UU Doublade

zolaski

zolaski

[OVERVIEW]

* Doublade’s base 150 Defense makes it one of the bulkier physical pivots of the metagame, as it can easily take most of the physical hits, even super effective ones.
* Its base 110 Attack and access to Swords Dance and priority Shadow Sneak allow Doublade to be a good late-game sweeper.
* Its great Ghost / Steel typing gives it a lot of useful resistances and immunities, making it able to deal with some common threats such as Mega Aerodactyl, Cobalion, and Scizor, but it sports some unfortunate weaknesses to Dark-, Fire-, and Ground-types. This makes Doublade vulnerable to Knock Off spam, as without its Eviolite, it can be easily beat by any strong attacker.
* Despite Doublade's great Defense, its base 49 Special Defense leaves it very weak to special attacks from sweepers such as Primarina, Raikou, or Keldeo.
* Unfortunately, Doublade does not benefit from its ability No Guard, since all the moves that it commonly runs have perfect accuracy

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Shadow Sneak
move 3: Iron Head
move 4: Sacred Sword / Shadow Claw
item: Eviolite
ability: No Guard
nature: Adamant
evs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Swords Dance increases Doublade's Attack and allows it to become a strong late-game wincon.
* Shadow Sneak's priority patches up Doublade's poor Speed, which helps it beat fast threats such as Gengar, Latias, or weakened Keldeo.
* Iron Head is more reliable as a STAB move and hits Fairy- and Rock-types such as Mega Aerodactyl and Clefable harder.
* Sacred Sword has perfect neutral coverage with Shadow Sneak and hits Bisharp and Mega Sharpedo that resists Doublade's STAB moves. It also hit Cobalion and Blissey harder than Iron Head.
* Shadow Claw is an option over Sacred Sword, which helps Doublade beat bulky Water-types such as Slowbro and opposing Doublade.

Set Details
========

* 252 EVs in Attack and an Adamant nature maximize Doublade's Attack stat and allow it to more easily sweep after a Swords Dance.
* 240 EVs HP make Doublade more bulky and minimize Stealth Rock and burn damage, and the remaining 16 EVs go to Special Defense for slightly more bulk.
* Eviolite boosts Doublade's great Defense and patches up its lower Special Defense, allowing it to take many physical hits, even some super effective ones.
* No Guard has to be used since it's Doublade's only ability, but since Doublade's moves all have perfect accuracy, No Guard only benefits opposing Pokemon.

Usage Tips
========

* Doublade can be used as a strong check to common metagame threats, as it pivots into and beats staples such as Mega Aerodactyl, Cobalion, and Swords Dance Scizor, and it can set up on those to pressure the opposing team. Doublade still has to be careful around Mega Aerodactyl, as it get 3HKOed by Earthquake, but Doublade can switch safely on everything that isn't Earthquake.
* Otherwise, set up with Doublade late-game when opposing threats such as Keldeo and Primarina are weakened enough to get KOed by Shadow Sneak.
* Keep Doublade from getting hit by Knock Off, as losing its Eviolite makes it somewhat weak to strong physical hits that it should otherwise tank
* Keep entry hazards off your side of the field, as Doublade dislikes taking residual damage due to a lack of recovery
* Set up Stealth Rock on the opposing side, because it allows Doublade to 2HKO Latias and OHKO Mega Aerodactyl and wear down the opposing team, as Doublade forces many switches.
* Doublade should be used to switch into predicted Fighting-type move, especially on Choice-locked users, such as Mienshao. It can also be used to switch into Rapid Spin user such as Tsareena.

Team Options
========

* A good Doublade partner would be Clefable, which is able to provide Wish and cleric support for Dublade and switch into Knock Off. It is also either able to absorb status thanks to Magic Guard or use Unaware to beat Pokemon that would normally set up on Doublade, such as Calm Mind Keldeo and Swords Dance Gliscor.
* Amoonguss can check some special attackers such as Primarina, Keldeo, and Raikou thanks to its typing, and can cripple the opposing team with Spore. Amoonguss can also be used to beat bulky Water-types such as Swampert or Suicune.
* Gliscor fits very well with Doublade, as it can switch in on opposing Ground-types such as Krookodile and Hippowdon, absorb status thanks to Poison Heal and the Toxic Orb, and shut down opposing walls with Taunt, which prevents them from setting up Stealth Rock or Spikes. Gliscor can also weaken the opposing team with its Swords Dance set to let Doublade clean with Shadow Sneak at +2.
* Pokemon such as Hippowdon, Celebi, Klefki, and even Clefable can set up entry hazards for Doublade to wear down its checks and let it sweep the opposing team more easily.
* Mantine and Latias are two entry hazards removers that team up very well with Doublade. Both can keep off hazards throughout the battle, are good checks to Keldeo and Volcanion, and can beat down most of Bulky Water-types and Fire-types such as Infernape and Volcanion.
* Keldeo and Cobalion check Dark-types such as Bisharp, Mega Sharpedo, and Mega Absol and force them out.

