Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
Big thanks to Jolly Togekiss ^-^ for this fantastic artwork! What is Doubles UU?
Doubles UU, sometimes abbreviated as DUU or just UU in the context of Doubles, is exactly what it sounds like. It's a Doubles metagame in which the pokemon in Doubles OU by usage are banned.
Where can I play it?
You can find a game on the showdown ladder, by selecting Doubles UU under S/V Doubles formats. Alternatively, you can ask for a game in the doubles room on showdown, where you can battle more experienced players.
The DUU Circuit will consist of the following tournaments:
Swiss Tour
Seasonal
"Last Chance" Tour
This all concludes with the DUU Invitational, during which the Top 8 players based on Circuit Points earned through the year will duke it out for the cash prize. 1st place will receive $75, and second place will receive $25, in American Dollars. A breakdown of how many points can be earned via each tournament is below.
Swiss Tournament: The Swiss Kickoff tournament will be a swiss-style tournament with 4 rounds of Swiss. Everyone that finishes 2-2 or better in the Swiss portion will qualify for the top cut, which is single elimination seeded based on the Swiss results
Seasonal: The Seasonal will be a double elimination tournament, with the number of rounds determined by the amount of signups.
Last Chance Tournament: The last chance tournament will be a single elimination style tournament, with the number of rounds decided by signups.
Below is the schedule for the 2024 Doubles UU Circuit. Start dates are for Round 1, not signups, which are usually 1 week prior. Length of tournaments are estimates, dependent on signups.
Pokemon that dominate a large portion of the metagame. They are either quite powerful or offer great team support, and can fit on almost any team. You can't really go wrong by using these Pokemon.
Baxcalibur Brute Bonnet Heatran Iron Jugulis Metagross Ogerpon-Cornerstone
Tier 3:
Pokemon that are generally strong, but can be dead weight in some matchups, don't have great matchups vs a lot of Tier 1 and 2, or are only particularly useful for checking a certain team style.
Deoxys Dragapult Entei Great Tusk Gyarados Indeedee Iron Bundle Iron Crown Kingdra Kommo-o Necrozma Politoed Scrafty Sneasler Thundurus
Tier 4:
Pokemon which have broad applications on a variety of teams but are simply less effective than the Pokemon in the higher tiers. This also includes Pokemon which, while good, only fit on a specific team style or require heavy support but are usually better than Pokemon not on this list.
I'll kick off the thread by talking about the obvious outliers that will hopefully be removed in a few days, Annihilape and Dragonite.
Dragonite isn't as scary without Chien-Pao's defense debuff, but still has plenty of power to dent any team. The dearth of viable ghost types outside of Skeledirge, Houndstone, and the soon-to-be-gone Annihilape (please remove this thing thx) gives the Choice Band ESpeed Tera Normal set free reign over most teams. Anti-priority abilities are scarce and awkward to fit onto teams and defensive checks are few and far between, although there are some bulkier mons in the tier like Wo-Chien that don't instantly fold to it. Somehow in my experience on the DUU ladder, I've barely seen this thing, but I still believe its presence in DUU is a little overbearing.
Way more overbearing, however, is the behemoth that is Annihilape. There are discussions of suspect testing the funi monke in DOU, and for good reason. Down in DUU land, there are even fewer answers to its Bulk Up Rage Fist set, and it has a number of screens-setting and Pollen Puff-providing partners to keep it from being worn down. Wo-Chien and Skeledirge with non-dark and non-ghost Tera types respectively seem to be the most consistent defensive answers, while Iron Valiant and Meowscarada can hit it quite hard offensively. The offensive checks, however, lose their advantage once Ape Terastallizes. Fire is its best Tera type in my opinion as it makes Ape immune to burns while resisting anything the aforementioned offensive answers can throw at it. Every game becomes a game of chicken, because nothing can quite remove it immediately but no one wants to let it sit on the field and boost. DUU just doesn't have the power level necessary to break teams built around Ape.
Apart from that, I'm really enjoying the balanced nature of the DUU meta.
Head empty, no thoughts
I love these two unaware mons; Clodsire is a difficult-to-kill setter that gets hazard stack teams going (think Glimmora but more passive/defensive). It has great utility in Yawn and Helping Hand as well. Skeledirge is less passive and can rack up massive boosts with Torch Song. It has a decent defensive typing which can be made better with Tera, and I've really enjoyed using this on my balance/bulky offense teams.
Snail
Another excellent defensive option, I think Wo-Chien is very underrated even up in DOU compared to its more glamorous siblings. It can sit on the field forever with Leech Seed and keep its teammates going with Pollen Puff. It has a surprisingly high Special Attack stat which can get you some unexpected damage or kills.
Metal Sonic
The tier's premier mixed attacker, Valiant can run a lot of sets viably and pressure opponents regardless of their team structure. With Booster Energy and the right EVs, it can outspeed every non-boosted mon and hit them hard. Its typing allows it to hit almost everything for supereffective or neutral damage, and it has some great utility options too.
Weird Magic Cat
Similar to Valiant, this mon is fast and hits hard. The guaranteed crit on Flower Trick allows it to bypass boosts and screens, allowing it to check bulky offense cores. Protean also gives it an interesting edge, both defensively and offensively.
I'm excited to see what the meta will be after New Year's, and hopefully we'll see an increase in the playerbase too!
