What is Your Favorite Playstyle?

[Kharixi]

Offense. I never teach my Pokémon anything other than attack or status moves.

 

[D'JooBee]

I like being able to land strong hits while taking some as well, Aggron and Goodra are two of my favorite Pokémon so I have to go for Bulky Offense.

 

[EmpoleonProd]

I'm rather new to competitive battling so I'm not 100% on the defining characteristics of the classifications given, but so far I'm liking hyper offensive, weather, and trick room. I try balance or semi stall but when I do I end up relying on my most offensive members once others figure out my niche gimmick and stop it consistently which is why I'm leaning towards offensive right now.

Example: I used a VGC Smeargle in the most recent Battle Spot tournament, the Sinnoh Classic. It worked well for me day 1 and 2 but by day 3 I was too consistently having it countered so I ended up leaving it out of some battles and just focused on hitting hard with my life orbed Latios and scarfed Metagross.

My team was:

Metagross
Latios
Salamence
Smeargle
Empoleon
Rotom W

I guess you could consider this balance or semi stall, right? Empoleon is tanky, Rotom W paralyzes and also has Volt Switch, and Smeargle is just there for Dark Void and Moody hax, the other three are hard hitters and ended up being the day 3 MVPs, so can someone help classify my example team? Is it balance or semi stall, by definition, or is it something else?

Also I love the idea of TR teams but haven't gotten around to trying one yet but I most certainly wish to in a future doubles tournament.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

I'm rather new to competitive battling so I'm not 100% on the defining characteristics of the classifications given, but so far I'm liking hyper offensive, weather, and trick room. I try balance or semi stall but when I do I end up relying on my most offensive members once others figure out my niche gimmick and stop it consistently which is why I'm leaning towards offensive right now.

Example: I used a VGC Smeargle in the most recent Battle Spot tournament, the Sinnoh Classic. It worked well for me day 1 and 2 but by day 3 I was too consistently having it countered so I ended up leaving it out of some battles and just focused on hitting hard with my life orbed Latios and scarfed Metagross.

My team was:

Metagross
Latios
Salamence
Smeargle
Empoleon
Rotom W

I guess you could consider this balance or semi stall, right? Empoleon is tanky, Rotom W paralyzes and also has Volt Switch, and Smeargle is just there for Dark Void and Moody hax, the other three are hard hitters and ended up being the day 3 MVPs, so can someone help classify my example team? Is it balance or semi stall, by definition, or is it something else?

Also I love the idea of TR teams but haven't gotten around to trying one yet but I most certainly wish to in a future doubles tournament.

That would be classified as just vanilla offense. The Smeargle actually pushes the archetype more towards Hyper Offense, not away from it, as HO teams are frequently characterized by a single support pokemon such as Klefki, Azelf, etc whose job is to get up spikes/rocks/sticky web and then incapacitate a single foe with taunt, sleep, Memento, and/or Explosion - this is called a Suicide Lead. It seems like you don't really have a good idea of what semistall really means - to clarify the archetypes listed in the poll:

Spoiler: Long Boring Rant

Offense is a generic term for any team archetype that focuses on defeating the opponent primarily through attacking moves.

Hyper Offense is a category of offense which relies on building momentum early (with the aforementioned Suicide Lead) and simply overpowering the opponent before the opponent can get anything started. This is accomplished with Pokémon with high Speed, high (Sp) Atk, moves like Swords Dance or Shell Smash, priority attacks, etc. Staples of HO include MLopunny, Banded or SD LO Talonflame, Mega Pinsir, etc. It is strong against most other types of offense, as it can simply brute force through the opposing team, as something like a +2 MPinsir can OHKO almost any offensive pokemon, especially is the suicide lead successfully laid entry hazards to break Focus Sash and Sturdy and to weaken pokemon like rotom and Skarmory ever so slightly. HO can fall short against stall teams, as once it loses momentum (such as if a hard counter to a primary sweeper manages to come in), the low HP and defenses characteristic of its team members will typically prevent it from getting the ball rolling again.

Bulky Offense is a category of offense that relies on keeping pace with the opponent and making favorable trades until the opportunity to set up a win condition arises. It typically makes use of wallbreakers such as KyuB, Nidoking, Crawdaunt, Mega Garchomp, etc - Pokémon that can be relied upon to defeat fat stall mons and then be used as sacs to build momentum once their purpose has been served - in addition to bulky setup sweepers such as MScizor, Gyarados (RestTalk or Mega), MCharizardX, etc. It will usually fare well against stall and go even with balance, but may struggle with HO because it simply won't find a chance to set up its main win condition.

VoltTurn Offense is a category of Bulky Offense, and thus a subcategory of offense. It relies on usage of U-Turn and Volt Switch to maintain switch advantage throughout a match while gradually wearing down the foe in preparation for a sweep by a setup sweeper. MScizor, Tornadus-T, Lando-T, Magnezone, Rotom-W, MManectric, Raikou, and more characterize this playstyle. Getting up hazards early and then repeatedly gaining switch advantage forces opponents to take residual damage both from the switch moves themselves and the hazards they switch into when they are forced to respond to a check to their pokemon coming out. Once the team has been sufficiently weakened, a setup sweeper is brought in via VoltTurn on a pokemon that does not threaten it, allowing it to set up and win the game. VoltTurn can be stymied with proper prediction on the opponent's part, such as bringing a ground type in on a volt switch or a Rocky Helmet Rough Skin Garchomp in on a U-turn to make the opponent reconsider their strategy and lose the momentum that is imperative to this playstyle. A huge part of this style is knowing when to VoltTurn and when to make a hard read and click a hard hitting move like Thunderbolt or Hurricane or whatever.

