Melee has two formats: singles and doubles. Similar to tennis, competitive Melee has always held a greater emphasis on singles rather than doubles. In an interview with Tafokints, Armada said, “Melee doubles, when understood, is equally as amazing [as singles].” Although doubles is certainly deep, many players find the complexity of the format difficult to get into. In this article, I’ll go over a few tips and tricks for becoming a better doubles player.

Teammate Relations: “What is love? Baby don’t shine me!”

A plague of low and mid level doubles teams is unhealthy relationships with their partner. When entering the doubles bracket, understand that the two of you are now operating as one. Of course each player may have specific roles and responsibilities depending on composition, but the team transcends the importance of the individual. Never think of yourself above the team.

A sometimes overlooked step for success in doubles is communication with your teammate. Between games, sets, and tournaments, taking the time to analyze and talk about the team’s performance will accelerate the development of your partnership. Within this communication, be sure to remain honest and constructive. Passing blame should have no place in these discussions, for it is simply a waste of time which creates a divisionary mindset. Instead, try and focus on specific moments where you and your teammate were not on the same page. Brainstorm and come to an agreement on options to do in that situation going forward.

Focus in Game: “Whatchu Lookin’ At?”

A common complaint from players unfamiliar with the doubles format is a feeling of randomness or unpredictability. This stems from an inability to keep track of everything which is going on. Many players who primarily play singles have trouble focusing on four players on the screen rather than two. This is a tough fix which is only truly solved by playing more doubles, but a few ways to speed up this process is being conscious of your own focus during the game. You will not get very far in doubles if your focus shifts from player to player.

I personally favor keeping my eyes on the midpoint of the action. This is not the easiest adjustment to make, but I find it gives me the most awareness of the game. Imagine a basketball player dribbling a ball, they don’t need to look at the ball because their ball control is precise. They already know where the ball is at any given moment, as they are the one controlling it. Try to control your character like the ball player dribbles.

A tip to start developing a more universal focus is to try and keep your eyes on your teammate rather than yourself during the game. This is a great strategy for those just getting into doubles. Although this focus will not give you all of the relevant information about a situation, it keeps you updated on what your teammate is doing; allowing cooperation to happen more naturally. This universal focus is the foundation of doubles play.

Understanding Punish: Bringing the Pain

Doubles punish game differs from singles in a few ways. Understanding the doubles punish is crucial for your team’s potential to go beyond just the average of each player’s skill. Perhaps the most important aspect of teamwork is skewing the punish game in your favor. A team of two players with impeccable combo games who never work together will always fall to a team which works together. There are three key ways which you and your teammate can affect the punish game: team combos, passes, and saves/interrupts.

The doubles combo game is less limited than singles in a plethora of situations. For example, Fox gets an upthrow onto a side platform and techchases with an up air. From this pop up, a decision must be made. Another upair would not kill the enemy Fox at this percent, so traditional singles knowledge tells us we should just back air instead to lead to an edgeguard. In doubles however, this is not the optimal choice most of the time. Rather than set up an edgeguard, back airing them towards your teammate will lead to more. The pass will net the team more damage before setting up an edgeguard or kill. Essentially, think about where your singles punish game usually ends, and how a teammate could extend it further.

On the flip side, limiting the punish opportunities of the enemy team is an equally effective way to skew the punish game in your favor. When you notice your teammate lose neutral against an opponent, make an attempt to limit the reward the opponent gets for winning that interaction. Although hitting a teammate is considered a cardinal sin of doubles, throwing an interrupting hitbox is worth the damage to your teammate. Imagine an enemy gets a grab on your teammate, off of this throw we all know how deadly fox can be. The percentage taken from the interrupt is certainly worth taking. Think about and experiment with your character’s different options to interrupt combos and save recovering teammates.

Let’s take this situation slightly deeper, but this time from the perspective of the punishing team. Just like before, one Fox has a grab and is starting up his punish. As the blue Fox, your first priority was to limit the punish the red team nets from winning the interaction. So, as outlined before, blue Fox is dutifully running over to interrupt. Imagine you are the second red Fox. Think about how this situation is different from any situation found in singles play. Your main task is to wall out the opponent so your teammate can continue to punish. This situation is distinctly unique to doubles, because this is an instance of both punish game and neutral game happening simultaneously.

The red team is punishing a blue team member, but also playing out a neutral interaction with the other blue teammate. Within the neutral, the motivations are different from in singles as well. Since blue team is already being punished, the blue teammate has a very strong motivation to push forward and stop that punish. This is similar to the concept of stage control in singles, so imagine the pressure felt by a cornered opponent when playing out this neutral.

Light green Fox reacts to his teammate starting a punish and fades back to wall out the other opponent.

“Do You Have the Time?”: The Value of Time in Doubles

The last aspect of effective doubles play I will go over is the value of time. In singles, there are plenty of situations where time is not considered a very valuable commodity. Only a small percentage of singles games go to time, and in situations like edgeguarding a recovering Samus we see time tick away without a second thought. In teams, however, time becomes much more valuable.

Due to the increased number of players, many common singles sequences are cut short. Let’s say for example, one of the members of the opposite team is a recovering Marth just hit offstage. It is obvious that the Marth will be able to make it back to stage or ledge unless something is done. Traditional knowledge would motivate the player to get on ledge and set up an edgeguard to kill the Marth. However, performing the edgeguard takes up a large amount of time. Instead, using that time to save a teammate or punish the other opponent is a more optimal choice here. Of course, there are situations where performing the edgeguard is the best choice. (i.e. teammate is also edgeguarding the other opponent) But the decision made in this situation is much less black and white than in singles, and that stems from time being valued differently. In game, think about how much time is used for each option before executing, and how that time could be used more effectively.

Doubles is not as far off from singles as people say and learning the doubles format is immensely beneficial to singles gameplay. There are countless aspects of teams that test skills which are also valuable in singles. Mentality is personified by your teammate. Cultivating a good relationship with your teammate is similar to maintaining relations with the self. Target switching tests the player’s ability to quickly judge situations. The pressure to keep focused on more moving parts makes focus in singles easier to obtain and tests the player’s control and precision over their character. I hope to have inspired you to take a fresh look at the doubles format and enter bracket with a friend at the next big event. That's all of the tips I have to share in this piece, and hopefully implementing these ideas will level up your doubles game.

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