Battle Mechanics
Table of Contents for this post:
- Damage Formula
- Descriptions of Each Field
- Critical Hits
- Type Effectiveness
- Type Chart
- Rounding
- Random Number Generation
- Energy
- Consecutive Energy Cost
- Chill
- Status Effects
- Status Stacking
- List of Statuses
- Stat Boosts/Drops
- Speed scaling
- Evasion/Accuracy scaling
- Targeting
- Combinations
- Combo statistics
- Same-move combos
- Different-move combos
- Combo Priority
- Physical/Special Mix Combos
- Combination Types / Type Priority
- Effects of Certain Moves
- Sluggish
- Trapping and Partial Trapping
- Spread Moves
- Fog
- Multi-Hit Hit % / Spillover Damage
- Move Restriction
- Working with effects that prevent Move Selection
- Working with effects that prevent Move Execution
- Item Mechanics
- Consumables and Encumberment
- Choice item mechanics
- Training Items
- Effect Timing
- Start of Round
- Start of Action
- Start of Turn
- End of Turn
- End of Action
- End of Round
- Capture Mechanics
The ASB Damage Formula
All attack damage, unless otherwise stated in a move or arena effect, is calculated using the following formula:
Final Damage = [(Base Attack Power + STAB + Critical Hit + Attack Rank Bonus + Ability Effects + Field Effects + Item Effects 1 - Defense Rank Bonus - Burn Effect) * Type Effectiveness] + (Stage Boost Difference * 2) + Item Effects 2
Descriptions of Each Field
Base Attack Power: This is the inherent power of the Pokemon's move.
STAB: Its full name is Same Type Attack Bonus. If the Pokemon's type (or one of its types) is the same as that of the move being used,
STAB is 3. Otherwise, it is 0.
Critical Hits: Critical hits normally have a 1/16 chance of occurring. Certain items, abilities, moves, and arena effects boost the likelihood of critical hits by "stages." Each stage boost is akin to moving down one line on the following chart:
Code:
0 Boosts: 6.25% or 1 in 16
1 Boost 12.5% or 1 in 8
2 Boosts: 50% or 1 in 2
3 Boosts: 100% or 1 in 1
Critical hit stage boosts past the third do not increase the chance of a critical hit.
Critical Hit's normal value is 0. When a critical hit is scored on a single-target move,
Critical Hit is increased by 3. Every attack in a 2-hit, 3-hit, or multi-hit move has a chance of scoring a critical hit. Every time a 2-hit or 3-hit move scores a critical hit,
Critical Hit is increased by 2; every time a multi-hit move scores a critical hit,
Critical Hit is increased by 1. Furthermore, Light Screen and Reflect's damage reduction is ignored, and any defensive stage boosts on the target are ignored. If any hit in a 2-hit, 3-hit, or multi-hit move scores a critical hit, all hits ignore Light Screen, Reflect, and defensive stage boosts.
Attack Rank Bonus: calculated using the attacker's relevant stat (Attack or Special Attack). Physical moves are affected by the Attack Stat, while Special moves are affected by the Special Attack stat. Each Attack Rank up to and including 6 adds 1.5 to the
Attack Rank Bonus (thus 1 rank adds 1.5, 2 ranks adds 3, etc. up to 6 ranks adds 9), and each Attack Rank past 6 adds 1 to the
Attack Rank Bonus (thus 7 ranks adds 10, 8 ranks adds 11, etc.).
Ability Effects: Certain abilities, such as Iron Fist, affect the damage of certain moves. If the ability in question adds to or subtracts from the damage of the move being performed, the damage modifier is included here.
Field Effects: Certain field effects, such as rain, affect the damage of certain moves. If the active field effect in question does affect the damage of the move being performed, the damage modifier is included here.
Item Effects: Certain items, such as Expert Belt and Mystic Water, affect the damage of certain moves. If the item in question adds to or subtracts from the move's Base Attack Power, the damage modifier applies at Item Effects 1. If the item in question adds to or subtracts from the move's damage, the damage modifier applies at Item Effects 2.
Defense Rank Bonus: This is calculated using the attacker's relevant stat (Defense or Special Defense). Physical moves are affected by the Defense Stat, while Special moves are affected by the Special Defense stat. Each Defense Rank up to and including 6 adds 1.5 to the
Defense Rank Bonus (thus 1 rank adds 1.5, 2 ranks adds 3, etc. up to 6 ranks adds 9), and each Defense Rank past 6 adds 1 to the
Defense Rank Bonus (thus 7 ranks adds 10, 8 ranks adds 11, etc.).
Burn Effect: If a physical attack is being used and the user is Burned, then
Burn Effect is set to 3. Otherwise it is 0.
Type Effectiveness: Type Effectiveness can be found in the type chart in appendix 1 of the handbook. The type of the attack being used is compared to the type of the defending Pokemon to get an effectiveness of either Doubly Super Effective (4x SE), Super Effective (2x SE), Normally Effective (1x), Not Very Effective (1/2x NVE), Doubly Not Very Effective (1/4x NVE), or Ineffective (0x). These can furthermore be boosted to Triply Super Effective (8x SE) and Triply Not Very Effective (8x NVE) through ability, move, or arena effects. However, ASB does not use the in-game damage multipliers for type effectiveness. Instead, we use the following chart:
Code:
8x SE: x27/8 (3.375)
4x SE: x9/4 (2.25)
2x SE: x3/2 (1.5)
1x: x1
1/2x NVE: ÷3/2 (1.5)
1/4x NVE: ÷9/4 (2.25)
1/8x NVE: ÷27/8 (3,375)
0x: x0
The general rule for the Type Effectiveness multiplier is 1.5 ^ (number of weaknesses - number of resistances), or 0 if the target is immune.
Stage Boost Difference: This is the difference between the attacker's relevant Attack Stage Boosts and the defender's Defense Stage Boosts. This difference is multiplied by 2 as shown in the formula to calculate the effect on damage. Stage Boosts are different to ranks and are covered in greater detail later in the post.
Final Damage: The damage deducted from the defending Pokemon's HP after the attack is executed. Note that if the Type Effectiveness multiplier is 0 (ie, the target is immune to the attack), Final Damage will always be 0. Otherwise, Final Damage will always be at least 1.
Rounding
Damage and Energy consumption are both treated with the same rounding rules in ASB. Neither are rounded as soon as an attack is completed. At the end of the round, Damage and Energy are each summed, and the final result of these is then rounded normally (ie ≥.5 rounds up, <.5 rounds down). It is important to note that it is the damage and energy consumption which are rounded, not the remaining HP and Energy (so in the case of an even .5, the remaining HP and Energy will go with the lower of the two values!) An important exception is that if a Pokemon is left at the end of an attack with .5 HP or less, they faint instantly instead of waiting until the end of the round to round to 0 HP.
