Intimidate (Ability)

Intimidate いかく
Intimidate
Flavor text
Generation III
Lowers the foe's Attack.
Generation IV
Lowers the foe's Attack stat.
Generation V
Lowers the foe's Attack stat.
Generation VI
Lowers the opposing Pokémon's Attack stat.
Generation VII
The Pokémon intimidates opposing Pokémon upon entering battle, lowering their Attack stat.
Generation VIII
The Pokémon intimidates opposing Pokémon upon entering battle, lowering their Attack stat.
Generation IX
When the Pokémon enters a battle, it intimidates opposing Pokémon and makes them cower, lowering their Attack stats.

Intimidate (Japanese: いかく Intimidate) is an Ability introduced in Generation III.

Effect

In battle

Generation III

When a Pokémon with Intimidate enters the battle, it lowers the Attack stat of all adjacent opponents by one stage.

In Generations III and IV, Intimidate's activation message reads, "<Pokémon>'s Intimidate cuts <opponent>'s attack!"

Intimidate has no effect on Pokémon who are immune to Attack stat reductions, such as Pokémon with Clear Body, Hyper Cutter, or White Smoke. This Ability will not affect a target with a substitute.

Generation IV

Intimidate now also activates when a Pokémon gains the Ability, such as via Skill Swap or Mega Evolution.

Generations V to VII

In Generation V, the message changed to "<Opponent>'s Attack fell!"

In a Triple Battle, Intimidate does not affect non-adjacent Pokémon.

Intimidate does not affect Pokémon with the Full Metal Body Ability.

Wild Pokémon are more likely to call for help when facing a Pokémon with Intimidate. It shares this effect with Pressure and Unnerve.

If a Pokémon holding an Adrenaline Orb is affected by Intimidate, the item will be consumed and increase the holder's Speed by one stage.

Generation VIII onward

Intimidate no longer affects Pokémon with Oblivious, Own Tempo, Inner Focus, or Scrappy. Intimidate also now triggers Rattled. Intimidate raises the Attack stat of a Pokémon with Guard Dog by one stage, instead of lowering it.

Outside of battle

From Pokémon Emerald onwards, if a Pokémon with Intimidate is in the first place in the party (even if fainted), there is a 50% chance it will prevent a random wild encounter that would have occurred if the wild Pokémon would be at least 5 levels lower than the Pokémon with Intimidate. It shares this effect with Keen Eye.

Generation VIII onwards

Intimidate appears to have no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Intimidate

