Resource National Dex Doubles Viability Rankings

[Smudge]

paragraph and art stolen and adapted from the dou vr thread. art credit: Fangame10

Welcome to the National Dex Doubles OU Viability Ranking project, where we rank the viability of Pokemon in DOU. The floor will always be open to discussion, and after a period of time (roughly every few months), the viability rankings council will vote on any of the Pokemon being discussed and post the results and (sometimes) reasoning here. A Pokemon moving from UR to Ranked must receive both a majority and at least 3 votes of "yes" in order to be Ranked. The rankings and tier descriptions have been assigned to describe each Pokemon's state within the metagame, and the Pokemon in each tier are listed in alphabetical order.

When making a nomination for a shift in the VR, many things can improve the quality of your post and thus the likelihood of it convincing the VR council. Calcs, reasons why the current metagame is different for the Pokemon, replays, and discussion on how the Pokemon interacts with other relevant Pokemon are all potentially solid inclusions. Additionally, you may want to discuss usage stats as part of your argument, but don't base your entire argument on the usage of a Pokemon - usage and viability are not the same thing. For examples of solid nominations, check out this post (and the one below it).

~ VR Council ~
These users have the ultimate say on shifts in Viability Rankings tiers. The council consists of experienced players who have different styles and perspectives to offer to the table when deciding the strength of any individual Pokemon.

Smudge
big pichu
eragon
Nido-Rus
Glimmer
sir jelloton
bagel
Iceberg77
Voltix
Terekusai
Schister

Viability Rankings - Invitationals - Updated 2025-06-04

Tier One

Pokemon that dominate a large portion of the metagame. They are either quite powerful or offer great team support, and can fit on almost any team. You can't really go wrong by using these Pokemon.

Flutter Mane

Tier Two

Pokemon that are generally strong and can easily be placed on a variety of teams, but don't have the same level of prowess as the threats in Tier 1.

Amoonguss
Mega Charizard Y
Heatran ↑ 1
Incineroar ↓ 1
Iron Hands
Jirachi
Landorus ↑ 2
Mega Salamence
Raging Bolt
Rillaboom
Tapu Fini
Tornadus

Tier Three

Pokemon that are generally strong, but less powerful than those in Tier 2 or Pokemon that require a decent amount of support or a specific team style to function well, but are defining pieces to said archetypes.

Archaludon
Basculegion
Chi-Yu
Chien-Pao ↓ 1
Deoxys-Attack ↑ 1
Diancie
Dracovish
Glimmora
Indeedee-F
Kyurem-Black ↑ 1
Marshadow ↓ 1
Mega Gardevoir
Mega Kangaskhan
Landorus-Therian
Ogerpon-Hearthflame
Ogerpon-Wellspring
Tyranitar ↑ 1
Ursaluna-Blood-Moon
Zeraora ↑ 1

Tier Four

This tier contains either Pokemon that have broad applications on a variety of teams, but are simply less effective than those in higher tiers, or are only particularly useful for certain team styles.

Blastoise
Celesteela
Dracozolt
Entei
Gouging Fire
Gholdengo
Kartana ↓ 1
Kingambit ↓ 1
Mega Camerupt
Mega Scizor
Mega Tyranitar ↑ 1
Mew
Ogerpon-Cornerstone ↓ 1
Pelipper ↓ 1
Politoed
Sinistcha NEW!
Tapu Lele ↓ 1
Tapu Koko
Ting-Lu
Ursaluna
Volcanion ↓ 1
Volcarona
Xurkitree ↓ 1
Zapdos

Tier Five

Pokemon that, while they have a niche in the metagame, often struggle to find situations where they thrive, either because of the support required or their poor matchups.

Aegislash NEW!
Cresselia
Deoxys-Speed
Ferrothorn
Grimmsnarl
Hoopa-Unbound
Iron Crown
Kingdra
Mega Aerodactyl
Mega Diancie
Metagross
Nihilego NEW!
Porygon2 ↓ 1
Regieleki NEW!
Roaring Moon NEW!
Scream Tail
Tsareena ↓ 1
Walking Wake
Whimsicott

 

[Smudge]

This is by far our biggest update to the Viability rankings yet, and in my opinion, the most accurate to date.

