Hello friends. Given XY's inclusion into this years world cup, I wanted to make a post breaking down what you can expect to see from this metagame if you find yourself slotted into it or just care about learning some more about one of the best tiers in doubles history. This guide is going to be written under the assumption that you have some doubles fundamentals to start with. If not, I highly recommend practicing in SV or whatever the current gen doubles format is in order to build up some understanding before attempting to learn an oldgen. Let's begin.
Why XY DOU?
Well I hope you mean "what's so special about the tier?" and why it isn't called ORAS DOU, because I can only answer one of those questions. XY is a fast paced metagame with a passionate playerbase that cares deeply about keeping the metagame alive and interesting. That means that even as an oldgen, it feels quite fresh to play at the high level! It has a balanced blend of mechanics, notably improving on things like Thunder Wave on Electric types, Spore on Grass types, and critical hit damage reduced from 2x to 1.5x (note, it's still at a 1/16 frequency for this generation, just a lower multiplier). However, it isn't as power crept as modern generations, and leaves out some mechanics that some players aren't as fond of like dynamic speed interactions.
Cool, how can I learn?
When I started learning XY DOU over 4 years ago, I took qsns 's teams from DPL VII because to me, they were the strongest player from that tournament and I wanted to learn from the best. Today, you can find teamdumps from a multitude of players in the main XY DOU metagame thread, which if you haven't already, is considered required reading for this post, and I will be referencing it several times. If you're reading this post for World Cup 2025, then you're in luck, we've just updated the sample teams and VR for your convenience! However, I know the prospect of just picking up sample teams and hoping they work for you can be daunting. So I'm going to provide a brief summary of the strengths of these samples. Additionally, we'll break down archetypes in the tier more broadly, and lastly I'll leave you with some of my favorite non-sample teams and some other resources.
Why are you making this post? Are you trying to bait me with misinformation for your own benefit?
I can't imagine anyone would genuinely have this take but it'd make me feel good if I addressed it regardless. I love XY if you couldn't already tell. As an oldgen of a lower tier, it has a very, very niche playerbase. I'm tired of playing the same 5 people every year!!! I would love to see new faces and fresh perspectives. Part of why I wanted to fight so hard for this tier's inclusion in world cup is, yes, I wanted to play my favorite tier, but I have a genuine love for this tier that goes beyond me playing, and I hope anyone even remotely interested gets to give it an attempt.
Sample Team Breakdown
TVALKS by Everyone
Kang Deo-S by zee
Calm Mind Gardevoir Redirection by zee
Diancie Bisharp Talonflame HO by ned04817
Mega Salamence Bulky Offense by laptops, qsns, and eragon
Mega Gengar + Whimsicott Trap by ned04817 and qsns
Charizard-Y Sun Offense by Idyll and SingleThunder
Rain by EVERYONE!!!
So I'm just supposed to use samples huh!? You think I'm a chump!??
Calm down my friend. Remember that at the start of this post I mentioned how we just updated the samples? Well they weren't just drawn out of a hat or anything, these are a pretty solid representation of the metagame's archetypes. What that means for you is that you can take a component from these sample teams, say Charizard + Gothitelle or Diancie + Bisharp + Talonflame and go and put your own spin on it, hopefully with a bit more context than just opening a pokepaste and being told GLHF.
If you want some more inspiration, here are my personal favorite teamdumps from the thread.
-zee's builder dump
-Talkingtree's DPL X post
-eragon's ORASPL post
-ned's XY cup post
Also not a teamdump, but Idyll's deep dive on the synergies of Landorus-T, Volcanion, and Thundurus is certainly worth a read!
If you're going to build for yourself, consider this brief checklist!
Lastly, here are some recent tournament replay threads if you'd love to start learning from example
-DPL X replays
-DPL XI replays
-ORASPL replays
-XY cup replays (you'll have to do some hunting here, but very worth imo)
Happy to talk more if anyone has any questions. I hope you found this post helpful, and good luck in your XY endeavors.