Balance refers to a style in which status effects, hazards, attacking moves, etc all come together to defeat an opponent. Balance teams will typically have walls, wallbreakers, sweepers, support pokemon, and more all on the same team. Balance can theoretically win in any matchup cut can also lose any matchup, and it is VERY easy to do wrong as synergy is of the utmost importance to this archetype. Most new players try to build balance teams as their first outing into competitive play, but in actuality balance is one of the hardest archetypes to build and play properly as the team needs to be flexible enough and the player needs to be smart enough to properly adapt to a number of situations. Proper balance is usually defensive in nature, with offensive pokemon either as a backup plan or more commonly to serve as checks to specific pokemon that would otherwise counter the team's main defensive core. More offensive takes on balance are usually if not always outclassed by pure bulky offense builds.

Semi-Stall refers to a category of balance in which 3 or 4 stall mons and 2 or 3 offense mons are used in two interlocking cores to create a team with 2 distinct modes - a full stall mode and a hyper offense mode - that can be switched between as the situation demands. This playstyle revolves around pivots - both U-Turn/Volt Switch in the most literal sense, but also simply double switching to create pressure, as the bulkiness and reliable recovery that are imperative to half of the team's success allow the player the luxury of repeatedly switching in to threatening opposing pokemon. by pivoting between stall and offense, you can both press your own momentum using HO pokemon or stymie momentum built by the opponent with full-stall mons. Semi-stall is a fundamentally defensive playstyle despite the offensive pressure it is built to include, as the optimal playstyle for semistall usually involves grinding down opponents with your stall mons until they crack and make a mistake, at which point you bring out your big guns to blow that crack wide open.

Stall, also referred to as Full Stall, is a playstyle that uses entirely passive pokemon and relies solely on grinding opposing momentum to a halt instead of building any momentum at all. Hazards, status, and pokemon with good HP, (Sp) Def, and reliable recovery are imperative to this team build, as well as abilities such as Magic Bounce, Magic Guard, and Unaware and moves such as Heal Bell and Wish. These tools allow stall to put a stop to shenanigans such as Taunt and Toxic that might thwart their fun, as well as stop setup sweepers from simply overpowering their defenses. Stall wins by chipping out opponents with weak attacks, status, and hazards, but it also sometimes has a wincon such as CM Mega Sableye, CM Clefable, CM Mega Slowbro, etc if it has room on the team for such a thing (sometimes you just NEED fake out and toxic on your sableye so you run the spde knockoff set instead of the CM set).

Weather and Trick Room aren't really playstyles in and of themselves but rather variations of Hyper Offense in which the suicide lead sets up either rain, sand, or trick room to benefit specific sweepers such as MSwampert, Excadrill, Kingdra, Tornadus-T, Crawdaunt, Reuniclus, etc. Another difference is that these archetypes will usually have 2 support pokemon instead of 1 - the "primary setter", such as a politoed, which is analagous to the suicide lead of a more vanilla HO team, and a secondary setter, such as a Rain Dance Klefki. The primary setter usually is NOT supposed to die, either, which separates it from a traditional suicide lead, but it is still a primarily support pokemon on an otherwise offensive team. The reason for these differences is that unlike hazards, weather and TR are not permanent and will require being reset at at least 1 point during most matches.

 

[EmpoleonProd]

That would be classified as just vanilla offense. The Smeargle actually pushes the archetype more towards Hyper Offense, not away from it, as HO teams are frequently characterized by a single support pokemon such as Klefki, Azelf, etc whose job is to get up spikes/rocks/sticky web and then incapacitate a single foe with taunt, sleep, Memento, and/or Explosion - this is called a Suicide Lead. It seems like you don't really have a good idea of what semistall really means - to clarify the archetypes listed in the poll:

Spoiler: Long Boring Rant

Offense is a generic term for any team archetype that focuses on defeating the opponent primarily through attacking moves.

Hyper Offense is a category of offense which relies on building momentum early (with the aforementioned Suicide Lead) and simply overpowering the opponent before the opponent can get anything started. This is accomplished with Pokémon with high Speed, high (Sp) Atk, moves like Swords Dance or Shell Smash, priority attacks, etc. Staples of HO include MLopunny, Banded or SD LO Talonflame, Mega Pinsir, etc. It is strong against most other types of offense, as it can simply brute force through the opposing team, as something like a +2 MPinsir can OHKO almost any offensive pokemon, especially is the suicide lead successfully laid entry hazards to break Focus Sash and Sturdy and to weaken pokemon like rotom and Skarmory ever so slightly. HO can fall short against stall teams, as once it loses momentum (such as if a hard counter to a primary sweeper manages to come in), the low HP and defenses characteristic of its team members will typically prevent it from getting the ball rolling again.

