Rough Skin (Ability)

Rough Skin (Japanese: さめはだ Sharkskin) is an ability introduced in Generation III. Six Pokémon can have this ability.

Effect

In battle

Generation III

All moves that make contact with the Pokémon with Rough Skin will damage the user by 1/16 of their maximum HP after damage is dealt.

Generation IV

The damage dealt is 1/8 of the attacking Pokémon's maximum HP.

Mystery Dungeon

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon and the sequel, if an enemy directly in front of the Pokémon attacks it, the attacker is damaged by half of the damage done.

Outside of battle

Rough Skin has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Rough Skin

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0318		Carvanha	Water	Dark	Rough Skin	None	Speed Boost
0319		Sharpedo	Water	Dark	Rough Skin	None	Speed Boost
0443		Gible	Dragon	Ground	Sand Veil	None	Rough Skin
0444		Gabite	Dragon	Ground	Sand Veil	None	Rough Skin
0445		Garchomp	Dragon	Ground	Sand Veil	None	Rough Skin
0621	Crimgan	Crimgan	Dragon		Dragon	Rough Skin	Brute Force	Mold Breaker
Please note that abilities marked with a superscript are only available in the stated generation or later. For Generation III and IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities.

In the anime

Sharpedo: Sharpedo uses its skin to scrape against the opponent. The skin is rough enough to cause abrasion. However, it can choose whether or not to activate the ability.

• Activated by a wild Sharpedo in Sharpedo Attack!. Debut.

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Sharpedo: When Sharpedo makes contact with the opponent, it saps their energy.

• Activated by Arc's Sharpedo in VS. Ludicolo. Debut.

Carvanha: When Carvanha makes contact with the opponent, it saps their energy.

• Activated by Angie's Carvanha in VS. Ludicolo. Debut.

Trivia

• Although the japanese name of this ability is Sharkskin, Crimgan has this ability, despite not being based on a shark.

In other languages

• French: Peau Dure
• German: Rauhaut
• Italian: Cartavetro
• Spanish: Piel tosca

This article is part of Project Moves and Abilities, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games.