Random Number Generation
Many effects in ASB have a percent chance of occurring that is not 0 or 100, such as a miss, a burn, or a critical hit. Under no circumstances is a referee to eyeball it. Instead, they should use a random number generator, such as the one offered at
http://www.random.org, to generate all random numbers for percent chances. The ref may roll out of whatever number they like as long as the probabilities of the outcomes of the random roll match the probabilities of the effect being rolled. For example, when rolling for a critical hit at the usual 1/16 chance, the ref may generate a number between 1 and 10,000 and treat results of 625 and below as a critical hit, or they may generate a number between 1 and 16 and treat a result of 1 as a critical hit.
If in doubt, you can hardly ever go wrong with a roll out of 10,000.
Energy
Every Pokemon in ASB enters battle with 100 energy. Energy is depleted by every attack and some abilities or arena effects. In this way, energy is like PP from the cartridges, except instead of each move having a limited number of uses, each Pokemon can use its energy for whichever combination of moves it likes. Additionally, if a Pokemon's type (or one of its types) matches the type of the move being used, the energy cost of that move is reduced by 1. As with Damage, all moves used with the exception of moves such as Chill consume a minimum of 1 Energy and any cost that equates to less than 1 Energy will be scaled up to 1 Energy.
Usually a Pokemon doesn't need to have enough energy to pay the energy cost of an attack and it can, for example, use a move that costs 10 energy even if it only has 7. In this way, a Pokemon's energy can drop to 0 and below. If this happens, the Pokemon is Knocked Out, just as if its HP had been reduced to 0.
There are some moves that are so powerful that they will fail if the Pokemon does not have enough energy to use them. In such cases, the Pokemon uses up the last of its energy and is Knocked Out without using the move to any effect. Combination attacks or combos have rules governing how much energy a Pokemon needs to successfully execute the attack. These rules are given in the section on Combinations.
Damaging Evasive moves consume half of the energy cost on the evasive part and half on the damaging part, unless otherwise stated in the move description. Charge moves consume all of the energy cost on the damaging part. Focus Punch consumes all of its energy on the charge part.
Some moves, such as Protect, Bide, and Snatch, have an EN cost that can't be fully determined on use. When these moves are used, you pay the base EN cost, and then additional EN is paid as other variables are calculated or change.
For instance, Bide you pay 6 EN on the first action of Bide, and the remaining EN when you release Bide. Protect you pay 7 EN when you first use it, and then as you take damage that is protected more EN is shaved off . For the purpose of combination EN feasability, simply assume no additonal EN costs (For example, Reflect + Protect needs at least 10 + 7 = 17 EN to successfully use)
Consecutive Energy Cost
As tempting as it may be to find your Pokemon's most powerful move and use it every action, doing so is a surefire way to drain your Pokemon's energy. When a Pokemon uses the same move on consecutive actions, the energy cost of that move increases by 4. This energy cost increase is cumulative and carries over from one round to the next. Outside of switching, the only way to reset this penalty is to use a different move or somehow fail to act. However, Combination cooldowns do not reset the consecutive use penalty, nor does using a combination of two different moves.
For example, if a move normally costs 6 energy and a Pokemon uses it 4 actions in a row, it will cost 6 energy the first time, 10 energy the second time, 14 energy the third time and 18 energy the fourth time. That's 48 energy expended in just 4 actions. If the Pokemon alternates between that move and a different move that costs 5 energy, it may deal a little less damage to its opponent but, by not incurring the increased energy cost for consecutive use of the same move, it will not expend even half the energy it otherwise would have.
Chill
Other than possible arena effects, the Chill command is the only way to restore energy. A successful Chill restores 12 energy. Battles usually have a limit to how many Chills each Pokemon can use to prevent them from getting too drawn out.
Note that a Pokemon's energy can never exceed 100.
Status Effects
Just like in the cartridges, status effects can be quite debilitating in ASB. Generally, status effects either deal damage to the Pokemon over the course of the battle or prevent it from acting. Fortunately, there are ways to prevent and cure status effects such as Safeguard, Substitute, Aromatherapy and Natural Cure, and most status effects decay naturally.
Status Stacking
Unlike in the cartridges, a Pokemon can have multiple status effects on it at the same time. This means, for example, that a Pokemon can be poisoned, burned, paralyzed and asleep at the same time. Being inflicted with multiple status effects just means the Pokemon suffers the effects of each one; any effects that are keyed to status in general such as Hex's power and the effects of Poke Balls do not become more potent against a Pokemon with multiple status effects. Furthermore, multiple instances of the same status effect do not stack.
List of Statuses
Burn: Usually (but not always) inflicted by Fire-type moves, this status effect reduces the power of the Pokemon's physical attacks by 3 and causes it to take 2 damage at the end of each action. Unless cured by a suitable move, ability or item, burn will linger for the entire battle, but it will deal no damage to the Pokemon while it is benched.
Poison: Usually (but not always) inflicted by Poison-type moves, this status effect comes in two varieties. Regular poison causes the Pokemon to take 2 damage at the end of each action, while bad poison (also known as Toxic poison) deals 1 damage per action in the round it is inflicted and its damage per action then increases by 1 at the end of each round. If a Pokemon inflicted with regular poison becomes badly poisoned, the damage per action will remain at 2 for the rest of the round, and then increase as normal. Unless cured by a suitable move, ability or item, poison will linger for the entire battle, but it will deal no damage to the Pokemon while it is benched. Additionally, if a Pokemon inflicted with bad poison is benched, the Toxic poison's damage will start over at 1 per action when the Pokemon returns to play.
Paralysis: Often (but not always) inflicted by Electric-type moves, this status effect reduces a Pokemon's speed to 1/4 of its current speed and may cause the Pokemon to fail to act. On each action when the Pokemon tries to use a move, there is a chance that the Pokemon will be fully paralyzed and unable to move. The different stages of paralysis are typically referred to by this chance and are given in the chart below along with all moves that inflict that level of paralysis.
Code:
25% (Bolt Strike, Freeze Shock, all moves with 100% chance of paralyzing)
20% (Static, all other moves with 30% chance of paralyzing)
15% (Effect Spore, Tri Attack, all moves with 10% chance of paralyzing)
10%
5%
0%
If not cured by a suitable move, ability or item, paralysis decays by 1 stage at the end of each round, starting with the round the status is first inflicted, as long as the paralyzed Pokemon is not benched. Paralysis also decays by 2 stages every time the Pokemon is fully paralyzed. Once the paralysis decays to 0%, the Pokemon is cured.
Sleep: Usually (but not always) inflicted by Normal- and Grass-type moves, this status effect prevents a Pokemon from doing almost anything until it wakes up. When a Pokemon is put to sleep, its sleep counter has a 2/3 chance of starting at 1 and a 1/3 chance of starting at 2. If the Pokemon has Early Bird, however, its sleep counter has a 1/3 chance of starting at 0 and a 2/3 chance of starting at 1.
