reach 19 HP, allowing you to take minimum damage from Life Orb, though it does interfere with Hidden Power slightly. If you are using a Substitute + Flail set, 76 EVs in HP gives you a HP stat of 21, allowing you to create four Substitutes, leaving you with 1 HP.

[Counters]

Far and away the best counters are Steel-types, who resist both of its STAB moves and usually have naturally high Defense. Bronzor comes to mind as a premier choice, especially considering that it is not bothered by Hidden Power Fighting. Beldum should also be noted as a check, if only for sake of completeness. Magnemite, too, can survive a Hidden Power and OHKO with STAB Thunderbolt. Aron and Shieldon take practically nothing from its STAB attacks and have their own STAB Rock-type attacks to kill Doduo with but must be wary of Hidden Power Fighting, as it will OHKO both the majority of the time. Rock-types are next on the list, with naturally great Defense and super effective STAB, though they usually have less than impressive Special Defense and must watch out for Hidden Power. Faster Ghosts can come in on Choice-locked Return or Quick Attack and hit Doduo with a Thunderbolt, though they need to watch out for Brave Bird or Pluck Drill Peck on the switch. Lastly, Doduo is quite frail and easily revenge-killed, and even with Quick Attack taken for granted there are a number of Pokemon faster than it that easily revenge-kill it, such as Elekid, Staryu, and Abra. Most Choice Scarf-users also outrun it, and priority-wielders such as Houndour and Machop can all come in on weakened Doduo and revenge kill after Doduo has made a kill, though they must watch out for Quick Attack.

Just a note, revenge kill does not use a hyphen.

Aeron Ee1 · Oct 17, 2010

Additions
Removals

[Overview]

Doduo can perform very well at what it does, being the proud owner of the standard combination of moves granted by both its types, a useful priority move, and the ability to simply stamp its way through weakened teams with whatever it happens to be running. Sadly for Doduo, its usage is dampened slightly by the presence of Taillow, who can run almost identical movesets but with greater Speed which, in Little Cup, can make or break a sweeper, not forgetting Guts and Facade to compensate for Doduo's slightly higher Attack. Despite the competition Doduo is undeniably an excellent Pokemon in Little Cup, and is not overshadowed by any means; Doduo's higher Attack and slightly better overall defenses, the ability to use Liechi Berry, Flail, and Roost, as well as freedom from self-inflicted status damage, gives it an advantage over Taillow in many situations. Underestimate it at your own peril.

[SET]
name: Mixed Life Orb
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Grass
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Doduo boasts decent Speed and Attack, with useful STAB moves and decent coverage, marking it out as a fast, physical sweeper. This variant of Doduo is a more sweeper-based option, aimed at clearing up weakened teams lategame with its powerful STAB moves, while relying on its priority to steer it away from revenge kills by faster foes. Return is the standard Normal-type STAB move, and is a good one at that , strong STAB; with reasonable power, perfect accuracy and no recoil effects. You will find yourself using it more than any other of your moves, not only because it has a great deal of neutral coverage, but also because it is your most reliable attack. Double-Edge is a more powerful but also more risky alternative to Return, that can give the edge do that little bit more power that can could make the difference between an OHKO and a 2HKO, but without Return's longer-term reliability. However, iIt is also illegal with Brave Bird, and as Brave Bird does not have such a reliable alternative as Return, so Brave Bird it is usually the more worthwhile investment. Your secondary STAB option has a bit more choice involved in the selection; Brave Bird is your most powerful option, though coming with the drawback of potentially costly recoil damage, and being of great use to hit some harder than Return where required, though you will mainly be using it against Ghost-types. Pluck is your another option, allowing you to steal Oran Berries from walls such as Bronzor and Gligar that come in to make your life difficult. While not as powerful as Brave Bird it can make your life much easier should you happen to catch them on the switch, not only preventing their healing, but also healing yourself as you do so.

Quick Attack allows you to escape the priority death trap from Pokemon such as Croagunk and Machop that may try to bait you into using Brave Bird, and also allows for an assured end to weakened foes that may be carrying priority. STAB Quick Attack from Doduo can really hurt, and can allow Doduo to act as a fairly good revenge killer in its own right. Doduo shares the pain of many a Normal / Flying Pokemon in that the Steel- and Rock-types that inhabit Little Cup really make its life a trial, since they resist both of its STAB moves, quite apart from also being naturally very defensive, and Doduo has barely anything to hit back at them with. However, given the weak Special Defense of most of the Rock-types in Little Cup, Hidden Power Fighting, even off its pathetic Special Attack stat, does a lot of damage to many of them, most importantly Aron, who 4x resists both of its STAB moves. Thus, Aron is OHKOed and other Pokemon, such as Onix and offensive Rhyhorn, are always 2HKOed. Hidden Power Grass OHKOes Onix and Rhydon, as well as almost always OHKOing Omanyte and Kabuto, though it does not do as much to Aron. Hidden Power Ice is also an option if you are worried about Gligar, OHKOing offensive variants and almost always doing the same to defensive ones.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EVs and nature are incredibly straightforward, with simple sweeper EVs for maximum effectiveness at its job, and a defense-lowering nature to avoid spoiling the power of Hidden Power Fighting. Naughty grants greater attacking power, but Naïve allows you greater Speed, which can make the difference between death and survival, though the choice is really up to personal preference. If you choose to use Hidden Power Fighting, you lose a point in Speed, so it is recommended that you run a Naive nature to restore your Speed, and if you run Hidden Power Grass or Ice you lose a point in Attack, so you should run a Naughty nature for the same reason.

Stealth Rock is as useful as ever to break the common Focus Sashes seen around Little Cup, despite most of Doduo’s counters resisting it. Doduo is frail even without a defense-lowering nature, and on top of this frailty, Stealth Rock damage, Life Orb damage and Brave Bird recoil, Doduo will not be surviving for long against a team that can potentially hit back. Rapid Spin support can help salvage some bulk, allowing you to come in unscathed, and thus giving you more of a lifeline to hang on, should you be struck by a weaker attack or require extra turns of Life Orb to do damage in. This cannot disguise the fact that Doduo is very weak to revenge killing, particularly from Pokemon such as Scarf Gastly or Scarf Cranidos, both of whom do not mind Quick Attack. You should make sure that you can deal with these threats to Doduo, as being unable to deal with revenge killers such as the aforementioned is often fatal for both Doduo and your team. As for what Doduo cannot pass through sheer force, those that resist its STAB moves are the main culprits, namely Rock- and Steel-types that do not mind Hidden Power Fighting. Bronzor is the best check around, and Doduo does not like being on the receiving end of a Gyro Ball. To deal with it, you should take advantage of its sole weakness to Fire-type moves; Houndour beats those that lack Earthquake, and Krabby can take any of its attacks and reply in kind with STAB Crabhammer, as well as easily taking on the Rock-types that also plague Doduo. In the case of Magnemite, Diglett can trap and easily OHKO assuming it does not use Magnet Rise on the switch.

