The Different Types of Pokémon Battlers

What's considered a stigma in Pokémon battles?

Within every community, disagreements arise in times of community debates. In fact, a lot of Smogon players will have multiple disagreements in every Pokémon battle. One of the many stigmas includes using an in-game team (that is, if the battling is done PC simulators like Pokémon Online or Showdown over two 3DS), which is considered just as bad as a team based on the Pokémon anime. So if you are a fan of any human characters from the Pokémon series, just don’t use their team in public, unless it's with a friend. Another is using a low-tier Pokémon on a higher tier without justified reasons and niches besides being one's childhood favorite or for that Pokémon's aesthetics. Consider that sentence as a tribulation to understand what newcomers have yet to overcome and understand the reason why those Smogon rules, tiers, and clauses are established. The fact that just about the whole Smogon community equally disagrees with the listed stigmas above indicates that these factors make the game less of a sport.

If one looks at the other spectrum where some people respect Smogon's establishment, 34% consider it just as bad to blindly follow the recommendations and instead encourage thinking outside the box. Perhaps other people may say that these battlers have their own sense of free will and independence as the rest just prefer being spoon-fed by the tried and true recommendations of those high in authority.

Now that we have covered the two major groups, the following groups will be the others that could belong as subdivisions to the two previous groups.

The Visionaries

Oftentimes, most readers would be saying that the Visionaries and the Analysts are one and the same. You're right in a way. So, what's the difference? Simply, the Analysts collect data and analyze various trends from previous experiments and results that are successful, tried and true. In most cases, they prefer making new sets with already viable Pokémon. The Visionaries, however, are this group of battlers that experiment and create new trends in the competitive battling. Whether the chosen Pokémon experiment succeeds or fails, these kinds of battlers have a bigger habit of making new, at times radical and crazy, battling trends that others may call it absurd, a justified niche, or just a pointless gimmick. If you heard the phrase 'Anti-Meta Pokémon', the answer could either be:

• Using a Pokémon from a lower tier for the sake of rebellious diversity (Before Charizard became OU this current generation, it was NU two generations ago because of that one hazard that is both famous and infamous to all of us in Stealth Rock. Yet plenty want to use him on OU sun teams as a niche that was being frowned upon as a fanboy's ignorance)
  
• Using a certain Pokémon to defeat certain Pokémon or team builds (Mamoswine is a famous example in past generations to check Dragon-types. Also, for those that watched Se Jun Park's battle in the VGC Worlds Tournament, Pachirisu can be a great disruptor in the Finals Masters Division with the Follow Me + Nuzzle + Protect + Super Fang set.)
  
• Using another set on a popular Pokémon that contradicts its popular set (Uxie is used a defensive set up Pokémon most of the time. However, one rarely prepares for the offensive Calm Mind set that Uxie can use)

Small their populace may be on Smogon's community (14% of the Smogon population), they're still valuable to this unique E-sport. Like how this analytic respondent comments on using mediocre Pokémon, here is one submitted entry that brings up one aspect as of why Visionaries act like they do:

I’m certain that most of you remember Lucario from Generation IV, when he was often used as a mighty special attacker in the generation's early inception. Then the physical Lucario Set came to fruition months later as a solid and important set in Pokémon’s competitive field for various team builds, more so to Hyper Offense teams. Last generation, Terrakion always scared the hell out of all of us (me included), as it only needs to fire off one of its attacks and you’re dead before you even know it. Oftentimes equipped with a choice item or Life Orb, it’s obvious for us all last generation to fear this musketeer the most alongside Keldeo. But unlike Keldeo in terms of sets, Terrakion can actually play like Aerodactyl with a Stealth Rock + Focus Sash build as a lead that works both in singles and Doubles (in Doubles, replace the hazard move with Quick Guard); this earth bull musketeer had diversity that made all of us scared of it.

Simply, these analytic battlers like to experiment with new sets and roles for certain Pokémon that are obscure to play in the higher tiers. What if Vivillon could end up being either an A Rank or S Rank in either UU or RU in the upcoming months due to its Hurricane spam? Maybe we could have a visionary test that showed us the next revolution.

