What it does
Parting Shot is a Dark-type, sound-based status move with no damage. It lowers the target's Attack and Sp. Atk by one stage each, then forces the user to switch out to a Pokémon of your choice. The competitive value is that it does two things in one turn — weaken and pivot — when normal switching only does one.
The math on that −1 Attack is meaningful. A stage drop multiplies damage by 2/3 (≈ ×0.667). Worked example: a physical attacker that would have landed 120 damage on your incoming Pokémon now lands 80. In many Lv50 matchups, that gap is the difference between an OHKO and a 2HKO — the target that was just barely killing your team through a normal switch survives one hit and gets to move. Stat Points invested into Defense or HP on your switch-in stack on top of this, which is why players build the switch-in target with that margin in mind rather than treating the debuff as a bonus. Sp. Atk works the same way: −1 cuts special damage to roughly 67%, giving whatever pivots in an invisible one-turn shield on both the physical and special side simultaneously.
Two categories of complete immunity matter here. Normal-type targets: Dark does not affect Normal, the move fails entirely, and the user stays on field — you do not get the switch. Soundproof Pokémon (Mr. Mime, Kommo-o): same result, immune to the sound-based flag, no switch. The dangerous category is not immunity but reversal: Defiant and Competitive turn the stat drop into a +2 boost on the relevant offensive stat. Throwing Parting Shot at Kingambit does not punish it — it launches it.
Who runs it
Incineroar is the defining user. Intimidate already drops the physical Attack of every Pokémon on the field upon entry. Parting Shot then stacks another −1 Attack plus −1 Sp. Atk onto the target before switching out. The Pokémon coming in from your back bench now faces an opponent at −2 Attack / −1 Sp. Atk — that is a 50% cut to physical damage stacked with a 33% cut to special, all without spending a dedicated item slot or an extra turn. The standard Incineroar set is almost universally Fake Out / Knock Off / Parting Shot / flex slot. The first three are locked in; only the fourth moves.
Incineroar's base 60 Speed is not a flaw in this context — it is a feature. In Doubles, being slower than most threats means Parting Shot typically fires after the opponent has already committed their action for the turn. Incineroar eats the hit and exits with the debuff landing afterward, making it much harder for the opponent to prevent the switch with a speed-KO.
Weavile covers the opposite speed archetype. Base 125 Speed means Parting Shot goes off before almost anything can threaten it. No Intimidate stacking, but on a fast offensive team the move's value is clean: debuff fires, user escapes, incoming Pokémon faces a weakened attacker, all before the opponent's first move lands.
Liepard with Prankster grants Parting Shot +1 priority, pushing it ahead of nearly every Pokémon's action in Singles. The tradeoff is Liepard's limited stats — it functions almost purely as a disruption tool. In singles it is genuinely threatening; in doubles the priority does not override other +1 priority moves and offers less board control.
Scrafty shows up in singles as a bulkier, slower pivot. Its natural Dark typing plus solid mixed bulk means it can eat hits and fire Parting Shot late in the game to refresh a win condition Pokémon back into a weakened matchup.
How to use it
Singles
The fundamental read: your opponent's counter to your main attacker just switched in or is threatening to stay. If you predict they stay, Parting Shot debuffs them and pulls you out simultaneously. If you predict they switch, deal damage instead. Getting this read right costs almost nothing when wrong (their new Pokémon gets debuffed) and gains full value when right (the Pokémon they committed to staying with is now at −1/−1 while you bring in your answer at better health).
The "chip pivot" pattern: your attacker has taken significant damage, the opponent expects a switch. Fire Parting Shot instead — your attacker survives on low HP, the incoming threat gets debuffed, your fresh replacement enters into a weakened attacker. This requires knowing your HP threshold. The attacker needs to survive the incoming hit; this is where damage probability becomes a genuine decision point. In Champions, damage rolls exist in 16 steps between 85% and 100%, so even a move that "should" KO has a real chance of falling short if the HP is close.
Doubles
Three standard patterns:
- Turn 1 Fake Out + setup, Turn 2–3 Parting Shot rotation: Fake Out freezes one threat for Turn 1, teammate builds position (weather, terrain, stat boost). Turn 2 or 3, Incineroar fires Parting Shot to bring in the real attacker while debuffing the primary offensive target. By this point you have controlled two turns of damage and the board is in your favor.
- Board reset pivot: Your support Pokémon is being targeted or has done its job. Parting Shot pulls it out and delivers your second win condition into a debuffed field in the same action. This is stronger than a normal switch because the debuff is applied on exit rather than requiring an additional action.
- Intimidate chain: Switch-in target is another Intimidate Pokémon (Arcanine, Gyarados). Parting Shot → Intimidate entry stacks physical Attack to −2 or −3. At −3 Attack the opponent's physical output is 50% of normal, effectively neutralizing most physical threats without touching them.
Tips & strategy
The most common beginner mistake: using Parting Shot when the opponent has no bench
In singles, if the opponent is down to their last Pokémon, the switch component fails — there is no bench to switch into, so the user stays on field. You get only the stat drops while remaining in the matchup. Most of the time this is a wasted turn: you are still in the unfavorable matchup you wanted to escape, and you used your action to apply a debuff rather than dealing damage. The correct play when the opponent is on their last Pokémon is almost always to attack. In doubles, the same failure mode applies if your own bench is empty — you cannot switch out either, so the pivot half of the move does nothing.
The Defiant/Competitive trap
This deserves its own callout because it happens at every level of play. Defiant Pokémon (notably Kingambit) convert any stat drop — including ones from Parting Shot — into +2 on the corresponding stat. Competitive does the same on the special side (Milotic). Throwing Parting Shot at either of these is not a minor mistake; it actively powers up the opponent's most dangerous asset. Identify these Pokémon before the match and remove Parting Shot as an option against them for the entire game.
Debuff removal and diminishing returns
Parting Shot debuffs only matter as long as the opponent stays in. If they switch immediately, the incoming Pokémon is fresh. If they carry Lum Berry and a relevant status condition, the item will not fire (Lum Berry only clears status conditions, not stat drops). However, Haze erases all stat stages for both sides, Clear Body and White Smoke block the drop outright, and switching normally resets any accumulated drops. Scout for these before committing the pivot.
Hard counters
- Soundproof: Complete immunity. Mr. Mime and Kommo-o ignore this move entirely. User stays on field.
- Defiant / Competitive: Do not use against Kingambit, Milotic, or any other Pokémon with these abilities. Results in a +2 stat boost for the opponent.
- Normal-type targets: Move fails, no switch. Being surprised by a Normal-type last Pokémon in singles and burning Parting Shot instead of attacking is a game-losing misplay.
- Taunt: Shuts Parting Shot down completely. The standard singles answer to support Pokémon — once Taunted, the user cannot fire Parting Shot for the duration and becomes a liability if it has no attacking moves.
- Speed KO before Parting Shot fires: If the opponent outspeeds and can OHKO, the switch never happens. This is the main risk window for Incineroar against faster offensive threats, and why Fake Out from a partner is often the solution — flinch the threat first, then Parting Shot safely next turn.