Good news everyone!
Firstly, the old substitution rules, while a great idea, could have used some refinement. Thanks to Engineer Pikachu, they have now been refined! Here's how they look now:
Secondly, the calculation of crash damage from moves like Hi Jump Kick and Bounce has been simplified. For the Jump Kicks, the crash damage is now equal to the user's Weight Class plus the BAP of the move (or combo if it is used in a combo, and factoring in Helping Hand but no other boosts). For Bounce, Fly and Sky Drop that have been terminated by Smack Down or Gravity, the crash damage is equal to 2 * Weight Class + 4.
These changes are effective immediately in all new battles and challenges. Please redirect all complaints to Onion_Bubs.
Firstly, the old substitution rules, while a great idea, could have used some refinement. Thanks to Engineer Pikachu, they have now been refined! Here's how they look now:
Before a match begins, battlers must agree on the maximum number of substitutions battlers allowed per set of actions. It is the referee's job to determine the legality of substitutions and to ignore them when they don't adhere to ASB's specific rules regarding substitution legality.
A substitution is most basically comprised of an IF (conditional) THEN (action) – if the conditional is true when the Pokemon moves, then whatever action follows will activate. Usage of the boolean operator AND is permitted and will not contribute to the substitution count, while usage of the boolean operator OR is permitted and will add one to the substitution count unless in a Frequency Clause. The conditional section of each substitution is made of Attack Clauses, Chance Clauses, KO Clauses, and Frequency Clauses, while the action section should have some argument related to the Pokemon's action set.
Most battles have two substitutions per action set, though sometimes you may see more or less.
CONDITIONAL SECTION
Frequency Clause
A Frequency Clause has two functions: (1) to restrict the substitution or a clause of the substitution from activating more than a set number of times, and (2) to restrict the substitution or a clause of the substitution from activating outside of certain action numbers. The first function is achieved by adding the restriction in front of the entire substitution, or adding it in the action clause. The second function is achieved by placing the Frequency Clause immediately after an Attack, Chance, or KO Clause. It is impossible for boolean operators to be used in the first case, but, in the second case, using NOT is not permitted while using OR is allowed with no penalties, as the result it gives is identical to NOT but much easier to comprehend. Here are some examples in how to use a Frequency Clause:
An Attack Clause is a clause that activates on one specific attack or command the opponent may issue. This conditional can only be triggered by the opponent's actions, but can trigger multiple times in the same round. Instead of substituting for specific attacks or commands, a battler may also use one of the following substitution classes to make substitutions easier:
In the event that an arena effect would negate an effect of a move that caused it to be placed in a substitution class, the move will no longer fall under the umbrella of that substitution class for the duration of the match. Similarly, if an arena effect would add a property of a substitution class to a move that does not already possess that quality, then that move would be covered under that substitution class for the duration of the match.
Chance Clause
A Chance Clause is a boolean clause that activates depending on the success of a certain action(s) that occur during the round. If replacing the current action's attack with a new attack, the new attack's priority must not exceed the current one's, or else the substitution will be ignored. The following are examples of what may be used as a Chance Clause:
KO Clause
A KO Clause is another boolean clause that activates if an ally or opponent is KOed. These always follow the form "IF Cradily is KOed" or "IF Heracross is KOed on A2." If a substitution's conditional is comprised solely of KO and Frequency clauses, it will not count towards the substitution count. KO clauses are unlimited and so may be used as much as the battler would like.
ACTION SECTION
The action section is much less variegated than the conditional section, mainly because everything in this section must be related to your Pokemon's action set in some way. The following operations and modifiers may be used in the action section and can be combined in several creative ways.
Substitutions that are illegal by syntax will be ignored. Substitutions that are made illegal because the Action Section would change your action to a move that cannot be performed will still activate and cause your Pokemon to Struggle. Substitutions that exceed the maximum number of substitutions will be ignored; only the first however many listed will be taken into account.
A substitution is most basically comprised of an IF (conditional) THEN (action) – if the conditional is true when the Pokemon moves, then whatever action follows will activate. Usage of the boolean operator AND is permitted and will not contribute to the substitution count, while usage of the boolean operator OR is permitted and will add one to the substitution count unless in a Frequency Clause. The conditional section of each substitution is made of Attack Clauses, Chance Clauses, KO Clauses, and Frequency Clauses, while the action section should have some argument related to the Pokemon's action set.
Most battles have two substitutions per action set, though sometimes you may see more or less.
