Defiant (Ability)

Defiant	まけんき
	Competitive Spirit
Flavor text Generation V When its stats are lowered its Attack increases. Generation VI Boosts the Pokémon's Attack stat when its stats are lowered. Generation VII Boosts the Pokémon's Attack stat sharply when its stats are lowered. Generation VIII Boosts the Pokémon's Attack stat sharply when its stats are lowered. Generation IX If the Pokémon has any stat lowered by an opposing Pokémon, its Attack stat will be boosted sharply.

Defiant (Japanese: まけんき Competitive Spirit) is an Ability introduced in Generation V.

Effect

In battle

When a stat of a Pokémon with this Ability is lowered by an opponent, its Attack is increased by two stages. Defiant will not activate if the Pokémon with this Ability lowers its own stats (such as with Close Combat) or if its stats are lowered by an ally.

If multiple stats are lowered (such as by Memento or Venom Drench), Defiant activates for each stat lowered.

Defiant activates before a held White Herb. If the Pokémon no longer has any negative stat stages after Defiant is applied, the White Herb will not have the chance to activate.

Outside of battle

Defiant has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Defiant

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0056		Mankey	Fighting		Fighting	Vital Spirit	Anger PointGen IV+	Defiant
0057		Primeape	Fighting		Fighting	Vital Spirit	Anger PointGen IV+	Defiant
0083		Farfetch'd	Normal	Flying	Keen Eye	Inner Focus	Defiant
0145		Zapdos Galarian Form	Fighting	Flying	Defiant	None	None
0432		Purugly	Normal		Normal	Thick Fat	Own Tempo	Defiant
0624		Pawniard	Dark	Steel	Defiant	Inner Focus	Pressure
0625		Bisharp	Dark	Steel	Defiant	Inner Focus	Pressure
0628		Braviary	Normal	Flying	Keen Eye	Sheer Force	Defiant
0641		Tornadus Incarnate Forme	Flying		Flying	Prankster	None	Defiant
0642		Thundurus Incarnate Forme	Electric	Flying	Prankster	None	Defiant
0766		Passimian	Fighting		Fighting	Receiver	None	Defiant
0862		Obstagoon	Dark	Normal	Reckless	Guts	Defiant
0870		Falinks	Fighting		Fighting	Battle Armor	None	Defiant
0979		Annihilape	Fighting	Ghost	Vital Spirit	Inner Focus	Defiant
0983		Kingambit	Dark	Steel	Defiant	Supreme Overlord	Pressure
1017		Ogerpon Teal Mask	Grass		Grass	Defiant	None	None
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.

Pokémon that formerly had Defiant

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0393		Piplup	Water		Water	Torrent	None	DefiantGen V-VIII
0394		Prinplup	Water		Water	Torrent	None	DefiantGen V-VIII
0395		Empoleon	Water	Steel	Torrent	None	DefiantGen V-VIII
0628		Braviary Hisuian Form	Psychic	Flying	Keen Eye	Sheer Force	DefiantGen VIII
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 Pokémon Legends: Arceus's internal code, Hisuian Braviary's Hidden Ability is Defiant instead of Tinted Lens.
• Prior to Generation IX, Piplup, Prinplup, and Empoleon had Defiant instead of Competitive.

In other games

Description

Games Description MDGtI When the Pokémon's stats are lowered, its Attack goes up.* When the Pokémon's stats are lowered, its Attack goes way up!* SMD When the Pokémon's stats are lowered, the Pokémon's Attack goes up sharply!

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

• Grimsley's Bisharp is revealed to have Defiant as its Ability.

Trivia

• This Ability can trigger a harmless text glitch when activated in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity.
• This Ability originated as a TCG Poké-BODY.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 不服輸 Bāt-Fuhksyū Mandarin 不服輸 / 不服输 Bù-Fúshū French Acharné German Siegeswille Italian Agonismo Korean 오기 Ogi Spanish Competitivo Vietnamese Hiên Ngang

Variations of the Ability Defiant
Defiant • Competitive

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.