Welcome to the Game Mechanics page. This part of our site will give some information about the world of pokemon. This includes Moves, Types, Natures, Characteristics, and much more. If you have any additional questions then feel free to email us at ehwa91@yahoo.com or post in the forum section of the site. We use Serebii.net for most of our information and full credit is given to them for writing up their information.
Some of you may wonder what those numbers and words mean on the stats page of your pokemon summary. Well we are here to help you understand what they are.
HP(Hit Points)- HP determines how long your pokemon will last in battle. Every pokemon has a certain amount of health, and once that number reaches 0 then its lights out. You will be forced to switch out to another pokemon and if you have none left, then you will white out and be brought back to the last pokemon center you visited. You will also lose some amount of your money.
Attack/Defense- Attack determines the power of physical attacks done by your pokemon and defense determines how much damage can be taken by physical attacks. Physical attacks in the game are shown with a red-ish symbol. So the higher your attack stat, the more damage physical attacks do. However if a pokemon with high defense(Ex. Forretress) then the physical attacks will do less damage.
Special Attack/Special Defense- Special Attacks and Special Defense act the exact same way as Attack and Defense. The only difference is that Special Attacks use the Special Attack stat and are absorbed by the Special Defense stat, of course. Special Attacks are shown by a dark blue-ish symbol on certain moves.
Other- Moves that count as Other are moves like Growl, Tail Whip, Sing and other moves of the sort. They are categorized with a white symbol. These moves are generally stat changing moves and don't effect the target with damage.
You will also encounter multiple types in the pokemon world. Visit this site for information on pokemon types.
Damage multipliers are determined by the types of pokemon. Refer to the types chart link above for information on types. We will start out simple first. If a pokemon deals damage with no "Super Effective" or "Not very effective" results, the damage is neutral, meaning x1 damage. If an attack is "Super Effective" the damage deals x2.
Now to things are about to get crazy. Some pokemon have two types. If a pokemon has two types that both resist an attack, the overall damage is a pathetic x0.25 making that 1/4 the damage. If a pokemon gets hit with a "Super Effective" attack on both types, then the damage becomes 4 times as great making that x4 damage. However if a pokemon has a type that resists an attack, but has another type that is also weak to the attack, the damage becomes neutral making it x1 damage.
Critical Hit! Critical hits act like Super Effective attacks dealing x2 the damage. But lets say the opponent uses Defense Curl or Growl on your pokemon. Well lucky for you critical hits ignore these effects and if a pokemon has the ability Sniper, critical deals x3 damage instead of x2.
Below is a quick review of damage multipliers. We will use pokemon for examples.
Pikachu, an electric type, gets hit with a ground attack. Pikachu gets hit with x2 damage.
Pikachu gets hit with another electric attack making it x0.5 damage.
Wingull a Flying/Water type gets hit with a Thunderbolt. The overall damage is x4 because electric is super effective to both Flying and Water.
Steelix a Ground/Steel type gets hit a Rock Throw. The damage is x0.25 because Ground resists Rock and Steel resists Rock.
Wingull a Flying/Water type gets hit with a Grass type attack Razor Leaf. The damage is neutral because although Water is weak to Grass, Flying also resists Grass. So the damage would be (2)x(.5)=1
A Bidoof uses Defense Curl boosting its Defense. You pokemon uses Tackle dealing neutral damage. But Bidoof's extra Defense keeps it alive. You fight another Bidoof which also uses Defense Curl, but this time Tackle has a Critical Hit dealing x2 the damage and ignoring the effect of Defense Curl.
Wingull gets hit with a critical hit, electric attack. The end result is a massive x8 damage because the initial attack deals x4 while the critical hit increases that by x2 making it (4)x(2)=8
*For more information on stat modifiers like Defense Curl, Swords Dance, and Growl, go to the Advanced Game Mechanics farther down this page.
Pokemon have various natures and characteristics. These effect your pokemon's stats depending on what nature a certain pokemon might have. Any nature can appear on any pokemon and not one pokemon can have a higher percentage of acquiring a certain nature.
Natures effect your pokemon in both a positive and negative way. Certain natures will drive up a pokemon's stat while at the same time it drives another stat down (natures can never effect health). Some natures also do nothing to a pokemon having a neutral effect. So its best to choose a nature accordingly to certain pokemon. Follow this link for information on natures.
