So you want to get into Battle Spot Triples?
Of the Battle Spot ladders, Triples tends to be one of the more niche ladders. Because of this, there aren't nearly as many Battle Spot Triples analyses when compared to other Battle Spot analyses. However, Triple battles are in many ways, incredibly similar to Double battles, with a key difference: trainers send out three Pokemon instead of two. Because of this, in combination with this article, you can simply look at Battle Spot Doubles analyses, and adapt them to Battle Spot Triples!
Below are the mechanics and metagame quirks you need to know to get into Triples, and to use Doubles analyses to help you.
Mechanics
Placement and how it works
The key difference between Doubles and Triples is the metagame defining feature of placement. In triples, placement determines what Pokemon can attack. Take these key rules into account when crafting your battle plan.
-Pokemon can only attack foes that they are adjacent to. This means that Pokemon on the left can only hit Pokemon on the left and middle positions, Pokemon on the right can only hit Pokemon on the right and middle positions, and that Pokemon in the middle can attack any Pokemon.
-Spread moves still follow the above rule: they will only hit Pokemon adjacent to the user. This can be used to allow teammates to avoid spread moves such as Earthquake if they are separated by a middle Pokemon.
-Abilities that directly affect foes are also affected by placement. For example, Intimidate will only lower the attack of adjacent Pokemon.
Moves that ignore placement
There are some rare, valuable moves that ignore the regular placement rules: These moves can hit any Pokemon regardless of the Pokemon's positioning. Take these following moves into account when building a team, and when facing opponents.
-All Flying-type moves except for Air Cutter ignore placement. Note that this does not include Hidden Power Flying or Normal-type moves affected by Aerlilate.
-Moves affected by Mega Launcher avoid placement. These moves include Dark Pulse, Aura Sphere, Water Pulse, Dragon Pulse, and Heal Pulse. This is a major reason why Mega Blastoise is relevant, and why Clawitzer is viable in Battle Spot Triples.
Shifting Mechanics
Since placement is so important in Battle Spot Triples, its possible to change placement via the "shift" move. Pokemon on the corners can use shift to swap places with the Pokemon in the middle. This is an important tactic to avoid attacks and potentially set up late game sweeps for Pokemon that ignore placement such as Talonflame or Mega Blastoise. There are several mechanics to take into account regarding shifting.
-Much like switching, the Pokemon who shifts will be unable to attack that turn. However, Pokemon in the center that swaps places will still attack that turn. This can be especially useful for Pokemon that ignore placement but still function in the middle, such as Mega Blastoise.
-Unlike switching, shifting does not have priority: instead, shifting will take place depending on the corner Pokemon's Speed.
-Shifting will conserve a corner Pokemon's Fake Out, meaning that they can sucessfully use it the next turn if they shift on turn one. This can be a useful way for slower Pokemon to avoid getting blocked by faster Fake Outs.
6 Pokemon are used in this metagame
Unlike other Battle Spot metagames, Battle Spot Triples forces you to use your entire team. Because of this, common strategies in Battle Spot metagames such as using two Mega Evolutions and setting up "team modes" by choosing certain Pokemon aren't especially viable in this metagame.
Basic Metagame Strategies (not sure about the name lol)
There are certain metagame trends that have been in Battle Spot Triples since near the begining of the metagame, that are a reaction to the mechanics of triple battles.
Protect's affect on the metagame
Much like the Battle Spot Doubles metagame, Protect is a major aspect of Battle Spot Triples, and almost every non choiced Pokemon runs it. This is because if Protect is used at the right time, the Pokemon using it can save itself from serious harm, allowing its other two teammates to capitalize on it and punish the Pokemon that targeted the Protect user.
Guard moves and the ways to break them.
Much like Doubles metagames, spread attacks such as Earthquake are a major part of Battle Spot Triples. The ability for a Pokemon in the middle to hit all 3 opponents is a rewarding, game wining strategy that many teams employ. However, a common move exists to stop this strategy: Wide Guard. Wide Guard blocks spread attacks entirely, which cripples the offensive capabilities of many spread attackers as long as the Wide Guard user is on the field.
