Celebi and the two dragons
Hi, I have beeen playing VGC for awhile now and recently decided to starting trying out the smogon doubles ladder. I stumbled upon a thread about testing the usefulness of Celebi,Mew, and Keldeo in doubles battle and decided that Celebi would be my first choice. I tried it out in a more attacking role on a Sand team and then a similar role on a nonweather team with limited success. Finally I gave in and made my first ever rain team. I ran the team the first time under the alt Testing Bi and peaked at around 1940, then came back to it a few days later under the alt Drakeyyyyy. I started off poorly 3-3 but made slight tweaks and went on a 23-1 run to finish 26-4 at this time (While I've been making this I have been playing with the team so its currently at 2094)
Heres a very quick recap of the team building thought process:
Clearly the first member had to be Celebi. Obviously the biggest problem Celebi has is its high number of weaknesses so my next choice had to be
Politoed. Weather is such a dominate force in doubles and Celebi doesnt like residual damage while sun would only increase the damage it took from stray HP fires therefore toed was the only logical choice.
Kingdra was next inline for obvious reasons. Swift swim to abuse the rain and give me a fast attacker. I had decided to use celebi and toed both in a supporting role so I knew I needed something that could hit fast.
The spinning top was next in line. I wanted fake out support and intimidate support and it provides both as well as giving me nice coverage moves.
Gastrodon was next in line. I wanted a second option to take on Thundurus spamming Twave/Tbolt and with access to storm drain and great bulk it was an obivous choice.
Hydreigon was the final late addition. I have tried a few other pokes in this spot but none have been as effective. He gave me excellent coverage and I wanted something else that could hit like a truck.
Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0Atk / 0 Spd
- Scald
- Protect
- Icy Wind
- Helping Hand
Politoed is naturally the first choice on a rain team and not much can be said about the toed that hasnt already been pointed out. I opted to run a defensive toed with scald being the main stab hoping for burns while using icy wind for speed control. Protect is obligatory in doubles and helping hand is chosen out in the last spot. It helps Hydreigon to nab a few kills after a Draco Meteor drops and helps boost the power of muddy water from Kingdra/Gastro. Relaxed and 0 speed to try and underspeed other weather inducers and with his bulk speed is not necessary.
Celebi @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SDef / 36 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Helping Hand
- Thunder Wave
- Leaf Storm
- Protect
The idea behind this team was to find a successful role for Celebi in the doubles metagame. Although Cresselia is the king of bulky psychics Celebi has one trick up its sleeve Cress doesn't, STAB Leaf Storm. I ran a Spdef Celebi and it tanks nearly everything thrown at it including Kyurem Blizzards Dragon Gem Meteors from Latios/Hydreigon and even Hurricanes from the odd Tornadus-T. Thunder wave is hugely helpful and allows Hydreigon to perform to his full potential while helping hand is used again as I felt without any investment in attack it was better of helping a partner that throwing around weak psychics or earth powers. Leaf Storm is the entire reason to use Celebi as it allows rain teams to break through their most annoying hindrances namely Rotom-W and Gastrodon. I considered replacing protect with earth power but opted not to although you may consider it as with the great bulk it has proect doesnt see much use. Sitrus Berry is the opted item complimenting Celebis great bulk, it has too many weaknesses to really pick out a defensive berry and leftovers doesnt benefit as much IMO. If you want a longer write up on the Pros/Cons of running Celebi check out this thread
Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Toxic
- Stockpile
- Muddy Water
Gastrodon completes my supporting core. Its a stalling set that has been hugely successful for doubles and I would say this is the most underrated threat in doubles. Letting him get up 2 Stockpiles is just criminal and at 3 with recover is incredibly hard to break through. Luckily since most people dont see his potention the focus on his partner giving him a free chance to set up. Toxic is used for stall wars, while recover is used to heal up along with leftovers. Muddy water is the chosen stab and hits very hard after a Storm Drain boost or two. With very few teams running grass attackers most players rely on HP grass to hit gastro who laughs that off from most attackers and recovers off the damage while boosting up. He works very well taking thunderbolt for toed and thunder waves from thundurus and anyone trying to use water back against me just boosts up his attack.
Kingdra @ Leftovers
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 40 HP / 240 SAtk / 228 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Substitute
- Muddy Water
- Dragon Pulse
Kingdra is the start of my three attackers boosting his speed in the rain to stupid levels with swift swim. Substitute was the first move I wanted on the set letting it laugh as other dragons tried to spam meteors at it only to watch their SpA drop for 25% of his health. Protect was second on the list maximizing his leftover potential and allowing it to stall out threats that have been poisoned by gastro until he feels safe to take them down. Muddy Water was again the chosen water move in hopes of an accuracy drop while dragon pulse is the dragon stab. The weaker dragon pulse doesnt have quite the wallbreaking strength of DMeteor however I didnt want Kingdra to become a sitting duck behind a sub and at -2 SpA. If needed it can get a boost from HH from Celebi/Toed to help break through pokemon that it wont hit hard enough. Kingdras real purpose here is to slowly drop opponents HP with muddy water and not to be the main wallbreaker. The second benefit to Sub/Protect kingdra is it allows it to be the Kingdra/Rachi follow me pair giving my partner free time to set up or take care of Jirachi.
Hitmontop (M) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Fake Out
- Wide Guard
Hitmontop was next on the list and although everyone knows what to expect from him by now it is still a serious threat and dishes out some big damage to unsuspecting foes. Fake out + Intimidate support is the main reason to use this set allowing Kingdra to get a sub off at the start of the match without rain up or allowing Celebi to Twave a faster threat. Fighting gem CC hits like a truck and can catch people offguard with its power blasting through Genesect and the annoying Whimsitroll. I originally ran sucker punch however dropped it when I picked hydreigon and felt stone edge gives me much more cover. It OHKOs volcarona who always tries to set up first turn (Seriously why do people quiver dance without knowing the set Top is running?) and hits other flying types such as Thundurus and Togekiss for good damage. Wide guard is the last move on the set protecting from dis/quake spammers and my team doesnt really fear Rock Slide or Heat Wave.
Hydreigon (M) @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Earth Power
- Protect
Hydreigon was the final member of this team. I originally had Latios in this spot when it peaked at 1940 however I found with Celebi running Twave the extra speed was negligible and Hydreigon gave me better coverage. Dragon gem Draco meteor is the biggets single threat this team has and it takes care of many "semi bulky" mons. Dark pulse is the second stab only resisted by a handful of regular pokemon in doubles. Earth power is the final move and the entire point of running it is to hit Follow Me Jirachi harder. Fire Blast only does around 25% in the rain while Earth Power lets me 3hko or 2hko factoring in Helping Hand. It also hits Metagross harder in the rain and is my only ground attack on the team.
Conclusion:
I had alot of fun with this team and will continue to use it for a little longer but I figured I would post it up in case someone else wants to try it out. I wasn't a big fan of Celebi at the start but he grew on me and I really don't think any other bulky psychic could do his job for this team without replacing 2-3 more members. If you chose to use this team you will probably want to find better EV spreads. I went with much more standard ones as this team was more about finding out how Celebi could be used in a team and didn't change them for specific threats
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