Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Attack Explanations

Tags: pokemon-black-and-white, in-depth-guides, attack-explanations, battle-system

Contents

• Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Descriptions of Common Effects
• Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Weather
• Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Stacking Effects
• Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Failure
• Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Two-turn attacks
• Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Multi-hit attacks
• Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Moves that use other moves
• Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Notes for Specific Moves

Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Descriptions of Common Effects

Effects that are common to many attacks are described below. Of the effects listed here, a Pokémon will remain poisoned, burned, paralysis, frozen, and asleep even when the Pokémon leaves the battle, including when a battle ends. (However, a Pokémon will stop being poisoned, burned, paralyzed, frozen, and asleep, as well as have full HP and PP, when it’s taken to a Pokémon Center nurse or placed in a PC storage box.) An effect can’t cause poison, burn, paralysis, freezing, or sleep against a Pokémon if it already has one of these five conditions or if it has fainted.

Burn (BRN)

If a Pokémon is burned, the damage from physical attacks it uses is halved, and it loses 1/8 of its maximum HP, rounded down (but not less than 1 HP), at the end of each turn. Fire types can’t become burned.

Poison (PSN)

If a Pokémon is poisoned, it loses 1/8 of its maximum HP, rounded down (but not less than 1 HP), at the end of each turn. Poison and Steel types can’t become poisoned. Poison has no effect outside of battle, unlike in games before Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version.

Being badly poisoned differs from normal poisoning in the HP loss method during battle. When a Pokémon becomes badly poisoned or a badly poisoned Pokémon enters the battle, a variable, T, is set to 0 for that Pokémon. At the end of each turn, if the Pokémon is badly poisoned, T rises by 1 (up to a maximum of 15) and the Pokémon loses its maximum HP, divided by 16 and multiplied by T, but not less than 1 HP. (This HP loss happens instead of the HP loss for regular poisoning.) A badly poisoned Pokémon will remain badly poisoned if it leaves the battle and then enters the battle again in the same battle; however, it will become normally poisoned after the battle ends.

Unless otherwise noted, poison includes being normally poisoned and badly poisoned.

Paralysis (PAR)

If a Pokémon is paralyzed, its Speed is multiplied by 1/4 (see Priority ) and there is a 1/4 chance that it will be unable to attack during its attack segment. Ground types can’t become paralyzed by Electric type attacks.

Sleep (SLP)

When a Pokémon falls asleep or when a sleeping Pokémon enters the battle for the first time in a battle, it receives a sleep count of 2 to 4. At the beginning of the Pokémon’s attack segment, its sleep count is reduced by 1, and then it wakes up if the sleep count is 0 or less. A sleeping Pokémon’s sleep count will be reset to the determined sleep count if it leaves the battle and then enters the battle again in the same battle; however, the sleep count is lost after the battle ends, but the Pokémon will remain asleep.

Frozen (FRZ)

If a Pokémon is frozen, it can’t attack during its attack segment. Ice types can’t become frozen. At the beginning of the Pokémon’s attack segment, it will thaw out at a 20% chance. If the Pokémon is damaged by a Fire-type attack against that Pokémon by another Pokémon, it thaws out.

Confusion

When a Pokémon becomes confused, it receives a count of 2 to 5. At the beginning of the Pokémon’s attack segment, this count is reduced by 1, then if it is greater than 0, there is a 50% chance that the Pokémon will deal damage to itself rather than use an attack. The self-inflicted confusion attack is a physical attack, has a power of 40, has no type , can’t be a critical hit, and ignores the effects of Helping Hand, Huge Power, Hustle, Pure Power, and Reflect. Confusion is removed from the Pokémon when it leaves the battle (except Baton Pass).

Flinch

After a Pokémon uses a move that makes the target flinch in the same turn, the target can flinch when the beginning of its attack segment comes and thus skip its attack this turn. Effects that cause a Pokémon to flinch set a flag on that Pokémon. If the flag is set as the Pokémon begins its attack segment, it will flinch. This flag is cleared at the beginning of a Pokémon’s attack segment and at the end of each turn.

Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Weather

The weather moves can be used at any time, even during weather. A weather move fails if the weather condition associated with that move is already in effect. For example, Rain Dance fails while the weather is rainy.

