quick dpp guide

Leads

Deoxys S – the lead you must beat. if it can get 2+ layers on your team, change the lead. the momentum one gets from sr + spikes makes HO the best and most consistent play style.

Types of deoxys
Sash Taunt SR Spikes ES / Signal / Super – standard deoxys. usually what dpp tries to counter

Sash Shadow Ball / Spikes / ES / HP Fire – offensive deoxys with rash + attacks evs, it holds deoxys to one layer and puts pressure on stalls forretress. usually the best on non gira offense

Colbur 252hp 164 SpD (lives non LO ray draco 100%) Spikes / Super / ES / Shadow / Taunt / HP Fire / whatever you want really. The crux is EVs, Colbur. and Super. Spikes on ttar, live attack, super turn 2 to break its sash.

Trick Scarf – fallen out of favor. doesn’t beat the new leads as much anymore.

Dual Screens – mainly seen on MewPass teams. fallen out of favor.

Other possible items
White Herb – targets froslass but generally isn’t worth it
Lum – protects against CS darkrai

Ice beam targets ray leads. best for teams that want weather


Best non Deoxys Leads (the new dpp uber triangle: Darkrai –> Ray –> Ttar –> darkrai)

Darkrai – 2 sets, CS and not CS

Scarf – dv, pulse, fb, trick / ice beam / maybe spacial if you need palkia revenge coverage.

Beats most leads 85% of the time. loses to Lum TTar (can’t ohko), kyogre, groudon (old school uses chesto / lum), and dialga. You do ~66 to mew but have a 70% chance of losing momentum.

Non Scarf / Sash – dv, pulse, fb, np / wow / thunder / quick attack / sucker punch / thunder wave.


beats everything except the ones mentioned above and the rare mewtwo. trades a possible extra layer for more pressure against teams. 125 speed is the 4th highest in the tier (deoxys / mewtwo / skymin) so darkrai forces a scarf if these mons aren’t on the opponent’s team.

Other Moves – First three are necessary. last one you have options


Other Items
Chople – loses to rare scarf leads to 100% beat ttar, a lead created to stop darkrai, and deoxys a. still loses to mewtwo because mewtwo doesn’t die to one pulse
Lum – loses to ttar in exchange to beat old school leads and get the jump on balance teams. The way balance deals with darkrai is Status or a scarf.

Note: Both items still make the darkrai mirror a guessing game.

Life Orb – Only seen on the NP set. tries to put immediate pressure. But without SR, you can’t get the kills as easily

The 4th Move:
NP – immediate pressure. leans towards all out offense where you don’t mind trading 1v1. good on wobb teams to force out the scarf
WoW – tries to catch balance teams off guard. Most common switchins to darkrai after darkrai sleeps something is Kyogre, Jirachi, Dialga, Scizor. This catches 2 off guard and makes them usually worthless.
Thunder – for sun teams or teams that are targeting kyogre. has added benefit of paralyzing 30% but mainly you want the 2hko on rest kyogre.
QA / Sucker – QA helps against deoxys. useful on spike weak teams (usually 5 grounded mons and a gira / ray). the only noteworthy use is the super rare ninjask. Sucker helps against the mewtwo revenge, adds a little more chip on giras when darkrai is in sneak range. nothing too noteworthy with sucker punch but is a lot stronger than QA. just doesn’t help vs deoxys.
Thunderwave – tries to catch the scarfer. Good for paralyze teams. Other teams would appreciate the pressure the first 3 moves on the list bring.


Rayquaza – 2 sets, 99% of the time it is the first one

LO Draco Meteor / FB / ES / Brick Break or EQ. Outrage is super rare. BB on LO is recommended so lum ttar dies immediately.

2 ev sets. Max speed (most common on LO) and rash 216 Speed. If you are having trouble with base 90 offense (kyogre, dialga, lucario, gira o), change to +Speed.

