Illusion (Japanese:イリュージョンIllusion) is anAbility introduced inGeneration V. It is thesignature Ability ofZorua,Zoroark, and theirHisuian forms.

Effect

In battle

When a Trainer's Pokémon with Illusion enters battle, Illusion changes the appearance of the Pokémon to that of the last conscious, non-Egg Pokémon in its Trainer'sparty. If the Pokémon with Illusion was the last conscious non-Egg Pokémon in the party before being switched in, Illusion does not change its appearance.

Illusion replicates the appearance (including species,form, andShininess),nickname (or species name if none),Poké Ball, andgender of the Pokémon it is masquerading as; however, it does not replicate the level of the masqueraded Pokémon. The effect is only aesthetic—effects such asAttract still use the Pokémon's actual gender. On the user interface, an opponent's Pokémon disguised by Illusion will appear to be the type of the Pokémon it is disguised as (even if it is affected by a move such asSoak).

The illusion disappears if the Pokémon has its Ability changed or suppressed or if it takesdamage from a damaging move. Indirect damage (such as from aLife Orb,weather,status conditions,recoil, etc.) will not break the illusion. If the Pokémon with Illusion is hit by amultistrike move, the illusion will be broken after the first hit. If a Pokémon with Illusion uses aZ-Move, the illusion wears off immediately before using the Z-Move.

Role Play fails if the target has the Ability Illusion.Skill Swap fails if either Pokémon has Illusion. Illusion cannot be copied byTrace,Power of Alchemy, orReceiver. If a Pokémon obtains this Ability withImposter orTransform, it will not disguise itself. Pokémon cannottransform if disguised by Illusion, nor can it transform into a Pokémon that is disguised by Illusion.

Additionally, wild Pokémon can disguise themselves with Illusion under certain circumstances.

• InPokémon Black and White, in thespecial event encounter with a wild Zoroark inLostlorn Forest, the wild Zoroark will be disguised asEntei,Raikou, orSuicune (depending on the Pokémon that triggered the event).
• If awild Pokémon with Illusion successfully calls an ally for help in anSOS Battle, it will disguise itself as the summoned ally.

Generation V

If Illusion would disguise the Pokémon as another Pokémon of the same species, it fails to disguise the Pokémon at all.

Generation VI

Illusion can now disguise itself as another Pokémon with Illusion of the same species.

Generation VIII

If the PokémonDynamaxes while disguised as a Pokémon with theGigantamax Factor, it will Dynamax into the standard form of the Pokémon, not the Gigantamax form. If disguised asZacian,Zamazenta, orEternatus, the Pokémon will not be able to Dynamax.

Generation IX

In most circumstances, if the PokémonTerastallizes while disguised, it will not lose its illusion. However, it will Terastallize into its Tera Type rather than the disguised Pokémon's Tera Type. If disguised asOgerpon orTerapagos, the Pokémon's illusion will fade before it Terastallizes. When disguising as a Pokémon that has already Terastallized, the illusion will not appear to be Terastallized itself.

If the last conscious non-Egg Pokémon in the party is a Terastallized Ogerpon or Terapagos, Illusion will not activate when the Pokémon is switched in. Illusion will also not activate if the Pokémon with Illusion is Terastallized and the last Pokémon in the party is Ogerpon or Terapagos.

If the Pokémon isout of its Poké Ball and the player starts a battle with a wild Pokémon, Illusion will not activate at the beginning of the match.

Illusion will now always be used byWild Zorua and Zoroark to disguise themselves as another Wild Pokémon in the area, unless the game is reloaded when one has already been spawned. However, it wears off as soon as the battle starts, with the standard Ability activation message popping up.

Outside of battle

Illusion has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Illusion

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0570		Zorua	Dark		Dark	Illusion	None	None
0570		Zorua Hisuian Form	Normal	Ghost	Illusion	None	None
0571		Zoroark	Dark		Dark	Illusion	None	None
0571		Zoroark Hisuian Form	Normal	Ghost	Illusion	None	None
Please note that Abilities marked with a superscript are only available in the stated generation or later. For Generation III and IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities.

In other games

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

InPokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, the Ability functions similar to the core series games for foe Pokémon. A Pokémon with this Ability can transform into another Pokémon that can be found on the same floor of aMystery Dungeon. For partner Pokémon, this Ability has no effect.

InPokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, leader or ally Pokémon with this Ability transform intoKecleon. An enemy Pokémon with this Ability disguises as another enemy Pokémon that can be found on the same floor. As long as the illusion stays up, the Pokémon receives a 40% increase in the power of its moves.

The illusion wears off when the Pokémon with this Ability is directly damaged by a damaging move or when Illusion is negated or replaced, causing the Pokémon with this Ability to appear as its true self. Indirect damage or loss of HP (such as through Substitute, weather, status conditions,traps and so on) will not break Illusion.

Pokémon Conquest

InPokémon Conquest, theAbility functions similar to the core series. A Pokémon with Illusion starts a battle with the appearance of one of their ally Pokémon. The Ability will only disguise the Pokémon, not theWarrior that they are linked with (if any).

WildZorua will always start withIllusion as their default Ability. When entering awild Pokémon kingdom location, Zorua will appear disguised as a duplicate of one of the other wild Pokémon in the battle preview. For example, if the battle preview shows that oneStarly will be present, Zorua might appear as a second Starly, visible only upon starting the battle.

A Pokémon's Illusion will wear off when the user makes its first attack; takes direct damage; or in the case of wild Pokémon, when a Warrior initiates the minigame tolink with them. However, a disguise can be identified before committing to an attack or link attempt: when previewing damage against a disguised target, the preview will calculate damage according to the target's true typing. Similarly, the link medal on a disguised wild Pokémon will use the link compatibility of their true self, not that of the disguise.

If a Pokémon with Illusion is defeated in one hit, they will disappear without breaking Illusion.

When Illusion is used by the player's Pokémon, computer-controlled opponents will not be fooled by it, and will act as if the disguise is not applied.

Description

In animation

Pokémon animated series

Zoroark Zorua Transformed Disguised Zoroark using amove asLycanroc
The Pokémon can either change its shape into a human or Pokémon, or it creates illusions for everyone to see.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Used In		Notes
	Zoroark's eyes glow light blue and its outlines start to glow pink. Then, a magenta wave of energy appears by its face and moves down to its feet. As the wave moves down, its body changes its shape into the opponent, or Zoroark causes the opponent to see illusions of its choosing (sometimes with its eyes glowing red), or Zoroark glows purple and it transforms into another Pokémon. If Zoroark takes damage, it returns to normal.
Zoroark (M13)	Zoroark: Master of Illusions		Debut
A wild Zoroark	The Island of Illusions!		None
Gladion's Zoroark	Chasing Memories, Creating Dreams!		None
Raifort's Zoroark	The Terapagos I Don't Know		None
	Zorua jumps up high into the air and spins its body while in the air. As it spins, its body starts to glow pink and it changes its shape into the opponent. Sometimes, Zorua's eyes glow light blue before it transforms.
Zorua (M13)	Zoroark: Master of Illusions		As a human, its tail is visible, and when the tail is touched, Zorua returns to its normal form.
Luke's Zorua	Movie Time! Zorua in "The Legend of the Pokémon Knight"!		None

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Zorua Transformed
The Pokémon makes itself appear as something else.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Zorua changes its appearance into something else, occasionally retaining its eyes, eyebrows, and eyelids when it does so. If Zorua takes damage, it takes a wisp-like appearance as it is forced out of its transformation.
N's Zorua	Lost in the Big City		Debut

Pokémon Pocket Monsters

Zorua
The Pokémon becomes a copy of something or someone else.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Zorua changes its appearance into something else, but leaves out the tail.
A wild Zorua	Who's the Real Villain!?		Debut

Trivia

• In Generation V, ifEntrainment is used on a Pokémon with Illusion while it is disguised as another Pokémon, when its Ability activates the banner will state that the Ability belongs to the Pokémon that was used as the disguise. If the Pokémon's Ability is changed again, these messages will correctly state the Pokémon who the Ability belongs to when it activates.
• Although Abilities do not occur inPokémon GO, wild Zorua will appear in the game disguised as the player'sBuddy Pokémon, alluding to this Ability.

In other languages

This article is part ofProject Moves and Abilities, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games.

• Abilities
• Abilities introduced in Generation V
• Abilities that cannot be copied