The games about Pokémon are actually considered quite simple, but there are complex tricks and strategies hidden in the battle system that have shaped a competitive scene. A player attempted to deal the most damage in every Pokémon game, but that is more complicated than one might think at first glance.
What should you consider regarding damage in Pokémon games? Pokémon started in 1996 with Pokémon Red and Blue, and over the last 28 years, the games have become increasingly complex. Therefore, several factors are important for the damage value, not just the strength of the attack and the Pokémon.
- Buffs and Debuffs
- Items
- Stab (attacks deal more damage if the Pokémon also has the type of the attack)
- Opponent values and types
Also, the peculiarities of the different generations are important. Before Generation 3, there was no division between physical and special attacks. Each type was assigned to a specific attack type.
The YouTuber behind the channel King The Luck tries to deal the highest damage in each generation in a YouTube video. The interesting thing is that it’s not always the strongest Pokémon that can achieve the highest damage. You need mathematics and tricks from the individual generations.
The currently most popular Pokémon game is Pokémon TCG Pocket:
Sometimes the games need to be tricked
How does King The Luck proceed? He first looks at which is the strongest attack in the respective game. In Generation 1, for example, it is Sky Attack. Then he tries to find the strongest Pokémon that fits the attack. However, since Dragonite cannot learn strong buff attacks like Swords Dance, he switches to Dodrio. Dodrio can learn Sky Attack and with Mimic he copies the opponent’s Swords Dance.
However, one must also consider that he always takes the weakest Pokémon as an opponent that can still learn Swords Dance. In this case, a Paras, as it is also weak against flying attacks.
In Generation 2, the theoretically strongest attack is Waltz in the fifth turn. This is doubled if you have used Ingrain beforehand. However, it gets more complicated here.
He must first use Swords Dance with another Pokémon, switch with Baton Pass, copy Ingrain, then prepare Waltz to hit a Yanma, which has copied the debuffs from its previous teammate through Baton Pass, with the 5th hit.
You can see the exact setups in his YouTube video:
From Generation 3 it gets exciting
What’s next? In Generation 3, Waltz remains the theoretically strongest attack by value. Deoxys (Attack Form) has the highest attack value. To hit Waltz with Stab, Deoxys needs to grab Kecleon’s ability and change its type. With Right Hand
and hatched level 1 Pokémon, you can achieve an even higher value against Yanma.
In Generation 4, the highest attack value is with Pottrott when it uses Trick Room to exchange its defense value with its attack value. In addition to the setups from the third generation, Kinoso’s ability Grassy Surge and the item Metronome come into play.
Generation 5 works the same way, only with 2 Kinosos during the Triple Battle. In Generation 6, the attack Forest’s Curse is added. It gives a Pokémon the Ice type in addition. Pottrott remains, and the previous setup also. You turn it into an Ice type through Kecleon and deal the highest possible damage with Frost Beak, the ice equivalent of Waltz, against an eF-eM, which now has 3 types that are weak against ice.
In Generation 7, there are no Triple Battles, but through an opposing command, you can ensure that Right Hand is used more than once. As an opponent, you use a Color Change Pokémon that has acquired the Dragon and Flying types and, through Forest’s Curse, also Grass.
In Generation 8, the attack Frost Beak has disappeared, so you have to work again with Waltz. The setup remains similar to before. In Generation 9, the theoretically strongest attack is Last Honor. It deals more damage for each defeated Pokémon in the team. Through Revive, you can achieve absurdly high attack values.
What is the highest possible damage in 28 years of Pokémon? It can be reached through Last Honor in Generation 9. Since Pottrott is not in the game, you must use the move Protect to maximize your Pokémon’s defense value and then switch your attack value with Trick Room.
With Color Change and a similar setup as before (only as a Ghost type), you can then achieve the probably highest value that can be reached in the games. However, you can only do this if you control both sides of a battle. In a normal battle, such setups are impossible. If you, as a fan, have ever wondered which Pokémon probably tastes the best, then check out this list: The 5 tastiest Pokémon in the ranking
