SM Doubles OU Cute But Deadly

[Crocovyle]

​

Hi everyone! I've been into battling for years, but I've only just gotten into Doubles, and I'm a bit unsure of if this team I've created is any good. It's worked decently in battles I've done (60/40 in terms of wins/losses), but I definitely think there's some improvements to be made. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :D

Gengar (M) @ Gengarite (

)
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Disable
- Protect ​

In addition to Gengar's insane damage output, it can be a nuisance to the enemy. So far it's been especially good against Fairy-type Pokémon, with Sludge Bomb as good as melting them in most cases. For enemy teams that also have a Whimsicott, Gengar is a good way of dealing with them. Disable is used to counter some of the more annoying moves - damaging or not - to ensure they don't keep getting used against me. Protect can often work to buy an extra turn or two, which is especially useful when Sludge Bomb has left an enemy poisoned.

Whimsicott (F) @ Focus Sash (

)
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Encore
- Tailwind
- Giga Drain ​

Whimsicott is a great for starting battles, often getting in a Taunt to prevent the opponent from setting up, and then using Tailwind to ensure we've got a speed boost. Prankster does a great job at making sure it can do this quickly, without getting hit first. I haven't really had a chance to use Encore yet, but the option is there should I need it. Giga Drain is used to deal some damage after it's managed to use its other moves. I'm considering changing it to Moonblast though, because a good few times it's been beaten it was by Dragon-types.

Azumarill (F) @ Sitrus Berry (

)
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Play Rough
- Belly Drum
- Ice Punch ​

Paired with Raichu to keep it protected from Electric-type attacks, Azumarill is the Pokémon on this team that can deal the most damage due to its insane Attack stat after the maximum boost from Belly Drum. It's usually able to take a hit or two as well, and when combined with Whimsicott's Tailwind it doesn't give slower Pokémon much of a chance of fighting back. With some decent coverage, it's able to land at least a neutral hit on lots of Pokémon. More often than not, it's what carries my team in the battles that go well.

Raichu (M)
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Volt Tackle
- Fake Out
- Encore
- Nuzzle ​

Raichu has turned out to be surprisingly quick in battle, often being able to quickly paralyse Pokémon with Nuzzle whilst also dealing a bit of damage. Fake Out is always useful, and when paired with Azumarill it makes it so Belly Drum is easier to pull off without Azumarill instantly being defeated. I went for Volt Tackle over Thunderbolt to keep it as a Physical attacker, and it's done well so far. Lightning Rod might not be Raichu's best ability, but it works extremely well with Azumarill. Apparently I'd forgotten to give him an item, so if there's suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Ferrothorn (F) @ Leftovers (

)
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Atk / 84 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect ​

What's surprised me the most about Ferrothorn is just how much damage it can do. Though it's a solid wall for anything that's not a Fire or Fighting-type, it's actually a decent damage dealer every other turn when I can't use Protect. In its defensive role it's great too, with Leech Seed helping deal with some of the Pokémon that are harder to beat. Protect gives an extra turn for Leech Seed to drain away at their health. Iron Barbs helps get some bonus damage in as well when it comes to Physical attackers.

Incineroar (M) @ Expert Belt (

)
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat
- Drain Punch
- Leech Life ​

Incineroar's role on this team is to deliver lots of damage to Pokémon of different types, and it does a very good job of it. I chose Drain Punch over Cross Chop because of the higher accuracy and healing, so with that and Leech Life it's able to do a lot of damage and get some good recovery too. The Expert Belt helps it get that little bit of extra damage in on Super Effective moves, which is why its obscene amount of coverage is so important. Intimidate is a good ability too, as it's able to weaken enemy Pokemon that might have gotten a couple of raised stats by that point.

There's definitely some improvements to be made, I'm just wondering which parts are worth removing and what should be added instead. The only thing that can't be added is Legendaries, because this team is for a Showdown tournament with some friends, but we've banned Legendaries. Anything else is fair game. Any help would be amazing, thank you in advance! :)

 

[HeatEdgeSword]

Hello there! It seems like you get the hang of Doubles, so good on that! Still, it's best to give most of your Pokemon the move Protect unless they are holding any choice item or assault vest. Also, do note that I will be suggesting Legendary Pokemon as they don't automatically mean they will too powerful, just having a higher chance of being good thanks to their high overall stats. Take Regice, Articuno, and Silvally as examples of Legendary Pokemon that aren't good.

And here's the rest of my suggestions.

Replace Disable with Taunt

Taunt is the best pick for Mega Gengar as it prevents its foes from using their status move before they could. Useful for preventing Trick Room.

However, there's a suspect test going on for Mega Gengar right now, so I might suggest you replace it with other Mega Pokemon (preferably Mega Manectric) in case of Mega Gengar ended up getting banned.

Replace Taunt with Protect

While Taunt is good, Encore is enough for Whimsicott. And there aren't many situations where Whimsicott can Encore its foe from repeating using its status move, then Taunt so they can only Struggle for a certain amount of turns. Again, Protect

Alternatively, you can choose to replace Encore with Protect instead.

Replace Giga Drain with Moonblast

Moonblast having higher power with better coverage makes it a more ideal choice than Giga Drain. Whismicott doesn't have the time to heal either.

Replace Azumarill with Kommo-O or Zygarde

Azumarill isn't in a good position in Doubles OU right now, so I will suggest these two. They both pair relatively well with Mega Gengar and they fulfill the role of Azumarill as a set-up sweeper. The former can set-up while simultaneously dish out heavy damage with Clangorous Soulblaze while the latter has a fantastic coverage in Thousand Arrows.

As for Incineroar, I'm not a big fan of it as the main appeal of it is Fake Out, taking that away just seems odd. I'm going to make some significant changes for Incineroar.

Incineroar:
Expert Belt > Assault Vest
Darkest Lariat > Knock Off
Drain Punch > Fake Out
Leech Life > U-turn

Knock Off is chosen over Darkest Lariat as item removal is much more favorable and encountering a Pokemon with a boosted Defense stat is rare.
While you may be questioning why I replace a Bug-type attack with a weaker one, U-turn provides a safe switch in for anything frail.

I will leave that to the rest, especially regarding your Raichu. Probably later though.

 

[Crocovyle]

Thank you for the advice, that's really helpful! Taunt would definitely work on Gengar, and then I can easily replace Whimsicott's Taunt with Protect because there'll still be a Taunter on the field early on. Moonblast almost definitely seems like the better option now, Giga Drain's let me down a lot of times by this point. Out of those two Azumarill replacements, I'd have to go for Kommo-O, if only because we're not doing legendaries, but it's been a pain to fight against, so that's definitely something I'll look into! And I didn't know Fake Out was Incineroar's niche, so I'll throw that in there now. The other move recommendations are good too, I was in sore need of someone with Knock Off. Thank you so much!