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Misuse: "In order for something to qualify as a cheese strategy, however, it must fulfill a number of criteria. 1. It must be considered the "wrong" way to play the game." Competitive ubiquity would seem to be the exact opposite of this, so I am relocating the Gen V Weather section to High Tier Scrappy/Pokemon.
Deleted line(s) 38,49 (click to see context) :
[[folder:Generation V]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2''
* Weather effects were introduced in Gen II and existed mostly as a novelty until ramping up through Gen IV, but became ''the'' dominant metagame strategy of Gen V as non-legendary Pokémon with abilities that automatically trigger the effects became more widespread. Their "cheesiness" comes in just how ubiquitous they are, to the point where if you aren't using a "weather team", you will probably fall to one. As only one weather effect can be in place at a time, taking out an opponent's "weather setter" and/or having ways to cycle in your own are crucial components, adding the frustration of these strategies.
** The four weather effects and the main Pokémon involved are:
*** Sandstorm - Deals 1/16 damage each turn to non-Rock/Ground/Steel types while increasing the Special Defense of Rock-types by a whopping 50%. Most prominent is Tyranitar, a [[InfinityMinusOneSword pseudo-legendary]], whose ability Sandstream automatically starts up the effect and, once going, takes full advantage of the Special Defense boost while unleashing its powerful, varied moveset.
*** Rain - While it doesn't come with the passive damage of some of the other types, Rain boosts the Speed of Water-type Pokémon (turning some, like Kingdra, into dominant sweepers), increases the damage of Water-type moves by 50%, and cuts the damage done by Fire-type moves in half (leading to Fire-weak types seeing a lot of use on "Rain teams", like the StoneWall Ferrothorn whose only weakness is 4x to Fire). Perhaps most importantly, it makes certain inaccurate AwesomeButImpractical moves like Thunder and Hurricane have a 100% chance of hitting. Politoed is the only non-Uber Pokémon with the Drizzle ability to trigger it, making the otherwise forgettable frog into one of the generation's most widely used Pokémon.
*** Sun - Has largely the exact opposite effects of Rain, strengthening Fire and weakening Water, but most importantly powers up the typically two-turn Solar Beam so it can be used in one while doubling the boosts from "sun"-based power up moves like Growth. It also just so happens that the only Pokémon with the Drought ability in this gen, Ninetales, can ''also'' learn Solar Beam...
*** Hail - Is largely the same as Sandstorm but for Ice-types, with the added advantage of making the powerful Blizzard 100% accurate. It is easily the least used of the four types (certainly owing in part to the Ice-type's status as [[LowTierLetdown one of the worst types in the metagame]]), but has some play as a HighlySpecificCounterplay to the other three (especially Sandstorm teams) as they often lack a mean to counter it. Abomasnow's Snow Warning makes it the prime setter of this effect.
*** "Cloud Nine" - Not a weather effect in and of itself, but an ability that automatically ''clears'' weather effects, possessed only by Golduck. This makes the otherwise competitively forgettable duck into a very popular Pokémon.
** In response to the dominance of "weather teams", Gen VI heavily {{Nerf}}ed them, to the point of an outright ObviousRulePatch. Weather effects triggered by ability will now only last five turns (eight if holding a Damp Rock), the same as if the Pokémon had triggered it via move on the turn it switched in. Without the indefinite weather effects, the power of these teams was heavily reduced in the generations that followed (though it still crops up in some strategies) and the need for setters/counters significantly reduced.
[[/folder]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2''
* Weather effects were introduced in Gen II and existed mostly as a novelty until ramping up through Gen IV, but became ''the'' dominant metagame strategy of Gen V as non-legendary Pokémon with abilities that automatically trigger the effects became more widespread. Their "cheesiness" comes in just how ubiquitous they are, to the point where if you aren't using a "weather team", you will probably fall to one. As only one weather effect can be in place at a time, taking out an opponent's "weather setter" and/or having ways to cycle in your own are crucial components, adding the frustration of these strategies.
** The four weather effects and the main Pokémon involved are:
*** Sandstorm - Deals 1/16 damage each turn to non-Rock/Ground/Steel types while increasing the Special Defense of Rock-types by a whopping 50%. Most prominent is Tyranitar, a [[InfinityMinusOneSword pseudo-legendary]], whose ability Sandstream automatically starts up the effect and, once going, takes full advantage of the Special Defense boost while unleashing its powerful, varied moveset.
*** Rain - While it doesn't come with the passive damage of some of the other types, Rain boosts the Speed of Water-type Pokémon (turning some, like Kingdra, into dominant sweepers), increases the damage of Water-type moves by 50%, and cuts the damage done by Fire-type moves in half (leading to Fire-weak types seeing a lot of use on "Rain teams", like the StoneWall Ferrothorn whose only weakness is 4x to Fire). Perhaps most importantly, it makes certain inaccurate AwesomeButImpractical moves like Thunder and Hurricane have a 100% chance of hitting. Politoed is the only non-Uber Pokémon with the Drizzle ability to trigger it, making the otherwise forgettable frog into one of the generation's most widely used Pokémon.
*** Sun - Has largely the exact opposite effects of Rain, strengthening Fire and weakening Water, but most importantly powers up the typically two-turn Solar Beam so it can be used in one while doubling the boosts from "sun"-based power up moves like Growth. It also just so happens that the only Pokémon with the Drought ability in this gen, Ninetales, can ''also'' learn Solar Beam...
*** Hail - Is largely the same as Sandstorm but for Ice-types, with the added advantage of making the powerful Blizzard 100% accurate. It is easily the least used of the four types (certainly owing in part to the Ice-type's status as [[LowTierLetdown one of the worst types in the metagame]]), but has some play as a HighlySpecificCounterplay to the other three (especially Sandstorm teams) as they often lack a mean to counter it. Abomasnow's Snow Warning makes it the prime setter of this effect.
*** "Cloud Nine" - Not a weather effect in and of itself, but an ability that automatically ''clears'' weather effects, possessed only by Golduck. This makes the otherwise competitively forgettable duck into a very popular Pokémon.
** In response to the dominance of "weather teams", Gen VI heavily {{Nerf}}ed them, to the point of an outright ObviousRulePatch. Weather effects triggered by ability will now only last five turns (eight if holding a Damp Rock), the same as if the Pokémon had triggered it via move on the turn it switched in. Without the indefinite weather effects, the power of these teams was heavily reduced in the generations that followed (though it still crops up in some strategies) and the need for setters/counters significantly reduced.
[[/folder]]
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After some more thought on this, while it's a strategy that can exist in other gens, it was really only "cheesy" in V for the reasons listed. Moving to a Gen V folder.
Deleted line(s) 18,25 (click to see context) :
* Weather effects were introduced in Gen II and existed mostly as a novelty until ramping up through Gen IV, but became ''the'' dominant metagame strategy of Gen V as non-legendary Pokémon with abilities that automaticaly trigger the effects became more widespread. Their "cheesiness" comes in just how ubiquitous they are, to the point where if you aren't using a "weather team", you will probably fall to one. As only one weather effect can be in place at a time, taking out an opponent's "weather setter" and/or having ways to cycle in your own are crucial components, adding the frustration of these strategies.
** The four weather effects and the main Pokémon involved are:
*** Sandstorm - Deals 1/16 damage each turn to non-Rock/Ground/Steel types while increasing the Special Defense of Rock-types by a whopping 50%. Most prominent is Tyranitar, a [[InfinityMinusOneSword pseudo-legendary]], whose ability Sandstream automatically starts up the effect and, once going, taking full advantage of the Special Defense boost while unleashing its powerful, varied moveset.
