PBR Team - Scarf Primeape can't cut the mustard...

This team is designed for Battle Revolution play with 4-vs-4 Double Battle rules. It runs under the tactics of confusing the opponent on whether I'll use Rain Dance or Sunny Day tactics, and does very well on the Rain Dance side for its strengths (Swift Swimming Ice Beamers and Thunderdancers). The Sunny Day side is unfortunately having some trouble, and I think it might be due to my Choice Scarf Primeape. He hits fast and hits hard, but more often than not his Choice item bites him in the end and he's stuck doing mediocre damage to whatever is left of the opponent's team.

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Cherrim @ Heat Rock
Timid - 200 HP, 108 Sp.Atk, 200 Speed
- Sunny Day
- Leech Seed
- Helping Hand
- Solarbeam
The setter-upper, geared to make the sun shine and lend a Helping Hand and Flower Gift boost. My opponent's have lately caught on to what wreckage Cherrim can lead towards if allowed to live, so I need to better protect it.

Primeape @ Choice Scarf
Jolly - 76 HP, 252 Atk, 180 Speed
- Close Combat
- U-Turn
- Rock Slide
- Overheat
Takes out threats while Cherrim sets up, but unfortunately gets stuck with the Chosen move unless it's U-Turn and is often too fast for Overheat to do much in the first turn when the sun isn't out yet.

Vileplume @ Fist Plate
Hasty - 200 HP, 124 Atk, 184 Speed
- Drain Punch
- Fling
- Solarbeam
- Sleep Powder
My latest gimmick whom I feel would work wonders if only Cherrim could live longer to help him out. Fist Plate boosts Drain Punch and also provides a 90 BP Dark Physical move to slam Ghosts and Psychics in the face with. Solarbeam for a big ol STAB move, and Sleep Powder to help trip up the opponent while giving Cherrim a turn to attack.

Banette @ Choice Scarf
Modest - 252 Sp.Atk, 252 Speed
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Will o' Wisp
- Trick
In any weather-based team, it's a good idea to have a Pokemon who doesn't care what's falling on its head. After weighing several options, I felt Banette would be able to provide well for this role, but would I do better with something else?
---

Since this thread is focussing on a viable replacement for Primeape, here's what I'm considering.

Infernape @ Life Orb
(gotta research the EVs some more...)
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz / Fire Blast
- U-Turn / Rock Slide
Flinch to help setup, then can move on towards beating things up. Primeape does not get Fake Out, so perhaps I should try to get something that does. Its Fire moves would obviously suck as a player in the Rain Dance team, but perhaps it would become naturally fast enough to focus on its other moves.
 
Weak. This has no walls and Cherrim basically sets up against itself using Sunny Day. At least Dusknoir > Banette so something can take a hit.
 
Why not use Aerodactyl for fastest possible Sunny Day and then use Typholosion with Eruption for massive opening damage. Your choices are bad for sweeping and bad for tanking in practice, 2 on 2 is all about either fast brute force or unbreakable combos.

You could put Exeggutor as a stand in for after you've used a massive Eruption then he could take someone's spot with massive speed (and by massive I mean 110 base thanks to sun, lol) all set up and sweep with Solarbeam, Choice Specs Exegg would be interesting if you set him up ahead of time. Cherrim's terribly weak.

Also Aerodactly would provide Stab Rock Slide.
 
Okay, thank you for your suggestions. Cherrim is important for getting this team to do what I want it to, but the advice to use a Dusknoir might be a good one.

I currently have this one:
Brave - 252 HP, 76 Def, 180 SpDef
- Shadow Punch
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- Trick Room
@ Leftovers

My experiences with Battle Revolution is that the battles are very short because they are often very offensive. That's why I chose many things that I was sure would hit hard and through experience would get the job done before the opponent could strike back, and the gimmick of the set often throws people off too.

Should I rebreed for a Pain Split Dusknoir? Perhaps Shadow Sneak would be better over Shadow Punch in the event that Cherrim could use Helping Hand and Flower Gift to boost the priority move.
 
From what I know about 4 vs 4 Double Battles on PBR, each person must pick 4 Pokémon out of the 6 in each of their respective teams before battle. From the looks of your current post, you've only covered 4 Pokémon (not including the possible replacement for your Primeape). Therefore, I'm only going to post a few Pokémon build ideas for you to consider adding to your Doubles team.

