Savior of the Sky - a Doubles RMT (Peaked #2)

Six months ago, a fantastic new metagame was started, known as "Smogon Doubles." The path since then has been bumpy. There has been drama, there have been pointless debates over Ferrothorn, there has been the silliest debate over what to name it, but here we are, six months later, with our own official tier on Showdown, a UU banlist (if not fully implimented as its own tier), and a promising future. What the XY generation holds in store for us, none know but those crazy bastards at Gamefreak, but for now, we still have a few months left in the BW generation, with plenty of time for people to still get into this amazing metagame.

Savior of the Sky, as of this point, represents my crowning achivement in Doubles. It's completely based around the concept of offense, the entire team dedicated towards beating the everloving shit out of the opponent. From turn 1 Savior of the Sky is built around simply keeping up the aggressive pressure, with one core idea in mind - "The best defense is a dead opponent."

Right, enough jibber-jabber, onto the team. Oh yeah, by the way, click on the pictures!

"Wait, what? You didn't get blasted to smithereens. Was the output too low...?"
Utsuho (Deoxys-Attack) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature
- Psycho Boost
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
- Protect
​

Deoxys-Attack isn't just a powerful pokemon. Deoxys-A is power. It's also frailer then a breadstick. But that's a lie. A horrible, horrible deceptive lie. The fact of the matter is, a Focus Sash Deoxys-A set has reasonable bulk with properly timed Protects, unable to be ohkoed by anything that isn't a multi-hit move, although weather might do it if sand/hail is up. It was for these reasons I put Deoxys-A on my team, and it has never disappointed me. Psycho Boost provides an absolutely nuts nuke, while Superpower nails the very frequent fighting weakness (as well as fucking steels) that exist in Doubles for SE damage, which is usually sufficent murder. The moves that will turn heads, however, are Ice Beam over Extremespeed, and Protect over an attacking move. Ice Beam is used for two reasons - firstly, Extremespeed often fails to get KOs with a Focus Sash, especially when a Superpower attack drop occurs, and works off of Deoxys-A's (for this set, at least) weaker attack stat. Secondly, a metric fuckton of things are weak and even quad weak to Ice in doubles, which often allows Deoxys-A to, even after a Psycho Boost spatk drop, flat out murder them regardless. Protect is used over an attacking move because it is simply too damn powerful to not use - the fact that Deoxys-A puts such an insane level of offensive pressure on the opponent means that it can often act as a pesudo rage powder. Plus otherwise Fake Out, Suckerpunch, ETC would wreck my shit, and it's always nice to be able to stall out Tailwind and Trick Room.

I almost always use Deoxys-A as a lead with Hitmontop, and almost always, I get multiple kills a match with it. In fact, 3 isn't uncommon, and 4 kills happens often enough that Deoxys-A has gained permanent consideration in this and all future teams I may make. Often times it dies early into the match, but not before causing serious mayhem, ripping gaping holes in the enemy team and leaving them staggered for the rest of my team to follow up. On some occasions I might pull it out for more mayhem later, and on rare occasions I'll lead with something else. The Focus Sash often catches people off guard, and I always crackle a little when I wind up getting more KOs then I should with it.



Ah, Hitmontop. How I love thee. Fake Out support is incredible in doubles...well that is when the enemy isn't double protecting like assholes. It enables so much - stopping TR for a turn, letting Hitmontop's partner murder a foe, getting a bit of extra chip damage in...the number of uses Fake Out has are simple astounding. It also gets priority and a pretty damn powerful Close Combat. To round out the package, Hitmontop gets the amazing ability Intimidate, chopping down the enemy's attack stat for free. All in all a pretty good deal. Honestly Fake Out alone made Hitmontop worth considering - Intimidate's utility gained it a slot on the team. Feint may seem strange, but sometimes I absolutely have to kill a motherfucker dead, and Feint enables that (barring the rare ghost). I have been considering swapping back to Wide Guard though.

I almost always lead with Hitmontop, even if Deoxys-A isn't going out first - Fake Out + Intimidate on Turn 1 is just too good to ignore. However, unlike Deoxys-A, I don't always sacrifice Hitmontop early game - sometimes it needs to be brought back for multiple intimidates/fake outs. But if I don't need it for anything, after Hitmontop uses Fake Out it usually semi-mindlessly spams attacks until it dies.