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

* Doublade can run Gyro Ball with a Brave nature over Iron Head, but Iron Head is more reliable to hit slower threats such as Clefable or Amoonguss, while Gyro Ball has fewer PP and minimum Speed investment makes Doublade outspeed by Amoonguss and Slowbro.
* RestTalk provides recovery for Doublade, and can be used alongside with Toxic and Special Defense investment to check more threats throughout the battle or Swords Dance and Iron Head for better setup opportunities, but this set would be very passive and easily walled.
* Pursuit could be an option to trap Mega Aerodactyl or Latias, but Doublade can already punish switches by setting a Swords Dance and hit the switch-in with a boosted attack.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Hippowdon, Krookodile, or Nidoqueen are bulky enough to take Doublade's hits and can easily beat it with their Ground-type attacks.

**Fire-types**: Pokemon such Arcanine, Infernape, and Volcanion threaten Doublade with their STAB moves, which hit Doublade super effectively, or cripple it with burn, despite the fact that they can't switch in safely on Doublade's boosted hits.

**Bulky Water-types**: Suicune, Swampert, Tentacruel, Milotic, and Mantine can tank Doublade's attacks and can burn it with their STAB Scald, halving its Attack stat, making Doublade useless throughout the battle. Suicune can set up Calm Minds or phaze it with Roar, while Mantine, Milotic, and Tentacruel can use Haze to prevent Doublade's setup.

**Special Attackers**: Powerful special attackers can break through Doublade, as its Special Defense is still very low despite holding an Eviolite. Threats such as Keldeo and Kyurem outspeed Doublade and OKHO it. However, they can't hard switch into Doublade due to their frail bulk. Doublade also takes huge damage from attackers such as Raikou or Calm Mind Latias.

**Knock Off**: Doublade is crippled without its Eviolite, so Knock Off users such as Dark-types, Gliscor, or Mew check it. Gliscor can wall it, and while Mew cannot switch in safely, it is a rather big hindrance to Doublade as it carries both Knock Off and Will-O-Wisp.

**Trick Users**: Doublade should also watch out from Trick users such as Togekiss or Gengar, which cripple Doublade by removing its Eviolite and giving it a Choice item, making it useless throughout the battle.
 
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Hey there! First of all, I'd like to say that you did an amazing job with this analysis content wise, so this post won't be too long (and I'll be only making some nitpicks for the most part). I think some stuff could probably be worded better, but that's not for me to decide.

[OVERVIEW]

* Doublade lacks of recovery makes it outclassed by some other Physical walls such as Hippowdon or Gliscor, which gives better features such as a reliable to recovery or a better utility

This bit in particular feels a little weird to me because Doublade plays a very different role from those two Pokemon and other physically defensive Pokemon in general, although I do understand what you're saying. Just mention that Doublade's lack of solid recovery and utility options means that it shouldn't be played as a dedicated physically wall.

[SET - SWORDS DANCE]

Remove the bit in usage tips where you mention that Doublade can be switched in into Keldeo. I mean, it's not wrong that you can pull that off in a pinch, but it's not something you should be actively trying to do, so it could be confusing for some newer players.

Team Options are good for the most part. The only think that shouldn't be there IMO is this particular part: * Clefable forms a Steel + Fairy core with Doublade, because even though this is a thing, it still feels clunky to me, and I think that replacing this part with: "Clefable is a good teammate for Doublade" or "Doublade has good defensive synergy with Fairy-type Pokemon in general" would flow better with the rest of the analysis. Besides that, I appreciate what you did by mentioning hazard stacking and hazard control in general, since Doublade is one of the few Ghost-type Pokemon and is also extremely easy to wear down through entry hazard damage.