Priority attacks are also prominent like most metagames, and to stop them, many teams employ Quick Guard. This is especially important for Fake Out, which, like Doubles, is an extremely valuable way to control your opponent with flinches.
Because of Wide Guard and Quick Guard's ubiquity in Battle Spot Triples, its highly recommended that you carry a way to break guards to aid your spread attackers and priority users. There are two ways to break it.
Snatch : Snatch steals a guard move for your own team to benefit, and has the widest distribution of the two guard breakers. However, Snatch will steal the fastest guard, meaning that the opponent can use a different guard move on a faster Pokemon to keep their desired guard intact. Snatch can also steal your own guard as well.
Feint : Feint is a +3 priority attack that breaks Protect clones, Wide Guard, and Quick Guard. In the case of guards, it doesn't matter which Pokemon you pick as long as they are affected by it. Feint is the more reliable of the guard breakers, but has a smaller distribution.
Good Spread Attackers to consider: Sylveon, Landorus-T, Mega Charizard Y, Mega Blastoise, Heatran, Terrakion, Tyranitar, Excadrill, Mega Gardevoir, Jellicent, Kingdra, Mega Camerupt
Sylveon: Sylveon is most common spread attacker in the metagame. Pixilate Hyper Voice does a serious amount of damage when boosted by Choice Specs, and it also has a fairly strong Moonblast to use in the face of Wide Guard. Its slow for a spread attacker, but it benefits greatly from both Tailwind and Trick Room.
Landorus-T: Landorus-T is the 2nd most prominent spread attacker. Intimidate works great when Landorus-T is in the middle, cutting the attack of all active Pokemon on your opponent's side. Earthquake hits hard even when Landorus-T is equipped with a Choice Scarf, and Rock Slide is great for flinching Pokemon. However, note that Landorus-T struggles against Wide Guard, and needs Feint or Snatch support to take care of it.
Mega Charizard Y: Mega Charizard Y has the cost of using up a Mega Evolution slot, but makes up for it with its very powerful, sun-boosted Heat Waves. Solar Beam and Flamethrower still allow it to deal damage when Wide Guard is put up, and it even has the option of using Air Slash as a placement ignoring move. Drought is also unique for crippling Water-types. Just note that Mega Charizard Y is extremely weak to Rock Slide, so it will usually need Wide Guard support itself. If you are using Mega Charizard Y with Terrakion, note that it also makes a fine user of Beat Up.
Mega Blastoise: Mega Blastoise has access to Water Spout, which makes it an extremely powerful spread attacker, especially under the rain. It works on both Tailwind and Trick Room teams, but note that Water Spout is very time limited compared to other spread moves due to its reliance on Mega Blastoise's health. Thankfully, Mega Blastoise's access to Mega Launcher, Aura Sphere, and Dark Pulse ensure that it will have a use when its lost health.
Heatran: Heatran has an excellent defensive typing that makes it 4x resistant to Sylveon's Hyper Voice, and make it among the few Fire-types to not be weak to Rock Slide. It has access to powerful Heat Waves, and can use Flamethrower to hit Wide Guard Aegislash hard, but note that its weakness to Earthquake is a problem without Wide Guard support of your own.
Terrakion: Rock Slide might not be a powerful STAB attack on its own, but thanks to its flinch chance, it can be very deadly. Terrakion is also unique for having the ability Justified, which boosts attack when hit by a Dark-type attack. This can make Terrakion terrifyingly powerful when paired with a Beat Up user such as Whimsicott, since then it can smash through teams with a +5 Rock Slide!
Tyranitar: Tyranitar is one of the slower spread attakers, but its ability to whip up Sandstorms makes it fairly bulky. With a Choice Band, Tyranitar's Rock Slide deal good damage, and it becomes especially dangerous if given speed support from Tailwind or Trick Room. Its also notable for enabling the use of another spread attacker, Excadrill, thanks to Sand Rush.
Excadrill: Excadrill is a weather based spread attacker. While it doesn't get an attack boost from Sandstorm, Life Orb Earthquake does more damage than Choice Scarf Landorus-T's Earthquake by a wide margin, and its faster while the Sandstorm rages on. While its rather frail, Excadrill's resistance to Brave Bird is a big help against Talonflame, and its STAB Iron Head allows it to smash through Sylveon even when facing Wide Guard support.
