Welcome back to VGC 101! Today we are going to talk about Fake Out, the move that helped Incineroar become the VGC Goat! As a matter of fact, several of the best VGC mons of all time are Fake Out Users: Smeargle, Mega Kangaskhan, Incin, Rillaboom, and Iron Hands all use Fake Out as a vital tool.
Fake Out is an absolute staple of VGC, so learning to use it well and counter it will help you improve immensely! So today we will help you understand:
Fake Out is a 40 base power Normal move with a very high priority (which means it goes before most other moves aside from protect). It also has a 100% chance of flinching the opponent and stopping them from moving if you connect.
But Fake Out only works the first turn a Pokemon is out on the field. You cannot even select the move in Pokemon Champions after the first turn. But if you switch out and bring the Mon back in again, you can go for Fake Out the first turn you are back in.
What Makes Fake Out Good
So now that we’ve talked about what Fake Out does, why is it good? Basically, Fake Out lets you play a selective 1 v 1 by turning off an opposing slot as they click protect into your Fake Out.
By choosing which Mon you want to stop from moving, you will almost always have an advantage. If the opposing Mon cannot protect - either because it doesn’t have it or because it just protected - you just get a free attack into an opponent that can’t do anything. Fake Out allows you to have safe options in a game where those are very hard to come by.
The first rule of Fake Out is to use Fake Out to do something. Sometimes I see players click Fake Out with one slot and Protect with the other slot. That is something you almost never want to do. You should use your Fake Out to do 1 of 4 things:
1. Set Up
Set up moves provide a lot of value. Whether that’s Delphox clicking Nasty Plot, Kingambit clicking Swords Dance, or Milotic clicking Coil, you can gain a lot of ground with a set up move.
At +2, your Pokemon deals 2x damage. Multiply that by 2-5 attacks a game,
And it’s like you get 2-5 more turns than your opponent! And getting to a boosted attack can sometimes mean deleting an opponent's Pokemon before they can even move! Now you basically have a free 4 vs 3 or 4 vs 2. But set-up moves have the trade-off of leaving you vulnerable. Fake Out gives you that advantageous 1 vs 1 to create the space you need to set up! It’s also helpful to use Fake Out when you’re set up, so let’s explore the 2nd use of Fake Out.
2. Attack
If your opponent has just protected, Fake Out + Attacking is basically a guaranteed free attack.
Being able to safely remove an opposing Pokemon without them being able to do anything in the turn is insanely strong. Even if the opposing Pokemon threatens to outspeed and KO you, if it’s been flinched by Fake Out then you’re the one taking a KO!
3. Reposition
Fake Out is also amazing for being able to reposition and get a Pokemon you want in safely. The “Pivot Pals” Incineroar and Rillaboom are famous for combining Fake Out + U-Turn/Parting Shot to get you into an advantageous position vs the opposing Pokemon. Having the right 2 Pokemon out vs your opponent is huge in VGC.
If you have the wrong 2 Pokemon on the field, sometimes it can be hard to recover or safely get the right position — but Fake Out is a great tool to mitigate that danger by stopping an opponent while you switch.
4. Stall Out Field Conditions
Sometimes you’ll use Fake Out to stall out an opponent's field condition such as Trick Room, Tailwind, or weather. It can give you an extra safe turn with the Fake Out, but then it can also allow you to reposition or reset Protect. So in that case, a single Fake Out can sometimes give you 2-3 turns to stall out a Tailwind, Trick room, or weather!
The next level of utilizing Fake Out is utilizing the threat of Fake Out. What do I mean by that? In front of Fake Out the safest play your opponent can do is to click double Protect. Nothing happens in the turn. They take no damage (unless you’ve got Urshifu) and then your Fake Out is no longer active.
You’ve got two ways to handle this. One is to force the double Protect and use that to click up a set up move. The other is to use Fake Out to get in a free switch. And if you switch out into a 2nd Fake Out user then you have Fake Out online AND they don’t have Protect online. So then you get your choice of two truly free attacks!
And lastly, combining pivoting moves with Fake Out is really broken because it allows you to cycle Fake Out in and out. That’s why Incin will almost always run Parting Shot, and Rillaboom often runs U-turn. Fake Out users also pair well with pivoting attackers like Iron Hands + Volt Switch Miraidon.
There’s a lot of nuance, but if you can use Fake Out to make progress AND the threat of Fake Out to make progress, you will win a lot of matches.
It’s generally a good idea to have at least 1 Fake Out immune Pokemon on your team if you can afford it.
