Metagame DPP Doubles OU

It's been a couple of months since I did my last team dump and since I already made playoffs for the DPP DOU Swiss Tour, I'll share some of the teams I've built :)

Heal Bell Vaporeon
:tyranitar: :salamence: :latias: :vaporeon: :hitmontop: :steelix:

DD Mence Rain
:salamence: :gengar: :zapdos: :kingdra: :ludicolo: :metagross:

Double Pressure Stall
:arcanine: :heracross: :suicune: :zapdos: :latias: :metagross:

Spread Damage
:blastoise: :togekiss: :tyranitar: :clefable: :abomasnow: :heatran:

Life Orb Nidoking + Scarf Latias Lead
:nidoking: :latias: :metagross: :tyranitar: :blissey: :gyarados:

Twave Spam
:jirachi: :tyranitar: :electivire: :togekiss: :machamp: :gyarados:

Silk Scarf Kang + Life Orb Mence Lead
:kangaskhan: :salamence: :heatran: :weavile: :latias: :swampert:

Lately, I've been thinking about where I stand as a dpp dou player and I don't know how to feel. I truly enjoy creating new teams and using new stuff, but my results in tournament have been lackluster. If I don't win the dpp dou swiss tour, I'm going to take a break from playing dpp until derby. I am getting burned out and I think a part of it has to do with me pushing myself more than I have too. I'm always down to play test games though so feel free to ask me if you ever want to play!
 
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Here is my personal vr. Big s/o to zee for putting this together. Tiers 1-3 are ordered!

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I personally really love this tier. The best pokemon aren't overbearing enough that it allows you to fill specific roles with niche pokemon, especially without having team preview. That being said, I'd like to go over some of the decisions I made when making this tier list. If you have any questions you can hit me up on discord!

I personally think Heatran is the best pokemon in the format right now. It has an incredible typing and stat spread which is bolstered by the fact that it can effectively run a lot of sets. Chople Berry, Shuca Berry, Lefties and Choice scarf to name a few. It resists a good portion of the tier and can throw out solid damage with heat wave.

The elephant in the room is Metagross. I think Metagross is really good but when I'm building I almost always am checking it naturally without thinking. I think the biggest issue metagross faces is that a lot of teams right now are running bulky waters and zapdos, so it can't just freely click strong meteor mashes. It still has really good offensive presence though and can run a number of sets so I rank it highly

While I wouldn't put Jirachi higher than 4 right now, I think it is super good at compressing roles on teams. It has incredible typing, solid stats, and really good support moves as well as offensive moves. With resist berries or expert belt you can practically sculpt it to soft check whatever you want.

Magnezone is another pokemon I've been really high on. With how good the steels are in this format being able to trap them and either ko with zone or with your partner is super good and really opens up doors for things like sd scizor or dd ttar.

Lastly I'd like to highlight abomasnow. It's held back by its speed stat a lot but abomasnow has a good matchup into a lot of the meta offensively, and is able to reset weather while resisting water attacks which can be super useful if you're wanting extra coverage vs rain.
 
Here is my personal vr. Big s/o to zee for putting this together. Tiers 1-3 are ordered!

View attachment 606434


I personally really love this tier. The best pokemon aren't overbearing enough that it allows you to fill specific roles with niche pokemon, especially without having team preview. That being said, I'd like to go over some of the decisions I made when making this tier list. If you have any questions you can hit me up on discord!

I personally think Heatran is the best pokemon in the format right now. It has an incredible typing and stat spread which is bolstered by the fact that it can effectively run a lot of sets. Chople Berry, Shuca Berry, Lefties and Choice scarf to name a few. It resists a good portion of the tier and can throw out solid damage with heat wave.

The elephant in the room is Metagross. I think Metagross is really good but when I'm building I almost always am checking it naturally without thinking. I think the biggest issue metagross faces is that a lot of teams right now are running bulky waters and zapdos, so it can't just freely click strong meteor mashes. It still has really good offensive presence though and can run a number of sets so I rank it highly

While I wouldn't put Jirachi higher than 4 right now, I think it is super good at compressing roles on teams. It has incredible typing, solid stats, and really good support moves as well as offensive moves. With resist berries or expert belt you can practically sculpt it to soft check whatever you want.

Magnezone is another pokemon I've been really high on. With how good the steels are in this format being able to trap them and either ko with zone or with your partner is super good and really opens up doors for things like sd scizor or dd ttar.

Lastly I'd like to highlight abomasnow. It's held back by its speed stat a lot but abomasnow has a good matchup into a lot of the meta offensively, and is able to reset weather while resisting water attacks which can be super useful if you're wanting extra coverage vs rain.
Abomasnow is slept on so glad u shouting him out. I feel like he can check a lot things. Especially in trick room where u dont have to worry about bad speed.
 
The public link to the DPP DOU tiermaker can be found here.

this is my list
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:zapdos: Zapdos is imo the best mon in the tier currently. It can run a variety of sets from offensive to full bulk and any of them do a great job of accomplishing their goals since Zapdos lacks a lot of natural checks.

:metagross: Metagross beats Tyranitar and Latias (or forces it to lock into HP Ground/Fire) which is so important that it would be tier 2 if that is all it could do, but it also can Explode, quite powerfully may I add, and run a variety of other coverage moves including Earthquake, Bullet Punch, or the elemental punches.

