Introduction to ADV Doubles

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Overview

In Ruby and Sapphire, a new way to battle was introduced: double battles. This new mode, in which each trainer sends out two of their Pokémon at once, makes for dynamic play and unique strategies much different from any singles formats. Of course, you already knew this, with TPCI’s official doubles VGC format existing as early as 2008 in DPP and Smogon’s stake in competitive 6v6 doubles formats being established in BW2. That being said, this leaves ADV Doubles, the first of its kind, as an unexplored and dense jungle of possibilities. Doubles offers a new take on the classic, highly competitive third generation. This format is fluid, fast paced yet durable, and most of all, unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

ADV Doubles Trivia: In Norman's rematch in Emerald, he fights you with two Slaking and a Skill Swap Chansey.

The most distinguishing trait of ADV Doubles is its mechanics. Gen 3 mechanics are unlike those of other doubles formats. Like the noble slice of pizza with little pineapples on it, this is a divisive topic. To some, the format is alien, volatile, and unforgiving. To others, the distinguished explorers of the jungle, kukri in hand, the format is fresh and fluid. The most notable mechanic that will stick out to any doubles player is that when a Pokémon is made to faint, its replacement for that slot is sent out at the same time, on the same turn. What this means in practice is that individual turns here have the potential to have a huge impact on the rest of the game. This also means that poor planning in your mid-turn choices can lead to your opponent snowballing their lead. If you aren't at least a little bit invested in doubles formats, this mechanic may not seem very important. However, this one facet of ADV Doubles is incredibly important for understanding and mastering the tier.

Other notable attributes include every other Gen 3 mechanic you may be familiar with: types being special or physical, no Team Preview, et cetera. Spread moves, as opposed to having 25% damage reduction like in later generations, have a 50% damage reduction when targeting both foes and retain 100% power when they target everything on the field. More specifically; Heat Wave, Surf, and Rock Slide will only do half of their normal damage to each opposing Pokémon, while Earthquake and Explosion will have full, unbridled power against all targets. Additionally, the lack of Team Preview leads to the presence of a lead metagame, uncharacteristic to other commonly played doubles formats. Don’t let all this discourage you, though. It’s not difficult at all to get used to, and eventually excel with, these new parts of the game.

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Notable Threats

Standard Metagross

• Metagross @ Leftovers
• Ability: Clear Body
• EVs: 208 HP / 216 Atk / 48 SpD / 36 Spe
• Adamant Nature
• - Meteor Mash
• - Earthquake / Agility / Rock Slide
• - Explosion
• - Protect

Metagross is the perfect package. It has a colossal Attack stat accompanied by an immunity to Intimidate thanks to Clear Body, making it a fearsome physical attacker in the ADV Doubles metagame. Its great defensive stats are bolstered by a fantastic Steel / Psychic type combination, which means only the strongest Fire-type moves are capable of reliably eliminating it in one blow. As if that weren't enough, Metagross has access to Explosion, which is sure to annihilate anything that isn't either immune or resistant to it.

Metagross fits onto any team, as all of its traits are something that a team would want. Every team should have effective counterplay for opposing Metagross, and addressing it is of utmost priority, lest you allow it to fire off an Explosion. Almost every team uses a Metagross due to the sheer amount of pressure it applies. Even supposed Metagross answers such as Moltres cannot switch into Metagross safely, as they can get nailed by a Rock Slide or Hidden Power Rock. Should you not give Metagross the respect it deserves, you may find yourself down two Pokémon.

ADV Doubles Trivia: The maximum number of Pokémon that can faint in a single turn is seven.

Gengar has a variety of traits that allow it to stand out in ADV Doubles; namely, it's the fastest viable user of Explosion in the metagame, possesses crucial immunities to Earthquake and opposing Explosion, and has a vast kit of offensive and supportive moves from BoltBeam coverage to status moves like Will-O-Wisp and Hypnosis. All of these factors mean Gengar has a place on almost any team and can perform pretty much any role from lead to wallbreaker to status spreader to weather supporter.

These factors also mean that Gengar can soft check pretty much whatever it needs to for a given team, be it with Ice coverage for the likes of Salamence and Zapdos, Taunt for sleep spammers like Breloom and Politoed, and Will-O-Wisp for standout physical attackers such as Metagross and Tyranitar. This extreme flexibility also transfers over to its teammates, as it can fit alongside pretty much anything. Slower teams appreciate Gengar's ability to patch up their lacking speed, while faster teams can add Gengar to form a hyper offensive style of build.

