In preparation for Doubles Premier League, I've been building and playing a lot of Doubles UU, the metagame I will most likely be playing in DPL. I've had a lot of success on the ladder, and I'm doing this RMT in part to shed a little light on what the current Doubles UU metagame is like. Anyways, let's get into it.
(I promise this team has been top 5, blame ELO decay)
The Team:
Manaphy @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Tail Glow
- Protect
The heart and soul of the team, and quite frankly, the heart and soul of Doubles UU, Manaphy. This is the set I've found to be most effective, as getting the most out of 100 base speed is vitally important, and 100/100/100 defenses provide great bulk without investment, especially with Sitrus Berry.
Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Sky Drop
- Aqua Tail
- Protect
To begin complementing Manaphy, I choose Aerodactyl as my Mega. Fast Rock Slide is great, as any Doubles player knows, but the key move is Sky Drop, which allows Manaphy to set up while Aerodactyl temporarily removes a threat from the field. I use Aqua Tail as my third move, mainly to deal with strong opposing threats like Krookodile and Landorus, but Wide Guard, Tailwind, Taunt, or Whirlwind can be used in this slot. This Pokemon does a great job supporting Manaphy, but it's also a powerful threat on its own.
Liepard @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Foul Play
- Encore
- Thunder Wave
Next up, Manaphy supporter number 2, Liepard. Fake out allows Manaphy to set up, or let any other partner next to Liepard get off a free attack. Foul Play is there to do damage to any strong physical threat, and so that Liepard isn't total Taunt fodder. Encore is great against trapping Trick Room users and locking people into Protect. Thunder Wave is incredibly crucial speed control for this team. Liepard is a great support Pokemon in general, I've won plenty of games thanks to spreading Thunder Waves, Encores, and dashing in some key Fake Outs.
Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Grass Knot
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect
The fact that this Pokemon is allowed in Doubles UU is a fucking joke, but this isn't the place. Landorus-I is an incredibly strong attacker in the Doubles UU metagame, Sheer Force Earth Power 2HKOs almost everything, including a lot of resists, and OHKOs anything frail or weak to it. This thing is a monster. Grass Knot is there for Swampert and Gastrodon, and Sludge Bomb is there for Fairies and Virizion.
Clefairy @ Eviolite
Ability: Friend Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Follow Me
- Protect
Manaphy support number 3! Follow Me Friend Guard Clefairy is great in Doubles UU, as Friend Guard really helps offensive mons live hits they shouldn't, and Follow Me helps Pokemon, notably Manaphy, avoid Damage. I've got Thunder Wave on here for speed control. This EV spread is a general dump to make the Defense and Special defense even.
Raikou @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 64 HP / 12 Def / 168 SpA / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roar
- Protect
My other strong attacker, Raikou. Raikou deals with other Manaphy's and other Water types the rest of the team may otherwise not be able to get through. HP Ice to hit Grounds and Grasses, and I've teched on Roar to beat the ever-present Aromatisse and Mental Herb Trick Room ladder teams. Snarl or Substitute is usually in this slot. This EV spread is the only one that hit's a benchmark on this team, as this spread allows Raikou to live an Earthquake from Scarf Krookodile or an Earth Power from Scarf Nidoking from full HP.
Notes:
I hope you all are as excited for Doubles Premier League as I am. With this RMT, hopefully you have a slightly better understanding of the Doubles UU metagame, and how a typical player may choose to build his or her team. I will add to this portion of my post as I remember things to note about the team, as I will no longer be using it!
Currently, the team struggles a bit with Scizor, which is why I put Raikou over what used to be Virizion in order to slightly alleviate that matchup. I may choose to, in the future, put HP fire over HP Ice to really nail Scizor, but I haven't made that jump yet. You certainly can, however. This team's best bet against Scizor is beating it with Liepard and Manaphy.
Against Trick Room teams, leading Liepard and Raikou assures you can stop them from setting up Trick Room. Fake Out the Pokemon they are going to try to use to support getting Trick Room up (usually their own Fake Out user) and Roar out the Trick Room user, and go to work from there. Disruption is the key versus Trick Room.
Conclusion:
Participate in DPL! At the very least, be sure to keep up with the tournament and support your friends! Thank you to the entire Doubles UU community for keeping this metagame alive, I do truly enjoy it and I am sincerely glad it made its way into DPL. Thank you to Hashtag for hosting DPL, and thank you to thetalkingtree for being a great friend and for being a great supporter of DUU as well! Shoutout to Stratos for continually talking up my Doubles UU abilities in the DPL discussion threads as well :)
Until next time, thank you for reading and be sure to leave a rate, or at least, let me know your thoughts!
