The Anti-Doubles Team

BARON9

Doubles.

Many people like myself love creating new, unique strategies to utilize in the double battle metagame. I mean, there is an entire thread dedicated to it in the forums that has some really great strategies hidden between the pages.

After a long Pokemon hiatus, I jumped back in and realized that maybe the best offense is, in fact, a solid defensive strategy. Instead of presenting you with a new Trick Room, Gravity, or unique Weather team, my team adapts to the situation and works to combat enemy strategies. Keep in mind as you read this RMT that I play on PBR, so trainers can see the other person's roster before battle. It's been a while since my last RMT, so without further adieu...



crobat.png

Crobat@Sitrus Berry/Leftovers
-Inner Focus-
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Speed
-Taunt
-Screech
-Super Fang
-Quick Attack

Crobat is usually paired with Kangaskhan as a lead. Crobat's Inner Focus ability is extremely helpful when dealing with opposing Fake Out attacks on the first turn. With the ability to never flinch, Crobat can successfully Taunt teams that rely on setup strategies (Trick Room, Gravity, Non-Ability Weather Effects, etc...). Screech is there mostly for Kangaskhan, but also works well with Swampert, Golduck, and Bronzong. What's better than Helping Hand in doubles? A -2 to the opponent's defense that gives your partner an OHKO! Super Fang is a welcome addition that instantly reduces a target's life to half of its current HP and Quick Attack is there for sashes. Most people expect Crobat to lead with a weather effect or Hypnosis, so I go for the element of surprise here, while supporting the rest of my team. I'm struggling to assign an item to Crobat...I dislike overusing Leftovers, so Sitrus Berry is a more immediate option for recovery. Any suggestions are welcomed!

kangaskhan.png

Kangaskhan@Lum Berry
-Scrappy-
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 200 Def
-Fake Out
-Counter
-Focus Punch/Return
-Sucker Punch/Earthquake

Kangaskhan has a lot more bulk than people give it credit for. With the given EVs, she can survive an array of physical attacks including MixApe's Close Combat, Tyranitar's Stone Edge, and most non-STABbed fighting attacks. Fake Out is bread and butter here - combined with Kanga's Scrappy ability, nothing resists it (unless Kangaskhan is hit by a speedier Fake Out the same turn). Focus Punch is deadly, but risky in double battles, so I'm considering Return or Earthquake in its place. Sucker Punch is viable against faster enemies and its damage is considerably higher when paired with a Screech from Crobat. Lum Berry is critical for stopping enemy status leads.

golduck.png

Golduck@Wide Lens
-Cloud Nine-
Mild Nature
EVs: 104 Atk / 252 Sp Atk / 152 Speed
-Cross Chop
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Encore

Golduck gets a gold star for his ability, Cloud Nine, in the doubles metagame. SO many teams are based upon weather effects and he can temporarily disable them by simply switching in. Given, Golduck does not like taking hits, but with accurate prediction, he isn't too difficult to switch into battle. Cross Chop is for normal types and Tyranitar and Hydro Pump deals mega damage to unresistant enemies. Ice Beam is great for coverage and gets rid of Flygon, Salamence, and Jumpluff. Encore has become my favorite move on this set because Golduck has reasonable speed and can screw up teams even more. Keep in mind that Encore also disables the opponent's option to choose a target in doubles! Wide Lens really helps with Cross Chop's and Hydro Pump's mediocre accuracy and I've grown to like it. I once thought of using a fully Sp Atk / Speed EVed Golduck because Tyranitar loses its 1.5X Sp Def boost when Golduck switches in. Focus Blast deals more damage, but also limits his versatility. What do you think?

rotomheat.png

Rotom-H@Leftovers
-Levitate-
Bold Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Speed
-Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt
-Overheat
-Thunder Wave/Will-o-Wisp

Rotom was kind of a wild card for my team. His ability is welcomed by Swampert and Kangaskhan's Earthquake attacks and he provides a reasonable counter to Explosion-based teams alongside Bronzong. Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt are for STAB and Overheat adds a much-needed fire attack to my team. Thunder Wave helps out the team's average speed stats and Will-o-Wisp effectively cripples physical attackers. Rotom has the standard EV spread now, but I'm considering retraining it for a larger boost in Sp Atk. Unfortunately, PBR doesn't recognize Rotom's unique forms, so that was a bummer when I recently found out in an online match. :(

bronzong.png

Bronzong@Light Clay
-Levitate-
Careful Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 Sp Def
-Reflect
-Light Screen
-Gyro Ball
-Explosion

I wanted a steel type on my team who could support effectively and Bronzong immediately came to mind. Double screens really boost the survivability of my team and Gyro Ball is effective against faster enemies. Explosion is an iffy move...I only use it in conjunction with Rotom-H or Swampert (when he uses Endure). Levitate definitely comes in handy with the oversupply of incoming and outgoing Earthquakes.

swampert.png

Swampert@Custap Berry
-Torrent-
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
-Earthquake
-Waterfall
-Hammer Arm
-Endure

Swampert is a complete beast and provides a valuable electric-switch in for Crobat and Golduck. He doesn't have any speed EVs because he's not really a quick sweeper in the first place. Therefore, Hammer Arm doesn't really hurt him. Earthquake is great for STAB and Waterfall is my favorite move to use in conjunction with the Custap Berry. For example, if Swampert is bracing itself (Endure) for Bronzong's Explosion or a KO from an enemy, it will receive priority at the start of the next turn. He resists the oh-so-common Sandstorm and most opponents don't expect the berry, so they don't bother with priority moves. Waterfall becomes crazy powerful when Torrent is activated and even has a chance of flinching the opponent. I love Swampert.

