Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire - Glossary

This glossary was created to explain terms used in the In-Depth Guides.

attack, move

The words "attack" and "move" are used interchangeably in the In-Depth Guides and have the same meaning, although the game uses the term "move". The word "attack", in lower-case letters, is not to be confused with Attack, which is one of a Pokémon's stats.

species

a kind of Pokémon. All Ditto, for example, are one species.

party

a group of Pokémon that a Trainer uses in a battle. Up to six Pokémon can be part of a party, and only a number of them can be active in battle at a time (in single battles, one; in double battles, normally two). Many people use the word "team" for this term. If two Trainers are on the same side, a party consists of all Pokemon in both Trainers' parties.

Disabled move

A disabled move is one that is prevented from being selected on the menu of moves, as opposed to one that can be used but will always fail. If all moves a Pokémon has are disabled (and/or have zero PP), it will use Struggle instead, if possible. If a move becomes disabled after all Pokémon chose their moves, its use is prevented.

Active Pokémon

An active Pokémon is a Pokémon who is visible at a given time during a battle.

physical

This term refers to attacks based on the Attack/Defense attribute. In the Advance and previous versions, physical attacks had the types Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, and Steel.

special

This term refers to attacks based on the Special Attack/Special Defense attribute. In the Advance and previous versions, special attacks had the types Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ice, Psychic, Dragon, and Dark.

User

The user is the active Pokémon who began to use an attack. This can also refer to the Pokémon who takes the user's position and receives the effect of an attack if that effect doesn't end when the original user is switched.

Non-user

A non-user is an active Pokémon other than the user.

Opposing Pokémon

The one or two Pokémon currently active in the other player's party (not the user's).

Opponent

An opponent is a non-user who is a potential recipient of a move's effect. This definition can include the user's partner in double battles. The opponent can consist of more than one Pokémon, in which case the effect is applied to each opponent separately.

replaced

"Replaced" refers to any instance where an active Pokémon is no longer active. This includes cases where a Pokémon is changed from one to another, with the Pokémon command, Baton Pass, Roar, and Whirlwind, and also cases where a Pokémon faints. Of course, this also refers to the end of the battle, since most effects other than HP, PP, and status problems, are not relevant outside of battle.

switched

"Switched" refers to any instance of replacement except those due to Baton Pass. (Not to be confused with the term "cannot switch").

cannot switch

If a Pokémon "cannot switch", that Pokémon cannot be changed to a new active Pokémon with the "Pokémon" command. Roar and Whirlwind will function normally against the Pokémon. If a description says that a Pokémon "may switch", the "Pokémon" command is unaffected.

cannot flee

If a Pokémon "cannot flee", the Run command fails to make the Pokémon escape. (In the Gold/Silver generation, the Smoke Ball can't affect this.) During the effect of multi-turn attacks, Mean Look, and Spider Web, no turn is wasted if the player tries to run away from a wild Pokémon using the "Run" command.

Internal Battle

An internal battle is any battle with a wild Pokémon (a wild battle), or with an in-game trainer (a trainer battle). In internal battles, the player's Pokémon gain experience for defeating enemy Pokémon. In wild battles in the Battle Pike or Battle Pyramid, no experience is gained.

External Battle

An external battle is a trainer battle that takes place outside the game or in an organized setting. External battles normally include link battles, battles in Pokémon Stadium 1 and 2, and trainer battles in the Battle Tower and the Battle Frontier. In Trainer Tower and Trainer Hill, items may be used.

Wild Battle

A wild battle is any battle with a wild Pokémon. All wild battles are internal battles.

Round

A battle is divided into a number of rounds. A round contains the result of decisions made by each player. Many effects occur at the end of the round; that is, after each Pokémon has made its attack.

Turn

A Pokémon's turn, part of a round, is the result of the choices made at the beginning of the round. This usually involves the Pokémon's use of an attack.

Items

At the end of external battles, items are restored to their owners at the start of the battle, even if the item was used during the battle. In Battle Pike and Battle Pyramid battles, this does not occur.

Base damage

Base damage is a number that indicates the power of an attack. The higher the number, the greater the damage it can inflict. The exact damage dealt is decided by a formula (see Damage calculation). For some attacks, the base damage is calculated instead of fixed. These attacks are listed with a base damage of 1 in the Attack List. The game uses the term "power" instead of "base damage."