You can also stop Fake Out with your own faster Fake Out to either Fake Out their Fake Out user before they can click Fake Out, or Fake Out their other slot. A lot of times VGC matches will involve a lot of switching and positioning to get the right Fake Out sequence, but having the faster Fake Out gives you an advantage.
Double Protect is another good way of stopping Fake Out - but it can be taken advantage of as stated before.
Encore is a really effective way of stopping Fake Out by locking them into a move they can’t use again. Prankster Encore can either lock them in, force them to switch out, or stop them from clicking Fake Out altogether - especially if you’ve got a way to protect your Encore mon from the Fake Out flinch. Just be aware that Dark Type Fake Out users are immune to Prankster Encore.
The last way to counteract Fake Out is to position so that both of your Pokémon threaten both of the opponent’s Pokemon in a way that discourages them from clicking Fake Out.
The first is if your team relies on Psychic Terrain which blocks Fake Out. If you aren’t able to click it, you’re often better off leaving it at home.
Some really fast offensive Tailwind teams don’t really need it as much because they want to be clicking attacks as much as they can. If you’ve got a secure enough way of getting Tailwind up without using Fake Out, you may prefer offensive tools.
Some teams just don’t have enough slots for it. For example, in Scarlet and Violet there were Dual Restricted teams with Dondozo & Tatsugiri. That’s 4/6 slots right there! Some teams just can’t fit Fake Out and that’s okay! It never hurts to have it, but you can play without it.
And lastly, sometimes there won’t be good Fake Out pokemon available. In Scarlet Violet Regulation A there was no Iron Hands, no Incineroar, no Rillaboom, no Sneasler. All of those Pokemon are really good Pokemon outside of Fake Out. So in a lower power level format without those really good options available, you saw less of it.
Because Fake Out is so important, we partnered up with one of the best players in Korea NashVGC to break it down even further! So make sure to check out what he has to say!
Fake Out is an absolute staple of VGC, so learning to use it well and counter it will help you improve immensely! So today we will help you understand:
- How Fake Out Works
- What Makes Fake Out Good
- How to Use Fake Out Effectively
- How to Counter Fake Out
- When to Use Fake Out
How Fake Out Works
Fake Out is a 40 base power Normal move with a very high priority (which means it goes before most other moves aside from protect). It also has a 100% chance of flinching the opponent and stopping them from moving if you connect.
But Fake Out only works the first turn a Pokemon is out on the field. You cannot even select the move in Pokemon Champions after the first turn. But if you switch out and bring the Mon back in again, you can go for Fake Out the first turn you are back in.
What Makes Fake Out Good
So now that we’ve talked about what Fake Out does, why is it good? Basically, Fake Out lets you play a selective 1 v 1 by turning off an opposing slot as they click protect into your Fake Out.
By choosing which Mon you want to stop from moving, you will almost always have an advantage. If the opposing Mon cannot protect - either because it doesn’t have it or because it just protected - you just get a free attack into an opponent that can’t do anything. Fake Out allows you to have safe options in a game where those are very hard to come by.
How to Use Fake Out Effectively
The first rule of Fake Out is to use Fake Out to do something. Sometimes I see players click Fake Out with one slot and Protect with the other slot. That is something you almost never want to do. You should use your Fake Out to do 1 of 4 things:
- Set Up
- Attack
- Reposition
- Stall out Field Conditions
1. Set Up
Set up moves provide a lot of value. Whether that’s Delphox clicking Nasty Plot, Kingambit clicking Swords Dance, or Milotic clicking Coil, you can gain a lot of ground with a set up move.
At +2, your Pokemon deals 2x damage. Multiply that by 2-5 attacks a game,
And it’s like you get 2-5 more turns than your opponent! And getting to a boosted attack can sometimes mean deleting an opponent's Pokemon before they can even move! Now you basically have a free 4 vs 3 or 4 vs 2. But set-up moves have the trade-off of leaving you vulnerable. Fake Out gives you that advantageous 1 vs 1 to create the space you need to set up! It’s also helpful to use Fake Out when you’re set up, so let’s explore the 2nd use of Fake Out.
2. Attack
If your opponent has just protected, Fake Out + Attacking is basically a guaranteed free attack.
Being able to safely remove an opposing Pokemon without them being able to do anything in the turn is insanely strong. Even if the opposing Pokemon threatens to outspeed and KO you, if it’s been flinched by Fake Out then you’re the one taking a KO!
3. Reposition
Fake Out is also amazing for being able to reposition and get a Pokemon you want in safely. The “Pivot Pals” Incineroar and Rillaboom are famous for combining Fake Out + U-Turn/Parting Shot to get you into an advantageous position vs the opposing Pokemon. Having the right 2 Pokemon out vs your opponent is huge in VGC.