*** Rain - While it doesn't come with the passive damage of some of the other types, Rain boosts the Speed of Water-type Pokémon (turning some, like Kingdra, into dominant sweepers), increases the damage of Water-type moves by 50%, and cuts the damage done by Fire-type moves in half (leading to Fire-weak types seeing a lot of use on "Rain teams", like the StoneWall Ferrothorn whose only weakness is 4x to Fire). Perhaps most importantly, it makes certain inaccurate AwesomeButImpractical moves like Thunder and Hurricane have a 100% chance of hitting. Politoed is the only non-Uber Pokémon with the Drizzle ability to trigger it, making the otherwise forgettable frog into one of the generation's most widely used Pokémon.
*** Sun - Has largely the exact opposite effects of Rain, strengthening Fire and weakening Water, but most importantly powers up the typically two-turn Solar Beam so it can be used in one while doubling the boosts from "sun"-based power up moves like Growth. It also just so happens that the only Pokémon with the Drought ability in this gen, Ninetales, can ''also'' learn Solar Beam...
*** Hail - Is largely the same as Sandstorm but for Ice-types, with the added advantage of making the powerful Blizzard 100% accurate. It is easily the least used of the four types, but has some play as a HighlySpecificCounterplay to the other three (especially Sandstorm teams). Abomasnow's Snow Warning makes it the prime setter of this effect.
*** "Cloud Nine" - Not a weather effect in and of itself, but an ability that automatically clears weather effects, possessed only by Golduck. This makes the otherwise competitively forgettable duck into a very popular Pokémon.
** In response to the dominance of "weather teams", Gen VI heavily {{Nerf}}ed them, to the point of an outright ObviousRulePatch. Weather effects triggered by ability will now only last five turns (eight if holding a Damp Rock), the same as if the Pokémon had triggered it via move on the turn it switched in. Without the indefinite weather effects, the power of these teams was heavily reduced in the generations that followed (though it still crops up in some strategies) and the need for setters/counters significantly reduced.
** The four weather effects and the main Pokémon involved are:
*** Sandstorm - Deals 1/16 damage each turn to non-Rock/Ground/Steel types while increasing the Special Defense of Rock-types by a whopping 50%. Most prominent is Tyranitar, a [[InfinityMinusOneSword pseudo-legendary]], whose ability Sandstream automatically starts up the effect and, once going, taking full advantage of the Special Defense boost while unleashing its powerful, varied moveset.
*** Rain - While it doesn't come with the passive damage of some of the other types, Rain boosts the Speed of Water-type Pokémon (turning some, like Kingdra, into dominant sweepers), increases the damage of Water-type moves by 50%, and cuts the damage done by Fire-type moves in half (leading to Fire-weak types seeing a lot of use on "Rain teams", like the StoneWall Ferrothorn whose only weakness is 4x to Fire). Perhaps most importantly, it makes certain inaccurate AwesomeButImpractical moves like Thunder and Hurricane have a 100% chance of hitting. Politoed is the only non-Uber Pokémon with the Drizzle ability to trigger it, making the otherwise forgettable frog into one of the generation's most widely used Pokémon.
*** Sun - Has largely the exact opposite effects of Rain, strengthening Fire and weakening Water, but most importantly powers up the typically two-turn Solar Beam so it can be used in one while doubling the boosts from "sun"-based power up moves like Growth. It also just so happens that the only Pokémon with the Drought ability in this gen, Ninetales, can ''also'' learn Solar Beam...
*** Hail - Is largely the same as Sandstorm but for Ice-types, with the added advantage of making the powerful Blizzard 100% accurate. It is easily the least used of the four types, but has some play as a HighlySpecificCounterplay to the other three (especially Sandstorm teams). Abomasnow's Snow Warning makes it the prime setter of this effect.
*** "Cloud Nine" - Not a weather effect in and of itself, but an ability that automatically clears weather effects, possessed only by Golduck. This makes the otherwise competitively forgettable duck into a very popular Pokémon.
** In response to the dominance of "weather teams", Gen VI heavily {{Nerf}}ed them, to the point of an outright ObviousRulePatch. Weather effects triggered by ability will now only last five turns (eight if holding a Damp Rock), the same as if the Pokémon had triggered it via move on the turn it switched in. Without the indefinite weather effects, the power of these teams was heavily reduced in the generations that followed (though it still crops up in some strategies) and the need for setters/counters significantly reduced.
Added DiffLines:
[[folder:Generation V]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2''
* Weather effects were introduced in Gen II and existed mostly as a novelty until ramping up through Gen IV, but became ''the'' dominant metagame strategy of Gen V as non-legendary Pokémon with abilities that automatically trigger the effects became more widespread. Their "cheesiness" comes in just how ubiquitous they are, to the point where if you aren't using a "weather team", you will probably fall to one. As only one weather effect can be in place at a time, taking out an opponent's "weather setter" and/or having ways to cycle in your own are crucial components, adding the frustration of these strategies.
** The four weather effects and the main Pokémon involved are:
*** Sandstorm - Deals 1/16 damage each turn to non-Rock/Ground/Steel types while increasing the Special Defense of Rock-types by a whopping 50%. Most prominent is Tyranitar, a [[InfinityMinusOneSword pseudo-legendary]], whose ability Sandstream automatically starts up the effect and, once going, takes full advantage of the Special Defense boost while unleashing its powerful, varied moveset.
*** Rain - While it doesn't come with the passive damage of some of the other types, Rain boosts the Speed of Water-type Pokémon (turning some, like Kingdra, into dominant sweepers), increases the damage of Water-type moves by 50%, and cuts the damage done by Fire-type moves in half (leading to Fire-weak types seeing a lot of use on "Rain teams", like the StoneWall Ferrothorn whose only weakness is 4x to Fire). Perhaps most importantly, it makes certain inaccurate AwesomeButImpractical moves like Thunder and Hurricane have a 100% chance of hitting. Politoed is the only non-Uber Pokémon with the Drizzle ability to trigger it, making the otherwise forgettable frog into one of the generation's most widely used Pokémon.
*** Sun - Has largely the exact opposite effects of Rain, strengthening Fire and weakening Water, but most importantly powers up the typically two-turn Solar Beam so it can be used in one while doubling the boosts from "sun"-based power up moves like Growth. It also just so happens that the only Pokémon with the Drought ability in this gen, Ninetales, can ''also'' learn Solar Beam...
*** Hail - Is largely the same as Sandstorm but for Ice-types, with the added advantage of making the powerful Blizzard 100% accurate. It is easily the least used of the four types (certainly owing in part to the Ice-type's status as [[LowTierLetdown one of the worst types in the metagame]]), but has some play as a HighlySpecificCounterplay to the other three (especially Sandstorm teams) as they often lack a mean to counter it. Abomasnow's Snow Warning makes it the prime setter of this effect.
*** "Cloud Nine" - Not a weather effect in and of itself, but an ability that automatically ''clears'' weather effects, possessed only by Golduck. This makes the otherwise competitively forgettable duck into a very popular Pokémon.
** In response to the dominance of "weather teams", Gen VI heavily {{Nerf}}ed them, to the point of an outright ObviousRulePatch. Weather effects triggered by ability will now only last five turns (eight if holding a Damp Rock), the same as if the Pokémon had triggered it via move on the turn it switched in. Without the indefinite weather effects, the power of these teams was heavily reduced in the generations that followed (though it still crops up in some strategies) and the need for setters/counters significantly reduced.