A Pokemon will remain asleep until its turn comes around, and then its sleep counter is checked. If, at this point, the Pokemon's sleep counter is 0, the Pokemon will wake up. Otherwise, its sleep counter will decrease by 1 but it won't wake up yet. The sleep counter will also decrease by 1 any time the Pokemon takes at least 16 damage from one attack. If the Pokemon's sleep counter is at 0 when it takes this amount of damage, the Pokemon wakes up immediately. Sleep can also be cured by the right move, ability or item, but if a Pokemon switches out before it wakes up, its sleep counter will stay at it's current level, and will not decrease until the Pokemon returns to play.
Sleep induced by Rest works slightly differently. The Pokemon goes to sleep on the action it uses Rest and its sleep counter starts at 3 but decays on the same action. The Pokemon's sleep counter will not be reduced by attacks that deal at least 16 damage, but if the Pokemon takes more than 18 damage from a single attack, it will wake up immediately. A Pokemon that switches out while resting will not receive Rest's healing benefits upon switching back in.
Freeze: Usually inflicted by Ice-type moves, this status effect prevents a Pokemon from doing almost anything until it thaws out. When a Pokemon is frozen, its freeze counter will start at either 0, 1, or 2, with a 33.333% chance of each. As with sleep, the Pokemon's freeze counter is checked at the start of its turn and the Pokemon thaws out and acts as normal if its freeze counter is 0 or its freeze counter decreases by 1 otherwise.
As well as the usual means of curing a status move, the Pokemon's freeze status can be cured immediately with certain heat-based moves. Another Pokemon can thaw out the frozen Pokemon by hitting it with a Fire-type move or Scald, or the frozen Pokemon can thaw itself out by using Blast Burn, Blue Flare, Eruption, Flame Charge, Flame Wheel, Flare Blitz, Fusion Flare, Inferno, Lava Plume, Magma Storm, Overheat, Sacred Fire, Scald, Searing Shot or V-Create. Additionally, it is impossible for a Pokemon to be frozen in strong sunlight as caused by Sunny Day, and any Pokemon that are frozen when this effect comes into play are thawed immediately.
Confusion: This status effect causes a Pokemon to become disoriented for a while. When a Pokemon becomes confused, its confusion counter will start at either 2, 3 or 4, with a 1/3 chance of each. As with sleep and freeze, the Pokemon's confusion counter is checked at the start of its turn and the Pokemon snaps out of confusion if its confusion counter is 0. If it is not 0, however, then there is a 50% chance that the Pokemon will not perform its intended action, but will instead hit itself in confusion. If it does, the Pokemon's confusion counter decreases by 2. If it acts as normal, the Pokemon's confusion counter decreases by 1. Additionally, if the Pokemon takes at least 16 damage from a single attack, its confusion counter drops to 0 immediately. The Pokemon's confusion counter never goes below 0.
When a Pokemon hits itself in confusion, the damage is calculated as a physical attack with 4 Base Attack Power using the confused Pokemon's attack and defense ranks and stage boosts. This self-harming attack costs 3 energy, never lands a critical hit and is not affected by STAB, type effectiveness or the increased energy cost for using a move on consecutive actions.
Confusion can be cured by switching out as well as with the appropriate move, ability or item.
Infatuation: Also known as attraction, this status effect causes works almost the same as confusion. The only differences are that, instead of hurting itself, an infatuated Pokemon has a 50% chance of simply not doing anything for no energy - this causes the Pokemon's attraction counter to decrease by 2 instead of 1 that action - and attraction can only be inflicted by a male Pokemon on a female Pokemon or vice versa. Additionally, if the Pokemon takes at least 16 damage from a single attack, the attraction counter decreases by 1. Infatuation has 1/3 chance of lasting 2 (Slight), 3 (Severe) or 4 (Intense) actions.
Other status-like effects: Other moves can inflict unique effects that function in a similar manner to status effects, such as Taunt, Leech Seed and Encore. Generally speaking, these effects cannot be prevented or cured by the usual methods of preventing and curing status effects, but they are temporary and can be removed by switching out. For more information on such effects, check the descriptions of the moves that inflict these effects.
Stat Boosts/Drops
Stat boosts and drops from moves such as Swords Dance and Screech and abilities like Intimidate affect a Pokemon's stage in its stats. Each positive Attack or Special Attack stage effectively increases damage from the Pokemon's attacks by 2 while each positive Defense or Special Defense stage effectively reduces damage from incoming attacks by 2. Negative stages have the opposite effect. A Pokemon's stage in any stat typically starts at 0 and can go as low as -6 or as high as +6.
Each Pokemon also has natural stat stages for each of its stats; these start at 0. At the end of each round, all Pokemon's stat stages decrease by 1 if they are higher than the Pokemon's natural stage in that stat, and increase by 1 if they are lower. In this way, stat stages converge towards their natural stages over the course of the battle. This is typically referred to as decay. Decay occurs when a stat stage not at its natural stage is not altered in any way during a round, which makes the stat reset towards the natural stage. Basically, if a stat boosting/reducing move is used in a round, that stat will not decay. Otherwise, it will decay.
There are some stat boosts and drops in ASB that alter the natural stage as well. These mostly come from abilities such as Intimidate. In this way, a Pokemon that has been hit by Intimidate will not only have its Attack stage lowered by 1, but its natural Attack stage will also be lowered by 1. This means that, from that point on, its Attack stage will decay towards -1 instead of 0. Changes to the natural stat stage will not go away on their own.
In addition to their natural decay, stat boosts and drops and natural stat stages can be reset to 0 by switching out and by certain moves such as Haze.
Speed Scaling
The Speed stage of a Pokemon multiplies or divides the Pokemon's speed by a certain amount rather than affecting the Pokemon's damage output or damage taken. A Speed stage of 0 multiplies the Pokemon's speed by 1. If the Pokemon's Speed stage is greater than 0, this multiplier is increased by 0.75 per Speed boost (+1 Speed becomes * 1.75, +2 Speed becomes * 2.5, etc.). If it is less than 0, the multiplier is still increased by 0.75 per Speed drop, but the Pokemon's speed is divided by this number instead of multiplied by it (-1 Speed becomes / 1.75, -2 Speed becomes / 2.5, etc.). This adjustment to the Pokemon's Speed stat is applied after all other effects, and then the Pokemon's new Speed is rounded down to the nearest whole number.
The Speed stage is otherwise identical to other stat stages, so it follows the same rules for decay, it is always between -6 and +6, it can be reset by switching out and by moves like Haze, etc.
