XY Doubles Standouts

With the introduction of XY, there have been plenty of shakeups in the Doubles tier. Due to new Pokémon being added and the creation of Mega Evolutions, there have been plenty of shifts in terms of what Pokémon are among the best in the tier. For those who don't follow the tier, it can be difficult to find out what some of the best Pokémon are. This article aims to help them by highlighting some of the best performing Pokémon thus far.

New Standouts

Mega Kangaskhan

Kangaskhan has just about all of the tools it needs to succeed in the Doubles tier. First off, it has access to Fake Out, which is one of the best moves in the tier, made even better by the fact that Mega Kangaskhan possesses the strongest Fake Out in the tier. If it doesn't Mega Evolve, Kangaskhan can even use Fake Out to hit Ghosts with Scrappy and prevent them from moving for a turn, fixing what is usually a flaw of most Fake Out users. Once it Mega Evolves, Parental Bond gives Kangaskhan the equivalent of a Choice Band in terms of power, letting all of its attacks heavily dent its targets. Sucker Punch lets it pick off weakened or frail threats, and Power-Up Punch acts as a Swords Dance that does damage, which comes in handy when Mega Kangaskhan needs to power through a team. In addition to Kangaskhan's power, its 105 / 100 / 100 defenses grant it plenty of bulk, which is very important in a tier where you could potentially be taking two attacks in one turn. Even though Ghost-types can still play around Sucker Punch and cripple Kangaskhan with a burn, it is still more than powerful enough to be one of the best Pokémon in the tier right now.

Mega Mawile

Mega Mawile is one of the more notable new Mega Evolutions in XY, thanks to Huge Power giving it a sky-high Attack stat. While its low Speed and Special Defense have kept it from greatness in OU, it is a top tier threat in Doubles. For starters, Mawile has access to Intimidate, which is one of the best abilities in the tier since it affects both opposing Pokémon. You can even hold off on Mega Evolving in order to keep using the ability. Once it Mega Evolves, it has no trouble OHKOing or 2HKOing the tier. While its low Speed would seem like a problem, in Doubles, it can be a tremendous asset due to Trick Room being a common playstyle. Under Trick Room, Mega Mawile is a frightening Pokémon, it can underspeed and annihilate opposing Pokémon. Its Special Defense means it can still fall prey to special attackers, but with an additional partner on the battlefield to deal with them, it's easier to play around then in OU.

Mega Charizard Y

In the past generations, Charizard was a very unremarkable Pokémon. Its lousy typing aside, it faced competition for a moveslot with other special Fire-types, namely Heatran, Chandelure, and Volcarona. This combined with weaknesses to common Rock- and Water- type attacks left Charizard's use relegated to gimmick strategies such as Beat Up + Terrakion. However, the creation of Mega Charizard Y turns Charizard into a fearsome powerhouse. Thanks to a sky-high base Special Attack of 159 in conjunction with Drought and access to Heat Wave, Mega Charizard Y does insane amounts of damage to almost everything in the tier. To give an idea of how powerful it is, Fire Blast in the sun can 2HKO Pokémon that resist it such as Hydreigon and Garchomp. Solar Beam allows Mega Charizard Y to maul bulky Water-types such as Rotom-W as well as other Pokémon like Tyranitar. The fact that Mega Charizard Y can switch the weather against Pokémon such as Tyranitar and Politoed and then smack them with a Solar Beam simply by Mega Evolving makes Charizard Y all the more difficult to deal with.

Talonflame

Talonflame has a lackluster typing defensively, which leaves it weak to many common attacking types such as Water and Rock, as well as a stat combination that's decent but not anything noteworthy; so it wouldn't seem to be much of a standout. However, thanks to its Gale Wings ability giving it priority Brave Bird, it has no trouble heavily damaging most of the tier. The priority means that Talonflame can even function within Trick Room, a playstyle that is usually a large problem for most fast Pokémon in the tier. With Flare Blitz as a secondary STAB move, Talonflame has a way to smash Pokémon that resist Brave Bird as well. Sweetening the deal even further is Talonflame's access to a wide variety of utility moves. With access to moves such as Taunt, Tailwind (on which it gets priority thanks to Gale Wings), Quick Guard, and Will-O-Wisp, it can be useful in any given situation.

Trevenant

Trevenant has many traits that make it a very interesting addition to the XY Doubles metagame. One of them is its unique Grass / Ghost typing, only having been seen before XY in CAP. This gives Trevenant plenty of useful resistances and immunities. The immunity to Fake Out is especially useful for setting up Trick Room. It also has access to two good abilities in Harvest and Frisk. With Harvest, Trevenant can continuously recycle its Sitrus Berries and survive for a long time. With Frisk, though, Trevenant will tell you the items of both opposing Pokémon, which is useful when you're trying to scout an opponent's set. A good Attack stat and access to moves such as Will-O-Wisp make Trevenant even better when it comes to supporting a team. Trevenant even does a good job of taking advantage of its own Trick Room due to having a low Speed stat. Although Trevenant is threatened by the increasingly popular Talonflame, and Harvest can be unreliable at times, Trevenant has no problem checking many powerful threats in the tier.

