Volcaronite
formerly JCD
After having a Doubles OU team absolutely demolished by a Whimsicott and Lucario using this strategy, I decided to try it for myself. I went through many iterations, as I really needed a 'mon who could learn both Beat Up and Follow Me to ensure that I could effectively rid the field of any setup sweepers. I also decided to drop the team to UU, seeing as Lucario is a UU 'mon, and I could have a better chance of winning battles with a strong team all around if the strategy fails. That being said, let's get this show on the road.
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Beat Up
- Follow Me
- Tail Glow
- Baton Pass
Here's what I decided to go for as my Beat Up. Smeargle has by far the lowest Attack stat of anyone that can learn Beat Up and is the only 'mon that can learn Follow Me as well. So, it starts- alongside one of my two Justified options- and uses Beat Up on them. For those who don't quite understand the strategy, Justified raises the Attack stat of the Pokémon by one stage when that Pokémon is hit with a Dark-type attack. Beat Up is a Dark-type attack that hits once for every non-fainted Pokémon in the user's party. So, this would raise the Attack stat of a Justified Pokémon to the maximum at the beginning of a battle. Follow Me is there in case the Justified choice is in danger of fainting so that they have a chance to take out the potential attacker. Tail Glow and Baton Pass are present as a backup so that a physical wall can be dealt with by a special attacker.
Smeargle has Max Speed, along with a beneficial nature so that it can potentially outspeed a threat. It has minimal Attack, along with a detrimental nature, since it will be attacking a partner and the partner will thus take some damage. Focus Sash so that it can survive an OHKO to still perform it's duty.
Lucario @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Close Combat
- Bullet Punch
- Extreme Speed
Justified choice number 1, and the usual partner to Smeargle. Lucario is an all-out physical attacker, with a mix of priority and coverage. On that first turn, you want to use a non-priority (usually Ice Punch) so that Smeargle can buff you first. After that, Extreme Speed at your leisure, as a +6 Extreme Speed can usually OHKO anything that doesn't have unreasonably high defense. Bullet Punch Ghosts in your way, and you can Close Combat the occasional Steel wall. +6 Close Combat, by the way, is a guaranteed OHKO against a 252+ Mega Aggron. Just be sure not to use a non-priority move unless you're absolutely certain that Lucario is faster than the opponent, or that the opponent carries no super-effective moves. Lucario is very frail.
To do some slight recovery, Lucario holds Leftovers. I considered giving it a Life Orb or Silk Scarf to make Lucario absolutely destroying, but Lucario truly needs the recovery. Obviously 252+ Attack, along with 252 Speed. It will always be slower than Smeargle in this case. If you can set it up, Lucario can sweep the team.
Arcanine @ Heat Rock
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sunny Day
- Flame Charge
- Flare Blitz
- Fire Fang
Justified option number 2. Arcanine can go in if Lucario faints for +5 attack, but it should only start if there are many fire-weak Pokémon on the opponent's team, or if there are many other Flying, Fire, or Fighting-type Pokémon. Arcanine is faster than Smeargle, so it can start off by using a Sunny Day to help fend off a Water weakness that might be a OHKO to begin with. You could break a Focus Sash and get +1 speed with Flame Charge if you think it's best, but I usually start with Sunny Day. After receiving the Beat Up boost, Flame Charge anything that doesn't resist it, as it increases your speed to make you even more devestating, as well as provides a lot of damage under the Sun with +6 or even +5 attack. Use that a few times to build up speed, then Fire Fang. Fire Fang is a little more powerful. If you come up against something that requires a little more firepower (pun intended) then Flare Blitz can be used, as it has limited potential to OHKO a resistor like Tentacruel at +5, but the recoil can be devastating.
Again, a Life Orb could have been used, but Arcanine needs to stick around. Plus, the Heat Rock can give the Sun more time to boost Arcanine's mono-Fire set. 252 Attack because duh, but I gave 252 Speed the beneficial nature so that it can put up Sun quickly, and so that it has the chance to outspeed a Water attack or Earthquake with Flare Blitz without the Flame Charge boost.
Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 SpA / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Modest Nature
- Roost
- Hyper Voice
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
So, Smeargle didn't make it, huh? Well, the rest of the team is nothing to scoff at. While Mega-Altaria is normally BL in singles, it is allowed in Doubles UU. Hooray. Altaria is the only Special Attacker on the team, and is the obvious switch-in if Smeargle can pull off Tail Glow into Baton Pass. Roost for a spalsh of recovery, especially is Stealth Rocks are up. Hyper Voice is great, because it is a very powerful STAB with Pixilate, and con hit both opponents. Since Fighting-type Pokémon can take out Lucario pretty easily, this will be a healthy slap in the face to them. Fire Blast anything Steel that might otherwise resist the set, and Draco Meteor for lots of damage. Plus, if you can pull off the Tail Glow first with Smeargle, you'll have +3 Special Attack to begin with, and +1 after a Draco Meteor, so You're good to use it reliably up to 3 times (give or take).