CONDITIONAL SECTION
Frequency Clause
A Frequency Clause has two functions: (1) to restrict the substitution or a clause of the substitution from activating more than a set number of times, and (2) to restrict the substitution or a clause of the substitution from activating outside of certain action numbers. The first function is achieved by adding the restriction in front of the entire substitution, or adding it in the action clause. The second function is achieved by placing the Frequency Clause immediately after an Attack, Chance, or KO Clause. It is impossible for boolean operators to be used in the first case, but, in the second case, using NOT is not permitted while using OR is allowed with no penalties, as the result it gives is identical to NOT but much easier to comprehend. Here are some examples in how to use a Frequency Clause:
- [TWICE] IF (conditional) THEN (action)
- IF (conditional) THEN (action, but only once)
- IF (conditional on A3) THEN (action)
- [ONCE] IF (conditional on A1 or A2) THEN (action)
An Attack Clause is a clause that activates on one specific attack or command the opponent may issue. This conditional can only be triggered by the opponent's actions, but can trigger multiple times in the same round. Instead of substituting for specific attacks or commands, a battler may also use one of the following substitution classes to make substitutions easier:
- Protective Moves: Protect, Detect
- Evasive Moves: Agility [Evasive], Teleport [Evasive]
- Protective / Evasive Move: Protect, Detect, Agility [Evasive], Teleport [Evasive]
- Damaging Evasive Moves: Dig, Fly, Dive, Bounce, Shadow Force
- Damaging Priority Moves: Aqua Jet, Bullet Punch, Extremespeed, Fake Out, Feint, Ice Shard, Mach Punch, Quick Attack, Shadow Sneak, Sucker Punch, Vacuum Wave
- Multi-Hit Moves: Arm Thrust, Barrage, Bone Rush, Bullet Seed, Comet Punch, DoubleSlap, Fury Attack, Fury Swipes, Icicle Spear, Pin Missile, Rock Blast, Spike Cannon, Tail Slap, Bonemerang, Double Hit, Double Kick, Dual Chop, Gear Grind, Twineedle, Triple Kick
- Damaging [Type] Moves: Covers all of Flamethrower, Lava Plume, Fire Blast, Ember, etc. under the umbrella of "Damaging Fire-type Move." Covers all of Psychic, Psyshock, Confusion, Dream Eater, etc. under the umbrella of "Damaging Psychic-type Move." NOTE: This Substitution applies to all attacks of a certain type that have a BAP, so moves like Rapid Spin and Knock off will trigger "Damaging Normal-type Move" and "Damaging Dark-type Move," respectively.
- Damaging [Type] Combinations: All combinations that are of [Type] will activate the substitution. NOTE: A damaging [Type] combination activates a substitution for damaging [Type] moves.
- Paralysis-Inflicting Moves: Thunder Wave, Glare, Stun Spore
- Poison-Inflicting Moves: Poison Gas, Poisonpowder, Toxic
- Sleep-Inflicting Moves: Spore, Hypnosis, Sleep Powder, Sing, Grasswhistle, Lovely Kiss, Dark Void, Yawn
- Confusion-Inflicting Moves: Confuse Ray, Supersonic, Sweet Kiss, Teeter Dance, Swagger
- Switch-Preventing Moves: Block, Mean Look, Spider Web
- Trapping Moves: Fire Spin, Sand Tomb, Whirlpool, Magma Storm, Bind, Wrap, Clamp
- Switch-Forcing Moves: Whirlwind, Roar, Circle Throw, Dragon Tail
- Self-Switching Moves: U-Turn, Volt Switch, Teleport (Switch)
- Healing Moves: Roost, Slack Off, Recover, Moonlight, Synthesis, Morning Sun, Softboiled, Heal Order, Milk Drink, Swallow
- Status-Healing Moves: Aromatherapy, Heal Bell, Refresh
- Lock-On Moves: Lock-On, Mind Reader
- Attack-Reducing Moves: Growl, Charm, Featherdance, Memento
- Defense-Reducing Moves: Leer, Tail Whip, Screech
- Special Attack-Reducing Moves: Captivate, Memento
- Special Defense-Reducing Moves: Fake Tears, Metal Sound
- Speed-Reducing Moves: String Shot, Cotton Spore, Scary Face, Bulldoze, Icy Wind, Mud Shot, Rock Tomb, Electroweb, Glaciate, Low Sweep
- Accuracy-Reducing Moves: Flash, Kinesis, Sand-Attack, Smokescreen
In the event that an arena effect would negate an effect of a move that caused it to be placed in a substitution class, the move will no longer fall under the umbrella of that substitution class for the duration of the match. Similarly, if an arena effect would add a property of a substitution class to a move that does not already possess that quality, then that move would be covered under that substitution class for the duration of the match.
