Hi guys! I'm back with another Doubles RMT, this one even better than it was the last time. A while back I found out that a lot of people had used my old Sand team for Doubles related stuff, such as laddering and tournaments and such. However, that team was pretty old and outdated since I made it shortly after I first started playing the tier. I enjoyed using the team, however, so I figured that it would be an interesting experiment to try and capitalize on the fact that the team was fairly well known by reworking all of the sets, so people seeing it expecting the original version would be in for a surprise. It also seemed really cool from a teambuilding perspective as a challenge of sorts. I started by switching around Excadrill, then started with the other ones, trying to patch up as many of the initial flaws as possible, and I think the result is a team that's much more effective and unique than the original. I also wanted to incorporate the metagame knowledge I've gained since 10 months ago when the first team was made, so I think I did a good job there. Among the team's accomplishments is that it took me to the finals of Double Dash (where it performed very well against kingofkongs), Ezio used it for the Doubles Doubles Tournament (he made it to semis), and it has performed well on the ladder (I also won two Doubles tournaments on PS one after the other which isn't too impressive but was fun nonetheless). Anyways, with XY here and BW2 Doubles being a thing of the past, I figured I'd share the team as a sort of farewell to 5th gen (Mizu was gonna make one but she's been busy so the responsibility falls to me I suppose). Hopefully if you're reading this you decide to try out Doubles sometime, as it's an incredibly fun tier w/ some cool people. Anyways, onto the team:
Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Atk / 36 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Low Kick
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
Even now I still love this thing. Tyranitar is great to check opposing weather such as Hail and the rare Sun, as well as removing Rain, which makes Pokemon such as Kingdra much less threatening. It also makes a good answer to some other pesky Pokemon like Thundurus, Cresselia, and Latios. Rock Slide is used here since the spread damage is great, as well as the 30% flinch chance. Low Kick is the secondary move due to granting useful coverage on Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Heatran, Bisharp, and opposing Tyranitar. One might think that Crunch should be somewhere here, but the things you'd use Crunch to hit such as Cresselia can't do much to you anyways, and Low Kick has better coverage w/ Rock Slide, so in the 3rd slot I chose to use something more unorthodox.
Many people have heard that one of the biggest differences between Singles and Doubles is that due to the fact that less switches take place, entry hazards aren't too useful. While this is true in VGC, there is still plenty of switching in Doubles, so that coupled with the fact that there are two added Pokemon to use mean that Stealth Rock will still be doing good damage over the course of the match. Stealth Rock also puts additional pressure on Hail teams since it limits the amount of times Abomasnow can come in (especially important since Blizzspam can be a pain for this team, particularly if TTar is dead/weakened) and it strips HP from common Pokemon such as Thundurus and Volcarona. There are even times where you can set it up when the opponent has something at 12% or below, so you can prevent it from coming back in and threatening your team further (if this mon happens to be a weather inducer then they can't reset weather which is cool). So yeah, underrated move. The EVs are used to live through an unboosted Meteor Mash from Metagross, and Chople Berry lets you take stray Fighting-type moves or just weaker ones that could KO otherwise.
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
The main goal of the team was to pull off an Excadrill sweep, so I wanted to use a more threatening set than what I had initially. I tinkered around with a bulkier set using Substitute, but when I saw R Inatimate using SD Excadrill, I tried it out myself and haven't looked back. Swords Dance makes Excadrill way more threatening, letting it jack up its Attack to cleave through teams late game. Thanks to Excadrill's Steel typing, it can set up on resisted hits like Psyshock from Cresselia or Bullet Punch from Scizor and hit them back for good damage. In addition, with Focus Sash you can set up a Swords Dance on attacks such as Muddy Water or Earthquake that would otherwise KO Excadrill. Earthquake is used here since it's a powerful STAB move with spread coverage, making it an excellent choice here. Normally its drawback of hitting its partners would be a concern, but since there are three Levitators on this team, that is almost never a concern. Rock Slide is a good secondary attack since it has great coverage with Earthquake, hitting Flying-types such as Togekiss and Thundurus as well as Levitate Pokemon such as Cresselia and Latios. It also has a nice 30% flinch chance, which has been pretty clutch in the past. Protect serves the same purpose here as it does on every other Pokemon in Doubles, letting me shield Excadrill from things that could halt its sweep and then dealing with them using its partner.