[SET]
name: 3 Attacks + Roost
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Roost
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe
ivs: 29 HP

[SET COMMENTS]

While it may seem like a wasted moveslot to run Roost on Doduo, given that it is not exactly the most bulky of Pokemon, in fact running Roost comes with a lot of bonuses to Doduo that more than make up for the lost coverage move. It is an extremely useful move in the right circumstances, as Doduo is often liable to accumulate a very large amount of residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock, Life Orb, and recoil from Brave Bird or Double-Edge, which Roost helps to offset. Furthermore it also removes its unfortunate weaknesses to Rock, Electric, and Ice, and provides Doduo with a non-combatitive move to avoid Sucker Punch. For the other three moves, Brave Bird and Double-Edge are very powerful and their recoil effect is negated by Roost, as previously mentioned, although since you can only use one of them as they are illegal together, Pluck and Return are still perfectly viable options respectively.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EV spread is the standard max Attack and Speed, and unfortunately the leftover EVs have to go to waste. The choice of an Adamant or Jolly nature is entirely up to you and whether you feel the need for more Speed or more Attack. Lastly, if you decide to run a 29 HP IV, you can get 19 HP, which means that Life Orb will only deduct 1 HP per usage. However, this loss in HP can be critical against Bronzor that invest in Attack as well as for taking other neutral hits.

The first and most obvious benefit of Roost is negating the residual damage built up from Life Orb, Stealth Rock, and Brave Bird or Double-Edge recoil that is usually the death of standard on Doduo. While healing with Roost wastes a turn, it allows Doduo to remain a force for much longer in the battle than it would otherwise. While it may seem optimistic to the point of foolishness to try to heal a weakened Doduo at any point, it should be noted that Doduo's presence will often force the opponent to switch, usually to a Pokemon such as Bronzor, whom Doduo can do very little against, and thus it is often a better policy to Roost on the switch. Aside from this, Roost can allow Doduo to beat its usual counters, most notably Bronzor, who has a good chance to fail to 2HKO with Gyro Ball, Psychic or Hidden Power Ice, allowing Doduo to outstall it with Roost, and slowly wear it down over time with repeated attacks. Another great advantage gained by using Roost is the ability to evade Sucker Punch, one of the most common forms of priority. Despite the fact that Doduo has priority of its own, it may not always be enough to avoid a revenge kill, and especially with Pokemon such as Diglett, if you can predict the Sucker Punch and use Roost, you should have enough HP left to beat the Diglett with, not to mention the fact that Doduo is immune to Arena Trap. Lastly, although by using Roost you remove your Rock, Ice, and Electric weaknesses, enabling you to occasionally heal on unSTABed attacks from slower Pokemon of that nature, this is a rare occurrence and the users of these moves will often have enough power to cause serious injury to the frail Doduo even without a weakness to prey on.

Stealth Rock support helps greatly, again, to stop Focus Sash teams from interfering. The biggest difference between this Doduo and most others is the presence of Roost but the absence of a last coverage move. This fact makes it a lot more susceptible to those that resist its STAB moves, in particular Rock-types such as Geodude and Onix. While these are uncommonly seen, it may be wise to accompany Doduo with something that has little trouble against them, such as Staryu or Machop, both of whom can OHKO most Rock-types with their STAB moves.

[Team Options]

Doduo is one of those fast but frail sweepers that cannot really afford to take a strong hit if they can help it. As such, Stealth Rock is a useful method of supporting Doduo; though it does not severely damage any of Doduo’s usual counters to any great degree, it does help by breaking the Focus Sash on Pokemon such as Abra and Diglett, hopefully allowing Doduo to get the kill and live to fight on. Rapid Spin support can be helpful if you are expecting to switch in and out a lot, as Doduo can find itself very short on health very quickly with Stealth Rock on the field.

Bronzor is probably Doduo’s biggest and most common problem, and without a lot of luck, no variant of Doduo can beat it. Although it can be weathered down through repeated assaults, it is best that you include a sound strategy in your team for beating it. Houndour can easily OHKO with its STAB Fire-type moves, and Krabby can pound it with STAB Crabhammer, while taking advantage of its excellent natural Defense. If you are not running Hidden Power Fighting, this extends to Aron, Shieldon, Magnemite, and other Steel-types. All of the above can be easily trapped and OHKOed by Diglett; Magnemite can also fare well against them. Diglett and Magnemite can both also switch in on Electric and Rock attacks aimed at Doduo with relative ease; Magnemite in particular makes a good partner for Doduo in any case, as it resists all of Doduo’s weaknesses, can trap and kill Steel-types, and Doduo can switch in on Earthquakes that Magnemite baits. Aron and Shieldon can both also be taken care of by specially inclined Water-types such as Staryu and Chinchou. Water-types are also useful to deal with Rock-types if you are paranoid about them or if you are not running Steel Wing. Scarf Houndour is also useful, aside from beating Bronzor, to remove Ghost-types that may try to switch in and revenge kill, if you are slower or for whatever reason not running a Flying-type attack.

As previously mentioned, Doduo is quite frail, and relatively easy to revenge kill for most of Little Cup, especially with Life Orb, Brave Bird and Stealth Rock damage taken into account as well. Priority revenge killers such as Croagunk and Houndour have an easy time on variants without Quick Attack, and Pokemon such as Staryu, Abra and Taillow all outspeed non-Scarf variants and OHKO with their respective STAB moves. For this reason you should always make sure not to leave any gaps in your team that can be taken advantage of by any one revenge killer, as Doduo cannot always rely on Quick Attack to remove its foes. The best way to deal with it is generally to fight fire with fire, for example Diglett can live through a Vacuum Wave or Sucker Punch from Houndour and Croagunk respectively and OHKO both with STAB Earthquake, and still has its own Sucker Punch for other priority-wielders. The majority of those with Aqua Jet can be revenge killed by Croagunk or Mantyke, and Ghost-types such as Gastly or Duskull can beat Machop and Makuhita, with luck.

[Optional Changes]

Doduo can use Choice items fairly well, something Taillow cannot do, but more often than not getting locked into a Normal-type move is asking for disaster. As previously mentioned, Doduo has little in the way of alternative moves. Drill Peck is an option if you dislike Brave Bird’s recoil and Pluck’s comparatively low power, but is quite average compared to them. Steel Wing allows you to hit Rock-types but its low power coupled with usually low damage output against common Rock-types means you are usually better off using Hidden Power. Doduo also has Endeavor, which can be used alongside Quick Attack and Focus Sash for a gimmick combination, using Endeavor as your opponent breaks your Focus Sash, then using Quick Attack for the KO, and hopefully weakening another Pokemon as well. Lastly, Pursuit can be used to revenge kill Choice-locked Ghosts.

All you really need to do for Doduo is max out its Attack and Speed, since both stats max out at 236 EVs, and none of its other stats gain a point with the leftover 36 EVs. If you are using Hidden Power Fighting, Doduo loses a point in Speed, and so a Naive nature should be used to make up for it. Likewise, if you are using Hidden Power Grass, you lose a point in Attack, so you may want to use a Naughty nature to retain your original Attack. A 29 HP IV allows you to reach 19 HP, allowing you to take minimum damage from Life Orb, though it does interfere with Hidden Power slightly. If you are using a Substitute + Flail set, 76 EVs in HP gives you a HP stat of 21, allowing you to create four Substitutes, leaving you with 1 HP.