Why XY DOU?
Well I hope you mean "what's so special about the tier?" and why it isn't called ORAS DOU, because I can only answer one of those questions. XY is a fast paced metagame with a passionate playerbase that cares deeply about keeping the metagame alive and interesting. That means that even as an oldgen, it feels quite fresh to play at the high level! It has a balanced blend of mechanics, notably improving on things like Thunder Wave on Electric types, Spore on Grass types, and critical hit damage reduced from 2x to 1.5x (note, it's still at a 1/16 frequency for this generation, just a lower multiplier). However, it isn't as power crept as modern generations, and leaves out some mechanics that some players aren't as fond of like dynamic speed interactions.
Cool, how can I learn?
When I started learning XY DOU over 4 years ago, I took qsns 's teams from DPL VII because to me, they were the strongest player from that tournament and I wanted to learn from the best. Today, you can find teamdumps from a multitude of players in the main XY DOU metagame thread, which if you haven't already, is considered required reading for this post, and I will be referencing it several times. If you're reading this post for World Cup 2025, then you're in luck, we've just updated the sample teams and VR for your convenience! However, I know the prospect of just picking up sample teams and hoping they work for you can be daunting. So I'm going to provide a brief summary of the strengths of these samples. Additionally, we'll break down archetypes in the tier more broadly, and lastly I'll leave you with some of my favorite non-sample teams and some other resources.
Why are you making this post? Are you trying to bait me with misinformation for your own benefit?
I can't imagine anyone would genuinely have this take but it'd make me feel good if I addressed it regardless. I love XY if you couldn't already tell. As an oldgen of a lower tier, it has a very, very niche playerbase. I'm tired of playing the same 5 people every year!!! I would love to see new faces and fresh perspectives. Part of why I wanted to fight so hard for this tier's inclusion in world cup is, yes, I wanted to play my favorite tier, but I have a genuine love for this tier that goes beyond me playing, and I hope anyone even remotely interested gets to give it an attempt.
Sample Team Breakdown
TVALKS by Everyone
TVALKS - Thundurus, Volcanion, Amoonguss, Landorus-T, Kangaskhan-Mega, Syveon, is one of the oldest XY teams that's still relevant in the tier landscape. It uses high BST Pokemon and has some simple win conditions: You can outdamage the opponent with oppressive power of Kangaskhan, Volcanion, and your genies, or you can use Amoonguss and Kangaskhan to set up a Calm Mind sweep from Sylveon, with aid from Thundurus for speed control, Volcanion to get past steels, and Landorus to provide some fast offense and notable checks to Talonflame and Mega-Diancie. Set up win conditions aren't particularly common in XY due to the offensive nature of the tier, but if you like teams like Nasty Plot Gholdengo balance in SV DOU, it's definitely worth giving TVALKS a try.
This specific paste that's included as a sample is a variant I had in my teambuilder from a few years back, but there's plenty of options for customization, suck as Sucker Punch Kangakshan over Crunch or even Power-Up-Punch + Return if you want to have a heavier focus on setup. Other ideas include: Max Speed Flash Cannon Thundurus (potentially with Safety Goggles) to snipe Mega Diancie or Safety Goggles Volcanion for stronger Amoonguss counterplay.
This specific paste that's included as a sample is a variant I had in my teambuilder from a few years back, but there's plenty of options for customization, suck as Sucker Punch Kangakshan over Crunch or even Power-Up-Punch + Return if you want to have a heavier focus on setup. Other ideas include: Max Speed Flash Cannon Thundurus (potentially with Safety Goggles) to snipe Mega Diancie or Safety Goggles Volcanion for stronger Amoonguss counterplay.
