There are many terms created by Smogon to describe various team types, Pokemon roles and relationships. Terms like "check" and "counter" can be hotly debated when the principle disagreement is nothing more than a different understanding of the definitions. These officially undefined terms can lead to confusion when it comes to projects trying to research particular team types or Pokemon. The purpose of this thread is to have the community come together to decide on an official definition of these terms.
I'm going to put my own understanding as a place-holder (some probably won't be accurate) and will edit the post as others contribute. If there are any terms I am missing please let me know.
This builds off of this dictionary.
Scarfwynaut's post is a good reference as it was used by Antar for forming his current check/counter statistics. (The thread itself is generally useful)
Bojangles's and Fireburn's featured RMT gives a more indepth and accurate explanation of Quick Stall. (Which I probably butchered trying to sum it up)
This link gives some more flushed out definitions of the substyles of Offense.
I'm considering Smash/Quiver Pass as just another form of support. (and won't mention it here unless you guys say otherwise)
I'm going to put my own understanding as a place-holder (some probably won't be accurate) and will edit the post as others contribute. If there are any terms I am missing please let me know.
This builds off of this dictionary.
A Pokemon that can switch into any move and force the out the opposing Pokemon by threatening to KO it. (Either by extended stalling or outright attacking) There are various degrees described as shaky to hard depending on the number of times the Pokemon can do so and its reliability.
A Pokemon that can not switch into every move, if any, but can force out the opposing Pokemon by threatening to KO it. There are various degrees described as shaky to hard depending on the number of moves it can switch in on and the ease with which it may do so. (May also factor in amount of support needed to secure a KO)
Scarfwynaut's post is a good reference as it was used by Antar for forming his current check/counter statistics. (The thread itself is generally useful)
The purest form of Stall. This teamtype focuses almost entirely on passive damage in order to remove threats. It has the easiest team switching between its members thanks to their large bulk and/or key resistances. It relies heavily on utilities like phazing, hazards and status to make up for its very low direct damage output.
Semi-Stall is similar to Full Stall in that it features a defensive core and intends to rack up passive damage. However, it has a key difference in that it features a setup sweeper that is used late game when the passive damage has weakened/removed all of its checks or counters. There is a fine line between this and balance where the key difference is that balance has a more general offensive presence.
A playstyle only found in Ubers where traditionally offense Pokemon (like Mewtwo) are given defensive sets that abuse their high speed and reasonable bulk with key support moves. Unlike Stall, it lacks the ease of direct switching due to otherwise unremarkable natural and/or resistances. Unlike Offense, the reliance on passive damage leaves quick stallers unable to weaken/remove mutual checks/counters nor maintain an offensive momentum. However, it makes up for this by functioning as a group of "superstar stallers" that are difficult to force out.
Bojangles's and Fireburn's featured RMT gives a more indepth and accurate explanation of Quick Stall. (Which I probably butchered trying to sum it up)
Hyper Offense takes a very puritan approach to Offense with very refined offensive Synergy and, often times, a very poor defensive backbone as their goal is to constantly maintain momentum throughout the game, relying almost entirely on Double Switches. They are focused around a group of setup sweepers that can successfully threaten a clean sweep one after the other.
This teamtype is similar to Hyper Offense in general play and build yet feature a key difference in that the main attackers focus more on instant damage rather than setup sweeps. This allows them to punish switches instantly instead of repeatedly attempting to win the game with a single free turn.
Bulky Offense trades Offense's typically lightning speed for bulky, powerful attackers that form a strong offensive and defensive Core in order to directly switch into major threats more easily while harshly punishing opposing switches.
This link gives some more flushed out definitions of the substyles of Offense.
Balance is a mix of the two playstyles, Offense and Stall, in order to have a mixture of their advantages and disadvantages. There may be slight leanings in a offensive or defensive nature and may thus be called Offensive Balance or Defensive Balance respectively.
Baton Pass is an unusual strategy that is generally considered to be gimmicky. These teams are based on the move, Baton Pass, in order to pass important boosts to an offensive team member. They rely on multiple members with Baton Pass to shuffle around its members in order to, ideally, max out each stat and pass to an offensive member or dedicated recipient.
I'm considering Smash/Quiver Pass as just another form of support. (and won't mention it here unless you guys say otherwise)
A team style that is, in the community, under the same boat as baton pass teams. These teams are centered around the move gravity and use it's effects and tend to run similar to standard offense or full stall based on the effects it wants to use.
There are two types of gravity teams, however this just dictates which effect of gravity has a bigger focus. Offensive gravity teams use gravity's enhanced accuracy and removal of ground immunities to hit opponents with more power and better coverage from ground moves to succeed. Defensive gravity teams use the now unavoidable spikes and toxic spikes to rack up more residual damage than that of normal full stall teams but still plays out the same.
Thanks, Ninetale3
There are two types of gravity teams, however this just dictates which effect of gravity has a bigger focus. Offensive gravity teams use gravity's enhanced accuracy and removal of ground immunities to hit opponents with more power and better coverage from ground moves to succeed. Defensive gravity teams use the now unavoidable spikes and toxic spikes to rack up more residual damage than that of normal full stall teams but still plays out the same.
Thanks, Ninetale3
These teams use the multiple dragons in combination with a Pokemon that can trap and remove Steel types (Magnezone is iconic for this but others like Shadow Tag Gothitelle could qualify a team as DragMag) so that they can freely spam powerful neutral attacks such as Outrage or Draco Meteor.
Thanks, Soulfly
Thanks, Soulfly
Synergy is the term used to describe the way in which two or more Pokemon work together. There is offensive Synergy and defensive Synergy. Offensive synergy is the way in which the Pokemon work together in order to maintain a strong offensive presence while defensive Synergy describes multiple Pokemon walling individual portions of the meta-game, walling the majority when put together.
A Pokemon used in the lead position that has a favorable match-up against common leads with the intent of preventing them from providing their support for the team.
Weather War is used to describe the battle between two players using different weather based teams who aim to maintain their permanent weather and eliminate the opposing weather inducer.
A Core consists of two or three Pokemon with powerful defensive and/or offensive Synergy that a team is centered around and used as a foundation.
Glue is a term used to describe a Pokemon, usually added late in team building, that provides key general utilities to hold a team together and patch up important holes.
Clean Up desicribes the situation where a attacker outspeeds and KOs the remaining weakened Pokemon of an opposing team.
Scouting describes the use of moves such as U-Turn, Volt-Switch, or Baton Pass to see the decision of your opponent's decision to either attack or retreat before switching to one of your own members to maintain or take (be Pivoting) momentum. Scouting may also be done through the use of Protect/Detect or a faster Substitute which allows you to see the move of your opponent without risking a direct attack. Even simply switching out your Pokemon in order to glean any information on the Pokemon's set is considered scouting.
Dry Passing is the use of Baton Pass solely for the use of scouting your opponent's move and not to pass boosts or Substitutes.
Double Switching is a prediction based move where you anticipate the retreat of the opposing Pokemon and retreat yourself to bring out a member with a favorable match-up to the expected switch-in. This may be used to maintain momentum or to provide a free opportunity to use key support moves. Risk-Reward may still apply in that, in the case of a misprediction, having the Pokemon in the active position is still an advantage.
This term is used to describe Pokemon that suffer from the limitation to only four moves. This means that in order for the Pokemon to fully fulfill its intended purpose it would need to be able to use more than four moves and thus must make a difficult choice between which great flaw that lack of a certain move brings.