Pokemon characteristics also affect your pokemon, but not on the same scale as natures, and only effect pokemon in a positive way. Characters can effect all stats on a pokemon and can give a bigger advantage to a trainer who looks for both natures and characters. Follow this link for details on characters.
Pokemon abilities are self-explanatory. This link will give you information on what the abilities and what pokemon have them.
Ok so all trainers face certain effects like Burn and Sleep. How annoying isn't it? Well you may think a simple status condition like Burn just deals damage. Not as bad as poison right? Wrong! Did you know Burn also reduces the damage done by physical attacks? A real hurt on pokemon like Garchomp and Tyranitar. There are more to status problems than just simple damage. Follow this link for in depth information on status afflictions.
Happiness you say? What is pokemon happiness? It isn't really a big game changer unless you're using moves like Return or Frustration. But some pokemon do evolve with happiness and some trainers may want to know how to "max out my pokemon's happiness". Follow this quick link to serebii for info on happiness.
To make it short and simple, items are just extra boosts to give to your pokemon. The description on the item is pretty self-explanatory so we won't go into detail.
Use this link for information on items in the game.
Use this link for TMs/HMs in the game.
Follow this link for the various berries in the game.
To breed pokemon you need to go to the Soloceon Town day care center. A female pokemon and a male pokemon must be put into the day care center and must be in the same egg group in order to breed. The pokemon will be the same species as the female pokemon. So lets say you put a female Lucario with a male Electivire. You will get a Riolu egg and not an Elekid egg.
This link will give you some information on egg groups. Also, any pokemon can breed with ditto. The only pokemon that can't breed are baby pokemon and those that would be classified as "legendary" (with the exception of Manaphy). The only pokemon that counts as "legendary" that can breed is Manaphy. When put into the day care with a ditto or a pokemon in its egg group, the end result is a Phione. Just a weaker version of Manaphy. Take note that Phione DOES NOT evolve into Manaphy.
Ok we really didn't want to make a separate page for this, so everything below this point will count as Advanced Game Mechanics. Dealing with mostly moves and weather that some trainers may be confused about.
So we all know that moves like Defense Curl, Growl and moves of that sort effect our pokemon's stats. But by how much do these moves increase my pokemon's stats? Well every time you use one of these stat rasing attacks, the stat is boosted by one. Not by one point, but one on another scale. A move like Swords Dance or Screech effect stats by two. Here are a few examples of what it means.
Example 1: Your Pokémon employs Swords Dance (+2) once, but subsequently gets hit by one Growl (-1). To find the current value of your Pokémon's Attack statistic, sum the mod values of the relevant attacks used to that point. In this case, (+2) + (-1) = +1, so Attack will be at 1.5 times its normal value.
Example 2. Your Pokémon gets hit by 3 Growls (-1, -1, -1) and then uses Meditate (+1) once. The current mod value for its Attack will be (-3) + (+1) = -2. Attack will therefore be at 0.50 times its normal value.
Here is a list of the direct relationship between stat mods.Mod Effect Stat Effect
0 x1
+1 x1.5
+2 x2
+3 x2.5
+4 x3
+5 x3.5
+6 x4
-1 x0.66
-2 x0.5
-3 x0.4
-4 x0.33
-5 x0.28
-6 x.25
Stats will always be raised by their initial attack value. So lets say you use one Meditate(+1) and your attack is 50. So the final attack value in battle will be (50)x(1.5)=75. And if you have +2 then it would be (50)x(2)=100 and NOT (75)x(2)=150. If your defense was 50 and it got -1, then it would be (50)x(.66)=33. If it was -2 then (50)x(.5)=25. Your stats cannot go over 999 or below 1. Altered statistic values are temporary: the effect of stat mods is negated if the Pokémon switches away or faints, or if the battle ends. Haze also resets all the stats (other than HP) of both Pokémon to their initial values.
Ok ok, so maybe you do know that Rain increases water type moves and that Sunny Day boosts fire type attacks. But i'm sure that a few new trainers may not know that moves like Moonlight and Morning Sun only heal 25% during Rain and Sandstorm. And moves like Blizzard have a 100% accuracy in Hail. And something even better, Rock type pokemon gain extra Special Defense during Sandstorms. Follow this link to the various weather conditions in the game.
