Base Stat Total, or BST, is the sum of a Pokémon's six base stats. HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed. Every Pokémon has one fixed BST in its base form. People use it as shorthand for how strong a mon is in some structural sense.
If you play Higher or Lower on Pokédle, BST is the only number that matters. You pick the higher one, you win. Easy in theory. In practice the game is brutal because BST lies about a dozen Pokémon you would swear are obvious.
Rough tiers worth keeping in your head
Final form starters and pseudo-legendaries cluster around 525 to 600. Box legendaries like Mewtwo, Lugia, Rayquaza, Dialga, Arceus, and Eternatus sit around 670 to 720. Mythicals like Mew and Celebi are 600 on the nose. Mid-evolutions are usually 405 to 470. First-stage starters are 310. Bug catches like Caterpie and Weedle are around 195.
With those anchors, you can estimate any individual mon's BST to within 50 points just from its evolution stage and rarity. That is enough to win most rounds without memorising specific numbers.
The Pokémon that lie about their BST
Some look weak and are not. Wobbuffet is only 405 but dominates competitive metas with two stats. Shedinja is 236, lower than a Caterpie, and is still a real threat thanks to Wonder Guard. Smeargle is 250 and has an entire playstyle built around it.
More dangerous, some look strong and are not. Slaking is 670, legendary tier, but its ability ruins it. Regigigas is 670 with the same problem. Stantler is just a normal-looking deer but sits at 465. Sigilyph is higher than you would guess at 490. My rule of thumb. When in doubt, assume the boring adult-looking mon has more BST than it deserves.
BST is not the same as good
BST is a budget cap. It does not tell you how the budget got spent. A 600 BST spread evenly across all six stats is worse than a 500 BST stacked into Attack and Speed. That is why Garchomp at 600 is a staple and Slaking at 670 is a meme.
For Higher or Lower none of that matters. The game only asks about the raw total. But it explains why some iconic strong mons like Gengar and Alakazam at 500 actually have lower BST than middle-evolutions you have never battled with.
Mega and form considerations
Mega evolutions, Primal forms, Gigantamax, and Ultra Burst all change BST. Mega Rayquaza is 780. Mega Mewtwo Y is 780. We exclude all of these from Higher or Lower, because including them turns the game into guess which version is on screen instead of a clean comparison.
Regional variants (Alolan, Galarian, Hisuian, Paldean) are excluded by default too. Same name, very different stats, no thanks. The game uses canonical base form BST from the mainline games only.
Ten mons worth memorising exactly
These come up often and their values are surprising. Five minutes of memorising will bank you a lot of easy wins.
Slaking 670. Regigigas 670. Wishiwashi school form 620. Shedinja 236. Smeargle 250. Wobbuffet 405. Garchomp 600. Tyranitar 600. Salamence 600. Dragonite 600.
Once you know those, you will not lose a round that involves any of them. The deeper point. BST rewards specific knowledge more than general intuition. A tier list memorised over coffee does more than an hour of vibes-based guessing.