There isn't an official Doubles Metagame 'Threat List' that I'm aware of because there aren't really any tiers when using PBR. If there is a threat list, please point me to it and I'm glad to post an analysis.

Comments and advice are appreciated.Let me know what you think!
 
I, unfortunately, cannot give you the best advice. This is because I've never really done any competitive double team battles. However, regarding the ideas behind your pokemon and the movesets/EV's, it looks pretty solid. All I can really say is good job. However, in my opinion explosion on Bronzong just seems like a wasted slot. Again, I don't know much, but for a support Bronzong why not try using something like hypnosis?
 
Really good team, with a solid defensive core. I don't play Doubles (i.e. VGC) and have never played PBR, but I'll try to give you the best suggestions I can. I think that you should keep Explosion. I guess that in doubles, losing a teammember can be a pain, but at the same taking out one or two of the opposite's team is a very solid decision. Plus, if used in conjunction with Swampert, you do get that priority the next turn (so long as they aren't running hail). I'd say that hail would be the only thing that would ruin it for Swampert if it came to that.

If anything, you could run the original Rotom:

Rotom @ Lefties
Modest Nature
-Discharge/Hidden Power Fire
-WoW
-Uproar/Charge Beam
-Substitute

Discharge is for hitting both enemies plus a 30% chance of paralysis. WoW is to get those pesky Physical attackers that get in your team's way. Uproar is to prevent any of your 'mons from getting put to sleep, and that can be really annoying in a double battle. Substitute for "self-defense". You can run Charge Beam over Uproar if you plan on getting a better sweep with 'Tom. Hidden Power could be played instead of Discharge (but you most likely would have to run Charge Beam in that case for coverage instead of Uproar). Anyways, try out this set, I kind of made it up off the top of my head, but it should run at the very least similar to your old 'Tom. I have it with a Modest nature for the fact that 'Tom could run a sweeping set, but if you plan to "pseudo-wall" with it, you could run Bold instead (like your old Rotom).
 
I don't understand the logic of quick attack on something as fast as Crobat... Cross Poison, Brave Bird, Pursuit etc... can replace that slot
 
Hey, Baron! I just got back into Pokémon too. Let's have some matches and I'll rate your team once I've seen it in action.

EDIT: Why Careful on Bronzong? Don't you want to get more power out of Gyro Ball with a Speed-lowering nature?
 
Shnoogle said:
I don't understand the logic of quick attack on something as fast as Crobat... Cross Poison, Brave Bird, Pursuit etc... can replace that slot
Click to expand...

It's a priority move that can be useful against opponents with very low hp.


Looking at your Kangaskhan, I feel that body slam may be a good option in place of focus punch or return. Because of scrappy, it will hit any type, gets stab, and has a 30% chance to paralyze. A friend of mine had that on a scrappy Miltank, and it does very well.
 
Thanks to everyone for the advice so far - I appreciate it!

@Ethanftw - I have gone back and forth on using Explosion with Bronzong, so I totally see where you're coming from here. The only thing that pushed me away from Hypnosis was that Rotom-H is going to be paralyzing/burning enemies already. Explosion works decently with 3 of my teammates (Rotom, Bronzong, and Swampert's Endure) so I'll probably keep it as a last resort.

@Acklow - Discharge is amazing in doubles. I 100% agree with you there. The only problem is that only one poke on my team is unaffected by it. Even if others aren't seriously damaged, they run the risk of being paralyzed :/ So that's the only reason I haven't put Discharge on Rotom. I like the idea of using a Modest Rotom, like the one you suggested. The only thing I would probably change is Substitute. In doubles, Substitutes aren't as effective as in singles...if both opponents target you, then it's for naught. Thanks for the advice though - I'm going to try out that Rotom.

@Shnoogle - As Ill Fil said, it's to break sashes faster than incoming priority moves (Ice Shard Weavile, Extremespeed Lucario, etc...). But I'm finding that Quick Attack doesn't really compliment this set - it's really situational. Standing alone, Crobat can't do much to the opponent, so I'm considering swapping it out.

@TMN - Good point. I completely neglected the fact that Gyro Ball works best off a lower speed... And Bronzong sure isn't outspeeding anything in the first place.

@Ill Fil - Body Slam is amazing! How do I get it on Kangaskhan?? I've been looking through the Attackdex on Serebii and can't find it. Was it a move tutor attack from Gen 3? Or was it a special event move? The paralysis rate would really help.
 
I'll give a bit of a rate now, pre-battle.