[Counters]

Far and away the best counters are Steel-types, who resist both of its STAB moves and usually have naturally high Defense. Bronzor comes to mind as a premier choice, especially considering that it is not bothered by Hidden Power Fighting. Beldum should also be noted as a check, if only for sake of completeness. Magnemite, too, can survive a Hidden Power and OHKO with STAB Thunderbolt. Aron and Shieldon take practically nothing from its STAB attacks and have their own STAB Rock-type attacks to kill Doduo with but must be wary of Hidden Power Fighting, as it will OHKO both the majority of the time. Rock-types are next on the list, with naturally great Defense and super effective STAB, though they usually have less than impressive Special Defense and must watch out for Hidden Power. Faster Ghosts can come in on Return or Quick Attack and hit Doduo with a Thunderbolt, though they need to watch out for Brave Bird or Pluck on the switch. Lastly, Doduo is quite frail and easily revenge killed, and even with Quick Attack taken for granted there are a number of Pokemon faster than it that easily revenge kill it, such as Elekid, Staryu, and Abra. Most Choice Scarf users also outrun it, and priority-wielders such as Houndour and Machop can all come in on weakened Doduo and revenge kill after Doduo has made a kill, though they must watch out for Quick Attack.

viol and bass · Oct 18, 2010

GP Check 1/2

Changes
[Notes]
Removals

[Overview]

Doduo can perform very well at what it does, being the proud owner of the standard combination of moves granted by both of its types, a useful priority move, and the ability to simply stamp [stomp?] its way through weakened teams with whatever it happens to be running. Sadly for Doduo, its usage is dampened slightly by the presence of Taillow, who can run almost identical movesets but with greater Speed (which, in Little Cup, can make or break a sweeper) and Guts and Facade to compensate for Doduo's slightly higher Attack. Despite the competition Doduo is undeniably an excellent Pokemon in Little Cup, and is not overshadowed by any means; Doduo's higher Attack and slightly better overall defenses, the ability to use Liechi Berry, Flail, and Roost, as well as freedom from self-inflicted status damage, gives it an advantages over Taillow in many situations. Underestimate it at your own peril.

[SET]
name: Mixed Life Orb
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Grass
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Doduo boasts decent Speed and Attack, useful STAB moves, and decent coverage, marking it out as a fast, physical sweeper. This variant of Doduo aims to sweep, clearing up weakened teams late-game with its powerful STAB moves, while relying on priority to prevent revenge kills by faster foes. Return is the standard Normal-type STAB move, and is a good one at that: with reasonable power, perfect accuracy, and no recoil effects, you will find yourself using it more than any of your other moves, not only because it has a great deal of neutral coverage, but also because it is your most reliable attack. Double-Edge is a more powerful but also more risky alternative to Return; it can make the difference between an OHKO and a 2HKO, but lacks Return's longer-term reliability. However, it is illegal with Brave Bird, and as Brave Bird does not have as reliable an alternative as Double-Edge has, it is usually the more worthwhile investment. Your secondary STAB option has a bit more choice involved in the selection [The preceding sentence should be clarified]; Brave Bird is your most powerful option, though coming with the drawback of potentially costly recoil damage, and is of great use to hit some Pokemon harder than Return where required; though you will mainly be using it against Ghost-types. Pluck is another option, allowing you to steal Oran Berries from walls such as Bronzor and Gligar that come in to make your life difficult. While not as powerful as Brave Bird it can make your life much easier should you happen to catch them on the switch, not only preventing them from healing, but also healing Doduo in the process.

Quick Attack allows you to escape the priority death trap from Pokemon such as Croagunk and Machop that may try to bait you into using Brave Bird, and also allows for an assured end to weakened foes that may be carrying priority. STAB Quick Attack from Doduo can really hurt, and can allow Doduo to act as a fairly good revenge killer in its own right. Doduo shares the pain of many a Normal / Flying-type Pokemon in that the Steel- and Rock-types that inhabit Little Cup really make its life a trial, since they resist both of its STAB moves, while being naturally very defensive, and Doduo has barely anything to hit back at them with. However, given the low Special Defense of most of the Rock-types in Little Cup, Hidden Power Fighting, even off Doduo's pathetic Special Attack stat, does a lot of damage to many of them, most importantly Aron, who 4x resists both of Doduo's STAB moves. Thus, Aron is OHKOed and other Pokemon, such as Onix and offensive Rhyhorn, are always 2HKOed. Hidden Power Grass OHKOes Onix and Rhydon, as well as almost always OHKOing Omanyte and Kabuto, though it does not do as much to Aron. Hidden Power Ice is also an option if you are worried about Gligar, OHKOing offensive variants and almost always doing the same to defensive ones.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EVs and nature are incredibly straightforward, with simple sweeper EVs for maximum effectiveness at its job, and a defense-lowering nature to avoid spoiling the power of Hidden Power Fighting. Naughty grants greater attacking power, but Naïve allows you greater Speed, which can make the difference between death and survival, though the choice is really up to personal preference. If you choose to use Hidden Power Fighting, you lose a point in Speed, so it is recommended that you run a Naive nature to restore your Speed, and if you run Hidden Power Grass or Ice you lose a point in Attack, so you should run a Naughty nature for the same reason.

Stealth Rock, despite being resisted by most of Doduo's counters, is as useful as ever to break the common Focus Sashes seen around Little Cup, despite most of Doduo’s counters resisting it. Doduo is frail even without a defense-lowering nature, and taking into account Stealth Rock damage, Life Orb damage and Brave Bird recoil, Doduo will not be surviving for long against a team that can potentially hit back. Rapid Spin support can help salvage some bulk, allowing you to come in unscathed, and thus giving you more of a lifeline to hang on, should you be struck by a weaker attack or require extra turns of Life Orb recoil in which to do damage. This cannot disguise the fact that Doduo is very weak to revenge kills, particularly from Pokemon such as Scarf Gastly or Scarf Cranidos, both of whom do not mind Quick Attack. You should make sure that you can deal with these threats to Doduo, as being unable to do so is often fatal to both Doduo and your team. As for what Doduo cannot take down through sheer force, those that resist its STAB moves are the main culprits, in particular Rock- and Steel-types that do not mind Hidden Power Fighting. Bronzor is the best check around, and Doduo does not like being on the receiving end of a Gyro Ball. To deal with it, you should take advantage of its sole weakness to Fire-type moves; Houndour beats those that lack Earthquake. Krabby can take any of its attacks and reply in kind with STAB Crabhammer, as well as easily taking on the Rock-types that also plague Doduo. In the case of Magnemite, Diglett can trap and easily OHKO assuming it does not use Magnet Rise on the switch.

[SET]
name: 3 Attacks + Roost
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Roost
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe
ivs: 29 HP

[SET COMMENTS]

While Roost may seem like a waste of a moveslot on Doduo given Doduo's lack of bulk, running Roost comes with a lot of bonuses to Doduo that more than make up for the lost coverage. It is an extremely useful move in the right circumstances, as Doduo often accumulates a very large amount of residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock, Life Orb, and recoil from Brave Bird or Double-Edge, which Roost helps to offset. Furthermore, Roost also removes its unfortunate weaknesses to Rock-, Electric-, and Ice-type moves, and provides Doduo with a non-damaging move to avoid Sucker Punch. For the other three moves, Brave Bird and Double-Edge are very powerful and their recoil effect is negated by Roost, as previously mentioned, although since you can only use one of them as they are illegal together, Pluck and Return are still perfectly viable options respectively.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EV spread is the standard max Attack and Speed, and unfortunately the leftover EVs have to go to waste. The choice of an Adamant or Jolly nature is entirely up to you and whether you feel the need for more Speed or more Attack. Lastly, if you decide to run a 29 HP IV, you reach 19 HP, which means that Life Orb will only deduct 1 HP per use. However, this loss in HP can be critical against Bronzor that invest in Attack as well as for taking other neutral hits.

