Hey guys! Just for fun, I once decided to make a doubles team. I built it with three pairs of Pokemon that work well together, because I thought it'd be a fun gimmick. As it turns out, this is a really powerful strategy! I'm currently sitting at #23 on the PS Smogon Doubles ladder, but I think this team could bring me higher if I got some help, which is what I'm here for :) I hereby present to thee Precipitation Prevails!
Teambuilding Process
THE TEAM
[pimg]186[/pimg]
Poliwolly (Politoed) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Here we have the invaluable backbone of any rain team. While I'm not super-dependent on rain (okay, maybe), Poliwolly helps me rein in an opponent's weather and neuter common weather-reliant abilities like Chlorophyll and Sand Rush. Rain works to make Knight's and Rachi's Thunders and Hurricanes accurate, and weakens Fire moves aimed at Rachi. Modest Surf in the rain hits both enemies hard, and the rest are coverage moves (Focus Blast is actually quite useful). As for the Scarf...
[pimg]623[/pimg]
Jelli (Jellicent) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Ice Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Giga Drain
Offensive Jellicent? Who'd have thunk it? Jelli has quite a deal of surprise value to its name, and Choice Scarf only sweetens the deal. I get a lot of outbursts going "dual scarf??!!". What Poliwolly and Jelli do is come in and spam STAB rain-boosted Surf and Water Spout respectively, heavily damaging opponents and healing Jelli (with Surf) to keep Water Spout powerful. In times of need, he can sling around other attacks too. People seem to forget he has 100 base Special Attack.
[pimg]149[/pimg]
Knight (Dragonite) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Gentle Nature
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Rock Slide
- Protect
It's gimmicky, but it works. With Chichi around, Serene Grace boosts Thunder's paralysis rate and Hurricane's confusion chance to 60%, making for some very annoying hax. Rock Slide also has it's flinch chance boosted to 60%, meaning Knight can flinch everything to death once they're paralysed. Leftovers are for survivability.
[pimg]385[/pimg]
Chichi (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Spd / 224 Def
Lax Nature
- Thunder
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Protect
Chichi synergises with anything, irritating the opponent with a combination of Iron Head flinch and Thunder paralysis. Wish and Protect form a combination to heal Chichi, and doubles for Wish-passing. With stellar typing and bulk, Chichi can easily bring opponents to their knees with its almighty hax skills. Leftovers are once again for survivability, as Sitrus Berry seemed pretty pointless with Wish around. Leftovers means I don't always have to Wish.
[pimg]242[/pimg]
Pink (Blissey) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Icy Wind
- Heal Pulse
- Skill Swap
- Softboiled
Sweet and motherly, Pink has only ever been kind to me. Taking pretty much all special attacks and some physical ones, she can spam Icy Wind for speed control and heal up party members with Heal Pulse. Softboiled heals Pink herself. Skill Swap makes for very interesting shenanigans, though. Swapping Nyandorus's Intimidate lowers the opponents Attack one stage further, allowing Pink to tank pretty much anything. Swapping Drizzle resets the rain on a Ninetales/Tyranitar switch-in. Oh, and Multiscale Blissey is godly. I chose Serene Grace so Pink can stand in for Chichi in the haxing business, as Natural Cure isn't too useful when in Doubles switching is a lot less common.
[pimg]683[/pimg]
Nyandorus (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Gentle Nature
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Earth Power
- Protect
Nyandorus is a Pokemon of utility. It comes in to Intimidate the opposition. Skill Swap resets Intimidate. It has U-turn to attack while bringing in Poliwolly for rain. It has Rock Slide to abuse flinch hax. I use Earth Power over Rock Slide because the only Ground-immune Pokemon I have besides Nyandorus himself is Knight. The EVs make him specially defensive, as ideally Pink will be Swapping Intimidate around until any physical attack bounces off them anyway. Yache Berry helps with stray Ice Beams.
I'm finished! Please suggest any improvements you think I should make! I've noticed all I can do to Trick Room is Protect-stall (which usually works due to Knight's and Chichi's sheer bulk) and people T-Waveing me has been slightly troublesome, but otherwise this team has been good to me so far :)
Teambuilding Process
[pimg]186[/pimg] [pimg]623[/pimg]
I was wanting to try a rain team, as I had heard great stories but had never tried using one. So I slapped on a Politoed and gave her Jellicent as partner, as they synergise quite well.
[pimg]186[/pimg] [pimg]623[/pimg] [pimg]385[/pimg] [pimg]149[/pimg]
Next, I wanted teammates that could abuse rain. Do remember I was building this team with gimmicks in mind; I therefore put together a pair of great rain and Serene Grace abusers: Jirachi and Dragonite.
[pimg]186[/pimg] [pimg]623[/pimg] [pimg]385[/pimg] [pimg]149[/pimg] [pimg]450[/pimg] [pimg]503[/pimg]
Rotom-W and Garchomp are actually a pair I use in-game. They worked quite well in-game, and so I reasoned they'd work well here too.
