Pokémon Doublade

[Halliday]

Doublade


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Doublade is the pre-evolution of Aegislash, and is notable for it's enormous defense stat coupled with it's ability to run the item eviolite.

Note: Thread will be updated with information as it comes out.

Pokedex Number - [#]
Type(s) - Ghost / Steel
Base Stats* - 52-68 / 105-121 / 141-157 / 36-52 / 35-51 / 34-49

Abilities
Ability 1 - [No Guard]: All moves have a 100% chance of hitting, even through accuracy modifiers. Opponent's moves do that same against this pokemon.
Lv<11 - Tackle-Prevo
Lv<11 - Swords Dance-Prevo
Lv<11 - Fury Cutter-Prevo
Lv<11 - Metal Sound-Prevo
Lv13 - Pursuit-Prevo
Lv18 - Autotomize-Prevo
Lv20 - Shadow Sneak-Prevo
Lv22 - Aerial Ace-Prevo
Lv26 - Retaliate-Prevo
Lv32 - Iron Defense-Prevo
Lv35 - Night Slash-Prevo
Lv45 - Iron Head
Lv51 - Sacred Sword

TM & HM Compatibility
TM17 - Protect
TM27 - Return
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM54 - False Swipe
TM65 - Shadow Claw
TM74 - Gyro Ball
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM94 - Rock Smash
TM - Brick Break
HM - Cut
- Egg MovesNone mentioned in research thread for now.
- New moves

Doublade is one of the more interesting pokemon of XY. Although it is not as hyped as it's evolution, Aegislash, it is just as, if not more, viable. The reason for this is the item Eviolite, which raises it's physical bulk to insane levels, doing astonishing things such as being able to tank a V-create from Victini, with enough investment. As shown by pokemon like Aggron and Bastiodon, a pokemon needs a good typing, as well as bulk, in order to be viable. Fortunately for Doublade, this is in fact the case, it's great typing giving it a plethora of resists, and weaknesses to four types. All is not great with it's typing though, as ground, fire, and ghost attacks are very likely to be extremely popular this generation with threats such as Talonflame, Mega Garchomp, and (Mega) Gengar existing.

Potential Movesets
1. Swords Dance Doublade (shut up, I'm not creative)
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Shadow Sneak
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Night Slash / Gyro Ball
ability: No Guard
item: Eviolite
nature: Brave +Atk, -Def
evs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Def
IVs: 0 Spe

This set specializes in using Doublade's extreme physical bulk in order to set up with swords dance, and sweep the opponent's team. After one dance, Doublade's attacks are extremely powerful, capable of threatening both offense and stall alike. The main moves in this set are Shadow Sneak and Sacred Sword, as together, they grand Doublade perfect neutral coverage in two moves. The fourth slot is preserved for extra STAB, as Doublade enjoys both the power, and the ability to cover extra threats with it's moves, with night slash hitting bulkier ghosts and psychics, while Gyro grants it better coverage against fairies, as well as being extremely strong.. Eviolite is standard on Doublade, as without it, it is completely outclassed by Aegislash. It's ability No Guard is more of detriment than a boon at this point, as it does not grant anything to Doublade, and insures that enemies will never miss it.

Set Name: Eviolite Tank (Courtesy of ride the lightening)
Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 108 Atk / 144 HP / 112 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Sword
- Iron Head/Gyro Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- King's Shield

No investment in defense necessary since King's Shield will more or less serve as a defense boost of sorts. Special Defense is necessary so that it isn't a wet sack. I haven't tried out Gyro Ball yet, but it's probably effective considering its low Speed (as long as you put 0 IVs and Brave Nature).

This is not part of his post. This is all me( TheBurgerking99)
My take on this set is that its something that will use the great utility of king's shield, along with Doublade's great coverage and typing on order to wall threats, force them out, and spinblock. Well this set seems mostly outclassed by the swords dance set, the ability to abuse the utility of king's shield, as well as devote EVs into different investments could prove valuable.

In conclusion, Doublade is an excellent pokemon, and a threat to watch out for in XY. It's unique mix of typing, ability, and stats (as well as a great item choice) will certainly allow it to make a dent on the overused metagame. When more of it's moves are found out, it may be able to abuse it's ability better, and (if it gets moves like will-o-wisp, or pain split), make more use of it's defensive stats, it will have even more niches to fulfill.

Note2. If anyone has any suggestions for making this better, or for movesets, don't be afraid to say them. Your opinion is welcome, and greatly appreciated.

