Question Box

[Zexion]

If a Pokemon were to Dive underwater and remain there, would they have all moves used against them (except for Surf and the like) miss? And if so, would an electric move that struck the water still affect the Pokemon since water conducts electricity?

 

[Music Dragon]

If a Pokemon were to Dive underwater and remain there, would they have all moves used against them (except for Surf and the like) miss? And if so, would an electric move that struck the water still affect the Pokemon since water conducts electricity?

Water is actually not a great conductor unless you put some sort of electrolyte (e.g. salt) in it*. In any case, the electricity will disperse quite quickly, since it spreads out in the water. So from a purely physical point of view, if you Dive deep into water, you should be protected from electric moves unless the body of water is small and/or the attack is very strong. Let's see what the actual refs have to say though...!

*Somewhat counter-intuitively, being submerged in a very good conductor might actually protect you from an electric shock: since the surrounding liquid is a much better conductor than your body, the electricity will travel around you rather than into you! Don't try this at home.

 

[blazheirio889]

Pretty much what MD said. I'm fairly sure there's been precedent of electric attacks being dispersed by water before, though I can't really be bothered to dig them up right now, and physics is a much better model to follow than precedent anyway. :P

Stuff like Aura Sphere would still hit, though Swift, for example, would probably be somewhat dispersed and deal less damage.

 

[Eifie]

But when Pikachu dips its tail in the water, everything dies!!!

 

[allitersonance]

In places like the ocean, all pokemon touching the water within the electric move's normal range will be damaged, at half the base power, and full risk of paralysis; that means a full action of dive will take you out of the range of that though, assuming the water is deep enough. Same principle as being unable to thunderbolt a pokemon who's on the semi-invulnerable action of fly. (Negrek later said that thunderbolt used underwater wouldn't damage both attacker and target, so she might've changed her mind, but it'd probably be fine to say the user isn't affected because the electricity is pulled away from them. By precedent, electricity tends to disperse in water though.) If the water is pure enough to not conduct, I'd say it should be treated the same as on land, since air's also a poor conductor.

 

[M&F]

Awww. That's kind of a bummer, though! I don't know; it feels more like it's a consolation prize if you don't get the exp, rather than a 'congrats for participating in our event' thing. Even if it is kind of a consolation prize. And I mean, it starting with 1 exp because you used it in the rental battle isn't exactly OP, especially since later tourney rounds probably aren't rentals.

It's mostly due to the fact that otherwise the folks from the Vivillon vs. Sylveon matchup would get a free fully-evolved mon (as opposed to a Scatterbug or Eevee, which will be the actual prize). That, and if the loser would like a different gender, ability, or even flavor on their free Pokémon, they get to have it this way.

Stuff like Aura Sphere would still hit, though Swift, for example, would probably be somewhat dispersed and deal less damage.

This doesn't happen in-game and has no good reason to happen in ASB -- there's no particular reason why aura should be able to go right through water as if it were air. Most indirect attacks aimed through water against a target one full action of Dive down away will lose too much momentum in the way to reach the mark -- it's not too different from the other semi-invulnerability moves in that regard.

But when Pikachu dips its tail in the water, everything dies!!!

It's just aiming for all the horns.

If the water is pure enough to not conduct, I'd say it should be treated the same as on land, since air's also a poor conductor.

It's a bit of more a tough call, since overland electric attacks appear to conduct primarily through anime.

 

[shy ♡]

It's a bit of more a tough call, since overland electric attacks appear to conduct primarily through anime.

??? this is worded very confuse

 

[nastypass]

??? this is worded very confuse

I think he meant that they follow the laws of anime physics, not actual electromagnetism. Alas, we cannot all have degrees in physics or electrical engineering to ref these moves accurately.

 

[shy ♡]

Well, if that's true, then water should conduct electricity more than air.

 

[blazheirio889]

This doesn't happen in-game and has no good reason to happen in ASB -- there's no particular reason why aura should be able to go right through water as if it were air. Most indirect attacks aimed through water against a target one full action of Dive down away will lose too much momentum in the way to reach the mark -- it's not too different from the other semi-invulnerability moves in that regard.

But it does have a good reason to happen. In the games, Pokemon can't stay Flying or Diving, so the semi-invulnerability is no real big deal. In ASB, we need moves to be able to hit Flying or Diving Pokemon to make their semi-invulnerability less powerful, otherwise they can stay out of range and set up easily. That's why I changed my mind on letting Pokemon extend the ghost force moves -- much fewer moves could plausibly affect them.

