A while ago, I started a new game of Violet on a second profile, mostly for fun but also to catch a min speed Ursaluna-BM. Having done that, I started the Indigo Disk but wasn't really sure what team I wanted to make for it. But then I saw Oricorio, whose gimmick I've always loved thematically and gameplay-wise, and realized that here, in-game, I wouldn't be hindered by Species Clause. Given my struggles with trying to get Oricorio in gen7 DOU and Ranked Doubles on Violet, I had my doubts, but decided it would be a pretty funny attempt!
You can catch Oricorio in the mid-high 60s right by the classroom from the first assignment, so I caught 6 and never looked back. Looking at their natures and IVs, I nicknamed them to help remember what each was best at and used Power Anklet etc. to train those strong points further.
THE TEAM
Speed: Slim Jim, Spaztastic
Power: Leonidas, Da Thunder
Bulk: Esperanza
All-Around: Hildegaard
The screenshot is just before I began the E4. I bought 30 of each nectar so I wouldn't feel hesitant to change form as needed, but this setup (Ghost Ghost Electric Electric Psychic Fire, or GGEEPF) worked well enough for all the standard trainers I ran into.
Movepool: Quiver Dance (QD), Feather Dance (FD), and Revelation Dance (RD) on all 6 of them. The fourth move was almost never used. Super Effective Air Slash does less damage than neutral double RD. Looking back, Taunt would be great against Amarys, but I was going in blind except for what I could remember from months ago the first time I played this. Protect also might have been good but eh. Decided not to worry about it unless I got seriously stuck.
Knowing the exact speed order was important so that I could always QD before attacking.
Speed Order: Slim Jim>Spaztastic>Hildegaard>Leonidas>Esperanza>Da Thunder
Observations
1. Moves called by Dancer always target the same opposing Pokemon as the move that called them.
2. Featherdance is phenomenal for this strategy. When you see a physical threat, FD (and the resulting Dancer FD) cuts its attack to -4 instantly, or down to 33% of its normal damage output. This is perfect for surviving in general (something the birds would otherwise struggle with) but also for setting up more QDs.
3. Outspeeding is everything. If your fastest bird outspeeds the opponents, it can QD, boosting its partner's speed to also outspeed them, which lets you get off another double dance safely. QD for more power and surviving special attacks, FD to survive physical attacks, or RD to take out a threat. If the opponent moves before you get to do that, you're on the back foot immediately.
4. Fake Out causes flinches both for your turn and for any moves called by Dancer. Flinch thus appears to be a status that lasts the rest of the turn, not a one-time event.
5. I never lost a Dancer move to paralysis. Bulbapedia says you can lose it to Confusion but nothing on Paralysis.
6. Dancer doesn't activate if the move is blocked by an immunity or Protect.
7. Choice items prevent Dancing any move except the one you're locked into. Scarf is still worth it sometimes to get the emergency FD off or start a partner boosting with QD.
8. Double QD is great against special attackers! It also takes a full 35 seconds for all 12 boosts to apply. But still, 12 boosts in 1 turn is worth it!
The Arc
I decided to be belligerent and attack every Trainer I came across. I also caught one of each Pokemon I saw if I didn't have in the dex yet, but didn't do any grinding beyond that. Starting out was tough. Slightly underleveled and with no EVs, every trainer was a serious threat. I had one each of Power Anklet/Lens/Weight for Speed/SpA/HP and had to balance them throughout the party while also having enough combat readiness for trainers. I ignored Carmine for a bit and tried to establish flight points in all four biomes.
Total Party Wipe #1: Some rando in Polar Biome
And not even one of the strong ones with the black dialogue bubble. Just a normal dude with Alolan Sandslash and Ninetales. Slush Rush meant I was outsped and Rock Tomb OHKO'd Spaztastic, my fastest that wasn't currently holding a power item. Blizzard in the snow was hugely oppressive and we just kind of dropped without being able to get anything going. I got a single FD on Sandslash while it used Avalanche, but it was too little too late.
Carmine - A Taste of Power
I made my way back from the respawn point in the Savannah Biome straight over to Central Plaza to fight Carmine. This time I fully prepped the team with better items and, to my surprise, destroyed her. Leading Scarf Slim Jim (G) and Sash Spaztastic (F), Quadruple FD completely shut down Mightyena and Toucannon. I was able to do a neat move of switching out Slim Jim for Da Thunder (E) while Spaztastic RD'd to start the dance to land a super-effective Electric attack from Da Thunder on the same turn I switched him in. This team is awesome. From there we QD'd and kept attacking. Sinistcha was last, and had an Occa Berry, but that doesn't matter when your fire type can attack it again after using its berry earlier in that turn!
