Please help this frustrated trainer.

[SpecialGroudon]

Hi everyone, thanks for reading. I played Silver and Ruby when I was younger and lost touch for a few generations. I'm now a senior in college and decided to pick up Omega Ruby just for fun. MAN, have things changed!! Anyway I've been having trouble constructing a workable competitive team for Rated Doubles and would really like some feedback on my party. I got 24 consecutive wins in the Super Double Maison battles, but that hasn't exactly carried over to online play.

I usually start off doubles with the following two:

Haxorus
Full Attack and Speed EVs
Life Orb
Rivalry
-Outrage
-Brick Break
-Poison Jab
-Rock Slide

Heatran
Full Defense and HP EVs
Leftovers
Flash Fire
-Will o Wisp
-Swagger
-Flamethrower
-Toxic

When one of those faints, I take this out:
Metagross
Full Special Defense and HP EVs
Rocky Helmet
Clear Body
-Reflect
-Light Screen
-Swagger
-Zen Headbutt

Finally, my mega is between the following three, usually the former:

Alakazam
Full Special Attack and Speed EVs
Trace
Megastone
-Protect
-Psychic
-Shadow Ball
-Dazzling Gleam

Gallade
Full Attack and Speed EVs
Inner Focus
Megastone
-Protect
-Close Combat
-Zen Headbutt
-Ice Punch

Beedrill
Full Attack and Speed EVs
Adaptability
Megastone
-Protect
-Poison Jab
-U Turn
-Drill Run

I understand the concepts of STAB, mega evolution speed delay, EV training, 4x type effectiveness, burn properties and that's pretty much it. I've had to do a lot of catching up since I've been out of the loop. I really need advice on my team and how I can improve it. Any help would be greatly appreciated and thank you so much for reading!

 

[Nah]

Something to note is that Battle Maison Double battles are different from how real people battle online.

I admittedly have far more experience in singles than doubles, but there are a few pointers I can give you from what I do know.

The first is that you're a bit lacking in Protect. All your megas have it, but it's important for more than just safely mega-evolving in doubles, and some of your other Pokemon could use it too. Protect in doubles allows you to punish double-targeting, allows you to safely use a spread move that can hurt your teammate, scout your opponent's moves, play mindgames, etc. Protect is considered one of the most important moves in doubles (though keep in mind that not every single poke in your party has to run Protect).

I also wouldn't use 3 megas on the same team either. You can only mega evolve one Pokemon per battle, and so the other 1 or 2 don't get to use their full power....not to mention that regular Gallade and Beedrill are very underwhelming. 1 or 2 of those slots could be used for something else that your team needs too. You can sometimes get away with packing 2 megas on a team in Battle Spot, so drop one of them from the team, but I personally think 1 mega would be better..

When making a team, you need to keep in mind what the common threats are, with data on the 12 most commonly used Pokemon and what moves, items, abilities, etc they usually run in Rated Battle Spot doubles contained here: https://3ds.pokemon-gl.com/battle/oras/#double
And more importantly, you need to think about why you're choosing this Pokemon, and why this set on it, and how does it synergize with the rest of the team? (which is honestly a lot easier said than done)

But anyway, for more individual set stuff....

Outrage is not the STAB move you want to use on Haxorus, since Outrage randomly selects a target in doubles, so you'll often end up not hitting what you wanna hit and that's just awful. So Dragon Claw is preferred to Outrage. Its Speed also leaves a bit to be desired, so Dragon Dance also helps patch that up while boosting its already good Attack to great levels. Should drop Rock slide for that imo. Mold Breaker is also better than Rivalry, since Rivalry is inconsistent and a lot of Pokemon are dependent on their abilities to function well. Earthquake is also an alternative to Brick Break.

On Heatran, Swagger is a big gamble (read: not worth it), and Toxic is usually not super useful in doubles due to the fast pace/shorter battles compared to singles, so it doesn't have time to do what it needs to do. Putting in Protect and like.....Taunt or Earth Power or something would be much better. Heat Wave is also the better Fire STAB here since it can hit both targets, which can be hella useful. If Heat Wave's 90% accuracy bugs you, Lava Plume is an alternative that is 100% accurate with a better burn chance but at the cost of hitting your teammate.

