OH BABY, A TRIPLE! - Smogon Triples

Introduction

Welcome to Smogon Triples! Triples is one of the newest formats implemented into Pokémon Showdown!, programmed by The Immortal. In Triples, three, count 'em, three Pokémon are on each side of the field at once. That's three times the Pokémon, three times the fun, and three times the salt! As the format is so new and complicated, most people are too intimidated to play such a tier. Not coincidentally enough, playing Triples successfully takes a lot of thought, strategizing, and predicting. In this article, we will discuss how the mechanics of Triples differs from other formats as well as some prominent threats.

Mechanics

Triples is actually very similar to Doubles when it comes to the mechanics. For example, multi-target (aka spread) moves are reduced in power by 25%. What is different from Doubles, however, is that Pokémon will not be able to attack each other if they are on opposite ends of the field. Because of this, there is a mechanic in Triples called shifting, which allows the player to move the position of their Pokémon. Remember that shifting takes up a turn and does not have any priority. However, there are some moves that do not abide by this mechanic, such as Brave Bird and Acrobatics, as these moves will contact a Pokémon on the opposite side of the field. If you do "/dt [move name]" in Pokémon Showdown!, you can see what type of target(s) the move can hit.

For example, Earthquake, which hits "All adjacent foes," will target Scrafty, Aegislash, and Shaymin-S if used by the Landorus-T. However, Shaymin-S won't actually take damage from Earthquake because it's a Flying-type. Gengar's Shadow Ball, which hits "Adjacent Pokémon" can only hit Amoonguss, Scrafty, or Shaymin-S. Alternatively, if Landorus-T was in the center, Earthquake would target every Pokémon on the field not immune to Ground-type moves. Furthermore, with Shaymin-S in the center of the field, it can use Seed Flare to attack any other Pokémon on the field.

Common Threats

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Protect

Intimidate, believe it or not, is actually a very intimidating ability in Triples. If a Pokémon with Intimidate is sent to the center of the field, all three Pokémon on the opposite side will suffer the Attack drop. Attack drops hinder the offensive capabilities of opponents, allowing it to support other defensive allies or just force switches. Furthermore, Landorus-T is a very powerful abuser of Intimidate thanks to its advantageous typing, which gives it an immunity to Electric-type moves and a resistance to Fighting-type moves, and the fact that it can be nicknamed after a doge meme without scrutiny. Landorus-T even gets access to the spread moves Earthquake and Rock Slide, allowing it to support its teammates offensively as well as defensively. You can't get any more versatile than a flying dog with an afro.

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Protect

With Intimidate being an abundant threat in Triples, Bisharp easily fits in thanks to its ability, Defiant. As Defiant boosts Attack by +2 for every stat dropped by a foe, an Intimidate drop to a Bisharp actually raises its Attack stat by one, similar to a Contrary boost. Having gotten a free Attack boost, Bisharp can then do some hefty damage to other, even faster threats with priority STAB Sucker Punch. Additionally, its other STAB moves deal some nice and powerful super effective damage to common Trick Room setters such as Cresselia and Aromatisse. Bisharp is also immune to the Poison-type spread move Sludge Wave, making it a great partner to Sludge Wave Mega Gengar. Additionally, the Poison-type immunity helps it support Fairy-type allies such as Mega Gardevoir by switching or shifting in to a Poison-type move that would otherwise deal super effective damage.

Aromatisse @ Leftovers
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Trick Room
- Wish

Trick Room is a very prominent threat in both Doubles and Triples, as it allows for the slower and more bulky Pokémon such as Escavalier, Rhyperior, and Mega Abomasnow to move first. Aromatisse is one of the best Trick Room setters and defensive supporters of Triples, thanks to its decent 109/72/89 defenses coupled with handy Fairy typing, granting it an immunity to Dragon-type moves. The ability Aroma Veil protects itself and its teammates from being affected by support moves like Taunt and Encore. This means that unless Aromatisse is KOed first, there's nothing to stop it from setting up Trick Room or from easily supporting its own teammates with its high HP and access to Wish.

Shaymin-Sky @ Life Orb
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Air Slash
- Seed Flare
- Protect
- Earth Power

Shaymin-S is one of the fastest offensive threats in the metagame. Boasting a base 127 Speed, it falls into the prestigious Speed tier of "GOTTA GO FAST," outspeeding fast, threatening Pokémon such as Greninja and Garchomp and easily KOing them with its high base 120 Special Attack coupled with its strong STAB moves. Furthermore, Shaymin-S can lay waste to some of the most annoyingly defensive Pokémon common in the tier, such as Mega Venusaur, Rotom-Wash, and even Heatran with the coverage option of Earth Power. Shaymin-S also has the ability Serene Grace, which bumps up the chance of secondary effects taking place. This converts the measly 30% flinch chance of Air Slash to 60%. Additionally, it gives Seed Flare an 80% chance instead of a 40% chance to cut the target's Special Defense in half. If annihilating everything with one Pokémon isn't your thing, Shaymin-S also makes use of Tailwind, the polar opposite of Trick Room. Tailwind doubles the speed of all ally Pokémon for four turns.

Conclusion

Triples is a very cool tier. That being said, I can 100% guarantee that playing Triples will make you cool. Cooler than a frozen Kyurem-B holding Never Melt Ice. Perhaps even as cool as cool user xzern! Triples is one of the newest metagames playable on the Pokémon Showdown! ladder; with new metas come new meta strategies, new meta players, and new meta teams. Maybe you could be the person who comes up with the next big strategy!

This sample team incorporates the use of Shaymin's Tailwind to turn the slow Mega Heracross and Kyurem-B into fast, volatile sweepers. They form a good core; Mega Heracross easily disposes of the prominent Trick Room setter Cresselia and Kyurem-B is just an all-around good attacker. Shaymin-S gives offensive support as well as Tailwind support; it can use its Serene Grace boosted Air Slash to get a good flinch chance off on strong walls that would otherwise be much more difficult for the other attackers to take down, such as Aromatisse or other Ferrothorns. Ferrothorn and Landorus-T work as backup defensive Pokémon, and Bisharp provides extra offensive priority support with Sucker Punch. Additionally, Bisharp discourages opponents from leading with Intimidate users and checks Intimidate spam, as Intimidate is not very friendly to our sweeping physical attackers, Mega Heracross and Kyurem-B.

« Previous Article

Home