Illusion (Ability)

Illusion	イリュージョン
	Illusion
Flavor text Generation III Currently unknown Generation IV Currently unknown Generation V Comes out disguised as the Pokémon in back. Generation VI Currently unknown Generation VII Currently unknown Generation VIII Currently unknown Generation IX Currently unknown

Illusion (Japanese: イリュージョン Illusion) is an Ability introduced in Generation V. Only two Pokémon have this Ability, both from the same evolutionary line.

Effect

In battle

Illusion will change the appearance of the Pokémon to a different species. This is dependent on the last Pokémon in the player's party, meaning that Illusion will not activate if the last Pokémon in the player's party is unable to battle or is of the same species. Illusion will replicate the type of Poké Ball, species name, Shininess (if any), and gender of the Pokémon it is masquerading as; however, it does not replicate the level of the masqueraded Pokémon. The effect is only aesthetic: it does not affect the Pokémon's stats, typing, moves, etc.

Illusion is broken—causing the user to appear as their true species—when the user is damaged directly by an attack or when changed to Mummy via Mummy or another ability change. As such, it is not broken by secondary effects such as the HP loss caused by Substitute, Life Orb, weather conditions, status ailments, entry hazards, recoil, etc.

A Pokémon with Illusion can masquerade as another Pokémon with Illusion, provided that they are different species.

Outside of battle

Illusion has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, the Ability functions similar to the main series games for foe Pokémon. A Pokémon with this Ability can transform into another Pokémon that can be found on the same floor of a mystery dungeon. For partner Pokémon, this Ability becomes nonexistent.

Pokémon with Illusion

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0570		Zorua	Dark		Dark	Illusion	None	None
0571		Zoroark	Dark		Dark	Illusion	None	None
Please note that Abilities marked with a superscript are only available in the stated generation or later. For Generation III and IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities.

In the anime

Zoroark Zorua Transformed Luke's Zorua
The user can either change its shape into a human or Pokémon, or it creates illusions for everyone to see.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Used In		Notes
	Zoroark's eyes glow light blue and its outlines start to glow pink. Then, a magenta wave of energy appears by its face and moves down to its feet. As the wave moves down, its body changes its shape into the opponent, or Zoroark's eyes glow red and it causes the opponent to see illusions of its choosing.
Zoroark (M13)	Zoroark: Master of Illusions		Debut
A wild Zoroark	BW127		None
	Zorua's eyes glow light blue and it jumps up high into the air, spinning its body while in the air. As it spins, its body starts to glow pink and it changes its shape into the opponent. As a human, its tail is sometimes visible, and when the tail is pushed, pulled, or grabbed, Zorua instantly returns to its normal form. Sometimes, its eyes don't glow light blue before it spins.
Zorua (M13)	Zoroark: Master of Illusions		None
Luke's Zorua	Movie Time! Zorua in "The Legend of the Pokémon Knight"!		None

In the manga

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Zorua Zorua
The user makes itself appear as something else.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Zorua changes its appearance into something else, occasionally retaining its eyes, eyebrows, and eyelids when it does so. If Zorua takes damage, it takes a wisp-like appearance as it is forced out of its transformation.
N's Zorua	Lost in the Big City		Debut

In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga

Zorua
The user becomes a copy of something or someone else.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Zorua changes its appearance into something else, but leaves out the tail.
A wild Zorua	PMHGSS17		Debut

Trivia

• If Entrainment is used on a Pokémon with Illusion to give the ability Truant, the Pokémon will revert to its original form. However, when the Truant banner appears on turns when the Pokémon is loafing, the name remains as the Pokémon that the Illusion was made for.

In other languages

Language Title Mandarin Chinese 幻覺 Huàn​​jué​ Finnish Illuusio French Illusion German Trugbild Indonesian Ilusi Italian Illusione Polish Iluzja Portuguese Ilusão Spanish Ilusión

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.