History Main / AntiMetagameCharacter

!!Examples

** Shedinja will [[NoSell absolutely wall]] anything that can't hit it super-effectively or hit it with indirect damage, including Uber-tier Pokemon like Latios, Dialga, Palkia, Kyogre... and [[OneHitPointWonder will keel over to anything that does]]. While it's seen frequent analysis as a contender in Ubers, it's been bottom-tier since its debut. There is exactly one instance where it was ever banned in anything by {{Website/Smogon}}: Gen IX National Dex, where the addition of Terastilization and new mon Cyclizar made it virtually invincible by covering up almost all of its weaknesses, forcing a quickban to stop it from overwhelming the tier.

** In Ubers play for [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield gen 8]], Dugtrio is a legitimate option despite being a ComMon with rather low stats outside of attack and speed. The reason? It has access to the Arena Trap ability (banned in lower tiers) to trap grounded foes, can outspeed the very common and powerful Eternatus if it's holding a Choice Scarf, and can hit it super-effectively with Earthquake — and while Dugtrio is a FragileSpeedster, with enough special defense investment, it's ''just'' bulky enough to eat a Dynamax Cannon and live long enough to take out Eternatus. This is its only purpose in Ubers, however — even [[https://www.smogon.com/dex/ss/pokemon/dugtrio/uber/ its analysis]] on Website/{{Smogon}} lists "Teams Without Eternatus" as a counter to it.

-->-- '''Creator/DavidWeber''', ''The Honor of the Queen''

* In ''VideoGame/EmpiresAndPuzzles'', Grace, while still a Legendary character in her own right, was obviously designed to counter notorious defensive GameBreaker [[TheKrampus Krampus]] in PvP. She's exactly opposite to him in ElementalRockPaperScissors, and she was the first character to be introduced with specific anti-taunt abilities, which block the particularly nasty DrawAggro power Krampus has.

* In ''VideoGame/EmpiresAndPuzzles'', Grace, while still a Legendary character in her own right, was obviously designed to counter notorious GameBreaker [[TheKrampus Krampus]]. She's exactly opposite to him in ElementalRockPaperScissors, and she was the first character to be introduced with specific anti-taunt abilities, which block the particularly nasty DrawAggro power Krampus has.

* In ''VideoGame/EmpiresAndPuzzles'', Grace, while still a Legendary character in her own right, was obviously designed to counter notorious GameBreaker [[TheKrampus Krampus]]. She's exactly opposite to him in ElementalRockPaperScissors, and she was the first character to be introduced with specific anti-taunt abilities, which block the particularly nasty taunt Krampus has.

** The Dark-type was this in its introductory generation. Its attacks were all weak, they dealt special damage when most Dark-types (except Houndoom and Murkrow) specialized in physical damage, and the only MechanicallyUnusualFighter move it had at the time was Pursuit. The one saving grace it had was its immunity to the GameBreaker Psychic-type, which was still a top-tier threat.

** In competitive play for [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the first generation games]], Porygon is an example. Ordinarily, it's a very weak Pokémon you wouldn't expect to see anywhere near top-tier play, with horrible stats all around. However, Porygon has a unique set of traits that lets it act as a check to Snorlax, a very common and threatening Pokémon: it's Normal-type and so immune to Body Slam paralysis, Recover has more PP than Body Slam (letting it PP stall Snorlax), and while Porygon's speed is awful, it's very slightly faster than Snorlax. This is only barely enough for Porygon to muster a small niche in RBY OU, though, since [[CripplingOverspecialization it's decent at countering some Snorlax sets, and almost completely useless against everything else.]]

** Shedinja will [[NoSell absolutely wall]] anything that can't hit it super-effectively or hit it with indirect damage, including Uber-tier Pokemon like Latios, Dialga, Palkia, Kyogre... and [[OneHitPointWonder will keel over to anything that does]]. While it's seen frequent analysis as a contender in Ubers, it's been bottom-tier since its debut.

A subtrope of MetaGame that's often facilitated by LowTierLetdown.

