Appendix:Metagame terminology
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Terms
Annoyer
A Pokémon designed with the sole purpose of annoying the opponent and making it difficult for him/her to use a move. Moves for this purpose include Confuse Ray, Thunder Wave, 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. Not usable in Generation III or IV because Curse is no longer available in Suicune's movelist due to losing TM status.
Baton Passer
A moveset with Baton Pass and at least one stat-boosting move or Psych Up, Mean Look or Substitute. Designed to raise one or more stats and/or activate one or more of the above moves, then Baton Pass the effects to another Pokémon. Stat boosts are countered by a Hazer or Pseudo-Hazer. A good example of a Baton Passer is Ninjask, who gains one level of Speed after each turn due to its ability Speed Boost. It often abuses the move Protect and may use Swords Dance and/or Substitute too. Baton Passers can counter Pseudo-Hazers by passing Ingrain, but that can only be done by a Smeargle.
Baton Passing Chain (Passchain)
Continuous use of the move Baton Pass on various Pokémon in order to accumulate stat boosts, often used to boost and pass a variety of different stats that one Pokémon couldn't pass itself.
Bellyzard
A moveset created specifically for the Charizard evolution family. The moveset contains Belly Drum, Substitute, Fire Punch/Flare Blitz and any other move. Held item is a Salac. Belly Drum followed by Substitute maximizes the attack stat and lowers HP enough to activate Blaze and the Salac as long as Charizard's HP is divisible by 4. The power of Charizard's Template:Type2 moves is increased, attack power is maximized and Speed is raised enough to possibly attack first. This results in an incredibly powerful physical Fire attack.
BL
Borderline. A tier of the metagame.
Boltbeam
A combination of Thunderbolt and Ice Beam on the same set that is resisted only by Magnezone, Volt Absorb Lanturn, and Shedinja. May also be used for any combination of Electric and Ice moves, such as Thunderbolt and HP Ice.
Bomber
Any Pokémon that knows Selfdestruct or Explosion. The aim is to knock out the opponent's Pokémon within one turn, also causing the Bomber to faint in the process. In Double Battles, Bombers are typically paired with a Template:T2 Pokémon, or one that knows Protect or Detect, as both moves hit all other Pokémon on the field. Countered by Ghost types, Protect/Detect or the Damp ability.
CalmCune
A Suicune with Calm Mind. Often it uses Rest also. A very powerful and over-used Pokémon due to Suicune's two weaknesses being special types, and as a result its effectiveness has been reduced with the Gen IV Attack/Special split. Some counters include a Hazer or PHazer, a strong physical Electric or Grass attack and the move Encore.
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/CBer
A moveset with physical attacks, and the hold item Choice Band. Requires good prediction to use and counter.
Clause
Akin to House Rules, Clauses are various rules that fans apply to their battles. Since most player battles are free-for-alls, players usually agree on restrictions for moves, items and tiers. There also exist several official clauses that are usually applied to Stadium/Colosseum battles in The console connectivity games and Battle Tower challenges. Pokémon Battle Revolution is currently the only way for players to battle with these clauses enforced by the game.
Cleric
A moveset that includes either Heal Bell or Aromatherapy. A good example of a Cleric is Blissey.
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 (Special) Fire/Electric attack for Skarmory and a powerful (Physical) Fighting-type move such as Close Combat or Focus Punch for Blissey. TyraniBoah and MixApe are examples of specific counters.
See also the move Counter.
Curselax
A moveset that uses Curse and Rest on an already slow Pokémon to ignore the Speed drop. Although Snorlax is the most common user (hence the name), it can also appear on other Pokémon (provided they aren't Ghosts). Especially useful in a team using Trick Room as the Speed drops become Speed boosts instead.
Decoy
Any Pokémon that is 'sacrificed' against 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. A Decoy is often used to switch to a different Pokémon without causing damage to the Pokémon one wants to battle by sacrificing the Decoy.
Double Rester
A combination of Double Team and Rest quite common back in the Generation II days. In Standard Rules, Evasion Clause forbids use of Double Team so this strategy is rarely seen.
DDer
Any Pokémon that makes use of Dragon Dance. Usually fast physical sweepers like Kingdra or Salamence.
