Triple Battle

Triple battles are one of the many forms of Pokémon battling, being popular with Trainers in the region of Unova. As the name suggests, triple battles are a type of battle where each Trainer sends out three Pokémon at once. Due to this, they can be considered the successor to double battles, with the only difference seemingly being the number of Pokémon. However, there are some restrictions that differentiate it from its predecessor other than the amount of Pokémon, such as placement.

In the games

When a triple battle begins, Pokémon will be sent out in order, with the leftmost Pokémon being the first Pokémon able to battle in the party, the center one being the second, and the rightmost one being the third.

Placement

The placement of the Pokémon is now a major attribute of triple battles, as a Pokémon's positioning will affect how certain moves and abilities will work. Generally, Pokémon on the left-side of the field cannot attack any one on the right-side (including allies), and vice-versa. This also means a Pokémon in the center is free to hit any Pokémon on the field, but at a cost of being vulnerable to every other Pokémon. The Pokémon on either the far left or far right can be switched with the center Pokémon in place of an attack; if this is done, it will take place before any attacks can be executed. This also means that if the center Pokémon is readying to attack a certain target that its new place on the battlefield cannot reach, its attack will fail.

There are some moves however, that allow non-adjacent Pokémon to attack each other.

Effect of moves

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: List needs to be checked and may be missing some moves

Most moves have the same effect in triple battles as with single and double battles, the only restriction is that they can only affect adjacent Pokémon. Moves that hit both opponents or all Pokémon in double battles will only affect adjacent Pokémon in triple battles, except Perish Song.^[1] (i.e. a Pokémon on the left-side which used Earthquake will not affect any Pokémon on the right-side.) Moves that hit multiple Pokémon will still have their power reduced unless all other Pokémon have fainted at that point.

There are, however, some moves that can affect non-adjacent Pokémon, such as Wide Guard and Tailwind which affect all Pokémon on the user's side.

The following lists moves that can target non-adjacent Pokémon:

Effect of abilities

Most abilities' effect remain the same and are not affected by the Pokémon's placement. For example, a Mold Breaker Pokémon on the left-side of the field which used Water Pulse can still damage a Pokémon with Wonder Guard on the right-side of the field. Also, a Magic Bounce Pokémon can still reflect entry hazards even if the user of the entry hazard and itself are at opposite corners of the field.

However, some abilities such as Intimidate might still be affected Pokémon's placement, and can only lower the attack of opposing, adjacent Pokémon on the field.

Moving

The Pokémon on the left and right have the option to 'move'. This option allows the user to switch with the Pokémon currently in the middle. Moving has no priority and none of the effects of switching apply to moving. A Pokémon can move even if it is the last Pokémon on its team. When there are only two Pokémon left on the field and they are non-adjacent to each other, then both Pokémon will automatically be moved to the center of the field.

In Pokémon Battrio

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.

Triple battling as a mechanic was introduced in Pokémon Battrio, an arcade game using three Pokémon pucks on each side.

In the anime

Triple Battle in the anime

The first official triple battle was seen in the anime in episode BW053, where Ash battled against Tobio's three Maractus with his Pikachu, Tepig and Snivy.

In the manga

Pokémon Master Black and White

In the second chapter, Monta was shown in a triple battle with Cheren, using Snivy, Panpour, and Roggenrola. Cheren used Basculin, Tepig, and Pansage.

Trivia

• Interestingly, the introduction of this form of battling keeps the pattern of every odd generation since the first adding one more Pokémon to the maximum amount to be sent out at one time in a battle.
• Air Cutter is the only Flying-type damage-dealing move that cannot hit a non-adjacent Pokémon.
• In The Battle of the Badge, Jessie and James send out three Pokémon at once to battle Ash, the first unofficial triple battle in the series.
• All the moves that contain the word "pulse" are able to hit non-adjacent opponents.

References