Appendix:Metagame terminology: Difference between revisions

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Uber

A Pokémon (usually legendary) with unfairly high stats and usually a large and diverse movepool. Current Ubers are:

• Mewtwo
• Mew
• Lugia
• Ho-Oh
• Latias
• Latios
• Kyogre
• Groudon
• Rayquaza
• Deoxys (all forms)
• Dialga
• Palkia
• Giratina
• Manaphy
• Darkrai
• Arceus
• Wobbuffet

Annoyer

A Pokémon designed with the sole purpose of annoying the opponent and making the game difficult for him/her. Moves for this purpose include Confuse Ray, Protect and Attract. It should be noted that the use of Annoyers has fallen since the start of Generation III.

Atmacune

A Suicune moveset from Generation II, which has Curse, Rest, Return and Roar.

Baton Passer

A moveset with Baton Pass and at least one stat-boosting move or Psych Up, Mean Look, Substitute, or Wish. Designed to raise one or more stats for a few turns, then pass off to another Pokémon who can use them better. Stat boosts are countered by a Hazer or Psuedo-Hazer.

Boltbeam

A combination of Thunderbolt and Ice Beam on the same set that is resisted only by Magnezone, Volt Absorb Lanturn, and Shedinja.

Bomber

Any Pokémon that knows Selfdestruct and/or Explosion. The aim is to knock out the opponent's Pokémon within one turn, also causing the Bomber to faint in the process.

CalmCune

A Suicune with Calm Mind and Rest. A very powerful and over-used Pokémon. It can be countered by a Pokémon with the Insomnia ability using Skill Swap (e.g. Hypno).

ChainChomp

Garchomp that is designed as a Mixed Sweeper with the moves Draco Meteor and Fire Blast. The intention of this Pokémon is catching the opponent off guard as they send in a standard physical wall by taking advantage of most physical walls lacking a good Special Defense stat. A variation of this set can also be used with Salamence.

Choice Bander

A moveset with nothing but physical attacks and the hold item Choice Band. Requires a lot of switching and is countered by Spikers.

Cleric

A moveset with Heal Bell or Aromatherapy on it. It works well with the Natural Cure ability and Pseudo Passing moves.

Counter

A moveset built with the defeat of another in mind. For example, a Skarmbliss counter would have an effective means of dealing with both Skarmory and Blissey, usually a Fire/Electric attack for Skarmory and the Fighting-type Focus Punch for Blissey. TyraniBoah and McIceGar are examples of specific counters.

Curselax

A moveset that uses Curse and Rest on an already slow Pokémon to ignore the Speed drop. Although Snorlax is the most common (hence the name), it can also appear on other Pokémon (provided they aren't Ghosts).

Double Rester

A combination of Double Team and Rest quite common back in the Generation II days. Almost obsolete now thanks to Aerial Ace and similar moves.

Dragon Dancer

Any Pokémon that makes use of Dragon Dance. Usually fast physical sweepers.

Endureversal/flail

A moveset designed to Endure down to one HP, then Reversal or Flail for massive damage. The item held is often a Salac Berry.

Fishy

A moveset with two One-Kit-Knockout moves, Sleep Talk, and Rest. Its name is a derivative of "Fissure".

Flinchax

A moveset with a paralysis-inducing move to negate speed, and a flinch move such as Bite, Headbutt, Rock Slide or Extrasensory. It relies on chance to repeatedly flinch the foe until it faints. As an added bonus, the paralysis will kick in 25% of the time, preventing the foe from getting an attack in edgewise. Dunsparce was the most feared flinchaxor, because its Serene Grace increases the flinch chance to 60% until the appearance of Togekiss in Generation IV.

Hax

Something that relies more on chance than reliability or strategy. For example, Horn Drill is a hax move. Items such as Focus Band, BrightPowder, and Scope Lens are hax items. The most common use of "hax" is in the term "Flinchax".

Hazer

A moveset with Haze in it. Like the Spiker, it can have any combination of moves besides Haze on it. Fast Pokémon and those with high defenses make good hazers.

Holocaust (or Decoy)

Any Pokémon that is 'sacrificed' aginst a strong opponent. The aim is to weaken the opponent's Pokémon before the sacrificial Pokémon is knocked out, then switch to a stronger Pokémon, preferably one whose moveset has an advantage over the opponent.

HP

Usually used as an abbreviation for "Hit Points", but often refers to the move Hidden Power. For example, "HP Water" refers to a Hidden Power that is of the Water type.

McIceGar

A moveset for Gengar with many variations. Usually used to describe the Subpunching Gengar with Thunderbolt and Ice Punch, but moves such as Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Sludge Bomb are sometimes included. As of Generation IV. Ice Punch is no longer a reliable option for McIceGar since it has become Physical, so it must use Hidden Power.

MixApe

A mixed sweeper moveset for Infernape that is extremely useful for wall-breaking. The set consists of the moves Nasty Plot, Grass Knot, Flamethrower/Fire Blast and Close Combat.

NU

Neverused. Refers to Pokémon with very low stats and small movepools that prevent it from being used in the common metagame, such as Ariados.

OU

Overused. Refers to commonly used Pokémon in the metagame such as Tyranitar and Blissey.

