Legendary Pokémon

So, with the tournament being over now, I have no reason to not post my team, it's not like we're ever gonna play another game with VGC11 rules anyway. You can suggest things to fix/change but considering I'll probably never use that team again, I don't know if I'll change anything. So, here we go.




Thundurus @ Electric Gem
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Thunderbolt
~ Thunder Wave
~ Hidden Power [Ice]
~ Substitute


Thundurus is a beast in general, even more so in the VGC11 metagame. The number one reason I consider Thundurus to be probably the best Pokémon in VGC11 is the amount of options he gives you due to Prankster. Even in unfavorable situations, like when under Trick Room or when the opponent has used Tailwind, he gives me the option of getting the first move, either crippling the opponent or stalling their field effect out.

Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Ice give me some good coverage against common VGC11 Pokémon like Jellicent, Archeops, Landorus, Hydreigon, Haxorus, etc. Discharge was an option over Thunderbolt since I was using Krookodile but yeah, you never know when you'll be forced to use Thundurus and Jellicent together, so Thunderbolt seemed like the better choice. Thunder Wave was mainly used against Tailwind teams or when I wanted to get rid of a specific threat, faster than Krookodile, that Thundurus couldn't OHKO but Krookodile could, most notably Volcarona. Substitute vs Protect was a tough choice but in the end I went with Substitute. Substitute can be used consecutively without risk giving me an easier time in stalling out Trick Room or Tailwind. Also, the most common first turn of Tailwind based teams is Protect and Tailwind, so if I stay behind a sub in the first turn, the game is made a lot easier for me.

Electric Gem was chosen over other items because it allows me to OHKO Jellicent. I didn't feel like risking it.
- 252SpAtk lvl 50 Thundurus (Neutral) Thunderbolt vs 4HP/0SpDef Water Absorb lvl 50 Jellicent (Neutral): 86% - 103%
- 252SpAtk Electric Gem lvl 50 Thundurus (Neutral) Thunderbolt vs 4HP/0SpDef Water Absorb lvl 50 Jellicent (Neutral): 129% - 153%




Krookodile @ Chople Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Crunch
~ Earthquake
~ Protect
~ Rock Slide


Thundurus's partner, those two were my most common opening Pokémon. Since Thundurus is Flying-type, I thought I should take advantage of it and get a powerful Earthquake user on the team. Our options for a STAB EQ were limited, Krookodile, Excadrill, Golurk and Landorus. Excadrill has no place outside of a Sandstorm team, no need to even consider him. Golurk's fine all around but I didn't like the weaknesses to Dark and Ghost. Landorus has Explosion, higher offensive stats and resistance to Fighting. On the other hand, Krookodile has one of the best abilities in doubles, Intimidate and that's the main reason I chose it over Landorus. Starting the battle facing a -1 Atk Scrafty gave an easier time to my team due to its huge weakness to Ice (Punch). A -1 Atk Terrakion only has a 30% chance to OHKO my Hydreigon with Close Combat and cannot OHKO with Sacred Sword. Intimidate proved to be a huge plus for me.

The moveset isn't strange. EQ and Rock Slide provide nice coverage and hit both targets. STAB Crunch deals heavy damage to those Psychic and Ghost Pokémon that carry Trick Room. Protect was needed since Krookodile isn't the fastest Pokémon out there. I usually started with Protect on the first turn, hoping to cancel an attack while Thundurus brought my opponent's Pokémon in KO range.

Chople Berry was also a right choice. Scrafty, Terrakion, Mienshao and Conkeldurr all targeted Krookodile first due to weakness, being able to absorb an attack between two Protects while Thundurus took care of business was great. With Chople Berry, a -1 Atk Conkeldurr with Guts activated has a really small chance to 2HKO with Mach Punch.




Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Dark Pulse
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Surf
~ Protect


When I made the team, I had my hopes up for the Hydreigon-Jellicent combo. The idea of spamming Surf and Water Spout seemed great in theory. Well, it was not really like that. I found myself really missing that one Fire-type move over Surf in order to hit Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, etc. I only used Surf once throughout the tournament, against a Cobalion, since it was my only neutral move against it. Overall, I think I would have been much better off using Flamethrower. Dark and Dragon Pulse were solid and Protect is useful to have, I wouldn't drop any of those so Surf would be the move to drop. Everything else is pretty standard. Life Orb was useful, I was considering Expert Belt instead but I assumed I would be using Dragon Pulse against neutral targets most of the time and I was right.




Jellicent @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Water Spout
~ Shadow Ball
~ Ice Beam
~ Will-O-Wisp


Supposedly Hydreigon's partner, but it was benched during most of the matches. I only used Jellicent in a few games, games where my opponents had like 3 Fighting-type Pokémon and maybe a Fire-type too. After seeing the usefulness of my last Pokémon, it was even harder for me to pick Jellicent unless it was absolutely needed. Everything is standard in the set. Will-O-Wisp was chosen over Protect in order to burn something like Terrakion/Landorus and give an easier time to my team but I ended up using it only once against a Ferrothorn since it was a bi*ch to KO without a Fire-type move. Sitrus Berry for some extra HP for stronger Water Spouts.




