Worm Food (Doubles team)

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

PLATINUM UPDATE:

Now that Platinum has been released with new move tutors, I've decided to update my favorite Doubles team. For those of you who've seen it before, here are the new changes in a nutshell:

1. Bellossom has replaced Leafeon. Its moveset is not set in stone.
2. Politoed's moveset needs to be revamped because Hypnosis's new accuracy (72% with Zoom Lens) is too low.
3. Infernape virtually never uses Grass Knot, so a new move is needed there.
4. I hate Focus Blast's accuracy. Alakazam needs a new move.

Since this is a Wi-Fi team, I will be listing final stats and only approximate EVs. These stats are for Level 50 play in accordance with the PBR random Wi-Fi play. If you want Level 100 stats, just multiply by 2 and you'll be in the general ballpark.

The members of the team are posted in the order they are listed when you are choosing your leads in PBR. The Slaking is at the top purely to mislead my opponent, and I virtually never begin a match with it.

So, without further adieu (sic) (sic)...

Slaking (Nanabijou)
Ability: Truant
Item: Lum Berry
Nature: Adamant
Approximate EVs: 6 Attack, 252 SpDef, 252 Speed
Actual Stats: 225, 200, 120, 97, 110, 150
- Body Slam
- Brick Break
- Rock Slide
- Shadow Claw

Far and away the most powerful Pokémon on the team, my Slaking specializes in dishing out damage, taking hits, and being an all-around monster. It goes without saying that the sleeping giant here relies heavily on his Shuckle partner for the purpose of suppressing Truant with Gastro Acid. Once this has been taken care of, Shuckle generally uses Helping Hand to boost Slaking's attacks into the OHKO range.

At one time I had Slack Off instead of Shadow Claw. I found, however, that I could not deal any appreciable amount of damage to Dusknoir, Bronzong, and their ilk. Shadow Claw has served me much better.

Shuckle (Decay)
Ability: Sturdy
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Relaxed
Approximate EVs: 252 HP, 252 SpDef
Actual Stats: 126, 30, 276, 19, 275, 9
- Wrap
- Gastro Acid
- Helping Hand
- Encore

After having used this Shuckle for about a year (it's the first member of this team I trained), I can say with all confidence that it is an excellent support Pokémon for Double Battles. Gastro Acid is necessary for removing Truant from Slaking, but it's useful in a variety of other situations as well, from removing Swift Swim from Ludicolo to bringing Bronzong to the ground. Helping Hand boosts the attacks of all my fast hard-hitters and so I opted for it over Knock Off and Acupressure. Wrap is un-Taunt-able support that allows Shuckle to kill off Focus Sash holders and prevent Taunted and Encored opponents from leaving the field.

Finally, we have Encore. There's a reason that Encore only has 8 PP. In Doubles, Encore is power. Not only does it lock the opponent into a single move; it also forces the opponent to choose a random target for its attacks. This is not to mention the marvelous utility of Encoring Fake Out or a weather-summoning move.

Politoed (King Kero)
Ability: Damp
Item: Zoom Lens
Nature: Calm
Approximate EVs: 252 HP, 52 Def, 200 SpAtk, 6 Speed
Actual Stats: 186, 84, 100, 135, 135, 91
- Hydro Pump
- Blizzard
- Hypnosis (considering Icy Wind, Hyper Voice, Psychic, Focus Blast)
- Swagger (considering Protect, Helping Hand)

I opted for Politoed over other Water-types because of its Damp ability. I don't come across many Explosion users these days, but Politoed is my insurance against them. She carries the usual Water-type arsenal of Water and Ice moves. Blizzard has 84% accuracy against faster opponents and 90 power against each target.

Now that Hypnosis's accuracy has fallen to 60 (72% with Zoom Lens), it's out. I'm considering Icy Wind; many of my team members fall into the Speed range that could really benefit from the Speed reduction. Hyper Voice is also an option, though it's unSTABbed and only has 67.5 base power against each opponent. It does hit Water Absorb Pokémon for at least a little damage. Suggestions here are welcome.

Swagger is the move currently occupying Politoed's up-for-grabs filler slot. It can boost Slaking's Attack and Slaking can heal off the confusion with a Lum Berry, but I'll probably use it more for opposing Surf/Rain Dance teams after I put one member to sleep with Hypnosis. Protect and Helping Hand are other options, although they're more-or-less filler. Any of the slot three attacks could also find a home here.