Mega Gardevoir: Mega Gardevoir's Hyper Voice isn't as strikingly powerful as Sylveon's, but Mega Gardevoir has some key advantages over Sylveon. First and foremost, Mega Gardevoir is much faster than Sylveon, outspeeding important threats such as Landorus-T that lack Choice Scarf. Mega Gardevoir also has access to the rare support move Imprison, which allows it to lock away Protects and opposing Hyper Voices, which is useful against Sylveon.
Jellicent: Jellicent may have a low Special Attack stat for a spread attacker, but it makes up for this with having access to the powerful Water Spout. To sweeten the deal, Jellicent is one of the only viable spread attackers to have Trick Room and Recover, keeping Water Spout in high power often.'
Kingdra: Kingdra is a rain based spread attacker, becoming very fast and powerful thanks to Swift Swim. Unlike most Pokemon used in rain, Kingdra can us Muddy Water, which doesn't hit your teammates unlike Surf. It also has access to Dragon Pulse for attacking without regards to placement.
Mega Camerupt: With Eruption and a powerful, Sheer Force boosted Heat Wave, Mega Camerupt stands out as one of the most powerful spread attackers of Battle Spot Triples. Its extremely slow, which means its usually found on Trick Room teams. Its often used with Sunny Day Meowstic so it can function against Rain teams and deal even more damage with its Fire-type attacks.
Good priority attackers to consider: Talonflame, Scizor, Mega Kangaskhan, Bisharp
Talonflame:
Scizor / Mega Scizor:
Mega Kangaskhan:
Bisharp:
Good Fake Out users to consider: Mega Kangaskhan, Meowstic, Hitmontop, Ludicolo, Mega Blastoise, Hariyama, Mienshao, Smeargle,
Good Wide Guard users to consider: Hitmontop, Aegislash, Hariyama, Mieanshao, Smeargle
Good Quick Guard users to consider: Talonflame, Meowstic, Hitmontop, Terrakion, Crobat, Mienshao, Smeargle
Good Snatch users to consider: Talonflame, Meowstic, Gothitelle, Clefairy, Rotom-W
Good Feint users to consider: Hitmontop, Hariyama, Mienshao, Scizor
Speed Control (Tailwind and Trick Room)
The extra Pokemon Triples has over Doubles makes the metagame rife with support Pokemon, and few aspects highlight this more than the speed control aspect of the metagame. Since Triples is so fast paced, using a move dedicated towards changing the speed of your team is so highly desirable, that almost no team goes without some form of Speed control. There are moves such as Icy Wind that lower speed, and Thunder Wave which causes paraylsis, but the two most common forms of speed control are Tailwind and Trick Room.
Tailwind: Tailwind is the most common form of Speed control, doubling the speed of all your teammates for four turns. It's an extremely flexible and widely distributed move among Flying-types, and is a move that almost all normal teams should consider slotting in on one of their six Pokemon, especially since otherwise, opposing Tailwind users will leave your team in the dust.
Trick Room: Trick Room is a bit more specialized than Tailwind, making slower Pokemon move first for five turns. Trick Room's more specalized nature often forces teams to change their structure to accomodate it, but it does have a massive pay off. It can ruin teams based around Speed and Tailwind, and has the bonus of being able to carry bulky attackers like Mega Mawile. Note that while Trick Room encourages slow, bulky attackers, not every member of a Trick Room team needs to be slow. For example, many Trick Room teams have Talonflame for its priority Brave Bird, and some have a Choice Scarf user to take advantage of the times Trick Room has run out.
Good users of Tailwind to consider: Talonflame, Whimsicott, Mega Charizard Y, Mega Salamence, Hydreigon, Zapdos, Togekiss, Crobat
Talonflame - Talonflame is one of the most common and versatile Tailwind users around. It's able to ignore placement with a priority Brave Bird, set up Quick Guard to help against priority attacks, Taunt to stop opposing Trick Rooms and Tailwinds, and it even take guards itself with Snatch. Gale Wings also gives it priority, making its Tailwinds hard to stop.
