Resource DOU Effective Cores

[xzern]

art by pastelle
past versions by checkmater and social​

In teambuilding, a core is a batch of usually 2 or 3 mons which work together towards a certain goal. Post cores you've had success with here, along with a short explanation of why they work well together and some suggestions for potential teammates that would compliment the core.

This thread aims to compile cores in order to be a resource for teambuilding. Good cores will be edited into the below post - please note that this will be selective, a "good core" should be able to point to at least a handful of successful teams or repeated tour success. I'll split cores into Offensive, Defensive and Balanced categories. This is intended to be an ongoing and up to date list, so if you feel a core listed in the OP is no longer viable / worth listing, feel free to provide evidence of why you think this and it can be discussed between the community.

Things to remember when posting:

• Include a concise description of how the core functions
• Remember to post full importable sets
• For spreads that deviate from 252/252, please explain what the EVs do
• Avoid posting gimmicks
• Please specify whether your core is meant to be offensive, defensive, balanced, etc

Here's a couple examples of good posts for reference:

Hide

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Spore
- Protect

Suicune @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 188 SpA / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Tailwind
- Protect

(Suicune lives +2 Adamant Mega Kang Return with Sitrus, outspeeds Deo-A in TW)

SuiLoom. This is one of my favorite offensive cores to use as it's pretty strong as a base while also being pretty splashable with other offensive mons such Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Metagross. It's also good for forming an offensive FWG which is always great no h8 m8.

Both sets are the standard, Sash Breloom and Tailwind Suicune. The biggest selling point of this core is that Breloom is pretty dangerous under Tailwind, as it can just Spore anything threatening as appropriate. There's synergy between the two too (wew); Breloom can take out opposing Waters like Rotom-W that Suicune can't touch (and Spore anything else really), and Suicune can take out Heatran, Talonflame, Landorus-T, and Shayming-Sky if in Tailwind, all threats to Breloom.

While the core does have problems with Amoonguss and Cresselia, they aren't really that much of a deal since it's pretty easy to add something like Hydreigon or Heatran since both appreciate the Tailwind Cune brings and have synergy with the core. One can also add strong physical attackers with the core such as Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Metagross, or Mega Diancie to pair with the core as they appreciate Cune's ability to destroy Lando-T and Breloom's ability to pressure and get set-up turns with Spore. This is just a great core and should be tried out imo :D

Cresselia @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Moonlight

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Atk / 132 Def / 80 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

The semi Trick Room core that never dies. Bulky Landorus-T is an excellent set, and it thrives in semi-TR with a slow U-turn, letting Cresselia set up Trick Room as soon as an attacker like Mega Abomasnow hits the field. Calm Mind TR Cresselia is a pretty standard and straightforward set - set Trick Room, clean up lategame with Calm Mind. Bulky Landorus-T weakens Kangaskhan (and switches in!) and many other physical attackers. With this EV spread, Landorus-T takes a Life Orb Draco Meteor from Hydreigon and an Adamant Mega Kangashan Return. Watch out for Bisharp, but never be worried about Talonflame again!

 

[xzern]

Offensive Cores

• 
  +
  
  Excadrill Sand
• 
  +
  
  +
  
  Charizard Sun
• +Genesect Zygarde

Balance Cores

• 
  +
  
  +
  
  /
  
  Scizor Starter Pack
• 
  +
  
  Double Fake Out Support
• 
  +
  
  +
  
  Diancie Volcanion Rillaboom

Defensive Cores

• 
  +
  
  Chansey Weezing

 

[GenOne]

Scizor Starter Pack 1 (Balanced)

importable

Scizor @ Metal Coat
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Atk / 48 SpD / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Protect

Rillaboom @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Necrozma @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Def / 76 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Photon Geyser
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

description

This is the core I built my Rain Balance sample team around. Scizor is very strong in this metagame, but it needs two crucial pieces of support:

• a terrain setter, to offset Psychic Terrain which blocks Bullet Punch
• a Stealth Rock setter, since Scizor is more easily able to hit offensive benchmarks when Stealth Rock damage is factored in

The terrain setter is a no-brainer pick; Rillaboom is the most viable terrain setter in this metagame not named Indeedee.