A subtrope of MetaGame that's often facilitated by TierInducedScrappy.

** Primeape is one of the best counters to Darkrai, particularly in matches where [[ForcedSleep Dark Void]] hasn't been {{nerf}}ed and/or banned:[[note]][[https://pokemondb.net/pokebase/87744/why-is-dark-void-banned Due to]] its high accuracy, ability to hit multiple Pokemon in double/triple battles, and Darkrai's Bad Dreams abiltiy sapping health away from sleeping Pokémon.[[/note]] not only is Primeape immune to ForcedSleep due to its Vital Spirit ability, but also resists Darkrai's [[CastingAShadow Dark-type]] attacks, can deal super-effective damage with its own Fighting-type attacks, and can potentially outrun it with its natural base speed boosted by a Choice Scarf. [[CripplingOverspecialization This is its only relevance in Ubers]], and is an otherwise forgettable [[ComMons Com Mon]] that's overshadowed by nearly every other fully-evolved Fighting-type Pokémon.

** Through the first half of 2021, DamageReduction skills were becoming extremely common on high tier units, and were very difficult for many players to deal with, overloading the game with very hard to kill tanks. Besides Altina, who has Twin Blades exclusive to her (and was free temporarily), there was a skill that could negate that damage reduction that players can inherit onto Bow units whenever it triggers, but it was only found on a single 5*-locked unit: Shinon. Without him, you had no way around it. Then in April 2021, Young Innes was released as a Tempest Trials unit (meaning that copies could be obtained without spending orbs) - with an extremely good statline for a free unit and a weapon that innately ignored damage reduction when damage specials are triggered, he was tailor-made to give free-to-play players at least some kind of achievable solution for the damage-reducing threats. Other sources of damage reduction-neutralization effects were released later on, with another inheritable special Lethality (although exclusive to Dagger units), but Young Innes remains the most accessible one to all players to obtain and use.

** Through the first half of 2021, DamageReduction skills were becoming extremely common on high tier units, and were very difficult for many players to deal with, overloading the game with very hard to kill tanks. Besides Altina, who has Twin Blades exclusive to her (and was free temporarily), there was a skill that could negate that damage reduction that players can inherit onto Bow units whenever it triggers, but it was only found on a single 5*-locked unit: Shinon. Without him, you had no way around it. Then in April 2021, Young Innes was released as a Tempest Trials unit (meaning that copies could be obtained without spending orbs) - with an extremely good statline for a free unit and a weapon that innately ignored damage reduction when damage specials are triggered, he was tailor-made to give free-to-play players at least some kind of achievable solution for the damage-reducing threats.
** Fallen Edelgard was considered one of the most broken unit in the entire game at the time of her release in May 2021, as she is a Colorless Armored Beast with a skill kit that basically exploits her MightyGlacier statline, to the point that she overshadowed the other three heroes she was released with[[note]]the Fallen variants of Dimitri, and Male and Female Morgan[[/note]]. There are very few heroes who can hard counter her with ease, even among the high tier heroes, but one unit that can hard counter her and is easily available for players is Boey, who was considered one of the worst Green Tome units in the game, where with a combination of the unique refine for his Inscribed Tome[[note]]grants triangle advantage over colorless units, and allows the user to counterattack melee foes[[/note]], Triangle Adept[[note]]amplifies triangle advantages and disadvantages by an additional 20%[[/note]] as his A skill, Quick Riposte[[note]]allows the user to have a guaranteed follow-up attack if the foe initiates combat and the user is at 70% HP or more a the start of combat[[/note]] as his B skill, and Atk/Def Solo 3 as his Sacred Seal[[note]]grants +6 Attack and Defense if the user is not adjacent to an ally[[/note]], alongside a few merges, allows him to take her out on the enemy phase with ease, especially if he also inherits the premium C skill Pulse Smoke[[note]]inflict +1 special cooldown to the target and all other foes within 2 spaces of the user after combat if the unit survives combat[[/note]] as well.