Balance in All Things: A Guide to the Balanced Playstyle by Hukuna, with Input by Destructive Skitty.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Balance in All Things~: A Guide to the Balanced Playstyle.

Written by Hukuna, with the help and input of Destructive Skitty.

So, you have come to learn that which is balance? You have certainly come to the right place.

Here! Sit by the roaring Fire of Destiny with me! I have brewed a lovely tea. Oh sorry, I seem to have lost myself for a moment, where were we? Ah yes... perhaps we shall see if you are a worthy pupil in the Art of Battle simply known as The Balance in All Things. Can you master the fist that strikes with the might of Seven Thousand Mountains and yet, is more gentle than a mid-summer breeze? We shall see, we shall see. Either way, I, The Humble Hukuna-Sensei, shall be your guide on this journey.

Shall we begin~?

What is Balance and Why Play it?

Balance is a play style that incorporates a mixture of defense and offense. Its goal is to be a jack of all trades and be able to switch gears when needed. Against Hyper offense it can switch into defense mode to try and whittle our opponent's team down to get to the point where we can sweep them back, whereas we can take just enough offense to also slam through Stall teams.

Pros:

- We are the Swiss Army knife of teams having a bit of everything for every situation.

​- We have the ability to switch up our strategy on the fly in the middle of battle.

- The Prediction Game is invigorating and part of the skill and learning curve that make this style fun.

- Games have middling length, being shorter than styles that use only a wearing down approach to battle.

Cons:

- No devote focus. We are trying to be a jack of all trades, therefore, we can master none.

- Games are longer than something more Offensively orientated.

- While we have a margin for error, it is -NOT- infinite. After a while mistakes can pile up and bury you.

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Assembling the Squad: Teambuilding

With teambuilding our goal is to cover all the bases we can. We want a little of everything so that we can deal with as many threats as possible. We want as much coverage as possible, things that can pivot or bring our Pokemon in safely, stallbreak etc... everything is important to have a little bit of and this is what makes Balanced able to handle every type of team at least a little.

Composition:

Typical compositions of Balanced Teams:

-1 Hazard Setter/Lead

-1 Hazard Controller

-1 Stallbreaker

-1 Sweeper

-1 Speed

-1 Utility/Flex.

((Keep in mind this is a guideline and will not be adhered to every single time. Think of Pokemon as modules for jobs. When you slot one into the team, you add it as a whole to your team. Its moveset and everything about it fills out its module and what it can do. Some can take up multiple positions freeing up slots for more things like extra sweepers etc, like Skarmory being both Hazard Control and a Hazard Setter. One must be careful when doing this though, as the more roles consolidated onto one 'mon, the more you lose if it goes down.))

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Looking at roles in depth: What do they do for the team, why are they important?

Hazard Setter/Lead:

Hazard Setters and Leads set up our entry hazards and punish our opponents for their switches and whittle down their Pokemon to make it easier to take them out. Stealth Rocks are the most common as they only need one layer to be effective at chipping away at the opponent. Spikes and Toxic Spikes can be used, but have the serious drawbacks of taking much longer to set-up and doing absolutely nothing to Flying/Levitating Pokemon, with Toxic Spikes also doing nothing to Steel types and Poison types. ((Toxic Spikes are also removed from the field by Poison types switching in, which makes using them hard to justify.))

Leads are more rare as they are muuuuuuch more at home on Hyper Offensive teams as they only want to set-up hazards once before going to work; however, they are still an option on Balanced teams. I don't feel they are exactly fit for balance but they can give a more Offense oriented type of team if that is what you are looking for.

Example Hazard Setter:

Tyranitar @ Leftovers

Ability: Sand Stream

EVs: 248 HP/ 8 Atk / 252 SpDef

Careful Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Crunch

- Ice Beam/Stone Edge

- Pursuit/Fire Blast/Earthquake

Tyranitar can set up Stealth Rocks while pressuring opponents with its great coverage moves and can set up it's rocks without slowing down your team. There are a lot of variables in the set above due to the fact that you must tailor T-tar to your team's needs.

Common Hazard Setters:

[stealth Rock]

[spikes/Toxic Spikes]

* Also has access to Stealth Rocks

***

Hazard Controller:

Hazard Controllers let us keep enemy hazards off our side of the field and not let them punish our switches. This is done typically with the moves Rapid Spin and Defog, as they are the two main forms of hazard control. Both have their drawbacks and strong points, which I shall discuss below. There are also other types of hazard controlling that I make note of.