Massive shoutout to Terekusai and tyo for filling in on the latest update, and to Voltix for being a continued presence on our voting. The other voters were eragon, sir jelloton, Glimmer, and myself.

Rises:

Incineroar 2 -> 1

Amoonguss 4->2
Basculegion 3->2
Iron Hands 3->2
Mega Charizard Y 3->2
Stakataka 3->2

Diancie 4->3
Dracovish 4->3
Heatran 4->3
Landorus-Therian 4->3
Mega Gardevoir 4->3
Pelipper 4->3
Ursaluna-Bloodmoon 4->3

Mega Camerupt 5->4
Mew 5->4
Politoed 5->4
Ting-Lu 5->4
Tsareena 5->4
Ursaluna 5->4
Zeraora 5->4

Drops:

Rillaboom 1->2

Kingabmit 2->3
Mega Kangaskhan 2->3
Volcanion 2->3

Deoxys-Attack 2->4
Gholdengo 3->4
Kyurem-Black 3->4

Tyranitar-Mega 3->5
Ogerpon 4->5
Whimsicott 4->5

Iron Bundle 5->UR
Naganadel 5->UR
Venusaur-Mega 5->UR

New:

Xurkitree UR->3

Blastoise UR->4
Dracozolt UR->4
Tyranitar UR->4
Volcarona UR->4
Zapdos UR->4

Ferrothorn UR->5
Mega Aerodactyl UR->5
Metagross UR->5

 

[Penter]

2->1
Kinda surprised this mon didnt rise earlier. Its still the most splashable setup sweeper in the tier despite being overprepped for at this point. a good number of recent meta trends rose in part because of fini's dominance (xurk, amoong, venusaur lol) and it never really feels deadweight due to its ability. I think people may have gotten too used to bein able to play really braindead with fini that its utility isnt used like it should but i think thats on the player more than fini itself bein bad.

2->3
pao really isnt a fan of intimidate being everywhere and its frailty means it can often struggle to position itself. has really volatile matchups and as teams get bulkier it feels a lot easier to exploit. I can definitely see this turning around again at some point but rn pao can be forced out too easily so that it doesnt actually check the thing that its supposed to. mon kinda wants boots but also sash but also clam.

5->4?
cornerstone seems better than wellspring to me tbh, sun is annoying for wellspring here and i think sun is a big enough threat to warrant running this more. I could be overrating rock cudgel but no way its 2 tiers below wellspring and hearthflame regardless.

->4?
Dont have much to say but I think mawile deserves to be ranked at least its niche but good. 4 or 5 prolly.

4->3
Probably the best this mon as ever been here. incin, amoong, sinis all partner p well with it and hazards are strong. the damage mitigation it provides is so good at throwing off ppls calcs. patches up a lot a matchups with its toolkit (psyspam, trickroom, setup bs, jirachi), mence and kang can both use it and those are like, the top 2 megas.

EDIT: Also is sinistcha meant to be untiered?

 

[Nails]

stak to 1
goth to 1
fini to 1
incin to 2
koko to 2
rilla to 3
marsh to 3
lando-i to 3
mega manectric to 4

broken, banworthy, etc
broken, banworthy. the format is largely terrain and weather wars, goth is kind of just a near mandatory inclusion on those types of teams since trapping their guy means you get to run all over your opponent with your buffs. it can do other things too but that's the most broken thing it does. gothorita does similar enough things that it's supposed to be a shadow tag ban, not just gothitelle.
specs is extremely good at damage trading and it can stablize positions in front of a super diverse cast of threats. non-specs sets are t2-3.
underwhelming, gets trapped by goth and dies. overplayed. good on a small number of teams but it just forces many of the good physical attackers to run clam. basically every choiced mon runs tera ghost. fake out gets value on megas and struggles to find consistency otherwise. will probably be t1 again after goth gets banned.
hands and bolt in terrain are illegal. fast enough to save itself from gothitelle with volt switch (and also great at enabling goth plays).
goth bait. enemy #1 for many comps, so the matchups it's meant to be good in have strong counterplay for it. has the same issue with fake out consistency as incin, doesn't do meaningful damage when clicking non-grass type moves. low bst, even if well distributed, still means it's fighting uphill in a lot of damage trades and without gen 8 glide to carry it rilla struggles.
it's messed up that 125 isn't a good speed tier but like it isn't. def the 2nd best fighting type but a clear tier lower than hands. clam and lo are both good. i feel the weakest about this one out of all of the noms, but it's like tier 2.75.
it's always broken people just forgot about it ig?
electric spam is broken and getting to sit a lightningrod on the board is cool for a bunch of mons. intimidate volt switch guy is good post mega, especially since zard and mence are the best 2 megas.

