Pokémon Damage Formula, Complete Calculation Reference

01At a glance

The damage formula has been broadly stable since Gen 5 with only minor numerical edits across generations. The structural shape, base damage, then a chain of multipliers, has stayed consistent.

Every modifier applies in a fixed order. The damage calculator at /calculator on Pokékipe uses the canonical @smogon/calc engine; this page documents the underlying math.

02The formula

The Pokémon damage formula in its standard form. Every modifier applies on top of a base damage value computed from level, base power, and attack/defense stats.

Base damage

⌊ ( ⌊ ( ( 2 × Level ÷ 5 ) + 2 ) × Base Power × ( Attack ÷ Defense ) ÷ 50 ⌋ + 2 ) ⌋

Where:

• Level, attacker's level (50 in standard tournament play; 100 in some legacy formats; 5 in Little Cup).
• Base Power, the move's base power (e.g. 80 for Ice Beam).
• Attack, the attacker's Attack stat (physical moves) or Special Attack stat (special moves).
• Defense, the defender's Defense stat (physical moves) or Special Defense stat (special moves).
• ⌊x⌋, floor function (round down to integer).

Final damage

Base damage × Targets × Weather × Crit × Roll × STAB × Type × Burn × Other

Each modifier is applied in sequence, with the result floored to integer at each step. The exact engine ordering is deterministic; the only randomness is in the Roll modifier (and crit rolls).

03All damage modifiers

Each multiplier in the damage formula corresponds to a real-world game mechanic. The table below covers every standard modifier, anything that doesn't fit here is an edge case or an ability-specific modifier.

Ability-specific modifiers

A subset of abilities apply additional damage modifiers beyond the standard table. Examples:

• Sheer Force, moves with secondary effects gain +30% damage; the secondary effect is suppressed.
• Tough Claws, contact moves gain +30% damage.
• Strong Jaw, biting moves gain +50% damage.
• Iron Fist, punching moves gain +20% damage.
• Reckless, recoil moves gain +20% damage.
• Sand Force, Rock/Ground/Steel moves gain +30% damage in sand.
• Solar Power, special moves gain +50% damage in sun (with 1/8 HP cost per turn).
• Pixilate / Aerilate / Refrigerate, Normal moves change type and gain +20% damage.
• Protosynthesis / Quark Drive, highest stat boosted by 30% (50% if Speed) under triggering condition.

04The damage roll

Every damaging move applies a random damage multiplier between 0.85 and 1.00 inclusive. The result is a 15% maximum variance per hit, which produces the "rolls" players read in damage calculations.

The 16 possible rolls are uniformly distributed, each value has 1/16 (6.25%) probability. In a damage calc reading like "81% – 96% damage", the lower bound is the 0.85 roll and the upper bound is the 1.00 roll.

05Critical hits

Critical hits multiply damage by 1.5× from Gen 6 onward (down from 2× in earlier gens). The base critical-hit rate is 1/24 (≈4.17%) from Gen 7 onward; was 1/16 (6.25%) in Gen 2-6.

Crit-rate stages

Critical hits use a stage system. Each modifier adds to the user's crit stage; the stage determines the rate.

Crit-modifying sources

• +1 from move, high-crit moves (Slash, Crabhammer, Razor Leaf, Stone Edge, etc.).
• +1 from ability, Super Luck on the user.
• +1 from item, Razor Claw or Scope Lens held by the user.
• +2 from setup move, Focus Energy raises crit stage by 2.
• Always-crit moves, Wicked Blow, Surging Strikes, Frost Breath, Storm Throw always crit regardless of stage.
• Crit-prevention abilities, Battle Armor and Shell Armor prevent the user from being critically hit.

06Spread moves in Doubles

Multi-target moves (spread moves) hit multiple Pokémon simultaneously in Doubles formats. Each individual hit is reduced to 75% of its single-target damage value.

Common spread moves: Earthquake, Heat Wave, Surf, Discharge, Make It Rain, Astral Barrage, Glacial Lance, Blizzard, Hyper Voice (with Pixilate/Refrigerate), Rock Slide.

Single-target vs spread math

• Single-target move, full damage to one Pokémon. No 75% modifier.
• Spread move (Doubles), 75% damage to each of up to two opponents. Total potential damage scales above 100% if both targets exist.
• Spread move targeting one Pokémon, when only one opposing Pokémon is on the field (e.g. one fainted), the move deals 75% damage to that one target despite hitting alone. This is a Doubles-specific quirk.

