The Perfect Storm - a Doubles Rain Team

[CJorex]

Rain pelts you from every direction. Thunder cracks from one side, while Hurricanes twirl on the other, knowing very much the devastation they will cause...
Though it sounds like I'm describing something out of a disaster movie, the only disaster this storm will create is the havoc that surrounds the opposing team. Yes, it is my first RMT of gen 6. It is...

This team came about when I tried making a Triples team for the Battle Maison. I wrote up some ideas, got some advice, and came up with this. It was when I used the Showdown teambuilder to make final adjustments before I bred them in-game that I realised that this had the potential to be a pretty good doubles team. I tried it out a bit, and am very happy with the results. You'll notice that every team member is holding a different item- this was partly so that when I bred them onto the game they could fulfill the item clause, and also because the work so well the way they are set up that I couldn't bother to change them. This is probably the best team I have ever made, but I am sure there are ways that it can be made better.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Team

Kleoparda (Liepard) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Jolly Nature
- Rain Dance
- U-turn
- Fake Out
- Taunt
When I had my original idea for a team, I had Mega Banette planned to set up weather and then sacrifice itself. Well, the spot of primary weather setter is now taken by Liepard. I chose Liepard because a) It had Prankster and Rain Dance and b) It's really fast, so if it manages to last more than one turn it can U-turn out to set up rain again when it ends. Taunt and Fake Out are just standard moves for annoying the opponent, and really allow me to gain momentum early in the battle, especially against Trick Room teams. Rain Dance allows me to set up for Blastoise and U-turn allows me to get out to hopefully use Liepard later

Jetström (Noivern) (M) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Sdef
Timid Nature
- Tailwind
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Protect
Noivern provides the Tailwind support that my slower attackers love. Setting it is not a priority, however- If the opponent's team isn't especially fast to start with, I usually just go ahead and spam Hurricane once I have rain up. I chose to forego Dragon STAB for U-turn, because I believe U-turn gives me more momentum, and I hardly used Dragon Pulse when I had it. Protect is just standard fare.

Elletrisauro (Heliolisk) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
- Protect
Heliolisk is really good in rain. I mean, really good. Although he is frail, he has just the right combination of moves and ability, and Dry skin means that, under rain, he regains all HP lost through Life Orb. He has Pseudo-Boltbeam coverage, Volt Switch to give me momentum and Protect to just throw the opponent off. He works really well with Blastoise, and is one of the two members that I wouldn't want to change.

Gamera 2.0 (Blastoise-Mega) (M) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 SAtk / 216 HP / 40 Spd
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Ice Beam
- Aura Sphere
- Protect
Mega Blastoise is perhaps the best Mega for rain teams. Rain-boosted Water Spout destroys everything not resistant, so Ice Beam and Aura Sphere are there to provide extra coverage. I run 40 speed EVs just to get a bit of extra speed under Tailwind. There's really nothing else to say- Mega Blastoise is here to stay.

Sushinator (Kabutops) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Rock Slide
- Knock Off
- Protect
My Swift Swimmer, and sole physical powerhouse of the team. Originally I had planned to use a Toxicroak as my physical attacker, and a Kingdra as my Swift Swimmer. However, when I switched to Noivern, I created a stacked weakness with Kingdra. It was also suggested that I replace Toxicroak with Kabutops, so i decided to kill two birds with one stone and compress my Swift Swimmer and Physical Attacker into one slot. However, it is not all roses for Kabutops- he is often tossed aside in favour of Blastoise, and is really to frail to switch in unless on a KO. I have tried Azumarill in his place, but it wasn't as great as I thought, and just got left aside even more. I really need a fast, physical attacker that doesn't rely on rain so much, but still benefits from it.

Beans (Politoed) (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Perish Song
- Protect
Politoed is really just here to provide backup rain- however as I am trying to make my team less focused on weather Politoed probably will go. Apart from switching in to get rain back up when it goes away, Politoed is really just dead weight.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well that about wraps it up. The only other things I can think of are the importable text, and a brief write-up of the teams' playstyle, which will come soon. I look forward to your criticism!
​

Importable

Kleoparda (Liepard) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Jolly Nature
- Rain Dance
- U-turn
- Fake Out
- Taunt

Jetström (Noivern) (M) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Sdef
Timid Nature
- Tailwind
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Protect​

​

Elletrisauro (Heliolisk) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
- Protect

Gamera 2.0 (Blastoise-Mega) (M) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 SAtk / 216 HP / 40 Spd
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Ice Beam
- Aura Sphere
- Protect

Sushinator (Kabutops) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Rock Slide
- Knock Off
- Protect

Beans (Politoed) (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Perish Song
- Protect​

 

[CJorex]

Just bumping this

 

[Arcticblast]

There is a huge problem with this team.