The effects of Hail, Rain Dance, Sandstorm, and Sunny Day, are weather effects. (Fog appears not to exist.) The effects of Gravity and Trick Room are not weather effects.

There can be only one weather condition at a time. If another weather condition comes in effect, the previous condition is canceled.

In some battles, a particular weather condition already comes in effect before the first turn of the battle. This condition lasts indefinitely. If a Pokémon has an Ability that makes the weather change to a different condition, it then takes effect.

Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Stacking Effects

Generally, moves with the same effect code don’t stack with each other. For example, the moves Block, Mean Look, and Spider Web share the same effect. Once any of these moves is used, they will fail against the same target until the effect is removed. Multi-turn attacks such as Wrap and Whirlpool also share the same effect for a given target and don’t stack with the use of different kinds of multi-turn attacks.

Effects of the same move also don’t stack with each other unless noted otherwise. For example, Aqua Ring can’t be used multiple times on the same Pokémon. However, Stockpile and Spikes can be used multiple times for a bigger effect. (Spikes says "Can be used up to three times", and Stockpile raises the user’s Stockpile count up to a maximum of 3.)

Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Failure

An attack "fails" if it does none of its effect when used, unless noted otherwise, except if the attack description states that the attack "does nothing" as its effect.

An attack that changes stat stages without necessarily lowering or raising them, such as Psych Up and Haze, won’t fail if the change results in the same stat stages as before, unless noted otherwise.

An attack that can’t be used because it has no target is considered to "fail", but not considered to be "prevented from being used".

Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Two-turn attacks

In a two-turn attack, the user prepares for the attack on the first attack segment, and hits target on the second attack segment. The user can’t take any action until the user finishes using a two-turn attack. If the user can’t use a two-turn attack because it has no target, or if the user is prevented from using the attack, the effect ends. PP is deducted on the first attack segment of the two-turn attack.

Two-turn attacks work by checking the last move called by the user. If that move is a two-turn attack, the "second attack segment" of the attack is done. Otherwise, the "first attack segment" of the attack is done. This behavior covers the case of Metronome using a two-turn attack on the first attack segment, then Metronome using the same or a different two-turn attack on the next turn. (The second use of Metronome in this situation is normally only possible if Encore comes in effect for the user after the first use of Metronome.)

A two-turn attack is not a multi-turn attack, and vice versa.

A two-turn attack remains a two-turn attack even if the attack would not take two turns.

For all two-turn attacks, on the first attack segment of the attack’s use, no accuracy check is done, no check is made to determine whether the attack will be ineffective against the target or otherwise be avoided by the target. However, for Sky Drop, the target can still use Protect or Detect to protect itself from the attack on the first attack segment of its use.

{For the two-turn attacks Bounce, Dig, Dive, Fly, Shadow Force, and Sky Drop, the user will avoid all attacks other than the exceptions given in the attack descriptions, even those that "can’t be evaded" or that have an accuracy value of "101" (meaning that no accuracy check is done), while the user is using any one of these two-turn attacks, unless noted otherwise. The user will avoid even Acupressure} and the returned attack from Future Sight and Doom Desire {this way, since it targets the user of the two-turn attack like any other attack. However, Helping Hand and Memento (but not Sketch or Psych Up) will work normally against it.}

Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Multi-hit attacks

The multi-hit attacks are labeled "Multi-hit attack" and "Attacks twice in a row" in the attack descriptions, as well as Triple Kick and Beat Up. {For all multi-hit attacks except Triple Kick, an accuracy check is done only once, namely, before the attack hits target multiple times. If the attack is ineffective against the target, no hits of the attack are done.}

If the user is asleep when it would do a second or further hit of a multi-hit attack, the attack stops unless the multi-hit attack was used with Sleep Talk.

{When the target of a multi-hit attack faints, the attack stops.}

Unless noted otherwise, each hit of a multi-hit attack is treated as a separate attack.

Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Moves that use other moves

The moves Assist, Copycat, Me First, Metronome, Mirror Move, Nature Power, and Sleep Talk can use other moves.

If one of these moves tries to use a move that can’t be used because of Heal Block or Gravity, the move will fail to be used (but won’t be considered as "prevented from being used").

Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version - Notes for Specific Moves

Substitute

Substitute creates a copy of the user called a "substitute"; to make a substitute, the user loses 1/4 of its maximum HP, but not less than 1 HP. This attack fails if the HP reduced would faint the user or if the user already has a substitute. The substitute has life points equal to the HP lost this way. (The term "life points" is used here to differentiate it from HP, to avoid confusion when describing Substitute’s effect.)

If an effect (such as a move, item, or Ability) is absent in this description, it is assumed to work as normal both with and without Substitute’s effect.

These are the main effects that happen while the user has a substitute:

• Attacks by other Pokémon can’t cause poison, burn, paralysis, freezing, sleep, confusion, or flinching against the user. (Effects of attacks such as Yawn can still do so. If an item or an Ability causes one of these effects, the description will say whether Substitute prevents it.) Additional effects of attacks by other Pokémon can’t inflict such effects if the user had a substitute as the attack began (each hit of a multi-hit attack is treated as a separate attack).
• Abilities from Pokémon other than the user and additional effects of attacks by those Pokémon can’t change the user’s stat stages if they would normally reduce them and if the user had a substitute as the attack began (each hit of a multi-hit attack is treated as a separate attack).
• Non-damaging attacks by Pokémon in battle other than the user and without flag "p" in the list of moves will fail against the user. (Except as noted below, the user can use such attacks normally.)
• If the user would be hit by a damaging attack by another Pokémon, instead the user’s substitute loses life points equal to the HP the user would have lost because of that attack. (Except as noted below, however, this doesn’t change whether attacks are successful or not.)

Note that the last effect listed above is a replacement effect. If damage is intercepted to the substitute, Counter, Mirror Coat, Metal Burst, [Bide, and Rage] are not affected by it.

When the substitute has no life points left, it fades and Substitute’s effect ends.

Any other effects that affect the user’s HP do not involve the substitute in any way. This applies to reductions of the user’s HP from poison, Leech Seed, Sandstorm, recoil, and so on; and to effects that recover the user’s HP. Moreover, effects that need to know the user’s HP (Super Fang, Reversal, Flail, False Swipe, Eruption, and so on) won’t use the substitute’s life points in place of the user’s HP. (This is why "life points" is used instead of HP to describe the substitute’s vitality.)

The substitute will be removed, and Substitute’s effect will end, when the user leaves the battle (except Baton Pass) or if the user faints before the substitute fades. If the user uses Baton Pass, the substitute retains its current life points.

Other notes regarding Substitute are given below.

• While the user has a substitute, attacks can deal damage equal to or greater than the user’s HP even if an effect prevents it from fainting (False Swipe, Endure, Focus Band, Focus Sash, Sturdy).
• If the user uses Baton Pass, the effect of Toxic Spikes can still poison the new Pokémon as normal, and a Poison-type Pokémon will still end the effect of Toxic Spikes as normal.
• The game checks whether a substitute fades after every hit of a multi-hit attack. The multi-hit attack will continue even after the substitute fades.
• Damage from the user’s confusion is given to the user.
• Attacks that hit the user’s substitute, if used by other Pokémon, can’t remove the user’s item. (This includes Bug Bite, Incinerate, Knock Off, and Pluck, but doesn’t include Pickpocket. The user can use Bestow normally, Switcheroo, and Trick, and Item Drop can still be used on it.)
• The attack from Future Sight and Doom Desire is passed to the substitute instead of the user.
• Pay Day won’t cause the attacker to gain money from the attack if it hits the user’s substitute.
• If the user had a substitute when these attacks were successful, Smack Down will fail to end the user’s Fly and Bounce attack or do the rest of its effect beyond damage; Clear Smog will fail to reset the user’s stat stages; and Circle Throw and Dragon Tail will fail to replace the user with another Pokémon.
• While user has a substitute, the use of SmellingSalt against the user by other Pokémon doesn’t increase in power if the user is paralyzed, and won’t heal the user’s paralysis if the attack is successful.
• While user has a substitute, the use of Wake-Up Slap against the user by other Pokémon doesn’t increase in power if the user is asleep, and won’t make the user wake up if the attack is successful.
• The item thrown with Fling doesn’t take effect if it hits the user.
• If the user has a substitute when another Pokémon begins to use a multi-turn attack against the user, the secondary effect of that attack won’t occur. The effect of multi-turn attacks against the user will end when the user creates a substitute.
• When a target uses Absorb, Mega Drain, Leech Life, Giga Drain, Drain Punch, Horn Leech, Dream Eater, or a recoil attack against the user, it loses or gains HP according to the number of life points lost by the substitute. (For example, if the target uses Absorb on the user and the substitute loses 10 life points, the target gains 5 HP.)
• Sky Drop will fail against the user even on the first attack segment of its use.
• If Defog is used against the user, the user’s evasiveness won’t be changed but effects such as Spikes, Reflect, and so on will still be removed from the user’s side.
• If another Pokémon uses Acupressure against the user, the attack will fail. (The user can use Acupressure normally against itself.)
• The substitute will absorb damage from Pursuit if the user attempts to switch.

