Ultimate Double Battle Guide 1.3

The Double Battle Guide 1.3

Written by TheBlizWiz with help from: Rash Flygon, Spear, Diogo Amatuzusake, w2gMk, Odds, Lord Iain, and other members of The Silver League
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Protect

Protect is a niche move in Singles (maybe you’re running Leech Seed or Speed Boost), but it’s crucial in Doubles.
In Doubles, two of the opposing Pokemon may try to target a single Pokemon, so if you Protect that Pokemon, you waste your opponent’s turn.

Not only this, but some moves (more on this later) can also target your partner. When you use protect, it prevents them from being damaged, so you can safely use a move that might hurt your partner.

Base Power Nerf

    Some moves can target multiple opponents in doubles.

    Some moves, Like Earthquake or Surf, target all Pokemon around them, while others like Icy Wind or Snarl only target the opponents.

    When any move targets more than one Pokemon, it’s Base Power is multiplied by 3/4. This means that Earthquake only has 75 Base Power instead of 100, Surf has only 67 Base Power after rounding, et cetera

Moves

    Some moves only work in Double or Multi battles.

    These are Rage Powder / Follow Me, Helping Hand, Ally Switch, Spotlight, Quash, Aromatic Mist, and Hold Hands (which is useless other than Z-Hold Hands).

    Rage Powder and Follow Me force single-target moves to target the user of the move.

    For example, if Garchomp wants to use Dragon Claw on a Kingdra, and an opposing Amoonguss uses Rage Powder, then the Dragon Claw would hit the Amoonguss instead of the Kingdra. Jirachi used to be the undisputed king (queen?) of Follow Me, until it was banned.

    Helping Hand raises the base power of an ally’s attack by 50% when used. It has +5 priority. Again, Jirachi was the premier Helping Hand user. Politoed usually uses Helping Hand now on Rain teams. (It’s his niche over Pelipper, along with Icy Wind)

    Ally Switch is an old TM from Generation 5, this move swaps the positions of your allies. This can be useful if you know a super effective move is coming, and you have an immune Pokemon right next to it. It can also be used with Protect.

    Spotlight is A new move introduced in Generation 7, Spotlight causes all attack to focus to the selected target instead of the intended target. It is only learned by a handful of Pokemon, and the Pokemon who do get access to it generally aren’t that useful in Doubles, besides maybe Eviolite Friend Guard Clefairy.

    There’s other moves like Aromatic Mist and Quash, but these aren’t useful unless they’re in specific and/or niche situations.

Heal Pulse is a move that works fine in Singles, but is great at accomplishing absolutely nothing. In Doubles though, it works great. Since you can choose which Pokemon to heal, you can heal your partner reliably. Plus, when used with a Pokemon with Mega Launcher, it heals 75% HP rather than 50% HP. It’s commonly found on Gothitelle because of its ability Arena Trap, or Clefairy, whom has access to Follow Me.

Sky Drop is okay in Singles, but it’s a good (not great) move in doubles. Sky Drop can be used to isolate a threat and set up with the other Pokemon. That’s really about it though.

There are also some moves not to use.

    These include Outrage and its clones and Entry Hazards besides Stealth Rock.

    Outrage, Thrash, Petal Dance, and Uproar target random opponents - and you have no control over it - which can mean the difference between a game-saving KO or a loss.

    Entry Hazards are more niche in Doubles than in singles, besides Stealth Rock which is versatile everywhere.

    Spikes are useless because of the amount of flying types to counter Earthquake.

    Sticky Web is outclassed by Icy Wind, and Sticky Web sometimes benefits the opposing team if they have Trick Room.

    Toxic Spikes are great, but there’s a lot of common poison types like Amoonguss to take them away.

Abilities

Some abilities are affected when used in a Doubles battle.

These are Plus, Minus, Power of Alchemy, Receiver, Telepathy, Storm Drain, and Lightning Rod.

