Damage category
 | It has been suggested that this article be moved toMove category. Please discuss whether or not to move it on itstalk page. |
| Damage categories | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical | |||
| Special | |||
| Status | |||
Thecategory (Japanese:分類classification) orkind[1] of amove is an element of said move that determines the kind ofdamage it deals.
In games prior to Generation IV, thetype of a damaging move determines whether the move isphysical (damage calculation is performed using the user'sAttack and the target'sDefense) orspecial (the user'sSpecial Attack and the target'sSpecial Defense).
It was first assigned to individual moves inPokémon XD: Gale of Darkness forShadow moves, and then applied to all moves starting inGeneration IV. Among fans, this change is often known as thePhysical/Special split.
Physical/Special split
The Physical/Special split allowsPokémon to use moves from a wider variety of types. For example, prior to Generation IV,Sneasel, which has a much greater Attack than Special Attack, was not effective at using moves withSTAB, due toIce-type moves andDark-type moves both being special.
Several new moves were introduced to give more balance to formerly all-special and all-physical types, such as the physicalPsychic-type movesZen Headbutt andPsycho Cut; and the special Fighting-type movesFocus Blast,Vacuum Wave, andAura Sphere. Other moves, such asHyper Beam (which was physical prior to Generation IV but is now special), gained physical counterparts with the same characteristics (in this case,Giga Impact).
Type-based categories
The move categories used fromGenerations I toIII are listed below.
The unusedBird type only exists in the first two generations and was defined as a physical type.
| Category | Types | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physical | Normal | Fighting | Flying | Poison | Ground | Rock | Bug | Ghost | Steel |
| Special | Fire | Water | Grass | Electric | Psychic | Ice | Dragon | Dark | |
Status moves
- Main article:Status move
Status moves act differently from both the other move categories, as they don't do direct damage. They also typically ignore type immunities, but Glare (in GenerationsII andIII) and Thunder Wave are notable exceptions.
Icons
Trivia
- Bite andWater Shuriken are the only moves to have changed damage categories outside of Generation IV andPokémon Legends: Arceus. Bite was changed from physical to special inGeneration II when it was changed to a Dark-type move, and Water Shuriken was changed from physical to special inGeneration VII.
- Bite is also the only move to have changed damage categories twice: once in Generation II when it turned from a Normal-type and thus physical move to a Dark-type and thus special move, and again in Generation IV when it was changed back to a physical move in the physical/special split.
References
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese | Cantonese | 分類Fānleuih |
| Mandarin | 分類 / 分类Fēnlèi | |
| French | Catégorie | |
| German | Kategorie | |
| Italian | Categoria | |
| Korean | 분류Bullyu | |
| Spanish | Categoría | |
 | This game mechanic article is part ofProject Games, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on thePokémon games. |