Infernape (Cynddaredd)
Ability: Blaze
Item: White Herb
Nature: Hasty
Approximate EVs: 252 HP, 252 Speed
Actual Stats: 165, 125, 90, 125, 90, 173
- Close Combat
- Overheat
- Grass Knot (considering ThunderPunch, SolarBeam)
- Fake Out

My team's obligatory Fake Out user. I gave him practically no EVs in Attack or SpAttack, so I compensated by teaching him very powerful, stat-reducing moves. I then gave him a White Herb to compensate for that.

Now that I'm adding a Bellossom with Sunny Day to my team, I'm considering replacing Grass Knot with SolarBeam. I rarely use Grass Knot as it is. Another candidate is ThunderPunch (my team has no other Electric attacks and Gyarados is a menace).

Alakazam (Wonder)
Ability: Inner Focus
Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Timid
Approximate EVs: 252 SpAtk, 252 Speed
Actual Stats: 131, 59, 63, 180, 106, 189
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast (considering Signal Beam)
- Taunt

Alakazam is the team's Taunt user as well as being a generally effective special attacker. I often lead with her and either Shuckle or Infernape, depending on the composition of my opponent's team. Inner Focus is a wonderful ability in Doubles, preventing my opponent from using Fake Out to make my Alakazam flinch. It's very rare that my Alakazam does not take down at least one opponent before she bites the dust.

Alakazam used to know Grass Knot instead of Shadow Ball, but I find that when a Pokémon is partnered with Shuckle, it helps to have very good type coverage. I'm strongly considering replacing Focus Blast with Signal Beam. It's much less powerful and has poorer type coverage, but I'm sick and tired of Focus Blast missing. Slaking and Infernape have Fighting-type attacks pretty well covered and Politoed might pick up Focus Blast as well (with a much more respectable 84% accuracy).

Bellossom (Corolla)
Ability: Chlorophyll
Item: Yache Berry
Nature: Modest
Approximate EVs: 190 HP, 76 SpAtk, 244 Speed
Actual Stats: Not yet trained
- SolarBeam (considering Leaf Blade [with changes to nature and EVs], Energy Ball)
- Sleep Powder (considering Synthesis, Safeguard, Uproar, Charm, Tickle, Sludge Bomb)
- Gastro Acid
- Sunny Day

Bellossom takes the spot formerly held by my Leafeon. After many months of testing, it was clear that Leafeon wasn't doing enough to offset my general Rain Dance team weakness. The problem with my team was this: Shuckle and Infernape can't stand up to rain-boosted Water attacks and Slaking can't function without Shuckle's Gastro Acid. That left me with only three good choices against a rain team, one of which (Politoed) can't effectively damage Water-types.

Enter Bellossom. Thanks to Platinum's move tutors, Bellossom can now learn Gastro Acid, giving me an alternative to Shuckle against Rain Dance teams. Sunny Day will clear out offensive weather and let Bellossom outspeed things like Crobat, Aerodactyl, and Jolteon. I'm not completely sold on this moveset, so I'm very open to suggestions.

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When making your suggestions, please keep in mind that I always adhere to the Item Clause. I find that doing so generally results in more effective teams, at least in Doubles. Thank you for reading and I appreciate your suggestions and criticisms.

 

[StarmanXL]

Okay, I'll admit I'm not too familiar with PBR 4v4 doubles, but I'll try my best. First off, I wanna say that, while I do understand your reason for not posting them, I think you should include EVs with your pokemon; I know that I, at least, find that easier to read and fix than hard stats.

Looking over your team, I have to say I find Infernape a little odd. What exactly are you trying to do with it? I can see Fake Out easily, but why so few Atk and Sp. Atk EVs and White Herb? It's not like Infernape ever lasts long, anyway. To that end, I'd suggest you replace it's White Herb with a Life Orb and Overheat with Fire Blast if you still want power or perhaps Heat Wave if you plan on abusing Shuckle's Helping Hand. Likewise, for the last slot, you should probably go with Grass Knot.

That's all I really have for now, I hope it helped some.

 

[Articanus]

I would never use Slaking in doubles unless the partner has Skill Swap.

In ADV I ran Slaking with Skill Swap Blissey. I had a 54% flinch rate on either opponent with Rock Slide, since I was switching Serene Grace. Not saying you should use her, but then you can give Alakazam Inner Focus, to stop people from Flinching you, and Skill Swap it onto Slaking. Alakazam would require a focus sash, though.

However, I suck at doubles, so meh

 

[BARON9]

Say - some of this team looks familiar...

This is a pretty balanced set; I'm not crazy about Leafeon, but the rest of the team has nice combos.