Dual screens is a useful thing....just that Metagross isn't the best user of it. Something that's relatively fast like Latias or has Prankster like Klefki make for better dual screeners. Metagross is more suited to offensive roles. Bullet Punch is also really nice to have since priority is bae and Fairies are fucking everywhere. Don't really invest in Speed EVs on regular Metagross though.

Removing 2 megas from your team gives you space to fill in some holes in the team. Intimidate users are common in doubles, so something with Defiant or Competitive can scare people into not using their Intimidate 'mon or punishing them for it if they do. Commonly used Defiant/Competitive users are Bisharp and Milotic, though they aren't the only ones. Wide Guard and Follow Me/Rage Powder are also useful support moves to have on a doubles team to mess up opponents relying on spread moves and to direct attacks away from a partner so they can set-up, KO something, etc. Usually it's Aegislash and Swampert using the former and Togekiss/Clefable/Amoonguss/Volcarona for the latter. And as your team is right now, it gets obliterated by rain teams, which are not uncommon in doubles in my experience, so you need something for that. Not sure what to do for that though.....

Also, what are the natures on these Pokemon? Natures are important too.

 

[SpecialGroudon]

Thanks a ton for the response, I will take all of it into account. I don't use more than one Mega per battle, you can only use 4 pokes in doubles so I just use whichever one is appropriate plus the other 3. I have not paid attention to natures as I have not been breeding, which sounds arduous and time consuming. I get that 10 extra points in a category is important, though.

Just today I caught a Spinda with Contrary as its ability and tutored it Skill Swap. I'd like to combine it with Gallade/Close Combat and Heatran/Overheat. Thoughts?

 

[PlatinumDude]

Thanks a ton for the response, I will take all of it into account. I don't use more than one Mega per battle, you can only use 4 pokes in doubles so I just use whichever one is appropriate plus the other 3. I have not paid attention to natures as I have not been breeding, which sounds arduous and time consuming. I get that 10 extra points in a category is important, though.

Just today I caught a Spinda with Contrary as its ability and tutored it Skill Swap. I'd like to combine it with Gallade/Close Combat and Heatran/Overheat. Thoughts?

Not worth it, tbh. At the time it takes for Spinda to do its thing, it may be double-targeted and taken out. Spinda's bad stats in general don't help, either.

 

[Nah]

Thanks a ton for the response, I will take all of it into account. I don't use more than one Mega per battle, you can only use 4 pokes in doubles so I just use whichever one is appropriate plus the other 3. I have not paid attention to natures as I have not been breeding, which sounds arduous and time consuming. I get that 10 extra points in a category is important, though.

Do you always only have 4 pokes in the party when battling? While you can only use 4, you should always have 6 give/cover more options and stuff.

I hear ya about the breeding. It did get a lot easier this generation to do high-end breeding, but it still can be boring as hell and a long process, especially if you lack certain things. But you do need suitable natures on your Pokemon if you wanna win against other people. It's not just 10 points, but +10 percent to one stat and -10% to another. We do have several trade shops/breeding services over in our Trade Corner that may be able to get you what you want though.

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was speed control. That's another common and useful thing. Usually done via Thunder Wave and/or Icy Wind (or if you're nuts like me, Kyurem's Glaciate).

 

[2Fruit]

If I could recomend one thing at a glance, it would be type coverage. For example, Metagross doesn't need Zen headbutt, as you have 2 other pokemon currently on the team with psychic type attacks. I recommend Meteor mash if you want a stab. Like Nah said, bullet punch is also useful.

