Battle Formats - GashiStudios

Singles

The classic duel. One Pokemon at a time. Pure strategy, no distractions.

Active: 1 Pokemon
Team: 3+ Pokemon
Style: Traditional competitive play

Fast-paced matches where every prediction matters. Perfect for players who love mind games and one-on-one showdowns.

Doubles

VGC-style 2v2 battles. Teamwork wins fights.

Active: 2 Pokemon
Team: 4+ Pokemon
Style: Team synergy and positioning

Spread moves, partner combos, and Protect mind games. The format where coordination is king.

Triples

Full-scale warfare. Three Pokemon clash at once.

Active: 3 Pokemon
Team: 6 Pokemon
Style: Complex positioning and team coordination

Position matters. Center Pokemon can hit anyone; side Pokemon have limited reach. The ultimate test of team building.

Random Battle (Randbats)

Pokémon Showdown-style Random Battle formats where the server generates your team for you. Available as RANDOM_SINGLES, RANDOM_DOUBLES, and RANDOM_TRIPLES. They use the same Singles/Doubles/Triples rules, but with a server-generated 6-Pokémon team instead of your own party.

Random Battle has its own separate rating and leaderboard, fully isolated from the regular formats. See Random Battle for the full guide.

Old Moves and National Dex

Cobblemon mainly uses current Gen 9 learnsets. National Dex is different: it also allows moves a Pokémon could learn in an older game.

CobbleRanked can now apply the correct move rules for each season preset:

Season	Chansey with Toxic	Why
National Dex	✅ Allowed	Toxic is an old move for Chansey
Current Gen 9	❌ Blocked	Chansey cannot currently learn Toxic

The check is specific to each Pokémon. Toxic is not banned for the whole format; Pokémon that can currently learn it are still allowed to use it.

Choose the move rules

Add moveLegality inside each regular format in config/cobbleranked/season_presets/<preset>.yml:

singles:
  enabled: true
  moveLegality: "CURRENT"

Value	What players may use	Best for
`DISABLED`	CobbleRanked does not check learnsets	Existing custom seasons that manage moves another way
`CURRENT`	Moves in the Pokémon’s current Cobblemon learnset	Current Gen 9, Smogon, and VGC rules
`CURRENT_AND_LEGACY`	Current moves plus old moves listed by Cobblemon	National Dex
`ANY`	Every move listed for that Pokémon, including special or event entries	Custom events with very open rules

The bundled presets use these defaults:

Preset	Move rule
`default`	`DISABLED`
`smogon`	`CURRENT`
`vgc`	`CURRENT`
`vgc_smogon`	`CURRENT`
`national_dex`	`CURRENT_AND_LEGACY`

⚠️ CobbleRanked does not overwrite an existing preset file during an update. If your server already has one of these files, add moveLegality to its enabled formats yourself, then run /rankedadmin reload.

Independent Rankings

Each format has its own:

Queue: Singles players only match with Singles players
ELO rating: Climb separately in each format
Leaderboard: Dominate one format or conquer them all
Blacklist rules: Different bans per format if configured

Player: Steve
├── SINGLES: 1850 ELO, Rank #5
├── DOUBLES: 1620 ELO, Rank #23
└── TRIPLES: 1540 ELO, Rank #8

Format Configuration

All format settings are configured in season presets (config/cobbleranked/season_presets/*.yml).

Enable/Disable Formats

Control which formats are available by setting enabled in each format section:

# season_presets/default.yml
singles:
  enabled: true
doubles:
  enabled: true
triples:
  enabled: false    # Disabled

Season Presets

Run a VGC-only season? A Singles tournament? Each preset has complete format configuration:

# season_presets/vgc.yml
name: "VGC Rules"

singles:
  enabled: false

doubles:
  enabled: true
  teamSize: 6
  selectCount: 4
  levelCap: 50
  turnTimer: 45
  matchDuration: 20
  megaEvolution: false
  zMoves: false
  dynamax: false
  terastallize: true

triples:
  enabled: false

Per-Format Settings

Each format has its own complete configuration:

# season_presets/default.yml
singles:
  enabled: true
  teamSize: 3
  selectCount: 3
  levelCap: 100
  turnTimer: 90
  matchDuration: 15
  megaEvolution: true
  zMoves: true
  dynamax: false
  terastallize: false

  # Clauses
  speciesClause: true        # no duplicate species
  itemClause: 1              # max duplicates of the same held item (0 = off, 2 = allow two)
  sleepClause: true          # only one opponent asleep at a time (see Sleep Clause page)
  ohkoClause: true           # ban OHKO moves (Sheer Cold, etc.)
  evasionClause: true        # ban evasion moves (Double Team, etc.)
  endlessBattleClause: true  # auto-draw endless stall loops

  # Restricted Pokemon
  restrictedCount: 1

  # Matchmaking
  matchmaking:
    enforceEloRange: true
    initialRange: 200
    expansionDelay: 30
    expansionRate: 50
    maxMultiplier: 3.0
    immediateMatchRange: 100

  # Blacklist
  blacklist:
    pokemon: []
    moves: []
    abilities: []
    heldItems: []
    labels: []
    labelLimits: {}
    inventoryItems: []
    consumables:
      blockAllHealingItems: true
      blockedHealingItems: []
      blockStatusHealingItems: true
      blockedStatusItems: []
      blockRevivalItems: true
      blockedRevivalItems: []

doubles:
  enabled: true
  teamSize: 4
  selectCount: 4
  levelCap: 50
  turnTimer: 120
  matchDuration: 20
  # ... similar structure

Matchmaking Settings

Control how players are matched within each format:

Setting	Default	Description
`enforceEloRange`	`true`	Enable Elo-based matchmaking
`initialRange`	`200`	Starting ELO range (±100 = 200 total)
`expansionDelay`	`30`	Seconds before range starts expanding
`expansionRate`	`50`	ELO added per expansion cycle
`maxMultiplier`	`3.0`	Maximum range multiplier (3× initial range)
`immediateMatchRange`	`100`	ELO range for instant matches

How range expansion works:

Start: ±100 ELO (200 total range)
After 30s: ±150 ELO (expands by 50)
After 60s: ±200 ELO (expands by another 50)
Maximum: ±300 ELO (3× initial range)

Restricted Pokemon System

Some presets use a restricted Pokemon system (VGC-style):

Setting	Description
`restrictedCount`	Max number of restricted Pokemon allowed
`restrictedPokemon`	List of specific Pokemon marked as restricted

When restrictedCount > 0, players can only include that many Pokemon from the restricted list in their team.

Gimmick Control (Mega / Z-Moves / Dynamax / Tera)

The megaEvolution, zMoves, dynamax, and terastallize toggles actually disable the gimmick in ranked battles. Because these mechanics (added by Mega Showdown) are gated by key items, simply banning the items isn’t enough. CobbleRanked blocks the gimmick at the moveset level during battle (via a mixin on the action request) so it can’t be used even if the player has the item. Casual and non-ranked battles are unaffected.

Multi-Format Rewards

Season rewards are distributed per format. Rank high in all three? Get rewards for all three.

Related: Ranked Battles | ELO System | Seasons | FAQ | Troubleshooting