(I can't find a single game anymore please play DUU so I can find games)
Annihilape moved from New to DOU
Ditto moved from New to DOU
Dragonite moved from New to DOU
Hydreigon moved from New to DOU
Meowscarada moved from New to DOU
Pelipper moved from New to DOU
Sableye moved from New to DOU
Sylveon moved from New to DOU
Volcarona moved from New to DOU
Bronzong moved from DOU to DUU
Charizard moved from DOU to DUU
Dondozo moved from DOU to DUU
Flamigo moved from DOU to DUU
Gyarados moved from DOU to DUU
Iron Moth moved from DOU to DUU
Lilligant moved from DOU to DUU
Talonflame moved from DOU to DUU
Tinkaton moved from DOU to DUU
Predictably, top tier threats like Annihilape and Dragonite have moved up to DOU. They were very strong for the DUU metagame, so it’s probably for the best they’re gone. Sylveon, Hydreigon, and Meowscarda have also moved to DOU, further removing some of the top offensive threats from DUU. Pelipper becoming DOU also removes the only rain setter, leaving Hippowdown as the only weather setter in DUU (unless you want to use like snover for hail, which I’m sure some mono-ice fanatics will do).
Looking at the new entrants into DUU, some were predictable like Dondozo & Flamigo moving down once Tatsugiri was banned. I can’t see unaware Dondozo having much value in the metagame when Skeledirge is already here, but Flamigo could see some play.
There were a few Pokémon that moved down such as Charizard and Lilligant that would be interesting if there were any drought Pokémon in the tier, but without sun I don’t see them getting much play. Talonflame I also doubt will be used much, as its typing isnt great, and its priority tailwind won’t outweigh the fact that there are better tailwind setters in the tier such as Iron Jugulis & Salamence.
The interesting Pokémon that joined the tier in my opinion are Gyarados, Bronzong, Iron Moth, and Tinkaton. Gyarados brings another intimidator in the tier, and I like it’s typing into the metagame. Bronzong brings a reliable TR setter, and the iron defense body press set with good typing could be useful. Iron Moth brings a fast offensive fire type, it’ll be interesting to see how much it’s used. Lastly, Tinkaton is a good fake out user with excellent typing and a signature move in Gigaton Hammer that hits like a truck, so I definitely see it being a big part of the tier.
With all that being said, be on the lookout as we’re going to be releasing the duu 2023 circuit schedule soon, and will be putting up resources to get the tier on its feet.
I took the team idea from a VGC player who did well on ladder with Oranguru and Bellibolt and replaced the mons banned in DUU with mons that fit similar roles (e.g. Torkoal -> Camerupt, Camerupt is also way cooler). I then filled out the team with mons that seemed pretty strong in this format like Gyarados since life orb tera flying does a crazy amount of damage. Initially I tried Pachirisu but it seemed way too passive and didn't really fit my style of playing.
I usually led with Oranguru + Staraptor/Breloom or Gyarados Breloom. Staraptor was led if the opponent had fast Pokemon that could threaten to kill Oranguru turn 1 as Final Gambit can one shot them and let Oranguru set up Trick Room freely. Breloom was led if they had slow Pokemon which allowed me to set up with Gyarados to sweep. Once Trick Room is set, all you need to do is click buttons with Camerupt and WP Bellibolt and you can win quite easily. I have to mention that I did lose three times to the same person running stall like Chansey/Scream Tail/Hazards so the team should probably be improved to fix that matchup as it seemed very hard to beat.
The DUU Council has voted on the first Doubles UU Viability Rankings of Scarlet & Violet! We are hoping to fill our the rest of the Doubles UU Resources here soon.
I hate this mon because its ugly and has bad stats but the bulky CM set is legitimately good on stall and I think we just all forgot it existed. Here's the team I'm using it on.
The nomination is based strictly on its use on stall, but Lumina Crash + Baton Pass sets are probably legitimately good as well, and bulky CM is no doubt usable on screens as well, especially with Dazzling Gleam > Roost. Has great synergy with Wo-Chien. I don't know what else to say about it; it exists and is probably worth ranking.
Houndstone moved from DUU to DOU
Iron Valiant moved from DUU to DOU
Brambleghast moved from DNU to DOU
Brute Bonnet moved from DOU to DUU
Cinderace moved from DOU to DUU Greninja moved from DOU to DUU
Kilowattrel moved from DOU to DUU
Sableye moved from DOU to DUU
For the current swiss kickoff round, players may challenge with this code to keep the same pokemon that were eligible at the beginning of the round:
Houndstone moving up will drastically reduce sand's viability, and Iron Valiant leaving means the only T1 pokemon is gone. Brambleghast was a rarely seen pokemon, so it moving to DOU is surprising.
But we do get some new toys! Brute Bonnet will be quite good I suspect, with its combination of offenses & support options like spore and ragepowder. Cinderace & Greninja gives DUU some fast offensive options, although I don't suspect they will quite be up to filling the hole Iron Valiant is leaving behind. Kilowattrel provides another option for tailwind, which will be quite nice seeing as it's good into the other tailwind pokemon with its electric typing. Lastly Sableye does offer fake out and some cool support options with prankster, but there are quite a few prankster options already, so I don't know how much use Sableye will see; perhaps it could work as a weather setter with fake out.
A few pokemon such as Iron Thorns, Toedscruel, and Talonflame seemed to be used much more than their ranks on the VR would suggest. The opposite was true of Gallade, who was only used 3 times despite being in T2.
Iron Moth also saw a lot of usage for a tier 3 pokemon, likely due to being a good offensive pokemon that can also absorb T-spikes. Of course viability does not equal usage, but those are my takeaways from the usage stats so far.
