Recoil

This article is about the damage caused by some moves. For the beta name of Magneton, see Magneton.

The contents of this article have been suggested to be split into Crash damage. Please discuss it on the talk page for this article.

File:Submission.png

Submission, a recoil move, is used.

Recoil (Japanese: 反動 recoil) is the damage taken by the attacking Pokémon when successfully using certain risky moves. In most cases, recoil damage is relative to the damage dealt to the opponent, but in the cases of Struggle (from Generation IV onward) and Shadow End it is instead relative to the user's maximum HP.

The moves Jump Kick and High Jump Kick have a similar mechanic called crash damage. Crash damage is only applied if the move misses; from Generation II to IV, it is similarly dependent on the damage the move would have dealt.

The item Life Orb has a similar (but otherwise unrelated) mechanic that causes the holder to lose HP upon executing any move. Unlike the HP loss by Life Orb (a secondary effect that activates after the move is executed), recoil is a primary effect and thus not negated by Sheer Force.

In Pokémon Stadium only, if a recoil move knocks out the opponent, then the user will not take recoil damage.

The Ability Magic Guard prevents the Pokémon that has it from taking indirect damage (including recoil damage), except recoil damage from Struggle. The Ability Rock Head prevents the Pokémon that has it from taking recoil damage, except recoil from Struggle, Shadow Rush and Shadow End.

The Ability Reckless increases the power of moves with recoil by 20%, except Struggle. Reckless does not increase the amount of recoil taken directly, but the user will also take 20% more recoil than normal because of the damage increase. Reckless does not increase the bonus or damage taken from Life Orb.

Moves with recoil damage

Name Type Category Power Accuracy Notes Take Down Normal Physical 90 85% User receives 1/4 of damage dealt as recoil damage. Double-Edge Normal Physical 120 100% User receives 1/3 of damage dealt as recoil damage. Submission Fighting Physical 80 80% User receives 1/4 of damage dealt as recoil damage. Struggle Normal Physical 50 — User always loses 1/4 maximum HP as recoil damage; hits Ghost-type Pokémon from Generation II on. Volt Tackle Electric Physical 120 100% User receives 1/3 of damage dealt as recoil damage; 10% chance of paralyzing the target. Flare Blitz Fire Physical 120 100% User receives 1/3 of damage dealt as recoil damage; 10% chance of burning the target. Brave Bird Flying Physical 120 100% User receives 1/3 of damage dealt as recoil damage. Wood Hammer Grass Physical 120 100% User receives 1/3 of damage dealt as recoil damage. Head Smash Rock Physical 150 80% User receives 1/2 of damage dealt as recoil damage. Wild Charge Electric Physical 90 100% User receives 1/4 of damage dealt as recoil damage. Head Charge Normal Physical 120 100% User receives 1/4 of damage dealt as recoil damage. Light of Ruin Fairy Special 140 90% User receives 1/2 of damage dealt as recoil damage. Shadow Rush* Shadow Physical 90 100% User receives 1/4 of damage dealt as recoil damage; more likely to have a critical hit when the Pokémon is in Hyper Mode. Shadow End Shadow Physical 120 60% User receives 1/2 of current HP as recoil damage.

Moves with crash damage

Name Type Category Power Accuracy Notes Jump Kick Fighting Physical 100 95% If the move misses, the user receives damage equal to half of its max HP rounded down. High Jump Kick Fighting Physical 130 90% If the move misses, the user receives damage equal to half of its max HP rounded down.

In the anime

Infernape damaged by recoil

Recoil has been noted multiple times in the anime, most notable after Pikachu uses Volt Tackle. Brock has stated many times that Volt Tackle causes recoil and is very risky.

Ash's Staraptor and Reggie's Staraptor both know Brave Bird, which was stated to do recoil damage, making it a very risky move. The same goes for Flint's Infernape and Ash's Infernape, who both know Flare Blitz, and Roark's Rampardos, who knows Head Smash.

Take Down is referred to as a risky move numerous times in the anime, along with Double-Edge. However, in some early anime episodes, such as The Battle of the Badge, where Ash's Pidgeotto used Double-Edge, it apparently took no recoil damage.

Crash damage has been featured in the anime as well. When Gilbert's Hitmonlee failed to hit Pikachu with High Jump Kick in Saved by the Beldum, it only got hurt itself. Another such case was in Wheel of Frontier, when Greta's Medicham was hurt when its High Jump Kick failed to hit Snorlax. Ash's Scraggy has also got hurt as a result of a missing High Jump Kick. Korrina's Mienfoo took crash damage after Ash's Hawlucha dodged its High Jump Kick in Showdown at the Shalour Gym!.

In The Moment of Lumiose Truth!, Bunnelby was revealed to have learned Wild Charge. However, immediately after using Wild Charge, Bunnelby used Dig to cut down on the effects of recoil damage.

In A Legendary Photo Op!, Ash's Talonflame attempted to use its newly learned Brave Bird to protect Ash and his friends from a wild Moltres. The recoil from the attack exhausted Talonflame, rendering it unable to fly, and it nearly fell into the volcano they had been fighting over.

In other languages

Language Title Danish Rekylskade Finnish Takapotku* Vastavahinko* French Contrecoup German Rückstoß Italian Contraccolpo Korean 반동 bandong Norwegian Støtskade Polish Obrażenia zwrotne Spanish Latin America Daño Colateral Spain Daño de retroceso Swedish Rekylskada

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