Event Pokémon You SHOULD be Using in Doubles OU

Introduction

Though many Pokémon are criminally overlooked in Doubles OU, it seems as though the worst offended are consistently event Pokémon. This article aims to shed a little light on some of the gems in Doubles UnderUsed or below that deserve a little more love in the big leagues. From best to worst in DOU, these are Jirachi, Darkrai, Deoxys-A, Genesect, and Victini. Next time you can't find the Pokémon you need, instead of digging deeper, reach a little higher—something with a BST of 600 might be exactly what you're looking for.

Jirachi

Jirachi @ Sitrus Berry / Safety Goggles
Careful
252 HP / 52 Def / 96 SpD / 108 Spe
- Follow Me
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave / Icy Wind
- Protect / Helping Hand

Jirachi is one of the best users of redirection in the metagame, second only to Amoonguss, but, for whatever reason, it doesn't get nearly enough love. Thanks to its typing, it has some fantastic resistances, and its 100/100/100 bulk is plenty good enough to redirect neutral attacks as well, although limited recovery means you must be wiser with Jirachi's HP than with Amoonguss's. Compared to Amoonguss, you trade good matchups with Aegislash, Keldeo, Landorus-T, Rotom-W, and Hydreigon for Skymin, Amoonguss (if Safety Goggles), Cresselia, Kyurem-B, Latios, and Mega Metagross, so if your team has more trouble with the latter set then you should consider Jirachi as your redirector. In particular, if you want to assist the setup of a Pokémon that is scared of Grass-types, such as Azumarill, then Jirachi is the only choice of the two, as Grass-types ignore Rage Powder. Though it loses Spore, it has a fast Iron Head, which is just as good 60% of the time, and it can provide the team with speed control and other various forms of support—it gets Healing Wish, Helping Hand, and more.

This spread is guaranteed to live two Earth Powers from Kyurem-B, Skymin, and standard Mega Diancie, so that it can sit in on these Pokémon without fear (though switching into Skymin's Seed Flare is still a risk). It outspeeds Jolly base 70 Pokémon, which is the speed benchmark that basically everything slower than Landorus EVs for, because nothing wants to take a Spore from Breloom. Hitting this benchmark allows you to flinch most SubCubes (Substitute Kyurem-B) and play mindgames with Bisharp between Sucker Punch, which beats Iron Head, and Knock Off, which beats Follow Me. Sitrus Berry is Jirachi's only method of recovery, but with Safety Goggles it can hard counter Breloom and Amoonguss, so on some teams it'll be worth the switch. If you do run Goggles, you can drop the Speed to 16, which beats max Speed Adamant Bisharp, and put the rest in Defense. Thunder Wave is better for every single Pokémon except one, but if you want to do anything to Landorus-T then you can run Icy Wind instead. Icy Wind also gets around redirection in the rare cases where that will be relevant.

Other viable redirection users are Togekiss and Volcarona, but they are much less directly comparable than Amoonguss for two reasons. For one, they are much less dedicated redirection spammers, used for other moves (in Togekiss's case, Encore and Air Slash; in Volcarona's, powerful Fire Blasts) with only an occasional Follow Me when it's helpful. For two, both are somewhat niche and not as generally useful in the metagame as Jirachi or Amoonguss.

Overall, apart from the pure matchup considerations mentioned above, Jirachi is better for teams where keeping a quick pace of play is important, such as offense. Amoonguss's partner often needs to Protect whenever it uses a move other than Rage Powder because it's so damn slow, but the same is not true of Jirachi thanks to its access to speed control and much higher base Speed. On the other hand, Amoonguss is still a good pick for most defensive teams thanks to its much more permanent presence.

Darkrai

Darkrai @ Life Orb
Timid
80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam / Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

What sets Darkrai apart from other speedy attackers is its access to Will-O-Wisp. There are very few things better than a fast Wisp. Even those Pokémon that don't mind the Attack drop hate the chip damage, Aegislash isn't safe from it with King's Shield, it gets around Sucker Punch, and in some cases being burned is worse than being dead—a burned Landorus-T, for example, becomes setup fodder for SubCube and Mega Kangaskhan. In fact, I have an entire team built around spreading Wisp to get setup opportunities for those two, and yes, it does use Darkrai.

Will-O-Wisp aside, Darkrai has very nice stats, with 135 Special Attack, non-paper bulk (although its lack of resistances means it can't switch in on much), and more than 110 Speed. 110 is a vital speed tier in DOU because it contains Mega Diancie, Mega Metagross, and Latios (and is right above Keldeo and Terrakion), so that everything faster than that basically "outspeeds the metagame," although Darkrai unfortunately does miss out on Skymin. As Dark is nearly unresisted, Darkrai can 2HKO most things with Dark Pulse, and it has coverage for what it can't. The most common options are Ice Beam for Hydreigon, Togekiss, and Breloom, but also quicker KOes on Landorus-T and Amoonguss, and Thunderbolt for Keldeo, Togekiss, and Azumarill.

For teams where Skymin doesn't quite fit, Darkrai is a great choice for a speedy attacker that can offer its team some support while picking off threats.