It is devoted entirely to your strategy.

Now this doesn't necessarily seem like a bad thing at first - you have your endgame in mind and multiple ways to achieve it. The problem comes in whenever you face... well, the typical higher Doubles team. Because there are two more Pokemon on the field, there is a lot more going on, and a lot more strategic depth. Moves such as Fake Out and Protect are more common. You have neither of these. If your opponent needs something gone, they double target it and it's gone, and you've just lost a vital piece of the team. If you had Protect, you could shield that Pokemon and attack with your other Pokemon, throwing off and potentially removing their best answer to your Blastoise or Kabutops. Alternatively, you could just use Protect any time you want to use Surf on the... two Water-types carrying it... without having to have Heliolisk on the field (about ten minutes later I just noticed Telepathy on Noivern).

Your team is also VERY weak to Trick Room. You're using a team dedicated to getting Rain up and outspeeding everything. This is not a good idea unless you are prepared to face down Trick Room teams. It's a far better move in Doubles than in OU, since the four turns it provides is enough for something to smash its way through a metagame very much focused on Speed.

Basically, you have your strategy in place, but you don't have any sort of counter strategy, and your opponent is basically free to walk all over you.

There are a few ways around this, however:
- Change Liepard's set to Fake Out / Rain Dance / Taunt / [Foul Play / Thunder Wave] with a Focus Sash. Fake Out is an incredible disruptive move, essentially removing one Pokemon from the match for a turn and disrupting whatever they'd hope to do. Taunt allows you to stop (most) Trick Room setters in their tracks, letting you keep moving fast for a while longer. Rain Dance lets you keep Liepard's original role, and the choice between Foul Play and Thunder Wave is up to you.
- Change Noivern's set to Tailwind / Hurricane / Dragon Pulse / Protect if running Foul Play on Liepard, or Protect / Hurricane / Dragon Pulse / U-turn if running Thunder Wave, holding a Yache Berry. Basically explained in my above paragraphs - Protect is the best move you can have in Doubles. If you're playing on Pokemon Showdown, you can keep Noivern's Focus Sash, but Yache will let it take an occasional Ice Shard or Icy Wind. Haban Berry is also an option for a last ditch hit on other Dragons.
- Replace X-Scissor with Protect on Kabutops and Grass Knot on Heliolisk for Protect. Knock Off is a much better move on Kabutops in general, especially considering the only really relevant Grass-types in Doubles are hit only neutrally by X-Scissor (actually hit harder by the first Knock Off...).
- Change Politoed's EV spread to fully defensive Bold, run Sitrus Berry on it, and use Scald / Ice Beam / Perish Song / Protect. Perish Song and Sitrus Berry are the things that really need explaining here. Sitrus Berry is a very powerful item in Doubles - the matches are far more fast-paced, and the instant 25% healing can be much more valuable in the long run. Perish Song isn't normally the best move in Doubles, but your team is very weak to Trick Room even with everything carrying Protect. Perish Song will allow you to force out a dangerous TR sweeper, reducing your reliance on Politoed and Protect spam to beat such sweepers.
- Replace Surf on Mega Blastoise for either Protect or Muddy Water. Despite the lower accuracy, Muddy Water is far better than Surf - it doesn't hit your opponent and it has that neat secondary effect of dropping your opponent's accuracy.

I don't want to interrupt the team too much, but there are a few Pokemon you may want to consider using, particularly to combat Trick Room. I'll just list them here with a short description on why you might want them:
- Amoonguss - slow, Spore, Rage Powder (redirects your opponent's attacks to the user), Electric resist
- Mega Ampharos - slow as hell, STAB Thunder
- Thundurus-I - Pranster Taunt and Rain Dance, STAB Thunder (or Expert Belt Thunderbolt - OHKO that Char-Y before it can fuck you over)
- Cresselia - Cresselia is the goddess duck of Double battles. It has more bulk than it could ever need along with a support movepool that practically makes Smeargle jealous. Helping Hand, Icy Wind, Trick Room, Safeguard, Skill Swap, Rain Dance... the thing is incredible.

I know I'm changing a lot, but coming from someone who's been playing Doubles formats for a long time now (not as long as some others I know), these changes should make your team far more suited to Double battles. Whether you choose to use them or not is up to you. Either way, I wish you good luck with the team!

(This is a very aesthetically nice RMT though, props on that)

 

[CJorex]

@Arcticblast- I tried most of the changes you suggested, and that have worked pretty well. I don't really want to replace any Pokemon, though, since the ones I have work pretty well together. However, I am thinking of replacing Kabutops, and maybe Politoed, with some Physical attackers that work well in and out of rain. I have tried Azumarill, but it didn't really fit the team. I'll update the op with the changes.