Evasion/Accuracy Scaling
Accuracy and Evasion stages affect the chance of a move hitting the target. If the Accuracy stage of the Pokemon using the move and the Evasion stage of the move's target are the same, the move's chance to hit is not affected. If the Accuracy stage of the user of the move is greater than the Evasion stage of the target, the move's accuracy is multiplied by ((3 + Accuracy stage - Evasion stage) / 3). If the Accuracy stage of the attacker is less than the defender's Evasion stage, the move's accuracy is multiplied by (3 / (3 + Evasion stage - Accuracy stage)). Thus, a Pokemon with +2 accuracy attempting to hit a Pokemon with no Evasion boosts or drops is roughly 67% more likely to hit, while a Pokemon with -2 accuracy would be only 60% as likely to hit. Moves whose accuracy is 100% are affected by Accuracy and Evasion stages, but moves whose accuracy is perfect or -- (such as Aerial Ace) are not.
An additional bonus for a high Accuracy stage is more hits on multi-hit moves. Every Accuracy boost increases the number of hits on a multi-hit move by 1, while every Accuracy drop decreases it by 1. This only applies to Beat Up and to moves that hit 2-5 times, and it stacks with the bonus hit granted by Bug STAB. The number of hits can be increased to a maximum of 5 or decreased to a minimum of 1 in this way.
The Accuracy and Evasion stages are otherwise identical to other stat stages, in that they follow the same decay rules, can go as low as -6 or as high as +6, are reset by switching out and by moves like Haze, etc.
Stat Changing Reference Table
Code:
Stage Boost Speed (100 Base) Accuracy / Evasion (100% Base Accuracy)
+6 +12.00 0550 300% / 033%
+5 +10.00 0475 267% / 038%
+4 +08.00 0400 233% / 043%
+3 +06.00 0325 200% / 050%
+2 +04.00 0250 167% / 060%
+1 +02.00 0175 133% / 075%
+0 +00.00 0100 100% / 100%
-1 -02.00 0057 075% / 133%
-2 -04.00 0040 060% / 167%
-3 -06.00 0030 050% / 200%
-4 -08.00 0025 043% / 233%
-5 -10.00 0021 038% / 267%
-6 -12.00 0018 033% / 300%
Targeting
Different moves can have different targeting capabilities. In a singles battle, this doesn't come into play very often, but in doubles and larger formats, it is important that you understand how move targeting works. The moves with the simplest targeting are those that target the user like Bulk Up and ones that target the entire field like Sunny Day.
Most moves like Flamethrower are capable of targeting one adjacent Pokemon, whether that Pokemon is an ally or an enemy. If the match is one in which positioning is on (which can only apply to triples and larger formats), a Pokemon is considered adjacent to the user of the move if one of the following is true:
- The Pokemon is in one of the ally positions next to the user of the move
- The Pokemon is in an opponent position directly opposite the user or one of the adjacent ally positions
Thus, in a triples match, the Pokemon in the middle are adjacent to everyone, while the Pokemon on the left are adjacent to everyone except the Pokemon on the right, and vice versa. Attempting to use a move that targets one adjacent Pokemon on a Pokemon that isn't adjacent will result in the move targeting the nearest opponent or the nearest ally, depending on who the intended target was.
More often, however, positioning is off, in which case all Pokemon are adjacent to each other. Some moves like Water Pulse can even target any one Pokemon, adjacent or otherwise. Either way, if there is more than one target to choose from, you must specify which Pokemon you are aiming the move at, otherwise the ref will have to use a random number generator to determine which Pokemon out of all the available targets (including allies but not the user) will be the target of the move. The first exception to this rule is if the only available targets are the user of the move and one other Pokemon, in which case it is assumed that the target is the other Pokemon unless specified otherwise. The second exception is with moves that force the user to use them on three consecutive actions like Thrash. Those moves' targets are always decided randomly from all available opponents. If you are targeting a fainted Pokemon, you still attack them—yes, this is a waste, so you can cover for it using a free KO sub, covered later.
Some moves like Heat Wave and Reflect target up to 3 adjacent allies or enemies. These moves will always try to target three allies (possibly including the user) or three opponents and you cannot order the Pokemon to use the move on fewer Pokemon. The only way the move can target fewer Pokemon is if there are fewer available Pokemon on the targeted side, whether the remaining ones are too far away or have fainted. If there are more than three available targets, however, then you must designate which three are the intended ones. If not enough targets are named, the ref must determine randomly from the remaining allies or opponents. A Pokemon can never be designated as more than one target.
All other moves will target either all opponents, all allies (possibly including benched allies), all adjacent opponents and allies, all opponents and allies, or all Pokemon including the user. The targets for these moves never need to be specified.
Moves always follow in-game targeting rules. This means that you cannot use Heat Wave to hit your side of the field, nor can you use Telekinesis against yourself in order to act as a self-induced Magnet Rise.
Combinations
While some ASBs allow players to create special signature moves for their Pokemon, such things do not exist in this ASB (and don't count on that changing). Instead, we have combinations, or combos for short. This is when a Pokemon combines two similar or identical moves (such as Flamethrower + Fire Blast, Giga Impact + Flare Blitz, Focus Punch + Ice Punch or Shadow Ball + Shadow Ball) into a single action. Whether two moves can actually be combined or not depends mainly on whether or not the ref believes the combo to be feasible and it is worth checking a move's description to see how the move manifests. Examples of infeasible combos include Head Smash + Hyper Beam, Night Slash + Earthquake and Psychic + Thunderbolt. If a combo is determined infeasible, the Pokemon will simply use the first move in the combo on its current turn and the second move on its next turn.
Combinations that are deemed unfeasible by ref discretion are not considered to be illegal under normal circumstances. If the combo is considered feasible, however, then the Pokemon will use the combined attack on its current turn. Combos are generally more powerful than regular moves.
On the turn after the combo is performed, though, the Pokemon will need to cool down, much like after using Hyper Beam in the cartridges. This cooldown period can be delayed if the Pokemon is frozen, but otherwise takes precedence above all else and does not count towards the duration of a temporary status such as sleep or confusion. Additionally, moves used in the combo are subject to the consecutive use energy penalty if used on the action after the cooldown; this is applied twice if the combo is of the same move twice, so using Ice Beam immediately after cooling down from a combo of Ice Beam + Ice Beam costs 15 energy. If the Pokemon uses a combo on the last action of a round, it is forced to cool down on the first action of the next round and cannot be switched out to prevent this, even negating the switch-inducing effect of moves like Roar and U-TUrn.
Note that, even if a combo is feasible, it can still be interrupted by effects like flinch and full paralysis, so always order something on the cooldown action in the form Cooldown (Alternative action).