Alright here it is. A guide to moves that are so confusing you may not even want to use them. So certain moves like Gyro Ball and Grass Knot got you thinking. How much power do these attacks actually do? Some of these moves can be determined by simple equations(we all hate math ugh) or just by a simple range of numbers. Here are all the moves that are effected by certain conditions rather than base power.
Wring Out/Crush Grip- These attacks inflict damage depending on how much HP your opponent has left. So the more HP your opponent has, the more damage and vice versa. This does not take the pokemon's base HP, but the pokemon's max HP relative to its current HP. So its best to use this at the start of the battle when a pokemon's HP is at its highest. Pretty simple right? To think you thought this move was useless. The base power of this move ranges from 1-110. Here is the equation that calculates how much damage these attacks do
Base Power=110 x (Opponents Current HP/Opponents Max HP)
Fling- The Dark type move Fling is too complicated to explain in the limited space we have here. So follow this link for information on Fling and its effects.
Grass Knot/Low Kick- The power of these moves are determined by the weight of the target pokemon. Well since each pokemon has an average weight, the power can easily be figured out by following this chart below.
Click on the links to know what pokemon is categorized under which weight.
Under 22lbs---20 power
Between 22.1lbs to 55lbs---40 power
Between 55.1lbs to 110lbs---60 power
Between 110.1lbs to 220lbs---80 power
Between 220.1lbs to 440lbs---100 power
Above 440lbs---120 power
Gyro Ball- Gyro Ball is a Steel type move that uses speed as its power. The lower your speed compared to your opponent's speed, the more power it has. The closer your speed is to your opponent's speed, the power is reduced. So its best to keep this move on slower pokemon. This equation will determine what the damage is.
Base Power=25 x (Target Speed/User Speed)
Punishment- This move increases in power as the opponent uses stat modifiers like Defense Curl and Calm Mind. For every one stat boost the target pokemon gets, Punishment gets a 20 power boost. So if a pokemon were to use Calm Mind, it boosts both Special Attack and Special Defense, thus bringing Punishment to a base power of 40. Punishment's range of power goes from anywhere from 1 to 200 power.
Trump Card- Trump Card can only be learned by Eevee, Slowking, Dunsparce, and Minun. Trump Card increases in power as its PP decreases. Since it has a base of 5 PP, it can be raised to 8 PP. Here is a list of how the PP effects the power.
5-8 PP---40 power
4 PP---50 power
3 PP---60 power
2 PP---75 power
1 PP---190 power
Natural Gift/Hidden Power- Natural Gift's power is determined by the berry it is holding. Since there are so many berries in the game, follow this link to figure out what berry gives Natural Gift its power.
Hidden Power is another complicated move used mainly by competitive battlers. Since the explanation is long, follow this link to figure out Hidden Power's effects. In all honesty, I don't suggest new players to follow up on using Hidden Power until they become more seasoned players.
So what do those moves like Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Stealth Rock do? Shouldn't I just replace them with a more powerful attack like Stone Edge or Earthquake? Well these moves have a lasting effect on battle and can be useful in the competitive metagame. These moves only effect pokemon if they switch out, so its best to use them at the start of a battle.
Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Stealth Rock can all be neutralized by the move Rapid Spin, thus ending their effect on the battle field.
Spikes- Spikes is the only one of the three moves that can pile up damage on use. With one layer of Spikes, the damage done is 1/8 of the opponents max HP when sent out into battle. With two layers, 1/6 damage and with three layers, 1/4 damage. Spikes do not affect Flying types or pokemon with the move Levitate.
Toxic Spikes- Toxic Spikes do not damage the opponent upon switching out. The opponent's pokemon becomes poisoned instead. With one layer the pokemon is poisoned and with two layers, they become badly poisoned. Toxic Spikes don't affect Flying, Steel, or pokemon with the move Levitate. If a Poison pokemon were to be sent out, then Toxic Spikes would be dispelled.
Stealth Rock- A more solid move to use as it inflicts damage on all types of pokemon. This is how Stealth Rock racks up damage. Stealth Rock deals damage depending on the pokemon's susceptibility to Rock type attacks. Here is a chart of how pokemon are effected by Stealth Rock
Type Effectiveness Damage out of Max HP
x0.25 1/32
x0.5 1/16
x1 1/8
x2 1/4
x4 1/2
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