Crobat: I was trying to think of moves that you could use to replace Quick Attack on your Crobat. U-turn's not a bad choice. It'll take care of Focus Sash while letting you swap in another Pokémon. But then I found the move that your Crobat really needs: Haze. Here's a little list of benefits:

• You can stop an opponent that's using Curse, Calm Mind, Swords Dance, etc. after the fact. Yeah, you could Taunt them beforehand, but maybe your Crobat had other things to do that turn, or you didn't want to chance it in case they attacked instead.
• Allows you to cancel out Intimidate drops right before your other Pokémon attack. Sure, you could get a similar result with Screech, but once your target is KOed you have to do it again next turn. Also, if you've been double-Intimidated, Haze gets rid of all of it at once.
• You can nullify Rotom-H's SpAtk drops after it uses Overheat. This is huge, especially since that stat drop cripples all of its other damaging moves.
• Other than your Crobat's Screech, none of your Pokémon use moves that raise their stats or lower their opponent's stats, so you can use Haze without shooting yourself in the foot!

Oh, and I'd take Sitrus Berry over Leftovers. Chances are you'll get a lot more use out of it.

Kangaskhan: Body Slam is indeed a 3rd-gen move tutor, making it incompatible with Scrappy. Looks like you're stuck with Return unless you want to take a chance on Double-Edge. I'd say that your Kangaskhan has enough HP to make Double-Edge worthwhile, and it could use the extra power with 134 Attack.

I'd take Sucker Punch over Earthquake on a slower, bulkier Kangaskhan like this one, but that's just me. Earthquake has good synergy with your team, but I don't know how much power you're going to get out of it without STAB, attack boosts, or a more significant EV investment in Attack. Screech will help, but you can't always count on having your Crobat around.

Also, forgive me if I'm wrong, but your description for Kangaskhan seems to imply that you plan to use Screech and Sucker Punch in tandem on the same turn. Sucker Punch always goes before Screech, though.

The rest of your team looks good to me. If you wanted a Steel-type to support the team, Bronzong was the obvious choice. Ain't no substitute for a Bronzong, really. Other supportive Steel-types include Skarmory and Lucario, but they provide very different types of support than Bronzong does.
 
OK, now that I've played a few matches against your team, I'll double post to give a more complete rate.

First and foremost, you should really retrain your Bronzong. It should have a Speed-lowering nature and 0 or 1 Speed IVs. Right now its Speed is 53 and it could be 34. That would give Gyro Ball a 55% increase in power. My Cherrim won't be able to stall it so easily. As it was I only hung on with 1 HP by the time you ran out of PP on Gyro ball.

Your Golduck is a real terror to weather teams, but you might want to make it a bit more survivable. The instant it faints the weather effects come right back. I honestly didn't expect my Sudowoodo's Wood Hammer to OHKO it. Cross Chop is nice, but I'd consider replacing it with Focus Blast or some other special move, giving it a Modest nature, and maybe putting some EV investment in HP. Or you could just give it Protect, but I don't know what slot you'd free up. I'd hate to lose Encore or type coverage.

Of course, there aren't that many physical Grass and Electric attacks floating around, so maybe I'm overstating this a bit. If you haven't had trouble with your Golduck surviving before, then just leave it as is.

Your Swampert looks good, and I didn't get to see your Rotom in action.

On your Crobat, Quick Attack did end up coming in handy. You couldn't have finished off my Alakazam with Super Fang, that's for sure. If you decide you do eventually want to get rid of it, my suggestion of Haze still stands.

Kankaskhan can sure take a hit, but we both already knew that. I feel a little bad advising you to keep Sucker Punch and then never letting you use it successfully. I still think it's a better option than Earthquake, though.

Thanks for the battles! We should do it again sometime soon. I hope the advice here is useful.
 
Thanks again for the battles and the rate, TMN!

I definitely agree with you about re-training Bronzong. I didn't realize that Gyro Ball's power would increase that much from a lower speed IV. After our battle last night, I've thought about ditching Bronzong entirely. He could have really used a Lum Berry in that battle.

I've been really torn about Golduck. He is -by far- my favorite on this team and his speed works really well for countering weather teams. I wish he was a bit bulkier, but he also needs the offensive investment to KO opponents. There's one thing holding me back from an all-out Special Attacking Golduck: Focus Blast. I hate hate hate hate hate this move. I swear that it has less than 50% accuracy on PBR and Golduck can't afford a miss. So I think I'll keep him as a mixed sweeper right now.

I really like the idea of Haze on Crobat - I might end up switching Bronzong for a Leaf Stormer/Draco Meteor-er and use Rotom-H's Overheat as well. If not, I'm considering U-Turn as an offensive option.

I like Sucker Punch on Kanga, but it can be a pain to predict well in doubles. Kanga and Crobat have trouble with steel types, so I might consider Earthquake or Fire Punch instead. The drawback to her bulk is her limited attack and speed EV investment. Kangaskhan is still fast, but not as fast as other Fake Out users. Overall, I think it's still worth it to hit Gengar and Dusknoir with her Scrappy ability.

Thanks again for the rates - I appreciate all the great advice on this team!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top