[[/folder]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2''
* Weather effects were introduced in Gen II and existed mostly as a novelty until ramping up through Gen IV, but became ''the'' dominant metagame strategy of Gen V as non-legendary Pokémon with abilities that automatically trigger the effects became more widespread. Their "cheesiness" comes in just how ubiquitous they are, to the point where if you aren't using a "weather team", you will probably fall to one. As only one weather effect can be in place at a time, taking out an opponent's "weather setter" and/or having ways to cycle in your own are crucial components, adding the frustration of these strategies.
** The four weather effects and the main Pokémon involved are:
*** Sandstorm - Deals 1/16 damage each turn to non-Rock/Ground/Steel types while increasing the Special Defense of Rock-types by a whopping 50%. Most prominent is Tyranitar, a [[InfinityMinusOneSword pseudo-legendary]], whose ability Sandstream automatically starts up the effect and, once going, takes full advantage of the Special Defense boost while unleashing its powerful, varied moveset.
*** Rain - While it doesn't come with the passive damage of some of the other types, Rain boosts the Speed of Water-type Pokémon (turning some, like Kingdra, into dominant sweepers), increases the damage of Water-type moves by 50%, and cuts the damage done by Fire-type moves in half (leading to Fire-weak types seeing a lot of use on "Rain teams", like the StoneWall Ferrothorn whose only weakness is 4x to Fire). Perhaps most importantly, it makes certain inaccurate AwesomeButImpractical moves like Thunder and Hurricane have a 100% chance of hitting. Politoed is the only non-Uber Pokémon with the Drizzle ability to trigger it, making the otherwise forgettable frog into one of the generation's most widely used Pokémon.
*** Sun - Has largely the exact opposite effects of Rain, strengthening Fire and weakening Water, but most importantly powers up the typically two-turn Solar Beam so it can be used in one while doubling the boosts from "sun"-based power up moves like Growth. It also just so happens that the only Pokémon with the Drought ability in this gen, Ninetales, can ''also'' learn Solar Beam...
*** Hail - Is largely the same as Sandstorm but for Ice-types, with the added advantage of making the powerful Blizzard 100% accurate. It is easily the least used of the four types (certainly owing in part to the Ice-type's status as [[LowTierLetdown one of the worst types in the metagame]]), but has some play as a HighlySpecificCounterplay to the other three (especially Sandstorm teams) as they often lack a mean to counter it. Abomasnow's Snow Warning makes it the prime setter of this effect.
*** "Cloud Nine" - Not a weather effect in and of itself, but an ability that automatically ''clears'' weather effects, possessed only by Golduck. This makes the otherwise competitively forgettable duck into a very popular Pokémon.
** In response to the dominance of "weather teams", Gen VI heavily {{Nerf}}ed them, to the point of an outright ObviousRulePatch. Weather effects triggered by ability will now only last five turns (eight if holding a Damp Rock), the same as if the Pokémon had triggered it via move on the turn it switched in. Without the indefinite weather effects, the power of these teams was heavily reduced in the generations that followed (though it still crops up in some strategies) and the need for setters/counters significantly reduced.
[[/folder]]
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Adding weather teams (Example post
to a discussion about them showing they were pretty widely hated)
to a discussion about them showing they were pretty widely hated)Added DiffLines:
* Weather effects were introduced in Gen II and existed mostly as a novelty until ramping up through Gen IV, but became ''the'' dominant metagame strategy of Gen V as non-legendary Pokémon with abilities that automaticaly trigger the effects became more widespread. Their "cheesiness" comes in just how ubiquitous they are, to the point where if you aren't using a "weather team", you will probably fall to one. As only one weather effect can be in place at a time, taking out an opponent's "weather setter" and/or having ways to cycle in your own are crucial components, adding the frustration of these strategies.
** The four weather effects and the main Pokémon involved are:
*** Sandstorm - Deals 1/16 damage each turn to non-Rock/Ground/Steel types while increasing the Special Defense of Rock-types by a whopping 50%. Most prominent is Tyranitar, a [[InfinityMinusOneSword pseudo-legendary]], whose ability Sandstream automatically starts up the effect and, once going, taking full advantage of the Special Defense boost while unleashing its powerful, varied moveset.
*** Rain - While it doesn't come with the passive damage of some of the other types, Rain boosts the Speed of Water-type Pokémon (turning some, like Kingdra, into dominant sweepers), increases the damage of Water-type moves by 50%, and cuts the damage done by Fire-type moves in half (leading to Fire-weak types seeing a lot of use on "Rain teams", like the StoneWall Ferrothorn whose only weakness is 4x to Fire). Perhaps most importantly, it makes certain inaccurate AwesomeButImpractical moves like Thunder and Hurricane have a 100% chance of hitting. Politoed is the only non-Uber Pokémon with the Drizzle ability to trigger it, making the otherwise forgettable frog into one of the generation's most widely used Pokémon.
*** Sun - Has largely the exact opposite effects of Rain, strengthening Fire and weakening Water, but most importantly powers up the typically two-turn Solar Beam so it can be used in one while doubling the boosts from "sun"-based power up moves like Growth. It also just so happens that the only Pokémon with the Drought ability in this gen, Ninetales, can ''also'' learn Solar Beam...
*** Hail - Is largely the same as Sandstorm but for Ice-types, with the added advantage of making the powerful Blizzard 100% accurate. It is easily the least used of the four types, but has some play as a HighlySpecificCounterplay to the other three (especially Sandstorm teams). Abomasnow's Snow Warning makes it the prime setter of this effect.
*** "Cloud Nine" - Not a weather effect in and of itself, but an ability that automatically clears weather effects, possessed only by Golduck. This makes the otherwise competitively forgettable duck into a very popular Pokémon.
** In response to the dominance of "weather teams", Gen VI heavily {{Nerf}}ed them, to the point of an outright ObviousRulePatch. Weather effects triggered by ability will now only last five turns (eight if holding a Damp Rock), the same as if the Pokémon had triggered it via move on the turn it switched in. Without the indefinite weather effects, the power of these teams was heavily reduced in the generations that followed (though it still crops up in some strategies) and the need for setters/counters significantly reduced.
** The four weather effects and the main Pokémon involved are:
*** Sandstorm - Deals 1/16 damage each turn to non-Rock/Ground/Steel types while increasing the Special Defense of Rock-types by a whopping 50%. Most prominent is Tyranitar, a [[InfinityMinusOneSword pseudo-legendary]], whose ability Sandstream automatically starts up the effect and, once going, taking full advantage of the Special Defense boost while unleashing its powerful, varied moveset.
*** Rain - While it doesn't come with the passive damage of some of the other types, Rain boosts the Speed of Water-type Pokémon (turning some, like Kingdra, into dominant sweepers), increases the damage of Water-type moves by 50%, and cuts the damage done by Fire-type moves in half (leading to Fire-weak types seeing a lot of use on "Rain teams", like the StoneWall Ferrothorn whose only weakness is 4x to Fire). Perhaps most importantly, it makes certain inaccurate AwesomeButImpractical moves like Thunder and Hurricane have a 100% chance of hitting. Politoed is the only non-Uber Pokémon with the Drizzle ability to trigger it, making the otherwise forgettable frog into one of the generation's most widely used Pokémon.
*** Sun - Has largely the exact opposite effects of Rain, strengthening Fire and weakening Water, but most importantly powers up the typically two-turn Solar Beam so it can be used in one while doubling the boosts from "sun"-based power up moves like Growth. It also just so happens that the only Pokémon with the Drought ability in this gen, Ninetales, can ''also'' learn Solar Beam...
*** Hail - Is largely the same as Sandstorm but for Ice-types, with the added advantage of making the powerful Blizzard 100% accurate. It is easily the least used of the four types, but has some play as a HighlySpecificCounterplay to the other three (especially Sandstorm teams). Abomasnow's Snow Warning makes it the prime setter of this effect.