The Thematic Battler

The unique thing about this subdivision is that it also has its own division. But we'll focus on the three sub-categories of this group consisting of:

I. The Smogon Tier Players
II. The Monotype Players
III. The Character Team Players.

The thematic Battlers are the cousins of the Challenger mingling in the huge melting pot of battlers. But as Smogon’s system is currently the world’s most used competitive Pokémon tiering system, it is only natural that Smogon Players want the rest of the opponents, both newcomers and familiar faces, to use and create teams that are familiar to the community. While they want new trends to rise, the expectations for success and laddering are extremely valuable and crucial to those groups of people. Hence, they have a sharp eye for the Visionaries and Analysts.

However, most of the Monotype players and Character Team players often face the criticism and animosity of some of the higher Smogon commissioners and recognizable Smogon tier players. But keep in mind that there are those that respect the two groups, and, over time, more and more have come to respect them.

A couple generations ago, early Monotype players did not have the respectful privileges that they now have today. The crux of monotype is that a team of six Pokémon shares one specific Pokémon type, which means that you're bound to lose to a certain type. Have a Grass Monotype Team? Better beware of Heatran, Infernape, and Talonflame a lot and kill them pronto lest you lose the fight 6-0. Yet, during the late fourth generation up until fifth generation, after continuous persistence by the disrespected Monotype Theme Battlers, the Smogon Community decided that the OU Monotype tier should be established in order to avoid any future pestering. In fact, at some point in the later end of Generation Four, a few highly ranked players and official tier managers from Smogon see this as an opportunity to expand the competitive play style of Smogon. It was tested as an experimental tier at first if the tier had value or not. It turns out that in the end, it was just as good as the official Smogon Tiers that they established while giving diverse choices for players to choose a 'Metagame Tier' to master of their own choice. With Excalibur Aegislash, Mr. MacTalonflame, and Kalos-Kage Greninja making names in the OU Monotype tier, the Monotype Thematic Battlers have finally earned their respectful place in Smogon today.

Sadly, for the Character Team Battlers, they are still being harshly criticized and attacked in every cruel and unfair way by … just about every member of the Smogon community save for a few (even the previous two subdivisions of this group mock them most of the time). The number one character victim is Ash Ketchum. For most of the people in this category of battler, they feel like Smogon is attacking their idol harshly for they have high sentimental value for these types of thematic battlers. Perhaps one could say that they are yet to expose themselves to the true complex battle mechanics that this group is not yet familiar with as 'They can feel the animosity of the community to players that don’t build proper Pokémon teams…' (As how some battlers may interpret majority of Smogon Pokémon Battlers that are just trying to help them). Let's use an Ash Team as an example. He normally has Pikachu, right? You can use any member of Pikachu's family tree on the human character team you’re building, such as Raichu. Full evolutions of an official human character team are permitted for this potential tier. Yet, who knows, would this untapped tier come to fruition? Only time knows.

The Remnant Nomads

If you have a favorite Pokémon that you love so much in game that you use it to its highest capability competitively, even if its is subpar, this is the group for you. They carve their own path and give a 'Thanks, but no thanks' to the best suggestions and opinions of the Smogon community while they follow and use some of Smogon’s suggested rules and suggested team builds.

Speaking from experience, back in mid Gen V, avoiding the harsh Weather Wars of OU, I used to play with a 'Female Pokémon Theme Team' featuring 'Team Charm from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky' (Lopunny, Medicham, and Gardevoir), and three Unova Pokémon that I see as very feminine aesthetically (Cinccino, Lilligant, and Mienshao) in Black and White UU. This team of mine was also inspired by the classical song 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. If they are questioned by a trainer as to why they are not following and using the recommended Pokémon that helps their central Pokémon, they often have an answer something like the paragraph below.

The shortest answer some may give is something like, 'Thanks for the opinion. But I'd rather stick to my guns.'

