Battles
How turns, damage, abilities, natures, held items, weather, trainer difficulty and level caps work, so you can balance your game.
DreamMist battles follow the Generation 3 rules, simplified, in single and double battles. Knowing the numbers helps when you set levels for your trainers and wild Pokémon.
The battle screen
Pokémon appear as animated, full-body sprites standing on their platforms (still pictures for Pokémon after #649).
By default, battles happen in a scene from Pokémon Emerald that fits the map, with its battle bases drawn in:
| Where | Scene |
|---|---|
| Outdoors | Grass |
| Outdoors in a sandstorm | Sand |
| Surfing, or a Pokémon hooked | Sea |
| Indoors | Building |
| A cave | Cave |
The map's Kind of place (City settings) decides outdoors, indoors or cave. Time of day and weather tint the scene outdoors, so a battle at night is dark and a battle in the evening is orange.
Choosing a scene, or your own picture
In City settings, Battle background shows what the open map uses. Pick one of the 11 Emerald scenes (grass, long grass, sand, mountain, cave, sea, pond, underwater, sky, building, stadium), or press Upload to use your own picture:
- On the outside map, the picture becomes the town's default: every map without its own uses it.
- On an interior or route, the picture is only for that map, like a cave, a beach or a gym arena. Open the map first, then upload.
- Shadows under the Pokémon draws soft shadows where they stand. Turn it off when your picture already has platforms drawn in.
- The cross button goes back to the automatic scene.
Wide pictures (16:9) work best. Without an account, pictures up to 512 KB are stored inside the city; with one, up to 4 MB are uploaded to your account.
A turn
Each turn you choose one of:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fight | Use one of your Pokémon's moves. Each move has limited PP. |
| Bag | Throw a ball (wild battles only), use a potion or a cure, or revive a fainted Pokémon. See Items. |
| Pokémon | Switch to another Pokémon. The opponent still attacks this turn. |
| Run | Try to escape. Not possible against trainers. |
Move the cursor with the arrow keys and pick with Space, Enter or Z (or click, or press 1 to 4). Fight shows your moves like the Game Boy Advance games, with the PP and type of the one under the cursor beside them. X or Esc goes back (the B button on phones).
The move with the higher priority goes first, then the faster Pokémon. When a Pokémon runs out of PP on every move, it uses Struggle.
Each move plays its own animation, read from its battle animation script in pokeemerald-expansion (the Emerald engine behind CFRU's animations): Ember throws embers that burst into flames, Thunderbolt darkens the screen and drops bolts, Bite snaps teeth, Razor Leaf sends leaves. The sprites play in the script's order; ones that fly travel from the user to the target, the rest land on the target, and moves used on the user play on it. Moves whose animation is only a screen effect in the games (Psychic, Surf) use their type's sprites.
Double battles
Trainers set to Double battle in the battle designer send out two Pokémon at once, and so does the player. Each of your Pokémon picks its move, then its target when there are two to choose from.
- Moves that hit every opponent, like Surf or Growl, hit both at 3/4 of their power. A few, like Earthquake, also hit your partner.
- Hard trainers aim at whichever of your Pokémon has the lowest HP.
- When one faints, the next one in the team takes its place.
- A double battle needs two Pokémon able to fight on each side: otherwise it's a single battle.
Damage
Damage uses the Generation 3 formula with the attacker's level, the move's power, and Attack against Defense (or Special Attack against Special Defense for special moves). On top of that:
| Effect | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Same type as the attacker (STAB) | × 1.5 |
| Super effective | × 2 for each weak type, up to × 4 |
| Not very effective | × 0.5 for each resisting type |
| No effect | × 0 |
| Critical hit (1 in 16) | × 2 |
| Random spread | × 0.85 to × 1 |
| Abilities, held items, weather | See below |
Moves can miss based on their accuracy. Wild Pokémon pick their moves at random; trainers pick by the town's difficulty (see Trainer difficulty).
