>>54823532it varies by generation
as an adult in my late 20s I have come to value my time a lot more and would no longer lean into the stallier archetypes I'd come to rely upon in my mid-20s; nevertheless, I feel like you cannot effectively play any of the games at a high level without a strong defensive backbone, so I pretty much never run hyper offense unless it's, like, Baton Pass
I really prefer to cheese the opposing team as much as possible to cripple it so that the undersung mons I like using that typically struggle to compete against meta teams, now have a much better fighting chance and matchups
in gen1ou, I really prefer using Gengar, the best sleep lead, to immediately take a mon out of commission; if they lead Starmie or Alakazam, I've put another sleeper in the back already that can switch in on them and put them to sleep anyway
then I make sure I have at least 2 ice beam users so I can freeze something afterward, and take *that* out of the game
I make sure half or more of my team has recovery, and that my team has a switch-in for everything I could possibly face
in gen3ou, I rely upon trappers to guarantee kills, often put Blissey (these days, usually with Thunder Wave and Wish) in my teams unless, again, it's Baton Pass or another faster-paced style of offense
I have a very minimal reliance upon hazards, but a super strong focus on hazard removal, due to my preference for having switch-ins
I don't actually like being on the defensive, but when I play, I'm waiting on a "gotcha bitch" monent with my trappers or bp'ers rather than just trying to wear the foes down
in newer gens, I've really loved 4 dragons 2 steels (Magnezone) balances; having choice'd outrage and draco meteor serves the same purpose as a trapper
I like progressively forcing the opponent into bad positions and eventually pressing my advantage for decisive moments; strategically having the upperhand from Turn 1 forward, untakeable.
