Battle Mechanics Research

[CoolStoryBrobat]

When Gengar loses Levitate during Mega-Evolution and becomes grounded, does he absorb Toxic Spikes/gets damaged by Spikes/nerfed by Sticky Web on the same turn?

I want to say "no" on this one, mainly because the hazards only activate upon switching-in. Losing an ability hasn't activated hazards as far as I know. If I had a Gengar, I'd go test this out myself but I highly doubt it would actually happen. You could theoretically test it by using Gastro Acid on a Flygon or some other Levitate abuser, so to speak

 

[Marty]

V4Victini and I tested if Transform mechanics were changed to be able to reactivate an Ability that activates on switch-in that the Pokemon had just before Transforming, since Mega Evolution does so (Mega Tyranitar and Mega Abomasnow are obvious examples).

It turns out that no, this Transform mechanic has stayed the same as it was in Gen 5. This means that changing formes (such as Mega Evolution) actually does recalculate the Ability and it will try to activate if possible.

Some battle videos

LHPW-WWWW-WWWX-NPR3: Mega Evolution reactivates Abilities
(Skill Swapped Intimidate onto Manectric, it activated, then Manectric Mega Evolved and it activated again)

VL3G-WWWW-WWWX-NOWE: Transforming does not reactivate Abilities
(Skill Swapped Intimidate onto Ditto, it activated, then Ditto Transformed into another Intimidate user and it did not reactivate)

 

[DTC]

Raseri and I were messing around with Powder and can confirm a few things:

• Powder has +1 priority
• Powder resets at the end of every turn. If you hit a Pokemon on the switch with Powder, and they use a Fire-type attack before you move the next turn, they will not be affected by Powder and attack normally.
• Powder damage seems to be based off of the Special Attack and Special Defense stat, as Slugma, a Pokemon with a relatively small difference between Special Attack and Special Defense, only took a little bit of damage, while Pyroar, a Pokemon with a pretty big difference between Special Attack and Special Defense, took quite a lot from Powder. (More testing for exact mechanics needed)

 

[anubite]

Yeah, after playing around in the Battle Maison, Parental Bond does not attempt to strike twice with Earthquake in double battles. I assume this is the same for Surf? Lame. This is so arbitrary, gamefreak.

 

[DTC]

When Gengar loses Levitate during Mega-Evolution and becomes grounded, does he absorb Toxic Spikes/gets damaged by Spikes/nerfed by Sticky Web on the same turn?

Just tested this with Raseri, and Gengar does not get effected by Sticky Web (and presumably the other moves) upon mega evolution. In addition, Pokemon that Roost do not get affected by hazards.

 

[Gerard]

Raseri and I were messing around with Powder and can confirm a few things:

• Powder has +1 priority
• Powder resets at the end of every turn. If you hit a Pokemon on the switch with Powder, and they use a Fire-type attack before you move the next turn, they will not take damage from Powder
• Powder damage seems to be based off of the Special Attack and Special Defense stat, as Slugma, a Pokemon with a relatively small difference between Special Attack and Special Defense, only took a little bit of damage, while Pyroar, a Pokemon with a pretty big difference between Special Attack and Special Defense, took quite a lot from Powder. (More testing for exact mechanics needed)

Did Powder blocked the move or did it still damaged your pokemon?

 

[DTC]

It still damaged Vivillon

 

[Moose V]

Can terrains be active at the same time as weather?

Yes, while in the battle maison, I noticed misty terrain and hail active at the same time in one battle. Couldn't really see the hail very well but I still took 1/16 damage every turn which means that it was still very much there.

 

[EJ190]

Does life orb recoil hit mons with rock head?
Does Lifeorb affect Reckless in any way?
Does Defog remove weather?(cmon guys ive asked this question twice a simple y/n would do:/)

 

[Sprocket]

Does Cloud Nine end weather conditions outright, or is the weather merely "Blocked" while the Cloud Nine user is on the field? ("Blocked" as in Gen V mechanics)

 

[Raseri]

me and Zebraiken tested this in the first post:

• Auto-weather abilities: Does the weather counter reset to 5-8 if the Pokémon is switched in while the appropriate weather (rain for Drizzle, etc.) is already in effect?

The answer is no, it does not reset. I used Hail on an Avalugg, and switched to Snover on the 4th turn of Hail. The Hail ended precisely after 5 turns, Snover did not reset it at all.

 

[jake]

Does Topsy Turvy simply switch boosts, or apply a +X/-X effect such that the boost is switched? In other words, does it trigger Defiant and would a +1 attack Mon with Contrary get +3 (-2 attack -> +2 attack due to Contrary?)

It simply switches, as far as Defiant goes. Raseri and I tested; Bisharp did not get any Attack boost after getting its +2 Defense swapped to -2. Because it's not treated as a drop, I would also imagine it will not activate Contrary (a +1 Pokemon would become -1 in that stat, not +2). I don't have one on hand to test, though.

 

[Raseri]

Can terrains be active at the same time as weather?

Yes they can. Misty Terrain and Hail were both able to be active at the same time.

Tested with zeb :)

 

[Chaosreaver]

Today in the Battle Mansion, an opponent's Drapion used Toxic Spikes. I switched to Gengar who (thanks to levitate) does not absorb the toxic spikes.
No surprise there.
However, upon turning it into mega form, it did not absorb the toxic spikes despite losing levitate. At the very least it wasn't mentioned if it did (but the game says if they're absorbed, afaik). Pretty sure this is in the same line as what would would happen if skill swap or gravity were to come into play on a levitating poison type.