Natures
Every Pokémon has one of the 25 natures. Most raise one stat by 10% and lower another by 10%, like Adamant (+Attack, −Sp. Atk) or Timid (+Speed, −Attack); five (Hardy, Docile, Serious, Bashful, Quirky) change nothing. The party screen shows each Pokémon's nature. Pokémon caught before natures existed keep neutral stats.
Abilities
Every Pokémon has one of its species' real abilities, shown on the party screen. These change battles:
| Ability | What it does |
|---|---|
| Overgrow, Blaze, Torrent, Swarm | Moves of its type × 1.5 at 1/3 HP or less |
| Intimidate | Lowers the opponent's Attack when it comes out |
| Levitate, Flash Fire | No damage from Ground moves (Levitate) or Fire moves (Flash Fire) |
| Water Absorb, Volt Absorb | Water or Electric moves heal it by 1/4 instead |
| Static, Flame Body, Poison Point, Effect Spore | 30% chance to paralyze, burn, poison or put to sleep who hits it physically |
| Rough Skin | Who hits it physically loses 1/16 of their HP |
| Huge Power, Pure Power | Attack × 2 |
| Guts | Attack × 1.5 with a condition, and burns don't halve it |
| Thick Fat | Fire and Ice moves do half damage |
| Sturdy | Survives a knockout hit from full HP with 1 HP |
| Insomnia, Vital Spirit, Limber, Immunity, Water Veil | Can't fall asleep, be paralyzed, poisoned or burned |
| Clear Body, White Smoke, Hyper Cutter, Keen Eye | Stops stats (or Attack, or accuracy) from being lowered |
| Swift Swim, Sand Rush, Slush Rush | Speed × 2 in rain, sandstorm or snow |
| Sand Veil, Snow Cloak | Harder to hit in a sandstorm or snow |
| Compound Eyes | Accuracy × 1.3 |
| Speed Boost | Speed +1 at the end of each turn |
| Shed Skin | 1 in 3 chance to cure its condition at the end of each turn |
| Natural Cure | Cures its condition when it switches out |
| Run Away | Always escapes wild battles |
The other abilities are shown but don't change battles yet.
Held items
On the party screen, Give item hands a Pokémon an item from the bag to hold; it goes back in the bag when you take it or swap it. Trainers' Pokémon can hold one too: pick it next to each team member.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Oran Berry | Restores 10 HP once, when HP falls to half |
| Sitrus Berry | Restores 1/4 of HP once, when HP falls to half |
| Lum Berry | Cures any condition once |
| Leftovers | Restores 1/16 of HP at the end of each turn |
| Quick Claw | 1 in 5 chance to move first |
| Charcoal, Mystic Water, Miracle Seed, Magnet, Silk Scarf | Fire, Water, Grass, Electric or Normal moves × 1.2 |
Berries are used up. Poké Mart clerks sell held items only when you add them to their list.
Weather
The map's weather comes into its battles:
| Weather | In battle |
|---|---|
| Rain | Water moves × 1.5, Fire moves × 0.5 |
| Sandstorm | Every Pokémon but Rock, Ground and Steel types loses 1/16 of its HP each turn |
| Snow | Every Pokémon but Ice types loses 1/16 of its HP each turn |
Fog and clear skies change nothing.
Trainer difficulty
In City settings, Battles, Trainers sets how trainers of the whole town choose their moves:
| Difficulty | Trainers |
|---|---|
| Easy | Pick at random |
| Normal | Favor strong, effective moves of their own type, and sometimes a move that puts you to sleep or lowers your stats |
| Hard | Always use the move that takes the most of your HP (a knockout first), never a move you're immune to, and status moves only when they help |
Level caps
Level caps (City settings, Battles) stop Pokémon from outleveling your game, like Pokémon Unbound and Emerald hacks do. Write the highest level for 0 badges, then 1 badge, and so on: 15, 20, 26, 32. Badges count only when earned in this town. Past the end of the list, the last cap stays. A Pokémon at the cap gains no experience ("can't grow past Lv. 15 until the next badge") until the player earns the next badge.
