Metagame Partners in Crime

What is happening with Skill Swap
I tried to use it using Slacking and Cresselia and now my Cresselia still has truant
All Pokemon in Partners in Crime share the same ability and moveset with each other. Using Skill Swap with your teammate basically means they still have the same abilities.

Unless you meant you used skill swap on the opponent.
 
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In the first place, I'd like to say that I absoluetly love this meta! Now, I've found a little bug. Why didn't Manectric's Swift Swim allow it to outrun my opponent's Pokémon in the replay? Is it actually a glitch or should it actually happen like that?

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-668787680 (nevermind the fact that I lost to two Pokémon btw. if I had my Ludicolo I would have won...)

EDIT: read the post below mine
 
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In the first place, I'd like to say that I absoluetly love this meta! Now, I've found a little bug. Why didn't Manectric's Swift Swim allow it to outrun my opponent's Pokémon in the replay? Is it actually a glitch or should it actually happen like that?

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-668787680 (nevermind the fact that I lost to two Pokémon btw. if I had my Ludicolo I would have won...)
I believe that's because speed abilities like Swift Swim don't apply to the partner during the turn where the Pokemon with it switches in until the next turn, unlike type immunity ability.
 
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I found this combination of three mons to be pretty effective together in the meta

Kommo-o @ Kommonium Z
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Clanging Scales
- Flash Cannon
- Flamethrower
- Superpower

Swoobat @ Focus Sash
Ability: Simple
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Roost
- Ally Switch
- Psych up

Serperior @ BrightPowder
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Leech Seed
- Glare
- Giga Drain

I"ll share the entire team if requested.
 
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I meant if switching doesn’t allow the partner to copy Illusion as an ability, does using a move that causes a switch work with a partner copying Illusion?
Sorry, but the type of switching isn't relevant here; Illusion simply activates too early for Partners in Crime to be able to copy it.
 
Okay, after a lot of playing, let me get down some stuff that have been proven to be really, really good and some of their weaknesses.

Special Playstyles/Strategies:

Noivern aka Boomburst



Noivern is the first thing that I believe I should talk about, as it is the most threatening thing in the tier at the moment along with Sleep. This thing will kill you if you do not immediately run strong enough priority or Soundproof. Noivern uses its exclusive combination of Boomburst + Telepathy to wreak havoc on everything except its ally with Boomburst. Pair this with a partner like Mega Salamence and it becomes incredibly hard to take down with everything dying left and right.

Strengths:
  • Hits very hard with decent SpA and -ate Boomburst.
  • Hits very fast with 127 speed
  • Spread move that does not hit ally, allowing it to wipe both opponents out of the field at once
  • Ally can part-take in Boombursting, creating a second nuke
Weaknesses:
  • Very limited partner options (most are Megas and Noivern is exclusive in its ability and move combo which is important)

Sleep Strategies (Prankster + Spore, Prankster + Sleep + No Guard)



Sleep Strategies involve one thing: Shutting down your opponents by putting them to sleep then setting up. This is mostly done in two ways:
1. Prankster + Spore
2. No Guard + Sleep
Both of these methods are viable, with the first one being slightly more viable due to the priority but the second one still can be troubling. Spore is particularly annoying as there is no sleep clause allowing for endless sleeping. The main weakness comes after, with kills being hard to obtain due to the Pokémon used in the combo. However, Smeargle solves this problem extremely well with its limitless movepool allowing for things like Prankster Mat Block and Geomancy. If your opponent does not have a way to completely shut down Spore, they're pretty much screwed.

Strengths:
  • Completely shuts down opponent if executed without counters
  • Gives opportunities for extreme set-up
  • Decently flexible team options
Weaknesses:
  • If countered, it's countered completely (All or Nothing strategy)
  • Prankster is countered by Dark-types, Psychic Surge or Queenly Majesty, and Magic Bounce
  • No Guard is countered by anything faster with taunt

Dancer (Oricorio + Volcarona, Lilligant, etc.)



