(approved by TEG - heavily borrowed from the old thread)
Passive damage is unfair becduause it chips away at your Pokemon indiscriminately. For instance, why should a Fire-type be punished by Leech Seed, a Grass-type move? Why do Flying-types and Water-types take the same amount of damage from Hail even though one is weak to Ice and one resists it? In Passive Aggressive, that's no longer the case. In this metagame, any passive or indirect damage associated with a particular type will deal damage each turn based on how much damage, based on the following chart:
- 0x effective ~ 0x
- 1/8x effective ~ 1/8x
- 1/4x effective ~ 1/4x
- 1/2x effective ~ 1/2x
- 1x effective ~ 1x
- 2x effective ~ 2x
- 4x effective ~ 4x
- 8x effective ~ 8x
For example, here's how much damage Hail would do to your Pokemon at the end of every turn depending on its weakness to Ice:- 0x effective ~ 0 HP
- 1/8x effective ~ 1/128 HP
- 1/4x effective ~ 1/64 HP
- 1/2x effective ~ 1/32 HP
- 1x effective ~ 1/16 HP
- 2x effective ~ 1/8 HP
- 4x effective ~ 1/4 HP
- 8x effective ~ 1/2 HP
- Burn ~ Fire ~ 1/8 HP
- Poison ~ Poison ~ 1/8 HP
- Toxic Poison ~ Poison ~ 1/16, 2/16, 3/16, etc.
- Sandstorm ~ Rock ~ 1/16 HP
- Hail ~ Ice ~ 1/16 HP
- Stealth Rock ~ Rock ~ 1/8 HP
- Spikes ~ Ground ~ 1/8 HP (stacking is explained below)
- Recoil ~ Type of the move used the turn your Pokemon hurts itself calculated against your Pokemon * the amount of recoil damage. This includes the crash damage from High/Jump Kick. ~ Depends on how much damage the move does
- Trapping damage ~ Type of the move (Whirlpool is Water, Bind is Normal, etc) ~ 1/8 HP
- Leech Seed ~ Grass ~ 1/8 HP
- Curse ~ Ghost ~ 1/4 HP
- Nightmare ~ Ghost ~ 1/4 HP
- Black Sludge ~ Poison ~ 1/8 HP
- Spiky Shield ~ Grass ~ 1/8 HP
Spikes work as followed:
- 1 layer ~ Same as every other passive damage.
- 2 layers ~ The damage taken from Ground attacks, multiplied by 1.5
- 3 layers ~ The damage taken from Ground attacks, multiplied by 2.
Rules:
Mechanic: All type-based passive damage now deals damage based on the type chart.
Clauses: OU clauses
Bans: OU banlist
Unbans: N/A
Strategy:
Passive Aggressive adds extremes to indirect damage, greatly punishing the Pokemon that are very weak to a type while letting neutral and resisted matchups off the hook. For example, Talonflame loses 1/4 of its health every turn from Sandstorm due to its x4 weakness to Rock, but at the same time only loses 1/64 of its health from Leech Seed.
Here's a sample in action:
Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
With the change to recoil, Mega Charizard X can still hit strong with its Tough Claws-boosted 120 BP Flare Blitz, and only loses 1/4 of the recoil it originally took due to its 1/4 resistance of Fire-type attacks.
Here's another:
Abomasnow @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spe
Lonely / Naughty Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- Blizzard
- Leech Seed / Ice Shard
Similarly to the other damaging weather setters, Abomasnow has the potential to do big chunks of passive damage against your opponent's team just by showing up. When it needs to attack it has a strong Wood Hammer that only returns 1/2 of the regular recoil thanks to Abomasnow's resistance to Grass.
And another:
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Starmie is a notable Spinner thanks to Natural Cure and a neutrality to Stealth Rock and Spikes damage. There's something else that makes it better in Passive Aggressive, however, something that makes its usual switch-in Ferrothorn more nervous than usual: Scald. If Ferrothorn gets burned it will lose a whopping 1/2 of its HP every turn, ruining its ability to check other offensive threats on your team. But Scald isn't totally broken! Other Water-types, for example, won't mind the burn nearly as much now that it only damages them 1/32 HP per turn.
Q&A
Q: How does this affect Pokemon with Magic Guard?
A: They're still immune to passive and indirect damage.
Q: How does this affect Pokemon with Wonder Guard, specifically Shedinja?
A: Shedinja still faints from any passive damage.
Q: What if a move of a different type gives a status condition? For instance, will Scald's burn and Twineedle's poison be Water and Bug or Fire and Poison?
A: Burn and poison are set to always deal Fire and Poison damage, respectively, due to those conditions' associations with those types.
Q: How does Toxic work?
A: Toxic is a super poison and will still increase overtime. A Rock/Ground Pokemon affected with Toxic will take 1/64 HP loss the first turn, then 2/64 loss the next, and 3/64 the next, and so on. A Grass/Fairy Pokemon takes 1/4 the first turn and 2/4 the next, meaning it will have lost 3/4 of its HP in only 2 turns!
Q: What happens if I miss with High Jump Kick or a Ghost-type switches in?
A: Your Pokemon will damage itself based on High Jump Kick's effectiveness versus itself. Mega Lopunny will faint in recoil while Mega Medicham takes a paltry 1/4. Of course Mega Lopunny will still hit the Ghost-type thanks to Scrappy.