Stat changes
Moves like Growl, Tail Whip and Swords Dance raise or lower a stat by one or two stages, from −6 to +6. Some attacks do it too, with a chance, like Bubble lowering Speed.
| Stage | −6 | −2 | −1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack, Defense, Speed… | × 0.25 | × 0.5 | × 0.67 | × 1 | × 1.5 | × 2 | × 4 |
| Accuracy, evasion | × 0.33 | × 0.6 | × 0.75 | × 1 | × 1.33 | × 1.67 | × 3 |
Stages go back to normal when a Pokémon switches out or the battle ends.
Conditions
| Condition | What it does | Who can't get it |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep (SLP) | Can't move for 2 to 4 turns | |
| Poison (PSN) | Loses 1/8 of its HP after each turn | Poison and Steel types |
| Paralysis (PAR) | Half Speed, and 1 in 4 turns it can't move | Electric types |
| Burn (BRN) | Loses 1/16 of its HP after each turn, physical moves do half damage | Fire types |
A Pokémon has one condition at a time. It stays after the battle until a Nurse heals the party or you use a cure (Antidote, Paralyze Heal, Awakening, Burn Heal, Full Heal). Sleeping Pokémon are twice as easy to catch, and the other conditions make it 1.5 times easier.
Stats
Stats come from the real base stats of each Pokémon at its level and its nature, with the same average genes for every Pokémon and no training.
Moves
Pokémon know the last four moves of their real level-up list for their level, always with at least one that deals damage. When they level up and learn a new move with four already known, they forget the oldest one, but never their last damaging move.
Moves work like in the games:
| Effect | Examples | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-hit | Fury Attack, Double Kick | Hits 2 to 5 times (2 and 3 most often), or a set number of times. |
| Draining | Absorb, Mega Drain | Gives the user part of the damage dealt. |
| Recoil | Take Down, Double-Edge | Hurts the user by part of the damage dealt. |
| Healing | Recover, Softboiled | Restores half the user's HP. |
| Flinching | Bite, Headbutt | May stop the target from moving this turn, if the user moved first. |
| High critical | Slash, Razor Leaf | Lands critical hits more often. |
| Protect | Protect, Detect | Blocks moves this turn. Using it again in a row works half as often each time. |
Evolution
Pokémon evolve every way they do in the games: at a level (Treecko into Grovyle at 16), with a stone used from the bag, when very friendly (by day or by night), holding an item, knowing a move, by gender, and by trade (with a Linking Cord). Evolving by level happens after the battle that levelled them up, on the evolution screen: press X while it glows to stop it, and it tries again at its next level. They keep the damage they took and learn their new form's moves, even ones it learns below its level (Marshtomp's Mud Shot). A Pokémon holding an Everstone doesn't evolve by level or trade. See Evolution for every way.
When a Pokémon that knows four moves wants a new one, you choose which move to forget, or give up on the new one.
Experience
| Battle | Experience |
|---|---|
| Wild Pokémon | base experience × level ÷ 7 |
| Trainer's Pokémon | the same × 1.5 |
Experience is split between the Pokémon that fought the fainted opponent and are still standing. Every Pokémon grows on the medium-fast curve: level n needs n³ total experience, so level 10 needs 1,000 and level 20 needs 8,000.
Catching
Throw a Poké Ball, a Great Ball (1.5 times better), an Ultra Ball (twice as good) or a Master Ball (never fails) at a wild Pokémon. You see the ball you threw, Emerald's own sprite. Once it's caught you can give it a nickname. The chance uses the Generation 3 catch formula: it goes up as the Pokémon's HP goes down, and depends on its species' catch rate. Easy Pokémon like Zigzagoon are caught often at full HP, while rare ones need to be weakened first.
The ball shakes up to three times before the Pokémon is caught or breaks free. Wild Pokémon have a 1 in 128 chance to be shiny.
Raid bosses can't be caught during the fight: once beaten, they give one throw with double the odds.
Winning and losing
- Winning a trainer battle gives prize money: ₽40 × the level of their strongest Pokémon. A Gym Leader also gives a badge and 5 Poké Balls.
- When your last Pokémon faints, you black out, drop half your money and return to the spawn point of the map, healed.
- Running away from a wild battle succeeds more often when your Pokémon is faster.