Brute Bonnet moved from DUU to DOU
Gyarados moved from DUU to DOU
Wo-Chien moved from DUU to DOU
Greninja moved from DOU to DUU
Iron Valiant moved from DOU to DUU
These changes definitely are going to shake up the metagame, as three very popular Pokémon in Brute Bonnet, Gyarados, and Wo-Chien are leaving the tier. Brute Bonnet had a short stay, but many believed it to be a t1 Pokémon when it dropped. Wo-Chien has been a favorite in the tier, being featured on many of the sample teams, as it’s part of the great Wo-Chien & Toxapex defensive core. Gyarados was one of the most used water types, but can possibly be replaced by Tauros-Paldea-Aqua.
Dropping back to DUU is Iron Valiant, who will likely regain its status as a top offensive threat. Greninja may be able to see some usage as a fast attacker, but it’s likely too frail and doesn’t quite have the movepool to pull that off.
With these changes and the DUU Swiss Kickoff about to round off, we’ll be holding another VR slate for the council to vote on soon, so be on the lookout for that.
Iron Jugulis 2 > 1. Imo this was 1 last time we had Valiant - see Maushold results - so I think its overdue to for that spot.
Iron Moth 3 > 1. 140 special attack, 110 speed, access to speed boosting Booster Energy sets, absorbs toxic spikes, extremely unpredictable tera type, multiple excellent spread moves, and a naturally solid defensive typing. The only thing holding it back at all is that it lacks a reliable poison move and that the un-tera'd defensive type ends up making it fairly vulnerable to excellent mons such as Azumarill, Sandy Shocks, and anything that can potentially fit a ground move and dodge a KO (Iron Jugulis, Slither Wing, Hariyama, etc) and neither is that big of deal.
Sandy Shocks 3 > 2. Incredible synergy with essentially everything good AND it lost 2 of its best checks (and Gyarados often ran ground/grass tera, causing a lot of mind games for it). Excellent mon that fits on a lot of teams because it has fantastic synergy with and is amazing at trading positively against a large portion of the metagame due to good bulk and a weird typing, with the added benefit of being relatively undemanding of your Tera slot compared to other Paradox mons.
Iron Treads 2 > 3. Kind of got replaced by Sandy in a lot of builds once we realized Sandy is good. I'm not 100% on this because its 3 best checks just dipped out of the tier, but its just hard to justify this over Sandy when Steel ends up stacking on weaknesses like Fire and Fighting without adding all that many useful resistances. Ice Spinner and Rapid Spin are cool moves that provide a lot of utility - especially since I sort of expect Toedscruel to pick up with the lack of Grasses - but in exchange you get dropped by Valiant and Moth and, due to the low BP of Stomping Tantrum, struggle with things like Skeledirge and Scizor that you would like to check.
Lucario 3 > 5. Band never really materialized the way we anticipated because Tera Steel Scizor just kind of does the thing better. Intim immunity is nice, hitting Sandy Shocks and Iron Moth is nice, being Fake Out immune is nice, but it doesn't really add up into a mon that fits on the average team due to the extreme reliance on Tera, narrowly missed KO thresholds, and complete lack of defensive utility, whereas Scizor is stronger, bulkier, has access to stab U-Turn, and is substantially less reliant on Tera.
I'm also just going to say that I think most of tier 5 could be dropped and a good portion of 4 could be dropped into 5; both tiers look kind of bloated with mons that I don't think make sense anymore as the meta has developed.
Looking at the below usage, it seems clear that a lot of the highest base stats mons were used a lot, but there were a few mons that bucked this trend like Scizor, Oranguru, and Azumarill. Do keep in mind there were some Pokémon that lost duu eligibility mid-tour, so for instance Iron Valiant would probably have been used more if it hadn't been illegal most of the tournament.
Baxcalibur moved from DOU to DUU
Brambleghast moved from DOU to DUU
Decidueye moved from DOU to DUU
Ditto moved from DOU to DUU
Gyarados moved from DOU to DUU
Hydreigon moved from DOU to DUU
Iron Leaves moved from DOU to DUU
Rotom-Wash moved from DOU to DUU
Volcarona moved from DOU to DUU
Zoroark-Hisui moved from DOU to DUU
There’s a lot of high base stats mons joining the tier, such as Iron Leaves, Baxcalibur, and Hydreigon that will surely have an impact on the metagame. Quite a few additional grasses are added to the tier (which may have been sorely needed… I had to run a Foongus) in Decidueye and Brambleghast. Gyarados and Rotom Wash will both probably be pretty good, so Azumarill’s reign may end. Zoroark-Hisui and Ditto both add some fun elements to the tier, but I don’t know how competitive they will be. Lastly Volcarona is a very interesting addition to the tier, it could be a very prominent Pokémon, but we will have to see how it fairs in the metagame.
As always, these changes will take effect next round of DPL. So here’s a challenge code for the current round:
This is now a sample but I definitely think its not the most optimized rain can be. I really like what Actuarily did with Steal Beam Klefki later on in the season, its great for momentum which is very important on fast paced styles like rain. I also think There's little reason to not run both Barraskewda and Floatzel, as they are both nukes to any non-resist in rain. Competitive Kilowattrel is a menace after a boost, especially with Tsareena support to block priority and keep it safe even when down to sash. Feint Tinkaton is amazing on offensive teams to create nasty pins, especially when the opponent doesn't expect it. In general I'm not a fan of Rocks on Tinkaton cause every time I see it if feels like the mon trades half its health to get them up and can't trade or take hits for the rest of the game. As for the game itself, this was pretty clean until the endgame where nerves got the bets of me and I managed to choke away a pretty safe line to win, only to get bailed out hard by a Dark Pulse flinch.
