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Welcome to this little thread about the tiering system.

Now most Pokemon metagames now a days use a Tiering system

Now lets define the word Tier

Tier (N.)
A layer or rank, especially of seats or a wedding cake.

Now said Metagames are usually arranged as such

Uber
OverUsed(OU)
Borderline(BL)
Underused(UU)
NeverUsed(NU)
NotFullyEvolved(NFE)

Lets start with the first tier, also the strongest, known as Ubers

Ubers

Ubers are always the strongest Pokemon of said metagame, these Pokemon are typically unstoppable in lower tiers. In most standard metagames these would be Pokemon Like Mewtwo, Arceus, Lugia.

Very Powerful Pokemon.


Overused(OU)

OU is basically a popularity list. If everyone started using magikarp, Magikarp would be in OU, as it would be Over used. But the reason OU Pokemon are OU in the first place is because they are typically good enough to warrant use. For Example Garchomp. Garchomp is as OU as it gets. He's fast and hits hard, and has a good movepool, plus everyone seems to use him. Thus he shall remain in OU in most metagames. Examples of OU Pokemon include Salamence, Garchomp, Tyranitar.

You usually will encounter at least 1 OU Pokemon in a standard match

Borderline(BL)

BL isn't a metagame, its more of a ban list for UU. BL Pokemon are Pokemon that can't compete that well in OU(Or are just unpopular) Or are too strong to use in UU. BL Pokemon are usually sent there based on the way the current Metagame is going. For Example, Stealth Rock is an extremly Popular move now, thus alot of powerful Flying and Fire types that would be great in OU have been bumped down to BL , because no one wants to use them because of the glaring Stealthrock Weakness. Pokemon have also been sent here because of lack of movesets, or bad abilities.Examples of BL Pokemon Include Articuno, Regigiggas, Charizard

Remember, OU does not denote Power. BL Pokemon can still be used to great success in OU.


Underused(UU)

These Pokemon are too weak to be used in a OU match, so they end up in my favorite Tier, UU. Where OU is dominated by Sandstorms and Hail ,UU is very Sunny, with a nice chance of rain. There are alot of differences you'll notice between playing UU and OU. For one there is alot less Choice Pokemon. In UU teams will be made far more differently because of different weaknesses. You'll see alot less ice moves and alot more Grass moves in UU because of all the water Pokemon that exist there. In OU where Blissey and Foretress reign supreme in defenses, Pokemon like Hypno and Cloyster take the cake.Some OU Pokemon are, Hypno, Manectric, Manetine

If you're tired of seeing Garchomp and Friends, try out UU, you may love it.


NeverUsed(NU)

These Pokemon are the weakest in all the Pokemon world. Though Playing NU makes for some interesting battles. These Pokemon usually have very low base stats and bad moves, and can't escape these troubles by evolving.Some examples include Luvdisc, Farfetch'd, Pluse and Minun.

NU battles are kind of funny in my opinion. Though I like Farfetch'd


NotFullyEvolved(NFE)

Now this isn't a tier. More of a classification. The tier is just as the name says. Pokemon here are ones that are not Fully Evolved. There are exceptions. Usually because of special items Like Pikachu, and Clamperl. Pokemon in this category include Eevee, Dragonair, Porygon.

No comment here.


Now there are different Metagames. Hell, Double battling is a whole different Metagame, Then you have the fun little metagames, Like Little Cup, where you only use Stage 1 Pokemon that can evolve, and you can't have Pokemon exceeding level 5

FAQ's

Q:Can I use just 1 Uber level Pokemon in my OU team and it still counts?

No. Any number of higher tiered Pokemon makes the team that tier. you could have 5NU Pokemon and 1 Uber Pokemon and the team would be considered uber. Another example is you could have 1 OU Pokemon and 5 UU Pokemon, the team would be considered OU.

Q biggrin oes Little Cup consist of just all NFE Pokemon?

No. Little Cup is its own metagame, with its own Ubers, OU, BL, UU, and NU lists. Its a very fun metagame.

Q:Can I only use Pokemon of a single Tier. IE 6 OU Pokemon?

No, you may have any number of Pokemon in any tier lower than what you want to be playing at. You could enter an Ubers match with 3 Uber Pokemon, 2 OU Pokemon and 1 BL Pokemon, and it could be a Viable Ubers team, based on the Pokemon of course.

Q:Whats the Ubers Clause?

The Ubers clause means any Uber level Pokemon are banned from play. All other tiers are open for full use.

Q:Is the Legend Clause the same as the Ubers Clause.

No. The Legend clause means No legendary Pokemon may be used in battle, a Legendary Pokemon is a Pokemon that you can only encounter once in-game, and cannot breed(except for Manaphy). There are many Pokemon in OU that are Legendary, Like Jirachi, Celebi, Suicune.

Thanks for making this up, Blue!
Not gonna lie, I never understood Shigeru's babbling about OU and UU and whatnot haha
Of course, now that I know what the trash everything stands for, it all makes more sense.

But I'll stick to my normal battling, thanks sweatdrop
Pokemon's getting too competitive for me...

A sweeper is a pokémon set up with a high speed stat, and a high attack/special attack stat. They are sent in the besicly land in as many hits as they can before fainting, and are good for taking out some really annoying pokés. Anti-sweeper? I guess that's someting set up to own a sweeper. I can't think think of any exampes right now, though.
Tanks- a good tank would be something that can stand a lot of blows, and preferably has no double weaknesses. Something like a Steelix or Deoxys in defence forme would be good here.
STAB stands for Same Type Added Bonus. Basicly it's a rule saying that if you use a move with the same type as your pokémon, it gets +50% power. Water gun. A rattata using water gun would use it's 40 power. Whereas a Poliwhirl using Water Gun would have it boosted to 60 power. In the case of super effectiveness, calculate STAB before Double power. Thank you. And what.

Garchomp is an Uber, moron.

thats not very nice. seeing as how he took the time to explain all that.


if your going to correct someone, dont be a d**k.

nice way of putting things.
though I understand the uber rules clearly and go with them when battling with friends, I still find this rule to be unsettling to me. it's like saying "screw you, you're an unwanted pokemon in battle because of your stats, you should've never been created." what's their purpose in the game, besides a pokedex, if they are shunned in battle? I've played with ubers for fun against my friends whom have none and they have beaten them with the right move combos like any other pokemon. granted it takes a bit longer, but still.

I agree with everything you stated. its fact. But this is just my philosophy on the uber whole thing.