I went with Necrozma as a Stealth Rock setter because of its ability to deal with Amoonguss, but depending on your team any viable setter such as Tyranitar or Mew also works here. If you go with this core, you'll definitely want Incineroar checks which is why I added rain to this core on my sample team.

Below is a more in-depth explanation for the sets I run on this core:

• Paired with Metal Coat, Scizor's 48 Atk always OHKOs Nasty Plot Togekiss after Stealth Rock damage at +0
• 164 Spe outruns uninvested Rillabooms so you can hit them with a Bug Bite before they U-turn out
• Dump rest of EVs into HP, then SpD for maximum bulk

• Rillaboom's Grassy Surge clears opposing Psychic Terrain so Scizor can freely fire off Bullet Punch
• 56 Spe ensures you will always outspeed Modest Sylveon as well as Azumarill, thereby hitting the latter with Grassy Glide before it can use Aqua Jet
• Dump rest of EVs into Atk, then HP

• Given spread always survives a Life Orb-boosted Wicked Blow from Jolly Urshifu
• Dump rest of EVs into SpA

Scizor Starter Pack 2 (Balanced)

importable

Scizor @ Metal Coat
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Atk / 48 SpD / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Protect

Rillaboom @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Slide
- Lash Out
- Protect

description

An alternate Scizor core that does pretty much the same things as the first one: use Rillaboom to disrupt terrains and Tyranitar to set rocks. Tyranitar is even slightly better for Scizor in some respects, as sand applies further chip damage to help Scizor meet offensive benchmarks.

For this core, you'll want to be mindful of Amoonguss, as this core doesn't have a solid check to it yet.

Below is a more in-depth explanation for the sets I run on this core:

• Paired with Metal Coat, Scizor's 48 Atk always OHKOs Nasty Plot Togekiss after Stealth Rock damage at +0
• 164 Spe outruns uninvested Rillabooms so you can hit them with a Bug Bite before they U-turn out
• Dump rest of EVs into HP, then SpD for maximum bulk

• Rillaboom's Grassy Surge clears opposing Psychic Terrain so Scizor can freely fire off Bullet Punch
• 56 Spe ensures you will always outspeed Modest Sylveon as well as Azumarill, thereby hitting the latter with Grassy Glide before it can use Aqua Jet
• Dump rest of EVs into Atk, then HP

• Mostly just the standard Tyranitar bulky attacker spread.
• Lash Out > Crunch, because the 5 BP drop is worth doing double damage when Intimidated.
• I chose to run Chople Berry to live a Jolly Life Orb Urshifu Close Combat at -1, but this is highly situational. Depending on your team, feel free to run a different item - this just seemed more sensible than Lum or Sitrus in this meta.

 

[emma]

description

fire-water-grass synergy is already good and then combine it with triple fake out and pivot moves it goes from good to top tier. all three of the mons are are pretty splash-able on their own imo but works even better together. fake out is one of the best moves in the tier as its let your partner set up (komm-o) or do massive damage (ursifu) as well as taking away momentum. when their usefullness wears out, simply pivot out.

incineroar: flare blitz does solid damage and useful for hitting boomer and amoonguss. knock off is a great move to remove items and even gets the stab boost which helps take down psyspam. sitrus berry is an option instead of goggles. my spread lets it take -1 lo zer plasma fists into cc and 167 spe outspeeds 0 invested base 65s (goth).
blastoise: generally controls the flow of the game. use fo+follow me to enable set up sweepers and flip turn out once the job is done. i like using haze in the fourth spot to get rid of boosts from komm-o or scizor but protect is good too. my spread lets it take lo boost zer plasma fists and 207 spe outspeeds 0 invested base 85s (boomer) so you can get the faster fake out.
rillaboom: grassy glide does solid damage in grassy terrain and even serves as priority once fo is used. knock off, once again, is incredibly useful. the spread avoids the 2hko from +2 komm-o clanging scales and 209 spe speedcreeps other rillaboom.