Deoxys-A

Deoxys-A @ Focus Sash
Hasty
64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
- Psycho Boost
- Low Kick
- Knock Off / Ice Beam
- Detect

The direct opposite of Darkrai, Deoxys-A requires a lot more team support than it gives. However, it hits like a truck, if the truck was loaded full of explosives and also a Psychic-type. Psycho Boost is a complete destructive force, nearly OHKOing even bulky Pokémon such as Rotom-W, 252 HP Mega Charizard Y, and SubCube. Its Speed is also fantastic, as with a Hasty nature it can outspeed Scarf Adamant Landorus-T, the only Pokémon that can do this without using a Choice Scarf itself! The way to play Deoxys is by smashing everything in its path with the appropriate move, switching out when threatened, and doing it again.

Low Kick provides good coverage with Psycho Boost, hitting Steel-types such as Heatran, Metagross, Ferrothorn, and Bisharp, as well as Dark-types such as Hydreigon. Knock Off rounds out the coverage by hitting Psychic-types such as Latios and Cresselia, as well as Aegislash (though it's not even close to an OHKO, so watch out for Weakness Policy). On the other hand, Ice Beam allows Deoxys to hit a lot of Pokémon that it would otherwise need to use Psycho Boost against, so it isn't forced out afterward. Thanks to the current terribleness of Tyranitar and rarity of Abomasnow, Deoxys fears very few things before its Sash is broken, mostly just Mega Kangaskhan.

Deoxys-A isn't too effective without support; redirection in particular, along with Fake Out, Rock Slide, and offensive support, helps to keep the pressure off, as Deoxys lacks any spread moves and is thus vulnerable to double targeting. However, it's a great fit for hyper offensive teams.

Genesect

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Adamant
252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Explosion
- Ice Beam

Though it may not be as obvious as with Darkrai or Deoxys-A, Genesect also suffers a sharp decrease in potency in the move from singles to doubles. It's not nearly as potent at forcing switches thanks to the ubiquity of Protect, the fact that its moves are all single target, and other things, so its U-turn is a much less effective tool. Like all Pokémon, it's harder to get in for free, which is a hassle when it's relatively frail and its main method of dealing damage is spamming U-turn. However, Genesect still has great tools that give it a niche as a Choice Scarf user in DOU. U-turn is always handy and a fast Explosion is a fantastic way to gain momentum for offensive teams. Genesect can outspeed and OHKO Scarf Landorus-T with just 4 SpA (yes, it needs the 4), and it can run an effective, though uncommon, special set as well.

Though this set has major gaps in coverage—which the special set can fill at the expense of power—it has better matchups than most Scarfers against common defensive Pokémon such as Amoonguss, Cresselia, and Rotom-W, which is the main selling point of the set. One thing that Genesect users will quickly notice is that there are an unfortunately large number of Pokémon that give a SpA boost, such as Rotom-W, unboosted CM Cresselia, Kyurem-B, and +1 Def Mega Diancie. Without a Download boost, Genesect is pretty weak, though with a boost, it's capable of 2HKOing most foes with its STAB and its Explosion can blow major holes.

Whenever Genesect comes in, it has three options. Typically, in the early-game, it will smack something with a U-turn and go out to a counter. Later on in the match, two other choices open up. If the opponent has a Pokémon in Iron Head KO range, especially if they have others in KO range in the back, Genesect can go for Iron Head in order to limit the opponent's post-KO switch options to the Pokémon that are still healthy enough to take an Iron Head, setting up a strong positional chain. Or if Genesect is low on HP, crippled, or otherwise more useful as a free switch, it can sacrifice itself with Explosion to set up a powerful position to begin your end-game.

To be honest, I'm not convinced that the standard Genesect is the optimal one, and I think this is the Pokémon on this list that most deserves to be experimented with, particularly with regards to special coverage and non-Scarf sets. However, for teams that need a more offensive, momentum-based Scarfer that's better against defense rather than a utility counter, Genesect could just be your pick.

Victini

Victini @ Choice Scarf
Jolly / Adamant
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Final Gambit
- U-turn / Trick

Though its stats and movepool seem to be applicable to many roles, Victini finds itself most comfortable as a physical Scarfer. It has all the attributes of a good Scarf user in DOU: U-turn, powerful STAB moves, and the ability to outspeed and OHKO Scarf Landorus-T. Victory Star is also a neat ability, boosting the accuracy of teammates' Rock Slide, Hydro Pump, and other moves so that they can be much more reliable.

One of the most appealing things about Victini is that it's a fantastic sun check. Bolt Strike does massive damage to Charizard; it outspeeds most Venusaur (252 Modest Venusaur will outrun with Chlorophyll, but nobody runs this); and, with a Sun boost, V-create just slaughters everything. Jolly increases Victini's chance of outrunning Venusaur, though Adamant will do just fine against other Scarf users while giving a power boost. Be warned that only V-create is very powerful: Bolt Strike only OHKOes Keldeo on a high roll, for instance. However, V-create can OHKO even Pokémon such as Darkrai, and Victini is one of the only Pokémon that can OHKO Aegislash—though it appreciates support such as Taunt to get around King's Shield. The final thing to note here is Final Gambit: Staraptor sees some use in VGC as a Scarfer that controls the opponent's options with the threat of forcing a Final Gambit trade; Victini does the same thing in Doubles OU, but better. Even without HP investment, it OHKOes basically every offensive Pokémon and does about 75% to Cresselia; the only Pokémon that can switch into a Final Gambit is Sitrus Berry Amoonguss, but it fears V-create.

This set is not the only set Victini can run, but it is the most popular and the only one I've used enough to write about. Other options include a Glaciate-based support set and more. Though Victini may not be as worthy of Doubles OU status as the rest of the Pokémon listed, its Scarf set is still definitely something to consider for momentum-based teams.

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