Amoonguss @ Coba Berry
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
~ Spore
~ Rage Powder
~ Giga Drain
~ Protect


Although this is a great Pokémon, it was probably a poor decision on my part to get it on the team. I never even used it once, it always seemed out of context, like it wouldn't add something to my team. Even when facing Trick Room teams, I thought that stalling it out would be easier than trying to take advantage of it with Amoonguss. I dunno why, I just never felt like it would help me much.

The set is the standard one for doubles, nothing spectacular. Coba Berry lets it survive Tornadus's Flying Gem Acrobatics.




Haxorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Dual Chop
~ Earthquake
~ Rock Slide
~ Outrage


Let's count the Steel-types in VGC11. Durant, nobody uses it. Cobalion, but Terrakion's better. Ferrothorn, quite rare in doubles. Excadrill which is outclassed by other Ground-types. And Escavalier which is mainly used as an anti Trick Room Pokémon which means my opponent wouldn't pick it against my team. And that's exactly the reason why spamming Outrage was so much fun. Adamant Haxorus Outrage was incredible, OHKOing anything here and there. The moment that I KOed my opponent's 3rd Pokémon before they KOed mine, it was over, Haxorus couldn't lose. If I could predict correctly and send it out at the right moment, I could spam Outrage for game.

Dual Chop, EQ and Rock Slide are situational attacks, you almost always want to use Outrage. Dual Chop can KO a low HP Thundurus/Tornadus behind a Substitute and the other two can take down two low HP Pokémon in one hit.

Mold Breaker vs Rivalry was a difficult choice. While Mold Breaker is generally nice to have, I couldn't use EQ without hitting my own Hydreigon with it. Rivalry on the other hand was quite unpredictable, this isn't Pokémon Online where nobody changes the Pokémon's gender. So in the end I used Mold Breaker, it never really helped me or harmed me, but at least it wasn't a gamble based on my opponent's Pokémon.


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Generally, the team as a whole performed well. Thundurus and Krookodile gave me the upper hand in most battles, Hydreigon added some damage and Haxorus cleaned the field. My main problem, Trick Room teams, were easy to deal with unless they led with Rage Powder Amoonguss + TR setting Pokémon and even then, the opponent would have to outpredict me, otherwise stalling for 5 turns wouldn't be too hard. Another problem was my huge weakness to Ice but Ice-types didn't really seem common. Jellicent, which carries Ice Beam, was threatened by almost everything on my team. Scrafty and its Ice Punch had to face Intimidate. A Choice Scarf Vanilluxe would be a big problem but thankfully, people didn't appreciate the power of the ice cream:

- 252SpAtk lvl 50 Vanilluxe (Neutral) Ice Beam vs 4HP/0SpDef lvl 50 Thundurus (-SpDef): 125% - 148%
- 252SpAtk lvl 50 Vanilluxe (Neutral) Ice Beam vs 92HP/0SpDef lvl 50 Krookodile (Neutral): 106% - 126%
- 252SpAtk lvl 50 Vanilluxe (Neutral) Ice Beam vs 4HP/0SpDef Levitate lvl 50 Hydreigon (Neutral): 94% - 111% (66% chance to OHKO, my Hydreigon also carries Life Orb so it's pretty much dead regardless.)
- 252SpAtk lvl 50 Vanilluxe (Neutral) Ice Beam vs 4HP/0SpDef lvl 50 Haxorus (Neutral): 127% - 151%

And that's without a +SpAtk nature. Even if my Haxorus was able to outrun Vanilluxe, my Outrage could just hit the other Pokémon while Vanilluxe kept Ice Beaming everything. Oh well, that didn't happen anyway.


And, that's it. Any suggestions are welcome. Let's hope the next tournament has some more strict rules.

Great team! What position did you took in the tournament???

I would really suggest changing Amoonguss for a Whimsicott.
If you havent put Rage Powder into use, then perhaps an additional Prankster could help Light Screening against Ice Beams.Also, Whimsicott has acess to Cotton Guard, which allows you to spend most EVs on its low HP and SP.Def.Additionaly, you can have Either one draining move+Substitute or Giga Drain combined with Leech Seed, depending on what you prefer (Whimsicott has very high speed anyway, so it will not be hard to outrun a target for a Giga Drain that might save it.)
Also, I would suggest changing Jellicent for Cofagrigus.Okay, it has less resistances, but also less weaknesses.In addition, it has access to Will-O-Wisp, so you will still be able to burn the attackers you mentioned+ it has high defenses, meaning all you need to seriously consider Eving for is its HP.Moreover, Cofagrigus has an Ability that works like a pseudo-Worry Seed, with only drawback appearing when you "touch" a mummied opponent.Finally, it also has access to Imprison, allowing you to "ban" foe's Shadow Balls, and Calm Mind which increases both its defensive and offensive capabilities (95 base Sp.Atk is really not bad at all for a wall.)

Nice Team indeed. Hydreigon with Flamethrower, as you said, would be much better. Pretty much, an excellent team, there isn't anything that seems too wrong.