:tyranitar: Tyranitar soft checks a lot of the format and threatens SE damage on Latias and Zapdos. Sand chip keeps bulky leftovers mons from recovering all of your damage. It also has a ton of set variety - DD is a menace that can win games in one turn but tank sets with a billion coverage options are also very good at sliding into certain teams as a mon 5/6 to patch holes.

:latias: Latias speedchecks the tier which is the most important thing about it imo. I don't really bother with the non choiced sets but I have seen them put in work in tournaments. It can be given basically whatever coverage you want, but of course the big appeal is the fact that it's hitting the field and putting an X on anything at around 60% that isn't a steel type.

I could talk about every mon on the list but you don't wanna read that, ping me if you want a take on a specific mon but here's a few I wanna highlight.

:heatran: Heatran has a ton of set variety and possess the coveted Fire typing with a speed tier placing it above Metagross and Scizor. Lead tran does a good job of preying on the rising Registeel. I really recommend getting creative with this guy!

:mew: For a while I believed Mew to be inferior to Cresselia but with how much Thunder Wave has come into the metagame recently I think Mew's synchronize helps a lot at making foes think twice about paralyzing it. I think a lot of Mew sets are good and this mon is currently severely underplayed.

:kangaskhan: I was not a believer until I tried it. Holy shit. It clicks Fake Out without being a shitty lead like Infernape or Weavile, Scrappy Return + Low Kick is crazy coverage, and it gets a flex slot in move 4 ranging from Protect to Sucker Punch to Helping Hand and more. Great enabler of setup leads but it also just gets to rampage pretty often.

:celebi: Celebi is a mon I seem to be higher on than anyone else but if you give it a try I think you'll see I'm onto something. Grass + Ground coverage with natural cure support makes it a really reliable offensive piece with a great speed tier and decent damage output.

:flygon: Flygon has started to impress me more as of late, as the mixed attacking set is pretty scary for middling speed tier Pokemon to answer. It walls any Zapdos lacking HP Ice which is a really rare trait in the current metagame. I think it's good with Latias as opposed to a Latias substitute, as it can click EQ and Fire Blast which lets Latias click Draco Meteor a lot easier.
 
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Following in zee's footsteps i'll share my take on the DPP meta leading up to our money tour that you should all sign up for :)

My list is ordered within tiers outside of tier 5

Strangely enough zee and I share a lot of similar opinions on regards to the metagame as of current which is unsurprising, I think a lot of the meta solidified itself as the cream of the crop and that wont really ever change baring insane meta shifts and most people recognize that as fact. I'll highlight some Pokemon that zee already hasn't and give my thoughts on them.

:Scizor: I think scizor as a mid-to-late set up sweeper is actually devastating in current meta and is able to punish a lot of the most common threats while being able to withstand a lot of hits given the right evs.

:registeel: I wasn't sold on Registeel when dad1 originally used it but against a lot of teams and depending on the lead matchup this Pokemon can be essentially a terrorist spreading status and setting up rocks for fun. Super annoying to play against if you dont have a heatran or a way to effectively wear it down quickly.

:suicune: I have suicune higher than zee as well, again, similar to scizor I think the utilization of this Pokemon as a potential late game sweeper in combination with all of the Thunder Wave that's prevalent in the tier currently makes it an extremely hard thing to deal with even after 1 calm mind.

:bronzong: In my opinion is simply the best Trick Room setter in the tier for high level play, the ability to threaten explosion on any of 5 turns puts insane amounts of pressure on your opponent.

:shaymin: cute n_n - Operates in a similar capacity to Celebi but has the added ability of being able to threaten spdef drops on top of it, at the risk of missing shit ass seed flare. With the dominance of a lot of the tier 1s and 2s even the steel types aren't safe to switch into shaymin due to the threat of a drop and earth power koing after.

All in all I really enjoy playing and building for DPP and it's currently my favourite doubles format. I'm always happy to discuss my thought process being the meta and teams if you want just message me on discord n_n
 
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REMINDER
The money tour will be taking place in the Smogon Doubles room at 11 AM GMT -5 (8 AM GMT -8 // 5 PM GMT +1 // Midnight GMT +8). Hope to see you there!!!
Today is February 2nd, which marks the 11 month anniversary of the tier. For the one year anniversary of DPP DOU, we will be running a $100 ($25 from Bless bage1 Mizuhime zee) double elimination roomtour in the DOU room on March 2nd. Stay tuned for more info.
 
dpp_money.png

Congratulations to awesome user sir jelloton for winning the anniversary tour, a well deserved win highlight by some pretty insane matches.

I'd like to talk about some of the unconventional sets and Pokemon he used throughout his run during the tournament including a fan favourite pokemon in Gengar as well as some other interesting choices of Pokemon thought to have fallen out of favour like Infernape, Hitmontop, as well as Rotom-H.

Jello opted to use Gengar on two different teams throughout the tournament after it being rated as a tier 4 Pokemon by both Zee and I. One team he used it as a lead Pokemon and the other team decided to have it in the back. Both sets we're identical, however.

Gengar @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Energy Ball
- Trick

As you can see the Gengar is carrying a couple key moves here, Energy Ball for the omnipotent Swampert, and Trick to act as a disrupter for things that could potential switch in to it like Bronzong and bulkier Pokemon like Zapdos. Being able to threaten things straight away from the Lead position is something that isn't really super common in DPP where most people opt for a rock setter or disruption of some sort, either it be in the form of Thunder Wave or Fake out so this was an interesting call to see made.