 

[LastFootnote]

I've done some testing with Super Luck.

Super Luck Absol using Quick Attack got a crit 12/100 times.
Super Luck Absol using Slash/Razor Wind got a crit 42/70 times.

I'll do some more testing tomorrow, but it's looking like Super Luck plus a high-crit move gives a crit rate of at least 50%, potentially more.

 

[NMcCoy]

Hmm, if high crit moves are +2 stages, that would lend support to my hypothesis that the crit stages are now 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1.
I've been spending my BP on a set of the power items, but after that I plan to plonk a Scope Lens on an Absol and test this more as well, unless you get to it first.

 

[Gerard]

Today in the Battle Mansion, an opponent's Drapion used Toxic Spikes. I switched to Gengar who (thanks to levitate) does not absorb the toxic spikes.
No surprise there.
However, upon turning it into mega form, it did not absorb the toxic spikes despite losing levitate. At the very least it wasn't mentioned if it did (but the game says if they're absorbed, afaik). Pretty sure this is in the same line as what would would happen if skill swap or gravity were to come into play on a levitating poison type.

Did you switched out Gengar and then switched him back in? Otherwise he shouldn't have absorbed them even when he lost levitate because you can only absorb them when you switch in

 

[thelaytonmobile]

Hmm, if high crit moves are +2 stages, that would lend support to my hypothesis that the crit stages are now 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1.
I've been spending my BP on a set of the power items, but after that I plan to plonk a Scope Lens on an Absol and test this more as well, unless you get to it first.

If you take a photo at every photo spot, talk to a Backpacker in Shutterbug Cafe (Lumiose City, left side of south boulevard). He gives you a Scope Lens, so don't waste your BP!

 

[bearcanine]

Did Mirror Coat/Counter get a buff? I feel like my Delphox took way more than x2 damage from this Wobbuffet. It might be his massive HP fooling me though.

 

[Arcticblast]

Since I've beaten the main game and gotten a decent handle on stuff in my copy of Y and found someone on my floor with the game (lol I'll use Le Nah mostly), I'm going to start testing stuff more often. I will add things to my list as I see fit; much of this will be related to Balanced Hackmons in the end. Results will be updated with further posts in this thread and then edited here.

Arcticblast's XY Testing Queue

Untested:
- Topsy-Turvy - how does this interact with Contrary?

Tested by me:
- Infiltrator does not bypass Magic Bounce.
- When no other damage is incurred beforehand, Parental Bond Assurance deals normal damage on the first hit and double damage on the second hit. Also, Oblivion Wing is affected by Liquid Ooze (same post).
- Weather stones extend auto-weather abilities to eight turns.
- Defog - does it remove weather? - Defog does not remove weather.
- Cloud Nine - does it remove weather or work like it did in the past? - Cloud Nine does not remove weather.
- MegaEvolutions will retain Mega-specific abilities upon switching out and back in.
- Assist - if it copies a multi-turn move (e.g. Outrage), does it lock the user into the move? - Tested with a Liepard and a Spinda. Liepard was locked into Thrash.
- Topsy-Turvy - how does this interact with Magic Bounce? - Topsy-Turvy is reflected.

Tested by others:
- Topsy-Turvy - how does this interact with Substitute? - blocked
- Copycat - can it select phazing moves? - no

 

[LastFootnote]

[The Fire move] still damaged Vivillon [after using Powder]

I just tested Powder and this is false. If the target uses a Fire move and it blows up in his face, the move is completely cancelled.

 

[Haruno]

I don't think this was stated before and I apologize if it had, but ditto cannot copy aegislash's stance change ability. If ditto attacks while transformed as an aegislash it'll stay in shield form

Edit: in addition gastro acid doesn't work on stance change

 

[Chaosreaver]

Did you switched out Gengar and then switched him back in? Otherwise he shouldn't have absorbed them even when he lost levitate because you can only absorb them when you switch in

No, I did not switch him out. Like I said, it has the same effect has if you skill swapped/simple beam'd, etc. the levitate off a 'mon, but I just wanted to confirm that mega evolving works the same way everything else does in that regard. My apologies if that wasn't even a concern of anyone's.

 

[Arcticblast]

Does Defog remove weather?(cmon guys ive asked this question twice a simple y/n would do:/)

Defog does not appear to affect weather in any way.

Does Cloud Nine end weather conditions outright, or is the weather merely "Blocked" while the Cloud Nine user is on the field? ("Blocked" as in Gen V mechanics)

Cloud Nine does not end weather conditions. It seems to work like it did in Gen V.
(come on guys weather already got nerfed stop asking for more nerfs pls)

 

[Marty]

I don't think this was stated before and I apologize if it had, but ditto cannot copy aegislash's stance change ability. If ditto attacks while transformed as an aegislash it'll stay in shield form

To be clear, Transform does actually copy Stance Change, it just doesn't work for Ditto because Transform locks you into whatever form(e) the copied Pokemon is in (if Aegislash were to use Transform on another Aegislash, Stance Change would stop working for it, too). Even if this weren't the case, Stance Change only works for the species Aegislash and Transform doesn't copy species as of Gen 5.