Move Priority (repost)

[david stone]

+7 Switching
+6 Helping Hand
+5 Magic Coat, Snatch
+4 Follow Me
+3 Focus Punch (charge message)
+2 Detect, Endure, Protect
+1 Extremespeed, Fake Out, Mach Punch, Quick Attack
±0 Assist, Metronome, Sleep Talk, Everything else
-1 Vital Throw
-2 Focus Punch
-3 Revenge
-4 Counter, Mirror Coat
-5 Roar, Whirlwind


A faster Pokemon always goes first within the speed bracket of the move. In every single case, higher priority moves go before lower priority moves (if the move is selected by Assist, Metronome, or Sleep Talk, that counts as a use of Assist / Metronome / Sleep Talk, and thus it has a priority of 0)

Quick Claw gives your Pokemon an 18.75% chance of ignoring Speed and going first within your speed bracket, barring the enemy also activating a Quick Claw, in which case normal speed rules apply. Speed and Quick Claw never let a move with a lower priority beat a higher priority (so a Quick Claw activated Deoxys-E using Vital Throw always goes after Macho Brace Paralyzed Shuckle using Tackle).

The exceptions are Sleep Talk, Assist, and Metronome. These have a priority of 0, and thus if you Sleep Talk Whirlwind, for example, you can go before a slower Pokemon using, say, Tackle. The only exception I know of is Focus Punch. Focus Punch cannot be chosen by Sleep Talk, Assist, or Metronome (needs verification). If your only moves are Sleep Talk and Focus Punch, Sleep Talk fails. I've heard that in-game, Sleep Talk can select Focus Punch, which then fails (as opposed to simply never selecting it, meaning Sleep Talk won't ever fail unless you wake up).

Unlike in GSC, it is the faster phazer that phazes. In GSC, a Pokemon had to go last for phazing to work, so if a Tyranitar with 1 Curse and a Tyranitar with no Curses both used Roar, the non-Cursed Tyranitar would go first, and Roar would fail, and then the Cursed Tyranitar would go, and phaze out the other Tyranitar. In Advance, however, the faster phazer uses Roar / Whirlwind, sending the enemy away, thus giving them no chance to try and Roar / Whirlwind you.

Revenge gets boosted damage from Focus Punch, and does not interrupt it, making it the only attack that cannot interrupt Focus Punch.

The only things I'm not entirely sure of are the very top of the list. Of course, the only one that really matters is switching in relation to "Follow Me", as that determines which Pokemon Pursuit targets.

Pursuit comes right before a switch if a switch is used, otherwise it has 0 priority.




End-of-turn effects

1.0 Reflect wears off
1.1 Light Screen wears off
1.2 Safeguard fades

2.0 Wish

3.0 Hail, Rain, Sandstorm, or Sunlight message

4.0 Shed Skin
4.1 Ingrain
4.2 Leftovers
4.3 Curse (from a Ghost)
4.4 Leech Seed
4.5 Burn, Poison
4.6 Bind, Clamp, Fire Spin, Whirlpool, Wrap
4.7 Pinch Berry

5.0 Doom Desire, Future Sight

6.0 Yawn

7.0 Perish Song



Now for an explanation:

If something has a priority of 4, it always goes before a 5. If it has a 2, it's always after a 1. Etc. However, for a faster Pokemon, their things within a 4, for example, will all go before a slower Pokemon's 4s. So Deoxys-E's Pinch Berry will activate before Shuckle's Ingrain, but Quagsire's Leftovers will be before their own burn damage. It's kind of hard to explain. Like if one Pokemon were to have all these things happening at once, it would happen in the order listed. But if two Pokemon of differing Speeds were to have all these happening, faster Pokemon gets all the 1 effects, then the slower Pokemon gets the 1 effects, faster Pokemon gets all the 2 effects, then the slower one, etc.

What does all this matter for? you ask. I'll try and point out anything that actually makes a difference.

1) You can save yourself from Sandstorm damage with Wish. A Pokemon with 1% health remaining at the end of a turn normally will die to Sandstorm next turn. If Wish activates that turn, however, they will survive.
2) Ingrain saves you from Burn and Poison 100% of the time, assuming you have Leftovers.

[Mekkah**]

Nice, this is what I liked about RS Bot: the move priority was included in the move description. This should be in the new battle simulator as well.

I think the list is as it should be, both how Nintendo made it and how I think it should work, except for Fake Out. It would've made sense if it went before everything else, and it would be fair: you can only use it on your absolute first turn, while the other moves can also be used later on. :(

Good job.

[Nowster]

Good job, Obi. That's really useful!

Perhaps over time, you could expand this guide to also include priorities of end-turn effects. I mean stuff like Leftovers recovery, Sandstorm, Leech Seed health sapping, Wish, Burn, Poison, etc. etc. That would be awesome.

(assuming, of course, such a guide wasn't made already.)

[Steeler]

Interesting...I always wondered exactly what the move priority was...and thanks for that Sleep Talk/Focus Punch info. That really comes in handy. :)

[david stone]

/edit: added end-of-turn effect ordering

Still have to add Yawn and Curse (from ghosts)

[Vulcan Fury]

I know that Yawn goes after Leftovers for sure, and I think it's before Burn/Poison. But, really good job man.

[chaos**]

i'll definitely add this stuff.

[Mekkah**]

iirc Pinch Berry check is before Sandstorm and status damage so you occasionally get screwed over, not sure on this.

[david stone]

Yeah, that's what I thought... I am sure this has happenned to me. But when I just tested it, I was at 27% health, sandstorm brought me down to 20%, berry activated (tested Ganlon and Salac).

[Little Green Yoda]

Don't know about weather damage, but in the Ruby BT, I've seen many opposing Pokemon activate a pinch berry, then fainted to status right afterwards.

[Chronicles]

What about curse(ghost) damage, i cant test it right now so maybe someone else could