New to Teambuilding. Please rate my Gen 9 OU Doubles team.

Question

I've been a casual fan of Pokemon for years, and finally one of my friends actually convinced me to learn battling in the game. So I've tried building a team after reading after existing items and abilities. Have played a few battles with it too, it feels nice to use, but I'd like the opinion of experts if there might be improvements over what I have.

I'll be posting the export text from Showdown:

steel bulb (Metagross) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Atk / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Psychic Fangs
- Bullet Punch
- Heavy Slam

stupid pelican (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 172 HP / 84 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Tailwind
- U-turn
- Roost

pls don't miss (Kingdra) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Stellar
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flip Turn
- Tera Blast
- Weather Ball

hmph (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Stomping Tantrum
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake

wata in da fya y (Talonflame) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Gale Wings
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tailwind
- Brave Bird
- Rain Dance
- U-turn

freeloader (Slowking-Galar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Icy Wind
- Sludge Bomb
- Trick Room
- Ice Beam

I'll explain what my thought process was while I built this team, and I'm wishing for any possible improvements in the thinking.

1) I started with Metagross and thought I'd want to have a bulky guy who can hit through many fast attackers with earthquake or moves similarly hard-hitting. I have Tera Fighting to resist Dark Attacks, though I did consider Tera Fairy. Ultimately decided on Fighting. Expert Belt because I want to squeeze out the extra damage and not have 1HP survivals kill my entire team in retaliation.

2) Pelipper is my primary Rain Setter, and I have Damp Rock for maximum Rain turns. I also have U-turn for being a menace by switching frequently, and am running Roost and Hurricane as a flying type attacker. I also have Tailwind if my rain setting fails, passively supporting everyone in the team. Though I'm not sure what Tera I should use on this bird.

3) As I have a rain setter, it makes sense to have Kingdra. It uses Weather ball because yes, and has Choice Specs to boost it as well. I'm running Tera Stellar Tera Blast to get rid of annoying Teras (really has served me well), I have Draco Meteor for coverage. I also have Flip Turn to be a menace.

4) Landorus Therian is my version of Incineroar. I didn't want to use the cat so I was like maybe I'll be annyoing in a different way. I am running offensive ground type attack setup with Rocky Helmet to give chip damage if someone wants to get rid of it. U-Turn also because switch. Running Tera Ground if I need the damage boost.

5) Talonflame is also my Rain and Tailwind Setter. If my pelipper goes down, Talonflame helps. It also is a good damage dealer through Brave Bird. talon always dies pretty fast so I went with Focus Sash. I initially run Tera Grass because water type attacks, but now I'm not so sure, as I already am running Focus Sash. Maybe something else will be a better fit here.

6) Galarian Slowking is just for only one reason - speed control. If I get countered by Trick Room, I'm Trick Rooming their Trick Room immediately. Or if they are faster, I can trick room. Icy Wind also to make opponent slower. Ice Beam and Sludge Bomb for coverage. Running Tera Fairy to resist dark type damaging moves which want to take it out.

That's mostly it. I'm not exactly looking for a meta team perspective change, but rather what I can already improve in this team. Thank you for your time :D

Comments

I'll test the team, but I need to tell you. You need Protect on your non choiced offensive pokemon or else they will die really fast.

Answer 1

I will say, this team (when I added Protect to the pokemon who needed it) impressed me, but there are still some changes required I'm not gonna mention the Protect changes, you'll just see those in the pokepaste.

Metagross

I gave Metagross a Life Orb so it can deal more damage, and the 10% recoil matters less in doubles.

Pelipper

I switched the useless Tera Water for Tera Grass to resist electric and stop powder moves.

Kingdra

I thought I was going to change the set, but it did very well, so I didn't see the need to change Kindra

Landorus-Therian

Like Pelipper, Landorus doesn't have a useful Tera, so I gave it Tera Water to resist Ice and Water attacks.

Talonflame (Removed)

Talonflame did well, I'll admit that, but there was a different Tailwind setter that seemed
better for the job...

