ORAS Doubles OU Up, Up and Away

[miltankmilk]

Introduction​

Hi I'm Connor and this is a team I built at the end of ORAS doubles after some discussion with SamVGC about a very under-appreciated mega, Charizard Y. Since the team was built so late in ORAS it didn't get its time to shine in the Doubles circuit, but it did win its only game in Grand Slam Playoffs and has had significant ladder success helping me up to around 1800.

Teambuilding Process​

Hide

Charizard Y is the star of the team and what I wanted to build around.

Cresselia and Charizard make an excellent combo as Cresselia takes advantage of Charizard Y's Drought to aid in recovery from Moonlight and Charizard benefits from Cresselia's Icy Wind support for speed control and weakening threats such as Landorus-t.

Landorus-t is a staple in most Doubles OU teams as it does so many things well. It provides Intimidate, a bulky pivot with Assault Vest, has a fairly good speed tier and on this team it also benefits from Tailwind in the late game.

Aegislash helps patch up my own weaknesses to Landorus-t, Gardevoir, and Mega Diancie which were far from managable with just my own Landorus-t.

I chose Zapdos as a secondary Kangaskhan check, to provide speed control in Tailwind and generally to be a nuisance with Static + Rocky Helmet.

Keldeo rounds out the team giving me a surefire ways of KOing Heatran, Landorus-t and Kangaskhan.

The Team​

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 112 SpA / 84 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Overheat
- Protect
​

Charizard is an extremely potent attacker in the DOU metagame that often gets overshadowed by other Megas such as Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Gardevoir. Sun boosted Heat Waves do a TON of damage to even neutral targets and can tear through unprepared teams. The EV spread I went with maximizes bulk to take on physical attackers while also being faster than Adamant Landorus-t, mostly to outpace most Choice Scarf variants after an Icy Wind. Solar Beam hits bulky water-types like Rotom-W and Overheat allows Charizard to bypass Wide Guard users like Aegislash and to OHKO Mega Kangaskhan.

Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Icy Wind
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight
​

Cresselia has been rising in popularity as ORAS has come to a close and for good reason. While being very potent on its own with its Calm Mind set, when paired with a pokemon like Mega Charizard Y that can take out steel types that it struggles to get by Cresselia can be very tough to kill in the late game. Rocky Helmet was chosen over Safety Goggles for the chip damage on physical attackers. I opted for a faster EV spread to get off Icy Winds on faster targets with more reliability and to be a more potent Calm Mind sweeper in the late game. Psyshock is used over Psychic to beat Calm Mind Sylveon 1v1 while Icy wind is used for Speed Control and to hit bulky ground types such as Landorus and Dark types such as Hydreigon. Moonlight benefits from the Sun that Charizard provides making recovery much more reliable.

Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 156 Atk / 16 Def / 4 SpD / 220 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn
​

Landorus-t provides an important pivot for the team with Intimidate and an Assault Vest, using a Jolly nature to better take on Charizard and to outspeed Choice Scarf users in Tailwind. The Defense and HP EVs allow Landorus-t to take a +1 Sucker Punch from Adamant Life Orb Bisharp with the remaining EVs dumped in Attack. Earthquake is the main STAB and the team has plenty of Ground immunities making it easy to fire off Earthquakes without risking teammates. Rock Slide helps against flying types such as Charizard and Thundurus while also being a last ditch option in the end game to fish for flinches. Superpower hits Kangaskhan hard and can hit steel-types through Wide Guard. U-turn gains momentum and can KO low HP opponents or Hoopa-U.

Aegislash @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 176 SpA / 80 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield
​

Aegislash has great synergy with Charizard and Cresselia as it provides Wide Guard support for Charizard, helps take out Steels like Jirachi for Cresselia and can effectively operate in Trick Room where these faster variants of Charizard and Cresselia struggle in Trick Room. Dual STABs of Shadow Ball and Flash Cannon give Aegislash good coverage and allow it to take on Fairy- and Rock-types. Wide Guard helps against Rock Slide and Heat Wave which can give the team trouble and King's Shield helps to keep Aegislash healthy and in the correct forme.

