Substitute (move)

Substitute みがわり Scapegoat

Battles Type  Normal Category  Status PP  10 (max. 16) Power  — Accuracy  —% Priority  0 Does not make contact Not affected by Protect Not affected by Magic Coat Affected by Snatch Not affected by King's Rock

Range Opponent Opponent Opponent Self Ally Ally Self: Affects the user

Availability Introduced  Generation I TM50 in Generation I Move Tutor in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness Move Tutor in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen TM90 in Generation IV TM90 in Generation V

Contests Condition  Smart Appeal  2 ♥♥ Jam  0   Can avoid being startled by others once.

Super Contests Condition  Smart Appeal  1 ♥ Earn +3 if the Pokémon gets the lowest score.

Contest Spectaculars Condition  Smart Appeal  0   Jamming  0

On Smogon's Movedex: Generation I Generation II Generation III Generation IV Generation V Generation VI Generation VII Generation VIII Generation IX

Substitute (Japanese: みがわり Scapegoat) is a non-damaging Template:Type2 move introduced in Generation I.

Effect

Generation I

Using 25% of its maximum HP, the user creates a Substitute with 1 HP more than the amount of HP lost by the user. If the user's maximum HP is 3 or less, it will not lose any HP when the Substitute is made. A Substitute will have the same current type(s) and current stats of the Pokémon that created it.

Once created, all stat modifying attacks and side effects of attacks used by the opponent against the user will fail, though all current stat modifiers will remain in effect and any stat modifiers used by the user will also be applied to the Substitute. Until it breaks, a Substitute will absorb all damage done by the opponent (even if the damage done exceeds the remaining HP of the Substitute), but will not reduce the actual amount of damage that the opponent's attacks do. A one-hit KO move, if it hits, will always break a Substitute.

Substitute will not protect the user from self-inflicted status ailments, but it will protect it from any status ailment generated by an opponent move and damage due to those status ailments.

Substitute will not alter the execution of Bide, Counter, Disable, Haze, Leech Seed, Super Fang, Transform, or partial trapping moves, and it will not absorb crash damage, recoil damage, or recurrent damage. However, a Substitute will absorb self-inflicted confusion damage and prevent the user from flinching.

If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with Hyper Beam, it will not need to recharge. If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with Explosion or Selfdestruct, it will not faint, though its picture will no longer be visible until it switches out or uses Substitute. If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with a recoil move, it will not take any recoil damage. If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with a draining move, no HP will be restored to it. Note that in each of these cases, the Substitute has to be broken, not merely damaged, by the referenced attack.

If the user's current HP is less than 25% (rounded down) of its maximum HP, it will be too weak to make a Substitute. If the user's current HP is exactly equal to 25% (rounded down) of its maximum HP, it will faint upon creating the Substitute.

In Stadium, Substitute will protect the user from Absorb, Dream Eater, Leech Life, Leech Seed, Mega Drain, and all status ailments inflicted by the opponent. If the user's current HP is exactly equal to 25% (rounded down) of its maximum HP, it will be too weak to create a Substitute. If a Pokémon breaks a Substitute with Explosion or Selfdestruct, it will faint.

Generation II, III and IV

The effects of Substitute are the same as the previous generation; however, if the user has a status ailment, they will still take any damage from that status ailment after they have used Substitute.

If the Substitute is broken by a target's Selfdestruct or Explosion, the user of that move will faint.

If Perish Song has been used, the Substitute will not protect the user from Perish Song's effect.

If the user of Substitute has 25% or less of its max HP (rounded down), or it only has a maximum of 1 HP, such as Shedinja, it will be unable to make a Substitute.

A Substitute can be Baton Passed, and can absorb damage due to partial-trapping moves. A substitute will not block the Evasion decrease caused by Defog.

Generation V

Substitute now blocks the stat lowering effect of Defog, and Transform and Sky Drop will fail if used against a Pokémon behind a Substitute. The only status moves that target the user of Substitute that aren't blocked are: Attract, Curse, Destiny Bond, Encore, Grudge, Perish Song, Psych Up, Roar, Taunt and Whirlwind.

Learnset

By leveling up

#	Pokémon		Type		Level
					I		II		III		IV		V		VI
122		Mr. Mime	Psychic		Psychic	47			11			9	8	29				29			'
352		Kecleon	Normal		Normal							40			37		39	37			'
439		Mime Jr.	Psychic		Psychic										29				29			'
479		Rotom	Electric	Ghost										36				36			'
Bold indicates a Pokémon gains STAB from this move. Italics indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form receives STAB from this move. A dash (−) indicates a Pokémon cannot learn the move by the designated method. An empty cell indicates a Pokémon that is unavailable in that game/generation.

By TM

#	Pokémon		Type		Machine
					I TM50		II --		III --		IV TM90		V TM90		VI TM08
All Pokémon that can learn TMs in Generations I, IV, and V can learn Substitute.
Bold indicates a Pokémon gains STAB from this move. Italics indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form receives STAB from this move. A dash (−) indicates a Pokémon cannot learn the move by the designated method. An empty cell indicates a Pokémon that is unavailable in that game/generation.

