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Non-attacking moves - Do you use them?

Kanto_Johto

Never glimpse the truth
    • 818
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    15
    Years
    As the title says, really. Do you use non-attacking moves in battles against NPCs/your friends? Which are your favourites?

    When I was younger I never, ever used to use them, and my teams literally had only attacking moves.

    Obviously growing up allowed me to understand and embrace tactical playing, so now I use them absolutely all the time.

    I absolutely love using Attract, since the game always seems to play in my favour whenever I do, with the CPU often infatuated for 3 or 4 turns in a row.

    Inducing paralysis and sleep are also amongst my guilty pleasures. If I'm carrying an electric Pokemon on hand I nearly always have it know Thunder Wave. I also try and teach sleep inducing moves wherever I can afford to.

    I also find that many of my IRL friends tend not to use non-attacking moves and just take every opportunity to whittle away at the health bar.

    So how does PC make use of non-attacking moves, if at all?
     
    I'll use the ailment-inducing moves like you said. Sometimes I'll go for stat-changing moves, I love moves like Nasty Plot. But there are stupid moves that I'd never touch like Skill Swap, Psych Up, Mean Look, etc. I mean obviously they have their uses, I just don't feel that way though haha.
     
    I used to hate them, but now I feel strange if I have 4 offensive moves (unless it's like a Life Orb'd Hydreigon).

    I try to have at least one status-inducing move such as Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, or T-wave.
    I don't use too many debuff moves, but sometimes I will. I like having a buff such as Bulk up or Swords Dance, but depending on the status move I have, I can live without it.

    I enjoy tactics over brute force, since tactics generally win. It's painfully obvious over WiFi, lol.
     
    Haseyo said:
    I used to hate them, but now I feel strange if I have 4 offensive moves (unless it's like a Life Orb'd Hydreigon).

    I try to have at least one status-inducing move such as Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, or T-wave.
    I don't use too many debuff moves, but sometimes I will. I like having a buff such as Bulk up or Swords Dance, but depending on the status move I have, I can live without it.

    I enjoy tactics over brute force, since tactics generally win. It's painfully obvious over WiFi, lol.
    Click to expand...
    Completely forgot about toxic, another of my favourites. Often a life saver in Pokemon Stadium.
     
    In-game I rarely use them since most opponents can be overwhelmed with brute force. However in competitive/Battle Frontier/World Tournament-like situations they are almost required. I will never understand the stigma around them with certain Pokemon players.
     
    Luke said:
    In-game I rarely use them since most opponents can be overwhelmed with brute force. However in competitive/Battle Frontier/World Tournament-like situations they are almost required. I will never understand the stigma around them with certain Pokemon players.
    Click to expand...
    I suppose it could centre on the fact that the effect isn't immediate/to the point and is more of a long term affect, whereas some players are only thinking of the present situation/not thinking ahead.
     
    I'd be a horrible competitive battler, as I never even think to put non-Thunder Wave-non-attacking moves on my team. (And even still, I only use Thunder Wave because Magnezone is so damn slow!) To me, a turn not spent pummelling the opponent's HP is a wasted turn. And yes, I'm aware of what a ridiculously stupid mindset that is, but it's been ingrained in me since the days of RBY and it shows no sign of dissipating any time soon.
     
    I like to use Protect with Earthquake and Discharge for double battles. And I have a Leavanny with Entrainment, which helps get rid of annoying Abilities that negate some attacks like Telepathy and Levitate.

    Mr Cat Dog said:
    To me, a turn not spent pummelling the opponent's HP is a wasted turn. And yes, I'm aware of what a ridiculously stupid mindset that is, but it's been ingrained in me since the days of RBY and it shows no sign of dissipating any time soon.
    Click to expand...

    I'm the same way! If I can deal some heavy damage by just plain attacking, that's what I'm gonna do!
     
    Usually, I go for all-out attacking when I'm against an NPC since I have healing items. I only use status when I'm at a disadvantage (like paralysis when I'm slower than the opponent)
     
    Status ailments are components of my strategy. I'm currently playing through a difficulty mod of the original Silver, without healing items and highly leveled opponents. In some instances, using defensive moves protected me (no pun intended) from an otherwise unavoidable loss.

    So yeah, I'm quite happy those non-attacking/defensive moves exist.
     
