10 Hidden Pokémon Mechanics that Most Players Don't Know

Pokémon is a series that we've all grown up with, and for that reason, it's possible to believe it's a relatively surface-level game with little complexity. I mean, if a five-year old could beat the main story, how hard could it be? But if you thought that, you couldn't be more wrong! In fact, Pokémon may just very well be one of the most complex competitive turn-based games out there, thanks to its wide range of abilities and moves, which can all have unique interactions the game doesn't spell out for you.

Thankfully, Pokémon Champions has helped introduce the wider fanbase to its competitive scene, showcasing the level of theorycrafting the community has come up with throughout the series' 30 years of existence.

If it's your first time jumping onto the scene, it's likely you've encountered a ton of new interactions you never would have thought of before. In part, due to Game Freak hiding away all of these explanations in NPC dialogue spread throughout its many different towns or Trainer Schools.

But worry not! Because I'm about to spill the beans on some of Pokémon's more elusive mechanics that a majority of players wouldn't know. It doesn't help that some of these changes were introduced in later generations with little buzz to make players aware. So don't kick yourself too much if most of these are new to you.

Now without further ado, here are 10 hidden Pokémon mechanics the games don't teach you.

10 Burn Reduces Enemy Damage By Half

Neutralize Physical Sweepers and Bulkier Teams

Inflicting your opponent with status moves can be a vital choice that turns the tide of a battle. For example, moves like Toxic remain a powerful setup tool to stall out teams or chip away at some of the bulkiest Pokémon out there. Paralyze and Sleep also help to neutralize a tough sweeper who risks wiping out your team with ease.

Given Toxic's ramping power, it's always made the Burn status condition appear redundant. It wasn't until Pokémon Champions directly tells you in its tutorial that players realized that Burn has a powerful second hidden condition. Not only does it chip away at an enemy's health, but it also reduces an opponent's attack by half, making it a solid move to use against physical attack sweepers who are looking to set up a Belly Drum.

9 Different Weather Types Can Have Unique Interactions

An Extra Bonus to Hail or Sandstorm

Weather has been one of Pokémon's most unique features, and would define the series' fifth generation, which would be dubbed "The Weather Wars" in retrospect.

In many ways, weather is one of the most versatile mechanics in the Pokémon series, not only thanks to its ability to make powerful attacks even stronger, but due to some other unique interactions.

For example, every Pokémon player knows that weather conditions like Sandstorm or Hail are annoying, mostly due to them elongating a battle at the end of every turn, doing minor chip damage. But what a lot of players don't know, is that these weather conditions make certain types of Pokémon bulkier.

In a Sandstorm, Rock-type Pokémon gain 50% special defense, helping Pokémon like Tyranitar and Steelix become unkillable. Meanwhile, in Hail (now Snow as of Gen 9), Ice-type Pokémon receive a similar buff except to their physical defense.

8 Grass Types are Immune to Powder

Shut Down Enemy Set-Ups By Switching

As any Nuzlocke player would know, powder moves can inflict unique status effects on enemies primarily used by Bug and Grass-type Pokémon. While they're great to have in the early game, they're also very solid choices in competitive play, enabling your team with new tools to shut down sweepers, or change the rules of the battlefield.

These moves can be simple, like Sleep Powder or Stun Spore, which inflict your opponent with a status ailment. Others can look like Powder, which makes Pokémon that use a Fire-type move take 25% of their health, or Rage Powder, which forces an opponent to attack the user instead of their intended target.

What the game doesn't tell you outright is that Grass-type Pokémon are immune to all powder moves. This means if you predict your opponent will use a powder move to shut you down, you can switch in with a Grass type of your own to negate their setup.

7 Dark-Type Pokémon are Immune to Prankster

Keep Priority in Battle

Priority moves are some of the most important tools in any Pokémon's arsenal, as they're able to bypass speed stats, interrupt opponent setups, and quickly finish off a Pokémon on low health safely.

Different priority moves have different values to them, such as Extreme Speed, which has a +2 value next to it, or Fake Out, with a +3. However, if your Pokémon has the ability Prankster, it'll gain an extra value for their priority moves, with the potential of outspeeding Fake Out.

It wasn't until Generation 7 that Dark-type Pokémon would be changed to have a natural immunity to Prankster, letting them use their priority moves in the correct order. This means you can Fake Out a Grimmsnarl looking to set up a Light Screen, letting you quickly take him out on the first turn before he buffs his team.

6 Poison-Type Pokémon Never Miss with Toxic

Set Up Your Stall Comp with Ease

As any Pokémon player that's dabbled in the competitive scene could tell you, Toxic is one of the most frustrating abilities to go up against. Toxic indefinitely poisons your Pokémon, and does increasing damage each turn. Pair this with a bulky Pokémon that has Protect and recovery moves and items, and you can see yourself getting stalled out before getting to see your opponents next Pokémon.

As a way to balance the power of this move, Game Freak slapped it with 90 accuracy, which in competitive Pokémon terms, if something doesn't hit 100% of the time, it's hitting 50% of the time. However, if a Pokémon is a poison type, this means that the move will always land, even if a Pokémon uses Fly or Dig.

This interaction goes further if the Poison-type Pokémon has the ability Corrosion, which lets it poison Pokémon who are normally immune to it. If this Pokémon also holds a Toxic Orb, it's actually possible to poison yourself. While it's rare to use this in any scenario, it can mentally stunlock your opponent for a short few seconds wondering if they have just witnessed a glitch.

