Out of My League: A Look into OU and DOU's Differing Banlists

By Memoric. Released: 2022/10/24.

Introduction

In an ideal competitive scenario, there is a certain baseline in metagame power level where skillful play is promoted between players of equal strength; the reality, however, is that some Pokémon are just more equal than others, with their individual power bending games and a metagame at large to their will.

As a leading community for competitive Pokémon, Smogon is host to many formats that aim to promote skillful play with different sets of usable Pokémon tiered according to usage rates. These formats and metagames are further balanced through the removal of deemed uncompetitive, broken, and unhealthy elements—essentially, by having bans in addition to those provided by the usage-tiering framework.

OverUsed, or OU, is Smogon's flagship metagame, being the format where we can use every Pokémon outside of a determined banlist, Ubers. Among Smogon's usage-based tiers, OU is the one that essentially features the fewest usage-based bans—none—as it is where usage-based bans for the lower tiers first cascade from. Doubles OverUsed, or DOU, is essentially Smogon's doubles version of this.

Many OU players are very much familiar with how menacing the likes of Dracovish, Galarian Darmanitan, and Cinderace were in their respective eras in the SS OU metagame, with their relative power relegating them to Ubers in due time. In contrast, DOU players are more likely to be amused than anything from seeing these Pokémon used in their format, as they are only fringe viable, if at all. On the flipside, DOU players will shudder at the thought of seeing Jirachi again, of all things, but in singles play it isn't even used enough to be ranked OU, instead only residing in UnderUsed.

What ultimately makes something banworthy between DOU and OU is fundamentally different. Is it the difference in usable kit? Perhaps it's the difference in dynamics between the format? Or maybe it's the difference in overall metagame? We'll be going over these and more as we go through the various bans OU and DOU have had throughout the generation, capping it off with a look towards the particular offenders that both formats thought had to go.

Ubers and DOU

Strong 1v1 Attackers

This category of Pokémon are essentially similar in one particular regard: their dominance is based on their monstrous offensive capabilities, which lets them easily force KOs from high health thresholds. Some of these threats rely on their sheer power, such as Dracovish and Landorus, while others make use of their wide coverage backed by respectable attacking stats, such as Genesect and Cinderace. Most of these threats also possess a Speed stat that lets them get the jump on most balance and even opposing offense threats; while Dracovish is an exception, it can also often run Choice Scarf, as the doubled power from Fishious Rend is often enough to KO most threats that necessitate the Choice Scarf in the first place.

In considering the dominance of these Pokémon relative to a doubles context, it is important to consider how these offensive behemoths essentially protect themselves. Consider the question: how do offensive attackers in singles play take the least damage possible throughout a turn, pivot moves notwithstanding? The answer, of course, is by essentially making the opposing Pokémon unable to fight back. A KOed Pokémon can't retaliate, which often makes up for how these attackers often have paltry bulk, and a forced switch is a win in its own right, as the aggressor is the one that can afford to decide between significant chip or a possible double switch (or, in the cases of Genesect, Pheromosa, and Galarian Darmanitan, get the best of both worlds with U-turn). The fact that the ability to force KOs comes more conveniently to these threats more than others is quite a significant part of what makes them Ubers worthy.

However, power and speed aren't necessarily the end-all-be-all in doubles play. Most importantly, the ability of these offensive Ubers to protect themselves through KOs does not easily apply in a 2v2 setting because of the fact that there are two Pokémon on the opposing side of the field! Unlike in singles, the opponent can still do something even if one of their Pokémon gets KOed or is forced to switch, such as threatening the attacker back. The fact that these Pokémon are defensive liabilities becomes much harder to hide, and their lack of bulk and resistances makes them difficult to send onto the field cleanly, giving them less backline utility than one would hope for. They are also virtually impossible to get onto the field through double switches simply due to the fact that such switching maneuvers don't often happen in doubles play by nature of the format.

Their natural speed capabilities, in particular, aren't constants to rely on in DOU due to the format's emphasis on field-wide speed control. Opposing Tailwind and Trick Room, in particular, are quite ubiquitous and can turn the tables on them really quickly. DOU also features Fake Out users such as Incineroar (a top DOU threat!) and Rillaboom on most teams, which can quickly put these Uber attackers out of position while at the same time facilitating the aforementioned speed control tools. On top of these, DOU often features attackers utilizing Protect, which can render the attacks of these Ubers futile and leave them traded off for nothing, necessitating proper positioning and timing in how they utilize their offensive prowess.

