SM Doubles OU Mega Diancie Aggro

[Hitagi]

Introduction​

Hey. I used to play DOU a few years ago, from gen 4 to ORAS. Stopped due to school stuff and now I'm back. I wanted to build with MKang, my favorite Pokemon, but since he's banned now I went for MDiancie, my second favorite Pokemon.

Teambuilding Process​

Hide

Obviously, as I wanted to build with MDiancie. Set is standard, right out of the dex.

Volcarona was next because it's also one of my favorite mons from back in the days. Heat Wave with Diamond Storm is retarded and provides good coverage. Giga Drain helps against pesky water types. Quiver Dance felt good here because having Diancie, KyuB and Thundurus out more often than not served as a "soft Follow Me", and enabled an easy setup.

Genesect stacks bug typing but steel is too good to pass up. Acts as a very solid lead alongside all of my Pokemon and basically gets a free move against Lando-T on the lead. Gunk Shot over Flamethrower because Fairy types are cancer.

KyuB rounds out an offensive Fairy Dragon Steel core and provides additional coverage with Earth Power and Fusion Bolt. Even though KyuB's coverage ended up "redundant" by the rest of the team, I find that it pays off as its teammates won't be using the same type moves as KyuB, when both are out. More importantly than coverage, KyuB is a powerful wall breaker and the good moveset allows me to keep him in the field for long periods of time and spam moves, setting up for Diancie of Volcarona.

Rotom-W helps as a solid switch in against the stuff my other mons cant do properly, like Rock Slide and S-Edge. While not optimal, he can tank these moves and force a switch, stealing momentum for me. Additionally, I can catch random things with WoW on the switch, helping out Genesect and KyuB with switches. Also, the damage is more helpful than it seems against stuff like Celesteela and Cresselia.

Lastly, Thundurus rounds it out as an answer to fast sweepers that can kill my stuff and a soft Trick Room check. Its move set hurts pretty much everything and is spammable, making him a good fit for this team.

The Team

Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 28 HP / 140 Atk / 68 SpA / 20 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Protect
​

My starting point. I like mons that can stay on the field and just be a nuisance. Diamond Storm is a retarded move, as it is ludicrously efficient. The Def buff helps more than it seems at face value and the move does solid damage. Earth Power and Moonblast are basically just coverage, even though Moonblast is STAB. The set was taken straight out of the dex and may not be optimal.

Volcarona @ Firium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
- Protect
​

Volcarona makes a very solid mid to late game duo with Diancie. Heat Wave + Diamond Storm is outrageously good and can 2HKO stuff like Tapu Fini with good rolls. Giga Drain rounds the coverage out, serving primarily to fuck over Tapu Fini and other water types. Quiver Dance is better than it seems here because this team is packed full with threats that can serve as a "soft Follow Me", attracting attention to them and enabling a free Quiver Dance. I really like Firium Z as the item as it allows me to snipe stuff on the switch that I normally would have trouble killing. This serves as a "fuck off button" that immediately captures momentum for me.

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 164 Atk / 92 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot
​

Scarf Genesect rounds out the team's lead, which is very important. Even though this team has very solid leads for all matchups, Genesect gives a free turn versus things like Landorust-T or PsySpam leads, enabling its partner on the field. Secondarily, Genesect is a solid switch in to things and a good spammer. I use Gunk Shot over Flamethrower because I'm not really worried about Celesteela and other Steels when I have so many wall breakers in a team.

Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 112 HP / 144 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Protect
​

KyuB rounds out a Fairy Dragon Steel defensive core and enables a bunch of pivots, being a bulky dragon type. Lorb set enables KyuB to stay for a few turns and spam moves to snipe low health mons or chunk walls. Even though there's a lot of overlap with Kyurem-B's moves and the rest of the team's, it works out fine because more often than not they won't be using the same type of move together.

Rotom-Wash @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 76 SpA / 68 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
​

Rotom-W is my "fuck off" button to physical attackers and some steels. Like KyuB, Rotom-W is a solid pivot and covers Diancie/Volcarona decently. However, the offensive capability is traded off for better switch in capabilities and more risk, due do Hydro Pump always missing. I run Wiki Berry instead of Leftovers because leaving out Rotom-W on the field happens infrequently. He just tanks a hit and forces a switch 80% of the time, giving me momentum and an opportunity to kill something with my attackers. Works really well when it does but is sometimes underwhelming.

