How to: Double/Triple Battles Part 2

Field Dynamics:

This should be pretty basic.

Doubles are simple, two Pokemon per team on the field. Attack order is based on Speed Stats.

Triples are also simple, they are, if you can imagine, two simultaneous Double Battles going side by side, containing a cross-over Pokemon in the middle of each player's side.

The Cross-Over Pokemon (Middle Position) is able to battle freely in either double battle field. Whereas the two Pokemon either side of the Cross-Over Pokemon are restricted to their own side, unless they have a CFA as mentioned it Part1.

That's mostly all you need to know about the Field Dynamics.

In Part 1 I talked about attacks that become more useful in Doubles/Triples. In this part, I will start on some Abilities that become more useful in Doubles/Triples.

Firstly, in single battles, you usually come across the same Pokemon in use over and over, and they tend to be used in the same way each time. The same goes from Doubles and Triples, only they are a different set of common Pokemon, and they are used in very different ways to a single battle.

An example of one of these Pokemon would be Smeargle. It is possible someone's found a way to make use of this Pokemon in Singles. But I have often seen it pop up in Doubles and Triples.

The reason for this is because Smeargle learns the attack Sketch, which can in turn copy any attack permanently. This means attacks that you wouldn't find in flat rule battles can sneak in with a Smeargle.

And the most common attack Smeargles turn up with is Dark Void. The trade mark attack of Darkrai.

As you can imagine, behind hit with a Dark Void in a triple battle can be very annoying, and it is. But that's the nature of Pokemon. You can't always win, and you have to accept losses every now and then.

Good Abilities for Doubles/Triples:

Cloud Nine   (stops all weather effects)

Damp (Prevents opponents from Self Destructing - in other words, no destroying half your team in one go)

Drizzle (Summons Rain)

Drought (Summons Bright Sunshine)

Snow Warning (Summons Hail)

Sand Stream (Summons Sandstorm)

Friend Guard (Ally Pokemon receive reduced damage)

Healer (30% status healing chance on Ally Pokemon each turn)

Justified (Attack increases if hit by a Dark type attack - can abuse this by having an Ally Pokemon use Beat up on the Pokemon with Justified ability)

Levitate (Immune to spikes and ground attacks)

Lightning Rod (Draws all electric attacks towards this Pokemon and the Pokemon's Sp.Att will go up)

Storm Drain (Draws all water attacks towards this Pokemon, and the Pokemon's Sp.Att will go up)

Magnet Pull (Traps steel types in the field)

Motor Drive (Speed goes up if hit by an Electric attack)

Telepathy (Immune to Ally attacks)

Victory Star (Teams Accuracy goes up 10%)

Water Absorb (Heals up to 1/4 HP when hit by a water attack)

Volt absorb (Heals up to 1/4HP when hit by water attack)

These are just some of the good abilities for these types of battles.

There is real potential out there to get creative and put together some interesting team set ups.

The best way to make a team for Doubles and Triples is to get the Pokemon in the team to feed off each other's strengths and abilities. You want your whole team to work together really well, and in as many combinations as possible, so that you can still use your team's full potential in any scenario.

For example, it's a bad idea to have a Pokemon use Earthquake from the Middle Position, if say, one of the Pokemon on either side has Levitate ability, and the other is Flying type. Normally, Earthquake wouldn't affect the levitating Pokemon, but because the Ally Pokemon using the attack has Mold Breaker, it will affect them.

I'll leave you with an example video of me battling a trainer named Jasper online using the Random Match Up system.

It's not the greatest example of a Triple Battle. If I have a good example battle, I will upload it here and explain what makes it such a good example.

If there are any questions about any of my posts so far, feel free to comment, and I'll do my best to answer them in future posts! Stay tuned! :D