Legendary Pokémon

Generation IV Battle Mechanics

The only thing that we know of at the time of writing is that moves will be classified as Physical or Special on single move basis rather than classifying types as Physical/Special. This is certainly going to change a lot of strategies… we shall know more about the matter once Diamond/Pearl are released.

Generation III Battle Mechanics

Battle mechanics are often missunderstood because many trainers don't know the details about them; but beauty is in the details and this guide sheds some light on the matter.

Types

There are 17 different types in the world of Pokémon divided into two different groups: physical and special. Normal, Fight, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost and Steel are considered physical while Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon and Dark are classified as special. There is also a special pseudo-type, ???, which is only used by Curse.

Each type has weaknesses and dissadvantages over other types, so that they are all balanced. A Pokémon can have up to two types, which results in a combination of the weaknesses and advantages each single type has.

When a Pokémon is attacked with a move of a type that it has weakness to, the game text reads "It's super effective", if it has a resistance to that particular type it reads "It's not very effective" and if it has an immunity it reads "It doesn't affect…". You can check the advantages and disadvantages of each possible type combination in our comprehensive Typechart.

Stat Altering

Several moves and items have an effect on a Pokémon's stats during a battle and are therefore called stat modifiers, their effects though are temporary and dissappear once the Pokémon is switched out of battle. Stat modifier moves also affect two hidden stats that determine the Evasion and Accuracy of a Pokémon besides its visible stats (Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed).

Pokémon with the Clear Body or White Smoke abilities cannot have their stats lowered by the opponent's moves but they can still lower their stats with their own moves. Status conditions like Paralysis or Burn still lower the appropriate stats.

There are 13 possible levels for the visible stats (Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed), depending on the number of levels the stat has changed. There are moves that increase a stats level by 1 (sych as Growl), by 2 (sych as Swords Dance) and even Belly Drum that increases the Attack stat by 10 levels. Subsequently, all stats start at level 0 and the beginning of the battle. Obviously, a stat can reach as low as 1/4 its value and as high as 4 times its value.

There are also 13 levels for a Pokémon's Accuracy. Multiply a move's original accuracy by the level's accuracy value to calculate the accuracy of the move in the turn following the use of a stat modifier move.

And finally there are 13 levels for a Pokémon's Evasion; that is the ability to evade an opponent's attack.

It becomes obvious that for moves which affect the opponent, the exact accuracy of a move equals the move's original accuracy multiplied by the user's Accuracy and multiplied once more by the opponent's Evasion.

Damage Calculation

Everything is about the damage formula that follows:

damage = floor(((((2*l/5 + 2)*a*b/d)/50) + 2)*s*e*r/255);

l: Attacking Pokémon's level
a: Attacking Pokémon's Attack/Special Attack
b: Attack's Base Power
d: Defending Pokémon's Defense/Special Defense
s: STAB (1 or 1.5)
e: Attack's effectiveness (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4)
r: random number between 217 and 255 (inclusive)
floor: rounded down

STAB stands for Same Type Attack Bonus; when a particular typed Pokémon uses an attack of the same type, this attack is boosted by 50% while the attack's effectiveness is the appropriate value from the Typechart. You can also use our Damage Calculator if you wish.

Sometimes, an attack may deal a Critical Hit. That means that the damage inflicted is doubled regardless of any stat modifiers.

However there are certain conditions that also need to be considered before doing any calculations, such as abilities, status conditions, weather effects (Sunny Day for example doubles the power of Fire type), held items or walls such as Reflect or Light Screen.

Status Conditions

Status conditions or status ailments define a problem in the overal health of a Pokémon and stay active even outise battle. Most of them can be healed using items, berries or special flutes. FULL HEAL, HEAL POWDER, LAVA COOKIE and LUM BERRY can heal any ailment. LUM BERRY can be also used during a battle if the user is holding this item. There are also some curing abilities like Natural Cure while others benefit from the status conditions and raise the Pokémon's stats, like Marvel Scale.

BURN (BRN)

A burned Pokémon loses 1/8 of its maximum Hit Points and it's Attack stat is reduced by 1 level each turn. It does not lose any Hit Points outside battle. Pokémon with the Water Veil ability are immune to burn. Heal using a BURN HEAL, RAWST BERRY or KUO BERRY.

FAINTING (FNT)

A Pokémon faints once its Hit Points drop to zero. A fainted Pokémon cannot participate in battle. A Pokémon can be brought back to conciousness by using REVIVE, MAX REVIVE, REVIVAL HERB or SACRED ASH.

FREEZING (FRZ)

When a Pokémon is frozen solid it is incapable attacking. However if the Pokémon is hit by a Fire type move, it will be defrosted. A frozen Pokémon can also use moves like Flame Wheen or Sacred Fire to defrost itself. If the weather is Clear Skies (active Sunny Day) then the Pokémon has a 10% of being defrosted each turn. Pokémon with the Magma Armor ability are immune to freezing Heal using ICE HEAL, ASPEAR BERRY or PUMKIN BERRY.

