One of the most common questions I get both on and off the PM discord is exactly how strong certain abilities are, especially if they have different numbers behind them. I’m here to explain as much as I can about what we know about the abilities so far. None of this information has been made transparent by the game, so this is the fruit of hours of testing by many individuals. This is a compilation of data from a host of testers who’ve helped contribute to our sum of knowledge. Much gratitude to all of you!

Abilities can be grouped into several different categories, with each category using the ability number differently. I’ll be going category by category.

Numbered Abilities that increase damage

Examples: Critical Strikes, Gritty, Power Reserves, Power Flux, Power Chain, Surging Sand, Raging Rain, Invigorating Hail, Weather Surge, Solar Flare, Super Duper Effective, Dirty Fighting, Foul Fighting, (status effect) Synergy, Confusion Boon, Harry, HP Advantage, Bulk Buster

These abilities increase damage by an amount equal to 10% times the number listed on the ability. So Power Reserves 2 would be 20% damage, while Dirty Fighting 5 would be 50% damage. These numbers stack additively with each other but multiplicatively with other damage modifiers, so if you were to have Critical Strikes 2 ( 20% damage on critical hit), it would be 1.2x damage, but multiplied with the critical hit damage of 1.5x = 1.8x total damage, or 80% damage on a critical hit.

Some of these abilities have additional formulas that change how much the total damage boost is (looking at you, Power Flux), so it’s not always just a consistent flat boost to damage. HP Advantage and Bulk Buster are 2 new abilities that I haven’t gotten any hard numbers for yet, but would also fall into the same category as Power Flux, being abilities that have a range of boosts based on some other condition.

Note that some of these abilities specify “powers up moves” (like the Synergies and Power Flux), which means they only work on normal attacks, not on sync attacks. Other abilities like Critical Strikes will also apply to sync moves.

Abilities that increase damage based on how much a stat is increased/decreased

Examples: Inertia, Blind Spot, Haymaker, Ramming Speed, Overpower, Tough Cookie

These abilities can be separated into 2 additional categories: those that work on sync moves, and those that work on normal moves.

Abilities that work on sync moves (Inertia, Blind Spot, Haymaker) increase your sync move’s damage by 16.5% for each stack of the associated stat. At max stacks of 6, your sync move will do double damage.

Abilities that work on normal moves (Ramming Speed, Overpower, Tough Cookie) increase the move’s damage by 5% for each stack of the associated stat. At max stacks of 6 (or -6 in the case of Overpower), your attack will do 30% more damage.

Abilities that have a random chance of triggering

Examples: Move Gauge Refresh, MP Refresh, Durable, Catalytic Cure, Ridicure, Tighten Up, Toughen Up, Leg Up, Third Act, Shifty Striker, Stoic, Mad Strength, Hit and Run, Defense Crush, Propulsion, Bounce Back, Indomitable, Supercharger, Healing Hand, Focus Group, Flagbearer

The chances of any of these abilities triggering are actually 10% (10% times the ability number). So Pikachu’s Potion MPR 3 actually has a 40% chance of occurring. Charizard’s MGR 4 is 50% chance of refunding one move gauge. This is why Mew’s Unfortuitous 9 and Metagross’s Eagle Eye 9 have a 100% chance of occurring.

If you have multiple instances of the same ability (for example, Rosa with 2x Energize MP Refresh 2), then the rolls will be made separately. In Rosa’s case, she has 2 separate rolls of 30% each, so in total she has 42% chance of getting 1 MP back, and 9% chance of getting 2 MP back, for a combined total of 51% (0.7 x 0.7 = 0.49 chance of not getting any MP back).

Abilities that raise the chance of inflicting additional effects of moves

Examples: Hostile Environment, Aggravation, On a Roll, Swag Bag

These abilities don’t provide a flat increase based on the ability number. Instead, they provide extra rolls for the move’s additional effect based on the number of the ability (which has so far always been 1 for HE/Aggravation for our sync pairs, and 2 for On a Roll). Thus, the effect depends largely on how high the ability’s original chance is. This is why enemy Aurorus with Hostile Environment 9 doesn’t have a 100% chance of freezing us with Blizzard.

