Damage

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Ash's Pokémon injured after a battle

Damage (Japanese: ダメージ damage) is a loss of a Pokémon's HP that happens as the result of a physical or special attack used against it by another Pokémon.

Damage calculation

Except for moves that deal direct damage, the damage dealt when a Pokémon uses a damaging move depends on its level, its effective Attack or Special Attack stat, the opponent's effective Defense or Special Defense stat, and the move's effective power. In addition, various factors of damage modification may also affect the damage dealt.

More precisely, damage is calculated as

File:DamageCalc.png

where

and Modifier is

File:ModifierCalc.png

where

  • Targets is 0.75 if the move has more than one target, and 1 otherwise. (In Generation III, it is 0.5 for moves that target all adjacent foes with more than one target, and 1 otherwise.)
  • Weather is 1.5 if a Water-type move is being used during rain or a Fire-type move during harsh sunlight, and 0.5 if a Water-type move is used during harsh sunlight or a Fire-type move during rain, and 1 otherwise.
  • Badge is applied in Generation II only. It is 1.25 if the attacking Pokémon is controlled by the player and if the player has obtained the Badge corresponding to the used move's type, and 1 otherwise.
  • Critical is applied starting in Generation II. It is 2 for a critical hit in Generations II-V, 1.5 for a critical hit from Generation VI onward, and 1 otherwise.
  • random is a random factor between 0.85 and 1.00 (inclusive):
    • From Generation III onward, it is a random integer percentage between 0.85 and 1.00 (inclusive)
    • In Generations I and II, it is realized as a multiplication by a random uniformly distributed integer between 217 and 255 (inclusive), followed by an integer division by 255
  • STAB is the same-type attack bonus. This is equal to 1.5 if the move's type matches any of the user's types, 2 if the user of the move additionally has Adaptability, and 1 if otherwise.
  • Type is the type effectiveness. This can be 0 (ineffective); 0.25, 0.5 (not very effective); 1 (normally effective); 2, or 4 (super effective), depending on both the move's and target's types.
  • Burn is 0.5 (from Generation III onward) if the attacker is burned, its Ability is not Guts, and the used move is a physical move (other than Facade from Generation VI onward), and 1 otherwise.
  • other is 1 in most cases, and a different multiplier when specific interactions of moves, Abilities or items take effect:
If multiple effects influence the other value, their values stack multiplicatively. For example, if both Multiscale and a Chilan Berry take effect, other is 0.5 * 0.5 = 0.25.

During the calculation, any operations are carried out on integers internally, such that effectively each division is a truncated integer division (rounding towards zero, cutting off any decimals), and any decimals are cut off after each multiplication operation. If the calculation yields 0, the move will deal 1 HP damage instead; however, in Generations I and V, different behavior may occur due to apparent oversights:

  • In Generation I, if the calculation yields 0 because the target has two types that both resist the move's type, the move will miss as if it is ineffective;
  • In Generation V, a move may deal 0 HP damage when other is less than 1, because the routine to prevent 0 HP damage is erroneously performed before applying the other factor.

Example

Imagine a level 75 Glaceon that does not suffer a burn and holds no item with an effective Attack stat of 123 uses Ice Fang (an Ice-type physical move with a power of 65) against a Garchomp with an effective Defense stat of 163 in Generation VI, and does not land a critical hit. Then, the move will receive STAB, because Glaceon's Ice type matches the move's: STAB = 1.5. Additionally, Garchomp is Dragon/Ground, and therefore has a double weakness to the move's Ice type: Type = 4. All other (non-random) factors of Modifier will be 1. This effectively gives

File:ModifierCalcExample.png

When also plugging in Glaceon's effective Attack stat and Garchomp's effective Defense stat, the whole damage formula gives

File:DamageCalcExample1.png

That means Ice Fang will do between 168 and 196 HP damage, depending on luck.

If the same Glaceon holds a Muscle Band and its Ice Fang lands a critical hit against Garchomp, it will be Critical = 1.5, effectively giving

File:ModifierCalcExample2.png

Furthermore, Ice Fang's effective power will be boosted by the Muscle Band by (approximately) 10% to become 71, leading the whole formula to give

File:DamageCalcExample3.png

That means Ice Fang will now do between 268 and 324 HP damage, depending on luck.

Pokémon GO

In Pokémon GO, damage is calculated differently due to different variables existing in the game.

File:DamageCalcGO.png

where

  • Power is the power of the move used
  • Attack is the Attack stat of the attacking Pokémon
  • Defense is the Defense stat of the Pokémon being attacked

and Modifier is

File:ModifierCalcGO.png

where

  • Type is the type effectiveness, which is calculated differently in GO, using multipliers of base 1.6 instead of 2.
  • STAB is the same-type attack bonus. This is equal to 1.2 if the move's type matches any of the user's types, and 1 if otherwise.
  • The following variables are applied in Gym and Raid Battles only, and are 1 otherwise.
    • Weather is 1.2 if a the move used has a weather-boosted type, and 1 otherwise.
    • Friendship is applied when battling with Friends and varies depending on the Friendship level.
      • 1.03 if Good Friends
      • 1.05 if Great Friends
      • 1.07 if Ultra Friends
      • 1.1 if Best Friends
      • 1 if otherwise
    • Dodged is 0.25 if the attack was successfully dodged, and 1 if otherwise.
      • Only a Gym defender or Raid Boss's attack may be dodged.
  • The following variables are applied in Trainer Battles only, and are 1 otherwise.
    • Trainer is 1.3 for all attacks used in a Trainer Battle.
    • Charge is applied for Charged Attacks and is between 0 and 1, depending on how many times the player has tapped to charge the move, and 1 otherwise.

By the damage formula, moves that have a power of 0 such as Splash and Yawn will still do 1 HP damage.

Trivia

  • The greatest potential damage dealt in a single attack can be achieved by Shuckle using Ice Ball.
  • In Pokémon Battle Revolution, the HP bar will change with a different animation depending on the move's type (recovery, recoil damage and indirect damage use the Normal-type animation), as shown below.

In other languages

Language Title
Chinese Cantonese 傷害 Sēunghoih
Mandarin 傷害 / 伤害 Shānghài
The Czech Republic Flag.png Czech Poškození
Denmark Flag.png Danish Skade
Finland Flag.png Finnish Vahinko
French Canada Flag.png Canada Tort*
France Flag.png Europe Dégâts
Germany Flag.png German Schaden
Hungary Flag.png Hungarian Sebzés
Italy Flag.png Italian Danno
South Korea Flag.png Korean 데미지 Damage
Norway Flag.png Norwegian Skade
Brazil Flag.png Brazilian Portuguese Dano
Spain Flag.png Spanish Daño
Sweden Flag.png Swedish Skada

External links

References


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