Natural Gift

This is a table of all Berries and their type and power.

Fling

Fling fails if the user isn’t holding any item listed below (items other than the ones below won’t be thrown):

Power 10

BrightPowder, White Herb, Soothe Bell, Mental Herb, Choice Band, SilverPowder, Focus Band, Leftovers, Soft Sand, Silk Scarf, Sea Incense, Lax Incense, Metal Powder, Red Scarf, Blue Scarf, Pink Scarf, Green Scarf, Yellow Scarf, Wide Lens, Muscle Band, Wise Glasses, Expert Belt, Power Herb, Quick Powder, Focus Sash, Zoom Lens, Lagging Tail, Destiny Knot, Smooth Rock, Choice Scarf, Shed Shell, Big Root, Choice Specs, Odd Incense, Rock Incense, Full Incense, Wave Incense, Rose Incense, Luck Incense, Pure Incense, Reaper Cloth, Air Balloon, Red Card, Ring Target, any Berry

Power 20

Health Wing, Muscle Wing, Resist Wing, Genius Wing, Clever Wing, Swift Wing, Pretty Wing

Power 30

Potion, Antidote, Burn Heal, Ice Heal, Awakening, Parlyz Heal, Full Restore, Max Potion, Hyper Potion, Super Potion, Full Heal, Revive, Max Revive, Fresh Water, Soda Pop, Lemonade, Moomoo Milk, EnergyPowder, Energy Root, Heal Powder, Revival Herb, Ether, Max Ether, Elixir, Max Elixir, Lava Cookie, Berry Juice, Sacred Ash, HP Up, Protein, Iron, Carbos, Calcium, Rare Candy, PP Up, Zinc, PP Max, Old Gateau, Guard Spec., Dire Hit, X Attack, X Defend, X Speed, X Accuracy, X Special, X Sp. Def, Poke Doll, Fluffy Tail, Blue Flute, Yellow Flute, Red Flute, Black Flute, White Flute, Shoal Salt, Shoal Shell, Red Shard, Blue Shard, Yellow Shard, Green Shard, Super Repel, Max Repel, Escape Rope, Repel, Sun Stone, Moon Stone, Fire Stone, Thunderstone, Water Stone, Leaf Stone, TinyMushroom, Big Mushroom, Pearl, Big Pearl, Stardust, Star Piece, Nugget, Heart Scale, Honey, Growth Mulch, Damp Mulch, Stable Mulch, Gooey Mulch, Sweet Heart, Exp. Share, King’s Rock, Amulet Coin, Cleanse Tag, Soul Dew, DeepSeaScale, Smoke Ball, Everstone, Lucky Egg, Scope Lens, Metal Coat, Dragon Scale, Light Ball, Miracle Seed, BlackGlasses, Black Belt, Magnet, Mystic Water, NeverMeltIce, Spell Tag, TwistedSpoon, Charcoal, Up-Grade, Shell Bell, Light Clay, Life Orb, Toxic Orb, Flame Orb, Metronome, Black Sludge, Razor Fang, RageCandyBar, Prism Scale, Float Stone, Binding Band, Absorb Bulb, Cell Battery, Eject Button, Pass Orb, Poke Toy, BalmMushroom, Big Nugget, Pearl String, Comet Shard, Relic Copper, Relic Silver, Relic Gold, Relic Vase, Relic Band, Relic Statue, Relic Crown, Casteliacone

