Tiers Jargon

[SIZE=4][B]Tier jargon thread[/B] – looking for input for adding new terms, and improving existing ones and their descriptions.[/SIZE]

[B]Balanced tier (also Playable tier)[/B]  – An ideal tier which seeks diversity of Pokémon, items, moves and abilities. It should also find a good balance between luck and skill, as well as deliver enjoyment and comfort among many other things to the player base.

[B]Ban Transitivity[/B]  – The notion that lower tiers inherit all Pokémon, item, move and ability bans from higher tiers in the same tier list. Breaking transitivity is discussed for item, move and ability bans.

[B]Battle Mode[/B] – Singles, Doubles, Triples or Rotation Battles.

[B]Boundless tier[/B] – A single tier for each battle mode and each appropriate  sub-generation’s mechanics – that is reasoned to  have the least amount of limitations. These are generally either  labelled Anything Goes (least amount of limitations intended by the  games) or Hackmons (extra removal of limitations such as EV Caps, and  move set and ability restrictions).

[B]Broken (also Overpowered, OP)[/B] – A Pokémon, item, move or ability which is deemed too powerful for the tier environment and subsequently banned from the balanced tier if a consensus is reached. Broken Pokémon often have high viability, making the tier overcentralized around them, and can sometimes have a diverse range of movesets, making them hard to counter.

[B]Broken tier (also Ban tier, Ban list)[/B] – The opposite to a balanced tier, containing broken Pokémon, items, moves or abilities, which centralize the tier environment or fail more often than not to reward skill.

[B]Centralization[/B]  – The state of unevenness in a tier environment, usually represented by high viability of few Pokémon, items, moves and abilities, and low or zero viability of the majority.

[B]Clause[/B]  – A complex ban or set of bans used to make formats more concise (e.g. Species Clause, Evasion Clause), and thus be more easily imparted.

[B]Complex ban[/B] – A term to describe bans that are more complex than a simple ban. Complex bans usually involve either combinations of Pokémon, items, moves, abilities and/or a limit to the usage of them (e.g. SleepPerishTrap Clause, Sleep Clause, Species Clause, Baton Pass Clause).

[B]Diversity[/B]  – The state of evenness in  a tier environment, represented by high viability of lots of Pokémon, items, moves and abilities. Banning broken Pokémon (etc.) aims to  increase the diversity in the tier environment, as removing one Pokémon  is often for the greater good of the viabilities of otherwise low  viability Pokémon, even though you're essentially removing options, so  lowering the potential diversity.

[B]Format (also Ruleset) [/B]– Consists of: modifications made  to mechanics (e.g. RNG, Sleep Clause); a ban list (or allow list) – of  Pokémon, items, moves and abilities and combinations between them; a  restriction list (x amount of y Pokémon, moves etc.); limits on levels  (e.g. Level 50), number of Pokémon allowed and Pokémon stats. They  together aim to make a tier or tier set balanced, or define a tier  or tier set (e.g. Little Cup with Level 5, hatchable Pokémon).

[B]Generation[/B]  – Mechanics and limitations corresponding to Pokémon, items, moves and abilities that are released (or available via hacking) at a certain time period, for example: 1st gen, 2nd gen, 3rd gen, 4th gen, 5th gen, 6th gen. Earlier generations have less Pokémon, items, moves and abilities.

[B]Metagame[/B] – A snapshot of a tier environment whereby viability of Pokémon, items, moves and abilities are dictated by player base trends.

[B]Metatope[/B]  – the metagame of a tier experienced by players on a particular platform/simulator, in a particular tournament (series) or on the ladder.

[B]Micro-tier (also Micro-metagame) / Micro-tier set – [/B]A tier or tier set which has considerably less (viable) options, than more standard tiers or tier sets in the subgeneration have. Less than 50 available Pokémon is a common definition in newer generations.

[B]Modifications  – [/B]Changes made to the game's data and/or mechanics when simulating it for battles. They can either be: necessary modifications (e.g. RNG, HP bar, synchronisation) – modifications made because there's a major issue with simulating exactly; or balancing modifications (e.g. Sleep Clause, Freeze Clause) – modifications that are made to make the tier or tier set more balanced.

[B]Niche[/B]  [B]–[/B] A unique role carried out by a Pokémon in a tier environment.

[B]Outclass[/B]   [B]–[/B] Surpass all the important roles of another Pokémon, item, move or ability.

[B]Parallel tier – [/B]A tier in another (sub)generation and equivalent tier set that has an equivalent ranking, e.g. DPP LC OU and BW2 LC OU.

[B]Role (function)[/B] – A combination of Pokémon's moves, typing, stats, item and ability that does work for the player, i.e. the abstraction of a Pokémon role.