importable

Incineroar @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 132 SpD / 44 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Parting Shot

Blastoise @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 64 SpD / 60 Spe
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Flip Turn
- Follow Me
- Haze

Rillaboom @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 116 SpD / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- U-turn

 

[tennisace]

description

fire-water-grass synergy is already good and then combine it with triple fake out and pivot moves it goes from good to top tier. all three of the mons are are pretty splash-able on their own imo but works even better together. fake out is one of the best moves in the tier as its let your partner set up (komm-o) or do massive damage (ursifu) as well as taking away momentum. when their usefullness wears out, simply pivot out.

incineroar: flare blitz does solid damage and useful for hitting boomer and amoonguss. knock off is a great move to remove items and even gets the stab boost which helps take down psyspam. sitrus berry is an option instead of goggles. my spread lets it take -1 lo zer plasma fists into cc and 167 spe outspeeds 0 invested base 65s (goth).
blastoise: generally controls the flow of the game. use fo+follow me to enable set up sweepers and flip turn out once the job is done. i like using haze in the fourth spot to get rid of boosts from komm-o or scizor but protect is good too. my spread lets it take lo boost zer plasma fists and 207 spe outspeeds 0 invested base 85s (boomer) so you can get the faster fake out.
rillaboom: grassy glide does solid damage in grassy terrain and even serves as priority once fo is used. knock off, once again, is incredibly useful. the spread avoids the 2hko from +2 komm-o clanging scales and 209 spe speedcreeps other rillaboom.

importable

Incineroar @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 132 SpD / 44 Spe
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Parting Shot

Blastoise @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 64 SpD / 60 Spe
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Flip Turn
- Follow Me
- Haze

Rillaboom @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 116 SpD / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- U-turn

I feel like this can honestly be distilled even further to just Rillaboom and Blastoise. The two form a very effective pivoting/support pair, with both being able to cycle Fake Outs and U-turn/Flip Turn out of poor matchups. While Pure Water + Pure Grass don't provide a huge amount of resistances, the two don't share any weaknesses and it's hard to pin down one of them, let alone both. There's a laundry list of Pokemon you can pair with the two to form an effective backbone; Incineroar, Weezing-G, Volcarona, Chansey, and more all form 3 Pokemon cores with varying degrees of support, defense, and offense.

 

[emma]

I feel like this can honestly be distilled even further to just Rillaboom and Blastoise. The two form a very effective pivoting/support pair, with both being able to cycle Fake Outs and U-turn/Flip Turn out of poor matchups. While Pure Water + Pure Grass don't provide a huge amount of resistances, the two don't share any weaknesses and it's hard to pin down one of them, let alone both. There's a laundry list of Pokemon you can pair with the two to form an effective backbone; Incineroar, Weezing-G, Volcarona, Chansey, and more all form 3 Pokemon cores with varying degrees of support, defense, and offense.

Agreed with this. Rillaboom and Blastoise are the two best pokemon in the tier that honestly should be on borderline every team while Incineroar is nowhere near that impact. xzern if you could change the OP to just Blastoise + Rillaboom I think that could be helpful.

Anways, another core !!!!!!!!!!

sets

Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 SpA
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Soft-Boiled

Weezing-Galar @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 12 SpA / 128 SpD / 40 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Strange Steam
- Toxic Spikes
- Protect

description

Defensive Core! Both Chansey and Weezing-Galar are incredible pokemon in the current metagame, and can be even better when paired together. Chansey's biggest threat by far is Urshifu, while Weezing-G is one of the best Urshifu switch-ins. It avoids the 2HKO and can OHKO it back with Dazzling Gleam. In return, Chansey helps wall PsySpam teams that threthen Weezing-G. Slapping the two of them on your team means you've already taken care of a Stealth Rock / Toxic Spikes user, and a Toxic Spikes Remover, as well as matching up well against Urshifu, Sylveon, Kommo-o, PsySpam, and Rain. Both of these pokemon are very splash-able and should be considered when building a team.

