Hello Smogon Community :)
I'm back to the game after a six months-pause. I guess I just forgot how good it was to play Doubles!
I "left" just as ORAS was released. At my return I found all the teams I had created to test the new megas in the new metagame. I've been low-laddering for a while, but I'm still quite far from my previous scores (I think I was ranked between 25 and 35 on the ladder for a while, if memory serves).
So that's the story of my life. I'm back with one of the teams I remembered was pretty tricky to play but very efficient. Let's get to the teambuilding process.
At first, I was at this point when you kinda start getting the things that really matter in Doubles, but not so much how to use them at best. That went for Mega Gengar's ability. Sure I knew about Perish Song teams, but those were very fragile, and I felt like that Shadow Tag ability had much more potential than it let on. So let's make a team out of it.
A natural partner for Gengar popped into my head: Darkrai. I mean Ghost is a very decent offensive typing, as there is only one type towards which it's not efficient (Dark) and one immunities (Normal). Defensively, M-Gengar is weak to Ground, Psychic, Dark and Ghost-typed attacks. Darkrai, on the other hand, can learn Focus Blast to deal with annoying Dark or Normal-type mons (Kangaskhan?) and Ice Beam to get rid of Ground STAB, plus a very powerful STAB Dark Pulse to get rid of Psychic STAB. On the other hand, Darkrai is weak to Fighting, Bug and Fairy-typed attacks, all which Gengar can easily deal with.
I thought that if the point was to set up a trap, I would need, at some point to win an attrition war. Except that Gengar and Darkrai aren't really suited for that role. Ferrothorn, on the other hand, can easily afford to take hits, and with only one (big) weakness, it seems pretty easy to lock any Fire-type attack out of the field thanks to Gengar's Shadow Tag.
I'm still not feeling comfortable with my two glass canons. Let's not lie to ourselves, it's actually very easy to break the lock: all you need to do is KO Gengar. Togekiss is also able to sustain an attrition war, but thanks to Follow Me support, it can hold attacks targeting Gengar at a reasonable distance. Maybe Amoongus could have taken this spot, but I felt like that was a purely defensive option, which can't work in an attrition war (sure you've locked the game away, but if you do nothing after that, you're not gonna get very far!)
This team is a lot about bulky support. Rotom-W had to ba part of it. Plus, if Talonflame, Heatran and Charizard-Y are still a thing, we are still a little weak to Fire-type Pokemons (I know I'm cheating a bit since Char-Y has Solar Beam...).
Lastly, Talonflame is one of my personal favorite mons. It's powerful against TR teams and it's a good revenge-killer, that we might need thanks to two glass canons in the team. And lastly, Fire-STAB is very useful, I had to chose between Heatran and Talonflame, but I didn't want excessive Ground-weakness.
So that's the idea, now let's see the mons.
Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Disable
- Protect
I have to say that I was myself disappointed to have to do this set. EVs are meant to out-speed Sky-min and maximize SpA. As for the moves, it's not that easy. Will-o-Wisp is very important to struggle against stuff like Bisharp or any Sucker Punch spammer for that matter, and get some pressure off of Darkrai if facing a Fightng-typed mon (apart from Keldeo, most of them are physical attackers). Disable catches Sucker Punch or Knock Off of anything really mean, and that's important because if we want our Gengar to live through and maintain his trap, he can't afford to take any very effective hit. And lastly, Sludge Bomb was chosen over Shadow Ball. Because with Darkrai by its side, Psychic mons aren't really a problem, but we need to deal with the Fairy (and Bug) -typed ones to protect Darkrai. In spite of it being a horrible STAB.
Darkrai @ Life Orb
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Protect
Darkrai is far more classic, a real powerhouse meant to KO anything that moves. Not much to say really, it has a great coverage overall: Ice Beam deals with Lando-T (if it can survive a hit from Lando-T of course, and that's easier said than done), Thundurus, Skymin and Amoongus, Focus Blast deals with Heatran and Kangaskhan mostly, but also with a bunch of other stuff (Terrakion, Bisharp, Ferrothorn, etc.) Dark Pulse is a powerful STAB move, that not only completes the coverage very nicely, but that also deals huge chunks of damage to anything not resisting it. Darkrai can more or less easily break down any staller that would try to beat us at our attrition game.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 64 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Protect
Our main tank, but not only. As such, Ferrothorn can set up his Leech Seeds and be very hard to deal with. Max Attack Gyro Ball as, in my memory, necessary to deal efficiently with powerful Fairies such as Sylveon, Gardevoir or Diancie. Power Whip is just there for coverage. Now I seem to recall that this set was suggested to me by someone smart back in the days, but I can't remember what Special threat is was meant to tank. I know that really sounds unprofessional, and it is, but I'm working on it.
