Little Cup Doubles Guide (SM)

Basic Rules of Little Cup Doubles

- The Pokemon used must be at the smallest stage of their evolutionary line, as in standard Little Cup. For example, Chansey and Blissey cannot be used in LC Doubles but Happiny can.

- The Pokemon must be level 5.

- LC Doubles is played in the Doubles format, with two Pokemon on the field at the same time.


Clauses and Bans:
These are things such as movesets, and abilities that are banned from play in Little Cup Doubles.

- Sleep Clause is on; only one Pokemon can be asleep at a time, with the exception of an opponent inducing sleep on themselves, such as using Rest.

- Self-KO Clause is on; if a player causes the game to end by using a move such as Explosion, the player loses that game. (This is automatically done by the simulator)

- Endless Battle Clause is on; endless battles are banned, thus:

	A Pokémon may not carry Recycle and hold a Leppa Berry in conjunction with Heal Pulse and Milk Drink, Moonlight,  Morning Sun, Recover, Roost, Slack Off, Soft-Boiled, or Wish.
	A Pokémon may not hold a Leppa Berry while carrying Recycle and Pain Split.
	A Pokémon may not hold a Leppa Berry while carrying Recycle and Fling.

- OHKO Clause is on; The moves Horn Drill, Sheer Cold, Guillotine, and Fissure are not permitted in LC Doubles.

- Evasion Clause is on; moves such as Double Team or Minimize which raise your evasion are not permitted.

- Species Clause is on; no team may have more than one of the same Pokemon.

- Item clause is NOT on; You may use the same item as many times as you’d like.

- The moves Dragon Rage, Sonic Boom, and Swagger are banned in LC Doubles.

- The ability Moody is banned.

- The item Eevium Z is banned.

- Aipom, Meditite, Murkrow, Scyther, Sneasel, Swirlix, Tangela, and Yanma are banned. While a shorter list than standard LC, these Pokemon have all proven to be too strong for LC Doubles.


Tips for LC Doubles
These are more subjective, and there are exceptions to most. However, especially as a beginner, they are a good place to start.

- Hazards, while good in standard, are nowhere near as useful in doubles formats. This is due to both the faster pace and fewer switches in doubles as opposed to singles.

- The items Leftovers, Black Sludge, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Oran Berry, Sitrus Berry, and Assault Vest are very poor choices. The first two heal far too slowly to be effective, Band and Specs generally fail to outperform Life Orb, and both Berries are completely outclassed by Berry Juice. Assault Vest is objectively inferior to Eviolite.

- EVs are not the usual 252/252/4 spreads you see in Level 100 formats. Use Little Cup spreads instead, or play around with the sliders in the teambuilder!

- When using Life Orb, 19 HP is a good number to have. This is because the Pokemon will take only 1 damage per turn, while Pokemon with 20 or more will take 2. That does not mean Pokemon that cannot have 19 HP cannot effectively use a Life Orb.


Doubles Tips
(Taken from the Doubles Overview on Smogon with minor context editing)

- Protect - +4 Priority. Undoubtedly the most important move in Doubles; it shields whatever moves targeted at the user and without the need to blindly switch out and let another one of your Pokemon to take a hit, too! A well-executed Protect means wasted turns for the opponent, whose attacks utterly fail to do anything while your other Pokemon can ideally take the attacker out. Protect also shield your Pokemon against Fake Out flinches, a devastating move in Double. Stalling out Tailwind or TR turns serve as another purpose for using Protect.

- Feint - +2 Priority. With Protect being such a pivotal move in Doubles, it's no wonder that a counter-move in Feint would see some use! It comes in handy when you need to connect with the target Pokemon on that turn NO MATTER WHAT. Feint also breaks other protection moves, including Wide Guard, Quick Guard, and Spiky Shield.

- Fake Out - +3 Priority. This is another prevalent move in Doubles, and it's a game-breaking one, too. A super-priority flinch move renders one of the opponent's Pokemon immobile and vulnerable to assaults. Just like in Singles, Fake Out can be seen from a mile away, but the Fake Out user can actually take advantage of this, forcing the opponent to use Protect. Fake Out's greater utility in Doubles in turn increases the value of Inner Focus.

