Reckless increases the power of moves that have recoil or crash damage by 20%, except Struggle. Because recoil damage is proportional to damage dealt, Pokémon with Reckless will also take increased recoil damage when using moves boosted by Reckless.
Affected moves
The table below lists the moves affected by Reckless, as well as the Pokémon that can have Reckless and learn those moves.
Although the following moves are affected by the Ability, they currently cannot be learned by any Pokémon with Reckless. They may, however, be called via Metronome, Mirror Move, Copycat, or Mimic, or be used by a Pokémon that gained Reckless by an Ability like Trace or Receiver or a move such as Skill Swap or Role Play.
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 the Generation V games, Starly has no Hidden Ability, but a Starly with its Hidden Ability flag set will evolve into Staravia with its Hidden Ability Reckless and can produce Starly with their Hidden Ability flag set when bred. A Starly with its Hidden Ability flag set will have its Ability changed to Reckless when transferred to Pokémon Bank.
In Pokémon Black and White, Blue-StripedBasculin have Reckless as their second standard Ability; however, a Blue-Striped Basculin with Rock Head can be obtained from an in-game trade in White. In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, wild Blue-Striped Basculin have Rock Head as their second standard Ability, but Blue-Striped Basculin bred in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 have Reckless as their second standard Ability. In Generation VI, Blue-Striped Basculin have Rock Head as their second standard Ability, and Blue-Striped Basculin with Reckless transferred to Pokémon Bank have their Ability changed to Rock Head.
The power of moves with recoil damage, such as Take Down, and moves that cause the user to take damage if they fail, such as Jump Kick, goes up! But the damage the Pokémon takes also goes up! It has no effects on some moves, such as Struggle and Final Gambit.
The power of moves with recoil damage and moves that cause the user to take damage if they fail goes up–but the damage the Pokémon takes also goes up. It has no effect on some moves such as Struggle and Final Fambit.
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
Alder's Bouffalant was revealed to have Reckless as its Ability.