Reckless (Ability)

Reckless	すてみ
	Life-Risking
Flavor text Generation IV Powers up moves that have recoil damage. Generation V Powers up moves that have recoil damage. Generation VI Powers up moves that have recoil damage. Generation VII Powers up moves that have recoil damage. Generation VIII Powers up moves that have recoil damage. Generation IX Powers up moves that have recoil damage.

Reckless (Japanese: すてみ Life-Risking) is an Ability introduced in Generation IV. Prior to Generation V, it was the signature Ability of Hitmonlee.

Effect

In battle

Reckless increases the power of moves that have recoil or crash damage by 20%, except Struggle. Because recoil damage is proportional to damage dealt, Pokémon with Reckless will only take increased recoil damage when they do more damage.

Affected moves

The table below lists the moves affected by Reckless, as well as the Pokémon that can have Reckless and learn those moves.

Move Type Cat. Pow. Acc. Learned by Brave Bird  Flying  Physical 120 100 {{{6}}} Double-Edge  Normal  Physical 120 100 **** * {{{6}}} Flare Blitz  Fire  Physical 120 100 {{{6}}} Head Charge  Normal  Physical 120 100 {{{6}}} Head Smash  Rock  Physical 150 80 {{{6}}} High Jump Kick  Fighting  Physical 130 90 {{{6}}} Jump Kick  Fighting  Physical 100 95 {{{6}}} Submission  Fighting  Physical 80 80 ** {{{6}}} Take Down  Normal  Physical 90 85 * {{{6}}} Wave Crash  Water  Physical 120 100 {{{6}}} Wild Charge  Electric  Physical 90 100 {{{6}}}

Although the following moves are affected by the Ability, they currently cannot be learned by any Pokémon with Reckless. They may, however, be called via Metronome, Mirror Move, Copycat, or Mimic, or be used by a Pokémon that gained Reckless by an Ability like Trace or Receiver or a move such as Skill Swap or Role Play.

Move Type Cat. Pow. Acc. Axe Kick  Fighting  Physical 120 90 {{{5}}} {{{6}}} Light of Ruin  Fairy  Special 140 90 {{{5}}} {{{6}}} Volt Tackle  Electric  Physical 120 100 {{{5}}} {{{6}}} Wood Hammer  Grass  Physical 120 100 {{{5}}} {{{6}}}

Outside of battle

Reckless has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Reckless

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0106		Hitmonlee	Fighting		Fighting	Limber	Reckless	Unburden
0111		Rhyhorn	Ground	Rock	Lightning Rod	Rock Head	Reckless
0112		Rhydon	Ground	Rock	Lightning Rod	Rock Head	Reckless
0396		Starly	Normal	Flying	Keen Eye	None	Reckless
0397		Staravia	Normal	Flying	Intimidate	None	Reckless
0398		Staraptor	Normal	Flying	Intimidate	None	Reckless
0464		Rhyperior	Ground	Rock	Lightning Rod	Solid Rock	Reckless
0500		Emboar	Fire	Fighting	Blaze	None	Reckless
0550		Basculin Red-Striped Form	Water		Water	Reckless	Adaptability	Mold Breaker
0619		Mienfoo	Fighting		Fighting	Inner Focus	Regenerator	Reckless
0620		Mienshao	Fighting		Fighting	Inner Focus	Regenerator	Reckless
0626		Bouffalant	Normal		Normal	Reckless	Sap Sipper	Soundproof
0862		Obstagoon	Dark	Normal	Reckless	Guts	Defiant
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 Pokémon Black and White, Blue-Striped Basculin have Reckless as their second standard Ability; however, a Blue-Striped Basculin with Rock Head can be obtained from an in-game trade in White. In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, wild Blue-Striped Basculin have Rock Head as their second standard Ability, but Blue-Striped Basculin bred in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 have Reckless as their second standard Ability. In Generation VI, Blue-Striped Basculin have Rock Head as their second standard Ability, and Blue-Striped Basculin with Reckless transferred to Pokémon Bank have their Ability changed to Rock Head.
• In the Generation V games, Starly has no Hidden Ability, but a Starly with its Hidden Ability flag set will evolve into Staravia with its Hidden Ability Reckless and can produce Starly with their Hidden Ability flag set when bred. A Starly with its Hidden Ability flag set will have its Ability changed to Reckless when transferred to Pokémon Bank.

Pokéstar Studios opponents with Reckless

F-00  Steel  Normal  Reckless HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 100 100 100 100 100 100

In other games

Mystery Dungeon series

In Explorers of Time and Darkness and Explorers of Sky, Reckless increases the damage of affected moves by 50%.

In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, the damage and recoil damage (including crash damage in the case of Jump Kick missing) of these moves is increased by 20%. The Ability does not affect the moves Struggle or Final Gambit.

Description

Games Description MDTDS Boosts the Pokémon's power with recoiling attacks but also raises self-inflicted damage. BSL はんどうでダメージを うけるわざの はんどうダメージと あたえるダメージが おおきくなる MDGtI Unavailable SMD The power of moves with recoil damage, such as Take Down, and moves that cause the user to take damage if they fail, such as Jump Kick, goes up! But the damage the Pokémon takes also goes up! It has no effects on some moves, such as Struggle and Final Gambit. MDRTDX The power of moves with recoil damage and moves that cause the user to take damage if they fail goes up–but the damage the Pokémon takes also goes up. It has no effect on some moves such as Struggle and Final Fambit.

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

• Alder's Bouffalant was revealed to have Reckless as its Ability.

Trivia

• Rhyhorn, Rhydon, Rhyperior, and Hitmonlee are the only Pokémon with Reckless that can use all moves affected by Reckless, as they can use them via Mimic. However, Hitmonlee can only have this combination by learning Mimic from the Move Tutor in Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald, then gaining Reckless by using an Ability Capsule in Generation VI or VII, or by learning Mimic as a Tyrogue and evolving in a Generation IV or V game (in this case, Hitmonlee has a 50% chance of having Reckless, depending on its personality value).

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 捨身 Sésān Mandarin 捨身 / 舍身 Shěshēn French Téméraire German Achtlos Italian Temerarietà Korean 이판사판 Ipansapan Portuguese Imprudência Russian Безрассудство Bezrassudstvo Spanish Audaz

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.