Defoggers:

Defoggers remove hazards by using Defog. Defog is a Flying type move that removes hazards from -BOTH- sides of the field. This includes our own hazards on the enemy side of the field. It also drops the Evasion of the opponent by 1 stage. This is relevant because of the abilities Defiant and Competitive. Both can grab a boost off of Defog, as stat drops make the user's Attack or Special Attack rise 2 stages respectively. If you see them on your opponent's team, keep track of them and be careful about when you use your Defog. Giving out free boosts is very dangerous and we should avoid it. It is easy enough to play around them by just not using Defog; however, we can eek it in there if we are clever. As it is not an attack, Taunt keeps it from working so be wary of enemy Taunt Users.

Defog tends to slot better on teams that use just Stealth Rock and don't mind losing their own rocks, or can easily set them back up without losing a lot of momentum.

Rapid Spinners:

Rapid Spin is the second main form of hazard control. Rapid Spin is 20 BP physical Normal type move that removes hazards from only our side of the field. As such, this move can't be stopped by Taunt; however, it can be stopped by a Ghost Type switching in. ((most relevant Rapid Spinners have a way around this in Knock Off or something similar, but it is still worth mentioning. This is something to be veeery wary about when using a Rapid Spinner with a Choice Item, as your momentum would be entirely ruined - the job would remain unfinished and you would be forced out.)).

Rapid Spin is muuuuuch preferred on a team that uses either of the Spikes as it doesn't remove our hard earned layers of hazards; however, it fits just fine on teams that only use Stealth Rock.

Other Forms of Hazard Control:

These are much less reliable but are forms of it nonetheless. They might lose some reliability but they gain muuuuuuch more benefits in having straight up more utility than Rapid Spin and Defog.

Taunt: Taunt prevents the use of status moves. This move can also be used for Stallbreaking as it stops those 'mons from being able to heal themselves or remove status, forcing them to switch out.

Magic Bounce/Magic Coat Users: These work as a sort of pseudo Hazard Setter and Hazard Controller. It will bounce back any enemy status moves and inflict their effects on your foe. However, as you yourself can't use the move it isn't reliable and the user has to be active on the field. The enemy can play it safe by not using these moves until they remove the user of Magic Bounce/Magic Coat. This however has the upside of your opponent having to more heavily predict what you will do. It adds more load to the mind game in that they need not only worry if you will attack, but if you will switch in a Magic Bounce user to pop their hazards or status afflictions back at them. The pressure of having one of these users can add much more to a team than Defog or Rapid Spin.

Example Hazard Controller:

Latias @ Life Orb

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Defog

- Draco Meteor

- Psyshock

- Healing Wish/Roost

Latias is a Defogger that fits on nearly any team. She has very good bulk and isn't hit hard by too many things. She is wonderful at pressuring foes with her Powerful STAB Draco Meteors and Psyshocks that the opponent needs to think twice about what they will do in response. Latias will surely be around to Defog whenever she gets a chance. The last move if Roost, helps Latias sustain her HP and stay up longer, but Healing Wish is an interesting utility move that should be considered. It allows Latias to act as a one time Cleric/Wish user in a pinch. Using this knocks out our poor Latias, but she gives one of your sweepers or another Pokemon a new lease on life in return. Not only that, but this gives us instant momentum and a chance to set-up if we can as we get a free switch.

Common Hazard Control:

{Defog}

{Rapid Spin}

{Bounce }

Stallbreaker:

The Stallbreaker is the 'mon on our team that does what it says on the tin: Stopping Stall. How it does this can vary, as it can either be something that just forces its way through walls by dealing significant damage or something that uses Taunt ((and moves like it)) to keep the Wall from healing itself and forcing it to switch out. Going into depth on how each does it isn't as important as above, as stallbreaking is very straight forward. Just keep in mind the different ways of doing it, whether they be brute force, Taunt, things like Encore that restrict move usage etc.

Example Stallbreaker:

Gengar @ Black Sludge

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 28 HP / 228 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Shadow Ball

- Sludge Wave

- Will-O-Wisp

- Taunt

Gengar puts a quick stop to all efforts to stall. Not only is he pretty resistant to hazards, ((unaffected by either spikes)) as he is a Poison type he can't even be Badly Poisoned by Toxic. Will-O-Wisp puts the hurt on walls will also having the utility of halving the Attack stat of physical Pokemon. Taunt is the bread and butter of the set, and allows Gengar to stop all of the opponents non-attacking moves usually long enough to destroy that Pokemon, or to at the very least force it to switch out. Shadow Ball and Sludge Wave are stab moves that allow him to hit hard ((especially the many Fairy Type stall mons.)).