5 Combining Abilities in Duo Battles Can Be Deadly

Beat Your Opponents With the Power of Friendship

We all know that pairing certain types of Pokémon thanks to their abilities can help any trainer build a solid team. In Pokémon Champions, you're likely to see a Maushold paired with an Archaludon running Stamina, which boosts its Defense by one stage whenever it's attacked by any move.

The strategy here is to make Maushold use the ability Population Bomb, which can hit for a total of 10 times for minor damage. As Archaludon resists it naturally, it's possible to see your steel dragon sweeper become an unstoppable tank with maxed defense in a single turn.

It's also possible to have both your Pokémon take advantage of the abilities to set up for a nasty combo. Durant is a very unpopular Pokémon that comes with the ability Truant, meaning it can't attack every other turn. However, it also learns the move Entrainment, which can switch the user's ability with its target, passing on its debilitating effect. If you pair this with a Pokémon like Gothitelle with the ability Shadow Tag, you can prevent the enemy from switching, allowing you a free turn in combat to set up for a sweep.

It's understandable why Game Freak doesn't teach this in the Trainer School, but these lightning bolt moments of genius are proof of Pokémon's complexity, and it's a shame most players aren't exposed to this level of depth by just playing the main story.

4 Ghost-Type Pokémon Can't Be Trapped On the Field

Haunt(er) the Battlefield

Ghost-type Pokémon are some of the most elusive in the game, and always have the potential to turn a match on its head. For that reason, it isn't rare to see players want to take out a Ghost-type in a reliable and safe way and lock them down before they start becoming too disruptive.

Ghost-type Pokémon a great choice to block moves like Rapid Spin so your entry hazards can stay on the field. Since Generation 6, they can also nullify the popular Perish Song strategy thanks to their immunity to trapping moves. That means moves like Mean Look or abilities like Shadow Tag are useless against them, and they're able to switch freely regardless of your strategy to keep them on the field.

As Pokémon World Champion Wolfe Glick would point out, this interaction is every Perish Song user's worst nightmare, as the move requires a Pokémon to be on the field for three turns before dying. It's a powerful strategy in stall comps for trainers hoping to take out a powerful heavy-hitter combo like Tatsugiri or Dondozo. But if your opponent throws out a Dragapult or a Goldango, you might as well forfeit the match and spare yourself the inevitable loss.

3 Rollout & Ice Ball Double in Power if Defense Curl was Used

Make Whitney's Miltank Proud

We all have nightmares over Whitney's Miltank and its powerful Rollout. So much so, after seeing it, you might have tried using the move yourself and wonder why you could never do the same amount of damage as it did to you. Well, one way you can fix this is by using Defense Curl, which doubles the damage of the subsequent Rollout.

Admittedly, Whitney's Miltank doesn't know Defense Curl, and you'd be right to accuse her of hacking if it were any other game. But if you'd like to inflict that same trauma onto your opponent, this hidden tech can be a fun way to knowledge-gap them in real time.

This Defense Curl tech similarly boosts the Ice Ball's damage as well, setting up a fairly strong physical Ice sweeper before your opponent can realize what's going on.

2 Substitute Doesn't Block Against Sound-Based Moves

Primarina Stocks Go Up!

Sound moves can be an underrated category of moves if you only play the mainline series, but in VGC, they open up a range of new strategies.

Some Pokémon can have unique abilities to help them utilize sound-type moves as well. Sylveon can have the hidden ability Pixilate, which can turn their sound-type moves into powerful Fairy-type damage. Primarina can do the same with Liquid Voice, turning moves like Hyper Voice into a powerful water-type attack that can hit both enemies in a double battle, without hurting your teammate (like the popular Surf can do).

Even more impressive, is that sound-type moves can hit through your opponents Substitute, making them take the full amount of damage. Usually, the Substitute would absorb the hit, letting players use a turn to set up to sweep, or scout for powerful attacks and survive. With Sylveon or Primarina, you can negate this and easily kill the Pokémon behind Substitute, which, admittedly, is very satisfying when you predict it.

1 IVS / EVS

A Grind that Gatekept Competitive PokémonfFor Years

For as long as competitive Pokémon has existed, players have been gatekept by this hidden, yet vital mechanic.

Individual Values (IVs) and Effort Values (EVs) are unique variables that determine a Pokémon's stats, making each Pokémon unique. What this means is that two trainers could use the same Pokémon, but have different IVS and EVS specialized for different stats, which could set them up for a different playstyle.

In concept, this is a great way to add room for extra theorycrafting to your Pokémon team and enable some surprises to catch your opponents off-guard. In reality, it's a major grindfest and a key reason why competitive Pokémon remained so niche despite the series' popularity. Throw in different natures, shiny hunting, Teratypes, ability selection, egg moves and more, it's not rare to see professional players take weeks to get a team ready for a competitive event.

This process could take so long, some people in the Pokémon community made it a job to train competitive Pokémon for tournaments.

Thankfully, in Pokémon Champions, players can now ignore the grind of getting a Pokémon battle ready, and can freely tweak a Pokémon's stats, abilities, and nature for a small price of in-game currency. While the newly released competitive game isn't perfect, this is by far its best feature and why so many new players have been able to finally break into competitive Pokémon.