By Matt
Some of the highest priority moves are ones that provide protection. These moves can help in a sticky situation, and there are many variations of being protected from a foe’s attacks. The basic ones are Protect and Detect. Although the force or logic the moves are unclear, it allows the user to evade all attacks from the opponent. What does this mean? The Pokemon will not take damage from any move, no matter the accuracy. However, there are a few ways around these barriers.
The first strategy is to use a 100% accuracy move, like Lock-on or Mind Reader. Even though the target uses Protect or Detect, the move will still land. The move Feint was created to break through Protect and Detect, but its base power is very weak.
Future Sight is another way to deal damage to an overprotective opponent. The damage occurs at the end of the turn, and Protect and Detect won’t have any effect preventing the user from damage. These strategies are uncommon, but do not have to be the first priority.
Protect and Detect’s second effect is that the chance of it failing increases each time it is used successively. In other words, if it is used once, there is a 100% chance it will work. The second time, the rate of success will go down slowly. There is some chance that it will fail, so it’s sort of a small gamble. If you’re lucky, you can go up to three and even four times in a row, the latter of which is extremely rare. The moves that were introduced in Pokemon Generation V have a different effect.
The first of these moves is Quick Guard, which does what it says. More specifically, it prevents the user from being hit by priority moves, like Quick Attack. The flaw to this move is that Trainers have an easy time navigating around this move. The chance of your opponent using a priority move may vary, and this move takes up one slot in your Pokemon’s moveset. It is a very risky move, but can be used when in a pinch.
The ability Prankster, which increases status moves up by 1 in the Speed Priority list, can also override Quick Guard, but it is unlikely to damage, seeing as only status moves get this boost.
The other variation to Protect is Wide Guard. It is very similar to Protect and Detect, but it only protects the user and its allies from “wide” moves. A wide move is one that affects all your Pokemon, like Earthquake or Razor Leaf.
Finally, another move which intention is to prevent the user from fainting is Endure. This does not protect the user from hits, but it ensures that the user will not faint on that turn. All hits, even though the user is at 1 HP, will not take it out of battle. The ability Sturdy and the Focus Sash will also prevent one-hit KOs. Be careful, as each of these moves could fail if used more than once in a row. Protection moves are very tricky to master, but can turn out to be the battle-saver.
Tags: Nintendo DS, Pokemon Black & White