[Required Reading] Doubles C&C Guide

[shaian]

Writing Doubles Analyses by Darkmalice

General tips

• Give examples for Pokemon-types, users of moves etc
  • Don't say stuff like Thunderbolt checks Water-types and Flying-types. Who am I checking? Lumineon? Swellow? Swampert? The former two are non-relevant threats in Doubles, and the latter is immune to Electric-types. Give examples relevant to the metagame and who are actually weak to the move you've mentioned, such as Politoed and Talonflame. This applies for moves, teammates and checks & counters. The amount of times I see "Taunt users" in Checks and Counters without examples is frustrating; tell me some Pokemon that can use Taunt e.g. Thundurus-I, Gyarados.
• Keep the writing relevant to the metagame
  • Mention common Pokemon over not so common ones. For example, Superpower on Landorus-Therian provides coverage against Mega Kangaskhan and Ferrothorn. Don't mention non-relevant threats like Blissey.
  • Don't say stuff like EQ checks Fire-types. Many of the common Fire-types (Charizard, Talonflame, Rotom-H) are immune to EQ. Say that EQ checks Heatran instead, who is another relevant Fire-type
• Read the XY analysis of the Pokemon if it has one (a list can be found here). They will very likely have information that can be useful for your analysis, even if it is outdated. All the ORAS analyses should be better than the old ones, and there is no excuse when you can easily read the old ones

Be warned that if your knowledge about using the Pokemon in question, or the DOU metagame isn't up to scratch, your analysis can be reassigned.

Overview – copied directly from Stratos' thread
"I'm tired of writing this separately for every goddamn analysis so I'm going to make a thread, stop shitting up your overviews. This is what they should contain:

• What does the Pokemon beat? Notable individual Pokemon, groups, or whole playstyles (eg Abomasnow is a cold stop to rain, heatran is a good switchin on opposing steel and grass types, diancie's powerful dual STAB ohkoes basically every fast Pokemon in the tier). Avoid just restating the type chart or I WILL DICK YOU
• What general role the Pokemon takes / What teams it fits best on (eg Amoonguss temporarily incapacitates faster Pokemon by spamming Spore and Rage Powder, so it fits well on bulky teams that often find themselves being outsped)
• What threatens this Pokemon? Notable individual Pokemon, groups, or whole playstyles (eg heatran can't put in much work vs rain except to beat their steel if it gets lucky, and also suffers from lando-t being so common, or that most teams run a bulky fire to deal with steel types and they all stop Scizor cold)
• An HONEST estimation of its worth, don't write about greninja like it's lando-t unless you want me to hunt you down and rip off your testicles

Things NOT to put in the overviews

• Anything you could find out by looking at the dex, i mean jesus christ nobody here is retarded, i was going to make a list of them but like seriously just don’t

Moves
The thing to focus on is explaining why you should use these moves. It will usually be brief for each move. For example, Dragon Pulse provides STAB and good neutral coverage. You do not need to state the base power – this isn't a copy from the dex). This will depend on the move. Other useful things to say is if the move has spread, coverage against relevant threats, high power e.g. Draco Meteor, drawbacks to the move e.g. SpA drop.

Good examples are as follows

Rock Slide is the main attack, as it is boosted by STAB and deals spread damage. It allows Tyranitar to successfully complete its role as a check to Flying- and Fire-type Pokemon better. Dark Pulse is preferred over Crunch because it isn't weakened by Intimidate or burns and doesn't activate Aegislash's King's Shield. Fire Blast is an option to hit threats such as Ferrothorn, Amoonguss, and Bisharp hard, while Ice Beam can be used to hit Pokemon such as Landorus-T and Hydreigon. Protect keeps Tyranitar alive while partners take care of specific threats, stalls out field conditions, and scouts for attacks.

Hydro Pump on Salamence hits Heatran who otherwise walls your other attacks, and also hits Landorus-T for more damage

Protect is really common and has multiple uses. Somethings you can mention for Protect

• Keep Pokemon alive whilst partner takes care of specific threats
• Stall out field conditions such as Trick Room
• Scout attacks

Especially good things to mention are uses relevant to a particular Pokemon as opposed to every single Pokemon out-there. Good examples are

• Diancie can Mega Evolve safely before it gets an increase in its Speed stat
• Lets Ferrothorn stall for Leftovers and Leech Seed recovery
• Protects Rhydon whilst it continue to provide Lightning Rod support.

Set Details
Quite similar to Moves. This is explaining why you use the item, ability, nature, and EVs for the Pokemon. You can often explain nature and EVs together. Ability should always be explained, the only exception for this is if you cannot choose the ability e.g. Levitate, but it may still be good to explain it if it is particularly helpful. Even near-useless abilities like Damp on Swampert should be explained. Also explain IVs if they are anything other than 31, for example 0 Spe IVs if using it in Trick Room, or 29 IVs to lower Life Orb recoil.

