Talk:Copycat (move)

Could this copy transform? Requiem Bell 17:15, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

If Copycat is used and copies the move Round from an ally would the copied round have doubled attack power? 5hoo 21:50, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

speed

what happens if the pokemon using it moves first? - unsigned comment from Auragirl (talk • contribs)

Switching

I just tested this and switching has zero impact on copycat in 5th gen. I'm not sure about 4th gen, but in 5th gen one or both players can switch multiple times and copycat will still succeed as long as the last move used by either player was a valid move for copycat and said move did not fail. Ctom42 (talk) 18:27, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

Helping Hand

At least in Gen VI, Copycat seems to always fail if the move last used was Helping Hand. It will happily copy Aromatic Mist and Hold Hands though, which have the same targeting, so it's probably due to the priority. --SnorlaxMonster 12:06, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

Generation VI text confusion

I've been staring at the line of text in the "Generation VI" section, and I can't figure out what it means.

No matter how I try to read it, I come up against the bizarre assumption that, when determining move order, Copycat already knows which move it will copy (it either inherits the priority from that move, or selectively ignores the effect of Prankster based on whether the copied move's priority is less than 0). But I can't believe that Copycat already knows which move it will copy. Another Pokémon could use Extreme Speed, and Copycat will then copy Extreme Speed instead, thus (potentially) rendering inaccurate the effect of the original to-be-copied move on the Copycat user's priority in that round.

So what does it mean? And why is the move's decreased priority mentioned rather than the move being a status move - Prankster boosts status moves, not decreased priority moves. Also, why isn't the converse of this mechanics change mentioned in the "Generations IV and V" section, to make clear how it worked in previous generations? ~ Serial Colour (talk) 20:39, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

I think it means to say if a decreased priority move is used by a Pokémon with Prankster (which increases priority by 1), and that move is the one copycatted, the Pokémon with Copycat will use the move at its original, non-Prankster priority. --Abcboy (talk) 20:45, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

That still implies that Copycat knows which move it will copy when the turn order is decided, and that the turn order could be changed partway through the turn if Copycat happens to copy a different move instead. And are you suggesting that the copied move's priority is used rather than Copycat's priority. Does the same happen for Mirror Move? ~ Serial Colour (talk) 21:06, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

I'm sort of with Serial Colour on this. Me, I just don't understand what supposedly happened in Gen IV-V that doesn't happen in Gen VI. If someone could explain with an example, that would be very helpful, because the explanation about priority doesn't make any sense that I know how to parse. Tiddlywinks (talk) 21:12, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

What happens is that Copycat fails, with priority +1. Not sure if that failure depends on the priority of the copied move or specific moves (or doesn't depend on the copied moves at all); I tried with Roar and Circle Throw and the message was that the move failed. Needs testing with copied moves of other priorities --Johans (talk) 21:46, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

FWIW, I think this move actually has a "ban list" like Assist (i.e., the same). There's also a few things that are either wrong or need updating or clarifying. I started trying to test this stuff a little while ago, but I've kind of stalled momentarily. Tiddlywinks (talk) 21:54, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

And just for the record, I've now done that updating/correcting.

Also, I looked around before, and it seems like using Prankster and Copycat (or Assist) to call Roar was a bit of a cheap strategy in Gen V. So that's probably what that confusing line came from, when Roar was added to Copycat's bans for Gen VI. Tiddlywinks (talk) 07:42, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Transform

I can personally confirm Transform can be copied by copycat in gen 4. A failure message from copycat there is likely to come from attempting to transform into an already transformed pokemon; That's transform failing, not copycat. I'm not sure why it's listed as impossible in that gen only so I'm hesitant to change it if there's some other reason, but I'd like further explanation and removal if this is a mistake.Riguor987 (talk) 08:46, 19 January 2024 (UTC)