[COUNTERS AND CHECKS]

Change "Item Removal" to "Knock Off". I also think that you should remove the "Burns" section, since everything there also falls into other C&C categories (Arcanine and Mew are defensive Pokemon Bulky-Water types have their own section and Volcanion is a strong special attacker). If anything, you should emphasize how much Doublade dislikes the status effect in the other sections (i.e. Water-types can hit Doublade with Scald to possibly burn it, some physically defensive Pokemon can cripple it that way etc).

Consider this a 1/3 after you've implemented this check!
 
Hi there, I'm gonna qc this now! To preface this, a lot of what you say is understandable, but the way you phrase it may be incorrect. At large, I am attempting to fix that, as you use words such as "wall" when you mean "pivot on".

[OVERVIEW]

First off, do not call Doublade a physical wall, as it does not perform as a wall at all. It is a physically bulky pivot. Its role is never to stand there and repeatedly take hits, it usually aims to utilize its bulk to switch into attacks, force switches and gain momentum.

This is small, but don't just say SpDef; spell it out as Special Defense, please.

Combine the points about its typing giving useful resistances, and the one about it being hindered by Knock Off spam. Say that is has a great typing that lets it take on many threats such as Mega Aerodactyl, Cobalion and Scizor, but it sports some unfortunate weaknesses to Dark-, Fire- and Ground-types.

In the No Guard part, add that it does not benefit from its ability itself as all of its moves are perfectly accurate. If it had inaccurate moves, having opposing attacks always hit could be a fair trade-off; however, as this is not the case, its ability only serves as a hindrance.

Remove the last part; you will be saying that Doublade is a bulky pivot, so there is no need to mention that it lacks reliable recovery.

[SET - SWORDS DANCE]

Remove the Speedcreep mention in Set Details. We do not mention speed creep in analyses, as it is very subjective. If you mention 8 speed is good to creep opposing Doublade, it would be normal for readers to start running 12 or even 16 speed to creep the "recommended" creep, and it is quite frankly very subjective. Speed creep is left up to everyone's own discretion.

Mention that No Guard has to be used as Doublade does not have access to another ability, and explain that it is counterproductive as Doublade's move all have perfect accuracy, so this only benefits opposing Pokemon.

In Usage Tips, do not say that Doublade walls staples, say that it pivots on them and beats them. Mega Aerodactyl's Earthquake is still a guaranteed 3HKO, so Doublade has to be careful around it, for example. It can switch in, especially on moves that are not Earthquake, but it hardly walls these threats.

"* Try to keep Doublade healthy and avoid as possible burn, as it negate any Swords Dance Doublade set and wear it down slowly"

This should be self-evident, as no physical attacker wants to get burnt, and you are of course trying to keep it as healthy as possible. Remove this line.

* Set entry hazards on the opposing side, because it allows Doublade to 2HKO Latias and OKHO Mega Aerodactyl and wear down opposing team, as Doublade forces many switches

I think you mean laying down Stealth Rock as opposed to setting entry hazards here. Granted, it appreciates Spikes and is good on Spikestack Hyper Offense with Froslass, but the specific examples you give here only work for Stealth Rock. Unless you have examples for Spikes, just say that you should attempt to set Stealth Rock.

In Team Options, add that Latias and Mantine not only check Water-types, but also check Fire-types such as Infernape.


[COUNTERS AND CHECKS]

You're missing a linebreak between the last line of Other Options and the Checks and Counters header.

Remove the part about Physical Walls; not every Physical wall can beat Doublade (e.g. Cresselia, which loses), and it is specific types that threaten Doublade rather than the whole category of walls. Add a section for Fire-types and Ground-types, as they pose a threat to Doublade.

In the part about Special Attackers, don't say that they can "bypass" Doublade's Eviolite, as the Eviolite is still working properly. Rather, state that Doublade's Special Defense is still very low despite its Eviolite, meaning that Special Attackers can easily break through it.

"Gliscor or Mew annoy it, most of them can't switch safely on Doublade. Mew especially, since it can cripple Doublade with Will-O-Wisp."

Just say that Pokemon such as Gliscor can wall it, and while it cannot switch in safely, Mew is a rather big hindrance to Doublade as it carries both Knock Off and Will-O-Wisp.

Make a separate point for Trick users. Trick and Knock Off both make Doublade lose its eviolite, but with Knock Off, it can still function somewhat decently. If it gets tricked an item, it is utterly useless.