Common Stallbreakers:

Sweeper:

The Sweeper ((or Janitor as I call it sometimes.)) is our 'mon who will sweep away the enemy team once it is weakened. It can either do this by brute force, or by using set-up moves. We send these fellows out after their counters have been killed or whittled down enough they can take them out on their own.

Brute Force/Choice:

Choice Sweepers use things like the Choice Specs or Choice Band ((or even the Choice Scarf at times.)) to forgo set-up, and be strong right out of the gate. These have some overlap with Stallbreakers. The downfall of Choice Items is that they lock you into a single move unless you switch, making it so your opponent can get free turns if you are not careful. This is why these Choice items tend to be better served in one of the other roles, though they can be just as valid on a dedicated sweeper.

Some sets will opt for Life Orb instead. This Item allows the switching of moves at the cost of recoil one will take in return for the damage. ((Of note is the interaction between Sheer Force and Life Orb. Sheer Force removes the recoil from any move it boosts. Therefore, Sheer Force users are more likely to use Life Orb, as they get not only a raw boost to power from Sheer Force, but they get even more of one for free from the Life Orb. This increases the Base Power hugely, and that is without STAB.))

As this is very similar to the brute force variant of the stallbreaker role ((some tend to be stallbreakers early on, and later shift into Sweepers)), I won't provide any examples below.

Setup Sweeper:

Setup Sweepers are usually weaker at the outset, but gain massive power if they can get some boosts under their belts. Using moves such as Calm Mind, Bulk Up, Tail Glow, Swords Dance etc.... they improve their stats to crush anything that comes in.

Example Sweeper:

Manaphy @ Leftovers

Ability: Hydration

EVs: 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe

Timid Nature

- Tail Glow

- Surf/Scald

- Ice Beam/Rain Dance

- Energy Ball/Psychic

((use psychic if Rain Dance is used, otherwise you will be horribly walled by Mega Venu.))

Manaphy is a great example of a set-up sweeper especially when running both Tail Glow and Rain Dance. Once its big counters are gone, Mana is free to set-up a Tail Glow and just wreck house. Rain Dance is extra icing on the cake if you can afford it, as it doesn't allow the enemy to use status on you. It makes it so Toxic can't put a clock on our little prince of the sea.

Common Sweepers OU:

Speed:

This role is very straight forward. This 'mon goes fast... Super fast. There are 3 main ways to achieve this; raw base stats, itemization ((Choice Scarf)), or powerful priority. The main goals of these members consists of a few different things and it can change considering on the flow of a match. Our first goal is to clean up after either one of two conditions are filled: our Speed user's main checks/counters are gone or after our sweeper has significantly weakened the enemy team. The second goal is to revenge kill 'mons that have be weakened by another teammate. Lastly an option that these Speed 'mons can go for is momentum grabbing with use of the moves Volt Switch, U-turn, and Baton Pass. ((VS and U-Turn also deal chip damage to our foe.))

This role can also be used as a Sweeper/Breaker early on, however, we must be careful to preserve it for later. If we don't, we may have nothing to properly deal with faster threats of our opponents later in the battle.

Example Priority User:

Talonflame @ Choice Band

Ability: Gale Wings

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Brave Bird

- Flare Blitz

- U-turn

- Filler

Rule 1 of Talonflame: Click Brave Bird.

Rule 2 of Talonflame: Seriously... click Brave Bird

Anyway in all seriousness, Talonflame is probably the easiest to point out priority user of all. While I may not think he is the best abuser of priority, he certainly is the easiest to use and the easiest to illustrate my point with. With Gale Wings, Brave Bird moves up a priority bracket, allowing it to strike first in most situations, and a 120 Base Power STAB is nothing to laugh at. Even 'mons that resist Flying will take a decent chuck from BB Gale Wings Brave Bird also doesn't have the drawback of Sucker Punch in that it is easy to trick Sucker Punch by using a status move etc... setup sweepers need to be careful as they know they will take a big chunk of priority damage.

