Wondering what people mean when they say they're looking for a RBHA, chained Pokémon? This page contains information about commonly used terms and phrases. Trading communities commonly use unique terminology and abbreviations when communicating with each other. This page will cover everything you need to know!
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Legitimate |
A Pokémon that has been generated as intended by the game itself, with no cheat codes or third party edits. Legitimate Pokémon are permitted for trading in the Wi-Fi room. |
| Legal |
A Pokémon that is possible to obtain by a player in game, regardless of how statistically unlikely it may be. A legal Pokémon is not always legitimate, but a legitimate Pokémon is always legal. Legal, hacked Pokémon are banned from trading in the Wi-Fi room. |
| Illegal/Hacked |
A Pokémon that is impossible to achieve by a player in game, meaning cheat codes or third party edits were used to achieve a result. Illegal/Hacked Pokémon are banned from trading in the Wi-Fi room. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Flawless IVs |
Refers to a Pokémon with ideal IVs for competitive battles, usually 4-6 Perfect 31 IVs. IVs of 0, 1 and 30 are considered flawless if in the correct place. You can find more information on our definition of "flawless" on the proof guidelines page. |
| Rare Pokeballs |
Specific Poké Ball types that are limited in quanitity through general gameplay. Rare Poké Balls are not sold in Poké Marts. Examples Include: Beast, Dream, Fast, Friend, Heavy, Level, Love, Lure, Moon, Safari & Sport Balls. |
| Battle Ready |
Refers to a Pokémon that is ready for competitive battle. Battle Ready Pokémon have the correct level, IVs, EVs, nature, and moveset for competitive battling. Common Abbreviations: BR, Competitive |
| Breedable & Breedject |
Any Pokémon that can be bred to produce eggs. The term "Breedject" is commonly used to describe a breedable Pokémon that typically has high IVs and/or egg moves. Our room's definition of Breedject: Any non-Shiny, non-BRd bred mon regardless of IVs or nature |
| Brilliant Aura |
In the overworld of Sword & Shield, some Pokémon have a yellow-golden aura surrounding them. This is a Brilliant Aura Pokémon. Catching them gives you Watts, and Brilliant Aura Pokémon have guaranteed 2 IVs alongside an
Egg Move. Common Abbreviations: BA |
| Chaining |
Chaining is a type of Wild Encounter method present in most recent games, which usually enables the player to hunt high IV Pokémon with increased shiny odds from wild encounters. Examples Include: Poké Radar, Dex Nav, and SOS battles. |
| Egg Moves |
Moves that are passed onto offspring when a Pokémon is bred which cannot usually be learned through level-up, or TRs/TMs. Common Abbreviations: EM, EMs |
| Effort Values |
Effort Values increase the base stats of your Pokémon and are fundemental to building a strong competitive team. You can increase the EVs of your Pokémon by feeding them vitamins, or battling and defeating Pokémon of a
specific species. Common Abbreviations: EV, EVs |
| Effort Levels |
Effort Levels increase the base stats of your Pokémon in Legends: Arceus and are fundemental to making your Pokémon stronger! You can increase the Effort Levels of your Pokémon by feeding them Grit, which you can obtain
by releasing any unwanted Pokémon at the pasture. Common Abbreviations: EL, ELs |
| Hidden Ability |
Hidden Ability was introduced in Gen 5, it is an extra granted ability for the vast majority of Pokémon and generally has an extra requirement to obtaining Hidden Ability on a Pokémon in the wild. Common Abbreviations: HA |
| Hidden Power |
Hidden Power is a move that is present in Gen 3-7, the tpying of this move is dependent on the IVs of the Pokémon using it. Hidden Power is useful for giving a Pokémon a certain type of move it could not usually obtain, such
as Hidden Power Ice on a Jolteon. Common Abbreviations: HP |
| Hyper Trained |
In Gen 7 & 8, Hyper Training allows you to boost a Pokémon's IVs using bottle caps. A Hyper Trained IV behaves like it is 31 in battle, but breeding still uses the base IV. This allows Pokémon to have Hidden Powers without
losing power by having imperfect IVs. Common Abbreviations: HT, HTed |
| Imperfect | Describes a Pokémon with any trait that makes it unsuitable for competitive use. |
| Individual Values |
These are hidden numbers that range from 0 to 31 and affect a Pokémon's stats. Every stat has an IV and they are usually listed in the order of HP/Atk/Def/SpA/SpD/Spe. Usually, IVs only need to be stated if they are 0, 30, or 31; X
can be used in place of unknown IVs. Common Abbreviations: IV, IVs |
| Minted |
Mints were introduced in generation 8, they allow you to change the stat nature of a Pokémon, for example, if you used an Adamant Mint on a Modest Pokémon, the stat nature would be changed to Adamant, the base nature remains
the same, similar to Hyper Training. Common Abbreviations: Mint |
| Original Trainer |
The player name of the person who bred or caught the Pokémon which is found in the Pokémon's Summary page. Common Abbreviations: OT |
| TID/SID |
Trainer ID is a 5/6 digit identifier given to a player that is visible on the summary screen of any caught Pokémon. Secret ID is a 4-5 digit hidden value that is not visible in-game, which can be used to determine which Pokémon will be shiny for the trainer. Common Abbreviations: TID/SID |
| Shop Ball |
Refers to balls that can be purchased out of Poké Marts. Examples Include: Poké, Great, Ultra, Premier, Net, Nest, Dive, Luxury, Repeat, Timer Balls. |