The Chansey spread is pretty simple. A deviation you can make is taking some EVs out of Special Defense and adding them to Speed to outrun other Chansey. Weezing-G's spread allows it to avoid the 2HKO from Life Orb Zeraora, while guaranteeing the OHKO on Urshifu with Dazzling Gleam. Like Chansey, you can remove some EVs from Special Defense and put them in Speed to outpace opposing Weezing-G.

 

[Actuarily]

In the spirit of trying to provide some more information to get newer players into DOU, here's two effective cores - one defensive and one offensive:

Offensive core:

EVs and Breakdown:

EVs

Indeedee (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Dazzling Gleam
- Mystical Fire
- Psyshock

Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Protect

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Life Orb
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Protect

Breakdown

These three can work together fantastically to break holes through your opponent's team before they can blink. Two special attackers and one physical attacker prevents them from being walled, and a combination of good spread moves allows you to take down whole teams.

Urshifu RS and Volc can take out dark/psychic/steel types that would wall indeedee, and Volc is a great counter to Rillaboom who can change away from psychic terrain. Volc and Urshifu both appreciate the psychic terrain that prevents your opponent from using fake out to gain positioning to mount a counter. Urhsifu's u-turn allows you to keep momentum going and stay ahead of your opponent. Urshifu also counters the most common wide guard pokemon in Gigalith.

There's not much to be explained in regards to the spreads - they're all min/max. I prefer life orb over choice band on Urshifu as it gives it added flexibility when you need to use protect. Indeedee is modest because you need the extra offensive firepower, and the extra speed from timid really doesn't allow it to outspeed much.

Defensive Core:

Moveset

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
- Liquidation
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes
- Baneful Bunker

Kommo-o @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Overcoat
- Body Press
- Dragon Tail
- Iron Defense
- Stealth Rock

Breakdown

This defensive core can be tough to break, while also being able to wear down your opponent. Ferrothorn and Toxapex resist fairy, which kommo-o hates, and ferrothorn can take them out with a gyro ball. Toxapex and kommo-o resist fire, and toxapex also resists fighting, allowing you to play around all of your opponent's Ferro counters. Meanwhile, Toxapex can haze and Kommo-o can dragon tail, preventing your defensive team from being set up fodder.

Toxapex's regeneration allows it to take hits and heal back up as you play around your opponent, while ferrothorn's iron barbs makes your opponent think twice about contact moves. This trio also sets up hazards with stealth rock and toxic spikes, as well as ferrothorn firing off leech seeds on any pokemon that is thinking about staying on the field. If you're able to remove your opponent's kommo-o counter, then you can start iron defensing, and begin the sweep.

I've left the EVs blank, as it highly depends upon what else you are running on your team, as defensive teams have to be very specific about what they can tank. If you have other pokemon that can set up SR, you can give Kommo-o protect in place of SR, allowing it to more easily set up Iron defense to launch powerful body presses.

 

[megacyber]

Weather teams are pretty obvious cores, but i figured someone may as well write them up for posteriority.

Enter Sandman

Tyranitar @ Expert Belt
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Atk / 96 SpA
Brave Nature
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Stone Edge
- Protect

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- High Horsepower
- Substitute
- Protect

TTar + Exca is a classic since gen 5, and it's still good baby. Exca set is straight from the smogdex, Jolly nature is pretty much only for outspeeding Adamant Exca in sand; you really don't want to be the guy that's guaranteed to lose the Exca 1v1 in a sand mirror match. Tyranitar is an extremely versatile pokemon, and can run a ton of different sets with success. The set in the importable above KOs 252/0 ferrothorn with fire blast (which is apparently the most common ferrothorn on the ladder) and KOs standard 252/112 Indeedee-F with crunch. I'd strongly recommend pairing these with Togekiss to redirect attacks from Urshifu-R, Blastoise, and Rillaboom which are all fairly difficult to deal with for a sand team.