Sash Lead DD / SD ray. DD, SD / Outrage / ES / FB or EQ. tries to put on more offensive pressure than the first but largely falls flat except against deoxys leads.

Other Items:
Sash – puts the most pressure while saving ray from stray scarf leads. Punishes greedy leads that set up hazards without poking ray. Offense cannot deal with a sash ray outside of sleeping it. Better against froslass and tentacruel as well
Lum – targets darkrai. the extra benefit is groudon only. dialgas and kyogres will draco / ice beam regardless.

TTar 2 sets, the sets are honestly 50/50. depends on the player
Lum 252 hp / enough SpD to live darkrai FB (around 64 but more is recommended) / rest in attack. Brave. Payback / FB / superpower / SR. Non Sr ttars can run pursuit / rest / stone edge.

beats deoxys, froslass, darkrai, dialgas, forretress. Kinda trades even with tentas / cloysters. they get 1-2 layers up but they have 0 chance of winning the 1v1. Ttars best quality is his longevity. unlike deo, rai, and ray, ttar will come back in the game.
Note: Takes 80 Spa to ohko forrey 100% of the time.

Sash 252 Speed / 80 SpA / 176 Attack Hasty. Low Kick, FB, Crunch, SR / Stone Edge / Counter.

changes ttar from rai counter to mainly deoxys / froslass counter. the extra speed allows ttar to punish greedier teams that don’t attack it. best on up tempo teams that don’t mind sacrificing ttar early for good damage on the opponents likely base 90 mon.

Other Moves:
Stone edge – only for Ray, maybe the super rare armaldo.
Counter – surprise jump on the groudon and a ciele special. most groudons rock first, attack second, so keep that in mind.
Thunder wave – only on the lum set on teams that don’t have a good lead. works the same way as thunder wave darkrai.
Pursuit – Only on the lum set too. For teams that need a good lead and benefit from spinning or a dead latias / latios.
Rest – Best used with pursuit and a chesto berry. a paralyzed brave ttar is fine, and you don’t want to waste your lum on that. the price of 2 lost turns is too steep.



The next tier hazard leads

Froslass – One set

Timid – 252 speed / 252 SpA. Spikes, Icy Wind, Shadow Ball, Taunt, Destiny Bond, Ice Shard

beats deoxys, ray, and uses its good speed and typing to lay spikes while blocking spin. Loses hard to darkrai and ttar.

Other Moves:
Ice Shard – helps against the froslass mirror. cuts down on the 50/50 early game and guarantees you momentum which is so crucial in ho v ho.
Taunt – Best for Tspike weak teams. Nothing that uses tspikes in ubers is faster than 110
Destiny Bond – Fallen out of favor. kind of a gimmick since you can’t afford taunt + Dbond to have them continually switching. Any status move will just kill you


Forretress – One Set

Careful252 hp / 252 spD / 4 attack. Hazard / Hazard / Spin / payback / protect / pain split / toxic / sleep talk / explosion / rest

For stall teams that have a lugia or hate spikes. spinning without pursuit is so hard in dpp that stall teams can afford this anti lead to slow down the game, set up their hazards, or prevent SR from deoxys.

Other Items:
Occa – guarantees tspikes against groudon, deoxys a, ttar, and I think non LO Ray
Lum – guarantees tspikes against darkrai
Chesto – only useful on rest sets, and even then, it blows

Other Moves:
Protect – scouts the myriad choice users in the tier. gives forretress a much needed extra 6%. stalls the tspikes slightly
Pain Split – helps combat Gira o when you don’t have a pursuiter.
Sleep Talk – a neat tech move against teams that want a spin vs darkrai teams. inconsistent but can be the difference
Toxic – again, for gira o. has little utility outside that since most switchins on forrey are steels.
Explosion – seen on more balance teams. maybe gets a kill on greedy latias.
Rest – stall teams with heal bell / aroma blissey. sacrifices a 2nd hazard for more longevity and reliability.
Gyro Ball – a last ditch effort against darkrai. explosion is better

Tentacruel – One set
Timid, Sash. 252 speed / 252 spA. Hydro / Spin / Toxic Spikes / Ice beam / Icy Wind

beats deoxys and beats ray. base 100 speed is useful in getting up toxic spikes which is the best hazard in DPP Ubers. only Dialga and Gira are immune + not SR weak in the best 8 mons. Has the added benefit of coming back in and absorbing the Tspikes.