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SAtk / 16 SDef / 4 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Grass]
This Rotom-W set doesn't see too much use in Doubles for some reason, which is strange since it is a fantastic weather check. It poses a large threat to many common Pokemon such as Tyranitar, Landorus-T and Scizor, and can maul Rain teams with STAB-boosted Thunders further strengthened by Choice Specs. In addition, Rotom-W's good bulk and combination of high-powered attacks make it an excellent Choice Specs user. Due to the fact that Choice Specs Rotom-W isn't a common choice, there've been times where people haven't even realized it was Specs until it had blasted holes in their team. Hydro Pump is great due to its high Base Power and the fact that Water is an excellent offensive type, hitting even neutral Pokemon for large amounts of damage, so this is a great move to be locked into. Thunderbolt is a great secondary STAB move, hitting Bulky Water-types that wouldn't mind taking a Hydro Pump. In addition, it's 100% accurate, so its nice when you can't afford to risk Hydro Pump missing at an inopportune time.
Thunder might seem strange since it's only 70% accurate in Sand, but under Rain it is 100% accurate, significantly more powerful than Thunderbolt, and has a 30% chance to paralyze. When compared to Thunderbolt, it turns 2HKOs on Ludicolo and Kingdra into significant chances to OHKO, which is a pretty big deal when your goal is to check Rain teams. It's also just a nice way to take advantage of opposing Rain, as a perfectly accurate Thunder from this thing is no laughing matter. Hidden Power Grass is the last move used, and it's really only here to have a way to hit Gastrodon. The EV spread lets Rotom-W live through a Modest LO Giga Drain from Ludicolo and retaliate with a Thunder, which is pretty nice. The 4 Speed lets me speed creep opposing Rotom-Ws which is cool, and the rest is put in Special Attack to hit as hard as possible (hits 509 SpA w/ Choice Specs which is pretty great).
Cresselia @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 252 SAtk / 24 Spd
Modest Nature
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Beam
- Trick Room
This set is pretty popular in VGC, but it doesn't see as much use in Doubles for some reason. Regardless, it's a fantastic set, and has been very useful for the team. It has no trouble KOing Pokemon like Scizor and Landorus-T who might think they're safe around Cresselia, only to be smacked by one of its coverage moves (can't even count the amount of ladder matches I've just clicked HP Fire and watched Scizor go down, much to the surprise of my opponent). It's also nice to bluff the typical support set, since you can lure in Pokemon and then reveal your bluff to net a nice advantage. It's also sweet since many times people waste a turn Taunting Cresselia even though this set doesn't really mind that much. Psyshock is just used for STAB, doing pretty good damage to most neutral targets. It's used over Psyshock since it gets more damage on Pokemon such as Amoonguss than Psychic would, since it's typically Specially Defensive.
Hidden Power Fire lets Cresselia hit Scizor and other Steel-types like Metagross, as well as Abomasnow. Ice Beam KOs Landorus-T, Shaymin-S, and hits Dragon-types like Salamence. Hitting Landorus-T is particularly important since it can prevent Excadrill from cleaning up. Trick Room is an incredibly versatile move that was a great choice for the last slot. Many people play under the assumption that you need to have a bunch of really slow Pokemon to make use of Trick Room, but that really isn't the case. Trick Room is useful to act as an answer to Pokemon like Blaziken and Kingdra under Rain that would outspeed my team normally, or simply whenever the opponent has an abundance of Pokemon faster than most of mine. Have even had times where I've set up a SD with Excadrill, been hit by Icy Wind, then used Trick Room and cleaned up the opposing team. Trick Room is also great for when you're facing a full Trick Room team, since you can use Trick Room of your own to cancel out their Trick Room. Expert Belt is used to give Cresselia's coverage moves more power, as well as to bluff another item. The EV spread is simple, with the 24 EVs in Sped being to outpace the onsite Hitmontop spread, 252 SpA and a Modest nature being used to let Cresselia hit as hard as possible, and the rest being put in HP.
