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rubinek

Kinda nerdy (actually, VERY nerdy) fun fact for the competitive battlers out there...

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rubinek
, 7th August 2012 at 01:54 PM (361 Views)
I've stumbled upon this several years ago on GameFAQs, and it still never ceases to amaze me.

Let's say you have a Nidoking with Focus Punch and Earthquake. Focus Punch is a 150 base power move, while Earthquake is 100 power + STAB, making it 150 power as well. Logic would suggest that they would deal exactly the same amount of damage on a neutral target. However, take a look at this:



This is the damage formula, courtesy of Bulbapedia. See the + 2? This amount also gets modified by STAB (which goes under "Modifier"). This means that Nidoking's Earthquake will always deal exactly one damage more (2*0,5) than Focus Punch on a neutral target.

So if you have a choice between two attacks of the same power (STABed and non-STABed), always choose the STABed one :)

(for the record, I'm not a mathematics nerd by any means, but even I thought this fact is interesting enough to know :P)
Ghetsis-Dennis and User_Name like this.
Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails blogs/53866/attachments/70858-damagecalc.png  

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Updated 7th August 2012 at 02:37 PM by rubinek

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  1. Ghetsis-Dennis's Avatar
    It's also the reason why Lucario holds the strongest Aura Sphere user due to STAB wheras Togekiss, Meinshao, and the legendaries can't make enough damage when using it on a neutral target.
  2. rubinek's Avatar
    That's how STAB works. I was specifically referring to that lone +2 in the damage formula and how it can make a difference between two moves of the same power.
  3. TheMissingno.'s Avatar
    This is true, but Focus Punch is a much cooler attack than Earthquake.
  4. Wyvernphlare's Avatar
    If that formula is correct how is it possible that a pokemon did one damage with neutral typing?
  5. rubinek's Avatar
    @Wyvernphlare; - not sure what you mean here. Could you elaborate a little?
  6. User_Name's Avatar
    I've been studying on IV determination a lot with Bulbapedia.
  7. Wyvernphlare's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rubinek
    @Wyvernphlare; - not sure what you mean here. Could you elaborate a little?

    When I go to an early route with high level pokes the wild pokes always due 1 damage the way the order of operations works and that formula tells me that is impossible without resistance. Understand?
  8. Silktree's Avatar
    @Wyvernphlare The minimal damage is indeed 1HP even without resistances. This is explained by the modifier factor in the formula, which is determined by several factors, one of which is a random multiplier (a number between 0.85 and 1). The damage value returned by the formula is always rounded down, so 2 multiplied by a number in the 0.85-0.99 range is rounded to 1.

    Game Freak probably inserted the 2 constant into the formula to ensure that the damage is always non-zero.
    rubinek likes this.
    Updated 8th August 2012 at 04:00 AM by Silktree
  9. rubinek's Avatar
    Well, @Silktree; explained it better than I possibly could, so I hope everything is clear now.
  10. Wyvernphlare's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Silktree
    @Wyvernphlare The minimal damage is indeed 1HP even without resistances. This is explained by the modifier factor in the formula, which is determined by several factors, one of which is a random multiplier (a number between 0.85 and 1). The damage value returned by the formula is always rounded down, so 2 multiplied by a number in the 0.85-0.99 range is rounded to 1.

    Game Freak probably inserted the 2 constant into the formula to ensure that the damage is always non-zero.

    OOOh I though modifier was stab and types
  11. Silktree's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Wyvernphlare
    OOOh I though modifier was stab and types
    It's a product of several factors: STAB, type effectiveness, critical hit, the random multiplier and auxiliary effects (induced by items or changes to the field like weather).

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