[Balanced Hackmons] Balanced Hackmons Tiering Policy

Balanced Hackmons Tiering Policy - A Banning Philosophy for a Broken Metagame

1. A higher standard for what should be banned.
Since Balanced Hackmons (abbreviated as BH) is a meta where you can have nearly any moves and abilities on nearly any form of Pokémon, this is a tier where things believed to be 'broken' (in the sense of a mainstream tier) stay and check each other. Within this broken metagame, the tiering process should keep BH enjoyable and playable. Therefore, BH should have the ability to ban unhealthy elements, just like any other tier, although with a higher standard of what is ban worthy: BH will not ban to preserve metagame balance the same way that a tier like OU would.

A) The default mindset of Balanced Hackmons is inclusion, and therefore BH will only make bans to preserve an enjoyable and playable competitive metagame. BH will not ban a great threat just to make other less threatening elements viable.

B) An over-centralization argument is only legitimate when it's very unlikely to win without the ban-worthy element, or checks and counters for a ban-worthy element are very unreliable or otherwise unviable so that the player is forced to either prepare for the ban-worthy element uniquely or the rest of the metagame. The fact that a certain element (e.g. Imposter Chansey, Arceus-Water) can easily find a place on every team and function very well doesn’t make it ban worthy directly.

C) Dictating/Requiring usage is not a legitimate argument by itself. Arceus-Water overshadowing Suicune, Arceus-Steel overshadowing Registeel, Imposter Chansey having over 50% usage, and the alike are not grounds for banning any of the aforementioned.

D) Probability management is part of the game, and BH will not limit or alter its in-game mechanics arbitrarily. However, BH will ban a specific element that removes player agency(e.g. OHKO moves, Innards Out, Comatose + Sleep Talk + Pseudo-haze), or a viable element that depends on nothing but RNG (e.g. Evasion, Moody, Swagger, Chatter).

2. Locating the exact ban-worthy element to deal the least overall damage/impact.
The highlighted mechanics of Hackmons granted a myriad of possible combinations: nearly any move, ability, and any form of Pokémon can be used. Therefore, when removing a ban-worthy element from the metagame, BH will first question what is the exact ban-worthy element, and therefore minimize the collateral damage:

Is the Pokémon (ban worthy with no specific ability or moveset), the move (ban worthy with many Pokémon or abilities), the ability (ban worthy with many Pokémon or moves), or the strategy or combination (a unique combination that every individual element is not ban worthy, but when put together is ban worthy) the ban-worthy element?

A) The typing and base stats are the major element of a Pokémon ban, and the ban-worthy element must be unique to the typing and base stats, such as when the typing offers it great offensive STAB moves, good defensive utility, or a good combination with a certain ability so that it is not the STAB moves or the ability but the Pokémon itself that is the element in question. A Pokémon ban can also be the measure when the stats and typing of a Pokémon grant it a great versatility and viability in many different roles and sets so that it can lure in and take care of its checks and counters with the right set. (e.g Primal Groudon)

B) When an ability, move, or item alone leads to a Pokémon having little to no checks or counters, removing player agency, or demanding otherwise unviable checks, it will be subject to suspect testing or ban. This element should not depend on the stats, the typing, or other elements of the Pokémon.

Some past examples are given as the following:
Ability: Wonder Guard, Pure / Huge Power, Parental Bond, Water Bubble, Shadow Tag / Arena Trap
Move: OHKO moves, Chatter, Swagger, Crystal-Free Z-moves
Item: None yet.

C) When a unique combination of Pokémon, move, ability, etc exists such that every individual element is not ban worthy, but when put together is ban worthy, we consider a complex ban. This strategy has to be effective on several Pokémon that share a certain trait when teamed with the moves and abilities in question.

A strategy depending on a combination as such will be subject to suspect testing or ban when it has either no checks, demands otherwise unviable checks, or removes player agency.
e.g. The combination of Comatose + Sleep Talk + Pseudo-haze (removes player agency).


When a certain element can be spammed to overwhelm the common checks and counters, and remain under control when not spammed, BH will limit the number of it by clauses.

e.g. Ability Clause (No more than two Pokémon with the same ability per team); -ate Clause in Gen 6 (No more than one Pokémon with the three -ate abilities per team).

Note: We do accept complex bans, but not overly complex ones, such as limiting a specific Pokémon from having a specific move, item, or ability. We banned Primal Groudon rather than banning Tinted Lens, Stakeout, or V-create on it.

D) Due to the special mechanics of BH, Pokémon may start in their special forms to enter the game. Therefore, if a certain element (Pokémon or ability mostly) is banned, the check for such a ban will be implemented on the Pokémon entering the game. A Pokémon changing form to obtain a banned ability or a Pokémon changing to a banned form will be discussed separately, and will be decided by the community on a case-by-case basis.



3. The relationship with in-game mechanics.
A) Unless the process of hacking is not possible by reproducing it in game, BH will stick to cartridge mechanics. With Smeargle + Skill Swap, most mechanics can be reproduced in game and the simulator will stick to what it is in game. There are currently bugs to be fixed pertaining to this, but policy-wise, we will stick to what is in game once the developing team fixes them.

B) However, when it comes to things not possibly reproduced in game or varying in different situations, the result will be decided by the BH player base.

Arceus Forms:
According to a test result of using real hacking, an Arceus cannot transform to a type other than Normal without the ability Multitype and a corresponding plate or Z-Crystal. However, the Multitype ability cannot be swapped out or altered without using real hacking to edit the file of the game. As the community decided in Generation 6, we would like to keep every type of Arceus available with any allowed ability in Balanced Hackmons, to offer the chance for the players to utilize them effectively. In this generation, this decision is kept for now and will remain by default unless demanded by the community to change it the other way. (Bring this up in general discussion thread if you want this to be changed, and if enough players would like to revisit this, a vote will be held.)

Fully EVed:
According to the in-game test result, ORAS WiFi battle has a check of the EVs to be strictly 510 (this is removed in Generation 7 and was not present before ORAS). However, as fully EVed Pokémon are possible in normal battles in-game, and the community decided to keep it so, ORAS BH remained fully EVed with 252 EV possible in every stat. (Post in past generation discussion forum if you want this to be changed, and if enough players would like to revisit this, a vote will be held.)

Thanks for the reading, and happy suspect posting.