King of the Regis: Double Battle Discussion.

[Train Man]

It's been made quite obvious that Regigigas doesn't have a place in the Standard (OU) Metagame and certainly not Ubers. So we have lug his his load, far past the realms of balanced play, to the Double Battles Metagame.

Double Battling, arguably the most imbalanced metagame, has undergone improvements from it's breakout in Advance. For one thing, 2 pokemon using Explosion can only kill 2 pokemon as opposed to 4. A new move (Feint) can hit protect-abusers. (Though it does have a pathetic Base 40 power) and Sunny Day/Rain Danceteams got a boon in Heat and Damp Rock.

Now, unleashing 3 Combinations of Win for Regigigas:


First and foremost:

REGIGIGAS

Nature - Adamant / Jolly
EVs - 252 Atk / 252 Speed
Item - Leftovers / Lum Berry / Expert Belt / Chople Berry

Moveset
- Return
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake / Brick Break

This set looks remarkably similiar to one of a tough, yellow yeti. That's right it's basically Electivire's "It's Super Effective!" set for Regigigas. Return for STAB, BoltBeam punches give amazing type coverage, but the choice between Brick Break and Earthquake both hit the same things, but Brick Break has the added advantage in breaking screens, used more often in Doubles.


Onto the Combos:

GRUMPIG

Nature - Timid
EVs - 252 HP / 20 SpD / 236 Spe
Item - Leftovers / Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
Ability - Thick Fat

Moveset
- Skill Swap
- Charge Beam
- Trick
- Psychic / Shadow Ball / Energy ball

The most offensive of the combinations. Psychic murders Weezing's that come in and try to Wisp Regigigas, whilst Shadow Ball will do similiar things to Dusknoir. Energy ball is for Bulky Grounds that shrug off Ice Punch. Not to mention that Grass/Electric makes for good type coverage.

Trick can screw over anything defensive that tries to block your path and Charge Beam is to kill the ever-present Tauntrados that wants to lower Regi's attack and taunt the Piggy before it can Skill Swap.

Whilst it is the most offensive skill-swapper, from these three, it ironically gives Regigigas a very nice defensive boost. The plague of normal typing is the lack of resistances and SE Coverage. This is partly remedied through Grumpig's Thick Fat, halving the damage from Fire and Ice attacks.

SLOWBRO

Nature - Bold
EVs - 212 HP / 252 Def / 40 SpAtk
Item - Leftovers
Ability - Own Tempo

Moveset
- Skill Swap
- Swagger
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic / Grass Knot

This set is designed to make Regigigas into a full-blown powerhouse. T-bolt for Tauntrados (Mentioned above), Psychic to hit Weezings harder and for STAB, Grass Knot to end those Swamperts that can Roar away Regigigas.

This set runs better with a Jolly Regigigas. The basic strategy here runs over 2 turns. After you Skill Swap "Own Tempo" to Regigigas, its Attack and Speed stats will revert back to 460 and 299, respectively (419 and 328, if Jolly). From here, Swagger Regigigas for a +2 Atk boost, without any confusion. The speed drop on Slowbro, won't matter as much as it would on Mr Mime or Grumpig.

SLOWBRO

Nature - Timid
EVs - 252 HP / 136 SpD / 120 Speed
Item - Leftovers
Ability - Soundproof

Moveset
- Skill Swap
- Hypnosis / Thunderbolt / Psychic
- Encore
- Reflect / Light Screen / Teeter Dance

Mr. Mime got a few nice boosts this generation, especially in the realms of double-battling. Screen support is always nice, allowing the already Bulky Regigigas to tank hits even better. Though with a little luck, Teeter Dance can prevent you from getting hit at all.

Encore helps Mr. Mime setup, forcing them to redo a move (Stat-ups, anyone?) or at least forcing a switch. Hypnosis can take something out straight away, though Thunderbolt is the reliable Gyarados killer. Psychic for STAB and Weezing.

Soundproof removes alot of Regigigas's counters and Reflect just helps that process to. Swampert isn't hit for SE on any of Regigigas's attacks and can simply roar him away, but Mr Mime's sound proof remedies that problem. Reflect can even tone down those STAB Earthquakes. Skarmory won't dare whirlwind with the threat of T-bolt and T-punch.



OTHER OPTIONS:

Gengar and Azelf get a mention to hit on the Special side of the Spectrum, whilst Regigigas beats down on the physical. Other levitating psychics like Bronzong and Claydol work too, offering screen support similiar to Mr Mime. In a similiar sense, Mesprit and Uxie can give Regigigas levitate, but offer little else.

