SM Doubles OU Doubles OU Team (My 1st Team in Doubles OU)

[Woodl]

Hello! So this is my first Doubles OU team. It is built around Lightning Rod/Motor Drive with a few supports to just round off the team.
Pokepast will be easier so here is the link: http://pokepast.es/a9de5e9a48d0a6f3
I feel like Zapdos is running around doing numorous jobs and needs a fellow to help, but I dont want to get rid of Volcanion so Lando T dosent have a main weakness, though the main typing in the team basically covers it anyway.

Constructive critsism is welcome. I hope you can help me! :)

 

[Woodl]

Ill go over the pokemon: Lando T is a pokemon who can deal the damage, and dosent afflict Zapdos, who can set up the Tailwind to help him to mostly outspeed non +1 boosted pokes so he can also set rocks, which is more if you really need it, not actually really needed turn 1.
Zapdos is support mon. With Discharge, it can help Mega Sceptile set up and Electivre to sweep easily.
Tapu Lele is to keep Zapdos alive with Zapdos having the phychic seed, and to get some coverage into the team as well, and covers well with the team, seeing as its mostly the only diversity in the team ( mabye lando t )
Sceptile Mega is the first sweeper in the team. With help with Tailwind from Zapdos, and help from Electivire with Discharge boosting Spa, it can be a reliable sweeper and can be put with Volcanion after youve set up for coverage, it helps to have a poke that can reliably sweep.
Volcanion is to help Lando T and Sceptile Mega. It provides good help with them and helps from Blizzard and most Ice Moves. As ive been playing around, ive sometimes switched between Sludge Bomb and Flash Cannon, which both help but its deciding if you want Toxic or Spd drop depending on the teams your gonna face later on.
And to round of the team, we have Electivire. It is also a sweeper, but with a less important role then Sceptile, though, when needed, can sweep with the speed boost and Life Orb hitting very hard. He just round the team and helps Lando T with weakness as well.

 

[fespy]

In Doubles OU, protect is an extremely important move to have. Some pokemon run assault vest or a choice item, but aside from that, almost every pokemon on your team should know protect. Zapdos is an exception to this- not running protect is okay. Lele and Volcanion should really have protect so that you can discharge with zapdos or earthquake with lando next to them. I'd go protect over flash cannon on volc, and protect over tbolt on lele since you already have 2 other electric moves. Lightningrod on mega sceptile boosts special attack, not attack, so I'd swap your moveset to something that utilizes such attacks. Usually a mega sceptile set is dragon pulse, giga drain/energy ball, protect, and a fourth move (sometimes hp fire). I'd get rid of fire punch on electivire for protect (you already have two other fire moves). This will help you in many situations, and especially when you have lando out next to it and want to earthquake. On lando, putting uturn over superpower can really help you get momentum when your opponent switches, so I'd strongly recommend making that change.

Hope this helps!

 

[Woodl]

Thank you for that, seems like Protect is spammed a little too much, but its to scout, so I dont mind that. I will switch Super for U-Turn, I can see that move switch happening. Hope you have a nice day!

 

[Level 51]

Hi Woodl,

fespy's rate covered some basic practices that every team should generally adhere to:

• good number of Protect users
• decent type coverage

First, to address your point about Protect:

Thank you for that, seems like Protect is spammed a little too much, but its to scout, so I dont mind that.

Protect is used for a lot more than just scouting - it's also used for key positioning tactics. For example, say you have a Zapdos and Tapu Lele on the field, while your opponent has a Celesteela that could OHKO it. Without Protect, you would have to switch your Tapu Lele out to avoid being KOd by Heavy Slam, which may not be optimal. Instead, you can Protect Tapu Lele and Thunderbolt the Celesteela once so that you can KO it the next turn. It also has many more uses such as avoiding your own Earthquakes or Discharges.

Anyway, to go a bit deeper here, I'll point out some other aspects of the team that may need consideration.

Landorus-Therian

• Landorus-T generally prefers being fast to being bulky, perhaps you could consider that
• If you're deliberately going for a bulky set, try using Mago Berry instead of Rocky Helmet to increase Landorus-T's longevity
• As fespy said, U-turn over Superpower is probably worth looking into

Tapu Lele

• Tapu Lele doesn't stay on the field for very long, so Leftovers aren't very useful and won't heal you much; consider a Wiki Berry instead.
• Consider 252 HP / 108 SpA / 92 SpD / 56 Spe as an EV spread; this gives a 15/16 chance to survive Mega Gengar's Sludge Bomb, and lets you outspeed Ludicolo and Mega Swampert (so that you can match their Rain with your Tailwind)
• Shadow Ball is pretty poor on Tapu Lele, it doesn't do much damage to e.g. Aegislash and you get KO'd in return. Your team already has a number of ways to beat Aegislash, so you can drop Shadow Ball for something like Taunt (or Hidden Power Fire / Ice if you want to be fancy)
• As fespy mentioned, probably drop Thunderbolt for Protect

Zapdos

• Your team isn't super weak to Stealth Rock, so it probably isn't necessary to have Defog, especially since SR is not quite as common in DOU as it is in OU. Consider using Roost instead
• You're wasting some EVs: use 224 HP and 20 Spe to hit the same numbers, then put the excess 4 EVs somewhere. Alternatively, you can check out our EV Spread Compendium.

Mega Sceptile

• As fespy mentioned, if you really want to use Mega Sceptile, use a special set instead—something like Giga Drain / Dragon Pulse / Hidden Power Fire or Ice / Protect
• However, personally, I find Mega Sceptile too weak and frail to be worth using.
• Want something fast and strong, though frail, in this slot? --> Deoxys-A
• Want a powerful special attacker that can take a hit in this slot? --> Kyurem-B
• If you're using this just to synergize with Zapdos's Discharge, you may want to consider changing Discharge to Thunderbolt instead

Volcanion

• Use Protect over Flash Cannon
• Heat Wave is generally better than Fire Blast due to its higher accuracy and its spread damage. Since you don't have a Z-Move yet, you can also use a Firium Z to make it into Inferno Overdrive to get around potential Wide Guard!
• Alternatively, just use Shuca Berry. It's generally superior to Air Balloon, and you don't have to worry about hitting yourself with Earthquake because you can just use Protect!

Electivire

• Electivire isn't great in DOU, it suffers from being outclassed as an offensive Electric-type by Tapu Koko and Zapdos
• Want a powerful attacker that can destroy Tapu Fini? --> Tapu Koko (also boosts Kyurem-B's Fusion Bolt, if you use Kyurem-B)
• Want a semi-bulky powerful attacker that can hit with a wide range of coverage? --> Kyurem-B
• If you really want to use Electivire, try Wild Charge over Thunder Punch and Protect over Power-Up Punch; this will let you do significant damage to Tapu Fini
• Again, if you're using this just to synergize with Zapdos's Discharge, you may want to consider changing Discharge to Thunderbolt instead

Sorry that I ended up changing most of the team, but I did my best to model it after a higher-level team. I think Mega Sceptile and Electivire are Pokemon that generally work on lower ladder, but at a higher level of play they find it difficult to keep up because they're just not very good. Good luck with the team!