We are now nearly two weeks into season one of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s ranked double battles, and we’re already seeing quite a bit of development in the competitive metagame of VGC so far.
The meta started out seeing Tailwind hyper offense teams with Murkrow and Gholdengo plastered all over the top cut of tournaments but has now swiftly transitioned into a wide variety of archetypes and team compositions. This means that you have a lot more room for creativity when it comes to building a team for high-level play.
That being said, if you aren’t quite confident enough to build your own team, here are seven of the best teams you can use right now in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s season one of ranked double battles.
The seven best teams to use in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Ranked Battles season one
If rental codes for any of the teams below are available, you can find them on this spreadsheet.
Cetitan Snow-Room
Team composition: Abomasnow, Cetitan, Indeedee-F, Armarouge, Hydreigon, Annihilape
Original creator: @atmospherevgc
Pokepaste: Click here (EVs not included).
We were all excited for the buff that Ice-types and Hail—now known as Snow—received going into Gen IX, so to finally see a Snow team winning an entire tournament in the first season of competitive Pokémon for Scarlet and Violet is delightful.
This recent NinoPokeBros tournament-winning team features Abomasnow and Cetitan, along with having multiple modes to pilot this team in. You can opt to use the Snow mode using Abomasnow’s Snow Warning ability to set up your weather that enables a speedy Cetitan’s wide coverage to threaten a whole variety of ‘mons on the opposing side of the field.
With the Snow Defense boost and its Assault Vest Special Defense boost, Cetitan should be very tough to remove, and that’s even before it Terrastalizes into the Water-type.
Other modes of the team include Trick Room from Armarouge—which can be utilized by Cetitan when not under Snow—and Tailwind from Hydreigon to speed up the other attackers on the team, such as Bulk Up Annihilape.
Pawmot Screens Offense
Team composition: Grimmsnarl, Dragapult, Meowscarada, Volcarona, Pawmot, Florges
Original creator: @pokespace2
Pokepaste: Click here (EVs not included).
Pawmot has been on very few players’ radars since the beginning of season one, and all of a sudden, it wins two different recent tournaments.
The other tournament-winning Pawmot team featured a set with Revival Blessing, but this Pawmot does not make use of its unique move, showing that this ‘mon is not a one-trick pony. With Fake Out, Double Shock, Ice Punch, Mach Punch, and the Assault Vest item, this Pawmot seems to be a bulky support with good offensive pressure as well.
Pawmot is paired with strong attackers such as Quiver Dance Volcarona, Life Orb-three attacks physical Dragapult, and Focus Sash-Overgrow Meowscarada. To bulk up the team, Grimmsnarl carries dual screens, while the composition is rounded off with a Florges.
Florges does not enable a Trick Room option for the team as you’d expect from this ‘mon, but instead carries the support options of Pollen Puff and Skill Swap. Pollen Puff is self-explanatory, but Skill Swap is the interesting pick here. We reckon it’s to let Meowscarada protect itself from burns and stat drops.
Palafin Rain
Team composition: Kilowattrel, Meowscarada, Pelipper, Amoonguss, Paladin, Gholdengo
Original creator: @nnicoiosi
Pokepaste: Click here.
This one’s for all you Rain enthusiasts—or Palafin enthusiasts—who still want to successfully use the Rain archetype after it inadvertently got hit by the nerf hammer through Scald being slightly reworked. This team almost won the Stuttgart Side Event, finishing as the runner-up for the whole tournament.
The threat of Choice Banded, STAB, Tera Water, Rain-boosted, priority Jet Punches from Palafin: Hero is enough to make this team a threat—you just gotta make sure you pivot the little dolphin out and then back into the field.
The Pelipper-Palafin core is then surrounded by strong attackers like the standard Meowscarada and a unique sweeper Kilowattrel with Life Orb and three attacks. The offensive side of things is rounded out with Choice Scarf Gholdengo with the coverage moves of Dazzling Gleam and Thunderbolt.
Finally, you have Wiki Berry Amoonguss to be the defensive backbone of the team, putting things to sleep with Spore and redirecting threatening attacks from its partners to itself. It also has the option to Clear Smog its opponents that want to set up, and Giga Drain for chip damage and more healing.
Coalossal Dondozo Semi-Room
Team composition: Tatsugiri, Dondozo, Coalossal, Dragapult, Armarouge, Indeedee
Original creator: @cereevgc
Pokepaste: Click here.