With Deoxys-S, versatility is the name of the game. Its incredibly vast pool of moves allows one to tailor-make it for any team they wish to put it on. If you want to pull in and slam a Tyranitar, you can use Superpower. If you're feeling a bit weak to Salamence or Zapdos, throw on Ice Beam. If you aren't very secure against Calm Mind Suicune or you don't want Rain Dance being set up, Taunt will fix those problems. The list goes on, with some sets utilizing Calm Mind or even an occasional Choice Band.

While having a large range of coverage is great for Deoxys-S, if you aren't hitting something super effectively, you likely aren't hitting it for much damage. Even weaker moves such as Fire Punch, while super effective, will not be hitting Metagross for all that much damage. As a result, when used in one of the lead slots, Deoxys-S pairs best with a Fire-type to threaten lead Metagross effectively. When used outside of the lead slot, Deoxys-S fits on a large number of teams. It functions great as a general speedy threat, as well as being able to threaten any number of Pokémon via its extensive list of moves.

Fire-types

Click on the sprites to reveal the set(s)!

In standard singles, Fire-types are known to be high-risk, high-reward choices for your team, being either somewhat inconsistent or just requiring some finesse to use effectively. However, here in the jungle, forest fires are a real threat. Doubles formats are fundamentally more aggressive, which meshes well with the nuking capabilities of these Fire-types. Furthermore, the ability to more effectively run a weather-based team in general means you can also use sun to spam your favorite Fire-type move with maximum value. Finally, the looming presence of Metagross not only validates the use of Fire-types but also stipulates that the only ones worth a teamslot are those that can actually threaten it (basically anything except Magcargo). The following four are your primary options.

Hailing from Mt. Ember, Moltres is perhaps the most obvious pick. Sporting the strongest possible Fire Blast on your puny Game Boy Advance, the legendary bird disintegrates what it needs to with relative ease. Moltres also offers decent utility with Will-O-Wisp, leaving a mark on whatever it can’t easily take out. While Moltres also has decent bulk, other than that, it doesn’t have much else that interesting going on under the hood. Use Moltres when you want a strong, reliable Fire-type.

Houndoom sports impressive STAB coverage, with decent support options to fill a moveslot in Taunt and Will-O-Wisp. The hellhound is fantastic as a lead to counter the common Metagross + Gengar leads. From the other side of the map, Charizard is also a workable Fire-type. Its fast Substitute in tandem with Blaze allows it to checkmate an unprepared team. Additionally, despite being more frail than Moltres, Charizard sports the bulk to survive a non-STAB Thunderbolt from the likes of Gengar and Deoxys-S so that it can OHKO them back with a Blaze-boosted Fire Blast. When faced with a well-positioned Charizard, this single attribute forces the opponent to do one of two things; either figure out how to play around it or learn through experience.

Much like the famous Madara Uchiha from the Naruto series, Blaziken can move mountains. Use Blaziken when you want to counter an opposing Tyranitar. This works especially well on a sun team, but it fits well on any team that struggles with Tyranitar. Sporting the same ability as its Kantonian competitor, Blaziken can also run a Salac Berry to aid its middling Speed. Having probably the most interesting movepool of the four, Blaziken can also run Thunder Punch for the likes of Gyarados. Or, if your opponent also read this far in the article, you can run Rock Slide for opposing Fire-types. Keep in mind that your team doesn't require a Fire-type to function. They are simply potential options for the Trainer who prefers an aggressive playstyle.

Water-types

Click on the sprites to reveal the set(s)!

When exploring the jungle, you must not get dehydrated. With wildfires at their peak and with Metagross looming over the trees, Water-types provide a needed answer to both. With rain teams being fantastic versus offensive teams as a whole, Water-types provide both stalwart defense and devastating offense. Water-types are also very difficult to remove in one blow, barring through STAB Electic-type attacks or an Explosion. Due to Generation 3 mechanics, Surf does not hit your teammate; however, it is also greatly weakened due to spread moves being cut by 50% on each target. For that reason, bulkier Water-types such as defensive Milotic and Swampert tend to utilize the more reliable but weaker Surf, and more offensive Water-types such as offensive Ludicolo and Vaporeon tend to stick with Hydro Pump.