Oricorio is a strategy that can make games crazy if pulled off. Dancer allows the user to use any Dance move used the turn it was used, effectively doubling the amount of moves you have in a turn. This allows for huge stat buffs in a single turn and massive damage output when pulled off. In mirror matches, it can create ridiculous turns where the text spans the entire screen due to repeated move usage. Volcarona and Lilligant are the main adopters of Dancer as they both have Quiver Dance (a really important move) and a STAB dance move. The main issues is that these Pokémon are frail as hell, so the biggest weakness is priority and faster mons.

Strengths:
  • Allows for multiple moves in a turn. This means:
  • A limitless Geomancy
  • A Quiver Dance into a 90 BP STAB move
  • 2 90 BP STAB moves in a single turn, effectively doubling the damage it does
  • Copying opponent moves including Dragon Dance, Sword Dance, and others
  • Relatively high flexibility in partners and even Oricorio type (Pom-Pom and Sensu are most common)
Weaknesses:
  • Oricorio and its main partners are extremely frail, giving a massive weakness to priority and faster mons
  • Oricorio cannot be defended against priority using Psychic Terrain, giving it no real means to defend against priority
  • Dancer cannot be conjoined with Choiced mons, restricting its offensive capabilities
  • Shutting down Oricorio shuts down the entire strategy, hinging the strategy on a generally frail Pokémon
  • Element of randomness in who is hit with what

Weather (Rain, Sand)



Weather revolves around one thing: Use Speed Boosting abilities on mons which desperately need them to outspeed your opponent. Throw on some Pokémon which benefit from the weather and you've got yourself a pretty good concept for a strategy. There's two common common weather types: Rain and Sand with Rain being more common. Rain has the bonus of perfect accuracy to Thunder and Hurricane in addition to boosting water moves. Sand has the bonus of increased SpD to Rock-types and increasing the power of Pokémon with Sand Force or even boosting the accuracy of Pokémon with Sand Veil.

Strengths:
  • Extremely fast-paced, even for this meta
  • Lots of variation between boosters
  • TONS of variation between abusers
  • Hard-hitting immediately
  • Easy to set-up
Weaknesses:
  • Only lasts 5-8 turns
  • Relies on keeping 1-2 Pokémon alive
  • Has immense trouble vs priority

Trick Room



Trick Room is a surprisingly good strategy, especially as it doesn't gain a ton from it. However, there is a few important things given to Trick Room: Two Trick Room users out at a time, Ally Switch, and expanded abilities and movepool. This in combination to all of the extremely fast threats such as Noivern, Weather, and Dancer allow Trick Room to truly prosper as the anti-meta playstyle it's always been. There's nothing really new to note in PiC, just the fact that it counters most of what's common.

Strengths:
  • Counters Weather completely
  • Counters Dancer completely
  • Counters Speed Boost completely
  • Trick Room mons are generally very, very bulky and hit very, very hard
Weaknesses:
  • Only lasts 5 turns at a time
  • High skill and lots of micro-management
  • Doesn't deal with priority, so Sleep is a major issue

Okay, that about wraps it up for the main strategies. Here are some honorable mentions or general strategies:

Contrary (tons of boosting, very restrictive on members, and a little slow)


Greninja aka Protean (STAB on everything, loads of weakness control, priority in Water Shuriken)


Intimidate (very good at shutting down physical attackers of all types)


Competitive and Defiant (very good at punishing Intimidate)


Truant (meme team)


Normalize (meme league)
 
Oricorio is stupid powerful alongside Tapu-lele. Just get it to set-up Tailwind on turn one and the two can pretty much bust through everything that isn't dark type with terrain boosted Revelation Dances.

I found this combination of three mons to be pretty effective together in the meta

Kommo-o @ Kommonium Z
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Clanging Scales
- Flash Cannon
- Flamethrower
- Superpower

Swoobat @ Focus Sash
Ability: Simple
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Roost
- Ally Switch
- Psych up

Serperior @ BrightPowder
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Leech Seed
- Glare
- Giga Drain

I"ll share the entire team if requested.
I've been using something similar. It's really fun, though I'm not sure if Kommonium-Z working with simple is a glitch or not, as the other +1 to everything Z-Moves don't work alongside Simple.