Among these threats, Galarian Darmanitan and Cinderace are quite unviable in a DOU format because of the aforementioned reasons; they do not really bring much else outside of just attacking, with other attackers still providing valuable utility on top of their offensive prowess. Galarian Darmanitan, in particular, cannot run Protect viably and is a prime target for Fake Out. Dracovish has seen fringe use as a Sand Rush attacker in tournament play, but it is otherwise unviable due to its reliance on Speed and being outclassed by Urshifu-R for most intents. Pheromosa and Spectrier are both considered niche but viable picks in—Pheromosa's monstrous power, great super effective coverage, and sufficient Speed to outrun the whole unboosted metagame lets it prey on numerous top metagame threats, such as Rillaboom, Heatran, Kyurem-B, and Porygon2, while Spectrier is mostly known for being a dangerous Nasty Plot sweeper that also preys on the popular Mew. Genesect is seen as a Pokémon just a cut below DOU's upper echelon, boasting a vast number of sets throughout the generation, such as Assault Vest, Choice Scarf, Shift Gear, and, Choice Band; it is a Pokémon that often takes advantage of its versatility and Download, only coming short because of its vulnerability to opposing speed control and its base 99 Speed that, while fast in its own right, still ultimately leaves it exposed to some key offensive threats in the format. Landorus-I and Naganadel are both considered to be among the very best Pokémon in DOU, with the former even being the target of a suspect test—Landorus-I boasts a nasty combination of Speed, coverage, and Sheer Force that makes it a difficult foe for most Pokémon in the metagame, while Naganadel is a strong burst attacker with similar colorful coverage that also boasts one of the best utility moves the metagame has on offer in a fast Tailwind.

Kyurem-B and Kyurem

This article on the Kyurem OU suspect test discusses the details on Kyurem's place in metagame quite well, but to summarize why it was banned to Ubers: its sheer stats, heavy customizability in its sets thanks to a wide usable movepool, and access to a great stallbreaking ability in Pressure let it essentially pick and choose its answers. Particularly relevant to its rise was its newfound access to Icicle Spear and Dragon Dance, which gives it the ability to play as a looming wincon. Kyurem was troublesome for opponents to play around, as they had to consider its many sets in-game, with particular Pokémon only able to check certain sets and outright losing to others.

Why is Kyurem-B banned in OU? Well, just imagine Kyurem, but with the ability to outright smash the threats that once walled it using a towering base 170 Attack stat and access to a strong physical Electric-type coverage move in Fusion Bolt, elevating the Dragon Dance set from simply formidable to outright obscene. Yeah...

In DOU, Kyurem-B mostly outclasses Kyurem for obvious reasons, and it has always had an interesting position in the metagame as a whole. It had always elicited discussion on a possible suspect test, but nothing concrete really came out of those; nevertheless, it has been consistently one of the best Pokémon DOU has on offer for being the sterling combination of offensive presence and utility. This is thanks to its base stats letting it function as simply a massive beatstick, either as a mixed Assault Vest bruiser or as a Dragon Dance sweeper.

A lot of Kyurem-B's power comes from its 125 / 100 / 95 bulk, which lets it take incidental damage quite reliably; paired with Grassy Terrain healing from the ubiquitous Rillaboom, it can be easy to see how Kyurem-B can find itself capable of shrugging off many hits. Its Assault Vest set takes this up to eleven as it becomes the biggest bulky attacker in the metagame, an almighty glacier that uses its titanic bulk and great super effective coverage to become a respectable, difficult-to-take down attacking threat. This set even uses Icy Wind to full effectiveness, with the spread Speed reduction being quite handy for stifling faster offensive teams. Its Dragon Dance set, meanwhile, is one of the metagame's most dangerous sweepers, as Kyurem-B's naturally high Attack stat becomes quite lethal even with just one boost.

Despite its qualities telling a similar story to that of Kyurem in OU, Kyurem-B is actually held back from being truly DUber worthy by a number of factors. Much of it is metagame related—there are a number of respectable threats that both sets simply cannot deal with in an efficient manner. Diancie, for example, is a top metagame threat, being a lynchpin of semi-Trick Room teams, and it can switch in and beat Kyurem-B outright thanks to its massive defensive stats and typing, even boasting Trick Room to render the Dragon Dance set futile. Urshifu-R, while it has to respect coming in on a possible Fusion Bolt, can also beat Kyurem-B quite handily, with the Dragon Dance set needing to fear Choice Scarf while also being unable to Protect against it due to Unseen Fist. Most Steel-types, particularly Metagross and Genesect, can also beat Kyurem-B quite handily, as the Assault Vest set's Earth Power is not strong enough to outright threaten lethal damage, and the Dragon Dance set only has Fusion Bolt to hit them with. This is not to mention the quirks of either set in DOU play—the Assault Vest set isn't actually that strong when not hitting super effective targets, being more of a defensive piece that can actually be taken advantage of by certain specific threats, and the Dragon Dance set has to deal with speed control, a lack of coverage due to needing to run Protect, and the relative popularity of Incineroar as a check to physical attackers.

Still, regular Kyurem does actually still have a small niche in DOU: its 10 higher Special Attack makes it a possibly better choice for a Blizzard attacker in hyper offensive hail teams. In this role, Kyurem often runs Choice Specs to maximize its damage output. At the same time, though, it actually competes with Kyurem-B for this role as well, as some players see Kyurem-B's ability to represent more sets, as well as the 10 more base Defense and access to Fusion Bolt for threats such as Calm Mind Tapu Fini, as being overall more valuable.

Zygarde

Much of Zygarde's power can be traced to one move: Thousand Arrows. As a Ground-type STAB attack that hits Flying-type and Levitating foes, it pretty much covers all of Zygarde's attacking needs by itself. With the rest of its moveset freed up, it can flexibly run any combination of moves in its varied arsenal, from setup moves in Substitute, Dragon Dance, and Coil to let it function as a breaker and sweeper to nifty status-inflicting moves like Toxic and Glare to cripple would-be answers. The combination of Coil and Glare on a specially defensive set proved to be quite infuriating, as a single full paralysis was often enough for Zygarde to get out of control. The clickability of Thousand Arrows also lets it be an effective Choice Band user, with moves like Scale Shot and Extreme Speed giving it additional late-game cleaning and revenge killing utility. Thousand Arrows grants Zygarde a level of versatility and effectiveness, on top of its great natural bulk, that essentially made it too overbearing to handle for the OU metagame.