Combo statistics
Of course, you're probably wondering how exactly the strength and effects of a combo are calculated. Combos generally have the same attributes as moves, like Base Attack Power, energy cost, accuracy and secondary effects. There are two ways of calculating these attributes: one way for a combo of the same move twice (also known as a same-move combo) and one way for a combo of two different moves (also known as a different-move combo).
Same Move Combinations
- The combo's Base Attack Power is 2.25 * the move's Base Attack Power (that is, the amount in the Attack Power part of the move's data).
- The exception is if the move deals fixed damage, in which case the combo's damage is double the move's damage. If there is a cap on the move, this cap is doubled in the combo.
- The combo's energy cost is equal to the move's energy cost * 2 + 4, all multiplied by 1.75. This can be calculated more simply as the move's energy cost + 2, all multiplied by 3.5.
- Modifiers such as STAB and abilities are factored in after this calculation, but the consecutive use penalty is calculated in the move's energy cost. Thus a combo of Flamethrower + Flamethrower on the action right after Flamethrower treats the move's energy cost as 11, not 7.
- The combo's accuracy is equal to the move's accuracy squared.
- Note that the accuracies of moves are in percentage form and 90% squared is 81%, not 8100%. Also, if the move has perfect accuracy, so does the combo.
- If the move has a secondary effect such as burning the opponent or lowering their Defense, the chance of the combo having that effect is double that of the move's chance.
- If the move causes stat boosts or drops, these are doubled in the combo.
- If the move deals damage equal to the amount of damage sustained multiplied by a certain number (such as Counter), the multiplier is squared in the combo.
- If the move causes the Pokemon to take recoil damage, the recoil percentage is multiplied by 1.5 in the combo.
Different Move Combinations
- The combo's Base Attack Power or Fixed Damage is the sum of the Base Attack Powers or Fixed Damages of the two moves.
- If one move deals Fixed Damage and the other doesn't, the combo deals damage as though it were the move with the Base Attack Power, and then the Fixed Damage is added at the end.
- If one move is a multi-hit move, calculate that move's Base Attack Power by determining the number of hits, then add it to the Base Attack Power of the other move. If both moves are multi-hit, add the two powers per hit together and then the number of hits is that of whichever move hits more times.
- If one move has a priority greater than 0, that move's Base Attack Power is halved. If both moves have a priority greater than 0, the move with the lower Base Attack Power has its power halved, or if both moves also have the same power, just pick one to halve.
- The combo's energy cost is equal to 1.5 * the sum of the energy costs of the two moves.
- The combo has the same critical hit chance as the move - there is no bonus for combining a high critical hit chance move with itself.
- Modifiers such as STAB and abilities are factored in after this calculation, but the consecutive use penalty is calculated in the move's energy cost. Thus a combo of Crunch + Fire Fang on the action right after Crunch or Fire Fang treats that move's energy cost as 4 higher.
- The combo's accuracy is the average of the accuracies of the two moves, so a combo of a 100% accurate move and an 80% accurate move has 90% accuracy.
- If either move in the combo has perfect accuracy, the whole combo has perfect accuracy.
- The combo has all the secondary effects of the two moves. If the moves share a secondary effect, add the effect chances of that particular effect for the two moves together.
- The combo inflicts the stat boosts and drops of both moves. If both moves cause the same stat to be raised or lowered, add the boosts/drops together.
- If both moves deal damage equal to the amount of damage sustained multiplied by a certain number (such as Counter), add the two damage results together.
- If one move causes the Pokemon to take recoil damage, the recoil percentage is halved in the combo. If both moves inflict recoil damage, the recoil percentages are added together.
- If the moves hit different numbers of targets, go with the higher number to determine how many targets the combo hits.
- If the moves do not share a target (such as the self-targeting Iron Defense and the opponent-targeting Ice Punch), they usually cannot be combined.
- If either move deals direct damage, the entire combo can be used while taunted. If either move would be impossible to perform because of any other effect, such as Torment, Disable, Imprison or lack of the right external source, the combo cannot be used.
- If either move has a high chance of a critical hit (such as Night Slash), the whole combo has a high chance of a critical hit. Combining two high critical hit chance moves does not provide an additional bonus.
- If either move makes contact, the whole combo makes contact, although most (but not all) non-contact moves don't feasibly combine with contact moves.
Generally speaking, the attributes of a same-move combo are equal to the attributes of the move multiplied by a certain amount, while the attributes of a different-move combo are equal to the attributes of one move added to the attributes of the other.
One other attribute a combo has is base energy cost. This is the minimum amount of energy the Pokemon needs to execute the combo. If it has less, the combo fails and the Pokemon faints from exhaustion. If the combo is a same-move combo, the base energy cost is the cost of using the move on that action and the following action, with all modifiers like STAB and consecutive use penalty factored in. If the combo is a different-move combo, the base energy cost is the cost of using one move on that action and the other move on the following action, with all modifiers like STAB and applying consecutive use penalty to whichever move (if either) was used on the action prior to the combo. The exception is if either move in the combo states that it requires the full amount of energy to use, like Explosion. In this case, the base energy cost is equal to the combo's total energy cost.
Combo Priority
Combo priority is one of the slightly more complex attributes to calculate, although you follow very similar rules for same-move and different-move combos. Firstly, if the combo is a same-move combo, double its priority, whereas if it's a different-move combo, add together the two move priorities. Then, if both moves in the combo have a priority of 0 or less, subtract 2 from the result. Finally, priorities can never go below -7 or above +6, so if the result is outside that range, raise or lower it to the appropriate end.
The above rules are for calculating the hit priority or strike priority of the combo and use the strike priority of the move(s) in the calculation. If either move in the combo has a charge priority, the combo has the same charge priority. Combos whose strike priority is equal to the charge priority will charge up and then immediately strike. Combos whose strike priority somehow exceeds the charge priority are automatically infeasible.
If the combo is a same-move combo of a damaging evasive move such as Dig, calculate the combo's strike priority as normal, then whatever the difference between the evade priority and strike priority of the move is, add that to the combo's strike priority to get the combo's evade priority. Thus, Dig + Dig, with its strike priority of -6, has an evade priority of -4. If the combo is a different-move combo where one of the moves is a damaging evasive one, apply the same rule using the damaging evasive move's two priorities. Thus, Dig + Crunch, with its strike priority of -4, has an evade priority of -2. If the combo is a different-move combo where one of the moves is a damaging evasive one and the other move is a priority attack, apply the same rule using the damaging evasive move's two priorities, but do not apply the -2 priority because priority moves maintain priority. Thus, Dig + Quick Attack, with its strike priority of -1, has an evade priority of 1.
In the event of a different-move combo of two damaging evasive moves, add the two differences together, so Fly + Sky Drop, with a strike priority of -5, will have an evade priority of -2. A combo of a damaging evasive move and a charge-up move will have three priorities; for example, Sky Attack + Fly will have a charge priority of +1, an evade priority of -3 and a strike priority of -5. Generally, however, combos of two different damaging evasive moves, two different charge-up moves, or a charge-up move and a damaging evasive move are not feasible.