Other Items:
Lum – for teams that especially want to punish darkrai teams with tspikes

Ice Beam v Icy Wind – depends on what you want to beat. leads listed by the move are reasons to use the move over the other.
Note: Lum always wants Icy Wind.
2nd Note: Icy Wind will not kill Ray
Ice Beam – Ray, Groudon, Gira, Skymin. Stronger Mid Game. Use ice beam if you plan on bringing tenta back more often than sacrificing it in the first few turns.

Icy Wind – Froslass (needs modest and good rolls), random scarfers, kyogre, mewtwo.


Cloyster: 1 set

sash max max jolly (needs the jump on ttar) Toxic Spikes / Payback / Ice Shard / Spikes or RS or Explosion

More offensive than tentacruel because it can set regular spikes. Anything else is largely the same or worse matchups except super rare leads like skymin. The only defining better matchup is froslass.

Qwilfish 1 set

sash jolly max max toxic spike / payback / aqua jet / explosion / destiny bond / spikes

Not good. Don’t use. Only benefit is it can come back and absorb toxic spikes for offensive teams. but how often is a qwilfish coming back anyways?

Mamoswine: 1 set

Adamant Sash EQ / Ice Shard / SR / Endeavor

dpp ou lead now in ubers. beats deoxys and ttar and lo ray but nothing else. Maybe youll get newer players on the endeavor but 80 is too slow to get one off on offensive teams. others will just bring in gira. this is basically a worse ttar that can occasionally sneak an extra kill.


Mew: 1 set

max hp max speed jolly lum berry (old school will run 216 speed but is punished by tentacruel). Uturn / SR / Explosion / Taunt. EVs could be changed to absorb dm + espeed or kyogre spout but its personal preference.

Fallen out of favor with only one team hanging on to mew. designed to taunt slower mons like groudon and absorb the taunt from deoxys, uturn out, revenge. these scenarios are gone so it isn’t the best anymore.

Other Moves:
Fire Blast – stall teams have no fear of mew knowing it cannot touch forretress without exploding.

Mew learns a lot of moves but without Uturn + SR + Explosion, you would be better off using mewtwo as a lead.


Armaldo – 1 set

252 hp 252 attack lum adamant X-scissor / RS / SR / Rock blast or SE

was a gimmick that relied on people not knowing armaldo’s ability to spin. But, armaldo is the only mon that can really beat darkrais + Spin on deoxys. best used on teams with ho oh / shedinja / whatever mons really hate SR. Gira will waste health blocking armaldo so forretress can spin at will later.

Note: Rock Blast does not break sashes in DPP.


Dialga: 1 set

Lum 252 hp / 112-120 speed / rest in SpA modest. Draco / SR / FB / Twave

Antiquated lead. Tried to get the beat on darkrai + groudon. you also lose the versatility dialga brings as a water resist, ghost resist, and general bulky dragon absorber

Other Moves:
Brick Break: gets the beat on TTar which is why you run 112 speed
Thunder: Kyogre


Infernape: 1 set

Sash 252 Attack / enough speed to beat 192 latias + Garchomp / rest in SpA. Overheat / Fake Out / CC / SR.

Never used it so the evs may be wrong. goal was to beat deoxys with FO + OH. has a good lead matchup vs ttar but thats about it. Fire Fighting is also easily resisted by most dragons in the tier like latias / latios, Gira, Ray. still loses to froslass which is a big no at the moment. 108 is good because most dip under 108 and catch the 102 chomper. But speed isn’t helpful here in the lead spot.