thoughts on suspects: ban stag ban stak ban zard then reevaluate. they're all very broken, in that order.

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

&

to Tier 4
Regular and Mega gallade play differently but are both worthy of T4 imo.
Regular Gallade gets a superb weapon in Sharpness-boosted sacred sword, and uses its mid speed to set trick room. It's easily one of the most threatening Trick room setters, only really behind Hatterene in the damage output, and has a Neatish Matchup into Archaludon, thanks to sacred sword ignoring stat changes.
Mega Gallade Loses sharpness but gets the Inner Focus Ability. It's also Faster and physically Bulkier. Thesse Buffs give ut a golden Matchup into Mega Kangaskhan, since it annot fake out, it gets outsped and it gts OHKO'd. Mega Gallade owns Incineroar, no fake out no intimidate, and has Movepool against most good tiered pokémon, has shadow sneak for Flutter Mane and Mrshadow, FIghting stab for Chien Pao, Incineroar, Ice Punch for Msala, Ragin bolt, tornadus, Psychic stab for Amoonguss or Marshadow, and can still use some support moves like Wide Guard or Upper Hand. And it can Work on Tailroom by Mega Evolving on Tail or staying Reg on Room. I rlly like it, Drops many Fake out mons, rlly should get ranked.

and... Remove Stak

 

[Kunal]

1 -> 2

This is an extremely offensive format, with a lot of covert cloak pokemon and a lot of special attackers. Incin/fake out in general have lost a lot of value, and a lot of the good teams can hit Incin pretty hard without sacrificing moveslots or mons from their main cores. Flutter being a Tier 1 mon, Lando-i + Fini + Hands + Tyranitar + Ogerpon-Wellspring all being super relevant pokemon make incin a bit hard to fit. Defenisvely, it is still a great pokemon on many teams but its also competing with heatran and iron hands defensively. One major shift we saw during derby was a huge swing towards special attackers being prioritized, and the physical mons almost all tend to run clear amulet or some sort of attack boosting move (ex. clear amulet kyub, sd iron hands, dd mence), which makes incin a lot harder to auto-add to teams.

2 -> 3

Hard to use this mon as redirection without tera'ing it, which is a big hinderance in a format with such a high power level. Its also weak to mence and zard-y and heatran, and has trouble supporting its partners well enough through their spread attacks. Spore is still nuts.

2 -> 3

Lot of rocks, lot of strong redirectors. Sash pao doesnt get nearly as much value here as it does in SV DOU. Its cool next to some physical threats like hearthflame or kartana or mence, but mence being really good and incin or lando-t being intimidators on almost all teams means its hard for pao to get unintimidated value into the mons it needs to. Z move is kind of cool, but not super good.

2 -> 1

Really uninteractive redirector. Its bulk and general lack of mons that hit it super effectively let it click anything it wants for 8 turns. There isnt currently a setup mon that really breaks the tier next to jirachi redirection, but I still think it deserves to be on most teams and makes almost every team its on better.

3 -> 2

Insane usage spike during derby. One of the only real flutter mane checks in the tier, and generally holds its own versus ground types due to eruption (and sometimes firium z)

3 -> 2

With incin competing for team slots with mons like heatran and iron hands, Lando has become one of the primary intimidate pokemon. Its very safe and has a large variety of sets (z move, sitrus rocks support, scarf, AV). Can generally mold its set to suit the team its on very well. Also one of two ground type mons worth using (the other being lando-i) in a format where heatran is very dominant.

