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2 vs 2 Analysis: Rhyperior

Mike_Thunderbird

Rhyperior is already a sexy beast in 1 on 1, but Double battles can really have Rhyperior into the THF OU. Rhyperior, however, can have an advantage thrown his way…Follow Me. It can help shift the focus away from one Pokémon and put it on the other, which is especially helpful in cases of concentrated blasts or chances to hit with status conditions. Here below is the workup for Rhyperior and his future with Follow Me.

Rhyperior
Nature Choice: Adamant (+ATK, -SpATK) / Brave (+ATK, -SPD)
EV Setup: 252 ATK, 252 DEF, 6 HP

Preferred Moveset
-Swords Dance
-Snow Slide
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge / Rock Slide / Shadow Claw

Alright, Rhyperior's kind of standard no matter where you go. 3 good Physical Moves and Swords, right? However, there are 2 good strategies which help Rhyperior out...Follow Me and Trick Room. I will speak of the Follow Me Setup first.

-Follow Me Strategy-
Follow Me is Available on: Furret, Clefable, Togekiss (level up with Togetic)

Preferred Choice: Clefable
Ability Choice: Magic Guard
Nature Choice: Calm (+SpDEF, -ATK), Modest (+SpATK, -ATK), Timid (+SPD, -ATK)
Moveset:
-Follow Me
-Wish
-Thunder Wave
-Psychic
EV Setup 1(SpeedTank): 252 SpDEF, 252 SPD, 6 SpATK
EV Setup 2 (S.S.Tanker): 252 HP, 252 SpDEF/SPD, 6 SPD/SpDEF

Preferred Ability Choice (Rhyperior): Hard Rock - Super Effective attacks have their damages lowered.

Clefable here is mostly as a utility to help pump Rhyperior up, allowing Follow Me to take away WoW or any other status users, thanks to the help of Magic Guard. However, this means Clefable can fall fast with 2 regular attacks flying it's way. You can opt for Lightningrod on Rhyperior to help divert a possible damage source away from Clefable, but I doubt it'd make much difference because you know 2 physical moves are going to be coming your way with it's lower DEF stat. You can boost it's DEF a bit, but I would just say it'd be better to help keep counters away from Rhyperior for a while.

Secondary Choice: Togekiss
Ability Choice: Serene Grace
Nature Choice: Calm (+SpDEF, -ATK), Modest (+SpATK, -ATK), Timid (+SPD, -ATK)
Moveset
-Follow Me
-Air Slash *Heart Scale Option*
-Pulse Bomb / Psycho Shift *Breed Required*
-Water Pulse
EV Setup: 252 SpDEF, 126 SpATK, 126 SPD, 6 HP

Preferred Ability (Rhyperior): Lightningrod

Alright, Togekiss is another good option for Rhyperior, since it has the natural tendency to get a miss when it comes to the super-powered Earthquake coming out. Since the debate of whether Follow Me's glitch with lightningrod will be fixed or not is not done yet, you have another option. Using Follow Me + Psycho Shift can pass off any Status Condition onto an opponent, preventing Burns on Rhyperior and also lowering the ATK of their Physical Sweepers. But, if Lightningrod works, it should at least draw the electric attacks of Zappy in 2 on 2 away from Togekiss long enough to get it established.
 
Ah, a double battle thread. How could I not reply?

I think this is a good setup, and I'd definitely go with the Togekiss rather than the Clefable. Clefable is probably the most durable Follow Me user (what with only one weakness and Magic Guard), but as you mentioned, Togekiss can avoid Earthquake, which is going to be very important. If your opponents are weak to Ground, you don't want to have to kill off your ally in the balance.

Also, I completely agree with LightningRod with this setup. Not only does it draw Electric attacks from Togekiss as you mentioned, but with Follow Me drawing many attacks from Rhyperior, Hard Rock becomes less crucial.

Here's something you might not know, though: in Advance, Follow Me trumps LightningRod. So, if your Togekiss is using Follow Me on a round where the opponent is using an Electric attack, it will get hit by it. I'm hoping they change this in DP, but it's something you'll want to know. If they didn't change it, just don't use Follow Me until your Pokémon KO the offending Electric user. Shouldn't be too hard with Earthquake, etc., but if you're up against an Electric-type and a Water- or Grass-type at the same time, you may be better off switching.

Speaking of switching, what else are you going to put on this team? I think it's coming along nicely so far. I know from experience that anything that requires a round of setup works great with a Follow Me teammate.
 
My STRONG recommendation for this team is a bunch of Levitators/flyers with Trick Room. Change Rhyperior's second move into Protect.

Claydol, Bronzong, Xatu, Mismagius, Uxie, Mesprit, Agunomu, and Crescelia all fit the bill.

Claydol and Bronzong do it the best IMO since they aren't the fastest things around and they can take hits. Crescelia and Uxie are faster but also have the "Does not die" factor.

Round 1: Swords Dance with Rhyperior, Follow Me Togekiss.

Round 2: If Togekiss isn't dead yet, SD again. At this point, Togekiss should probably be owned.

Round 3: Send in Bronzong or Claydol and use Trick Room while Rhyperior Protects.

Round 4-9: Haul ass and take names.
 
Gravity's fine, but that means that Earthquakes are going to hit your partner, too. So, if your Togekiss is still alive, you won't be able to Follow Me with it. You'll have to Protect instead.

I think Gravity's mostly meant to be a defensive move, so that you don't have two flying/levitating opponents using Earthquake against you, as is often the case in Advance double battles.
 
Remember that Quake's power gets reduced so Exploding Azelf + Trick Room Dusknoir + Gravity + Choice Banded Helping Handed Rhyinferor combo isn't gonna work as well as it seems on paper
 
In a sense, yes. But, you're weeding too much into this, I think. (Btw, Trick Room is the next analysis for Rhyperior I'm releasing). I didn't know Follow Me did trump it, but I think it shouldn't, since abilities should trump moves. But, if it's not fixed in DP, Hard Rock could work being people may try Quaking to lower Rhyperior a little for a lot later. Besides, it could help with Surf users. But, soon enough, I will begin work on analyzing the use of Trick Room in 2 on 2 action. Granted, the two combined could make a good setup, but being there are SO many Poke's who can use it, it gives a lot of options on what to do with it.
 
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