Other Doubles team in the making (Smogon Doubles)

[Jeydis]

Greetings everyone. I decided to venture into the world of Doubles, for now I am testing everything out in Smogon doubles on Showdown. This team has been working out quite well so far. I kept my pokemon choices realistic to what is available to me to be able to raise in game since I would like to bring this team to life in my Pokemon X.

By the way, I know the prefix is wrong but I saw no real tab for doubles and this is Gen VI and the rules differ for VGC. It also won't let me submit without a prefix .

I would like to keep my core of Beat Up abuse on Terrakion. Other then that, suggest away.

Devastator (Terrakion)@Assault Vest
Ability: Justified
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 SpD
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Sacred Sword
- Poison Jab
The star of the show. Running Assault Vest to be able to tank some opposing surf/Blizzards which he has done great so far. EQ pairs well with Gliscor of course and is just a great move to not have it. Sacred Sword for STAB as well as going through defensive set ups. Poison Jab for fairies.

Vex (Weavile)@Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4HP
- Beat Up
- Fake Out
- Ice Shard
- Focus Punch
Terrakion's partner in crime. There to use beat up on the big guy and send is attack sky high. Fake Out for its obvious greatness in doubles, stop certain obvious 'mons from outspeeding Terrakion before he can dent them. If no 'mons like that show up, use Beat up on the first turn then swap out and have fakeout ready for later. Ice Shard for revenge kills mostly. Focus Punch for use with Weavile is on the field with Clefable for the most part. Could be swapped for something else though.

Stardust (Clefable)@Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Bold Nature
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunderwave
- Encore
- Follow Me
The defensive sponge of the team. Taunt does not run as rampant in Doubles I found so I went for a full support set. Follow Me is amazing in doubles, Soft-Boiled to recover the multitude of hits taken with Follow Me. Thuderwave and Encore to cripple sweepers. Thunder Wave also has the niche use for the few times Clefable gets paired with Manectric before he goes Mega.

Bolt (Manectric)@Manectite
Ability: Lightning Rod / Intimidate when mega
Timid Nature
EVs: 252 SpA, 252 Speed, 4 HP
- Thunderbolt
- Signalbeam
- Flamethrower
- Substitute
Lightningrod is there to use when I predict an Electric attack coming up. then I go mega after the boost. Sudden Intimidate is great in doubles as well. Wanted a special sweeper in the team and this guy has the power and speed to do the job, great doubles abilities as well as access to stab thunderbolt and flamethrower and signal beam for great coverage.

Batgirl (Gliscor)@Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Spe
- Fire Fang
- Rock Slide
- Tailwind
- Substitute
Tanky gliscor, helps whittle down opponents. Immune to status, sit behind Substitue with recovery via poison heal. Pop Tailwinds which are really handy for my team. Fire fang recently added since I noticed a lot of steel types switching into Gliscor with little I could do. Not running EQ right now since few of my own 'mons can survive EQs that well except for Clefable.

Lamia (Milotic)@Weakness Policy
Ability: Marvel Scale
Calm Nature
EVs: 156 HP, 100 SpA, 252SpD
- Icy Wind
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover
The Special tank/status giver for the team. Running Weakness Policy for testing mostly but it has proven pretty handy since Milotic can take special grass/electric attacks surprisingly well with this EV spread and Nature. Icy wind to slow down all opponents and dent dragon types. Scald for burn and STAB. Toxic to take down Tanky opponents and stall with Recover.

I have also run with Competitive as the ability to similar success so its a bit of a toss up. Also considering running Flame orb in place of weakness policy to abuse Marvel Scale.

So let me know what you guys think.

 

[KoL]

See, I've seen Beat Up Terrakion used before and I have to say it's one of the most easily-countered and obvious strategies in doubles play. The only chance you'll have of beating anyone half-decent with this is by hoping they've forgotten about the strategy since it fell out of favour very quickly.

Several glaring issues:

- Protect/Detect are mandatory as filler moves on doubles movesets since you're not able to switch as freely or as often due to risk of being hit by two attacks at once during your inactivity. A well-timed Protect/Detect can really help this issue, and to an extent these moves serve the same use in doubles as switching does in singles.

Taunt does not run as rampant in Doubles

Taunt is more prevalent in doubles than it is in singles due to the prevalence of 'Mons such as Cresselia and Smeargle combined with the absolutely ridiculous movesets both tend to come with. Against anyone who knows what they are doing you cannot ever assume they aren't running Taunt, because unless their team just doesn't give a shit about that kind of thing they most certainly will do.

- Defensive/stalling strategies render pretty ineffective in doubles due to the fact that the opponent can quite freely ignore the staller and murder the partner before finally 2vs1'ing the staller to death. You effectively just end up painting a massive target on your other Pokemon by using a set like the one Milotic has, so if you wish to use a defensive moveset, it needs to carry some kind of team support element like Clefable's does. I've no idea why you'd run Weakness Policy on Milotic honestly, Flame Orb however is a lot more useful to make Milotic sleep-immune.

You have a few good ideas here (Tailwind and Follow Me) but you're bringing a singles mindset to your movesets and doubles is a completely different ball game.