The first and most obvious benefit of Roost is negating the residual damage built up on Doduo. While healing with Roost wastes a turn, it allows Doduo to remain a force for much longer in the battle than it would otherwise. While it may seem optimistic to the point of foolishness to try to heal a weakened Doduo at any point, it should be noted that Doduo's presence will often force the opponent to switch, usually to a Pokemon such as Bronzor, whom Doduo can do very little against, and thus it is often a better policy to Roost on the switch. Aside from this, Roost can allow Doduo to beat its usual counters, most notably Bronzor, who has a good chance to fail to 2HKO with Gyro Ball, Psychic or Hidden Power Ice, allowing Doduo to outstall it with Roost, and slowly wear it down over time with repeated attacks. Another great advantage gained by using Roost is the ability to evade Sucker Punch, one of the most common forms of priority. While Doduo has priority of its own, it may not always be enough to avoid a revenge kill, and especially with Pokemon such as Diglett, if you can predict the Sucker Punch and use Roost, you should have enough HP left with which to beat Diglett, while Doduo is immune to Arena Trap. Lastly, although by using Roost you remove your Rock, Ice, and Electric weaknesses, enabling you to occasionally heal on unSTABed attacks of these types from slower Pokemon of that nature, this is a rare occurrence and the users of these moves will often have enough power to cause serious injury to the frail Doduo even without a weakness to prey on.

Stealth Rock support helps greatly, again, to stop Focus Sash teams from interfering. The biggest difference between this Doduo and most others is the presence of Roost but the absence of a last coverage move. This fact makes it a lot more vulnerable to Pokemon that resist its STAB moves, in particular Rock-types Pokemon such as Geodude and Onix. While these are not commonly seen, it may be wise to accompany Doduo with something that has little trouble against them, such as Staryu or Machop, both of whom can OHKO most Rock-types with their STAB moves.

[Team Options]

Doduo is one of those fast but frail sweepers that cannot really afford to take a strong hit if they can help it. Thus, Stealth Rock is a useful method of supporting Doduo; though it does not severely damage any of Doduo’s usual counters to any great degree, it does help by breaking the Focus Sash on Pokemon such as Abra and Diglett, hopefully allowing Doduo to get the kill and live to fight on. Rapid Spin support can be helpful if you are expecting to switch in and out a lot, as Doduo can find itself very short on health very quickly with Stealth Rock on the field.

Bronzor is probably Doduo’s biggest and most common problem, and without a lot of luck, no variant of Doduo can beat it. Although it can be weathered down through repeated assaults, it is best that you include a sound strategy in your team for beating it. Houndour can easily OHKO with its STAB Fire-type moves, and Krabby can pound it with STAB Crabhammer, while taking advantage of its excellent natural Defense. If you are not running Hidden Power Fighting, this extends to Aron, Shieldon, Magnemite, and other Steel-types. All of the above can be easily trapped and OHKOed by Diglett; Magnemite can also fare well against them. Diglett and Magnemite can both also switch in on Electric and Rock attacks aimed at Doduo with relative ease. Magnemite in particular makes a good partner for Doduo in any case, as it resists all of Doduo’s weaknesses, and can trap and kill Steel-types, while Doduo can switch in on Earthquakes that Magnemite baits. Aron and Shieldon can both also be taken care of by specially-inclined Water-types Pokemon such as Staryu and Chinchou. Water-types Pokemon are also useful to deal with Rock-types Pokemon if you are paranoid about them or if you are not running Steel Wing. Scarf Houndour is also useful, aside from beating Bronzor, in removing Ghost-types that may try to switch in and revenge kill, if you are slower or for whatever reason not running a Flying-type attack.

As previously mentioned, Doduo is quite frail, and relatively easy to revenge kill for most of Little Cup, especially with Life Orb, Brave Bird and Stealth Rock damage taken into account. Priority revenge killers such as Croagunk and Houndour have an easy time on variants without Quick Attack, and Pokemon such as Staryu, Abra and Taillow all outspeed non-Scarf variants and OHKO with their respective STAB moves. For this reason you should always make sure not to leave any gaps in your team that can be taken advantage of by any one revenge killer, as Doduo cannot always rely on Quick Attack to remove its foes. The best way to deal with it is generally to fight fire with fire; for example, Diglett can survive a Sucker Punch or Vacuum Wave from Houndour and Croagunk respectively and OHKO both with STAB Earthquake, and still has its own Sucker Punch for other wielders of priority attacks. The majority of those with Aqua Jet can be revenge killed by Croagunk or Mantyke, and Ghost-types Pokemon such as Gastly or Duskull can beat Machop and Makuhita, with luck.

[Optional Changes]

Doduo can use Choice items fairly well, something Taillow cannot do, but more often than not getting locked into a Normal-type move is asking for disaster. As previously mentioned, Doduo has little in the way of alternative moves. Drill Peck is an option if you dislike Brave Bird’s recoil and Pluck’s comparatively low power, but is quite average compared to them. Steel Wing allows you to hit Rock-types but its low power coupled with usually low damage output against common Rock-types means you are usually better off using Hidden Power. Doduo also has Endeavor, which can be used alongside Quick Attack and Focus Sash for a gimmick combination, using Endeavor as your opponent breaks your Focus Sash, then using Quick Attack for the KO, and hopefully weakening another Pokemon as well. Lastly, Pursuit can be used to revenge kill Choice-locked Ghosts.

All you really need to do for Doduo is max out its Attack and Speed, since both stats max out at 236 EVs, and none of its other stats gain a point with the leftover 36 EVs. If you are using Hidden Power Fighting, Doduo loses a point in Speed, and so a Naive nature should be used to make up for it. Likewise, if you are using Hidden Power Grass, you lose a point in Attack, so you may want to use a Naughty nature to retain your original Attack. A 29 HP IV allows you to reach 19 HP, allowing you to take minimum damage from Life Orb, though it does interfere with Hidden Power slightly. If you are using a Substitute + Flail set, 76 EVs in HP gives you a HP stat of 21, allowing you to create four Substitutes, leaving you with 1 HP.

[Counters]

Far and away the best counters are Steel-types, who resist both of its STAB moves and usually have naturally high Defense. Bronzor comes to mind as a premier choice, especially considering that it is not bothered by Hidden Power Fighting. Beldum should also be noted as a check, if only for sake of completeness. Magnemite, too, can survive a Hidden Power and OHKO with STAB Thunderbolt. Aron and Shieldon take practically nothing from Doduo's STAB attacks and have their own STAB Rock-type attacks to kill Doduo with but must be wary of Hidden Power Fighting, as it will OHKO both the majority of the time. Rock-types are next on the list, with naturally great Defense and super effective STAB, though they usually have less than impressive Special Defense and must watch out for Hidden Power. Faster Ghosts can come in on Return or Quick Attack and hit Doduo with a Thunderbolt, though they need to watch out for Brave Bird or Pluck on the switch. Lastly, Doduo is quite frail and easily revenge killed, and even with Quick Attack taken for granted there are a number of Pokemon faster than it that easily revenge kill it, such as Elekid, Staryu, and Abra. Most Choice Scarf users also outrun it, and wielders of priority moves, such as Houndour and Machop, can all come in on weakened Doduo and revenge kill after Doduo has made a kill, though they must watch out for Quick Attack.

