ORAS Doubles OU Abomacare

[Z Strats]

Hi dou members. I have been playing doubles for only about 4 months now. This team I made was made to counter the current meta game. Originally I wanted to ladder up a bit more with this team before posting, but unfortunately I will be gone later today for about a week only being to access things like ps and forums via mobile. Lets get into the team.

We start off with Abomasnow this mon is to get the hail up for my next mon. I choose sash Abomasnow here because it's not a trick room/semi room team so I sacrificed bulk for some speed and to live a hit I put on a sash.

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Blizzard
- Giga Drain
- Ice Shard
- Protect

Next I picked Articuno. Scarfed articuno is great for surprising scarfed lando-t's that think they can rock slide it. It also lets me not worry if rain is up instead of hail as the rain will let it's hurricane always hit. The speed EVs is to outspeed what the analysis said to run on Ludicolo in rain.

Articuno @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 40 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Freeze Dry
- Hurricane
- U-turn

We now get out of hail based mons with Arcanine. Arcanine beats a lot of what Articuno and Abomasnow can't. It ohkos a lot of the bulky steels like jirachi and aegislash while in shield form and has a 68% chance to ohko 0hp/0def mega kang. It also provides some nice intimidate support.

Arcanine @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Protect

I still was a bit weak to some of the common megas such as Charizard-y and Diancie, and raikou helps with just that. Thunderbolt deals a huge amount to charizard while hp steel ohkos diancie. A reason I choose this over thundurus which does the same thing is because I already had 3 mons weak to rock and 4 is to much for me, plus it also gets a nifty move in snarl.

Raikou @ Expert Belt
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpD
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Steel]
- Snarl
- Protect

Next up we have Mega-Swampert. While making this I realize I was playing with a 0 evs Mega Swampert so right now I just changed the spread to what it is until I find a better spread. Mega Swampert deals with fire types like Heatran and Volcanion also while giving me a great thundy check and thunder wave switch-in. Another thing I noticed is that other than scarfed articuno I didn't have any speed control so I decided to give it icy wind for the nice speed control.

Swampert-Mega @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Icy Wind
- Protect

Lastly we have Gengar. Gengar is my support mon providing both WoW and taunt while dishing out some nice attacks. Taunt is nice to stop my opponent from using any form of speed control like tailwind or trick room as my team doesn't really like being that slow. It also serves as another mon for my Swampert to eq beside

Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt


Threatlist:

Mega Charizard is a huge threat as nothing wants to switch into it's two main attacks of heat wave and solarbeam

Full trick room is also hard for this team as its only way of stopping tr setters is a frail gengar which will usually have to taunt the setter in front of a Scrafty.


The last thing is something that isn't common, but my team really hates is stealth rocks. Only having 2mons that don't get ruined by stealth rocks isn't ideal even with it being super rare in doubles.


Replays:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/doublesou-415702293 (me taking on mishii)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/doublesou-416190031 (me taking on test bot)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/doublesou-416192481 (me taking on some guy who is currently 7th on ladder)

I hope you guys enjoyed the team. Took a while to make as it's obviously not the most common pokemon. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Test Bot #]

When I fought against this team, it certainly took me by surprise. After all, you used sets that are not standard. However, it's not hard at all to counter this team once you realize that your Mega is in fact Mega Swampert, your Articuno is Scarfed, and your Abomasnow is Sashed. Nevertheless, I admit, I do like the idea of Scrafed Articuno.

Well, lets focus on your Blizzard-spamming Mons first. Although Scarfed Articuno sounds good on paper, Scarfed Kyurem-B is probably your safer bet. After all, it should always survive one Heat Wave or Diamond Storm. Plus, its ability, Terravolt, ignores any immunity or defensive boost that other Mons may have. (You would certainly have done more damage onto my Mega Venusaur.) Yet, there is one more reason why I would use Kyurem-B... it doesn't get walled by Fire types; Fusion Bolt and Earth Power will bring heavy damage onto them.

Scarfed Kyurem-B

Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 176 Atk / 108 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Dragon Claw / Iron Head
- Earth Power

For the matter of Abomasnow, I highly recommend that you give it its Mega Stone; doing so would certainly ease your weather wars. Nevertheless, there is certainly no sense of using a Mega if you're not going to take full advantage of it (I'm talking about your Mega Swampert). Although Battle Spot Doubles's Anti-Meta Swampert (http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/pokemon/swampert/vgc15/) is not a bad idea, going with Aegislash would be better. After all, if does a better job of eliminating TR users and Mega Diancie.

