Beginners

Published on July 30th, 2012 | by Matt M.

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Prepare for Trouble and Make it Double: Introduction to Doubles Mechanics

While Jessie and James have been challenging Ash and friends to Double battles since the very beginning of the television show, they were only introduced into the video game universe in Ruby and Sapphire. Since then, GameFreak has added numerous moves and abilities designed specifically for Doubles play. In addition to this, there are slight changes to pre-existing Singles moves which drastically effect Doubles gameplay. This article outlines all of these changes and additions so you can prepare yourself for the shift from the Singles style that you might be accustomed to.

Doubles-specific Moves

All of the following moves will either fail or have no effect when used in Singles.

After You/Quash: Both of these moves will change the priority of the target Pokémon. After You causes the target Pokémon to move directly after the current Pokémon, regardless of pre-existing speed or priority, while Quash causes the target Pokémon to be the last to move in its priority level. For example, if a Murkrow uses Quash on an attacking Terrakion using Rock Slide, a slower Conkeldurr will get a chance to use Drain Punch before Terrakion because Terrakion will be moved to the bottom of that priority level. However, if we had the same situation but switched Conkeldurr with a Jellicent using Trick Room, Terrakion would still go before the Jellicent because Trick Room has a lower priority.

Ally Switch: This move has +1 priority and will switch the placement of your two Pokémon. After this, all following attacks from your opponent’s Pokémon will remain targeted at the initial space, resulting in each move not hitting its original target.

Follow Me/Rage Powder: Both of these moves have +3 priority and will cause all remaining single-target moves from the opponent’s Pokémon to be redirected to the user. This includes any moves that the opponent’s Pokémon use on each other. Multi-target moves will still hit all targets.

Helping Hand: This move has a +5 priority and boosts the damage of your ally Pokémon’s attacks by half.

Quick Guard/Wide Guard: Both of these moves are +3 priority and protect the user and ally Pokémon from certain types of moves. Quick Guard protects both Pokémon from all moves that have +1 priority or more. Because the moves affected by Prankster do not start with +1 priority, Quick Guard does not protect against moves boosted by it. Quick Guard’s +3 priority put it in the same priority bracket as Fake Out, meaning that a faster Fake Out can still break through Quick Guard. In addition, Feint still breaks Quick Guard like Protect/Detect. Wide Guard protects both Pokémon from all Multi-targeting moves. This also includes Multi-target moves that the ally Pokémon uses. Moves that are not protected by Wide Guard are Perish Song and Haze, which target the field instead of the Pokémon directly.

Note: Both of these moves use the same counter that Protect and Detect use, so these moves (or Protect/Detect) have a 50% chance of failing if used in succession.

Changes to Singles Moves

All of these moves can function in Singles but have slight mechanics changes or added effects when used in Doubles.

Fire Pledge/Grass Pledge/Water Pledge: The Pledge moves have a unique added effect when used simultaneously in Doubles.

Fire Pledge + Grass Pledge = Deals 12.5% damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon for four turns.
Grass Pledge + Water Pledge = Reduces the Speed of your opponent’s Pokémon by one stage for the next four turns.
Water Pledge + Fire Pledge = Doubles the chance of secondary effects for four turns.

Imprison: While Imprison has essentially the same purpose in Singles, there is one important difference when shifted to Doubles. Imprison targets a player’s side of the field rather than an individual Pokémon as it may appear in Singles. This means that the effects of Imprison will remain until the Pokémon that uses Imprison is KO’d or switched out. For example, if a Chandelure uses Imprison with a moveset of Imprison/Heat Wave/Protect/Trick Room, none of the opponent’s Pokémon would be able to use any of these moves as long as Chandelure remains out.

Outrage/Petal Dance/Thrash/Uproar: These moves function the same as they would in Singles, but their target will be chosen at random from your opponent’s Pokémon.

Moves that hit both of the opponent’s Pokémon: Blizzard, Dark Void, Eruption, Heat Wave, Icy Wind, Muddy Water, Rock Slide, Water Spout.

All of these moves will hit both of your opponent’s Pokémon but will also deal damage to both of those Pokémon equal to 75% of the original Base Power, however, if your opponent only has one Pokémon left when this move is used, then the damage will be the full 100%. Accuracy is applied to each individual Pokémon and not collectively.

Note: Dark Void is currently banned from VGC and GBU battles.

Moves that hit all Pokémon on the field: Bulldoze, Discharge, Earthquake, Explosion, Lava Plume, Searing Shot, Selfdestruct, Sludge Wave, Surf, Synchronise, Teeter Dance.

All of these moves will hit both of your opponent’s Pokémon as well as your Pokémon’s partner. This will also reduce the damage to all damaged Pokémon to 75% of the original Base Power, however if there is only one target Pokémon left when this move is used, then the damage will be the full 100%. Accuracy is applied to each individual Pokémon and not collectively.

Changes to Ability Mechanics

These abilities are either only effective in Doubles play or have added functionality in Doubles.

Flower Gift/Friend Guard/Healer: All of these abilities give your ally Pokémon an added advantage as long as this Pokémon is in play. Flower Gift will boost the ally Pokémon’s Attack and Special Defense by half each but only works when Sun is active. Friend Guard will reduce all damage done to the ally Pokémon by 25%, and Healer has a 30% chance to heal a ally Pokémon’s status condition at the end of each turn.

Lightningrod/Storm Drain: Both of these abilities will make all Single-targeting moves of their respective types, Electric and Water, hit the Pokémon with the ability instead of any other chosen target. In addition to this, both of these abilities will nullify all damage done to the Pokémon and boost their Special Attack one stage when hit with a move of their respective types. This immunity and boost will also occur if the Pokémon is hit with a Multi-target move, though the redirect will not. The redirect does still occur if the Pokémon with one of these abilities uses Detect or Protect, however.

Note: Hidden Power is still technically a Normal-type move and is not drawn to either of these abilities, even if it is Water- or Electric-type.

Telepathy: This abilities makes the Pokémon immune to all moves that its ally Pokémon is using. This includes Single- and Multi-targeting moves.


About the Author

has been providing Pokemon for VGC players since 2010. While he has only gone to two VGC events, he hopes to be more active in the battling community in upcoming years.



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