 

[TEzeon]

I am now massively ashamed of myself for not considering the possibility of this guy. Good call! On the physical side, he is just as bulky as Aegislash, and with the addition of Eviolite he can take it a step further. Does he learn Toxic? I believe Aegislash does, though you did not list it as one of his available moves.

Doublade @ Eviolie
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword / Iron Head
- Toxic
- Protect

It would make a pretty fair stall Pokemon.

 

[Coogrr]

I agree it'll make a pretty good stallmon, I guess it doesn't learn king's shield until it's Aegislash?

I'm not too sure about the swords dance set given it's really low speed and low special bulk, It might work though.

 

[Halliday]

He probably will learn toxic, as he gets TMs. The issue is, it's not confirmed as of now, but I will update the thread as soon as it's certain. Thanks for the set!

Edit: About the SD set, the idea is to switch in on something like Terrakion or Talonflame (not nearly strong enough to hurt it, even with STAB flareblitz) and then sweep with Shadow Sneak. The set I've been using in custombats has pain split, but is otherwise the same and has been very successful for me, setting up on stuff like Zyguard, as it only took ~30% from EQ

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Is there like any reason to use sheild-Aegislash over this, like at all? It has higher attack and defense, and you lose... leftovers, a small amount of speed, and special bulk?

 

[Othesemo]

Is there like any reason to use sheild-Aegislash over this, like at all? It has higher attack and defense, and you lose... leftovers, a small amount of speed, and special bulk?

Having higher attack than Shield Aegislash is kinda inconsequential, given the mechanics of Stance Change. Also, passive recovery and appreciable special bulk are both pretty important for anything meant to take multiple hits throughout the match and/or not be forced out by every offensive threat on the special side.

 

[SHUCKLE MAN]

Is there like any reason to use sheild-Aegislash over this, like at all? It has higher attack and defense, and you lose... leftovers, a small amount of speed, and special bulk?

Often the NFE version has a smaller movepool too. Like how Kadabra and Haunter don't get Focus Blast, for example. Of course we don't know the full movepools in this case yet.

 

[Soul Fly]

Is there like any reason to use sheild-Aegislash over this, like at all? It has higher attack and defense, and you lose... leftovers, a small amount of speed, and special bulk?

King's Shield

That and the fact that Stance Change allows you to have a more harder hitting physical sweeper, which maintains most of it's tankiness during setup.

 

[tentatoed]

King's Shield

That and the fact that Stance Change allows you to have a more harder hitting physical sweeper, which maintains most of it's tankiness during setup.

This is a solid main point as to why Aegislash might be favored over its pre-evolution, though being able to maintain that bulk and still execute physical attacks (110 based stat is pretty damn high) will allow for Doublade to stand its own as well. Also, with Doublades stats, I don't see any reasons as to why it could not be paired up with leftovers over the eviolite option as well.

 

[Soul Fly]

I think both will end up having completely different niches in the metagame. GF has been upping it's game.

 

[Halliday]

The main reasons to use Aegislash over this is that Aegislash can run choice items more effectively (don't say it can't, as choice is hit and run, which Aegi will do well with, given stance change), that better special bulk, access to gyro ball, and higher attacking stats, especially SPA.

 

[termi]

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD | IVs: 0 Spe
Brave Nature
- Gyro Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
- Toxic/Swords Dance/etc.

These stats just SCREAM physical tank. With a huge physical bulk and an excellent defensive typing, Doublade will find it easy to sponge an attack or two before hitting really fucking hard. As far as I'm concerned it has access to Gyro Ball, and with such low speed and minimal investment it will hit like a truck. Shadow Sneak is used for picking off weakened threats and has perfect coverage in tandem with Sacred Sword. Last slot is filler, you can use Toxic to mess with physical walls or use Swords Dance for scariness, although that makes this set look a lot like the one in the OP and the problem with such a set is that his special bulk still is quite awful, so any specially offensive threat can threaten him out, even with an SD under his belt (unless he can KO with Shadow Sneak, of course). If it turns out he can learn Will-O-Wisp or Pain Split then these are both excellent choices too, of course. Has anyone been doing some breeding experiments already?

PS teaching him Night Slash is useless, he has access to Shadow Claw, and Gyro Ball tends to be better than Iron Head on this fella so anyone who dares to slash (ha!) Night Slash or Iron Head into a set in the future is a Bidoof.