Examples

Life Orb lets you hit harder, Shuca Berry lets you act as a lure for Ground-types such as Landorus-Therian so that you can nail them with Ice Beam.

252 HP and 184 Def allows Amoonguss to never be OHKOed by Timid Latios's Life Orb-boosted Psyshock. A Sassy nature and the rest of the EVs are dedicated to Special Defence as Amoonguss usually redirects special attacks. Speed is minimized so it can work as well as possible against Trick Room, one of its main niches.

4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe with a Jolly nature allows Metagross to outspeed as much as possible, notably speed-tying with Latios and Mega Diancie. The rest is moved into Attack.

Usage Tips
Tell me how to use the Pokemon. This should focus primarily on the main uses of Pokemon. Things you need to mention

• When should you use your Pokemon. For example as a lead, late-game, as a switch-in to these types of attacks, after a KO. You should briefly state why too e.g. late-game when Excadrill threats have been weakened or eliminated, in particularly removing Landorus-T
• Role of the Pokemon. For example, late-game sweeper, tank, set up weather
• Important specific to the Pokemon. For example, if against a team with another weather inducer, Tyranitar should be kept alive until you can remove Politoed. This enables you to switch in Tyranitar after your opponent has set up rain, removing it.

Remember the focus is about how to use the Pokemon. All the little stuff may still be important, but if your entire Usage Tips is about little details, you've written it wrong.

Team Options
As much as possible, be sure to give general categories in order to give the reader an idea of what kind of teammate a Pokemon prefers, leaving them free to experiment on their own; for example, a general bullet of "checks to Dragon-types" for a Volcanion analysis would work well. Feel free to use a specific mention if it fits very well or has a specific niche, however; for example, Landorus-T and Talonflame would work well with each other as they can form a high Speed one-two punch with their spread attacks and powerful priority attacks, respectively.

Appropriate teammates to mention are:

• Pokemon who are supported well by your Pokemon. For example, Bisharp discourages Pokemon with Intimidate from switching in, so Pokemon that dislike Intimidate enjoy Bisharp's support, such as Terrakion and Mega Diancie
• Pokemon who check or counter threats to that Pokemon. For example, Flying-types such as Talonflame and Shaymin-S check Grass-types (note when I say types, I give examples)
• Pokemon who provide other forms of support to the Pokemon. For example
• Trick Room e.g. Cresselia and Mega Slowbro for Heatran
• Tailwind e.g. Suicune for Mega Heracross
• Wide Guard support for Pokemon weak to common spread attacks (Rock Slide, Earthquake) e.g. Hitmontop for Mega Charizard Y, who also provides Intimidate support to patch up Charizard's weaker Defense stat
• Fake Out and/or redirection support for Pokemon who want to set up e.g. Amoonguss's Rage Powder can be used to help Azumarill set up Belly Drum
• Weather (e.g. Politoed for Swift Swim users)
• NOTE: Redirection should only be listed in Team Options when the set in question uses set-up in some way. This is because everything in the entire metagame would like redirection and it'd be a bother if we list redirection for every set ever; we're only going to list redirection for when it actually matters.

Remember if saying Pokemon types or move users e.g. Wide Guard users, give examples of Pokémon or I'll come to you asking why you think Parasect is a good Wide Guard user.

Also try to make Team Options flow well. For example, mention speed control options together where possible instead of all over the paragraph.

Other Options
Basically anything here that is not worthy of being on any the main sets but is worthy of mention. If something is removed from a set, it may be wise to add it to OO, or if something from OO gets on the set, remove it from OO. Generally there is a low threshold as to how good something needs to be to be mentioned, as long as it's viable. If the OO list is too large, you should recheck the viability of some of the stuff. This includes moves, items and alternate sets (e.g. Dragon Dance Tyranitar).

Checks & Counters by shaian. Tags taken from Lolk's thread. Updated by talkingtree
Basically identify the weaknesses of the Pokemon and list what takes advantage of those weaknesses.

Allowed Tags:

Hide

**x-type Pokemon**: This is fairly straightforward, if the analyzed Pokemon struggles with foes of a particular type, then state the type in the tag and list a few of the most common and threatening such foes, as well as what they can do to the analyzed Pokemon. This can apply to an advantage that is either Offensive or Defensive in nature. However, these tags should not be used as a simple type chart. Only state types that are especially notable in checking the specified Pokemon.

**Intimidate and Burns**: If the Pokemon is a physical attacker, include this tag with a few of the more relevant threats of this kind to said Pokemon. If only one of the two applies, it is acceptable to state only **Intimidate** or **Burns**

**Faster Pokemon**: This tag generally applies to Pokemon that are especially reliant in moving first, and dislikes Choice Scarf users, Speed Boost Pokemon, and naturally fast threats. As with any other tag, state a few examples of Pokemon that win due to their speed and why they are checks.

