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The competitive world ofPokemonis very old; it has existed since the beginning of Pokemon, mostly because it’s a game that has everything a good competitive RPG should have. As you’d expect of any long-running comunity, it uses slang to explain the most common concepts every competitive player would encounter.
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Have you wondered what “Sweeper” means? Are you curious about the meaning behind a “Stall” team? Well, fear no more, because this is a guide explaining all the common terms you’ll find in Smogon and Pokemon Showdown.
Battle and Breeding-Related Terms
Below, you’ll findPokemon-breeding conceptsandstat and battle termsyou’ll have to know if you want to play Pokemon competitively.
Meaning
BP
Stands for thebase powerof a move. As an example, Crunch has a BP of 80.
BST
Stands for thetotal number of a Pokemon’s base stats.This total number comes from the sum total of a Pokemon’s HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed. As an example, Rayquaza has a BST of 680.
EVs
Stands forEffort Values.These arepointsyou can assign to a Pokemonto increase a specific stat.Every Pokemon can get up to 510 EVs, andevery stat can get up to 252 EVs, so you have to split your Pokemon’s EVs wisely. As an example, Rayquaza’s base Speed at Level 100 is 226, but when it gets 252 EVs in Speed, its Speed will increase to 258.
IVs
Stands forIndividual Values. These act like the DNA of a Pokemon, and are determined as soon as the Pokemon hatch from the egg.Every stat of a Pokemon can get a total of 31 IVs, and when a Pokemon gets 31 IVs in each stat, it’s a perfect Pokemon. You’ll get to have a perfect Pokemon if you breed it, or if you build it on Pokemon Showdown. As an example, Rayquaza’s Speed with full EVs is 258, and if this Rayquaza has perfect IVs, its Speed will reach 289.
Dual Screens
Refers to the moment when a Pokemon successfullylands aReflect and a Light Screen.As an example,Corviknightis excellent for setting Dual Screens, as it’s bulky and has enough time to do it.
Entry Hazards
These aremoves that set dangerous trapsthat deal damage to your opponent’s Pokemon. There are currently three main ones:Spikes(Ground-type move), Toxic Spikes(Poison-type move), andStealth Rock(Rock-type move).
OHKO
Stands for One Hit KO.An OHKO happens when you defeat one of your opponent’s Pokemon with a single turn, or when you land a Guillotine, a Horn Drill, or a Sheer Cold, which are moves that automatically defeat your opponent’s Pokemon, but has only 30 percent accuracy.
NVE
Stands for Not Very Effective, and it’s shorthand to refer to a move that does less damage due to the Pokemon’s type resistance. As an example, Water is NVE against Grass-type.
Priority
Every move has a Prioritythat will determine if it’ll get executed first, will obey the Speed stat of both Pokemon in play, or will get executed last. As an example, Protect has priority over most moves, while Roar has negative priority, which will make the user go last.
STAB
Stands forSame Type Attack Bonus.This is a bonus thatincreases a move’s damage by 50 percentonly ifthe Pokemon that executes the move has the same type of the move.As an example, a Raichu’s Thunder will have STAB, but a Dragonite’s Thunder won’t have this bonus.
Revenge Kill
A Revenge Kill refers to the moment when you KO one of your opponent’s Pokemonshortly after this Pokemon defeated one of yours.
Residual Damage
Refers to thedamage a Pokemon can take without being directly attacked.It can come from recoil (the usage of Brave Bird, Fire Blitz, Volt Tackle, etc.) a weather effect (Hail or Sandstorm), a Status effect (Poisonings or Burnings), or a previously mentioned Entry Hazard.
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All Pokemon Roles
Below, you’ll finda list of all the Pokemon Roles out there.Most of these terms aren’t as used as others, but it’s good to learn all of them, so you know what can you build while creating a team.
Dedicated Lead
A Pokemon who will alwaysstart the match by setting Entry Hazards in the field.Examples: Clodsire, Garganacl.
Attacking Lead
A Pokemon that canattack as soon as the match startsand doesn’t need setups. Examples: Machamp, Yanmega.
Baton Passer
A Pokemon thatboosts itself, then send those boosts to another Pokemonof its team through Baton Pass. Example: Gliscor.
Cleric
A Pokemon thatheals itself and its teamthrough Heal Bell, Wish, or Aromatherapy. Example: Blissey.
