Back to School: Prepare for Trouble and Make it Doubles (Redux)

Question

Back to School: Prepare for Trouble and Make it Doubles (Redux)

1,262 views

In honor of both the return to Academia and the greatest villainous trio of all time, I present to you a Smogon Doubles team with a dash of tailwind

Team Building:

I was thinking about Terrakion's weaknesses, and it crossed my mind that Shaymin-S and Terrakion cover each other well offensively. With STAB alone, Terrakion covers Ice, Fire, Rock, Steel, and Flying, while Shaymin-S covers Water, Ground, Grass and Fighting, each types the other has trouble against respectively.

Psychic types remained a threat, as did Trick Room, (and by that I mean the ever so common cresselia) so the priority abusing Scizor comes in. The Mantis can also provide Tailwind support as well.

I desired a back-up tailwind user for Scizor and a solid sun check. Another fire resistance was also advisable, and a pokemon that can handle itself decently in all weathers was good to have around, so Latias is added.

Rotom-H, a personal favorite, helps to handle the ice weakness and adds a little more bulk. It also provides a solid answer to opposing Scizor, who pose a great threat to the team, and is chosen because it handles its own water weakness with STAB Thunderbolt.

Last but not least, Swampert comes in to be both a great physical tank and wide guardian. This team typically attracts moves like Blizzard, Surf and Heat Wave, so wide guard is appreciated, as is a solid E-quake spammer and phazer

The Team Itself :

Now let's get on to the actual team in detail

Auroch (Terrakion) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 196 Atk / 60 HP
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Taunt
- Protect

Intro: This is a very hyperoffensive team, and although pure power isn't my typical style, Terrakion exemplifies how effective it can be.

   -196 Atk Fighting Gem Terrakion Close Combat vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Rotom-W: 265-313 (88.03 - 103.98%) -- 25% chance to OHKO**
   -196 Atk Fighting Gem Terrakion Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Ludicolo: 376-444 (124.91 - 147.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO**
   -196 Atk Fighting Gem Terrakion Helping Hand Close Combat vs. 192 HP / 0 Def Thundurus: 282-333 (81.26 - 95.96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Moves: As one can see, a fighting gem boosted Close Combat is often powerful enough to outright OHKO many of Terrkaion's common offensive checks, or at least bring them to their knees so that passive damage or a partner can easily dispose of them. Even Thundurus, one of the most prevalent support pokemon around, can be brought to its knees by a resisted, gem boosted helping hand close combat. Rock Slide is a great secondary STAB for hitting the annoying Ninetales and Abomasnow among other things, and is a handy spread move. Taunt may seem like an odd choice, but it serves mainly as a niche move. I found X scissor to remain rather ineffective against bulkier psychic opponents despite the type advantage, and Earthquake was rather redundant and made me prone to Wide Guard. Taunt is great for shutting down bulkier set up pokemon, most notably defensive trick room setters, but does require good predicition and the right circumstances to be used. Finally, Protect, the doubles standard, rounds out the set.

Spread, Items & Etc.: As stated above Fighting Gem provides a reliable, instant means of severely bludgeoning an opponent when the need arises. The EVs spread, seemingly poor for such an offensive pokemon, allows Terrakion to survive a Bullet Punch from unboosted standard Scizor and Psyshock from unboosted Standard Latios nearly 100% of the time while Terrakion maintains proficient offensive prowess.

Aero (Shaymin-Sky) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Earth Power
- Protect

Intro: Shaymin-S is a creature of both awe-inspiring power and highly commendable grace (pun intended). Shaymin is one of the main providers of special power, and despite seemingly lacking coverage on this set, it can still hit hard. Notorious beasts such as Keldeo, Hippowdon and Conkeldurr quiver in their nonexistent boots at the sight of the flying hedgehog.

Moves: Seed Flare is obligatory STAB that is, quite plainly, very, very good. Base 120 power and a side affect that makes it a pseudo Nasty Plot is impressive, but add on the fact that there's base 120 sp atk and base 127 spd backing it makes it scary. Air Slash is secondary STAB primarily for flinch abuse. It also hits the most common steel types (Scizor, Ferrothorn, Sect, etc.) for neutral damage, and the only other common one, Excadrill, is hit hard by seed flare. Earth Power serves to be an accurate alternative for finishing a weakened opponent, and also nails notable checks like Heatran and Chandelure. Protect is used to allow Shaymin to stick around another turn while its partner removes a threat.

Spread, Item & Etc.: Rather than focus on bulk or avoiding a ko from a specific threat, Shaymin uses a purely offensive spread. This goes in tandem with its Focus Sash, as it practically guarantees the Sky Warrior will survive one hit, say, a Mamoswine's Ice Shard, allowing it to retaliate with its own powerful moves. The lack of attack IVs is to minimze confusion and foul play damage.

Continued Below

asked Aug 31, 2013 by Shrekkaguya
retagged Oct 27, 2021 by Amethyst

3 Answers

Useful Posts

Toon_Cerberus · Answer 1 · 2013-09-04T19:07:43+0000

Really short version of an answer since it got deleted somehow after my typing skills :/

Terrakion:
Good, maybe X-Scissor > Taunt

Shaymin-S:
Earth Power> Tailwind

Scizor:
172 HP / 252 Atk/ 84 Spe > 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef

                      *Swords Dance/Tailwind > Superpower*

Latias:
Bulky Support Latias > Offensive Latias

Rotom- H
Either Hidden Power [Ice] or [Grass]

Swampert:
Ice Punch > Ice Beam
4Def> 4SpA

Shrekkaguya · Answer 2 · 2013-08-31T06:57:58+0000

Red Baron (Scizor) (F) @ Steel Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 172 HP / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Tailwind
- Protect

Intro: What's better for the occasional problem with speed than priority? Scizor comes in the take a BITE out of foes (ha ha oh dear god that's terrible).