Just a few suggestions/comments:

Slaking - Since none of your team takes EQ that well, Brick Break is a decent alternative.

Shuckle - Awesome. I love this guy.

Politoed - If you want to keep the Swagger/Lum Berry combo for Slaking, try giving Politoed Swagger (in place of Protect) instead of Infernape. I think it's a bit to risky for Infernape to be boosting the opponents attack, when he can't even take an unboosted hit (and Politoed doesn't really need protect if she has Damp to protect her from explosions).

Infernape - I agree with Starman XL to a certain extent - Fake Out is great, switch Swagger for Grass Knot, and switch out the White Herb for an Expert Belt/Life Orb. That Heat Wave/Helping Hand combo could be deadly, but I'm guessing that you sure don't want to put all that time into raising an Infernape for a slightly different move.

Alakazam - Looks great. I've never been a big fan of Focus Blast because of the accuracy, but I guess that it is necessary.

Leafeon - Like you said, it has an awful attack pool to choose from. I think the Dig/Power Herb is novelty, but not that effective in all honesty. I can't think of any stronger replacements that would fit this spot right now, but I'll let you know if anything comes to mind.

Really, there aren't many common threats to your team. You have a nice way to counter whatever is thrown at you.

I still love/hate how effective that Shuckle can be!

 

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

Okay, I'll admit I'm not too familiar with PBR 4v4 doubles, but I'll try my best.

Actually, I prefer to play 6v6 Doubles, but I use this team for 4v4 as well, since that's what PBR Wi-Fi forces.

Looking over your team, I have to say I find Infernape a little odd.

In my experience so far, Infernape can take an unboosted, STABbed, non-super-effective hit and live. It's not really as frail as everyone makes it out to be. 76/71/71 defenses could be worse, and mine has the equivalent of about 180 HP EVs. Factoring in Helping Hand and the power of Close Combat and Overheat, I usually don't have much of a problem bringing down opponents. At least, that's been my experience so far. I will, however, take your advice and use Grass Knot over Swagger. There have already been a few times I wished I had it, like against Bayou's Rhyperior.

I would never use Slaking in doubles unless the partner has Skill Swap.

No worries, my friend. As you can see, my Shuckle already has Gastro Acid to suppress the effects of Truant. I find this to be superior to Skill Swap, allowing the Shuckle to act on the very next turn instead of losing it to a Skill Swapped Truant.

Say - some of this team looks familiar...

Politoed - If you want to keep the Swagger/Lum Berry combo for Slaking, try giving Politoed Swagger (in place of Protect) instead of Infernape. I think it's a bit to risky for Infernape to be boosting the opponents attack, when he can't even take an unboosted hit (and Politoed doesn't really need protect if she has Damp to protect her from explosions).

I like this idea. I'm definitely going to go for Grass Knot on Infernape (just as soon as I get another Grass Knot TM). Politoed actually has Protect to save itself from other, non-Explosion attacks, particularly Power Herb SolarBeams from my opponents' Fire types. I know that sounds really specific, but it's remarkable how many of these I run into. Once I Protect against the first one, I can Hydro Pump the offending Fire-type before it can launch another one. I really like Swagger on Politoed though, both because it gives me something to do against opposing Water-types (when I've already put one to sleep), and because Politoed learns it naturally, which is kind of cool. I'll change this as soon as possible.

Infernape - I agree with Starman XL to a certain extent - Fake Out is great, switch Swagger for Grass Knot, and switch out the White Herb for an Expert Belt/Life Orb. That Heat Wave/Helping Hand combo could be deadly, but I'm guessing that you sure don't want to put all that time into raising an Infernape for a slightly different move.

You're mostly right about retraining Infernape. I'd be willing to if I were convinced that I really needed Heat Wave, but so far the setup I have is working very well for me (with the exception of Swagger, which is on its way out).

Alakazam - Looks great. I've never been a big fan of Focus Blast because of the accuracy, but I guess that it is necessary.

Don't get me started. Over the last few days, I swear 'Zam's Focus Blast has hit less than 50% of the time. If it learned Aura Sphere, I would switch in a heartbeat.

Leafeon - Like you said, it has an awful attack pool to choose from. I think the Dig/Power Herb is novelty, but not that effective in all honesty. I can't think of any stronger replacements that would fit this spot right now, but I'll let you know if anything comes to mind.

Yeah. Aerial Ace or Natural Gift are the other two attack choices, neither of which is very impressive. It could have a support move, I suppose, but none of those look particularly tempting either.