Item irrelevant: you're holding the Altarianite. 252+ Special Attack and 252 Speed should make Altaria fast enough, and it will certainly have a lot of firepower, even without the +3 Tail Glow. On place of note, however, is giving Altaria Natural Cure before Mega Evolving. This is in lue of Cloud Nine, which is more common. This is simply so that Arcanine's Sunny Day can stay in play, if that is required.
Blissey @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Healer
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Light Screen
Perhaps the oddest member of the team is Blissey. My team is very offense-oriented, but could be taken out by a single pair of Pokémon with decent coverage without Blissey. So, some defense will do this team well. Plus, Blissey makes a great partner for one of the Justified options, to help cripple some would-be destroyers of the strategy. Blissey is all about chipping away the remainder of the team with lots of very low-power damage sources. Stealth Rocks can be a nuisance late-game, especially against Pokémon who have already taken damage and have switched out. Thunder Wave is there to try and force some switchouts, or at least to be annoying and slow down the opponent. Light Screen can be very helpful to Lucario, as most Fire coverage is special, and Focus Blast is common. Finally, Soft-Boiled is a good recovery.
Rocky Helmet punishes Physical Attackers who think that a special wall is only a special wall (spoiler: it is). HP and Defense are 248 and 252+respectivelyy to help keep Blissey around in case of those Physical Hits. Healer is awesome in Doubles, as it can go in next to any of my attackers to negate the Status that might otherwise destroy them, and keep the strategy alive.
Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Zen Headbutt
- Meteor Mash
- Power-Up Punch
- Earthquake
The last resort, if all else fails. Metagross is a solid attacker without boosts, and can boost if need be. Start with some Power-Up Punches if you're not in danger of a OHKO. The rest is just coverage that the rest of the team doesn't really have. Zen Headbutt can take care of Fighting-type Pokémon who get Lucario and evade Altaria. Meteor Mash is a solid STAB that has the potential to raise Attack as well. It can take care of the Faries that otherwise ruin the team. Finally, Earthquake is just good all-around, but is especially great against Fire-type Pokémon that could threaten Metagross.
Metagross gets the Life Orb because it doesn't get the starting attack boost, and had enough natural defense to handle the HP cut that comes with Life Orb. Jolly instead of Adamant to keep up with the competition as best as possible. Both are 252 to make as much of a last-resort punch as possible.
So, that's the team. While I've had ~75% success with this team, most of my successes come from forfeits after getting rid of one our two Pokémon with +6 Lucario. Ignoring forfeits, I'm closer to 40% success, so help would be much appreciated. Thank you all!
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Beat Up
- Follow Me
- Tail Glow
- Baton Pass
Here's what I decided to go for as my Beat Up. Smeargle has by far the lowest Attack stat of anyone that can learn Beat Up and is the only 'mon that can learn Follow Me as well. So, it starts- alongside one of my two Justified options- and uses Beat Up on them. For those who don't quite understand the strategy, Justified raises the Attack stat of the Pokémon by one stage when that Pokémon is hit with a Dark-type attack. Beat Up is a Dark-type attack that hits once for every non-fainted Pokémon in the user's party. So, this would raise the Attack stat of a Justified Pokémon to the maximum at the beginning of a battle. Follow Me is there in case the Justified choice is in danger of fainting so that they have a chance to take out the potential attacker. Tail Glow and Baton Pass are present as a backup so that a physical wall can be dealt with by a special attacker.
Smeargle has Max Speed, along with a beneficial nature so that it can potentially outspeed a threat. It has minimal Attack, along with a detrimental nature, since it will be attacking a partner and the partner will thus take some damage. Focus Sash so that it can survive an OHKO to still perform it's duty.
Lucario @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Close Combat
- Bullet Punch
- Extreme Speed
Justified choice number 1, and the usual partner to Smeargle. Lucario is an all-out physical attacker, with a mix of priority and coverage. On that first turn, you want to use a non-priority (usually Ice Punch) so that Smeargle can buff you first. After that, Extreme Speed at your leisure, as a +6 Extreme Speed can usually OHKO anything that doesn't have unreasonably high defense. Bullet Punch Ghosts in your way, and you can Close Combat the occasional Steel wall. +6 Close Combat, by the way, is a guaranteed OHKO against a 252+ Mega Aggron. Just be sure not to use a non-priority move unless you're absolutely certain that Lucario is faster than the opponent, or that the opponent carries no super-effective moves. Lucario is very frail.
To do some slight recovery, Lucario holds Leftovers. I considered giving it a Life Orb or Silk Scarf to make Lucario absolutely destroying, but Lucario truly needs the recovery. Obviously 252+ Attack, along with 252 Speed. It will always be slower than Smeargle in this case. If you can set it up, Lucario can sweep the team.