Whimsicott - Whimsicott also has priority on Tailwind, but unlike Talonflame, Whimsicott's Prankster gives it priority on all non status moves. Whimsicott is great at stopping opposing Tailwinds and Trick Rooms with a priority Taunt, and it has access Encore, which further punishes foes for using support moves or Protect. Whimsicott is unique among Speed controllers in having Beat Up, which can be used to set up Terrakion.
Good users of Trick Room to consider: Meowstic, Gothitelle, Jellicent, Cresselia, Gengar, Chandelure, Dusclops, Aromatisse
Meowstic - Meowstic is unique among many Trick Room users, as it has a wide support movepool and access to Prankster. While its one of the less bulky Trick Roomers, it can use Fake Out to support the team, Snatch to steal guards, its own Quick Guard to stop priority attacks, and it has access to priority Safeguard to stop Dark Void.
Cresselia - is one of the bulkiest users of Trick Room around, and has access to the incredible Levitate ability to make itself immune to Earthquake. They can run a Lum Berry and Safeguard to fight against Dark Void, and can use Skill Swap to give Levitate to Ground weak Pokemon such as Heatran and Bisharp. It also has Helping Hand to further support the offensive Pokemon of Trick Room by increasing the power of their attacks.
Niche users of Trick Room
Kecleon - Kecleon has a unique movepool and ability in Protean to add to the Trick Room mix. Like Meowstic, it has Fake Out to support the team, and it also has the more reliable Feint for breaking guards. Unique among Trick Room users is Foul Play, which combined with Protean, makes it among the few Trick Room users able to OHKO Aegislash. Kecleon can also use Protean Rock Slide to deal heavy damage to Talonflame. However, Kecleon's physical bulk is rather low for a Trick Room user, and its initial Fighting-type weakness is a problem against Hitmontop and Hariyama.
Placement Ignoring Pokemon and Redirection Moves
5. Weather
6. Shadow Tag and Perish Song
Major Pokemon Specific strategies
There are some unique Pokemon in that, taking advantage of Battle Spot Triple's unique mechanics, can have a major impact on the metagame with one obscure move or ability.
1. Smeargle's Dark Void
2. Greninja's Mat Block
3. Mega Gardevoir's Imprison
4. Clefairy and Jigglypuff's Friend Guard
Of the Battle Spot ladders, Triples tends to be one of the more niche ladders. Because of this, there aren't nearly as many Battle Spot Triples analyses when compared to other Battle Spot analyses. However, Triple battles are in many ways, incredibly similar to Double battles, with a key difference: trainers send out three Pokemon instead of two. Because of this, in combination with this article, you can simply look at Battle Spot Doubles analyses, and adapt them to Battle Spot Triples!
Below are the mechanics and metagame quirks you need to know to get into Triples, and to use Doubles analyses to help you.
Mechanics
Placement and how it works
The key difference between Doubles and Triples is the metagame defining feature of placement. In triples, placement determines what Pokemon can attack. Take these key rules into account when crafting your battle plan.
-Pokemon can only attack foes that they are adjacent to. This means that Pokemon on the left can only hit Pokemon on the left and middle positions, Pokemon on the right can only hit Pokemon on the right and middle positions, and that Pokemon in the middle can attack any Pokemon.
-Spread moves still follow the above rule: they will only hit Pokemon adjacent to the user. This can be used to allow teammates to avoid spread moves such as Earthquake if they are separated by a middle Pokemon.
-Abilities that directly affect foes are also affected by placement. For example, Intimidate will only lower the attack of adjacent Pokemon.
Moves that ignore placement
There are some rare, valuable moves that ignore the regular placement rules: These moves can hit any Pokemon regardless of the Pokemon's positioning. Take these following moves into account when building a team, and when facing opponents.
-All Flying-type moves except for Air Cutter ignore placement. Note that this does not include Hidden Power Flying or Normal-type moves affected by Aerlilate.
-Moves affected by Mega Launcher avoid placement. These moves include Dark Pulse, Aura Sphere, Water Pulse, Dragon Pulse, and Heal Pulse. This is a major reason why Mega Blastoise is relevant, and why Clawitzer is viable in Battle Spot Triples.