Latias @ Dragon Gem
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 228 HP / 88 SAtk / 192 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Helping Hand
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
This thing still doesn't get the usage it should imo (only 57th in Semptember's 1850 stats :( ). Latias retains its initial purpose on the team of being a great Rain check, however due to the fact that the team now had plenty of offensive power, as well as the fact that offensive Latias is for the most part a poor man's Latios, I decided to use a support set in order to help back up the team. Thanks to Latias's fantastic bulk, it makes for a great check to Rain and Sun teams as well as to plenty of Special Attackers in general such as Rotom-W. I decided to use Dragon Gem + Draco Meteor to let Latias get off a high-powered attack so it wouldn't be dead weight outside of supporing. Helping Hand is nice to net some KOs that a partner would otherwise miss out on thanks to the 50% damage boost through using it. I was initially going to go with Tailwind > Thunder Wave, but I liked Thunder Wave alot more since it would cripple fast Pokemon permanently as opposed to the turns that Tailwind is active (especially since the opponent could just stall out Tailwind or use Tailwind of their own), and it had good synergy w/ Rock Slide on my team to potentially net some flinches/paras. In addition, it would make me less weak to Trick Room, since if I had Tailwind up and my opponent used Trick Room I'd wind up in a pretty bad spot. Protect is once again awesome, letting me shield Latias from things like Scizor, Tyranitar, and other Dragon-types. The EVs served a few purposes. 88 Special Attack allowed Dragon Gem Draco Meteor to OHKO up to 4 HP Landorus-T, which was pretty useful on this team, 192 Speed let Latias outspeed Garchomp and under, and the rest of the EVs were put into HP to improve Latias's bulk.
Hitmontop @ Fighting Gem
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Wide Guard
Hitmontop is pretty simple to understand, and serves the same purpose it always has on this team. Intimidate turns it into a good check to Physical Attackers, and with its nifty support movepool it is a nice glue for the team, and serves to tie everything together. Just it being out can put a good deal of pressure on the opponent, whether it's through Intimidating screwing with their Physical Attackers or them having to play around Fake Out and Wide Guard. Fake Out is the first move here and is an obvious choice on Hitmontop. It lets me flinch an opposing Pokemon and either attack or set up with my partner. The mind games are nice to force Protects on opposing mons too and then Fake Out the Pokemon that isn't protecting, essentially wasting my opponent's turn and leaving me free to do whatever I like. Close Combat is a high powered STAB move, and in conjunction with Fighting Gem can take out a Pokemon or deal huge damage to them.
Fighting Gem also lets you do things such as KO Tyranitar through its Chople Berry which is pretty cool. Stone Edge is unexpected on Hitmontop, with people usually running Feint or Sucker Punch, which is why it's so nice. I was initially going to use Feint, but I didn't find it too useful when I had used it in the past, so I tried out Stone Edge instead and had better results. With Stone Edge, Hitmontop has a way to KO Volcarona as well as deal large chunks of damage to Thundurus, both of which would think they have little to fear from a Hitmontop. Wide Guard is used here to shield Hitmontop's partners from things like Muddy Water and Blizzard, freeing them up to do things other than Protect. It's also nice to prevent Hitmontop from taking damage from Excadrill's Earthquake, so I don't have to switch out to spare it from taking damage. I used to run 136 Speed on Hitmontop to outpace 4 Speed Rotom-W, but since that spread went onsite I run 144 to outpace that by a good measure (as Pwnemon will tell you I'm a speed creeper), letting me get off a Fake Out before an opposing Hitmontop guaranteed. The remaining EVs are just put in bulk to let Hitmontop live for longer.
So yeah, rip BW2 Doubles, it's been fun :)
Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Atk / 36 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Low Kick
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SAtk / 16 SDef / 4 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Cresselia @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 252 SAtk / 24 Spd
Modest Nature
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Beam
- Trick Room
Latias @ Dragon Gem
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 228 HP / 88 SAtk / 192 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Helping Hand
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
Hitmontop @ Fighting Gem
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Wide Guard
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Atk / 36 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Low Kick
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SAtk / 16 SDef / 4 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Cresselia @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 252 SAtk / 24 Spd
Modest Nature
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Beam
- Trick Room
Latias @ Dragon Gem
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 228 HP / 88 SAtk / 192 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Helping Hand
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
Hitmontop @ Fighting Gem
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Wide Guard