Jello also brought back Hitmontop and Infernape throughout the duration of the tournament, where both Pokemon have kind of fallen to the way side in terms of usage, they still both have things they do better than other Fake Out users. Infernape provides the fastest fake out in the tier (when ludicolo isn't in rain) and also has Stealth Rock, while hitmontop has access to the best ability in the game Intimidate and priority moves such as Sucker Punch which came into play during the tournament.

However, the one thing I noticed while watching a lot of Jello's games was the decision to Lead Metagross with differing sets.


Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Explosion

and

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Substitute
- Protect

Both of these sets do different things and as we got later into the tournament people started to expect the former set and were scared of the threat of the Choice Band Earthquake taking a kill on them early, giving Jello the opportunity to set up a Substitute and create openings for the rest of the game. Jello has probably changed my opinion on Metagross and I would consider it a Tier 1 Pokemon now after this tournament.


Once again congratulations to you jello, it was a very good run and you are truly a deserving winner :)
 
Just won DPP cup so here's my annual team dump. I'm pretty burnt out on mons so I only used an updated Suicune team (paste below) and the Registeel Latias team from my previous team dump until finals. I figured since this'll be the last time I play DPP in a while, I should build some new teams. Some of them haven't been tested yet and might be ass. As always, teambuilding process is me wanting to use something and then surrounding it with the brokens. Click the sprites for the pastes.

Lead Suicune 2
:suicune: :kangaskhan: :rhyperior: :heatran: :latias: :gyarados:

Screens Setup w/ Lucario
:raikou: :kangaskhan: :lucario: :gyarados: :tyranitar: :salamence:

Lead Sub CM Raikou
:raikou: :hitmontop: :clefable: :gyarados: :scizor: :latias:

Machamp
:zapdos: :kangaskhan: :machamp: :tyranitar: :gyarados: :scizor:

Untested Teams
Manaphy
:manaphy: :kangaskhan: :toxicroak: :latias: :gyarados: :rhyperior:

Lead Shaymin
:shaymin: :tyranitar: :heatran: :gyarados: :scizor: :zapdos:

CM Raikou
:torterra: :kangaskhan: :raikou: :gyarados: :metagross: :salamence:

Thoughts on the meta:
It might just be how I build my teams, but I think Gyarados is the best Pokemon in the format right now (as you can see above, all my teams have one lol). More specifically, I think the DD set with Leftovers is what makes it so dangerous. There's a ton of easy setup opportunities in between Swampert, Scizor, Heatran, -2 Latias, and -1 Kangaskhan to name a few and then it just takes advantage of the lack of Water-resists in the tier and tears through teams. It's bulky enough even uninvested to where the Leftovers healing can make a big difference as long as they don't have a Tyranitar. This replay from one of my semifinals games is a great example of this: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4doublesou-2078325162. The most common Intimidate user (Gyarados) dies to neutral Stone Edge after rocks if its offensive, and the defensive set is easy to wear down and put in range of Stone Edge in between Zapdos, Stealth Rock, or just random stray hits. SpDef set is still good too, since it's able to switch in to a lot of common mons and just chip away at teams with Waterfall or click T-wave.

I also think Kangaskhan is T2 (this is a formal VR nom). And again, this might be a product of how I build my teams, but the way I tend to play DPP is wearing the opponent's team down and then finding a good opportunity for my 1-2 setup attackers to take over the game. Kangaskhan does an amazing job at enabling that with Fake Out and general strong hits. Its last slot also gives it a ton of utility. There's Sucker Punch, Toxic, Helping Hand, and Yawn to name a few.

Other than those two tho, the rest of my thoughts align pretty much with the tier lists posted above. You can build a pretty good DPP team just by surrounding your flavor pick with the four T1 mons + Zapdos/Intimdiate user. Shoutouts chirch for team vibe checks and see y'all when I feel like playing mons again! o7
 
My semi-annual DPP post has arrived! This will be a mix of VR opinions, meta thoughts, and tour retrospective.

I came second in DPP cup, my highest tour placement yet! I had gotten off to a really bad start, going 0-2, but managed to pull it back and go 1-2 to qualify for the top cut portion of the tour. Even though I benefitted from the "1 win and in" structure, I wholeheartedly support the lengthened Swiss portion for oldgens tours going forward, since act wins being enough to get in was quite silly. It was a little disappointing to lose in the finals, but I'm still happy that I got that far and hope to match or exceed this performance in the next DPP tour. Plus, if there was anyone to lose to in DPP, I'm happy it was DaAwesomeDude1. The teams I used are slight alterations of ones given to me by my DPP savior Bless, the best builder in the tier, and the hero sir jelloton (in addition to the ones I built with/stole from dad1). Some of them are in the samples and some in his post above, and as always, the dad1 Registeel reigns supreme.

Teams

Here are some of the teams I relied on, plus a dogshit one I built for finals. Click on the sprites to access the pastes.

Kang Mence Lead + Lanturn (Credit: Bless/Sunrose)
:kangaskhan: :salamence: :heatran: :lanturn: :bronzong: :gyarados:

It took me a while to warm up to Kang, but it's now my favorite lead in the metagame (more on that later). Lanturn is a really interesting option that matches up well into the omnipresent Zapdos - Gyara compositions. Salamence could probably be swapped for something as I don't believe a sub+three attacks set makes for an ideal lead (Latias runs this set often, and I don't think it's great on that either).