I decided to take off Power Items for most trainer fights, and always lead with at least one of Sash or Scarf.
E4 Prep
After a few cutscenes, I resumed the journey around the Terrarium, furthering the EV training as I filled out the dex, and having surprisingly dominant fights against a few black-bubble trainers. I got revenge against Sandslash guy and made it without any further losses to each plaza, and as the birds were all in the low 80s at this point, decided to fight the E4 before getting too over-leveled.
The Elite 4
Crispin Team: FGGEEP
Slim Jim (Fire) to resist Fire moves, and Esperanza (Ghost) to set up and have great neutral damage were my lead. Slim Jim got the QD off and Esperanza FD'd Talonflame while it used Sunny Day and Rotom used Wisp—best case scenario. QD again and double RD Rotom for KO while Talonflame does negligible damage even with Sun-boosted Flare Blitz. FD is so good. With +2 speed and 4 boosted RDs per turn, we completely swept from there. I was astonished—bringing a gimmick team to the hardest E4 in the series and winning the first fight with no losses!? Awesome.
Amarys Team: EGGGFF
I didn't want to bring too much Fire since I figured she'd be loaded with Rock moves. Sure enough, Dugtrio outsped Slim Jim (E) with Stone Edge and brought it to near sash. Skarmory had stealth rock (!) and whirlwind (!!!) which I was not ready for. Managed to FD both of them but ended up losing all the QD boosts I was working on to Whirlind and both Slim Jim and Spaztastic (F) to Stone Edge. Stealth Rock damage started piling up fast, but I eventually managed to get Esperanza (G) and Leonidas (G) in position to survive Stone Edge to KO Dugtrio and Skarmory. Started getting QDs up, lost one more to Empoleon, brought Hildegaard (G) back in, feathered Scizor, and finally swept. I misplayed the lead hard—FD on Dugtrio was good but it would have been way better to just attack Skarmory to take it out before Stealth Rock went up. Ghost+Electric RD would be an easy KO even without QD boosts, cleanly bypassing Sturdy. But, a first-try win is still a first-try win, even if the team was barely hanging on! 3 down, 2 alive but low HP, 1 healthy.
At this point I realized I had completely forgotten about Terastalizing for the entire run. All but one had Psychic, and the other Flying, which would have been quite nice to not crumble to Stone Edge so much. I decided to see if I could go without Terastilizing since I had already done it this far. If you try a run like this, you could make some cool plays with Terastalizing changing the type of RD, especially if you use shards to change one of their types to something more useful like Ground.
Drayton Team: EGGGPP, fought second to last instead of last to keep him humble.
Drayton's trial was trivial since my team already met the requirements. (Drayton says the classmates are under the same restrictions of Pokemon you caught yourself in the Terrarium, but one has both a Bastiodon and a Rampardos, which shouldn't be able to have the same OT if caught wild. Either Drayton's a liar or that guy's just build different.)
Flygon outsped but missed Stone Edge! QD and FD on Dragonite, which meant Slim Jim took less than a 3rd from Ice Spinner. Next turn QD again and Hildegaard took out Flygon with ghost RD, and Slim Jim's follow up Electric dance broke Multiscale while Dragonite got up Tailwind. Still not enough to outspeed us as I QD again and defeat Kingdra. Dragonite does nothing again with Ice Spinner. At this point we're +3 and all-out attacking, and his team is just crumbling. Haxorus and Archaludon come out together. First double RD takes out Archaludon before it can move! but Haxorus in Tailwind outspeeds Hildegaard. Breaking Swipe puts Slim Jim in the red but doesn't actually KO either, and a second double dance breaks its sash and wins another E4 fight with no losses.
Farmed with Amulet Coin to keep him humble.
