[Doubles] Porygon2 (QC 1/3)

[Magical Magmortar]

[Overview]

• Trace is great for copying abilities however it is very situational
• Great Answer to Intimidate
• Great bulk with Eviolite
• Good movepool
• Trick Room
• Great synergy with other Trick Room setters
• Outclassed by Cresselia as defensive duck
• Weak to Fighting-type which is common

[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Thunderbolt / Tri Attack
move 4: Recover / Protect
item: Eviolite
ability: Trace / Download
nature: Relaxed / Bold
evs: 248 HP / 176 Defense / 84 Special Defense

[SET COMMENTS]

• Trick Room is great support to its team
• Ice Beam and Thunderbolt are coverage moves
• Protect is for Fake Out
• Unusual weaknesses for a Trick Room setter making it a good choice
• Tri Attack is STAB, with few resists
• Recover helps with longetivity

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

• EVs let Porygon2 live a Fighting Gem Hitmontop Close Combat
• Eviolite boosts defense to great levels
• Victini likes Trick Room and scares Fighting-type Pokemon away
• Rhyperior, Amoongus, and Scrafty are great teammates and Trick Room abusers
• Download with a more offensive EV spread can be used
• Reuniclus is a great partner as they have good synergy
• Jellicent and Chandelure take on Fighting types and can use Trick Room to their advantage

[Other Options]

• Magic Coat to bounce back Taunt
• Gravity with Blizzard and Thunder
• Rain Dance and Sunny Day for weather support
• Offensive set with Download and Trick Room
• Discharge is a spread move
• Shadow Ball hits Chandelure
• Psychic
• Thunder Wave

[Checks and Counters]

• Metagross
• Conkeldurr
• Terrakion
• Heracross
• Hitmontop
• Scrafty
• Hariyama
• Tyranitar
• Taunt users such as Thundurus and Tornadus
• Spore

 

[Nollan]

Overview

• A very important aspect you missed was its main role of using Trick Room, specify how is excels at this since it synergizes fairly well with other Trick Room setters defensively.
• I'd also drop Recover in the Overview, it can be helpful, but recovery in general tends to be hard to make the most of, especially with Fighting Gem Close Combats flying around, so Recover won't exactly be a stellar move the be talking about in the Overview.
• "Competition with Cresselia" might not be the right way to say it. Cresselia doesn't just compete with Porygon2, it outclasses it. Porygon2 definitely has its (small) advantages, but with Cresselia performing its roles with massive 120/120/130 bulk, the ability to hold other items, and Fighting resist and Ground immunity, Porygon2 has a lot to add up to, and that is something that will need to be made clear.

"Speed Control" Set

• This set needs to go to OO, imo. It is one of those sets that Cresselia completely esclipses, since it has a better defensive typing. Porygon2 has no resistances and only one immunity, so long-term support will not go over well for it, especially when there is something better.
• If for some specific reason other people think this should stay, Icy Wind and Thunder Wave are not very effective on the same set, as there is no point in using both, they should probably be on the same moveslot with a "/".

"Trick Room" Set

• Ok, Toxic is, honestly, a terrible move for this set. Apart from the fact Toxic is a incredibly ineffective move in Doubles, you are running it on a Trick Room set. A move that takes something like 10 turns to KO with a move that lasts 5 turns is a very ridiculous combination. In general, the set probably needs to change to something like:
• Ice Beam, Thunderbolt/Tri Attack, Recover/Protect, Trick Room (Download should be slashed with Trace on this set)
• This might want some specific investment for certain threats, but the main goal here is to actually hurt things once Trick Room is up, and the ability to attack avoids making you Taunt bait, which is something a Trick Room setter NEVER wants to be.
• "Trick Room is easy to set up besides Taunt"; Ok, so Taunt is not the only stop to Trick Room, there is also OHKOing the setter, using Fake Out, putting the setter to Sleep, or locking the setter onto Trick Room with Encore, and also using Trick Room to cancel Trick Room. "Easy" is definitely not the right word, rather than discussing how easy/difficult it is to set Trick Room, I would expand on how Trick Room can support its team, and how Porygon2 has unusual weaknesses for a Trick Room setter, making it a good choice for a team.
• There are more teammates then just Victini, I'd try to list some more, such as: Rhyperior, Scrafty, Amoonguss, Tyranitar, etc.

Other Options

• Chople Berry, when Eviolite would be lost, is pretty bad, not worth an OO mention, as Eviolite is really the only item Porygon2 should hold.
• Swagger would be useful for giving Special Attackers trouble, causing them to damage themselves 50% of the time, which will cause a lot of switches, giving you openings for your attackers to either dent a switch in, or come in relatively safely.
• A "Gravity" set w/ Blizzard & Thunder would be a good OO, as it allows Porygon2 to make the most of its often overlooked offensive qualities, while supporting its team by removing Ground immunities.