Kang Deo-S by zee
Kang Deo-S is the exact opposite of TVALKS, despite both compositions running the same mega. This team is definitely an aggressive HO style, where your main aim is to lead with Kangaskhan and Deoxys-S to put very specific pressure on your opponent. Rock resists are very hard to come by in XY, while the use of Thundurus, Volcanion, Talonflame, and Salamence often leads to teams having a minimum of 1 if not more rock weaks, prime targets for Stealth Rock to come into play. With Kang DeoS setting the pace of the game, you can choose how to play once they go down - use Genesect to pick of a weakened foe with Extreme Speed, paralyze a key threat with Thundurus for the endgame, or win a damage trade with your double AV duo of Volcanion and Conkeldurr.
In DPL 2024, I used a variant of Kangaskhan + DeoS every week of regular season for a combined 5-2, using a lot of different teams. What's linked as a sample is only one of these teams, but you can read more about the archetype and possible mixups here.
In DPL 2024, I used a variant of Kangaskhan + DeoS every week of regular season for a combined 5-2, using a lot of different teams. What's linked as a sample is only one of these teams, but you can read more about the archetype and possible mixups here.
Calm Mind Gardevoir Redirection by zee
This is an archetype that I first saw used seriously by Idyll. The sample team is a team I made during this year's XY cup. If you're the type of player who strongly feels like they can sequence out games turns in advance, I think this is an archetype you'll really enjoy. The double redirection element is quite important here, as you'll almost always want one redirector to enable Gardevoir to Calm Mind once or twice, and another to keep it safe once it's free to start attacking. Modern takes on this archetype have employed Blastoise as it's able to redirect attacks like Genesect's Iron Head or Aegislash's Shadow Ball/Flash Cannon quite comfortably. I would say that your options for the other 3 supporting cast members are quite vast, really all you need to think about is how you're going to pressure Steels, KO Mega Diancie, and keep Landorus's Earthquake in check.
If you see Gardevoir in XY, it's likely going to be this Calm Mind style, even if you only see it paired with Amoonguss instead of both redirectors. Trick Room on something so central can be hard to pull off in general in XY, as even if you're the Trick Room pilot, you can easily run into teams running 2-3 Pokemon no faster than 70 base speed and feel like all the effort was pointless. This mostly applies to running TR on Gardevoir though, if you want to build a 2-3 mon TR mode into your teams using a Pokemon like Gothitelle or non-mega Diancie, definitely try it!
One question you may have is why "Gardevoir over Sylveon?" If they're both CM Pixilate Hyper Voice users, why would you want to waste your Mega and item slot on this role when you can play Tvalks? Absolutely a fair question, but my response is that Psyshock gives Gardevoir a lot more potential to run away with games from the start, rather than just be a win condition you try to setup late game. With Psyshock, you can do serious damage to Volcanion and blow up Amoonguss at +1, as well as circumvent something like a Wide Guard Aegislash, significantly improving your overall offensive potential. The Speed stat can be a big deal as well, as with support from something like Icy Wind Blastoise, Gardevoir can outspeed the entire unboosted metagame with only a few EVs. Pretty cool!
If you see Gardevoir in XY, it's likely going to be this Calm Mind style, even if you only see it paired with Amoonguss instead of both redirectors. Trick Room on something so central can be hard to pull off in general in XY, as even if you're the Trick Room pilot, you can easily run into teams running 2-3 Pokemon no faster than 70 base speed and feel like all the effort was pointless. This mostly applies to running TR on Gardevoir though, if you want to build a 2-3 mon TR mode into your teams using a Pokemon like Gothitelle or non-mega Diancie, definitely try it!
One question you may have is why "Gardevoir over Sylveon?" If they're both CM Pixilate Hyper Voice users, why would you want to waste your Mega and item slot on this role when you can play Tvalks? Absolutely a fair question, but my response is that Psyshock gives Gardevoir a lot more potential to run away with games from the start, rather than just be a win condition you try to setup late game. With Psyshock, you can do serious damage to Volcanion and blow up Amoonguss at +1, as well as circumvent something like a Wide Guard Aegislash, significantly improving your overall offensive potential. The Speed stat can be a big deal as well, as with support from something like Icy Wind Blastoise, Gardevoir can outspeed the entire unboosted metagame with only a few EVs. Pretty cool!