Lacey Team: same as Drayton because I accidentally mashed through the prompt to fight and missed the chance to change forms. Fire would have been extremely nice here but sometimes them's the breaks. QD and FD Granbull while Whimsicott sets up Light Screen. I don't want to risk Encore (Does she have it? It turns out she doesn't lol) locking both of us into status moves so I double target (triple attack, it turns out) Whimsicott for the KO. Granbull continues doing poor damage with Ice Punch. Next turn KO both Primarina and Granbull. Slowbro and Alcremie come out, and Slowbro gets a quick draw Ice Beam crit (we've all been here) to KO Hildegaard, takes little from single RD, and gets Decorated. Quick Draws again to demolish Leonidas and takes a little more from single RD. Next turn we finally get a not-quick draw and finish it off with heavy bonus damage to Alcremie. Excadrill comes out. Alcremie goes down and Excadrill outspeeds to avenge it by KOing Slim Jim with Rock Tomb, then gets FD'd into oblivion. Esperanza takes barely 10% from its last attack and RD is an easy finish.
Shot my shot, as is tradition.
Kieran Team: EGEGPP because I didn't remember that he had two dark types.
Got QD off without trouble and KO'd Politoed through Wacan Berry with ghost+electric. Breaking Swipe does about a 3rd each. Porygon-Z comes out. RDs do big damage but KO neither due to Multiscale+Ghost immunity. Hyper beam takes out Slim Jim and Breaking Swipe puts Hildegaard low. I bring out Da Thunder (Psychic) and set up while taking Dragonite and Porygon. Incineroar and Grimmsnarl come out—bad news for the mostly Psychic and Ghost team! I manage to double Feather both of them, though, so there should be enough time to QD up and make the magic happen. I get Esperanza (Electric) back in, and Darkest Lariat is still doing a lot, so I quadruple attack it for just enough damage to break through both Light Screen and Sitrus Berry. I QD in Hydrapple's face (doubly funny because it makes Grimmsnarl whiff Sucker Punch) and attack it for over half while it... Gyro Balls for like 25%? I hadn't even feathered it. Incredible. Last turn, Grimmsnarl lands Sucker Punch on Leonidas (Ghost) who was already down to 70 HP. AND SHE SURVIVES IT WITH 4! Feather Dance really does beautiful things for this team! 3 hits of RD and it's over.
I never expected such a silly team to do this well. First try for the entire upper League! It's funny how the members that voted against me joining the league (Amarys and Lacey) put up way more of a fight than the rest.
I would love to hear anyone else's stories of goofy Doubles strategies putting in work. I'm so glad they made this whole DLC double battles! We haven't really gotten that since Colosseum/XD, and I hope it continues!
Finally, ignoring the summons from Ms. Briar after the Kieran fight gives you possibly best photo opportunity in the entire game:
Get danced on.
You can catch Oricorio in the mid-high 60s right by the classroom from the first assignment, so I caught 6 and never looked back. Looking at their natures and IVs, I nicknamed them to help remember what each was best at and used Power Anklet etc. to train those strong points further.
THE TEAM
Speed: Slim Jim, Spaztastic
Power: Leonidas, Da Thunder
Bulk: Esperanza
All-Around: Hildegaard
The screenshot is just before I began the E4. I bought 30 of each nectar so I wouldn't feel hesitant to change form as needed, but this setup (Ghost Ghost Electric Electric Psychic Fire, or GGEEPF) worked well enough for all the standard trainers I ran into.
Movepool: Quiver Dance (QD), Feather Dance (FD), and Revelation Dance (RD) on all 6 of them. The fourth move was almost never used. Super Effective Air Slash does less damage than neutral double RD. Looking back, Taunt would be great against Amarys, but I was going in blind except for what I could remember from months ago the first time I played this. Protect also might have been good but eh. Decided not to worry about it unless I got seriously stuck.
Knowing the exact speed order was important so that I could always QD before attacking.
Speed Order: Slim Jim>Spaztastic>Hildegaard>Leonidas>Esperanza>Da Thunder
Observations
1. Moves called by Dancer always target the same opposing Pokemon as the move that called them.
2. Featherdance is phenomenal for this strategy. When you see a physical threat, FD (and the resulting Dancer FD) cuts its attack to -4 instantly, or down to 33% of its normal damage output. This is perfect for surviving in general (something the birds would otherwise struggle with) but also for setting up more QDs.
3. Outspeeding is everything. If your fastest bird outspeeds the opponents, it can QD, boosting its partner's speed to also outspeed them, which lets you get off another double dance safely. QD for more power and surviving special attacks, FD to survive physical attacks, or RD to take out a threat. If the opponent moves before you get to do that, you're on the back foot immediately.