Physical/Special Mix Combos
Although generally infeasible, sometimes you can make a combo of a physical attack and a special attack (henceforth called a mixed combo). For the most part, this works like any ordinary attack, using the different-move combo rules to determine the combo's attributes. The advantage of a mixed combo is that the Pokemon uses the rank bonuses from both its Attack and Special Attack ranks, as well as any stage boosts on Attack and Special Attack. Of course, the opponent applies both its Defense and Special Defense ranks and boosts when taking damage from such a combo, so this works best if your Pokemon's attacking stats are both greater than the opponent's defensive stats.
When calculating the damage of a mixed combo, the Attack Rank Bonus is factored in twice: once for the Pokemon's Attack and once for its Special Attack. Similarly, the opponent's Defense Rank Bonus is factored in once for its Defense and once for its Special Defense. Do not add the ranks together and then convert the result into a bonus; this can give the wrong result. The Stage Boost Difference is also calculated twice: once for Attack versus Defense and once for Special Attack versus Special Defense. Finally, anything that specifically adjusts physical attacks is applied, as is anything that specifically adjusts special attacks. Thus, a burned Pokemon with Guts using a mixed combo on an opponent protected by Light Screen applies Light Screen's reduction to the combo's Base Attack Power, but it also applies the boost from Guts.
Combination Types / Type Priority
The type of a combo is the other slightly more complex attribute of a combo to calculate. Each move has a field called CT, which stands for Combination Type. This is an indicator of the dominance of a move's manifestation and, by extension, how likely it is for the move to retain its type when used in a combo. The type of a same-move combo is always the same as the type of the move, and the type of a different-move combo of two moves of the same type, the combo's type is the same as the type of the two moves. For different-move combos whose moves have different types, you must first compare the CTs of the individual moves. The CTs are as follows:
- Set: Typing is such a fixed part of this attack it will override all other types.
- Force: Typing defines the attack to such an extent it will override elements.
- Elemental: Typing defines the attack as imbued with an elemental property.
- Passive: Typing is part of the attack but is not definitive in its use.
- Deferring: This attack is easily redefined by the qualities of other attacks.
- None: This attack cannot be used in a combo.
Whichever move's CT is higher up in the ranking is the one whose type is used to determine the combo's type. If the CTs are identical, compare the Base Attack Powers of the two moves. Whichever move has the higher power is the one that the combo uses the type of. For this purpose, non-damaging moves defer to moves that deal direct damage. If both attacks have the same CT and the same Base Attack Power but the Pokemon gets STAB on one of them, then the combo uses the move that the Pokemon gets STAB on. If both attacks have the same CT and the same Base Attack Power and the Pokemon gets STAB on both or neither of them, the combo becomes typeless. Like a typeless attack, a typeless combo is never affected by STAB, weakness, resistance or any effect keyed to typing.
Effects of Certain Moves
Some moves have effects that, while not unique to the specific move, are not as widespread as the main status effects. Some moves have attributes that are not covered in the above sections. These are some of the miscellaneous effects and attributes of moves:
Sluggish
In the cartridges, a Pokemon that uses Hyper Beam has to recharge on the following action. In ASB, a Pokemon that uses a combo has to recharge on the following action. Since even powerful moves like Hyper Beam are generally weaker than combos, it would be kinda lame if using Hyper Beam in ASB carried the same penalty as using a combo. Instead, a Pokemon that uses a move like Hyper Beam or Giga Impact in ASB becomes Sluggish.
While a Pokemon is Sluggish, it will be unable to use any move that deals direct damage if the energy cost of the move is more than 5. It also cannot use any non-damaging move with an energy cost of 9 or more, as well as Protect, Detect, evasive Agility, evasive Teleport, Dodge, Bodyblock or Take Cover, regardless of the energy cost of those moves. Modifiers to the energy cost such as STAB and the consecutive use penalty are not factored in when determining whether or not a move costs too much energy to use, with the exception of Technician and Skill Link due to how they interact with multi-hit moves.
Sluggishness lasts for one turn. If the Pokemon uses a combo that makes it Sluggish, the effect lasts for two turns, including the cooldown action.
Trapping and Partial Trapping
Some moves can prevent a Pokemon from switching out. The non-damaging ones like Mean Look are usually called trapping moves while the damaging ones like Fire Spin are usually called partial trapping moves. The former usually persist until the user of the move faints or is benched, while the latter have a finite duration that can be cut short when the user faints or is benched. A Pokemon that has been trapped by either of these moves cannot switch out unless a move forces it to switch out (such as its own U-turn or an opponent's Whirlwind). If the user of a trapping or partial trapping move faints, its trapping effect ends that round and the trapped Pokemon is free to switch out. If the user of a trapping or partial trapping move is benched without fainting, though, the trapping effect ends after the switch phase is over and the trapped Pokemon cannot switch out.
There are abilities that, against certain Pokemon, function as persistent trapping moves. The trapping effect of these abilities comes into play after all switching for the round is done and ends after all switching for the round in which the Pokemon switches out is done. Thus, a Pokemon that would be affected by a trapping ability may switch out in the round the opponent enters play, but not in the round the opponent is benched.
Spread Moves
Some moves can hit multiple targets at once. Some like Earthquake will target both opponents and allies, while others like Rock Slide will target opponents only. If there is only one target available, the move works as normal. If there is more than one, the move's Base Attack Power is multiplied by 0.75. Note that targets that are immune to the move or unable to be hit by the move still count as available targets - the only Pokemon that are never available targets are Pokemon that have fainted, the user of the move and allies of the user (unless the move targets both opponents and allies).
Spread moves also have their Base Attack Power reduced if the opponent has a Double Team effect up, although if the initial accuracy check of the move is successful, the attack will hit the real opponent and all of its clones. Spread moves can also hit an opponent using evasive Agility or evasive Teleport and, if the evading Pokemon is the only available target, the move will hit at full power.
Synchronised Moves
In ASB, when two or more different allied Pokemon use a move which targets "All Adjacent Pokemon" (e.g. Earthquake) in a row (With no Pokemon acting in between), these Pokemon are said to use these moves "In Sync", or as Synchronised Moves. These function as normal, but they do not damage any Pokemon using them in sync.
Fog
ASB has five weather effects. Sun, Hail, Rain and Sandstorm work similarly to how they work in the cartridges, with any ASB-specific differences noted in the description of the appropriate move. Unlike these weathers, Fog can be brought about by a few different moves. While Fog is in effect, all Pokemon have their Accuracy lowered by 1 stage. This Accuracy drop is separate from the other stat boosts and drops and it doesn't decay like them. Instead, it remains until the Fog effect is cleared.