Plus and Minus will give a 50% Special Attack boost if two Pokemon, each with their separate ability (IE One has Plus and the other has Minus)  to each Pokemon.

Storm Drain and Lightning Rod will force Water Type and Electric Type moves to attack the Pokemon that has it instead of the intended target, respectively. It does NOT work for multi-target moves, however.

Lastly, Receiver and Power of Alchemy copy a fainted ally’s ability upon their fainting.




Part 1?
Formats
Firstly, there’s two main formats played in Doubles: VGC and Smogon 6v6. VGC is the official competitive format for Pokemon, and has a completely different playstyle compared to Smogon. Smogon is the arguably more competitive format of the two, since it has more clauses to make gameplay more fair, and allows more Pokemon.

VGC’s rules change with every year, so this year's format is different than the previous and will be different from the next. Currently, in VGC 2017, only Pokemon found in the Alola Dex are allowed to be used, and Mega Stones are banned. Alongside this, Pokemon must be caught, hatched, or event-distributed in Alola - meaning no tutor moves are allowed from ORAS. VGC is also a 6v6 to 4v4 format, meaning that you are allowed to have 6 Pokemon on your team, but you can only bring 4 into battle. This means team previews are much more helpful, as you have to guess not only what each pokemon’s role is on the team, but also which pokemon they will bring against your team.

Smogon, however, allows Pokemon from any generation to be used, and also has no Dex restrictions. Item Clauses are also off, meaning that you can have as many of the same item as you want, and there are generally no banned items. Smogon also doesn’t allow evasion moves, OHKO moves, the ability Moody, or Endless Battles. Not to forget, both formats limit you to one of each species of Pokemon - ie you can’t have a Rotom Wash and a Rotom Mow on the same team. Finally, Mega Kangaskhan and Jirachi are both banned from SM DOU as of this posting.

Part 2?
Dynamics

Generation 7 seems the same as Gen 6 from afar, but a few key changes from the Generation 7 meta make Gen 7 one of the most interesting metas Pokemon has ever seen. Gen 7 is a hyper-offensive meta, meaning the most optimal strategy is full-out offense.

Terrains
The four terrain types are single-handedly the most important change into the transition of SM DOU. Each Tapu brings in a different terrain, each with different effects.

Tapu Koko brings in Electric Terrain on switch-in. Electric Terrain lasts for 5 turns and has pretty simple side effects. For all grounded Pokemon (IE non-flying or Levitating Pokemon), their Electric type moves increase in power by 50%. Also, Electric Terrain blocks the Sleep status condition, meaning Spore, Sleep Powder, Hypnosis, etc, Yawn, and Rest will all fail, but only for grounded Pokemon, meaning you can still Spore a Flying type. In addition, the Surge Surfer ability causes the holder to have a 50% speed increase.

Tapu Lele brings in Psychic Terrain when it switches in, and it has to be one of the most powerful Terrains available. Psychic Terrain stops priority moves, including those that are made priority moves by Gale Wings, Prankster, and Triage. In addition, it makes the power of Psychic type moves do 50% more damage. Combine this with Deoxys Attack and a Modest Fully Invested Life Orb Psycho Boost, and the only thing that can stop it is a 252 HP / 20 SpD Heatran.

Tapu Bulu...is...not that great... It’s Grassy Terrain lasts for 5 turns and heals all grounded Pokemon for 1/16th of their Maximum HP every turn it is active. It also halves the power of Dig, Earthquake, and Magnitude. Also, as long as it is in effect, all grounded Pokemon get a 50% boost to their Grass-type moves. In addition, it also prevents Powder-based moves like SPore and Rage Powder from being used by grounded Pokemon. Lastly, it activates the Grass Pelt ability, which is only available on Skiddo and Gogoat. Generally, this is considered to be the worst of the Terrains, but it’s niche against Earthquake and its potential to help with Monotype Grass teams is not to be ignored.

