Illuminate (Ability)

Illuminate	はっこう
	Luminescence
Flavor text Generation III Encounter rate increases. Generation IV Raises the likelihood of meeting wild Pokémon.DPPtHGSS Raises the likelihood of meeting wild Pokémon. It has no effect in Pokétopia.PBR Generation V Raises the likelihood of meeting wild Pokémon. Generation VI Raises the likelihood of meeting wild Pokémon. Generation VII Raises the likelihood of meeting wild Pokémon by illuminating the surroundings. Generation VIII Raises the likelihood of meeting wild Pokémon by illuminating the surroundings. Generation IX Prior to Version 1.3.2 Raises the likelihood of meeting wild Pokémon by illuminating the surroundings. Version 1.3.2 onwards By illuminating its surroundings, the Pokémon prevents its accuracy from being lowered. Champions The Pokémon ignores changes to targets' evasiveness and its accuracy cannot be lowered.

Illuminate (Japanese: はっこう Luminescence) is an Ability introduced in Generation III.

Contents

Collapse all Hide

Close table of contents

• (Return to top)
• Effect
  • In battle
    • Generations III through VIII
    • Generation IX
  • Outside of battle
    • Generation III
    • Generation IV through VII
      • Generation VIII
    • Generation IX
• Pokémon with Illuminate
• In other games
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series
    • Affected moves
  • Description
• In animation
  • Pokémon animated series
• In the manga
  • Be the Best! Pokémon B+W
  • Pokémon Adventures
• Trivia
• In other languages
• References

Effect

In battle

Generations III through VIII

Illuminate has no effect during battle.

Generation IX

Starting in Version 2.0.1 of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Illuminate prevents other Pokémon from lowering the accuracy stat stage of the Pokémon with this Ability, and also ignores the target's evasion stages.

Effects that decrease accuracy without using stat stages, such as Wonder Skin and Sand Veil, are unaffected by Illuminate.

This Ability can be ignored with Mold Breaker, Teravolt, and Turboblaze.

Prior to version 2.0.1 of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Illuminate had no effect in battle, even after its text update in version 1.3.2. However, this inconsistency could not be seen in-game as no Pokémon with Illuminate had been available in Scarlet and Violet at the time.

Outside of battle

Generation III

If a Pokémon with Illuminate is in the first place in the party (even if fainted), the wild Pokémon encounter rate increases by 100%. Starting in Pokémon Emerald, it shares this trait with Arena Trap and No Guard. Illuminate does not affect the Rock Smash encounter rate. The encounter rate is not doubled if the lead Pokémon is an unhatched Egg that will have Illuminate as its Ability upon hatching.

Generation IV through VII

Illuminate now increases the Rock Smash encounter rate in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Generation VIII

In Pokémon Sword and Shield, this Ability only affects the rate at which random encounters happen.

Generation IX

Illuminate appears to have no effect on the encounter rate of wild Pokémon.

Pokémon with Illuminate

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0120		Staryu	Water		Water	Illuminate	Natural Cure	Analytic
0121		Starmie	Water	Psychic	Illuminate	Natural Cure	Analytic
0170		Chinchou	Water	Electric	Volt Absorb	Illuminate	Water Absorb
0171		Lanturn	Water	Electric	Volt Absorb	Illuminate	Water Absorb
0313		Volbeat	Bug		Bug	Illuminate	Swarm	Prankster
0505		Watchog	Normal		Normal	Illuminate	Keen Eye	Analytic
0755		Morelull	Grass	Fairy	Illuminate	Effect Spore	Rain Dish
0756		Shiinotic	Grass	Fairy	Illuminate	Effect Spore	Rain Dish
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 other games

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

Prior to Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, a Pokémon with Illuminate "blinks" after a turn in which it was struck by a damaging move. The "blink" summons a hostile Pokémon somewhere on the floor. Illuminate will not activate if the floor capacity is reached (15 Pokémon, including unspawned Monster Houses, but not including mission targets or Kecleon). In Gates to Infinity, Illuminate will not activate if an attack deals no damage due to insufficient attack power, and the Pokémon will still visibly blink if the floor limit is reached, unless a Monster House is present.

In Super Mystery Dungeon, the Pokémon obtains the Decoy status after using an illuminating move. The Decoy status makes enemies preferentially attack the Pokémon instead of other allies.

Affected moves

The table below lists the moves affected by Illuminate, as well as the Pokémon that can have Illuminate and learn those moves.

Move Type Cat. Pow. Acc. Learned by Confuse Ray  Ghost  Status — 100 Dazzling Gleam  Fairy  Special 80 100 Flash  Normal  Status — 100 Light Screen  Psychic  Status — — Luster Purge  Psychic  Special 70 100 Moonlight  Fairy  Status — — Morning Sun  Normal  Status — — Solar Beam  Grass  Special 120 100 Shock Wave  Electric  Special 60 — Spark  Electric  Physical 65 100 Tail Glow  Bug  Status — — Volt Tackle  Electric  Physical 120 100

Description

Games Description MDRB If damaged, a wild Pokémon appears on the dungeon floor. MDTDS Causes a wild Pokémon to appear on a dungeon floor if the Pokémon is attacked. BSL こうげきされると フロアの どこかに ポケモンが あらわれる MDGtI When the Pokémon is attacked, an enemy Pokémon appears somewhere on the current floor.* When this Pokémon is attacked, an enemy appears somewhere on the floor.* SMD If the Pokémon uses an illuminating move such as Confuse Ray or Light Screen, it will be a decoy! MDRTDX If the Pokémon uses an illuminating move, such as Confuse Ray or Light Screen, the Pokémon will become a Decoy.

In animation

Pokémon animated series

Watchog
The Pokémon raises the likelihood of meeting wild Pokémon by illuminating the surroundings. This can also be used to see things that are invisible.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Used In		Notes
	Watchog holds out its arms and the yellow parts of its eyes and all the yellow stripes on its body flash yellow extremely brightly. The light then dies down a little, causing any invisible things to appear.
Lenora's Watchog	A Night in the Nacrene City Museum!		Debut
	Staryu is able to lure in nearby Pokémon.
Toren's Staryu	The Power of Us		None

In the manga

Be the Best! Pokémon B+W

Watchog
The Pokémon glows bright, attracting wild Pokémon.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Watchog glows bright, attracting wild Pokémon.
Monta's Watchog	Let's Master Pokémon Capturing!		Debut

Pokémon Adventures

• Misty's Starmie and Chinchou and a Team Plasma Grunt's Watchog were revealed to Illuminate as their Ability.

Trivia

• Every Pokémon with this Ability can learn the moves Flash and Confuse Ray.

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	發光 Faatgwōng
	Mandarin	發光 / 发光 Fāguāng
Finnish		Valaisu
French		Luminescence* Lumiattirance* Lumiatirance*
German		Erleuchtung
Hebrew		הארה He'ara
Italian		Risplendi
Korean		발광 Balgwang
Polish		Rozświetlenie
Portuguese	Brazil	Iluminação
	Portugal	Iluminar
Russian		Освещение Osveshcheniye
Spanish		Iluminación

References

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.