*** "Cloud Nine" - Not a weather effect in and of itself, but an ability that automatically clears weather effects, possessed only by Golduck. This makes the otherwise competitively forgettable duck into a very popular Pokémon.
** In response to the dominance of "weather teams", Gen VI heavily {{Nerf}}ed them, to the point of an outright ObviousRulePatch. Weather effects triggered by ability will now only last five turns (eight if holding a Damp Rock), the same as if the Pokémon had triggered it via move on the turn it switched in. Without the indefinite weather effects, the power of these teams was heavily reduced in the generations that followed (though it still crops up in some strategies) and the need for setters/counters significantly reduced.
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Wording cleanup, changing Pokemon to Pokémon
Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
* Baton Pass is a move that switches out the current Pokemon, with the Pokemon coming in receiving all of the stat changes the user had. This has lead to teams consisting of multiple Pokemon with this move and a stat boost, with the end goal of giving one particular Pokemon a variety of Buffs, allowing them to sweep the entire opposing team with no real resistance. This strategy is often hated in the competitive community for it's lack of real skill or adaptability, and heavy reliance on what teams the opponent brings.[[note]]Some teams are just too slow or don't have the tools to stop a Baton Pass team before it achieves its InstantWinCondition, while others have the tools to stop them before they get too many buffs off, leading to the entire team collapsing.[[/note]]
to:
* Baton Pass is a move that switches out the current Pokemon, Pokémon, with the Pokemon Pokémon coming in receiving all of the any stat changes the user had. This has lead to teams consisting of multiple Pokemon Pokémon with this move Baton Pass and a stat boost, boosting move, with the end goal of giving one particular Pokemon Pokémon a variety of Buffs, buffs, allowing them to sweep the entire opposing team with no real resistance. This strategy is often hated in the competitive community for it's lack of real skill or adaptability, and plus a heavy reliance on what teams team the opponent brings.[[note]]Some teams are just too slow or don't have the tools to stop a Baton Pass team before it achieves its InstantWinCondition, while others have those with the tools to stop them before they get too many buffs off, leading to off can collapse the entire Baton Pass team collapsing.with ease.[[/note]]
Changed line(s) 24 (click to see context) from:
* Generations 1's X Accuracy, instead of boosting the chance to hit, made every move [[AlwaysAccurateAttack unable to miss]]. Even [[OneHitKill One Hit KO]] moves. While you do need to be faster than your opponent or else they fail, this can be easily done with a speed boosting move, an X Speed or two, or even just naturally outleveling your opponent, letting you sweep anyone, even the FinalBoss by spamming a UselessUsefulSpell.
to:
* Generations 1's X Accuracy, instead of boosting the chance to hit, made every move [[AlwaysAccurateAttack unable to miss]]. Even [[OneHitKill One Hit KO]] moves. While you do need to be faster than your opponent or else they fail, this can be easily done with a speed boosting move, an X Speed or two, or even just naturally outleveling your opponent, letting you sweep anyone, even the FinalBoss FinalBoss, by spamming a an otherwise UselessUsefulSpell.
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None
Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
* Baton Pass is a move that switches out the current Pokemon, with the Pokemon coming in receiving all of the stat changes the user had. This has lead to teams consisting of multiple Pokemon with this move and a stat boost, with the end goal of giving one particular Pokemon a variety of Buffs, allowing them to sweep the entire opposing team with no real resistance. This strategy is often hated in the competitive community for it's lack of real skill or adaptability, and heavy reliance on what teams the opponent brings.[[note]]Some teams are just too slow or don't have the tools to stop a Baton Pass team before it achieves its InstantWinCondition, while others have the tools to stop them before they get too many buffs off, leading to the entire team collapsing.[[/note]].
to:
* Baton Pass is a move that switches out the current Pokemon, with the Pokemon coming in receiving all of the stat changes the user had. This has lead to teams consisting of multiple Pokemon with this move and a stat boost, with the end goal of giving one particular Pokemon a variety of Buffs, allowing them to sweep the entire opposing team with no real resistance. This strategy is often hated in the competitive community for it's lack of real skill or adaptability, and heavy reliance on what teams the opponent brings.[[note]]Some teams are just too slow or don't have the tools to stop a Baton Pass team before it achieves its InstantWinCondition, while others have the tools to stop them before they get too many buffs off, leading to the entire team collapsing.[[/note]].[[/note]]
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None
Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
** Baton Pass is a move that switches out the current Pokemon, with the Pokemon coming in receiving all of the stat changes the user had. This has lead to teams consisting of multiple Pokemon with this move and a stat boost, with the end goal of giving one particular Pokemon a variety of Buffs, allowing them to sweep the entire opposing team with no real resistance. This strategy is often hated in the competitive community for it's lack of real skill or adaptability, and heavy reliance on what teams the opponent brings.[[note]]Some teams are just too slow or don't have the tools to stop a Baton Pass team before it achieves its InstantWinCondition, while others have the tools to stop them before they get too many buffs off, leading to the entire team collapsing.[[/note]].
to:
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None
Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
** Baton Pass is a move that switches out the current Pokemon, with the Pokemon coming in receiving all of the stat changes the user had. This has lead to teams consisting of multiple Pokemon with this move and a stat boost, with the end goal of giving one particular Pokemon a variety of Buffs, allowing them to sweep the entire opposing team with no real resistance. This strategy is often hated in the competitive community for it's lack of real strategy and adaptability, and heavy reliance on what teams the opponent brings.[[note]]Some teams are just too slow or don't have the tools to stop a Baton Pass team before it achieves its InstantWinCondition, while others have the tools to stop them before they get too many buffs off, leading to the entire team collapsing.[[/note]].
to:
** Baton Pass is a move that switches out the current Pokemon, with the Pokemon coming in receiving all of the stat changes the user had. This has lead to teams consisting of multiple Pokemon with this move and a stat boost, with the end goal of giving one particular Pokemon a variety of Buffs, allowing them to sweep the entire opposing team with no real resistance. This strategy is often hated in the competitive community for it's lack of real strategy and skill or adaptability, and heavy reliance on what teams the opponent brings.[[note]]Some teams are just too slow or don't have the tools to stop a Baton Pass team before it achieves its InstantWinCondition, while others have the tools to stop them before they get too many buffs off, leading to the entire team collapsing.[[/note]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Baton Pass is a move that switches out the current Pokemon, with the Pokemon coming in receiving all of the stat changes the user had. This has lead to teams consisting of multiple Pokemon with this move and a stat boost, with the end goal of giving one particular Pokemon a variety of Buffs, allowing them to sweep the entire opposing team with no real resistance. This strategy is often hated in the competitive community for it's lack of real strategy and adaptability, and heavy reliance on what teams the opponent brings.[[note]]Some teams are just too slow or don't have the tools to stop a Baton Pass team before it achieves its InstantWinCondition, while others have the tools to stop them before they get too many buffs off, leading to the entire team collapsing.[[/note]].
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Added Entry in the Gen 1 Folder
Added DiffLines:
* Generations 1's X Accuracy, instead of boosting the chance to hit, made every move [[AlwaysAccurateAttack unable to miss]]. Even [[OneHitKill One Hit KO]] moves. While you do need to be faster than your opponent or else they fail, this can be easily done with a speed boosting move, an X Speed or two, or even just naturally outleveling your opponent, letting you sweep anyone, even the FinalBoss by spamming a UselessUsefulSpell.