**(Form of Speed Control)**: Similarly to **Faster Pokemon**, this tag is used for Pokemon that become significantly less threatening under various forms of Speed Control. For example, if something is threatened by both Tailwind, Thunder Wave, and Trick Room, the tag would include all of those by name.

**Priority Attacks**: If the analyzed Pokemon is weak to all forms of priority due to general frailty or holding a Focus Sash, this tag should be used, with a few common priority attacks and their users listed for clarity. However, if the Pokemon in question is only weak to a couple forms of priority due to its typing, that should be included within the **x-type Pokemon** tag.

**Strong Physical Attackers**: This tag should be used for Pokemon that have an overall low HP and Defense stat, meaning that Pokemon such as Mega Kangaskhan and other powerhouses typically beat it. A **Strong Special Attackers** tag is also appropriate and should be used like this one.

**Opposing Weather**: If the Pokemon's attacks, defenses, or abilities rely on a certain weather condition (Blizzard sweepers, SolarBeam sweepers, Heatran vs Rain, Blastoise vs Sun, etc.), then mention the opposing weather teams as threats. Keep in mind that if the Pokemon is threatened by certain weather sweepers and not the weather itself, those threats belong under **x-type Pokemon**.

**Spread Attackers**: If the Pokemon in question is a user of Rage Powder or Follow Me, use this tag and specify which Spread Attackers are most threatening to said Pokemon, as Spread Attackers prevent the analyzed Pokemon from protecting its teammate.

Miscellaneous:
For situations that do not apply to one of the above tags, simply make a tag named after the check in question. Some examples of such tags include: if the analyzed Pokemon is especially threatened by Encore, Taunt, Fake Out, Sleep or Substitute; if Knock Off cripples the analyzed Pokemon purely because it loses the item (If the Pokemon is weak to the attack itself, put it in **Dark-type Pokemon**); if Wide Guard or Quick Guard are hindrances to the Pokemon in question doing its job.

While most scenarios do apply to these tags, specific checks and counters that are unique to a few Pokemon are relevant and do deserve their own tag.

It is not acceptable to dedicate a tag to a single Pokemon, as this would leave every Pokemon with far too many tags. Not only that, but due to the nature of Doubles games, regardless of how strong a single Pokemon's matchup is 1v1, it will not be dominating enough to always have the advantage.

By reading all this, you should be more adept at writing analyses, and that means the QC team will not need to spend as much time to QC your analysis and give you checks :)

 

[shaian]

On Revamps by shaian

Revamps should not be identical to what is already on site. Instead identify the changes between the Pokemon at the time of the last analysis and how the Pokemon is currently used and make the new analysis reflect that. If a revamp does not properly address the differences it will be locked.

Changes can be found in potential new items, movesets, abilities, threats / teammates, or even just simple metagame changes. Revamps are not as intensive as creating an entirely new analysis, and for the most part can rely heavily on the old one for references.

DO NOT: reference what a Pokemon used to do, reflect upon what it currently does. For example:

If a Pokemon used to run a certain amount of speed, but now runs even more because of X or Y, do not right "____ now runs more speed because of X or Y", simply write "____ runs this much speed because of X or Y". Past analyses should not be referenced in the revamp.

 

[shaian]

Analysis Skeleton by shaian

This is the proper format for any analyses you write:

[OVERVIEW]

[SET]
name: Set Name
move 1:
move 2:
move 3:
move 4:
item:
ability:
nature:
evs:

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Set Details
========

Usage Tips
========

Team Options
========

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Checks and Counters
===================

**Checks and Counters Tag**:

**Checks and Counters Tag 2+ (If needed)**:

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

When writing set analyses, the only parts required are the [Set] and [Set Comments] with their respective child sections

 

[shaian]

On Implementing QC Checks & GP Checks by shaian

I can't believe this actually needs to be said but... IF A MEMBER OF QC TELLS YOU TO DO SOMETHING, FUCKING DO IT.

I will not hesitate to lock analyses if I think the author will be hard to work with, I might even infract particularly stubborn people. Who knows?

I'm also adding GP to this because it might be relevant in the future.

Thanks.

 

[Idyll]

On Implementing QC Checks & GP Checks Cont. by Memoric

I don't want the above to be taken the wrong way.

Whenever a QC / GP checker tells you to do something, follow them. They probably know more about grammar / what actually merits mentions in analyses more than you, aspiring analysis writer.

Disagreeing or asking questions about certain things is fine. It shows that you, at least, actually care about the analysis you're doing as a writer. However, you still have to follow and implement QC / GP checks on the matter before you ask questions, disagree, or express a differing opinion; if what you said is actually valid, it will be answered or discussed. If it's not? No harm done as you already implemented the QC / GP check.