COUNTERS:

When constructing this Topic, i thought of Regigigas as a suped-up Electivire. All it's counters were Regigigas's too. So Weezing, Cresselia, Swampert (And other Bulky Grounds) were thrown into the mix. Next, i realized that the Skill-Swappers were basically acting as BP Ninjasks, so similiar counters would apply too. Phazers and Taunters in particular.

So, from these, the most common Defensive threats were:

- Gyarados
- Weezing
- Cresselia
- Swampert

As you may have noticed, i've payed special attention to these, in Regigigas's team mates. Also, whilst Regigigas is Bulky it won't survive Close Combats from MixApe or Lucario, so threats like those were "managed" to a lesser degree. Chople Berry can save you once, and allow you end them soon afterwards.

Not to mention that all Skill-Swappers have so far been Psychic which hits Poison and Fighting, 2 types not hit for SE by Regigigas.


DISCUSS.

Thanks for your time.

 

[da gold sun]

As much as I like this idea, I'm not even sure if it's possible to Skill Swap the Slow Start ability (much like you cannot get Wonder Guard via Skill Swap, Trace, or Role Play). But I need to double check on that anyway.

Assuming you CAN Skill Swap Slow Start, I'd probably run Salac Berry Smeargle with Endure/Skill Swap/Spore/whatever. This way, you can Endure the hit (or both), Spore one thing, then on next turn be faster than whatever comes next to Skill Swap to your Regigigas. I'd also run Protect on 'Gigas so he doesn't get blown over by CB Explosion or something. This is novelty at best, just like Skill Swapping a Slaking, who gets a much bigger move pool. Although I like the idea of being able to use Regigigas in a good way.

 

[Gmax]

Well, if it CAN be Skill Swapped, it would be great for double battles. You should always try to Swap it to a slow Special attacker like Slowbro though, so that it doesn't really hamper it.

 

[MegaMewtwo]

I believe it CAN be Skill Swapped and lose the suckiness, I've tried it in the battle tower and Regifail got faster than its enemies. You can also then Skill Swap Slow Start onto an enemy, both crippling it AND getting its ability, and in some cases even losing the ability can be trouble, like swiping a Weezing's Levitate, letting RegiNotFailAnymore Quake it, while its partner is safe thanks to "borrowing" Weezing's Levitate.

And Regigigas can't learn Protect, making it the only thing that can use TMs but can't learn it or Rest.

 

[sandman]

Heracross ruins the whole strategy

 

[Lawman]

Is heracross even commonly used in Doubles?

 

[Chou Toshio]

^In that case, how about skill swap Dusknoir?

 

[sandman]

Is heracross even commonly used in Doubles?

i don't know but when doing the PBR double battles, you see your opponents team so judging by what pokemon you have on your team the opponent is going to know what you are planning to do and send out his yanmega or what ever. Maybe have some focus slash holders or a sturdier rooster of skill swapers besides just psychics

 

[Chou Toshio]

Actually in PBR this strategy might get a boost. Since you can bring 6 and you only pick 4, you could potentially bring as many as 3 skill swappers and pick 1 that you think would do well against the opposing team. Not to mention, you could always hold regi and skill swaper (if bulky) in the wings and send out 2 pokes who can kill counters.

 

[Train Man]

Mmm. This was originally thought up as a regular WiFi Double-Battle, where they can't see your pokemon. Yeah, it is actually a giant Heracross weak.

 

[Sunday]

I thought when you skill swaped slow start the pokemon who used skill swap had its atk and speed halved and regigigas still had to wait for it to wear off.

 

[MegaMewtwo]

I thought when you skill swaped slow start the pokemon who used skill swap had its atk and speed halved and regigigas still had to wait for it to wear off.

From what I've read it was like that in the Japanese version. But in other versions, Regigigas gets the stats it should have after it loses its ability. As a side note, this could be a good way to deal with an enemy sweeper (or at least force them to switch). Just Slow Start them with Skill Swap.

 

[Death Phenomeno]

Also remember that Skill Swap isn't the only way to get rid of Slow Start. There's also Gastro Acid and Worry Seed.

I don't know if those could help against the Heracross problem, however.

 

[Great Sage]

First of all, Slowbro doesn't get Thunderbolt, so you'll have to use HP Electric. I'd really rather use Gengar instead of the Pokemon you spotlighted, because it is immune to Explosion, which is really nice in doubles, gives Regigigas Levitate, as Earthquake is also a really common move there, and can Explode itself.

 

[Goodbar]

Hmm Driflblim may be an interesting option, switching underburden to it. x2 speed + liechi berry = wow