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Rewording to avoid a chained sinkhole. Also, while all are statistically strong, not all legendaries qualify as game breakers (hence why some can be used outside of the Uber tier)
Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
* Using [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon]] on your team is frowned upon by skill-oriented players simply due to their [[PurposefullyOverpowered sheer]] [[GameBreaker power]]. There is no rule saying you can't use Legendaries if you want to, but it's viewed as a Cheese Strategy by those players. In competitive battling, Legendary Pokémon are usually relegated to the Uber tier and can only be used against players who are also using Legendaries against you, though there are some exceptions that aren't considered [[GameBreaker Game-Breaking]] enough to warrant being banished to Uber in spite of their in-game Legendary status (most legendary "trios", variant "forms" of certain legendaries, [[JunkRare Regigigas]], etc).
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* Using [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon]] on your team is frowned upon by skill-oriented players simply due to their [[PurposefullyOverpowered sheer]] [[GameBreaker power]].PurposefullyOverpowered nature. There is no rule saying you can't use Legendaries if you want to, but it's viewed as a Cheese Strategy by those players. In competitive battling, Legendary Pokémon are usually relegated to the Uber tier and can only be used against players who are also using Legendaries against you, though there are some exceptions that aren't considered [[GameBreaker Game-Breaking]] enough to warrant being banished to Uber in spite of their in-game Legendary status (most legendary "trios", variant "forms" of certain legendaries, [[JunkRare Regigigas]], etc).
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* Using [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon]] on your team is frowned upon by skill-oriented players for this reason. There is no rule saying you can't use Legendaries if you want to, but it's viewed as a Cheese Strategy by those players. In competitive battling, Legendary Pokémon are usually relegated to the Uber tier and can only be used against players who are also using Legendaries against you, though there are some exceptions that aren't considered [[GameBreaker Game-Breaking]] enough to warrant being banished to Uber in spite of their in-game Legendary status (most legendary "trios", variant "forms" of certain legendaries, [[JunkRare Regigigas]], etc).
to:
* Using [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon]] on your team is frowned upon by skill-oriented players for this reason.simply due to their [[PurposefullyOverpowered sheer]] [[GameBreaker power]]. There is no rule saying you can't use Legendaries if you want to, but it's viewed as a Cheese Strategy by those players. In competitive battling, Legendary Pokémon are usually relegated to the Uber tier and can only be used against players who are also using Legendaries against you, though there are some exceptions that aren't considered [[GameBreaker Game-Breaking]] enough to warrant being banished to Uber in spite of their in-game Legendary status (most legendary "trios", variant "forms" of certain legendaries, [[JunkRare Regigigas]], etc).
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** [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Generation V]] changed the game with the ability Sturdy, which essentially works as a Focus Sash without taking up the item slot. It can also work more than once as long as the attacked pokemon started at 100% HP, as opposed to the Sash which only worked once per battle. Thus, the FEAR strategy changed to being centered around either level one Aron or level two Probopass[[note]]Nosepass has to level up at least once to evolve[[/note]]. In addition to the change to Sturdy, a move called "Pain Split" was introduced, which would match the HP for both Mons, taking up to half of the targeted Pokemon's remaining HP and healing the attacker for the same amount. Thus Aron or Probopass could continue hitting the opponents with Pain Split while their HP continued to recover, all while Sandstorm added chip damage in the background.
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** [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Generation V]] changed the game with the ability Sturdy, which essentially works as a Focus Sash without taking up the item slot. It can also work more than once as long as the attacked pokemon started at 100% HP, as opposed to the Sash which only worked once per battle. Thus, the FEAR strategy changed to being centered around either level one Aron or level two Probopass[[note]]Nosepass has to level up at least once to evolve[[/note]]. In addition to the change to Sturdy, a move called "Pain Split" was introduced, which would match the HP for both Mons, taking up to half of the targeted Pokemon's remaining HP and healing the attacker for the same amount. Thus Aron or could use Endeavor as usual, while Probopass could continue hitting the opponents with required Pain Split while their HP continued to recover, all while Sandstorm added chip damage in Split[[note]]Combines the background.user's and the target's HP and distributes half of it to each of them[[/note]], making it slower but less reliant on its item.
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* The "Master Trainer" battles available in the post-game are meant to be incredibly difficult fights against trainers who each specialize in a different species of Pokémon and ''only'' that species, which you must battle with your own Pokémon of that species. If approached in the most straightforward way, they are every bit as challenging as intended. However, almost all of them can be "cheesed" with a good "stall" strategy. Nearly all Pokémon can learn Toxic (which inflicts "bad poisoning" that increases in damage each turn), and most can learn some combination of Protect (prevents all damage but cannot be used two turns in a row), Rest (fully restores health and status but puts the Pokémon to sleep), and a two-turn attack like Dig or Fly, all of which are available as unlimited-use [=TMs=]. Use Toxic, stall, win through attrition, repeat. It makes the vast majority of Master Trainer battles far easier.
to:
* The "Master Trainer" battles available in the post-game are meant to be incredibly difficult fights against trainers who each specialize in a different species of Pokémon and ''only'' that species, which you must battle with your own Pokémon of that species. If approached in the most straightforward way, they are every bit as challenging as intended. However, almost all of them can be "cheesed" with a good "stall" strategy. Nearly all Pokémon can learn Toxic (which inflicts "bad poisoning" that increases in damage each turn), and most can learn some combination of Protect (prevents all damage but cannot be reliably used two turns in a row), Rest (fully restores health and status but puts the Pokémon to sleep), and a two-turn attack like Dig or Fly, all of which are available as unlimited-use [=TMs=]. Use Toxic, stall, win through attrition, repeat. It makes the vast majority of Master Trainer battles far easier.
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None
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* The "Master Trainer" battles available in the post-game are meant to be incredibly difficult fights against trainers who each specialize in a different species of Pokémon and only that species, which you must battle with your own Pokémon of that species. If approached in the most straightforward way, they are every bit as challenging as intended. However, nearly all of them can be "cheesed" with a good "stall" strategy. Nearly all Pokémon can learn Toxic (which inflicts "bad poisoning" that increases in damage each turn), and most can learn some combination of Protect (prevents all damage but cannot be used two turns in a row), Rest (fully restores health and status but puts the Pokémon to sleep), and a two-turn attack like Dig or Fly, all of which are available as unlimited-use TMs. Use Toxic, stall, win through attrition, repeat. It makes the vast majority of Master Trainer battles far easier.
to:
* The "Master Trainer" battles available in the post-game are meant to be incredibly difficult fights against trainers who each specialize in a different species of Pokémon and only ''only'' that species, which you must battle with your own Pokémon of that species. If approached in the most straightforward way, they are every bit as challenging as intended. However, nearly almost all of them can be "cheesed" with a good "stall" strategy. Nearly all Pokémon can learn Toxic (which inflicts "bad poisoning" that increases in damage each turn), and most can learn some combination of Protect (prevents all damage but cannot be used two turns in a row), Rest (fully restores health and status but puts the Pokémon to sleep), and a two-turn attack like Dig or Fly, all of which are available as unlimited-use TMs.[=TMs=]. Use Toxic, stall, win through attrition, repeat. It makes the vast majority of Master Trainer battles far easier.