Q: Ghosts can't be trapped, so will they still take damage from moves like Whirlpool?
A: Yes. But like you said, they can switch out at any time.
Q: How does this affect Leech Seed?
A: Leech Seed is a Grass move so it will drain damage based on Grass's effectiveness versus the target. A Seeded Rock/Ground type loses 1/4 of HP per turn and the Pokemon receiving the drained HP recovers 1/4 of the Rock/Ground type's max HP for itself.
Q: How does this affect Curse?
A: A Pokemon that uses Curse will damage itself and its target based on Ghost's effectiveness versus both, individually. So a Ghost-type Pokemon will cut its own HP by 1/2 to lay the Curse and a Dark-type target will lose 1/8 of HP per turn. Because they are immune to Ghost, Normal types lose 0 HP.
Q: Speaking of immunities, how are ability, type, or item immunities affected?
A: Immunities are unchanged. A Fire-type Pokemon can never be burned and thus cannot take passive damage based on Fire's effectiveness from a burn. A Pokemon with Sap Sipper is immune to Grass so Leech Seed will always fail against it unless the attacker has Mold Breaker. Pokemon immune to weather via abilities will retain that immunity. (Sand Rush, Ice Body, etc.)
Q: What if a move or Pokemon changes type?
A: It will calculate passive damage based off of the new typing. An Electrified Leech Seed will now use Electric instead of Grass to calculate damage. A burned Kecleon that changes from Normal to Ice will now take 1/4 HP loss instead of 1/8 from the burn.
Q: How does this affect Baton Pass and Leech Seed/Curse/Nightmare?
A: The new Pokemon will start taking passive damage based on its weakness to Grass or Ghost.
Q: Why are some passive damage not included?
A: They're not associated with a specific type so they still do normal damage. This includes Rough Skin, Iron Barbs, Aftermath, Rocky Helmet, Sticky Barb, Life Orb, and those berries that cause recoil.
A: They're still immune to passive and indirect damage.
Q: How does this affect Pokemon with Wonder Guard, specifically Shedinja?
A: Shedinja still faints from any passive damage.
Q: What if a move of a different type gives a status condition? For instance, will Scald's burn and Twineedle's poison be Water and Bug or Fire and Poison?
A: Burn and poison are set to always deal Fire and Poison damage, respectively, due to those conditions' associations with those types.
Q: How does Toxic work?
A: Toxic is a super poison and will still increase overtime. A Rock/Ground Pokemon affected with Toxic will take 1/64 HP loss the first turn, then 2/64 loss the next, and 3/64 the next, and so on. A Grass/Fairy Pokemon takes 1/4 the first turn and 2/4 the next, meaning it will have lost 3/4 of its HP in only 2 turns!
Q: What happens if I miss with High Jump Kick or a Ghost-type switches in?
A: Your Pokemon will damage itself based on High Jump Kick's effectiveness versus itself. Mega Lopunny will faint in recoil while Mega Medicham takes a paltry 1/4. Of course Mega Lopunny will still hit the Ghost-type thanks to Scrappy.
Q: Ghosts can't be trapped, so will they still take damage from moves like Whirlpool?
A: Yes. But like you said, they can switch out at any time.
Q: How does this affect Leech Seed?
A: Leech Seed is a Grass move so it will drain damage based on Grass's effectiveness versus the target. A Seeded Rock/Ground type loses 1/4 of HP per turn and the Pokemon receiving the drained HP recovers 1/4 of the Rock/Ground type's max HP for itself.
Q: How does this affect Curse?
A: A Pokemon that uses Curse will damage itself and its target based on Ghost's effectiveness versus both, individually. So a Ghost-type Pokemon will cut its own HP by 1/2 to lay the Curse and a Dark-type target will lose 1/8 of HP per turn. Because they are immune to Ghost, Normal types lose 0 HP.
Q: Speaking of immunities, how are ability, type, or item immunities affected?
A: Immunities are unchanged. A Fire-type Pokemon can never be burned and thus cannot take passive damage based on Fire's effectiveness from a burn. A Pokemon with Sap Sipper is immune to Grass so Leech Seed will always fail against it unless the attacker has Mold Breaker. Pokemon immune to weather via abilities will retain that immunity. (Sand Rush, Ice Body, etc.)
Q: What if a move or Pokemon changes type?
A: It will calculate passive damage based off of the new typing. An Electrified Leech Seed will now use Electric instead of Grass to calculate damage. A burned Kecleon that changes from Normal to Ice will now take 1/4 HP loss instead of 1/8 from the burn.
Q: How does this affect Baton Pass and Leech Seed/Curse/Nightmare?
A: The new Pokemon will start taking passive damage based on its weakness to Grass or Ghost.
Q: Why are some passive damage not included?
A: They're not associated with a specific type so they still do normal damage. This includes Rough Skin, Iron Barbs, Aftermath, Rocky Helmet, Sticky Barb, Life Orb, and those berries that cause recoil.
Resources:
Playability: Playable on the ROM server (courtesy of urkerab)
Council: N/A
Ban History: N/A
Finally, I would like to conclude with a special thank you for Eevee General, who originally hosted this meta.
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