With Grass-type Pokémon and moves being few and far between, Swampert naturally finds a place to shine. Pokémon such as Deoxys-S, Gengar, and Zapdos tend to stick with Electric + Ice as their coverage, since it hits most Pokémon in the metagame for good damage. This is precisely what makes Swampert so good: strong offensive threats have to hit Swampert with their weak, non-STAB moves, or they have to use otherwise inferior options to deal with it. Earthquake hitting the entire field for full power is also a massive boon. In a similar vein as a bulky Water, Vaporeon is fantastic at dealing with rain teams thanks to Water Absorb. Kingdra and Omastar cannot touch it at all, leaving Vaporeon free to wail on them, while coverage Thunderbolts such as those from Deoxys-S and Gengar do not do a massive amount of damage, allowing Vaporeon to eat a hit and apply a massive amount of pressure in return.

Ludicolo, however, has more options. Its impressive defensive typing makes it incredibly obnoxious to check offensively, as OHKOing it is nearly impossible without a STAB Hidden Power Flying or an Explosion. Being incredibly hard to take out coupled with learning Fake Out makes Ludicolo destined for greatness in doubles, and when it's used as an offensive rain sweeper, its coverage also makes it difficult to check defensively: Fake Out as a fantastic support option, Hidden Power Grass for chunking opposing Water-types, your Water-type move of choice, Protect to defend itself from Explosion, Ice Beam to deal with Salamence, Rain Dance to set up for its team, and Leech Seed to pester the opponent to no end. However, in practice, Ludicolo's four-moveslot syndrome means it will be checked based off what moves it lacks, and it suffers due to its middling unboosted Special Attack stat.

Dewgong is not like the other Water-types on this list. Dewgong is purely a support Pokémon, but it is very good at that job. Due to Encore being able to last up to 6 turns in Generation 3, a slower foe struggles to ever click Protect safely when you have a Dewgong on the field. The spread speed control Icy Wind provides is fantastic, and Fake Out is great for neutralizing a move from your opponent. The combination of Encore, Icy Wind, and Fake Out is one only accessible by Dewgong, giving it a solid niche. However, Dewgong does not do much damage with any move it uses, which stipulates that it can be dead weight without some proper finesse.

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Lead Metagame Section

One of the most creative things about teambuilding in ADV Doubles is designing an effective lead. The first two Pokémon in your party will always be the first two sent out, so it's important to design a core that either puts on pressure from the start or enables a safe setup for partners in the back. Some examples of leads and the thought processes behind them can be found below.

It should come as no surprise that Metagross and Gengar, the two best Pokémon in the metagame, form the most common lead with a swath of options. Either Pokémon has the ability to use Explosion, which puts any slower leads on the back foot immediately, as they will have to play around the possibility of one of your Pokémon going boom. Even outside of Explosion, the duo is extremely powerful and has the capability to dish out devastating early-game damage to the likes of Deoxys-S, Tyranitar, Salamence, Swampert, and Zapdos. Gengar's ability to spread status, such as burn on opposing Metagross or Swampert and Hypnosis on Fire-types like Moltres and Houndoom, can also create safe openings for Metagross to repeatedly launch multiple devastating Meteor Mashes.

The combination of Deoxys-S and Houndoom, known as DeoDoom, is one of the best lead combinations for putting pressure on the above Metagross and Gengar core with a fast Psychic and Flamethrower, able to OHKO each of their desired targets. The two also have an amazing Speed tier together and will typically have the Speed advantage against most other leads as a result. This typically forces switches, which they can capitalize on with their amazing combined coverage. For instance, a Tyranitar looking to switch in and nullify Deoxys-S's Psychic could be taking a Superpower to the face on the following turn for an OHKO.

Rain is a deceptively strong playstyle in ADV Doubles, as the many Swift Swim users including Kingdra, Ludicolo, and Omastar are able to quickly decimate teams without multiple Pokémon with a resistance to Water. However, as there are no legal Pokémon with Drizzle in the metagame, rain has to resort to manual Rain Dance users to get going. The simplest and safest way to do this is through the lead to establish early-game momentum, paired with a Fake Out user to buy the rain setter some time. Hariyama and Kingdra have the benefit of being a bit bulkier than Ludicolo and Gengar, though the latter pair has a greater offensive presence, with the ability to threaten an Explosion to get another rain sweeper onto the field quickly and outspeed base 100s such as Zapdos and Salamence.

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Conclusion

ADV Doubles is unlike any oldgen and unlike any doubles format. If you made it to the end of this article, you have my thanks. Now, your journey has just begun! I have now equipped you with the proper gear to explore this dense jungle. Check out this thread for sample teams. You can play this format whenever it is available on the PS! Ruins of Alph spotlight ladders or by asking for a game in the RoA room.

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