Regi Latias Lead + DD Gyara (Credit: dad1)
:registeel: :latias: :tyranitar: :heatran: :gyarados: :scizor:

If you want to learn the tier or have something solid into every "meta" composition, this is the team for you (and probably one of the best teams overall). Registeel offers so much utility and so much bulk in one slot that Taunt becomes a mandatory bring on opposing leads, freeing Latias to set up a sub or do damage. The free turns from Thunder Wave and the chip from Stealth Rock allow Gyara and Scizor to set up more comfortably, and either can run away with the game once Tyranitar removes Zapdos and other checks.


Suicune Kang Lead + Zong Rhyperior TR (Credit: dad1)
:suicune: :kangaskhan: :rhyperior: :bronzong: :latias: :gyarados:

Dad1 already posted this team earlier in the thread but I'm putting it here again because I think it's more relevant to the meta now that it was before. Kang leads are incredibly solid, and Suicune enjoys the reduction in Zapdos leads while eating up rain teams. Rhyperior has almost always been a fraud in my eyes, but it served me well in the Semifinals.

Kang Gengar Lead + Cress TR (Credit: Bless/Sunrose)
:kangaskhan: :gengar: :cresselia: :heatran: :scizor: :swampert:

Sunrose had passed me a slightly more unhinged version of this team with a Fire-Water-Grass TR core, but I felt that particular unhinged mon was underperforming, so I swapped it for Band Scizor. I changed the Gengar set from bulky to max/max for a better overall lead matchup. The Cress set can be tinkered with, since no attacks Cress is dangerous if you run into taunt.

Zong Mew Lead + Full TR (Credit: Me) (lol) (wtf is this)
:bronzong: :mew: :celebi: :camerupt: :swampert: :hariyama:

I didn't have nearly as much time as I wanted to build for DPP cup finals, but I knew that full, aggressive TR had potential - specifically Guts Hariyama and Camerupt. Dad1 and I had agreed not to bring Registeel to finals, so in hindsight, bringing a team built to beat steels wasn't the best idea. The fire-water-grass core is a solid enough idea given that there's enough coverage to deal with dragons. Celebi in particular is interesting - 100 speed is generally awkward for TR, but here it seems to work fine by underspeeding the fast Tier 1s/2s in Trick Room and outspeeding the uninvested/slow mons outside of it. Hariyama is obscenely powerful, but unfortunately has a really tough time staying on the field for more than a couple of turns. I had used Specs Swampert in the past and wanted to switch things up, so I went for a Curse physical set. This team needs more work to make it properly good, and I'd appreciate feedback/tips on how to improve it.


VR Thoughts

I had initially wanted to make VR noms before the voting slate but then I actually got to vote! I don't know the results yet, but here are some of my thoughts:

:latias: 1 -> 2
Not immediately threatening enough to warrant T1 anymore; its utility options are solid but there's always an opportunity cost with running any set. You give up the power of specs if you're running screens/sub and vice versa, so it's exploitable to some degree by any solid team.

:swampert: 1 -> 2
Teams are overprepared for Swampert these days - HP Grass is widespread, and several mons can take advantage of its passivity to set up (mainly Gyara, which Pert can't touch).

:heatran: 2 ->3
Another victim of Gyara which is also weak to several common leads like Low Kick Kangaskhan (and Infernape lmao).

:gyarados: 2 -> 2
I think dad1 has rightly pointed out that DD gyara is incredibly good right now, and as mentioned above it screws over a lot of the T1-3 mons. However, I'm hesitant to raise it to Tier 1 as it requires a lot of careful positioning to ensure it doesn't immediately die to the tier's powerful electrics, Zapdos and Raikou.

:clefable: 3 -> 4
I don't think redirection is as valuable in this tier as in others. It can definitely be incredibly clutch when pulling a twave away from a setup sweeper, but on the whole, Screens is enough damage mitigation and allows you to have two threatening mons on the field instead of one.

:registeel: 3 -> 2
Beats so many leads, dishes out multiple Twaves per game (or even Toxic if you want to stack DOT with sand), and reliably gets rocks up. It mandates Taunt on all teams and is ridiculously difficult to kill. It's a little passive however, which holds it back from T1.

:kangaskhan: 4 -> 2

I was a skeptic, but I have now seen the light. In this damage trade meta, Kangaskhan's bulk, utility, and power all combine to boost it to the top of the lead rankings. There's no mon that compresses its damage output, ability to take hits, and Fake Out pressure so effectively. I would echo dad1's post above.


An Aside: Thunder Wave

Thunder Wave has been my favorite move to click since the start of this tier, although I no longer do it as blindly as I used to. I wanted to talk about why it's been so good, and why it might not be as present in the meta going forward.

One of the big differences between ADV and DPP DOU, aside from all the major mechanic differences, is the opportunity cost of Lum Berry, which is ubiquitous in ADV. This meta is highly centered around damage trades - wearing down opponents and putting them in a position to lose to your setup. In this context, using Lum Berry means you're giving up the value of health items like Leftovers and Sitrus Berry which can sustain your utility mons while they set up Rocks/Screens/Whatever or give your setup sweepers the ability to survive an additional hit (and therefore deal an additional hit). It also takes away the ability to use a Choice Item, meaning you'd have to spend additional turns to break walls. In the absence of Lum Berry and with very few para-immune mons, Thunder Wave allows you to tilt the balance in your favor - speed, damage output (through full paras), and free turns to set up (also through full paras).