Allied immunity

Spread moves hit the user's ally too unless the ally is immune via type or ability. Earthquake hits both opponents AND the user's ally, unless the ally has Levitate, Flying-typing, Air Balloon, or similar Ground immunity. This is one of the most common team-building considerations in Doubles.

07Cross-gen variations

The damage formula has been broadly stable since Gen 5, with changes confined to specific multipliers.

The Gen 7 changes (crit rate 1/24, burn DoT 1/16) were paired with the paralysis Speed change (was -75%, became -50%). The cumulative effect: Gen 7 status conditions are less debilitating than pre-Gen 7 versions.

08Worked examples

Three example calculations to walk the formula through realistic scenarios.

Example 1: Choice Specs Latios Draco Meteor on Heatran

Setup: Latios (Choice Specs, max SpA, +0 stage) using Draco Meteor (130 BP, special, Dragon) against Heatran (max HP, +0 SpD, neutral nature).

• Base damage from formula: ~88 with the stat ratios.
• STAB: × 1.5 (Latios is Dragon-type) → 132.
• Type effectiveness: Dragon vs Steel/Fire = × 0.5 (resisted) → 66.
• Choice Specs: × 1.5 → 99.
• Roll: × 0.85 to × 1.00 → final damage 84-99.
• Heatran has 415 max HP; the hit deals ~20-24%, a 5-hit KO under perfect rolls.

Example 2: Crit Tauros Body Slam in RBY OU

Setup: Tauros (RBY, 110 Speed = ~21% crit rate, max Atk) using Body Slam (85 BP, physical, Normal) against Snorlax. Crit lands.

• Base damage: with Tauros's offense and Snorlax's bulk, around 90.
• STAB (Normal on Normal-type Tauros): × 1.5 → 135.
• Type effectiveness: Normal vs Normal = × 1.0 (neutral).
• Crit (Gen 1 rules, × 2): 270.
• Roll: × 0.85 to × 1.0 → final 230-270.
• Snorlax in RBY OU has ~520 HP → the hit deals ~44-52%.

Example 3: Spread Earthquake in VGC

Setup: Choice Banded Earthquake from a Doubles attacker against a 4× Ground-weak Levitate-less target.

• Base damage: high, 100 BP physical with Choice Band 1.5×.
• STAB if Ground-typed user: × 1.5.
• Type effectiveness: × 4 (4× weak target).
• Spread reduction: × 0.75 (multi-target).
• Roll: × 0.85 to × 1.0.
• Result: typically OHKO. The 4× type advantage compensates for the spread reduction.

09Common misconceptions

Several damage-related claims are wrong. The corrections are based on engine behaviour.

• "A higher SpA always means higher damage", wrong. The Attack/Defense ratio matters. A 100 SpA attacker against 100 SpD defender deals the same calculation as a 200 SpA attacker against 200 SpD.
• "Crit damage is doubled in modern gens", wrong. Crit damage is × 1.5 from Gen 6 onward. The × 2 multiplier applied only in Gen 1-5.
• "Burn cuts all damage in half", wrong. Burn halves PHYSICAL Attack only, special moves are unaffected. Guts ignores burn's Atk reduction.
• "Spread moves hit each opponent for full damage", wrong. Spread moves deal 75% damage in Doubles (single-target moves deal 100%). The 75% multiplier applies even when only one opponent is on the field.
• "Reflect / Light Screen halve damage in all formats", almost true. They halve damage in Singles (× 0.5) and reduce damage by ~33% in Doubles (× 0.667). Aurora Veil works the same way.
• "The damage roll is always uniform between 85-100%", correct. The roll has 16 distinct values (0.85, 0.86, ..., 1.00) uniformly distributed. Damage calculators read this directly.
• "Tera STAB is double STAB", partially correct. Tera Type matching gives 1.5× STAB; if the move's type ALSO matched the user's ORIGINAL typing, the boost rises to 2× (Adaptability-equivalent). Pure Tera-Type-but-not-original-type moves stay at 1.5×.

10Where to go from here

The damage formula combines multiple mechanic layers. The pages below cover the layers individually.

• Type chart, Type Chart covers the type-effectiveness multiplier in full.
• Status conditions, Status Conditions covers burn (-50% physical Atk) and other DoT effects.
• Speed mechanics, Speed & Priority covers move ordering, which determines which side's damage applies first.
• Run a calculation, /calculator uses the @smogon/calc engine to apply this formula with all modifiers automatically.
• Glossary, every term used above is defined in the Competitive Glossary.