Game of Terrains: Tapus in DOU

By talkingtree.
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Introduction

Four of the most prominent additions to Doubles in Generation 7, the island guardians of Alola brought four new abilities that took Terrains from being a niche gimmick in XY Doubles to a cornerstone of SM Doubles games. Terrains are a temporary field effect similar to weather conditions, Trick Room, and Tailwind that changes the potency of various moves for grounded Pokémon and provides an additional secondary effect that varies between the four that are available. Similarly to the weather wars in Generation 5, Terrains are set and reset by the entrance of one of the island guardians onto the battlefield, and controlling which is active at any given time can decide the match. These ubiquitous field effects and their summoners can be difficult to navigate at first, but this article should help you, the reader, get started.

Tapu Fini | Misty Terrain

Tapu Fini

Misty Terrain, summoned by Tapu Fini's Misty Surge, weakens Dragon-type moves against grounded Pokémon to half their original strength. Far more valuable, however, is the protection it gives grounded Pokémon from status of any kind. This reduces the effectiveness of moves like Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave while also helping to keep sleep inducers such as Bronzong and Amoonguss in check. Tapu Fini commonly runs some variation of the following set:

With this set, Tapu Fini is able to switch in and set up on a variety of threats in the Doubles metagame including Heatran, Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Milotic. Muddy Water provides spread damage and a chance for accuracy drops, while Moonblast defeats Dragon-types, whose STAB moves are weakened by Misty Terrain. Calm Mind improves Tapu Fini's otherwise disappointing damage output, and Protect, a staple in the Doubles metagame, stalls for Leftovers recovery, allows Tapu Fini to safely scout a foe's moves, and shields it from damage while a teammate takes on a threat. Other support moves including Heal Pulse and Haze also see some usage in place of Calm Mind.

One of the more common ways to take advantage of Tapu Fini's presence on a team is the usage of Misty Seed, which raises the holder's Special Defense one stage if Misty Terrain is set. Zapdos is by far the most common user of Misty Seed, as its Tailwind support set improves Tapu Fini's middling Speed and Zapdos gains a ton of longevity with the stat boost while defeating the bulky Water-types that give Tapu Fini trouble. However, almost any Pokéon can benefit from Misty Seed, as Hoopa-U, Zygarde, and Ferrothorn have already been shown to be decently effective. A more offensive approach to taking advantage of Misty Terrain involves Tapu Fini using Swagger on a teammate to provide them with a +2 Attack boost, as the confusion effect is prevented. Tyranitar, Snorlax, and the aforementioned Hoopa-U and Zygarde are all decent partners to such a set.

Tapu Lele | Psychic Terrain

Tapu Lele

Tapu Lele's ability Psychic Surge causes Psychic Terrain, which powers up the Psychic-type moves of grounded Pokémon by a factor of 1.5. This alone would be enough for Tapu Lele to rise to prominence, making its Psychic incredibly strong and strengthening the STAB moves of many potential teammates. However, Psychic Terrain also shields grounded Pokémon from priority moves, including status moves from Pokémon with Prankster. This abrupt stop to priority moves made moves like Sucker Punch on Kangaskhan and Extreme Speed on Deoxys-A, which were nearly guaranteed last generation, far less valuable. Although Tapu Lele is quite versatile in terms of item and move usage, here's one of its most potent and common sets:

Psychic and Moonblast provide Tapu Lele with two incredibly strong STAB attacks, with Psychic as its main attack due to the power boost it receives and Moonblast covering any potential Dark-type switch-ins. Taunt prevents any non-attacking shenanigans from the opposition and is valuable on this set due to its poor distribution. With a Life Orb, Psychic is incredibly strong and at worst 2HKOes a large majority of the metagame. Many aspects of Tapu Lele's set are quite customizable, with Choice Scarf, Sitrus Berry, and Z-Crystal sets all proving to be viable. On these sets and the aforementioned Life Orb set, additional moves including Psyshock, Thunderbolt, Focus Blast, Hidden Power Ground, Nature's Madness, and Dazzling Gleam all have some utility.

Tapu Lele teams tend to be quite offensive in nature, as the prevention of priority attacks greatly helps frail teammates and the boost to Psychic-type moves makes Psychic spam archetypes viable. Deoxys-A appreciates both forms of support from Psychic Terrain, as it takes advantage of the power boost to destroy most foes with a Psycho Boost and enjoys security from Mega Kangaskhan, Azumarill, and various Fake Out users that threaten to break its Focus Sash or land a KO. Mega Metagross also benefits from a stronger Zen Headbutt and safety from Sucker Punch. While less common, benefiting defensively from Psychic Terrain is possible through the usage of Psychic Seed, which boosts the Special Defense of the holder if Psychic Terrain is active. Milotic is the only common user of Psychic Seed, using the boost to become a solid special wall that deters Intimidate users and Icy Wind with its Competitive ability.