Universal builds:

Dugtrio:
Role: Trapper, Physical Sweeper
Nature: Adamant or Jolly (+Attack or Speed respectively, -Special Attack)
Primarily EV Trained in: Speed, Attack
Held Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
Moves:
Earthquake
Sucker Punch
Rock Slide
Protect

Dugtrio is one of the few Pokémon (other than Wynaut, Wobbuffet, Diglett, and Trapinch) that has an ability that'll prevent most, if not all, Pokémon from switching out. This can be useful to help you pick off some of the opponent's Pokémon (with Dugtrio and/or its teammate) while they're usually unable to switch out themselves.

I gave it Protect and a Focus Sash in order to enhance its survivability some more, especially if your teammate is tossing around Earthquakes, Surfs, and/or an Explosion. Sucker Punch is for attempting to land the finishing blow on any of the opponent's badly wounded Pokémon, while Rock Slide is for Flying Types. Earthquake is there as Dugtrio's best attack against all sorts of Pokémon, though it can also hurt its teammate, so use with care.

Smeargle:
Role: Support, Distraction
Nature: ???
Primarily EV Trained in: ???
Held Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
Moves:
Follow Me
Fake Out
Helping Hand
???

Now then, how many Pokémon other than Smeargle can have all 3 of those nice support moves in a single Pokémon? This Smeargle build is more-or-less about battle control. Fake Out can keep its target from making its move, Follow Me can force the opponents to concentrate their attacks on Smeargle (so that its teammate could then set up without having to worry about getting distracted by the likes of Taunt, Spore, Fake Out, or the like), and Helping Hand can bolster Smeargle's partner's move's power by 50% (based upon Smogon's data on the move's effect). I've left the 4th move slot blank for anyone to make any suggestions as to what to put there. Destiny Bond is useful for giving Smeargle the ability to possibly take down 1 of its opponents as it goes down itself, while Protect can enhance Smeargle's survivability, especially when it's already at death's door (so to speak) after using one of its other moves.

Weather based builds:

Castform:
Role: Weather-Adaptable Special Sweeper
Nature: Modest or Timid (+Special Attack or Speed respectively, -Attack)
Primarily EV Trained in: Speed, Special Attack
Held Item: ???
Ability: Forecast
Moves:
Weather Ball
Solarbeam
Thunder
???

Although in the UU category, Castform's true potential can be fleshed out in a team theme that revolves around the usage of either Sunny Day or Rain Dance. Depending on the current weather condition, Weather Ball's Type could be either of the Fire, Water, Ice, or Rock Types. Take into account the fact that Castform changes its Type based on what weather condition is in effect (except that it doesn't change type while in a sandstorm), which grants it STAB for its Weather Ball attack, and you've got yourself a nice special sweeper there. I don't know what to put for its held item and 4th move slot, so I've left them both blank for you to fill out yourself.

Manectric:
Role: Weather-Adaptable Special Sweeper
Nature: Modest or Timid (+Special Attack or Speed respectively, -Attack)
Primarily EV Trained in: Speed, Special Attack
Held Item: ???
Ability: ???
Moves:
Thunder
Flamethrower/Fire Blast/Overheat
Discharge
???

Another weather-adaptable build to consider. This build trades Type coverage for a bit more power and speed, and the ability to hit more than 1 Pokémon at a time thanks to Discharge. Some moves that you could consider as well include Rain Dance, Protect, Light Screen... the list goes on.

Which ability you'd like for Manectric is likewise up to you. Lightningrod draws all Electric Type attacks towards the Pokémon, which gives its teammates that are weak to Electric Type attacks a significant degree of safety from those attacks. However, it'll also draw Electric Type attacks from its teammate towards it, which means that you may want to use different attack types against your opponents while leaving the usage of Electric Type attacks for your team to Manectric and Manectric alone. If Lightningrod's side effect is too much to bear with, then you could settle with Static.

Exeggutor or Shiftry:
Role: Sunny Day Setup, Special Sweeper, Bomber
Nature: Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack)
Primarily EV Trained in: Speed, Special Attack
Held Item: Heat Rock
Ability: Chlorophyll
Moves:
Sunny Day
Solarbeam
Explosion
???