One thing to note is that Serperior gets Defog, which can be used as a pseudo-double team thanks to Contrary. It's risky but if you're confident that Kommo-o can knock out both your opponents mons with Clanging Scales, it's a pretty safe bet.
 

I'm just gonna come out and say it that this thing is imo the best pokemon the meta.

Tapu Koko flourishes so hard in this meta, having next to no bad match ups, and acting as the glue to so many good teams. Koko's speed tier is phenomenal and cannot possibly be understated in this meta where speed is so important.

Marshadow, Greninja, Noivern, Mega Salamence, and Mega Pidgeot are all crucially out sped and muscled past.
Sleep Spam is completely negated by Electric Terrain.
It has one of the fastest Taunts in the game to counter Trick Room.
It out speeds and OHKOs all Oricorio forms (yes, even Pom-pom).
Its Scarf sets are a great check to Weather teams, especially Rain but Sun too.
Primarily runs special movesets meaning it isn't crippled by Intimidate.
Eliminates powerful bulky waters such as Milotic and Tapu Fini.
Removes opposing Terrain, particularly shutting down Psychic Terrain strategies.
Provides boosted Electric coverage to it's team.
Acts as an okay spread attacker with Dazzling Gleam.

So it clearly offers a lot, and there aren't many reasons to not want one on your team, but does Tapu Koko really fit into your team? Yes.
There are honestly so few abilities that Tapu Koko doesn't enjoy having, and it has amazing synergy with a multitude of strong pokemon and even play styles. Tapu Koko offers so much by itself that it doesn't even matter if its teammates aren't really abusing its moves and ability, where as Koko gets a lot of mileage out of almost any ability, and uses its solid mixed offences and epic speed to make great use of any coverage or utility move it picks up.
You've probably heard about the Koko Kyurem core. Terrain boosted Fusion Bolt for both. Bolt Beam coverage. Teravolt Taunt, Electric STAB (Lightning Rod, Volt Absorb, Motor Drive), and Ice moves (Thick Fat). On top of just crazy synergy in general.
Rain teams love having Koko to mash bulky Waters and in return Koko benefits from 100% accurate Thunders.
Hail teams greatly appreciate Koko providing some pseudo STAB on Electric moves for Bolt Beam coverage, while Koko itself sweeps up Ice Beam, and sets Aura Veil extremely fast.
Even Revelation Dance teams are actually sick with Tapu Koko, pair it up with Pom-Pom and go to town with Terrain boosted Revelation Dance spam.
Also Alolan Raichu is a thing. I don't think it's the best, but if you build around it a bit and use it well it can be quite devastating. It is also one of few pokemon that provides Speed Swap, which actually has a lot of clever uses in this meta.

When I get time for more games I'll try sharing some sample teams, but until then try building with Koko more, I promise it won't disappoint.

Lastly here's a replay. Yes there's a Koko in it. But I'm more posting this because this team is taken directly and unedited from the Doubles OU sample teams, and I just find it hilarious how crazy powerful it is here.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-668357528
 
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Here's my team that I commonly used for Partners in Crime. While it doesn't look good on the surface, it's very capable of defeating common threats there.
No fun allowed:
Akuma (Hoopa-Unbound) @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Magician
EVs: 192 HP / 220 Atk / 92 Def / 4 SpA
Brave Nature
- Protect
- Trick Room
- Hyperspace Fury
- Hyperspace Hole

> priority (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Kolzargan (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 76 Atk / 180 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Protect
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Blanket (Snorlax) (F) @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 84 HP / 164 Atk / 108 Def / 152 SpD
Brave Nature
- Recycle
- Curse
- Return
- High Horsepower

Baking Soda (Heatran) (F) @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Roar

Zetacross-G3 (Metagross-Mega) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch


Description:
I usually lead Tapu Lele with Hoopa-Unbound. Not only will Lele's Psychic Surge blocks incoming priority moves, but also activates Hoopa-Unbound's Psychic Seed, boosting its Sp.defense. Sharing Hyperspace Hole is pretty useful for Tapu Lele since it allows Lele to bypass protection move.