Aegislash

Aegislash @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

Finally, I recommend that you use Cresselia. To be honest, your regular Abomasnow ain't gonna outspeed anything relevant. Allowing you to have a reliable Trick Room setter, and a counter to opposing Trick Room and Tailwind teams, is just better than having a Gengar that knows Taunt. For the rest of your team, I suggest that you add a Fire-Water duo. Gyarados or Keldeo would be a nice choice for Water types, and Talonflame or Infernape would be a nice choice for Fire types; just choose anything that would check Mega Charizard-Y and Kang, and you should be good.

Cresselia

Cresselia @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Moonlight

 

[Sylveon.]

Hey man, nice team. Blizzard spam though not that effective in todays meta(with volc and steels running around) but still can be put to good effect.
First of all, some mons of your team are quite under-utilised like swampert and some can be replaced by better versions like arcanine with volcanion.
So, I will go one by one for all the mons to see if there is anything to be changed. Also, blizzard teams are mostly slow so I will suggest a semi-trickroom team, which allows aboma to even have earthquake bopping its usual counters like heatran.

1) I completely agree with Test Bot#'s suggestion to change to mega aboma and scarfed kyurem-b. Thing about mega aboma is that due to its slowness, it will almost always mega evolve last so you will win the weather war. Also, scarfed kyurem-b is just better than articuno lol, it hits harder and has a much better ability and accomplishes your role of killing landorus. You lose the sash but you gain much better bulk and even more power. You can even use greninja over kyurem if you want to be able to switch moves and still be fast enough, but kyurem's bulk with pay off most of the time.

2) Now, for speed control normally I am a big fan of cress but with hail pooping on moonlight, it won't work as well as it should, though I never suggest this but for your team something like jellicient should work pretty well with the duo, checking heatran( you have earth power on kyurem-b but still) and will-o-wisping things like kangaskhan(also immunity to fake out helps). It even stops keldeo, a big threat with its STAB fighting moves. Also, as another check under TR you can run conkelldur with wide guard so that your opponent just doesn't mindlessly click hyper voice/rock slide/heat wave. You can also use aegislash there for better mega diancie match-up.

3) Also, due to hail, sash on gengar is pretty irrelevant, so to counter aegi and spore inducers, safety goggles volcanion over arcanine with flamethrower to beat wide guard variants. So, now to finish off with a revenge killer life orb talonflame with quick guard to block random fake outs.

Sets::
Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Blizzard
- Giga Drain
- Ice Shard/Earthquake/Rock Slide
- Protect

Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 32 Atk / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Blizzard
- Earth Power/Iron Head/Dragon Claw

Jellicent @ Sitrus Berry/Safety Goggles
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Trick Room
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect/Recover

Conkeldurr @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Hammer Arm/Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch/Knock Off
- Wide Guard

Volcanion @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Heat Wave
- Protect
(You can maneuover the speed evs according to your need, I forgot any specific one)

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Quick Guard
- Protect

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

Sorry about changing the team so much man, but try it out and see. Best of luck ;).

 

[talkingtree]

Hey prooo, neat team you have here. Obviously some of the choices aren't the most generally viable, but I think I can see where you're going with it.

Since the team was built around the idea of fast Blizzspam with Aboma and Articuno, I'll leave those sets alone and work on the team from there. The first big issue is solid answers to sun, which is super important for a hail team. The last two members of your team also seem sort of out of place, so I think you would really benefit from using Choice Banded Gyarados > Mega Swampert and Mega Gengar > Gengar. Gyarados retains the role of strong Water-type that is so beneficial to Hail teams, while also adding a sun check due to its access to Stone Edge. Mega Gengar fits really well on weather teams as a way to trap opposing Weather setters and win the weather war, and also fixes the issue with having a Focus Sash that becomes useless in Hail. Then, since you already have an Intimidate user, Heatran > Arcanine further improves your sun matchup and gives some counterplay to TR in a bulky Substitute Steel. That also brings the number of Rock weaknesses back to 3 if you choose to make the Gyarados switch.

Aside from those mon changes, a few more small edits could really elevate this team to be more widely usable. Since Aboma isn't exactly bulky, Energy Ball > Giga Drain allows it to deal more damage. Adjusting your Articuno spread to 52 Def / 240 SpA / 216 Spe; Timid allows it to avoid the KO from Jolly Kang Double Edge, though obviously that will rarely matter so up to you whether to make the change. Thunder Wave > Snarl on Raikou provides the team more speed control options that you were worried about lacking, and does well with SubTran to allow it to be a lategame wincon.