Thanks for the rates, everyone! I do appreciate it.

 

[the pugilist]

Hmmm, I honestly think Leafeon is the least useful member by far. So, I suggest something that can function similary to Leafeon but keeping the same typing as to not interfere with Leafeon's purposes - Tangrowth. Tangrowth makes a grea phys wall and has access to both Leaf Storm (I think it also has grass knot as well) and Power Whip which are both powerful grass attacks, not to mention EQ access and the range of useful tricks it can pull off (sleep powder, Knock off, leech seed, ect.

I'm not familar with doubles but I think Tangrowth would be the better choice in the long run.

 

[Big Bayou]

I think what people are missing with this team is that is has the potential to deal with virtually every major strategy in doubles.

Trick Room: The Alakazam-Shuckle combo is very hard to counter. Even if the user manages to get Trick Room up, he's got an unbeatably fast Encore+Wrap+Taunt to worry about (Encoring a Trick Roomer on turn 2 is great). And even if the enemy Taunts Shuckle turn 1, that leaves the Fake-Out immune Alakazam free to do the same to the Trick Roomer and Shuckle is still effective because Wrap functions as an "attack" move.

The fast Encore can be DEADLY, especially when used with Taunt and Wrap. Unfortunately, as it stands now this only comes into play against Trick Room teams that automatically grant Shuckle mercurial speed if they succeed in evading Taunt and setting up. And while Alakazam is frail, there are times against setup-heavy opponents when she will not die on turn one, and in these situations Shuckle+Zam could be absolutely lethal if...

...you gave Zam Encore.

Sample match ups (vs. Rain dance/Sunny Day)
In cases where the setup poke is faster than Zam (Crobat, Jolteon, Electrode), Encore+Wrap them turn one. They are now useless and unable to retreat.

In cases where the setup poke is slower, as always a successful Taunt will stop the team cold unless both team members have Rain Dance/Sunny Day.

A fast turn 2 Encore partially insured by Focus Sash is a deadly weapon again teams that like to set up, especially when Shuckle is thrown in the mix. Unfortunately you give up some type coverage...and have to breed a new Zam. The idea may or may not appeal to you; your team already is solid enough to take on virtually anything as previously noted, but if you're finding yourself losing against Rain Dance/Sunny Day teams it's something to consider.

 

[Urza]

just pointing out that either slaking is ev-ed very poorly, or he has shitttty ivs. i didn't bother to check the rest once i saw he was floating around the bottom range for every single stat (only half way decent one is sp. def.).

you might want to try breeding it a bit...

 

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

I'm not familar with doubles but I think Tangrowth would be the better choice in the long run.

I had considered Tangrowth for that slot when I was designing the team, and I chose Leafeon over it because of Leafeon's Speed. The thing that worries me about Tangrowth is that I fear my opponents will be able to destroy it in one round by focusing their fire on it before it gets to move. When its partner is Shuckle, this is a bad situation to be in.

However, you make a convincing argument. I'm starting to wonder whether Tangrowth may not actually be the better fit for this slot. Knock Off in particular is extremely tempting and would, in my mind, round out my team's suite of disabling moves rather nicely.

One thing I should have mentioned about the team, but haven't yet, is that I'm considering Icy Wind on the Politoed. My team has serveral members that are quite fast, but not exceptionally fast. If I retrain my Politoed with Icy Wind, I'll probably stick with Leafeon for a while. If not, then that makes Tangrowth look that much better as an option.

I'll make the adjustments to the team.

just pointing out that either slaking is ev-ed very poorly, or he has shitttty ivs.

Define 'EVed poorly'. For reference, my Slaking has almost all of its EVs in SpDef and Speed. I assume that you would suggest putting maximum EVs in Attack instead of SpDef. To this, I can only say that I would rather take 30% less damage from special attacks than deal an extra 15% damage. Slaking has to take hits from both sides of the spectrum in Doubles. There's just no way around that.

...you gave Zam Encore.

Bayou, thanks for your rate! You're absolutely right about the utility of Encore on 'Zam. My current combo fails against setup moves that occur before Alakazam's action. If I expect this, I can lead with my Infernape and 'Zam for Fake Out instead, but that still leaves me helpless against Crobat.

My team honestly had (and still has) some problems with Rain Dance teams in general due to Shuckle's inability to take STABbed Rain Dance Surfs. Politoed and Leafeon, while an imperfect solution, are the team members I tend to depend on against a Rain Dance opponent. Politoed usually puts a Swift Swimmer (Kingdra) to sleep and lets the Leafeon take out the other members (like Water Absorbers and Electic-types) with Leaf Blade and Dig.