Thousand Arrows similarly makes up much of Zygarde's viability in DOU, but its overall power is noticeably lower. While Thousand Arrows does boast the utility of being a spread move, this also does come at the caveat of being noticeably weaker. The increased relevance of Rillaboom, a tier 1 DOU threat, is also quite problematic, as not only does it reliably switch in on Thousand Arrows, it also sets Grassy Terrain for foes to heal off Zygarde's damage.

Zygarde also suffers from significantly less flexibility in DOU, rendering it unable to be the looming wincon that it can be in OU. Considering Thousand Arrows's relative lack of power, Zygarde needs to fully invest in its Attack stat to be relevant, making defensive sets difficult to run effectively. The pace of the DOU metagame also renders a significant part of its OU movepool unviable; though Toxic does see occasional use on DOU Zygarde, it's only as a catch-all on its Choice Band set and not as a stallbreaking tool like it's used in OU, while Glare is not good enough as a speed control option. Coil is essentially outclassed by Dragon Dance, as the Speed boost is much more valuable than the Defense boost, with many of Zygarde's answers being special attackers anyway, such as Porygon2, Kyurem-B, and Naganadel, and Urshifu-R ignoring the Defense boost; Zygarde also cannot afford to run the specially defensive OU Coil + Glare set in DOU, considering Glare can only grieve one foe at a time, and Zygarde cannot afford to not run Attack investment and be uselessly weak for too long in a 2v2 setting.

Zygarde is known for only two sets in DOU, though these sets let Zygarde enjoy a respected spot in the metagame at large. Its Choice Band set is famous for its simplicity and effectiveness in teams running Tailwind, with the combination of spread power and great neutral coverage letting it be an effective mid-game breaker as well as a late-game cleaner. Meanwhile, its Dragon Dance set is one of the format's most dangerous setup sweepers, being one of the best beneficiaries of redirection, Fake Out support, and Coaching. DD Zygarde is essentially one of the format's only true game-ending setup sweepers, as it takes advantage of the fact that its sole attack hits both foes and boasts great neutral coverage. Still, Zygarde ultimately comes off as a fair Pokémon, with its above-average natural bulk being unable to be bolstered considering Thousand Arrows's limited power requiring Zygarde to run full Attack investment, and the pace of the DOU metagame leaving Zygarde unable to purely statcheck and stall out foes.

Sleep Clause

Far more than any Pokémon ban, perhaps the biggest difference that an interested OU player should know is DOU's lack of Sleep Clause. Yes, you read that right. Sleep Clause.

Sleep is one of the most debilitating elements in competitive play, as a sleeping Pokémon essentially represents a possibly lost action outside of switching by one side. A sleeping Pokémon in OU can be worse than having a KOed one; depending on the number of sleep turns spent, a sleeping Pokémon essentially represents one side's near-total inability to punish the opposing side's play, which can be used to freely build up a larger material advantage. Though a sleeping Pokémon can still find use as a sack if the option to slowly try to wake it up isn't feasible, having a Pokémon be dead weight for an amount of time is a significant disadvantage for the space it represents for the opponent to play with, both while on the field and while on the bench. In simpler terms, a sleeping Pokémon is something that an opposing player can reasonably disregard as a threat.

Perhaps the biggest fundamental difference of sleep between OU and DOU is with regard to action economy—a Pokémon that is put to sleep in OU represents 100% of non-switch actions potentially lost, while in DOU it only represents a 50% potential loss. A DOU player still has ways to manage their position even if one of their Pokémon gets put to sleep through their other Pokémon's positioning, and, with adequate risk-reward management, they can also typically manage to wake their sleeping Pokémon without significant repercussions, even despite the increased pace of the doubles game.

It must be noted, though, that the only relevant method of inducing sleep in DOU is through Amoonguss's Spore. While other methods of inducing sleep have seen use, such as Hypnosis on Politoed and Crobat as well as Sleep Powder on Venusaur, they are quite rarely seen due to their inconsistency and, in the cases of Crobat and Venusaur, the fringe viability of the users. Thus, in DOU, preparing for Spore is practically the same as preparing for sleep as a whole. This is in contrast to OU, where Alolan Ninetales stands as the most and essentially only relevant sleep inducer.

With that in mind, it is also then important to note that OU and DOU manage sleep quite differently. In OU, the typical way to manage sleep is to use Steel-types for the task, not only for their ability to capably match up against Alolan Ninetales but also for how their typically great defensive typing that affords them more opportunities to burn sleep turns relative to other Pokémon in the format—in fact, a good number of Steel-types can decide to just burn a sleep turn on Alolan Ninetales itself, as both its types are resisted by Steel alone. The likes of Heatran, Ferrothorn, Melmetal, and Corviknight can reliably come in on Alolan Ninetales and punish it accordingly by turning it into an opportunity to set entry hazards, using Defog to remove Aurora Veil, or just threatening for massive damage. These Steel-types also present themselves as the most ideal targets for Hypnosis; essentially, dealing with OU sleep is much about accepting Hypnosis hitting as a possibility and then using a Pokémon that, in the context of the game, represents the most mitigated damage after the fact. Of course, Tapu Fini and Tapu Koko are also viable for the purpose of outright prevention of sleep, with the former being a reliable switch-in to Alolan Ninetales's attacks and the latter also capable of pressuring it with its Speed and power.