Tornadus

Tornadus is better than Talonflame here because it gains benefits from the Rain Pelipper sets, and it can also use Rain Dance with

Tornadus @Covert Cloak
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: HP: 252 / Sp Atk: 4 / Spd: 252
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
-Bleakwind Storm
-Tailwind
-Rain Dance
-Protect
Tornadus does the same thing Talonflame does, just better. Also Covert Cloak is to stop Fake Out and Tera Dark stops Prankster Taunt.

Slowking-Galar

Glowking did work well as a TR check, but I gave it Imprison over Icy Wind to make sure you can stop TR and attack with Glowking at the same time.

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/57a09eec400a4818

Comments

Hello, thank you for your answer as well! Before I posted my question, I was looking at the recent posts and answers to see how people usually ask questions in this forum - and I have seen you write answers really well-explained and formatted. I admit I'm very new to the act of Tera because I did know it existed, but I was not really a hands-on Pokemon player back then. Hopefully me playing more and more would make me more used to it. I will also try out this tweaked team, this also seems very promising!

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Tornadus has been an incredible addition and I'm feeling really good using this team! The other team looks like a higher skill ceiling and I'd need time to adjust to it, but for now I really am liking this team.

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Glad I helped! Also the other team does have solid suggestions aswell, maybe try some of theirs in mix with mine, and lock in the combinations you feel like are best.

Answer 2

Your team looks like it was made for singles, but I optimized it for doubles. Here is a new team that keeps the main ideas from the old one:

steel bulb (Metagross) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 220 HP / 116 Atk / 36 Def / 92 SpD / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stomping Tantrum
- Psychic Fangs
- Bullet Punch
- Heavy Slam

Of the changes here, the most noticable are the use of stomping tantrum rather than earthquake for more damage to single targets and no team damage. Assault vest is also a much better item for staying alive, and I chose it given how your team leaned somewhat into survivability.

stupid pelican (Pelipper) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 40 SpA / 140 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Hurricane
- Weather Ball
- Tailwind
- Protect

I kept this set based around tailwind. Tera steel is a great type to try on pelipper. One of the biggest changes was adding protect. This is a key move in doubles, as important as fake-out on the pokes that get it. Learn to use it well and you can win a lot of games. Being slow on a rain setter lets you win the weather wars with multiple setters on the field.

wet leaf (Ogerpon-Wellspring) (F) @ Wellspring Mask
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 124 Atk / 100 Def / 100 SpD / 184 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Horn Leech
- Encore
- Spiky Shield

Given how you already had tailwind, I figured I could swap kingdra out for something that can keep up similar damage but take less. Its non-damaging moves are just as important as its damage.

hmph (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 124 HP / 204 Atk / 44 Def / 4 SpD / 132 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Stomping Tantrum
- Rock Slide
- Tera Blast

One of the main reasons to take this guy over the cat is damage. Choice band multiplies that, and you were already switching often with this guy anyway.

among us (Amoonguss) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 244 HP / 208 Def / 56 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 28 Spe
- Spore
- Pollen Puff
- Rage Powder
- Protect

You might be wondering what this guy has to do with talonflame, your secondary setter. The idea here was that instead of relying on a worse replacement, you can just heal your team with this. Regenerator is great synergy with intimidate, making your team real hard to take down and making the opponent wonder if you will switch on any given turn or stay to attack/heal.

sea mine (Overqwil) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Crunch
- Liquidation
- Taunt

Sadly, it was hard to make slowking worth taking. Trick room is quite useless outside the teams that use it, and the pokemon itself is better suited to singles. Additonally, amoongus already counters room with spore. Instead, you get a swift swim user that can switch in when tailwind ends but rain is still up. It's interesting typing rounds out a lot of rain teams.

Of course, none of this is final. Try experimenting off of this base!

Comments

First of all, thank you so very much for an amazing answer with so much care! I really love the look for this. Though, I must say I did consider Amoongus as a support before every other support entry in my original list, but The Sleep Clause in Gen 9 OU in Showdown bans any sleep inducing moves. Spore, Sleep Powder, Yawn, everything alike are banned. So, while I am saving this changed team for use in other formats except Showdown's Doubles, I'd also like to know over this restrictions what should I do.

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Actually, nevermind. I am stupid. I mistakenly had set the team on gen 9 OU instead of the Doubles OU. I just checked that Sleep Moves are not banned in that. Sorry for that, so I'm trying this as well!