4. Fake Out causes flinches both for your turn and for any moves called by Dancer. Flinch thus appears to be a status that lasts the rest of the turn, not a one-time event.
5. I never lost a Dancer move to paralysis. Bulbapedia says you can lose it to Confusion but nothing on Paralysis.
6. Dancer doesn't activate if the move is blocked by an immunity or Protect.
7. Choice items prevent Dancing any move except the one you're locked into. Scarf is still worth it sometimes to get the emergency FD off or start a partner boosting with QD.
8. Double QD is great against special attackers! It also takes a full 35 seconds for all 12 boosts to apply. But still, 12 boosts in 1 turn is worth it!
The Arc
I decided to be belligerent and attack every Trainer I came across. I also caught one of each Pokemon I saw if I didn't have in the dex yet, but didn't do any grinding beyond that. Starting out was tough. Slightly underleveled and with no EVs, every trainer was a serious threat. I had one each of Power Anklet/Lens/Weight for Speed/SpA/HP and had to balance them throughout the party while also having enough combat readiness for trainers. I ignored Carmine for a bit and tried to establish flight points in all four biomes.
Total Party Wipe #1: Some rando in Polar Biome
And not even one of the strong ones with the black dialogue bubble. Just a normal dude with Alolan Sandslash and Ninetales. Slush Rush meant I was outsped and Rock Tomb OHKO'd Spaztastic, my fastest that wasn't currently holding a power item. Blizzard in the snow was hugely oppressive and we just kind of dropped without being able to get anything going. I got a single FD on Sandslash while it used Avalanche, but it was too little too late.
Carmine - A Taste of Power
I made my way back from the respawn point in the Savannah Biome straight over to Central Plaza to fight Carmine. This time I fully prepped the team with better items and, to my surprise, destroyed her. Leading Scarf Slim Jim (G) and Sash Spaztastic (F), Quadruple FD completely shut down Mightyena and Toucannon. I was able to do a neat move of switching out Slim Jim for Da Thunder (E) while Spaztastic RD'd to start the dance to land a super-effective Electric attack from Da Thunder on the same turn I switched him in. This team is awesome. From there we QD'd and kept attacking. Sinistcha was last, and had an Occa Berry, but that doesn't matter when your fire type can attack it again after using its berry earlier in that turn!
I decided to take off Power Items for most trainer fights, and always lead with at least one of Sash or Scarf.
E4 Prep
After a few cutscenes, I resumed the journey around the Terrarium, furthering the EV training as I filled out the dex, and having surprisingly dominant fights against a few black-bubble trainers. I got revenge against Sandslash guy and made it without any further losses to each plaza, and as the birds were all in the low 80s at this point, decided to fight the E4 before getting too over-leveled.
The Elite 4
Crispin Team: FGGEEP
Slim Jim (Fire) to resist Fire moves, and Esperanza (Ghost) to set up and have great neutral damage were my lead. Slim Jim got the QD off and Esperanza FD'd Talonflame while it used Sunny Day and Rotom used Wisp—best case scenario. QD again and double RD Rotom for KO while Talonflame does negligible damage even with Sun-boosted Flare Blitz. FD is so good. With +2 speed and 4 boosted RDs per turn, we completely swept from there. I was astonished—bringing a gimmick team to the hardest E4 in the series and winning the first fight with no losses!? Awesome.
Amarys Team: EGGGFF
I didn't want to bring too much Fire since I figured she'd be loaded with Rock moves. Sure enough, Dugtrio outsped Slim Jim (E) with Stone Edge and brought it to near sash. Skarmory had stealth rock (!) and whirlwind (!!!) which I was not ready for. Managed to FD both of them but ended up losing all the QD boosts I was working on to Whirlind and both Slim Jim and Spaztastic (F) to Stone Edge. Stealth Rock damage started piling up fast, but I eventually managed to get Esperanza (G) and Leonidas (G) in position to survive Stone Edge to KO Dugtrio and Skarmory. Started getting QDs up, lost one more to Empoleon, brought Hildegaard (G) back in, feathered Scizor, and finally swept. I misplayed the lead hard—FD on Dugtrio was good but it would have been way better to just attack Skarmory to take it out before Stealth Rock went up. Ghost+Electric RD would be an easy KO even without QD boosts, cleanly bypassing Sturdy. But, a first-try win is still a first-try win, even if the team was barely hanging on! 3 down, 2 alive but low HP, 1 healthy.
