Appendix:Metagame terminology
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- 00ber
- A Pokémon (usually legendary) with unfairly high stats and usually a large and diverse movepool. Also spelled "uber" and "oober". Current ubers are Mewtwo, Mew, Wobbuffet, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Wynaut, Latias, Latios, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Deoxys (all forms), Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus.
- 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. Usually employed when raising a weak Pokémon, preferably holding Experience Share. The aim is to knock out the opponent's Pokémon with in one turn, also fainting the Bomber in the process. The weak Pokémon holding Experience Share (or has been sent out into the field earlier) gets all experience points without division; a fainted Pokémon cannot gain experience.
- Bomb Squad
- A Pokémon party with a maximum of five Bomber Pokémon, and the remaining slot reserved for a Pokémon that the player wishes to raise without battling, usually given the item Experience Share. Best employed on trainer battles, when the opponent has more than one Pokémon. The player, however, is advised to have an ample supply of Revives and other essential healing items.
- CalmCune
- A Suicune with Calm Mind and Rest. A very powerful and OU 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 Special Attacker 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 Special Defense stats. 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. 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 a 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 penalty. Although Snorlax is the most common (hence the name), it can also appear on other Pokémon (provided they aren't Ghosts). An exception to the "already slow" rule was Curselugia in GSC.
- Double Rester
- A combination of Double Team and Rest quite common back in the GSC days. Almost obsolete now thanks to Aerial Ace and other such 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. Often holding Salac Berries.
- Fishy
- A moveset with two 1HKO 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 relys 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. This most common use of "hax" is in the term "flinchax".
- Hazer
- A moveset with Haze on it. Like the Spiker, it can have any combination of moves beside 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. In important battles (Gym Battles, battles against Elite Four trainers), Pokémon with a tank moveset, or Stallers are recommendable, so as to exhaust the opposing trainer's supply of healing items, notably Full Restore. (Obviously, use of items is not permissible for both sides in Pokémon Battle Tents and the Battle Frontier.)
- 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 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, 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 lackluster stats and weak movepools that prevent it from being used in the common metagame.
- Pinch Berry
- Any one of the following: Liechi, Ganlon, Salac, Petaya, Apicot, Lansat, or 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-Pseudo hazer
- A moveset with a move like Yawn or Leech Seed, or a stat-reducing move like Charm. Doesn't actually force the opponent to switch but penalizes them if they don't.
- 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.
- Seeker
- Any Pokémon with a moveset that has at least one attack that 'allegedly' never misses, such as Swift. Other seeker moves are Faint Attack, Vital Throw, Aerial Ace, and Shock Wave. These attacks are countered by Fly, Dig, Dive, Protect, and Detect.
- Shuffler (Para/Pyro/Toxi)
- A moveset with either Roar or Whirlwind and Toxic, Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, or lesser status attack. 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 uses Spore to evade the Focus Punch flinch. Substitute may also be used.
- STAB
- Same-type attack bonus. Refers to the 1.5 multiplier a Pokémon gets when using an attack that matches its own type.
- Staller
- Much like the Tank, this moveset lives to inflict the status condition then usually stalls with either Protect or (rarely) with Fly, Dive, or Dig. Although Toxic is the standard you can also have a *Pyrostaller (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.
- 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 KO'ing 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 varieties - 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 and 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 trappers but moves such as Wrap and Fire Spin are also sometimes used. Might be used in tandem with Toxic or Curse (ghost variety) to sap the opponent' health or Perish Song for a quick KO. 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/Special Sweeper). Trick switches items with the opponent, so 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 selected Thunderbolt/Crunch and pwn 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.