Power 40

Lucky Punch, Icy Rock, Eviolite

Power 50

Sharp Beak, Dubious Disc

Power 60

Griseous Orb, Adamant Orb, Lustrous Orb, Macho Brace, Stick, Heat Rock, Damp Rock, Rocky Helmet

Power 70

Douse Drive, Shock Drive, Burn Drive, Chill Drive, Poison Barb, Dragon Fang, Power Bracer, Power Belt, Power Lens, Power Band, Power Anklet, Power Weight

Power 80

Shiny Stone, Dusk Stone, Dawn Stone, Oval Stone, Odd Keystone, Quick Claw, Sticky Barb, Protector, Electirizer, Magmarizer, Razor Claw

Power 90

DeepSeaTooth, Thick Club, Grip Claw, any Plate

Power 100

Root Fossil, Claw Fossil, Helix Fossil, Dome Fossil, Old Amber, Armor Fossil, Skull Fossil, Rare Bone, Hard Stone, Cover Fossil, Plume Fossil

Power 130

Iron Ball

For some items, Fling has other effects, listed below. They are considered additional effects by Shield Dust, but not Sheer Force. The effect occurs even if Embargo is in effect for the target and even if the target has Klutz.

• Light Ball - Paralyzes the target
• Flame Orb - Burns the target
• Poison Barb - Poisons the target
• Toxic Orb - Badly poisons the target
• King’s Rock - The target flinches if this attack strikes first
• Razor Fang - The target flinches if this attack strikes first

If the item thrown is a White Herb, a Mental Herb, or a Berry that triggers when its holder has a certain amount of HP or PP, or is poisoned, burned, paralyzed, frozen, asleep, or confused (but not Custap Berry or Berry Juice), the target uses that item even if Embargo is in effect for the target, the target has Klutz, or the item’s trigger condition doesn’t hold. This is considered an additional effect by Shield Dust, but not Sheer Force.

Chatter

Each Pokémon in the player’s party can have a recorded sound that is 1000 bytes long. The sound’s format is 4-bit PCM, where two samples are stored in a single byte (where the first sample is in the low 4 bits, the second sample in the high 4 bits). When the game records a Pokémon’s sound, it collects 8,000 8-bit samples of microphone input with a frequency of about 8,000 samples per second, and converts each fourth sample (starting with the first) into a 4-bit sample as follows:

-128 → 0; -127 to -112 → 1; -111 to -96 → 2; -95 to -80 → 3; -79 to -64 → 4; -63 to -48 → 5; -47 to -32 → 6; -31 to -16 → 7; -15 to 15 → 8; 16 to 31 → 9; 32 to 47 → 10; 48 to 63 → 11; 64 to 79 → 12; 80 to 95 → 13; 96 to 111 → 14; 112 to 127 → 15.

The game sets a variable, X, to the "exclusive or" combination of three bytes: the 100th, 500th, and 700th byte (counting from 0) of the recorded sound. If the user is a Chatot and hasn’t transformed, Chatter has a certain chance of confusing the target as follows:

• If X is less than 150, the confusion chance is 10%.
• If X is greater than or equal to 100 and less than 150, or if Chatot’s cry is the default one, the confusion chance is 0%.
• If X is greater than or equal to 150, the confusion chance is 10%.

The confusion effect is considered an additional effect by Serene Grace, the Pledges, Sheer Force, and Shield Dust.

Sky Drop

Because of a bug, if Gravity starts its effect before the user finishes using Sky Drop, the part of Sky Drop’s effect providing that "effects of moves and items can’t cause the target to be replaced with a different Pokémon not in battle; the target can’t take any action not located within the Fight command; and the target skips its attack segment (the target won’t shift during its attack segment if that command was chosen)" doesn’t end until the user or the target leaves the battle; and the part of its effect providing that "effects of moves and items can’t cause user to be replaced with a different Pokémon not in battle" doesn’t end until the user leaves the battle; and the target can’t use Pursuit as a Pokémon is about to switch until the target leaves the battle.

Other than the effects given above, after Gravity starts its effect, the user is not considered to be "using" Sky Drop and the target is not considered to be "under the effect of" Sky Drop.