By breeding

#	Pokémon		Type		Father
					II		III		IV		V		VI
108		Lickitung	Normal		Normal
113		Chansey	Normal		Normal
115		Kangaskhan	Normal		Normal
131		Lapras	Water	Ice
143		Snorlax	Normal		Normal
161		Sentret	Normal		Normal
173		Cleffa	Normal		Normal
175		Togepi	Normal		Normal
183		Marill	Water		Water
263		Zigzagoon	Normal		Normal
300		Skitty	Normal		Normal
311		Plusle	Electric		Electric
312		Minun	Electric		Electric
325		Spoink	Psychic		Psychic
359		Absol	Dark		Dark
Bold indicates a Pokémon gains STAB from this move. Italics indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form receives STAB from this move. A dash (−) indicates a Pokémon cannot learn the move by the designated method. An empty cell indicates a Pokémon that is unavailable in that game/generation.

By move tutor

In Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, Emerald, and XD: Gale of Darkness

All Pokémon that can learn moves from move tutors in Generation III can learn Substitute.

By event

Generation II

#   Pokémon Type Obtained with 0185 Sudowoodo Rock New York City Pokémon Center 0204 Pineco Bug New York City Pokémon Center Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move. Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STAB from this move.

Sprites

A Substitute from Generations I and II	A Substitute from Stadium 2	A Substitute from Generation III
	File:SubFly.jpg
A Substitute from Generation IV	A Substitute from Battle Revolution	A Substitute from Generation V

In the anime

Shaymin File:Substitute disappears.png Substitute fades away File:Delcatty Substitute before.png Delcatty File:Delcatty Substitute after.png Substitute breaks
The user creates a substitute that resembles it. The substitute fades away soon after.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Used In		Notes
	Shaymin creates a clone that looks exactly like itself. It then fades soon after.
Shaymin (movie 11)	Giratina and the Sky Warrior		Debut
	Delcatty creates an exact copy of itself. When it gets hit, it disappears in a puff of smoke.
Lila's Delcatty	Battling the Generation Gap!		None
	Togepi moves quickly when the opponent is about to attack and creates an afterimage of itself. When the afterimage gets hit, it disappears.
A wild Togepi	Where No Togepi Has Gone Before!		None

In the manga

Phantom Thief Pokémon 7

File:Leafeon Substitute P7.png Leafeon
The user creates a copy of itself.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Leafeon creates a copy of itself that disappears after taking a certain amount of damage.
Lily's Leafeon	Into The Hands Of Evil?!		Debut

Pokémon Adventures

Pikachu
The user creates a substitute that resembles it. The substitute fades away soon after.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Pikachu creates a see-through after image of itself by cutting a quarter of its health. Pikachu can form the substitute to any form it wants. Once the after image gets hit, however, it disappears.
Red's Pika	Meanwhile... Vileplume!		Debut

In other generations

Generation I	RBY	Generation I (Japanese)	Generation I (international)	Generation II	Generation II (Japanese)	Generation II (international)	Crystal	Generation III	Generation III (Japanese)	Generation III (international)	RS	FRLG	FRLGE	Generation IV	Generation IV (Japanese)	Generation IV (international)	PtHGSS	HGSS	Generation V	BW	B2W2	Generation V (Japanese)	Generation V (international)	Generation VI	XY	ORAS	Generation VII	SMUSUM	LGPE	Generation VIII	SwSh	BDSP	Legends: Arceus	Generation IX	Stadium (JP)	Stadium	Stadium 2	Colosseum	XD	Battle Revolution	Battrio	MD: Red and Blue	MD:Time, Darkness, andSky	MD: Blazing, Stormy, & Light Adventure Squad	MD: GTI	SMD	MD: RTDX	Rumble	Rumble Blast	Masters EX

Trivia

File:SubFly.jpg

A Substitute "levitating"

• In most games, the Substitute and the Pokémon will switch places when the Pokémon is attacking. The only exception is in Pokémon Battle Revolution, where the battle animations play out as if the Substitute was the one performing the attack. It generally remains stationary, except for when using moves like Fly or Bounce.
• In the Generation I and II games, the Substitute resembles the Pokémon Rhydon. In subsequent generations, the plush does not resemble any Pokémon.
• Shedinja is capable of learning Substitute by both FireRed and LeafGreen move tutor as well as by TM90 in Generation IV and V (as well as inheriting it from its pre-evolution). Despite this, it cannot use it, as its HP is too low to make a substitute, however a Pokémon that has Transformed into Shedinja would be able to use it.
• Substitutes are interpreted differently throughout all forms of Pokémon canon. In the games, Substitutes are seen as a plush-like decoy which simply replaces the Pokémon. In the anime, Substitutes are seen to be exact clones of the user. In the manga, Substitutes are like the anime representation, but more spectral and transparent, as shown by Red's Pikachu in Peace of Mime.
• In the Mystery Dungeon series, if the player eats an X-Eye Seed, all other Pokémon appear as a Substitute.

In other languages

Language Title Mandarin Chinese 替身 Tìshēn Dutch Kloon Aanval French Clonage German Delegator Greek Υποκατάστατο Indonesian Perasuk Italian Sostituto Korean 대타출동' Daetachuldong Brazilian Portuguese Substituição Serbian Izmena Spanish Sustituto

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.