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Pursuit

Description

Deals damage. If used on the same turn as the target switches out, or tries to flee in-game, this move has a priority of +7 and its Base Power increases to 80. If the user moves after a foe using U-turn or Volt Switch, but not Baton Pass, it will hit that foe before it leaves the field. If the user of Pursuit has Technician, the move's power is boosted if the opponent does not switch, but if it does switch, its power is no longer boosted. Power doubles and no accuracy check is done if the user hits a foe switching out, and the user's turn is over; if a foe faints from this, the replacement Pokemon does not become active until the end of the turn.

Competitive Use

Pursuit is the only way to "trap" an opponent that may want to flee, other than the abilities Arena Trap and Shadow Tag. For this reason, Pursuit alone can make a Ghost or Psychic typing a liability on a Pokemon. Pursuit can also be combined with Sucker Punch to give the opponent a truly frightening dilemma indeed: either attack and risk eating a Sucker Punch, or flee and get nailed by Pursuit. (A non-attacking move gets past this, though.) Tyranitar and Scizor are infamous in both Ubers and OU for using these moves, while Houndoom is a particularly effective user of it in UU thanks to Flash Fire blocking Will-O-Wisp from defensive Ghost-types and Mew. Honchkrow, Drapion, and Absol can also use Pursuit quite well in their respective tiers.

Related Moves

Crunch is a more reliable option that does not hit the opponent if they switch.