Doubles Blastoise

[Idyll]

[OVERVIEW]

With a kit tailor-made for enabling partners, Blastoise stands out as DOU's definitive pure support pick. Access to all of Fake Out, Follow Me, and a pivot move in Flip Turn makes Blastoise incredibly effective at controlling the board and generating space for teammates to operate. Its respectable defenses leave it quite adept at soaking up attacks for its team; its pure-Water typing can be a mixed bag, though, only truly vulnerable to Grass-types such as Rillaboom and Kartana but giving little in meaningful resistances. Blastoise generally fits best in fast, aggressive teams that feature threatening setup sweepers such as Dragon Dance Dragapult, Nasty Plot Spectrier, and Quiver Dance Volcarona. While Blastoise does compete with Amoonguss as a redirector and Tapu Fini as a bulky Water-type, it can be a better fit for borderline hyper offensive compositions hat prefer its dynamic, positioning-oriented arsenal over slow, controlling utility of Amoonguss's Spore and Tapu Fini's terrain control. Most glaringly, though, Blastoise's focus on sponging hits can let strong attackers like Kartana and Zygarde simply overwhelm it or ignore the redirection; its lack of any offensive presence whatsoever means its partners must be threatening enough to make the support count.

[SET]
name: Follow Me Support
move 1: Fake Out
move 2: Follow Me
move 3: Flip Turn
move 4: Toxic / Roar
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Torrent
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

* Fake Out and Follow Me let Blastoise keep its team safe, making them its primary tools for providing support.

* Flip Turn lets Blastoise act as a pivot, utilizing its bulk and relatively low Speed to effectively provide safe switches for teammates; it also makes Fake Out available again for later.

* Toxic pressures bulky threats such as Porygon2 and Kyurem-B, making up for Blastoise's lack of offensive presence, while Roar can be quite nifty for phazing and denying Trick Room setups.

* The EV spread is primarily focused on Defense to help Blastoise deal with the likes of Urshifu-R, Rillaboom, and Kyurem-B much more reliably, with the investment in its special bulk, in conjunction with its Sitrus Berry, handily letting it survive two Expanding Forces from Necrozma in Psychic Terrain.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Safety Goggles is one of the best alternatives on Blastoise purely for countering Amoonguss ineffective alongside Follow Me as Spore gets rendered ineffective. Rindo Berry can also be useful for Kartana and Rillaboom; Blastoise surviving a hit from these threats can give teammates game-changing extra safety. Blastoise also has more niche alternatives for its fourth move in Helping Hand, Icy Wind, and Life Dew.

- Written by: [[Memoric, 215000]]
- Quality checked by: [[zeefable, 501951], [emma, 294304]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finalnd, 517429]]

 

[zee]

I'm sure you know already but this is really good work!

"Most glaringly, though, while Blastoise excels at keeping teammates safe and secure, it itself has no offensive presence whatsoever, making it vital that they're threatening enough to make it count."

I'd imagine "they're" is referring to teammates here, but it wasn't entirely clear to me even after reading a few times. even something as simple as calling them "partners" would really help here

"* Flip Turn lets Blastoise act as a pivot as it can utilize its bulk and Speed that often leaves it moving around last in a turn to effectively provide safe switches for teammates, with the possibility of having Fake Out live again at a later point in a game."

I'd emphasize that this is rather a lack of speed or something. minor nitpick but I think it's a bit better for clarity.

Yawn is a pretty cool move, it's nice for having something else in the box that can punish its partner's checks. I feel like it's worth a mention in the OO list.

QC 1/2!

 

[emma]

Incredible job! Not only is the content fantastic, but your writing ability is suburb.

[OVERVIEW]

• "Blastoise can be a better fit for borderline hyper offensive compositions"
  • I agree with your point here, but I would maybe reword hyper offense to set-up spam or set-up offense? Offense (right now at least) is usually some variation of Z Strat's team which Blastoise never finds its way on. Furthermore, if we think back on the teams Blastoise has excelled on (your Spectrier, shrop's DD Dragapult + QD Volcarona), I think labeling the archetype as set-up is more accurate. Of course, this is an incredibly minor point and something that might change as the metagame shifts again, so maybe it's better off keeping?
• Mention how Blastoise faces competition from Tapu Fini as your bulky Water-type as choice, with the latter being better on more slow-paced / balance-oriented teams.
  • Perhaps: "...while Blastoise does compete with Amoonguss as a redirector and Tapu Fini as a Water-type, Blastoise can be a better fit for set-up offense compositions that prefer the dynamism its positioning-oriented arsenal brings over the more slow controlling utility of Amoonguss's Spore and Tapu Fini's terrain control."
• Add a line at the end mentioning how Blastoise can be overwhelmed by strong attackers -- Rillaboom + Kartana, strong spread moves from Heatran and Zygarde that it can't redirect. This is key as to why Blastoise has dropped in viability recently.

