There is a massive amount of Pokémon in any of their given games, with over 400 included in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. With such a huge roster of competitively viable creatures, balancing competitive play is a nigh impossible task. As a result, some competitive players will turn to Smogon, the community’s premier single-battle competitive format.
What is Smogon? Smogon itself is a website all about competitive Pokémon, where players can discuss optimal builds and the metagame in a centralized location. Smogon may be best known nowadays for Pokémon Showdown, a battle simulator where you can easily create Pokémon that simulate competitive battles instead of doing so through the official games.
Related: The 10 most popular Pokémon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
What is OU in competitive Pokémon?
The Smogon format works by sorting out Pokémon into different tiers based on their strength. The strength is determined by “usage rates.” At the start of every new generation, all Pokémon are able to be used. Those who are deemed too strong will be banned to a higher “Uber” tier, while any Pokémon who are not used will fall to a lower tier.
OU stands for Overused and is the default tier in Smogon. Generally, Pokémon in this tier are deemed as powerful. In Pokémon Showdown, you can battle in these specific tiers, which only allow you to use the Pokémon that are allowed in the tier. In OU, Pokémon in the “Uber” tier cannot be used.
When Pokémon are not used enough and drop in usage rates, they will fall to a below tier known as UU, standing for Underused. Here, Pokémon in OU and Uber cannot be used. From UU, there are also the tiers RU, NU, PU, LC (for baby or first-stage Pokémon), and Untiered (the worst Pokémon of the bunch.)
If you’re interested in jumping into the competitive scene of Pokémon in Smogon, head to the Pokémon Showdown website.
