Pokémon Ruby Version, Sapphire Version, and Emerald Version - Notes for Specific Moves

→ Pokémon Ruby Version, Sapphire Version, and Emerald Version - Notes for Specific Moves

Mirror Move

Mirror Move uses a variable X. X is set to the last move that was used and that targeted the user for which all of the following are true:

The move succeeded in affecting Mirror Move’s user (that is, it didn’t miss, fail, or be ineffective against it).
The move has a range of "single Pokémon except user", "all opposing Pokémon", "all Pokémon except user", "opposing Pokémon selected at random", or "no particular target".
The move has flag "e" in the List of Moves.

Special targeting cases:

A two-turn attack targets a Pokémon on both attack segments of use.
Snatch targets the opposing Pokémon closest to the Trainer’s left.

The variable X is set separately for each Pokémon and doesn’t change as turns end. When a Pokémon leaves the battle, its value for X is reset, as well as those of all of its opposing Pokémon.

For a move that uses another move, these variables are not modified during that move’s use even if the move being used meets the criteria.

If an effect changes an attack’s target (with Follow Me), Lightningrod, Magic Coat, or Snatch, the changed target is used instead of the old target for the purposes of whether an attack targets Mirror Move’s user.

Transform

After Transform is used, the user will have the same appearance according to the target’s species and the user’s Shiny status.

When a wild Pokémon using Transform is caught, the effect of Transform ends.

In battles in which Exp. Points can be gained, the player’s Pokémon gain Exp. Points based on the species that the enemy Pokémon was when it was defeated.

Even if Transform is in effect for the user, its stats are recalculated according to its level and original IVs when it levels up.

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 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 (for Twineedle, this applies only if the user had a substitute during the second hit of the attack).
Attacks and abilities by other Pokémon, other than Haze and Tickle, can’t lower the user’s stat stages. Additional effects of attacks by other Pokémon can’t do so if the user had a substitute as the attack began.
If user would lose HP because of an attack by another Pokémon, the user’s substitute loses that many life points instead.

Note that the last effect listed above is a replacement effect. If damage is intercepted to the substitute, Bide, Counter, Mirror Coat, 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 cause the user to gain HP. Moreover, effects that need to know the user’s HP (Super Fang, Reversal, Flail, 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 and confusion damage 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).
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 by other Pokémon that hit the user’s substitute can’t remove the user’s held item. (The user can use Trick normally.)
If a target misses when using Jump Kick or Hi Jump Kick, it loses HP as normal. (The HP loss from such moves ignores effects from Endure and Focus Band, because Substitute’s user doesn’t actually lose HP.)
If another Pokémon uses Pain Split or Dream Eater against the user, it will fail. The user can use these attacks normally.
The attack from Future Sight and Doom Desire is passed to the substitute instead of the user.
Swagger and Flatter will fail against the user.
Pay Day won’t cause the attacker to gain money from the attack if it hits the user’s substitute.
While user has a substitute, the damage from SmellingSalt against the user by other Pokémon doesn’t increase if the user is paralyzed, and won’t heal the user’s paralysis if the attack is successful.
Detect, Endure, and Protect work as normal for both the user and other Pokémon.
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.
Trick will fail against the user. The user can use Trick normally.
When a target uses Absorb, Mega Drain, Leech Life, Giga Drain, 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.)
Block, Mean Look, and Spider Web will fail against the user.
Lock-on and Mind Reader will fail against the user. The user can use these attacks normally.
Curse, if it’s used by another Pokémon and that Pokémon is a Ghost type, will fail for that Pokémon when used against the user.
Nightmare and Leech Seed will fail against the user.
Mimic and Sketch will fail against the user.
Yawn will fail against the user.
Grudge, Magic Coat, Taunt, and Transform will work as normal for both the user and other Pokémon in battle.
The substitute will absorb damage from Pursuit if the user attempts to switch.

Conversion 2

Conversion 2 takes into account the last move that targeted the user after the user’s last turn. This move is represented by a variable (separate for each Pokémon) that is reset at the end of that Pokémon’s attack segment and when that Pokémon leaves the battle,.

This variable is set if the attack was successful against a Pokémon, meaning it didn’t miss, fail, or be ineffective against it. If the variable is set to a move, the game also stores the type of that attack. (The determined types of Hidden Power and Weather Ball are used.) If the attack was used, but wasn’t successful against a Pokémon, the variable is set to 0xFFFF, an invalid identifier for a move, for that Pokémon.

Special targeting cases:

A two-turn attack targets a Pokémon on both attack segments of use.
Spikes and Snatch target the opposing Pokémon closest to the Trainer’s left.
Future Sight and Doom Desire target a Pokémon only when the attack is used.
Bide target a Po, Counter, and Mirror Coatkmon when an attack is returned.
Magic Coat doesn’t have a target.
Curse targets a Pokémon only in its "ghost" variant. (Its type stored will be "???".)
The variable will be set to any moves that a move uses, when appropriate.
Confusion damage is ignored.

To avoid misunderstandings, abilities of Pokémon are ignored when determining whether a type is "not very effective" or ineffective against another type. Furthermore, the effects of Foresight and Odor Sleuth are ignored in this determination.

If the attack was redirected with Follow Me, LightningRod, or Magic Coat, Conversion 2 takes the changed target into account. If the attack was taken with Snatch, Conversion 2 takes the original target into account.

Protect/Detect

As a bug, Pokémon Ruby Version , Pokémon Sapphire Version , and Pokémon Emerald Version don’t set a maximum for the number of consecutive uses of Endure, Protect, and Detect. Thus, in the rare case that more than four consecutive uses is achieved, the success rate can take on strange values as it accesses other data structures. For example, in Pokémon Ruby Version and Pokémon Sapphire Version , the chances when X is 4 and 5 are 118/65536 and 165/65536, respectively.

Of the moves that don’t target a target (Bide, Haze, Milk Drink, Wish, Hail, Grudge, Imprison), only Bide is affected by Protect and Detect, namely, when Bide returns an attack to a Pokémon.

Magic Coat

This explanation will clarify how Magic Coat works.

If only one Pokémon is targeted by an attack, Magic Coat’s effect bounces back the entire attack, making Magic Coat’s user the user of that attack and targeting the attack’s original user.

If only one Pokémon is targeted by an attack affected by Magic Coat and Soundproof (such as Supersonic), Soundproof’s effect overrides Magic Coat’s effect.

If more than one Pokémon is targeted by an attack, as can be the case with Leer and String Shot, for example, Magic Coat works differently depending on where the user is located. If the user is the one on the (Trainer’s) left, Magic Coat’s effect bounces back the entire attack, making Magic Coat’s user the user of that attack and affecting all opposing Pokémon in that way. (If one of the opposing Pokémon used Magic Coat, the attack’s effect on it will be bounced back -- that user of Magic Coat will then be treated as the user of that portion of the attack.) If the user is the one on the right, the attack executes as normal, the user’s partner is affected as normal, and the attack’s effect on the user is bounced back. (If Magic Coat is in effect for both the user and its partner the one on the left’s Magic Coat effect will be used against attacks like these.)

If both opposing Pokémon are targeted by an attack affected by Magic Coat and Soundproof (the only such attack is Growl) and the target on the left has Soundproof and had used Magic Coat, Soundproof will block the attack for the first target and the attack will move on to the target on the right as usual.

The attack’s target and user are changed before an accuracy check is made for the attack.