Appendix:Metagame terminology

This article does not yet meet the quality standards of Bulbapedia. Please feel free to edit this article to make it conform to Bulbapedia norms and conventions.

This article is incomplete.
Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it.

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. No longer viable now that Curse is no longer a TM.

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 Pseudo-Hazer.

Bellyzard: A moveset created specifically for the Charizard evolution family. The moveset contains Belly Drum, Substitute, Fire Fang/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. 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. However using Flare Blitz with this technique is sure to result in the user fainting.

BL: Borderline. The tier that holds Pokémon that are considered too underpowered for OU, but too powerful for UU, like for instance, Jynx, Smeargle, or Blaziken.

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), or the move Worry Seed

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 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).

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 also often used to have time to use an item on a stronger Pokémon without risking its life. A Decoy is also 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. Almost obsolete now thanks to Aerial Ace and similar moves.

Dragon Dancer: Any Pokémon that makes use of Dragon Dance. Usually fast physical sweepers like Kingdra or Dragonite.

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.

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.

Glass Cannon: A Pokémon that has extremely high offensive stats but appalling defensive and speed stats e.g. Cranidos or Rampardos

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.

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.

NFE: Not an actual tier, but a term used to describe using Pokémon that are not fully evolved, and thus should not be used competitively until they evolve. There are some exceptions, namely:

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 Garchomp 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, 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 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.

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.

Sleeptalker: A moveset with Rest, Sleep Talk and two damaging moves on it. Used to maintain a Pokémon (usually with good defenses) healthy with Rest and using Sleep Talk in the meantime to attack. Milotic is the prime example of a sleeptalker due to Marvel Scale.

Specs-Mence: A Salamence holding Choice Specs (or Wise Glasses in some cases), with the moves Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Hydro Pump and Dragon Pulse.

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 combination 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. In Generation IV, the Iron Ball and Lagging Tail hold items exist almost solely to be used in this way.

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

While most Pokemon in the Uber tier are there for their stats, Wobbuffet is included primarily because of its Shadow Tag utility. Since the principle behind countering a Pokémon in battle is to switch out to a Pokémon that is better able to cope with the opponent's abilities, and Shadow Tag works like Mean Look to trap a Pokémon in battle, Wobbuffet can be thought of as "uncounterable." In addition, its ability to learn Encore means that the use of Wobbuffet requires no prediction skills; the Wobbuffet user must only Encore an offensive move and then use either Counter or Mirror Coat (depending on the move's type) to induce damage on the opponent.

UU: Underused. Seldom-seen Pokémon with weaker stat totals or movepools than the metagame norm. Examples of UUs include Altaria and Manectric

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.

Nicknames of commonly used Pokémon

Al, Zam: Alakazam
Ape: Infernape
Army, Aldo: Armaldo
Arti, Arty: Articuno
Bliss: Blissey
Chomp: Garchomp
Cress, Cressy: Cresselia
Cross, Hera: Heracross
Cune: Suicune
Draggy, DNite: Dragonite
Evire: Electivire
Gross: Metagross
Gyara: Gyarados
Mega: Yanmega
Mence, Sally: Salamence
Missy, Missy G: Mismagius
Pory2: Porygon2
PoryZ: Porygon-Z
Skarm: Skarmory
Terra: Torterra
T-Tar: Tyranitar
Umbry, Umby: Umbreon
Vappy: Vaporeon
Zappy: Zapdos
Zong: Bronzong

Appendix:Metagame terminology

Nicknames of commonly used Pokémon

Navigation menu

Page actions

Page actions

Personal tools

Navigation

Search

Bulbagarden

Tools

In other languages