Pokémon battle (Mystery Dungeon)

Pokémon battles in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series have different mechanics compared to the core series Pokémon games.

Regular attack

Main article: Regular attack

The regular attack deals typeless damage and does not expend PP when used. It is usable by all Pokémon in addition to the four moves it can have.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, the regular attack inflicts at most 5 HP of damage.

In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon onward, the regular attack cannot ordinarily be used. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, however, teammates can use a regular attack if they attempt to attack when all of their moves are manually deselected and at least one move still has PP remaining.

Moves

Main article: Move

Moves may be linked together, such that the linked moves are performed in succession and one PP is taken from each move. Moves can be linked at the Gulpin Link Shop in Blue and Red Rescue Team and Rescue Team DX, and at the Electivire Link Shop in Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky. In other Mystery Dungeon games, the ability to link moves was replaced by alternative mechanics. Gates to Infinity introduced Team Attacks, large-scale attacks used by every member of the team in a dungeon, while Super Mystery Dungeon introduced Alliances, a simultaneous attack by all party members on a single target.

Many individual moves have differences from the core series games. For example:

• Some attacks that inflict specific HP damage (like Sonic Boom) inflict a different amount of damage compared to the core series.
• Prior to Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, Transform only changes the form of the user, not their moves.
• Self-Destruct and Explosion will not necessarily knock out the user of the move. Instead, any team Pokémon within the blast radius (one tile for Self-Destruct, two for Explosion) will have their maximum HP cut in half, and any opposing Pokémon within this radius will receive 40 damage for Self-Destruct and 80 for Explosion. Note that Fire-types will receive only half damage from these moves. Any items within range are destroyed, and any wall tiles in range are converted to floor tiles.

There are two attacks specific to the Mystery Dungeon series: Wide Slash and Vacuum-Cut. No Pokémon learn either naturally, but all Pokémon that can use TMs can learn them through TM. These attacks are unavailable in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity onwards.

Moves that may be used by team members in dungeons can be switched on or off, meaning that they are selected or deselected for use. Certain tactics are also available which will direct how teammates attack and traverse through dungeons. In Blue and Red Rescue Team and Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky, the availability of tactics depends on the team leader's level.

In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon onwards, moves gain experience and can be leveled up through repeated use. Leveling up a move increases its power, PP, and accuracy. In Rescue Team DX, if a team member has the Rare Quality Moving Up, moves used by team members gain more experience.

Damage

Main article: Damage

Type effectiveness

Regular attacks are considered to have no type, and will attack Pokémon of all types equally. Against Wonder Guard, regular attacks will only inflict 1 damage.

Like the main games, the effectiveness of special attacks is affected by the defending Pokémon's type, although the multipliers are different compared to the core series games. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, the type affinities are as follows:

• Super-effective attacks, such as Grass attacks on Water, deal 150% of normal damage, instead of 200% damage as in the core games.
• Not very effective attacks, such as Fighting attacks on Psychic, deal 90% of normal damage, instead of 50% damage as in the core games.
• Attacks to which the attacked Pokémon is "immune" (called of little effect in the Mystery Dungeon games), such as Ground attacks on Flying, deal 50% of normal damage, instead of no damage as in the core games.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, the multipliers are instead 140%, 70% and 50%. If either the attacker or the defender has the IQ skill Erratic Player, the multipliers become 170%, 50% and 25%.

In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, attacks that are ineffective against an opponent Pokémon inflict no damage, as in the core series.

All multipliers stack multiplicatively against dual-type Pokémon.

Note that type affinity changes brought forth by moves or abilities do not use the above multipliers; Levitate will still render Ground attacks useless, for instance. Similarly, as in the core games, a Pokémon may be immune to certain status conditions based on its type; for example, Arbok remains immune to Toxic.

Critical hits

In the Mystery Dungeon games, critical hits inflict only 150% of normal damage, instead of the 200% multiplier in the core games prior to Generation VI.

Each move has an inherent critical hit rate, which may be modified by held items such as the Scope Lens or IQ skills such as Type-Advantage Master. The use of Focus Energy ensures that special attacks used within a few turns become critical hits.

Rescue Team and Explorers

In these games, critical hit mechanics differ from the core series in the following ways:

• Critical hits inflict only 150% of normal damage, unless the Pokémon has Sniper, in which case it will inflict 200% of normal damage.
• Male or gender-unknown Pokémon have their moves' base critical hit rate multiplied by 1.5.
• Scope Lens, Patsy Band, the IQ skill Sharpshooter and Super Luck add a flat modifier to the move's critical hit rate (30% in Red/Blue Rescue Team, 15% in Explorers).
• The IQ skill Type Advantage Master will set the critical hit rate to 40%, ignoring all other effects.
• Focus Energy will guarantee critical hits, provided the critical hits are not prevented by exclusive items, Abilities, the Critical Dodger IQ skill or Lucky Chant.

Moves	Chance of critical hit
Pin Missile, Fury Attack, Fury Swipes, Comet Punch and Rock Blast	1%
Ice Ball, DoubleSlap, Bullet Seed, Twineedle, Barrage, Arm Thrust, Icicle Spear, ThunderShock, Spike Cannon, Triple Kick and Bone Rush	2%
Double Kick	3%
Other moves	12%RB/8%TDS
Moves with a high critical-hit ratio*	50%RB/30%TDS

Abilities

Prior to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, Pokémon with two Abilities will have both at the same time instead of just one Ability. From Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity onward, all Pokémon have only one Ability. In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon with two possible Abilities can have their Ability changed at Hawlucha's Slam School if the player has a Lucha Token. No Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series games have included Hidden Abilities.

