DPPt/HGSS Glossary of Competitive Terms

[Ruko]

As by popular demand [in chat], I'll go ahead and type up a sort of rough draft for competitive terms. Expect to see this edited many times, and constantly updated.

I'm leaving this unlocked so people can post requests for definitions here.. if you're shy of posting in public, feel free to PM me
There are a couple of sub-categories I couldn't find an official term for [such as a supporter that uses Light Clay, Reflect and Light screen], and I'd like some help expanding this from anyone willing... That said, I don't want to expand too much.

[size=12pt]Battle-types of Pokémon[/size]

Sweeper - Any offensive Pokémon meant to take out another Pokémon by directly attacking it for damage. Sweepers tend to have high stats in one or both attacks, low defenses, and high speed or some way of boosting speed. See below for types of sweepers.

• Physical Sweeper - An offensive Pokémon that relies mainly on Physical Attacks for damage. Physical attacks are denoted by this symbol:
  
• Special Sweeper - An offensive Pokémon that relies mainly on Special Attacks for damage. Special attacks are denoted by this symbol:
  
• Mixed Sweeper - An offensive Pokémon that relies on both Physical and Special attacks evenly. These tend to either be slower, or to do less damage than those who rely on only one type of attack. Infernape often holds the tilte of best Mixed Sweeper.

Wall - Any Pokémon designated to absorb directly damaging attacks. These tend to be slow, but have high defenses and sometimes high HP. Walls are also often paired with Leftovers or some other form of HP recovery. See types of walls below

• Physical Wall - A Pokémon with high Defense that can shrug off physical attacks with relative ease. Tend to be lacking in Special defense. Skarmory is the most well-known physical wall.
• Special - A Pokémon with high Special Defense that can shrug off Special attacks with relative ease. Tend to be lacking in physical defense. Blissey is probably the most well-known special wall.
• Type-based Walling - Not an actual battle-type, but this goes here. Type-based walling is when you use a Pokémon resistant to all attacks an opponent holds. For instance, both Dark and Ice attacks are walled by a Steel-type because it is resistant to both.

Supporter - Any Pokémon that's meant to help team members in some way. Light Screen, Reflect, Memento, Wish, Aromatherapy, and many other attacks fall under supportive. Supporters can also induce status effects to hinder threatening enemies.

• Baton Passer - Any Pokémon that possesses Baton Pass and any attack that can be passed to another Pokémon by it. Swords Dance, Iron Defense and Ingrain are all examples of attacks that can be Baton Passed. Smeargle is the most versatile Baton Passer.

Annoyer - A Pokémon that primarily focuses on attacking enemies, but with indirect attacks; usually status inflicters. Confuse Ray, Toxic, Will-o-Wisp, Attract, Screech. The main difference between a status-inducing Annoyer and a status-inducing Supporter is the strategy behind it: Annoyers are more stand-alone and do it to help themselves, while supporters inflict so another team member can take advantage.

• Toxic Stall / Toxistaller - This is a Pokémon that to outlive opponents they've poisoned. The Pokémon often is holding Leftovers or Black Sludge, and a moveset that contains Toxic and Protect. Often hold a counter-measure for Steel Pokémon.

 

[Plapti]

[size=12pt]Battling Terms:[/size]

Check: It's one of two common terms for a Pokémon coming in on a defensive maneuver. It's a Pokémon that comes in to immediately threaten the opposing Pokémon out and force a switch. Unlike counters, they in can't usually take hits, and survive, from the Pokémon they're facing. The Check comes in on a free switch to keep its HP as high as possible or right after a Pokémon fainted. They are not always the best Pokémon to send out to oppose a sweeping Pokémon and do take care to note that a Check is not a Counter.The Check is meant to keep the opposing Pokémon in ‘check' and prevent them from starting a sweep.

Example: Scizor is a Check to many Pokémon because of Bullet Punch. It forces many Pokémon out because of Bullet Punch's priority. Another way to 'check' a Pokémon is to outspeed it in unboosted stats.

Counter: The other common term for a Pokémon switching into your opponent to take hits with ease. They can come in on any attack, easily absorb the damage and force the opposing Pokémon to switch out, or risk being defeated. Unlike Checks, they can sponge hits and can come in on most attacks for the Pokémon they're designed to counter. Note that they are not as common as Checks are. These Pokémon should be your first option to send out against sweepers that are in the process of sweeping through your team, that they can counter. If they don't counter them with a high overall rate (Commonly thinking about Pokémon that run orthodox movesets, or uncommon ones), they are then considered a Check.

Example: Infernape often runs a mixed attacking set. If an Infernape uses three Physical moves, you're inclined to bring out Hippowdon, a great Counter to most physical based Pokémon. But because majority use either Grass Knot or Hidden Power Ice (used often in Shoddy Battle), Hippowdon is a check against most Infernape.

The Counter is meant to completely shut down a Pokémon from doing its job of sweeping.