Example Choice Scarfer:

Ditto @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Imposter

EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD

Relaxed Nature

- Transform

Ditto? Yes... Ditto. Why Ditto? Ditto, while maybe not a common choice, is certainly the epitome of what this role is. Ditto is the ultimate guy for stopping setup sweepers dead in their tracks. Oh, what lovely boosts you have there. THEY'RE MINE NOW TOO BUDDY!!! Ditto not only copies the foe's stats ((barring its HP stat)) and movepool ((only keeps 5 PP per move)), but it also steals its boosts and with Choice Scarf always outspeeds the one it copied. ((talk about an identity crisis yeesh.)). The only exception to this is if the enemy is holding a Choice Scarf as well, as it will tie Ditto in speed. So, unless you don't mind the coin flip, be careful when switching Ditto into another Scarf user. Ditto embodies what this role is meant to do and is probably the only example I feel would drive home just exactly what this team member is for.

Common Examples in OU:

{Priority}

{Choice Scarfers}

Utility/Flex Slot:

The name of this slot is horribly vague, however what it is for is easy to explain. This is pretty much our free slot and many, many things can be done with it. Typical things like Clerics/Wish Support can go here, but any amount and kind of utility can be placed in this slot. Is there a move that would be really nice to have? It can go here. Need just that last mon to shore up your defenses? It goes here. This is the thing we tack on, the glue to hold together the 'mons we have already have. Therefore, there is nothing to mention about this slot as it changes with the team's needs. If you have a 'mon that fulfills two or more roles above, any slot that is that is left turn into one of these slots. Keep in mind, the more you consolidate roles onto a single Pokemon, the more your team loses when that singular Pokemon is removed from play, so be very careful when doing this and when deciding if the benefits outweigh the risks.

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Battling, and The Balance in all Things: The Mindset in Action

Now that we have built our team... Well, NOW WE FIGHT!!! But, what does one do in the heat of battle? Who do we send out first? What are our goals for the match?

Overview:

Step 1: Set your hazards and control enemy hazards.

Step 2: Start the Prediction Game

Step 3: ??????

Step 4: Profit/Win all the games

In-depth Analysis:

Setting Your Hazards and Controlling Your Foes:

This is the most important step and our biggest goal. With hazards up we punish every time the opponent is forced to switch. Some hazards even check some Pokemon making them fear switching in as they will lose a giant chunk of their health. Hazards help us deal damage to the checks and counters for our sweepers on the enemy team, and they can secure kills that otherwise we wouldn't get. This is similar to what Hyper Offense is trying to do with their hazards; however, we have more time and room to reset our hazards unlike them due to being a bit more defensively minded. Less pressure is put on us if we use Defog as our Hazard Setter can reset as many times as long as it remains up and at 'em.

We also want to keep enemy hazards off our side of the field. We don't want them to punish us for our switches so we need to keep our side of the field clean. This is where our Hazard Controller comes into play. No matter which flavour we have they should keep things off our side of the field and make our switches less detrimental than our opponents.

The Prediction Game:

Once we have control of the hazards we can begin trying to predict our opponents moves. With good plays we can wrest momentum from our foe and clobber them with it. We either want to try and predict what move our foe will attack with and switch in our Pokemon to resist it, or if we have the momentum we want to try and use the move to hit what we plan on the enemy sending in to resist it. Be careful not to overpredict though, it is as proportionally detrimental to us as getting a good prediction is beneficial.

Against Hyper Offense we are looking more to predict what moves they will be using and taking resisted hits. Hopefully, we can then hit back hard and knock over their team members.

Against other Balance we are trying to wrest the momentum from their control and put them on the back foot. We want them to have to predict to get back in the game and put them in the place to mess up and make mistakes.

Against Stall, we need to make sure our Stallbreakers get out safely and punch out holes in our foe's team.

That said, the above is just the general mentality between team archetypes. We will have to use a little of each philosophy against every type of team. Sometimes we must be the aggressor against Hyper Offense. Sometimes we need to outstall the Stall. A lot of the prediction game is very contextual and many games will not have the same game plan. This is what makes Balance challenging and rewarding to play. It is a very active style that takes a lot of careful prediction and smart play.

??????:

You probably didn't think this was an actual step... you would be wrong.. CAUSE IT IS!!!