 

[Halliday]

That seems a bit similar to my set. Gyro ball is not confirmed on Doublade, but I can update it with your description. Also, iron head should be slashed on gyro as it does a lot more damage to avalugg

 

[termi]

That seems a bit similar to my set. Gyro ball is not confirmed on Doublade, but I can update it with your description. Also, iron head should be slashed on gyro as it does a lot more damage to avalugg

252+ Atk (custom) Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def (custom): 120-144 (29.7 - 35.64%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock

meanwhile

4 Atk (custom) Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite (custom): 72-86 (24.57 - 29.35%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Stealth Rock

(note that I'm not sure whether or not Avalugg learns EQ but honestly, considering its distribution and Avalugg's appearance/weight it's more than likely)

The problem is that Avalugg can use Recover and can Recover every other turn while chipping away Doublade's health with EQ, so Doublade isn't much of a check to him anyway. I know they'll probably meet up a few times since they're doomed to be spinner and spinblocker but tbh I don't think Doublade will be able to spinblock against Avalugg very well as long as the God of Crits doesn't interfere, so Gyro Ball generally is the better option anyways.

 

[Halliday]

I know, was just worth saying. It's potentially useful on a band set though (which would only be viable if Doublade gets a move to abuse no-guard with)

 

[Ride The Lightning]

At first, I was using Doublade, thinking it was superior over Aegislash (this is mostly due to my lack of knowledge of Stance Change). However, after using Aegislash, I find that Aegislash is much more reliable due to its higher attack and special defense. In addition, it has leftovers recovery and isn't hindered by No Guard (since Doublade doesn't have any moves to abuse No Guard afaik). With good prediction, Aegislash can serve as a major pain in the ass for your opponent, especially with its ability to change forms instantaneously. Doublade is more or less one-dimensional, but definitely has its niche uses.

Edit: Set I used:

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 108 Atk / 144 HP / 112 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Sword
- Iron Head/Gyro Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- King's Shield

No investment in defense necessary since King's Shield will more or less serve as a defense boost of sorts. Special Defense is necessary so that it isn't a wet sack. I haven't tried out Gyro Ball yet, but it's probably effective considering its low Speed (as long as you put 0 IVs and Brave Nature).

 

[UltiMario]

I can confirm Doublade can learn Gyro Ball

 

[Halliday]

Thank you, I will add it to the thread. Do you know if it learns Pain Split?

 

[Nix_Hex]

The base stats of this mon are currently unknown. Please do not base the stats on irc's tibot, those were made up "guesstimates." Until the exact base stats are known for Doublade, I'm going to edit the base stats out in the OP. Thanks!

 

[Halliday]

I used the stats that were on the smogon simulator. Sorry about that, assumed they were inferred from given spreads (seeing how Aegislash's stats were)

 

[Nix_Hex]

TIBot and PS! are the same stats. All of them are made up except for a few of the confirmed ones like the mega ones and sylveon, iirc. I made an announcement about it in this forum.
Okay I edited in the ranges in the OP. They're pretty close to the stats you had before, but the range is pretty wide so it's not completely dependable.

 

[Halliday]

Thank you. Also, for this thread, if someone posts a set, assume minimum stats in calcs, not max. Assume the worst, hope for the best, thanks.

 

[Heroes and Cons]

Swords Dance Doublade (shut up, I'm not creative)
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Shadow Sneak
move 3: Sacred Sword
move 4: Night Slash / Gyro Ball
ability: No Guard
item: Eviolite
nature: Brave +Atk, -Def
evs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Def
IVs: 0 Spe

Why on Earth would you use a nature that LOWERS your best and most notable stat? An Adamant nature would obviously be the best choice here.

In other news, I see this being massively popular in UU (or RU if fire and ground types become too common), but in OU Aegislash still outclasses it overall thanks to Kings Shield lowering opponent's attack stats in addition to its amazing SpD stat, giving it better tanking abilities.

 

[Halliday]

Oh, brave is minus speed. I think.. sorry for the confusion. Also, don';t underestimate this guy. Walls pokemon with SE attacks on it. It is capable of taking a v-create from tini. Not very well granted, but w/ 100% chance to win without rocks.

 

[Zennistrad]

According to Serebii, Doublade's base stats are:

59 HP/110 Atk/150 Def/45 SpA/49 SpD/35 Spe

So this means Doublade's base defense is identical to Aegislash's. This could mean that Doublade might actually be better than Aegislash in some circumstances, since it doesn't need to rely on stance changes and won't have to worry about a slower Pokemon like Conkeldurr demolishing it with a Payback after it switches to blade form.

Also, I'd suggest using Shadow Claw in place of Night Slash since its coverage is nearly identical and give Doublade STAB.