Damage

Ash's Pokémon injured after a battle

Damage (Japanese: ダメージ damage) is a loss of a Pokémon's HP that happens as the result of a physical or special attack used against it by another Pokémon.

Damage calculation

Except for moves that deal direct damage, the damage dealt when a Pokémon uses a damaging move depends on its level, its effective Attack or Special Attack stat, the opponent's effective Defense or Special Defense stat, and the move's effective power. In addition, various factors of damage modification may also affect the damage dealt.

More precisely, damage is calculated as

File:DamageCalc.png

where

• Level is the level of the attacking Pokémon (or twice the level for a critical hit in Generation I).
• A is the effective Attack stat of the attacking Pokémon if the used move is a physical move, or the effective Special Attack stat of the attacking Pokémon if the used move is a special move (ignoring all^Gen. II/negative^Gen. III+ stat stages for a critical hit).
• D is the effective Defense stat of the target if the used move is a physical move or a special move that uses the target's Defense stat, or the effective Special Defense of the target if the used move is an other special move (ignoring all^Gen. II/positive^Gen. III+ stat stages for a critical hit).
• Power is the effective power of the used move.

and Modifier is

File:ModifierCalc.png

where

• Targets is 0.75 if the move has more than one target, and 1 otherwise. (In Generation III, it is 0.5 for moves that target all adjacent foes with more than one target, and 1 otherwise.)
• Weather is 1.5 if a Water-type move is being used during rain or a Fire-type move during harsh sunlight, and 0.5 if a Water-type move is used during harsh sunlight or a Fire-type move during rain, and 1 otherwise.
• Badge is applied in Generation II only. It is 1.25 if the attacking Pokémon is controlled by the player and if the player has obtained the Badge corresponding to the used move's type, and 1 otherwise.
• Critical is applied starting in Generation II. It is 2 for a critical hit in Generations II-V, 1.5 for a critical hit from Generation VI onward, and 1 otherwise.
• random is a random factor between 0.85 and 1.00 (inclusive):
  • From Generation III onward, it is a random integer percentage between 0.85 and 1.00 (inclusive)
  • In Generations I and II, it is realized as a multiplication by a random uniformly distributed integer between 217 and 255 (inclusive), followed by an integer division by 255
• STAB is the same-type attack bonus. This is equal to 1.5 if the move's type matches any of the user's types, 2 if the user of the move additionally has Adaptability, and 1 if otherwise.
• Type is the type effectiveness. This can be 0 (ineffective); 0.25, 0.5 (not very effective); 1 (normally effective); 2, or 4 (super effective), depending on both the move's and target's types.
• Burn is 0.5 (from Generation III onward) if the attacker is burned, its Ability is not Guts, and the used move is a physical move (other than Facade from Generation VI onward), and 1 otherwise.
• other is 1 in most cases, and a different multiplier when specific interactions of moves, Abilities, or items take effect:

Move	Value	Detail
Astonish	2	In Generation III only, if this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Aurora Veil	0.5 *	If in effect on the target's side, the move is not a critical hit, and the user's Ability is not Infiltrator (does not stack with Light Screen and Reflect)
Body Slam	2	From Generation VI onward, if this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Dragon Rush	2	From Generation VI onward, if this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Earthquake	2	From Generation V onward, if this is the used move, and the target is in the semi-invulnerable turn of Dig*
Extrasensory	2	In Generation III only, if this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Flying Press	2	If this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Heat Crash	2	From Generation VI onward, if this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Heavy Slam	2	In Generation VII, if this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Light Screen	0.5 *	From Generation III onward, if in effect on the target's side, the move used is special, not a critical hit, and the user's Ability is not Infiltrator
Magnitude	2	From Generation V onward, if this is the used move, and the target is in the semi-invulnerable turn of Dig*
Needle Arm	2	In Generation III only, if this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Phantom Force	2	If this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Reflect	0.5 *	From Generation III onward, if in effect on the target's side, the move used is physical, not a critical hit, and the user's Ability is not Infiltrator
Shadow Force	2	If this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize
Stomp	2	In Generation III and from Generation V onward, if this is the used move, and the target had previously used Minimize*
Surf	2	If this is the used move, and the target is in the semi-invulnerable turn of Dive*
Whirlpool	2	If this is the used move, and the target is in the semi-invulnerable turn of Dive*
Z-Moves	0.25	If the used move is a damaging Z-Move the target has protected against

Ability	Value	Detail
Fluffy	0.5	If the target has this Ability, and the used move makes contact and is not Fire-type
	2	If the target has this Ability, and the used move is Fire-type and does not make contact
Filter	0.75	If the target has this Ability and the used move is super effective (Type > 1)
Friend Guard	0.75	If an ally of the target has this Ability
Multiscale	0.5	If the target has this Ability and is at full health
Prism Armor	0.75	If the target has this Ability and the used move is super effective (Type > 1)
Shadow Shield	0.5	If the target has this Ability and is at full health
Sniper	1.5	If the attacker has this Ability and the move lands a critical hit
Solid Rock	0.75	If the target has this Ability and the used move is super effective (Type > 1)
Tinted Lens	2	If the attacker has this Ability and the used move is not very effective (Type < 1)

Item	Value	Detail
Chilan Berry	0.5	If held by the target, and the used move is Normal-type
Expert Belt	~1.2	If held by the attacker and the move is super effective (Type > 1)
Life Orb	~1.3	If held by the attacker
Metronome	>1	1 + (~0.2 per successful consecutive use of the same move) if held by the attacker, but no more than 2
Type-resist Berries	0.5	If held by the target, the move is of the resisted type and super effective (Type > 1)

If multiple effects influence the other value, their values stack multiplicatively. For example, if both Multiscale and a Chilan Berry take effect, other is 0.5 * 0.5 = 0.25.