Why isn't this section named however? Well simple, this is miscellaneous stuff that doesn't fit under the other 2 steps and is not just battling related but also ties into teambuilding philosophy. These are good things to keep in mind while initially building the team, however these things come much more apparent when actually using the team. Seeing how the team performs in battle can really help make those last few adjustments. Remember, a good player evolves their team and continues working on it even after it is "complete". Always be tweaking and fine-tuning for the days ahead and shoring up any leaks and holes you find. Here is a few things to look for while doing these practices.

- Alternate ways to preserve your Hazard Controller. Do your defensive 'mons cover the weaknesses your Hazard Controller has? Does your Hazard Controller have it's own recovery in Roost/Recover/a similar move? Do you need to have a Cleric/Wish Passer to keep it healthy? ((in health and in status.))

- Try and have as many tools as possible. We need to try and have an answer for annnnnything prominent that is in the meta. Like it would be smart to have a Stallbreaker or something to deal with walls ((such as a Taunt user etc...)). Without a Stallbreaker, we may have trouble with common walls such as Clefable and Chansey.

- There will be times when we don't have a perfect answer, but a half-assed answer is better than no answers at all. Keep this in mind while teambuilding and when testing your team. There will inevitably be something you don't exactly have a counter for. These things we have to take a more careful approach to removing, but through good play we should be able to defeat them.

- Have as many resistances and immunities as possible. This way we have something to switch into as many type of attacks as possible. Most important against Hyper Offense to keep them from running through our team, but important in all match-ups. NEVER have more than two weaknesses to the same type on a team unless it is absolutely necessary. ((and 9.9 times out of 10 it won't be, so I don't suggest ever breaking this rule of thumb unless you have a game-plan in mind for it.)).

- Small teambuilding note: specially based Sweepers/Stallbreakers that only use special moves should have 0-1 Atk IVs. This minimizes the damage of hitting yourself in confusion if it does indeed happen, and minimizes the amount of damage Foul Play will deal to you. Confusion is a rather rare status to see, but it could save you one day. Foul Play is a bigger concern as there are a few relevant users of the move ((such as Mandibuzz.)), and it can deal some nasty damage as the enemy steals your attack stat to harm you. As such, if we have no need to use any physical moves, Atk IVs should be set to 0 on Special sweepers ((a 1 Atk IV can be used in the case of certain Hidden Powers)).

- The Golden Rule of Balanced Teams. DON'T TAKE ANY UNNECESSARY RISK!!! I cannot stress this enough. Unless you must take a risk to come back DON'T EVER DO IT. We must play as safely as possible. Early game you should always take the safest play. This way, we can learn what kind of player our opponent is. Use the move that pressures the opponent. ((If Keldeo is on the field against a Landorus-T early we click either Hydro Pump or Icy Wind, the moves that are pressuring it out. IF our opponent leaves it in, it dies, but we see what they will switch to take the move IF they do in fact switch out. This tips us off to the kind of player our opponent is. If they left in Lando they are a risk taker and more likely to do silly things a.k.a not following the golden rule of balance or they are a HO player and don't mind sacrificing a 'mon to bring out another Sweeper. If they switch out we know they most likely are playing balance like us. This lets us not only feel safer in trying to predict what they will send out to absorb blows, it lets us know what they will send out to absorb this one in particular. This allows us to pull a double switch or know which coverage move to throw out at them the next time we get this pressure back on them.)). However, this does not mean make 0 risky plays at all. There is a difference between unnecessary risk and risk. If we can afford the risk, go for it. If you are far ahead of your opponent in the match, don't make risky moves. If those risks don't pay off, you allow them to catch up. There is no reason to allow them the chance to catch up cause it just gets them back in the game, and makes it harder for us to keep our lead over them. If the game is more even/you are behind, risks are more appropriate. If we make a good play, we can catch up to our opponent and close the gap with them or if we are even, get ahead of them. So in closing, make good plays but never take a risk that you don't need to.

-Try to start making a gameplan at the early game. Take some time to figure what your opponents plan is and how you will have to react to it. Now, from just a team-preview it can be tough to 100% decide on the plan for the game. But, no need to worry. Balance has the luxury to change our plan on the fly. Once we have gathered more information on our opponents team we can make more informed decisions on our gameplan. But, why start getting a plan at the beginning of the match? It is best to realize that we need a team member before we lose them. If we waited to start the planning until mid or late game, we might lose a member we didn't even know was vital. So, we need to stay on top of our plans and evolve them as we learn what our opponent wants to do.