Once you have implemented these changes, let me know by posting here or writing me a VM. I will then look this over again. Don't worry, you're doing a good job so far!

edit: The changed have been implemented, so qc 2/3!
 
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yo.

Overview:
  • Just so it's more so on par with the whole overview thing some have been preaching, I'd shift the 3rd bullet point here to be the 2nd. It gives new readers a better perspective on the 2 main roles that Doublade play in the metagame. Additionally, your point about its typing covers both benefits and drawbacks, so it makes sense and flows better to be the 3rd point.
Set Details:

* 252 EVs in Attack and an Adamant nature maximizes Doublade's Attack stat and allows it to easily sweep after a Swords Dance.
  • I'd add a "more" before "easily" here. The original gives the impression that the max Attack itself makes it so it can easily sweep when in reality, it just aids that in tandem with other factors. Let's face it, Doublade on its own isn't sweeping any decently built team just by setting up.
this feels lazy but the other two were already very thorough with this, so props to them.

QC 3/3 afterwards, lgi.
 
MiyoKa

REMOVE CHANGE COMMENTS

[OVERVIEW]

* Doublade’s base 150 Defense makes it one of the bulkier physical pivots of the metagame, as it can easily take most of the physical hits, even super effective ones.
* Its base 110 Attack and access to Swords Dance and priority Shadow Sneak allow Doublade to be a good late-game sweeper.
* Its great Ghost / Steel typing gives it a lot of useful resistances and immunities, making it able to deal with some common threats such as Mega Aerodactyl, Cobalion, (AC) and Scizor, (AC) but it sports some unfortunate weaknesses to Dark-, Fire-, (AC) and Ground-types. (period) This which makes Doublade suffer from vulnerable to Knock Off spam, as without its Eviolite, it can be easily beat by any strong attacker.
* Despite Doublade's great Defense, its base 49 base stat in Special Defense leaves it very weak to special attacks from sweepers such as Primarina, Raikou, (AC) or Keldeo.
* Unfortunately, Doublade does not benefit from its ability No Guard, since all the moves that it commonly runs have perfect accuracy

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Shadow Sneak
move 3: Iron Head
move 4: Sacred Sword / Shadow Claw
item: Eviolite
ability: No Guard
nature: Adamant
evs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Swords Dance increases Doublade's Attack and allows it to become a strong late-game wincon.
* Shadow Sneak's is the primary STAB move and its priority patches up Doublade's poor Speed, which helps it beat fast threats such as Gengar, Latias, or weakened Keldeo.
* Iron Head is more reliable as a STAB move and hits Fairy- and Rock-types such as Mega Aerodactyl and Clefable harder.
* Sacred Sword has perfect neutral coverage with Shadow Sneak and hits Bisharp and Mega Sharpedo that resists Doublade's STAB moves. It also hit Cobalion and Blissey harder than Iron Head.
* Shadow Claw is an option over Sacred Sword, which helps Doublade beat win bulky Water-types such as Slowbro, (RC) and opposing Doublade.

Set Details
========

* 252 EVs in Attack and an Adamant nature maximizes Doublade's Attack stat and allows it to more easily sweep after a Swords Dance.
* 240 EVs HP in order to makes Doublade more bulky and minimize Stealth Rock and burn damage, and the remaining 16 EVs go to Special Defense for slightly more bulk.
* Eviolite boosts Doublade's great Defense and patches up its lower Special Defense, allowing it to take many physical hits, even some super effective ones.
* No Guard has to be used since it's Doublade's only ability, but since Doublade's moves all have perfect accuracy, No Guard only benefits opposing Pokemon.

Usage Tips
========

* Doublade can be used as a strong check to common metagame threats, as it pivots into and beats staples such as Mega Aerodactyl, Cobalion, (AC) and Swords Dance Scizor, and it can set up on those to pressure the opposing team. Doublade still has to be careful around Mega Aerodactyl, as it get 3HKOed by Earthquake, it but Doublade still can switch safely on everything that isn't Earthquake.
* Otherwise, set up with Doublade in the late-game when opposing threats such as Keldeo and Primarina are weakened enough to get KOed by Shadow Sneak.
* Keep Doublade from getting hit by Knock Off, as losing its Eviolite makes it somewhat weaker to strong physical hits that it should otherwise tank
* Keep entry hazards off your side of the field, as Doublade dislikes taking residual damage due to a lack of recovery
* Set up Stealth Rock on the opposing side, because it allows Doublade to 2HKO Latias and OHKO Mega Aerodactyl and wear down the opposing team, as Doublade forces many switches.
* Doublade should be used to switch into predicted Fighting-type move, especially on Choice-locked users, such as Mienshao. It can also be used to switch-in into Rapid Spin user such as Tsareena.