- Spread Moves - These moves target multiple Pokemon - some only affect both enemies while other spread moves also catches your ally, too. Such distinctions make otherwise obscure moves in Singles, such as Heat Wave and Rock Slide, to have a specific niche in Doubles!

- All spread moves's power is reduced to 75% of its original base power (so Earthquake is a 75 bp Ground type move, while Blizzard is a 82 bp Ice type move), but this reduction is more than compensated by hitting more than one target. If it's hitting both foes, it is effectively hitting with 150% of the moves original power (75%*2). When there is only one target power on the field, the spread move hits the opponent with 100% of its original power.

	Notable Spread Moves that Targets Only Enemies
	- Blizzard (82 bp) & Icy Wind (41 bp)
	- Rock Slide (56)
	- Heat Wave (71) & Eruption (112)
	- Muddy Water (67) & Water Spout (112)
	- -Ate Hyper Voice (87, changes type)
	- Snarl (41)

	Notable Spread Moves that Target Enemies and Ally alike
	- Explosion (187) & Selfdestruct (150)
	- Earthquake (75)

- Wide Guard / Quick Guard - +3 Priority. BW has added new protection moves to doubles. Unlike Protect, these Guard moves protect both the user AND the ally from spread moves and priority moves, respectively. This means that one Pokemon can guard for Earthquake or Fake Outs, thereby wasting the opponent's turn, while its partner can go on the offensive.

	XY has further buffed these two moves; both Guard moves can be used consecutively without fail! Quick Guard now also blocks non-damaging moves from Prankster Pokemon!

- Helping Hand - +5 Priority. A move designed specifically for Doubles, this move boosts the power of the user's ally by 50% for one turn, which can change a 2HKO into a OHKO. Such a difference is significant in Doubles, as knocking out the opponent effectively means cutting down on the opponent's offense by half for that turn. Thus, Helping Hand user pairs nicely with a fast Sweeper like Thundurus or Latios. Helping Hand has +5 priority, so the helper can be a slow bulky supporter like Cresselia, and it is used before Prankster Taunt.

- Follow Me / Rage Powder - +2 Priority. Another move tailored for Doubles, but this time all non-spread moves are re-directed to the user of Follow Me or Rage Powder, thereby keeping its partner untouched. Spread moves like Blizzard and Earthquake still hits both users, though. This move comes in handy when you are trying to set up with your other Pokemon. This support move has +3 priority, so this user can even redirect fast priorities barring faster Fake Outs to itself! XY nerfed Follow Me / Rage Powder by lowering its priority bracket one below Fake Out - faster users can no longer re-direct Fake Out with these moves :( Grass-types and Pokemon holding Safety Goggles also ignores Rage Powder.

- Tailwind / Icy Wind / Thunder Wave / Trick Room - Similarly to Singles, having the first move is almost always more advantageous than attacking second. Tailwind, Icy Wind, and Trick Room are prevalent moves to control Speed and attack first. Even though 4-5 turns go awfully quick in Singles to do anything productive, in Doubles it is usally half the game or more! Icy Wind (or Electro Web) is also an amazing utility move, a spread move that drops BOTH enemies' Speed by one stage.

- Move Order - Who moves first is often a frequently confused topic, since a Pokemon's Speed can change in the middle of a turn, making faster Pokemon slower. The move order is pre-determined at the beginning of the turn, so any changes in the Pokemon's Speed would only affect the move order in subsequent turns. Here are some scenarios:
	Your Fletchling sets up Tailwind. Your Mienfoo will not move before the opponent's Gligar until the following turn
	Your Purrloin paralyzes the opposing Misdreavus with Thunder Wave. However, Misdreavus will still move before Pawniard until the turn ends.
	Your Purrloin uses Rain Dance. Omanyte's Swift Swim wont kick in until the following turn.
	The above scenario is different from a case where the weather is summoned before the beginning of the turn (ie if you used Vulpix to summon sun before the turn begins then Bulbasaur has its Speed doubled from turn 1).