There are Rules that people use in Competitive Battling against other people in order to make it a fair game. There are two types of rules. One of them are the Clauses, which are specific rules set to make things fair in battle. Another is the Tier List which seperate Pokémon into different tiers based on usage or power. All Pokémon from a higher tier is thus banned from a lower tier. This topic will have the Clauses and Tiers listed.
Clauses:
Standard Clauses:
Standard Clauses are Rules that are enforced in every match in every tier that you battle in. Breaking one of these clauses results in disqualification. These Clauses are standard:
Species Clause
This clause is simple. It just means No Doubles of Pokemon. So you can't have more than 1 of the same Pokemon. People who use things like two Tyranitars in battle, have to put 1 of them away for battles with the Species Clause in effect.
Sleep Clause
This clause means that you can not put more than one of your opponent's Pokémon to sleep using a move like Spore or Hypnosis. If you want to put one of their Pokémon to sleep, then they have to have nothing else asleep, otherwise you will have to wait for one of their Pokémon to wake up. This does not count on self-inflicted sleep via the move Rest. A Pokémon can be asleep via Rest and not count towards this clause.
1hitKO Clause
Do you want to use your powerful moves like Sheer Cold, Horn Drill etc? They are 1hitKO moves, which happen to be banned battles with this clause in effect. So don't teach your Pokemon these moves, because that would waste a space in your Pokemon's moveset, when you enter battles with this clause in effect. The 1 hit KO moves are Sheer Cold, Fissure, Horn Drill and Guillotine.
Evasion Clause
The moves Double Team and Minimize are not allowed in battles because they allow Pokemon to evade being hit and have an overpowered luck element. Currently the held items Brightpowder and Lax Incense are banned too as they increase evasion slightly.
Moody Clause
Certain Pokémon may have the ability Moody, so they will not be allowed in battle. Moody's luck element brings a possible overpowered and unfair aspect to the game and could allow them to sweep the opponent or even evade moves easily.
Non Standard Clauses:
These Clauses could be enforced in a battle but they are not standard, so both players must agree before using one of these clauses in a battle.
Item Clause
No doubles of Items are allowed. An example is that a lot of people use more than one Leftovers on their team, but that isn't allowed. So remember to not have any doubles of items when the Item Clause is on in a match. Official Nintendo tournaments usually have this clause enabled.
Status Clause
This clause means that you are not allowed to inflict doubles of a status effect like Burn, Poison, etc. Self inflicted status effects caused by things like the Toxic Orb do not count towards this. Also side effects of moves like Ember, Water Pulse, Ice Beam etc; do not count either as they are side effects of damaging moves which just happen to enflict the Status Condition.
Freeze Clause
This is almost exactly the same as the Sleep Clause but instead it's Freeze. So freezing the opponent more than once is banned, but self inflicts get round it. However this clause makes no sense since the only way to inflict freeze is via an accidental side affect via a move like Ice Beam, so noone should use this clause.
Self-KO Clause
The self sacrificing moves Explosion and SelfDestruct cannot be used when both you and your opponent only have 1 Pokemon left each. Perish Song, Final Gambit and any other saccrifing moves that could destroy both Pokémon are banned at this point too when the clause is in effect.
Hax Item Clause
Items which require luck to use are banned in battles with this clause in effect. These are the Brightpowder, Quick Claw, Focus Band and King's Rock. Also a few of the Incense items have a luck aspect too.
Tiers:
The Pokémon Game is divided up into Tiers. Most Tiers have a metagame in which Pokémon from the tier and below the tier are allowed. Anything above is banned.
It goes like this:
Uber Tier - Banlist from OU, Metagame where no Pokémon are banned
OU Tier - OverUsed Tier, Standard Metagame where Ubers are banned, OU and below are allowed
BL Tier - BorderLine Tier. It is NOT a metagame, it is just a banlist for the UU Tier
UU Tier - UnderUsed Tier. It is a Metagame which bans BL, OU and Uber Pokémon.
