Guides

Abilities are passive effects that can change battle flow, weather, damage, and status interactions. Hidden abilities add another layer of value for team building.

Accuracy decides whether a move hits. Evasion changes how hard it is to hit a target. Together they answer a simple battle question: does this move land or miss?

Burn is a major status condition that chips HP each turn and weakens physical damage. It is one of the most common status effects in battle because it cuts both longevity and physical damage output.

Catch rate determines how easy a wild Pokemon is to capture. HP, status, ball choice, and species all play a part.

Critical hits boost damage and can ignore certain stat changes. A crit can swing damage through a defensive setup.

Damage categories describe whether a move uses Attack and Defense or Special Attack and Special Defense. The category matters more than the move's type.

Entry hazards are field effects that punish a Pokemon when it switches in. They change switching decisions, hazard removal, and item choice.

EVs are training points that shape a Pokemon's final stats. They let you push a Pokemon toward a specific role, like hitting harder, taking more hits, or moving first.

Freeze is a major status condition that blocks action until the Pokemon thaws. It is the rarest of the major statuses and its exact behavior has changed across generations.

Held items are items a Pokemon carries for battle bonuses, healing, evolution triggers, or other passive effects. They change damage, recovery, survival, evolution, and form changes.

IVs are hidden stat values from 0 to 31 that give each Pokemon its own stat ceiling. In modern games, each of the six stats gets its own IV, so two Pokemon of the same species can still have different final stats even when they are the same level and nature.

Move priority decides which action goes first before Speed is compared. It is why a Quick Attack can move before a normal attack, why Protect can block a hit first, and why some support moves can act before damage is dealt.

Paralysis is a major status condition that cuts Speed and can stop a Pokemon from moving. It is a strong speed-control tool because it changes both turn order and reliability.

Poison is a major status condition that chips HP each turn. Bad poison is the stronger version, and its damage gets worse the longer the Pokemon stays in battle.

The damage formula sets the base damage for a move before modifiers like STAB, critical hits, and type matchups are applied. It is the core calculation that turns move power and stats into the number of HP a target actually loses.

Rain boosts Water-type damage and weakens Fire-type damage. It also changes accuracy, recovery, and speed control for several moves and abilities.

Sandstorm chips most Pokemon each turn and boosts Rock-type Special Defense. It is the weather state most often used for steady chip damage and sand-based Speed control.

Sleep is a major status condition that prevents a Pokemon from acting for a limited time and raises catch rate when the target is wild.

Snow boosts Ice-type Defense and supports Aurora Veil. In modern games it replaces Hail as the main ice-weather state, so it plays very differently from the older Hail mechanic.

STAB (Same-Type Attack Bonus) gives a damage boost when a Pokemon uses a move that matches its own type. It raises damage without changing the move itself.

Major status conditions like burn , poison , paralysis , sleep , and freeze change how a Pokemon performs in battle.

Sun boosts Fire-type damage and weakens Water-type damage. It also changes several move and ability interactions.

Weather changes the battlefield and can boost or weaken moves, types, abilities, and recovery effects. Sun , Rain , Sandstorm , and Snow are the main battle weather states.

Breeding lets compatible Pokemon produce eggs. It is used to pass down natures, IVs, abilities, egg moves, and, in some generations, Pokeballs.

Experience is what pushes Pokemon from one level to the next. Leveling affects evolution, stat growth, and when a team reaches its next move or stat threshold.

Natures change a Pokemon's stat growth by boosting one stat by 10% and lowering another by 10%. Five natures are neutral and do not change stats at all.

Dynamax is a battle transformation that temporarily makes a Pokemon enormous and changes the way its moves work. Gigantamax is a special version of Dynamax available only to specific species, with unique form changes and unique G-Max moves.

Mega Evolution is a temporary battle transformation that changes a Pokemon's stats and sometimes its typing and ability. It requires a specific Mega Stone and a trainer Key Stone.