[SET]

• Remove the secondary EV Spread -- Grassy Terrain is too commonly up and Kartana can always just land a critical hit for the OHKO.

QC 2/2

 

[Adeleine]

Add/Fix Remove Comment
(AC): Add Comma

Hide

[OVERVIEW]

With a kit tailor-made for enabling partners, Blastoise stands out as DOU's definitive pure support pick. Access to all of Fake Out, Follow Me, and a pivot move in Flip Turn makes Blastoise incredibly effective at controlling the board and generating space for teammates to operate. Meanwhile, Its respectable 79 / 100 / 105 defenses leave it quite adept at soaking in up attacks for its team; its pure Water-typing pure-Water typing can be a mixed bag, though, as while it gives Blastoise little in meaningful resistances, it's also only truly vulnerable to Grass-types such as Rillaboom and Kartana (removed period) but giving little in meaningful resistances. Blastoise generally fits best in fast, aggressive teams that feature threatening setup (collapsed hyphen) sweepers such as Dragon Dance Dragapult, Nasty Plot Spectrier, and Quiver Dance Volcarona. (semicolon -> period) While Blastoise does compete with Amoonguss as a redirector and Tapu Fini as a bulky Water-type, Blastoise it can be a better fit for borderline hyper offensive compositions packing dangerous set-up sweepers that prefer the dynamism Blastoise's positioning-oriented arsenal brings over the more slow controlling utility of Amoonguss's Spore and Tapu Fini's terrain control. Most glaringly, though, while Blastoise excels at keeping teammates safe and secure, its focus on purely sponging hits can leave it exploited by strong attackers such as Kartana and Zygarde, which can simply overwhelm it with damage or ignore the redirection that prefer its dynamic, positioning-oriented arsenal over slow, controlling utility. Most glaringly, though, Blastoise's focus on sponging hits can let strong attackers like Kartana and Zygarde simply overwhelm it or ignore the redirection; its lack of any offensive presence whatsoever means it is vital that its partners are its partners must be threatening enough to make the support count.

[SET]
name: Follow Me Support
move 1: Fake Out
move 2: Follow Me
move 3: Flip Turn
move 4: Toxic / Roar
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Torrent
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

* Fake Out and Follow Me let Blastoise keep its team safe by making foes flnch and taking hits for teammates, making them its primary tools for providing support.

* Flip Turn lets Blastoise act as a pivot, (AC) as it can utilize its bulk and relatively low Speed which often leaves it moving around last in a turn to effectively provide safe switches for teammates, with the possibility of having Fake Out available again at a later point in a game. utilizing its bulk and relatively low Speed to effectively provide safe switches for teammates; it also makes Fake Out available again for later.

* Toxic is a handy option that provides Blastoise with a tool for pressuring pressures bulky threats such as Porygon2 and Kyurem-B, making up for Blastoise's lack of offensive presence, while Roar can be quite nifty for phazing and denying Trick Room setups.

* The EV spread is primarily focused on Defense to help Blastoise deal with the likes of Urshifu-R, Rillaboom, and Kyurem-B much more reliably, with the investment on in its special bulk, in conjunction with its Sitrus Berry, handily letting it survive two Expanding Forces (visibility note) from Necrozma in Psychic Terrain.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Safety Goggles is one of the best alternatives on Blastoise purely for countering Amoonguss, rendering it ineffective as Blastoise can simply redirect towards itself some rendered-futile Spores. Rindo Berry can also be useful for dealing with Kartana and Rillaboom, the ability to unexpectedly survive a hit from these threats potentially gamechanging as it may let Blastoise keep its partner safe for longer than expected. Blastoise also has more niche alternatives for its fourth move; Helping Hand can be handy for providing partners the ability to unexpectedly burst down a foe, Icy Wind can be a useful speed control tool, and Life Dew can be nifty for cheekily giving Blastoise and its partner some extra health. rendering Amoonguss ineffective alongside Follow Me. Rindo Berry can also be useful for Kartana and Rillaboom; Blastoise surviving a hit from these threats can give teammates game-changing extra safety. Blastoise also has more niche alternatives for its fourth move in Helping Hand, Icy Wind, and Life Dew.

- Written by: (added starting bracket) [[Memoric, 215000]]
- Quality checked by: [[zeefable, 501951], [emma, 294304]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]

1/1, lmk if i condensed or reworded something that makes important things missing or things incorrect

 

[Idyll]

implemented. kept the first phrase on OV sentence 1 because its important to highlight what toise actually does as a thesis statement. kept the mention on the spore interaction with safety goggles because the mechanic is not as much of common knowledge as it was before

uploading in a hot minute