Either one of these builds are possible suggestions for a Sunny Day starter, though I don't recommend putting them both in the same team. I chose to go with the ones that can learn Explosion in case it's about to be taken out within the next turn before it or its teammate could try to take them out with their other moves, which lead me to choose Exeggutor and Shiftry, whom can both have the ability and moves that I've listed above. Shiftry is much faster than Exeggutor, but Exeggutor has more stamina. Then, there are the moves that either one could learn in addition to the ones listed above...

Relicanth or Kabutops:
Role: Rain Dance Setup, Physical Sweeper
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
Primarily EV Trained in: Speed, Attack
Held Item: Damp Rock
Ability: Swift Swim
Moves:
Rain Dance
Waterfall
Rock Slide/Stone Edge/Head Smash
???

OK. I've made ideas of weather-based Pokémon builds and had yet to include any that are physical sweepers up until now. The reason why I chose the Rock-Water hybrids Kabutops and Relicanth is because of their high Attack stats, the Type coverage that Rock and Water Type attacks provide, and the fact that they both resist and gain a Special Defense bonus while in a sandstorm. Be sure to keep your Rain Dancer (or your Sunny Day user) protected from any kind of harassments that your opponent would try to throw at it while it tries to set up a Rain Dance (or Sunny Day). The Smeargle build that I mentioned earlier is one such ideal candidate for trying to keep the opponent's Pokémon occupied.


I hope that I've helped in terms of submitting some ideas for Pokémon builds for your team. Let me know if we're still missing some things for this Doubles Team.

P.S.: You never mentioned your Pokémon's abilities as well, so I couldn't tell if your Banette build's ability was Pressure or Frisk for example.
 
My Banette has Insomnia, Primeape has Vital Spirit, and Vileplume has Chlorophyll.

The other two Pokemon on my team for the Rain Dance tactics are Electrode and Omastar. I only didn't mention them as they aren't part of the puzzle on how to make the Sunny Day tactics work and are already completely successful through many a battle.

Electrode @ Wet Rock
Static
Naive - 44 HP, 252 SpAtk, 212 Speed
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Light Screen
- Explosion

Omastar @ Life Orb
Swift Swim
Modest - 56 HP, 252 SpAtk, 200 Speed
- Wring Out
- Brine
- Ancient Power
- Ice Beam

The idea to have Follow Me user is actually a fantastic idea, except I think the Smeargle plan isn't very good. I've been a big fan of Clefable for a while, so maybe I should just go with that. It might be a better option for what to use instead of Banette, as it won't care what weather is out at all, including Hail and Sand.

I think I should go with a Facade user, mostly because if a Flame Orb or Toxc Orb is activated, I won't have to worry about getting hit with Sleep or Paralysis. After helping Cherrim setup, it'd be sitting very pretty to launch a huge attack and has a variety of options in Fire Blast/Flamethrower, Thunder/bolt, or even Ice Beam to choose from as third and fourth moves.

Big Edit: I forgot~! My purpose of having Banette in the team at all was to compliment with Electrode when I would decide to use my Rain Dance team and have a Ghost to clean up after Electrode blew up. Perhaps then my Dusknoir would still have a place on my team, or I should practice with Banette more in some random battles after I get the Infernape ready.
 
Say, how do the Castform or Manectric builds that I suggested earlier sound as possible replacements for Banette? Both builds are able to thrive in both sunny and rainy weather conditions since some of their moves and/or abilities activate in certain weather conditions (especially my Castform build's). Come to think of it, there happen to be quite alot of builds out there who can have moves and/or abilities that benefit from both sunny and rainy weather conditions; many Normal and Psychic Type Pokémon like Clefable and Mr. Mime can learn both Solarbeam and Thunder for example, while Ludicolo, though it primarily thrives in rainy conditions due to its abilities and usage of Water Type moves, can also learn Solarbeam.

As for the Rain Dance part of your team, might I suggest replacing some of your Rain Dance members with some of these Pokémon builds:

Rotom:
Role: Rain Dance Setup, Special Sweeper
Nature: Modest or Timid (+Special Attack or Speed respectively, -Attack)
Primarily EV Trained in: Speed, Special Attack
Held Item: Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate (helps to avoid Earthquakes)
Moves:
Rain Dance
Thunder
Shadow Ball
Discharge

This Rotom build has better Special Attack than your Banette build, can launch STABbed Thunders that are far more powerful than Banette's Thunderbolts, can use Discharge to hit more than 1 Pokémon at a time (though take care when using this move, as it can hit your teammate as well), can set up a Rain Dance (that stays in effect for a longer period of time thanks to its Damp Rock) like your Electrode build, and is likewise capable of surviving Explosion without a scratch due to its Ghost Type. It's not as fast as your Banette build, but I think that there could be better choices for Choice Scarfed Pokémon for your team theme (like Castform) anyways.

