Sword & Shield Battle Mechanics Research

two mechanics tested in one video. bolt beak (and presumably fishious rend) get double power on a switch in. also, dragon darts hits around phantom force, which is something that my earlier dragon darts tests didn't confirm (i'll link that twitter thread here too even though it was linked earlier in this thread).
So basically Dragon Darts will hit twice on one target if the other won't receive damage by the move (regardless of the reason, unlike Stomping Tantrum's condition for double damage)?

Also, in one of the videos you did not share, if Dragon Darts is redirected by Follow Me and it was supposed to hit one target twice, both hits will be redirected to the Follow Me user. Also confirming that, despite its smart targeting, Dragon Darts won't bypass immune redirections.

So this begs another question. How does Dragon Darts work under Normalize or Electrify? Will it smart target under Normal or Electric effectiveness, respectively, or will it still smart target with Dragon-type effectiveness?
 
So I apologize if this has been stated already, but I noticed that the Normal Gem (Got one from digging) is in the game. Does this mean Gems are back?
 
I have a lot of questions regarding G max moves.

  • What are the odds for each effect of Befuddle?
  • Are the hazards from Max Stonesurge really just Stealth Rocks, or are they some new "Stealth Water" or something?
  • What exactly does Wind Rage remove? The official website lists Electric Terrain as something it can remove, which is unlike Defog. Does it remove hazards and/or screens on the user's side of the field?
  • How much does Finale heal? Does it matter if it's used in a single or double battle?
  • Volcalith has the same description as Wildfire. Is it the same damage, and are there any types that are immune to it, like how the website says that Fire-types are immune to Wildfire?
  • Does Sweetness cure inactive party members? I remember hearing that it doesn't, but I want to double check.
  • Are non-grounded Pokemon affected by Steelsurge's new hazard? It's described as "sharp spikes", and neither Spikes nor Toxic Spikes affect non-grounded Pokemon.
 

Anubis

HONK
is a Community Contributoris a Top Researcheris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
does truant get ignored by dynamax?
Truant works normally for Dynamaxed Pokemon.

- Neutralizing Gas does disable Truant. A few nuances:
You can send out Neutralizing Gas on a turn that Truant would activate to keep it from activating.
If the Truant Pokemon moved on Turn #1, Neutralizing Gas leaving the field on Turn #2 does not cause Truant to activate until Turn #3.

How does Slow Start count its turns when Neutralising Gas is in play? Does sending in and withdrawing the Neutralising Gas Pokemon reset the timer?
Scenario 1: Slow Start activates. Neutralizing Gas is sent out before Slow Start finishes.
--- If Neutralizing Gas stays on the field, Slow Start's end message never appears and the Slow Start mon has normal Speed (and I assume other stats).
--- If Neutralizing Gas leaves the field, Slow Start activates again with a new timer.
Scenario 2: Slow Start activates. Neutralizing Gas is sent out after Slow Start finishes.
Scenario 3: Slow Start is sent out into Neutralizing Gas and doesn't activate.
--- For both 2 and 3, if Neutralizing Gas leaves the field, Slow Start activates again with a new timer.

can soundproof kommo-o use clangorous soul?
- Soundproof Kommo-o can use Clangorous Soul without problems. Also noticed it failed at 50/150 HP, so my guess is it fails if it would KO Kommo-o.

- Steely Spirit boosts ally and self steel moves by 1.5x base power.
Everything here is level 50.
93 Att Corviknight Iron Head versus 71 Def Wobbuffet.
Expected damage for a 1.5x base power boost: (90, 91, 91, 93, 94, 94, 96, 97, 99, 99, 100, 102, 102, 103, 105, 106)
39 trials all landed within this distribution; again you see more occurrences of damages that appear more frequently in the distribution. (Results don't match the predicted damage if you apply it like a Helping Hand damage bonus; this is a base power multiplier):
Damage - Times
90 - 1
91 - 7
93 - 3
94 - 6
96 - 2
97 - 3
99 - 5
100 - 2
102 - 4
103 - 3
105 - 1
106 - 2
Interestingly, Steely Spirit Perrserker seems to benefit from its own ability even though the description says it boosts ally.
117 Att Perrserker Metal Claw versus 71 Def Wobbuffet does 73, 81, 84 damage.
Expected damage for a 1.5x base power boost: (70, 72, 72, 73, 73, 75, 75, 76, 78, 78, 79, 79, 81, 81, 82, 84)
(This is the same in singles and doubles.)