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None
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** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondPearlAndPlatinum'' introduces the strategy. "FEAR" stands for '''F'''ocus Sash[[note]]A held item which allows the Pokémon holding it to retain 1 HP if they're hit by an attack that would KO them from full[[/note]], '''E'''ndeavor[[note]]The targeted Pokémon has their HP reduced to the same total as the attacker's, as long as the attacker's is less than the target's[[/note]], Quick '''A'''ttack[[note]]Priority move that always goes first as long as the opponent didn't use another priority move in the same turn[[/note]], and a level one '''R'''attata. You give Rattata the Focus Sash, take an attack that leaves it with 1 HP, use Endeavor to bring the opponent's HP down to 1 as well, and then have Rattata would follow up with a Quick Attack to deal 1 HP in damage. It eventually became widespread enough to take on another meaning -- "Fucking Evil Annoying Rodent".
to:
** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondPearlAndPlatinum'' introduces the strategy. "FEAR" stands for '''F'''ocus Sash[[note]]A held item which allows the Pokémon holding it to retain 1 HP if they're hit by an attack that would KO them from full[[/note]], '''E'''ndeavor[[note]]The targeted Pokémon has their HP reduced to the same total as the attacker's, as long as the attacker's is less than the target's[[/note]], Quick '''A'''ttack[[note]]Priority move that always goes first as long as the opponent didn't use another priority move in the same turn[[/note]], and a level one '''R'''attata. You give Rattata the Focus Sash, take an attack that leaves it with 1 HP, use Endeavor to bring the opponent's HP down to 1 as well, and then have Rattata would follow up with a Quick Attack to deal 1 HP in damage. It eventually became widespread enough to take on another meaning -- "Fucking Evil Annoying Rodent".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
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* Using Legendary Pokémon on your team is frowned upon by skill-oriented players for this reason. There is no rule saying you can't use Legendaries if you want to, but it's viewed as a Cheese Strategy by those players. In competitive battling, Legendary Pokémon are usually relegated to the Uber tier and can only be used against players who are also using Legendaries against you, though there are some exceptions that aren't considered [[GameBreaker Game-Breaking]] enough to warrant being banished to Uber in spite of their in-game Legendary status (most legendary "trios", variant "forms" of certain legendaries, [[JunkRare Regigigas]], etc).
to:
* Using [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon Pokémon]] on your team is frowned upon by skill-oriented players for this reason. There is no rule saying you can't use Legendaries if you want to, but it's viewed as a Cheese Strategy by those players. In competitive battling, Legendary Pokémon are usually relegated to the Uber tier and can only be used against players who are also using Legendaries against you, though there are some exceptions that aren't considered [[GameBreaker Game-Breaking]] enough to warrant being banished to Uber in spite of their in-game Legendary status (most legendary "trios", variant "forms" of certain legendaries, [[JunkRare Regigigas]], etc).
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CheeseStrategy examples in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series.
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%% Please don't make Justifying Edits trying to downplay the strategies or add strategies you simply do not like. Per the main page, they should be ''well-known'' strategies.
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Well past the example threshhold needed for a sub-page, declutters the main page and makes organization easier. Matched layout of other, similar Pokemon pages. Added examples, cleaned up wording and tense, removed some justifying edits.
Added DiffLines:
CheeseStrategy examples in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Series-Wide]]
* Using Legendary Pokémon on your team is frowned upon by skill-oriented players for this reason. There is no rule saying you can't use Legendaries if you want to, but it's viewed as a Cheese Strategy by those players. In competitive battling, Legendary Pokémon are usually relegated to the Uber tier and can only be used against players who are also using Legendaries against you, though there are some exceptions that aren't considered [[GameBreaker Game-Breaking]] enough to warrant being banished to Uber in spite of their in-game Legendary status (most legendary "trios", variant "forms" of certain legendaries, [[JunkRare Regigigas]], etc).
* "Para-Flinch" is a strategy where your Pokémon first paralyzes the opponent (reducing their chance of attacking by 25% while drastically lowering their speed, so they'll always attack second), then uses a fliching move (Bite, Headbutt, etc.) which has a 30% chance of preventing them from attacking. Using a Pokémon with the ability Serene Grace increases the chances of causing paralysis and flinching even further, which certain held items will add yet another 10% chance of causing flinching. Sometimes, confusion is added to the mix, which adds a 50% chance (reduced to 33% in later generations) of damaging themselves, but unlike paralysis, will resolve itself within 2-5 turns. Properly set up, the afflicted Pokémon will only have about a 30% chance of attacking, making it an incredibly frustrating strategy to face.
* The widely-hated "FEAR" strategy has seen variations throughout the series.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondPearlAndPlatinum'' introduces the strategy. "FEAR" stands for '''F'''ocus Sash[[note]]A held item which allows the Pokémon holding it to retain 1 HP if they're hit by an attack that would KO them from full[[/note]], '''E'''ndeavor[[note]]The targeted Pokémon has their HP reduced to the same total as the attacker's, as long as the attacker's is less than the target's[[/note]], Quick '''A'''ttack[[note]]Priority move that always goes first as long as the opponent didn't use another priority move in the same turn[[/note]], and a level one '''R'''attata. You give Rattata the Focus Sash, take an attack that leaves it with 1 HP, use Endeavor to bring the opponent's HP down to 1 as well, and then have Rattata would follow up with a Quick Attack to deal 1 HP in damage. It eventually became widespread enough to take on another meaning -- "Fucking Evil Annoying Rodent".
** A variant saw the Clefable line use Magic Guard (preventing Focus Sash from being undone by weather effects) along with a damaging weather such as Hail or Sandstorm. Later in Gen V, the Reuniclus line gained the ability to do this as well.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Generation V]] changed the game with the ability Sturdy, which essentially works as a Focus Sash without taking up the item slot. It can also work more than once as long as the attacked pokemon started at 100% HP, as opposed to the Sash which only worked once per battle. Thus, the FEAR strategy changed to being centered around either level one Aron or level two Probopass[[note]]Nosepass has to level up at least once to evolve[[/note]]. In addition to the change to Sturdy, a move called "Pain Split" was introduced, which would match the HP for both Mons, taking up to half of the targeted Pokemon's remaining HP and healing the attacker for the same amount. Thus Aron or Probopass could continue hitting the opponents with Pain Split while their HP continued to recover, all while Sandstorm added chip damage in the background.
** After Gen V, {{Obvious Rule Patch}}es and {{Nerf}}s to the metagame (particularly the weakening of weather effects) effectively neutered the strategy. [[Videogame/PokemonSunAndMoon Generation VII]] saw a minor revival with Togedemaru, but it didn't last long.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Generation I]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue''
* The "Wrap-spam" strategy. In later generations, Wrap deals damage per turn while allowing both the player and opponent to continue acting, but in Generation I, Wrap hits 2-5 times for little damage, but locks the enemy Pokémon from attacking or retreating, so a common tactic is to to stun-lock the opponent, especially if the opposing Pokémon is afflicted with paralysis to prevent it from ever attacking first.