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Example Teams to Crush Our Foes: Provided by Destructive Skitty

Team 1:

Venusaur @ Venusaurite

Ability: Chlorophyll

EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe

Bold Nature

- Giga Drain

- Leech Seed

- Synthesis

- Hidden Power [Fire]

Chansey @ Eviolite

Ability: Natural Cure

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD

Bold Nature

- Soft-Boiled

- Heal Bell

- Thunder Wave

- Seismic Toss

Keldeo @ Leftovers

Ability: Justified

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Calm Mind

- Hydro Pump

- Secret Sword

- Hidden Power [ice]

Heatran @ Air Balloon

Ability: Flash Fire

EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe

Calm Nature

- Fire Blast

- Stealth Rock

- Taunt

- Toxic

Bisharp @ Leftovers

Ability: Defiant

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Knock Off

- Sucker Punch

- Swords Dance

- Pursuit

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet

Ability: Sturdy

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

Impish Nature

- Roost

- Whirlwind

- Brave Bird

- Spikes

Team 2:

Gengar (M) @ Black Sludge

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 28 HP / 228 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Substitute

- Hex

- Will-O-Wisp

- Sludge Wave

Landorus (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Intimidate

EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Earthquake

- Stone Edge

- U-turn

- Knock Off

Skarmory (F) @ Leftovers

Ability: Sturdy

EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD

Impish Nature

- Roost

- Defog

- Brave Bird

- Stealth Rock

Slowbro (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 28 SpD

Bold Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Scald

- Psychic

- Thunder Wave

- Slack Off

Clefable (F) @ Leftovers

Ability: Magic Guard

EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD

Calm Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Calm Mind

- Moonblast

- Soft-Boiled

- Flamethrower

Altaria @ Altarianite

Ability: Natural Cure

EVs: 64 HP / 192 Atk / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Dragon Dance

- Facade

- Earthquake

- Roost

Team 3 (Credit to moony):

Cobalion @ Leftovers

Ability: Justified

EVs: 140 HP / 112 Atk / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Close Combat

- Iron Head

- Volt Switch

Latias-Mega (F) @ Latiasite

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 232 HP / 100 Def / 176 Spe

Bold Nature

- Substitute

- Calm Mind

- Stored Power

- Roost

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Intimidate

EVs: 252 Atk / 32 SpD / 224 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Earthquake

- Stone Edge

- U-turn

- Explosion

Clefable @ Leftovers

Ability: Unaware

EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA

Bold Nature

- Calm Mind

- Wish

- Moonblast

- Protect

Starmie @ Leftovers

Ability: Natural Cure

EVs: 248 HP / 16 SpD / 244 Spe

Timid Nature

- Scald

- Reflect Type

- Recover

- Rapid Spin

Klefki @ Leftovers

Ability: Prankster

EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD

Careful Nature

- Thunder Wave

- Toxic

- Spikes

- Play Rough

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Hukuna Sensei's Teams:

These are a few of my personal teams so... they might be a little weird as I typically name teams that I use a bit. Feel free to use them, but I ask you tell me how you like them. I would really like to know XD.

Team 1: I AM NOT A KROOK!!!

Nixon (Krookodile) (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Intimidate

EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def

Impish Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Earthquake

- Knock Off

- Taunt

Cynder (Talonflame) (F) @ Leftovers

Ability: Gale Wings

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD

Careful Nature

- Bulk Up

- Brave Bird

- Roost

- Will-O-Wisp

Kenmore (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

Bold Nature

- Volt Switch

- Hydro Pump

- Will-O-Wisp

- Pain Split

Red Queen (Latias) @ Life Orb

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Draco Meteor

- Psyshock

- Roost

- Defog

Arnold (Metagross) @ Metagrossite

Ability: Clear Body

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Meteor Mash

- Zen Headbutt

- Ice Punch

- Earthquake

Echo (Sylveon) (F) @ Choice Specs

Ability: Pixilate

EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD

Modest Nature

- Hyper Voice

- Baton Pass

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Shadow Ball

Team 2: Full Fulcrum ((this was originally made by Skitty with a few tweaks by me.))

