Doubles Team

So I've bred and trained three new 'mons for my doubles team in the upcoming [PKMN ORAS Farewell Tournament] this coming October that will be held in my neighborhood. Rules are standard clauses, no legendaries and you can only use 4 out of 6 'mons in your team.

This new team I came up with has two functions depending on what my foes' teams are: (1) fast disable+encore set, and (2) Trick Room.

So far, testing this team in Battle Spot Doubles (both free and rated) has given me a lot of wins (and a lot of rage quits from my foes). But I can still see a lot of problems with my team though. Heck, any team has one, right? So I'm posting my new team here in hopes that you guys can give your thoughts and suggestions.

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Gengar @ Gengarite

Ability: Levitate -> Shadow Tag

Nature: Timid

EVs: 52 HP, 20 Def, 172 Sp.Atk, 12 Sp.Def, 252 Speed

Moves: Protect, Disable, Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb

I send Gengar out, usually paired with Raichu and rarely with Talonflame. Mega-evolve and use Protect on first turn so I can both scout the foe's moves and trap them in. Disable a threatening move and then sweep them off.

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Raichu @ Focus Sash

Ability: Lightning Rod

Nature: Timid

EVs: 252 Sp.Atk, 6 Sp.Def, 252 Speed

Moves: Protect, Encore, Thunderbolt, Hidden Power Ice

Usually paired with Gengar, I use Protect on the first turn to scout foe's moves. Rarely do I let Raichu attack on the first turn, but when I do, I'll usually use Encore on a Disabled foe in the second turn. HP is Ice to deal with ground-types, though it barely KOs a Landorus, but thankfully, this competition I'll be joining bans legendaries.

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Slowbro @ Slowbronite

Ability: Oblivious -> (I forgot)

Nature: Bold

EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 6 Sp.Def

Moves: Trick Room, Scald, Psyshock, Slack Off

When I want to run a Trick Room set, I send Slowbro out first together with Gothitelle. With Oblivious, I'll be able to use Trick Room without worrying about Taunt. Haven't tried handling a foe that uses Fake Out on him though. After a successful TR, I'll Mega Evolve him in the next turn.

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Gothitelle @ Sitrus Berry

Ability: Shadow Tag

(I forgot the EVs and IVs. Currently at work. I'll update later.)

Moves: Protect, Hidden Power (Fighting), Charm, Psychic

I usually send him (yeah, I settled with a male) alongside Slowbro for a TR set, so I can trap the foes. Use Protect on the first turn and then I'll try and KO foes the next turns. HP Fighting is there to deal with Dark and Steel types, like Bisharp. Charm is to lower physical attacks of foes.

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Sylveon @ Leftovers

Ability: Pixilate

Nature: Calm

EVs: 252 HP, 6 Def, 252 Sp.Def

Moves: Psyshock, Protect, Shadow Ball, Hyper Voice

Filler 'mon that I use. Her job is to slay dark/fighting/dragon/ghost types. That's about it, I guess.

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Talonflame @ Expert Belt

Ability: Gale Wings

EVs: 27 HP, 252 Atk, 231 Def

Nature: Adamant

Moves: Brave Bird, Flare Blitz, Tailwind, Taunt

Talonflame is there to KO foes when the first two of my 'mons are KO'ed and have already weakend my foes. Sometimes, if I send him out first alongside Gengar, his job is to set up Tailwind and/or Taunt before I start using him to attack. I haven't used Flare Blitz yet in my test battles though. I'm planning to replace that with Overheat to deal with Ferrothorns. Gale Wings still gives him the first move (if I use a flying-type move) in a turn even under Trick Room, which is nice.

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Set 1: Gengar, Raichu, Talonflame, Sylveon

Set 2: Slowbro, Gothitelle, Talonflame, Sylveon

So that's my new team. I try and study my foe's team before I decide on what set I'll be using against them.

Problems I'm seeing is Fake Out on my TR team, especially if they target Slowbro, and Talonflame using priority Brave Bird on Gengar. I'm sure there are other problems though, but those two are the things I've thought about as of this moment.

So what do you guys think of my team?


Original...

We admitted do not have a lot of active Doubles players, so advice will be scare tbh. I'm not terribly well versed in doubles, but I'll try. Just take anything I say with a grain of salt.

Gothitelle gets Trick Room too, so you can actually use that in place of HP Fighting and instead pair Gothitelle with something that works with it better; Slowbro being part Psychic leaves it vulnerable to some of the same things as Goth. IIRC Terrakion is supposed to be fairly good in doubles and would I think it would pair reasonably well with Gothitelle. It also gives you a Mega Kangaskhan answer, and Mega Kanga is everywhere in doubles (Gengar has to worry about the Dark type coverage it often carries). Tickle is also an alternative to Charm.

The Gengar set I assume is whatever the Smogon standard spread is, but your Talonflame spread confuses me, what is that?

If Fake Out and other priority is an issue, Talonflame gets Quick Guard. Focus Sash is also a lot less useful in doubles I think due to potential double targeting.

Nah said:

Gothitelle gets Trick Room too, so you can actually use that in place of HP Fighting and instead pair Gothitelle with something that works with it better; Slowbro being part Psychic leaves it vulnerable to some of the same things as Goth. IIRC Terrakion is supposed to be fairly good in doubles and would I think it would pair reasonably well with Gothitelle. It also gives you a Mega Kangaskhan answer, and Mega Kanga is everywhere in doubles (Gengar has to worry about the Dark type coverage it often carries). Tickle is also an alternative to Charm.

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I am aware that Goth can learn TR. The reason why I gave it to Slowbro instead is because of Oblivious making Taunt useless on Slowbro. I can't have Terrakion because he's a legendary and in this tourney, we're not allowed to use legendaries.

So far, I haven't used my TR team against a Megaskhan team. I always use my fast disable+encore team against that monster and I've no problems with it (yet).

Nah said:

The Gengar set I assume is whatever the Smogon standard spread is, but your Talonflame spread confuses me, what is that?

Click to expand...

I've no idea. I bred this Talonflame a long time ago, and I believe it's a bulky support Talonflame? I'm not sure.

Nah said:

If Fake Out and other priority is an issue, Talonflame gets Quick Guard. Focus Sash is also a lot less useful in doubles I think due to potential double targeting.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I have been thinking of how useless Focus Sash would be in this format. Problem is that I dunno what other items would fit Raichu more. Quick Guard is a nice move. I'll have to think about it some more...