| Star & Square Shiny | This refers to the sparkle animation your shiny Pokémon is given when sent out into battle in Sword & Shield. The effect is purely visual and the different shiny types have different rarities depending on the origin of your encounter. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Dynamax Adventure | Describes the Dynamax Adventure feature introduced with the Crown Tundra DLC update for Pokémon Sword and Shield and can also be used to describe Pokémon obtained from it. |
| Hacked | Describes a Pokémon that was edited or created through external devices and programs. Hacked Pokémon can be legal, but this does not make them legitimate. |
| Streamer Pokémon | Describes a Pokémon that has been given away on stream. These Pokémon are are all treated as if they could be hacked and cannot be traded in the PS! Wi-Fi room. |
| Masuda Method | Refers to breeding Pokémon with different language tags to increase the shiny rate. The region of the Switch Profile does not matter; you simply have to have different language tags in-game such as ENG and JPN, or CHT and KOR. |
| In-life Distributions | In-life events are defined as events that require you to go elsewhere to receive a code or Pokémon, such as a movie event code. Limited or special distributions include anything that require any external effort, such as Poké Ball+ Mew or email distributions. |
| Promotional Raid | Promoted G-Max Raids are on a rotation throughout the year, and these raids appear at a much higher rate than normal. Some of these promoted raids can provide exclusive G-Max Pokémon. |
| RNG Abused | RNG is an abbreviation for "Random Number Generator." These terms refer to Pokémon obtained through RNG Abuse or RNG Manipulation. These are calculated methods to target rare and desired possibilities such as high IV or shiny Pokémon. It is used to counter the games' usual RNG, which creates "random" outcomes. All RNG abused Pokémon are obtainable through normal gameplay, but many of them are exceedingly rare. They are considered legitimate and legal. |
| Self-obtained | If you say a Pokémon is self-obtained, it means that you caught it, bred it, or redeemed it. If you trade the Pokémon away, the new owner cannot say it was self-obtained since they were not the original person who obtained it. This applies similarly to Raids — if you did not catch that Pokémon, it is not self-obtained. This is also the case for Pokémon caught from raids from participants that are not the host. You don't own all the Pokémon caught from a Raid just because you hosted it. Eggs in gen 8 are only treated as self-obtained if you bred the egg — if you received the egg in a link trade it is not deemed self-obtained. |
| SOS Chain | SOS battles are a feature in Gen 7 which refers to battles in which a Pokémon calls for help. Longer chains increase the shiny rate, number of maximized IVs, chance of Hidden Ability, and EVs received up to certain maximums. This method is often used for EV training. SOS-chaining with Chanseys in USUM is used to earn experience. |
| Soft Reset | Refers to Pokémon obtained by resetting the game over and over until a desired Pokémon appears. |
| TSV Hatched | Every trainer has a fixed 4-digit TSV (Trainer Shiny Value), and every egg has a randomly generated 4-digit ESV (Egg Shiny Value). If a trainer's TSV matches an egg's ESV, the egg will hatch shiny. TSV Hatching is a method to obtain shinies where a user collects many eggs, has their ESVs checked, and then uses a database to hunt for matching trainers to hatch their eggs shiny. |
| Virtual Console (VC) | Refers to Pokémon transferred from the Generation 1 and 2 games re-released on 3DS. |
| Wonder Card | A digital card downloaded from Nintendo servers when receiving an event. Wonder Card (WC) injection is permitted in the Wi-Fi room as long as performed correctly. In Generation 8, WC injection is impossible. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Friend Code | A unique 12-digit code generated once a player logs into Nintendo Wi-Fi Connections on their 3DS system. Find your Friend Code by going to your 3DS home screen and clicking on the orange smiley icon. Scroll over to your friend card and your friend code will be listed on the top screen. You must exchange and add another person's FC to trade with them online. In Gen 8, you no longer need to exchange friend codes to trade. |
| Giveaway | User-hosted events to give away a free Pokémon. |
| GTS/GWS | An online trading system accessible via the PSS (XY/ORAS) or Festival Plaza (SM/USUM). Wi-Fi GTS Giveaways use this system. Pokémon obtained from the GTS are banned from trade unless they come from an official GTS Giveaway. |
| IGN | In-game name; the name you picked for your character in the game. This is used to identify yourself to other players. |
| Link Code | This is an eight-digit code used for trading and joining closed lobby raid battles used in Sword and Shield. When trading, make sure to use the same link code as your trade partner. You may not be guaranteed the same person as others may use the same link code, so ensure you and your trading partner are aware of each other's IGN to ensure you match with the right person! |
| LF/FT | Used in trade advertisements to tell other users what you're trying to trade and what you have to offer. LF = Looking For; FT = For Trade. |
| Passerby Trade | A passerby is a random person on Festival Plaza or someone you meet randomly on the Y-Comm whom you trade with. Passerby trades are notorious for exchanging hacked Pokémon, so anything obtained from a passerby is banned from trade in the PS! Wi-Fi room. |
| Touch Trade | When a Pokémon is traded to another user and immediately traded back. This is usually used to fill the Pokédex or for trade evolutions. |
| Wonder Trade | A randomized online trading system. Pokémon obtained from Wonder Trade or Surprise Trade are all treated as if they may be hacked, and therefore cannot be traded in the PS! Wi-Fi room. |