Another key player in my team is Kyurem-B. Teravolt enables my Pokemon to hit those with Levitate, Lightning Rod/Volt Absorb and Flash Fire along several others. Kyurem-B happens to have nice coverage with high firepower.

Snorlax and Heatran are included in this team so they can take advantage of Trick Room when it's up. Heatran has Roar for phasing out setters and preventing Trick Room while hitting back hard. As for Snorlax, it merely just performs decently.

Metagross was intended for blocking Intimidate until it evolves, but I never take advantage of it. Still, Mega Metagross is pretty great at breaking stuff. Sharing Tough Claw with Snorlax and Kyurem-B is nice, though that only happens once in blue moon.

This team is pretty effective against teams that rely heavily on speed boosting. As for what the team is bad against, it would be weather team since they can attack immediately instead of spending a turn to set up, Sand Team seems like a huge problem for my team. And it's not very reliable against Noivern + Salamence.
 
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Oricorio is stupid powerful alongside Tapu-lele. Just get it to set-up Tailwind on turn one and the two can pretty much bust through everything that isn't dark type with terrain boosted Revelation Dances.



I've been using something similar. It's really fun, though I'm not sure if Kommonium-Z working with simple is a glitch or not, as the other +1 to everything Z-Moves don't work alongside Simple.

One thing to note is that Serperior gets Defog, which can be used as a pseudo-double team thanks to Contrary. It's risky but if you're confident that Kommo-o can knock out both your opponents mons with Clanging Scales, it's a pretty safe bet.
Thank you, I will try defog.
 
Has nobody talked about Cloyster yet?
Cloyster has quite a bit of potential here, considering it pairs well with so many other mons.

First off, it's a Skill Link mon with access to Ice Shard, meaning it is great with Technician Pokemon like Breloom, Marshadow, and Smeargle. Just one Shell Smash and you're a massive threat, with each hit being boosted by Technician. Plus, it gives its friends Shell Smash too, and can get things like Bullet Seed and Spore, Shadow Sneak and Spectral Thief, or whatever the heck it wants with Smeargle (though Smeargle benefits less from Shell Smash).

Another surprisingly good combo is Cloyster+Greninja. Greninja is already great, but slapping it with Cloyster gives both of them Skill Link Water Shuriken. From Greninja, it takes out Pheromosa without any boosts on either from full, and with Protean, you get STAB boosts from Rock Blast on Cloyster, as well as having access to three other moves from Greninja.

Finally, Kyurem Black+Cloyster. I don't think anyone needs to question why this combo is bonkers.
 
Been using my DOU team to test this meta out and it's been doing pretty well. Currently #20 on the ladder, which is surprising since I haven't really optimized the team for this meta. One 'mon on the team that I enjoy using is one that doesn't really have anything substantial to give at a glance, but in reality it's an amazing partner. That 'mon is Amoonguss:



Amoonguss @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 80 Def / 188 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Rage Powder
- Spore
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect


The set is a standard DOU set (may be a bit outdated). Rage Powder allows Amoonguss to allow another 'mon to switch in safely without fearing being knocked out. Spore allows for a faster Pokemon to sleep other ones, the min speed allows it to outspeed (underspeed?) a lot of threats under Trick Room. Iapapa allows it to live for longer periods of time, etc. etc.

It's pretty simple really, but what really makes it an amazing partner is its ability: Regenerator. Not only can Amoonguss increase its partner's longevity with Rage Powder, it also allows for its ally to regenerate some health when it switches out. This allows some Life Orb sweepers, Megas, and Z-Crystal mons to live longer throughout the battle and deal more damage.

I personally enjoy the combination of Marshadow + Amoonguss the most, because Marshy's speed allows it to use spore on threats, and appreciates restoring HP after taking damage from Life Orb.
 
I'm reading, reading, reading, but yet nobody has talked about this little dude ?