Checks and Counters

• I think I need to reinforce what a Check/Counter is. It is NOT simply something that can cripple or OHKO you. Hitmontop, for example is a Check and Counter, it can deal massive damage with Close Combat, stun you for a turn with Fake Out unless you use Protect, and its high SpD keeps attacks from harming it. Checks & Counters are more or less anything that can deal heavy damage to you.
• With this said, Fighting-types in general will be solid Checks/Counters, especially Conkeldurr and Terrakion, the former can deal heavy damage while healing itself with Drain Punch, and will become a very dangerous threat in Trick Room, should you set it. The later can OHKO with Fighting Gem Close Combat, and can avoid Thunder Wave behind a Sub, or stop Trick Room with Taunt.
• "Toxic" is not a Check or Counter, it takes way too long in Doubles to make itself worth the moveslot, and Recover can stall out the damage even further.
• When you say Steel & Ghost types, specify certain examples, like Chandelure and Metagross. I for one, do not agree that Ghost-types are good choices, they cannot hurt it with their STAB attacks.
• Given that Check & Counters do not have to OHKO, Heracross is fine without a Moxie boost
• Taunt is a big counter, it will shut Trick Room down, ruining the biggest reason someone would use Porygon2. Furthermore, the fact that it, like Dusclops, relies on Eviolite, makes it unable to hold items like Mental Herb, which just makes Taunt all that easier to shut it down
• Spore, for the same reasons as Taunt, except with the inability to hold Lum Berry being the only difference

 

[Magical Magmortar]

Ok thanks Nollan! Sorry this took so long, I was busy.o_O

 

[noobcubed]

A few thoughts:
- Trace is a good but situational ability that is a lot less dependable than in singles, due to the choice of opponent whose ability is copied being random. It makes Porygon-2 a great answer to Intimdate users due to all the common ones being physical attackers (well, Salamence is mixed I guess). Conversely you could end up copying your opponent's weather ability to change the weather in their favour, if you are in a weather war.
- Mention that with Download a more attacking EV spread can be used, to capitalise on a far from terrible 105 SpA, potentially boosted.
- Reuniclus also loves Trick Room and the two have good defensive synergy, taking Ghost- and Fighting-type attacks for each other.
- Yeah Chandelure isn't great against p2, if Trace copies Flash Fire...
- In C&C, Trick-Scarfers, although rare (Latios and Rotom-W are most common), make it cry: Porygon-2 @ Eviolite >>>>>>>> Porygon-2 @ Choice Scarf, especially in Trick Room

 

[Magical Magmortar]

all changes made!

 

[Audiosurfer]

ok some things to change @Magical Magmortar

• You don't really explain the EV spread in the AC. If there's an actual purpose then say so, but if there isn't then go with 248 HP / 176 Def / 84 SpD. Lets you live through a Fighting Gem CC from Hitmontop w/ the rest put in Special Defense
• Add Thunder Wave, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Discharge to OO
• Add an offensive set to OO since it has a good 105 SpA + Download/Analytic. I think an offensive TR set could even be a 2nd set thanks to its bulk, good offensive movepool and typing but I'll let other QC members give their thoughts on this.
• You lack an explanation of Recover + Tri Attack in set comments so add that please
• Also explain Eviolite in AC (kinda obvious but should still be mentioned)
• I wouldn't say TTar is a great teammate since they're both fighting weak and Sand Stream eats away at Porygon2's bulk, so remove that
• Mention things like Jellicent and Chandelure as partners since they can take on Fighting-types and enjoy Trick Room
• Add Hitmontop, Scrafty and Hariyama to C&C. All 3 have Fake Out to prevent it from using Trick Room, they all hit super effectively and Scrafty + Hariyama can potentially take advantage of TR to hurt the rest of your team
• Hariyama also makes a good partner for Porygon2 for most of those reasons so add it to AC
• List Tornadus + Thundurus as users of Taunt in C&C
• Trick + Scarf isn't too common so remove that in C&C imo
• TTar should be added in C&C since it doesn't mind any of Porygon2's attacks, can utilize TR since it's slow and summons Sand Stream which eats away at Porygon2's health due to lack of Sitrus Berry or anything.

 

[Magical Magmortar]

Thanks @Audiosurfer! Actually the Evs besides the one you listed live a Fighting Gem Hitmontop CC too but I'll just keep your spread.

 

[Audiosurfer]

yeah ik they did but I figured having an actual benchmark would be cool and the previous spread didnt have one i could discern so yeah thanks for pointin that out tho

 

[Magical Magmortar]

Changes made! I actually did this a long time ago, I just forgot to post :p

 

[Audiosurfer]

ok in that case take your first stamp
QC 1/3

 

[Agonist]

Out of curiosity, is there any reason for using Bold over Relaxed and 0 Spe?

 

[Sora124]

I have used Porygon2 for a very long time, I think it holds a few things over cresselia.

Advantages of using Porygon2
-Not as well known as other bulky trickroomers
-Has only one weakness
-Has great bulk
-Can attack off of it's special attack effectively (Unlike Cresselia)

Disadvantages
-Weak to common fighting types; only immune to ghost
-Doesn't have a great support pool
-Out classed as supportive trickroomer by cresselia and dusclops
-Out classed as offensive trickroomer by Reuniclus

[SET]
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Trait: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SAtk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Trick Room
- Magic Coat/Ice Beam/Thunder Bolt
- Ice Beam/ Thunder Bolt
- Protect/Magic coat

This is a pretty standard Porygon 2 set. Trick Room is the reason to use Porygon2. Magic Coat deflects harmful effects like taunt(Thundurus) and spore(Amoonguss) back at your opponent. Ice Beam lets you beat Dragons, Thunder Bolt completes the bolt beam combo and lets you beat Gyarados. Protect serves multiple functions, stops you from getting mauled by gem Terrakion, stops Taunt, etc.

Summary
This was a terrible explanation, but it was partially because I was short on time and because my first draft never sent. Nevertheless, you should still try P2 out, it works very well on my team, letting me get to 2043 on smogon doubles and peak the ladder at 2023(The first 2000!) on VGC

 

[Kingler]

Out of curiosity, is there any reason for using Bold over Relaxed and 0 Spe?

It's a trick room set, ideally you have trick room, so it suits those conditione better.

 

[Audiosurfer]

Ok just slash relaxed in front of bold, it's personal preference really tho. Also leave the set as is, magic coat is left in OO for a reason.