Easily my worst team this DPL, the TR matchup is nonexistent and I rolled TR, but even TR matchup aside I think its a sloppy and poorly thought out team. There isn't a lot of defensive synergy here and some of the sets are just sub optimal. Like look at this Salamence spread, and then look at its moves.... Either way I played this game extremely poorly, burning my Tera on the bum Salamence because I was scared of sash Lycanrock or something. This game also put me off of Scream Tail in DUU a lot, in fact I think its more viable in DOU than DUU. I have tried building many different Howl/Fake Tears offense teams, as well as trying it as a TR setter or general glue/support mon, but it always feels super underwhelming. I find it never really punishes setup the way you really want to with Encore + Disable, and of course its pitiful offenses make it a dead board slot a lot of the time.
This team was built during the no grass meta where there were negative ground resists in the tier. I thought Talonflame was cool in an Iron Jugulis meta where getting off Tailwind before it while threatening with a partner is super valuable. It also allows Haxorus and Iron Treads to EQ next to it. Haxorus is here just to have another fast EQ nuke aside from Iron Treads, if I rebuilt now it would definitely be Baxcalibur in this slot. Tsareena is here to patch up the TR matchup and because I have a skill issue and don't want to worry about Azumarill Aqua Jetting through the team at +6. I think the core idea of this team is still solid even with new Grass types dropping, and in general I think Talonflame offense is pretty unexplored.
I was 99% sure they would be bringing Salamence so I knew I wanted a Defiant/Competitive Mon, but there aren't many options so I settled on Bisharp because strong Sucker Punch seemed good as well (it is). The rest of the team is pretty standard, with fat Booster Jugulis, Chioce Specs Sandy Shocks, and a Skeledirge/Azumarill/Tsareena Fire/Water/Grass core. I like 3 attack no protect Skeledirge on faster teams, as Earth Power coverage is super valuable. The spread here outspeeds and OHKOs Iron Moth with EP in Tailwind. Azumarill here outspeeds base 100s (Salamence) in Tailwind and Life Orb allows it to OHKO mence at -1 while still keep flexibility. The game itself went smoothly, I was trying to hard to get Bisharp in to activate Defiant, and I did definitely get lucky with a defense drop from Hys's Azu onto my Bisharp allowing for Sucker Punch pressure to help in the midgame.
First week with the new drops and I didn't really know what I was doing so I slapped a bunch of stat-sticks and comfort picks together to make a pretty standard Tailwind offense team. I like Salamence because it can outspeed and OHKO the new dragons, same with Valiant. I didn't really know what to do with Bax this week, but defaulted to DD because speed is good, but now I think 3 attack protect is better for most team comps as wasting turns you could be killing something to only maybe kill it harder later isn't great. I really really wish Tsareena had Rapid Spin this game, as the team is super weak to rocks. I actually mistakenly thought I had it during the game when I initially brought it in. Also this is a PSA that support Volcarona is trash on these builds, do not use it. Rage Powder is an amazing move so I'm sure it can work somehow, but your Dragon types really like it when their Fire type partners can actually do damage and threaten the steels. I played poorly and got extremely lucky this game and didn't deserve to survive as long as I did. Tinkaton was a major problem for this team and I didn't realize it during the game or else I would have preserved Fire Blast Salamence more. I think this type of team is solid (seeing as this structure saw a lot of use in the last couple weeks). On this specific team I think I'd start with getting consistent Hazard removal and a better MU vs Steels/Fairies, potentially with something like Iron Treads over Tsareena.
I wanted to be good into Baxcalibur + Fires as that seemed popular, and I was inspired by the sand team Yuichi had used in DOU a couple of times. Psychic Terrain + Sand Rush Lycanroc has really nice synergy, stopping priority for it and boosting the power of Psychic Fangs (OHKOs Iron Valiant in Terrain). Hawlucha is fun and kills Baxcalibur, Volcarona, and Valiant without any boosts. Gyarados + Hippowdon + Skeledirge is an insanely good defensive core. Yawn + Rocks + Dragon Tail is awesome for chipping things in range of Lycanroc and Hawlucha. Skeledirge damands a lot of attention from the opponent or else it can get out of control quickly. The game itself was a twave fest and tbh I don't remember much about my thought process because I had a lot of distractions IRL and I don't really remember making a lot of the plays during the midgame lmao. It was definitely fun to see the Lycanroc mirror though. This team is cool but not as polished as it could be, Indeedee is actually doing nothing here except setting terrain, its just too frail and not strong enough without Expanding Force. I tried Trick + Choice Scarf stuff but Booster Energy makes that unviable as well imo.
This was easily my best team even though it was mostly built right before my game, thanks a lot to Actuarily for helping me with fleshing out my ideas and the suggestions. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do this team service and played horribly in a must win game. ESM played great, but this team was built to do well into the Bax + Volc offense he was running and I totally flopped, but that happens I guess. This is another sand team with the supporting cast switched around/ Mence is another floating Intimidate that pairs well with Hippo but has a better defensive matchup into Rotom-Wash, different support with Tailwind, and reliable healing with Roost. Speed Booster SD Iron Leaves is something I've had good results with in testing, after a boost it can clean through teams and does respectable damage without one. Moth and Rotom finish out the team and add nice offensive coverage and defenisve utility to round everything out.
Thoughts on the DUU Metagame as a Whole
I have mixed feelings about DUU right now, I don't think its as matchup dependent as DOU right now which I do like, but I always felt myself pretty restricted in the builder each week. Some of this is the poor type and role distribution at the moment with minimal viable Grass types for example. Another factor is that there are a sizable chunk of Pokemon that I think are easily DOU in powerlevel but just don't fit within that metagame so have fallen down to DUU. The Paradox mons just feel a step above just about everything that isn't a pseudo-legendary, and I think this makes a lot of the metagame feel very samey. There is obviously stuff like TR teams that try to be different, but I personally feel that they aren't in the best spot and are unreliable in this meta. I do think that these issues will most likely be addressed if/when Pokemon Home happens and a greater trickle down from DOU happens.