Alright, before you make fun of me from the fact I'm the only one to use Dusclops in my team in the ladder, just a little something to show you that I do not fool around. Porygon2 is great. Tanky as fuck, gives some nice Download boosts, has excellent coverage options in Thunderbolt and Ice Beam, can give Recover, speed control with Trick Room, Magic Guard to surprise those annoying sleepers... If you forget a way to handle this guy, you won't kill it easily. I've won many battles with it staying in the field the whole match from turn 1. And don't even think about ignoring him if it got a boost in SpA, a stabbed boosted Tri Attack always hurts. And if you are in a cheesy mood, just try Trace, it might get you some nice added abilities.


Also while I'm at it, here are my two cents about Sleep Abuse:

It's cancer.

This metagame is pure fun, don't get me wrong. However, when sleep comes in play, randomness comes in too. And haxx=no fun. Will my sleeping Pokémon wake up next turn or will it stay asleep 5 whole turns? When the victory comes down to this, where's the glory, the money, the bitches? When I face Sleep Abuse, I don't enjoy the battle, whenever I beat the opponent or not. I know you guys will just say something like "just play a Tapu" but there shouldn't be any mandatory kind of Pokémon to bring in this meta. Sleep Abuse requires specific counters, and I don't like the idea of it being that crucial. Let's just put a sleep clause, the meta will get healthier imo. Sleep will still be a usable and efficient strategy when pulled off right, but it won't be overwhelming. Peace.
 
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I'm not sure if Kommonium-Z working with simple is a glitch or not, as the other +1 to everything Z-Moves don't work alongside Simple.
Both Extreme Evoboost and Clangorous Soulblaze are affected by Simple; the other Z-boosts happen as a result of the Z-power rather than the Z-move.
 
Also while I'm at it, here are my two cents about Sleep Abuse:

It's cancer.

This metagame is pure fun, don't get me wrong. However, when sleep comes in play, randomness comes in too. And haxx=no fun. Will my sleeping Pokémon wake up next turn or will it stay asleep 5 whole turns? When the victory comes down to this, where's the glory, the money, the bitches? When I face Sleep Abuse, I don't enjoy the battle, whenever I beat the opponent or not. I know you guys will just say something like "just play a Tapu" but there shouldn't be any mandatory kind of Pokémon to bring in this meta. Sleep Abuse requires specific counters, and I don't like the idea of it being that crucial. Let's just put a sleep clause, the meta will get healthier imo. Sleep will still be a usable and efficient strategy when pulled off right, but it won't be overwhelming. Peace.
Actually, Pokemon now stays asleep for 3 turns at maximum. And personally, I would place No Guard + any sleeping move besides Spore under the same clause as Gravity + any sleeping move besides Spore.
 
one thing that's pretty cool about this meta is that mons who generally don't need that many moveslots like say chandelure who really just clicks heat wave can use their moveslots to give other mons potentially very good moves like ally switch, protect, etc.
 
Hey guys,

This is my first Smogon forum post, but I just wanted to tell you guys about the team I've been laddering with on PiC. Right now I've topped at 4th on the ladder under the alt HEATCMTL. This team is extremely dirty and requires a bit of an understanding of the metagame to use, but once you have it understood you get TONS of unfair wins with it. Here's the team:


http://pokepast.es/4a85d7aa1ed766d2

Nearly every single game, unless you're facing Trick Room, you lead Smeargle + Gardevoir. Turn 1, you either Fake Out the threat with Smeargle and set up a Shell Smash with Gard, or double Fake Out to break potential sashes. This is also great because both Gard and Smeargle Technician + Pixilate Fake Out, which makes the strategy invlunerable to Ghosts, and you deal over half to Gren and Marshadow with Gard's Fake Out. Next, what you do depends on the team you're playing against, but you usually either Wide Guard or Follow Me with Smeargle as Gard goes for a Shell Smash. If things go awry, you can Protect with Gard and Follow Me with Smeargle to sack it, and go into a bulkier Follow Me user like Togekiss or Amoonguss to deal with a threat. This is mostly for when your sash gets broken randomly, or if your opponent is using a spread move with one mon and a single-target move with another. Once you have your Shell Smash set up with Gard, Hyper Voice OHKOs pretty much all non-resists in the tier, and if they're carrying Focus Sash their attack is either Follow Med or Wide Guarded by the mon supporting Gard. HP Ground and Psyshock mostly cover all you need, though there are extra coverage options like Aura Sphere on Togekiss and Spore on Amoonguss for things that want to take your hits. Extreme Speed spam is the team's second hardest matchup, though if you're able to get in Hitmontop for free you can even deal with that. You can also scout whether Dragonite is Adamant or Jolly, and if it's adamant, Smeargle can outspeed with its Follow Me, and eat both espeeds using its sash as Gard OHKOs Dragonite through Multiscale and removes the other mon's espeed capabilities.