Just to be thorough, I checked to be sure the opposing side wasn't also boosted by Steely Spirit and it's not.
134 Att Corviknight Steel Wing versus 71 Def Wobbuffet did 81 damage.
Expected damage for NO base power boost: (76, 76, 78, 78, 79, 81, 81, 82, 82, 84, 85, 85, 87, 87, 88, 90)
 
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CTNC

Doesn't know how to attack
I think I speak for everyone when I say, Thanks Anubis for all the effort you put into your research! :D

I've been wanting to say that for a while, but now I have something to add. I tried Ghost Type Curse in a raid and it looked about as effective as Sandstorm or Hail. Can someone test for the exact amount it deals to Dynamax Pokemon?
 
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Since Judgment was called into question, The Immortal asked me to check every other signature move to see if it's clickable in game.

Btw if you have 4 grayed out moves, it goes straight to struggle, which is why I had to go put Protect on them.

EDIT: TI missed a bunch, will be updating in a bit.
EDIT2: Did that.

Here are all the screenshots showing what happens to them: https://imgur.com/a/lAZc9yy

Clickable:
Accelerock
Doom Desire
Fairy Lock
Mat Block
Night Daze
Soft-Boiled
V-create
Water Shuriken

Unclickable:
Aeroblast
Barrage
Beak Blast
Chatter
Conversion
Conversion 2
Crush Grip
Dragon Ascent
Fiery Dance
Fleur Cannon
Floral Healing
Geomancy
Heart Swap
Hyperspace Fury
Hyperspace Hole
Kinesis
Land's Wrath
Light of Ruin
Lovely Kiss
Lunar Dance
Magma Storm
Milk Drink
Mind Blown
Nature's Madness
Oblivion Wing
Origin Pulse
Precipice Blades
Psycho Boost
Relic Song
Revelation Dance
Roar of Time
Sacred Fire
Searing Shot
Shadow Force
Sketch
Spacial Rend
Steam Eruption
Techno Blast
Thousand Waves
So, this is more just a curiosity since I doubt it'll have any use in simulator play, but all the "soft" retired moves like Judgement just have a flag internally right? If that flag was set to "on", would they become active and if so would they like...crash the game?
Guess I'm just curious if some of these happened to have animations programmed or a fail safe or anything. how functional they are.
 
I can’t see this ever being relevant, but:
If you use Life Dew when there is a mon on your side with Water Absorb, the ability blocks it. Life Dew does heal any other mons on your side of the field, including the user.
This gives me two questions:
What happens if the mon using Life Dew has Water Absorb?
How much does Life Dew heal if it gets absorbed?
 

Death Phenomeno

I'm polite so just for clarity, when I'm cross I
is a Contributor Alumnus
I don't know if this is already public knowledge, but in case it isn't…:

Zamazenta appears in hero mode in team preview, but it appears in crowned mode in battle. In other words, team preview will show you "regular" Zamazenta, whether it has the Rusted Shield equipped or not. This probably affects Zacian as well.

Images: https://imgur.com/a/I9OtT0E

Link to the video from where the images were taken:
 
Is the Magikarp breeding trick still available in these games? (The games used to predetermine the shiny rolls for eggs way in advance)
 
Is the Magikarp breeding trick still available in these games? (The games used to predetermine the shiny rolls for eggs way in advance)
I can confirm it doesn't...

Bloody friggin Sneasle got a surprise KO on me after I managed to hatch a really good egg... that didn't appear again after resetting.
 
