What Champions Actually Tests: Every Turn Is a Damage Math Problem

BASIC — Hook: What you're actually computing before you lock in a move

In story mode you mash A and steamroll. In competitive battling, every turn is the same problem: does my hit KO it? does its hit KO me? who moves first? Get it wrong once and you can lose a Pokémon for free. It's not harder — it's a different game, and it has rules you can learn. This lesson teaches you to run that problem in your head.

BASIC — Core: every decision orbits three damage verbs

Strip away formats, sets, and meta talk. Three verbs are left:

• Deal damage — knock out the opponent's Pokémon.
• Survive damage — keep yours on the field.
• Avoid damage — dodge the hit with a switch, Protect, or an item.

One rule: competitive battling = land more on them while taking less from them. Which mon you bring, which move you click, which item you hold — all of it unpacks from that sentence.

And Pokémon Champions is the standalone battle app built for exactly this: both singles and doubles Ranked Battles ladders, everyone at Lv 50, bring 6 / pick 4 (both players see each other's full roster at preview). The battle gimmick here is Mega Evolution — one Pokémon per team Mega Evolves via the Omni Ring, and Mega Stone are held items. Tera, Dynamax, and Z-Move are not on the ranked ladder.

INTERMEDIATE — Worked→Faded: turning "does it KO?" into a probability

Damage isn't one fixed number — it's a roll across 16 equally likely steps from 85% to 100%. So "KO" is never yes/no; it's how many of those 16 steps are lethal.

Worked example: your Garchomp hits a Gardevoir with 160 HP using Earthquake. Ground move, Garchomp is a Ground type → STAB ×1.5. Say the low roll (85%) deals 152 and the high roll (100%) deals 179.

• The target's 160 HP sits between 152 and 179.
• Roughly the top 11 of the 16 steps clear it → about an 11/16 KO.
• In plain terms: it dies most of the time, but ~3 in 16 it survives on a sliver and hits you back. That's why strong players say "this is an 11/16," not "it KOs."

Your turn (faded): same Garchomp, now into a target with 175 HP and slight damage reduction, so your range becomes 145–170. Ask yourself: does even the top roll (170) reach 175? — No. So it's a 0/16, a guaranteed non-KO, and you need another plan (stack a debuff, change the move, or bet on a switch). Knowing it can't KO before you click means you never throw a turn away.

INTERMEDIATE — When/Decision: turn it into an if–then read

Run this chain every turn:

• If my hit is a high KO chance (≈12/16+) then click it — take their attacker off the board.
• If it's a middling chance (6–11/16) then ask: on the steps where it doesn't KO, do I get revenge-KO'd? If yes, survive or dodge first.
• If it's 0/16 then change the plan this turn — switch, Protect, or set up a debuff. Don't feed a free turn.
• If I move first and KO then Speed is damage avoidance: they never get to swing.

INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED — Exceptions: where the simple rule breaks

• Doubles spread penalty: spread moves hitting two targets in doubles are ×0.75 each. Your tidy "11/16" from singles shrinks when spread — it can drop below a KO.
• Earthquake hits your own ally: it's untargeted, so in doubles that hit lands on your partner too. Don't only stare at the opponent.
• Status is nerfed here: Paralysis is only a 12.5% full-stop (Speed is still halved), Sleep lasts ≤3 turns, Freeze has a 25%/turn thaw or breaks after 3 turns. Don't make "para-lock the opponent" your main plan like in older games.
• Lv 50 + Stat Points: IVs are locked at 31, you spend 66 Stat Points with a cap of 32 per stat. Don't import main-series "252 EV" numbers — the units don't match.

INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED — Mistake-Autopsy: beginners die on "I thought it would KO"

Symptom: the move says "120 power," you click it feeling great, the opponent lives on a sliver and one-shots you back. Autopsy: you treated damage as fixed and ignored that it's a 16-step roll — and the target's HP landed exactly on the steps you don't clear. You bet on the high roll; the game hands you the lower-middle. Fix: before every attack, ask "does even the low roll (85%) still KO?" Only if the lowest step clears is it a guaranteed kill. Otherwise it's a probability, and you need a backup for the steps where it lives.

INTERMEDIATE — Predict-then-Reveal

Q: In singles your Garchomp's Earthquake is an 11/16 KO on a target. Same game, now in doubles, that hit lands on both opponents (spread). On the target that was 11/16 — is it now easier or harder to KO?

…answer first…

A: Harder. Spread moves are ×0.75 per target in doubles, so the damage takes a 25% cut and that 11/16 can fall to a coin flip or fail outright. That's the live proof that singles math doesn't transfer to doubles.

ADVANCED — Now-Do-This: give yourself three damage-intuition reps in the Pokédex

Open the Pokédex (go to the Pokédex) and do this:

1. Pick 3 Pokémon you'd want to use. Note their Attack / Sp. Atk base stats and their highest-power STAB move (remember STAB ×1.5).
2. For each, pick an opponent you expect to face, look at its defensive base stats and HP, and judge by feel: is your hit a "guaranteed KO," a "probability KO," or a "can't KO"?
3. Write your guesses down and verify them line by line in the next lesson on the damage calc. You'll see how often you overrated "I thought it would KO." After this rep, you stop seeing Pokémon as "does it look cool" and start seeing "who is it a 16/16 against, and who is it a 0/16 against." That's where the competitive brain starts.