Other Moves:
Endeavor – surprise move from DPP OU. wont find a target as easily though
U-turn – lose the ability to beat deoxys for a more consistent lead matchup
Hidden Power Ice – if you really want ray dead.



Random Anti-Hazard Leads with no hazards


Deoxys-A 1 set

Hasty / Rash Sash GK / Superpower / ESpeed / Shadow Ball

Classic anti lead set but kind of outdated now. GK hit both kyogre + groudon, superpower for darkrai ttar dialga, shadow ball + Espeed for other deoxys. Needs a change of moveset if you want to use it

Other Moves:
Ice beam – hits ray
Fire Punch – hits forretress + scizor + skarm + jirachi
psycho boost – all around ok move. best used if you plan on saving deoxys a later which is tough.
signal beam – darkrai + deoxys
spikes – coverage for offensive spike
SR – sacs coverage for SR. your other pokemon are too important to waste a slot / momentum for SR


Skymin 1 set

Timid Scarf Seed Flare / Leaf Storm / Air Slash / HP Ice / EP

another classic that tries to 60% deoxys + darkrai. leaf storm was necessary to ohko kyogres. not the greatest lead, shows the scarf or forces another scarf. loses momentum really easily because a lot of ubers resist grass and steels resist slash as well.

Other Moves
Healing Wish – for something later but remember dpp mechanics makes hazards come first.
HP Rock – maybe youll get a ho oh on the switch. not recommened but whatever


Kyogre 2 Sets

Lum 252 hp / 252 SpA modest Hydro / Ice / Thunder / Twave.
Speed can and should be boosted to 112. speed is low on the original so you threatened groudon. It trades a consistent matchup v deoxys for being above 50/50 on the big 3. largely will struggle against spike stacking teams so keep that in mind.

Note: thunder the deoxys over twave. 2hko + 30%  over 25%

Scarf kyogre
max max timid  Spout / Hydro or surf / Beam / Thunder

Super common in 07-09 or whatever. super bad now. but you might see it depending on how old the person you play is.



Gira o
mix and match your own evs. too many possibilities to name

Shadow Sneak / Draco and/or Claw / Pick from these below:

HP Fire: Forretress / scizor / skarmory repellent though skarm doesn’t care about non sun ones now
Stone Edge: Ho Oh
EQ: Jirachi + Heatran. gets the beat on dialga
Thunder: Kyogre + efficient skarm removal. Thunderbolt is ok for sun skarm.
WoW: Long game. wants to target Groudon / Support Dialga / TTar
Aura Sphere: Dialga + Heatran + hits skarm on switch. Not great but whatever
Shadow Force: Too Slow
Shadow Claw: You have sneak
Magic Coat: Not BW


Consistent Anti Lead and the best non hazard based one. Only problem is gira does too much for teams sometimes (Consistent 50+ on psychics) that you must be careful about taking damage. Best lead for stall teams that do not run Rest Talk Gira.


Scizor: 1 Set

252 hp / 216 spD / 40 attack / adamant Lum. Uturn / BP / Pursuit / Roost / Toxic

momentum based like mew that beats darkrai easily + Traps Froslass. Good against no HP Fire Giras. kind of a jokeish lead but works on specific teams. Pursuit / toxic is a toss up for what you want. You could run both over roost but you lose the ability to continually switch on latias.


Ninjask 1 set

some evs that i don’t know
Baton pass / SD / Sub / Protect / X scissor / Flash

bad lead. tries to squeak out a sub bp but can’t beat any roar / ww user. weak to attack + priority. loses to the better uber leads like ttar and ray. consistency is key in the lead.


May have missed a lead, but if i did, it is largely unimportant

if i care. ill draw a chart labeling wins / losses on the lead matchup.