[pimg]186[/pimg] [pimg]623[/pimg] [pimg]385[/pimg] [pimg]149[/pimg] [pimg]242[/pimg] [pimg]683[/pimg]
However, they did not. After a few disappointments, I decided to try Blissey. After a bit of experimenting, I found she works well with Nyandorus, and I've never looked back since.
I was wanting to try a rain team, as I had heard great stories but had never tried using one. So I slapped on a Politoed and gave her Jellicent as partner, as they synergise quite well.
[pimg]186[/pimg] [pimg]623[/pimg] [pimg]385[/pimg] [pimg]149[/pimg]
Next, I wanted teammates that could abuse rain. Do remember I was building this team with gimmicks in mind; I therefore put together a pair of great rain and Serene Grace abusers: Jirachi and Dragonite.
[pimg]186[/pimg] [pimg]623[/pimg] [pimg]385[/pimg] [pimg]149[/pimg] [pimg]450[/pimg] [pimg]503[/pimg]
Rotom-W and Garchomp are actually a pair I use in-game. They worked quite well in-game, and so I reasoned they'd work well here too.
[pimg]186[/pimg] [pimg]623[/pimg] [pimg]385[/pimg] [pimg]149[/pimg] [pimg]242[/pimg] [pimg]683[/pimg]
However, they did not. After a few disappointments, I decided to try Blissey. After a bit of experimenting, I found she works well with Nyandorus, and I've never looked back since.
THE TEAM
[pimg]186[/pimg]
Poliwolly (Politoed) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Here we have the invaluable backbone of any rain team. While I'm not super-dependent on rain (okay, maybe), Poliwolly helps me rein in an opponent's weather and neuter common weather-reliant abilities like Chlorophyll and Sand Rush. Rain works to make Knight's and Rachi's Thunders and Hurricanes accurate, and weakens Fire moves aimed at Rachi. Modest Surf in the rain hits both enemies hard, and the rest are coverage moves (Focus Blast is actually quite useful). As for the Scarf...
[pimg]623[/pimg]
Jelli (Jellicent) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Ice Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Giga Drain
Offensive Jellicent? Who'd have thunk it? Jelli has quite a deal of surprise value to its name, and Choice Scarf only sweetens the deal. I get a lot of outbursts going "dual scarf??!!". What Poliwolly and Jelli do is come in and spam STAB rain-boosted Surf and Water Spout respectively, heavily damaging opponents and healing Jelli (with Surf) to keep Water Spout powerful. In times of need, he can sling around other attacks too. People seem to forget he has 100 base Special Attack.
[pimg]149[/pimg]
Knight (Dragonite) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Gentle Nature
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Rock Slide
- Protect
It's gimmicky, but it works. With Chichi around, Serene Grace boosts Thunder's paralysis rate and Hurricane's confusion chance to 60%, making for some very annoying hax. Rock Slide also has it's flinch chance boosted to 60%, meaning Knight can flinch everything to death once they're paralysed. Leftovers are for survivability.
[pimg]385[/pimg]
Chichi (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Spd / 224 Def
Lax Nature
- Thunder
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Protect
Chichi synergises with anything, irritating the opponent with a combination of Iron Head flinch and Thunder paralysis. Wish and Protect form a combination to heal Chichi, and doubles for Wish-passing. With stellar typing and bulk, Chichi can easily bring opponents to their knees with its almighty hax skills. Leftovers are once again for survivability, as Sitrus Berry seemed pretty pointless with Wish around. Leftovers means I don't always have to Wish.
[pimg]242[/pimg]
Pink (Blissey) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Icy Wind
- Heal Pulse
- Skill Swap
- Softboiled
Sweet and motherly, Pink has only ever been kind to me. Taking pretty much all special attacks and some physical ones, she can spam Icy Wind for speed control and heal up party members with Heal Pulse. Softboiled heals Pink herself. Skill Swap makes for very interesting shenanigans, though. Swapping Nyandorus's Intimidate lowers the opponents Attack one stage further, allowing Pink to tank pretty much anything. Swapping Drizzle resets the rain on a Ninetales/Tyranitar switch-in. Oh, and Multiscale Blissey is godly. I chose Serene Grace so Pink can stand in for Chichi in the haxing business, as Natural Cure isn't too useful when in Doubles switching is a lot less common.
[pimg]683[/pimg]
Nyandorus (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Gentle Nature
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Earth Power
- Protect
Nyandorus is a Pokemon of utility. It comes in to Intimidate the opposition. Skill Swap resets Intimidate. It has U-turn to attack while bringing in Poliwolly for rain. It has Rock Slide to abuse flinch hax. I use Earth Power over Rock Slide because the only Ground-immune Pokemon I have besides Nyandorus himself is Knight. The EVs make him specially defensive, as ideally Pink will be Swapping Intimidate around until any physical attack bounces off them anyway. Yache Berry helps with stray Ice Beams.
I'm finished! Please suggest any improvements you think I should make! I've noticed all I can do to Trick Room is Protect-stall (which usually works due to Knight's and Chichi's sheer bulk) and people T-Waveing me has been slightly troublesome, but otherwise this team has been good to me so far :)