Diancie Bisharp Talonflame HO by ned04817
I will warn you right now, this core can feel very high risk, high reward. Not in the sense that it's a matchup fish, but it is an aggressive team, and you will have to play with your foot on the gas to get the most out of its potential. With that disclaimer out of the way, Diancie Bisharp Talonflame has been one of the strongest HO cores in modern times, I would say surpassing Kang DeoS in its dominance in the present year. I talk a good bit about this team in the Kang DeoS post I linked in that sample breakdown, but to repeat myself briefly: Talonflame and Bisharp form a synergistic pair of priority users, with Talonflame's Brave Bird preying on Fightings like Conkeldurr and Scrafty and Bisharp's Defiant scaring away Landorus-T and Salamence who could significantly cut down on Talonflame's Brave Bird damage output. Mega Diancie comes into play by rounding out the team with a fast attacker who can open games with a powerful Diamond Storm to put things in range of your priority attacks, while Magic Bounce acts as a way to keep your Talonflame safe from Stealth Rock as it enters the midgame.
ned04817 's double genie DBT HO is an incredibly solid place to start if you want to play this archetype. I'll also recommend my Gothitelle team, though this team replaces the Bisharp with a Scarf Genesect to have a better matchup into Mega Diancie mirrors.
In addition to this core's priority and speed, another thing that makes it so deadly are the types of damage that it deals. I already mentioned how XY can struggle with Rock resists, but in a pre-Incineroar post-Steel nerf Doubles environment, Dark resists can also be quite hard to come by, and Intimidate is used on a supermajority of top teams, meaning it will almost always strike fear into an opponent if played correctly. Even Talonflame can find matchups where there's only a single Flying resist standing between it and total annihilation.
ned04817 's double genie DBT HO is an incredibly solid place to start if you want to play this archetype. I'll also recommend my Gothitelle team, though this team replaces the Bisharp with a Scarf Genesect to have a better matchup into Mega Diancie mirrors.
In addition to this core's priority and speed, another thing that makes it so deadly are the types of damage that it deals. I already mentioned how XY can struggle with Rock resists, but in a pre-Incineroar post-Steel nerf Doubles environment, Dark resists can also be quite hard to come by, and Intimidate is used on a supermajority of top teams, meaning it will almost always strike fear into an opponent if played correctly. Even Talonflame can find matchups where there's only a single Flying resist standing between it and total annihilation.
Mega Salamence Bulky Offense by laptops, qsns, and eragon
Salamence + Double Steels has been a popular team in XY for a while now, and if I had to explain the secret sauce of this team I would start by saying there isn't...really any secret here. It's a lot of high BST strong Pokemon with pretty straightforward sets, so I'll explain some more about the synergies of the team that I find interesting. With two steel types, breaking Volcanion (or the rare Heatran) would prove to be difficult, but you've got Rocks Mew + Landorus-I to help alleviate that pressure. When running Landorus-I, one of your biggest issues is dealing with the lack of Intimidate offered to your team, but this is made up for by Salamence, who also patches some of the speed holes left by benching a potential Scarf Landorus-T, as it outspeeds the vast majority of the unboosted metagame. Some variants of this team will drop the Volcanion for Conkeldurr, as it has a better Thundurus matchup, which is Salamence's #1 enemy.
In general, Salamence's speed and power leaves it a force to be reckoned with. Once any Pokemon neutral to flying is at 60-70% HP, they're in the danger zone for Double-Edge. As an individual Pokemon, Salamence has a lot of flexibility in terms of moves, EVs, and partners. I would recommend reading the recently uploaded Salamence analysis by ned.