Arcanine @ Heat Rock
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sunny Day
- Flame Charge
- Flare Blitz
- Fire Fang
Justified option number 2. Arcanine can go in if Lucario faints for +5 attack, but it should only start if there are many fire-weak Pokémon on the opponent's team, or if there are many other Flying, Fire, or Fighting-type Pokémon. Arcanine is faster than Smeargle, so it can start off by using a Sunny Day to help fend off a Water weakness that might be a OHKO to begin with. You could break a Focus Sash and get +1 speed with Flame Charge if you think it's best, but I usually start with Sunny Day. After receiving the Beat Up boost, Flame Charge anything that doesn't resist it, as it increases your speed to make you even more devestating, as well as provides a lot of damage under the Sun with +6 or even +5 attack. Use that a few times to build up speed, then Fire Fang. Fire Fang is a little more powerful. If you come up against something that requires a little more firepower (pun intended) then Flare Blitz can be used, as it has limited potential to OHKO a resistor like Tentacruel at +5, but the recoil can be devastating.
Again, a Life Orb could have been used, but Arcanine needs to stick around. Plus, the Heat Rock can give the Sun more time to boost Arcanine's mono-Fire set. 252 Attack because duh, but I gave 252 Speed the beneficial nature so that it can put up Sun quickly, and so that it has the chance to outspeed a Water attack or Earthquake with Flare Blitz without the Flame Charge boost.
Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 SpA / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Modest Nature
- Roost
- Hyper Voice
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
So, Smeargle didn't make it, huh? Well, the rest of the team is nothing to scoff at. While Mega-Altaria is normally BL in singles, it is allowed in Doubles UU. Hooray. Altaria is the only Special Attacker on the team, and is the obvious switch-in if Smeargle can pull off Tail Glow into Baton Pass. Roost for a spalsh of recovery, especially is Stealth Rocks are up. Hyper Voice is great, because it is a very powerful STAB with Pixilate, and con hit both opponents. Since Fighting-type Pokémon can take out Lucario pretty easily, this will be a healthy slap in the face to them. Fire Blast anything Steel that might otherwise resist the set, and Draco Meteor for lots of damage. Plus, if you can pull off the Tail Glow first with Smeargle, you'll have +3 Special Attack to begin with, and +1 after a Draco Meteor, so You're good to use it reliably up to 3 times (give or take).
Item irrelevant: you're holding the Altarianite. 252+ Special Attack and 252 Speed should make Altaria fast enough, and it will certainly have a lot of firepower, even without the +3 Tail Glow. On place of note, however, is giving Altaria Natural Cure before Mega Evolving. This is in lue of Cloud Nine, which is more common. This is simply so that Arcanine's Sunny Day can stay in play, if that is required.
Blissey @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Healer
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Light Screen
Perhaps the oddest member of the team is Blissey. My team is very offense-oriented, but could be taken out by a single pair of Pokémon with decent coverage without Blissey. So, some defense will do this team well. Plus, Blissey makes a great partner for one of the Justified options, to help cripple some would-be destroyers of the strategy. Blissey is all about chipping away the remainder of the team with lots of very low-power damage sources. Stealth Rocks can be a nuisance late-game, especially against Pokémon who have already taken damage and have switched out. Thunder Wave is there to try and force some switchouts, or at least to be annoying and slow down the opponent. Light Screen can be very helpful to Lucario, as most Fire coverage is special, and Focus Blast is common. Finally, Soft-Boiled is a good recovery.
Rocky Helmet punishes Physical Attackers who think that a special wall is only a special wall (spoiler: it is). HP and Defense are 248 and 252+respectivelyy to help keep Blissey around in case of those Physical Hits. Healer is awesome in Doubles, as it can go in next to any of my attackers to negate the Status that might otherwise destroy them, and keep the strategy alive.
Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Zen Headbutt
- Meteor Mash
- Power-Up Punch
- Earthquake
The last resort, if all else fails. Metagross is a solid attacker without boosts, and can boost if need be. Start with some Power-Up Punches if you're not in danger of a OHKO. The rest is just coverage that the rest of the team doesn't really have. Zen Headbutt can take care of Fighting-type Pokémon who get Lucario and evade Altaria. Meteor Mash is a solid STAB that has the potential to raise Attack as well. It can take care of the Faries that otherwise ruin the team. Finally, Earthquake is just good all-around, but is especially great against Fire-type Pokémon that could threaten Metagross.
Metagross gets the Life Orb because it doesn't get the starting attack boost, and had enough natural defense to handle the HP cut that comes with Life Orb. Jolly instead of Adamant to keep up with the competition as best as possible. Both are 252 to make as much of a last-resort punch as possible.
So, that's the team. While I've had ~75% success with this team, most of my successes come from forfeits after getting rid of one our two Pokémon with +6 Lucario. Ignoring forfeits, I'm closer to 40% success, so help would be much appreciated. Thank you all!