Meanwhile, managing DOU sleep involves much different and perhaps more elaborate dynamics due to its focus on Amoonguss and how it can threaten both opposing slots at the same time. Perhaps the most interesting difference here is the DOU format's higher regard for Safety Goggles. In OU, Amoonguss (and other Sleep Powder threats) are quite rare, and it is harder to give up items such as Leftovers and Heavy-Duty Boots to simply counter Spore due to the drawn-out nature of the singles game that necessitates long-term value; in contrast, Amoonguss is much more relevant in DOU, as it functions as both a redirector and an easy way to tech against or take advantage of Trick Room, and the doubles game's greater pace makes the ability to immediately answer Spore worth the item slot. With sleep being quite powerful, having a Safety Goggles-wearing Pokémon to reliably switch in and immediately answer Amoonguss, such as Incineroar, Heatran, and Volcanion, provides the rest of its team a significant amount of relief. In addition, Safety Goggles not only works against Amoonguss's Spore but also lets Pokémon ignore its Rage Powder, letting them turn the tables on what would otherwise be near-untouchable threats on the opponent's side. Will-O-Wisp Mew, for example, can actually still threaten to burn the likes of Dragon Dance Kyurem-B and Zygarde despite Amoonguss's support, and Blastoise can redirect Spore towards itself with no repercussions while still being able to Toxic or Roar out would-be threats.

Even more, there are still other ways to counter Spore. Grass-types, in particular, enjoy a natural immunity to powder moves and are handy for switching in on slots that its Safety Goggles-wearing teammate cannot cover. The popular Rillaboom comes in quite handy, as it also provides additional space with Fake Out, either keeping Amoonguss or its supported partner in check in the meantime, while Tsareena can actually threaten Amoonguss for significant damage with Triple Axel. Tapu Fini is also still useful for for this purpose, as its Misty Terrain is a massive counter to Spore due to giving a field-wide immunity against sleep and other status effects to grounded Pokémon (note that unlike in OU, Tapu Koko is fringe in viability in DOU for metagame reasons).

Amoonguss's abysmal Speed is also something that keeps it quite manageable, as it practically cannot Spore "offensively" to prevent an opposing Pokémon's action on the same turn, unless it's in Trick Room. Thus, even outside of these specific answers, one can still keep Amoonguss in check through practical means by applying constant pressure to it and not giving it opportunities to use Spore freely, forcing it to use Rage Powder instead. As Amoonguss's role naturally requires it to take a lot of punishment, constant pressure, in conjunction with the other mentioned techs, does wonders in preventing it from Sporing repeatedly.

With all that said, if a player somehow manages to have both their Pokémon put to sleep—which would contradict the move economy discussion earlier and even despite the accessibility of ways to have Pokémon not put to sleep as mentioned—perhaps it would be simpler to say that they really just deserve to lose. DOU has such a surplus of ways to deal with sleep that Sleep Clause is not necessary in the format.

Still, throughout DOU's history, there have been elements or some other that have broken these fundamental rules that kept sleep manageable.

BW DOU actually still keeps Sleep Clause implemented—being the only formal DOU format to still do so. This is primarily because of the generation's sleep mechanics being fundamentally broken, as a Pokémon's sleep counter is reset if it ever switches out, and thus players are forced to commit to have their Pokémon on the field for the whole duration if they hope to wake them up—a practically impossible folly because of how punishable it is to do. BW DOU also did not have the same amount of counterplay available, as Safety Goggles and the immunity of Grass-types to powder-based moves were only introduced in Gen VI, with Lum Berry and a faster Taunt being BW DOU's only available techs.
Dark Void is banned in BW, XY, and SM (Darkrai is not in the game for SS). As the move afflicts both foes with sleep, it fundamentally breaks the action economy rule that kept single-target sleep moves manageable. Unlike Spore, it is not a powder move, and thus it also has less available counterplay. With Darkrai's Speed stat ranking highly in every metagame it could be used in, it could essentially run teams down with fast double sleep if Dark Void was ever legal, which would be quite unhealthy, as metagames would be forced to revolve around keeping Darkrai in check. The fact that Dark Void is banned in SM is simply a testament to how powerful the concept of double sleep is, as the move's accuracy was nerfed to 50% from 80% the two generations prior.
XY, SM, and SS have the Gravity + Sleep clause, which prohibits non-100% accurate sleep moves from being used on teams running the move Gravity. Under Gravity, moves such as Grasswhistle and Hypnosis become reliable sleep-inflicting moves. As these are moves accessible to fast threats such as Shaymin-S, Crobat, and Darkrai, and considering that they have much more limited counterplay due to not being powder based, GravSleep essentially enabled a playstyle that involved running foes down with fast sleeps, leaving them at the mercy of sleep rolls and affording teem with little interaction.