Accuracy

Said of an attack, "accuracy" means the probability that an attack has of hitting an opponent. When a Pokémon's "Accuracy" is reduced or enhanced, the accuracy of attacks it uses is accordingly affected.

Evasion

A Pokémon's "evasion" affects the probability that the Pokémon will avoid attacks made by other Pokémon.

Effectiveness

Several effects modify an attack's effectiveness, or a multiplier to the final damage that an attack will deal. The most common is that of type; for example, if the opponent is a Grass type, the effectiveness of Fire-type attacks against that opponent is doubled. In the absence of such effects, attacks have a normal effectiveness.

Immune

Said of a Pokémon, "immune" means unable to be affected by an attack due to that attack's type. If an attack is "affected by type immunities", the attack fails against an immune Pokémon, even though the attack may not usually deal damage calculated through the Damage Formula, or even any damage at all. Unless otherwise noted, attacks with a base damage of 0 are not affected by type immunities.

Damaging

A damaging move is one with a base damage of at least 1. In the fourth generation, all physical and special moves are damaging moves.

Hit a Pokémon with an attack

This means that the Pokémon is successfully affected by a damaging move by its user. The attack will usually reduce the Pokémon's HP, but in certain cases, it may fail to do so (e.g. if the Pokémon used Endure or has the Focus Band attached, or if the attack is False Swipe). Cases like those don't change whether the attack succeeds or fails, even if the attack deals 0 damage.

Lose HP due to an attack

Mostly self-explanatory, but this term applies only to damaging attacks. Pain Split is excluded since it has a base damage of 0, even though it can reduce a Pokémon's HP. Moreover, this term does not include effects of attacks, such as the HP reductions at the end of each round due to Leech Seed, Bind, Wrap, etc. This term corresponds to the word "damage", which, however, is much less preferred.

Choose for use

To choose a move for use is to select a move from the list of moves. This term also refers to spending a turn by choosing such an attack in this way. Choosing a move for use is different from using a move because of Mirror Move, Sleep Talk, Metronome, Nature Power, etc. If the Pokémon somehow uses another move instead, the attack it would have used is still the one chosen for use. Some effects can restrict the moves that can be chosen for use. A move with zero PP can't be chosen for use. If a Pokémon can't choose a move for use at the beginning of a round, it chooses Struggle for use instead.

Prevented from being used

Refers to any situation, such as confusion, love, flinching, etc., that prevents a Pokémon from using an attack. Basically, if the message "X used Y!" is shown, the move was not prevented from being used.

Stat stages

"Stat stages" comprise those for Attack, Defense, Speed, Special Attack, Special Defense, evasion, and Accuracy. Stat stages refer to values that modify a Pokémon's stats during a battle. See Stat Stages for more information.

Status problem

A status problem is one of burn, freeze, paralysis, sleep, or poison. It does not include confusion, which is a status-related effect, or fainting, which appears on the status monitor. This is also the term used in the game to describe such ailments.

gender

the sex of a Pokémon, useful only in breeding and the attack Attract. In the Gold/Silver version, the gender is based on the Attack DV. Some Pokémon are genderless.

rareness

a value that decides how common a Pokémon species can be found in the wild. A species with a higher rareness is easier to catch.

stat enhancer

any item, such as Calcium, that increases Stat Exp or Effort Values.

half, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, multiplied by 1.5

If these or similar terms appear in the attack descriptions, the result of the relevant division or multiplication is rounded down unless noted otherwise.

ID number

a number that, on a Pokémon, identifies the ownership of the Pokémon and, on a trainer, identifies the trainer. The trainer's ID is randomly determined at the beginning of a new game. A wild Pokémon has the same ID as the trainer, and a traded Pokémon most likely has a different ID number. In the Advance and later versions, the ID number is 32 bits long. In previous versions, the ID number is 16 bits long.

Deter Value (DV)

a value that decides a Pokémon's stat potential for a certain stat. The deter values vary with the Pokémon and are randomly generated. In the Gold/Silver version, these values range from 1 to 15. In later versions, the term used in these guides for this concept is Individual Value.

Alternate Terminology

This section explains familiar terminology not used in the In-Depth Guides.

• A multi-turn attack (Whirlpool, Bind, Wrap, etc.) is sometimes called a "partial trapping" move.
• The moves Mean Look, Block, and Spider Web are sometimes known as "full trapping" moves.