 

[surskitty]

It's mostly due to the fact that otherwise the folks from the Vivillon vs. Sylveon matchup would get a free fully-evolved mon (as opposed to a Scatterbug or Eevee, which will be the actual prize). That, and if the loser would like a different gender, ability, or even flavor on their free Pokémon, they get to have it this way.

Wait, but giving someone a scatterbug as a prize then means they have a significantly worse prize than the rest of the entrants: they won't really have a new useful pokemon unless they cough up the money for a vivillon. Meanwhile, free eevee actually might be a better reward than free sylveon would be, because then they can pick which eevee evolution they want, as opposed to just ... getting the Kalos one. I don't see how handing out those two fully-evolved pokemon is significantly different from handing out a pokemon that doesn't evolve.

 

[nastypass]

Meanwhile, free eevee actually might be a better reward than free sylveon would be, because then they can pick which eevee evolution they want, as opposed to just ... getting the Kalos one. I don't see how handing out those two fully-evolved pokemon is significantly different from handing out a pokemon that doesn't evolve.

I agree re: vivillon since you're just skipping having to pay the money to evolve (and so essentially just giving out a rarity 8 non-evolving pokemon), but sylveon is a waaaaay better deal than eevee. in my estimation the only pokemon that're being given out that are comparable to sylveon in terms of usefulness are probably amaura, maybe the starters, but those aren't letting you skip a minimum two-battle evolution! it's true that giving out an eevee would theoretically give them more options, but it's not taking away the non-money requirements that anyone else would need to meet to get a sylveon.

 

[Eifie]

If, say, a Pokémon with only enough speed to make 2 clones Snatches Double Team from a Pokémon with enough speed to make 8 clones, how many clones does it make? (If the answer is 8, what if it was the faster one Snatching from the slower one?)

 

[RespectTheBlade]

Could Chill be used to lower a state of attraction rather than recover energy? I want to say no on the grounds that the attracted Pokemon wouldn't be able to enter a chill-like state in some/most cases, but I'm not entirely sure.

On a side note, if it can be used for the aforementioned purpose, would it cost energy?

 

[M&F]

Could Chill be used to lower a state of attraction rather than recover energy? I want to say no on the grounds that the attracted Pokemon wouldn't be able to enter a chill-like state in some/most cases, but I'm not entirely sure.

On a side note, if it can be used for the aforementioned purpose, would it cost energy?

There are moves that can aid in lowering the effects of attraction (Calm Mind comes to, well, mind), but Chill isn't one of them.

 

[blazheirio889]

If, say, a Pokémon with only enough speed to make 2 clones Snatches Double Team from a Pokémon with enough speed to make 8 clones, how many clones does it make? (If the answer is 8, what if it was the faster one Snatching from the slower one?)

I think you can only Snatch the number of clones that the target was going to make.

Could Chill be used to lower a state of attraction rather than recover energy? I want to say no on the grounds that the attracted Pokemon wouldn't be able to enter a chill-like state in some/most cases, but I'm not entirely sure.

On a side note, if it can be used for the aforementioned purpose, would it cost energy?

If it doesn't recover energy, I don't think that'd count as a Chill? Chill can reduce severity of stuff like confusion as a side effect, but the main effect is energy recovery. Anyway, I don't think just relaxing is going to help with attraction, though something like Calm Mind might, depending on how your ref interprets it.

 

[Totodile]

For Echoed Voice:

The doubling [of damage and energy] takes place so long as an ally used this attack either earlier in this action or during the last action.

If a Pokemon is in a single battle rather than a double or triple, will it count as its own ally if it uses Echoed Voice multiple times in a row?

 

[blazheirio889]

For Echoed Voice:

If a Pokemon is in a single battle rather than a double or triple, will it count as its own ally if it uses Echoed Voice multiple times in a row?

Yep, I'll edit that to make it clearer.

 

[Totodile]

Yep, I'll edit that to make it clearer.

Actually, it looks like as it is the database says only damage is doubled. Should energy be doubled too? It might be better to not have an attack that potentially does 20% damage for 2% energy.

 

[blazheirio889]

Actually, it looks like as it is the database says only damage is doubled. Should energy be doubled too? It might be better to not have an attack that potentially does 20% damage for 2% energy.

I think that if base power doubles, the energy should be recalculated accordingly? Since energy is calculated off of base power? I think the only exceptions to that are if the base power depends on the /target's/ status (like Venoshock, or Brine).