OU and DUbers

Jirachi

This one might be a funny-looking ban to the uninitiated singles player. After all, it's Jirachi, a Pokémon that isn't even OU? As a Steel-type, Jirachi competes with a multitude of Pokémon in the format, such as Melmetal, Heatran, Ferrothorn, Corviknight, and Kartana, all of which overlap with Jirachi in some particular niche while having better overall effectiveness. In singles play, Jirachi only truly stands out either as a Steel-type pivot with Wish passing capabilities or as a Choice Scarf user with unique access to Healing Wish, but the overall effectiveness and place in the metagame of these sets are nothing to write home about. Essentially, singles Jirachi falls into the plane of "not good enough."

In DOU, however, Jirachi is everyone's worst nightmare, and it's all thanks to one funny move that makes it stand out above the rest as a support Pokémon: Follow Me. Redirection is fundamentally strong in doubles play, as the ability to situationally have certain Pokémon be near untouchable can be overall game defining. With proper positioning and the right timing, redirection making space for a setup sweeper or preventing a key attacker from getting immediately traded off can be what decides a won or lost game.

In the SS DOU metagame, there are four redirectors that can be considered relevant:

Amoonguss is the most popular and highly regarded, with its access to Spore providing it a game-defining pressure tool, its very low Speed letting it function as a tech for Trick Room, and its Regenerator allowing it to reliably do its job all game long, but its Rage Powder does come with the inconvenience of not being able to redirect Safety Goggles-wearing foes and Grass-type Pokémon such as Rillaboom and Tsareena.
Indeedee-F is primarily an enabler for the PsySpam archetype, with its job being to activate Psychic Terrain as well as cover for Necrozma after the fact. It instead has Follow Me, which is better than Rage Powder solely because it doesn't have the aforementioned inconveniences. Its natural bulk is quite unimpressive, however, so redirecting attacks for Necrozma comes secondary to controlling Terrain, with it often running Eject Button so it can come in again later into the game.
Blastoise is far less used, but it has a niche as a pure space creator. It has Follow Me in addition to Fake Out, an all-around great spacing tool. Still, Blastoise also doesn't provide any offensive pressure on the field whatsoever and has little of value to offer to a team other than spacing, which its bland typing does little to help with.
Volcarona is the least used of the four redirectors, and it'd be generous to call it relevant at all; it does boast access to a fast Tailwind and Will-O-Wisp, but it also has a paltry Defense and only Rage Powder to redirect with. Much worse, it has a Bug / Fire typing that gives it debilitating weaknesses to Rock and Water, making it take massive damage from Stealth Rock and rendering it easy prey in matchups involving Diancie, PsySpam with Meteor Beam attackers, Volcanion, and rain. Volcarona only truly fits in fast, offensive teams with a hyperfixation towards playing setup sweepers—commonly Dragon Dance Zygarde—in an aggressive manner, and is typically a bad pick anywhere else.

Still, as a redirector, Jirachi truly stood out above the rest. Thanks to its remarkable defensive qualities, it was incredibly reliable in its ability to make space for its partner, as it could capably take a lot of punishment. Its access to Follow Me instead of Rage Powder makes it much more reliable than Amoonguss in redirecting moves, while its 100 / 100 / 100 base defensive stats, respectable in their own right, are also a touch above the rest of its competitors. What makes it truly superb as a redirector, however, is its Steel typing, as its plethora of resistances made covering Jirachi and its partner a difficult task. As the cherry on top, in matchups against slower foes, such as the Trick Room setter Porygon2 and Tapu Fini, where Jirachi can situationally afford to not use Follow Me, its 100 base Speed and Serene Grace Iron Head allows it to provide some occasional grief.

Jirachi is so superb in its ability to make teammates untouchable for just long enough that it's banned not just in SS DOU but in all four generations of formal DOU play.

Kartana

Boasting a monstrous base 181 Attack stat, Kartana is one of the most fearsome attackers of the OU metagame, highly regarded as a wallbreaker and as a late-game cleaner. With Swords Dance or Choice Band, Kartana uses its high Speed and raw power to consistently and effectively apply pressure to the opposing team. It also has access to the coveted Knock Off, which comes in handy as a midground to punish common switch-ins, such as Corviknight, Zapdos, and Buzzwole, annoying them by dealing significant damage while also removing coveted items such as Leftovers and Heavy-Duty Boots. With Choice Scarf, it is one of the format's best revenge killers and late-game cleaners, as it takes advantage of its natural power and Beast Boost to snowball from a KO. Though these sets have their own respective limitations—being simple enough to revenge kill and being shut down by common physical walls without an Attack boost—there is no denying that its unique, polarized offensive stat spread gives it quite a distinct position in the OU metagame.

In DOU, Kartana mostly held the same niche—it was a fast attacker that did fast attacker things, using its Speed and power to reliably apply pressure. In this role, it was superb; DOU isn't stall friendly and thus featured significantly fewer defensive threats that could wall Kartana, while its base 109 Speed was essentially near the top of the metagame, making it reliable in pinning down opposing attackers. However, what made DOU Kartana a cut above the rest were specifically the distinct metagame differences between OU and DOU—these being the increased importance of Gen VIII's dynamic Speed mechanics and the accessibility of Rillaboom.

