Intimidate (Ability)

Intimidate	いかく
	Intimidation
Flavor text Generation III Lowers the foe’s Attack. Generation IV Lowers the foe’s Attack stat. Generation V Lowers the foe's Attack stat. Generation VI Lowers the opposing Pokémon's Attack stat. Generation VII The Pokémon intimidates opposing Pokémon upon entering battle, lowering their Attack stat. Generation VIII Currently unknown Generation IX Currently unknown

Intimidate (Japanese: いかく Intimidation) is an Ability introduced in Generation III.

Effect

In battle

Generation III

When a Pokémon with Intimidate enters the battle, it lowers the Attack stat of all adjacent opponents by one stage

In Generations III and IV, Intimidate's activation message reads, "<Pokémon>'s Intimidate cuts <opponent>'s attack!" In Generation V, the message changed to "<Opponent>'s Attack fell!"

Intimidate has no effect on Pokémon who are immune to Attack stat reductions, such as Pokémon with Clear Body, Hyper Cutter, or White Smoke. This Ability will not affect a target with a substitute.

Generation IV onward

Intimidate now also activates when a Pokémon gains the Ability, such as via Skill Swap or Mega Evolution.

In a Triple Battle, Intimidate does not affect non-adjacent Pokémon.

Intimidate does not affect Pokémon with the Full Metal Body Ability.

Wild Pokémon are more likely to call for help when facing a Pokémon with Intimidate.

If a Pokémon is holding an Adrenaline Orb when affected by Intimidate, the item will active and increase the holder's Speed by one stage.

Outside of battle

From Pokémon Emerald onwards, if a Pokémon with Intimidate is in the first place in the party (even if fainted), there is a 50% chance that a Pokémon that would be encountered will not appear if its level would be 5 levels or more below the leading Pokémon's. It shares this effect with Keen Eye.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

In the Mystery Dungeon series, Pokémon attacking a Pokémon with this Ability with a physical attack will have a 20% attack penalty.

Pokémon with Intimidate

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0023		Ekans	Poison		Poison	Intimidate	Shed Skin	Unnerve
0024		Arbok	Poison		Poison	Intimidate	Shed Skin	Unnerve
0058		Growlithe	Fire		Fire	Intimidate	Flash Fire	Justified
0059		Arcanine	Fire		Fire	Intimidate	Flash Fire	Justified
0128		Tauros	Normal		Normal	Intimidate	Anger Point	Sheer Force
0130		Gyarados	Water	Flying	Intimidate	None	Moxie
0209		Snubbull	Fairy		Fairy	Intimidate	Run Away	Rattled
0210		Granbull	Fairy		Fairy	Intimidate	Quick Feet	Rattled
0211		Qwilfish	Water	Poison	Poison Point	Swift Swim	Intimidate
0234		Stantler	Normal		Normal	Intimidate	Frisk	Sap Sipper
0237		Hitmontop	Fighting		Fighting	Intimidate	Technician	Steadfast
0262		Mightyena	Dark		Dark	Intimidate	Quick Feet	Moxie
0284		Masquerain	Bug	Flying	Intimidate	None	Unnerve
0303		Mawile	Steel	Fairy	Hyper Cutter	Intimidate	Sheer Force
310M	Manectric	Manectric	Electric		Electric	Intimidate	None	None
0373		Salamence	Dragon	Flying	Intimidate	None	Moxie
0397		Staravia	Normal	Flying	Intimidate	None	Reckless
0398		Staraptor	Normal	Flying	Intimidate	None	Reckless
0403		Shinx	Electric		Electric	Rivalry	Intimidate	Guts
0404		Luxio	Electric		Electric	Rivalry	Intimidate	Guts
0405		Luxray	Electric		Electric	Rivalry	Intimidate	Guts
0507		Herdier	Normal		Normal	Intimidate	Sand Rush	Scrappy
0508		Stoutland	Normal		Normal	Intimidate	Sand Rush	Scrappy
0551		Sandile	Ground	Dark	Intimidate	Moxie	Anger Point
0552		Krokorok	Ground	Dark	Intimidate	Moxie	Anger Point
0553		Krookodile	Ground	Dark	Intimidate	Moxie	Anger Point
0559		Scraggy	Dark	Fighting	Shed Skin	Moxie	Intimidate
0560		Scrafty	Dark	Fighting	Shed Skin	Moxie	Intimidate
645T	Landorus	Landorus	Ground	Flying	Intimidate	None	None
0725		Litten	Fire		Fire	Blaze	None	Intimidate
0726		Torracat	Fire		Fire	Blaze	None	Intimidate
0727		Incineroar	Fire	Dark	Blaze	None	Intimidate
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 manga

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Gyarados
When the user is sent out in battle, it reduces the opponent's attack strength.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	When Gyarados is sent out, the opponent's attack strength is lowered automatically.
Red's Gyara	Red and Blue Make Purple Opponents		Debut

• In Pinsir Me, I Must Be Dreaming, the rental Mawile that Noland used during his Battle Factory match against Emerald was revealed to have Intimidate as its Ability by Emerald's Pokédex.
• In volume 40, Pearl's Rayler was revealed to have Intimidate as his Ability.
• In volume 42, Crystal's Archy was revealed to have Intimidate as his Ability.
• In volume 42, Silver's Gyarados was revealed to have Intimidate as his Ability.
• In Omega Alpha Adventure 3, Zinnia's Salamence was mentioned to have Intimidate as its Ability, but it wasn't shown activating it.

In the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure! manga

Luxio
The opponent's attack is lower when the user is sent out.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Luxio makes an intimidating face that decreases the opponent's attack.
Hareta's Luxio	A Novel Test!!		Debut

Trivia

• Prior to becoming an Ability, Intimidate appeared as a TCG Attack.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 威嚇 Wāihaak Mandarin 威嚇 / 威吓 Wēi​hè​ French Intimidation German Bedroher Italian Prepotenza Korean 위협 Wihyeop Portuguese Intimidar Spanish Intimidación Vietnamese Hăm dọa

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.