Doubles battles in Pokemon Champions live and die on three mechanics you rarely think about in Singles: redirection, spread move damage reduction, and Protect timing. Miss any one of them and you lose turns you cannot afford — in a format where two attacks land every single turn, each mistake compounds fast. This guide explains how each system works, when to use it, and how to play around it when your opponent deploys it against you.
Last verified: June 15, 2026
Why Doubles Mechanics Are Different
If you are coming from Singles, the jump to Doubles feels deceptively small at first. Same Pokemon, same moves — how different can it be? The answer is: dramatically. In Singles, you track one attack, one target, one outcome per turn. In Doubles, you track four decisions simultaneously: your two moves and your opponent’s two moves, each with its own targeting choice.
Three mechanical systems sit at the center of that complexity:
- Redirection changes which Pokemon gets hit by a move after targeting is declared.
- Spread move damage reduction changes how much damage multi-target moves deal.
- Protect and its variants give you tools to dodge, stall, and deny tempo.
Understanding these three systems — not just knowing they exist, but knowing when they apply and when they do not — separates players who consistently make good turns from players who make expensive guesses.
If you are still building your format understanding, start with our Singles vs Doubles breakdown before diving deeper here.
Redirection: Follow Me and Rage Powder
A Pokemon using Follow Me or Rage Powder makes itself the new target of all single-target attacks aimed at either opponent for that turn. Your primary threat gets a free move without being hit.
How Redirection Works
When a redirector uses Follow Me or Rage Powder, the game reroutes any move aimed at “any adjacent foe” to the redirecting Pokemon. The attacker does not get to re-choose — the hit lands on the redirector, period.
Redirection is useful in two main scenarios:
- Protecting your setup sweeper. If you are setting Tailwind, burning a setup turn, or putting a threat to sleep, your redirector absorbs the response hit.
- Protecting a fragile offensive core. Paired with a bulky redirector, your attacker can click its damage move without fear of being KO’d by a faster or priority-laden opponent.
Follow Me vs. Rage Powder
Both moves redirect single-target moves, but with one key difference.
Follow Me works universally — any Pokemon can use it, and it works regardless of the opponent’s typing or item.
Rage Powder has two important exceptions: it does not redirect moves from Pokemon with the Overcoat ability, and it does not affect Pokemon holding Safety Goggles. Both items exist specifically as counters to Rage Powder. Whether Safety Goggles sees significant play in the early Pokemon Champions meta is still being established by the community.
What Redirection Does NOT Affect
This is where players make the most mistakes. Redirection only works on moves targeting a single adjacent foe. It does not affect:
- Spread moves (Rock Slide, Earthquake, Heat Wave, Discharge)
- Moves targeting your own Pokemon (Helping Hand, healing moves)
- Fake Out — always hits its specific chosen target
- Field-setting moves (Tailwind, Trick Room, weather)
If the opponent clicks Rock Slide while you have a Follow Me user active, Rock Slide still hits both your Pokemon at spread-reduced power. The redirector absorbs nothing. Wide Guard — not Follow Me — is the answer to spread moves.
Priority Order
Follow Me and Rage Powder have +2 priority, so they almost always resolve before the opposing attack is processed. In nearly all practical scenarios, you can use your redirector on the same turn the opponent attacks without worrying about turn order. The edge case is a move at +3 or higher priority, which is rare.
Spread Moves: The 75% Rule and Friendly Fire
Spread moves let one Pokemon threaten both opponents simultaneously. The trade-off is a damage penalty — and knowing which moves can also hit your own partner is essential for not blowing up your own side.
The 75% Damage Reduction
Any move that targets both opposing Pokemon simultaneously deals 75% of its normal base damage. This applies to Rock Slide, Earthquake, Heat Wave, Discharge, Surf, Dazzling Gleam, and dozens of others. The reduction is applied before type effectiveness, STAB, and hold items — it is baked into the base calculation.
That 75% matters in practice. Rock Slide from a neutral attacker might not KO a bulky target that it would threaten at full power. For damage benchmarks, see our damage calculation basics guide.
The flip side: spread moves hit two targets. A Rock Slide at 75% against both opponents is still more total damage output than a single full-power attack in most scenarios.
Which Spread Moves Hit Your Own Partner
Hits both opponents only — the safe category. Rock Slide, Heat Wave, Dazzling Gleam, Discharge, and Petal Blizzard fall here. Your partner is unaffected.
Hits all adjacent Pokemon including your partner — the most notable are Earthquake and Surf. If you click Earthquake, your own partner takes the same 75%-power hit unless they are immune or behind Protect. The classic solution: pair a Ground-type Earthquake user with a Flying-type partner. The Flying-type is immune to Ground, so Earthquake hits both opponents freely. Always verify your partner’s typing or ability before assuming Earthquake is safe to click.
