Pokémon Moves

What are moves?

Moves are the actions that Pokémon can perform in battle. They are the main game mechanic of the game. A pokemon can learn up to 4 moves. Every pokemon has a different set of moves to learn from.

To see the full list of moves a pokémon can learn, you can check the moves omnidex.

Every move in the game could have different properties

• Type: Each move has a type. The type determines how the defender will react to the move. See the Types guide for more information. It also determines the STAB bonus if the move is the same type as the pokemon.
• Category: The category determines the type of interaction the move will have. There are 2 types of damage categories (Physical and Special) and another one for status moves.
• Base power: It is the raw strength of the move. It is the value that is used to calculate the damage of the move. Is usually not present in status moves.
• Accuracy: It is the percentage chance that the move will hit the target. 100% meanthat in normal conditions the move will always hit, except if the defender has increased its evasion.
• Priority: It is the number that determines when the move will be executed. The default priority is 0 and it goes from -7 to +6.
• Extra effects: Some moves have extra effects like chance to flinch, stat changes, or healing.

All of this is shown on each move in the team builder.

Categories

The game shows the category with an icon on each move:

• Physical : Damage move that uses the attacker’s Attack and the defender’s Defense. For example the move Zen Headbutt is a physical move.
• Special : Damage move that uses the attacker’s Special Attack and the defender’s Special Defense. For example the move Dazzling Gleam is a special move.
• Status : Move that doesn't deal damage, but changes stats, causes status, or affects the field or any other game mechanic. For example the move Thunder Wave is a status move.

Base power and damage

Base power is the move’s raw strength (e.g. 90 for Thunderbolt ). Actual damage is modified by type effectiveness (super effective, resisted, or immune), same-type attack bonus (STAB, ×1.5 when the move’s type matches the Pokémon’s type), and the attacker’s and defender’s stats and level. The calculator below shows how base power is scaled by type and STAB.

Priority

Usually pokemon order are determined by their speed stat respect the other pokemon speed, but a move with positive priority will be executed before the moves with a lower priority. If two pokemon used a move with the same priority, the pokemon with the higher speed will be executed first.
The default priority is 0 and it goes from -7 to +6.

A classic example of a positive priority move is the move Quick Attack and a very common negative priority move is the move Trick Room .

The priority is represented in VGC.tools with a small icon on each move. In the game this information is usually not visible (apart from the description of the move that could give some clues).

Some abilities like

Prankster

can increase the priority of some moves.

Extra effects

Some moves have extra effects like chance to flinch, stat changes, or healing. Below are the main types of extra effects stored in the data, with short explanations and example moves.

• Status conditions: Some moves have a chance to inflict a status condition (burn, paralysis, poison, freeze, or sleep) on the target. The chance is shown in the move details. For example: Attract Bind Blaze Kick
• Flinch: Moves with a flinch chance can make the target flinch when they hit, causing the target to lose its turn that round. Common on biting or impact moves. For example: Air Slash Astonish Bite
• Stat changes: Many moves can raise or lower the user’s or target’s stats (Attack, Defense, Speed, etc.) by one or more stages. The move details show the chance and which stats are affected. For example: Acid Acid Armor Acid Spray
• Single-stat chance: Some moves have a separate chance to trigger a single stat change (e.g. Special Attack drop). This is stored separately from multi-stat effects. For example: Acid Acid Spray Ancient Power
• Drain: Draining moves restore the user’s HP by a percentage of the damage dealt. The percentage is shown in the move’s extra effects. For example: Absorb Bouncy Bubble Brave Bird
• Healing: Some moves restore the user’s or an ally’s HP directly, often by a percentage of max HP. Healing moves are common among status moves. For example: Clangorous Soul Floral Healing Heal Order
• Multi-hit: Multi-hit moves strike the target two to five times in a row in one turn. Each hit can trigger effects like flinch or stat drops separately. For example: Arm Thrust Barrage Beat Up
• Critical hit: Some moves have a higher chance to score a critical hit. Critical hits ignore the defender’s stat boosts and the attacker’s stat drops for damage calculation. For example: Aeroblast Air Cutter Attack Order
• Multi-turn: Some moves lock the user into attacking for two or more turns (e.g. Outrage, Petal Dance). The user cannot switch or choose another move until the effect ends. For example: Bind Chatter Clamp

Targets

Each move has a target: who or what it can affect. Targets can be the user, the ally, one or both opponents, or the field (your side or the opponent’s). Some moves let you choose one of several options (e.g. “select an opponent”), others affect everyone in a group. Below are the main target types with example moves. This information is usually not visible in the game (apart from the description of the move that could give some clues).

On VGC.tools the target is represented with a small icon on each move. Our diagram represents a Pokémon field. The bottom is the user side and the top is the opponent side. The left bottom corner represents the Pokémon that is using the move. We also have two circles to represent the ally field and the enemy field. We have 2 colors to represent the target, the blue it mean that you can choose one of the options, the red it mean that it will be applied to all of the options.