Zystral · Oct 30, 2010

[Overview]

Doduo can perform very well at what it does, being the proud owner of the standard combination of moves granted by both of its types, a useful priority move, and the ability to simply stomp its way through weakened teams with whatever it happens to be running. Sadly for Doduo, its usage is dampened slightly by the presence of Taillow, who can run almost identical movesets but with greater Speed (which in Little Cup can make or break a sweeper) as well as Guts and Facade to compensate for Doduo's slightly higher Attack. Despite the competition, Doduo is undeniably an excellent Pokemon in Little Cup, and is not overshadowed by any means; Doduo's higher Attack and slightly better overall defenses, the ability to use Liechi Berry, Flail, and Roost, as well as freedom from self-inflicted status damage, gives it advantages over Taillow in many situations. Underestimate it at your own peril.

[SET]
name: Mixed Life Orb
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Grass
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Doduo boasts decent Speed and Attack, useful STAB moves, and decent coverage, marking it out as a fast, physical sweeper. This variant of Doduo aims to sweep, clearing up weakened teams lategame with its powerful STAB moves, while relying on priority to prevent revenge kills by faster foes. Return is the standard Normal-type STAB move, and is a good one at that: with reasonable power, perfect accuracy, and no recoil effects, you will find yourself using it more than any of your other moves, not only because it has a great deal of neutral coverage, but also because it is your most reliable attack. Double-Edge is a more powerful but also more risky alternative to Return; it can make the difference between an OHKO and a 2HKO, but lacks Return's long-term reliability. However, it is illegal with Brave Bird, and as Brave Bird does not have as reliable an alternative as Double-Edge has, it is usually the more worthwhile investment. For a secondary STAB option, Brave Bird is your most powerful option, and as mentioned previously there are few worthwhile alternatives. Pluck is one, allowing you to steal Oran Berries from walls such as Bronzor and Gligar that come in to make your life difficult. While not as powerful as Brave Bird it can make your life much easier should you happen to catch them on the switch, not only preventing them from healing, but also healing Doduo in the process.

Quick Attack allows you to escape the priority death trap from Pokemon such as Croagunk and Machop that may try to bait you into using Brave Bird, and also allows for an assured end to weakened foes that may be carrying priority. STAB Quick Attack from Doduo can really hurt, and can allow Doduo to act as a fairly good revenge killer in its own right. Doduo shares the pain of many Normal / Flying Pokemon in that the Steel- and Rock-types that inhabit Little Cup really make its life a trial, since they resist both of its STAB moves, while being naturally very defensive, and Doduo has barely anything to hit back at them with. However, given the low Special Defense of most of the Rock-types in Little Cup, Hidden Power Fighting, even off Doduo's pathetic Special Attack stat, does a lot of damage to many of them, most importantly Aron, who 4x resists both of its STAB moves. Aron is OHKOed and other Pokemon, such as Onix and offensive Rhyhorn, are 2HKOed. On the other hand, Hidden Power Grass OHKOes Onix and Rhydon, as well as almost always OHKOing Omanyte and Kabuto, though it does not do as much to Aron. Hidden Power Ice is also an option if you are worried about Gligar, OHKOing offensive variants and almost always doing the same to defensive ones.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EVs and nature are incredibly straightforward; with simple sweeper EVs for maximum effectiveness at its job, and a defense-lowering nature to avoid spoiling the power of Hidden Power Fighting. Naughty grants greater attacking power, but Naïve allows you greater Speed, which can make the difference between death and survival, though the choice is really up to personal preference. If you choose to use Hidden Power Fighting, you lose a point in Speed, so it is recommended that you run a Naive nature to restore your Speed, and if you run Hidden Power Grass or Ice you lose a point in Attack, so you should run a Naughty nature for the same reason.

Stealth Rock, despite being resisted by most of Doduo's counters, is as useful as ever to break the common Focus Sashes seen around Little Cup. Doduo is frail even without a defense-lowering nature, and taking into account Stealth Rock damage, Life Orb damage and Brave Bird recoil, Doduo will not be surviving for long against a team that can potentially hit back. Rapid Spin support can help salvage some bulk, allowing you to come in unscathed, and thus giving you more of a lifeline to hang on, should you be struck by a weaker attack or require extra turns of Life Orb recoil in which to do damage. This cannot disguise the fact that Doduo is very weak to revenge killing, particularly from Pokemon such as Scarf Gastly or Scarf Cranidos, both of whom do not mind Quick Attack. You should make sure that you can deal with these threats to Doduo, as being unable to do so is often fatal to both Doduo and your team. As for what Doduo cannot take down through sheer force, those that resist its STAB moves are the main culprits, in particular those Rock- and Steel-types that do not mind Hidden Power Fighting. Bronzor is the best check around, and Doduo does not like being on the receiving end of a Hidden Power Ice or Psychic. To deal with it, you should take advantage of its sole weakness to Fire-type moves; Houndour beats those that lack Earthquake. Krabby can take any of its attacks and reply in kind with STAB Crabhammer, as well as easily taking on the Rock-types that also plague Doduo. In the case of Magnemite, Diglett can trap and easily OHKO assuming it does not use Magnet Rise on the switch.

[SET]
name: 3 Attacks + Roost
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Roost
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe
ivs: 29 HP

[SET COMMENTS]

While Roost may seem like a waste of a moveslot on Doduo given its lack of bulk, running Roost comes with a lot of bonuses to Doduo that more than make up for the lost coverage. It is an extremely useful move in the right circumstances, as Doduo often accumulates a very large amount of residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock, Life Orb, and recoil from Brave Bird or Double-Edge, which Roost helps to offset. Furthermore, Roost removes its unfortunate weaknesses to Rock-, Electric-, and Ice-type moves, and provides Doduo with a non-damaging move to avoid Sucker Punch. For the other three moves, Brave Bird and Double-Edge are very powerful and their recoil effect is negated by Roost, as previously mentioned, although since you can only use one of them as they are illegal together, Pluck and Return are still perfectly viable options.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EV spread is the standard max Attack and Speed, and unfortunately the leftover EVs have to go to waste. The choice of an Adamant or Jolly nature is entirely up to you and whether you feel the need for more Speed or more Attack. Lastly, if you decide to run a 29 HP IV, you reach 19 HP, which means that Life Orb will only deduct 1 HP per attack. However, this loss in HP can be critical against Bronzor that invest in Special Attack as well as for taking other neutral hits.

The most obvious benefit of Roost is negating the residual damage built up on Doduo. While healing with Roost wastes a turn, it allows Doduo to remain a force for much longer in the battle. While it may seem optimistic to the point of foolishness to try to heal a weakened Doduo at any point, it should be noted that Doduo's presence will often force the opponent to switch, usually to a Pokemon such as Bronzor, whom Doduo can do very little against, and thus it is often a better policy to Roost on the switch. Aside from this, Roost can allow Doduo to beat its usual counters, most notably Bronzor, who has a good chance to fail to 2HKO with Gyro Ball, Psychic or Hidden Power Ice, allowing Doduo to outstall it with Roost, and slowly wear it down over time with repeated attacks. Another great advantage gained by using Roost is the ability to evade Sucker Punch, one of the most common forms of priority. While Doduo has priority of its own, it may not always be enough to avoid a revenge kill, and especially with Pokemon such as Diglett, if you can predict the Sucker Punch and use Roost, you should have enough HP left with which to beat Diglett, while Doduo is immune to Arena Trap. Lastly, although by using Roost you remove your Rock, Ice, and Electric weaknesses, enabling you to occasionally heal on unSTABed attacks of these types from slower Pokemon, this is a rare occurrence and the users of these moves will often have enough power to cause serious injury to the frail Doduo even without a weakness to prey on.