    James_Andrews said:
    Status ailments are components of my strategy. I'm currently playing through a difficulty mod of the original Silver, without healing items and highly leveled opponents. In some instances, using defensive moves protected me (no pun intended) from an otherwise unavoidable loss.

    So yeah, I'm quite happy those non-attacking/defensive moves exist.
    Click to expand...

    I can attest to this. I made a ROM Hack called SolidSapphire and the POKeMON levels were all doubled. My POKeMON's Sleep Powder paved my way to victory against a clearly OP ROXANNE

    On another note, some are important to me. Such as Endeavor, Hypnosis and Sunny Day. Ones such as Growl, Tail Whip and Sand-Attack I don't bother with. Most of the POKeMON I battle have the capacity to OHKO me, I don't have time to dilly dally.
     
    It depends on the Pokemon, really. If it's a strong attacker that can take a few hits, I generally fill him up with four direct attacks so I can try to maximize the number of Types he covers. But you wouldn't pile damage-dealing moves onto, say, a Blissey or an Umbreon, since they have such shabby attack stats. I've used a few Pokemon with no directly damaging moves whatsoever. The Whimsicott I used in my Black playthrough had only Grass Knot (which was rarely very useful anyways) and did most of his work with Leech Seed. But then, on the other hand, my Samurott's moveset consisted of four straightforward attacks.

    Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp go on just about any Pokemon I can give them to, though, regardless of their stats or what roles they play, since I love abusing status conditions.
     
    Last edited:
    Competitively, yes, like Luke said you basically have to use them. In-game, it depends. Usually at the start when I'm training I'll use moves like Tail whip, Growl etc to make the battles faster since grinding can be daunting. Moves like Leech Seed, Sleep Powder etc I tend to use more throughout the whole of the game rather than just the start. I used to use just pure power but I've learnt that it also helps to use supports moves throughout in-game play. n_n
     
    Same, when I was younger it was all out power or nothing :)

    Now, I love using things like Supersonic combined with Poisonpowder (Venomoth) - I really get a kick out of it lol but it's not so funny when it happens to me haha :)
     
    It's a necessity on my team for a status move. I actually won't consider a pokemon without a good status move. I absolutely love dragon dance on Haxorus for competitive play. Boost its already high attack and decent speed and you can wipe out some of the weaker players' entire team, with the right attacks of course.
     
    I don't often use status moves but if I'm training something it can help if I need to boost my resilience or power or if I need to inflict a status condition.

    However, I sometime equip moves like Swords Dance on some of my physical attackers, Calm Mind on some of my special attackers or even Work Up for mixed attackers. Also, I put Shell Smash on my Crustle and Carracosta cos it helps them hit hard while getting fast. I even might sometimes slap Rock Polish on my Rock-types that need a Speed boost.

    When I'm training an Electric-type that knows Electro Ball I just equip Thunder Wave to paralyze the foe and double Electro Ball's power. Also, if I'm training a Fire or Ghost-type I use Will-O-Wisp to cripple physical attackers.

    I usually train most of my Pokemon to be all-out attackers but there's a few that benefit from status moves more, like Shuckle, Umbreon and Ferrothorn.
     
    Depends on the Pokémon...
    But I do love Toxic it's one of my favorite moves.
    And other non-damaging moves I use are stat-boost moves like Swords Dance, Quiver Dance, Dragon Dance, etc... or healing moves like Morning Sun or Wish...
    As I said, it depends on the Pokémon.
    In most cases I have at least one non-damaging move (if it's not Choice Pokémon).
     
    Depends what Pokémon I'm using. I'm not a big fan of pure-stat changing moves (as opposed to damage-dealing moves that also change some stats), but I do like ailment-inducing moves like Stun Spore, Thunder Wave etc. Very useful.

    I also like Leech Seed. While it does do damage, I never really think of it as being in with the other damage-dealing moves. But yeah, it can be useful.

    Like many others, though, when I was younger I was all about 4 powerful moves and that's it haha. I still beat the game, though!
     
    When I was younger I thought that if it didn't do damage, it was useless and if the opponent did so I was basically given a "free turn" but of course that was a lie. I don't really use them in game anyway now because the NPCS aren't hard to kill anyway.
     
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