Notable for being my only support, but still at the same time being offensive - that's just the kind of team this is.

"I'll cryo-freeze you together with some English beef!"
Crino (Kyurem-Black) @ Choice Band
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam​

Kyurem-Black with a Choice Band has an extremely obvious role on my team - fuck shit up. It hits even harder then Deoxys-A a lot of the time, and that's saying something. I chose Kyurem-B for its mix of sheer power and bulk, especially since the only type that can resist its Outrage-ous might are Steel types, which my team does not have terribly many problems against. Despite Outrage's power being absolute, I typically find myself using Dragon Claw due to simple reliability, which still hurts like a dump truck full of cement on fire. Fusion Bolt is used for a lack of better options, as it hits steels for neutral. Ice Beam is there really only to handle Landorus-T - I have been considering swapping it out for Rock Slide.

The EVs may seem strange, but my Kyurem-B needs bulk moreso then speed, given how fast the rest of my team is. 24 Spd is to outspeed both uninvested base 95s and other maximum bulk Kyurem-B who try to get cute with 8/16 Speed EVs, as well as allow me to have 232 HP EVs which means I take marginally less damage from Stealth Rock.

Kyurem-Black typically comes out midgame, when Deoxys-A is dead but I still need heavy offense to keep the pressure up. From there it just spams an attack until it does, or unless something's massively cockblocking it in which case it aborts to be able to come back in later and continue the wrecking.



Bisharp is akin to a swiss army knife for my team right now - she packs a steel typing, which is great for resistances, bulk, powerful priority, and the ability to at least 2HKO almost every single Trick Room setter, as well as an answer to the omnipresent Intimidate leads. Unfotunately, she's not extremely bulky, packing a quadruple weakness to all Fighting type moves and a weakness to the dangerous Earthquake, as well as dissappointing base defensive stats. In addition, Dark and Steel suuuuuuuuuuuck as attacking types. Still, in spite of the fact that Bisharp easily has the most negatives out of any member of my team, she fulfills a number of key roles all at once which make her impossible to do without. Still, if someone had to be on the chopping block, Bisharp would be the first to go.

I typically use Bisharp as either an opening gambit or a ace in the hole, depending on my team's needs. She almost always leads against Trick Room teams, but outside of that it depends - do I need Sucker Punch to keep back a powerful threat? Then keep it in the wings until the time is right. Otherwise, if Sucker Punch is not needed, and there is no Trick Room user on the enemy team, I can kind of just throw her out whenever. Her Steel typing makes it pretty easy to do so, which makes her extremely useful if I need to, say, get Deoxys-A the hell out of dodge.

"I want to create a world where humans and youkai live as equals."
Byakuren (Shaymin-Sky) @ Grass Gem
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Earth Power
- Protect​

Finally, we get to the lynchpin, the ace, the MVP and the pokemon which usually secures my win, Shaymin-Sky. That might seem like a strange statement, but a combination of 120 SpAtk and 127 Spe means Shaymin-S's combination of Speed and Power gives it just what it needs to end games. 100/75/75 bulk certainly doesn't hurt, usually keeping a random priority attack from killing it (in fact it even lets it live through rock slides!). Grass/Air is an amazing set of dual STABs, especially considering that Seed Flare hits like a fucking truck. Even when Seed Flare can't seal the deal, Air Slash's aboslute bullshit 60% flinch chance can let one pull wins straight out of their ass, even if 75 base power is kind of dissappointing. Ground coverage via Earth Power is also pretty nifty, and means very little can wall Shaymin-S. While Shaymin-S was very much a random pick to start with, its mixture of power, speed, and coverage gave it a permanent slot on the team.

Shaymin-S is almost always without fail saved for the very end of the game. The only times it comes in otherwise are A. If I need its high speed and power to wreck shit or B. They send out Gastrodon. Fuck Gastrodon. Once it's out, Shaymin-S either wins the game or dies trying - and if that happens I've usually lost the game so it's too late to make a comeback.