In the meanwhile I'd like to tentatively propose a potential Booster Energy Ban/Suspect once DPL ends. I think that they are a significant cause of the Paradox mons being a step above everything else. Speed Booster in particular makes these already blistering fast mons outpace a significant portion of the metagame even in Tailwind. The item has pretty much single-handedly removed the Choice Scarf from the metagame, which would usually be one of the most common items and counterplay to these fast mons. The only common Choice Scarf user is Sandy Shocks, and even then it competes heavily with Booster Energy. I think this could allow a lot of mons in the base ~80-100 speed tier to become a lot more viable as potential revenge killers. I don't want to come off as too negative because I had a great time this DPL and look forward to playing more DUU throughout Scarlet and Violet's lifespan and beyond.
It was a cold and dark night. The clouds were pouring down the softest white snow onto the streets of Snowpoint City. The townsfolk slept in restful silence, the warm fires crackling in their cozy huts. All was tranquil - but for the gesticulations of one diminutive green figure. The Earth had almost made its trip around its own axis as a restless Yoda2798 muttered to himself, audibly nearing the denouement of a script he was writing out in his head. As dawn broke, he finally cracked it, proclaiming in a booming voice: “Mishing time, it is!” And so those of us brave enough to respond to his call embraced the Cold and Crewed all over everyone till we could crew no more. (I'd have stretched this bit out for longer but currently don't have the concentration to do so).
This post will be a mixture of several things: an introduction of sorts, a recollection of my DPL experience, a DUU team dump, game reports, a retrospective on the DUU tier, and a lengthy list of shoutouts in true Westie fashion.
Chapter 0: Me
Hi, I'm AIRedzone. I'm not new to Showdown - I've been playing on and off for about seven years now - but I am somewhat new to tournaments and Doubles. I started in late SS, laddering fervently with the Semiroom Celesteela sample to reach the top of the ladder (Horamir alts don't count). It wasn't until I joined the DOUcord (with encouragement from GenOne) that I realized how fun and wholesome the doubles community could be beyond the confines of the ladder. I started joining tours and losing round 1, but the advent of SV gave me a chance to make some progress. I got to round 6 of the Winter Seasonal and Round 2 of the Maushold Cup, where I faced my soon-to-be teammate Chris32156 in some really fun DUU sets. I had the privilege of joining US West for DWCOP as a helper; this experience taught me what tour preparation actually meant. Helping them build and test and seeing them go all the way to the top despite certain unwelcome surprises was so exciting and educational for me. This was the extent of my experience going into DPL - not the greatest, but enough to get a foot in the door.
Chapter 1: The Draft aka. MOCC MOCC MOCC
Who knew betting with fake money in a fake auction for fake teams could be so damn fun? Moccs were an exciting time and a way for me to get to know a lot of the Doubles community better. I was drafted in all the moccs, but I figured that was owed more to me being active in the DPL room than managers actually wanting to buy me. I had initially reached out to managers hoping to be drafted for SV DOU, not realizing that DUU players were somewhat few and far between. Yoda had messaged me the night before asking about my DUU experience; coming off a horrendous performance in the DUU Swiss tour I was sure I wasn’t on anyone’s radar for the tier. When the real draft rolled around, I was anxiously checking the bottom of the price list to see if I was lucky enough to make it in as a 3k pick. To my bewilderment, Yoda had sprung 8k for me - he’s still crazy for that - making me want to prove myself by not going 0-2 and subbed.
Chapters 2 and 3: The TEAMS and the GAMES
This is probably what you’re here for. DUU has been far and away the most fun SV tier to build for; even though there are a few centralizing forces such as Iron Jugulis, nothing feels immediately broken or out of place (more on this later). Jugulis ended up being the star of my run, making appearances in all but one of my games. Overall, I think my teams were fairly well-rounded, but my indecisiveness in actually settling on a team in the later weeks cost my team wins. I did put a good deal of effort into nicknaming my mons after my favorite bands, so I’ll use them as a sort of soundboard for the team report (shoutout to Noelle for the concept).
Facing a fellow DPL debutante in week 1, I started out with the core that worked for me in Maushold Cup: Toedscruel and Azumarill. Pawmot, Iron Valiant, and Sandy Shocks were all in play, and I later settled on Tauros-Aqua to provide Intimidate utility while sponging special hits. big pichu didn’t have a lot of public games available to scout, so I scouted Nido-Rus and ratpacker instead, which led me to use Skeledirge. After some testing and prototyping, I settled on the six mons above. I really liked ratpacker’s set of Choice Scarf Tera Ice Sandy Shocks, which ended up winning the game for me. I’m pretty terrible at deciding on EV spreads based on calcs, so glimmerrdust stepped in and saved my ass (which became the recurring theme of the entire season). It was pretty evident that the nerves got to both me and pichu, and it was a really close game all the way through. The Protect on the Iron Moth allowed me the space to seal the win, with Shocks Tera Blasting away. We ended up tying this week against Church.
This is the week that showed me Yoda’s DUU brilliance. He brought up Fake Tears Scream Tail which enabled the three behemoth paradox mons to cleave through anything. I added Tinkaton for Fake Out and physical pressure, and Azumarill as a physical wallbreaker that could serve as a slow mode in a pinch. I added Trick Room on Scream Tail to further hedge against a potential TR/semiroom matchup and Thunder Wave to check Booster Jugulis, and it worked out beautifully in tests. It was quite funny to me that I ended up needing none of these techs in the actual game, instead just playing what kaori termed “8 turns of hyper-offense, as god intended.” An OHKO on Iron Moth right off the bat with banded Aqua Jet gave me a surge of momentum, allowing me to deal big damage to both opposing mons on turn two before sacking my leads. This is when I was able to bring in Scream Tail to debuff everything. The Heat Wave miss on turn 3 made the game much more complex for me, but with a little bit of luck I was able to maneuver around it. This was tied with what I brought in week 4 for the most fun team I built this DPL. We won 6-2 against the Lands.
