Trubbish in Singles, Goodra in Doubles

Art by LifeisDANK.

Introduction

Are you bored of playing hour-and-a-half-long games matching up against stall in OU? Do you wanna get into a fresh metagame where you can master the technique of controlling two Pokémon at a time? Do you like Trick Room? If you answered yes to all of these, then DOU might just be the metagame you're looking for. And while DOU has a ton of resources for new players, you'll still need to learn a bit about some great Pokémon in DOU that aren't really seen all that often in singles. In this article, I'll cover six notable DOU threats that are kind of on the not-so-good range of OU's viability spectrum and that you should really know a bit about before jumping into DOU.

Tapu Fini

Stinky Situation

Okay, calling Tapu Fini Trubbish is a bit of an exaggeration, I get it! But honestly, Tapu Fini is just really underperforming when compared to the other Deities in OU. While it sounds like an okay Defogger with a typing that allows it to check Ash-Greninja, the lack of recovery makes it unable to exploit the qualities Game Freak gave it at all. A great typing, good bulk, decent Speed, and the combination of Taunt and Nature's Madness are honestly really good assets, but relying solely on Leftovers to heal makes it surprisingly easy to wear down, especially when most Tapu Fini sets are compelled to invest in Speed to outrun the likes of Adamant Zygarde. So, not completely Trubbish, but not really great, either.

Fabled Folklore

In DOU, Tapu Fini is pretty Goodra. In fact, Tapu Fini is arguably one of the best Pokémon in the tier, matching up excellently against threats like Landorus-T, Incineroar, and Mega Salamence. Misty Terrain really helps it in Doubles OU, protecting it from sleep moves like Spore and Hypnosis as well as enabling partners such as Zapdos and Hoopa-U to use Misty Seed. Calm Mind also enables it to be quite a threat, overcoming its passiveness, whereas Heal Pulse provides invaluable support to nearly any ally. Muddy Water is also a great move, as it does spread damage without hitting allies, something very valuable in Doubles. Here, it is able to use that nice typing and bulk pretty efficiently, and thus, it achieves the status as one of the best Pokémon in the tier.

Digging Deeper

Tapu Fini's issue in OU is simply the lack of a recovery move. A wall without any method of recovering its own HP doesn't usually cut it in OU, and while the likes of Ferrothorn and Celesteela don't have a reliable recovery move, they at least have Leech Seed to help them out. In Doubles OU, however, recovery moves are nowhere near as important as they are in OU. The dynamic of fewer switches and double targeting makes the metagame more fast paced, so it's a lot more useful to slap a 50% Berry and call it a day.

Incineroar

Stinky Situation

Incineroar sits very comfortably as an Intimidate pivot in NU, but in higher tiers, it sees little to no usage. In OU, for instance, it is completely outclassed by Landorus-T as a defensive Intimidate pivot, and having pretty much no justifiable reason for usage due to being weak to Stealth Rock and common offensive types in OU such as Fighting makes it quite Trubbish in OU.

Fabled Folklore

Let's be honest; before receiving its hidden ability, Alola's wrestling tiger wasn't notable at all in the tier, but Game Freak decided to be generous and gave us one of the most Goodra DOU Pokémon in the process. With an Assault Vest or Figy Berry and great utility in Fake Out and U-turn, Incineroar is quite a threat in DOU, taking on tier titans such as Mega Metagross, Hoopa-U, and Aegislash. The combination of Assault Vest or Figy Berry and Intimidate makes it surprisingly bulky, and a decent Attack stat also makes it considerably strong.

Digging Deeper

The omnipresence of Stealth Rock all over singles as a whole makes Incineroar, and Fire-type pivots in general, a lot less effective, unfortunately. Fake Out is also a great move in Doubles, as it can stop an opposing Pokémon for a turn, enabling the likes of Tailwind to be set up with more ease or facilitating pivoting. Furthermore, between Intimidate affecting both opposing Pokémon as opposed to singles's one and Incineroar just having a great matchup against DOU threats like Hoopa-U and Aegislash, it's just quite understandable that Incineroar would rather hang out in Doubles over singles.

