approved by logic =]
Effective Cores in the Doubles Metagame
So most of you probably noticed the awesome thread made yesterday about different Doubles strategies. Unfortunately, all of these sucked, and the thread turned out very non-serious. That said, It is actually a great idea to talk about cores / combinations in Doubles, considering the fact that there are two frickin Pokemon on the field at a time. So post here your effective cores that have won you games in the great tier of Doubles, and comment on them with 3-8 lines about synergy and strategy.
The cores will be listed under three categories: Offensive, Defensive, and Miscellaneous. Offensive cores aim to take advantage of each other's counters to blow holes in the opponent's team and eventually overpower the opposing team. Defensive cores aim to allow for easy switching due to good synergy, and provide a good basis for supporting any offensive mons on your team. Miscellaneous cores are usually a combination of a supporter and an attacker / sweeper that synergize very well with each other.
Rule: NO GIMMICKS. Please, just don't do this. Only post cores of Pokemon that help each other perform their roles by providing good offensive / defensive synergy.
Example (and to get rid of the obvious):
One- or two-lined posts are retarded so don't do that shit...
One Leaderboard point will be given to people who come up with a good, legitimate core.
Happy posting =]
Effective Cores in the Doubles Metagame
So most of you probably noticed the awesome thread made yesterday about different Doubles strategies. Unfortunately, all of these sucked, and the thread turned out very non-serious. That said, It is actually a great idea to talk about cores / combinations in Doubles, considering the fact that there are two frickin Pokemon on the field at a time. So post here your effective cores that have won you games in the great tier of Doubles, and comment on them with 3-8 lines about synergy and strategy.
The cores will be listed under three categories: Offensive, Defensive, and Miscellaneous. Offensive cores aim to take advantage of each other's counters to blow holes in the opponent's team and eventually overpower the opposing team. Defensive cores aim to allow for easy switching due to good synergy, and provide a good basis for supporting any offensive mons on your team. Miscellaneous cores are usually a combination of a supporter and an attacker / sweeper that synergize very well with each other.
Rule: NO GIMMICKS. Please, just don't do this. Only post cores of Pokemon that help each other perform their roles by providing good offensive / defensive synergy.
Example (and to get rid of the obvious):
edit: and you can also use this thread to reply to people's cores; suggest things, talk about why they are effective, make them better, etc.Laga said:
One- or two-lined posts are retarded so don't do that shit...
One Leaderboard point will be given to people who come up with a good, legitimate core.
Happy posting =]
Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
Garchomp (F) @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 64 Atk / 192 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Protect
This offensive core is geared towards abusing mega-garchomps ridiculous amount of power. Scarf genesect threatens many of garchomps checks and counters. Iron head takes care of fairy types not called azumarill and mawile. Azumarill is hit hard by thunderbolt especially if it's at plus one, and mawile must fear a sand force boosted earthquake which KOs if at neutral attack or take 80% from a fire blast or get knocked out if it has yet to mega-evolve. U-turn devastates lati@s and other psychic types, whilst ice beam can KO other dragons and landorus-t. Garchomp is more of a specially orientated mixed set as to lessen the effect will-o-wisp will have on it's output in the battle, on top of that garchomps spectacular 170 base attack gives earthquake a serious bite and can even take out many threats to genesect namely heatran and fire blast can ohko ferrothorn which would otherwise put a stop to genesect with thunderwave. Rotom-wash and -heat, namely there are of course others, are both serious problems to this core although they are both hit hard by draco meteor, but an appropriate counter greatly improves the effectiveness of this core.
Ability: Download
EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
Garchomp (F) @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 64 Atk / 192 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Protect
This offensive core is geared towards abusing mega-garchomps ridiculous amount of power. Scarf genesect threatens many of garchomps checks and counters. Iron head takes care of fairy types not called azumarill and mawile. Azumarill is hit hard by thunderbolt especially if it's at plus one, and mawile must fear a sand force boosted earthquake which KOs if at neutral attack or take 80% from a fire blast or get knocked out if it has yet to mega-evolve. U-turn devastates lati@s and other psychic types, whilst ice beam can KO other dragons and landorus-t. Garchomp is more of a specially orientated mixed set as to lessen the effect will-o-wisp will have on it's output in the battle, on top of that garchomps spectacular 170 base attack gives earthquake a serious bite and can even take out many threats to genesect namely heatran and fire blast can ohko ferrothorn which would otherwise put a stop to genesect with thunderwave. Rotom-wash and -heat, namely there are of course others, are both serious problems to this core although they are both hit hard by draco meteor, but an appropriate counter greatly improves the effectiveness of this core.