Dual Screener
A Pokemon that can learn anduse Reflect and Light Screento boost its teammates' Defense and Special Defense. Examples: Corviknight, Espeon.
Glass Cannon
A Pokemon with agreat offensive power but very weak defenses. Examples: Sharpedo, Gengar.
Sweeper
A Pokemon that candeal a lot of damage through its high Speed and Attack or Special Attack stats.
It can be divided betweenPhysical Sweepers, which uses its Attack (Example: Annihilape),Special Sweepers, which uses its Special Attack (Example: Kilowattrel) orMixed Sweepers, which uses both Attack and Special Attack stats (Example: Dragonite).
Hazer
A Pokemon that usesHaze or Clear Smogto remove stat boots from its opponent’s Pokemon. Examples: Muk, Dragalge, Clodsire, Toxapex.
Phazer or Shuffler
A Pokemon that canforce the opponent to switchPokemon through moves like Yawn, Roar, or Perish Song. Examples: Dondozo, Altaria.
Pivot
A Pokemon who’s usually used for forcing your opponent to switch byswitching in and out from the field.
There aretwo types of pivots: Defensive and Offensive.
The Defensive Pivots usually have good defensive stats, so they take little damage when switching in, forcing the opponent to switch to any other Pokemon to pass through it. Examples: Skarmory, Toxapex.
The Offensive Pivotsforce a switch bythreatening to KOyour opponent’s Pokemon. Example: Scizor.
Rapid Spinner or Defogger
A Pokemon that canget rid of the Entry Hazardsby usingRapid SpinorDefog. Example: Corviknight, Great Tusk.
Spin Blocker
A Ghost-type Pokemon that canblock Pokemon with Rapid Spin.Example: Tera Ghost-type Glimmora.
Revenge Killer
A Pokemon whose main job is tofinish off the Pokemon who defeated one of your own.They usually have very strong Attack stats, but are very frail. Example: Scizor.
Stallbreaker
A Pokemon that candisable Stalling strategiesby preventing them to use their moves through the usage of moves likeTaunt. Example: Palafin.
Status Absorber
A Pokemon that cantake advantage of status effectsby using Items likeToxic Orb, Abilities likeGuts, or moves likeSleep Talk. Examples: Gliscor, Heracross.
Suicide Lead
A lead Pokemon whose task is toset up Entry Hazardsandprevent the opponents to do the samebefore going down, usually through Explosion. It’ll not get out the field by switching. Example: Glimmora.
Supporter
A Pokemon thatuses non-offensive moves that benefit its team.Example: All Dual Screeners and Clerics.
Tank
A Pokemon with high Defense, Special Defense and HP stats thatreceives damage but also counters it.Examples: Dondozo, Scream Tail, or Baxcalibur.
Utility Pokemon
A Pokemon that can havemultiple roles in a team, usually because of a wide movepool, great type combination or useful Ability. Example: Garganacl, that can be a Dedicated Lead, a Tank, and a Phazer through its signature move, Salt Cure.
Utility Counter
A highly defensive Pokemon that cancover its team from a variety of threats, butonly depending on switching its moveset.Example: Great Tusk, which can be a Rapid Spinner or a Tank.
Wall
A Pokemon capable oftaking both Physical and Special attacksduring the course of the match without much hesitation, butdoesn’t have many offensive options.Examples: Clodsire, Toxapex.
Wallbreaker
A Pokemonable to defeat Wallsthrough the usage of powerful Physical and Special moves. Example: Gholdengo, who has an ability named Good as Gold, which makes it immune to status effects.
Playstyles
Below you’ll find the three main playstyles of the competitive Pokemon matches.
Offensive
Offensive teams usuallyrely on outspeeding and outdamaging its opponents.Players with this playstyle will usually startattacking since the start, pressuring their opponents to take bad decisions and gaining momentum since the beginning.
Stall
Stalling teamsrely on dealing residual damagethrough the usage of Entry Hazards, weather effects, and moves like Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, and Salt Cure. Most of the Pokemon in a Stalling team will havehighly defensive statsand will beexperts on forcing switchesthrough Phazers and Walls.
Balance
Balanced teams areteams that use powerful attackers that are backed up by defensive threats, stallers, and tanks. Balanced teams always focuses on a specific threat, like a Wallbreaker, and the rest of the team aims to support said threat.
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