1. Pokémon Competitive Battling It’s not just your typical NPC battle.

2. Common Misconception A lot of people misinterpret that every Pokémon “grow” in the same pattern. But in fact, you can manipulate their growth to maximize their stats mainly for player-versus-player battles. Skills are not just about their base powers. They sometimes have side effects and their accuracy does matter.

3. Common Misconception When these are accompanied with the removal of reduced reliance on luck in Pokémon battles, then Pokémon competitive battling is born.

4. Competitive Battling Pokémon competitive battling is a type player-versus-player battle which, according to Smogon (a competitive battling site), “emphasizes an understanding of game mechanics, team organization, and battle tactics, rather than cramming four moves of differing types on your Pokémon and picking whichever one is super effective.”

5. Standard Rules Any form of cheating and hacking is NOT ALLOWED. Hold items which has a “chance” effect (ex. Quick Claw – gives the holder an 18.75% chance to attack first) are NOT ALLOWED. One- hit K.O. moves (ex. Fissure, Sheer Cold, Horn Drill) are NOT ALLOWED.

6. Standard Rules Moves that increase evasion (ex. Double Team) are NOT ALLOWED. However, moves that decrease the opponent’s accuracy (ex. Sand Attack) are allowed.

7. Tiers Most competitive battling groups use tiers to segregate Pokémon according to their strengths. Tiers vary from metagame to metagame. The lists change from time to time.

8. Tiers Below are the tiers listed according to strongest to weakest: Uber (Uber) Overused (OU) Borderline (BL) Underused (UU) Never Used (NU) Not Fully Evolved (NFE)

9. Tiers - Ubers Ubers are composed of the strongest Pokémon available for competitive battling. This is usually composed of Pokémon too strong for the other tiers. This is filled up mostly by, but not limited to, legendary Pokémon.

10. Tiers – Overused Overused Pokémon are composed of Pokémon too strong for UU and NU and fair ok at the Uber tier. The metagame revolves around this tier. Usually composed of powerhouse Pokémon, offensive or defensive-wise.

11. Tiers - Borderline Borderline is a somewhat limbo-like tier where Pokémon are put temporarily so they could be classified as OU or UU. BL Pokémon can be used in OU and UU tiers as they are still under deliberation.

12. Tiers - Underused Underused Pokémon are composed of Pokémon too strong for NU. This is usually the tier sought after when players get tired of the repetitive teams in OU because of its flexibility.

13. Tiers – Never Used The weakest of all tiers. Fully-evolved Pokémon not under the first four tiers are found here. Usually a for-fun tier, but can also become competitive due to the large number of Pokémon that can be used.

14. Tiers – Not Fully Evolved Pokémon not at their last evolution are under the Not Fully Evolved tier. Pokémon without an evolution line cannot be put here.

15. Difference from Normal Battling