Rakhmaninov

How would that affect the Abomasnow matchup? Would Hitmontop be viable option over Salamence for wide guard/fighting STAB or would that risk sacrificing too much offensive presence?

Oooo Mamoswine sounds like it could put in a lot of work - do you think Mamoswine>Garchomp might have a place on this team? Mamoswine+Crobat is kinda reminiscent of Arash Omati's VGC 2013 Worlds team...

Thank you mate, you've pointed out some key weaknesses. And I'm glad you like the lum+swagger! I think Togekiss is also a nice mon to run it with too if crobat doesn't quite fit the team composition, as it can outspeed metagross by one point with 60 EVs to ensure that swagger has an immediate effect, as well as providing redirection support+bulk :)

Thank you very much! I'll consider electroweb, that's quite a nice tech especially against togekiss/blastoise+kingdra :)

Ah you're right, Mental Herb Bronzong would be a pretty big threat to the team, I'll have a think, thanks!! :)

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've played PokeMMO, and the doubles metagame has shifted about quite a lot in the time I've been away, so I'd really appreciate some help in finalizing some of my team ideas. Updated Team: https://pokepast.es/d954aeaa3b93df37 The Team Since I was last active, Garchomp has been hit HARD - no swords dance means it is now intimidate bait. This is where Crobat comes in. With a Swagger+Lum Berry combo, Crobat enables both Garchomp and Metagross to deal vast amounts of damage in a single turn, whilst simultaneously putting pressure on Hitmontop, the most common intimidate user. Taunt+Tailwind also makes for a great speed control option, with the rest of the team benefiting from this also. In Depth Garchomp @ Lum Berry Ability: Sand Veil Level: 50 EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe Jolly Nature IVs: 25 Def / 9 SpA / 26 SpD - Dragon Claw - Earthquake - Substitute - Protect A reasonably standard set, apart from Substitute and Lum Berry. This allows Garchomp to somewhat avoid getting intimidated or burned after an attack boost, although it comes with the added downside of disabling the effect of Swagger. Quite an interesting tech, although I wonder if it could be replaced with something less passive, such as Rock Slide. Lum Berry can also be used to deal with the likes of Rotom-Wash if the option to use Swagger is unavailable. The IVs, as with all team members, are simply reflective of what I currently possess in-game. Metagross @ Lum Berry Ability: Clear Body Level: 50 EVs: 124 HP / 252 Atk / 132 Spe Adamant Nature IVs: 26 HP / 26 Def / 9 SpA / 27 SpD - Meteor Mash - Zen Headbutt - Earthquake / Bullet Punch - Protect After spending some time playing VGC Series 7 (which to be honest, I felt quite disappointed with - hence the return to PokeMMO!), I've found Metagross+Tornadus to be quite a popular combo. The basic premise, as I'm sure you're aware, is that Tornadus uses brutal swing to proc Metagross' Weakness Policy, raising its attack by 2 stages (notice any similarities?), as well as boosting Metagross' mediocre speed with Prankster Tailwind+Taunt. The same principle applies here. Meteor Mash adds to this, raising Metagross' already fantastic attack even further 20% of the time. The speed investment means that Metagross can outspeed 0 Spe Rotom-W in order to avoid getting burned by Will-O-Wisp. Crobat @ Flying Gem Ability: Inner Focus Level: 50 EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe Jolly Nature IVs: 27 HP / 25 Def / 19 SpA / 27 SpD - Acrobatics - Tailwind - Taunt - Swagger The crux of the team. Crobat has seen a new lease of life in the update, with both Inner Focus effectively shutting down Hitmontop (blocking intimidate and fake out), as well as the new speed control mechanics allowing Tailwind's speed boost to apply immediately. I'm a little at odds with Flying Gem+Acrobatics however, as although it provides a brilliant source of offense against the various fighting and grass types which threaten the team, Crobat doesn't have the best defensive capabilities. Would, say, Focus Sash+Brave Bird provide a better means of survivability? Or would it sacrifice too much offensive potential? For example, with Brave Bird, Crobat can only OHKO 252 HP Hariyama 75% of the time, which is not great, but it may allow Crobat to taunt the trick room user Hariyama would be supporting with relative impunity if, say, a Reuniclus were to use Psychic instead of Trick Room expecting a Taunt to come out, and then after Flame Orb recoil, Hariyama would be an easy KO, etc etc - you get the gist. Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry Ability: Levitate Level: 50 EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 4 SpA / 140 SpD / 20 Spe Calm Nature IVs: 14 Atk - Thunderbolt - Hydro Pump - Will-O-Wisp - Ally Switch Rotom-Wash remains the annoying little washing machine it always has been. Resisting some of the most common moves thrown at Garchomp and Metagross, it's a great support Pokemon, and with Will-O-Wisp and Ally Switch can provide some excellent damage-reducing options, especially under Tailwind. The EVs, as far as I can remember, allow Rotom to survive a Life Orb Ludicolo's Energy Ball, whilst making Salamence's Dragon Claw, Tyranitar's Crunch, as well as some other important physical moves into a 3HKO, without taking Sitrus Berry into account - with the remaining EVs dumped in speed to creep other Rotom formes. One of the most common obstacles to a self-swagger combo is redirection, so having a strong Electric type Pokemon on the team to hit Togekiss and Blastoise for Super Effective damage is quite useful. Tyranitar @ Choice Band Ability: Sand Stream Level: 50 EVs: 240 HP / 200 Atk / 40 Def / 30 Spe Adamant Nature IVs: 30 HP / 30 Atk / 30 Def / 12 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe - Rock Slide - Crunch - Superpower - Fire Punch / Earthquake / Ice Punch Banded Tyranitar. Need I say much more? The main reason I've opted to run a banded set is that most dark-weak Trick Room users can survive a Crunch or two, so Choice Band pushes the goal post just that little bit further. Garchomp is supremely weak to Rain teams, so Tyranitar is here to patch up that weakness a little, although it has to be very careful not to be hit by too many super effective water moves. I can't remember exactly what the EV spread does, it's been a while since I came up with it, but it provides a decent amount of bulk whilst underspeeding 0 Spe Pelipper by one point outside of Tailwind in order to win the weather war, whilst speed creeping other Tyranitars. The last move I'm a little stuck on, as Salamence already provides fire coverage, so any help here would be much appreciated. Salamence @ Life Orb Ability: Intimidate Level: 50 EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 13 Atk - Draco Meteor - Air Slash - Heat Wave - Tailwind FINALLY, Salamence gets some decent special flying type attacks! Air Slash and Hurricane are excellent options, but I've chosen Air Slash here for spammability, as well as that juicy 30% flinch chance, stacking with Rock Slide and Zen Headbutt - and even the occasional cheeky Swagger... Salamence is great as a late-game option, with tailwind to bolster the team's speed control options, a great ability in Intimidate to put a stop to any significant physical threats, and of course, Life Orb Draco Meteor to nuke anything that doesn't resist it. It also has beautiful type synergy with Metagross, resisting the other's weaknesses perfectly, whilst simultaneously being Hoenn's two pseudo-legendaries. Coincidence? I think not... Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed reading, and I'm really looking forward to your feedback :)) Importable

