Substitute (move)
From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
| Substitute みがわり Scapegoat | ||||||||||||
| The user makes a copy of itself using some of its HP. The copy serves as the user's decoy. | ||||||||||||
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Battles
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Target
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Availability
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Contests
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Super Contests
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Substitute (Japanese: みがわり Scapegoat) is a non-damaging Normal-type move introduced in Generation I.
Contents |
Effect
Generation I
Using 25% of its maximum HP, the user creates a Substitute with 1 HP more than the amount of HP lost by the user. If the user's maximum HP is 3 or less, it will not lose any HP when the Substitute is made. A Substitute will have the same current type(s) and current stats of the Pokémon that created it.
Once created, all stat modifying attacks and side effects used by the target against the user will fail, though all current stat modifiers will remain in effect, and any stat modifiers used by the user will also be applied to the Substitute. Until it breaks, a Substitute will absorb all damage done by the target (even if the damage done exceeds the remaining HP of the Substitute), but will not reduce the actual amount of damage that the target's attacks do. A one-hit KO will break a Substitute on contact.
Substitute will not protect the user from self-inflicted status ailments, but it will protect it from any status ailment generated by an opponent move and damage due to those status ailments.
Substitute will not alter the execution of Bide, Counter, Disable, Haze, Leech Seed, Super Fang, Transform, or partial trapping moves, and it will not absorb crash damage, recoil damage, or recurrent damage. However, a Substitute will absorb self-inflicted confusion damage and prevent the user from flinching.
If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with Hyper Beam, it will not need to recharge. If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with Explosion or Selfdestruct, it will not faint, though its picture will no longer be visible until it switches out or uses Substitute. If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with a recoil move, it will not take any recoil damage. If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with a draining move, no HP will be restored to it. Note that in each of these cases, the Substitute has to be broken, not merely damaged, by the referenced attack.
If the user's current HP is less than 25% (rounded down) of its maximum HP, it will be too weak to make a Substitute. If the user's current HP is exactly equal to 25% (rounded down) of its maximum HP, it will create a Substitute, and then faint.
In Stadium, Substitute will protect the user from Absorb, Dream Eater, Leech Life, Leech Seed, Mega Drain, and all status ailments inflicted by the opponent. If the user's current HP is exactly equal to 25% (rounded down) of its maximum HP, it will be too weak to create a Substitute. If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with Explosion or Selfdestruct, it will faint.
Generation II - IV
The effects of Substitute are the same as the previous generation; however, if the user has a status ailment, they will still take any damage from that status ailment after they have used Substitute.
If the Substitute is broken by a target's Selfdestruct or Explosion, the user of that move will faint.
If the user of Substitute has 25% or less of its Max HP (rounded down), or it only has a maximum of 1 HP, such as Shedinja, it will be unable to make a Substitute.
A Substitute can be Baton Passed, and can absorb damage due to partial-trapping moves.
In the anime
 Shaymin's Substitute fades away. |
 Delcatty's Substitute on the ground. |
 Delcatty's Substitute breaks. |
Pokémon
Shaymin. A substitute is formed that looks exactly like Shaymin. It soon fades away.
- Used by Shaymin in Giratina and the Sky Warrior. Debut.
Delcatty. A substitute is formed that looks exactly like Delcatty. It soon fades away.
- Used by Lila's Delcatty in Battling the Generation Gap!.
Learnset
Generation I
By leveling up
| # | Pokémon | Type | Level | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 122 | 
| Mr. Mime | Psychic | 47 | |
| Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move. Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STAB from this move. | |||||
By TM50
All Pokémon that can learn TMs in Generation I can learn Substitute.
Generation II
By leveling up
| # | Pokémon | Type | Level | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 122 |
| Mr. Mime | Psychic | 11 | |
| Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move. Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STAB from this move. | |||||
Generation III
By leveling up
| # | Pokémon | Type | Level | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 122 |
| Mr. Mime | Psychic | 9RSE | |
| 122 |
| Mr. Mime | Psychic | 8FRLG | |
| 352 | 
| Kecleon | Normal | 40 | |
| Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move. Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STAB from this move. | |||||
By breeding
By move tutor
In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen
Generation IV
By leveling up
| # | Pokémon | Type | Level | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 122 |
| Mr. Mime | Psychic | 29 | |
| 352 |
| Kecleon | Normal | 37DP | |
| 352 |
| Kecleon | Normal | 39Pt | |
| 439 | 
| Mime Jr. | Psychic | 29 | |
| 479 | 
| Rotom | Electric | Ghost | 36 |
| Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move. Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STAB from this move. | |||||
By TM90
All Pokémon that can learn TMs in Generation IV can learn Substitute.
Trivia
- In the handheld games, battle animations have the Substitute switch places with the Pokémon while the Pokémon is actually attacking. Pokémon Battle Revolution's battle animations will play out as if the Substitute was the one attacking.
- Substitutes are interpreted differently throughout all forms of Pokémon canon. In the games, Substitutes are seen as a plush-like decoy which simply replaces the Pokémon. In the animé, Substitutes are seen to be exact clones of the user. In the manga, Substitutes are like the animé representation, but more spectral and transparent, as shown by Red's Pikachu in Peace of Mime.
In other languages
- French: Clonage
- Spanish: Sustituto
- Italian: Sostituto
- German: Delegator
| Generation I TMs | |
|---|---|
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | |
| Generation I HMs | |
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | |
| Generation IV TMs | |
|---|---|
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | |
| 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | |
| 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | |
| Generation IV HMs | |
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | |
| This move article is part of Project MoveDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each move. |