Stakataka

Stinky Situation

Stakataka is in a pretty Trubbish spot in OU, only being used on Trick Room teams and often being a niche pick on those archetypes. The main problem it faces is competition with Magearna, as while they do play somewhat different roles, Magearna is oftentimes the better pick for the OTR sweeper role. Magearna has a better defensive typing and overall better bulk, and very colorful coverage allows it to pose as a much bigger threat than Stakataka, which is left with terrible Special Defense and an even worse typing. It can be dangerous under the right circumstances, of course, but so can many other Trick Room picks.

Fabled Folklore

UB Assembly is in a much better spot in Doubles. Its rock-bottom Speed tier, combined with the power of its Gyro Ball and access to Trick Room, makes it one of the most dangerous picks for full-room and semi-room builds alike. The lack of dedicated walls compared to singles and a more Trick Room-favored metagame conspire for it to be pretty Goodra and quite a potent threat under Trick Room.

Digging Deeper

Trick Room's added viability is the main reason for Stakataka's greater success in Doubles. While the likes of Ally Switch and Wide Guard are nice strategies Stakataka can offer, its viability in DOU comes from the fact that shorter matches make it so Trick Room (and other speed control options like Tailwind and rain) are a lot more significant in their short-turn period. Also, having a partner to exploit Trick Room alongside it, such as Mega Camerupt or Mega Abomasnow, makes Stakataka a lot more intimidating.

Milotic

Stinky Situation

I got to be honest here; Milotic is legitimately outstanding in RU, but we are not talking about its success in its home tier, we're judging it in singles in general. Milotic's main issue is that, as the tiers rise, so does its competition; UU has Suicune, OU has Toxapex, and Milotic is just outclassed by many other bulky Water-types in both tiers above its native tier, making it very Trubbish in singles's higher tiers.

Fabled Folklore

Milotic is a solid pick in DOU, as its Competitive ability allows it to fittingly overcome all of its competition. With Competitive, Milotic is capable of heavily punishing the common Intimidate spam and speed control options seen in DOU nowadays. The likes of Landorus-T, Incineroar, and Mega Manectric are all solid Intimidate pivots, yet their ability only strengthens Milotic's firepower, and the same goes with Icy Wind users such as Kyurem-B and Tapu Fini, thus making Milotic pretty Goodra. Speaking of Tapu Fini, while it does kind of outclass Milotic as a bulky Water-type, Milotic is often a great pick for otherwise Intimidate-weak teams and can be a solid threat under the right conditions. The combo of Coil + Hypnosis, a set that can't really be pulled off in singles due to the lack of allies to support it, is also very deadly.

Digging Deeper

Milotic struggles in singles mainly from the huge amount of competition it faces as a Water-type. In Doubles, with Icy Wind and its clones and Intimidate being a lot more common, Competitive makes Milotic stand out a lot more. The lack of a Sleep Clause in Doubles makes Hypnosis even more threatening. Also, most of its singles competitors, such as Toxapex, are extremely passive, which isn't a huge problem in singles but for sure is in Doubles.

Scrafty

Stinky Situation

With good bulk, three excellent abilities, and two setup options, Scrafty is a decent setup sweeper in NU. You really don't wanna take it any higher tier-wise, though, as it becomes pretty Trubbish if you do so. Its low Speed and Attack become even more of a problem as the tiers increase, and its decent bulk in NU terms becomes pretty bad up higher. Overall, its stats just don't really contribute to any potential for it to stand out in singles.

Fabled Folklore

Scrafty is a decently Goodra pick for Trick Room or even Tailwind teams, as it can provide very valuable support in the forms of Fake Out, Intimidate, and Knock Off, helping its teammates set up their respective field condition. Its bulk is also pretty good when backed up by Assault Vest and Intimidate. And while the gift given to Incineroar makes Scrafty heavily compete with Alola's infamous tiger, Scrafty still has its place on a team or two, most notably easing the matchup against rain and Ground-types, something Incineroar can't really provide. Super Fang is also a very nice bonus to Scrafty's arsenal.