PARALYSIS (PRZ)

When a Pokémon is paralyzed, it's Speed stat drops to 1/4. Each turn, there's also a chance of 25% that the Pokémon will be fully paralyzed and unable to attack. Pokémon with the Limber ability are immune to paralysis. Heal using PARLYZ HEAL or CHERI BERRY.

POISON (PSN)

A poisoned Pokémon loses 1/8 of its maximum Hit Points each turn and continues to lose 1 Hit Point for every 5 steps outside battle. However, Toxic, inflicts a severe poison condition. A severely poisoned Pokémon loses 1/16 of its maximum Hit Points on the first turn then the damage increases by 1/16 of its maximum Hit Points every turn. This means that on the 16th turn a Pokémon would loose an amount of Hit Points equal to its maximum Hit Points but unless healed it will faint on the 7th turn anyway. If it is switched or survives the battle, then severe poison turns into normal poison. Poison and Steel type Pokémon and Pokémon with the Immunity ability are immune to this condition. Heal using ANTIDOTE, PECHA BERRY or DRASH BERRY.

SLEEP (SLP)

A sleeping Pokémon cannot attack unless it wakes up though certain moves like Sleep Talk can be still used. Sleep randomly lasts for 1 to 7 turns. The turn counter is reset if a Pokémon is switched out and then switch in again. Pokémon with the Early Bird ability wake up in half the turns required. Pokémon with the Insomnia or Vital Spirits abilities are immune to sleep. Heal using a AWAKENING, CHESTO BERRY, BLUE FLUTE or POKé FLUTE.

Temporary Status Conditions

There are also a few pseudo-conditions, that dissappear once the Pokémon is switched out of battle, but can be combined with the normal Status Conditions. Only confusion can be healed with the general purpose healing items.

ATTRACTION

A Pokémon may fall into this condition as an effect of an attack or ability caused by a Pokémon of the opposite gender. A Pokémon has a 50% chance of attacking, otherwise it will be "immobilized by love". Obviously, genderless Pokémon are immune. Pokémon with the Oblivious ability are also immune to attraction. Heal using MENTAL HERB, RED FLUTE or EGGANT BERRY.

CONFUSION

A confused Pokémon has a 50% chance of attacking itself. The self-inflicted attack is considered physical, has a base power of 40, always deals the same damage and never Critical Hits. Due to this Pokémon with high Attack but low Defense hurt more when they hit themselves and hence the Screech and Swagger combo. Confusion can last up to 4 rounds. Pokémon with the Own Tempo ability are immune to confusion. Heal using YELLOW FLUTE, PERSIM BERRY or TOUGA BERRY

FLINCHING

Some moves or items can make a Pokémon flinch. When a Pokémon flinches, it cannot attack. Pokémon with the Inner Focus ability cannot flinch.

LEECH SEED

A Pokémon that had the move Leech Seed used on it gets seeded. A seeded Pokémon loses 1/8 of its maximum Hit Points while the opponent absorbs that amount of Hit Points. A Pokémon can get rid of the seed by using Rapid Spin. Grass type Pokémon are immune to Leech Seed.

Items

Disobedience

Disobedience or unruliness is a common phenomenon with high leveled traded (different ID number) Pokémon when a trainer doesn't yet have the required badges to make certain Pokémon obey. There's a 75% chance that a Pokémon will be out of control and won't execute a command each time a trainer orders it to attack. The Pokémon may fall asleep, use different attacks than the one ordered to use or simply ignore the trainers orders.

Epilogue

A complex, yet realistic example, may help you further understand how all the above work. Let's take my Ninjask for example, it has an attack of 279 and an extremely high speed of 455. Ninjask enters the battle and uses Swords Dance. The opponent then uses Will-O-Wisp, Ninjask gets burned, then its speed boosts through Speed Boost and it then uses Baton Pass and switches with my Metagross with an attack of 346 and speed of 174. Metagross' Attack level has been raised by 2 by Swords Dance but since Ninjask was burned for one round, it has been also lowered by 1, therefore it is at +1. Hence its attack in battle would be 346*3/2 = 519. Its speed is at level 1 since only one turn with Speed Boost has passed thus its speed in battle would be 174*3/2 = 261. Looks like my Baton Pass strategy did not have such great results in this case…

Related Links

• Stats and Training
• Team Building Guide
• Attack Database
• In-depth move data
• Item List
• Pokémon Abilities

Generation I & II Battle Mechanics

Everything above aply to the older games aswell. The few differences are just in the items, abilities and moves that don't exist in those games, or that have slightly changed.