Example game against Espeed: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-669848742
In this case, I had played the guy before on the ladder and knew that his DNite was Adamant so I didn't need to attempt to win without Shell Smash.

Winning with this team is pretty easy even if Gard can't set up. Gard is still an incredible wallbreaker in this tier, and Togedemaru + many of the other mons create a lot of free wins. For example, getting Regenerator + Intimidate switching Amoonguss and Hitmontop in and out has been crucial in many games, as well as fast Spore. Serene Grace Discharge spam is also pretty nasty.

The team's most difficult matchup is Trick Room, because it makes setting up with Gard kind of a waste of time as they go for Trick Room and even eat a +2 hit. That's why Amoonguss is on the team. If you suspect Trick Room, you can lead Gard + Amoonguss, double Spore due to TR's negative priority, and go from there, trying to win with Togedemaru Discharge boosts, abusing Spore, and paraflinches.

Laddering with this team has been a blast, so I was just wondering your guys' thoughts on it.
 
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Here's some more memes:

Trick Room + Anger Point + Frost Breath + Clear Body

It needs to find the right opportunity to set up. It helped me win some games. Set up trick room first, then use frost breath on diance. Then have diance use diamond storm with + 4 attack and a decent chance of getting +2 Def.

Skill Swap + Screens + Safeguard + Prankster + Slow Start

I like skill swap cause it lets you get rid of pesky abilities. Prankster safeguard helps to protect from status like sleep. Screens can be pretty helpful. Also, it's funny to swap slow start.

I kind of doubt these are that great, but I was able to win some games with them. Here's a replay:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-670321172
 
Can we please do something about some of the broken elements in this meta?

I really dont like the pace of how things are being dealt with right now, we have obvious broken shit in sleep abuse (whether its prankster/no guard or its shadow tag/spore) where u can put the whole opponent to sleep if they dont have a magic bouncer or ttar (which just gets spored with non prankster spore)

Weather is also really ridiculous right now, and intimidate makes phys attacking mons literally almost unviable, (yea yea, we have defiant and competitive but its not enough, most of them are dogshit slow unless i use like adrenaline orb milotic), noivern/dragonite + m-mence boomburst spam is also really dumb but i dont think banworthy

Theres also this stupid delcatty + mega gengar normalize trap team which is really dumb to face, and has no counterplay other than being faster than gengar and koing it or have mega sabeleye

Long story short this meta is unbalanced af and id like to see ANY balance improvments, as it is now theres just seriously too much to prepare for right now

(Dont get me wrong, this is up there in my all time favourite oms actually but its teambuilding is just so constrictive right now)
 
In my opinion, "broken" stuff like sleep abuse has some obvious weaknesses that people don't take advantage of enough because they're building primarily gimmicky/synergistic strats that don't look to metagame at all. Boomburst/Discharge spam can be dealt with with a Wide Guard user, or by countering with your own Lighting Rod mon. Sleep spam has a very predictable lead (literally never seen someone not lead pidgeot + whims/darkrai), which can also be taken advantage of. Neither of those mons get Fake Out, so double Fake Out breaking whims/darkrai's sash is free, and Follow Me into killing the Darkrai/Whimsicott the following turn guarantees only one mon gets slept and you're up a mon. This meta gets played by a lot of non-doubles players who aren't accustomed to the types of strategies that are dominant in DOU, so running solid Fake Out and Follow Me support is often looked over in teambuilding. Also, ESpeed spam is stupid but you can use Quick Guard if you really feel like it.