While most weather effects last for a number of rounds, Fog only lasts for a number of actions. Like the other weathers, Fog increases Weather Ball's strength and reduces the effectiveness of moves like Synthesis.
Multi-Hit Hit % / Spillover Damage
Multi-hit moves have been mentioned throughout this handbook. In-game, they do a certain amount of damage with each hit and the number of times they hit is determined randomly (or is a fixed number). Due to how damage is calculated in ASB, mirroring this would make multi-hit moves overpowered. Instead, multi-hit moves deal damage as though they were single-hit moves and their Base Attack Power is listed as "X per hit". To calculate the total Base Attack Power of a multi-hit move, check how many times it hits and multiply the result by X.
Some multi-hit moves always hit twice, and so are often referred to as two-hit moves. Triple Kick, despite hitting three times, falls into this category. Other multi-hit moves have a variable number of hits. These moves usually have a 1/3 chance of landing two hits, a 1/3 chance of landing three hits, a 1/6 chance of landing 4 hits and a 1/6 chance of landing 5 hits, so when rolling to determine the number of hits, it is often a good idea to roll out of 6, with 1-2 meaning 2 hits, 3-4 meaning 3 hits, 5 meaning 4 hits and 6 meaning 5 hits. Bug STAB increases this number by 1, while changes to the Accuracy stat change the number of hits landed by the Accuracy stage. The number of hits can be reduced to a minimum of 1 or increased to a maximum of 5 in this way.
Because of how their damage is calculated, the damage dealt by multi-hit moves is likely to be less than the damage dealt by the single-hit move of a Pokemon's choice. However, there are a couple of advantages multi-hit moves have. The first is that they disrupt the powerful charge-up attacks like Sky Attack, causing such moves to fail if they hit between the Charge and the Strike. The second is that, if the target has a Substitute up and a move does more than enough damage to break the Substitute, the remaining damage on a single-hit move would be wasted but any remaining damage on a multi-hit move is dealt to the target itself.
Move Restriction
There are some moves in ASB that are, by their very nature, restricted. Grass Knot, for example, cannot be used unless the arena has a suitable source of grass. Sucker Punch will fail if the opponent doesn't use a move that deals direct damage. There are then some moves that limit which moves your Pokemon can use, like Taunt and Torment. What happens when a Pokemon tries to use a move when the move cannot work depends mainly on why the move cannot work.
Working with effects that prevent Move Selection
When a Pokemon is subject to a move like Taunt or Torment, the move prevents the Pokemon from selecting certain moves. If it tries to use any such prohibited moves on the action when they become prohibited, it fails but doesn't expend any energy. Any attempts on any other actions while the condition is in effect result in the Pokemon using Struggle.
Certain moves require a source of a certain material, such as water or rocks. Any attempt to use such a move when the appropriate source is not there will result in the Pokemon using Struggle.
Working with effects that prevent Move Execution
Sometimes, a Pokemon will be perfectly capable of attempting a move, but the conditions of the battle will make the move fail. Using Sucker Punch on an opponent that uses Swords Dance, for example, or Toxic on a Pokemon under the effects of Safeguard. In such cases, the Pokemon expends the energy required for the move, but the move's effect does not occur.
A Pokemon may attempt to use a move like Explosion that requires the Pokemon to have enough energy for the move's energy cost, but the Pokemon doesn't have enough energy. It might attempt to use a combo that it cannot afford the base energy cost of. In such cases, the Pokemon uses up the last of its energy and faints from exhaustion without executing the move or combo.
Item Mechanics
In the cartridges, a Pokemon may be equipped with one of many items with all sorts of effects. This aspect of the cartridge games is retained in ASB, although many items have been reworked to better suit the battle style of ASB. Many items are on the Pokemon permanently short of being removed by a move like Knock Off or Trick and have a persistent effect while equipped. Both consumable items that have not yet been used once and non-consumable items that are Knocked Off or otherwise removed from the holder are returned at the end of the battle.
Some such items state in their description that they raise the Base Attack Power of a move. What they actually do is add to the damage before factoring in weakness and resistance - they do not affect the move's actual Base Attack Power. Some descriptions say that the item increases the damage of a move. These items apply their damage increase after weakness and resistance has been factored in.
Some items alter the ranks of the holder. These items usually either name the stats whose ranks are adjusted or specify the highest true base stat(s). In the case of the latter, you must check the Pokemon's base stats in-game to determine which ranks the item adjusts in ASB. Such items can often only be used by certain Pokemon. The Pokemon that can use it may be a broad category such as "all Pokemon that don't evolve into or from anything" or it might be only one or two Pokemon.
These are just some of the effects non-consumable items have. For more information, check the description of an individual item.
Consumables and Encumbrance
Some items are consumable items. These items take effect under certain circumstances such as when HP drops to a certain amount or the holder is hit by a certain kind of move. Consumable items can take effect up to a certain number of times in a single battle. Consumable items in ASB (Unless stated otherwise), unlike their in-game counterparts, do not leave your profile after usage - they stay with you forever. While non-consumable and unused consumable items encumber their holder, any consumable item that has been used at least once is considered light enough to not encumber the Pokemon any more.
Choice item mechanics
If Choice Band, Choice Scarf and Choice Specs duplicated their effects exactly in ASB, they would be terrible items. The boost to the stat would be nice, but being forced to use the same move throughout the entire battle (and incur the full consecutive use penalty) would not be worth the bonus. Instead, a Pokemon that holds a choice item is forced to use the same move on all actions of the round, but it can switch the move it uses each round.
Additionally, when a Pokemon holds a choice item, once it successfully performs its chosen move for the first time in a round, no effect can prevent it from using that move until the start of the next round. A Pokemon holding a choice item is also immune to the effects of Encore and, while it still incurs a penalty to its energy for using the same move on consecutive actions, this penalty is halved while the choice item is held.
Training Items
Training items in ASB are the Amulet Coin, the Lucky Egg, the EXP Share, and the Luck Incense. Many battles only use Training Items, which limits items to the four listed.
If an arena allows more than one item to be held per Pokémon, any training item held by a Pokémon that is holding an additional item other than a Mega Stone will have it's effect negated, with the exception of the Luck Incense SpA boost.
Attachments
Alongside the above, there are also items called Attachments. Attachments are special items that can be equipped to certain Pokémon that allows the Pokémon to transform into an alternative Forme. For example, equipping a Rotom Wash Washer to a Rotom allows them to transform into Rotom-W. These items work differently to other items in that they do not count as held items when equipped by the affected Pokémon. This allows the Pokémon to equip another item in addition to an attachment. This also renders the item immune to all forms of item removal and item negation, and moves that get a BAP increase against item holding targets do not get an increase against targets with these items provided they are not holding another item. Only one Attachment can be equipped to a Pokémon at a time. These items can be attached to a Pokémon, even in Items = Training and Items = Off matches.
