Other Doubles UU z-conversion Porygon-z

[Le Annoyer]

Introduction​

This was a team I've been meaning to do for a while after seeing one of Markus Stadter's teams in VGC 2017, mostly centering around Porygon-z and supporting it offensivelly so it doesn't become the team's only way to win. I believe this team is pretty solid, bringing me up to a ladder of 1425, but also feel like it could improve somewhere. I don't really know what to write in this space, so let's go to the team itself.

The Team​

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tailwind
- Wide Guard
- Taunt
- Sky Drop
​

This is the set I used on my aerodactyl in my own VGC 2017 team and it provides a unique support much appreciated by this team. There is nothing special about the item choice or EV spread, the only important thing is to maximize his speed. The only taunt user of the team, I usually lead with him against TR teams (useless if the opponent uses z-trick room or fake out on turn 1), and sky drop gives aero's teamate an extra attacking turn. Tailwind and Wide guard are self-explanatory.

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Gunk Shot
- Mat Block
​

My usual lead alongside Porygon-z. Another simple EV spread, and his mixed attacking capabilities help apply a lot of pressure to the opponent (fairies included, but most of my opponents don't expect him to be mixed and suffer with the gunk shot right on their faces). As opposed to what greninja's smogon page states, mat block is not predictable, and many times it makes the opponent lose one turn during battle (but depending on the situation, straight up attacking can be better). It does lose out on protect, but I feel like the tradeoff is worth it.

Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Conversion
- Protect
​

The star of the team. As he is my primary wincon, I try to play very cautiously with him. The strategy is simple: use z-conversion on turn one and mostly spam thunderbolt, protecting when needed. I think that I forgot to make him modest, but timid allowed me to outspeed deoxys-n in one game, but it's not like he is used that much. The cautious part of him actually comes from his partner most of the time.

Persian-Alola @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 156 HP / 100 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Snarl
- Foul Play
​

Mostly a fake out supporter. I copied the EV spread from one of its sets on its smogon page, so I don't really remember what he is supposed to tank. The main reason I picked him over other fake out users was his access to parting shot, lowering a foe's offenses and regenerating fake out for repeated uses later in the match. He also functions as an alternative lead alongside PZ when the opponent has at least 2 pokemon with obvious priority or higher speed than greninja to ignore his mat block, because rendering one of them useless for the turn usually allows PZ to conversion safely.

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 12 SpA / 156 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Protect
​

The best backup plan I have. I use this EV spread on so many mega venusaurs I forgot what it's supposed to do. Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb are stabs and leech seed is an amazing move that either forces the opponent to switch out or heal venu at the end of each turn, with the added bonus of defeating troll shedinja teams. Protect is protect, I don't think I have to explain its importance in doubles.

Ribombee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sweet Veil
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pollen Puff
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Quiver Dance
​

A secondary setup sweeper who can actually setup more than once per battle, although 90% of the times I use him is mainly to polen puff its ally. However, if the opponent is dumb enough to let you setup ribombee with a +1 all stats PZ right next to it, the game is pretty much over. Maybe I could switch Moonblast for Dazzling gleam, but the power drop is noticeable, especially since it is faster than the rest of the team and will never single-target anyone.

Conclusion​

I'm sorry if there were any grammatical mistakes, english is not my native language. This is overall a very fun and efficient team to use, but I feel like it is missing something. Maybe a fire type coverage move? A secondary taunt user? Please give me some ideas.

Importable

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tailwind
- Wide Guard
- Taunt
- Sky Drop

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Gunk Shot
- Mat Block

Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Conversion
- Protect

Persian-Alola @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 156 HP / 100 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Snarl
- Foul Play

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Happiness: 0
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 12 SpA / 156 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Ribombee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sweet Veil
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pollen Puff
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Quiver Dance

 

[Le Annoyer]

bump

 

[Level 51]

Hey Le Annoyer, sorry for this kind of delayed response.

A quick disclaimer before I jump into the rest of the rate: Porygon-Z has fallen in viability recently. The rise of its natural checks in the format (Manectric, Gothitelle, Incineroar) has made teams centred around Porygon-Z pretty unstable and I just don't think it's a good Pokemon anymore. (Source: I used to main PZ setup spam teams in early SM.)

Furthermore, with major shifts set to happen in April (likely involving Incineroar, Manectric, and Kommo-o), the meta is likely to shift a lot, so take this rate with a pinch of salt.

The thing about Porygon-Z in DUU and indeed in any Doubles format is that it needs a dedicated support crew whose task is pretty much solely to allow PZ to set up safely and nab some quick KOs, thanks to its relative frailty and its kind of low-ish speed before it gets its boost. In other words, you need to build your team around PZ, with a couple other setup sweepers thrown in to support its offense. As a result, on such teams I generally split my team into two halves: "sweepers" and "support". Sweepers are a very singles-oriented concept, but the idea of these teams is to overwhelm the opponent with enough offense that typical bulky offense teams just fall apart, so I think it's fitting. Looking at your team, the impression I get is that your offensive Pokemon aren't offensive enough, and your supportive Pokemon don't provide enough support to make them worth the slot.