Team Options
========

* A good Doublade partner would be Clefable, which is able to provide Wish and cleric support for Dublade and switch into Knock Off. It is also either able to absorb status thanks to Magic Guard or using use Unaware to beat Pokemon that would normally set up on Doublade, such as Calm Mind Keldeo and Swords Dance Gliscor.
* Amoonguss can check some special attackers such as Primarina, Keldeo, and Raikou thanks to its typing, and can cripple the opposing team with Spore. Amoonguss can also be used to beat bulky Water-types such as Swampert or Suicune.
* Gliscor fits very well with Doublade, as it can switch in on opposing Ground-types such as Krookodile and Hippowdon, absorb status thanks to Poison Heal and the Toxic Orb, (AC) and shut down opposing walls with Taunt, which prevents them from setting up Stealth Rock or Spikes. Gliscor can also weaken the opposing team with its Swords Dance set to let Doublade clean with Shadow Sneak at +2.
* Pokemon such as Hippowdon, Celebi, Klefki, and even Clefable can set up entry hazards for Doublade to wear down its checks and let it sweep the opposing team more easily.
* Mantine and Latias are two entry hazards removers that team up very well with Doublade. Both can keep off hazards throughout the battle, they're are also good checks to Keldeo and Volcanion, and can beat down most of Bulky Water-types and Fire-types such as Infernape and Volcanion.
* Keldeo and Cobalion checks Dark-types such as Bisharp, Mega Sharpedo, and Mega Absol, (RC) and they can force them out.

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

* Doublade can run Gyro Ball with a Brave nature over Iron Head, but Iron Head is more reliable to hit slower threats such as Clefable or Amoonguss, while Gyro Ball has fewer PP and minimum Speed investment makes Doublade outspeed by Amoonguss and Slowbro.
* RestTalk provides a way to recovery for Doublade, and can be used alongside with Toxic and Special Defense investment to check more threats throughout the battle or Swords Dance and Iron Head for better setup opportunities, but it'd this set would be very passive or and easily walled.
* Pursuit could be an option to trap Mega Aerodactyl or Latias, but Doublade can already pressure switch-ins punish switches by setting a Swords Dance and hit the switch-in with a boosted attack.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Hippowdon, Krookodile, (AC) or Nidoqueen are enough bulky enough to take Doublade's hits and can easily beat it with their Ground-type attacks.

**Fire-types**: Pokemon such Arcanine, Infernape, (AC) and Volcanion threaten Doublade with their STAB moves, which hit Doublade super effectively, or cripple it with burn, despite the fact that they can't switch in safely on Doublade's boosted hits.

**Bulky Water-types**: Suicune, Swampert, Tentacruel, Milotic, (AC) and Mantine can tank Doublade's attacks and can burn it with their STAB Scald STAB, halving its Attack stat, making Doublade useless throughout the battle. Suicune can set up Calm Minds on it or phaze it with Roar, (AC) while Mantine, Milotic, (AC) and Tentacruel can use Haze to prevents Doublade's from setup.

**Special Attackers**: Powerful special attackers can break through Doublade, as its Special Defense is still very low despite holding an Eviolite. Threats such as Keldeo and Kyurem outspeed Doublade and OKHO it. However, they can't hard switch into on Doublade due to their frail bulk. Doublade also takes huge damage from attackers such as Raikou or Calm Mind Latias.

**Knock Off**: Doublade is crippled without its Eviolite, so Knock Off users such as Dark-types, Gliscor, (AC) or Mew check it. Gliscor can wall it, and while Mew cannot switch in safely, it is a rather big hindrance to Doublade as it carries both Knock Off and Will-O-Wisp.

**Trick Users**: Doublade should also watch out from Trick users such as Togekiss or Gengar, which cripples Doublade by removing its Eviolite and giving it a Choice item, becoming making it useless throughout the battle.
gato

1/1
 
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