Example: Heracross is about to sweep. Many Pokémon can come in and threaten it with regular attacks, but if it's holding a Choice Scarf to get the jump on Sweepers, the Pokémon you just sent out is toast or crippled. This is where your Counter comes in. A surefire counter to Heracross is Gliscor. Gliscor can easily take most of Heracross's moves and has resistances to its STAB moves and doesn't take very much damage from its other commonly used moves (Rock moves for example).

 

[KoL]

[size=12pt]Sub-Battle types of Pokémon[/size]

These are terms for Pokemon that have more specific roles in a team:

Hazer - A Hazer is, quite simply, any Pokemon with the move Haze, although the best Pokemon for this job are ones with good defensive prowess. Haze removes all stat changes from both your Pokemon and your opponent's. This is handy if your opponent is trying to stat up with a move such as Swords Dance or Calm Mind, since it will remove the stat boosts provided by those moves and make your opponent's Pokemon weaker. It can also be used to remove stat drops such as Screech from your Pokemon, although keep in mind that it will also remove your stat boosts and any drops in stats your opponent has suffered. An example of a Hazer is Weezing.

PHazer - An abbreviation for Pseudo-Hazer. It essentially has the same role as a Hazer: removing your opponent's stat boosts. However, PHazers will use Roar or Whirlwind to force your opponent to switch, which in turn removes any stat boosts they have accumulated. Unlike Haze, Roar/Whirlwind only affects the opponent, so any stat boosts you have will remain safe. However, Roar/Whirlwind also force the user to go last, which means they have to suffer a (likely boosted) attack before they can remove the stat boosts from the opponent. Skarmory and Suicune are good examples of PHazers.

Spiker - This term is generally used for any Pokemon that uses the move Spikes, although it generally covers anything with Toxic Spikes or Stealth Rock now as well. Most Spikers tend to be more defense-oriented Pokemon as well, since they usually need to be able to take a hit whilst they set up their entry hazards. The most common Spikers are Forretress and Skarmory, although anything that can learn Stealth Rock via its TM can effectively cover this role as well to some extent.

Spinner - Any Pokemon that uses the move Rapid Spin. Rapid Spin removes any entry hazards laid down by your opponent's Spiker Pokemon. The amount of Pokemon that can use this move isn't all that high - although a more defense-oriented Pokemon would probably be best for this job, more sweeper-oriented Pokemon such as Starmie tend to be seen doing this job as well. Generally, if you plan on using something with a Focus Sash, or something that suffers weakness to the Rock-type, you'll want one of these. Good examples of Spinners include Claydol, Forretress and the aforementioned Starmie to some extent as well.

PPasser - Touching on what Ruko said about Pokemon that use Light Screen, Reflect etc., this is about as close to an official term as you'll likely see I think - PPasser is an abbreviation of Pseudo-Passer, and is a term sometimes given to a Pokemon that passes supporting moves to Pokemon without using Baton Pass. This term can also be used to describe a Pokemon that passes Wish to others as well. It isn't a commonly used term, but it's one I've seen used often enough to make it somewhat official.

 

[Plapti]

I've seen Pseudo Pass more often than PPasser.

As well, there's Dual Screen for Pokémon that use Light Screen and Reflect.

This also continues on with KoL's post.

Dual Screen: The use of both defensive screens, Reflect and Light Screen is sometimes referred to Dual Screen. Often used by Pokémon that have defensive capabilities and often hold the Light Clay. They provide team defense for sweepers to attack for longer. They often are Psychic types, but others can use both screens as well. Just watch for POkémon that might know Brick Break, which screws over the point of using Dual Screens. Both Jirachi and Claydol are users of Dual Screen.


Spin Blocker: A not so common terms used, but to simply put it, it's a Pokémon that can prevent the usage of Rapid Spin. Summing it up, any Ghost-type Pokémon is a spin blocker. They usually don't focus on blocking Rapid Spin alone. Spin Blocking is more of a bonus. Regardless, it's very helpful to Stall teams that rely on residue damage. The Rotom appliance forms and Dusknoir are considered to be two of the best Ghost-types to send out to take on Pokémon that use Rapid Spin.


Wall-Breaker: Often a mixed sweeper, but not always, these Pokémon have one sole purpose, to destroy the other teams walls. They either can't sweep for long or have low speed, like Mixed Sweepers. The difference is that they have attacks to destroy walls that sweepers usually don't carry, like two attacks of the same type or attacks that are not considered in their commonly used set. When it comes down to it, Mixed Sweepers are better for the late game, while Wall-Breakers are to wear the opposing team down, not as a final sweeper.

One of the best known Wall-breaker is Tyranitar. Tyranitar uses the four moves its given to destroy opposing walls. It's not a great sweeper against other sweepers, but against walls, this is a beast. Some moves used for Wall Breaking include Draco Meteor, Overheat, Superpower among other moves.