Protect: The Most Important Move in Doubles
Protect is mandatory on the majority of competitive Doubles teams. In Singles, Protect buys a recovery turn or scouts a move. In Doubles, it does several distinctly more impactful things.
What Protect Actually Does in Doubles
1. Waste an opponent’s Fake Out. Fake Out has +3 priority and forces a flinch — your Pokemon does nothing on turn one if it gets hit. But if you Protect on that same turn, Fake Out hits the shield instead of flinching your Pokemon, and your partner moves freely.
2. Dodge a spread move. Protecting one Pokemon removes it from Earthquake or Rock Slide’s hit list entirely.
3. Stall a Trick Room turn. Trick Room lasts 5 turns. If you Protect through the setup turn, the opponent spent one of their five turns to set it while your Pokemon took no actions under it.
4. Extend field effects. Protecting while Tailwind is active lets that Tailwind turn tick without costing you an attack, effectively stretching its window.
The Consecutive-Use Penalty
The first Protect succeeds automatically. The second consecutive Protect has a 50% chance to fail. Each further back-to-back use halves the success rate again. Using Protect two turns in a row is risky; three or more is close to a coin flip.
Pokemon Champions also reduced Protect’s PP from 16 to 8, per community-observed data as of writing. Eight PP sounds like plenty, but in a long game it can run low if you are careless. Do not treat Protect as infinitely repeatable.
Rotating Protect Correctly
The correct pattern is alternating: Protect one turn, attack the next, Protect again when the situation calls for it. This keeps your success rate at 100% each time, since the consecutive penalty only triggers on back-to-back uses.
Experienced players read when the opponent is most likely to click their biggest threat — turn one with Fake Out, the turn Trick Room is set, the turn a new spreader comes in — and time Protect for exactly those moments rather than using it reactively every other turn.
For how Protect fits into specific team builds, our best doubles teams guide walks through lead setups and Protect timing in detail.
Wide Guard: Spread Move Defense
Wide Guard protects your entire side of the field from all spread moves that turn. It is the answer to Earthquake and Heat Wave that Follow Me can never provide.
Wide Guard shines against spread-heavy leads — Earthquake plus a secondary attacker, or sun teams pairing Heat Wave with Fire Blast. Used on the predicted spread turn, it converts the opponent’s biggest damage output into a wasted action.
Unlike back-to-back Protect, Wide Guard does not share a consecutive-use penalty when alternated with Protect. Cycling between Wide Guard and Protect on consecutive turns does not increase failure rates, which means reliable multi-turn protection against different threat types is achievable with the right support Pokemon.
The trade-off: the Pokemon using Wide Guard spends its entire turn on defense. A wrong read wastes it completely.
Fake Out: Why Turn One Matters
Fake Out has +3 priority and forces the target to flinch, canceling their move. In Doubles, this creates an effective 2v1 turn — one of your Pokemon attacked while the opponent’s threat did nothing.
The Turn-One Rule in Pokemon Champions
Community reports indicate that Fake Out can only be used on a Pokemon’s first turn in battle or immediately after switching in. You cannot hold Fake Out and use it later as a mid-game pivot tool. This change prevents teams from cycling switches purely to re-trigger Fake Out pressure — it still defines turn one, but its late-game value is limited compared to previous formats.
Fake Out and Redirection
Fake Out targets a specific opponent — not “any adjacent foe” — so Follow Me and Rage Powder cannot intercept it. The flinch lands regardless of whether a redirector is on the field. The counterplay is Protect, the Inner Focus ability, or having your own Fake Out user move first.
Trick Room and How to Play Around It
Trick Room reverses speed order for five turns, making the slowest Pokemon move first. Slow Pokemon tend to hit harder, so Trick Room turns a liability into a weapon. Three clean answers exist:
- Protect through the setup turn. Both your Pokemon take no actions under Trick Room, and the opponent burned one of their five turns to set it. You now face four turns, not five.
- Taunt before it resolves. If you outspeed the setter and use Taunt, the setter cannot use Trick Room (a status move) on that or subsequent turns.
- KO the setter through redirection. Use your redirector to absorb the setter’s partner’s attack while you knock out the Trick Room user directly. High reward, high read requirement.
Our Trick Room teams guide covers the full archetype — which Pokemon set it best and how to build specifically to counter them.
How These Mechanics Chain Together
Redirection, spread moves, and Protect do not exist in isolation. Real games chain them constantly:
Tailwind + Protect: You set Tailwind on turn one. The opponent clicks a hard single-target attack at your setter. Protect blocks it and Tailwind goes up free. If your partner is a Follow Me user, redirection also works — but Protect is cleaner because it removes targeting uncertainty entirely.
Redirection + Spread move read: An opponent who reads your Follow Me play switches to Rock Slide or Earthquake, punishing your redirector for nothing. The moment you sense the opponent pivoting to spread, stop using Follow Me and use Protect instead.