* The Gen I AI was [[AIBreaker easily broken]] in a number of ways. One of the most famous was using part-Poison-type Pokémon against those with non-damaging Psychic-type (strong against Poison-type) moves, such as Barrier or Agility. As Gen I AI Pokémon did not use up PP when attacking, they would spam these non-damaging moves non-stop, allowing your Pokémon, no matter how weak, to eventually whittle it down. This strategy works even against high-level opponents including the Elite Four. This strategy became wide-spread following its (unintentional) use in ''WebVideo/TwitchPlaysPokemonRed'', where Red's Venomoth took down Lance's Dragonite in an Elite Four battle.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Generation II]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''
* Generation II is well known for its metagame "stall teams". Unlike any of the following generations, which tend to heavily favor {{Fragile Speedster}}s and {{Glass Cannon}}s engaging in exciting RocketTagGameplay, this is a generation dominated by its {{Stone Wall}}s and {{Mighty Glacier}}s, viewed as the [[PaddedSumoGameplay most boring playstyle]] by much of the fanbase and is the least played generation according to Smogon. What makes it truly "cheesy", however, is that there are essentially ''no counters'' to it. A team with a Cross-Chop Machamp and a Gengar to NoSell the Normal-type moves common to these teams comes the closest, but even they are easily countered if just one or two members of the "stall team" can use something like Psychic. Some of the Pokémon, moves, and other factors that play into its "cheesy" reputation include:
** Snorlax is the unquestioned king of Gen II competitive play. The beefy Normal-type's biggest drawback is its lack of Speed, which the new move Curse takes full advantage of. For non-Ghost-types, Curse cuts their Speed in half while raising Attack and Defense. Since Snorlax is almost always going to attack second anyway, the loss of speed means nothing while putting more "might" into MightyGlacier. Additionally, it gets Belly Drum, which cuts its HP in half while maximizing Attack. Due to a bug, if Snorlax's HP is less than half, the move will appear to "fail", but a massive Attack increase[[note]]+2 instead of the +6 the full version applies, but still a powerful increase[[/note]] will still be applied. Finally, Snorlax has its old standby move, Rest, to restore its health to full. Throw in an offensive move like Double-Edge (120 base damage, for which Snorlax receives a STAB, at the drawback of damaging the user which Snorlax can easily "Rest" away) and, after the slower set-up turns, you've got a monstrous attacker with boosted defenses who can Rest to heal up.
** Skarmory (a Steel/Flying-type) and Blissey (a Normal-type) are Defense and Special Defense walls, respectively, leading to the popular "[[{{Portmanteau}} SkarmBliss]]" pairing. Skarmory's typing means its only weakness is the (rare in this generation) Fire-type, while it call wall off every physically attacking type in the game, and is seen as the ''only'' viable non-Ghost counter to a Belly Drummed Snorlax. If things get hairy for it, it can use Whirlwind to force the opponent to switch out their Pokémon. Meanwhile, Blissey, in addition to its incredible HP and excellent Special Defense, is the ultimate SupportPartyMember, capable of putting up a Light Screen (weakens incoming Special Attacks) and healing the party, including status effects, with Heal Bell.
** Umbreon, a new Dark-type "Eeveelution", is another bulky tank with solid-across-the-board HP and both types of defense, has access to Charm (lowers the opponent's Attack by two stages and is a great counter to Curse), and makes for a great user of Pursuit (a Dark-type move that deals double damage if the opponent is switching Pokémon out for which Umbreon gets a STAB) to take out weakened retreaters.
** Exeggutor was dominant in Gen I but suffered a bit from the "[[ObviousRulePatch Special Split]]" between these generations, leaving it better suited to these "stall teams". Its typing gives it many resistances to common attacking types (Ground, Water, Electric, Psychic), it comes with status moves (Sleep Powder, Stun Spore) to slow the battle down, Leech Seed for LifeDrain, and can still hit hard enough with STAB'd Psychic to chip away at all but the best Special walls while easily taking down some of the "stall team's" only counters (the Fighting-type Machamp and part-Poison-type Gengar).
** This generation introduces the first "entry hazard" attack in the series in Spikes, which damages any non-Flying-types by 12.5% of their max HP when they enter the battlefield. Cloyster and Forretress are the main Spikes users, themselves defensive-oriented statistically, while its use encourages players to have a "spinner" (a Pokémon who can use the otherwise competitively useless "Rapid Spin" which can clear Spikes) on their teams (which Forretress can also conveniently learn).
** Toxic, a move that inflicts a Pokémon with a more severe type of poison that compounds each turn, existed in Gen I and the common metagame counter for it is to simply switch out the afflicted Pokémon, which resets it to standard poison, meaning it didn't see much use. Here, however, with so many stall-heavy teams relying on massive defenses, even the 1/8 of max HP damage caused by standard poison is a huge benefit, leading to most teams including a Toxic-user.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Generation VII]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon''
* Ultra Necrozma is the ClimaxBoss, and it's remarkably difficult to fight fairly against. While there ''are'' means to fight against it without resorting to cheesing (most of them boil down to the fact its moveset is completely resisted by Steel-type Pokémon), most players instead resort to things like exploiting ArtificialStupidity (by sending a Zoroark disguised as a Pokémon that is weak to Psychic-type attacks, making Ultra Necrozma use Photon Geyser, which Zoroark is immune to), or by using an Inkay or Malamar and use [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard Topsy-Turvy]] to turn Ultra Necrozma's massive x1.5 boost to all its stats turn into a x2/3 drop.
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee''
* The "Master Trainer" battles available in the post-game are meant to be incredibly difficult fights against trainers who each specialize in a different species of Pokémon and only that species, which you must battle with your own Pokémon of that species. If approached in the most straightforward way, they are every bit as challenging as intended. However, nearly all of them can be "cheesed" with a good "stall" strategy. Nearly all Pokémon can learn Toxic (which inflicts "bad poisoning" that increases in damage each turn), and most can learn some combination of Protect (prevents all damage but cannot be used two turns in a row), Rest (fully restores health and status but puts the Pokémon to sleep), and a two-turn attack like Dig or Fly, all of which are available as unlimited-use TMs. Use Toxic, stall, win through attrition, repeat. It makes the vast majority of Master Trainer battles far easier.
[[/folder]]
----
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Series-Wide]]
* Using Legendary Pokémon on your team is frowned upon by skill-oriented players for this reason. There is no rule saying you can't use Legendaries if you want to, but it's viewed as a Cheese Strategy by those players. In competitive battling, Legendary Pokémon are usually relegated to the Uber tier and can only be used against players who are also using Legendaries against you, though there are some exceptions that aren't considered [[GameBreaker Game-Breaking]] enough to warrant being banished to Uber in spite of their in-game Legendary status (most legendary "trios", variant "forms" of certain legendaries, [[JunkRare Regigigas]], etc).
* "Para-Flinch" is a strategy where your Pokémon first paralyzes the opponent (reducing their chance of attacking by 25% while drastically lowering their speed, so they'll always attack second), then uses a fliching move (Bite, Headbutt, etc.) which has a 30% chance of preventing them from attacking. Using a Pokémon with the ability Serene Grace increases the chances of causing paralysis and flinching even further, which certain held items will add yet another 10% chance of causing flinching. Sometimes, confusion is added to the mix, which adds a 50% chance (reduced to 33% in later generations) of damaging themselves, but unlike paralysis, will resolve itself within 2-5 turns. Properly set up, the afflicted Pokémon will only have about a 30% chance of attacking, making it an incredibly frustrating strategy to face.
* The widely-hated "FEAR" strategy has seen variations throughout the series.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondPearlAndPlatinum'' introduces the strategy. "FEAR" stands for '''F'''ocus Sash[[note]]A held item which allows the Pokémon holding it to retain 1 HP if they're hit by an attack that would KO them from full[[/note]], '''E'''ndeavor[[note]]The targeted Pokémon has their HP reduced to the same total as the attacker's, as long as the attacker's is less than the target's[[/note]], Quick '''A'''ttack[[note]]Priority move that always goes first as long as the opponent didn't use another priority move in the same turn[[/note]], and a level one '''R'''attata. You give Rattata the Focus Sash, take an attack that leaves it with 1 HP, use Endeavor to bring the opponent's HP down to 1 as well, and then have Rattata would follow up with a Quick Attack to deal 1 HP in damage. It eventually became widespread enough to take on another meaning -- "Fucking Evil Annoying Rodent".