BL2 Tier - BorderLine 2 - It's not a metagame, it's a banlist for RU
RU Tier- RarelyUsed Tier. It bans Pokémon from all above tiers.
NU Tier- NeverUsed Tier. It bans Pokémon from all above tiers.
Little Cup- A Metagame which uses Lv5 Pokémon Bottom Stages. It has a banlist of its own.
OU stands for OverUsed and is the tier that is used as the Standard Metagame. OU allows everything within the OU Tier and everything below the OU Tier, but nothing above the OU Tier. The only things banned from OU are Pokémon in he Uber Tier who are too powerful. OU is judged on Usasge and the most used Pokémon in the Standard Metagame are deemed as OU Tier. The Pokémon are generally used because they are good in battle or perform specific roles that assist a standard team. OU in Gen 5 is generally filled with Weather Teams utilising Sand, Rain or Sun to boost their Pokémon's stats.
This is a link to Smogon's page of the OU Tier:
http://www.smogon.com/bw/tiers/ou
OU Tier Rules:
All Pokémon in the OU, BL, UU, BL2, RU, NU Tiers are allowed as well as NFE Pokémon
All Pokémon in the Uber Tiers are banned from play in OU
All Standard Clauses are in effect
The Combination of the abilities Swift Swim and Drizzle are not allowed on your team. This means if you have a Pokémon with Swift Swim, you cannot have a Pokémon with Drizzle and vice versa.
OU Pokémon
Alakazam Blissey Breloom Celebi Chansey Cloyster Conkeldurr Donphan Dragonite Dugtrio Espeon Ferrothorn Forretress Gastrodon Gengar Gliscor Gyarados Haxorus Heatran Hydreigon Infernape Jellicent Jirachi Jolteon Landorus Latias Latios Lucario Magnezone Mamoswine Metagross Mienshao Ninetales Politoed Reuniclus Rotom-W Salamence Scizor Scrafty Skarmory Starmie Tentacruel Terrakion Tornadus Toxicroak Tyranitar Vaporeon Venusaur Virizion Volcarona
Uber is German for Supreme and that's exactly what these Pokémon are. Pokémon in Uber as deemed too powerful for standard play and so have been banned to this Tier. This Tier is not determined by use, it is determined by power as it is a banlist. Unlike other banlists, this Tier has its own Metagame. The Uber Metagame is played by people who want to have access to every Pokémon in a game where power means everything and the battles are fast paced and exciting. The Pokémon Kyogre, generally regarded as the best competitive Pokémon rules here and teams are usually based around either working with it or stopping it. All the Formes of Arceus are here too.
This is a link to Smogon's page of the Uber Tier:
http://www.smogon.com/bw/tiers/uber
Uber Tier Rules:
Pokémon from ALL Tiers are allowed
All Standard Clauses are in effect
Respect Kyogre or it will squish you
Uber Pokémon:
Arceus-Bug Arceus-Dark Arceus-Dragon Arceus-Electric Arceus-Fighting Arceus-Fire Arceus-Flying Arceus-Ghost Arceus-Grass Arceus-Ground Arceus-Ice Arceus-Normal Arceus-Poison Arceus-Psychic Arceus-Rock Arceus-Steel Arceus-Water
Blaziken Darkrai Deoxys Deoxys-A Deoxys-S Dialga Excadrill Garchomp Giratina Giratina-O Groudon Ho-Oh Kyogre Lugia Manaphy Mewtwo Palkia Rayquaza Reshiram Shaymin-S Thundurus Zekrom
UU stands for UnderUsed. These are the Pokémon who was not used enough in the OU Metagame and so they all fell down to UU. UU is its own Metgame, it bans the Pokémon from OU, so the Pokémon who werent used as much can be given a change. It has its own banlist called BL and also uses the Ubers banlist too. The UU Metagame changes a lot because Pokémon come and go, possibly moving up to OU by being used in OU, or falling down from OU by not being used enough in the OU.