What is wrong is totally ignoring QC / GP checks, especially for dumb reasons or with ignorant replies like "fuck no I don't want to put this in." and "<move> is garbage?" (somebody actually said this once). Actions like that will get faced with warnings and a reassign; if you manage to really piss us off, you will be infracted.

That's all :)!

 

[shaian]

On Doubles C&C by shaian

Hello, this is shay here. As a few of you may know, and a lot you may not know, I am no longer a member of the Doubles OU QC team. This is really the first time in a little over a year that this is the case. Another interesting bit of Doubles C&C history, the whole idea for this thread came to when about 11ish months ago I decided to make Memoric the co-leader of this section with me. At the time the Doubles C&C subforum was a bit "thready". So what we did was take this formal guide to writing analyses, written by the great Darkmalice, and this thread dedicated to revamps by my predecessor, Bughouse, and condensed it into this. This thread is, in my opinion, the most important tool we could have made for the Doubles C&C community. Every future generation of Doubles C&C will probably have something similar, because what it is, and hopefully what it will continue to be is a continuation of knowledge by each leader of the Doubles C&C community. The writing guide has things which were taken from Darkmalice, but also from Stratos, who started C&C back when Pocket was in charge of this community. Bughouse learned from Mizuhime, Pocket, Darkmalic, Lolk. I learned under Bughouse and Stratos, the people who came after me hopefully learned a thing or two under my leadership. And that's what C&C is, or at least, that's how I envision it. And if you're reading this Kami, this little bit of insight into C&C history is because I know you like reading the history of the tier.

When we write analyses what we're doing from the perspective of the QC team is to take both a collection of our combined metagame experience and add a little bit of theorymon, and then relay it forward to the writer. A good analysis should be able to accurately portray the Pokemon as it stands in the metagame. A great analysis should be able to do that, but also help expand ones understanding of the Pokemon as it is, and what it may be able to do. These analyses are our contribution to a community that really doesn't know who we are. People at my schools Pokemon club have pulled up analyses that I wrote before and learned a lot about that, and I would just look at them and enjoy the fact that even though they wouldn't know it was me who wrote that Charizard analysis, I was still teaching them something. Unfortunately for them, they didn't know that the recommended Charizard spread would not be able to live that Landorus-T Rock Slide. Every QC member should remain cognizant of the fact that the vast majority of the people reading our work are new, they're inexperienced, and they really, really need our help. And as a QC team, that's what we need to always do for them. Churning out high quality work should be the main priority, and it's not exactly an easy thing to do.

Writing analyses is a chore. Back when I first started out here, we couldn't get people to do checks. Under Lolk, the QC situation was bad enough that he needed to make this thread. No one finds doing QC work fun. I sure didn't. Back before I joined QC, Bughouse practically begged me in #doubles to join, and I was hesitant. I was only recently added to the Doubles Council, and had only lightly dabbled in to QC before. I never even did an am-check, and now I was being asked to join the quality control team? Stratos managed to convince me to join, and I just dived right in. During my early days I would do writeups for the OP to C/P, I'd hound down people who were being slow with updating their analyses, and I QC'd everything. There was a solid period of time where not a single analysis passed through without me stamping it in some way, or editing in final touches if they already got 3/3. And that was when I got promoted to being a moderator of this section. And a bit after that, I was formally the Leader, though that was just giving me the official title because I may as well have been the Co-Leader already. 3 days later, Memoric was the Co-Leader with me. I could never really enjoy myself unless I was sharing it with the people I like, and C&C was a way I could help some of the people in the Doubles community get more involved with this site. If anyone can remember back to when I was an active, and contributing member of the Doubles PS community, I would message people all the time about how to get involved. People like Checkmater, Pastelle, and Kamikaze (remember when I used to bug you all the time about site stuff?) got the brunt of it, and a few other members of QC like qsns as well.

And this brings me back to why I'm stepping down. If there was one thing I would not tolerate within this section, it was showing a lack of respect towards the QC members or the GP members who dedicate time to making sure our work was up to standards. If you look up about 2 posts you'll notice just how much I stressed that point. And I was serious. I only ever recall giving out 2 different infractions during my time as a mod. Both were for the same offense. If there wasn't a certain, minimal level of respect shown to the people I worked with, then that individual would not be tolerated. If you can make a basic inference, you'll have figured out why I'm stepping down now. Tentatively, this is also to mark my last 2-3 months here, once the Fall seasonal is over I'd like to be retired, unless Kamikaze can convince me not to again. Frankly, I would have gone a lot earlier if I wasn't so in love with the Doubles community, but the powers that be seem to keep finding ways to make the different outposts of the community gentrified enough to ruin them (looking at you PS Doubles).

So thanks a lot for that,

:)