** A variant saw the Clefable line use Magic Guard (preventing Focus Sash from being undone by weather effects) along with a damaging weather such as Hail or Sandstorm. Later in Gen V, the Reuniclus line gained the ability to do this as well.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Generation V]] changed the game with the ability Sturdy, which essentially works as a Focus Sash without taking up the item slot. It can also work more than once as long as the attacked pokemon started at 100% HP, as opposed to the Sash which only worked once per battle. Thus, the FEAR strategy changed to being centered around either level one Aron or level two Probopass[[note]]Nosepass has to level up at least once to evolve[[/note]]. In addition to the change to Sturdy, a move called "Pain Split" was introduced, which would match the HP for both Mons, taking up to half of the targeted Pokemon's remaining HP and healing the attacker for the same amount. Thus Aron or Probopass could continue hitting the opponents with Pain Split while their HP continued to recover, all while Sandstorm added chip damage in the background.
** After Gen V, {{Obvious Rule Patch}}es and {{Nerf}}s to the metagame (particularly the weakening of weather effects) effectively neutered the strategy. [[Videogame/PokemonSunAndMoon Generation VII]] saw a minor revival with Togedemaru, but it didn't last long.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Generation I]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue''
* The "Wrap-spam" strategy. In later generations, Wrap deals damage per turn while allowing both the player and opponent to continue acting, but in Generation I, Wrap hits 2-5 times for little damage, but locks the enemy Pokémon from attacking or retreating, so a common tactic is to to stun-lock the opponent, especially if the opposing Pokémon is afflicted with paralysis to prevent it from ever attacking first.
* The Gen I AI was [[AIBreaker easily broken]] in a number of ways. One of the most famous was using part-Poison-type Pokémon against those with non-damaging Psychic-type (strong against Poison-type) moves, such as Barrier or Agility. As Gen I AI Pokémon did not use up PP when attacking, they would spam these non-damaging moves non-stop, allowing your Pokémon, no matter how weak, to eventually whittle it down. This strategy works even against high-level opponents including the Elite Four. This strategy became wide-spread following its (unintentional) use in ''WebVideo/TwitchPlaysPokemonRed'', where Red's Venomoth took down Lance's Dragonite in an Elite Four battle.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Generation II]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''
* Generation II is well known for its metagame "stall teams". Unlike any of the following generations, which tend to heavily favor {{Fragile Speedster}}s and {{Glass Cannon}}s engaging in exciting RocketTagGameplay, this is a generation dominated by its {{Stone Wall}}s and {{Mighty Glacier}}s, viewed as the [[PaddedSumoGameplay most boring playstyle]] by much of the fanbase and is the least played generation according to Smogon. What makes it truly "cheesy", however, is that there are essentially ''no counters'' to it. A team with a Cross-Chop Machamp and a Gengar to NoSell the Normal-type moves common to these teams comes the closest, but even they are easily countered if just one or two members of the "stall team" can use something like Psychic. Some of the Pokémon, moves, and other factors that play into its "cheesy" reputation include:
** Snorlax is the unquestioned king of Gen II competitive play. The beefy Normal-type's biggest drawback is its lack of Speed, which the new move Curse takes full advantage of. For non-Ghost-types, Curse cuts their Speed in half while raising Attack and Defense. Since Snorlax is almost always going to attack second anyway, the loss of speed means nothing while putting more "might" into MightyGlacier. Additionally, it gets Belly Drum, which cuts its HP in half while maximizing Attack. Due to a bug, if Snorlax's HP is less than half, the move will appear to "fail", but a massive Attack increase[[note]]+2 instead of the +6 the full version applies, but still a powerful increase[[/note]] will still be applied. Finally, Snorlax has its old standby move, Rest, to restore its health to full. Throw in an offensive move like Double-Edge (120 base damage, for which Snorlax receives a STAB, at the drawback of damaging the user which Snorlax can easily "Rest" away) and, after the slower set-up turns, you've got a monstrous attacker with boosted defenses who can Rest to heal up.
** Skarmory (a Steel/Flying-type) and Blissey (a Normal-type) are Defense and Special Defense walls, respectively, leading to the popular "[[{{Portmanteau}} SkarmBliss]]" pairing. Skarmory's typing means its only weakness is the (rare in this generation) Fire-type, while it call wall off every physically attacking type in the game, and is seen as the ''only'' viable non-Ghost counter to a Belly Drummed Snorlax. If things get hairy for it, it can use Whirlwind to force the opponent to switch out their Pokémon. Meanwhile, Blissey, in addition to its incredible HP and excellent Special Defense, is the ultimate SupportPartyMember, capable of putting up a Light Screen (weakens incoming Special Attacks) and healing the party, including status effects, with Heal Bell.
** Umbreon, a new Dark-type "Eeveelution", is another bulky tank with solid-across-the-board HP and both types of defense, has access to Charm (lowers the opponent's Attack by two stages and is a great counter to Curse), and makes for a great user of Pursuit (a Dark-type move that deals double damage if the opponent is switching Pokémon out for which Umbreon gets a STAB) to take out weakened retreaters.
** Exeggutor was dominant in Gen I but suffered a bit from the "[[ObviousRulePatch Special Split]]" between these generations, leaving it better suited to these "stall teams". Its typing gives it many resistances to common attacking types (Ground, Water, Electric, Psychic), it comes with status moves (Sleep Powder, Stun Spore) to slow the battle down, Leech Seed for LifeDrain, and can still hit hard enough with STAB'd Psychic to chip away at all but the best Special walls while easily taking down some of the "stall team's" only counters (the Fighting-type Machamp and part-Poison-type Gengar).
** This generation introduces the first "entry hazard" attack in the series in Spikes, which damages any non-Flying-types by 12.5% of their max HP when they enter the battlefield. Cloyster and Forretress are the main Spikes users, themselves defensive-oriented statistically, while its use encourages players to have a "spinner" (a Pokémon who can use the otherwise competitively useless "Rapid Spin" which can clear Spikes) on their teams (which Forretress can also conveniently learn).
** Toxic, a move that inflicts a Pokémon with a more severe type of poison that compounds each turn, existed in Gen I and the common metagame counter for it is to simply switch out the afflicted Pokémon, which resets it to standard poison, meaning it didn't see much use. Here, however, with so many stall-heavy teams relying on massive defenses, even the 1/8 of max HP damage caused by standard poison is a huge benefit, leading to most teams including a Toxic-user.
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[[folder:Generation VII]]
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon''
* Ultra Necrozma is the ClimaxBoss, and it's remarkably difficult to fight fairly against. While there ''are'' means to fight against it without resorting to cheesing (most of them boil down to the fact its moveset is completely resisted by Steel-type Pokémon), most players instead resort to things like exploiting ArtificialStupidity (by sending a Zoroark disguised as a Pokémon that is weak to Psychic-type attacks, making Ultra Necrozma use Photon Geyser, which Zoroark is immune to), or by using an Inkay or Malamar and use [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard Topsy-Turvy]] to turn Ultra Necrozma's massive x1.5 boost to all its stats turn into a x2/3 drop.
!! ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee''
* The "Master Trainer" battles available in the post-game are meant to be incredibly difficult fights against trainers who each specialize in a different species of Pokémon and only that species, which you must battle with your own Pokémon of that species. If approached in the most straightforward way, they are every bit as challenging as intended. However, nearly all of them can be "cheesed" with a good "stall" strategy. Nearly all Pokémon can learn Toxic (which inflicts "bad poisoning" that increases in damage each turn), and most can learn some combination of Protect (prevents all damage but cannot be used two turns in a row), Rest (fully restores health and status but puts the Pokémon to sleep), and a two-turn attack like Dig or Fly, all of which are available as unlimited-use TMs. Use Toxic, stall, win through attrition, repeat. It makes the vast majority of Master Trainer battles far easier.
[[/folder]]
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