"Oh dear me, I've accidentally won. And I thought I've held back enough too... Well this isn't any fun."
Aya (Latias) (F) @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psychic
- Protect
​

Now you may be wondering: Why Latias over Latios? There are two reasons, really: First, I very, very rarely require the extra 20 Special Attack Latios has, leaving me to prefer the bulk of Latios. Secondly, Latias serves as kind of a fake out - as she is traditionaly used as a support, that fact plus the fact that she's really the only pokemon that looks like it would be used for supporting leaves opponents often tricked into thinking that I am using her in a supportive role, catching them off guard with a powerful Draco Meteor. Not really much to explain about the moveset - it's basically bog standard. Draco Meteor nukes shit, Hidden Power [Fire] burns shit (Especially Ferrothron. Fuk Ferro), and Psychic is pretty much the go-to attack against Psychic-weak mons/when I need to smack something but can't afford to eat a SpAtk drop yet/don't want to eat her Dragon Gem yet. I tried Thunderbolt for awhile but it had really dissappointing power, and Psyshock basically comes up absolutely never in Doubles.

Latias is much like Bisharp in that when I throw her in varies from game to game. Usually she's kept in reserve until something needs to be dead yesterday, at which point she is tossed in to eat something's face with a Dragon Gem backed Draco Meteor. She's also tossed in to handle Ferrothron, becuase fuck Ferrothorn with the hatred of a thousand dying stars. Sometimes I just throw her out with another attacker to fuck with my foe and make them think I'm about to get my helping hand on.

Conclusion​

So uh yeah, that's the team. Not really much to say I suppose. To everyone over at Doubles - love ya guys. Grew with my homeboys Pocket, Pwnemon, NixHex... All of them, each and every one of you are making this meta amazing. This is also my 600th post, so I want to give a shotout to you all. Arceusspeed, all of you. You're free to use this team, if you wish. I would like it if you could keep the names, but that's just a request. Consider it a gift.

Threat List​

Trick Room

Trick Room is only an issue if they use a Dusclops TR setter, who is an absolute pain in the dick to kill in one turn - but Dusclops is complete dead weight after that unless they use Helping Hand which I have literally never seen a Dusclops use, so if I survive for long enough I can wipe the floor with them. If I play badly vs TR though i'm fucked.

seriously dusclops fucking sucks stop using it.

Ferrothorn

FUK FERRO. Asshole can wall half of my team with little complaint. Of course the other half of my team can instantly murder him, so I have to make sure that he dies before they do.

Mamoswine

Man I fucking hate Mamoswine. His Ice Shard instantly kills Shaymin-S 99.99999% of the time, his Focus Sash makes him a asshole to kill, he nails Latias pretty hard, his Earthquake is a pain to deal with, Ice Shard lets him bypass Deoxys-A's stronk speed...Asshole's a threat to 4/6ths of my team. Fucking sucks. Don't really have a solid answer to him, I just have to outplay.

Excadrill/Sand Offense

Excadrill is a gigantic asshole. I know this from using it all the time. It's such a gigantic asshole that I think we should actually rename Sand Offense to Excadrill Offense. Regardless, seeing as how it takes a huge wallop (if not outright OHKOed) by most of my team, it mostly comes down to either tanking a EQ or nailing it with a Fake Out and sending it to an early grave. The only other notable threat is Tyranitar, but seeing as how half of my team can OHKO it it's not a huge threat (except for those assholes who use Focus Sash TTar. then he becomes a pretty moderate threat.)

Rain Offense

Really the only major threats from Rain Offense are the Swift Swim abusers, and properly timed Fake Outs can fuck them over. I don't think I've ever actually lost to a Rain Offense team.

Stall

lol

Tailwind

Usually I instantly kill their tailwind setter. On the rare occasions I don't, they usually get no more then one turn to abuse it with which is laughworthy at best.

Could you link some battles of using this team? I've tried it out and I have to say, TR teams are a huge pain in the ass like you said, and one slip up means half the team is dead since Kyurem-B and Latias are about the only things that can safely switch in on anything. Have you considered trying a Taunt user to help shut down opposing TR teams?

Scizor also seems a problem, since Bullet Punch menaces Shaymin-S, Latias, Cube, and Deo-A--not as badly as, say, Mamoswine, but it's still a pain in the ass to play around.