In general, Salamence's speed and power leaves it a force to be reckoned with. Once any Pokemon neutral to flying is at 60-70% HP, they're in the danger zone for Double-Edge. As an individual Pokemon, Salamence has a lot of flexibility in terms of moves, EVs, and partners. I would recommend reading the recently uploaded Salamence analysis by ned.
Mega Gengar + Whimsicott Trap by ned04817 and qsns
This team plays off of two very strong components of Mega Gengar's Shadow Tag. The first one is pretty simple. Choice Scarf Genesect under Shadow Tag can pretty easily lock down and take important KOes, simplifying the gameplanning side of things for the Mega Gengar user. In the case of this team, having a reliable KO on Choice Band Genesect and Mega Salamence is quite good for maximizing the effectiveness of the other mode: Gengar Whimsicott. Gengar Whimsicott can effectively play with its food if it is out in front of two slower Pokemon, as their Encore + Disable lock can force a Pokemon to lock into Struggle while Shadow Tagged. After a round of chip, you can Fake Tears + Shadow Ball to easily pick a Pokemon off, and repeat the process with its replacement. The Genies + Conkeldurr round out the teams matchups into Pokemon such as Volcanion, Mega Salamence, Aegislash, and Talonflame.
If you want a greater emphasis on the Shadow Tag lock gameplay, I'll post my version of this comp that uses Eject Button Scrafty for easier Shadow Tag setups. Taunt Whimsicott is used primarily to prevent Thundurus shenanigans, and Landorus-I is used for the stronger matchups into Volcanion and Aegislash over Landorus-T. My version does struggle a bit more with Bisharp, so be advised.
If you want a greater emphasis on the Shadow Tag lock gameplay, I'll post my version of this comp that uses Eject Button Scrafty for easier Shadow Tag setups. Taunt Whimsicott is used primarily to prevent Thundurus shenanigans, and Landorus-I is used for the stronger matchups into Volcanion and Aegislash over Landorus-T. My version does struggle a bit more with Bisharp, so be advised.
Charizard-Y Sun Offense by Idyll and SingleThunder
Charizard. It clicks Overheat. If the target doesn't resist fire, it dies. Simple enough. This is a team built by Idyll and SingleThunder from the most recent DPL that utilizes some key Pokemon to get the most out of Charizard's potential, like Gothitelle to find ideal Overheat targets and Rapid Spin Blastoise to clear Stealth Rock should you play for a midgame Charizard entry instead. Landorus-T and Rotom-W act as key pivots that also notably put pressure on the likes of Volcanion and Mega Salamence to ensure Charizard can operate at maximum threat level. Lastly, Scarf Heatran is fast enough to outrun the unboosted metagame and combo with Charizard for some deadly fire spam. Because Volcanion is often most team's Fire AND Water type, that doesn't leave many other slots for Fire resists, which can potentially give a team like this the room to find effortless wins.
In a broader context, Charizard is what I'd call a rogue archetype. I've seen it played on everything from the standard partners you see on Kangaskhan balances to the most left field jank aggressive teams. He's got his fair share of counterplay between Scarf Landorus-T, Thundurus, Volcanion, and Mega Salamence, but for the most part, handling the LTV core with your partners will allow you to reap big rewards with your Charizard, should you have the guts to walk this path.
In a broader context, Charizard is what I'd call a rogue archetype. I've seen it played on everything from the standard partners you see on Kangaskhan balances to the most left field jank aggressive teams. He's got his fair share of counterplay between Scarf Landorus-T, Thundurus, Volcanion, and Mega Salamence, but for the most part, handling the LTV core with your partners will allow you to reap big rewards with your Charizard, should you have the guts to walk this path.
Rain by EVERYONE!!!