Week 3 was rough for us, and the start of a problem that would come back to haunt me in later weeks - my indecisiveness with team selection. I had built a dozen teams that just didn’t work in testing, which left me scrambling for a team right before my match was scheduled. Glimmer once again bailed me out by passing me her main team at the time, and SMB and Yoda suggested a few minor changes. The structure is really solid - Iron Valiant was a contender with Iron Jugulis for best mon in the format at that point, and Skeledirge and Shocks provide solid coverage for their checks. This week soured me on the viability of Sableye, which is far too passive, and Toedscruel, which is decent but can’t function properly as a Spore user. I played horrendously right from the start, overcommitting to a bid to remove @bage1’s Shocks instead of playing it safe and going for Snarl or Protect. The anxiety that stemmed from the last-minute teambuilding combined with this start tanked my focus for the rest of the game, where I misplayed around Iron Valiant that had a chance at turning it around. It was certainly a learning experience for me to gauge leads better, and a chance for bagel to display his innovation that I would come to rely on in the Semifinals. We lost the week 2-6 to the Tramplers.
I finally built a functional semiroom team! This was the team I had most confidence in even if it was slightly unconventional. The one thing I wanted to build going into this week was disquake, and the Rotom-Heat + Iron Treads core allowed me to do that. The uncertainty from last week seemingly disappeared; I only needed about three iterations to arrive at the final version (switching scarf to specs to bulky Rotom and bulky to Life Orb Treads) in contrast with the 10+ variations I built for most other weeks. Rotom-Heat checked the top four threats (the booster attackers) incredibly well while also dishing out paralyses and Discharge damage. Looking back, Iron Treads was not the best partner from a type synergy standpoint, but had the right tools and stats to work well with Rotom and Mimikyu. The latter is a solid Trick Room setter that provides Will-O-Wisp utility and some offensive pressure with Shadow Sneak, and pairs well with the beast that is Guts Hariyama. I traded off coverage for power on Hariyama’s set since CC and Tera Normal Facade bust through most of the tier, dropping Headlong Rush for protect. I brought back the Band Azu from week 2 to round out my slow mode. This was my best-played game of the tournament - I made the right read every single turn (especially turn 2 with the Tera Water Foongus) and managed to grab a 6-0, something I never expected in a tournament game. I got to test with Frixel for the remaining weeks, for which I’m incredibly grateful. We tied the week with the Cratermakers.
The week of the drops! The new mons we got turned DUU into the most fun tier in all of DPL. Yoda had built two very solid teams with variations of the Baxcalibur-Volcarona core, and Nephtyrix reached out to me for testing, graciously allowing me to steal his incredible support Volcarona set. I merged the two and completed the double trifecta of type cores (Fire-Water-Grass, Steel-Fairy-Dragon) with Iron Leaves and the exact same band Azumarill (why expend energy on thinking?). After a pretty weak start, I was able to gain ground by getting Baxcalibur in to dance at the right moment. Volcarona performed its support duties with excellence, redirecting every attack away from Bax and Struggle Bugging to kill Rotom-Wash. Rewatching this portion of the battle made me cringe at the fact that I didn’t Tera Volcarona - it could’ve died if at any point EternalSnowman decided to target it with Tera Blast. The discourse on the optimal sets for the new mons was vibrant after this; I really enjoyed giving Baxcalibur a consistently powerful Ice STAB with Loaded Dice, and others preferred Assault Vest, Life Orb, or other sets. It was great to be playing against a fellow Westie; we won the week 5-3 against the Thieves.
This was a big week for me. Actuarily and I were at the top of the DUU pool with 4-1 records, and this match would determine who took the lead. My indecisiveness came back to mess with me again - there were several team styles I was considering, none of which I felt confident enough in to actually bring to the game. The one that was closest was rain, so I reached out to the Barraskewda Baller himself, Hugo. He helped me build several versions of the team, but in testing, I was losing even in favorable matchups. Bagel, Frixel, and Nephtyrix all chipped in to help practice further. In the end, Actuarily graciously agreed to push our game back by half an hour, in which I built an entirely new team on a concept we were discussing in the previous week - screens setup offense. The drops brought some absolute beasts into the tier, giving me several versatile setup options. I decided to give Bax a Clear Amulet thinking it would bait in Intimidate users coming in on a Dragon Dance, and this call worked out well. I also switched Volcarona from support to Quiver Dance and threw on Iron Leaves for coverage. At the last minute, SMB pointed out to me that if I’m using screens, I might as well have two setup sweepers instead of just one, so I changed Iron Leaves to Booster Speed + Swords Dance. DaAwesomeDude1 played me in a final test that was incredibly reassuring and helpful. I ended up not needing to use most of the setup at all in the actual game, where I got immensely lucky with full paralysis and flinches. It was certainly not the righteous way I wanted to win, but it was part of the reason I used Thunder Wave Scream Tail. This next bit will sound very conceited, but despite everyone’s impressions, I had won the game by turn 4. I called out the Rocks on turn 1 by going for EQ on Bax, and hedged against Fake Out with Will-O-Wisp. As mentioned earlier, Clear Amulet allowed Bax to bait in Gyarados and put in work. I was wary of letting my Jugulis needlessly die as I had in several games before, so I ensured I would live after setting up Tailwind with Tera Ground. Earth Power wasn’t apparent since I hadn’t used it before, so I was able to remove Shocks and spam the move since nothing wanted to come in on it. At this point, I had enough offensive pressure in the back to break past Pollen Puff + Volc even if I didn’t get the paras and flinches, with Taunt severely crippling Foongus. Beating Actuarily would have been unimaginable to me a few weeks ago, but the confidence I built thanks to my team and my friends assured me that I had a good shot at winning. We won 5-3 against the heretofore undefeated Storms.
