Cooldown
Cooldown (Japanese: 待ち時間 wait time) in Pokémon UNITE or cooldown time (Japanese: 発動時間 activation time) in Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a property of moves featured in Pokémon UNITE and Pokémon Legends: Z-A, serving as the equivalent to PP in the real-time battle system both games use.
Similar to PP, moves have varying amounts of cooldown time. The range of cooldown times varies between the games, though both have methods of reducing these times in some way.
Mechanics
Pokémon UNITE
When any move is used, it has a cooldown before it is used again. This cooldown varies depending on the move used, ranging from anywhere between 2 seconds and 14 seconds. As each Pokémon uses their moves in a different way from each other, the same move might have a different cooldown depending on what Pokémon uses it.
Unite Moves do not have a traditional cooldown, instead only being usable when the Unite Move gauge is full. However, some Unite Moves such as Dragapult's Dreep & Destroy and Blaziken's Spinning Flame Fist and Spinning Flame Kick do have a regular cooldown, but they are not affected by cooldown reduction.
For moves that can be charged, cancelling them or charging them for too long incurs a one second cooldown for that move.
Some moves can have multiple uses stored up at once. Activating these moves only spends one of their uses, and the uses for those moves regenerate over time. These moves only fully enter cooldown when all uses have been spent. This is distinct from moves that can be used multiple times, as stored uses are not required to be spent within an effect duration. There is also a much shorter cooldown in-between uses of the move, typically lasting only a second or two.
Some moves have an effect duration period they go through before entering cooldown. This effect duration is used by other effects relating to that move. The majority of effect durations are tied to a move's continuous effect, and in those cases using the move during its effect duration concludes the move early. In multiple other cases, a move can be used more than one time before it enters cooldown. The effect duration indicates the amount of time available to make use of these additional uses before the move enters cooldown. If this happens, the remaining uses are essentially lost. In the case of moves being usable more than twice in this way, the effect duration resets between uses of the move. Once all available uses have been used, the move will simply enter the cooldown period.
In some cases, inputting a move for a second time during its effect duration initiates a second step of the move. Two examples of this are Mew being allowed to pick up a Light Screen that it has placed and Meowscarada swapping places with the copy of itself during Double Team.
Note that if a Pokémon initiates a move but does not complete the move (likely because it was afflicted with a hindrance of some kind during the animation, the move will still enter cooldown. Some moves cause their user to become unstoppable for their duration, which renders them immune to hindrances and therefore this mechanic.
There are various ways to reduce move cooldown, some of which involve outside sources and others of which are naturally part of a Pokémon's kit. Certain Pokémon have a built in cooldown reduction stat that increases as the Pokémon levels up. All Pokémon with the cooldown reduction stat start with no cooldown reduction, but gain a certain percentage of cooldown reduction on all of their moves as they level up, reaching a maximum of 25%. Not all Pokémon with the cooldown reduction stat reach this maximum, however. Other Pokémon can naturally reduce the cooldown of their moves in other ways, such as through their Ability, by using their boosted basic attack, or by using a certain move in a certain way. In these cases, the cooldown of the move will be decreased in real time when the cooldown reduction activates. Some moves may also completely reset the cooldown of either itself or both of the Pokémon's moves. Often, this happens when the Pokémon knocks out an opposing Pokémon with the move. This is commonly the case for Pokémon of the Speedster role, though may also be the case for other Pokémon with similar play styles to that of a Speedster. Some Pokémon also gain 30% extra cooldown reduction for a short time after using their Unite Move. This applies to mostly Pokémon of the Attacker, All-Rounder, and Supporter roles, though not all Pokémon of these roles.
Examples of cooldown reductions through outside means include held items and buffs that can be obtained during a match. The held items Shell Bell, Energy Amplifier, Drive Lens, and Accel Bracer all increase a Pokémon's cooldown reduction stat by a set percentage, even if the Pokémon does not regularly have any cooldown reduction. This percentage increases the further the held item is upgraded. On Theia Sky Ruins, defeating Accelgor will give the Pokémon that defeated it a buff that increases the Pokémon's cooldown reduction stat by 10% for a limited time. In the First to 500 mode, one of the Aeos Technologies that can be obtained is the Cooldown Cooler, which also increases the cooldown reduction stat by 10%, but can be increased by 5% further every time the Pokémon scores, capping at 25%. In the Panic Parade mode, defeating a Delibird will cause it to drop a present. Picking up the present will provide the Pokémon with a unique battle item, one of which is the Fury Ether, which temporarily provides a large amount of cooldown reduction. One of the buffs that can be obtained from the Aeos Shooter in this mode is also cooldown reduction, with the amount of cooldown reduction being stronger every time it is upgraded.
The limited-time game mode Full-Fury Battle and its variants are based entirely around cooldowns being shortened. In this mode, all move cooldowns are greatly decreased, making it so that Pokémon can use their moves much quicker than usual, even those that typically have very a long cooldown on their moves.
Uniquely, Psyduck has a method of increasing the cooldown of an opposing Pokémon's move. By using its Disable move on an opposing Pokémon, the last move that Pokémon used will have its cooldown increased. If none of the Pokémon's moves are on cooldown when the move is used on them, the next move they use will have the increased cooldown instead.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Cooldown time is a property of all moves, effectively replacing PP in turn-based Pokémon games. The amount of cooldown time a move can have ranges between 3 seconds and 60 seconds. A Pokémon's Speed stat affects this cooldown time, with a higher Speed stat resulting in a briefer cooldown period.
Speed starts reducing cooldown time starting at 25 Speed, at a linear rate that can be simplified to 3 whole seconds for every 100 Speed after 25. Move cooldown time cannot be reduced below 3 seconds and as such moves with longer cooldown times like Earthquake or Giga Impact benefit from this more than moves with already short cooldown times like Tackle (with priority moves having base 3 second cooldown time and thus not being affected at all).[1]
Internally, this is calculated by first taking the Pokémon's effective Speed stat, subtracting 25 from it, dividing the result by -100, and multiplying it by 3. The final cooldown is obtained by adding (mathematically equivalent to subtracting the absolute value of the result) this result, stored as a single-precision floating-point value, to the move's base cooldown. A period of time equal to either 1/30th of a second, on the base Nintendo Switch version (which runs at 30 FPS), or 1/60th of a second, on the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (which runs at 60 FPS), is subtracted each frame, and the move becomes ready to use again when its cooldown value reaches 0. Drowsiness reduces the decrement each frame to only 1/60th of a second in 30 FPS, or 1/120th of a second in 60 FPS, effectively doubling the cooldown length.[2]
The move cooldown does not apply until after a move is executed, meaning time spent repositioning to target an opposing Pokémon can delay this period further.
In other languages
Cooldown
| Language | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese | Cantonese | 等待時間 Dángdoih sìhgāan |
| Mandarin | 等待時間 / 等待时间 Děngdài shíjiān | |
| French | Délai de récupération | |
| German | Aufladezeit | |
| Hindi | कूलडाउन Cooldown | |
| Indonesian | Masa tunggu | |
| Italian | Tempo di ricarica | |
| Korean | 대기 시간 Daegi sigan | |
| Portuguese | Brazil | Recarga |
| Portugal | Período de arrefecimento | |
| Russian | Перезарядка Perezaryadka | |
| Spanish | Tiempo de recarga | |
| Thai | เวลาคูลดาวน์ Wela cooldown | |
| Turkish | Dolum süresi | |
References
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