Endureberry
Any Pokémon that is made to Endure to one HP and receive a boost from the berry its low health activates. Berries this works with include Liechi, Ganlon, Salac, Petaya, Apicot, Micle, and Custap. Often combined with the below set and partnered with a Bomber in doubles, but not always. Also known by Endure(berry's name).
Endureversal/flail
A moveset designed to Endure down to one HP, then Reversal or Flail for massive damage, since Reversal and Flail have 200 base power at 1%-4% HP. The item held is often a Salac, a Liechi, or a Petaya, tying in with the previous strategy.
Evasion clause
The use of moves like Double Team, Minimize, Sand-Attack, Mud-Slap, Mirror Shot, Mud Bomb, Acupressure, which may decrease accuracy or increase evasion, is forbidden.
F.E.A.R.
A last resort strategy involving a low-level Rattata holding a Focus Sash with the moves Endeavor and Quick Attack. It aims to catch the opponent off-guard when he/she sees the low-level Rattata and attacks. The Focus Sash will activate and Rattata will use Endeavor to attack, lowering the opponent's HP to 1. Then the Rattata will use Quick Attack to finish off the opponent. There are many variations of this set that can be used by any Pokémon with Endeavor and a priority move. It has also been used by a Dodrio ingame in Pokémon Battle Revolution.
Fishy
A moveset with two One-Hit-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 Air Slash, 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.
Follow Me Wall
A special kind of wall used exclusively in Double Battles, using the move Follow Me in order to give the wall's partner some breathing room to do something. It can be used to protect the Glass Cannon, or to allow use of the move Focus Punch among other things.
Glass Cannon
A Pokémon that has extremely high offensive stats, which are contrasted with its appalling defensive stats and often insufficient Speed (e.g. Sharpedo or Rampardos). A Choice Scarf is often employed on such Pokemon to make up for their lack of good Speed, but other Choice items also see use.
Hax
Something that relies more on chance than reliability or strategy. Critical Hits are hax; Horn Drill is a hax move; items such as Focus Band, BrightPowder and Scope Lens are hax items.
Hazer
A moveset with Haze in it. Much like a Spiker, it can have any combination of moves along with Haze. Fast Pokémon and those with high defenses, such as Altaria and Articuno, make good Hazers.
HM slave
A Pokémon mostly untrained for battle which is used for basic HM learning and using. It is mostly kept in a PC box and not part of a general team. It is used as an extra Pokémon that learns HMs, so a trainer doesn't have to teach HMs to his or her main battlers. It is generally only brought out of a PC box when the use of HMs are needed. Due to Bibarel being capable of learning 6 HMs, it is often(if not always) classified as the perfect HM slave.
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.
HP Sponge
A type of Wall that relies primarily on high HP for defense, instead of Defense and Special Defense stats. These types of Pokémon benefit greatly from Leftovers and Healing moves.
IV Battle
A level 100 Wi-Fi battle where the purpose is not actually to battle, but to observe what the Pokémon's stats will look like at level 100, which is the most optimal way to calculate what the Pokémon's IVs are. This is typically done with freshly hatched Pokémon, as EVs don't have to be included in such calculations.
Lead
The starting Pokémon of a team.
Level Clause
All Pokémon used by both trainers should be close to the same level, which is usually 50 or 100. With the advent of Diamond and Pearl, WiFi battles are capable of setting Pokémon levels to 50 or 100 (rounding them up or down as necessary), so a Level Clause really only applies to local battles.
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, and so it must use Hidden Power instead.
MixApe
A commonly used mixed sweeper moveset for Infernape that is extremely useful for wall-breaking, especially Skarmbliss. The set consists of a combination of the moves Flamethrower/Fire Blast, Close Combat, Grass Knot, ThunderPunch, HP Ice and Nasty Plot. It usually holds the item Life Orb.
NFE
Not an actual tier, but a term used to describe Pokémon that are not fully evolved, and thus should not be used competitively until they evolve. There are some NFEs that can viably be used competitively, namely:
NU
Never-Used. A tier of the metagame.
OHKO moves
These are moves that cause a one-hit knock out when they hit; their accuracy is accordingly low (30%). Namely:
In Standard rules, OHKO moves are forbidden, so these are rarely seen.