This a link to Smogon's page of the UU Tier:
http://www.smogon.com/bw/tiers/uu
UU Tier Rules:
All Pokémon from the UU, BL2, RU, NU Tiers are allowed as well as NFE Pokémon
All Pokémon from the Uber, OU and BL Tiers are Banned
All Standard Clauses are in effect
The Ability "Drought" is Banned from use on a Pokémon
UU Pokémon
Ambipom Arcanine Azelf Azumarill Bisharp Blastoise Bronzong Chandelure Cobalion Crobat Darmanitan Deoxys-D Dusclops Empoleon Escavalier Flygon Froslass Heracross Hippopotas Hitmontop Houndoom Kingdra Krookodile Machamp Mew Milotic Mismagius Nidoking Nidoqueen Porygon2 Raikou Registeel Rhyperior Roserade Rotom-H Sableye Shaymin Slowbro Snorlax Stoutland Suicune Swamper Togekiss Umbreon Victini Weavile Xatu Zapdos Zoroark
RU stands for Rarely Used. It's a tier based on usage in which Pokémon not used enough in UU fall down to RU for another metagame. RU is a new invention to Generation 5, coming in between UU and NU in terms of usage due to the increased number of Pokémon.
This is a link to Smogon's page of the RU Tier:
http://www.smogon.com/bw/tiers/ru
RU Tier Rules:
All Pokémon from the RU and NU Tiers are allowed as well as NFE Pokémon
All Pokémon from the Uber, OU, BL, UU and BL2 Tiers are Banned
All Standard Clauses are in effect
The combination of the moves Shell Smash and Baton Pass on the same Pokémon is banned
RU Pokémon:
Accelgor Aerodactyl Aggron Archeops Bouffalant Charizard Claydol Clefable Cofagrigus Crawdaunt Crustle Drapion Druddigon Dusknoir Electivire Entei Feraligatr Ferroseed Gallade Galvantula Gligar Glourk Hariyama Hitmonchan Hitmonlee Honchkrow Kabutops Klinklang Lanturn Lilligant Ludicolo Magneton Mandibuzz Manectric Medicham Moltres Munchlax Omastar Poliwrath Primeape Qwilfish Rhydon Roselia Rotom Rotom-C Sandslash Sawsbuck Sceptile Scolipede Scyther Sharpedo Sigilyph Slowking Smeargle Spiritomb Steelix Tangrowth Typhlosion Uxie Whimsicott
NU Stands for Never Used, it's the bottom Tier and bottom Metagame for Pokémon who havn't gained enough usage in RU, where all the interesting Pokémon who werent tough enough for the top tiers get to have a chance to shine. This is a Usage Based Tier.
This is a link to Smogon's page of the NU Tier:
http://www.smogon.com/bw/tiers/nu
Here is a link to Smogon's page of the remaining NFE Pokémon allowed in NU too:
http://www.smogon.com/bw/tiers/nfe /
http://www.smogon.com/bw/tiers/lc
NU Tier Rules:
All Pokémon from the NU Tier are allowed as well as NFE Pokémon
All Pokémon from Uber, OU, BL, UU, BL2 and RU Tiers are Banned
All Standard Clauses are in effect
The combination of the moves Shell Smash and Baton Pass on the same Pokémon is banned
NU Pokémon:
Absol Alomomola Altaria Amoongus Ampharos Arbok Ariados Armaldo Articuno Audino Banette Basculin Basculin-B Bastiodon Beartic Beautifly Beedrill Beheeyem Bellossom Bibarel Braviary Butterfree Cacturne Camerupt Carnivine Carracosta Castform Chatot Cherrim Chimecho Cinccino Combusken Corsola Cradily Cryogonal Delcatty Delibird Dewgong Ditto Dodrio Dragonair Drifblim Dunsparce Duosion Dustox Eelektross Electabuzz Electrode Emboar Emolga Exeggutor Exploud Farfetch'd Fearow Flaaffy Flareon Floatzel Fraxure Furret Gabite Garbodor Gardevoir Gigalith Girafarig Glaceon Glalie Golbat Golduck Golem Gorebyss Gothitelle Granbull Grumpig Gurdurr Haunter Heatmor Huntail Hypno Illumise Jumpluff Jynx Kadabra Kangaskhan Kecleon Kingler Kricketune Lairon Lampent Lapras Leafeon Leavanny Ledian