The credit does not lie. Literally everyone has a rain team. The biggest strength of XY sample rain is Mega Swampert: a Pokemon that OHKOes Landorus-T through Intimidate, can't be slowed down by Thunder Wave, and manages to hit Volcanion for super effective as a Water-type is just nuts. There are several variants of rain out there, such as this Talonflame + Bisharp one I made for Arcticblast in DPL finals. Mega Swampert-less rains do also exist, but if you're trying this comp out I would highly recommend starting out by keeping him on the lineup.
XY's water resists situation isn't as bad as some tiers (cough, DPP), but this is a time before guys like Ogerpon-Wellspring, Rillaboom, and Tapu Fini. Really, your main obstacle as the rain player is finding your way through the enemy's Volcanion, as other Water resists like Amoonguss and Salamence can be easily felled by Swampert's partners. If you want to learn about preserving your win condition and offensive sequencing in XY, sample rain is genuinely a great place to start
XY's water resists situation isn't as bad as some tiers (cough, DPP), but this is a time before guys like Ogerpon-Wellspring, Rillaboom, and Tapu Fini. Really, your main obstacle as the rain player is finding your way through the enemy's Volcanion, as other Water resists like Amoonguss and Salamence can be easily felled by Swampert's partners. If you want to learn about preserving your win condition and offensive sequencing in XY, sample rain is genuinely a great place to start
So I'm just supposed to use samples huh!? You think I'm a chump!??
Calm down my friend. Remember that at the start of this post I mentioned how we just updated the samples? Well they weren't just drawn out of a hat or anything, these are a pretty solid representation of the metagame's archetypes. What that means for you is that you can take a component from these sample teams, say Charizard + Gothitelle or Diancie + Bisharp + Talonflame and go and put your own spin on it, hopefully with a bit more context than just opening a pokepaste and being told GLHF.
If you want some more inspiration, here are my personal favorite teamdumps from the thread.
-zee's builder dump
-Talkingtree's DPL X post
-eragon's ORASPL post
-ned's XY cup post
Also not a teamdump, but Idyll's deep dive on the synergies of Landorus-T, Volcanion, and Thundurus is certainly worth a read!
If you're going to build for yourself, consider this brief checklist!
-Seismic Toss Counterplay - Rocky Helmets, Kangaskhan delete buttons, Fighting types (Conkeldurr, Keldeo, etc), Mega Gengar with dedicated counterplay
-Immunities and Resists: Thunder Wave (highly recommended), Earthquake (mandatory), Water (mandatory), Rock (recommended when possible)
-Spore Counterplay - Amoonguss is a huge threat in XY, do you have goggles, taunt, immunities, or delete buttons?
-Can you kill the following without burning too many resources?:
---AV Volcanion
---Sitrus Thundurus
---AV Conkeldurr/Hariyama
---Gastrodon
---Ferrothorn
---Aegislash
-Do you have counterplay to priority spam? CB Genesect ExtremeSpeed, CB/LO Talonflame Brave Bird, LO Bisharp Sucker Punch. Lower priority: Kangaskhan Sucker Punch, Conkeldurr Mach Punch
-Immunities and Resists: Thunder Wave (highly recommended), Earthquake (mandatory), Water (mandatory), Rock (recommended when possible)
-Spore Counterplay - Amoonguss is a huge threat in XY, do you have goggles, taunt, immunities, or delete buttons?
-Can you kill the following without burning too many resources?:
---AV Volcanion
---Sitrus Thundurus
---AV Conkeldurr/Hariyama
---Gastrodon
---Ferrothorn
---Aegislash
-Do you have counterplay to priority spam? CB Genesect ExtremeSpeed, CB/LO Talonflame Brave Bird, LO Bisharp Sucker Punch. Lower priority: Kangaskhan Sucker Punch, Conkeldurr Mach Punch
Lastly, here are some recent tournament replay threads if you'd love to start learning from example
-DPL X replays
-DPL XI replays
-ORASPL replays
-XY cup replays (you'll have to do some hunting here, but very worth imo)
Happy to talk more if anyone has any questions. I hope you found this post helpful, and good luck in your XY endeavors.