OU
Over-Used. A tier of the metagame.
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). Petaya, Salac and Liechi are the most commonly used, as extra defence typically isn't very useful when health is that low.
Pseudo Passer
A moveset with Wish, Safeguard, Light Screen and/or Reflect in it. Reflect and Light Screen are countered by Brick Break.
Pseudo Hazer (PHazer)
A moveset with either Whirlwind or Roar, which is 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.
Pseudo-legendary
Any of the following Pokémon: Dragonite, Tyranitar, Salamence, Metagross and Garchomp. These Pokémon have noticeably astounding stats and diverse movepools.
PowerChoiceJetter
An Azumarill that has the ability Huge Power, is holding the item Choice Band, and knows Aqua Jet.
Priority Move
A move that allows the user to attack first despite having a lower Speed stat, such as Quick Attack, Ice Shard or Sucker Punch.
ScarfChomp
A Garchomp holding the item Choice Scarf, whose speed is multiplied by x1.5.
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, Bounce, Protect and Detect. This can also refer to a Pokémon that uses Lock-On or Mind Reader on an opponent that uses Fly, Dig, Bounce, or Dive, which ensures that the next attack hits the opponent, despite them using any of the four moves.
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, or simply by attacking each time they try to PHaze.
Skarmbliss
A combination of Skarmory and Blissey used in the same team, which is designed to abuse Skarmory's high Defense stat and numerous resistances, as well as Blissey's high Special Defense stat and extraordinary HP stat. It is very difficult to beat if one is not prepared, so most teams carry a SkarmBliss counter.
Sleep clause
A rule whereby the use of a sleep inducing move is forbidden if a Pokémon on the opponent's team has already been put to sleep by one of the user's Pokémon. Sleep induced by moves such as by Rest or abilities like Effect Spore are exempted. Pokémon Battle Revolution supports the Sleep Clause, and custom rule sets can choose to enforce it or not.
Sleep talker (Restalker/STalker)
A moveset with Rest and Sleep Talk. It is used to maintain a Pokémon's (usually with good defenses) health with Rest, but allow it to attack in the meantime with Sleep Talk. It's not a perfect strategy, as there is the chance Sleep Talk will call Rest again, but it works often enough to see use. Milotic is an excellent example of a sleeptalker due to Marvel Scale.
Species clause
A rule whereby the use of more than one of the same Pokémon, or Pokémon in the same evolution chain, is forbidden. Pokémon that evolve from the same Pokémon but are not an evolution of each other are exempted. For example, the use of Gorebyss and Huntail is allowed, but the use of Gorebyss and Clamperl or Clamperl and Clamperl in one team - is not. An official clause, the various Battle Towers and Console connectivity games enforce this.
Specs-Mence
A Salamence holding Choice Specs (or Wise Glasses in some cases), with the moves Draco Meteor, Fire Blast or Flamethrower, Hydro Pump and Dragon Pulse.
Spiker
A moveset that includes the move Spikes. Since that is the only requirement, there are many variations to spiker movesets. Effective ones utilize Roar/Whirlwind, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock and/or Rapid Spin.
Sponge
A Pokémon with a very high defensive stat. Used to block attacks of that kind (e.g. Special Sponge). Synonymous with Wall.
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 build up passive damage (such as Poison, Burn, Leech Seed or weather conditions) while stalling with Protect, recovery moves or (rarely) with Fly, Dive, or Dig. Toxic is most commonly used due to its increasing amount of damage caused. Some counters include a Cleric, the move Taunt and Clefable (due to the ability Magic Guard).
Standard rules
It refers to the rules used in Wi-Fi battles by most Competitive Battlers. The rules include: No Ubers, no hacks, no OHKO Moves, no Hax Items and also the Sleep, Evasion and Species Clauses.
Suicide Lead
A moveset in which the user is equiped with a Focus Sash. The purpose of this moveset is to set up Stealth Rock, while anticipating an attack that could One Hit KO the user, but survives with the Focus Sash. This is a very common moveset for leading Azelf and Aerodactyl.
Rocker
A Pokémon that uses Stealth Rock, similar to a Spiker. Stealth Rock is a very common move in the metagame and almost every team employs a Rocker.