Pinch Berry

Any one of the following: Liechi, Ganlon, Salac, Petaya, Apicot, Lansat, and Starf. These berries raise a specific stat when the holder's HP falls below 1/3 (or in a pinch, hence the name).

Pseudo Passer

A moveset with Wish, Safeguard, Light Screen, or Reflect on it. Reflect and Light Screen are countered by Brick Break.

Pseudo Hazer (Phazer)

A moveset with either Whirlwind or Roar, intended to force a stat-boosted Pokémon out of the ring. A Shuffler can also be a Phazer. A moveset with a move like Yawn, Leech Seed, or Charm can also be considered a Phazer. If the opponent decides not to switch out after being hit with one of these moves, he/she will have a hard time continuing the battle with their current Pokémon.

Seeker

Any Pokémon with a moveset that has at least one attack that never misses, such as Faint Attack. Other Seeker moves are Swift, Vital Throw, Aerial Ace, and Shock Wave. These attacks are countered by Fly, Dig, Dive, Protect and Detect.

Shuffler (Parashuffler/Pyroshuffler/Toxishuffler)

A moveset with either Roar or Whirlwind and Toxic, Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp. Works by inflicting a status condition, then Phazing and repeating. Often used in tandem with a Spiker for best results. Countered by a Cleric.

Skarmbliss

A stall team with both Skarmory and Blissey on it, designed to abuse the high defense of Skarmory and the high special defense of Blissey.

Specs-Mence

A Salamence holding Choice Specs, usually with the moves Draco Meteor and Fire Blast.

Spiker

A moveset that includes the move Spikes. Since that's the only requirement, there are many variations to spiker movesets. Good ones utilize Roar and Toxic or Rapid Spin.

Sponge

Not really a moveset but a Pokémon with a very high defensive stat. Used to block attacks of that kind (i.e. Special Sponge). Synonymous with Wall.

Sporepuncher

A moveset specifically for Breloom that uses the combinaton of Spore and Focus Punch. Similar to the subpuncher set, but instead of Substitute uses Spore to evade the Focus Punch flinch.

STAB

Same-type attack bonus. Refers to the 1.5x multiplier a Pokémon gets when using an attack that matches its own type. If a Pokémon is a dual-type Pokémon, it gets a 1.5x multiplier for attacks of both of its types.

E.g.: A Garchomp gets STAB for Dragon-type as well as Ground-type attacks.

Staller

Much like the Tank, this moveset lives to inflict a status condition and then stall with either Protect or (rarely) with Fly, Dive, or Dig. Although Toxic is the standard you can also have a Pyrostaller (a Staller with Will-O-Wisp). Countered by a Cleric.

Stealth Rocker

A Pokémon that uses Stealth Rock, similar to a Spiker.

Subpuncher

A moveset with Substitute and Focus Punch, created to avoid the flinch chance from Focus Punch. Similar to the Sporepuncher.

Sunnybeamer

A moveset with Sunny Day, Solarbeam, and a Fire attack. Often used on Pokémon with the Chlorophyll ability and the moves Synthesis, Morning Sun or Moonlight.

Sweeper

A moveset designed with the object of quickly knocking out, or "sweeping," an opponent's team. Specializes in mostly direct attacks with stat-boosting moves also common. It is characterized by high Speed and offensive stats. Comes in three variations - Physical, Special, and Mixed. Usually countered by a Tank.

Tank

A moveset with the object of stalling until the opponent faints, usually from Toxic. Moves that raise defenses, recover HP, and inflict status conditions on the opponent are good choices for a tank.

Thunderdancer

A moveset with Rain Dance, Thunder, and a Water attack. Pokémon with the Volt Absorb or Water Absorb ability are preferred, due to their immunity to enemy Surfs and Thunders.

Trapper

A set designed with the purpose of trapping a Pokémon for one reason or another. Moves such as Mean Look and Spider Web are standard trapping moves but moves such as Wrap and Fire Spin are also used sometimes. Might be used in tandem with Toxic or Curse (Ghost variety) to sap the opponent's health or Perish Song for a quick knockout. Certain abilities (Shadow Tag, Magnet Pull and Arena Trap) trap automatically.

Trickbander

A moveset that employs Trick and the held item Choice Band to incapacitate any opponent that doesn't use Physical attacks (most likely a Tank, Annoyer or Special Sweeper). Trick switches items with the opponent, so that they lose their valuable held item and get a restrictive one.

Trickbracer

Similar to the Trickbander, a Trickbracer gives the opponent the Macho Brace instead - an item that reduces Speed. It will stop most Sweepers in their tracks due to the reduction of their Speed that is so crucial.

TyraniBoah

A moveset specifically for Tyranitar (but also viable on others) with the Subpuncher combo and the Boltbeam combo. It is also an example of very advanced battling techniques on both sides, as it requires you to predict that your opponent will predict your next attack and switch to something resistant to it. An example of this would be if your opponent has a Salamence in play and expects you to use Ice Beam and thus switches to a Starmie. Predicting the switch, you actually select Thunderbolt or Crunch and beat the Starmie on the switch-in.

UU

Underused. Seldom-seen Pokémon with weaker stat totals than the metagame norm.

Wall

Not really a moveset, but a Pokémon with a very high defensive stat. Used to block attacks of that kind (i.e. Physical Wall). Synonymous with Sponge.