Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
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- 37,804
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Okay so, if what I posted above seems a bit complicated, the most important parts of battling are what you need to understand to get to grips with the basic mechanics of pokemon.
Learn the pokemon chart, or print it off and keep it to hand to understand it during battle. Every pokemon has a Type, some pokemon have two types i.e Fire/Flying. Attack moves also have a Type. I.e Ember is a Fire based move.
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Type_chart
The way damage is calculated comes as a function of the Type of attack you move and the Type of the Pokémon being hit by it. The move can be Super Effective, i.e it does more damage than the base stats suggest or Not very effective, i.e it does less damage than the base stats say it should.
Depending on the type of Pokemon and the Type of move you use, you can do anywhere from 0, 1/4, 1/2, even, 2x and 4x damage to your opponent. 0 being ineffective, it does no damage. 1/4 means you do only 25% of the damage you would normally deal out with that hit to a neutral type pokemon. If you hit another pokemon with a 2x or 4x damage move, the game will say 'Super effective', if you hit with a 1/2 or 1/4 damage attack the game will say 'Not very effective'.
If you look at the Type Chart and look at the fire row on the left hand side, and scroll across, you can see whether it will be natural i.e 1x damage or super effective or ineffective against various type pokemon.
Fire is Super Effective against: Bug, Steel, Grass and Ice.
It is Not Very effective against: Rock, Fire, Water and Dragon.
it is neutral against every other type.
Of course your Pokemons main attack should be the same type as your Pokémon type. I.e for Charmander, he should be using say Ember or whichever higher damage based fire move. If the type of the Pokémon and the attack moves matches, the damage is multiplied by 1.5x. So Ember says it does 40 damage. It actually does the equivalent of 60 damage (40*1.5) when a Fire based Pokémon like Charmander uses it. This is called 'STAB', Same Type Attack Bonus.
What does this mean in battle? it means that if you are fighting against Pokémon of the Not very effective types, using flame based moves wont deal very much damage. Sometimes you can get away with spamming the attack anyway because you are over levelled or against bad AI but in trainer fights and gym fights you may struggle if you don't understand the Type mechanics and how this relates to damage output. The STAB 1.5x combines with the type effectiveness as part of the damage calculation, So if you hit a pokemon with a Super effective attack and its a STAB attack, you will end up doing something like 3-6times the damage of a neutral type and non STAB based attack. So spamming scratch with Charmander instead of Ember is stupid, unless you are low on PP. Or unless you are fighting a Rock, Fire, Water and Dragon type pokemon where that move type has already been shown to be ineffective by the type chart and a different type move might need to be used to break through and do some damage.
Once you understand this concept, then you can apply the Special Attack/Physical attack stats as I mentioned above, to understand whether your Fire pokemon should be learning Fire Special, or Physical moves and what other Type moves your pokemon will have to also learn to ensure that you don't get walled by a pokemon who is unaffected by your STAB Fire move. And why you need to make a team with different Types so that you don't face an opponent who's moves are Super Effective against all your pokemon and end up ONE HIT KO (OHKO) them one after the other.
If you want to read a proper account of how this all works instead of my slothful English, this page tells you everything I just said but in clearer to understand formatting.
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Damage_modification
No that's not true. Each move has a set accuracy percentage the move is the same whether learnt through a TM or from evolution/breeding.
Learn the pokemon chart, or print it off and keep it to hand to understand it during battle. Every pokemon has a Type, some pokemon have two types i.e Fire/Flying. Attack moves also have a Type. I.e Ember is a Fire based move.
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Type_chart
The way damage is calculated comes as a function of the Type of attack you move and the Type of the Pokémon being hit by it. The move can be Super Effective, i.e it does more damage than the base stats suggest or Not very effective, i.e it does less damage than the base stats say it should.
Depending on the type of Pokemon and the Type of move you use, you can do anywhere from 0, 1/4, 1/2, even, 2x and 4x damage to your opponent. 0 being ineffective, it does no damage. 1/4 means you do only 25% of the damage you would normally deal out with that hit to a neutral type pokemon. If you hit another pokemon with a 2x or 4x damage move, the game will say 'Super effective', if you hit with a 1/2 or 1/4 damage attack the game will say 'Not very effective'.
If you look at the Type Chart and look at the fire row on the left hand side, and scroll across, you can see whether it will be natural i.e 1x damage or super effective or ineffective against various type pokemon.
Fire is Super Effective against: Bug, Steel, Grass and Ice.
It is Not Very effective against: Rock, Fire, Water and Dragon.
it is neutral against every other type.
Of course your Pokemons main attack should be the same type as your Pokémon type. I.e for Charmander, he should be using say Ember or whichever higher damage based fire move. If the type of the Pokémon and the attack moves matches, the damage is multiplied by 1.5x. So Ember says it does 40 damage. It actually does the equivalent of 60 damage (40*1.5) when a Fire based Pokémon like Charmander uses it. This is called 'STAB', Same Type Attack Bonus.
What does this mean in battle? it means that if you are fighting against Pokémon of the Not very effective types, using flame based moves wont deal very much damage. Sometimes you can get away with spamming the attack anyway because you are over levelled or against bad AI but in trainer fights and gym fights you may struggle if you don't understand the Type mechanics and how this relates to damage output. The STAB 1.5x combines with the type effectiveness as part of the damage calculation, So if you hit a pokemon with a Super effective attack and its a STAB attack, you will end up doing something like 3-6times the damage of a neutral type and non STAB based attack. So spamming scratch with Charmander instead of Ember is stupid, unless you are low on PP. Or unless you are fighting a Rock, Fire, Water and Dragon type pokemon where that move type has already been shown to be ineffective by the type chart and a different type move might need to be used to break through and do some damage.
Once you understand this concept, then you can apply the Special Attack/Physical attack stats as I mentioned above, to understand whether your Fire pokemon should be learning Fire Special, or Physical moves and what other Type moves your pokemon will have to also learn to ensure that you don't get walled by a pokemon who is unaffected by your STAB Fire move. And why you need to make a team with different Types so that you don't face an opponent who's moves are Super Effective against all your pokemon and end up ONE HIT KO (OHKO) them one after the other.
If you want to read a proper account of how this all works instead of my slothful English, this page tells you everything I just said but in clearer to understand formatting.
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Damage_modification
No that's not true. Each move has a set accuracy percentage the move is the same whether learnt through a TM or from evolution/breeding.
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