However, since it brings speed down to one-fourth, it means there's additional risk when running Trick Room - and as you can see from the teams above, I really enjoy semiroom structures. You don't want your Trick Room sweeper to contend with a Metagross or Gyarados that suddenly underspeeds you. In addition, the damage trade argument goes both ways - every turn you're spending clicking twave is a turn you're not spending dealing damage. On the whole, the value you get from TWave is predicated on your team structure and how bold you are with setup predictions. My philosophy will remain "fuck it we ball" and manifesting full paras, but not nearly to the extent that it was before.


I've really enjoyed this tier since it's the only one in which I have consistent tour results and am incredibly excited to see how the meta develops during Derby. Thanks again to Sunrose and Jello for supporting my run in DPP cup!
 
:gyarados: 2 -> 2
I think dad1 has rightly pointed out that DD gyara is incredibly good right now, and as mentioned above it screws over a lot of the T1-3 mons. However, I'm hesitant to raise it to Tier 1 as it requires a lot of careful positioning to ensure it doesn't immediately die to the tier's powerful electrics, Zapdos and Raikou.


I was theory crafting a bit ago about lightning rod rhyperior with gyarados purely so circumvent his electric weakness + allow rhyperior to spam earthquakes without worrying about team damage.

https://pokepast.es/ce212f65bdc0c802

made this team a bit ago, could use work (Ignore monkey + meta I was feeling quirky)
 
I remember running SUN HO in the spotlight ladder and having some success.

Why is sun considered unviable as far as I see in the VRs? (Exegg, Shiftry)
Weather struggles pretty hard in DPP since there aren't any legal Drought or Drizzle mons so you have to rely on Sunny Day/Rain Dance, but it really comes down to the Sun abusers just aren't as good as the Rain ones. Kingdra has a STAB spread attack that's boosted by Rain while Ludicolo's STABs have a good matchup into the meta and Fake Out to facilitate setup opportunities. Water is a good offensive typing and they're both useful outside of Rain too. In contrast, the Sun abusers' STAB attacks aren't as good. You don't get any damage boosts and Grass, Psychic, Poison, and Dark (which are the STABs of common Chlorophyll mons) aren't super useful offensive typings in the meta right now. Additionally, Sun abusers really need Sunny Day to be effective. Most of them tend to run Solar Beam from what I've seen, so you're gated out of your most reliable STAB outside of Sun. Sun can be used for sure though. There are people that have used it in tour games before, but it's unranked for now since it's not as consistent as the other VR mons.
 
Since we're talking about weathers to abuse, Hail is my favorite weather in gen 4. Hailroom is sleeper in gen 4 without sun and rain being perma like in gen 5. Glaceon was a fun hail sweeper who can be bulky enough to live most hits. Sadly glaceon is now banned for frosslass's sins so now u have to use regice for hailroom, but man you really feel the lack of the 30 more base Special Attack. #FreeGlaceon
 
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Where does most dpp dou discussion happen outside of this thread? is there a discord or something?

The doubles discord server has an oldgens channel where DPP DOU is discussed, here is the invite link: https://discord.gg/Cn9tJyy

Right now Doubles Derby is going on which includes a DPP DOU slot so its a pretty good time to join and talk about the teams that are brought and games that are played.
 
Hey everyone! I made a video about the team I built for week 2 of derby for DPP Doubles vs Mizuhime!
I'm going to make a part 2 later this week talking about the actual battle and then I'm going to do the same
for week 5 vs qsns!

Teambuilding Process

Game Review
 
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Going to be subbing out of DPP in Derby, not having a ton of fun with the tier after I got my creative ideas out. Endgames are just giving me too much anxiety with 2x crits and Twave, and fewer powerful options to deal with the latter. I think this is a common sentiment in the player pool and would probably like to see Thunder Wave looked at - it is deciding too much both in game and the builder.

When I had my ideas I had a ton of fun though!!!!!!!!!

:metagross:
Metagross @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Thunder Punch
- Explosion

Got haxed out both the weeks I brought this but I think it's extremely strong. Outspeeds Adamant Gyarados by 1 point, allowing it to check both TTar and Gyara at +1. Scarf Boom is very powerful and speed control that doesn't lose to the omnipresent Scarf Latias or get Intimidated down is great for locking down endgames.

:clefable:
Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
- Fire Blast
- Protect

I brought Clefable 3/6 weeks, I think it's a very flexible mon that switches into TWavers quite comfortably. I also used 3 very different sets - CM, Follow Me redirector, and this. I took inspiration from a DPP UU set that uses Clefable as a Trick Room wallbreaker and think it translates into Doubles extremely well. Grass Knot chunks Swampert and 2HKOs 0 HP TTar but is the most droppable move. Works best with a Tyranitar lead as a Heatran check, supplementary Trick Room Attacker, and Sand/SR that works well with this Clefable's gameplan.

:latias:
Latias (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
- Healing Wish

Healing Wish has weird DPP mechanics (switches in instantly, hazards are taken and then healed to 100%) but it's still very game changing. Gives second life to a Trick Room setter on semiroom or allows a TWaved mon to come back and win. If you're clicking anything other than Draco with Scarf Latias you're definitely losing anyway

:swampert:
Swampert @ Rindo Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SpA / 20 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

HP Grass is on every special attacker, SpDef swamperts do absolute negative damage, just eat a Rindo and you will be fine. I think this item/spread should be the standard set now.

https://pokepast.es/e98eba857d5a3660 teams if anyone needs, I think the CB Mence lead / LOrb Clefable teams are the strongest
 
With Derby officially finished I figure now is a good time to share some of the teams I made and used (also didn't use) throughout the duration of Derby. Personally I don't share the sentiments of other players and will be one of the ones who speak out against the Thunder Wave and Mechanic slander the tier gets, genuinely I feel like dpp is one of the best dou formats by a long shot.