Tapu Koko | Electric Terrain

Tapu Koko

Static electricity gets new life in the form of Electric Terrain, set by Tapu Koko's ability Electric Surge. The field condition makes Electric-type attacks from grounded Pokémon 1.5x stronger while preventing them from falling asleep. Though the secondary effect is simply a watered-down Misty Terrain, the power boost granted greatly increases the viability of Electric-type coverage moves from various teammates. Generally speaking, Tapu Koko should be running a set similar to this:

Thunderbolt is by far Tapu Koko's strongest attack, as without the 1.5x boost granted by Electric Terrain, its base 95 Special Attack leaves Tapu Koko a bit weak. Hidden Power Ice covers Ground-type switch-ins to Thunderbolt including Landorus-T and Zygarde, as well as nailing Mega Salamence. Dazzling Gleam provides spread damage and the ability to take on Mega Salamence + redirection, while Volt Switch turns Tapu Koko into a speedy pivot. Although Tapu Koko's movepool isn't enormous, it does have a few alternate options in Taunt, Thunder (for use on rain teams), Nature's Madness, and Brave Bird. Assault Vest and Electrium Z sets have been shown to be decent, albeit slightly weak without the boost provided by Life Orb. Nature Power gets a special mention for its mechanics, changing dependent on the terrain; Thunderbolt in Electric Terrain, Moonblast in Misty Terrain, Psychic in Psychic Terrain, and Energy Ball in Grassy Terrain are all possibilities, thus giving Tapu Koko plentiful coverage all in one moveslot. Typically used in conjuction with Tapu Fini to give Tapu Koko access to Moonblast, the move is also sometimes accompanied by Normalium Z for a variable nuke.

Though most teammates appreciate the prevention of sleep, some also take advantage of the Electric-type boost by running coverage moves far more viably than they otherwise could. The most potent example is Fusion Bolt Kyurem-B, a Pokémon that suffers from lack of reliable physical attacks to take advantage of its massive base 170 Attack. With the boost from Electric Terrain, it's as if Kyurem-B has an additional STAB that allows it to defeat bulky Water-types with ease. An Electric Seed is available, but it's not often used, as few teammates both synergize well with Tapu Koko and need the Defense boost the item provides.

Tapu Bulu | Grassy Terrain

Tapu Bulu

Grassy Terrain might bring to mind images of a peaceful meadow, but Tapu Bulu itself is far from peaceful, with its Grassy Surge summoning a field effect that grants Grass-type moves 1.5x their original power, which, when combined with a high base Attack and the 120-Base Power Wood Hammer, makes Tapu Bulu quite difficult to wall. Grassy Terrain also grants grounded Pokémon with recovery equal to Leftovers and halves the damage of some Ground-type moves, most notably Earthquake. Tapu Bulu has a number of decent sets, but the most consistent of them is listed below:

Despite lacking access to a physical Fairy-type STAB move, Tapu Bulu gets along just fine with two Grass-type moves. Wood Hammer is its primary move, dealing tons of damage to even those that resist it, while Horn Leech is still decently strong and heals potential recoil damage taken from using Wood Hammer. Superpower, Stone Edge, and Nature's Madness are all decent picks for this Assault Vest set. Superpower is Tapu Bulu's strongest move against Mega Kangaskhan, Ferrothorn, and Heatran, Stone Edge nails Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona due to Tapu Bulu's ability to survive their Heat Wave, and Nature's Madness chips foes into range of a variety of attacks without the drawbacks from Wood Hammer or Superpower, preventing Tapu Bulu from being useless against Aegislash, Amoonguss, or Celesteela, among others. Life Orb, Meadow Plate, and Grassium Z sets also have merit on Tapu Bulu, most notably providing extra power and the ability to use Protect and status moves such as Taunt or Substitute. However, they are far more susceptible to being worn down, whereas this set can act as an answer to most opposing island guardians.

Of all the possible partners to Tapu Bulu, none synergize quite as well as Substitute Heatran. Grassy Terrain allows Heatran to heal off Substitute damage more quickly and take Earthquake as if it were holding a Shuca Berry every turn. Tapu Bulu handles Water- and Fighting-types for Heatran, while Heatran takes on most threatening Flying-, Poison-, Fire-, Ice-, and Steel-types with ease. However, all Ground-weak or setup oriented Pokémon appreciate the defensive support of Tapu Bulu. Due to Tapu Bulu's middling Speed, it greatly appreciates some form of speed control, be it Tailwind or Trick Room. With the given investment, Tapu Bulu outspeeds uninvested Milotic but underspeeds most threats in Trick Room, and it outspeeds the vast majority of the unboosted metagame in Tailwind. Grassy Seed users are few and far between, but one decent holder is Calm Mind Stored Power Necrozma, which uses the extra boost to stay healthy and power up its only attack.

Get Out There!

Hopefully this article has brought to light some of the mechanics, Pokémon, and teambuilds associated with the primary change to Doubles this generation. With all your new knowledge, get out there and try some of these Pokémon for yourself! Terrains, Seeds, and the island guardians are still relatively new and unexplored, so get creative with it.

Art by Shaymoo | HTML by Dominatio
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