Looking for expert advice

[SimplyG]

First off, if there is a better place to post this, please alert me to it, as I could not find it.

Second off, I have messed around with competitive battling in the past, but never got real deep into it. Well, doubles has reinvigorated that spark in me and I want to get more involved in it, but I'm having a little trouble when it comes to the team building portion. I have an idea I'm trying to work with that simply isn't coming through and I'm looking for more expert advice.

Let me preface this by saying I'm trying to work within the VGC guidelines. I'm doing this because 1) the limited number of usable Pokemon seems less daunting to me and 2) I like the 4 vs 4 over 6 vs 6.

I have a late-game idea where I use Bellossom's Teeter Dance combined with a really Bulky partner to finish off the opponent's two final Pokemon when they can't switch out and nullify Confusion's effect. Currently, I've tested it with Bellossom and Slowbro and it worked decently well. Bellossom can surprisingly take a lot of damage despite it's typing, Slowbro's Own Tempo doesn't mean I have to waste a turn using Protect, and Bellossom's Healer ability saves Slowbro if necessary. Slowbro can also carry Blizzard, Surf and Earthquake while Bellossom protects. One of my greatest successes with this combo, however, came when using Teeter Dance Vileplume and a Dual Screening Klefki.

The issue I'm having comes with the rest of the team. If they have all four Pokemon left or even just one, it allows them to switch out and either completely nullify or partially nullify Teeter Dance's effectiveness. Would anyone have any suggestions of a third and fourth Pokemon that may be able to reliably knock out two of my opponent's Pokemon before I can pull out this combo? Improvements and other suggestions are also welcomed! Thank you!

 

[realiti]

Hello SimplyG. I'm glad that you are starting Doubles and I hope to see more of you in the future. Please dont take anything I say as rude or mean, because I am trying to help you become better :)

That being said, that strategy is rather inconsistent and unreliable. It will not work on experienced players who know how to switch and handle confusion. I would rather use Pokemon that can almost always perform well in a match instead of using confusion-based strategies. In addition to that, it is pretty bad that you're dedicating 2 entire team slots to perform this strategy which severely hampers your team if it doesnt work. I understand if you would want to keep this strategy (if you do Substitute Heatran and Substitute Aegislash will work well) but I would rather use more reliable Pokemon such as Togekiss, Landorus-Therian, and Rotom-W.

Hope this helps, and good luck! Ask me questions if you are unsure about anything :)

 

[SimplyG]

Thanks for the advice! I might mess around with it a bit more to see where it goes, but I don't know. What got me back into competitive battling and interested in Doubles in particular was watching the VGC finals. I never thought I would see a Pachirisu among so many other good Pokemon that I want to mess around with unique strategies and seldom-used Pokemon to see if I can unlock something good and new. Would have any other suggestions on where I might start with the other two members, assuming I went with Aegislash? I probably wont stick with this set forever, but I'm not satisfied enough yet to give it up. Thanks again!

 

[Mizuhime]

Simple question simple answer thread friend :)