In addition, some Abilities differ from their counterparts in the core series:

• Different activation:
  • Trace will only activate when hit by an attack. If the attacker has more than one Ability (as was the case prior to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity), the copied Ability is randomly chosen.
  • Truant only activates if a Wonder Orb or a special move is used.
• Minor changes:
  • Torrent, Blaze, Overgrow, and Swarm will double the power of Water, Fire, Grass, and Bug-type moves, respectively, when the user has reached ¼ of their total HP.
  • Static, Effect Spore, Flame Body, Cute Charm, Poison Point, Rough Skin, Arena Trap, and Shadow Tag only affect adjacent Pokémon, even if the move normally makes contact. For example, Quick Attack will not trigger these abilities when the attack is used from 1 square away.
• Changes to suit environment:
  • Intimidate reduces the opposing Pokémon's Attack by 20%.
  • Huge Power and Pure Power will have a ⅓ chance of dealing 50% more damage.
• Entirely changed:
  • Speed Boost increases Travel Speed by one level every 250 turns prior to Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon. In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon onward, Speed Boost activates on the first turn of a new floor, and subsequently activates every 20 turns; the increased Travel Speed wears off after 5 turns.
  • Swift Swim and Chlorophyll use the same attack twice in one turn while it is raining or sunny, respectively.
  • Run Away is activated at low HP and inflicts the Run Away status, forcing the Pokémon to avoid attacking and travel aimlessly; this behavior was removed in Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon onward. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity onward, this Ability also prevents the Stuck condition.

Status conditions

Main article: Status condition (Mystery Dungeon)

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon introduced its own series of status conditions, of which any number may occur at once. These range from the conventional statuses (Paralysis, Poison, etc.) to "pseudo-statuses" (Confusion, Attraction, Flinching (here called Cringing), etc.). Statuses may be inflicted to account for two-turn attacks (i.e. SolarBeam or Sky Attack), low-priority moves (i.e. Counter, Endure, or Vital Throw), or moves whose effects last multiple turns (Mist, Safeguard, Charge, Perish Song, Taunt, Encore, etc.).

• The duration of status conditions may also differ between Mystery Dungeon games and the core series. Paralysis, Leg Hold (caused by Arena Trap or Magnet Pull), and most other statuses are temporary and disappear after several turns; Burn and Poison, however, remain permanent. All status conditions are removed upon entering the next floor of a dungeon. In addition, Pokémon may be affected with both Sleep and Paralysis, and (much like in the TCG) other status ailments may replace previous ones. For instance, a Poisoned Pokémon may become Paralyzed instead.
• Pokémon will never attack themselves while Confused. Instead, they may move or attack in a random direction, including hitting teammates. Note that Confusion does not affect thrown items.
• Mystery Dungeon introduces a new status called Hunger, which occurs when the Pokémon's Belly drops to zero. Before the player's belly reaches zero, the game will display the message "Getting hungry..." at 20 Belly, followed by "Getting dizzy from hunger..." at 10 Belly. Once the player's Belly reaches zero, the screen will begin flashing yellow around the perimeter, with the game displaying "Oh, no! Your Belly's empty!" / "Hurry! You've got to eat something!" / "You'll faint from hunger!" From this point forward, the Pokémon cannot recover HP naturally, and each turn that passes while the Pokémon's Belly is empty, it will lose 1 HP (or 3 HP in Rescue Team DX), eventually causing the Pokémon to faint. Eating a food item such as an Apple will refill the Belly and thus remedy this status condition.
  • In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, if a team member has the Rare Quality Notorious Fasting, Pokémon will not lose HP each turn once the Belly reaches zero, unless they walk inside walls.

Experience

Main article: Experience

• In games with the regular attack, defeating a Pokémon using at least one special move will yield twice as much experience. An opposing Pokémon using moves on itself (for example, Synthesis) counts towards receiving the experience bonus when that Pokémon is defeated. Using special moves that miss the opponent (or that hit, but inflict no damage) does not count, however.
• Defeating a Pokémon using linked moves will yield 50% more experience.
• If an enemy were to faint by means other than the party attacking it (such as by the effects of a sandstorm), the members of the party will not gain any experience points.
• All team members in the party gain experience, whether or not they attack the opponent.
• In Gates to Infinity and Rescue Team DX, all Pokémon on the player's team will receive experience, regardless of whether or not they were in the party that entered the dungeon.
  • However, in Rescue Team DX, if a team member has the Rare Quality XP Boost, only Pokémon that are on the team in the dungeon receive double the experience points. All other Pokémon left in rescue camps still gain experience points but only obtain the normal, unboosted amount of experience.
• Pokémon require significantly more experience to level up than in the core series games.

Throwing items

Main article: Throwing item

In the Mystery Dungeon games, throwing items deal damage when thrown. This is similar to the Safari Zone of the core series games, where the player is able to toss Bait or throw a Rock (or Mud) at Pokémon.

• Throwing items can be stacked up to 99^RBTDS / 40^RTDX units in a single item space, unlike other items for which duplicates take up multiple spaces in the item list.
  • Unown Stones cannot be stacked despite being throwing items, however.
• In Rescue Team DX, if a team member has the Rare Quality Thrown Item Boost, throwing items inflict 150% of their normal damage and cannot be caught by target Pokémon.
• Wands are an item introduced in Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon. They behave similarly to throwing items, but can only be stacked up to 40. While some deal damage, they have varying effects such as warping the target or causing various status conditions.
• Other items besides throwing items can also be thrown. When thrown, Seeds, Berries and other food items impart their typical effect on the Pokémon they hit. Held items, Wonder Orbs, TMs and HMs deal damage and are destroyed unless the target Pokémon catches them.

This article is part of Project Sidegames, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon Sidegames.