This week was weird. I once again struggled to finalize a team, and was contemplating the scenarios under which we could possibly be knocked out of the tournament at this stage. I don’t have a whole lot to say about the game; I had some anti-TR tools that I started out well with but ate a crit on Turn 3 and then just sort of gave up. There were turns where I just played the worst possible option, partly due to my complacency stemming from the Storms being about to win and secure our spot in the playoffs. I once again apologize to my team for this; the silver lining is that it spawned the Bewwibowt copypasta. The team itself is not perfect, but has some interesting ideas that warrant further development. Breloom is incredibly underexplored at the moment (as ratpacker pointed out to me in our building and testing), providing Spore as well as offensive pressure. Technician Bullet Seed is a ridiculously powerful move; if Breloom didn’t require a Focus Sash to function, it would go quite hard with Loaded Dice. Support Gyarados is a strong option alongside Iron Moth and Iron Treads, with the rest of the sets being fairly standard. We lost the week 1-7 to the Sp_ndas (lol) but made it through to the Semifinals anyway.
I was looking forward to the runback but not looking forward to building for this week. Z Strats and kaori’s discussion during their Semifinal preview cast made two very pertinent points that originally seemed contradictory to me: I had brought the same style of fast offense for 6 out of my 7 weeks and needed to shake things up to win, but if I were to bring a comfort pick, Actuarily would be the opponent to do it against. My main considerations were the following: Act almost always brought a fire-water-grass core in a way that isn’t that exploitable from a teambuilder standpoint, and he would build to counterteam more so this week than in previous weeks given the increased importance of the semis. I needed to bring something less predictable, something that would allow me to keep speed control in my favor for more turns than him, something that didn’t instantly crumble to offensive pressure.
The second part led me to return to semiroom, which was more challenging to build since the mons that dropped in Week 5 sat in an awkward speed tier that wasn’t conducive to Trick Room spam. For the first and third, Bagel swooped in with the save and recommended I bring double dragon, which would simultaneously limit progress by the imminent fire-water-grass opposition without sacrificing offense. I decided to bid adieu to my faithful Iron Jugulis and welcome in its stead Covert Cloak Salamence, which offered the superb role compression of Tailwind, Intimidate, and OHKO pressure on Baxcalibur. Fire Blast was a necessary coverage move to deal with Tinkaton in the event of Iron Moth going down. The second dragon would be one that functioned well both inside and outside of TR - Swords Dance Ice Shard Baxcalibur. I found Dragon and Ice to be really lacking in coverage but didn't have the space for a third attack and didn't want to give up +2 Glaive Rushes. I figured I'd plug the Earthquake gap by improving the coverage on my other mons. I opted for three attacks Slowking as a reliable and tanky Trick Room setter that could bluff Oblivious and dissuade taunt. Bagel and Yoda suggested Psychic over Energy Ball on Iron Moth to help with the mirror. Arboliva was an interesting pick - it really can't function outside of Trick Room, but complements everything else on the team so well once I set it up. Finally, I dropped the speed that I ran on my previous Tink sets and opted for max attack/max HP to allow a safe Trick Room or Tailwind setup.
Bagel and I practiced a good bit a few hours before the match, and most importantly, we practiced the sand matchup right before the scheduled time. I had lost that test but knew that I had the tools to win - prioritize TR to deny value from Lycanroc (and a tailwind partner if it had one), use Arboliva to threaten an early Tera, and use Baxcalibur to get in chip with Ice Shard while drawing in damage. The first few turns went to plan, with me getting Trick Room up at the expense of my Sitrus Berry. We traded rocks, which ended up hurting me far more than it did Act. I got a few reads correct which allowed me to make some progress, but I was thrown off by the ambiguity of the paradox mons' items. This meant that I made a vital calc error, missing the KO on Iron Leaves. Further, I had calced Arboliva living non-choice band Scizor's Bullet Punch, which turned out wrong as well (watching the replay has got me thinking that it could be Metal Coat). This pretty much sealed my fate; there were a few things I could have done differently in the endgame but they probably wouldn't have been enough to overcome my earlier mistakes. This was a very well-played game from Actuarily, and some of my inexperience showed through where it mattered to my team the most. I'm not too upset about this loss though, and I'm happy I branched out and tried something more unique. This was the end of the Cold Crew's first-ever DPL run, losing 2-6 to the Storms.
Chapter 4: The DUU Meta
I’ve dedicated the last two months to this tier and I love it to bits, but there are some issues that may lead to stagnation. It’s more efficient for me to refer to some things that Bagel has said in the post above this one. The Paradox mons are head and shoulders above the rest of the meta, save for the breath of fresh air that was the drops (Volcarona, Baxcalibur, Gyarados, and the others). The usage stats from DPL make this evident - Jugulis has a considerable lead and Moth is not far behind. Sandy Shocks fell out of favor to some extent, and Iron Valiant is still up there due to its unmatched speed tier. Bagel proposed a far more elegant solution than I would’ve thought of - suspect Booster Energy. I don’t know which side I’d fall on, but I wholeheartedly agree that it centralizes the fast tailwind offense team structure to a potentially unhealthy degree. It’s what puts the Paradoxes so far above the rest and invalidates a good chunk of the DUU mon pool for not being able to keep up.