Togekiss @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 68 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Follow Me
- Helping Hand
- Air Slash
- Roost
Togekiss' set is the one proposed on the Smogon Pokedex, and I really don't have much to say about it. It works well, and I guess I never found a better EV spread than this one. As Spore seems to still be pretty relevant, and if Easy Mode is still a thing (Tailwind+M-Kan+Sleep), then I definitively need a sleep tanker, which Togekiss can do quite well. Helping Hand, if facing slower threats than Gengar or Darkrai, is meant to occasionally OHKO some mons that come within reach. In a long term game, without Leftovers, I chose Roost to gain HP back, rather than Protect.
Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SpA / 120 SpD
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Rotom-W is only weak to Grass, and that's not even a very good offensive type. Will-o-Wisp is probably the most important move here, as it allows to take even more hits from physical attackers as they slowly grindily loose their HP. Rest of the moves are classic, mostly there for coverage. The EV spread is my own, it resists a Char-Y Solar Beam if memory serves, and puts the rest in SpA.
Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 168 SpA
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Taunt
- Tailwind
- Overheat
This isn't my set, nor even my idea. Mixed Talonflame, I took someone's set when I was playing, fell in love with it and never let go. Overheat is a very powerful move, powerful enough to OHKO a lot of stuff in Doubles, but let's face it: it's our Flying STAB we will mostly be using! So let's not loose that extra life to Flare Blitz (plus, when facing a Ferrothorn, you really don't want to get too close). Taunt is very important. I mean even taunting opposing taunters is useful here (because to maintain the Trap, we don't necessarily need to use damaging moves, so we're overall a little vulnerable to Taunt). So when it comes to TR or other fun stuff that would bring our glass canons down, well... Oh what am I talking about, every one knows how good Taunt is. Sadly, I found that Tailwind was a necessary evil over Protect, because of Landorus-T and M-Sceptile out-speeding Darkrai.
So that's the team!
It deals reasonably well with Trick Room Teams (thanks to Ferrothorn and Talonflame of course, but also thanks to the trap making those teams not as efficient as they would like to be), very well with Rain Teams and overall, it does well against most classic teams.
I hope that wasn't boring, that you've read it all, and that you'll help me get back in the game! Thanks a lot, have fun!
I'm back to the game after a six months-pause. I guess I just forgot how good it was to play Doubles!
I "left" just as ORAS was released. At my return I found all the teams I had created to test the new megas in the new metagame. I've been low-laddering for a while, but I'm still quite far from my previous scores (I think I was ranked between 25 and 35 on the ladder for a while, if memory serves).
So that's the story of my life. I'm back with one of the teams I remembered was pretty tricky to play but very efficient. Let's get to the teambuilding process.
At first, I was at this point when you kinda start getting the things that really matter in Doubles, but not so much how to use them at best. That went for Mega Gengar's ability. Sure I knew about Perish Song teams, but those were very fragile, and I felt like that Shadow Tag ability had much more potential than it let on. So let's make a team out of it.
A natural partner for Gengar popped into my head: Darkrai. I mean Ghost is a very decent offensive typing, as there is only one type towards which it's not efficient (Dark) and one immunities (Normal). Defensively, M-Gengar is weak to Ground, Psychic, Dark and Ghost-typed attacks. Darkrai, on the other hand, can learn Focus Blast to deal with annoying Dark or Normal-type mons (Kangaskhan?) and Ice Beam to get rid of Ground STAB, plus a very powerful STAB Dark Pulse to get rid of Psychic STAB. On the other hand, Darkrai is weak to Fighting, Bug and Fairy-typed attacks, all which Gengar can easily deal with.
I thought that if the point was to set up a trap, I would need, at some point to win an attrition war. Except that Gengar and Darkrai aren't really suited for that role. Ferrothorn, on the other hand, can easily afford to take hits, and with only one (big) weakness, it seems pretty easy to lock any Fire-type attack out of the field thanks to Gengar's Shadow Tag.
I'm still not feeling comfortable with my two glass canons. Let's not lie to ourselves, it's actually very easy to break the lock: all you need to do is KO Gengar. Togekiss is also able to sustain an attrition war, but thanks to Follow Me support, it can hold attacks targeting Gengar at a reasonable distance. Maybe Amoongus could have taken this spot, but I felt like that was a purely defensive option, which can't work in an attrition war (sure you've locked the game away, but if you do nothing after that, you're not gonna get very far!)
This team is a lot about bulky support. Rotom-W had to ba part of it. Plus, if Talonflame, Heatran and Charizard-Y are still a thing, we are still a little weak to Fire-type Pokemons (I know I'm cheating a bit since Char-Y has Solar Beam...).
Lastly, Talonflame is one of my personal favorite mons. It's powerful against TR teams and it's a good revenge-killer, that we might need thanks to two glass canons in the team. And lastly, Fire-STAB is very useful, I had to chose between Heatran and Talonflame, but I didn't want excessive Ground-weakness.