Wide Guard + Trick Room stall: If the opponent runs Trick Room plus Earthquake, alternating Wide Guard and Protect can block both threats on consecutive turns — buying time to set up your own win condition or remove the Trick Room user.
For how these interactions feed into full archetypes, the team archetypes overview maps out how support roles, speed control, and damage distribution fit together at the team-building level.
Common Mistakes with These Mechanics
Using Follow Me into a spread move. The spread move ignores your redirector completely. Against known Earthquake or Rock Slide leads, use Wide Guard or Protect.
Double Protecting out of habit. Two consecutive Protects carry a 50% failure rate on the second. Many players Protect turn one against Fake Out (correct) then Protect again turn two by reflex — putting themselves at risk on a turn they needed it.
Forgetting Fake Out cannot be redirected. A Follow Me user does not shield your partner from Fake Out. The partner needs Protect, Inner Focus, or priority of its own.
Clicking Earthquake into a non-immune partner. Build your team so Earthquake is always safe. If your partner has no Ground immunity, use Rock Slide as your spread option or choose a different partner.
Expecting redirection to last multiple turns. Follow Me and Rage Powder only redirect for the single turn they are used. The opponent adapts — switching to spread or targeting the redirector directly. Treat redirection as a one-turn shield, not a sustained barrier.
For how these errors feed into broader ranked climbing patterns, our ranked climbing guide covers the decision-making habits that separate consistent climbers from players who plateau.
Turn-1 Decision Framework
A simple mental model for better turn-one decisions:
Identify the opponent’s most dangerous turn-one move. Fake Out? A high-powered single-target hit? An Earthquake hitting both your Pokemon?
Match the defense to the threat:
- Fake Out threat → Protect the Fake Out target
- Single-target hit at your attacker → Follow Me / Rage Powder to redirect
- Spread move threat → Wide Guard or Protect the most valuable Pokemon
Execute offense on the other Pokemon. The defensive move buys your second Pokemon a free action — attack, set weather, use Tailwind, or set Trick Room.
This framework does not cover every scenario — doubles is too dynamic for rigid scripts — but it gives you a principled starting point that beats acting on pure instinct. Combine it with reading the opponent’s team at preview and you already have a meaningful edge over players guessing on every turn.
FAQ
What is redirection in Pokemon Champions doubles? Redirection moves like Follow Me and Rage Powder force the opponent’s single-target attacks to hit the user instead of their intended target. This lets your offensive partner move freely for at least one turn.
Do spread moves deal less damage in doubles? Yes. Moves that hit both opponents simultaneously — like Rock Slide, Earthquake, Heat Wave, and Discharge — deal 75% of their normal Base Power in doubles battles.
What is the difference between Follow Me and Rage Powder? Follow Me works universally on all targets and Pokemon types. Rage Powder does not redirect moves from Pokemon with the Overcoat ability or that hold a Safety Goggles item.
Why is Protect nearly mandatory in doubles? Protect lets your Pokemon dodge a spread move, waste an opponent’s Fake Out, stall a Trick Room turn, or survive long enough for Tailwind to kick in. In doubles, the density of damage per turn is so high that Protect is a genuine tempo tool, not just a panic button.
Can you Protect through redirection in Pokemon Champions? Yes. If the opponent uses Follow Me and your attack was aimed at the redirecting Pokemon, your move is pulled to that target — but if your Pokemon uses Protect on the same turn, it blocks the redirected hit. Protect resolves on the affected Pokemon, not the original target.
What is Wide Guard and when should I use it? Wide Guard blocks all spread moves targeting your side of the field for that turn. It’s most valuable on leads that fear Earthquake, Rock Slide, or Heat Wave. Unlike standard Protect, Wide Guard has no consecutive-use penalty when alternated with Protect.
How does Fake Out interact with redirection? Fake Out targets a specific Pokemon and cannot be redirected by Follow Me or Rage Powder. The Fake Out target still flinches even if a redirector is on the field. Protect is the correct counter to Fake Out, not redirection.
Can spread moves hit your own partner in doubles? Most spread moves hit both opponents only, not your partner. However, moves like Earthquake and Surf hit all adjacent Pokemon, including your own partner. Pairing an Earthquake user with a Flying-type or levitating partner lets you use Earthquake freely thanks to their Ground immunity.
What is the consecutive-use penalty on Protect in Pokemon Champions? The second consecutive use of Protect has a 50% chance to fail, and each further consecutive use halves the success rate again. In Pokemon Champions, Protect’s PP was also reduced from 16 to 8 per community observation, so careless use costs you late-game turns.
Does redirection work against spread moves? No. Follow Me and Rage Powder only redirect single-target moves. Spread moves that hit all adjacent foes — like Rock Slide and Heat Wave — cannot be redirected and still strike their normal targets.
