OU Balance

Balance is the middle ground between offense and stall, hence its name. The aim of balanced teams is to use offensive pressure to break through the opposing team, all the while being able to adequately respond to threats on the opposing team if they gain momentum. Often, these teams will attempt to wear down checks to their win condition thanks to the defensive Pokemon they carry, before setting up and sweeping. Other teams may use status effects, most notably paralysis or burn, so as to clear the way for their offensive Pokemon to more easily break through the team. Either way, these teams use a mixture of both defensive and offensive tactics to secure a win

Balanced teams are, by nature, more inclusive than offense or stall, since both offensive threats and defensive threats can fit on them. As a result, almost any OU-viable Pokemon can fit on balance. However, there are a few exceptions. Pokemon which provide little of value defensively have a hard time fitting on these teams, which much prefer offensive threats which can switch into other offensive threats, and thus, prevent the team from being swept. Likewise, some Pokemon may be too passive and end up becoming a liability, due to giving free turns to opposing Pokemon and serving as setup fodder or hazards fodder, and thus, defensive or support Pokemon which can apply some form of pressure on the opposing team are vastly preferred over ones which can’t.

The wide array of choices available make balanced teams more capable of creativity than most playstyles. However, it often makes them more difficult to build too, since one must tread a fine line when building balance : going too offensive may mean losing to revenge killers, priority users and fast threats, while too much bulk can lead to wallbreakers and setup sweepers rampaging through the team. Balanced teams have to worry about threats to offense as well as threats to stall, therefore requiring a lot of thought to build. However, a good balanced team will have a way of dealing with anything, making it less matchup-based than more extremes playstyles.

Balanced teams also tend to be harder to use, since one needs to be able to play in both an offensive and defensive mindset, and know which to use at which point in the battle. This makes it much less straightforward to play than offense or stall. However, this also gives the player more flexibility when playing, giving him more viable paths to victory and making his playing less predictable.


Clefable is arguably the face of OU balance, if not OU as a whole. While its bulk may not be impressive, its typing, ability and movepool largely make up for it. Even though Unaware is a great ability, Magic Guard will almost always be preferred on balanced teams, since it gives Clefable immunity to entry hazards,enables it to act as a status absorber for the team, and generally makes it difficult to wear down. This paired with key resistances to Dragon, Dark and Fighting, an expansive movepool enabling it to suit the needs of its team, the ability to sweep teams with Calm Mind and spread status with Thunder Wave makes Clefable an excellent choice on balance.

Clefable’s poiularity when compared to the likes of Chansey or Cresselia proves that, on order to fit on balanced teams, just being good defensively isn’t enough : some offensive capabilities are also required.

Mega Latias is a relatively new face on balance teams, only having gained popularity recently. However, it has proven to be a very effective glue on those types of teams. It may not seem worth the mega slot at first, but the hugely increased bulk and ability to much more easily take Knock Offs is very much worth it. Mega Latias happens to be able to handle many big threats to balance, including Thundurus, Mega Manectric, Mega Charizard Y, Manaphy, Starmie, Serperior, Mega Lopunny and more. It also packs a punch, even without any special attack investement, and can easily afford to run a high amount of bulk without becoming too passive. It also has access to some excellent utility options in the coveted Defog, the ever-useful Thunder Wave, and Reflect Type, which enables it to square off against Dark-types which would otherwise beat it such as Bisharp and Tyranitar.

Generally speaking, defensive Pokemon with offensive capabilities fit very well on balance. However, the inverse is also true.

Keldeo is one of the top threats in OU, but not because it’s particularly strong or fast : its speed is average for an offensive OU Pokemon, and it is checked by a good number of Pokemon. Rather, Keldeo is remarkable in the fact that it also provides defensively and supportively, all the while being a sizeable offensive threat. Its typing paired with its decent bulk enables it to switch in on huge threats such as Bisharp, Weavile, Tyranitar, and Heatran, and access to Scald enables it to cripple its switchins with a burn. Keldeo is a great example of the kind of offensive Pokemon that fits perfectly on balanced teams : one that can provide for it defensively as well as offensively.

In order to fit well on balance, an offensive Pokemon must also be able to provide something defensively, in order to make best possible use of the limited teamslots availible

Tyranitar is one of the most influential support pokemon in OU, and fits very well on balance as a result. Its main draw is Pursuit, an amazing move which can permanently remove certain Psychic- and Ghost-types, such as Latios, Gengar and Starmie. This makes it a great partner for Pokemon which wants them permanently removed, many of which feature prominently on balance like Keldeo and Mega Charizard-Y. Furthermore, it checks big threats like Talonflame and , can act as a Stealth Rock setter, and its Sand Stream ability not only helps wear down opposing Pokemon, but can also support a Sand Rush Excadrill sweep.

Tyranitar is notable for its great supportive capabilities and being able to check a large amount of threats, and this also applies to Heatran.