SS changed the way changes in Speed is calculated mid-turn. Unlike prior generations where Speed modifiers and changes were only taken into account on the following turn (outside of Mega Evolution in SM), SS instead makes these changes take effect immediately, hence it being described as "dynamic." In singles play, a 1v1 setting where one Pokémon is simply either faster or slower than the other, Gen VIII's new Speed mechanics practically never come up and are thus not relevant to the format. In DOU, however, this was a game-changer, as it essentially altered how the game is played on a fundamental level; speed control options on faster Pokémon were suddenly much more powerful, as they could immediately influence their partner Pokémon's matchup against the opposing side, often being what makes the difference between a winning or losing trade.

To illustrate SS's Speed mechanics in comparison to those of prior generations, let's assume a scenario with a Prankster Whimsicott and Heatran against a Landorus-I. Before, Landorus-I would always be faster than Heatran even if Whimsicott uses its Prankster Tailwind on the same turn, pinning the Heatran for just a moment and forcing it to use Protect. However, in SS, the Heatran will immediately gain the Speed boost and will outrun the Landorus-I on the same turn, and depending on other factors (such as whether or not Landorus-I is in lethal range of Heatran's Eruption, and which partner Landorus-I is using) the situation can quickly flip for Landorus-I's side.

All of this is relevant because Kartana, despite already being a strong attacker in its own right, also has access to Tailwind, making it one of the format's best enablers for archetypal fast offense teams. Its high Speed not only was useful for attacking but also was pivotal in immediately making its entire team speed demons as well. If Kartana ever found itself in a position where it needed a teammate to cover for it, or if it ever could just afford to set up Tailwind uncontested, it can simply Tailwind and hand the reins to strong attacking partners, such as Urshifu-R, Choice Band Zygarde, Eruption Heatran, and Landorus-I.

Kartana was also easily enabled by Rillaboom, with its Grassy Terrain pushing its already strong Leaf Blade's damage even further beyond. While Rillaboom is a strong Pokémon in its own right in OU, it nowhere has the near-omnipresence and dominance that it has in DOU, where it's a reliable Fake Out pivot that applies pressure regardless of enemy speed control with its priority Grassy Glide. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two formats, with regard to Rillaboom, is the fact that it can simply just be switched onto Kartana's partner's slot, letting it take advantage of Grassy Terrain immediately, while such a maneuver is clunky to do in OU, leaving the pairing neither as common nor as strong.

In addition to both of these major reasons, DOU Kartana also got around its traditional counterplay much better and easier. While physical attackers are often checked by Incineroar's Intimidate, Kartana got around this by instead running Scope Lens of all things as its main damage-boosting item—this gives Kartana a 50% chance of landing a critical hit with Leaf Blade, which both provides a significant boost in damage while also nullifying any of Kartana's Attack drops. DOU Kartana also could afford to run no Attack EV investment, instead running maximum Special Defense investment to let it take stray special attacks. Its high base Attack stat was already sufficient even while uninvested due to the accessibility of the aforementioned ways Kartana can boost its damage.

In summary, Kartana was the ultimate offense piece, as not only was it a top-tier attacker in its own right, it also provided one of the best offensive support moves in the format. Ultimately, being the complete package made it something that had to go.

Melmetal

Melmetal is currently in an interesting position, considering its suspect test in OU was announced while this article was being written. While Melmetal was banned early enough in its tenure in the SS DOU metagame, it has had a much more turbulent history in SS OU. As OU Leader Finchinator writes in the OU suspect test announcement:

Melmetal has become one of the most controversial and storied Pokémon in the history of SS OU. Melmetal was initially quickbanned within two days of being released, but then retested soon thereafter only to remain banned in a close vote. As the generation progressed and more Pokémon were released, Melmetal eventually returned to OU. It finally settled into the metagame, where it remained as a strong option for nearly two years. Finally, recent discussion amongst the playerbase and councilmen accompanied by survey results showing significantly increased support for action has led to us suspecting the Iron Basher, putting its tiering placement under scrutiny one last time this generation.

While there is much more in-depth to be said about what Melmetal does in the OU metagame and whether or not it truly deserves to be Uber, that is ultimately not within the scope of this article, and thus, those interested in those discussions are better served by going to the suspect thread here. Finchinator summarizes Melmetal's qualities pretty well by saying that its "sheer strength and innate physical tankiness" redeem its flaws in low Speed and limited coverage. Melmetal was a similar case in SS DOU, but the way the doubles metagame plays out was what ultimately made the difference—DOU Melmetal had a reputation for being a tough nut to crack, a 1v2 machine that essentially made every trade unfair.

DOU Melmetal was pretty much as complete of a package as it needed to be. Considering Melmetal's already destructive raw power with Double Iron Bash and its ability Iron Fist, as well the fact that DOU does not feature much in terms of physical walls, Melmetal could afford to run minimal Attack investment as it does significant damage in most trades regardless, even being still capable of OHKOing the likes of Dragapult and Venusaur. These EVs were typically allocated towards its bulk, enabling its two main sets:

