The Doubles Toolkit: the Great Ball guide

This is the meatiest guide in the ladder, because it covers the tools that separate "clicks the strongest move" from "plays doubles." Fake Out, speed control, setup and debuffs, Helping Hand, and focus-fire are the vocabulary of every competitive game. The Great Ball bot respects type matchups and plays loosely, which is enough that these tools start to pay off. Every example set below is drawn from the current Reg M-B meta.

Type & coverage mastery

Before the tricks: your four attackers should, between them, hit the whole format for at least neutral damage. That’s coverage. A team that is walled by a common type has a hole a good opponent will exploit. Aim for two or three attacking types that cover each other’s resists (e.g. a Fairy + a Steel + a Ground rarely leave gaps). The other half of typing is defensive synergy: your Pokémon should cover *each other’s* weaknesses so no single attack threatens your whole side.

Pairing	Covers because…	Legal M-B example
Fairy + Steel	Steel handles what resists Fairy (Fire, Poison, Steel via coverage)	SylveonKingambit
Ground + Fire	Ground hits the Steels/Rocks that wall Fire	GarchompCharizard-Mega-Y
Water + Fighting	Fighting breaks the Grass/Water walls	BasculegionSneasler
Ghost + Dark	Almost nothing resists both	DragapultKingambit

Fake Out: a free flinch on turn one

Fake Out is a +3 priority move that always makes the target flinch, so it does nothing the rest of the turn. Because it goes first and denies the foe its action, it is the best tempo tool in the game. Use it to: stop a fast threat from firing, chip a Focus Sash so your partner’s hit finishes the job, or simply buy a free turn for a teammate to set up or Protect. It only works the turn a Pokémon switches in, and it can’t flinch Ghost-types (it’s a Normal move) or Pokémon with Inner Focus.

User	Typing	Why you run it
Incineroar	FireDark	Fake Out + Intimidate + Parting Shot, the best support in the game
Sneasler	FightingPoison	Fake Out on a fast, hard-hitting Close Combat / Dire Claw attacker
Kangaskhan-Mega	Normal	Fake Out every turn it’s in, plus Double-Edge pressure
Weavile	DarkIce	Fake Out on a fast Triple Axel / Ice Shard revenge killer
Scrafty	DarkFighting	Bulky Fake Out with Intimidate and Fighting STAB
Raichu	Electric	Fake Out + Fake-Tears-style speed, niche Electric option

Fake Out mind-games

Because both Fake Out users on the field can’t both flinch the same target usefully, and because the opponent *knows* you have Fake Out, it becomes a guessing game. Do they Protect the Pokémon you’d flinch (wasting your Fake Out) or eat it? A few habits sharpen the read:

• Fake Out the Pokémon that most wants to move, not just the fastest. Deny the Trick Room setter or the Protect-less attacker its turn.
• Don’t Fake Out into a likely Protect. If they’ll Protect the obvious target, click a real attack at the *other* foe instead and save the flinch.
• Fake Out chips a Focus Sash so your partner’s hit finishes: a clean two-move KO on a Sash lead.
• Ghost-types (Gholdengo, Sinistcha, Dragapult) are immune to Fake Out, so never aim it there.

Priority brackets: what actually moves first

Within a turn, moves resolve by priority bracket first, and only *inside* a bracket does Speed decide the order. That’s why Fake Out and Protect always go before attacks, and why a slow Pokémon with Sucker Punch or Aqua Jet can still strike first. Learn the brackets: most endgames are decided by who has priority, not who’s faster.

Priority	Moves	Legal M-B user
+4	Protect, Detect, Wide Guard, Spiky Shield	Almost everything
+3	Fake Out	IncineroarWeavileKangaskhan-Mega
+2	Extreme Speed	DragoniteArcanine-Hisui
+1	Sucker Punch, Aqua Jet, Bullet Punch, Ice Shard, Accelerock	KingambitAzumarillScizorMamoswineLycanroc-Dusk
+1 (status, Prankster)	Taunt, Tailwind, Encore, screens	GrimmsnarlWhimsicott
0	Normal attacks and most moves	Everyone
−7	Trick Room (sets last)	FarigirafGardevoir-Mega

Speed control: the most important layer in doubles

Speed control is anything that changes who moves first, and it decides most games. There are four flavours, and good teams pick the one that matches their Pokémon. Slower, bulkier hitters want Trick Room; fast, aggressive teams want Tailwind; a single fast threat can borrow a Choice Scarf; and speed-drop moves slow the foe instead of speeding yourself.