Its unique typing gives it a plethora of resistances, and its Flash Fire ability gives it a key advantage over other Steel-types, namely, a Fire immunity. This means that it can take on certain Pokemon which rely on Fire coverage to hit Steel-types, such as Talonflame, Latios, Clefable, Serperior and Mega Venusaur, all the while also handling the likes of Skarmory, Scizor, and Jirachi. Not only does it beat an unique array of threats, but it does so while having a grtea amount of versatility and utility, being able to act as a Stealth Rock setter, status spreader with lava Plume and Toxic, a revenge killer with a Choice Scarf, a trapper with Magma Storm, or even a lure with HP Ice or Power Herb+Solarbeam.

It’s important for balanced teams to use Pokemon which can cover a range of threats at once, all the while providing valuable support.

Much like Heatran, Ferrothorn sports an unique typing with great resistances, as well as very good utility options in Stealth Rock, Spikes, Thunder Wave and even Knock Off. However, the main appeal of Ferrothorn on balance is how easily it can wear down the opposing team. Leech Seed enables it to chip away at whatever tries to switch into it, given that it isn’t another Grass-type. Similarly, Rough Skin punishes anything which hits Ferrothorn with a contact move. This reduces the need for it to recover its health back throughout the battle, making it more capable of proactivity than most walls and less of a momentum killer, especially when paired with its strong dual STABs. As such, Ferrothorn is an attractive Pokemon for balanced teams to use.

It’s easy to see why Kyurem-B would be a huge threat to balanced teams : with its Uber-level stats, it can definitely punch holes in teams, while also having the bulk and typing to switch in on various Pokemon in OU. That being said, its bad physical movepool, average speed, redundant dual STABs,weakness to many common types, and SR weakness prevent it from being truly broken. Still, this thing can be very hard for bulky teams to handle, due to its lack of true counters and versatility, and the fact that many balance staples such as BoltBeam Latias and Amoonguss can’t do anything to stop it from switching in.

Most wallbreakers are inherently big threats to balance too, and this is as true for Mega Gardevoir as it is for Kyurem-B.

Mega Gardevoir is often seen as more of a stallbreaker than a balance-breaker. But due to the nature of balanced teams, being good against stall often implies being good against balance, and Mega Gardevoir is no exception. While it can be checked by a few Steel-types, such as Jirachi and Scizor, these have to choose between offensive sets, which are easy to wear down, and defensive sets, which are easy for teammates like Heatran to take advantage of. Other popular Steels on balance, such as Heatran and Ferrothorn, get smacked by Focus Blast, while everything else gets smacked by Hyper Voice and Psyshock. To make matters worse, Mega Gardevoir’s good special bulk lets it come in on various special attackers, most notably the Lati twins

In general, Psychic-types with access to Focus Blast tend to be difficult for balance to handle.

Mega Alakazam is very similar to Mega Gardevoir, both in its typing and by the fact that most of its checks happen to be Fighting-neutral Steel-types. While it may not hit nearly as hard as Mega Gardevoir, and despite not qualifying as a wallbreaker due to its bad matchup against stall, it can be very tricky for balanced teams to handle. Its high speed enables it to outspeed anything without a Choice Scarf, enabling it to check some of the faster Pokemon found on balance such as Keldeo and Mega Lopunny. And once it switches in, it can be hard to force out, especially since its 2 big checks on stall, Mega Sableye and Chansey, are uncommon on balance due to their lack of offensive presence. Mega Alakazam often only requires a few Pokemon weakened to run through a balance team, especially with utility options such as Encore and Taunt available.

Balance teams, unlike Stall teams, can have trouble against faster threats, since they employ faster threats themselves, and thus, fear slower Pokemon. This applies to naturally fast threats, but also certain setup sweepers.

Mega Charizard X blurs the line between wallbreaker and setup sweeper more than any other OU Pokemon. Thanks to a combination of Tough Claws and its excellent dual STABs, Charizard-X has a very limited set of counters, most of which can be easily worn down. Furthermore, its decent bulk, defensive typing, and access to recovery enables it to set up quite reliably, especially against the Grass-types which are often seen on balanced teams. This makes it both hard to wall and hard to revenge kill. On top of that, the possibility of Mega Charizard Y, another huge threat to balance, lets it play mindgames with the opponent. Despite its SR weakness, it’s a formidable threat that every balanced team must have a way of dealing with.

Pokemon which can boosts their offensive stats often constitute big threats to balance teams, since they can easily overwhelm walls.

Serperior may not seem like a big threat to balance teams, even when you look at its truly amazing ability. After all, how far can you go with only Grass STAB, almost nonexistent coverage, and only 75 SpA? The answer, as it turns out, is very, as Serperior can be one of the hardest Pokemon in for balanced teams to handle. While it is checked very reliably by Talonflame, Mega Venusaur, and Heatran (save for rare HP Ground variants), team which do not carry any of these can find themselves overwhelmed by Serperior very fast. The fact that it can simultaneously revenge kill and set up on the countless Water- and Ground-types on balance, can be a huge problem, especially when, in order to beat it, a Pokemon not only needs to take +2 or +4 Leaf Storm, Dragon Pulse or Hidden power Fire, but also OHKO it back if they then don’t want to then be taking a +6 hit from it. Couple that with its ability to cripple faster Pokemon like Tornadus-T and Weavile with Glare, block Whirlwind users and Unaware Clefable with Taunt, or wear checks down with Leech Seed, and you have a very potent Pokemon on your hands.