>>19477592Bretty gud smogon doubles player here, peaking at 30th.
Teambuilding for doubles usually consists of two pairings followed by one or two "glues" that patch up the pairs weaknesses to threats. Cores consisting of three pokemon are also common.
Before I forget, all pokemon should get Protect with the exception of Fake Out users and some really bulky support mons.
An example of a pairing would be:
Terrakion with Focus Sash
-Close Combat
-Rock Slide
-Quick Guard
-Protect
Genesect with Choice Scarf
-Flamethrower
-Ice Beam
-Bug Buzz
-Iron Head
Terrakion easily puts offensive pressure on the opponent, and its great for killing a shit ton of things, but Landorus-T, Cresselia, Scizor, and Sylveon counter it hard.
Genesect outspeeds and KOs in return. Simple enough. Still, the pairing is weak to fast rain (Kingdra and Ludicolo) and maybe Talonflame, so patch that up with other pairings/glues which should be more defensive, an example being Rotom-W.
Don't make a team full of sweepers. In the event the enemy is much faster (which happens all the fucking time with Tailwind and Trick Room) and has the superior type match up, you need walls/tanks. A good way to build strong pairings would be to check the official threatlist on Smogon forums.
Pairings can also be less straightforward, like TopMoth, which is basically Hitmontop with Quick Quard/Wide Guard and Volcarona. Top protects Moth from Rock Slides, Earthquakes and Brave Birds while Volcarona sets up.
Hope this helped.