LickilickyLiepard Linoone Lopunny Lumineon Lunatone Luvdisc Luxray Machoke Magcargo Magmortar Mantine Maractus Marowak Masquerain Mawile Meganium Mesprit Metang Mightyena Miltank Minun Misdreavus Monferno Mothim Mr. Mime Muk Murkrow Musharna Natu Ninjask Noctowl Octillery Pachirisu Parasect Pelipper Persian Phione Pidgeot Pikachu Pilowsine Pinsir Plusle Probopass Purugly Quagsire Raichu Rampardos Rapidash Raticate Regice Regigigas Regirock Relicanth Rotom-F Rotom-S Samurott Sawk Seadra Seaking Seismitoad Serperior Seviper Shedinja Shelgon Shiftry Shuckle Simipour Simisage Simisear Skuntank Slaking Sneasel Solrock Spinda Stantler Stunfisk Sudowoodo Swalot Swanna Swellow Swoobat Tangela Tauros Throh Togetic Torkoal Torterra Tropius Unfezant Unown Ursaring Vanilluxe Vespiquen Victreebel Vigoroth Vileplume Volbeat Wailord Walrein Wartortle Watchog Weezing Whirlipede Whiscash Wigglytuff Wormadam Wormadam-G Wormadam-S Zangoose Zebstrika Zweilous
Little Cup is another Metagame with its own special rules. It's based off the original Little Cup from Pokémon Stadium and uses baby mons to battle. It is not a Tier of its own, rather it is standalone and not affected by Tier Changes. For example Ferroseed is RU but still is allowed in Little Cup. The rules to qualify are:
- The Pokémon must be unevolved and the bottom stage of Evolution. I.E, a Bulbasaur, Pichu, etc ARE allowed but NOT Ivysaur, Pikachu, etc
- It must be a Pokémon that is able to evolve so it can NOT be something like Aerodactyl
- All Pokémon in Little Cup must be Level 5
- All Standard Clauses are in effect
Little Cup's Ban List:
Certain Pokémon who qualified for Little Cup were too powerful so they have been banned from standard use. Here is the list:
- Carvanha
- Meditite
- Scyther
- Sneasel
- Tangela
- Vulpix
- Yanma
Some other things are banned in Little Cup too:
- The Item Berry Juice is Banned for it heals far too much health
- The Moves Dragon Rage and Sonic Boom are banned for they can OHKO everything in Little Cup
Here is a link to Smogon's page of LC:
http://www.smogon.com/bw/tiers/lc
note that some Pokémon allowed in Little Cup are not in that List because they are found in other Tiers, they will be listed first.
Pokémon Dream World
The Dream World Tier is a Special "fictional" Tier found in Simulators that allow the people involved to use the Dream World abilities that are not legitimately out yet. This allows people to test out new strategies. Also things not yet released are allowed in this Tier such as the Event Pokémon "Genesect". This Tier will exist until everything in it is released legitly and therefore able to be in the official OU. There are two Dream World Tiers, a Dream World OU and a Dream World Ubers. Dream World Ubers is like the Uber Tier in that it allows all Pokémon reagardless of Tier, has Standard Rules, but allows the unreleased things. Dream World in like OU with the Standard Rules but has some other differences due to the metagame changing dramatically with all the unreleased things. There is no Dream World UU and no other Dream World Tiers besides OU and Uber.
Unbanned in Dream World OU:
Because the Dream World OU is filled with many more threats and powerful things, some Pokémon banned from Standard OU are unbanned for Dream World OU. Here is the list
- Blaziken
- Deoxys-S
- Excadrill
- Garchomp
- Manaphy
- Thundurus
Unreleased Pokémon:
These Pokémon are currently unreleased but are allowed in Dream World OU.