Charles (Charizard) (M) @ Charizardite Y

Ability: Blaze

EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe

Timid Nature

- Fire Blast

- Solar Beam

- Focus Blast

- Roost

Keldeo @ Life Orb

Ability: Justified

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Scald

- Hydro Pump

- Icy Wind

- Secret Sword

Bertha (Tyranitar) (F) @ Chople Berry

Ability: Sand Stream

EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD

Careful Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Crunch

- Pursuit

- Stone Edge

Lord Snuggles (Slowbro) (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD

Bold Nature

- Scald

- Foul Play

- Thunder Wave

- Slack Off

Starscream (Latios) (M) @ Life Orb

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Draco Meteor

- Psyshock

- Roost

- Defog

Clarice (Breloom) (F) @ Life Orb

Ability: Technician

Shiny: Yes

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Spore

- Bullet Seed

- Swords Dance

- Mach Punch

More in the future hopefully.

Conclusion

Balance is a style that tries to be an answer to everything it can all at once. The higher reliance on prediction makes Balance a hard playstyle to get the hang of for newer players; however it makes it very rewarding for those that have the skill to pull it off. It is good for those that like to think on the fly or just shift gears and switch your strategy on the fly to deal with problems. Each battle is like a puzzle, trying to figure out your opponent before they figure you out. Thank you for reading along, if you have any feedback for the guide feel free to include it below or PM me. This has been Hukuna Sensei, I wish you luck in your upcoming battles and hope you see the victories everyone wants. May the RNG ever be in your favor, may your battles be swift and decisive, may your plays be those of the gods, may Stall not annoy you so much that you lose, and FIGHT MORE BATTLES!!! Hukuna Sensei out~

[Jelly]

im surprised that the #1 stallbreaker, giscor, is not included in your list.

[Kamina]

im surprised that the #1 stallbreaker, giscor, is not included in your list.

Gliscor is not the #1 stall breaker (counter/whirlwind skarm beats/checks all of its sets), that would probably go to gothitelle (if played correctly, it can easily trap and kill core members). I think they were just listing examples since it would be near impossible to to list every single stall breaker out there (pretty much any pokemon with taunt could be classified as a stall breaker).

[Dark Desire]

those sample teams aren't even balance :[

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

They are more geared towards Offense, however, they are in fact still Balanced teams. They are most certainly not Bulky Offense and are not Hyper Offense either, this makes them Balanced Teams tailored to be more aggressive. They forgo more walls/Utility in bringing more offensive tools. AS you see, they run more aggressive defoggers in the Lati Twins and use Defensive Lando-T fro Hazard Setting. As I said in the teambuilding section Balanced Temas are very much able to be Tailored. THe mons you pick influence the over all playstyle. While these certainly look veeeeery offensive, they can buckle down and be defensive if they must.

I will be including some of my teams at some point, however I am still testing them and ironing out the burps. Mine will probably be more traditional Balance, running more conservative teams that are more tailored to be a middle ground.

Also Jelly... eveeeeeeeeeeeeeery mon and its brother can be a stallbreaker to a degree. I just feel Glisour fills other roles a bit better than that. ((mostly I personally feel it is better suited in stall teams, but that is me XD.))

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Hope people don't mind the DP, however this is worth rebumping the thread for.

EDIT LOG 1: 2/8/2015

-readability and QoL changes. Mostly fixing my terrible grammar, spelling, and rambling. Most of the role explanations were rewritten to flow better along with other general parts of the guide. Hopefully, future readers and those that have read through it already, have an easier time traversing the guide and it is easier to understand.

-Sample Team Changes: Teams 1 and 2 were replaced with two entirely new teams in Skits Team section. They were replaced with things more traditionally seen as Balanced Teams.

-Added a section for my own Teams, uploaded two currently. Hopefully, will be updating more in the future as I work on them and punch them out in my own time. ((currently working on a few teams and blocking them out))

I will continue work on this thread to make sure it is up to snuff. I will hopefully get to roll out some more teams of my own as well, but most are am in the middle of testing, it will be a bit before I get any new ones up. Thank you fro the feedback so far everyone. It has been very helpful. Hukuna Sensei out~

[NickCrash]

Nice guide there Huk!

Balance is quite tricky to play at times, as you really have to think about so many things simultaneously whilst team-building and battling. As it's a style that doesn't specialize in a certain aspect, or sometimes tries to specialize in both attack and defense (seemingly having little connection between the offensive and the defensive pokemon, but it can happen if you put much effort into teambuilding), so cudos for making a complete guide.

I'd just like to pinpoint some things, as I like playing balanced.

First of all, about the 0IVs. I think you should include Foul Play, as it is more common than confusion hax.