Moves: Bullet Punch is standard, providing reliable, strong priority, and is a little more "interesting" than the common fake out. Not to mention it is absurdly powerful when backed by Steel Gem and Technician. Bug Bite is a great STAB for those fancy-schmancy psychic types with their trick room and/or great offensive ability (looking at you latios).Tailwind is used to boost speed, somewhat unneeded for Scizor but highly useful his teamates, especially the two mentioned above, as it allows them to outspeed threatening chlorophyll, swift swim and sand rush sweepers and typically dispose of them to boot. Protect do what it do. Although this set forgoes superpower's coverage, it is not truly needed, as four out of six team members can serve its purpose, steel checking, and reliable Tailwind is of greater importance.

Spread, Item, and Etc.: As mentioned Steel Gem makes Bullet Punch all the more scary, and further enforces Scizor's best ability, revenge killing. A gem boosted Bullet Pucnh can even take off the last third of hp from powerful resisters like Thundurus and Chandelure. The spread, which is standard allows Scizor to maintain bulk and power while outspeeding oddball threats like Tyranitar with greater speed investment and some support pokemon like Cress variants.

Red Menace (Latias) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 Spd
Timid Nature
- Tailwind
- Dragon Pulse
- Helping Hand
- Psyshock

Intro: Latias is in my poinion the perfect combination of offense and defense, and this set reflects this. Latias serves mainly as Tailwind support and a check to both fighting types and rain/sun teams.

Moves: Tailwind, is a reliable way to ensure you blaze past the foe., and as stated above allows one to bypass the speed boosting weather abilities for three turns. Dragon Pulse is STAB for opposing dragons that can also help in finishing off weaker foes, while Psyshock hits both the common fighting types, most notably the Omnipresent Hitmontop and the belittling Toxicroak. Finally, Helping Hand, another doubles regular, serves to boost the attacks of teammates, and is especially useful in conjunction with Terrakion or Swampert, who slice the opposition like a Rock Bull and Swamp Monster with a boost.

Spread, Item, and Etc.: Latias's natural bulk, in addition to the fact that the longer it can support the team the better, makes sitrus berry viable. The EVs allow Latias to outspeed max speed base 100 threats like Salamence, while also maintaining a tie with max speed base 101s like Landorus. The bulk allows for Latias to survive standard Scizor's bug bite, offensive (and even expert belted) T-tar's crunch and max sp atk unboosted Shadow Ball from Chandelure 100% of the time, to name a few things.

Rotom-Heat @ Electric Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
IVs: 3 Atk / 30 Spd
- Overheat
- Protect
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Intro: Rotom-H is the bulky special attacker, a rather uncomplicated hyperoffensive mon who serves to check Scizor, Abomasnow while also being able to handle its water type weakness.

Moves Electric Gem boosted Thunderbolt provides both a powerful and reliable STAB, with Overheat typically being reserved for situations where a foe must be baked immediately, for example, venusaur in the sun. Hidden Power Ice is needed to hit dragon types as well as ground types such as Garchomp and Landorus, while Protect offers a means of wasting a turn, whether it be that of a temporary field effect like tailwind or trick room or one where its partner removes a dangerous foe.

Spread, Item & Etc. Electric Gem is primarily for use against water types, which require destruction ASAP. The spread, rather simple, allows for maximum bulk and also may allude to a specs set, which can be feigned with HP ice to lure waters and steels. Once provides the odd IVs, used to ensure both a base 70 hidden power and minimal foul play/confusion damage.

Swamy (Swampert) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Atk / 36 SDef
Careful Nature
- Wide Guard
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Roar

Intro:You remember me? Your best friend from DPP Ou. Guess no one wanted to use me anymore. But that's where you're wrong swampert. Your one heck of an underestimated wide guard user. And Sand teams despise you. Swampert is also notable for excelling in trick room, if the opponent ever sets it up, and thanks to having three teammates with ground immunities, can often spam Earthquake.

Moves: Wide Guard is highly appreciated on a team with multiple water (surf), ice (blizzard), rock (rock slide) and fire (heat wave) weaknesses. Waterfall provides a reliable STAB that receives the handy torrent boost, while Earthquake provides a devastating spread move to friend and foe alike. Roar allows one to phaze Trick Room using opponents or annoyances like Thundurus.

Spread, Item, and Etc.: Torrent makes Swampert an even better tank with the 1/3 boost at 1/3 health, while Sitrus Berry provides similar tanking assistance. The spread allows for Swampert to survive stand Politoed's water gem boosted hydro pump in the rain as well as Latios' Dragon Gem Draco Meteor with hp to spare, and it can even survive a grass knot from bulkier Thundurus variants.

Shrekkaguya · Answer 3 · 2013-09-25T01:54:13+0000

Replays!

Replay #1
Replay #2
Replay #3
Replay #4
Replay #5
Replay #6

Replay #7 (Redux)
Replay #8 (Redux)
Replay #9 (Redux)
Replay #10 (Redux)

*Number 10 is a rematch of Number 9

Conclusion

Well that is really all for me. There are some threats, such as Gastrodon, that require more effort to defeat than others for this team, but overall, I have had great success with it. Please feel free to comment and provide any feedback you have, positive or negative. Thanks and I hope you enjoyed reading pokebase!

Back to School: Prepare for Trouble and Make it Doubles (Redux)

Team Building:

The Team Itself :

Continued Below

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to answer this question.

3 Answers

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Replays!

Conclusion

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Useful Posts

Back to School: Prepare for Trouble and Make it Doubles (Redux)

Team Building:

The Team Itself :

Continued Below

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to answer this question.

3 Answers

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Replays!

Conclusion

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Related questions

Useful Posts