DPPt/HGSS Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

[Wobbegong]

I'm not happy if I'm not theorycrafting teams, I swear. Anyways, this set is for the single-player double battles in the Battle Tower. Guess the theme!

Pair #1: Tyranitar + Cacturne
Tyranitar@Wide Lens
Adamant
-Rock Slide
-Crunch
-Earthquake
-Ice Claw/Dragon Fang

Cacturne@Lax Incense?
Docile/etc
-Dark Pulse
-Energy Ball
-Brick Break
-Poison Jab

Pair #2: Hippowdon + Gliscor
Hippowdon@Muscle Band?
Adamant
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Thunder Fang
-Ice Fang

Gliscor@Brightpowder?
Adamant
-Aerial Ace
-X-Scissor
-Night Slash
-Brick Break

The idea is to keep one Sand Streamer and one Sand Veiler up at all times. Beyond that... just a lot of juggling to keep all strengths/weaknesses as covered as I can. EX: between Hippowdon and Gliscor, I can score a super effective hit against every individual type. Which, incidentally, is why Gliscor doesn't have any ground moves... meh. So! Tips? Suggestions? "You're out of your little mind"s? I appreciate it all.

 

[Ruko]

;D

I'll leave your movesets for Plapti to judge... though I do think that you should take into consideration that Rock Slide's power will be cut in half for double battles... Stone Edge could possibly be more effective since you have Earthquake... at the same time, mine still knows Rock Slide just because I like to hit both of my opponents.


Your first pair has a weakness to fighting type attacks...
Earthquake will hit Cacturne as well as your opponents, just as a warning...

Since Tyranitar (in my opinion) is more powerful than Hippowdon, I would suggest leading with the other team as well... it's never good to lead with your most powerful pokemon...

Another thing to consider... not a whole lot of people [or computers] manipulate weather... so in the end you may just want either Hippowdon or Tyranitar.

Think about using a Garchomp on your team, but if you do, you may want to exchange it with Gliscor to avoid having two pokemon that can be Uber-pwnd by Ice.

You don't absolutely have to have Sand Veil... it's nice, but if you see another choice that could be better, use it. Skarmory looks great for this team since it won't be hit by earthquake, it makes a great wall all around... Skarmory is weak to fire/Electric which everyone else covers... Skarmory just seems perfect.

 

[Wobbegong]

I'd forgotten that bit about Rock Slide. askjfoe. This is why I like to run teams past other people... thank you for reminding me. I'll try to decide whether I can stomach less accuracy for a severe power boost-- hitting 2 things at once isn't much of a pro for me, but ewww lower accuracy.

Knew about the Earthquake bit. I consider it a calculated risk.

Leading... with the weaker team? Huh. Well, I'll remember to try that out when I finally get the team bred and raised. Thanks for the idea, though.

Like I said, trying to make sure 1 critter with Sand Stream is up and out at all times. (Also I think both of them are pretty cool so I wanna raise both.)

Garchomp can die in a freaking fire. Whenever I see it I'm overcome by horrified laughter-- no WAY am I using one. I hate Skarmory slightly less, but I still don't want to use one. Not to mention I don't have the patience to use walls without making myself tear my hair out, so.

 

[Ruko]

Well if your Tyranitar is holding a Wide lens, it ups Stone Edge to 88 accuracy... still not perfect... but reliable enough...

the Idea behind leading with the weaker team is that, if they take out your strong ones, what hope does the weaker team have? But if your weaker team gets taken out first, the Stronger team now has even more of an advantage than before.


Something to keep in mind... Sand Stream activates when a pokemon possessing it is brought out. If your Tyranitar is out on the field and your opponent uses Rain Dance, the sandstorm would not come back unless you switched out and then back in the Tyranitar.

and one final note, Sandstorms increase the Special Defense of Rock type pokemon... just a fact to keep in mind.

 

[baratron]

I agree that it's sensible to lead with the weaker team. It seems counter-intuitive, but "saving" your most powerful Pokemon is a good idea. Why let them take too much damage, when you know you're likely to have to sacrifice at least one Pokemon? Also, many human players will do things backwards and send out their best Pokemon first, meaning that you know the battle is likely to get easier after the first duo have weakened the opponent's team.

Having said that, in-game AI teams often save the best Pokemon until last. Look at the Elite Four and Champion! Gah, level 60-mumble Spiritomb as the last Pokemon! And in-game against AIs, I will likely send out my best Pokemon first, in the hope of ending the battle earlier, while I still have most of my team left. It gets annoying having to leave a weaker pkmn in battle while I fiddle around with Revives.