Basically, I'll be talking about things to take note of when starting out and adjusting in Doubles, kinda like a "kill the bad habits before they grow" kinda thing, also clearing out things like misconceptions and misinformation and w/e + things you need to keep in mind. I'll be talking about basic stuff, talking points are
in this hide tag lies the in-depth version oooo (that counts as an outline i guess)
- Doubles is An Offense-Oriented Metagame (so you don't bring stall / toxic / hazards here!)
- Remember Doubles-Specialized Moves, Tactics, And Mechanics (protect, spread moves, redirection, etc.)
- Speed Is Important (importance, speed control)
- DOU's Banlists Are Different From OU's (different tiering, different meta, different)
- Doubles Is Not A Tier For Gimmicks (seriously it's not, sturdy shedinja is bad, #savetheladder)
in this hide tag lies the in-depth version oooo (that counts as an outline i guess)
Intro
II. Remember Doubles-Specialized Moves, Tactics, And Mechanics
IV. DOU's Banlists Are Different From OU's
V. Doubles Is Not A Tier For Gimmicks
- entering a new metagame is always difficult, especially if it's different from all other official smogon tiers
- unlike everything else on smogon, Doubles features a unique 2v2 environment that's different from the plethora of mainsteam singles metas
- while starting out, you might find yourself prone to make mistakes and misconcpetions earlier on, and that would certainly hinder your skill growth
- what this article plans to do is to clear those misconceptions and provide you with concepts, facts, and all that jazz in order to help you improve as a doubles plaeyer
- whether you're starting off fresh or with some experience on some other tier, this article should help ease the adjustment to doubles play (i hope so lol!)
- battles are more oriented towards applying offensive pressure bc of how quickly damaged can be applied due to havin 2 mons at once
- because of how fast-paced the position shifts and changes due to having 2 mons per side, doubles games are quick compared to singles. think 8-15 turns.
- in dubs, playing passively / defensively and hoping win through passive damage blows bc you'll easily get overrun by needin to deal with 2 strong attackers at a time
- in this kind of metagame, there are only attackers and supporters in this metagame; there are no "walls"
- you can't really wall successfully anyway as though you may be able to wall one mon on the opposing side, you can't wall the other + you can get rekt by double targetting
- therefore, stall and similar archetypes in doubles are badrip--anyways, you can deal much more damage to the opponent by just attacking than by stalling bc games don't last long enuf for passive damage to take its toll
- also, hazards are nearly unseen bc less turns to rack up damage and less switches generally, and you (again) can get more mileage by just attacking usually
- stealth rock is the only one seen bc low maintinence compared to other hazards (+beatin zard and hitting levitators, considerable damage at 1 drop unlike spikes), but it's rare still bc oppurtunity cost
- obviously that means you don't need hazard control (defog, rapid spin) here!!
II. Remember Doubles-Specialized Moves, Tactics, And Mechanics
- there are stuff in singles that you would have never thought that were viable here bc doubles!!!