Zapdos @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 108 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch / Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
- Tailwind
​

*Zapdos provided a sort of role compression here on this team. The team needed a form of Speed Control and I opted for Tailwind as it best suited the speeds of Charizard and Landorus-t, while also helping Aegislash pick off some slower threats late game. Rocky Helmet + Static is a combination that can be very frustrating and deters physical attackers and can provide impromptu speed control in a pinch. Volt Switch provides momentum and Electric STAB allowing Charizard to get in for free while HP Ice is used over Heat Wave as ithelps vs Bulkier Ground and Grass-types and I didn't find the Ferrothorn matchup too difficult. Roost helps to keep Zapdos around for more of the game to set up multiple Tailwinds.

Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind / Quick Guard
- Protect
​

Keldeo is an underappreciated pokemon, (notably by me for a long time. Sorry Nido-Rus ), but it fits this team quite well. Hydro Pump and Secret Sword are essential STABS where Hydro is used for better damage output in Sun and Secret Sword for its reliability. Icy Wind is the third move over Quick Guard or Taunt as I felt it helps more in a tight situation to make Charizard the fastest Pokemon on a free switch and can bypass redirection from Amoonguss to take out a partner.

Conclusion​

The team is really designed to utilize Charizard and Cresselia to their fullest while the remaining Pokemon account for their bad matchups as best they could. Namely the team stacks up on checks to Kangaskhan and Heatran which aid in late game sweeps by either Char Y or Cress. Multiple forms of speed control make the middling speed tiers of these two much more manageable and give a lot of flexibility throughout the game and the general bulk of the team allow many pokemon to take on strong neutral hits when necessary. While it was made late in the generation, I feel this team shows off the potency of the Charizard Y + Cresselia core that has been quite popular in the last few months of ORAS.

shoutouts

Pak I'm pretty sure you tested teams vs this squad a lot and that's when I realized how frustrating double helmet can be.
Croven thanks for popularizing Nasty Plot Deo for me in a seasonal that I did poorly in. That mon is amazing.
talkingtree Yoda2798 thanks for predicting me to do well in seasonals, definitely didn't jinx me...
DrReuniclus Don't leave :(
Shiba I used a cudi song so I tagged you, next team will feature Lapras for sure though.
qsns for losing BSPL and now Sam is making me sleep on the floor at regionals.

Importable

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 112 SpA / 84 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Overheat
- Protect

Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Icy Wind
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight

Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 220 Atk / 36 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn

Aegislash @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 176 SpA / 80 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

Zapdos @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 108 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
- Tailwind

Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Protect

 

[nadando]

hey there, nice team. it's pretty solid all around, but i have a few small tweaks i'd like to recommend.

for aegislash, i'd recommend changing its spread to 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe with a modest nature and 31 speed ivs. this allows it to outspeed max speed thundurus under tailwind. in general i dislike using min speed aegislash since i'd much prefer striking first against opposing aegislash in the case of a mirror match, because aegislash often won't be able to take an opposing shadow ball since it often gets whittled down. i'm not sure what the listed spread does because you never specified, but if you prefer the extra special bulk that's fine. just a nit pick really.

on zapdos i'd change volt switch to thunderbolt. imo thunderbolt is just far more reliable for beating bulkier mons like politoed. whatever momentum volt switch provides probably isn't going to be worth it with its decrease in damage, plus it forces you to switch out if you need to get a 2HKO or something.

finally, i'd change keldeo to terrakion. like many sun teams, you happen to be weak to opposing charizard, which is exaggerated in this case because you are running assault vest landorus (as opposed to scarf) and few fire resists (and neither charizard nor keldeo can dish out meaningful damage to opposing charizard). although terrakion doesn't check opposing landorus like keldeo does, you have plenty of ways to deal with it such as cresselia's icy wind, wide guard aegis, and zapdos' hp ice. terrakion provides an offensive check to kangaskhan and heatran, like you wanted originally, but also deals with charizard. this is the set i'd recommend.

Hide

Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Quick Guard / Taunt
- Protect

hope this helps!

 

[miltankmilk]

hey there, nice team. it's pretty solid all around, but i have a few small tweaks i'd like to recommend.

for aegislash, i'd recommend changing its spread to 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe with a modest nature and 31 speed ivs. this allows it to outspeed max speed thundurus under tailwind. in general i dislike using min speed aegislash since i'd much prefer striking first against opposing aegislash in the case of a mirror match, because aegislash often won't be able to take an opposing shadow ball since it often gets whittled down. i'm not sure what the listed spread does because you never specified, but if you prefer the extra special bulk that's fine. just a nit pick really.