Subpasser
A moveset with Substitute and Baton Pass. Although any Pokémon that can learn Baton Pass can pass Substitutes, Pokémon with high HP are preferred so that the Substitute passed will also have a high HP. Subpassing is beneficial as it allows for a Pokémon to have a Substitute with a much higher HP than it could make itself. If such a Substitute is passed to a Wall or Tank, the opponent will have a hard time breaking the Substitute right away, allowing the target to reap the benefits of the Substitute, such as immunity to status effects. Subpasses can also pass defence boosts to make the Substitutes even harder to break, but then that only leaves them one move for attacking, making them very vulnerable to Taunt.
Subpuncher
A moveset with Substitute and Focus Punch to avoid the flinch chance from Focus Punch. Works best with slower Pokémon as the Substitute may end up being broken the turn it's made if the Subpuncher goes first. Slightly harder to use in Double Battles where the two Pokémon could gang up on the Subpuncher to break the Substitute and hit the Pokémon. Countered by Thick Club Marowak whose Bonemerang usually does enough damage to break the Substitute on the first hit, allowing the second hit to attack the Subpuncher directly.
Sunnybeamer
A moveset with Sunny Day and SolarBeam to avoid the one turn charge up from SolarBeam. Often used on Pokémon with the Chlorophyll ability, Template:Type2 Pokémon, or Pokémon with 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 while very often having poor defensive stats and HP. Comes in three variations - Physical, Special, and Mixed. (Physical sweepers use physical moves, Special sweepers use special moves, and Mixed sweepers use both.) Common counters are bulky Pokémon and priority moves.
Tank
A Pokémon that can take hits and still fight back. Often functions as a Wall/Sponge but different because while being hard to KO, it can still threaten the opponent offensively. Some common tanks are Bronzong and Suicune.
Thunderdancer
A moveset with Rain Dance and Thunder to give Thunder 100% accuracy. Pokémon with the Volt Absorb or Water Absorb ability are preferred, due to their immunity to enemy Surfs and Thunders.
Tier
- Main article: Tiers
A tier is a list of Pokémon in the metagame selected based on amount of use in standard play.
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 guaranteed knockout. Certain abilities, such as (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. In Generation IV, with the introduction of Choice Specs and Choice Scarf, the more common item to switch onto the opponent is Choice Scarf because the receiver gains no offensive boost and the user makes use of the speed boost to Trick before the opponent makes their move.
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. In Generation IV, the Iron Ball and Lagging Tail hold items exist almost solely to be used in this way, while the Klutz ability seems to exist so that the Pokémon using Trick doesn't have to suffer the effects of the item they are Tricking to the opponent.
Type Coverage
An analysis of which types can be hit for Super-Effective Damage. For example, a Fire type move will do super-effective damage against Bug, Grass, Ice and Steel types. As Super-Effective moves are the most efficient way to take out other Pokémon, trainers usually strive for good type coverage on individual Pokémon, and for the whole team. Hidden Power helps as a wild-card to allow a Pokémon to cover types it wouldn't normally be able to, such as a Charizard with Hidden Power Water, which would then give it coverage against other Fire types. Ice is typically a good type to have, as the most commonly seen Dragon types have a double weakness to the Ice type.
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.
Uber
A tier of the metagame.
UU
Under-Used. A tier of the metagame.
Wall
A Pokémon with a very high defensive stat. Used to block attacks of that kind (e.g. Physical Wall). Synonymous with Sponge.
Wondertomb/Wondereye
A hacked Spiritomb or Sableye with the ability Wonder Guard. Since Spiritomb and Sableye have no weaknesses, they can only be damaged by weather conditions, status problems, entry hazards such as Spikes or Stealth Rock, recoil moves and, curiously, the move Fire Fang. Note that Wonder Guard may be canceled out when the opponent has the ability Mold Breaker, which will cancel out the Wonder Guard ability. Also, If the opponent has Scrappy, or uses Odor Sleuth or Foresight a Wondereye or Wondertomb can be hit with a super effective Fighting-type attack. Gastro Acid is a move that will cancel this ability as well. These instances prove that Wondereyes and Wondertombs are not invincible.
