BASIC · The decision you're actually making
They lead Incineroar + Garchomp. You already know Incineroar is the problem — Intimidate cuts your Attack, Fake Out steals a turn. The question isn't "should I hit it." It's: this turn, do my two attackers actually remove it, or does it survive on a sliver and punch back?
That's the real focus-fire decision. Not the vague "both hit it together," but: on the worst damage roll, does the combined hit still clear its HP? Answer that and you know whether to just KO it or lock it down first.
BASIC · The minimum correct model
Champions damage rolls 85%–100% across 16 equiprobable steps. So "does it KO" is never yes/no — it's a probability. If 12 of the 16 steps clear the target's HP, that's a 12/16 KO.
Focus-fire boils down to one line: take each attacker's LOW roll against the same target, add them, and check if the total ≥ the target's remaining HP.
- Read the low end of both ranges — not the average, never the high roll.
- A pretty high roll is worthless: if the target lives on your bad roll, it's now its turn to hit you.
- The doubles edge was never "more moves." It's two actions per turn. Weld both actions onto one target and you've forced a 2-on-1.
INTERMEDIATE · Work it through (then your turn)
Worked example. You have Chien-Pao (max Attack, holding Focus Sash) and Flutter Mane (max Sp. Atk) both hitting a full-HP Tornadus (call it 163 HP).
- Chien-Pao's Icicle Crash: Ice into Flying is super effective ×2, plus STAB ×1.5. It's a single-target move, so in doubles it does not eat the ×0.75. Low roll 98, high roll 116.
- Flutter Mane's Moonblast: Fairy into Flying is neutral, but the Sp. Atk is high enough — plus STAB ×1.5 — for a low roll of 72, high roll 85.
The whole game is in adding the two low rolls: 98 + 72 = 170 ≥ 163. Even on the worst rolls for both, it clears. That's a guaranteed KO — click it blind.
One thing beginners miss: if you swap Flutter Mane to the spread move Dazzling Gleam, doubles applies ×0.75, dropping that 72 to about 54. Now 98 + 54 = 152 < 163. Same two Pokémon, same target — one move swap turns a guaranteed KO into a gamble.
Your turn. Now imagine Chien-Pao's hit has a low roll of only 82, and Flutter Mane still hits 72. Combined: 82 + 72 = 154 against 163 HP. Off by 9. So: does this still count as a guaranteed KO? Should you give that command? (Revealed in layer 7 below — commit to an answer first.)
INTERMEDIATE · When to focus-fire (if-X-then-Y)
- If the target keeps hurting you while it lives (Intimidate, Fake Out, weather setters like Drizzle), then point both attackers at it and dismantle the pressure source first.
- If you've already chipped a target below half and can confirm the KO this turn, then finish it — don't peel off onto a fresh target and dilute your fire.
- If the opponent clearly flips the game next turn and this is your only window, then focus-fire even as a gamble to drag the board back.
- Conversely, if splitting fire leaves both opponents in "one more hit each = double KO next turn" range and neither threatens you much, then don't force the focus-fire — spreading chip is sometimes more efficient. Focus-fire is a tool, not a religion.
INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED · Where the simple rule breaks
- Focus Sash and the like. Your 170 ≥ 163 holds at full HP, but if the target has a Sash, the first hit drops it to 1 and only the second hit is the "real KO." Break that chain with a Fake Out or a switch in between and the math collapses. Against a Sash target, the order has to account for popping the Sash first.
- Intimidate changes YOUR numbers. An opposing Incineroar cuts your Attack a stage the moment it appears, so Chien-Pao's 98 low roll might fall to around 65 after the drop. Before you focus-fire, confirm your damage is the post-Intimidate number, not the full-power figure from the calc's default.
- The spread ×0.75. As shown above: Earthquake, Dazzling Gleam and other moves that hit two targets in doubles deal 75% single-target damage — and Earthquake hits your own ally too. If you focus-fire with a spread move, multiply the discount in before you add.
- Protect. One Protect from either opponent and your welded hit whiffs. When focusing a high-value target, either bait the Protect with Fake Out, read that they've already used it, or accept it as a probability.
INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED · The mistake everyone makes once
The classic error: reading only the biggest number on the calc line — "Chien-Pao hits 71%, Flutter Mane hits 43%, that's 114%, locked" — committing both, both roll low, the combined lands at 88%, and the target lives at full status and punishes you: one of your mons popped its Sash for nothing, the other is dead weight.
Why it's wrong: 71% and 43% are high or average rolls, not numbers guaranteed to co-occur on the same turn. The true worst case is both hits rolling the 85% step.
The fix: always judge off the sum of the two low rolls. Change the sentence in your head from "as long as it adds past 100%" to "if both hit their minimum, does the total still clear?" Clears = guaranteed KO, click blind. Doesn't clear = it's a gamble, so either add a safety net (Fake Out to cancel a partner's action, Sucker Punch as a priority backup, prior chip) or pick a target you can actually confirm.
INTERMEDIATE · Predict, then reveal
Back to the problem from layer 3: Chien-Pao low roll 82 + Flutter Mane low roll 72 = 154 against 163 HP. Would you give this focus-fire command?
Answer for yourself first.
—
Reveal: No — not as a guaranteed KO. 154 < 163 means that across the roll combinations where both hits land near their low end, the target survives on a sliver of HP — and now you've spent both actions on it with no KO to show, and it hits you back at full status next turn.
But that doesn't mean "never click it." The correct read is to treat it as a probability: lay out all 16 steps for each hit, count how many combinations sum to ≥163 — say 9 of 16, that's about 56%. If this is your only window and you lose with it alive, a 56% gamble is fine. If a safer target exists, don't gamble. The endpoint of focus-fire isn't "does it KO" — it's "is this hit a certainty, or an X% bet, and do I accept it?"
ADVANCED · Now do this
Open the calculator and run this on your own team — take the two attackers you most often lead together, against a target you keep failing to kill in real games:
- Pull each attacker's damage range against that target (look at the LOW number specifically).
- Add the two low ends and compare to the target's full HP — clearing it is a guaranteed KO.
- If it doesn't clear, do one of two things: (a) count how many of the 16 steps sum past the HP to get a real KO percentage, then decide if the bet is worth it; or (b) replace one hit with a safety net (pop the Sash first / chip beforehand / Fake Out lockdown) and recompute.
- Bonus rep: swap one attacker to a spread move and watch the ×0.75 drag your "guaranteed KO" back down to a gamble — so next time you focus-fire with a spread move, you'll multiply the discount in first.
Save those three or four combos. Next time Incineroar leads against you, you won't be guessing on the spot.