[Doubles] Thundurus-T (QC 0/3) [SKELLIE COMPLETE]

[Scarlet Firefly]

[Overview]

• Extra high Special Attack
• Volt Absorb is awesome
• If you use Rain, you can spam Thunder too
• Base 101 Speed, faster than the Base 100s

[SET]
name: All Out Attacker
move 1: Discharge / Thunderbolt
move 2: Hidden Power [Ice]
move 3: Superpower / Grass Knot
move 4: U-turn / Volt Switch / Protect
item: Life Orb / Expert Belt
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

• Switch moves and deal the appropriate STAB
• Life Orb gives significant boost in power but cuts 10% each time
• Expert Belt if you don't like recoil
• Discharge is great for nuking both opponents, and 30% paralysis charge is awesome. However, it also attacks the partner so care must be taken to select good teammates, for example to be Ground-type or to have Electric-absorbing abilities like Volt Absorb or Motor Drive.
• Thunderbolt can be used for single target bombing
• Hidden Power Ice is to complete the well-known BoltBeam combo which few resist.
• Superpower is great coverage for whacking some common switch-ins like Tyranitar, Mamoswine, Heatran and more.
• Grass Knot is effective to surprise Gastrodon and Hippowdon, as well as other Ground-types like Mamoswine.
• U-turn or Volt Switch are great to gain momentum and switch into a favourable teammate depending on the matchup. U-turn is preferred as nothing is immune to it, allowing Thundurus-T to always switch out as opposed to Volt Switch which Ground is immune to. Furthermore, U-turn allows greater coverage as Thunderbolt is alreayd used for the set; U-turn can take down some Grass-types and on the off chance some Dark-types and Psychic types such as Latios, Hydreigon, Tyranitar, and more.
• Protect is protect

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

• Thunder can be used if Thundurus-T is used on a rain team.
• Mamoswine makes for a great partner for Thundurus, as Thundurus can spam Discharge with ease while Mamoswine can use Earthquake with impunity. Furthermore, Mamoswine takes the Ice- and Rock-type attacks for Thundurus-T while Thundurus-T can take the Grass- and Fighting-type attacks aimed at Mamoswine.
• Breloom makes for a good teammate, as this Thundurus set is great at taking out the Lati twins and Celebi with U-turn, of which checks Breloom. Breloom can also help to remove Thundurus-T's checks, such as Mamoswine, Gastrodon, Rotom-W and more.
• If Thundurus-T elects to run Grass Knot, Keldeo can make for a good partner as Thundurus-T can clear Gastrodon from the opponent's team, giving Keldeo free reign to spam Water-type attacks.

[Other Options]

• There are many other options that Thundurus-T can run, but these are not optimal for the fast-paced nature of the Doubles metagame. Firstly, a Nasty Plot set is the best alternative as it grants Thundurus-T immediate power and permits it to easily OHKO or 2HKO the whole of the metagame, especially with Discharge. However, it is less effective against faster teams or Trick Room teams due to its frailty.
• An Agility set can be used to improve Thundurus-T's speed and allow it to outspeed and strike any threat in the metagame. However, this set lacks power and can fail to OHKO a number of Pokemon in the metagame, such as Rotom-W, Hippowdon, Amoonguss, and get OHKOed itself back due to its frailty. This set is not recommended as a Tailwind oriented team can achieve the same result.
• A Double Booster set with Nasty Plot and Agility can be used but is very difficult to set up in the Doubles metagame.
• Choice items such as Choice Specs or Choice Scarf can be used but they are not optimal in the Doubles metagame.

[Checks and Counters]

• Opponents which have enough Special Defense to tank a few hits from Thundurus-T are usually the best checks.
• Gastrodon and Hippowdon are solid counters if Thundurus-T doesn't run Grass Knot.
• Mamoswine in particular is an extremely common yet threatening check that can deal heavy damage with Ice Shard yet resist the BoltBeam combination.
• Latias and Latios have the bulk to take a Hidden Power Ice yet can OHKO back with Draco Meteor.
• Thundurus-T can also be beaten offensively by faster Pokemon due to its frailty. These include Terrakion, Keldeo and Garchomp.