Tool	Effect	Duration	Best for	Legal M-B setters
Tailwind	Doubles your side’s Speed	4 turns	Fast / offensive teams	PelipperWhimsicottStaraptor
Trick Room	Inverts Speed (slowest moves first)	5 turns	Slow, bulky, hard-hitting teams	FarigirafHattereneCofagrigus
Choice Scarf	One holder’s Speed ×1.5	While held	A single fast cleaner / revenge killer	Any (item; the only Choice item in Champions)
Speed-drop moves	Lowers the foe’s Speed instead	Until switch	Softening a fast meta without committing a turn	Icy Wind, Electroweb, Bulldoze users

Tailwind: your slow hitters suddenly move first

Tailwind doubles your whole side’s Speed for four turns. A mid-speed attacker that normally loses the race now moves first and KOs. The classic line: set Tailwind behind a Protect on turn one, then run over the field for the next three turns.

Trick Room: the slowest moves first

Trick Room inverts the Speed order for five turns: your slowest, hardest-hitting Pokémon act *first*. It is the counter-strategy to fast offense. Note it has −7 priority to set, so a faster Taunt or a KO on the setter stops it cold. Protect your setter and remove threats to it first. The premier M-B setter is Farigiraf, whose Armor Tail blocks the priority Taunts and Fake Outs that would otherwise deny it.

Choice Scarf: one Pokémon, ×1.5 Speed

Choice Scarf is the only Choice item legal in Champions (there is no Band or Specs). It multiplies one holder’s Speed by ×1.5, but locks it into the first move it picks until it switches. It’s how a single fast cleaner or revenge killer out-speeds the format without committing your whole team to a setter. In M-B you see it most on Basculegion (Scarf Last Respects / Wave Crash) and Hydreigon (Scarf Draco Meteor / Dark Pulse).

Pokémon	Base Speed	Note
Aerodactyl-Mega	150	Among the fastest in the format; great fast Tailwind lead
Dragapult	142	Out-speeds nearly everything unboosted
Whimsicott	116	Fast Prankster support: Tailwind / Encore first
Garchomp	102	The benchmark base-100 attacker
Charizard-Mega-Y	100	Ties the base-100 crowd; invest to win it
Basculegion	78	Slow, but Choice Scarf or rain fixes that
IncineroarSylveonFarigiraf	60	Bulky support tier: happy under Tailwind or in Trick Room
Kingambit	50	Very slow: a Trick Room and priority-Sucker-Punch monster
Torkoal	20	Almost the slowest: the ideal Trick Room attacker

Stat manipulation: setup and debuffs

You can change stats mid-battle: yours (setup) or theirs (debuffs). Doubles is the perfect place for it because your partner can cover you while you spend a turn boosting, or a redirector can eat the hit meant to interrupt you.

Setup: spend a turn to become a threat

A setup move trades your turn for a lasting stat boost. +2 moves (Swords Dance, Nasty Plot) double your attacking stat in one turn: explosive, but they do nothing else. Balanced setups (Dragon Dance, Quiver Dance, Calm Mind, Bulk Up) give smaller boosts across two stats, often including Speed or a defense, so you get tankier as you snowball. The catch: you took a turn off. Doubles makes that safe because your partner can cover you.

Move	Boost	Style	Legal user
Swords Dance	+2 Attack	Explosive	KingambitGalladeCeruledgeScizor-Mega
Nasty Plot	+2 Sp.Atk	Explosive	GholdengoDelphox-MegaSalazzle
Dragon Dance	+1 Attack / +1 Speed	Balanced	DragoniteGyarados-Mega
Quiver Dance	+1 Sp.Atk / +1 Sp.Def / +1 Speed	Balanced	Volcarona
Calm Mind	+1 Sp.Atk / +1 Sp.Def	Balanced	SylveonPrimarinaFloette-Mega
Bulk Up	+1 Attack / +1 Defense	Balanced	ConkeldurrMachampCorviknight
Belly Drum	+6 Attack (costs 50% HP)	All-in	Azumarill

S-TIER SET

Kingambit

Defiant

DarkSteel

The #1 Reg M-B pick, and the model setup sweeper. Sucker Punch + Kowtow Cleave + Iron Head + Low Kick off 135 Attack, holding a Chople Berry to survive the Fighting hit it fears. Defiant turns an Intimidate drop into +2 Attack, so debuffing it backfires. A Swords Dance behind Protect makes its priority Sucker Punch a game-ender.

Debuffs: make the foe weaker instead

The mirror image of setup: instead of boosting yourself, you weaken the foe. The best of these is Intimidate, which drops the Attack of *both* opponents the instant its user switches in, for free value with no turn spent. Spread debuffs like Snarl soften a whole side’s special attackers; Parting Shot debuffs *and* pivots you to a better matchup. One warning: Defiant (Kingambit) and Competitive turn your debuff into a *+2 boost for them*, so don’t Intimidate into those.