So that's the idea, now let's see the mons.
Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Disable
- Protect
I have to say that I was myself disappointed to have to do this set. EVs are meant to out-speed Sky-min and maximize SpA. As for the moves, it's not that easy. Will-o-Wisp is very important to struggle against stuff like Bisharp or any Sucker Punch spammer for that matter, and get some pressure off of Darkrai if facing a Fightng-typed mon (apart from Keldeo, most of them are physical attackers). Disable catches Sucker Punch or Knock Off of anything really mean, and that's important because if we want our Gengar to live through and maintain his trap, he can't afford to take any very effective hit. And lastly, Sludge Bomb was chosen over Shadow Ball. Because with Darkrai by its side, Psychic mons aren't really a problem, but we need to deal with the Fairy (and Bug) -typed ones to protect Darkrai. In spite of it being a horrible STAB.
Darkrai @ Life Orb
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Protect
Darkrai is far more classic, a real powerhouse meant to KO anything that moves. Not much to say really, it has a great coverage overall: Ice Beam deals with Lando-T (if it can survive a hit from Lando-T of course, and that's easier said than done), Thundurus, Skymin and Amoongus, Focus Blast deals with Heatran and Kangaskhan mostly, but also with a bunch of other stuff (Terrakion, Bisharp, Ferrothorn, etc.) Dark Pulse is a powerful STAB move, that not only completes the coverage very nicely, but that also deals huge chunks of damage to anything not resisting it. Darkrai can more or less easily break down any staller that would try to beat us at our attrition game.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 64 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Protect
Our main tank, but not only. As such, Ferrothorn can set up his Leech Seeds and be very hard to deal with. Max Attack Gyro Ball as, in my memory, necessary to deal efficiently with powerful Fairies such as Sylveon, Gardevoir or Diancie. Power Whip is just there for coverage. Now I seem to recall that this set was suggested to me by someone smart back in the days, but I can't remember what Special threat is was meant to tank. I know that really sounds unprofessional, and it is, but I'm working on it.
Togekiss @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 68 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Follow Me
- Helping Hand
- Air Slash
- Roost
Togekiss' set is the one proposed on the Smogon Pokedex, and I really don't have much to say about it. It works well, and I guess I never found a better EV spread than this one. As Spore seems to still be pretty relevant, and if Easy Mode is still a thing (Tailwind+M-Kan+Sleep), then I definitively need a sleep tanker, which Togekiss can do quite well. Helping Hand, if facing slower threats than Gengar or Darkrai, is meant to occasionally OHKO some mons that come within reach. In a long term game, without Leftovers, I chose Roost to gain HP back, rather than Protect.
Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SpA / 120 SpD
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Rotom-W is only weak to Grass, and that's not even a very good offensive type. Will-o-Wisp is probably the most important move here, as it allows to take even more hits from physical attackers as they slowly grindily loose their HP. Rest of the moves are classic, mostly there for coverage. The EV spread is my own, it resists a Char-Y Solar Beam if memory serves, and puts the rest in SpA.
Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 168 SpA
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Taunt
- Tailwind
- Overheat
This isn't my set, nor even my idea. Mixed Talonflame, I took someone's set when I was playing, fell in love with it and never let go. Overheat is a very powerful move, powerful enough to OHKO a lot of stuff in Doubles, but let's face it: it's our Flying STAB we will mostly be using! So let's not loose that extra life to Flare Blitz (plus, when facing a Ferrothorn, you really don't want to get too close). Taunt is very important. I mean even taunting opposing taunters is useful here (because to maintain the Trap, we don't necessarily need to use damaging moves, so we're overall a little vulnerable to Taunt). So when it comes to TR or other fun stuff that would bring our glass canons down, well... Oh what am I talking about, every one knows how good Taunt is. Sadly, I found that Tailwind was a necessary evil over Protect, because of Landorus-T and M-Sceptile out-speeding Darkrai.
Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Disable
- Protect
Darkrai @ Life Orb
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Protect
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 64 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Protect
Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 168 SpA
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Taunt
- Tailwind
- Overheat
Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SpA / 120 SpD
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Togekiss @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 68 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Follow Me
- Helping Hand
- Air Slash
- Roost
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Disable
- Protect
Darkrai @ Life Orb
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Protect
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 64 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Protect
Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 168 SpA
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Taunt
- Tailwind
- Overheat
Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SpA / 120 SpD
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Togekiss @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 68 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Follow Me
- Helping Hand
- Air Slash
- Roost
So that's the team!
It deals reasonably well with Trick Room Teams (thanks to Ferrothorn and Talonflame of course, but also thanks to the trap making those teams not as efficient as they would like to be), very well with Rain Teams and overall, it does well against most classic teams.
I hope that wasn't boring, that you've read it all, and that you'll help me get back in the game! Thanks a lot, have fun!
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