If you have the wrong 2 Pokemon on the field, sometimes it can be hard to recover or safely get the right position — but Fake Out is a great tool to mitigate that danger by stopping an opponent while you switch.
4. Stall Out Field Conditions
Sometimes you’ll use Fake Out to stall out an opponent's field condition such as Trick Room, Tailwind, or weather. It can give you an extra safe turn with the Fake Out, but then it can also allow you to reposition or reset Protect. So in that case, a single Fake Out can sometimes give you 2-3 turns to stall out a Tailwind, Trick room, or weather!
Next Level Fake Out Usage
The next level of utilizing Fake Out is utilizing the threat of Fake Out. What do I mean by that? In front of Fake Out the safest play your opponent can do is to click double Protect. Nothing happens in the turn. They take no damage (unless you’ve got Urshifu) and then your Fake Out is no longer active.
You’ve got two ways to handle this. One is to force the double Protect and use that to click up a set up move. The other is to use Fake Out to get in a free switch. And if you switch out into a 2nd Fake Out user then you have Fake Out online AND they don’t have Protect online. So then you get your choice of two truly free attacks!
And lastly, combining pivoting moves with Fake Out is really broken because it allows you to cycle Fake Out in and out. That’s why Incin will almost always run Parting Shot, and Rillaboom often runs U-turn. Fake Out users also pair well with pivoting attackers like Iron Hands + Volt Switch Miraidon.
There’s a lot of nuance, but if you can use Fake Out to make progress AND the threat of Fake Out to make progress, you will win a lot of matches.
How to Counter Fake Out
Thankfully, there are several ways to counter Fake Out. Ghost types are immune to the attack, and Pokemon with the Covert Cloak item or Inner Focus ability are immune to the flinching effect and can still move. Psychic terrain also stops Fake Out onto grounded Pokemon because it’s a priority move (levitating or flying type Pokemon can still be hit though), and some abilities stop priority moves such as Farigiraf's, Tsareena's, or Bruxish's abilities.
It’s generally a good idea to have at least 1 Fake Out immune Pokemon on your team if you can afford it.
You can also stop Fake Out with your own faster Fake Out to either Fake Out their Fake Out user before they can click Fake Out, or Fake Out their other slot. A lot of times VGC matches will involve a lot of switching and positioning to get the right Fake Out sequence, but having the faster Fake Out gives you an advantage.
Double Protect is another good way of stopping Fake Out - but it can be taken advantage of as stated before.
Encore is a really effective way of stopping Fake Out by locking them into a move they can’t use again. Prankster Encore can either lock them in, force them to switch out, or stop them from clicking Fake Out altogether - especially if you’ve got a way to protect your Encore mon from the Fake Out flinch. Just be aware that Dark Type Fake Out users are immune to Prankster Encore.
The last way to counteract Fake Out is to position so that both of your Pokémon threaten both of the opponent’s Pokemon in a way that discourages them from clicking Fake Out.
When to Use Fake Out (Or Not!)
Most teams will find some use to benefit from Fake Out. It’s one of the strongest tools in VGC that has a lot of uses offensively and defensively. So on most teams, it doesn’t really hurt to have. That being said, there are a few times it doesn’t make as much sense to have on your team.
The first is if your team relies on Psychic Terrain which blocks Fake Out. If you aren’t able to click it, you’re often better off leaving it at home.
Some really fast offensive Tailwind teams don’t really need it as much because they want to be clicking attacks as much as they can. If you’ve got a secure enough way of getting Tailwind up without using Fake Out, you may prefer offensive tools.
Some teams just don’t have enough slots for it. For example, in Scarlet and Violet there were Dual Restricted teams with Dondozo & Tatsugiri. That’s 4/6 slots right there! Some teams just can’t fit Fake Out and that’s okay! It never hurts to have it, but you can play without it.
And lastly, sometimes there won’t be good Fake Out pokemon available. In Scarlet Violet Regulation A there was no Iron Hands, no Incineroar, no Rillaboom, no Sneasler. All of those Pokemon are really good Pokemon outside of Fake Out. So in a lower power level format without those really good options available, you saw less of it.
Expert Tips
Because Fake Out is so important, we partnered up with one of the best players in Korea NashVGC to break it down even further! So make sure to check out what he has to say!
Review
In conclusion Fake Out is a strong move because it lets you create selective 1 vs 1 situations where you are free to set up, attack, or reposition. Hopefully these tips will help you improve and utilize one of the strongest moves in the entire game!