Damage
Damage modification is a system of multipliers used to change the damage dealt in a battle. These modifiers affect how the damage is calculated by multiplying the move's base power in various ways. These modifiers range from doubling to halving and even negating the damage done.
Super effective
When a move is super effective, it does double the damage it would normally do. For example, a move like Megahorn used against a Template:Type2 Pokémon will be super effective because Template:Type2 moves are super effective against Psychic-types. This effect can stack up; for example, a Pokémon that is Rock/Ground and is hit by a Template:Type2 move like Surf will be damaged four times as much by the move as it would normally be, because both Rock and Ground Pokémon are weak to Water moves.
Not very effective
When a move is not very effective, it does half of the damage it would normally do. This works exactly like super effective moves, and can stack up. For example, a Steel/Rock Pokémon will be damaged by a quarter of the amount by a Template:Type2 move. Likewise, a Normal/Flying Pokémon hit by a Template:Type2 move will be damaged normally, as the super-effectiveness of Fighting against Normal is canceled out by the not-very-effectiveness of Fighting against Flying.
Not effective
When a move is not effective, it does not damage the Pokémon at all and that Pokémon is "immune" to that type. This immunity includes status moves of that type. For example, the Template:Type2 move Thunderbolt will have no affect on a Template:Type2 Pokémon such as Garchomp. Likewise, using the move Thunder Wave will prove useless and yields a "It does not affect Garchomp" (whereas a Confuse Ray that simply missed yields "It did not affect Garchomp"). Certain types are immune to specific moves, such as Template:Type2 Pokémon being immune to Leech Seed.
Critical hit
A move will sometimes get a critical hit against another Pokémon, some moves more than others. This will double the damage done after super effective/not very effective calculations occur, leading to the ability for a doubly-super effective move that gets a critical hit to do eight times as much damage as it would.
Critical hits work through levels, which determine the chance for a critical hit:
| Level | Percentage | Moves |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6.25% | Normal moves |
| 2 | 12.5% | Moves with an increased critical hit rate: Slash, Stone Edge etc. |
| 3 | 25% | Moves used by Farfetch'd with the Stick attached |
| 4 | 33.3% | Critical hit moves used in combination with Super Luck |
| 5 | 50% | Critical hit moves used in combination with Super Luck and a Razor Claw or Scope Lens. |
Scope Lens and Razor Claw add 1 level each, the Stick adds 2 levels (for Farfetch'd only), Focus Energy adds a level, Super Luck doubles the amount of levels and goes before the items are calculated in. 50% is the cap, no situation reaches above it.
When a move is a critical hit, damage is calculated based on either the modified or unmodified attack and defense stats, whichever is more advantageous to the attacker. For example, an attacker who has used Swords Dance and then makes a critical hit will get the benefit of the increased Attack, while one affected by Charm will use its normal Attack score. Another example would be if a team had Light Screen or Reflect on it and the attacker scored a critical on the team with the certain wall; the defense added by the wall would then be ignored, and will do double normal damage.
Same-type attack bonus
- Main article: Same-type attack bonus
A move used by a Pokémon that is of the same type as the move itself will do 150% of its normal damage, such as a Template:Type2 move used by a Fire-type Pokémon. Dual-typed Pokémon will receive this bonus for both of their types, and a Pokémon whose type can change in-battle will receive the bonus for whatever type they are when they make the move.
Weather
- Main article: Weather conditions
Template:Type2 and Template:Type2 moves' damage will be modified by rain and sunshine. If Rain Dance causes a downpour, Water-type moves will do 50% more damage and Fire-type moves will do 50% less damage. If Sunny Day causes harsh sunlight, Fire-type moves will do 50% more damage and Water-type moves will do 50% less damage.
Abilities
- Main article: Abilities
Abilities come in a wide variety, and have various effects on damage modification. These affects range from increasing and decreasing the power of moves of a specific type, granting immunities, and even changing the power of moves affected by other damage modifiers. These abilities include:
- Blaze, Overgrow, Torrent and Swarm increase the power of Template:Type2, Template:Type2, Template:Type2 and Template:Type2 moves by 50% when the user's HP falls below 33%, respectively.
- Thick Fat decreases the power of the opponents' Fire-type and Ice-type moves by 50%. Heatproof decreases the power of opponents' Fire-type moves by 50%.
- Levitate provides immunity to Template:Type2 moves, and Soundproof provides immunity to sound-based moves.
- Volt Absorb and Water Absorb grant immunity to Template:Type2 and Template:Type2 moves respectively, healing the user's HP by 25% instead.
- Dry Skin works in part like Water Absorb, healing when hit with a Template:Type2 move, but it also heals the Pokémon slightly during rain. However, it also causes the Pokémon to receive additional damage from Template:Type2 attacks and receive slight damage during sunshine.
- Flash Fire negates the effect of opponents' Fire-type moves and instead increases the power of the ability's user's own Fire-type attacks. Similarly, Motor Drive negates the effect of opponents' Electric-type moves and instead causes the ability's user's Speed to increase. These abilities include status moves like Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave.
- Mold Breaker removes all immunities to the user's moves.
- Scrappy removes Template:Type2 Pokémon's immunity to the Template:Type2 and Template:Type2 moves of the user.
- Drizzle, Drought, Sand Stream and Snow Warning all cause different weather conditions.
- Adaptability doubles the power of moves of the same type as the user.
- Hustle boosts the power of the user's moves by 50%.
- Pure Power doubles the power of the user's physical attacks.
- Technician increases the power of the user's moves with base power 60 or less by 50%.
- Super Luck increases the user's critical hit ratio.
- Battle Armor and Shell Armor block critical hits.
- Sniper increases the power of the user's critical hits.
- Tinted Lens doubles the power of the user's moves that are not very effective.
- Solid Rock and Filter each reduce the power of super effective moves on the ability's user by one third.
- Wonder Guard reduces the power of the opponent's attacks that are not super effective to zero.