A little backstory to my derby this year, week 1 I had to play ADV because Memo didn't want to, and we bought someone who can only play little cup (she lead the tier so that's all good) but after 1 week 1 Memo realized that they hated dpp and wanted to be put in ADV. Our team kind of cruised through the regular season and I for one didn't take it very seriously just like a few others, if we had won the week by the time I played I would pivot from whatever team I made in leu of saving some sets or teams for later, so I used a lot of shitty teams :)


:zapdos: :Swampert: :scizor: :tyranitar: :bronzong: :metagross:

Early in Derby I went through a phase where I could only build things with swampert zapdos and various steep types because I deemed those to be generally S tier and pretty much must brings. I don't recall using this in the tournament but here have a free team

:raikou: :swampert: :tyranitar: :bronzong: :latias: :scizor:

This is a team I was originally going to bring vs Sunrose in week 2, but like I mentioned previously we had won the week already and I figured why reveal the idea of Raikou and pert leads in a game that didn't matter. The team focuses on using discharge specs Raikou as a surprise lead to catch your opponent off guard and then you can get advantageous subs with pert who is secretly an extremely hard Pokemon to deal with while a sub is up.

Instead I used Octillery

:raikou: :swampert: :tyranitar: :Bronzong: :octillery: :scizor:

Octillery's best water move that isn't Surf or Water Spout is HP water. Lil bitch. I also lost the game because sunrose ran speed evs on Clampearl randomly and a 252 hp 252 spdef wak but alas. The octopus will get it's win one day.

:hitmontop: :Tyranitar: :regirock: :celebi: :heatran: :gyarados:

Anyone who played me in a test game throughout this tournament has seen at least 1 Regirock, I tried multiple times to make it work throughout the tournament but we just ended up finding curse Regirock to be unfortunately a little underwhelming. Curse Registeel on the other hand? we get to him later.

:zapdos: :registeel: :gyarados: :machamp: :tyranitar: :cresselia:

This is the team I used in week 3 vs Spurrific, not too much to say about the team other than it features a few sets and Pokemon that are traditonally "me". CB gyarados is one of my all time favourite Pokemon to use and Machamp is just something i've spammed throughout the years. Probably worth changing Dynamic Punch on Tyranitar becuase no guard doesn't work like that.

:Kangaskhan: :zapdos: :clefable: :tyranitar: :metagross: :gyarados:

One of my favourite teams I built throughout the duration of the tournament. Kanga became one of the most common leads in my builder after this game and will probably remain that way while also moving up the VR in my books at least. I wanted to use a threatening fake out paired with sub Zapdos lead to take advantage of the bulkier Thunder Wave using leads that a lot of people we're opting for. I believe in this game however Lu ran a 252 speed zapdos for no reason and it didn't work lol.


:kangaskhan: :Latias: :Zapdos: :bronzong: :Heatran: :rhyperior:

This is another week in which we had one so I pivoted away from what I was going to use, which is a really good team, but we figured that it would be best saved for playoffs. Different take on your standard semiroom team as far as DPP is concerned. Bronzong good, Heatran good, rocks good, pretty basic.

What i ended up using was

:regirock: :zapdos: :clefable: :scizor: :gyarados: :tyranitar:

Rock clicks rocks, goes boom, twave for cb gyarados and scizor to set up with clefable support. I REALLy JUST WANTED TO USE THE ROCK ALL TOURNAMENT

:flygon: :salamence: :latias: :kingdra: :dragonite: :altaria:

We had fully clinched by this point, I was going to use the Kanga semi room team with Heatran if we had needed a win but again, we were in a position of clinched and playing against fespy who I figured we would run into in playoffs again so no need to bring anything worth revealing. So we brought fucking mono dragon.


:azelf: :Regirock: :registeel: :regice: :Regigigas: :bronzong:

THE BOYS

I went into the week saying I would use the first thing pasted in the chat since lunar wanted me to bring CB azelf, sam made a rain team that no one really dug and I brought up what if we brought ALL 4 Regis. Unfortunately, I cannot claim to be the genius behind this team as sam made it, but that was a game of Pokemon for the record books.

:heatran: :zapdos: :Gyarados: :tyranitar: :Kangaskhan: :Metagross:

This is the team I used in Semi's vs Fespy. Going into the week we noted high scizor and Latias usage, we opted for a team that wouldn't give Scizor much room to set up and a Scarf Tyranitar for the Lati which worked well in the game catching it with an OHKO. Midgame fakeout is also an underrated thing in this generation and Kanga just hits like a bus.




Well that's it for derby, shoutouts for not winners are kinda lame but thanks to sam and xq for drafting me, you guys rule and thanks for letting me use the dumb shit I like. Sorry we didn't get that championship like we planned and should have
 
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Posting some thoughts on the tier now that Derby has ended:

Overall I still really enjoy DPP, I think it has a good mix of fast-paced offensive gameplay with enough defensive options to create consistently interesting and fun game states. I think we have started to narrow down the consistently good Pokemon so games decided on wacky matchups happen less and less. (People bringing good consistent Pokemon is good! Please bring good Pokemon, it is more fun to watch and play good Pokemon!)