Stealth Rock support helps greatly, again, to stop Focus Sash teams from interfering. The biggest difference between this Doduo and most others is the presence of Roost but the absence of a last coverage move. This fact makes it a lot more vulnerable to Pokemon that resist its STAB moves, in particular Rock-type Pokemon such as Geodude and Onix. While these are not commonly seen, it may be wise to accompany Doduo with something that has little trouble against them, such as Staryu or Machop, both of whom can OHKO most Rock-types with their STAB moves.

[Team Options]

Doduo is one of those fast but frail sweepers that cannot really afford to take a strong hit. Thus, Stealth Rock is a useful method of supporting Doduo; though it does not severely damage any of Doduo’s usual counters to any great degree, it does help by breaking the Focus Sash on Pokemon such as Abra and Diglett, hopefully allowing Doduo to get the kill and live to fight on. Rapid Spin support can be helpful if you are expecting to switch in and out a lot, as Doduo can find itself very short on health very quickly with Stealth Rock on the field.

Bronzor is probably Doduo’s biggest and most common problem, and without a lot of luck, no variant of Doduo can beat it. Although it can be weathered down through repeated assaults, it is best that you include a sound strategy in your team for beating it. Houndour can easily OHKO with its STAB Fire-type moves, and Krabby can pound it with STAB Crabhammer, while taking advantage of its excellent natural Defense. If you are not running Hidden Power Fighting, this extends to Aron, Shieldon, Magnemite, and other Steel-types. All of the above can be easily trapped and OHKOed by Diglett; Magnemite can also fare well against them. Diglett and Magnemite can both also switch in on Electric and Rock attacks aimed at Doduo with relative ease. Magnemite in particular makes a good partner for Doduo, as it resists all of Doduo’s weaknesses and can trap and kill Steel-types, while Doduo can switch in on Earthquakes that Magnemite baits. Aron and Shieldon can both also be taken care of by specially inclined Water-type Pokemon such as Staryu and Chinchou. Water-type Pokemon are also useful to deal with Rock-type Pokemon if you are paranoid about them or if you are not running Steel Wing. Scarf Houndour is also useful, aside from beating Bronzor, in removing Ghost-types that may try to switch in and revenge kill if you are slower or for whatever reason not running a Flying-type attack.

As previously mentioned, Doduo is quite frail, and relatively easy to revenge kill for most of Little Cup, especially with Life Orb, Brave Bird and Stealth Rock damage taken into account. Priority revenge killers such as Croagunk and Houndour have an easy time on variants without Quick Attack, and Pokemon such as Staryu, Abra and Taillow all outspeed non-Scarf variants and OHKO with their respective STAB moves. For this reason you should always make sure not to leave any gaps in your team that can be taken advantage of by any one revenge killer, as Doduo cannot always rely on Quick Attack to remove its foes. The best way to deal with it is generally to fight fire with fire; for example, Diglett can survive a Sucker Punch or Vacuum Wave from Houndour and Croagunk respectively and OHKO both with STAB Earthquake, and still has its own Sucker Punch for other wielders of priority attacks. The majority of those with Aqua Jet can be revenge killed by Croagunk or Mantyke, and Ghost-type Pokemon such as Gastly or Duskull can beat Machop if they don't switch in on Payback or Bullet Punch.

[Optional Changes]

Doduo can use Choice items fairly well, something Taillow cannot do, but more often than not getting locked into a Normal-type move is asking for disaster. As previously mentioned, Doduo has little in the way of alternative moves. Drill Peck is an option if you dislike Brave Bird’s recoil and Pluck’s comparatively low power, but is quite average compared to them. Steel Wing allows you to hit Rock-types but its low power coupled with low damage output against common Rock-types means you are usually better off using Hidden Power. Doduo also has Endeavor, which can be used alongside Quick Attack and Focus Sash for a gimmick combination, using Endeavor as your opponent breaks your Focus Sash, then using Quick Attack for the KO, and hopefully weakening another Pokemon as well. Lastly, Pursuit can be used to revenge kill Choice-locked Ghosts.

All you really need to do for Doduo is max out its Attack and Speed, since both stats max out at 236 EVs, and none of its other stats gain a point with the leftover 36 EVs. If you are using Hidden Power Fighting, Doduo loses a point in Speed, so a Naive nature should be used to make up for it. Likewise, if you are using Hidden Power Grass, you lose a point in Attack, so you may want to use a Naughty nature to retain your original Attack. A 29 HP IV allows you to reach 19 HP, allowing you to take minimum damage from Life Orb, though it does interfere with Hidden Power slightly. If you are using a Substitute + Flail set, 76 EVs in HP gives you a HP stat of 21, allowing you to create four Substitutes, leaving you with 1 HP.

[Counters]

Far and away the best counters are Steel-types, who resist both of its STAB moves and usually have naturally high Defense. Bronzor comes to mind as a premier choice, especially considering that it is not bothered by Hidden Power Fighting. Beldum should also be noted as a check, if only for sake of completeness. Magnemite, too, can survive a Hidden Power and OHKO with STAB Thunderbolt. Aron and Shieldon take practically nothing from Doduo's STAB attacks and have their own STAB Rock-type attacks to kill Doduo with but must be wary of Hidden Power Fighting, as it will OHKO both the majority of the time. Rock-types are next on the list, with naturally great Defense and super effective STAB, though they usually have less than impressive Special Defense and must watch out for Hidden Power. Faster Ghosts can come in on Return or Quick Attack and hit Doduo with a Thunderbolt, though they need to watch out for Brave Bird or Pluck on the switch. Lastly, Doduo is quite frail and easily revenge killed, and even with Quick Attack taken for granted there are a number of Pokemon faster than it that easily revenge kill it, such as Elekid, Staryu, and Abra. Most Choice Scarf users also outrun it, and wielders of priority attacks such as Houndour and Machop can all come in on weakened Doduo and revenge kill after Doduo has made a kill, though they must watch out for Quick Attack.

Somehow, I am either extremely tired, or this is perfect.

However, to be on the safe side, I think this should have a third grammar check. Sorry about that. I'm also going to hesitate stamping this until I can check it later when I am less tired, in case there are other mistakes I missed.

Snorlaxe · Oct 31, 2010

GP CHECK 3/3

pink is grammar edits
blue is prose edits

[Overview]

Doduo can perform very well at what it does, being the proud owner of the standard combination of moves granted by both of its types, a useful priority move, and the ability to simply stomp its way through weakened teams with whatever it happens to be running. Sadly for Doduo, its usage is hampered slightly by the presence of Taillow, who can run almost identical movesets but has greater Speed (which in Little Cup can make or break a sweeper), as well as Guts and Facade to compensate for Doduo's slightly higher Attack. Despite the competition, Doduo is undeniably an excellent Pokemon in Little Cup, and is not overshadowed by any means; Doduo's higher Attack and slightly better overall defenses, the ability to use Liechi Berry, Flail, and Roost, as well as freedom from self-inflicted status damage, gives it advantages over Taillow in many situations. Underestimate it at your own peril.