[B]Role limit[/B]  – The maximum number of Pokémon (or items, moves, abilities) that can fulfill a similar role  for a team, without jeopardising that team's ability to be competitive in a tier environment. Role limits are usually higher for micro-tiers, where the diversity of roles for Pokémon are small (have a lack of niches), and likewise specifically higher for shared roles of very viable or broken Pokémon, and their counters.

[B]Simple ban –[/B] A general ban on a Pokémon, item, move or ability.

[B]Stage –[/B] A time period in a tier environment, which corresponds to a certain format in place.

[B]Subgeneration  –  [/B]Time periods within a generation corresponding to a game where all Pokémon, items, moves and abilities are available via hacking, but nevertheless formes and mechanics can differ. More limitations are present in the earlier subgenerations. Examples of subgenerations include: RBY, Stadium, GSC, XD, HGSS, BW2, ORAS.

[B]Supreme tier set[/B] – A tier set which contains  all tier sets for a particular battle mode, subgeneration’s  mechanics and modifications, as well as the appropriate boundless tier.

[B]Suspect Test   –  [/B]Testing a currently banned Pokémon, move, item or ability (suspect), or one deemed to be broken, in a tier. A suspect test is usually carried out by creating a separate tier to co-exist with the current one, that includes or excludes the suspect Pokémon, move, item or ability, in order for the player base to determine if a simulator's metatope(s)  (and by extension, the tier 's environment) will be healthier under the suspect's inclusion/exclusion, i.e. more balanced. A Suspect Vote is subsequently carried out to decide the correct course of action after the suspect testing period is over.

[B]Tier[/B] – A type of battle that is subject to a particular battle mode, format, and subgeneration’s game mechanics, while being associated with a collection of Pokémon that aren’t allowed in lower, more limited tiers in the same tier set,  determined by usage and/or viability, in order to achieve acceptable usage and/or viability, in practice, of most or all Pokémon in the particular tier set. Tiers are arranged hierarchically in a tier list.

[B]Tier environment [/B]– A collection of battles in a tier that gives an overall impression of the viability of Pokémon, items, moves and abilities used in that tier. Tier environments change: when a tier's format is altered to aid in balancing the tier; by being affected by changing viability in higher tiers in the tier set; due to metagaming effects.

[B]Tier list[/B] – A visual arrangement of tiers, usually separated into tier levels, that indicate which Pokémon aren't allowed in lower tiers. The broken tiers (labelled with Ubers, UUBL etc.) indicate the Pokémon ban list (and previous tier environment if played) of the eventual balanced tiers (OU, UU etc.) in each tier level. The aim is to list all Pokémon once and once only.

[B]Tier levels[/B] – Components of tier lists which group together  related broken and balanced tiers, e.g. Ubers with OU, UUBL with UU, RUBL  with RU and NUBL with NU – in order from highest to lowest.

[B]Tier set[/B] – A collection of tiers that share a  common format. Tier sets are mostly branches of other tier sets with fewer limitations, inherited from the supreme tier set.

[B]Tier system[/B] – A philosophy of tiering and the resulting tiers, e.g. tiering Pokémon  based on a usage cut-off formula from the usage statistics and banning  Pokémon, moves etc. via community or administrative agreement, to form a tier list and balance  each tier level within it respectively. The aim of any tier system is to open up the potential for many interactions between Pokémon, items, moves and abilities in competitive Pokémon battles, i.e. make them, and the tactics and strategies that utilise them, viable.

[B]Uniqueness clause[/B] – A complex ban that limits a player to only having one of a kind, e.g. species clause allows only 1 of each Pokémon corresponding to its national dex number, while item clause allows only 1 of each item.

[B]Unviable (also Inviable)[/B]  – A Pokémon is unviable if it is outclassed in all of its roles, or in the case species clause is active,  if the sum of the Pokémon that outclass a Pokémon in each of its roles are more than or equal to the respective role limits for the tier, i.e. it cannot fit into a competitive team in the tier environment. It also applies to items, moves and abilities, with equivalent uniqueness clauses.

[B]Usage statistics[/B] – Usage data for Pokémon, items, moves, abilities, EVs, IVs, and various combinations between them. They are a tool to help understand the current metagame of a tier environment [B]–[/B] high usage indicating high viability, and the evenness of usages and amount of Pokémon, items, moves, abilities utilised indicating how diverse the tier is.

[B]Viable[/B] – Able to be used in a competitive team in a tier environment, i.e. not unviable. Viability is how much it can (ideally) be used.

[B]Viability distortion[/B] – When Pokémon, item, move or ability usage statistics do not accurately reflect perceived viability, e.g. the number one used Pokémon is not deemed broken, but a lower ranked Pokémon is.

[B]Viability Ranking[/B] – A tool that ranks the perceived viabilities of Pokémon in a tier environment, and ideally aids the player base in team building and preparing for battle in the tier. Importantly, the first few ranks should contain Pokémon banned from lower tiers if for a balanced tier, whilst the lower ranks mostly (or only) contain Pokémon allowed in lower tiers.