Speaking of consistency, on the other hand this tier will always have a certain amount of anavoidable varience due to cringe oldgen crit mechanics, innacurate moves and (currently) Thunder Wave. I personally don't think Thunder Wave is broken in a competitive sense (often it can be a welcome check to Scarfers or naturally fast Pokemon) but it does tend to reward poor play and has very limited counterplay. I do think players click it more often then they should compared to how good the move is, but it is just "unearned" free turns 50% of the time. I'm not entirely sure what I would vote in a Twave suspect, but I would love to see what other's thoughts are.

I'll mention boom quickly but I don't think its broken or really that good, I feel like its only super valuable as an emergency vs threats that you've let get out of control.

Lastly here are some things I think are good and 2 teams I like:

:latias: - Has a ton of viable sets, specs is a great breaker, scarf is one of the best speed control options and a great offensive check to dd Gyarados, one of the biggest hurdles for rain to get over, and Dragon typing + Levitate just makes it a useful defensive tool vs a lot of the tier.

:tyranitar: - Tanks + scares Latias, best rocker, extremely veristile spreadwise, taking advantage of sand is very strong.

:metagross: - Tanks + scares Latias AND Tyranitar, does big damage, one of the best partners for lots of special attackers that struggle to break through Ttar

Think these are the three best mons in the tier (I think zapdos is also tier 1 but not quite the same level as these guys) and what ties them together to me is 1) how they matchup with each other and 2) how versitile they all are. I think just about every team should prob have 2/3 of these guys.

:mew:
Mew @ Expert Belt
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Grass Knot / Flamethrower / Psychic / Aura Sphere / Probably some other stuff
- Fake Out

Big fan of attacker mew, great at breaking up and weakening a lot of common defensive cores with Pokemon like Zapdos/Swampert/Metagross. Super customizable to fit whatever the team needs.

qsns's post

:tyranitar::mew::scizor::swampert::zapdos::latias:

:infernape::latias::metagross::swampert::zapdos::hitmontop:
 
Had a lot of fun playing DPP in Derby, and did pretty well going 4-1 the weeks I was in the DPP slot. I don't think much changes are needed, as the tier is pretty balanced, but I do agree with some of the sentiment above that there is a lot of variance in the tier due to stuff like crits doing 2x, no team preview, Thunder Wave, etc. I can understand why people may want a Thunder Wave suspect, as it's really the only variance causing element that can be suspected, but I haven't felt that Thunder Wave was anything close to broken in tier (and I didn't really bring it during Derby). I tested bringing teams that had a few Pokemon carrying Thunder Wave, and I found that it wasn't very effective, Thunder Wave is only really good at slowing down a few threats (rain sweepers, Latias, scarfers, etc.), T Waving the rest of the tier felt like a waste of a turn in a tier that is very fast paced already. Beyond that, it's not too hard for teams that are weak to Thunder Wave to carry counterplay like ground mons, lightning rod, or lum berries.

Instead, I think the best action would be making DPP team tour slots best of 3, similar to how ADV was changed. I think this format makes the most sense for no-team-preview tiers, as there's just so much variance depending upon what undiscovered Pokemon your opponent has in the back. Too often teams find themselves having their best check for threat X incapacitated, and then X was in the back on their opponents team. Singles doesn't have this issue as much as the games are much slower with a lot of switching, but in doubles these games are often played in ~15 turns, there just isn't the same opportunity to play around your opponent and scout their team.

I don't think building multiple teams for no-team-preview tiers each week is that hard, as there isn't nearly as big of an emphasis on making teams "perfect" the way you have to when your opponent knows exactly what you have at the beginning of the match. Beyond that, because your team is hidden, it's much easier to re-use teams without your opponent knowing, so I don't think there's nearly the same burden as a best of 3 slot in more modern gens with team preview.

With that being said, some thoughts on my Derby experience:

I mostly brought just Ttar-Latias balance teams most weeks, as I felt that's the best encompassing way to deal with most teamstyles and thus help with the variance, as together they check just about everything in the tier other than steels (which is what I ended up losing to in my one loss). Despite bringing those two mons every week, there's a lot of variations and different choices you can make around them. Here's a few mons I really liked:

:Hitmontop: Hitmontop has gone full circle in my opinion, when the tier was first put together it was one of the most prevalent pokemon, but now it is severely underrated. Fake out is excellent as there's a lot of pokemon that don't run protect in the tier, and intimidate + fighting moves is super useful into a lot of popular pokemon like Kang, Ttar, Scizor, etc. Sucker punch is excellent for helping beat many would be checks like Lati (after a little chip, as sucker punch does like 60%), and with the last slot you have a ton of options between Stone Edge for would be counters like Gyarados & Zapdos, or Rapid Spin on teams weak to rocks, or even niche options like Toxic. I'd like to nominate Hitmontop from tier 3 to Tier 2.

:Weavile: Weavile is a really cool Pokemon that I've had my sights on for a while, and when I got slotted into DPP I knew I was gonna bring it week 1. It beats a bunch of the top Pokemon in the tier like Zapdos & Latias, and even outspeeds Ttar at +1, so you can take it out with Low Kick. Due to its speed, it's an excellent late game sweeper too. Life Orb or Expert Belt are probably its best item as it helps get a lot of KOs, but sash works as well. Weavile works great with most waters (who already have some of the best typing in the tier) as most pokemon running grass moves are weak to Weavile. I'd like to nominate Weavile to tier 5 of the VR.

