Pokemon Gold and Silver - Damage Calculation

Damage Calculation

This is the damage calculation process for the second generation. The game performs each step in the following order.

• In internal battles, the badges have the appropriate stat multiplied by 9 and divided by 8 (the Zephyr Badge increases Attack, the Plain Badge increases Speed, the Mineral Badge increases Defense, and the Glacier Badge increases Special Attack).*
• Stat stage modifying attacks (see below) modify the appropriate stat (Attack or Defense).*
• If the attacker is burned, halve the Attack value.*
• If the attacker is using Selfdestruct and Explosion, divide the opponent's Defense by 2.
• If the opponent had used Reflect, double the Defense value.*
• If the opponent had used Light Screen, double the Special Defense value.*
• If the attacker is Pikachu with a Light Ball, Special Attack is doubled.
• If the attacker is Cubone/Marowak with a Thick Club, Attack is doubled.
• If the Attack/Special Attack and/or Defense/Special Defense stat exceeds 255, divide both stats by 4 (In GSC, after division, only the low-order byte is retained; for example 0x0123 in hexadecimal becomes 0x0023).
• If the opponent is Ditto with Metal Powder, both Defense and Special Defense are multiplied by 1.5.
• If the Attack/Special Attack and/or Defense/Special Defense is 0, it becomes 1.
• The damage is equal to:

  int(int(int(2×L ÷ 5+2)×A×P ÷ D)/50)

  where L is the attacker's level, A is the attacker's Attack/Special Attack value, P is the attack's power, and D is the opponent's Defense/Special Defense value. For physical attack types (Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Steel), use the Attack and Defense values. For special attack types (Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ice, Psychic, Dragon, Dark), use the Special Attack and Special Defense values.
• When the attack does a critical Hit (see below), the calculated damage is doubled.
• If the attacker is holding certain items like Pink Bow and Charcoal, multiply the calculated damage by 1.1 (multiply by 110, divide by 100) if the attacker is using an attack of the appropriate type.
• The damage calculated cannot exceed 997. If it does, the damage becomes 997.
• Add 2 to the calculated damage.
• Weather. Sunny Day increases the damage of fire-type attacks by 50% and decreases the damage of water-type attacks by 50%. Rain Dance increases the damage of water-type attacks by 50%, decreases the damage of fire-type attacks by 50%, and halves the damage done by Solarbeam.
• Badges. In the Gold/Silver/Crystal version, the Johto and Kanto badges increase damage of the appropriate attack type to 9/8 (multiply damage by 9; divide by 8) (in internal battles only). For instance, the Hive Badge increases damage from the player's Bug-type attacks.
• Same Type Attack Bonus. If the attack type shares a type with one of the user's types, then damage is multiplied by 1.5.
• Types of attacker and defender. The damage calculated is multiplied by a multiplier that depends on the attacker's and opponent's types (see the Battle Chart, below). As an exception, after Foresight is used against the opponent, normal and fighting attacks against the opponent have normal effectiveness against the Ghost type.
• Finally, in a process called "damage weighting", a random number from 217 through 255 is multiplied in the currently calculated damage, and divided by 255.

* This effect is ignored if the attack does a critical hit and the attacker's Attack/Special Attack stat stage is less than or equal to the opponent's Defense/Special Defense stat stage.

Critical Hits

The method for determining a Critical Hit is below.

• Set C to 0.
• If Focus Energy is in effect for attacker, add 1 to C.
• If attack is Karate Chop/Razor Leaf/Crab Hammer/Slash/Aero Blast/Cross Chop, add 2 to C.
• If attacker is Chansey with Lucky Punch, add 2 to C.
• If attacker is Farfetch'd with Stick, add 2 to C.
• If attacker has Scope Lens attached, add 1 to C.
• The critical hit ratio is as follows:
  • C = 0: 17/256
  • C = 1: 32/256
  • C = 2: 64/256
  • C = 3: 85/256
  • C = 4 or more: 128/256

A Critical Hit deals two times more damage than usual. Also during a Critical Hit, if the attacker's Attack/Special Attack stat stage is equal to or less than the opponent's Defense/Special Defense stat stage, changes to Attack and Defense due to Reflect, Light Screen, badges, stat stages, and burns are ignored.

Stat Stages

Stat stages refer to levels that increase or decrease stats during a battle. Each stat stage has 13 different levels.

That stat scale applies to the stat stages for Attack, Defense, Speed, Special Attack, and Special Defense. At the start of a battle, each Pokemon's stat stages begin at 0. The stat stages for a Pokemon are reset to 0 when the Pokemon is switched.

To apply stat stages, multiply the stat by the stat multiplier for the corresponding stat stage, then adjust the stat so that it's neither less than 1 nor greater than 999.

The term "stat stages" refers to those for Attack, Defense, Speed, Special Attack, and Special Defense, as well as those for evasion and Accuracy (see the "Accuracy Check" section of the Attack Process page).

Battle Chart