Lastly, but considered the best of all the Tapus in DOU, there’s Tapu Fini. Tapu Fini brings in the most useful and versatile of the Terrains for five turns, and Tapu Fini itself is not a threat to be ignored. It’s Misty Terrain stops any and all status conditions and halves the power of Dragon type moves on Grounded opponents. Not only is this insane for stopping Thunder Wave, Spore, Rest, Swagger, Will-O-Wisp, and more, but it also nerfs some of the strongest Pokemon in the game.

Trick Room
Trick Room was a dying strategy in Generation 6. Priority killed it, fast pokemon killed the TR setter before someone could use it, Taunt was everywhere. Someone at Gamefreak noticed and decided to buff it to High Heaven. Let’s go over just how Gamefreak did this.

Z-Moves. Taunt cannot block Z-Moves. This means that Taunt can’t cripple common Trick Room setters in their tracks. This means the only option is to OHKO the Trick Room setter before they have a chance to set it up. As if this wasn’t bad enough, Z-Trick Room also gives a +1 to Accuracy, meaning Bronzong gets a free +1 accuracy on Hypnosis after setting it up, and is now extremely fast. On top of this, Z Trick Room also ignores the priority drop.


Mimikyu - Mimikyu seems odd for Doubles. It’s disguise isn’t as useful with two opposing attackers on the field, and it’s weak without a Swords Dance. However, Mimikyu has access to Trick Room, Destiny Bond, Psych Up, and more. Here’s how annoying it is... 1. Mimikyu sets up Trick Room, 2. Uses Destiny Bond now that it’s Disguise is broken, taking your Pokemon out with its low defenses, or 3. Uses Psych Up on a Belly Drum Snorlax and sweeps to its heart’s content.

Slow, Powerful Pokemon like Alolan Marowak and Araquanid are perfect for Trick Room. Araquanid is also commonly paired with Hariyama.

Snorlax - Snorlax is the current King of DOU. After Mega Kangaskhan and Jirachi were banned, Snorlax rose to stardom, both with and without Trick Room. Thanks to the Figy Berry buff, Snorlax gets a Gluttony Figy Berry combo with access to Recycle, leaving it fully prepared to take on anything. Belly Drum is evil on it, Curse is amazing for the Defense buffs, and Snorlax has access to High Horsepower, a 95 Bp 95 Acc move that hits a single target.

Weather is a tricky little  mechanic in all of the Pokemon games after Generation 2. It was a nightmare to play around in Generation 5, thanks to the introduction of Drizzle Politoed and Drought Ninetales, but it was nerfed in Generation 6. Thankfully though, weather works well in Doubles, as one Pokemon can use it and its partner can use it just as well.

Sun
The undisputed Sun king is Charizard Y - with high special attack and strong moves in Heat Wave and Solar Beam, this mega is definitely worth your time in a Sun team. Good combos include Venusaur, Sawsbuck, and any pokemon with strong Fire-type moves like Zapdos and Heatran. Also, because Charizard Y keeps Charizard’s low base speed, it pairs well with an Icy Wind user.
Rain
The weather of choice in Gen 5 has been seriously debuffed over time, but it’s still amazing. Gen 7 introduced the rise of Drizzle Pelipper with 100 accuracy Hurricanes, reliable recovery in Roost, and free U-Turns for momentum. Or, Politoed can be used if you want to avoid taking perfect-accuracy Thunders and want some Hypnosis and Perish Song support. Classic cores include Pelipper/Politoed + Kingdra or Ludicolo + Any Steel Type (Mega Metagross is usually preferred.) Most rain teams also need to have a good counter to Ferrothorn, as it gains a good resistance to its Fire type weakness.
Hail
Hail used to be the forgotten middle child of the weathers. It hurt basically everyone but the one Pokemon that would need it, didn't activate a lot of abilities, and generally wasn’t very useful. Thankfully, with the transition to Generation 7, a few changes were made to drastically improve this weather. For starters, more Pokemon were given access to Snow Warning, meaning you have more options in which weather user you want to use. However, one of them stands out, being Alolan Ninetales, who is the only Snow Warning user to also have access to Aurora Veil, a move that only works in hail, but gives double Screens (ie Reflect and Light Screen) in one turn. This doesn’t seem to benefit an entire team much at first, as it seems to only help Ice types with their poor defenses, but a surprising amount of usefulness comes out of it. Notably, with an Aurora Veil up, Mega Salamence can live an Ice Beam from most Pokemon with about 13% HP left. This means it can set up a Tailwind safely. Speaking of Speed Control, a new ability in Slush Rush was added to act as a Swift Swim-esque ability. Currently it’s limited to Alolan Sandslash and Beartic, however.