The more prominent, perhaps infamous Assault Vest set allowed Melmetal to be a true behemoth on the field, with the item patching up one of its key weaknesses in its low Special Defense and allowing it to take essentially any kind of punishment. This set is what gave it the reputation that it had, as the combination of innate physical tankiness, Assault Vest-boosted special bulk, and strong Double Iron Bash allowed it to be an absolute powerhouse that can outtrade even against super effective attacks. This set, in particular, was notorious for being capable of taking Charizard's Solar Power-boosted Heat Wave or Ninetales's Overheat, both attacks that were metagame relevant at the time of its stay. Its bulk truly was obscene, and had to be seen to be believed.
A lesser-used, though nevertheless relevant set was Acid Armor + Body Press, which leveraged Melmetal's inherently strong matchups into physical attackers and takes them to a whole new level. Through this set, Melmetal also threatened to be a looming wincon; while it didn't have the same level of special bulk, it could still fulfill a similar function as the Assault Vest set due to only truly needing Double Iron Bash along with its innate tankiness to do so. This set's use of Body Press and lessened dependence on its Attack stat, in particular, allowed Melmetal to apply pressure to Incineroar. In fact, the relevance of both Assault Vest and Acid Armor sets put Incineroar, the format's best answer to physical attackers, in quite a predicament; with an Acid Armor boost or two, Melmetal became too tough for Incineroar to even break with Flare Blitz, while Overheat variants found themselves in an awkward spot against Assault Vest variants.

While it did have one other weakness in its low Speed, the accessibility of speed control options in DOU served to get around this really easily. Melmetal could often spare some EVs for Speed to hit Tailwind benchmarks if one wanted to, while it could also just easily fit onto teams that ran Trick Room as their main speed control option due to its naturally low Speed. Both such options not only enabled Melmetal to be a more fearsome offensive presence, but they also made Double Iron Bash's 51% flinch chance relevant. These are on top of the fact that its low Speed was not much of a weakness anyway—its bulk was ridiculous enough that moving before foes in damage trades often didn't matter.

Simply put, DOU Melmetal was essentially the closest thing to a Pokémon being a one-mon army, being seemingly so indestructible and unstoppable that that the metagame revolved around a team's ability to match up against it.

Banned in Both

Marshadow

Marshadow is an interesting one, because it was a Pokémon that was immediately deemed broken for both singles and doubles in SS. Upon becoming available when Pokémon Home became available for Generation VIII, Marshadow never even saw the light of day in OU, as it was tiered Ubers immediately, while DOU gave it a week and a half before sending it to the shadow realm with a quickban. Both essentially had the same reasons for doing so, as well—as a fast attacker, Marshadow was essentially the complete package and more, with its ability to consistently exert pressure being something that few could ever match.

Its Ghost / Fighting typing is the most eye-catching part of its kit, with the STAB combination being virtually unresisted in the OU metagame. With access to spammable high-Base Power moves in Close Combat and Spectral Thief, which are also coming off a respectable base 125 Attack stat, Marshadow was capable of pressuring essentially the entire metagame all by itself. Its blazing base 125 Speed was particularly instrumental in its ability to completely dominate matchups against offensive teams—its combination of Speed, power, and neutral coverage gave it the ultimate combination of agency an attacker could ever have.

As what is essentially just a fast attacker, Marshadow functioned in the same way between OU and DOU—it hit fast, and it hit hard. In this, it was absolutely stellar—however, unlike other attackers, it had the infamous ability to deny the many ways fast attackers are typically dealt with, even notwithstanding the fact that its neutral coverage made it hard to check defensively.

For an attacker, it was actually a difficult task to revenge kill Marshadow. Its natural high Speed contributed to this a lot, as it alone delimited the pool of available answers by a considerable amount and typically only leaving Choice Scarf users as well as the fastest of fast attackers, such as Dragapult. Then, there was also the fact that Marshadow had quite respectable 80 / 90 / 80 defenses and few exploitable weaknesses; these made Marshadow capable of taking at least one hit if necessary. In addition to all of these, Marshadow also threatened its Technician-boosted Shadow Sneak, which could pick off faster, frailer revenge killers, particularly so if Marshadow got itself a Bulk Up boost.
More infamously, it had its signature Spectral Thief, which steals all stat boosts from its target before damage is applied. With this move, Marshadow is essentially able to deny setup sweeping as a strategy, as opponents have to respect Marshadow yoinking the boosts. Boosting wallbreakers, such as Swords Dance Garchomp and Kartana, cannot do their job as easily, as Marshadow can easily threaten to revenge kill them. Setup sweepers in offense vs. offense matchups, meanwhile, are essentially forced to play in a considerably restricted manner; as Marshadow has quite the natural bulk as mentioned, it can leverage its ability to take a hit to threaten a countersweep, which necessitates setup sweepers to only boost if they can threaten lethal on Marshadow immediately. DOU Tapu Fini, for example, has been a typical example of a boosting attacker that Marshadow denied; not only could Marshadow nab its Special Attack boosts, it also gets to tank Tapu Fini's Moonblasts and other special attacks with the Special Defense boosts as salt on the wound.

As an attacker, Marshadow simply had it all. It not only had the perfect stats and typing, it also had the perfect move to deny an entire pragmatics within competitive Pokémon. There was essentially no Pokémon that could ever come close to its ability to deny options as an attacker, and for that, it had to go.

Urshifu-S

I lied—in terms of Pokémon that could deny options as an attacker, Urshifu-S actually comes pretty close. Its signature Wicked Blow was exceptional at making foes crumble—an effectively 120 Base Power attack with great offensive typing, coming off a stellar base 130 Attack stat, that was also essentially unaffected by Intimidate, its ability to deal damage was simply obscene. Urshifu-S was essentially a different twist to the Marshadow flavor—make it a bit slower, make it a bit stronger, and instead of having Spectral Thief, make it instead able to beat what is essentially one the most fundamental moves of doubles play.