# Pokémon Types First Ability Second Ability Hidden Ability
0023   Ekans
Poison Poison Intimidate Shed Skin Unnerve
0024   Arbok
Poison Poison Intimidate Shed Skin Unnerve
0058   Growlithe
Fire Fire Intimidate Flash Fire Justified
0058   Growlithe
Hisuian Form
Fire Rock Intimidate Flash Fire Rock HeadGen IX+
0059   Arcanine
Fire Fire Intimidate Flash Fire Justified
0059   Arcanine
Hisuian Form
Fire Rock Intimidate Flash Fire Rock HeadGen IX+
0128   Tauros
Normal Normal Intimidate Anger PointGen IV+ Sheer Force
0128   Tauros
Paldean Form
(Combat Breed)
Fighting Fighting Intimidate Anger Point Cud Chew
0128   Tauros
Paldean Form
(Blaze Breed)
Fighting Fire Intimidate Anger Point Cud Chew
0128   Tauros
Paldean Form
(Aqua Breed)
Fighting Water Intimidate Anger Point Cud Chew
0130   Gyarados
Water Flying Intimidate None Moxie
0209   Snubbull
Fairy Fairy Intimidate Run Away Rattled
0210   Granbull
Fairy Fairy Intimidate Quick FeetGen IV+ Rattled
0211   Qwilfish
Water Poison Poison Point Swift Swim Intimidate
0211   Qwilfish
Hisuian Form
Dark Poison Poison Point Swift Swim Intimidate
0234   Stantler
Normal Normal Intimidate FriskGen IV+ Sap Sipper
0237   Hitmontop
Fighting Fighting Intimidate TechnicianGen IV+ Steadfast
0262   Mightyena
Dark Dark Intimidate Quick FeetGen IV+ Moxie
0284   Masquerain
Bug Flying Intimidate None Unnerve
0303   Mawile
Steel Fairy Hyper Cutter Intimidate Sheer Force
0310   Manectric
Mega Manectric
Electric Electric Intimidate None None
0373   Salamence
Dragon Flying Intimidate None Moxie
0397   Staravia
Normal Flying Intimidate None Reckless
0398   Staraptor
Normal Flying Intimidate None Reckless
0403   Shinx
Electric Electric Rivalry Intimidate Guts
0404   Luxio
Electric Electric Rivalry Intimidate Guts
0405   Luxray
Electric Electric Rivalry Intimidate Guts
0507   Herdier
Normal Normal Intimidate Sand Rush Scrappy
0508   Stoutland
Normal Normal Intimidate Sand Rush Scrappy
0551   Sandile
Ground Dark Intimidate Moxie Anger Point
0552   Krokorok
Ground Dark Intimidate Moxie Anger Point
0553   Krookodile
Ground Dark Intimidate Moxie Anger Point
0559   Scraggy
Dark Fighting Shed Skin Moxie Intimidate
0560   Scrafty
Dark Fighting Shed Skin Moxie Intimidate
0645   Landorus
Therian Forme
Ground Flying Intimidate None None
0725   Litten
Fire Fire Blaze None Intimidate
0726   Torracat
Fire Fire Blaze None Intimidate
0727   Incineroar
Fire Dark Blaze None Intimidate
0899   Wyrdeer
Normal Psychic Intimidate Frisk Sap Sipper
0904   Overqwil
Dark Poison Poison Point Swift Swim Intimidate
0931   Squawkabilly
Green Plumage
Normal Flying Intimidate Hustle Guts
0931   Squawkabilly
Blue Plumage
Normal Flying Intimidate Hustle Guts
0931   Squawkabilly
Yellow Plumage
Normal Flying Intimidate Hustle Sheer Force
0931   Squawkabilly
White Plumage
Normal Flying Intimidate Hustle Sheer Force
0942   Maschiff
Dark Dark Intimidate Run Away Stakeout
0943   Mabosstiff
Dark Dark Intimidate Guard Dog Stakeout
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.

Starmobiles with Intimidate

 
Revavroom
Segin Starmobile
 Dark 
Intimidate
Serious Nature
HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spd
160 36 47 35 38 129

In other games

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

When an adjacent enemy Pokémon attacks a Pokémon with the Ability Intimidate, the power of physical moves are reduced by 20%.

Description

Games Description
MDRB Lowers the Physical Attack power of attackers.
MDTDS Reduces the Physical Attack power of attackers.
BSL こうげきしてきた ポケモンの ぶつりこうげきの いりょくを さげてしまう
Conq. Reduces nearby enemies' Attack.
MDGtI Reduces damage from physical moves used by attackers next to the Pokémon.*
It reduces damage from physical moves of attackers who are next to it!*
SMD It reduces damage from physical moves of attackers who are next to it!
MDRTDX When the Pokémon is attacked with a physical move by an enemy next to it, the damage is reduced.


In the anime

 
Krookodile


The Pokémon intimidates the opposing team upon entering battle, lowering their attack power.
Pokémon Method
User First Used In Notes
  Krookodile emits a shadowy purple and black aura that unnerves its opponent and lowers its attack power.
Nanu's Krookodile Tough Guy Trials! Debut


In the manga

Pokémon Adventures


Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure!


Trivia

In other languages

Language Title
Chinese Cantonese 威嚇 Wāihaak
Mandarin 威嚇 / 威吓 Wēihè
  Finnish Pelottelu
  French Intimidation
  German Bedroher
  Italian Prepotenza
  Korean 위협 Wihyeop
  Polish Zastraszenie
Portuguese   Brazil Intimidação
  Portugal Intimidar
  Spanish Intimidación
  Thai ข่มขู่
  Vietnamese Hăm dọa


  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.