By Matt
These acronyms might be getting to you, but this one is a classic. An OHKO stands for One-Hit Knock Out, which does what it sounds. Many use this term to describe a powerful move that easily takes out its opponent with one hit (at full HP), but today I’m going to talk about OHKO moves. These are considered to be some of the most powerful moves, and four of them exist. They are limited to a select amount of Pokemon, and almost no legends can learn them. OHKO moves, if they hit, takes out all the HP of a Pokemon.
First, let’s discuss game mechanics on OHKO moves. All OHKO moves have been set to 30% accuracy, and have 5 PP, making them not too overpowered. Items and moves can bring up the accuracy, making them dreaded, but not very common in competitive battles, since they take more than one turn for a sure-fire hit. Let’s take some hold items and other factors in. If we have the Zoom Lens, it increases accuracy by 20% if the user moves after its target. That means it’s just a coin flip if your Pokemon is slow-moving, giving it a better chance. The Wide Lens increases accuracy by 10% with no conditions, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
Using a move like Mind Reader or Lock-On will ensure that your next attack hits, which is why many don’t use OHKO moves. By the next turn, the opponent will have caught on to the Pokemon with that move and have all moves directed to it. In other words, slow Pokemon are out of luck. Another drawback to OHKO moves are that they are treated like moves, and cannot go through moves like Protect. They also cannot hit opponents that are using Fly, Dive, etc.
Type matchups, the most overlooked, are still in effect: two of four OHKO moves, Guillotine and Horn Drill, are Normal-type moves, and cannot affect Ghost-types. Fissure, the Ground-type move, cannot affect Flying-types. The only one with no immunities is Sheer Cold, which can reach every type as an Ice-type move. Pokemon that have the ability Sturdy also claim immunity to the move, as it prevents all one-hit KOs, even if they hit. Pokemon Trainers you see in the game may have Pokemon to know these kinds of moves; don’t be scared, because most of the time, they miss. The other times… let’s not talk about. Items like the Focus Sash or Focus Band, used by competitive players most of the time, will be useless here; since they guard against moves that can OHKO without being an OHKO move, it will completely take them by surprise for a kill. It won’t surprise you that your favorite Pokemon may not know the move, but if you find one that does, try and have fun using that move. Combined with PP Max, you can get it up to 8 times of use before having to go back to a Pokemon Center. All in all, OHKO moves are risky, but loads of fun.