Sand
Tyranitar has been a staple Doubles pokemon for 5 generations now, and it’s not hard to see why. The Ttar and Talonflame core may be gone, but with the advent of Gen 7, Celesteela has managed to help out TTar a lot. With Celesteela’s access to Wide Guard, TTar’s critical Earthquake weakness is alleviated. Along with Tapu Lele to stop priority users, Sand is still as useful as ever.


Part 3: How To Build Sets for Doubles
Doubles sets are a bit trickier to build for compared to Singles. A good Singles set may consist of a Setup Move and a few attacks, support moves and an attack or two, or full out offense, among other sets.

In Doubles, however, the standard building guide changes.

Notably, you need to either have Protect or a Self-Healing move at all times on every Pokemon, unless they are using a Choice Item. Protect prevents double-targeting and hitting your partner with some moves, or, aternatively, healing moves can allow you to heal off attacks you may recieve.

On top of this, the current meta likes to have support moves on offensive Pokemon. These can include: Tailwind on Mega Salamence; Taunt, Roost, and sometimes Defog on Mandibuzz if you’re playing VGC, Wide Guard support on certain Pokemon, Glare on Zygarde 50, et cetera.

Finally, and most importantly, a common beginner’s mistake is to use certain combination of moves when they really shouldn’t be necessary. For example, some newer players will add Heat Wave to Zapdos.  This is fine only if you are running a sun team. If not, Hidden Power Ice is a lot better option for a moveslot.



So, in short, a good DOU set should look something like this:
Protect / Healing Move
Setup / Support Move
Attack
Attack
Here’s a good example:
Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Moonblast
- Protect

PRO TIP: If possible, it’s a good idea to choose one move that hits both opponents and one move that hits a single opponent.

Part 4
Cores

With the transition to SM, the metagame for both formats of Doubles has changed. This time, we will discuss some basic cores for the Smogon Doubles OverUsed format. We will start with some classic combos and lead into some more Gen 7 updated cores that we currently see today.

ChompDos + LandoT

 + +
This classic core dates back all the way to Generation 5, and it’s not hard to see why. Garchomp can use STAB Earthquake with either Zapdos or Landorus Therian without damaging its partner, and Zapdos can use Discharge on both Garchomp and Landorus Therian without damaging its partner. Zapdos also gets access to Tailwind and Roar, meaning it can help speed up your slower teammates, and switch out any Pokemon that is setting up on the opposing team. Landorus can also bring in Stealth Rocks, Knock Off any items, (especially useful for Snorlax and Cresselia), Rock Slide any opposing Fire, Flying, and Ice types, and can U-Turn out to keep momentum. Landorus Therian also has the single best ability for Doubles in Intimidate, which lowers the attack stat of both opposing Pokemon by one stage. This shuts down any and all physical attackers on the spot, and may even force your opponent into leading with two special attackers, creating mind games in the opening... This core is generally considered one of the best in doubles, if not for one downside, being all 3 Pokemon are weak to Ice, with both Garchomp and Landorus being 4x weak to Ice.

