So I'm going to start off by saying that I'm pretty new to competitive battling. I know all about EV training and that sort of thing, but I am very new to competitve strategies, especially in double battles.
Most of the Smogon rules won't apply because I'll just be battling with my friends so here are all of our limitations.
No Legendary Ubers (Non legendary ubers and OU legendaries are allowed)
No 2 Pokemon with the same National Dex #
No OHKO moves
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Happinas (Blissey) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen
Airmd (Skarmory) @ Occa Berry
Trait: Keen Eye
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 60 HP / 196 Spd / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Brave Bird
So I'm going to talk about these two pokemon in groups because I will be using them together as my leads. Skarmory's only purpose is to set up stealth rock and just wreck havock with whirlwind as much as possible. The only problem with this is that it's SDef is terrible. This is where Blissey comes in. She can immediately put up a light screen to give Skarmory some much needed protection. I really like how Skarmory has high defense while Blissey has a high SDef, a perfect mold for a doubles lead. Next, because neither of these pokemon are outrageously fast, Blissey can start paralyzing most of the enemy team (with the added effects of whirlwind) helping out the slower pokemon on my team. Blissey is also my Cleric as she can heal herself as well as help others out with aromatherapy. Skarmory also has roost, to try and stay alive as long as possible, and brave bird to deliver some pretty harsh blows, but I really don't expect it to last that long. Now, later in my team I have a Metagross, should I try to partner my Skarmory with it to make a nasty earthquake? But still, knowing that on of my friends love paraflinching and burning, I want to keep my Blissey out for as long as possible.
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Metagross @ Life Orb
Trait: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt
Mikaruge (Spiritomb) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 130 Def / 130 SDef
Serious Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
- Curse
- Dark Pulse
So Metagross is definitely one of my main sweepers. Metagross's purpose is to knock out or at least severely dent most of my opponents team before going down. He will most likely go out after skarmory. My main reasoning for this is because he seems to get burned a lot and I'll still have blissey out to heal him. Anyways, I got this strategy from smogon, though I'm not sure how useful it will be. I have been intending to use agility and then wreck havoc on everything. But with his high speed EV's and speed friendly nature, do I really need it? If not what should i use instead?
Since most pokemon are not resistant to steel, at least in my experience, meteor mash has been a deadly move. And for everything else I can usually use zen headbutt to knock them out. Now I'm always very hesitant to use earthquake in double battles. If it's not super effective on the opponent, is it really worth hurting my teammates? Or should I just look for a different move to put there?
Well after I've hopefully eliminated most of the big status happy opponents, i'll switch blissey out for Spiritomb. I've used him before and he's been a great addition to the team. With Metagross's ferocity, I'm expecting most pokemon to switch out when they start to reach low health, and that will be the perfect opportunity for Spiritomb to use pursuit as a nice little parting gift. Also, for more bulky pokemon, Spiritomb can use Curse to, as well as the Stealth Rocks and hopeful burns, slowly chip away at the before "unbreakable" walls. Shadow Sneak will be for those times when i really just need to get a quick move in, say if I know my opponent's faster than me but he's really low on health, I can get a quick KO. And so far Dark Pulse is just another STAB move I can use to damage my opponents while still hammering them down with Metagross.
____________________________________
Yonoir (Dusknoir) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Rain Dance
- Ice Punch
Kingdra (Kingdra) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SAtk / 100 Spd / 60 HP / 45 Def / 45 SDef
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
- Dragon Pulse
Now I'm in a bit in need of help for Dusknoir. I used to lead with Dusknoir and try to burn as many pokemon as I could with Skarmory's whirlwind. But now that I added Blissey to the team, she's seems like more of a fit for lead. So now I have this support Dusknoir with no appropriate time to support. Now my first instinct was to get rid of him, but I still have some use for him. He works as an excellent partner to my Kingdra. After activating rain dance, kingdra will not only be twice as fast, but his thunder will be 100% accurate. So for that reason, I'll most likely, when either metagross or Blissey die, switch out the other to send in Dusknoir and Kingdra.
To any of the pokemon not paralyzed, Dusknoir can still burn them which will easily help knock down those large, physical sweepers. And thanks to Kingdra's lighting speed with swift swim and enormous SAtk, he can knock out almost any of the remaining opponents. He has Hydro Pump for great STAB and Dragon Pulse for anything else. I used to have Draco Meteor, but the drop in SAtk was just too severe if I wanted to keep sweeping, especially if the oppponent had a light screen up. Thunder is another great move, especially with the added accuracy bonus in rain, that can rip apart most water types resistant to Kingdra's Hydro Pump along with any flying pokemon. Basically Kingdra is meant to have great coverage and power and Dusknoir proceeds to burn, heal, keep up the rain and occassionally help out Kingdra with Ice Punch (against a bulky Salamence for example).
____________________________________
So this is my full team so far. Of course it's a work in progress and subject to change, so feel free to give me your suggestions. My main concerns are with the movesets and the strategies. Is it bad that all my pokemon depend on each other? I mean of course they can survive on their own, but they work better when they're all as a team. Will this come back to bite me when I'm donw to my last few pokemon?
