Introduction
Hi! After not being active on Showdown for a long time, I decided to make a comeback on the ladder. This team is one of my more creative ones, built around my all-time favorite, Blastoise. My plan was originally to create a Monotype team for the Doubles UU format, but then I found out that Gen 7 DUU isn't available anymore on Showdown since the release of SS. So naturally, I tried my luck with the team in DOU. With mixed success, I am now pretty much stuck in the 1300s. I have some experience in the Monotype scene (made top 100 a few times), but Doubles is relatively new to me. That's why I would very much appreciate any help or suggestions to the team. Thanks in advance!
Teambuilding Process
The heart of this team obviously the main man himself. I wanted to try out a Mono Water team where I could really use him to its full potential.
The first thing that came to mind was speed control. I decided to go for Trick Room instead of things like Tailwind or paralysis, because I wanted to try something new. Slowbro can set up Trick Room very comfortably because of its great bulk.
Then I decided I wanted to make Blastoise as powerful as possible. I thought it would be fun to pair him up with Araquanid's Water Bubble ability. It can also set up with Rain Dance.
After this, I added some more slow support mons that could benefit from both the rain and Trick Room to really add momentum.
And finally, the team was extremely slow at this point, so I needed another form of speed control to not auto-lose outside of Trick Room. Greninja not only brings speed and offensive pressure to the table, but it can also support with Mat Block.
The Team
Beastoise (Blastoise-Mega) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Water Spout
- Ice Beam
- Aura Sphere
- Fake Out
Blastoise is the heart of my strategy, and functions solely as a hard-hitting machine. Under the ideal circumstances, I will have TR and rain up before bringing it in and then pass on Water Bubble. Water Spout in the rain can already 2HKO almost anything in the metagame. When combined with Water Bubble, the only things that are not 0HKO'd are Chansey and walls that resist it like M-Latias, M-Venusaur or Tapu Fini.
Water Spout is therefore honestly the only attack you want to spam, unless in some unique cases both enemies resist it. Ice Beam is a bit stronger against M-Salamence or M-Latias. Aura Sphere is useful against Kyurem-B and lets it hit Volcanion. Fake Out is mandatory, as it allows Blastoise to Mega Evolve more safely while giving a teammate like Araquanid the oppurtunity to set up.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Psychic
- Trick Room
- Heal Pulse
- Slack Off
Slowbro is usually one of my leads because I want to activate TR as soon as possible. The set is pretty standard, to ensure it can take physical hits all day long using the combination of Slack Off, Leftovers and Regenerator. Heal Pulse is really helpful to support Blastoise's Water Spout, or any other teammate when needed. This synergizes well with TR, because I can support with a slow Heal Pulse before attacking with Water Spout. Psychic helps out against Kommo-o, Amoonguss or M-Venusaur who can otherwise prove to be a pain in the ass.
I'm considering changing Slowbro for Slowking to better check the afromentioned threats, but that would mean I lose my best physical check.
Araquanid @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Atk / 88 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Liquidation
- Entrainment
- Wide Guard
- Rain Dance
Araquanid fills a very unique role, because it's the only one capable of passing on Water Bubble to M-Blastoise with Entrainment. This takes its already strong Water Spout to astounding levels, and again synergizes well with Trick Room as M-Blastoise has more speed so acts later in TR. Araquanid also brings offensive pressure himself with Liquidation and often packs a one-time nuke with Hydro Vortex. Furthermore, it can support with Wide Guard against opposing Dazzling Gleams or Rock Slides. Rain Dance gives it another support option while setting M-Blastoise up for a sweep.
Lapras @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 104 HP / 52 Def / 100 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Freeze-Dry
- Toxic
- Rest
- Rain Dance / Protect
This is where things got difficult for me. With the core of the team finished, I was looking for support mons that fitted best with the rest of the team.
My first addition was Lapras, mainly because it's the only Water type that learns Freeze-Dry. This allows it to hit a lot of the metagame for 2x or even 4x the damage. The EV spread gives it just enough bulk to outlive Kyurem-B's Fusion Bolt or Tapu Koko's Thunderbolt at full health and lets it function as an excellent special check. I rounded out the moveset with Toxic and Rest to be able to stall in combination with Hydration, and Rain Dance to take some pressure off the other rain setters. Protect could be another option to stall more effectively, but it would use up valuable Trick Room and rain turns.
Clawitzer @ Leftovers
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Muddy Water
- Helping Hand
- Heal Pulse
- Rain Dance
The reason I chose Clawitzer is because of its unique ability to abuse Mega Launcher in combination with Heal Pulse, so it can heal 75% health instead of the regular 50%. Not that that's necessarily useful, but I wanted to try it out anyway. Luckily it can also support with Helping Hand or Rain Dance, and it's able to finish off weakened enemies with Muddy Water. I'm not entirely sure if that's enough to maintain a spot in the team though.
Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Gunk Shot
- Mat Block / U-Turn
Greninja is another one of my personal favorites, because of its amazing versatility. It obviously doesn't want to stay in during TR, but outside of that it can often pick up a few revenge-kills. So far I have been using this set, but there are probably other ways to really use this frog to its full potential. The combination of Ice Beam and Dark Pulse is only resisted by a few mons in the metagame like Incineroar, Tapu Fini and Celesteela, which enables it to revenge-kill effectively. Gunk Shot lets it hit the fairies and Tapu Fini in particular, who walls almost my whole team. Mat Block is another cool move that Greninja can pull off very well thanks to its excellent speed stat in combination with Choice Scarf. Opposing Prankster leads with Taunt are the only ones capable of countering this. As soon as TR goes up though, it becomes dead weight and I have to switch him out. Therefore I'm thinking of changing one of its moves to U-Turn, so I can lead with Greninja and Slowbro and still be able to keep momentum.
Other Options
These are simply some alternative options that I came up with that could maybe strengthen my team more than the current members. Because I originally planned on making a DUU team, I didn't really consider these at the time. They might give you some inspiration for team changes though.
Jellicent has access to TR and Water Spout.
Tapu Fini is an excellent counter to Dragon and can support with dual screens, Misty Terrain or Heal Pulse.
Slowking could fill the same role as Slowbro, only specially defensive.
Azumarill can also counter Dragon or set up with Belly Drum + Waterfall because it outspeeds a lot in TR.
Kingdra doesn't like TR at all but it outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame in the rain.
Gyarados can function as an answer to Grass-types or set up with Dragon Dance and sweep outside of TR.
Threats
Tapu Koko and M-Manectric are big threats, as they can pretty much sweep my whole team outside of TR and the only thing that outspeeds them is Greninja.
Chansey and Tapu Fini can take all the special hits I throw at them and stall out TR or deal some damage themselves.
Amoonguss is one of the best TR abusers, but also one of the best counters against opposing TR teams because of Spore. As if that wasn't bad enough, it resists half of my teams attacks. The same can be said for M-Venusaur, who can punch holes in my team and heal back up with Giga Drain.
Tapu Bulu, Kyurem-B and Kommo-o are also hard hitters that resist water and can really pressure the team even when TR is up.
Finally, M-Charizard Y is able to weaken my water attacks with its sun and fire back with Solar Beam.
Conclusion
All in all, I really like to play around with this team because of the uncommon strategy. I think it's much more exciting to come up with your own strategy and try to perfect it, than to just copy someone else's who happens to have success with it. That being said, I am well aware that certain strategies just seem to work better than others and this team definitely has its flaws.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to hearing your suggestions!
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