[SET]
name: Mixed Life Orb
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Grass
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Doduo boasts decent Speed and Attack, useful STAB moves, and decent coverage, allowing it to function as a fast, physical sweeper. This variant of Doduo aims to sweep, clearing up weakened teams late-game with its powerful STAB moves, while relying on priority to prevent revenge kills by faster foes. Return is the standard Normal-type STAB move, and is a good one at that: with reasonable power, perfect accuracy, and no recoil effects, you will find Doduo using it more than any of its other moves, not only because it has a great deal of neutral coverage, but also because it is Doduo's most reliable attack. Double-Edge is a more powerful but also more risky alternative to Return; it can make the difference between an OHKO and a 2HKO, but lacks Return's long-term reliability. However, it is illegal alongside Brave Bird, and as Brave Bird does not have as reliable an alternative as Double-Edge has, it is usually the more worthwhile investment. For a secondary STAB option, Brave Bird is Doduo's most powerful choice, and as mentioned previously there are few worthwhile alternatives. Pluck is one, allowing you to steal Oran Berries from walls such as Bronzor and Gligar that come in to make your life difficult. While not as powerful as Brave Bird, it can make your life much easier should you happen to catch them on the switch, not only preventing them from healing, but also healing Doduo in the process.

Quick Attack allows Doduo to escape the priority death trap from Pokemon such as Croagunk and Machop that may try to bait Doduo into using Brave Bird, and also allows for an assured end to weakened foes that may be carrying priority. STAB Quick Attack from Doduo can really hurt, and can allow Doduo to act as a fairly good revenge killer. Doduo shares the pain of many Normal / Flying Pokemon in that the Steel- and Rock-types that inhabit Little Cup really make its life a trial, since they resist both of its STAB moves while being naturally very defensive, and Doduo has barely anything to hit back at them with. However, given the low Special Defense of most of the Rock-types in Little Cup, Hidden Power Fighting, even off Doduo's pathetic Special Attack stat, does a lot of damage to many of them, most importantly Aron, who 4x resists both of Doduo's STAB moves. Aron is OHKOed and other Pokemon, such as Onix and offensive Rhyhorn, are 2HKOed. On the other hand, Hidden Power Grass OHKOes Onix and Rhydon, as well as almost always OHKOing Omanyte and Kabuto, though it does not do as much to Aron. Hidden Power Ice is also an option if you are worried about Gligar, OHKOing offensive variants and almost always doing the same to defensive ones.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EVs and nature are incredibly straightforward, with simple sweeper EVs for maximum effectiveness at its job, and a defense-lowering nature to avoid spoiling the power of Hidden Power Fighting. Naughty grants greater attacking power, but Naive grants greater Speed, which can make the difference between death and survival, though the choice is really up to personal preference. If you choose to use Hidden Power Fighting, Doduo loses a point in Speed, so it is recommended that you run a Naive nature to restore Doduo's Speed. If you run Hidden Power Grass or Ice Doduo loses a point in Attack, so you should run a Naughty nature for the same reason.

Stealth Rock, despite being resisted by most of Doduo's counters, is as useful as ever to break the common Focus Sashes seen around Little Cup. Doduo is frail even without a defense-lowering nature, and taking into account Stealth Rock damage, Life Orb damage, and Brave Bird recoil, Doduo will not be surviving for long against a team that can potentially hit back. Rapid Spin support can help salvage some bulk, allowing Doduo to come in unscathed, and thus giving it more of a lifeline to hang on should it be struck by a weaker attack or require extra turns of Life Orb recoil in which to do damage. This cannot disguise the fact that Doduo is very prone to revenge killing, particularly from Pokemon such as Scarf Gastly or Scarf Cranidos, both of whom do not mind Quick Attack. You should make sure that you can deal with these threats to Doduo, as being unable to do so is often fatal to both Doduo and your team. As for what Doduo cannot take down through sheer force, Pokemon that resist its STAB moves are the main culprits, in particular those Rock- and Steel-types that do not mind Hidden Power Fighting. Bronzor is the best check around, and Doduo does not like being on the receiving end of a Hidden Power Ice or Psychic. To deal with it, you should take advantage of its sole weakness, Fire-type moves; Houndour beats Bronzor that lack Earthquake. Krabby can take any of its attacks and reply in kind with STAB Crabhammer, as well as easily taking on the Rock-types that also plague Doduo. In the case of Magnemite, Diglett can trap and easily OHKO assuming it does not use Magnet Rise on the switch.

[SET]
name: 3 Attacks + Roost
move 1: Brave Bird / Pluck
move 2: Return / Double-Edge
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Roost
item: Life Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe
ivs: 29 HP

[SET COMMENTS]

While Roost may seem like a waste of a moveslot on Doduo given its lack of bulk, running Roost comes with a lot of bonuses to Doduo that more than make up for the lost coverage. It is an extremely useful move in the right circumstances, as Doduo often accumulates a very large amount of residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock, Life Orb, and recoil from Brave Bird or Double-Edge. Furthermore, Roost removes Doduo's unfortunate weaknesses to Rock-, Electric-, and Ice-type moves, and provides it with a non-damaging move to avoid Sucker Punch. For the other three moves, Brave Bird and Double-Edge are very powerful and their recoil effect is negated by Roost, as previously mentioned, although since you can only use one of them as they are illegal together, Pluck and Return are still perfectly viable options.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

The EV spread is the standard max Attack and Speed. The choice of an Adamant or Jolly nature is entirely up to whether you feel the need for more Speed or more Attack. Lastly, if you decide to run a 29 HP IV, Doduo reaches 19 HP, which means that Life Orb will only deduct 1 HP per attack. However, this loss in HP can be critical against Bronzor that invest in Special Attack as well as for taking other neutral hits.

The most obvious benefit of Roost is negating the residual damage built up on Doduo. While healing with Roost wastes a turn, it allows Doduo to remain a force for much longer in the battle. While it may seem optimistic to the point of foolishness to try to heal a weakened Doduo at any point, it should be noted that Doduo's presence will often force the opponent to switch, usually to a Pokemon such as Bronzor, whom Doduo can do very little against, and thus it is often a better policy to Roost on the switch. Aside from this, Roost can allow Doduo to beat its usual counters, most notably Bronzor, who has a good chance to fail to 2HKO with Gyro Ball, Psychic, or Hidden Power Ice, allowing Doduo to outstall it with Roost and slowly wear it down over time with repeated attacks. Another great advantage gained by using Roost is the ability to evade Sucker Punch, one of the most common forms of priority. While Doduo has priority of its own, it may not always be enough to avoid a revenge kill, especially with Pokemon such as Diglett. Lastly, although by using Roost you remove Doduo's Rock, Ice, and Electric weaknesses, enabling Doduo to occasionally heal on unSTABed attacks of these types from slower Pokemon, this is a rare occurrence and the users of these moves will often have enough power to cause serious injury to the frail Doduo even without a weakness to prey on.

Stealth Rock support helps greatly to stop Focus Sash teams from interfering. The biggest difference between this Doduo and most others is the presence of Roost and the absence of a last coverage move. This fact makes Doduo a lot more vulnerable to Pokemon that resist its STAB moves, particularly Rock-type Pokemon such as Geodude and Onix. While these are not commonly seen, it may be wise to accompany Doduo with something that has little trouble against them, such as Staryu or Machop, both of whom can OHKO most Rock-types with their STAB moves.

[Team Options]

Doduo is one of those fast but frail sweepers that cannot really afford to take a strong hit. Thus, Stealth Rock is a useful method of supporting Doduo; though it does not severely damage any of Doduo’s usual counters to any great degree, it does help by breaking the Focus Sash on Pokemon such as Abra and Diglett, allowing Doduo to get the kill and live to fight on. Rapid Spin support can be helpful if you are expecting to switch in and out a lot, as Doduo can find itself very short on health very quickly with Stealth Rock on the field.

