How to Build a Winning Team in Pokemon Champions
A structured approach to team building that works at every skill level.
1. Choose Your Win Condition
Every team needs a plan for how it wins. The main paths in Pokemon Champions are:
- Speed control — Move first and KO threats before they act. Tailwind, Choice Scarf, or naturally fast Pokemon.
- Trick Room — Reverse speed so your slow, powerful Pokemon go first. Needs a reliable setter and slow attackers.
- Weather offense — Rain boosts Water, Sun boosts Fire/Grass. Doubles your damage output and enables weather-based speed (Swift Swim, Chlorophyll).
- Bulky offense — Survive hits and win the long game with Intimidate cycling, recovery, and consistent damage.
Check the Archetypes guide for detailed breakdowns of each strategy.
2. Build a 2-3 Pokemon Core
Start with 2-3 Pokemon that work well together — not 6 individually strong ones. A good core has:
- A primary damage dealer
- A support/speed control Pokemon
- A Pokemon that covers the damage dealer's weaknesses
Use the Team Builder to experiment. The Weakness Report tab shows what your core is vulnerable to.
Most common core Pokemon in the current meta:
3. Check Type Coverage
Your team needs to hit every type for at least neutral damage. Open the Team Builder and switch to the Coverage tab — it visually shows which types your moves cover and where gaps exist.
Common coverage gaps to watch for: Steel types (bring Ground or Fighting moves), Fairy types (bring Steel or Poison), and Ghost/Dark-immune Pokemon (make sure you have neutral coverage options).
You can also use the standalone Coverage Checker tool.
4. Know Your Speed Tiers
In doubles, moving first is often the difference between a KO and getting KO'd. Use the Speed Tier Calculator to check whether your Pokemon outspeed key threats.
Key benchmarks: Can you outspeed the top 5 meta threats? If not, do you have speed control (Tailwind, Trick Room, Icy Wind) to compensate? Invest stat points in Speed only when it lets you outspeed a specific target — random Speed investment is wasted VP.
5. Verify KOs with the Damage Calc
Before committing VP to stat points, verify your damage output with the Damage Calculator. Key questions:
- Can your main attacker 2HKO the top threats? (Most singles KOs are unrealistic in doubles without boosts)
- Can your Pokemon survive hits from the top 3 attackers?
- Does weather/terrain boost your damage enough to get KOs you otherwise wouldn't?
Common Team Building Mistakes
No Protect. Protect is the best move in doubles. Almost every Pokemon should run it. It lets you scout, stall weather/Trick Room turns, and protect a Pokemon while the partner handles a threat.
No speed control. If your entire team relies on being naturally fast, one Tailwind or Trick Room from the opponent shuts you down. Always have a backup speed option.
Weak to one type. If 3+ Pokemon share a weakness, one opposing Pokemon can sweep you. The Weakness Report in the builder catches this.
No way to handle Intimidate. Intimidate is everywhere. Have special attackers, Defiant/Competitive Pokemon, or Clear Body to avoid getting neutered.