Digging Deeper

In general, Scrafty has many Doubles tools that don't do as well in singles. Fake Out and Intimidate are really the keys to its success, as these moves are very notable in DOU and not as much in OU. The former has the chance to invalidate a foe, stopping double targeting or Taunt from ruining strategies like Trick Room and Tailwind, whereas the latter targets two foes in Doubles compared to one in singles. While in singles, Scrafty could attempt to use a set similar to its Doubles set, there are just many pivots that can outperform it in that role, such as Incineroar in NU and pretty much any OU pivot, whereas in DOU it only really faces competition from Incineroar.

Bronzong

Stinky Situation

While Bronzong's typing, bulk, and Levitate ability allow it to shine in RU, its viability oxidizes as the tiers rise, and it's outright Trubbish in OU. While inexperienced players might see some potential in theory, by providing role compression as solid check to Landorus-T and Tapu Lele and being a user of Stealth Rock, there are just much better options for defensive Steel-types, namely Magearna, Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Jirachi, as despite not filling all the roles compressed by Bronzong, they play these roles much better than RU's main Steel-type.

Fabled Folklore

While Bronzong faces some heavy competition as a Trick Room setter in Doubles OU, the combination of Z-Trick Room, which boosts its accuracy, and Hypnosis, in tandem with the lack of Sleep Clause in DOU, makes Sinnoh's Bronze Bell Pokémon a lot more menacing and Goodra than what it may seem. With Tapu Bulu as a partner, it can also circumvent Tapu Koko and Tapu Fini's attempt to keep themselves and their partners awake, as well as receiving healing and Ground-type damage reduction from the Grassy Terrain (Bronzong usually prefers Heatproof as its ability, especially when paired with Ula' Ula's infamous bull, as Levitate isn't as necessary with Grassy Terrain). Furthermore, Gyro Balls coming from Bronzong are in all honesty nothing to sleep on!

Digging Deeper

Big Bronze Bell's situation is somewhat similar to Stakataka in the sense that Trick Room is a lot more potent in Doubles. Yet the interesting thing about Bronzong is that, unlike UB Assembly, it doesn't try to be a Trick Room sweeper in singles; if anything, it can work as a lead setter, but overall Bronzong's thing in OU is more about being a wall, so it only gets to shine as such when other Steel-types are banned, which is the case in RU.

Honorable Mentions

The following Pokémon were banned from DOU but are nowhere near as threatening in singles. I'll give a brief explanation as to why:

Snorlax

Snorlax is chilling in RU using mostly a Curse set, which allows it to be a potent sweeper for unprepared teams. But in DOU, everyone's favorite glutton Pokémon was a lot more menacing. The key thing that made it too much for DOU was the combination of it with Gothitelle, which made the infamous Belly Drum set all the more threatening after Marshadow left the tier. Teammates such as Mega Manectric and Mew also eased Snorlax's set up and Transformed into set-up Snorlax, respectively, making the sleepy road blocker even more of a threat. In singles, though, with no Shadow Tag allies to help trap setup baits and a lot less viability on Trick Room's behalf, Snorlax isn't quite as threatening.

Jirachi

Jirachi is a decent pick as a Tapu Lele and Magearna switch-in in OU, and while it seems very innocent, Jirachi used to wreak a lot of havoc over in DOU. The main premise behind its ban was that its access to Follow Me, combined with its excellent bulk and typing, let it pretty much redirect moves for itself without risk for a couple of turns, letting partners such as Azumarill, Snorlax, Mega Salamence, and Zygarde have quite a field day and sweep opposing teams with ease. Its access to speed control options in Icy Wind and Trick Room also made it even tougher for opposing teams to take care of Jirachi's partners, thus leading to a ban with a 60.8% majority.