- PROTECT (and variants) IS A GUD IMPORTANT MOBE
- useful for havin a mon avoid damage without needin to switch and let another pokemon take the hit, wasting an opposing pokemon's attack for that turn while letting a partner takes out the threat
- unlike in singles where usin protect sucks save for exceptions, you have two mons so usin it isn't a wasted turn
- protect is basically a staple move bc of the utility it has in positioning, stalling field conditions, blocking fake out, etc
- Spread moves like Heat Wave and Rock Slide and EQ. they're cool bc they can hit both opps at a time dealing more damage against teams than a single-target move would
- eq is the only real good spread move that hits a partner bc lots of things float
- reduced to 75% BP tho rip
- REDIRECTION - gives a partner freedom to do stuff like KO something or set up by soaking up non-spread hits for them
- comes in the form of Follow Me and Rage Powder, often seen from Togekiss and Amoonguss respectively, though Jirachi and Volc are cool too! (rage powder doesn't affect grass-types tho rip)
- watch out tho bc spread moves dont care about redirection
- sitrus is usually more useful than lefties bc it heals more than lefties at a short span of time (which is what you need usually bc fast games). lefties is cool on substitute sets tho
- other stuff like fake out and wide guard and helping hand and stuff
- speed is one of the more important factors to take into account in doubles
- the goal of a player is to have the offensive advantage to apply pressure and get KOes. in most cases, to have the advantage, you need to outspeed your opp
- basically, a side with the advantage in speed is stronger, as that side has more actively threatening mons, which means that side applies more pressure
- having faster pokemon such as skymin and scarf landog-t can be invaluable, as they can "support" in a way by being able to neuter foes before they hit partners
- also applies to swift swim and chlorosaur
- means of controlling speed are assets; every good team has one way or another of achieving and maintaining speed the speed advantage
- tailwind
- trick room
- thunder wave support
- honorable mention: icy wind and variant(s)
IV. DOU's Banlists Are Different From OU's
- you might be ladderin one day and notice that some mons banned in singles aren't banned in doubles; that's intentional
- stuff like deo-a and aegislash and MEGA KANGA for example
- doubles is different from singles in terms of playing and metagame-wise, and thus has separate tiering
- for example, hazards are bad so deo-d and deo-s are also bad; another mega mawile being too slow and having to deal with 2 foes at a time, so even if it KOs 1, it's still threatened by the other
- don't fret around Darkrai too, as tho it's legal Dark Void is NOT (bc that thing's dumb lol)
- by nature, dubs is a fairly self-balancing metagame due to being able to have 2 mons, meaning one specific mon won't be able to fully dominate unless extreme qualities kek
- don't worry about any of them being too good (broken) tho; while some are good in their own right (mega kang, skymin, aegislash), others aren't that threatening and are barely relevant
- simply, they're just additional threats to watch out for, don't fret too much when you find one of 'em :>
- as a rule of thumb, only the base 670+ BST singles Ubers are banned.
- for more info on why the singles ubers dropped are legal, read: link: Ubers in Singles, Legal in Doubles by yours truly
V. Doubles Is Not A Tier For Gimmicks
- doubles is not a metagame where gimmicks are the best; rather, gimmicks blow
- gimmicks are basically strategies that involves a mon interacting w/ a partner that are seemingly powerful but in reality blow eg. Skill Swap + Regigigas / Slaking, Frost Breath / Storm Throw + Anger Point, Discharge + Volt Absorb / Lightningrod
- while they may look good for lower-ladder play, gimmicks simply lose to any reasonably good player who can easily stop your set up
- relying on these gimmicks means that if your setup gets prevented you 're p much at a big disadvantage and essentially lose
- remember that, while you try setting up, you have an opponent who can easily intervene and prevent you from fulfilling your gimmick
- most pokemon used in gimmicks are already p bad to begin with (regigigas is bad and so is anger point tauros,,,)
- depending on a gimmick only really leads to multiple losses and will make you looked down upon by the community
- Justified, specifically Terrakion, + Beat Up, is the only real exception since it can give a really strong beatstick quickly, and it can find occassional use in high-level play
- don't use this a your main win condition tho / build around this gimmick, rather you should only use it if you can to supplement an already solid core else you'd be relyin on a stoppable gimmick as a wincon,,,
- instead of gimmicks, you should build a team like how you would in singles, keeping in mind synergy but also doubles strategies and guidelines.
- if you can't, it doesn't hurt to steal a sample team or two to get a feel for doubles
- #savetheladder
- on examples of gimmicks, read this artcle: link to Bad to the Core: How Not to Build a Doubles Team by L51
- come to the doubles room or irc, we usually don't kill people and will help with questions and stuff
- read other resource threads such as THE OVERVIEW and THE VIABILITY RANKINGS
- watch replays of good players playin!
- learning aint just reading and watching; experience the meta for yourself!
- rof
- have fun in dubs bruh! o-o
if you use a gimmick kys- :]
