Critical hit: Difference between revisions

This article is about the random event. For the video podcast, see It's Super Effective (podcast) → Related podcasts.

A critical hit (Japanese: 急所 weak point) is a random event that multiplies the damage of a damage-dealing move.

Generation I

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Proper images for formulas

When a critical hit is dealt, the user of the move has its level doubled during damage calculation, which ends up approximately (but not quite) doubling the damage dealt. A more accurate formula for the multiplier is (2L+5)/(L+5) where L is the user's level; as a result, lower-leveled Pokémon have a smaller critical hit boost than higher-leveled Pokémon. For example, a level 5 Pokémon will inflict 1.5x the damage on a critical hit, while a level 20 Pokémon will inflict 1.8x and a level 95 Pokémon will inflict 1.95x.

Critical hits ignore the halved Attack from burn and all stat modifiers, even beneficial ones. This makes it possible for a critical hit to sometimes deal less damage than a non-critical hit, if the user has more than doubled their Attack/Sp.Attack or the target has more than halved their Defense/Sp.Defense.

In this generation only, the probability of landing a critical hit is based on a Pokémon's base Speed. For most moves, the probability of landing a critical hit is BaseSpeed / 512; for example, Clefable, with a base Speed of 60, has roughly a 11.7% chance of landing a critical hit under usual circumstances.

Moves with a high critical hit rate such as Slash are eight times more likely to land a critical hit, resulting in a probability of BaseSpeed / 64. For example, Clefable, with a base Speed of 60, has roughly a 93.8% chance of landing a critical hit on a move with a high critical hit ratio.

Focus Energy and Dire Hit were intended to multiply the critical hit rate by 4, but a glitch instead causes them to divide the critical hit rate by 4. This was fixed in Pokémon Stadium.

If a Pokémon is both under the effect of Focus Energy/Dire Hit and using a move with a high critical hit rate, then the multipliers (or dividers) will stack.

As with move accuracy, if the probability of a landing a critical hit would be 100%, it instead becomes 255/256 or about 99.6%.

Generation II

Landing a critical now doubles the move's damage.

The probability of landing a critical hit is no longer based on the user's base Speed, but rather is based on a fixed formula for all Pokémon. Similar to stats, there are temporary in-battle stages used to determine the probability that a particular move will be a critical hit:

An attacking move will always start out at stage 0, but there are several ways to increase a move's stage as detailed in the table below. Any effects within the same class cannot stack with others in that class.

Note that it is possible for a Pokémon to acquire the effect of a Lansat Berry even if it is already holding another item, through the use of Baton Pass, Pluck, Bug Bite, or Fling.

The effects of Focus Energy, the Lansat Berry, and the several versions of Dire Hit do not stack with repeated uses.

When a move lands a critical hit, if the defender's Defense/Sp.Defense stat stage is equal to or higher the attacker's Attack/Sp.Attack stage, then all stat stages will be ignored, as well as the halved Attack from burn and the boosts from Light Screen and Reflect. For example:

• If the attacker is using a Physical move, and is at +2 Attack (from Swords Dance) while the defender is at +1 Defense (from Defense Curl, neither stat stage will be ignored. A non-critical hit will inflict 4/3 times the usual damage while a critical hit will inflict 8/3 times. The same occurs if the attacker is at -1 Attack and the defender at -2 Defense.
• If the attacker is using a Special move, and is at +1 Sp.Attack (from Growth) while the defender is at +2 Sp.Defense (from Amnesia), both stat stages will be ignored. A non-critical hit will inflict 3/4 times the usual damage while a critical hit will inflict 2 times. The same occurs if the attacker is at -2 Sp.Attack and the defender at -1 Sp.Defense.
• If the attacker is using a Physical move while the defender is at +0 Defense with Reflect up, then a critical hit at +0 Attack will ignore Reflect and inflict 2 times the usual damage, but a critical hit at +1 Attack will not ignore Reflect and will inflict only 1.5 times the usual damage.

Generation III-V

When a move lands a critical hit, the attacker's negative stat stages will be ignored while the defender's positive stat stages will be ignored, as well as the boosts from Light Screen and Reflect. Other stat modifiers, such as burn, Eviolite, Defeatist, or Slow Start, will not be ignored. For example:

• If the attacker is using a Physical move, and is at +2 Attack (from Swords Dance) while the defender is at +1 Defense (from Defense Curl, then a critical hit will ignore the Defense boost but not the Attack boost. A non-critical hit will inflict 4/3 times the usual damage while a critical hit will inflict 4 times. The same occurs if the attacker is at -1 Attack and the defender at -2 Defense, with the Attack drop being ignored but not the Defense drop.
• If the attacker is using a Special move, and is at +1 Sp.Attack (from Growth) while the defender is at +2 Sp.Defense (from Amnesia), then a critical hit will ignore the Sp.Defense boost but not the Attack boost. A non-critical hit will inflict 3/4 times the usual damage while a critical hit will inflict 3 times. The same occurs if the attacker is at -2 Sp.Attack and the defender at -1 Sp.Defense. The same occurs if the attacker is at -2 Sp.Attack and the defender at -1 Sp.Defense, with the Sp.Attack drop being ignored but not the Sp.Defense drop.
• If the attacker is using a Physical move at +1 Attack while the defender is at -2 Defense with Reflect up, then a critical hit will ignore Reflect but nothing else. A non-critical hit will inflict 1.5 times the usual damage, while a critical hit will inflict 6 times.

The moves Storm Throw and Frost Breath will always result in a critical hit. A move that targets a Pokémon with the Ability Battle Armor or Shell Armor, or one under the effect of Lucky Chant, will never result in a critical hit (including the aforementioned two moves).

If a Pokémon with the Sniper Ability gets a critical hit, the damage dealt will be multiplied by an additional 1.5, resulting in triple the usual damage.

All other mechanics are identical to Generation II.

Generation VI onwards

A critical hit now multiplies damage by only 1.5 rather than 2. The Sniper Ability still multiplies damage from a critical hit by 1.5, resulting in 2.25 times the usual damage. In addition, the probabilities for each critical hit stage have been modified, greatly increasing the likelihood of a critical hit for stages +2 and above:

In other languages

Language Title French Coup critique German Volltreffer Italian Brutto colpo Spanish Golpe crítico

See also

• Same-type attack bonus
• Damage modification

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.