At this point I realized I had completely forgotten about Terastalizing for the entire run. All but one had Psychic, and the other Flying, which would have been quite nice to not crumble to Stone Edge so much. I decided to see if I could go without Terastilizing since I had already done it this far. If you try a run like this, you could make some cool plays with Terastalizing changing the type of RD, especially if you use shards to change one of their types to something more useful like Ground.
Drayton Team: EGGGPP, fought second to last instead of last to keep him humble.
Drayton's trial was trivial since my team already met the requirements. (Drayton says the classmates are under the same restrictions of Pokemon you caught yourself in the Terrarium, but one has both a Bastiodon and a Rampardos, which shouldn't be able to have the same OT if caught wild. Either Drayton's a liar or that guy's just build different.)
Flygon outsped but missed Stone Edge! QD and FD on Dragonite, which meant Slim Jim took less than a 3rd from Ice Spinner. Next turn QD again and Hildegaard took out Flygon with ghost RD, and Slim Jim's follow up Electric dance broke Multiscale while Dragonite got up Tailwind. Still not enough to outspeed us as I QD again and defeat Kingdra. Dragonite does nothing again with Ice Spinner. At this point we're +3 and all-out attacking, and his team is just crumbling. Haxorus and Archaludon come out together. First double RD takes out Archaludon before it can move! but Haxorus in Tailwind outspeeds Hildegaard. Breaking Swipe puts Slim Jim in the red but doesn't actually KO either, and a second double dance breaks its sash and wins another E4 fight with no losses.
Farmed with Amulet Coin to keep him humble.
Lacey Team: same as Drayton because I accidentally mashed through the prompt to fight and missed the chance to change forms. Fire would have been extremely nice here but sometimes them's the breaks. QD and FD Granbull while Whimsicott sets up Light Screen. I don't want to risk Encore (Does she have it? It turns out she doesn't lol) locking both of us into status moves so I double target (triple attack, it turns out) Whimsicott for the KO. Granbull continues doing poor damage with Ice Punch. Next turn KO both Primarina and Granbull. Slowbro and Alcremie come out, and Slowbro gets a quick draw Ice Beam crit (we've all been here) to KO Hildegaard, takes little from single RD, and gets Decorated. Quick Draws again to demolish Leonidas and takes a little more from single RD. Next turn we finally get a not-quick draw and finish it off with heavy bonus damage to Alcremie. Excadrill comes out. Alcremie goes down and Excadrill outspeeds to avenge it by KOing Slim Jim with Rock Tomb, then gets FD'd into oblivion. Esperanza takes barely 10% from its last attack and RD is an easy finish.
Shot my shot, as is tradition.
Kieran Team: EGEGPP because I didn't remember that he had two dark types.
Got QD off without trouble and KO'd Politoed through Wacan Berry with ghost+electric. Breaking Swipe does about a 3rd each. Porygon-Z comes out. RDs do big damage but KO neither due to Multiscale+Ghost immunity. Hyper beam takes out Slim Jim and Breaking Swipe puts Hildegaard low. I bring out Da Thunder (Psychic) and set up while taking Dragonite and Porygon. Incineroar and Grimmsnarl come out—bad news for the mostly Psychic and Ghost team! I manage to double Feather both of them, though, so there should be enough time to QD up and make the magic happen. I get Esperanza (Electric) back in, and Darkest Lariat is still doing a lot, so I quadruple attack it for just enough damage to break through both Light Screen and Sitrus Berry. I QD in Hydrapple's face (doubly funny because it makes Grimmsnarl whiff Sucker Punch) and attack it for over half while it... Gyro Balls for like 25%? I hadn't even feathered it. Incredible. Last turn, Grimmsnarl lands Sucker Punch on Leonidas (Ghost) who was already down to 70 HP. AND SHE SURVIVES IT WITH 4! Feather Dance really does beautiful things for this team! 3 hits of RD and it's over.
I never expected such a silly team to do this well. First try for the entire upper League! It's funny how the members that voted against me joining the league (Amarys and Lacey) put up way more of a fight than the rest.
I would love to hear anyone else's stories of goofy Doubles strategies putting in work. I'm so glad they made this whole DLC double battles! We haven't really gotten that since Colosseum/XD, and I hope it continues!
Finally, ignoring the summons from Ms. Briar after the Kieran fight gives you possibly best photo opportunity in the entire game:
Get danced on.
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