Thanks to the combined efforts of Showdown developers Mia,
@KarthikVGC
, and myself, I'm pleased to share that VGC now has a best-of-three, mandatory open team sheet ladder.
In Scarlet/Violet 3.0.0, the flag used to prevent Abilities from working on a Pokemon while Transformed (e.g. Disguise) was removed from Commander. Unlike in previous versions of SV, by hacking Commander on other Pokemon, we can now see any Pokemon hop into Dondozo's mouth!
Stream highlight: Revival Blessing can be called by moves like Sleep Talk. Remember that when used this way, Sleep Talk is what uses PP, not Revival Blessing! This can give you potentially 16 Revival Blessings by itself (maybe a Rest/Sleep Talk/Revival Blessing set in singles?)
Battle mechanics researcher SadisticMystic finds that if you use Toxic during the turn, it sets ALL of the Pokemon's moves to sure-hit accuracy until the end of the turn - not just Toxic. You can use this with Instruct to get sure-hit Horn Drill OHKOs with Nidoking!
Dire Claw is a new move that has a 50% chance to inflict poison, paralysis, or sleep on its target. If a Poison Touch Sneasler uses Dire Claw, it'll roll for Dire Claw first, then Poison Touch. Since these chances are independent, you can potentially poison through Lum Berry!
Have you ever wanted to use Protect after Wide Guard, but forgot that Wide Guard increments the protection move counter, which caused Protect to fail? Thanks to integer overflow still present in Gen 9, if you simply use Wide Guard 256 times in a row, Protect will always succeed!
More Series 8 glitches! Calyrex's As One->Unnerve prevents Berries from being eaten. But what happens if an Unnerve Pokemon is KOed at the same time as the Berry would trigger on a KOed opponent? Damage calculation is already done, but the Berry activates at 0 HP remaining!
Damage overflow due to 16- and 32-bit integer overflow is still in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. By exploiting carefully designed setups (thanks SadisticMystic!), we can cause seemingly powerful attacks like Infernape's Blast Burn to deal literally 0 damage!
@AndyLaVGC
Spectrier and Keldeo cannot learn High Horsepower, thereby exposing them as not horses. Conversely, Pokemon such as Slugma, Slither Wing, Klawf, Snorlax, and Orthworm can learn High Horsepower, thereby demonstrating they are horses.
Working with
@KarthikVGC
, we managed to take this even further by using triple Instruct to get 3 additional Knock Off animations, pushing Okidogi very far back! Certain animations look funny when used from an extreme distance. As a bonus, I also made Okidogi fall off a cliff lol
Remember to say "thank you genies"! The new moves Bleakwind Storm, Wildbolt Storm, and Sandsear Storm all have sure-hit accuracy in rain, like Hurricane. Springtide Storm does not have this behavior!
Move over Dondozo - a new Commander recipient is in town! While the animation of Tatsugiri hopping into an Urshifu's mouth is pretty weird, the effects of a +2 omniboost on a Pokemon like Urshifu are pretty insane. How will this affect the Worlds metagame?
Ban Ally Switch! When you use Ally Switch while switching in a Pokemon that undergoes a generic form change animation (e.g. Minior, Terapagos), the Pokemon will take on the model of the Ally Switch user. You can visually have 4 Terastallized Pokemon on the field this way!
Turns out the new Paradox Pokemon aren't really Paradox Pokemon!
@Sibuna_Switch
finds that the list of Paradox Pokemon internally didn't update to include Raging Bolt, Gouging Fire, Iron Boulder, and Iron Crown. This means you can give and take Booster Energy away from them!
I suspect (but cannot prove) that most of the DQs at Worlds were due to invalid HOME tracker data. If folks affected by DQs are willing to share rental teams, further investigation can be done to identify common trends (DMing me privately is fine too).
Without access to Scald, Empoleon typically uses Hydro Pump or Water Pledge as its Water-type attack. While it's no 30% burn chance, Water Pledge does offer a unique benefit - as a Pledge move, it ignores the redirection effect of Storm Drain!
If you're playing against Zacian / Zamazenta, keep this mechanic in mind! By using the [+] info screen, you can verify if the opponent actually brought their legendary dog as one of their 4 Pokemon or if they left it behind for that game.
VGC players, watch out! If a Neutralizing Gas user switches out for a Terastallized Ogerpon by an ally that has Hospitality, Hospitality will attempt to activate to heal the Neutralizing Gas user, but immediately *crash the game* trying to do so.
Huge find by Zaggyo! They updated how lots of Abilities work with Neutralizing Gas - Commander and the bike legend Abilities can now be suppressed! Neutralizing Gas won't cause Dondozo and Tatsugiri to come apart; it only prevents the initial combination.
PSA: Instruct Oranguru + Stalwart Duraludon is a very, very bad combo! Stalwart makes it so Instructed moves sometimes target the wrong opponent, fail completely or even hit the Oranguru itself! Why? Because host mechanics!
Current theory in thread.
When Imposter copies Hospitality, Hospitality will activate twice to heal 25% of its ally's HP 2 times, for a total of 50%. From testing, it has to specifically be Imposter - manual Transform and Skill Swap do not heal 50% HP like this.
Electro Shot is a charge move that increases Sp. Atk before dealing damage. It can skip that charge turn in the rain. It's *also* boosted by Sheer Force, with no negative consequences! You can see here Archaludon takes no Life Orb recoil, demonstrating it is Sheer Force-boosted.
Unlike Ogerpon with the wrong Tera Type, Terapagos with the wrong Tera Type doesn't softlock the game when you try to Terastallize it - it does something even weirder! With thanks to DarkFE for showing this off originally on the Smogon battle mechanics research thread.
Game crashes continue to affect the competitive integrity of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, interrupting this match on stream at the Los Angeles VGC Regional Championships
#PlayPokemon
The new move Psychic Noise can prevent Pollen Puff from healing its ally. This can be done by targeting the Pollen Puff user or its ally. The game won't stop you from *selecting* Pollen Puff if Psychic Noise was used on the ally, though. You may trick players into wasting a turn!
I learned today that Family of Four Maushold is objectively better than Family of Three Maushold. Because it's slightly heavier (2.8kg vs 2.3kg), it takes less damage from Appletun's Heavy Slam and the mighty Rolycoly's Heat Crash (both 120 -> 100 BP).
Zaggyo found that Calyrex forms don't reset new TMs introduced in DLC1/2 that can ordinarily only be learned by the other Calyrex form. This means you can teach moves like Icicle Spear or Roar to Calyrex-Shadow!
Many astute players discovered the secret by looking at Urshifu's extra high HP stat - it was actually Dondozo all along! Dozo was nicknamed "Urshifu", given Illusion and Surging Strikes, and used in a local battle. This will affect the Worlds metagame as much as Incineroar will!
Move over Dondozo - a new Commander recipient is in town! While the animation of Tatsugiri hopping into an Urshifu's mouth is pretty weird, the effects of a +2 omniboost on a Pokemon like Urshifu are pretty insane. How will this affect the Worlds metagame?
New visual glitch discovered by
@Derith96
: the move Night Daze does not cause a Pokemon's HP to change until the end of the turn or until another effect change that Pokemon's HP. This only applies if the animation plays. The glitch can lead to funny things like this:
Proof of concept: 16-bit damage overflow still exists in Sword and Shield. Among other things, this means the maximum damage in the game is still 65,535. Like previous generations, you can also use this to deal 0 damage, which in my opinion is very funny:
Ahead of DLC1, I've been asked a lot about Neutralizing Gas! Commander, Zero to Hero, and the Paradox / bike legend Abilities aren't suppressed. Everything else that's new is suppressed, like the Ruin Abilities and Mycelium Might. Ability Shield protects from Neutralizing Gas.
On last night's stream, I messed around with Illusion and Commander to make Tatsugiri hop into the mouth of Pokemon models other than Dondozo! The results were excellent.
Why can Sucker Punch "randomly" fail? It depends on three factors:
1) Whoever is hosting (port priority)
2) Only failed on the left slot in my tests
3) Only one Pokemon remaining on non-host
Video evidence:
Detailed explanation:
The self-Leech Seed interaction with Ally Switch still exists in Sword and Shield, and now we can make it do funny things with Dynamax too! I think Dragapult's turnaround looks hilarious.
Here's footage of the bug in action - Dragon Cheer sticks around no matter what, even if you switch around to a different slot, even if you KO the original Dragon Cheer Pokemon. With Scope Lens, you can get guaranteed critical hits on any Tera Dragon Pokemon for the whole game.
🚨 Attention,
#PokemonVG
Trainers!
The move "Dragon Cheer" is temporarily banned from Championship events due to the move not functioning as intended, and will remain so until this issue is resolved.
For further details, please visit ➡
I'm commonly asked about the interaction of Punching Glove and Unseen Fist. Because Punching Glove removes the contact property from punching moves, attacks like Wicked Blow will get a boost in power, but they won't bypass Protect.
New Dynamax glitch discovered by
@zakocky
! If you choose to Dynamax, you can switch out from Eject Pack and still Dynamax in the same turn (with the help of another Eject Pack). You won't use a Max Move the turn you do this glitch. Check it out!
When used on an ally, Brick Break removes your own screens, like Reflect or Aurora Veil. You can use this with G-Max Lapras to trigger your own Weakness Policy and reset the turn count for Aurora Veil to extend its duration, increasing the amount of time you have extra bulk.
Are you unable to get BP quickly for Nature mints or other Battle items? Based on hundreds of battles of testing and hours of theorymonning, I think this is the optimal team for grinding BP from the Battle Tower (singles is faster). Explanation:
Super Sitrus Berries confuse your Pokemon based on its original nature, not the nature post-Mint. This means for Pokemon using Bug Bite (really, every Pokemon because of Trick), it is optimal to use a neutral nature (like Hardy, Serious) and Nature Mint to the nature you want.
You might think it's always optimal to give physical attackers that use Tera Blast 31 Sp. Atk IVs, just in case they get Intimidated below what their Sp. Atk stat is to maximize damage. But sometimes, like with Chien-Pao, it can be better to run a specific amount of Sp. Atk IVs!
Something i learned that was a bit funny is if you intimidate a physically offensive mon to where it’s spatk is higher than its attack terablast switches from a physical attack to a special one
Series 2 of VGC 2023 is now available to ladder on Pokemon Showdown! In addition, both Series 1 and Series 2, on ladder and in challenged games, have additional opt-in open team sheet support. Read below for a detailed explanation.
Max Guard doesn't always behave like Protect does. Feint hits through it but won't break it, Phantom Force won't break through at all, and some moves like Psych Up and Transform that ordinarily go through Protect just don't go through Max Guard.
Tera Stellar modifies damage in the same place STAB does:
- ~1.2x damage on non-STAB moves for the first time for each type; 1x on later uses
- 2x damage on STAB moves for the first time for each type; 1.5x on later uses
See posts by Anubis and I:
Just in case you thought Tera Stellar would be good on Ditto, think again! If a Pokemon is Terastallized into Tera Stellar, it can't transform via Imposter or the move Transform. The opponent's Tera Type doesn't change this. You can Tera Stellar if you are already Transformed.
Over 90% got it wrong! A Helping Hand, Tera Fairy-boosted Draining Kiss from Calyrex-Shadow is only 75 BP. A regular Tera Fairy-boosted Draining Kiss is 60 BP, so Helping Hand really only boosts it by about 1.25x! If you're curious about the math, read below!⬇️
Draining Kiss is ordinarily a 50 BP move. What is the base power of a Draining Kiss used by Pokemon Terastallized to Fairy-type and also boosted by Helping Hand?
@WeedleTwineedle
Eviolite Stantler and Eviolite Ursaring both get 1.5x Defense boosts from the item. Damage rolls demonstrated here line up perfectly with Eviolite being active.
With Eject Pack Torkoal on the rise in usage, this bug is even more impactful. Leading Arcanine into sun on Showdown will switch out Torkoal without setting sun - but on cart, you get sun AND a free pivot. We've known about it since Sword/Shield, but it's not an easy fix!⬇️
Is NO ONE talking about how showdown has the incorrect order of intimidate & weather activations?
Eject pack torkoal currently gets ejected before the sun goes up, and it’s vice versa on cart.
@KarthikVGC
It's now easier than ever to challenge folks to best-of-three matches as well! When playing a VGC game, tick the checkbox to automatically create a best-of-three with your opponent in that format.
Both Series 13 and Spikemuth Cup (Series 7/9 with no Dynamax) are available to ladder on Pokemon Showdown! It's pretty unprecedented for VGC to get a semi-official format like Spikemuth as a ladder, so I'm happy it was possible policy-wise.
If my calcs are right, this is the possible damage with and without Eviolite:
21, 21, 21, 22, 22, 22, 22, 23, 23, 23, 23, 24, 24, 24, 24, 25
31, 31, 32, 32, 32, 33, 33, 34, 34, 34, 35, 35, 35, 36, 36, 37
in a later test, I rolled 34 damage with no Eviolite.
Thanks to those who independently tested this already! The Sucker Punch / Quash + host mechanics glitch HAS been fixed, but the Instruct + Stalwart / Propeller Tail / Snipe Shot + host mechanics glitch has NOT been fixed in Sword & Shield version 1.1.0.
Neutralizing Gas switching in and out can be used to reactivate entrance Abilities like Intimidate, Drought, or Intrepid Sword as many times as you want. Unnerve has a small caveat; it will still be active, but it won't replay the message that the opposing team can't eat Berries.
Using Shed Shell to let Tatsugiri switch out from Dondozo totally, definitely works!!! But when you do it, you actually go -4 in all stats on Dondozo bc of the extra effort to vomit up the Tatsugiri.
In general, if an Ability can't be suppressed by Gastro Acid, Neutralizing Gas can't suppress it either. Here's a list of Abilities that Neutralizing Gas won't stop as of pre-DLC1.
Many players have asked if Wo-Chien's Foul Play is reduced by Tablets of Ruin. It is not weakened! It's just like how Choice Band only increases Foul Play's damage if the Foul Play user holds it, not the Foul Play target.
Thanks to
@NicholasBorghi
for helping me grab footage!
Pokemon like Charizard, non-Paldean Wooper, and Perrserker can't be used in Series 1 play. On the other hand, Trick Room Female Indeedee, available only from raids, continues to pass checks just fine, including for Ranked Series 1 play. Time to start treating it as legal?
Some answers to common mechanics questions I get!
• If you use Parting Shot into Clear Amulet, the Parting Shot user doesn't switch.
• Clear Smog removes boosts even if the target holds Clear Amulet or Covert Cloak (Clear Smog's stat removal isn't a secondary effect).
A VGC-like 4v4 Doubles format is now playable as a ladder on Showdown as "Battle Stadium Doubles". Please understand we do NOT know what the new VGC format will be. We are making assumptions. Read this for additional information.
If you passed a hack check, but in fact used genned Pokemon, and are willing to share that information, that could be useful as well. In either case, rental team data privately shared this way would be kept private.
G-Max Snooze got labbed out:
-It has a 50% chance to inflict the drowsy status on the target (Yawn) (200 times / 404 tests)
-It never inflicts drowsy status on the target's ally
-The drowsy effect -> sleep next turn is 100% (Yawn itself won't fail)
Does anyone have video evidence of G-Max Snooze applying Yawn to both of the opponent's Pokemon or of Yawn failing to put something to sleep? I'm at ~70 tests now and have never seen double Yawn nor a failure of Yawn putting some target to sleep.
It baffles me why people think Tera Types will be viewable at Team Preview. A huge draw of the mechanic is that you can catch the opponent off guard with a sudden type change - they're not just going to give you that knowledge for free.
It's always a pleasure to showcase fun glitches with Wolfe - this time, a hilarious interaction between Unnerve and Cheek Pouch discovered by
@zakocky
that allows Pokemon to faint while having HP! These "undead" Pokemon have some interesting behavior, to say the least.
Some astute VGC players will know that if a Pokemon uses Ice Spinner into another Pokemon holding Red Card, Terrains will not be removed. However, Steel Roller, an otherwise similar move, *will* clear the Terrain before being forced out! Thanks to
@KarthikVGC
for helping test.
Great question from PsyJ and
@esdeflex
! Turns out, yes, the same interaction with Zacian being revealed at Team Preview also applies to Xerneas being revealed! Notice the different colors between its blue (Neutral) and colored (Active) form!
@DaWoblefet
Does Xerneas suffer from this quirk as well? It’s another mon with a forme change only in battle as well (similar to dogs/Keldeo), that’s also super relevant for this format.
I got approval to launch the Series 9 ladder and format early on Showdown, while keeping the Series 8 ladder up through the end of the month. Enjoy the additional practice time! The [Gen 8] VGC 2021 Series 9 ladder will continue through May and the rest of Series 9.
This fellow
@Morbuen91
cleverly showcases Regieleki's high Speed to hit at least 1809 Speed and "ignore" Trick Room, allowing Regieleki to move first in the turn. This requires +6 Speed, Tailwind, and a starting Speed stat of at least 227.
So if the game isn't updated, Raging Bolt, Gouging Fire, Iron Boulder, and Iron Crown aren't classified as either Paradox or sublegendary (info courtesy
@Sibuna_Switch
), which means they would be legal in Regulation H. Surely that will get fixed, right?
Turns out the new Paradox Pokemon aren't really Paradox Pokemon!
@Sibuna_Switch
finds that the list of Paradox Pokemon internally didn't update to include Raging Bolt, Gouging Fire, Iron Boulder, and Iron Crown. This means you can give and take Booster Energy away from them!
The Series 3 ladder is live on Showdown (thanks for the assist
@sabertazimi
)! Order Up has been updated to reflect the corrected cartridge behavior, too (thanks
@KarthikVGC
!)
For me, one of the most interesting parts of competitive Pokemon is the damage formula. But how exactly does it work? Are modern damage calculators actually using the right formula? I explore these topics and more in this comprehensive guide to damage:
Ever wished you knew the odds of two or more separate attacks KOing a Pokemon? Ever wanted to save EVs by precisely making your combo attack only KO 90% of the time? For those things and more, introducing the KO Chance Calculator!
Download:
Going into Indianapolis Regionals, I needed just 18 more championship points to qualify for Worlds. I super exceeded that goal, getting top 4 at the event! With special thanks to
@NicholasBorghi
for involving me in teambuilding and to everyone who cheered me on.😊
#PlayPokemon
Please for the love of all that is good in this game, do not make the World Championships a brand-new format that nobody has ever played before
@playpokemon
. Regulation D looks like a really fun way to start the 2024 season, but a horrible way to cap off the current one.
Top 8 at Indianapolis Regionals sealed my Worlds invite. Inspired by Gilgamesh and
@JeremyRodriGAZ
, the Calyrex-Ice + Reshiram hard Trick Room combination felt very strong. It's always possible to go farther though; I'm excited for what's next!