 +  + +

However, with the transition to Generation 7, this core has gotten a major upgrade with Zygarde 50% form. Thanks to Zygarde’s access to Dragon Dance, it can be a deadly combination with Thousand Arrows and a Groundium Z. Thousand Arrows Smacks Down any opposing flying types, meaning that they are no longer airborne and are vulnerable to Ground-Type Attacks. Plus, Thousand Arrows doesn’t attack your partner, so you can use it with or without a Flying type or a Levitate user - leading to many different combinations. A Groundium Z is used so that we can attack past a tricky little move called Wide Guard - a move used in Doubles to prevent moves that hit more than one opponent from hurting you.  The one problem is that Zygarde is easily shut down by status, but Generation 7 introduced a Pokemon that perfectly deals with that -- Tapu Fini. Tapu Fini brings in Misty Terrain, which prevents status on the field for 5 turns without a Terrain Extender. That means no Thunder Wave, Will O Wisp, Spore/Sleep Powder, Glare, etc, which leads to easier time for Zygarde to damage the opponent’s team. Tapu Fini also has access to Moonblast, Taunt, Haze to remove stat changes (Just don’t haze after an Intimidate), and Muddy Water (which is like Surf, but doesn’t hit your partner!)

RECOMMENDED SETS:
Zygarde @ Groundium Z
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Glare
- Protect
- Dragon Dance

Zapdos @ Misty Seed
Ability: Static
EVs: 84 HP / 252 SpA / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Tailwind
- Roost

Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Protect

Snorlax

Snorlax may not be the Brawl Meta Knight anymore, but it certainly is becoming so. It’s slow but very powerful with a lot of support built in and not much support needed. Thanks to the Figy Berry buff, Snorlax gets safe, reliable recovery in Gluttony Recycle Figy Berry, so whenever it drops below half, it restores all of it back with its berry.  Combo that with Recycle to give it healing that isn’t move activated and you have a deadly combo. Not only that, but Snorlax has access to both Curse and Belly Drum, so it can be used to either set up sweeps in Trick Room or tank hits like a boss.
RECOMMENDED SET:
Snorlax @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Curse
- Recycle
- High Horsepower
- Return


+
Charizard Mega Y + Venusaur
With the change into Generation 7, this combo isn’t as useful anymore, but it’s still good. Thanks to Drought, and Venusaur’s Hidden Ability Chlorophyll, Charizard can use Heat Wave to hit both opponents with a Sun-boosted 95 BP move, while Venusaur gets a double boosted speed and single-target moves like Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb. Plus, Synthesis also heals more in the Sun if you decide to go that direction. Also, Venusaur gets access to Sleep Powder, a handy move as long as Fini isn’t around. However, Rain is a lot more common thanks to the Pelipper buff, and since Rock Slide is everywhere, Charizard Y does not want to stay in most of the time. Venusaur also doesn't like a Heat Wave in the Sun from Zapdos, so it’s not good to stay in on that, either.

RECOMMENDED SETS:
Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Dragon Pulse / Focus Blast / Air Slash
- Protect

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Protect







Tapu Koko
	Tapu Koko is an amazing addition to the SM DOU and VGC 17 Metagames. It’s fast, hits hard, and has moves that work well for both physical and special sets. Not to mention, it has access to one of the strongest Z-Moves in the game, In Z-Wild Charge. It can also use its signature Z-Move, Guardian of Alola, to deal 75% damage to anything that walls it.

	In VGC, Tapu Koko takes advantage of its speed and its movepool to cripple the opponent. Notably, Tapu Koko is one of the fastest Taunt Users in the entire game, which helps it to shut down status conditions that aren’t sleep, punish Trick Room setters if they aren’t using a Psychium Z, and prevent Protect from being used. It also has high damage output with Thunderbolt and Dazzling Gleam, with the option to switch out if needed with Volt Switch or use Discharge with an allied Ground-type to hit all those around it.

	In Doubles OU, Koko likes to be a fast attacker who shuts down sleep and uses the power buff from Electric Terrain to deal massive damage with Life Orb + Thunderbolt. It als uses Dazzling Gleam to shut down any opposing Dragon types, and uses Hidden Power Ice to punish Ground-type Pokemon.

RECOMMENDED SET:
Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect