Fainting

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Fainting (Japanese: ひんし Dying) is a status ailment featured in which a Pokémon is no longer able to battle. In the anime, fainting is referred to simply as being unable to battle. These Pokémon are not always unconscious, but merely do not have the energy, ability, or other reasons to continue battling. Fainted Pokémon are often depicted with stunned expressions or as having spirals in their eyes. In the games, fainting occurs when a Pokémon reaches zero HP. A Pokémon can lose HP through such methods as Poisoning or self-injury inflicted during Confusion. A Pokémon which has fainted is unable to battle until it has been revived, but it is still able to use field moves, such as Fly or Cut. When the the player's party is viewed, any fainted Pokémon will have a red FNT status bar or a status ailment of FNT.

Pokémon can faint instantly if their opponent successfully uses a one-hit knockout move, such as Guillotine. A Pokémon faints under certain circumstances that occur after the use of Destiny Bond or Perish Song, unless switched out. Moves such as Selfdestruct or Explosion makes the user faint, though it deals massive damage to the opponent, acting as a sort of kamikaze. A Pokémon can also faint from having its HP sapped through moves such as Leech Seed and Leech Life, and can also faint if damaged by certain weather effects or status ailments from a previous turn during the semi-invulnerable stage of moves like Fly.

If all Pokémon in a Trainer's party have fainted they will be unable to battle and black out. The player will lose a sum of money. In Trainer battles, the money will be paid to the winner, but in battles with wild Pokémon, the money will be dropped in panic.

In the games

Fainting through status ailments

Fainting can also be caused through status ailments. When a Pokémon has been poisoned, every four steps will reduce the Pokémon's HP by one point until it faints (In Generation IV, the poison will be cured when the Pokémon has 1 HP). Steel and Template:Type2 Pokémon cannot be poisoned. It is removed either by an Antidote, a Pecha Berry or by similar status ailment healing items. Burned Pokémon can faint during battle by taking enough damage, but not outside of battle. A confused Pokémon is at risk for turning its attack on itself, thus reducing its own HP and possibly making itself faint. Confusion can be removed by a Yellow Flute, Persim Berry or by simply switching the Pokémon out of battle.

All of these conditions are also removable upon the use of a Pokémon Center, (or depositing the Pokémon in the PC) though it is wise to keep the aforementioned items in supply for usage when needed.

Effects of fainting

Fainting will cause a Pokémon to lose happiness, and may grow to resent its trainer if it faints often and spends a lot of time unconscious.

If all of the player character's Pokémon faint, then the trainer will be disqualified or faint ("<player name> Blacked/Whited Out!"). The player will then be warped back to the last Pokémon Center visited and the player will lose half of their money. Starting with FireRed and LeafGreen, a small cut scene also plays explaining what happens.

In Pokémon Yellow, Pikachu returns to its Poké Ball when it has fainted, which is the only time that Pikachu goes in its Poké Ball.

In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the lead Pokémon will return to its Poké Ball and the next Pokémon in order will then in turn be released out.

Fainting does not impede the use of HMs out of battle by a Pokémon.

Effects of items on fainted Pokémon

Normal items, such as potions or status ailment healing items, will not work on a fainted Pokémon. Instead, they either have to be healed at a Pokémon Center or brought back with a reviving item.

	Revive will revive a Pokémon with half of its HP.
	Max Revive will revive a Pokémon with all of its HP.
	Revival Herb will revive a Pokémon with all of its HP.
	Rare Candy will also revive fainted Pokémon due to the HP gained upon leveling up.

Avoiding fainting

There are many ways that fainting can be avoided, with the most common being removing the Pokémon from battle. If the Pokémon uses Endure, it will leave the said Pokémon with one HP. Items, like the Focus Sash, also ensure that a Pokémon doesn't faint. However, the Focus Sash works only once.

The following items can allow a Pokémon not to faint:

	Focus Band
	Focus Sash

The following items restore HP once:

	Oran Berry		Sitrus Berry
	Figy Berry		Wiki Berry
	Mago Berry		Aguav Berry
	Iapapa Berry		Enigma Berry

The followings items restore HP more than once:

	Shell Bell
	Leftovers
	Big Root
	Black Sludge

In the anime

In the anime, fainting is referred to as being unable to battle (Japanese: 戦闘不能 sentō funō). A Pokémon is shown to be unable to battle when its eyes are "swirly" - presumably to emulate dizziness. During a Pokémon League match, once a Pokémon is deemed unable to battle by an official League judge, it must be recalled and cannot be used again; however, this only true in the Pokémon anime and some of the manga, not the games.

Since not all Pokémon have eyes, they often have different ways of displaying that they have fainted, such as Staryu's core flashing.