I'm including sets + any necessary explanations for the updated team in the importable below, I hope some of my changes help!

Updated Sets

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Blizzard
- Energy Ball
- Ice Shard
- Protect

Articuno @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 52 Def / 240 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Hurricane
- U-turn

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 228 HP / 28 Def / 52 SpA / 200 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Protect
Took this spread from Level 51, allows Subs to live one hit from Jolly PuP or Sucker Punch Kang. However, I didn't feel this team needed max speed on Heatran so I opted for 52 SpA Modest in place of max speed Timid, which still outspeeds Bisharp. If you want another way to hit Zard, Ancient Power or Stone Edge are options over Sub but then obviously you'd need to use a different spread.

Raikou @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpD
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Steel]
- Thunder Wave
- Protect

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 24 HP / 68 Def / 164 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Standard moveset, but EV Spread lives Heatran Earth Power and Talonflame Brave Bird while maintaining max speed.

Gyarados @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Double-Edge
- Taunt / Crunch
Choice Band Gyara is super powerful, Speed outruns all Modest Heatran, moves are standard except last slot, which I made Taunt since you said you were weak to TR. Crunch is the only other option I'd consider over that, since Ice Fang provides really redundant coverage and EQ is weak with non-STAB and spread-reduced damage.

 

[Matame]

I've experimented a fair bit with articuno. Seems like a cool rain check and has workable bulk and offense. Arcanine is almost entirely outclassed and i'd recommend you go with Timid Shuca tran so you win tran mirrors and so your sun matchup isn't absolute ass. I feel Tree hit the nail on the head with the other sets tho. gl with your team it looks like a lot of fun

set

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 32 HP / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Protect

 

[Z Strats]

Hey prooo, neat team you have here. Obviously some of the choices aren't the most generally viable, but I think I can see where you're going with it.

Since the team was built around the idea of fast Blizzspam with Aboma and Articuno, I'll leave those sets alone and work on the team from there. The first big issue is solid answers to sun, which is super important for a hail team. The last two members of your team also seem sort of out of place, so I think you would really benefit from using Choice Banded Gyarados > Mega Swampert and Mega Gengar > Gengar. Gyarados retains the role of strong Water-type that is so beneficial to Hail teams, while also adding a sun check due to its access to Stone Edge. Mega Gengar fits really well on weather teams as a way to trap opposing Weather setters and win the weather war, and also fixes the issue with having a Focus Sash that becomes useless in Hail. Then, since you already have an Intimidate user, Heatran > Arcanine further improves your sun matchup and gives some counterplay to TR in a bulky Substitute Steel. That also brings the number of Rock weaknesses back to 3 if you choose to make the Gyarados switch.

Aside from those mon changes, a few more small edits could really elevate this team to be more widely usable. Since Aboma isn't exactly bulky, Energy Ball > Giga Drain allows it to deal more damage. Adjusting your Articuno spread to 52 Def / 240 SpA / 216 Spe; Timid allows it to avoid the KO from Jolly Kang Double Edge, though obviously that will rarely matter so up to you whether to make the change. Thunder Wave > Snarl on Raikou provides the team more speed control options that you were worried about lacking, and does well with SubTran to allow it to be a lategame wincon.

I'm including sets + any necessary explanations for the updated team in the importable below, I hope some of my changes help!

Updated Sets

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Blizzard
- Energy Ball
- Ice Shard
- Protect

Articuno @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 52 Def / 240 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Hurricane
- U-turn

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 228 HP / 28 Def / 52 SpA / 200 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Protect
Took this spread from Level 51, allows Subs to live one hit from Jolly PuP or Sucker Punch Kang. However, I didn't feel this team needed max speed on Heatran so I opted for 52 SpA Modest in place of max speed Timid, which still outspeeds Bisharp. If you want another way to hit Zard, Ancient Power or Stone Edge are options over Sub but then obviously you'd need to use a different spread.

Raikou @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpD
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Steel]
- Thunder Wave
- Protect

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 24 HP / 68 Def / 164 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Standard moveset, but EV Spread lives Heatran Earth Power and Talonflame Brave Bird while maintaining max speed.

Gyarados @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Double-Edge
- Taunt / Crunch
Choice Band Gyara is super powerful, Speed outruns all Modest Heatran, moves are standard except last slot, which I made Taunt since you said you were weak to TR. Crunch is the only other option I'd consider over that, since Ice Fang provides really redundant coverage and EQ is weak with non-STAB and spread-reduced damage.

Alright I'll try that when I get back thanks