That Haxorus of yours would rip holes in anything that didn't resist it with it's outrage. If you are going to use it I recommend sticking a scarf on it as it needs speed, and unnerve as an ability as it is more reliable and berries are actually common in doubles. However if you must keep rivalry as an ability then hopefully it's a female, as it will boost your damage against Khanga, who is always female. Also, I cannot help but notice that no-one on your team is immune to ground, which is not a good thing to have, especially with 3 pokemon weak to earthquake. I recommend pokemon like Talonflame, Salamence, Landorus, Zapdos, or Gengar.

Lastly and this is a bit more opinion based, but if you want to choose which Mega you are sending into battle, I think 2 choices are enough. The problem with only 3 non potential megas is that it essentially forces you to use those 3 every time, so 3 megas actually reduces freedom of choice.

 

[PlatinumDude]

If I could recomend one thing at a glance, it would be type coverage. For example, Metagross doesn't need Zen headbutt, as you have 2 other pokemon currently on the team with psychic type attacks. I recommend Meteor mash if you want a stab. Like Nah said, bullet punch is also useful.

That Haxorus of yours would rip holes in anything that didn't resist it with it's outrage. If you are going to use it I recommend sticking a scarf on it as it needs speed, and unnerve as an ability as it is more reliable and berries are actually common in doubles. However if you must keep rivalry as an ability then hopefully it's a female, as it will boost your damage against Khanga, who is always female. Also, I cannot help but notice that no-one on your team is immune to ground, which is not a good thing to have, especially with 3 pokemon weak to earthquake. I recommend pokemon like Talonflame, Salamence, Landorus, Zapdos, or Gengar.

Lastly and this is a bit more opinion based, but if you want to choose which Mega you are sending into battle, I think 2 choices are enough. The problem with only 3 non potential megas is that it essentially forces you to use those 3 every time, so 3 megas actually reduces freedom of choice.

Metagross is better off using Zen Headbutt anyway. This lets it beat Amoonguss, a premier defensive threat, more reliably as well as (Mega) Venusaur and Conkeldurr.

Haxorus isn't that good in doubles, IMO. Sure, Unnerve gives it a niche, but its frailty kind of lets it down. Mega Salamence and (Mega) Gyarados are better options, IMO, because they have Intimidate to ease setting up Dragon Dance, as well as better bulk.

 

[SpecialGroudon]

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was speed control. That's another common and useful thing. Usually done via Thunder Wave and/or Icy Wind (or if you're nuts like me, Kyurem's Glaciate).

So on this advice I have decided to breed a fake out Pichu. unfortunately I can't figure out how to find a Skitty that knows fake out. The information online is confusing. Is it a hidden move but I can only discover once the search level is high enough? Or does it just automatically know it when it's born

 

[PlatinumDude]

So on this advice I have decided to breed a fake out Pichu. unfortunately I can't figure out how to find a Skitty that knows fake out. The information online is confusing. Is it a hidden move but I can only discover once the search level is high enough? Or does it just automatically know it when it's born

Fake Out is one of Skitty's starting moves for the sake of convenience. All Skitty encountered in the wild (except for some ones encountered via DexNav, as Fake Out is also one of Skitty's egg moves) are at a higher level than when they'd normally have Fake Out (for reference, all Pokemon encountered/obtained have the most recent 4 moves they learn in their level-up move pool). Since all Skitty are encountered at level 8 (barring DexNav level bonuses), they'll have Tail Whip, Tackle, Foresight, and Attract in that order. You'll need to take a male Skitty to the move relearner in Fallarbor to have it relearn Fake Out (be sure to have some Heart Scales on hand, as they're the payment for relearning level-up moves.

But then again, as weird as this sounds, Pachirisu is a better alternative than Raichu because it's bulkier and can spread paralysis with Nuzzle (essentially an un-Tauntable Thunder Wave), break through walls with Super Fang, and redirect attacks with Follow Me. Se Jun Park in last year's VGC Masters used the below set to good effect:
-Nuzzle
-Super Fang
-Follow Me
-Protect
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP/156 Def/100 SDef
Item: Sitrus Berry
Ability: Volt Absorb

This set pairs well with Pokemon weak to Electric. Pachirisu can use Follow Me on a predicted Electric attack to heal itself via Volt Absorb.