Old Favorites

Rotom-W

One of the best Pokémon from BW Doubles is even better in XY. Thanks to its typing, Levitate ability, and access to Will-O-Wisp, Rotom-W has no trouble checking new Pokémon such as Talonflame, Mega Mawile, and Aegislash, as well as old Pokémon, such as Tyranitar and Politoed. With all of the prominent physical attackers in the XY metagame, Will-O-Wisp is even better than it was before to let you cripple them, especially considering the accuracy buff it received. Rotom-W also has Light Screen, which is great to help check some of the dangerous special attackers in the tier and let Rotom-W and its teammates tank hits that they usually wouldn't be able to handle. Its Water / Electric typing is as good as ever, giving it a slew of useful resistances as well as access to a great STAB combination. One of Rotom-W's best traits has always been its versatility, as there are many sets it can run. It can run a more defensive set designed to take more hits, go with a simple bulky attacker spread, and is even able to utilize a Choice Specs or Choice Scarf set to catch opponents off guard and blast holes in the opposing team.

Tyranitar

Tyranitar was a dangerous Pokémon last generation, and that hasn't seemed to change in the transition to XY. While it's gained an additional weakness —unfortunate considering that it already has some weaknesses to common types —Steel-types no longer resist its Dark-type STAB, which allows it to better deal with Pokémon such as Metagross that were a problem for it last generation. Also, Tyranitar has a new Mega Evolution that is very threatening. That means that in addition to its bulky and Choice Scarf sets, Tyranitar can use sets such as that of a Dragon Dance sweeper with its Mega Evolution, and have them perform much better than they would with normal Tyranitar. Even with the nerf to permanent weather, 5 to 8 turns of Sand Stream is more than enough in Doubles to last for the most part in a match due to the shorter length of games, allowing Tyranitar to have an excellent level of special bulk with the sand boost. Tyranitar is also able to check dangerous Pokémon such as Chandelure and Talonflame, another one of its pros which allows it to retain its position as a top-tier threat for another generation.

Volcarona

Volcarona has been hurt a bit in the transition from BW to XY. One of its most common moves, Rage Powder, was nerfed a lot; since it has gone from +3 to +2 priority, it can no longer redirect Fake Out. In addition, Grass-types are now immune to it. Also, with the emergence of Pokémon such as Talonflame and Azumarill, as well as the prevalence of old checks such as Chandelure and Tyranitar, Volcarona has more trouble pulling off a sweep with Quiver Dance than it did before. There are plenty of perks for Volcarona going into the new generation, though. Thanks to the Wide Guard buff, which lets Wide Guard be used consecutively without failing, it's even easier to shield Volcarona from spread moves such as Rock Slide and Muddy Water. While Rage Powder was nerfed, it's still a great support move, and with Volcarona's newfound resistance to Fairy attacks, the ability to redirect them will be useful for plenty of Pokémon. Quiver Dance is also still a great option, with Volcarona being able to scare out Pokémon such as Aegislash, and set up on them before cleaning up an opposing team.

Togekiss

The new changes in XY have been pretty great for Togekiss. While Follow Me was nerfed from +3 priority to +2, Togekiss gained the coveted Fairy typing, and with it came useful resistances to Fighting and Dark as well as a Dragon-type immunity. It's also a pretty bulky Pokémon, with its 85 / 95 / 115 defenses allowing it to survive and support its team for a long time. Tying it all together is Togekiss's access to many great support moves such as Follow Me and Thunder Wave which allows it to check many opposing threats by using a defensive set. It's no slouch offensively either. Thanks to its base 120 Special Attack and good attacking move options, Togekiss has no trouble going with a more offensive spread.

Scizor

Last but not least, Scizor is another standout in the transition from BW to XY, even though the shift has been a mixed bag. Scizor lost a resistance to Dark and Ghost and gained some new checks such as Talonfame, Aegislash, and Charizard. The loss of Steel Gem (and Flying Gem with Acrobatics) also hurts. On the plus side, Steel is super effective against the new Fairy-type, which lets Scizor check Pokémon such as Togekiss and Gardevoir and revenge kill them with priority Bullet Punch. With Swords Dance, Scizor can shoot its Attack up and be even more threatening for opposing teams to handle. Its new Mega Evolution acts as an even more threatening Swords Dance user, thanks to its enhanced bulk giving it greater ease in setting up.

Conclusion

While this list shows some of the better Pokémon in the tier, it is by no means complete. There are plenty of other Pokémon who can perform well in the tier, but weren't mentioned due to space constraints or the fact that they might have simply not been discovered yet. The best way to truly know what the best Pokémon are is to get out there and play some Doubles yourself. Who knows —next time, I might even be writing about a set you helped discover.

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