Electrode:
Role: Bomber, Support
Nature: Naive or Hasty (+Speed, -Special Defense Or Defense respectively)
Primarily EV Trained in: Speed, Attack
Held Item: Life Orb
Ability: ???
Moves:
Explosion
Light Screen
Thunder
Taunt

This Electrode build isn't much different from your own Electrode build, but I replaced Rain Dance with Taunt since Rotom would be your Rain Dance user and since I couldn't find many other support options out there for Electrode. A typical combo that you could use with both Electrode and Rotom is to order Electrode to use Explosion (which should have more power thanks to its Attack EVs and Life Orb) against weaker foes, Light Screen against heavier foes with powerful Special Attack stats (like Porygon-Z and Heatran), or Taunt against foes whom you predict would try to use Status Attacks (like Trick Room users, Smeargle, and Pokémon whom you'd expect to use Hypnosis like Gengar), all while Rotom sets up a Rain Dance (and survives Electrode's Explosion without a single scratch on it).


From the looks of your current team, you seem to be focusing too much on mixed sweeping (with both physical and special attacks on your Pokémon). While versatility can be a good thing (your mixed sweepers are effective against the more specialized walls like Skarmory or Blissey for example), too much tends to make them fall prey towards the more specialized threats (your mixed sweepers wouldn't do well against the more well-rounded walls like Umbreon or Cresselia, and might not pack enough power to 1HKO or 2HKO many of the more common offensive-oriented threats out there like Metagross or Infernape). Sorry to say this, but I seriously think that it needs more specialized sweepers, such as an Omastar with a different move in place of Wring Out (its Attack stat is too poor to make much usage of that physical attack anyways) or a Vileplume with a different move and held item other than Drain Punch and Fist Plate and much more EVs in the Special Attack stat for example.

Also, from how specialized weather-based and Trick Room teams need to be in order to be able to succeed, incorporating Trick Room with either Sunny Day or Rain Dance on an effective team seems to be very hard, if not impossible, to do since you'd need 1 turn to set up Trick Room, and another turn to set up Rain Dance or Sunny Day (unless you decide to delve into the realm of the uber tiers and put Groudon and/or Kyogre on your team). Besides, Trick Room would be counterproductive to the Swift Swim and Chlorophyll abilities. Therefore, you might want to stick with using more speedy Pokémon on your team, as setting up both Trick Room AND either Sunny Day or Rain Dance would be quite the hassle, even with a distraction like a Clefable with Follow Me on the team.

Sorry if I might sound a bit mean, but I'm just pointing out how flawed your team is, even in a 4 vs 4 Double Battle on PBR.
 
Nah, I get that my team is flawed, but I also like what successes this team brings to the table. My purpose in posting this team is to generate ideas on how I could improve the team, and I'm sorry that I'm not unified on Smogon's theorymon agenda to sound normal. I watch too many Japanese battles on YouTube. :p

Scarf Primeape actually used to be very effective in this team until people caught wind as to what Cherrim does and have focussed more on killing it first.

Wring Out is a Special move, and Omastar uses it very well. It catches many people off guard and if it doesn't OHKO it ensures a 2HKO the next turn.

Things like Umbreon and Cresselia will be easy to shutdown and many people don't know how to use Umbreon with a lick of sense (i.e. the Yawn/BP/Mean Look/Wish set in a thread on the first page here...), and this team will soon be in a Legendary Clause tournament. An anime convention tournament with a high probability for stinky in-game tactics, but with the potential for unexpected gimmick (I lost last year in an ADV battle to a surprise Hyper Beam Aerodactyl in an anti-Self-KO clause maneuver).

I like your Castform and Manectric ideas, but I don't think they'd be very compatible with my team. My contemplation to add Infernape in my team is to have a consistent physical sweeper on my team, with Vileplume being the surprise physical sweeper. The rest of the team is fairly heavy with special sweeping potential, which is what Banette would do. Gengar or Mismagius might be better Special Ghosts, but then that'd be kinda cramping on my boyfriend's favorites though Rotom does interest me but I would use a different moveset than the one you suggest.
 
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