Simply, the Remnant Nomads are a hybrid of The Analyst Battlers and The Thematic Battlers for they have a mix of knowledge and childhood heart. Most of the time, they are often mistaken for being ignorant about the trends of the community. These people are very rare to find in Smogon’s community, like diamonds in the skies. In fact, one comment from the survey shares how a Remnant Battler interprets the environment of 'competitive battling' from the moment they start until the moment they reach their personal opinion about the nature of competitive battling.

The Freedom Mason

If you like Pokémon battling with no restrictions at all, then you just might share some ideologies with this group of battlers called the Freedom Mason Battlers.

Usually, Ubers has this kind of setting where all the Moody users, evasion moves, and other denied tricks of Pokémon battling are permitted. I mean, if you restrict some things, some Pokémon that rely on those extremely powerful abilities will not be at their full potential. Moody Bibarel, anyone (I’m certain that some of you OU players will hate facing this thing)? Believe it or not, there are two shades of gray in this group.

The first half only (the light gray) wanted all of the tiers to have 'No legendary Pokémon and pseudo-legendary Pokémon clause' to be used in all battles as most of them really cling to the common mental idea that legendaries are unstoppable. Unfortunately for the casual players who are just entering competitive battling for the first time, they have yet to learn and swallow the factual idea that legendary Pokémon are just Pokémon with a 'Glorified Title'. Only a few from this same group can really make sense about legendary Pokémon being just like every other non-legendary Pokémon: being beatable.

The other half (the dark gray) however wants a zero percent restriction in every Pokémon battle. No discrimination, no rules, it’s a pure free-for-all battling community. At times, this other half gets way too extreme to the point of allowing hacked Pokémon and having 999 EVs all over Pikachu’s stats and moves. Heck, there may be times that moves are super effective against EVERYTHING!!! Which is why, when they are about to battle out of control, they need lots of careful management from other battlers to avoid making a major chaos. Yet out of the chaos, Hackmons was established. Hence, opinions will vary if one likes going Wondertomb (Prior to Gen VI), Speed Boost slow Pokémon, and Huge Power on any hard hitting Pokémon, or not.

The reason why this group really pushes the idea of Pokémon battles being free and not being limited by rules is that majority of this group most of the time sees and feels that every clause and restriction makes Pokémon battling not as fun despite having an option to become creative with one’s team. I mean, sure, all of us can use a low tier Pokémon to a higher tier with some logical planning and practice. But for a few players, they could only say to experienced Smogon players something like this, oftentimes directly towards The Analysts and The Guild Masters, not so much to The Visionaries.

The Guild Master

If you are a Pokémon Battling 101 teacher, I welcome your small and humble group to the list of Pokémon battlers. If you don't have an idea as to how they can speak out their knowledge and ideas, here is a sample comment how to respectfully explain using a low-tier Pokémon properly:

Being highly respected siblings of the Analysts and the Visionaries, these chosen few are like the Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude teachers of knowledge within this community. In fact, the Analysts and Challengers are on almost equal ground with the Guild Masters in terms of knowledge and experience respectively. What separates this group from the rest is that they have the balance of both worlds. But the one of the most important requirement to become one of the most recognizable and highly respected Guild Masters is mastering and understanding how to pass knowledge, ideas, and opinions in a logical and very respectful manner to just about every personality.

Simply, they know most to all of the proper words and knowledge needed to pass on to the trainee. Not only are they smart, they are also approachable and nice people that you can ask for guidance whenever needed. Honestly, it's from these people that know how to agree AND disagree with respect to the person it talks to. While other groups can disagree on something like this small group, rarely do you see a battler from the previous groups do it both respectfully and logically like the Guild Masters do.

While there are many more kinds of battlers that exist around the competitive community of Pokémon, most of them could just be a mix of the mentioned groups above. Even if you are both a Visionary and a Freedom Mason, one of those two will always stand out about yourself as a Pokémon trainer and battler. Who knows? Could you belong to the group called the followers who just go with current trends instead of making their own trend simply for fun (fun in a broad sense that most won’t bother narrowing down) like sheep that only follows the shepherd? How about the Perfectionists who are just afraid of losing any battle at all? As we come to reaching the end of this article, we should ask ourselves these questions.