3 -> 4

rain sucks because you have to use either this pokemon or politoed. Zard-y and ttar both farm this archetype right now. There may be a stronger way to build it.

3 -> 4

Worse than indeedee on almost every iteration of psyspam except specifically deoxys-attack stuff, which tends to be very matchup fishy in the current meta.

3 -> 4

Really scary setup mon when it holds cloak or adrenaline orb. Tera fairy makes +3 gleam kill like 60% of the mons in the tier. One thing that makes it a bit hard to set up right now is the number of mons clicking high base power spread moves. Also, a lot of the flutter hate unintentionally catches xurkitree as well with Tera fairy Gleam being it's primary way of dealing effective damage.

3 -> 5

A lot of teams carry double intimidate, but in spite of that it feels very hard to give kingambit the support it needs to actually carry games like it needs to. Many of the good mons are special attackers with strong spread moves, which force defensive tera from this pokemon. In general, if you're not able to offensively tera kingambit it is not very good, and that applies here as well. Also a lot of fairies in this tier.

3 -> 4

Hard to fit onto teams due to its negative matchup into mence and type overlap with heatran/incin/zard. general lack of ability to play around defensive teras on mons its supposed to kill, and higher reliance on tera than other offensive pieces.

4 -> 3

Bulky steels are very good at slowing flutter down. Celes happens to also be able to stall very well with leech seed and tera, versus most of the other top threats in the tier.

4 -> 3

Lando usage going up, as well as stak being banned let this mon be a little more free in the sets it runs. With its base stat total, it is a serious threat on teams that can support it well

4 -> 2

Not sure why this guy was in 4 to begin with. It is the best ground attacker, and it covers its partners flutter mane and zard-y very well.

4 -> 3

Again, flutter checks are good. kyub getting better means hail checks are also good. Stak being banned made a lot of other steels viable.

4 -> UR

Worthless dogshit mon. was used on rain in the past, now people know how to play.

4 -> 3

Normal ttar is a serious threat in a format where mence and zard-y are the 2 best megas by a long shot. Pairing it with mega mence and dracovish creates a really difficult core to break. Getting to tera this guy to swing matchups is really helpful on teams that rely on it more as a sand setter/neutral damage, and not a setup center piece.

4 -> 3

Voltix used this mon extremely well in derby. Its scary, it helps check flutter and is a fast fake out pivot mon. It also hits fini hard. Very flexible mon that can generally add value to teams, or act as a patchwork flutter mane mitigator.

5 -> 4

Same niche as celesteela but with idbp and worse base typing. Can auto-win games on preview.

5 -> 3

Same as regular ttar, but better at clicking dragon dance and setting up.

5 -> 4

Rock type is a lot stronger right now given the mons that are seeing high usage. Rock type sturdy redirector gives a lot of teams reliable setup/tempo versus some of the very offensive flutter/sun/snow teams.

UR -> 4

Makes your team better into flutter (seeing a trend with my noms?) Due to faster electroweb, also can flex into screens or rising voltage stuff.

UR -> 4

Meteor beam giving this mon +spatk, and +speed on a kill (or +2 spatk) lets it snowball pretty hard on teams that can support it well. Meteor beam ohkos lando-i, and gets lando-t after some chip. It is also surprisingly bulky, despite its low defense stat.

UR -> 4

Cool mon on sun offense, clicking EQ next to zard-y is strong. Also checks rock types for zard

UR -> 5

Lot of electric mons doing well right now, so lightningrod is solid. Also fast pivot makes it somewhat viable on fini teams that need role compression.

UR -> 4

Similar reasoning to kingambit, except this mon actually resists flutter. Using your mega on this mon is probably not super worth it over m-scizor, but if your team needs to compress a fairy resist + iron hands killer into one slot it is pretty uniquely mawile that fills that role.

