Pokemon Doubles Team

[Nidostormer]

Hello, this is my first thread, let me know if I am doing anything wrong! This is the doubles team I have been using for a couple weeks now. I do use pokemon online but this team is strictly for competitive play on my ds via wifi. Keep in mind that out of the 6 pokemon I have listed I am only able to choose 4 per battle.

In depth:

Amoonguss (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Effect Spore
EV's: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Calm Nature (+Sdef, -Atk)
-Spore
-Rage Powder
-Giga Drain
-Protect

My usual lead along with either garchomp or scizor. Spore's one opponents pokemon and then uses rage powder to let garchomp or scizor set up swords dance. Giga Drain for bulky waters, protect to stop fake out. Protect to scout and used when garchomp Earthquakes. Can take special attacks very well.


Nidoking (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EV's: 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Flamethrower
-Earth Power

Nidoking is my late game sweeper. Works very well thanks to sheer force and can hit many pokemon hard. Most people expect a physical variant so it catches some off-guard. Unfortunately Nidoking is quite frail so it usually only last 2 turns.


Garchomp (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EV's: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Hp
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
-Substitute
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Dragon Claw

Garchomp is quite effective when paired with Amoonguss. Can set up swords dance or sub while amoonguss uses spore and rage powder. I have swept many opponent's whole team with just Garchomp. Earthquake can be used when amoonguss uses protect.


Whimsicott (F) @ Occa Berry
Ability: Prankster
EV's: 252 Hp / 64 Def / 192 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -Atk)
-Tailwind
-Protect
-Attract
-Encore

Whimsicott is a general annoyer to the opponents team. Most people assume I will lead with whimsicott, however, I rarely do. Very effective with attract on a mostly male team. Can set up tailwind for garchomp and hariyama.


Hariyama (M) @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EV's: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
-Fake Out
-Ice Punch
-Payback
-Close Combat

Works well with Amoonguss to start with a fake out/ spore combo. Flame Orb for guts boost. Hits extremely hard, used mostly to take out dragon types and annoying steel types. Also hits ghost types with a strong payback.


Scizor (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Technician
EV's: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 Hp
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
-Bullet Punch
-U-turn
-Pursuit
-Swords Dance

Scizor is my lead with amoonguss when the oppsing team has multiple ice types which will scare me away from using garchomp. Sets up with swords dance to sweep teams. Bullet Punch is the main attack due to scizors low speed. Walls defensive attacks.



Some Problems:

Most Hail teams or ice pokemon with blizzard really hurt this team. Blizzard kills garchomp and hits amoonguss hard, also makes rage powder useless. Main problem is if Amoonguss dies the strategy dies as well, making it just an all-out offensive team. Any suggestions or positive changes would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[voodoo pimp]

The big problem I see is your painful weakness to Ice. As you noted, Blizzard totally kills your core strategy, and Nidoking and Whimsicott don't exactly enjoy it either. If you want to keep the strategy, I would consider seeing if you can find a different sweeper to take over Garchomp's place, preferably one that pairs better defensively with Amoonguss. I would also not recommend using two set-up sweepers, as stat-boosting moves are difficult to pull off even with Rage Powder support.

Nidoking could probably go with a Modest nature, since it still outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame and more power is always good.

I would consider dropping both Protect and Attract on Whimsicott. Attract is useless against more than half of Pokémon on average (sure, you can stop Latios and Hitmontop, but then you have a dead move slot against Zapdos, Cresselia, Metagross, and all sorts of other stuff), and even when it does work it only does anything half the time. While Protect is nice, it aggravates Whimsicott's four moveslot syndrome - it's hard to compete with Taunt, Charm, Leech Seed, and Trick Room. Also, either you are confusing Impish with Bold or you made a typo, because Impish lowers Special Attack.

With Hariyama's base stat distribution, an EV spread of 252 Atk/132 Def/124 SpD is far more efficient.

In addition to what I mentioned above about stat-boosting, Scizor should not be using Pursuit, because switching is rare in doubles. If you can get one in 4th gen, Superpower is a much more useful coverage move. I'd also suggest Bug Bite instead of U-turn for the higher base power. Also, with the widespread use of Heat Wave, Scizor needs Protect, especially if you're not using an Occa Berry.

 

[Nidostormer]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll try out some different combinations with whimsicott and scizors movesets. Any suggestions for a replacement for garchomp? thanks again!

 

[voodoo pimp]

I went up against a Japanese player a few days ago who used an odd but effective team focused around Dragon Dance + Moxie Gyarados. Maybe give that a try? It'd also help with your team's Fire weakness.