Chance Clause
A Chance Clause is a boolean clause that activates depending on the success of a certain action(s) that occur during the round. If replacing the current action's attack with a new attack, the new attack's priority must not exceed the current one's, or else the substitution will be ignored. The following are examples of what may be used as a Chance Clause:
- HP Value: "IF you have less than 27 HP," "IF you have at least 83 HP," and "IF you have exactly 51 HP" are all legal.
- EN Value: "IF you have less than 27 EN," "IF you have at least 83 EN," and "IF you have exactly 51 EN" are all legal.
- Missing an Attack: "IF Hydro Pump misses A2" and "IF Rock Slide misses Volcarona on A1 OR A2" are all legal.
- Critical Hits: "IF Night Slash crits you on any action" is legal.
- Secondary Effects: "IF Air Slash flinches" and "IF Fire Blast burns A1" are all legal.
- Status: "IF you are asleep A2" and "IF you are burned" are all legal. "IF you are statused" is illegal.
- Stat Boosts / Drops: "IF you are at -1 Spe or lower" is legal. "IF you win the speed tie" is illegal.
- Substitutions: "IF none of your substitutions activate" and "IF the above substitution does not activate" are legal.
- Other Effects: "IF you are Taunted A3" is legal. NOTE: "IF Bidoof uses Taunt A3" is an Attack Clause, but "IF you are Taunted A3" is a Chance Clause.
KO Clause
A KO Clause is another boolean clause that activates if an ally or opponent is KOed. These always follow the form "IF Cradily is KOed" or "IF Heracross is KOed on A2." If a substitution's conditional is comprised solely of KO and Frequency clauses, it will not count towards the substitution count. KO clauses are unlimited and so may be used as much as the battler would like.
ACTION SECTION
The action section is much less variegated than the conditional section, mainly because everything in this section must be related to your Pokemon's action set in some way. The following operations and modifiers may be used in the action section and can be combined in several creative ways.
- Replace: An operation that replaces your entire action set with a new one, e.g. "Replace your action set with Hypnosis – Dream Eater – Nightmare"
- Replace / Instead on A[#]: An operation that replaces A[#] with the input, e.g. "Use Fire Blast on A2 instead" and "Replace Struggle Bug with Bug Buzz"
- All Instances: A modifier used with replace, e.g. "Replace all instances of XXX with YYY"
- Specific Instance: Specifically "First Instance," "Second Instance," "Last Instance," and whatever else instance you want. Similar to All Instances, but obviously only referring to one specific instance.
- Push actions (back): An operation that permutes the set {A1, A2, A3} to {—, A1, A2} and the set {A1, A2} to {—, A1}
- Push actions forward: An operation that permutes the set {A1, A2, A3} to {A2, A3, —} and the set {A1, A2} to {A2, —}
- Keep (MOVE as) A[#]: A modifier used with pushing actions that removes A[#] which should be MOVE from the set, applying the operation, then inserting A[#] back into its original location, e.g. "Push actions but keep A3" activated on A1 will permute the set {A1, A2, A3} to {—, A1, A3}.
- Switch AX and AY: An operation that switches two elements of the set {A1, A2, A3}, e.g. "Switch Leaf Storm and Power Whip" or "Switch A1 and A2"
Substitutions that are illegal by syntax will be ignored. Substitutions that are made illegal because the Action Section would change your action to a move that cannot be performed will still activate and cause your Pokemon to Struggle. Substitutions that exceed the maximum number of substitutions will be ignored; only the first however many listed will be taken into account.
Secondly, the calculation of crash damage from moves like Hi Jump Kick and Bounce has been simplified. For the Jump Kicks, the crash damage is now equal to the user's Weight Class plus the BAP of the move (or combo if it is used in a combo, and factoring in Helping Hand but no other boosts). For Bounce, Fly and Sky Drop that have been terminated by Smack Down or Gravity, the crash damage is equal to 2 * Weight Class + 4.
These changes are effective immediately in all new battles and challenges. Please redirect all complaints to Onion_Bubs.