Appreciate the rate. As far as the aegis spread that was from SamVGC and I found it more beneficial for aegis to stick around rather than actually be fast. It's not a bad suggestion its just not what I want to use Aegislash for on this team.

on zapdos i'd change volt switch to thunderbolt. imo thunderbolt is just far more reliable for beating bulkier mons like politoed. whatever momentum volt switch provides probably isn't going to be worth it with its decrease in damage, plus it forces you to switch out if you need to get a 2HKO or something.

I like volt switch here because Zapdos isn't doing good damage anyway. It's here to pivot into physical attackers and then get out, maybe set tailwind first. that's why it has roost as well. Also politoed isn't a hard matchup anyways.
Edit: I slashed tbolt after talking to Deoxys Speed. I still prefer volt switch but I see the merits of tbolt.

finally, i'd change keldeo to terrakion. like many sun teams, you happen to be weak to opposing charizard, which is exaggerated in this case because you are running assault vest landorus (as opposed to scarf) and few fire resists (and neither charizard nor keldeo can dish out meaningful damage to opposing charizard). although terrakion doesn't check opposing landorus like keldeo does, you have plenty of ways to deal with it such as cresselia's icy wind, wide guard aegis, and zapdos' hp ice. terrakion provides an offensive check to kangaskhan and heatran, like you wanted originally, but also deals with charizard. this is the set i'd recommend.

Hide

Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Quick Guard / Taunt
- Protect

hope this helps!

Terrakion is something I could consider, the only thing is Landorus + Terrakion on a team can be very redundant and AV lando isn't that bad a Zard check. Keldeo isn't doing 0 damage with Hydro in sun either.
252 SpA Life Orb Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard Y in Sun: 205-244 (57.1 - 67.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
It's not ohko-ing charY but it's respectable damage.
Not trying to put down your rate because all of the suggestions are reasonable, just the way I play this team is more conducive to the way I built it rather than with the changes suggested.

 

[deoxys speed]

Hi I'm Ryan and this is a team I'm rating at the end of ORAS doubles. I only have one two"major"concern(s) with the team and some comments on set changes/spreads. The one concern I have is that Kang + Hoopa mainly as a lead is really hard for you to deal with and well looking at it again OTR Hoopa + X/Full Room/even Semi-Room gives you a lot of trouble. I'm not sure how to approach fixing the TR issue without changing a lot of your team, against TR lacking Hoopa I think you're fine(but who uses that) as you can stall out turns with Cress/Zapdos and nothing can really break your team except maybe Camerupt I guess? haha. For the lead Kang + Hoopa dilemma I think Quick Guard>Icy Wind Keldeo helps a lot with that forcing the Kang user to think twice before mindlessly clicking Fake Out while you threaten Hoopa with Landorus-T, also helps with Talon and your ability to handle Azu if it gets off a Belly Drum. While we're on Keldeo I think on Sun Scald>Hydro is almost always better as you have to assume Sun will be up so you're not 2HKOing opposing Aegislash etc. etc. and a possible burn is more useful than missing Hydros that won't even do the damage you use Hydro for. Another small change I would make would be to use Thunderbolt>Volt Switch on Zapdos as this really helps you with opposing Zard-Y, Volcanion(especially Sub), Rotom-W etc.

I'd just recommend using the "standard" av Lando spread there's no deep reasoning behind it I just like it more lol take that as you will. At first i thought Aegislash had 80 speed and I was going to recommend using Weakness Policy and Goggles Cress but I just saw Sassy and was like wtf does that spread do so if you could tell me that'd be great. I don't know why you have so much speed on Cress either lol if you could explain that to me I would thoroughly enjoy that as well. Rain match up is kinda ehh but you can definitely play around it, was going to suggest using Hp grass Zapdos until I realized I'm of a select few using Gastrodon and Kyle is the only person using Mega Pert. Overall cool team would have liked to see some replays(especially vs Hoopa) but w/e.

stuff

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 112 SpA / 84 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Overheat
- Protect

Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Icy Wind
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight

Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 156 Atk / 16 Def / 4 SpD / 220 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn

Aegislash @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 176 SpA / 80 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

Zapdos @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 108 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
- Tailwind

Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Quick Guard
- Protect