Life Orb

The Life Orb (Japanese: いのちのたま Life Orb) is a type of held item introduced in Generation IV. It boosts the power of the holder's moves, but causes it to take damage when using damaging moves.

Life Orb
いのちのたま
Life Orb
Bag Life Orb Sprite.png
Life Orb
Pokémon Global Link artwork
Introduced in Generation IV
Pocket
Generation IV Bag Items pocket icon.png Items
Generation V Bag Items pocket icon.png Items (Held items)
Generation VI Bag Items pocket icon.png Items
Generation VII Bag Items pocket icon.png Items
Generation VIII Bag Other Items pocket icon.png Other Items
Generation IX Bag Other Items pocket icon.png Other Items
Fling
Power 30

In the core series games

Price

Games Cost Sell price
DPPtHGSS
BWB2W2
XYORAS
BDSP
N/A $100
SMUSUM
SwSh
N/A $2,000
SV $50,000 $12,500

Effect

  This move effect may be in need of research.
Reason: In which games does the Life Orb boost the damage dealt by Future Sight/Doom Desire (other than Generation VI)? Does it deal damage to the user for these moves, and when?
You can discuss this on the talk page.

Boosts the damage dealt by the holder's damaging moves by 30% (in Generation V onward, this boost is instead approximated as 5324/4096), but the holder takes damage equal to 10% of its maximum HP after it uses a damaging move (rounded down, but not less than 1). It does not boost the power of moves that do not use the damage formula (although the holder still takes damage) or self-inflicted confusion damage.

If a Pokémon steals a Life Orb with Thief or Covet, then the Life Orb does not boost the power, but the attacker takes damage for the use of that move that stole the Life Orb. The Life Orb activates before Pickpocket, so even if a Pokémon's held Life Orb is stolen by Pickpocket, it still damages the attacking Pokémon for that move. If a Pokémon steals a Life Orb with Magician, it will take damage for the use of that move that stole the Life Orb. If the holder uses Fling, then Life Orb boosts the power but doesn't damage the user.

The Life Orb activates after the holder takes damage from Iron Barbs and the Rocky Helmet. The Life Orb activates after the holder recovers HP with a draining move or takes damage from recoil and Rough Skin. If the holder uses a multi-strike move, it takes damage after the last strike.

As the Life Orb inflicts indirect damage, Magic Guard prevents a Pokémon from taking damage from the Life Orb. If a Pokémon with Sheer Force uses a move boosted by that Ability, it does not take damage from Life Orb for that move.

For Dynamax Pokémon, the damage is equal to 10% of the Pokémon's non-Dynamax maximum HP.

Generation IV

The Life Orb damages its holder without displaying any message.

Future Sight and Doom Desire do not cause the user to take damage. It does not cause damage to the holder when hitting a substitute.

Generation V

The Life Orb now displays a message when it inflicts damage.

If a Pokémon is holding a Life Orb when Future Sight or Doom Desire that it used inflicts damage (even if it was not holding the Life Orb when it used the move), it takes damage for the Life Orb.

Life Orb now causes damage to the holder when hitting a substitute.

Generation VI onward

The Life Orb does increase the damage dealt from Future Sight and Doom Desire.

Description

Games Description
DPPtHGSS
BWB2W2
XYORAS
SMUSUM
An item to be held by a Pokémon. It boosts the power of moves, but at the cost of some HP on each hit.
SwShBDSP An item to be held by a Pokémon. It boosts the power of moves but at the cost of some HP on each hit.
SV An item to be held by a Pokémon. It boosts the power of the holder's moves, but the holder also loses a small amount of HP with each attack it lands.

Acquisition

Games Finite methods Repeatable methods
DPPt Stark Mountain
HGSS Ruins of Alph
BW Battle Subway (48 BP)
B2W2 Battle Subway/PWT (24 BP)
Transfer from Dream Radar
PDR Dream Clouds (Simulator α, Simulator γ)
XY Battle Maison (48 BP)
ORAS Battle Maison (48 BP)
Held by wild Absol (5% chance)
SMUSUM Resolution CaveSM, Mount LanakilaUSUM Battle Tree (48 BP)
SwSh Slumbering Weald Battle Tower (25 BP)
Wyndon Stadium
SwShIA Cram-o-matic (Dragon: 82-90 points)
SwShCT Giant's Bed
BDSP Stark Mountain Battle Park (25 BP)
SV Casseroya Lake Delibird Presents (Mesagoza Branch, after completing the main storyline)

Distribution

Games Event Language/Region Distribution period
SwSh Spring Single Tournament Life Orb All May 15 to 16, 2021
As a held item
Games Event Language/Region Distribution period
DPPtHGSS 2010 World Championships Crobat United States August 15, 2010
BW 15th Anniversary Rayquaza Japanese February 10 to 27, 2012
B2W2 Strongest Class Single Battle Scizor Japanese September 15 to October 28, 2012
Strongest Class Scizor Korean February 24 to May 5, 2013
Team Plasma Deoxys Korean May 4 to 5, 2013
Plasma Deoxys English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Various
BWB2W2 Masuda Deoxys Japanese December 15 to 23, 2012B2W2
March 20 to May 6, 2013BWB2W2
Yamamoto's Tournament Kingdra Japanese September 29 to October 6, 2013
ORAS Kotone Yasue's Tyranitar Japanese November 7 to December 6, 2015
Ghetsis's Hydreigon Japan Various
XYORAS Dahara City Kyurem Japan June 20 to August 31, 2015
June 27 to 28, 2015
Dahara City Kyurem Korean November 20, 2015 to January 31, 2016
SM Rocky Lycanroc PAL May 5 to August 4, 2017
Rocky Lycanroc American May 15 to August 4, 2017
SMUSUM Hirofumi Kimura's Nidoqueen Japan June 8 to 9, 2019
SwSh Leonardo Bonanomi's Gigantamax Charizard All October 31 to November 3, 2021
SV Trixie's Mimikyu United States, Canada, Brazil October 11, 2023 to January 1, 2024

Gallery

Artwork

 
Artwork from
Scarlet and Violet

In other languages

Language Title
Chinese Cantonese 生命寶珠 Sāngmihng Bóujyū
Mandarin 生命寶珠 / 生命宝珠 Shēngmìng Bǎozhū
  French Orbe Vie
  German Leben-Orb
  Italian Assorbisfera
  Korean 생명의구슬 Saengmyeong-ui Guseul
  Spanish Vidasfera

External links



  This item article is part of Project ItemDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on all items.