  • Does Soundproof block Perish Body altogether / Are Soundproof mons immune to Perish Body? GF has been known to simply copy-paste move-effects before (example: Plasma Fists copying Ion Deluge's exact effect, even down to "A barrage of ions showered") so this could be a possibility, hence the question.
  • What are the odds of getting a Pikachu-gulp instead of an Arrokuda-gulp from Gulp Missile? Is there some special forme of Cramorant (Max Raid Cramorants only or something similar) that can only have access to these Pikachu-gulps?
  • Does Body Press take up the user's Defense stat for damage calculation (similar to Foul Play) or does it do some percent more damage based on user's Defense stat boosts?
  • What is up with Jaw Lock's description? (paraphrasing) "They both can't flee, but if they do, then they can." is too stupid and vague. Is it referring to how the Shift battle style allows switching despite being trapped, or is it referring to stuff like Roar / Whirlwind forcing switches?
  • Probably not the right place to ask I suppose, but here goes anyway - By how much exactly does the Catching Charm boost the Critical Capture chances?
 
Technically not really a "battle mechanics" thing, but I saw this somewhere and don't really know if this is true or not:

Is it true that it's not possible to use Gigantamax Pokemon for online battling and ladder climbing?
 
If Galarian Darmanitan has its Gorilla Tactics removed or negated by Skill Swap or Neutralizing Gas, and then gets it back, does it get locked back into the original move, or can it chose a new move to get locked into?
 

UltiMario

Out of Obscurity
is a Pokemon Researcher
two mechanics tested in one video. bolt beak (and presumably fishious rend) get double power on a switch in. also, dragon darts hits around phantom force, which is something that my earlier dragon darts tests didn't confirm (i'll link that twitter thread here too even though it was linked earlier in this thread).
If Bolt Beak and Fishious Rend have double power on switch, has Payback has returned to doubling on the switch too?
 
  • Are the hazards from Max Stonesurge really just Stealth Rocks, or are they some new "Stealth Water" or something?
  • Volcalith has the same description as Wildfire. Is it the same damage, and are there any types that are immune to it, like how the website says that Fire-types are immune to Wildfire?
The hazards from G-Max Stonesurge are just Stealth Rock. Similar to how G-Max Sandblast is just Sand Tomb and G-Max Centiferno is just Fire Spin (in the case of G-Max Sandblast, it even says the Pokemon is hurt by the "Sand Tomb").
Volcalith has no type immunities. It does the exact same damage amount as Wildfire, but it says different things in battle when a Pokemon is hurt by it, as well as displays a different animation.

  • What is up with Jaw Lock's description? (paraphrasing) "They both can't flee, but if they do, then they can." is too stupid and vague. Is it referring to how the Shift battle style allows switching despite being trapped, or is it referring to stuff like Roar / Whirlwind forcing switches?
If one of the Pokemon leaves the battlefield due to being forced out, using Baton Pass, or fainting, the other can switch out again. Neither Pokemon can switch out as long as the other is on the field.

If Bolt Beak and Fishious Rend have double power on switch, has Payback has returned to doubling on the switch too?
Bolt Beak and Payback work oppositely. Bolt Beak gets stronger if the user goes first, and Payback gets stronger if the user goes second. If Bolt Beak doubles on a switch, intuitively that means the game considers it as if the user attacked first so the Payback boost wouldn't activate.
 
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Pyritie

TAMAGO
is an Artist
Volcalith has no type immunities. It does the exact same damage amount as Wildfire, but it says different things in battle when a Pokemon is hurt by it, as well as displays a different animation.
Is it fire type damage or rock type damage?
 
I can’t see this ever being relevant, but:
If you use Life Dew when there is a mon on your side with Water Absorb, the ability blocks it. Life Dew does heal any other mons on your side of the field, including the user.
This gives me two questions:
What happens if the mon using Life Dew has Water Absorb?
How much does Life Dew heal if it gets absorbed?
Water Absorb is 25% so I think it's net neutral.

This is relevant because, as I found out in a raid battle with Gastrodon, the same applies to Storm Drain. The other team members will be healed, but the Pokemon with Storm Drain will not, and will get a special attack boost instead.
 

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