Who said Coalossal isn’t a threat anymore? This team that got 21st in a recent tournament organized by Limitless features the classic duo of Weakness Policy Coalossal and Surf Dragapult.
By Terrastalizing into the Rock-type, Coalossal takes significantly less damage from Drapapult’s Surf while getting its Speed maxed out from its Steam Engine Ability, and getting a +2 in its offensive stats. Unlike the common Coalossal in Gen VIII, however, this hunk of coal is a Physical Attacker, making use of incredibly fast and strong Rock Slides that will most likely flinch the opponent if it doesn’t knock them out straight away.
If you don’t think Coalossal is the best pick for your matchup, you also have the Trick Room offense mode with Indeedee and Life Orb Armarouge, with the classic Dondozo-Tatsugiri core at your fingertips as well. This Tatsugiri is plenty usable on its own as well, being able to provide speed control for its teammates through Icy Wind, or dish out massive amounts of damage with its Choice Specs-boosted Special attacks,
Hard Trick Room
Team composition: Indeedee-F, Armarouge, Torkoal, Mudsdale, Mimikyu, Hariyama
Original creator: @iamtimok
Pokepaste: Click here.
We do believe that even though Hard Trick Room is an archetype that struggles to see results at the top level, it has the potential to be good, and this team piloted to a top-four finish in the Stuttgart Side Event proves just that.
There are three different Trick Room setters on this team, and if you aren’t using Indeedee-F to set it up, you can use Hariyama as the setter’s partner to stop your opponent’s from disrupting you by using Fake Out. Furthermore, you can use Indeedee-F herself to help you set up Trick Room by redirecting attacks using Follow Me.
Once Trick Room is up, you can use the various Trick Room sweepers on the team to make quick work of your opponent, notable ones being Guts Hariyama, Charcoal-Eruption Torkoal, Expanding Force Armarouge, and Choice Band Mudsdale.
Even the Trick Room setter who you wouldn’t expect much offensive pressure from—Mimikyu—has the option to Swords Dance and smack you in the face with Play Rough and an incredibly strong 130 base power Fling off of the Iron Ball item.
Balance Offense
Team composition: Garchomp, Gyarados, Talonflame, Gardevoir, Hydreigon, Amoonguss
Original creator: @MolinaVGC_
Pokepaste: Click here.
As time goes on, it will only be more and more common for such balance offense teams to see success rather than the Tailwind hyper offense teams we’ve been seeing in the early meta of Season one. This bulky offense team was so solid it got first place at the Costa Rica Cup held recently.
The team features Speed control options in Talonflame with priority Tailwind (at full health) and Choice Scarf Gardevoir, who also has the option of using Trick on an opponent’s Pokémon to give them the Choice Scarf and lock them into an unfortunate move. The offensive core of the team consists of Swords Dance Garchomp with Clear Amulet, Dragon Dance Gyarados with Lum Berry, and three attacks-Life Orb Hydreigon.
To give the team a solid defensive option, Amoonguss rounds off the composition. This little guy holds the Occa Berry to let it survive a strong Fire-type hit while providing invaluable support through redirection with Rage Powder, clearing stat boosts with Clear Smog, and putting opposing ‘mons to sleep with Spore.
Gholdengo Ceruledge Bulky Offense
Team composition: Gholdengo, Murkrow, Dragonite, Hydreigon, Ceruledge, Gengar
Original creator: @FedeCampoVGC
Pokepaste: Click here.
Here we have a team composition that features the classic tried and tested Season one core of Murkrow and Gholdengo winning the recent tournament hosted by Limitless.
This trusty duo utilizes Choice Specs Gholdengo that fires off incredibly strong Make it Rains, especially when Terrastalized into the Steel type, combined with Murkrow that perfectly enables Gholdengo through speed boosts from Tailwind, along with Haze to reset cheese string man’s Special Attack drops from Make It Rain.
This team has other cool options such as Clear Amulet Ceruledge with three attacks and the move Bulk Up, letting it get bulkier and heal up any damage taken through Bitter Blade’s healing.
Gengar is also present on the team to provide speed control through Icy Wind without the drawback of getting flinched by Fake Out. It can also fire off raw Hypnosis when it has nothing else to do on the field for a chance to disable the opponent for up to three turns.
The team is rounded off with a double-Dragon core in Assault Vest Tera Normal Dragonite that fires off strong Extreme Speeds along with a variety of coverage moves, and Life Orb-three attacks Hydreigon with Tera Fire to resist Fairy hits and spread immense damage through Heat Wave.