Bronzor is probably Doduo’s biggest and most common problem, and without a lot of luck, no variant of Doduo can beat it. Although it can be weathered down through repeated assaults, it is best if you include a sound strategy in your team for beating it. Houndour can easily OHKO with its STAB Fire-type moves, and Krabby can pound it with STAB Crabhammer while taking advantage of its excellent natural Defense. If you are not running Hidden Power Fighting, this extends to Aron, Shieldon, Magnemite, and other Steel-types. All of the above can be easily trapped and OHKOed by Diglett; Magnemite can also fare well against them. Diglett and Magnemite can both also switch in on Electric and Rock attacks aimed at Doduo with relative ease. Magnemite in particular makes a good partner for Doduo, as it resists all of Doduo’s weaknesses and can trap and kill Steel-types, while Doduo can switch in on a predicted Earthquake aimed at Magnemite. Aron and Shieldon can both also be taken care of by specially inclined Water-type Pokemon such as Staryu and Chinchou. Water-type Pokemon are also useful to deal with Rock-type Pokemon if you are paranoid about them or if you are not running Steel Wing. Scarf Houndour is also useful, aside from beating Bronzor, in removing Ghost-types that may try to switch in and revenge kill if Doduo is slower or not running a Flying-type attack.

As previously mentioned, Doduo is quite frail, and relatively easy to revenge kill for most of Little Cup, especially with Life Orb, Brave Bird, and Stealth Rock damage taken into account. Priority revenge killers such as Croagunk and Houndour have an easy time on Doduo that lack Quick Attack. Pokemon such as Staryu, Abra, and Taillow all outspeed non-Scarf variants and OHKO with their respective STAB moves. For this reason you should always make sure not to leave any gaps in your team that can be taken advantage of by any one revenge killer, as Doduo cannot always rely on Quick Attack to remove its foes. The best way to deal with it is generally to fight fire with fire; for example, Diglett can survive a Sucker Punch or Vacuum Wave from Houndour and Croagunk, respectively, and OHKO both with STAB Earthquake. The majority of priority users with Aqua Jet can be revenge killed by Croagunk or Mantyke, and Ghost-type Pokemon such as Gastly or Duskull can beat Machop if they don't switch in on Payback or Bullet Punch.

[Optional Changes]

Doduo can use Choice items fairly well, something Taillow cannot do, but more often than not getting locked into a Normal-type move is asking for disaster. As previously mentioned, Doduo has little in the way of alternative moves. Drill Peck is an option if you dislike Brave Bird’s recoil and Pluck’s low Base Power, but is quite average compared to them. Steel Wing allows Doduo to hit Rock-types, but its low power coupled with low damage output against common Rock-types means Doduo is usually better off using Hidden Power. Doduo also has Endeavor, which can be used alongside Quick Attack and Focus Sash for a gimmick combination. Lastly, Pursuit can be used to revenge kill Choice-locked Ghosts.

All you really need to do for Doduo is max out its Attack and Speed, since both stats max out at 236 EVs, and none of its other stats gain a point with the leftover 36 EVs. If you are using Hidden Power Fighting, Doduo loses a point in Speed, so a Naive nature should be used to make up for it. Likewise, if you are using Hidden Power Grass, Doduo loses a point in Attack, so you may want to use a Naughty nature to retain its original Attack. A 29 HP IV allows Doduo to reach 19 HP, letting Doduo take minimum damage from Life Orb, though it does interfere with Hidden Power slightly. If you are using a Substitute + Flail set, 76 EVs in HP gives Doduo a HP stat of 21, allowing it to create four Substitutes with 1 HP remaining.

[Counters]

Far and away the best counters are Steel-types, which resist both of Doduo's STAB moves and usually have naturally high Defense. Bronzor comes to mind as a premier choice, especially considering that it is not bothered by Hidden Power Fighting. Beldum should also be noted as a check, if only for sake of completeness. Magnemite, too, can survive a Hidden Power and OHKO with STAB Thunderbolt. Aron and Shieldon take practically nothing from Doduo's STAB attacks and have their own STAB Rock-type attacks to kill Doduo with, but must be wary of Hidden Power Fighting, as it will OHKO both the majority of the time. Rock-types are next on the list, with naturally great Defense and super effective STAB, though they usually have less than impressive Special Defense stats and must watch out for Hidden Power. Faster Ghosts can come in on Return or Quick Attack and hit Doduo with Thunderbolt, though they need to watch out for Brave Bird or Pluck on the switch. Lastly, Doduo is quite frail and easily revenge killed, and even with Quick Attack taken for granted there are a number of Pokemon faster than it that easily revenge kill it, such as Elekid, Staryu, and Abra. Most Choice Scarf users also outrun it, and priority users such as Houndour and Machop can all come in on a weakened Doduo and revenge kill after it has made a kill, though they must watch out for Quick Attack.

honestly i have no idea what analysis zystral was proofreading when he grammar checked this. the analysis was riddled with incorrect commas and run-on sentences, not to mention tons and tons of superflous information. also, you often used "you" when referring to doduo, so those all had to be fixed as well. sorry if i sound harsh, but considering there has already been TWO gp checks on this, i was literally shocked at the number of problems i encountered throughout the analysis -.- once you make these changes this should be good to go, however!

bugmaniacbob · Oct 31, 2010

Thanks Snorlaxe, much appreciated.

As for your comments - well what can I say, I was young and naive back when I wrote this and if I'm quite honest, my writing wasn't actually that good (hasn't really changed since but w/e)

Oh, and I also want to blame the grammar standards 1 year ago when I wrote this, which were slightly more flexible - hence the large number of oxford comma omissions and continually referring to Doduo as 'you'.

Oh well, finished now. Thanks to all those who contributed towards the analysis.

Flora · Oct 31, 2010

Ah, wait, this isn't finished yet. =P

First set should be 236 Atk / 240 Spe instead of 236 Spe due to Hidden Power Fighting being the main option. This compensates for the lost of Speed. If this happens, then a little rewording in Additional Comments first paragraph would be needed.

edit: actually, would using 240 Atk / 240 Spe be a bad thing? By doing this, you don't have to worry about HP Grass as well.

edit for below: i'm personally fine with it.

bugmaniacbob · Oct 31, 2010

Damn those Little Cup EVs. Thanks Flora, I've edited the changes in. If anybody wants to check the new sentence:

Ordinarily, 236 EVs would be sufficient to maximize both Attack and Speed on Doduo; however, due to the lowered IVs from using Hidden Power, 240 EVs are given in each stat to ensure that, whatever Hidden Power you decide to use, your Attack and Speed are always maximized.

...feel free to do so, as knowing me there's probably a mistake in there somewhere :)

SOMALIA · Nov 1, 2010

Ordinarily, 236 EVs would be sufficient to maximize both Attack and Speed on Doduo; however, due to the lowered IVs from using Hidden Power, 240 EVs are given in each stat to ensure that, whatever Hidden Power you decide to use, your its Attack and Speed are always maximized.

Doduo (Analysis)

Was fun while it lasted

maybe I just misunderstood

Was fun while it lasted

@ Thick Club

~hallelujah~

Was fun while it lasted

Was fun while it lasted

Was fun while it lasted

dont change my ct fuckers

Nom nom nom

めんどくさい、な～

2 kawaii 4 u

Was fun while it lasted

Yep, that tasted purple!

Was fun while it lasted

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)