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave
​

Thundurus finishes out the team with Taunt and Thunder Wave, being a soft check to Trick Room and shutting down fast attackers. This gives me momentum with forced switches. Thunderbolt + HP Ice and Lorb is the classic spam set, as Thundurus is also a potent wall breaker, forcing all Water and Flying types out of the field. Overall a good pokemon on the lead and when substituting a fallen Pokemon, but not good on the switches, making him a risky one to use, but never a dead weight, because his moves are just that strong in most situations.

Conclusion​

Not much else to say barring what I already mentioned. All the EVs are either the obvious choice or taken straight out of th dex, so they may not be optimal. As for weaknesses, the Rain and Trick Room matchup require tons of tricky maneuvering and a good opponent will win most of the time. Rock Slide spam fucks me over if it gets going, but can be dealt with so long as I dont get flinched or critted. Because most matchups rely on one or two key Pokemon to do their thing, a careful opponent that predicts correctly once or twice will see himself in big advantage. Even though this team has good ways of gaining and attaining momentum from a stalemate position, it's really shit from behind. Overall, I'm happy with the team and it's a good throwback from when I used to play, beign super duper fun to win with.

As for improvements, I'm hoping for ways to make the team's core plan of just killing shit and holding momentum with solid switches and attackers more consistent, without outright turning the team into bulky offense. For that I was thinking of slapping Volcanion somewhere and replacing Rotom-W with something else, but I'm not sure and my experimentation gave me unsatisfactory results, as the team begun to lean more into bulky offense than anything.

Importable

Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 28 HP / 140 Atk / 68 SpA / 20 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Protect

Volcarona @ Firium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
- Protect

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 164 Atk / 92 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot

Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 112 HP / 144 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Protect

Rotom-Wash @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 76 SpA / 68 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave

 

[Yuichi]

Hi, nice team you've got there. Big Diancie fan here as well.

A few issues i noticed at first glance was the lack of answers to Trick Room and also how this team struggles with fatter stuff such as CM Mega Latias, CM Cresselia, Chansey...etc. The lack of a Defog user on such a team also makes it hard for Volcarona to function to its fullest potential due to the prevalence of Stealth Rocks in the current DOU metagame.

As such, allow me to propose the following changes to the team.

Major changes:
Genesect -> Kartana

Click me!

Kartana @ Figy Berry
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 68 Atk / 248 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Tailwind
- Protect

This change might feel weird to you for a couple of reasons since changing Genesect to Kartana here worsens your Zygarde/Lando-T/M Gross matchup by quite a bit but hear me out on this one. Kartana is really important on this team thanks to its ability to break Chansey with Sacred Sword while also being able to provide speed control for the team with Tailwind, which this team lacks. Kartana also helps improve the Rain matchup slightly thanks to its defensive typing.

Rotom-W -> Milotic

Click me!

Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover
- Protect

Milotic over Rotom-W here gives you a significantly better matchup against fatstuffs and setup sweepers with Toxic while acting as a better Lando-T/Incineroar deterrent compared to Rotom-W. It is also a significantly better switch-in and Rain check thanks to its better overall bulk and Recover allowing it to stay on the field for prolonged periods of time without needing to switch out.

Thundurus -> Tapu Koko

Click me!

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Defog
- Protect

Thundurus also isnt really as good as it used to be in Gen 7 due to Prankster and Thunder Wave nerf and Tapu Koko is just a better Thundurus in every sense; being faster, hitting harder, providing Sleep Immunity etc.. you name it. However, it also has access to Defog, which Thundurus doesn't. Defog is really important for helping get rid of Stealth Rocks which can really stop Volcarona from doing its job well on teams like this.

Minor changes:
LO Kyu-B -> AV

Click me!

Kyurem-Black @ Assault Vest
Ability: Teravolt
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 140 HP / 120 Def / 116 SpA / 72 SpD / 60 Spe
Brave Nature
- Ice Beam
- Icy Wind
- Fusion Bolt
- Dragon Tail

By changing Kyurem's item from LO to AV, Kyurem can now have an easier time checking Zygarde and Lando-T as it can switch in more frequently thanks to the improved bulk. Having AV also allows Kyurem to run Dragon Tail as the fourth move without having to give up its STAB or Fusion Bolt, allowing it to act as a phazer and improve the matchup against Trick Room teams and setup sweepers.

Earth Power -> Substitute on Diancie

Click me!

Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 188 Atk / 68 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Substitute
- Protect

Earth Power doesn't really hit anything significant other than Mega Metagross, which is risky anyways since it is a 50/50 most of the time that M Gross dont mind going for as Earth Power cannot OHKO M Gross. Substitute is more useful as it allows Diancie to stall out field effects such as Trick Room and Tailwind or stay in the field and buy turns against threats such as Mega Metagross and Tapu Bulu while its teammates help get rid of the said threat. The EVs in bulk can now also be put into Atk, giving Diancie a 98% chance of 2HKOing Incineroar with Diamond Storm after an Intimidate.

Thats all I have for now, feel free to reach out if you have any doubts to clarify!

 

[Hitagi]

Hi, nice team you've got there. Big Diancie fan here as well.

A few issues i noticed at first glance was the lack of answers to Trick Room and also how this team struggles with fatter stuff such as CM Mega Latias, CM Cresselia, Chansey...etc. The lack of a Defog user on such a team also makes it hard for Volcarona to function to its fullest potential due to the prevalence of Stealth Rocks in the current DOU metagame.

As such, allow me to propose the following changes to the team.

Major changes:
Genesect -> Kartana

Click me!

Kartana @ Figy Berry
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 68 Atk / 248 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Tailwind
- Protect

This change might feel weird to you for a couple of reasons since changing Genesect to Kartana here worsens your Zygarde/Lando-T/M Gross matchup by quite a bit but hear me out on this one. Kartana is really important on this team thanks to its ability to break Chansey with Sacred Sword while also being able to provide speed control for the team with Tailwind, which this team lacks. Kartana also helps improve the Rain matchup slightly thanks to its defensive typing.

Rotom-W -> Milotic

Click me!

Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover
- Protect

Milotic over Rotom-W here gives you a significantly better matchup against fatstuffs and setup sweepers with Toxic while acting as a better Lando-T/Incineroar deterrent compared to Rotom-W. It is also a significantly better switch-in and Rain check thanks to its better overall bulk and Recover allowing it to stay on the field for prolonged periods of time without needing to switch out.

Thundurus -> Tapu Koko

Click me!

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Defog
- Protect

Thundurus also isnt really as good as it used to be in Gen 7 due to Prankster and Thunder Wave nerf and Tapu Koko is just a better Thundurus in every sense; being faster, hitting harder, providing Sleep Immunity etc.. you name it. However, it also has access to Defog, which Thundurus doesn't. Defog is really important for helping get rid of Stealth Rocks which can really stop Volcarona from doing its job well on teams like this.

Minor changes:
LO Kyu-B -> AV

Click me!

Kyurem-Black @ Assault Vest
Ability: Teravolt
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 140 HP / 120 Def / 116 SpA / 72 SpD / 60 Spe
Brave Nature
- Ice Beam
- Icy Wind
- Fusion Bolt
- Dragon Tail

By changing Kyurem's item from LO to AV, Kyurem can now have an easier time checking Zygarde and Lando-T as it can switch in more frequently thanks to the improved bulk. Having AV also allows Kyurem to run Dragon Tail as the fourth move without having to give up its STAB or Fusion Bolt, allowing it to act as a phazer and improve the matchup against Trick Room teams and setup sweepers.

Earth Power -> Substitute on Diancie

Click me!

Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 188 Atk / 68 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Substitute
- Protect

Earth Power doesn't really hit anything significant other than Mega Metagross, which is risky anyways since it is a 50/50 most of the time that M Gross dont mind going for as Earth Power cannot OHKO M Gross. Substitute is more useful as it allows Diancie to stall out field effects such as Trick Room and Tailwind or stay in the field and buy turns against threats such as Mega Metagross and Tapu Bulu while its teammates help get rid of the said threat. The EVs in bulk can now also be put into Atk, giving Diancie a 98% chance of 2HKOing Incineroar with Diamond Storm after an Intimidate.

Thats all I have for now, feel free to reach out if you have any doubts to clarify!

Wow, thanks for the help. Seems that most fixes were due to meta concerns, that feels good. Wondering how does AV help switch-in LandoT and Zygarde when they're both physical attackers?

On a side note, this meta is seems at least weird compared to previous gens. Having to consider Chansey and SR as worries in DOU is pretty jarring for me; feels like I'm doing something wrong. Compared to this, running Kartana is the least weird thing!

 

[Level 51]

Wow, thanks for the help. Seems that most fixes were due to meta concerns, that feels good. Wondering how does AV help switch-in LandoT and Zygarde when they're both physical attackers?

I think Yuichii was referring to the idea that an AV improves Kyu-B's bulk so that it has an easier time switching in in general, such that when the time comes for it to come in to check Lando-T or Zygarde it actually has enough HP left to do so!