~ADV OU Roles Compendium~
Hello everyone and welcome to the ADV OU Roles Compendium.
Since I started playing ADV OU, I have felt that a Roles Compendium would be an interesting addition to the forum’s resources, especially for new players. I am willing to make the most of this resource, so feel free to propose improvements.
This resource lists the most relevant Pokémon for given roles on a team. It also highlights moves or abilites that have specific utility.
Notes : Pokémon are generally sorted by relevance regarding the given criterion or by usage frequency. E-Tier Pokémon according to the ADV OU Viability ranking thread are shown between parentheses : they should generally be used for specific niche roles and are generally outclassed by other options. The most important categories (that should be accounted for while building any team) are written in blue.
This is not a stand-alone resource for teambuilding and understanding the ADV OU metagame, it is meant to be used alongside other available resources on teambuilding and strategy, creative sets and cores, team sharing, etc.
Spikes and Sandstorm:
Rapid Spin:
Spinblocker:
Spikes Immunity:
Sandstorm Immunity:
Weather Clearing:
Offense:
Fast Revenge Killers:
Explosion / Self-Destruct:
Beat Up:
Taunt:
Setup Sweepers:
Dragon Dance:
Swords Dance:
Curse / Bulk Up:
Agility / Speed Boost :
Calm Mind:
Note that
Defense:
Roar, Whirlwind / Haze:
Intimidate:
Volt Absorb / Water Absorb / Flash Fire :
Reliable Recovery:
Wish:
Leech Seed:
Pressure:
Explosion / Self-Destruct Immunity:
The following expandable section attempts to show which Pokémon are checks to the main threats of the ADV OU metagame.
| DD / CB / BKC | |
| Mixed / Pursuit | |
| CB / Agility / Bulky | |
| Mixed | |
| Special [I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I] | |
| Mixed | |
| DD / CB | |
| Mixed | |
| [I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I][I] | |
Disclaimer : This table is obviously not set in stone and depends greatly on your opponent's set and yours. For instance, defensive Flygon is easily KO'd by DD Tyranitar's Ice Beam, but it is one of its best checks when TTar lacks this move (so, most of the time). Some of these checks are hard checks (they come in over and over reliably and wall - e.g. Blissey vs Jolteon) while others are soft checks (come in once or twice and force out - e.g. Charizard vs Metagross).
Trapping / Pivoting:
Arena trap / Magnet Pull / Trace:
Pursuit:
Mean Look:
Perish Song:
Baton Pass:
Status:
Sleep:
Burn:
Paralysis:
Toxic (frequent users):
Poison Immunity:
Burn Immunity:
No viable Pokémon is entirely Paralysis or Sleep immune. Although ground-types are unaffected by Thunder Wave, they can be paralysed by Body Slam.
Natural Cure :
Heal Bell / Refresh:
Guts / Marvel Scale :
Miscellaneous:
Knock Off: (
Encore:
Swift Swim: (
22/05/2025 : Removal of the most niche Pokémon : all Pokémon but Dusclops that had zero use in the ADVPL V Tournament and that do not appear in the ADV OU Viability Ranking : 



















; Removal of many categories and of many Pokémon from various categories ; Addition of "Mixed Wall" and "Rock resist" categories ; Added parenthesis for E-tier Pokémon and below.
13/06/2025 : Added better looking sprites, minor other changes. Reduced the introduction of the thread. ; Added Poison and Burn immunities. 09/07/2025 : Minor changes ; Removed the "Work in progress" mention. ; Removed

as they just have no real competitive use (they are just as niche as the ones listed above) ; Added the "Weather Clearing" category
30/07/2025 : Added the "threat by threat" checks section
13/06/2025 : Added better looking sprites, minor other changes. Reduced the introduction of the thread. ; Added Poison and Burn immunities. 09/07/2025 : Minor changes ; Removed the "Work in progress" mention. ; Removed
30/07/2025 : Added the "threat by threat" checks section
*****
I hope that this ADV OU Roles Compendium will be of some use for you.
Have fun !
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