Pokemon math goes to the moon as Scarlet and Violet gives us a new max damage record over 2 billion, and it only takes 164 turns and 100 totally-not-dead Pokemon
Oct. 11, 2024Did Smeargle just become the most powerful Pokemon?
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It’s been discovered that you can dish out over two billion damage to a poor, unsuspectingPokemon in Scarlet and Violetin one ridiculously powerful hit, assuming you have the patience to sit through the 164 turns of setup required to pull it off.
Getting to this point is just the beginning, though, as you also have to ensure your Pokemon is as powerful as it possibly can be, and that its opponent is as weak as possible, which is where things get complicated. King The Luck has a Blaziken buff its critical hit rate and Attack stat with Focus Energy and Swords Dance before using Baton Pass to transfer the boosts to a Smeargle – the one who’s going to deal the enormous damage. There’s a lot of careful usage of the move Skill Swap, to give Smeargle the Huge Power ability to double its Attack stat, and pass around Power Spot so that Smeagle’s ally can buff the all-powerful painter’s moves by a further 30%.
It doesn’t stop there, as Smeargle must use Conversion to become a Ghost type for a Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB), and repeatedly use Guard Split on a Regirock so that its own base Attack is the same as the legendary Pokemon’s Defense, which has the highest you can get in Scarlet and Violet. This brings Smeargle up to a whopping base 547 Attackbeforebuffs.
The opponent (another Smeargle, just to make things a bit more confusing) then has their Defense cut after being hit with Screech three times, and is hit with Reflect Type from the Ghost/Psychic-type Lunala to make it extremely weak to Ghost-type attacks. Finally, Smeargle The All Powerful fully charges up the Metronome item for a further buff by using Last Respects five times on other Pokemon, and its soon-to-be victim uses the move Glaive Rush to receive double damage on its next hit, sealing its fate further.
Before launching its attack, the godly Smeargle Terrastalizes, increasing its Ghost-type STAB bonus, as its ally uses Helping Hand to add another attack buff. The opponent’s Oranguru, clearly hell-bent on seeing its friend suffer, uses Instruct, making Helping Hand trigger again. After all that, the ultimate Last Respects lands. And yes, it’s a critical hit, too.
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Either way, it’s a ludicrous number you’d never need to reach in a normal Pokemon battle, but the fact that you can is ridiculously cool. I just feel rather bad for the Pokemon on the receiving end of it.
Be sure to check out our roundup of thebest Pokemon gameswhile you’re here.
I’m one of GamesRadar+’s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield’s student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming’s news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you’re sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.
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