Most of the Smogon rules won't apply because I'll just be battling with my friends so here are all of our limitations.
No Legendary Ubers (Non legendary ubers and OU legendaries are allowed)
No 2 Pokemon with the same National Dex #
No OHKO moves
____________________________________
Happinas (Blissey) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen
Airmd (Skarmory) @ Occa Berry
Trait: Keen Eye
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 60 HP / 196 Spd / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Brave Bird
So I'm going to talk about these two pokemon in groups because I will be using them together as my leads. Skarmory's only purpose is to set up stealth rock and just wreck havock with whirlwind as much as possible. The only problem with this is that it's SDef is terrible. This is where Blissey comes in. She can immediately put up a light screen to give Skarmory some much needed protection. I really like how Skarmory has high defense while Blissey has a high SDef, a perfect mold for a doubles lead. Next, because neither of these pokemon are outrageously fast, Blissey can start paralyzing most of the enemy team (with the added effects of whirlwind) helping out the slower pokemon on my team. Blissey is also my Cleric as she can heal herself as well as help others out with aromatherapy. Skarmory also has roost, to try and stay alive as long as possible, and brave bird to deliver some pretty harsh blows, but I really don't expect it to last that long. Now, later in my team I have a Metagross, should I try to partner my Skarmory with it to make a nasty earthquake? But still, knowing that on of my friends love paraflinching and burning, I want to keep my Blissey out for as long as possible.
____________________________________
Metagross @ Life Orb
Trait: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt
Mikaruge (Spiritomb) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 130 Def / 130 SDef
Serious Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
- Curse
- Dark Pulse
So Metagross is definitely one of my main sweepers. Metagross's purpose is to knock out or at least severely dent most of my opponents team before going down. He will most likely go out after skarmory. My main reasoning for this is because he seems to get burned a lot and I'll still have blissey out to heal him. Anyways, I got this strategy from smogon, though I'm not sure how useful it will be. I have been intending to use agility and then wreck havoc on everything. But with his high speed EV's and speed friendly nature, do I really need it? If not what should i use instead?
Since most pokemon are not resistant to steel, at least in my experience, meteor mash has been a deadly move. And for everything else I can usually use zen headbutt to knock them out. Now I'm always very hesitant to use earthquake in double battles. If it's not super effective on the opponent, is it really worth hurting my teammates? Or should I just look for a different move to put there?
Well after I've hopefully eliminated most of the big status happy opponents, i'll switch blissey out for Spiritomb. I've used him before and he's been a great addition to the team. With Metagross's ferocity, I'm expecting most pokemon to switch out when they start to reach low health, and that will be the perfect opportunity for Spiritomb to use pursuit as a nice little parting gift. Also, for more bulky pokemon, Spiritomb can use Curse to, as well as the Stealth Rocks and hopeful burns, slowly chip away at the before "unbreakable" walls. Shadow Sneak will be for those times when i really just need to get a quick move in, say if I know my opponent's faster than me but he's really low on health, I can get a quick KO. And so far Dark Pulse is just another STAB move I can use to damage my opponents while still hammering them down with Metagross.
____________________________________
Yonoir (Dusknoir) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Rain Dance
- Ice Punch
Kingdra (Kingdra) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SAtk / 100 Spd / 60 HP / 45 Def / 45 SDef
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
- Dragon Pulse
Now I'm in a bit in need of help for Dusknoir. I used to lead with Dusknoir and try to burn as many pokemon as I could with Skarmory's whirlwind. But now that I added Blissey to the team, she's seems like more of a fit for lead. So now I have this support Dusknoir with no appropriate time to support. Now my first instinct was to get rid of him, but I still have some use for him. He works as an excellent partner to my Kingdra. After activating rain dance, kingdra will not only be twice as fast, but his thunder will be 100% accurate. So for that reason, I'll most likely, when either metagross or Blissey die, switch out the other to send in Dusknoir and Kingdra.
To any of the pokemon not paralyzed, Dusknoir can still burn them which will easily help knock down those large, physical sweepers. And thanks to Kingdra's lighting speed with swift swim and enormous SAtk, he can knock out almost any of the remaining opponents. He has Hydro Pump for great STAB and Dragon Pulse for anything else. I used to have Draco Meteor, but the drop in SAtk was just too severe if I wanted to keep sweeping, especially if the oppponent had a light screen up. Thunder is another great move, especially with the added accuracy bonus in rain, that can rip apart most water types resistant to Kingdra's Hydro Pump along with any flying pokemon. Basically Kingdra is meant to have great coverage and power and Dusknoir proceeds to burn, heal, keep up the rain and occassionally help out Kingdra with Ice Punch (against a bulky Salamence for example).
____________________________________
So this is my full team so far. Of course it's a work in progress and subject to change, so feel free to give me your suggestions. My main concerns are with the movesets and the strategies. Is it bad that all my pokemon depend on each other? I mean of course they can survive on their own, but they work better when they're all as a team. Will this come back to bite me when I'm donw to my last few pokemon?
