Move Powder

[bearcanine]

Will-O-Wisp will activate Powder
Sunny Day will activate Powder
HP Fire will activate Powder
Grass types are immune to Powder ("It doesn't affect so-and-so...").
Steel types are not immune to Powder. In case anyone was wondering.
Flash Fire will not activate when taking damage.

Can't test Magic Guard until I have an Abra. It can learn Sunny Day though, if anyone wants to try it out. Clefairy line works too.

 

[Tsplodey]

Flash Fire will not activate when taking damage.

That plus the exact damage values people are reporting would imply that Powder is typeless damage, or at least a set amount using similar mechanics to Stealth Rock?

If Shedinja had a way of setting off Powder that would tell you if it is Fire or not.

 

[Non-Guest 31415]

That plus the exact damage values people are reporting would imply that Powder is typeless damage, or at least a set amount using similar mechanics to Stealth Rock?

If Shedinja had a way of setting off Powder that would tell you if it is Fire or not.

Hidden Power. Just breed Nincada until you get one with HP Fire and level it up to 20 with a normal Poke Ball in your bag and an empty party slot.

 

[bearcanine]

Weakness Policy would verify if it were Bug or Fire. I don't wanna spend BP on it though :<

 

[Xenon Blastiose]

Inb4 Scizor

Please let this be legit, my Scatterbug will mercilessly annihillate your Blaziken.

 

[EternalDream]

Galvantula/Joltik doesn't get Powder. Oh well </3

Testing on Larvesta/Volcarona now, found a Larvesta on GTS asking for Joltik, as luck would have it.

Edit: Nope.

What's left? Scizor? I don't see any other bugs that could make use of it. So far it seems like it's Vivillon's signature move.

 

[bearcanine]

Tanga berry didn't activate when Liepard took Powder damage. 25% like usual. I think it's safe to assume the damage is typeless.

Galvantula/Joltik doesn't get Powder. Oh well </3

Testing on Larvesta/Volcarona now, found a Larvesta on GTS asking for Joltik, as luck would have it.

Edit: Nope.

What's left? Scizor? I don't see any other bugs that could make use of it. So far it seems like it's Vivillon's signature move.

Parasect? It'd be cool if it could throw a x5 weakness back at someone's face.

Edit: Just leveled a Parasect to 77; he doesn't learn Powder. I bred it with Vivillon too and I guess it's not an egg move either. Ah well.

 

[Septrin]

Thinking about it, you know how Grass types are immune to powder and spore moves?
Not relevant for them unless they pack HP fire, but I thought I'd mention it.

 

[thatguyfromsparta]

May be hard to pull off, but Vivillion could have a movepool based around powder/infestation and trap choice fire users in. Quite specific circumstances and may not happen a lot though.

 

[DTC]

So what are the practical uses of this move? The facet of killing a random Fire-type Pokemon that is supposed to defeat you is pretty amusing, but I am dubious of the practical uses for the following reasons:

• It only lasts a single turn, and if you Powder on the turn the opponent uses some other move, you effectively just wasted your turn.
• The turn could be better spent using something else, as Powder does not actually do much damage most of the time.
• Powder allows the opponent to get a free switchin to whatever they want.
• Constantly using Powder can make you very predictable, and not constantly using Powder vs a faster Pokemon that can kill you with a Fire-type attack leaves you very open.

While on the flip side, Powder does not really do all that much. It seems to me as if it would only be effective as a one time lure that would also scare the opponent from using Fire-type attacks in general vs that Pokemon. I can't see many Pokemon that would actually use this move, but maybe you guys see a bit more potential in it.

 

[EternalDream]

So what are the practical uses of this move? The facet of killing a random Fire-type Pokemon that is supposed to defeat you is pretty amusing, but I am dubious of the practical uses for the following reasons:

• It only lasts a single turn, and if you Powder on the turn the opponent uses some other move, you effectively just wasted your turn.
• The turn could be better spent using something else, as Powder does not actually do much damage most of the time.
• Powder allows the opponent to get a free switchin to whatever they want.
• Constantly using Powder can make you very predictable, and not constantly using Powder vs a faster Pokemon that can kill you with a Fire-type attack leaves you very open.

While on the flip side, Powder does not really do all that much. It seems to me as if it would only be effective as a one time lure that would also scare the opponent from using Fire-type attacks in general vs that Pokemon. I can't see many Pokemon that would actually use this move, but maybe you guys see a bit more potential in it.

Most of the issues pointed out boil down to pure mind-games and out-predicting your opponent. A lot of moves suffer from this, so it's not entirely nonviable to use.

As for the bolded part, there is only one pokemon that can learn it anyway, as far as I've tested : Vivillon. And while still situational, if you run any other bug types with more SpA than it, you could drop Bug Buzz for Powder and use a set like Sleep Powder / Powder / Quiver Dance / Hurricane. If your opponent sends in a fire type meant to take out your Vivillon, you could scare it off with Powder and get a free Quiver Dance in, allowing you to proceed to sweep with Hurricane or put a big threat to sleep with Sleep Powder. That's the set I'll use for it anyway, once i make my bug mono-type team for OU.

One hilarious instance I could see happening (albeit very hard to set up and very unlikely to happen) would be putting a fire-type Choice user to sleep with Sleep Powder, trapping them with Infestation, and using Powder once they wake up to watch them helplessly kill themselves.

 

[bearcanine]

Being that it's probably exclusive to Vivillon... Powder's better suited for doubles. Bug/Flying has too many weakness to take advantage of. Not to mention 80/50/50 defenses. There's no need to use a Fire attack in a one-on-one with Vivillon. A neutral attack could probably one-shot it.