Overview
There are four Pokemon on a VGC team. Two of them are leads. This figure alone should demonstrate to any player just how important leads are. The leads dictate how a match will proceed to a far greater extent in VGC than they do in singles due to the percentage of the team they make up and how short the matches are. However, they serve the exact same purpose, and that is to take control of the match and set up your strategy and the rest of your team as best you can. This may mean using Kyogre to set up your Swift Swimmers or using two powerful Pokemon like Palkia and Metagross to disrupt the opponent's strategy by KO'ing their leads ASAP. The latter pair are, of course, referred to as "anti-leads" for those not familiar with the terminology.
---------------------------
Common Strategies
Fake Out - Sure, Fake Out is nice for dealing some free damage and removing Focus Sashes in singles, but in doubles it takes on a whole new purpose. That purpose is to prevent a Pokemon from executing its strategy or allowing your teammate to execute its own without interruption, or better yet, both. Here is a guide for doubles that goes in-depth on Fake Out and its various uses.
Follow Me - This is the one (nearly) surefire way to ensure your teammate can execute its desired setup move, especially if that move is Trick Room and has negative priority. Follow Me has +5 priority and causes all attacks to be directed at the user, which includes the likes of Taunt and Fake Out. There are very few Pokemon that can learn this, the most prominent three being Togekiss, Clefable, and Smeargle. Here is a guide for doubles that goes in-depth on Follow Me and its various uses.
Auto-weather - This refers to weather that is generated permanently by an ability. You already know the Pokemon that can do this -- Kyogre, Groudon, Abomasnow, and Tyranitar... and Hippowdon -- and the major strategies that accompany the different types of weather. So, what happens when two auto-weather Pokemon enter as leads? The slowest one's weather overrides the faster one's. This puts an interesting spin on things, since a sacrifice in Speed is necessary to ensure your weather will prevail. Many teams bring backup weather users to counteract opposing weather and to ensure they have their preferred type of weather in play when all is said and done.
More to come...
---------------------------
Here's an example of a popular lead combination, as well as how to format your own leads for thorough explanation:
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe
Jolly nature (-SpAtk, +Spe)
-Follow Me
-Fake Out
-Protect
-Dark Void / Super Fang
&
Dialga @ Chesto Berry
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpAtk
IVs: 0 Spe
Quiet nature (+SpAtk, -Spe)
-Trick Room
-Dragon Pulse / Draco Meteor
-Earth Power / Flamethrower / Aura Sphere
-Protect / Aura Sphere
This is one common example of a pair of leads that work well together. On the first turn Smeargle can Fake Out or use Follow Me in order to shield Dialga from Taunt or a powerful attack. If it sees the opportunity it can also use Dark Void, although it must be faster than one or both opponents to do so, or have a good read on them.
Dialga, meanwhile, should be able to use Trick Room just about 100% of the time, unless Smeargle makes a mistake. After Trick Room it will be quite "fast" relative to the metagame, despite its 90 base Speed. 90 is actually the lowest base Speed for an "Uber" Pokemon. Dialga is very bulky and only has two weaknesses, so it is very hard for the opponent to dispose of, and all the while it can fire off some of the most powerful attacks in the game from 150 base SpAtk.
Super Fang is Smeargle's best method of doing damage, and it can be used in tandem with Dialga's monster SpAtk to score a quick KO on an opponent that expects TR (Smeargle outspeeds Dialga) and Fake Out/Follow Me.
---------------------------
Post lead combos that you have found effective here!! Please keep theorymon to a minimum, unless it is truly necessary (you don't have the means to test it) and very carefully thought out.
There are four Pokemon on a VGC team. Two of them are leads. This figure alone should demonstrate to any player just how important leads are. The leads dictate how a match will proceed to a far greater extent in VGC than they do in singles due to the percentage of the team they make up and how short the matches are. However, they serve the exact same purpose, and that is to take control of the match and set up your strategy and the rest of your team as best you can. This may mean using Kyogre to set up your Swift Swimmers or using two powerful Pokemon like Palkia and Metagross to disrupt the opponent's strategy by KO'ing their leads ASAP. The latter pair are, of course, referred to as "anti-leads" for those not familiar with the terminology.
---------------------------
Common Strategies
Fake Out - Sure, Fake Out is nice for dealing some free damage and removing Focus Sashes in singles, but in doubles it takes on a whole new purpose. That purpose is to prevent a Pokemon from executing its strategy or allowing your teammate to execute its own without interruption, or better yet, both. Here is a guide for doubles that goes in-depth on Fake Out and its various uses.
Follow Me - This is the one (nearly) surefire way to ensure your teammate can execute its desired setup move, especially if that move is Trick Room and has negative priority. Follow Me has +5 priority and causes all attacks to be directed at the user, which includes the likes of Taunt and Fake Out. There are very few Pokemon that can learn this, the most prominent three being Togekiss, Clefable, and Smeargle. Here is a guide for doubles that goes in-depth on Follow Me and its various uses.
Auto-weather - This refers to weather that is generated permanently by an ability. You already know the Pokemon that can do this -- Kyogre, Groudon, Abomasnow, and Tyranitar... and Hippowdon -- and the major strategies that accompany the different types of weather. So, what happens when two auto-weather Pokemon enter as leads? The slowest one's weather overrides the faster one's. This puts an interesting spin on things, since a sacrifice in Speed is necessary to ensure your weather will prevail. Many teams bring backup weather users to counteract opposing weather and to ensure they have their preferred type of weather in play when all is said and done.
More to come...
---------------------------
Here's an example of a popular lead combination, as well as how to format your own leads for thorough explanation:
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe
Jolly nature (-SpAtk, +Spe)
-Follow Me
-Fake Out
-Protect
-Dark Void / Super Fang
&
Dialga @ Chesto Berry
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpAtk
IVs: 0 Spe
Quiet nature (+SpAtk, -Spe)
-Trick Room
-Dragon Pulse / Draco Meteor
-Earth Power / Flamethrower / Aura Sphere
-Protect / Aura Sphere
This is one common example of a pair of leads that work well together. On the first turn Smeargle can Fake Out or use Follow Me in order to shield Dialga from Taunt or a powerful attack. If it sees the opportunity it can also use Dark Void, although it must be faster than one or both opponents to do so, or have a good read on them.
Dialga, meanwhile, should be able to use Trick Room just about 100% of the time, unless Smeargle makes a mistake. After Trick Room it will be quite "fast" relative to the metagame, despite its 90 base Speed. 90 is actually the lowest base Speed for an "Uber" Pokemon. Dialga is very bulky and only has two weaknesses, so it is very hard for the opponent to dispose of, and all the while it can fire off some of the most powerful attacks in the game from 150 base SpAtk.
Super Fang is Smeargle's best method of doing damage, and it can be used in tandem with Dialga's monster SpAtk to score a quick KO on an opponent that expects TR (Smeargle outspeeds Dialga) and Fake Out/Follow Me.
---------------------------
Post lead combos that you have found effective here!! Please keep theorymon to a minimum, unless it is truly necessary (you don't have the means to test it) and very carefully thought out.