Bulky Offense is a category of offense that relies on keeping pace with the opponent and making favorable trades until the opportunity to set up a win condition arises. It typically makes use of wallbreakers such as KyuB, Nidoking, Crawdaunt, Mega Garchomp, etc - Pokémon that can be relied upon to defeat fat stall mons and then be used as sacs to build momentum once their purpose has been served - in addition to bulky setup sweepers such as MScizor, Gyarados (RestTalk or Mega), MCharizardX, etc. It will usually fare well against stall and go even with balance, but may struggle with HO because it simply won't find a chance to set up its main win condition.

VoltTurn Offense is a category of Bulky Offense, and thus a subcategory of offense. It relies on usage of U-Turn and Volt Switch to maintain switch advantage throughout a match while gradually wearing down the foe in preparation for a sweep by a setup sweeper. MScizor, Tornadus-T, Lando-T, Magnezone, Rotom-W, MManectric, Raikou, and more characterize this playstyle. Getting up hazards early and then repeatedly gaining switch advantage forces opponents to take residual damage both from the switch moves themselves and the hazards they switch into when they are forced to respond to a check to their pokemon coming out. Once the team has been sufficiently weakened, a setup sweeper is brought in via VoltTurn on a pokemon that does not threaten it, allowing it to set up and win the game. VoltTurn can be stymied with proper prediction on the opponent's part, such as bringing a ground type in on a volt switch or a Rocky Helmet Rough Skin Garchomp in on a U-turn to make the opponent reconsider their strategy and lose the momentum that is imperative to this playstyle. A huge part of this style is knowing when to VoltTurn and when to make a hard read and click a hard hitting move like Thunderbolt or Hurricane or whatever.

Balance refers to a style in which status effects, hazards, attacking moves, etc all come together to defeat an opponent. Balance teams will typically have walls, wallbreakers, sweepers, support pokemon, and more all on the same team. Balance can theoretically win in any matchup cut can also lose any matchup, and it is VERY easy to do wrong as synergy is of the utmost importance to this archetype. Most new players try to build balance teams as their first outing into competitive play, but in actuality balance is one of the hardest archetypes to build and play properly as the team needs to be flexible enough and the player needs to be smart enough to properly adapt to a number of situations. Proper balance is usually defensive in nature, with offensive pokemon either as a backup plan or more commonly to serve as checks to specific pokemon that would otherwise counter the team's main defensive core. More offensive takes on balance are usually if not always outclassed by pure bulky offense builds.

Semi-Stall refers to a category of balance in which 3 or 4 stall mons and 2 or 3 offense mons are used in two interlocking cores to create a team with 2 distinct modes - a full stall mode and a hyper offense mode - that can be switched between as the situation demands. This playstyle revolves around pivots - both U-Turn/Volt Switch in the most literal sense, but also simply double switching to create pressure, as the bulkiness and reliable recovery that are imperative to half of the team's success allow the player the luxury of repeatedly switching in to threatening opposing pokemon. by pivoting between stall and offense, you can both press your own momentum using HO pokemon or stymie momentum built by the opponent with full-stall mons. Semi-stall is a fundamentally defensive playstyle despite the offensive pressure it is built to include, as the optimal playstyle for semistall usually involves grinding down opponents with your stall mons until they crack and make a mistake, at which point you bring out your big guns to blow that crack wide open.

Stall, also referred to as Full Stall, is a playstyle that uses entirely passive pokemon and relies solely on grinding opposing momentum to a halt instead of building any momentum at all. Hazards, status, and pokemon with good HP, (Sp) Def, and reliable recovery are imperative to this team build, as well as abilities such as Magic Bounce, Magic Guard, and Unaware and moves such as Heal Bell and Wish. These tools allow stall to put a stop to shenanigans such as Taunt and Toxic that might thwart their fun, as well as stop setup sweepers from simply overpowering their defenses. Stall wins by chipping out opponents with weak attacks, status, and hazards, but it also sometimes has a wincon such as CM Mega Sableye, CM Clefable, CM Mega Slowbro, etc if it has room on the team for such a thing (sometimes you just NEED fake out and toxic on your sableye so you run the spde knockoff set instead of the CM set).

Weather and Trick Room aren't really playstyles in and of themselves but rather variations of Hyper Offense in which the suicide lead sets up either rain, sand, or trick room to benefit specific sweepers such as MSwampert, Excadrill, Kingdra, Tornadus-T, Crawdaunt, Reuniclus, etc. Another difference is that these archetypes will usually have 2 support pokemon instead of 1 - the "primary setter", such as a politoed, which is analagous to the suicide lead of a more vanilla HO team, and a secondary setter, such as a Rain Dance Klefki. The primary setter usually is NOT supposed to die, either, which separates it from a traditional suicide lead, but it is still a primarily support pokemon on an otherwise offensive team. The reason for these differences is that unlike hazards, weather and TR are not permanent and will require being reset at at least 1 point during most matches.

Cool, thanks, that's about what I was looking for. So basically any of the offensive categories suit me in that case.