Effect Timing
With the numerous additional effects in ASB, you may have a situation in which many of these effects are present at once and the order in which they are resolved can make all the difference. Here are the many effects in ASB sorted into when in the action or round they occur. If multiple effects occur on the same line, resolve the one with the earliest start first.
Start of Round
The following effects occur before the first action of the round is even touched:
- Healing Wish and Lunar Dance restore HP.
- Entry hazards like Stealth Rock take effect in the order they were set up.
- Trigger abilities that automatically activate when the Pokemon enters play activate.
- Toggle abilities toggle. If Zen Mode is toggled to the default effect while Darmanitan has less than 50% of its HP left, Darmanitan reverts to its normal form.
Start of Action
The following effects occur before the current action is resolved:
- Turn order is decided.
Start of Turn
The following effects occur on a Pokemon at the start of its turn in the action:
- Check if the remaining duration of the Pokemon's sleep, freeze, confusion or infatuation is at 0, and end the status if it is.
- Roll for infatuation, paralysis and confusion (in that order), but only on the Pokemon's first turn in that action.
End of Turn
The following effects occur on a Pokemon after it has taken its turn in the action:
- If the Pokemon knocked out a Pokemon that used Destiny Bond, Destiny Bond deals damage.
- All ongoing effects on the Pokemon with a duration given in actions that are not specified elsewhere have their remaining duration lowered by 1.
- If the Pokemon hit itself in confusion, confusion duration is lowered by an additional 1.
- If the Pokemon failed to act due to infatuation, infatuation duration is lowered by an additional 1.
- If the Pokemon was fully paralyzed, paralysis stage drops to the next lowest level, and paralysis is cured if it reaches 0%.
- If the Pokemon used Reflect, Light Screen, regular Mist, Tailwind, Lucky Chant or the second of two different Pledge moves, the remaining duration of these effects is reduced by 1 on all affected Pokemon.
- If the Pokemon dealt sufficient damage to a sleeping Pokemon, the sleeping Pokemon's remaining sleep duration is reduced by 1 or the sleeping Pokemon wakes up.
- If the Pokemon dealt sufficient damage to a confused Pokemon, the confused Pokemon's remaining confusion duration drops to 0.
- If the Pokemon dealt sufficient damage to an infatuated Pokemon, the infatuated Pokemon's remaining infatuation duration is reduced by 1.
- If the Pokemon has Zen Mode toggled and a form change is warranted, the form change happens.
End of Action
The following effects occur after all Pokemon have taken their turns in the action:
- Rest's healing occurs and its remaining duration is lowered by 1.
- All weather-based damage and healing occurs.
- Future Sight and Doom Desire deal damage.
- Wish restores HP.
- Damage from the combination of Fire Pledge and Grass Pledge occurs.
- Leftovers and Black Sludge restore HP or deal damage.
- Aqua Ring and Ingrain restore HP.
- Leech Seed deals damage and restores HP and its remaining duration is lowered by 1.
- Poison and burn damage occurs as does Poison Heal's HP restoration.
- Nightmare deals damage and drains energy.
- Damage from Ghost Curse occurs.
- Damage from partial trapping moves like Wrap occurs.
- Yawn's drowsiness converts to sleep. Determine sleep duration at this point.
- Bad Dreams deals damage and drains energy.
- Sticky Barb's damage occurs.
End of Round
The following effects occur after the last action of the round:
- Weather duration (other than Fog) is lowered by 1.
- Status effect removal due to Shed Skin and Healer occurs.
- Perish Song counter decreases by 1 and any Pokemon with a Perish Song counter of 0 are knocked out.
- All ongoing effects with a duration given in rounds that are not specified elsewhere have their remaining duration lowered by 1.
- Paralysis stage on all Pokemon drops to the next lowest level, and paralysis is cured on all Pokemon whose paralysis stage drops to 0%.
- Stat boosts and drops that are due to decay do so.
- Speed Boost, Harvest and Moody activate.
- Toxic Orb and Flame Orb activate.
Capture Mechanics
For the most part, to obtain a Pokemon, you have to purchase it in its unevolved form and then evolve it later if necessary. However, some facilities may allow you to capture a Pokemon using Poke Balls instead. For some Pokemon, this is the only way to obtain them. If you are in such a facility and you wish to capture a Pokemon using a Poke Ball, you simply state which ball you are throwing and you will throw the Poke Ball at the target.
If a Pokemon can be captured, it will have an additional stat known as Capture HP or CHP. This number is based on the Pokemon's in-game capture rate - the higher their capture rate, the lower their CHP. Thus initial CHP values can range from 45 for something relatively weak and common like Zubat to 297 for legendary Pokemon like Landorus. Each Poke Ball, when thrown, deals damage to the Pokemon's CHP and is then consumed. When a Pokemon's CHP reaches 0 or less, the Pokemon is captured.
The damage a Poke Ball deals to a Pokemon's CHP is equal to:
(Ball Strength - Target's Capture Resistance) * Major Status Modifier - Each Ally's Capture Resistance
Here is an explanation of each item in the above formula:
- Ball Strength is a number determined by the kind of Poke Ball you are using, and possibly depending on other circumstances. Many kinds of Poke Ball have a standard Ball Strength of 15 which is boosted to 36 given the right location, right Pokemon or right effects.
- A Pokemon's Capture Resistance is equal to 10% of its current normal HP, rounded down to the nearest whole number. If the Pokemon's energy is at the maximum of 100, the Pokemon's Capture Resistance is increased by 10. Pokemon that have been knocked out have no Capture Resistance.
- Major Status Modifier is determined by which status effects the Pokemon to be captured is affected by:
- If the Pokemon is frozen, Major Status Modifier = 2.5
- If the Pokemon is not frozen but it is asleep, Major Status Modifier = 2
- If the Pokemon is neither frozen nor asleep, but it is burned, poisoned or paralyzed, Major Status Modifier = 1.5
- If the Pokemon is not affected by any of the above status effects, Major Status Modifier = 1
If the damage to a Pokemon's CHP is less than or equal to 0, the Poke Ball has no effect.
If the Pokemon has a low starting CHP and you reduce its normal HP by a lot and inflict a major status on it, you might capture it with your first Poke Ball. Often, however, your first Poke Ball will do some damage to the Pokemon's CHP but not enough to capture it outright. When this happens, the Pokemon regains 12 energy. No end-of action or end-of-round effects occur, nor does throwing a Poke Ball consume a round. If the Pokemon already had the maximum of 100 energy when the capture attempt was made, it instead performs a full round's worth of attacks while your own Pokemon do nothing, and the full amount of end-of-action and end-of-round effects occur.