Few other quick noms:

:Mew: T3 -> T1. Mew has so many options, some of the most popular are fake out + SR leads, SD sets, or just running the perfect set of coverage moves for your team. You can come up with some really diabolical sets, and good bulk + speed lets it pull off so many options.

:Scizor: T3 -> T2. Scizor is arguably the best late game sweeper, just as long as you can remove opposing water/fire/steel types, Scizor will sweep the rest with SD + Bullet Punch. Scarf is also excellent for firing off powerful u-turns, but you need to have some good bulk behind it to switch into.

:Kangaskhan: T4 -> T3. Kang is one of the best leads, able to Fake Out everything and then fire off powerful Returns making it easy to get ahead early. It pairs up well with either set up sweepers or SR setters that can help out with steels/fighting types (Mew & Swampert come to mind as good partners).

Lastly here's a few teams that I used that people can steal:

https://pokepast.es/65d70844dfb75917
This one takes advantage of a really cool Mew set that just about always ends up with 2-3 opposing Pokemon dead early.

https://pokepast.es/94933175f5fa26f7
This one uses a few strong spread attackers + rocks to chip everything into range where either Sucker Punch, DD Ttar, or Scarf Latias can clean up. The Mew pairs well with Vaporeon as turn 1 you just Fake Out + Muddy Water, then Bolt/Beam coverage beats most switchins to Vap.

https://pokepast.es/99bf4c8643e05216
This team is built around DD Ttar cleaning up alongside Zapdos & Latias. Weavile + Swampert is a great lead as I mentioned earlier, and roar Swampert lets you scout out opposing Pokemon while also chipping them with Rocks.
 
Instead, I think the best action would be making DPP team tour slots best of 3, similar to how ADV was changed. I think this format makes the most sense for no-team-preview tiers, as there's just so much variance depending upon what undiscovered Pokemon your opponent has in the back. Too often teams find themselves having their best check for threat X incapacitated, and then X was in the back on their opponents team. Singles doesn't have this issue as much as the games are much slower with a lot of switching, but in doubles these games are often played in ~15 turns, there just isn't the same opportunity to play around your opponent and scout their team.

Quoting this part specifically to say just how much I disagree with it. The only real variance the tier has is blatant matchup fishing with things like Clampearl. Throughout the duration of derby it's not like the better player lost games because they got outright cheesed, the records pretty much line up with what you'd expect from those who played it. Crits and Twave para's exist in every generation, making another tier best of 3 seems ignorant in this situation.

As far as your comments on undiscovered Pokemon that your opponent has, that's part of the skill that ADV/DPP brings to the table. They aren't meant to be played the same as preview generations. general compositions are always going to have similar Pokemon in the back, part of being good at DPP and ADV to an extent is figuring out what those Pokemon are or could be and adjusting your play accordingly.
 
VR Update - we've had some pretty massive shifts as players have been optimizing the metagame, and here's what's changed!


Tier changes
:zapdos: Zapdos 2 -> 1
:swampert: Swampert 1 -> 2
:clefable: Clefable 3 -> 2
:mew: Mew 3 -> 2
:raikou: Raikou 3 -> 2
:bronzong: Bronzong 2 -> 3
:heatran: Heatran 2 -> 3
:jirachi: Jirachi 4 -> 3
:kangaskhan: Kangaskhan 4 -> 3
:rhyperior: Rhyperior 4 -> 3
:infernape: Infernape 5 -> 3
:heracross: Heracross 3 -> 4
:registeel: Registeel 3 -> 4
:rotom-heat: Rotom-Heat 5 -> 4
:azelf: Azelf UR -> 4
:regirock: Regirock UR -> 5
:celebi: Celebi UR -> 5

:blissey: Blissey 5 -> UR
:breloom: Breloom 5 -> UR
:camerupt: Camerupt 5 -> UR
:magmortar: Magmortar 5 -> UR
:mamoswine: Mamoswine 5 -> UR
:mismagius: Mismagius 5 -> UR
:rotom-mow: Rotom-Mow 5 -> UR
:slowking: Slowking 5 -> UR
:snorlax: Snorlax 5 -> UR
:staraptor: Staraptor 5 -> UR
:togekiss: Togekiss 5 -> UR
:toxicroak: Toxicroak 5 -> UR
 
Would like to preface this by saying I am still kind of unfamiliar in terms of council policy and how suspects work smogon in general etc etc but I would like to publicly voice how incredibly displeased with how the vote for thunder wave is currently being done. I have not seen a vote being done spontaneously like this except for things that are on a much smaller scale of issue like say evasion abilities. While the issues with twave exist in kind of the same realm I feel like it's a bit different when it's also the Best(practically only) speed control in the tier and getting rid of it will surely have large ramifications outside of just lowering the amount of hax. I personally am pretty scared of otherwise very much healthy and welcome mons in the metagame such as kingdra or metagross having only icy wind as a defensive utility option to cripple them and those 2 are just mons that come to mind off the top of my head.

Full Para into loss is never fun I get it. But I personally would like a bit more time and care put into a decision this big and if that is no longer possible at Least like to hear about why y'all are so sure making this the only doubles tier without a strong speed control option will make it better. Because I am not all the way convinced and very confused why so many people that are active strong players in this tier are.

May we slow the fuck down please? Or at the very least have some more productive conversation? I wanna hear more on it's impact and value as a speed control option rather than just bitching about chance for full Para when I personally feel the former is more important.
 
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