If you are not running a specific hidden power (which would force you to get it to 1 or drop another stat by 1 point), it's stupid not to put 0 Atk IVs (it's like using Gyro ball without 0 Spe IVs, or Heavy Slam, while being on a diet)

You can't have something for every single threat out there, as the current meta helps build even the strangest of teams (thus creating new archetypes), but with a nice team work among the speed-stallbreaker-utility you can break a team if you play your cards correctly. Yes, you'll have to do a lot of predictions, and one can only cope as much, so don't bet on outplaying your opponent every single turn. Even if you don't have everything for each individual threat, you can adjust your team to stop the other archetypes.

Balanced teams tend to be orientated either towards defense, having several stall elements (but not actually being stall themselves), or offensively orientated, having bulky members that fit more than one role, and others that could also play in Hyper Offense. The latter are usually the ones you use for speed or setup power, like Keldeo or scarfLandoT. Usually the ones caring about Hazards, either to put them on the field or to remove them, are the ones to play the defensive role in the team, without this being absolute, as we've seen Latios, Excadrill and Charizard do the same (even though I wouldn't recommend the last one). So, you can use the rest of the team to have 1 pure Stallbreaker, 1 utility stallbreaker (eg trick Gothitelle), 1 speed/sweeper and 1 bulky sweeper, to present an example.

Your members should have quite some utility (apart from the one whose role is just being glue or trying to cripple main opponents) in order to stop the foe's plans and make your game. As Balance bases a big part on prediction, you want to feel in control most of the time. That way, you can stop HO, by setting up on a pokemon that cannot really touch you (eg Latios after Draco Meteor has to die or switch as Volcarona sets up a quiver dance), and you can stop a stall team by tricking a choice item, using a taunt or simply forcing your way through their defenses. Even if you don't really need a lead, it's good to have pokemon that can act as a scout if need be (usually a volt-turn user) so that you can see what the opponent wants to do, perhaps sponge a hit, and switch to another pokemon more suitable to deal with said threat, without taking damage and maintaining your momentum. That could be crucial when playing against other balance teams.

As weaknesses go, it's true what Hukuna said about not having too many of the same kind. At least for starters make this a rule of thumb not to create sweep opportunities. However, if you get to the point of balance, you can sometimes (that 0.1/10 mentioned above) break this rule, like Skitty's first team, which has a weakness to physical fighting attacks in 3 of her pokemon. Most probably a way to lure attackers you want exterminated, you can switch your Skarmory or M-Venu to resist those hits you know are coming, set up hazards or find an opportunity to do other stuff you might need to turn the tables. I also have a team in which 3 pokemon have rock weakness (are you mad man? don't you think of SR?), however it can be bypassed if you have a really good physical tank, that can take most rock moves, defog or rapid spin and put it's own rocks up when the opponent switches in frustration or die just trying to buy time or out-play in terms of prediction.

Finally, the members of a balanced team had better be pokemon with traditionally many uses (eg rotom, staraptor, scizor, jirachi) and can be taken from the OU tier or lower tiers. As you're looking for a jack of all trades, lower tiers should not concern you, because pokemon with less viability in other types of teams could be "just the thing you need" in balance, so don't limit your options.

You should be able to see to the endgame by the time the first turns are over. That's when most risks are taken.

Sorry for the long post.

[slant]

first off, nice guide! I wanted to write a balance guide of my own but I was really dragging my feet cause I couldn't figure out what to say in it. this articulates my thoughts a lot better than I could have so props on a wellwritten guide.

One thing I want to point out is that balance teams have so many ways to attack the opponent that it is tough to figure out exactly what you want to do in the early game or team preview. However it's still a good idea to try, i.e. if your only shot at winning involves outstalling your opponent, it would be better to figure that out early game rather than lategame when you may have already thrown away that one crucial pokemon that you needed earlier. On the flip side of this, another great thing about the flexibility of balance is that you can create backup plans. If your first plan doesn't work, you aren't screwed (compared to some other styles which are just one trick ponies).

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

EDIT LOG: 2/10/2015 Feb. 10th, 2015

-Rework to the Speed section to make it more clear and concise.

-Minor clarity reworks to the ?????? section and to the Utility/Flex slot. ((I felt I was over killing the don;t take risks parts, there are times when risks are the correct plays, and there is a big difference between Risk, and Unnecessary Risk. The Utility Section was badly worded in places and so I fixed the areas that were.))

[Mindbreaker]

Yeay finally find some interesting topic..

Since i alway lose