For example: - Aggravation 1 on an ability with a 10% chance of infliction (Meowstic’s Psybeam) will have a final chance of 19%, because it’s 2 separate rolls of 10% each (0.9 x 0.9 = 0.81 chance of NOT being confused). - Aggravation 1 on an ability with a 20% chance of infliction (Floatzel’s Waterfall) will have a final chance of 36%, because it’s 2 separate rolls of 20% each (0.8 x 0.8 = 0.64 chance of NOT getting flinched). - Aggravation 1 on an ability with a 30% chance of infliction (Metagross’s Iron Head) will have a final chance of 51%, because it’s 2 separate rolls of 30% each (0.7 x 0.7 = 0.49 chance of NOT getting flinched).

Btw, I had tested Alolan Persian’s Critical Sting before, and even though it’s only Critical Sting 1, my numbers most closely matched the equivalent of getting 2 extra rolls on Bite’s flinch chance, not 1. If someone else could collaborate on this that’d be great.

Abilities that raise stats when entering battle or low on health

Examples: Grand Entry, Speedy Entry, Sharp Entry, Stamina Reserves, Special Reserves, On the Run, First Aid

Abilities that raise stats will give you a number of stacks equal to the number on the ability. So Speedy Entry 2 would be 2 stacks of speed, while Special Reserves 6 will be 6 stacks of special attack. Stamina Reserves 6 gives 6 move gauges. First Aid 4 gives 40% of your max health, which is the same as a potion.

As an added note, Entry abilities will trigger not only when you send a Pokemon out into battle, but also when a Pokemon mega-evolves! Currently this only applies to Alakazam, who can double dip into Speedy Entry and Grand Entry a second time when it mega-evolves.

Abilities that gradually regenerate health

Examples: Soothing Sand, Healing Hail, Healing Sun

You know the Regen effect provided by Glacia, Misty, and Cheren? Those heal you by about 6.25% of your max health per turn. Imagine the number on these healing abilities as being the number of stacks of Regen. So if you have Soothing Sand 1, you will heal 6.25% of your max health each turn during sandstorm. If you have Healing Sun 2, you will heal 12.5% of your max health each turn during sunny weather. Note that these abilities DO stack with a trainer’s Regen ability.

Abilities that reduce the effect of status effects/debuffs

Examples: Lessen Poison, Lessen Confusion, Lessen Paralysis, Lessen Sleep, Lessen Freeze, Lessen Trap, Lessen Flinch, Trained Body, Trained Mind, Stout Heart, Steady Resolve, Sudden Sprint, Mind’s Eye, Enlightenment

These reduce the effects of the status effect or debuff by 10% times the number listed. So if you have Trained Body 7, a defense debuff will only be 30% as effective on you compared to someone without the ability. Lessen Burn 5 will mean that burn only does 50% damage to you and only lowers your attack by half the amount it normally would. Note that Lessen Confusion lowers your chance of hitting yourself, but does NOT reduce damage you take from confusion or how long the confusion lasts.

Type Guard abilities

Examples: Fire Guard, Water Guard, Grass Guard, etc

These abilities reduce the damage you take from those type of attacks by 40%.

Stuff that doesn’t fit elsewhere

• Recuperate: Metagross’s Recuperate 2 heals for about 40% of your max HP when you sync. I haven’t personally tested Alakazam’s Recuperate 1 yet.
• Amped Up: raises speed by number of stages equal to the ability’s number.
• Master Healer: Pikachu’s MH1 seems to raise Potion’s healing by 10% of max HP. We don’t have access to Serperior’s version so we’re not sure yet how it will affect an HP draining attack.
• Backfire: Lowers enemy attack and special attack by a number of stacks equal to the ability number.
• Dire Rain: Your crit rate is raised by a number of stages equal to the ability’s number. Remember that for crit rate, 1 = 50%, 2 = 80%, 3 = 100%.
• Rain Guard, On the Ropes: not sure if this is 10% x the ability number, or 10% (10% x ability number)
• Racing Rain, Speeding Sun, Outrun: I’ll be honest, I still don’t know exactly what the formula is for how much faster these recharge your move gauge.
• Troublemaker: I still don’t know the exact number by which this increases your move’s accuracy. All I know is that it only affects the accuracy of dedicated status moves, like Hypnosis or Sleep Powder, NOT moves with added effects.

Hope this has been a useful resource to all you aspiring Pokemon Masters. Let me know if I missed anything, or if you have any additional questions!