During the calculation, any operations are carried out on integers internally, such that effectively each division is a truncated integer division (rounding towards zero, cutting off any decimals), and any decimals are cut off after each multiplication operation. If the calculation yields 0, the move will deal 1 HP damage instead; however, in Generations I and V, different behavior may occur due to apparent oversights:

• In Generation I, if the calculation yields 0 because the target has two types that both resist the move's type, the move will miss as if it is ineffective;
• In Generation V, a move may deal 0 HP damage when other is less than 1, because the routine to prevent 0 HP damage is erroneously performed before applying the other factor.

Example

Imagine a level 75 Glaceon that does not suffer a burn and holds no item with an effective Attack stat of 123 uses Ice Fang (an Ice-type physical move with a power of 65) against a Garchomp with an effective Defense stat of 163 in Generation VI, and does not land a critical hit. Then, the move will receive STAB, because Glaceon's Ice type matches the move's: STAB = 1.5. Additionally, Garchomp is Dragon/Ground, and therefore has a double weakness to the move's Ice type: Type = 4. All other (non-random) factors of Modifier will be 1. This effectively gives

File:ModifierCalcExample.png

When also plugging in Glaceon's effective Attack stat and Garchomp's effective Defense stat, the whole damage formula gives

File:DamageCalcExample1.png

That means Ice Fang will do between 168 and 196 HP damage, depending on luck.

If the same Glaceon holds a Muscle Band and its Ice Fang lands a critical hit against Garchomp, it will be Critical = 1.5, effectively giving

File:ModifierCalcExample2.png

Furthermore, Ice Fang's effective power will be boosted by the Muscle Band by (approximately) 10% to become 71, leading the whole formula to give

File:DamageCalcExample3.png

That means Ice Fang will now do between 268 and 324 HP damage, depending on luck.

Pokémon GO

In Pokémon GO, damage is calculated differently due to different variables existing in the game.

File:DamageCalcGO.png

where

• Power is the power of the move used
• Attack is the Attack stat of the attacking Pokémon
• Defense is the Defense stat of the Pokémon being attacked

and Modifier is

File:ModifierCalcGO.png

where

• Type is the type effectiveness, which is calculated differently in GO, using multipliers of base 1.6 instead of 2.
• STAB is the same-type attack bonus. This is equal to 1.2 if the move's type matches any of the user's types, and 1 if otherwise.
• The following variables are applied in Gym and Raid Battles only, and are 1 otherwise.
  • Weather is 1.2 if the move used has a weather-boosted type, and 1 otherwise.
  • Friendship is applied when battling with Friends and varies depending on the Friendship level.
    • 1.03 if Good Friends
    • 1.05 if Great Friends
    • 1.07 if Ultra Friends
    • 1.1 if Best Friends
    • 1 if otherwise
  • Dodged is 0.25 if the attack was successfully dodged, and 1 if otherwise.
    • Only a Gym defender or Raid Boss's attack may be dodged.
• The following variables are applied in Trainer Battles only, and are 1 otherwise.
  • Trainer is 1.3 for all attacks used in a Trainer Battle.
  • Charge is applied for Charged Attacks, and its value depends on the player's score during the minigame
    • 1 if "Excellent!"
    • 0.75 if "Great!"
    • 0.5 if "Nice!"
    • 0.25 if otherwise

By the damage formula, moves that have a power of 0 such as Splash and Yawn will still do 1 HP damage.

Trivia

• In Pokémon Emerald, if the player's Pokémon deals over 33037 HP damage, the HP bar won't be drained. However, if it deals exactly 33037 HP, the HP bar will be drained automatically.
• In Generations V through VII, the amount of damage that can be dealt in a single attack is capped at 65535. In addition, during the calculation of very high damage amounts an overflow can occur during the calculation, causing the actual damage dealt to be much lower than expected.
• In Pokémon Battle Revolution, the HP bar will change with a different animation depending on the move's type (recovery, recoil damage and indirect damage use the Normal-type animation), as shown below.

Normal Fighting Flying Poison Ground Rock Bug Ghost Steel Fire Water Grass Electric Psychic Ice Dragon Dark

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 傷害 Sēunghoih Mandarin 傷害 / 伤害 Shānghài Czech Poškození Danish Skade Finnish Vahinko French Canada Tort* Europe Dégâts German Schaden Hungarian Sebzés Italian Danno Korean 데미지 Damage Norwegian Skade Portuguese Brazil Dano Portugal Dano Spanish Daño Swedish Skada

External links

• The Complete Damage Formula for Black & White (Smogon University)
• DaWoblefet’s Damage Dissertation- A Complete Guide to the Damage Formula

References

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