 

[Glimmer]

I agree with most of the current noms to some degree but i wanted to state some of my own opinions too.
Tier 1 -> Tier 2
I will mostly reiterate what Kunal said for the mon. The tier simply just demands Incineroar less, its value and place dropped with a lot of Fake Out and Intimidate users and Fire-types competing for its slot. Incineroar is also annoyed by the uptick of Clear Amulet setup, physical guys who can hit it hard and super effectively such as Landorus-Therian, Dracovish, and the Tyranitars, and especially strong special attackers. Not resisting Fairy really sucks when Flutter Mane is so strong.

Tier 2 -> Tier 1
Salamence has always been at the top of the mega hierarchy, even when Mega Metagross was legal. But especially since Stakataka's ban, Salamence has been nigh uncontested for the mega slot as it doesnt have that many clear checks. It is basically a more spammable version of Charizard-Y, which showed by it having the second highest usage rate in Derby with a positive winrate. Its combination of utility, power, and bulk is just really valuable and Flying is a super broken type to have consistent STAB for with Aerilate Double-Edge, Return, and Hyper Voice.

Tier 2 -> Tier 3
Marshadow has honestly never been a Tier 2 threat since Zamazenta's ban, it is a really weak Pokemon without Chien-Pao and it doesn't even have to exist in Chien-Pao teams. With Chien-Pao also falling off and a lot of the Pokemon who destroy Marshadow like Mega Salamence and Tapu Fini being so popular, it was honestly an inevitable fall off. It is still a pretty threatening mon and PaoMarsh is a very threatening core, just not the same as before.

Tier 3 -> Tier 2
Mega Gardy's combination of special bulk, power, and move options makes it a very good choice for a lot of offense teams. Not only is it the best PsySpam mon, it also fits on a lot of teams just to break with Calm Mind or set Trick Room. Garde + Pao is also a nice combination due to Psyshock, which helps it take down Assault Vest users and would be Fairy resistant Fire-types such as Rillaboom, Charizard-Y, Volcarona, and Volcanion. It is a decent bit higher maintenance than Charizard-Y and Salamence due to lacking in physical bulk, but the maintenance is usually worth the effort.

Tier 4 -> Tier 3
This archetype is honestly hard carried by Iron Hands and Kyurem-B, but those two are so strong under ETerrain that its worth the effort. It's not like Tapu Koko is bad though. Being an Electric-type is really nice in this metagame, no less one that outspeeds Marshadow and Salamence AND has super-effective STAB Dazzling Gleam against both. Electroweb and Volt Switch are also really good moves to click in this specific speed tier. The sleep block ETerrain provides is also pretty valuable too. All around solid mon that anchors a pretty good albeit inflexible archetype.

Tier 3 -> Tier 4
Rain kinda sucks, especially Archaludon rain. Rain is really bad at winning the current weather war. The only weather Rain has a good matchup into is Snow and very certain Sand archetypes with Dracozolt + regular Tyranitar which aren't present enough to rely on. On top of all of this Archaludon's lackluster Special bulk along with the need to Tera to even survive for a few turns against a lot of teams really sucks. And Electro Shot isn't even that big of a button in this tier, a bulk invested Archaludon's Electro Shot is only a roll to kill a mere 252 HP Tapu Fini. Pelipper is also straight up worse than Politoed, Pelipper is only better on Archaludon rain teams which as aforementioned kinda suck. If you really wanna use Rain pipe down and use that Basculegion Politoed MScizor core, that one's pretty good and actually wins against Sand and has a not super hard losing matchup into Sun.

Tier 2 -> Tier 3
The Tailwind slot is insanely contested, which makes Tornadus a secondary option a lot of the time. Mostly due to not being able to match the power and bulk that are provided by the Tailwind Megas. Due to this lack of staying power, Tornadus usually only gets one Tailwind off and then maybe gets a good kill with Flyinium Z. Tornadus is also super do-nothing into a lot of matchups, especially sand and Trick Room with Diancie or Mega Gardevoir, where Tailwind can be a waste of a turn. Prankster Tailwind and Supersonic Skystrike are still pretty good buttons but simply not as valuable as before.