As far as other mons go, Baxcalibur is a stat stick that’s here to stay. It’s versatile enough to build around in several ways and synergizes well with the other two drops, Volcarona and Gyarados. These are major threats in their own right, and belong up in tier 2 if another VR slate ever arrives. Rotom-Wash serves as a splashable role compressor of bulky attacking and utility; the relative lack of viable grass-types gives it room to work its funny yellow magic. I’d like to make Azumarill work again, but I just don’t see Belly Drum being justified over the immediate power of Choice Band/Life Orb. In disagreement with Bagel, I am still a Scream Tail believer. Here’s what I’ll concede: Encore/Disable sets have always been fake, Howl alongside the big physical threats is more of a way to counteract Intimidate rather than get a sweep going, and Stail often finds itself a passive pink blob on the field. However, the range of support moves it gets means that you’re only limited by your imagination. Though not showcased, Fake Tears worked incredibly well for me, as did Screens. It can enable any form of weather team, block an opponent’s progress with Thunder Wave, set or deny Trick Room (with Imprison, if you’re feeling brave), throw up rocks, lend a helping hand, and more. This does necessitate the rest of the team to be packed with offensive pressure, but the current meta lends itself to that anyway. I do think that I’m going to take a tiny lil break from DUU just so that I don’t get burned out, which hopefully will keep me fresh and ready for when Home arrives.
Chapter 5: Gratitude
From thinking I wasn’t going to be drafted to tying one of the greatest Doubles players for the best regular season DUU record, this DPL has been an incredible experience for me. It’s allowed me to make friends in a community that I’ve grown to love and given me the best possible training ground to develop my tournament capabilities. I’m sure I’ll still lose round 2 in any individual tournament, but the team tour environment is in my opinion the most fun one can have on Smogon. Here’s a long list of names of some really cool people <3
Yoda2798 and Fangame10: Commanders Cold I’m grateful that you took a chance on me and gave me all the encouragement I needed. I owe the success of a massive chunk of my teams to Yoda’s input without whom I simply could not have built; you should consider playing the tier sometime. Fangame - you’re the most wholesome and fun guy to be around, which is the most fulfilling “meet your (ladder) heroes” moment.
glimmerrdust : The absolute GOAT helper, you carried my ass so hard as I’ve mentioned in this post multiple times. Let’s cook up some tasty NatDex stuff soon
Feyy: We both made the jump from US West support to Cold Crew corporals, and I’m so glad to have done it with you. You’re an absolute beast at this game; I can’t wait to run more tours in the future with you. Teach me how to draft league plz thx.
Chris32156: Funny scarf go brrrr. You’re an awesome builder and player, it was a pleasure watching you work. As of late the only success I’ve had in DOU has stemmed from spamming your teams on ladder; you’ve taught us what the real tier 1 is.
Ninja: It was a pleasure building and testing with you. SS is one of my favorite tiers and playing with one of the SS greats taught me a lot about the tier.
Amaranth: I’ll echo what Chris said in his post, you called out our plays in actionable ways that helped us develop as players. It was great to meet you and play alongside you.
SMB: On two separate occasions I had asked in the DOUcord, “Who’s the greatest doubles player of all time?” Both times the answer was loud and clear: SMB. This DPL showed me why; watching you build, predict every possible scenario hours before a game, and win nearly every game so smoothly was an absolute masterclass. Hope to see you get into DUU one day
Sanjay das: Oh mere bhaiiii I’m glad to have finally met you. You’re an underrated threat in the DOU pool and I have no doubt you’re going to go far.
Akaru Kokuyo: The records are a lie, all our bad luck just drained into you. I’m sorry I didn’t bring Bellibolt as you asked; I will ladder exclusively with it all the way until Home as my penance. You’re amazing and you will bounce back from this
Platinum God n1n1: You’re a treasure trove of oldgens knowledge and a great builder. Glad to have had you on our side.
Bless: The snub of the season, I can’t believe you weren’t drafted. Your testing and building input was invaluable, and I’m grateful that you continue to indulge me with a steady supply of your incredible DPP teams. You’re a positive and uplifting influence on those around you.
AldrichD-Striker Charizard (sorry I don't know your Smogon): I didn’t get to interact a whole lot with you guys, but I’m glad you could join us, and am thankful for all your input.
bage1Nido-RusratpackerFrixelLemurro: Thanks for joining us in the last two-ish weeks, y’all are geniuses that I’m terrified to face in any matchup.
smudgerox: Thanks for being my friend :) Next BW star no doubt, and you’re going to take NatDex DOU to dizzying heights <3
DaAwesomeDude1NephtyrixHugo: Testing with y’all gave me the confidence I needed right before my games. I hope I was of some help to you too (one day I will get the hang of BW). High chance to kill
bunnyy: Greatest host ever, thank you for putting up with me when I’ve been annoying and problematic. In honor of your tireless work in making DPP a fun-as-hell tier to play, I will spread some Thunder Waves around.
The Westies: Westies besties cuz why not!
If you’ve read this far, thank you for being gullible enough to fall for my blatant likewhoring attempt. Play DUU, it’s fun!
AIRedzone
bage1
Entei
Armarouge
Iron Boulder
Latios
Ogerpon
Samurott-Hisui
Scream Tail
Araquanid
Excadrill
Garganacl
Glastrier
Hariyama
Maushold
Okidogi
Registeel
Ribombee
Thundurus-Therian
Head empty, no thoughts
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Cinderace New -> 5
Greninja New -> UR
Sableye New -> 5