Aegislash @ Spooky Plate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Sneak
- King's Shield
Kangaskan @ Mega
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Return / Double Edge
- Sucker Punch
- Follow-Up Punch
(This is just the standard Kang set; Kangaskhan's EVs and attacks can be varied depending on your team and the combo will still work, just as long as you keep max Atk EVs, Fake Out and either Return / Double Edge).
The main perk this combo has over the other combos listed is that this is a very anti-Trick Room combo. Aegislash's STABs are super-effective against every single common Trick Room user, and Fake Out cannot stop it. Aegislash 2HKOs every TR user at worse (except for specially bulky Cress thanks to Siturs Berry, but Kangaskhan's Fake Out will guarantee a 2HKO). Pair this with Kangaskhan's raw bulk, and you will 2HKO every TR user with Crunch. Without Crunch you can't 2HKO Ghost-types on the first turn with just Kang, but even then, you have Scrappy Fake Out to stall Ghost-types so that Aegislash can 2HKO them before they set up TR. Due to Kangaskhan's Speed, it outruns the commonly used Fake Out users on Trick Room teams, rendering their Fake Out useless because only Kang can be targeted by Fake Out. Intimidate doesn't weaken the core much, only really affecting Kang. The fact that TR settlers commonly don't run Protect makes stopping TR even easier. Finally, in the off-chance that your opponent manages to get up TR, both your Pokemon have access to priority and bulk to not render themselves useless in TR (unlike Mega Gengar), and Aegislash even underspeeds some common Trick Room abusers like Cress and Heatran.
Even against non-TR teams, this is still a good core. Bulky offense combo with much raw power. Burn (most common users Rotom-W and Trevenant) and Fighting types (Hitmontop, Terrakion, etc), good checks to Kang, fear Aegislash (bar Scrafty in the case of Fighting-types). Kang can outmuscle many of Aegislash's checks. It's anti-TR competency is its selling point over other combos though.
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Sneak
- King's Shield
Kangaskan @ Mega
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Return / Double Edge
- Sucker Punch
- Follow-Up Punch
(This is just the standard Kang set; Kangaskhan's EVs and attacks can be varied depending on your team and the combo will still work, just as long as you keep max Atk EVs, Fake Out and either Return / Double Edge).
The main perk this combo has over the other combos listed is that this is a very anti-Trick Room combo. Aegislash's STABs are super-effective against every single common Trick Room user, and Fake Out cannot stop it. Aegislash 2HKOs every TR user at worse (except for specially bulky Cress thanks to Siturs Berry, but Kangaskhan's Fake Out will guarantee a 2HKO). Pair this with Kangaskhan's raw bulk, and you will 2HKO every TR user with Crunch. Without Crunch you can't 2HKO Ghost-types on the first turn with just Kang, but even then, you have Scrappy Fake Out to stall Ghost-types so that Aegislash can 2HKO them before they set up TR. Due to Kangaskhan's Speed, it outruns the commonly used Fake Out users on Trick Room teams, rendering their Fake Out useless because only Kang can be targeted by Fake Out. Intimidate doesn't weaken the core much, only really affecting Kang. The fact that TR settlers commonly don't run Protect makes stopping TR even easier. Finally, in the off-chance that your opponent manages to get up TR, both your Pokemon have access to priority and bulk to not render themselves useless in TR (unlike Mega Gengar), and Aegislash even underspeeds some common Trick Room abusers like Cress and Heatran.
Even against non-TR teams, this is still a good core. Bulky offense combo with much raw power. Burn (most common users Rotom-W and Trevenant) and Fighting types (Hitmontop, Terrakion, etc), good checks to Kang, fear Aegislash (bar Scrafty in the case of Fighting-types). Kang can outmuscle many of Aegislash's checks. It's anti-TR competency is its selling point over other combos though.
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