Cotton Guard (move)

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Cotton Guard
コットンガード Cotton Guard

Battles

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

Target

Foe	Foe	Foe
Self	Ally	Ally
Affects the user

Availability

Introduced	Generation V
Not a TM, TR, HM, or Move Tutor move.

Contest Spectaculars

Condition	Cute
Appeal	1 ♥
Jamming	0
Prevents the user from being startled until the turn ends.

On Smogon's Movedex:

Cotton Guard (Japanese: コットンガード Cotton Guard) is a non-damaging Grass-type move introduced in Generation V.

Effect

Cotton Guard raises the user's Defense stat by three stages.

Cotton Guard can also be used as part of a Contest Spectacular combination, causing Baton Pass and Stored Power to give the user an extra three appeal points if they are used in the next turn.

If powered up by a Grassium Z into Z-Cotton Guard, all of the user's lowered stats are reset.

Description

Games	Description
BW B2W2	The user protects itself by wrapping its body in soft cotton, drastically raising the user's Defense stat.
XY ORAS SM	The user protects itself by wrapping its body in soft cotton, which drastically raises the user's Defense stat.

Learnset

By leveling up

#	Pokémon		Types	Egg Groups		Level
#	Pokémon		Types	Egg Groups		I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII	IX
0179		Mareep		Monster	Field	32^BW 36^B2W2	36	36
0180		Flaaffy		Monster	Field	36^BW 43^B2W2	43	43
0181		Ampharos		Monster	Field	40^BW 46^B2W2	46	46
0333		Swablu		Flying	Dragon	40^BW 39^B2W2	39^XY 34^ORAS	34
0334		Altaria		Flying	Dragon	46^BW 42^B2W2	42^XY 34^ORAS	34
0546		Cottonee		Grass	Fairy	37	37	37
0556		Maractus		Grass		Grass	55	1, 55	1, 55
0676		Furfrou		Field		Field		48	48
0684		Swirlix		Fairy		Fairy		41	41
0685		Slurpuff		Fairy		Fairy		41	41
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		Types	Parent Egg Groups		Egg Move
#	Pokémon		Types	Parent Egg Groups		II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII	IX
0187		Hoppip		Fairy	Grass	✔	✔	✔
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 event

Generation V

#	Pokémon		Types	Egg Groups		Obtained with
0354		Banette		Amorphous		Amorphous	Global Link
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.

In the anime

Pokémon	Method
Furfrou Cottonee Jumpluff Slurpuff
The user protects itself with a flurry of cotton balls.
User	First Used In	Notes
	The cotton on the lower half of Cottonee's body puffs up and forms more cotton in front of it, creating a wall of cotton on the front of its body to protect itself against attacks, or Cottonee pulls its body up a little bit and the cotton on its lower body puffs up and then comes out of its body, forming an orb of soft white cotton around it and protecting it from attacks.
A wild Cottonee	Cottonee in Love!	Debut
	Jumpluff's body glows white, and puffs of cotton appear in around it. The puffs of cotton then disappear in a puff of smoke, and Jumpluff glows blue, raising its defense.
Ramos's Jumpluff	The Green, Green Grass Types of Home!	None
	Furfrou's body glows white, and puffs of cotton appear in around it. The puffs of cotton then disappear in a puff of smoke, and Furfrou glows blue, raising its defense.
Everett's Furfrou	A League of His Own!	None
	Slurpuff's body shines a bright white color and then multiple white balls of cotton form and surround Slurpuff's body and then they disappear in a puff of smoke. Slurpuff's body then has rows of light blue and blue light aura rising from the bottom to the top of its body and then it disappears, raising its defense.
Sawyer's Slurpuff	A Riveting Rivalry!	None

In the manga

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Pokémon	Method
Maractus
The user protects itself with a flurry of cotton balls.
User	First Chapter Used In	Notes
	Maractus speard its arms wide open, forming a wall of cotton balls in between them and protecting it from attacks.
A Team Plasma Grunt's Maractus	Sandstorm	Debut

In other generations

Generation I	RB Y	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	FRLG E	Generation IV	Generation IV (Japanese)	Generation IV (international)	Pt HGSS	HGSS	Generation V	BW	B2W2	Generation V (Japanese)	Generation V (international)	Generation VI	XY	ORAS	Generation VII	SM USUM	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

Cotton Guard is the only Grass-type Cute move.

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	棉花防守 Mìhnfā Fòhngsáu * 棉花防禦 Mìhnfā Fòhngyuh *
Chinese	Mandarin	棉花防守 Miánhuā Fángshǒu * 棉花防禦 Miánhuā Fángyù *
Dutch		Wattenschild
French		Cotogarde
German		Watteschild
Indonesian		Perisai Kapas
Italian		Cotonscudo
Korean		코튼가드 Cotton Guard
Polish		Bawełniana Obrona
Portuguese	Brazil	Defesa de Algodão (early anime) Proteção de Algodão (XY series-present, TCG, manga)
Portuguese	Portugal	Proteção de Algodão
Spanish	Latin America	Guardia Algodón
Spanish	Spain	Rizo Algodón
Turkish		Pamuk Koruma

Variations of the move Tail Glow

Tail Glow • Cotton Guard

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.