Its Dark / Fighting STAB attacks similarly have great neutral coverage by themselves, and in conjunction with Urshifu-S's natural strength and high-Base Power attacks, Urshifu-S outright forced teams to run a Fairy-type, Buzzwole, or the combination of a physically defensive Toxapex and a respectable Dark-resistant Pokémon if they were to have any hope in defensively checking the Wicked Blower. Meanwhile, in the DOU metagame, it was essentially walled by nothing—as the format is not friendly to do-nothing walls, Urshifu-S essentially had free reign to decimate anything and everything in its path, 2HKOing even resistant targets in the metagame such as Togekiss.

As an attacker in the OU metagame, it essentially only needed its STAB attacks to do its job in battering down the opposition, with its other two slots giving players considerable agency in how they can approach utilizing Urshifu-S's strengths and play around its checks in teambuilding. Choice Band was infamous for its ability to simply decimate opposing teams, essentially requiring the format's teambuilding phase to revolving around its few actual counters. At the same time, Urshifu-S could also easily just run an all-out Attacker set with Life Orb to have more agency in how it broke down its opposition. With access to moves such as Iron Head and Poison Jab to handle would-be answers, such as Clefable and Tapu Fini, Urshifu-S was also capable of decimating entire defensive cores with just one right prediction, with regard to how it demands much respect as a physical attacker—and with access to U-turn, it even had the agency to just ease off prediction entirely, giving a teammate a chance to shine while poising itself to strike later in the game. To its core, OU Urshifu-S was a massive battering ram, and there were a mere few in the metagame that could stand up to it as a barrier; once its specific checks were dealt with, it was capable of overwhelming the opposing team more often than not.

Meanwhile, in DOU, its signature Unseen Fist ability made waves for its ability to ignore Protect on top of its already impressive offensive capabilities. Protect is a fundamental move in doubles play, as it allows players to safely manage their Pokémon's positioning, but Unseen Fist throws safety out of the window, as Urshifu-S essentially cannot be denied its ability to push damage. Urshifu-S was unique as an attacker in that pivoting is not a sufficient response, as it could force KOs in advantageous positions while still being able to deal massive damage with its natural skillset.

The power of Urshifu-S's typing alone is apparent in the apparent disparity in how its Water-type counterpart, Urshifu-R, is still legal in both formats. Water / Fighting typing is easier to check, as it provides significantly less agency as a STAB pairing. Within OU, this typing leaves it walled by more threats within the metagame, such as bulky Water-types in Slowbro and Toxapex, as well as Grass-types such as Amoonguss and Tangrowth. Within DOU, it faces a similar situation, as Surging Strikes simply isn't as spammable of a move, and it then also has to deal with the fact that Rillaboom is a popular Pokémon within the format.

Shadow Tag

With regards to both formats, switching is a fundamental part of competitive Pokémon, and thus, as an ability that unconditionally prevents switching, with little exceptions, Shadow Tag is a banned element in SS OU and SS DOU for how it unhealthily alters the game's natural dynamics, relative to the viability of its users. For different generations within its history, including SS, OU has had Shadow Tag banned because of its essentially uncompetitive nature—the ability of Shadow Tag Pokémon to force an isolated 1v1, with the opposing Pokémon having little agency in the matter, is a massive restrictive consideration during actual play, as one specific Pokémon forced to be traded or crippled can cascade into much bigger advantages for the Shadow Tag user. Meanwhile, DOU only has Shadow Tag specifically banned in SS due to the new generation giving the Gothitelle line additional tools, such as Fake Out and Hypnosis, that drove them over the edge; Shadow Tag is legal in BW DOU, XY DOU, and SM DOU, with their iterations of Gothitelle being relatively manageable, and with XY DOU's Mega Gengar coming at the significant cost of a Mega Stone.

Magnet Pull, a similar trapping ability, is significantly less powerful due to being restricted to only trapping Steel-types, which still have available counterplay in Shed Shell. This ability is notably not relevant in DOU at all, for the sole reason that Magnezone and Magneton are simply not good enough as attackers. Magnet Pull trapping is an insignificant niche within the context of all formal generations of DOU play.

OU Arena Trap is at the level of Shadow Tag where, as a trapping ability, it covers a significantly large enough swathe of threats to be relevant. OU Dugtrio, in particular, is notorious for its ability to pick off specific threats to support its team. This ability is so powerful in OU that it's banned from DPP OU onwards. Of course, it's not banned in any DOU format because Dugtrio sucks there—it's harder to make one-for-one trades in a 2v2 setting, and Earthquake is weaker due to spread reduction (and especially so in SS DOU, where Rillaboom is prevalent!).

Final Thoughts

As can be seen, OU and DOU are more different than a surface-level comparison of the number difference in Pokémon on the field may suggest. The change to a 2v2 scenario essentially makes DOU a fundamentally different game, not just in viable Pokémon, moves and items but also in the value placed in particular mechanics of actual in-game play and in overall pragmatics in how one essentially has to approach the game. With the generation coming to a close, let us now look forward to what Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have new to offer to the OU and DOU metagames.

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