Shifting Mechanics
Since placement is so important in Battle Spot Triples, its possible to change placement via the "shift" move. Pokemon on the corners can use shift to swap places with the Pokemon in the middle. This is an important tactic to avoid attacks and potentially set up late game sweeps for Pokemon that ignore placement such as Talonflame or Mega Blastoise. There are several mechanics to take into account regarding shifting.
-Much like switching, the Pokemon who shifts will be unable to attack that turn. However, Pokemon in the center that swaps places will still attack that turn. This can be especially useful for Pokemon that ignore placement but still function in the middle, such as Mega Blastoise.
-Unlike switching, shifting does not have priority: instead, shifting will take place depending on the corner Pokemon's Speed.
-Shifting will conserve a corner Pokemon's Fake Out, meaning that they can sucessfully use it the next turn if they shift on turn one. This can be a useful way for slower Pokemon to avoid getting blocked by faster Fake Outs.
6 Pokemon are used in this metagame
Unlike other Battle Spot metagames, Battle Spot Triples forces you to use your entire team. Because of this, common strategies in Battle Spot metagames such as using two Mega Evolutions and setting up "team modes" by choosing certain Pokemon aren't especially viable in this metagame.
Basic Metagame Strategies (not sure about the name lol)
There are certain metagame trends that have been in Battle Spot Triples since near the begining of the metagame, that are a reaction to the mechanics of triple battles.
Protect's affect on the metagame
Much like the Battle Spot Doubles metagame, Protect is a major aspect of Battle Spot Triples, and almost every non choiced Pokemon runs it. This is because if Protect is used at the right time, the Pokemon using it can save itself from serious harm, allowing its other two teammates to capitalize on it and punish the Pokemon that targeted the Protect user.
Guard moves and the ways to break them.
Much like Doubles metagames, spread attacks such as Earthquake are a major part of Battle Spot Triples. The ability for a Pokemon in the middle to hit all 3 opponents is a rewarding, game wining strategy that many teams employ. However, a common move exists to stop this strategy: Wide Guard. Wide Guard blocks spread attacks entirely, which cripples the offensive capabilities of many spread attackers as long as the Wide Guard user is on the field.
Priority attacks are also prominent like most metagames, and to stop them, many teams employ Quick Guard. This is especially important for Fake Out, which, like Doubles, is an extremely valuable way to control your opponent with flinches.
Because of Wide Guard and Quick Guard's ubiquity in Battle Spot Triples, its highly recommended that you carry a way to break guards to aid your spread attackers and priority users. There are two ways to break it.
Snatch : Snatch steals a guard move for your own team to benefit, and has the widest distribution of the two guard breakers. However, Snatch will steal the fastest guard, meaning that the opponent can use a different guard move on a faster Pokemon to keep their desired guard intact. Snatch can also steal your own guard as well.
Feint : Feint is a +3 priority attack that breaks Protect clones, Wide Guard, and Quick Guard. In the case of guards, it doesn't matter which Pokemon you pick as long as they are affected by it. Feint is the more reliable of the guard breakers, but has a smaller distribution.
Good Spread Attackers to consider: Sylveon, Landorus-T, Mega Charizard Y, Mega Blastoise, Heatran, Terrakion, Tyranitar, Excadrill, Mega Gardevoir, Jellicent, Kingdra, Mega Camerupt
Good priority attackers to consider: Talonflame, Scizor, Mega Kangaskhan, Bisharp
Good Fake Out users to consider: Mega Kangaskhan, Meowstic, Hitmontop, Ludicolo, Mega Blastoise, Hariyama, Mienshao, Smeargle,
Good Wide Guard users to consider: Hitmontop, Aegislash, Hariyama, Mieanshao, Smeargle
Good Quick Guard users to consider: Talonflame, Meowstic, Hitmontop, Terrakion, Crobat, Mienshao, Smeargle
Good Snatch users to consider: Talonflame, Meowstic, Gothitelle, Clefairy, Rotom-W
Good Feint users to consider: Hitmontop, Hariyama, Mienshao, Scizor
Speed Control (Tailwind and Trick Room)
The extra Pokemon Triples has over Doubles makes the metagame rife with support Pokemon, and few aspects highlight this more than the speed control aspect of the metagame. Since Triples is so fast paced, using a move dedicated towards changing the speed of your team is so highly desirable, that almost no team goes without some form of Speed control. There are moves such as Icy Wind that lower speed, and Thunder Wave which causes paraylsis, but the two most common forms of speed control are Tailwind and Trick Room.