No point in complaining about Delcatty imo because you can just kill your own teammate in order to bring out a fast threat and kill something.

In my opinion, a nice blanket check to a lot of the broken shit is Hitmontop, which provides double Fake Out, has Intimidate, and has access to both Wide Guard and Quick Guard. Also worth mentioning is Togedemaru, which has access to Fake Out, Lightning Rod Discharge, and Spiky Shield, which serves to break the sashes of mons attempting to fake you out.
 
If it helps any:
Some possible ways to beat sleep
-Lum Berry
-Insomia
-Electric Terrain
-Magic Bounce
-Misty Terrain
-Toxic Orb
-Flame Orb
-Safeguard
-Outspeed/Out Prio and stop it somehow.
-Safety Goggles
-Grass Type
-See Sleep in General
-Psychic Terrain
-Dark Type
-Quick Guard
-See Sleep in general
-Soundproof
-See Prankster Sleep
-See Sleep in General

If Sleep is deemed not worth changing, would gravity + sleep be unbanned?

As for intimidate spam, idk, but Hyper Cutter, contrary, crits (if u can find a mon that can do that), and clear body are some other ways that could probably help. Maybe even haze could work since there are so many set up mons.
 
Normalize Delcatty is a meme to me, if your team is well built, you will have ways to deal around this, even without thinking too much about it.

Weather isn't ridiculous at all imo, but that's maybe because I run a full TR team that can abuse every kind of weather (excepted Hail, but Hail is bad anyway). And for spread spam, Wide Guard stops the spam train very well.

And for sleep, yeah Billybobman your answers are correct, but at least a third of them is unviable in most scenarios. Magic Bounce has only M-Diancie as a worthy Pokémon to be used in PiC (I should try it btw, this mon looks very solid to build around). Lum Berry, Safety Googles and the Orbs are unviable in most cases for obvious reasons. Safeguard is good tho and so much overlooked, you should consider it guys.

Intimidate is just a bit less powerful in regular Doubles as it is here. And you have many ways around it, Clear Body for example is great (with Diancie again).


Seriously, why hasn't anybody tried Diancie? Diamond Storm is the best Rock move in the game, two useful abilities, great stats...
 
I've been having a lot of fun in this insanely ridiculous meta so far! Wanted to share a strat that's been extremely useful:

Prankster + After You

There are no native users of this combo in standard play, which makes sense cuz it's busted AF. This allows one of your partners to let the other partner move at +1 priority, and it doesn't have to worry about Psychic Terrain or even Queenly Majesty/Dazzling. I can't tell you how great this is when you have slow, extremely powerful attackers like Mega Camerupt with Eruption or Belly Drum Snorlax. It does take a fair bit of predicting sometimes, and obviously you're sacrificing one of your Pokemon's attacks a turn. However, it generally beats strategies like weather, terrain, and even TR. Just to demonstrate, here are some replays!

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-669231846 (against sun)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-669655000 (against hail?)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-669779215 (against Technician)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-669972315 (against TR)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-669975638 (against rain)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7partnersincrime-670483408 (against everyone's favorite, Normalize!!)
 
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I've never thought about After You, it might be fun indeed. But with this strategy, only one Pokémon attacks per turn and even though it'll attack at +1 Priority, you'll probably still get less damage overall than if you attacked with two Pokémon.

Also, I just wanna put that replay over here, so we can all appreciate this: both of the top two of the ladder use Gastrodon, and both of them use weird and uncommon Pokémon overall (shoutouts to that Claydol).
 
I feel like Trick Room with proper support to deal with sleep is the most reliable strategy right now, but I feel like the potential in the team I posted earlier could possibly surpass it. Too bad I kinda suck and need to get ghosted by my DOU player friend to make any actual plays.

Also, why is no one using Dark Void on Darkrai to counter Follow Me strategies?
 
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