Battle Bond (Ability)

Battle Bond	きずなへんげ
	Bond Transformation
Flavor text Generation VII Defeating an opposing Pokémon strengthens the Pokémon's bond with its Trainer, and it becomes Ash-Greninja. Water Shuriken gets more powerful. Generation VIII Defeating an opposing Pokémon strengthens the Pokémon's bond with its Trainer, and it becomes Ash-Greninja. Water Shuriken gets more powerful. Generation IX When the Pokémon knocks out a target, its bond with its Trainer is strengthened, and its Attack, Sp. Atk, and Speed stats are boosted.

Battle Bond (Japanese: きずなへんげ Bond Transformation) is an event-exclusive Ability introduced in Generation VII. It is the signature Ability of Greninja.

Effect

In battle

Generation VII to VIII

When a Greninja with Battle Bond directly causes another Pokémon (including allies) to faint by using a damaging move, unless this ends the battle, it will change into Ash-Greninja. After the battle, the Pokémon reverts to its original form.

Ash-Greninja has higher base stats than regular Greninja. If Ash-Greninja uses Water Shuriken, the move's power becomes 20 (rather than the usual 15) and it always hits three times. If a Pokémon Transforms into Ash-Greninja, Battle Bond does not affect the transformed Pokémon's use of Water Shuriken.

Multiple Greninja can activate this Ability during the same battle. If Ash-Greninja faints in battle, it will revert to its original form, and that Greninja cannot change into Ash-Greninja again during the same battle even after being revived.

Gastro Acid, Worry Seed, and Simple Beam fail if the target has Battle Bond. Role Play, Skill Swap, Entrainment, and Doodle fail if either Pokémon has Battle Bond. Battle Bond cannot be copied by Trace, Power of Alchemy, or Receiver. Battle Bond cannot be replaced by Mummy or Lingering Aroma, or suppressed by Core Enforcer or Neutralizing Gas. If a Pokémon other than Greninja obtains Battle Bond with Imposter or Transform, the Pokémon cannot change form into Ash-Greninja even if it knocks out another Pokémon.

Generation IX

Battle Bond no longer changes Greninja into Ash-Greninja. Instead, when a Pokémon with Battle Bond directly causes another Pokémon (including allies) to faint by using a damaging move, its Attack, Special Attack, and Speed stats are increased by one stage. This ability only activates once per battle. If the aforementioned stats are already at +6 stages, Battle Bond will not activate.

Water Shuriken is no longer affected by Battle Bond.

Outside of battle

Greninja with this Ability cannot breed nor be used in the Battle Spot if Special Pokémon are banned. However, they can be used in the battle facilities.

Pokémon with Battle Bond

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0658		Greninja Battle Bond Greninja	Water	Dark	Battle Bond	None	None
0658		Greninja Ash-Greninja	Water	Dark	Battle Bond	None	None
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 manga

Pokémon Adventures

• In the Japan Mini-volume 6 for the X & Y arc, Y's Greninja, Croaky, was revealed to have Battle Bond as his Ability.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 牽絆變身 Hīnbuhn Binsān Mandarin 牽絆變身 / 牵绊变身 Qiānbàn Biànshēn French Synergie German Freundschaftsakt Italian Morfosintonia Korean 유대변화 Yudae Byeonhwa Russian Узы Сражения Uzy Srazheniya Spanish Fuerte Afecto

Related articles

• Bond Phenomenon

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.