Some general weaknesses I identified:

• Lack of cohesive offensive presence besides Porygon-Z
• Trick Room weakness - this is an important one because FullRoom is actually very viable in DUU
• Some generally outclassed Pokemon used

===================================

First, I'll start with Aerodactyl, which seems like a pretty odd choice for this team.

• Wide Guard, for example, isn't actually very useful in DUU, since without Landorus-T's Earthquakes and Rock Slides, the only spread moves are Krookodile's Earthquake and Kommo-o's Clanging Scales / Clangorous Soulblaze—and the former is quickly declining in usage, while the latter is expected to move to DOU (or at least DBL) in April.
• Taunt is neat, but Aerodactyl as a Taunt user means it's susceptible to a lot of common cores which you'd want to Taunt. For example, Aerodactyl would like to Taunt Gothitelle or Azumarill, but it's heavily threatened by the Mega Manectric that these two Pokemon are so commonly paired with.
• In general, Aerodactyl doesn't really do well against a lot of typical Porygon-Z checks, like Mega Manectric, Incineroar, and most (supported) Trick Room / Tailwind setters.

Instead, I'd suggest Togekiss. What does this do that Aerodactyl doesn't?

• Provides redirection support with Follow Me, making set up in general more likely to happen successfully.
• Still provides Tailwind.
• Better bulk makes it more reliable for outlasting opposing Trick Room.

Next, I see you've picked Greninja, which I assume is for Mat Block support. Unfortunately, unlike in DOU, there's a good number of viable Pokemon which are capable of moving before Greninja's Mat Block, like Shaymin-Sky, Mega Manectric, Mega Aerodactyl, and Mega Lopunny, along with a number of Fake Out users; furthermore, a lot of good Pokemon naturally beat Greninja one-on-one, like Mega Scizor, Hydreigon, Keldeo, and so forth. Instead, I think there are two ways you can go here:

• If you want a Water-type sweeper, Azumarill combos well with the support options on your team, and can often get Belly Drum boosts to sweep through large portions of teams.
• If instead you really want Mat Block support, Choice Scarf Smeargle can perform this role admirably. Just as it did on the original team, you can also use it to spread fast Spores and even Transform into your own Porygon-Z, making it a premier support option.

In terms of a Fake Out user, you've chosen Persian, which is a respectable choice. As a quick aside, I think if you wanted to, you could put Taunt on Persian here, since we don't have Aerodactyl; it's definitely useful in a format full of set-up Pokemon, and it's a better Taunt user than Aerodactyl. I think it fits nicely over Snarl. Another option is to use Incineroar for a bulkier, stronger Fake Out user which has access to Intimidate, which is a super useful ability, especially for PZ teams. However, judging by its DOU usage it'll probably rise to DOU soon, so don't hold out on that. Hitmontop is another nice options for a Fake Out + Intimidate user, though.

For your mega, I see you have Mega Venusaur. However, Mega Venusaur generally plays very slowly, leeching off health with Leech Seed and generally outlasting opponents in games of attrition, whereas the rest of your team aims to play pretty quickly. Some options you could use are:

• Mega Charizard X. This could act as a secondary sweeper on your team, and it definitely appreciates having the Fake Out and Follow Me options on the team to let it set up DDs comfortably. Overall it plays roughly the same as Porygon-Z, though it's slightly bulkier but susceptible to Intimidate in return. If you used Smeargle over Greninja, this is probably the better option.
• Mega Manectric. This is more of a support Mega, providing Intimidate as well as a fast pivot in and out of the field. However, it has some degree of anti-synergy with Porygon-Z, since it can absorb your own Thunderbolts if you're careless, and a double Electric-type can be quite redundant. It does go well with Azumarill sometimes, though. (It might be moving to DOU soon though.)

Finally, Ribombee. I'm not super convinced on Ribombee being useful at all, at least partially because it loses to every Steel-type ever, as well as common Pokemon like Incineroar. (Again, Incineroar is shifting out soon, yada yada.) I feel like Charizard X and / or Azumarill are probably better choices for secondary setup sweepers, so instead, this slot could go to another support Pokemon; just off the top of my head, you could try Taunt or Dragon Tail Gyarados in this slot, since it has positive matchups against common TR sweepers like Mega Camerupt, while also providing TR-prevention support for the team.

Summary:
Aerodactyl -> Togekiss
Greninja -> Smeargle or Azumarill
Persian -> Taunt Persian or Incineroar
Venusaur -> Charizard X or Manectric
Ribombee -> Gyarados

Sorry to change your team so much!! Porygon-Z is just an archetype which I have a lot of experience with, so I'm just saying what worked for me; feel free to experiment with some or none or all of these changes, and use what works for you. Good luck with the team!