Tailwind: Tailwind is the most common form of Speed control, doubling the speed of all your teammates for four turns. It's an extremely flexible and widely distributed move among Flying-types, and is a move that almost all normal teams should consider slotting in on one of their six Pokemon, especially since otherwise, opposing Tailwind users will leave your team in the dust.
Trick Room: Trick Room is a bit more specialized than Tailwind, making slower Pokemon move first for five turns. Trick Room's more specalized nature often forces teams to change their structure to accomodate it, but it does have a massive pay off. It can ruin teams based around Speed and Tailwind, and has the bonus of being able to carry bulky attackers like Mega Mawile. Note that while Trick Room encourages slow, bulky attackers, not every member of a Trick Room team needs to be slow. For example, many Trick Room teams have Talonflame for its priority Brave Bird, and some have a Choice Scarf user to take advantage of the times Trick Room has run out.
Good users of Tailwind to consider: Talonflame, Whimsicott, Mega Charizard Y, Mega Salamence, Hydreigon, Zapdos, Togekiss, Crobat
Talonflame - Talonflame is one of the most common and versatile Tailwind users around. It's able to ignore placement with a priority Brave Bird, set up Quick Guard to help against priority attacks, Taunt to stop opposing Trick Rooms and Tailwinds, and it even take guards itself with Snatch. Gale Wings also gives it priority, making its Tailwinds hard to stop.
Whimsicott - Whimsicott also has priority on Tailwind, but unlike Talonflame, Whimsicott's Prankster gives it priority on all non status moves. Whimsicott is great at stopping opposing Tailwinds and Trick Rooms with a priority Taunt, and it has access Encore, which further punishes foes for using support moves or Protect. Whimsicott is unique among Speed controllers in having Beat Up, which can be used to set up Terrakion.
Good users of Trick Room to consider: Meowstic, Gothitelle, Jellicent, Cresselia, Gengar, Chandelure, Dusclops, Aromatisse
Meowstic - Meowstic is unique among many Trick Room users, as it has a wide support movepool and access to Prankster. While its one of the less bulky Trick Roomers, it can use Fake Out to support the team, Snatch to steal guards, its own Quick Guard to stop priority attacks, and it has access to priority Safeguard to stop Dark Void.
Cresselia - is one of the bulkiest users of Trick Room around, and has access to the incredible Levitate ability to make itself immune to Earthquake. They can run a Lum Berry and Safeguard to fight against Dark Void, and can use Skill Swap to give Levitate to Ground weak Pokemon such as Heatran and Bisharp. It also has Helping Hand to further support the offensive Pokemon of Trick Room by increasing the power of their attacks.
Niche users of Trick Room
Kecleon - Kecleon has a unique movepool and ability in Protean to add to the Trick Room mix. Like Meowstic, it has Fake Out to support the team, and it also has the more reliable Feint for breaking guards. Unique among Trick Room users is Foul Play, which combined with Protean, makes it among the few Trick Room users able to OHKO Aegislash. Kecleon can also use Protean Rock Slide to deal heavy damage to Talonflame. However, Kecleon's physical bulk is rather low for a Trick Room user, and its initial Fighting-type weakness is a problem against Hitmontop and Hariyama.
Placement Ignoring Pokemon and Redirection Moves
5. Weather
6. Shadow Tag and Perish Song
Major Pokemon Specific strategies
There are some unique Pokemon in that, taking advantage of Battle Spot Triple's unique mechanics, can have a major impact on the metagame with one obscure move or ability.
1. Smeargle's Dark Void
2. Greninja's Mat Block
3. Mega Gardevoir's Imprison
4. Clefairy and Jigglypuff's Friend Guard
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