I wouldn't mind retraining my Alakazam, but as you say, I'm afraid to give up any coverage on it. I first had Psychic and Grass Knot. Then I gave it Shadow Ball. Finally, I realized that Focus Blast would hit most of my Grass Knot targets hard with the additional benefit of hitting Steel, Normal, and Dark-types as well. Without Focus Blast, I can't take out the likes of Weavile. Without Shadow Ball, I can't deal a lot of damage against Psychic-types and Ghost-types that aren't Gengar. Psychic is key because 'Zam needs to be able to take out the Fighting-types that would otherwise put the hurt on Slaking. It's really a difficult situation. I'll think about it some more though, because your advice remains sound. It's all about striking the balance between screwing up setup teams and plowing through power teams.

 

[Duckster]

How does this hold up against follow me teams?

I haven't actually played DP enough to say exactly how threatening it is, but I could imagine Swords Dancing Garchomp + Togekiss/Clefable being a problem, especially if you run Shuckle as much as you say. I don't think anything on your team is going to take either thing out in one hit (save infernape vs. clefable) which gives your opponent more than enough time to set up for a sweep. For this reason I always carry at least one powerful Multitarget move user on every team I make.

I always liked Protect/Substitute on my 2v2 teams too, but you seem to be going against the idea of conventional movesets. Helping Hand/Protect seem like they'd be more useful than a situational Dig on Leafeon at least.

I'm only theorymoning though, and to be honest I like this team quite a bit. I wish more people would make teams as original as this.

 

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

How does this hold up against follow me teams?

Well, my general strategy against Follow Me/sweep setup would be to Taunt and Wrap the Follow Me user in order to disable it and keep it from switching. However, that still leaves me in the situation of having to deal with (in this case) a souped-up Garchomp. Alakazam can then loose a Helping-Hand-boosted Psychic at it, which should take off about 75% of its health, give or take a bit. Garchomp can then KO Alakazam with the help of its partner (assuming the partner either knows a damaging attack or doesn't hit Shuckle with Struggle). However, Infernape also outspeeds Garchomp, so it can come in and finish the job with Close Combat. It's a solution that requires a sacrifice, but it does leave my opponent with a fairly ineffectual Clefable or Toegekiss stuck on the field for a while, allowing Slaking to come in and massacre the remainder of my opponent's team one at a time.

As for multi-target moves, my Slaking carries Rock Slide. It doesn't outspeed a Garchomp, though, so it wouldn't really help in this situation. However, your Garchomp example is yet another good reason for me to carry either Blizzard or Icy Wind on my Politoed. Thanks for pointing that out!

You also make a valid point about Leafeon. I think it's only a matter of time before I exchange Power Herb and Dig for a Yahce Berry and a different move, possibly Protect or Helping Hand, as you suggest.

 

[Duckster]

I forgot about Follow Me / Taunt working together.

Its still somewhat risky, but you're obviously aware of that. One situation I was thinking of is if the Garchomp had Salac Berry, but then there'd always be Quick Attack on Leafeon.

I guess what it comes down to is making the best sacrifices based on the threat at hand, while optimizing your defenses as much as possible (since we all know its impossible to counter everything in DP!). You've seemed to have done that already anyways.

Looking at it again, this really is a great team.

If you were ever concerned about Politoed's Speed you could opt for Golduck I think, which is capable of the same moveset only with more Fire Power and a faster Hypnosis. Though that margin is slight and you probably want something bulkier as it is. Or if you wanted to drop Hypnosis for something more defensive / Dragon Counterable there's Quagsire. If that were the case you'd probably go with Tangrowth so you can still induce sleep.

 

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

I am in general a very big Golduck fan; there's nothing quite like Cloud Nine for messing with Sunny Day, Sandstorm, and Hail teams. On this team I chose Politoed for its bulkiness, though. I need it to be able to take at least weak Electric attacks, since it's something I somewhat rely upon when fighting Rain Dance teams. Although Golduck's Hypnosis is faster, I'm not sure it's fast enough for it to make a big difference against most things that threaten this team. Also, I've really gotten to like Zoom Lens's accuracy boost when I move after the opponent.

Quagsire's a good Pokémon, but it lacks the Special Attack that I want on my Water and Ice user. It does have Yawn, though, which could work nicely with Wrap.

All three are good choices, but I'll stick with Politoed for now. If I find I want a bit more Speed or the ability to take Electric attacks, I'll make the switch to the appropriate Pokémon.