Need help with competitive doubles

[Shinywooloo]

I've been trying to get good at competitive since I have nothing else to do but shiny hunt, and I've been watching a ton of videos about it, but it feels like everything just goes in one ear and out the other. I've tried using some of the best rental teams used by master ball-ranked players and still lose almost every battle. Whenever I try to make a team I just don't feel into it because It'll probably suck and I don't know where to start. I don't know what to do. Am I just bad at it?

 

[Captain Sir Lord Chimchar]

Everyone is bad at the start it’s all about practice! If you have any specific question feel free to ask me via reply!

 

[Shinywooloo]

Well, how do you decide which Pokemon to use? I always have trouble deciding that

 

[Crisbee Donut]

You can try Pokemon Showdown to create a team without the commitment on cartridge. 6v6 and VGC (doubles) is availible there.

 

[Shinywooloo]

That's what I usually do, but I still can't decide what to do, or what ev spreads to make

 

[charlycicero]

Have you tried Wolfey VGCs channel? He is among the top players in competitive doubles and does quite a bit of informative vids about how to build a competitive team. But he talks FAST so you may have to watch his vids more than once.

Other than that I cannot help you much more because I do not compete at all. Apologies. I do watch matches occassionally though.

 

[charlycicero]

Well, how do you decide which Pokemon to use? I always have trouble deciding that

Try with the mons most other good players use and try to think of synergy between them. How each pair can help one another. And I feel they use a lot of Protect too.

 

[charlycicero]

That's what I usually do, but I still can't decide what to do, or what ev spreads to make

That one (EVs) is easier because it is similar to buildings mons for high Tera raids I think. Invest on having the highest HP available and the specific Pokémon's best attack stat. If it a physical attacker give it a lot of HP Ups and Proteins. For special attackers same but Calcium instead of Protein. And if you have bottle caps, hyper Train you Pokémon at Montenevera. I would also start with HP and its best attack stat. Then if you have enough, hyper Train Speed and its best defensa stat. Don't waste bottle caps on the worse attack stat. It won't help. You can farm bottle caps at 5 and 6 star tera raids. Also for treasure because the meds are very expensive. And you need 25 of each to maximize each stat.

If you don't know the base stats of the Pokémon, go to Serebii or the Pokémon Database and look for them.

 

[Crisbee Donut]

Also the guessed spreads that show upin the Teambuilder can help. Those give EVs, IVs, and Natures for the specific Pokemon and set you're running.

Also a good idea would be a team with an Indeedee and Armorouge combo or a Pixilate Sylveon. I've seen those work.

 

[charlycicero]

Oh, I forgot. Don't neglect your mints, since the nature is very important for how the stats of a particular Mon grow as It levels up. Either that or it is catching or breeding until you get the desired nature.

 

[Harryghost]

Teambuilding is always a matter of trial and error. I make a team on Pokémon Showdown, test it by having a few battles on the ladder, see which Pokémon gave me the most trouble in those battles and modify my team accordingly to counter those Pokémon.

As for the EV's, I suggest going min-max on offensive Pokémon, instead of trying out complex EV spreads . I feel these are easy to understand for the newer player, for, complex EV spreads require a deep knowledge about the metagame, which is often not easy to gather and understand for a newer player.

For the defensive Pokémon, EV training is a bit complex. You need to take into account the common weaknesses of that Pokémon, see those weaknesses are more common on which side, physical or special, and train it accordingly. Besides, the effect of Abilities like Intimidate and Ice Scales need to be factored in. Honestly, all this is something you'll best learn from trial and error.

As others on the thread have mentioned, Pokémon Showdown is probably the best place to start your competitive Pokémon journey. It provides a swift way of team creation, suggest good EV spreads for the Pokémon you might want on your team, and is fast for a learning experience on the ladder because of lack of in-game animations.