Tier 4 -> Tier 3
By far the strongest matchup fish in the tier, this mon is a menace that demands no mistakes from the opponent. A reliable Deo-A team that has a fine time dealing with those double terrain or Sand matchups is a force to be reckoned with. Expanding Force is also notably just broken as hell.

kill Tier 5 shitters
Who has used these in recent times, or even considered them? bsfr

new Tier 5 shitters
These mons actually do things (mostly in Trick Room teams). Z Water from Araquanid is pretty damn scary and Smeargle can Decorate Mega Camel and Diancie to make them super threatening.

 

[Smudge]

The latest slate has been completed. This round of voters was comprised of:

Voters

Smudge
big pichu
eragon
Nido-Rus
Glimmer
sir jelloton
Iceberg77
Voltix
Terekusai

Listed below is the current placing of mons, with an arrow and number denoting how many tiers it rose or fell, respectively. This is also reflected in the original post.

Tier Two:
Heatran ↑ 1
Landorus ↑ 2
Incineroar ↓ 1

Tier Three:
Chien-Pao ↓ 1
Deoxys-Attack ↑ 1
Kyurem-Black ↑ 1
Marshadow ↓ 1
Tyranitar ↑ 1
Zeraora ↑ 1

Tier Four:
Kartana ↓ 1
Kingambit ↓ 1
Mega Tyranitar ↑ 1
Ogerpon-Cornerstone ↓ 1
Pelipper ↓ 1
Sinistcha NEW!
Volcanion ↓ 1
Xurkitree ↓ 1

Tier Five:
Aegislash NEW!
Nihilego NEW!
Porygon2 ↓ 1
Regieleki NEW!
Roaring Moon NEW!
Tsareena ↓ 1

Voted to be unranked as of this slate:
Dragonite
Kommo-O
Lilligant-Hisui
Mega Swampert
Ogerpon

 

[ratpacker]

Thoughts on sets and mons I used in Derby + NDWC:
If you are running setup you should be able to KO something on the following turn or be sure it's your endgame. Stuff hits way too hard here for something like Calm Mind Tapu Fini.

Tier 1:
: insanely strong offensive presence and good support kit.
: the best friend of the two tier 1 megas.
: Sponges damage and KOs back. It's even sponge colored.

Tier 2:
The number 1 reason why Flutter has to invest bulk and why Jirachi isn't Tier 1 in my opinion. Life Orb and Fightinium-Z are its best sets.

Tier 3:
The only mon in the tier that can switch into Flutter Gardevoir Tapu Fini and threaten them out.
The only mon in the tier that naturally threatens a Flutter + Tier 1 Mega lead.
I'm not sure people are aware of how starved the tier is for good Fairy resists.
I just think this guy is neat.

Tier 4
Sets Trick Room in front of Flutter Mane and click Z. This is the next best option after Diancie purely to set Trick Room.

Tier 5:
This mon is garbage. Setting Electric Terrain for the opposing Iron Hands is so bad. I'd vote it for UR.
It's actually decent, it resists Amoonguss, clicks Blizzard and has big stats. It just requires dedicated teammates to resist Fire and set Trick Room.

This KOs no bulk Salamence and Mr. Fish®, and Tornadus with Double-Edge, while still outspeeding it. It has enough bulk to live Z-Thunderbolt from Tapu Koko, taking away the one possible bit of relevance Tapu Koko could have in the tier.

Salamence

FLIING DUTOSHOMAN (Salamence-Mega) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Happiness: 0
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 196 HP / 72 Atk / 36 SpA / 16 SpD / 188 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Draco Meteor
- Tailwind
- Protect

This lives Double-Edge from Salamence and outspeeds Protosynthesis Flutter Mane with Tailwind.

Charizard-Y

REQUIEM AETERNAM (Charizard-Mega-Y) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 116 HP / 104 Def / 120 SpA / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Tailwind
- Scorching Sands
- Protect

This lives -1 Shadow Sneak from Life Orb Marshadow with some HP invested.

Flutter Mane

LACRIMOSA (Flutter Mane) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 72 HP / 108 Def / 76 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball
- Icy Wind

My teamdump is here, Kyurem-Black is good and I have no opinion on rain. Goodbye.