IGN: Rakhmaninov Tier: Doubles

Made these changes :))

Sorry to not get back to all of you on this... I'm taking a break from PokeMMO, so if someone else could take responsibility for the rankings, that would be fantastic!! Thank you @ThinkNicer <3 All the best to the doubles community! I hope I've made a worthwhile contribution to the game whilst I've been here :)) See ya!

I've made the requested changes! I agree, D tier is full of fringe/gimmick pokemon - I've taken them off for now and will leave them here in a spoiler in case they need to be reintroduced Thanks for generating more discussion! ^^

Thank you for you input @OrangeManiac! Please could you provide some sample teams along with these suggestions? Or teams that have seen tournament success? I'll keep an eye on teams in finals which match up to the cores listed! Thanks bro :)

Done!

I haven't read all of the Q&A, so please forgive me if this has already been answered! Will the new speed calculation/turn order mechanics from SwSh be introduced in the update (i.e regarding tailwind/weather etc)? I've heard rumors about this but I'd like to know for certain. nvm I found it [Kyu] Yes, speed changes were included.

Bump - Added @OrangeManiac's winning team from CC #198 to the Rain Framework

Bump - added tournament final usage to OP with data from CC #198 Here is the updated table for reference: Tournament Final Usage: Mar 19 - Jul 16 Teams: 50 Pokemon Raw Data Percentage Togekiss 26 52.00% Garchomp 23 46.00% Hitmontop 23 46.00% Reuniclus 20 40.00% Kingdra 19 38.00% Metagross 15 30.00% Blastoise 14 28.00% Rotom-W 10 20.00% Porygon2 8 16.00% Gastrodon 8 16.00% Amoonguss 8 16.00% Tyranitar 7 14.00% Snorlax 7 14.00% Hariyama 6 12.00% Gengar 6 12.00% Conkeldurr 5 10.00% Salamence 5 10.00% Scizor 5 10.00% Will be resetting the table in the new update. Here is a spreadsheet which documents all tournament final teams since March 19: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DlDFJo-YOv2G3CteaupFlIkM442VWQT--TmgceoOAjU/edit?usp=sharing

Posting this here for reference, not sure how useful it'll be but it should give an indication as to common team archetypes in finals. For example, Trick Room and Set Up teams see a lot of success, hence the surprising number of Reuniclus used. I wonder how this will change going into the new update! Apologies for the table being upside down XD Usage Statistics from CC Finals #185-196 (excluding #195) Teams: 22 Pokemon Raw Data Percentage Gastrodon 4 18.18% Tyranitar 4 18.18% Conkeldurr 5 22.73% Hariyama 5 22.73% Porygon2 5 22.73% Kingdra 6 27.27% Metagross 6 27.27% Rotom-W 7 31.82% Blastoise 8 36.36% Hitmontop 10 45.45% Garchomp 11 50.00% Togekiss 12 54.55% Reuniclus 14 63.64%

Added Salamence's description! Going to leave the last slot as "filler" for now as there are too many different roles which fill the last slot on all teams listed to justify a more specific title. Granted that if it were just your teams which were used to make the framework I would consider a different title. Peripheral team roles become looser suggestions by definition :)

Thank you bro, thought I was missing something :) Will add your descriptions to the framework

Added a Garchomp framework. @TiToooo you might want to comment as two of your teams are up there :)

Promoting Ludicolo to B+ Tier due to the above suggestions, as they were not implemented when the sub-tiers were introduced. Please discuss if you disagree :)

Added! :)

Added Rickypoke's team from CC #196 to Set Up framework. NB Snorlax Belly drum as a secondary set up under trick room

Fab service. Good price, efficient, 10/10 :)

Ye I'll make a framework for it too, looks pretty solid

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