In the Sunshine of Your Love

Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Encore
- Overheat
- Protect

Venusaur @ Focus Sash
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Protect

Charizard @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Heat Wave
- Overheat
- Air Slash
- Focus Blast

Much like the sand core above, Drought + Chlorophyll Venusaur has been a DOU mainstay for a while now. No Charizardite Y means you have to use shitmons like ninetales, but ninetales has just enough going for it to make it not dead weight, which is unique amongst the DOU legal drought users (Torkoal is bad don't use it.) Heat wave and overheat hit hard, and tales really doesnt have much else in its movepool to work with. You can run energy ball or solarbeam to hit water types, but venu dunks on all the water types in the tier anyways, so it doesn't matter too much. Encore is great at punishing people trying to stall out sun turns by clicking protect or fake out, and is a super underrated move in general. Venu is standard, just click sleep powder, the other attacks are filler. Scarf Zard with solar power hits pretty hard, its a good mon.[/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler]

 

[|Powerman|]

DVR Core

DVR

Diancie @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Atk / 116 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Diamond Storm
- Body Press
- Trick Room
- Protect

Volcanion @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Heat Wave
- Substitute
- Protect

Rillaboom @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Atk / 36 Def / 100 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- U-turn

This trinquet of Pokemon work beautifully together. Diancie helps with Pokemon such as Zapdos Kyurem-B and opposing Volcanion that the other 2 struggles with though it needs to be wary of Steam Eruption. Volcanion can help with Steel and Grass types such as Rillaboom, Genesect, and Heatran. And Rillaboom is great for the Water types such as Tapu-Fini, and Urshifu-R that give them hard times while nullifying Earthquake from Landorus while giving passive recovery.

 

[|Powerman|]

Genesect + Zygarde

Importable

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower

Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Superpower
- Thousand Waves

This offensive core is able to dismantle each others checks to some success. Genesect struggles against fire types since it doesn't have coverage besides Techno Blast. Which it would have to give up an item and move slot for it, and it already has 4MSS, and its somewhat needs scarf. It also checks Zapdos, which also checks Genesect, and both can gang up on it. Genesect on the other hand helps with Zygarde of Grass types which Genesect U-turns on, Kyurem-B and Fairy types not named Tapu-Fini get walloped by Iron Head, although if Download Boosted it pressures Fini too. And Dragon types get dunked with Ice Beam, or if its weak to its stab, it also pressures Amoonguss. Also Kartana and Opposing Genesect get burnt by Flamethrower, and Fini and Urshifu-R get wrecked by Thunderbolt / Energy Ball.

 

[Noelle]

My first submission! I've been experimenting with this core for a while and it's pretty good, so i thought i would post it here

/

Importable: https://pokepast.es/64da415315ef19cb OR https://pokepast.es/ac185b4939aec468

Description

I was looking through kyurem black checks and the only pokemon i found that will literally always win regardless of the set is metagross. dd kyube doesn't even 2hko at +1 and AV vs metagross is literally throwing. that's why i added heatran. heatran beats metagross fairly easily and kyube kills off the ground types that heatran hates. you could even make heatran specs with flash cannon to deal with diancie, but i think charcoal is more flexible so i chose it for this post. specs is still an ok option depending on your team tho. these two cover each other's weaknesses nicely, so the last slot, latias/latios is dedicated solely to making these 2 stronger. Tailwind helps tran a lot and your lati of choice an even use mystical fire to side proc flash fire. latios also serves as a kart + shifu + zygarde check which is a core this core struggles to beat. Which lati to pick is dependent on your team, but generally latias is better on balance/bulky offense and latios is better on offense. This core is a really good starting point for balance teams and can even work on offense if you make the kyube dragon dance. I came up with this core while building teams for the kart suspect (see: my post in the team bazaar) and it works really well. would recommend, try it sometime, you might like it