Effect	Move / ability	Legal user
−1 Attack to both foes on entry	Intimidate (ability)	IncineroarArcanineStaraptorScrafty
−1 Sp.Atk to both foes (spread)	Snarl	TyranitarHydreigonIncineroar
−2 Attack	Charm	ClefableSylveonWhimsicott
−1 Atk & −1 Sp.Atk + pivot out	Parting Shot	Incineroar
−1 Speed to both foes (spread)	Icy Wind	MiloticNinetales-AlolaZoroark-Hisui

Intimidate stacking, and who ignores it

Intimidate stacks: pivot two Intimidate users in and out and you can pile the foe’s Attack down to −2 (×0.5) or lower, effectively turning off a physical attacker. This is why Intimidate cores (Incineroar + a second Intimidate like Arcanine-Hisui) are so oppressive against physical offense. But a few things ignore or punish it, so know them before you switch in:

Reaction	Effect	Legal M-B holder
Defiant	Turns the −1 into a +2 Attack boost	Kingambit
Competitive	Turns the −1 into a +2 Sp.Atk boost	Milotic
Special attackers	Intimidate only touches Attack, so special hits don’t care	GholdengoSylveonGardevoir-Mega
Ability shields / Armor Tail-adjacent	Some abilities block the drop entirely	situational

Helping Hand: from "maybe" to guaranteed

Helping Hand boosts your partner’s move by ×1.5 for the turn. It looks small, but it is exactly what turns a shaky damage roll (say, "KOs 60% of the time") into a guaranteed KO, removing the risk from a key removal. It’s free value on a support Pokémon that would otherwise Protect.

Legal M-B users: Sylveon, Farigiraf, Clefable.

Focus-fire: why it wins games

When both your attackers click the same target, you punch through bulk that a single hit can’t. But focus-fire is about more than raw damage. It’s about removing the right Pokémon *now*. Three targets you almost always double-focus:

• A Trick Room setter about to go off. A Farigiraf you leave alive flips the whole game under TR. KO it *this* turn, even if it costs both attackers.
• A bulky wall that survives one hit. Split damage and it lives to wall you again; combined damage removes it.
• A redirector or Fake Out user: the support piece holding the enemy plan together.

Target	Why remove it immediately	How
Farigiraf (Trick Room)	Sets TR and flips the whole game if it lives	Both attackers, since it has huge HP
Incineroar	Fake Out + Intimidate + Parting Shot glues their team	Chip through Sitrus, then finish
Sinistcha (Rage Powder)	Redirects, so it protects their real threat	A spread move ignores it, or double it down
SylveonWhimsicott	Helping Hand / Tailwind / Encore support	Steel or Poison hit + a partner
Pelipper (rain)	Its Drizzle powers the whole rain plan	Remove it and rain expires in a few turns

The S-tier threats you build around

The toolkit above isn’t abstract. It exists to beat the specific Pokémon defining Reg M-B right now. Here are the format’s top threats and the tool from this guide that answers each. Learn to recognise them on the open team sheet and you already know your plan.

Threat	Why it’s scary	Your answer (from this guide)
Kingambit	Priority Sucker Punch + Supreme Overlord snowball; Defiant punishes Intimidate	A Fighting hit or Wide Guard; never Intimidate it
Charizard-Mega-Y	Drought sun + a 159 Sp.Atk spread Heat Wave	Wide Guard the Heat Wave; flip weather with rain
Garchomp	Base-102 spread Rock Slide + Earthquake pressure	Out-speed with speed control; Fake Out the lead
Incineroar	Fake Out + Intimidate + Parting Shot glue	Focus-fire it through Sitrus; don’t feed its pivots
Sylveon	Pixilate Hyper Voice spread that ignores redirection	A Steel (Kingambit / Gholdengo) walls it
Basculegion	Choice Scarf / rain sweeper with Last Respects	Bait the Scarf lock, then bring its check
Sneasler	Base-120 Fake Out + Close Combat / Dire Claw	Intimidate + priority; a Fairy or Psychic wall

S-TIER OFFENSE

Sneasler

Unburden

FightingPoison

One half of the format’s scariest pair (with Kingambit). Base 120 Speed plus Fake Out means it flinches and pressures from turn one, and Close Combat / Dire Claw off 130 Attack tears through the meta. Its Poison typing even lets Dire Claw spread status. Fast, disruptive, and hard to switch into. Respect it in Team Preview.

Take it to the ladder

That’s the toolkit. The Great Ball bot respects types and plays loose, so it’s the right place to practise sequencing a Fake Out into a focus-fire, or setting speed control behind a Protect. When it feels comfortable, the Ultra Ball guide adds the support-and-control layer: redirection, Wide Guard, Prankster, weather, Taunt, and pivoting.