Priority

Priority (Japanese: 先制 preemption) is a characteristic of moves, such that any move with a higher priority than another will always be performed first. When two moves have the same priority, the users' statistics will determine which one is performed first in a .
==Mechanics==
Starting in Generation III, each move has a hidden priority value in the game data, with values ranging from +5 to -7. The vast majority of moves have the standard priority value of 0. A move with a positive priority is a priority move (Japanese: 先制攻撃 preemptive attack). Moves with a positive priority may also be referred to as having an increased priorityPerfecting Your Pokémon Party in 2016! | Pokemon.com and moves with a negative priority a decreased priority. In the fandom, moves that have the same priority are said to be in the same priority bracket.
Some Abilities increase the priority of certain moves. Some moves and Abilities can prevent priority moves from being used; Pokémon are also immune to -promoted priority moves.
Move priority is not affected by , which only reverses the Speed-resolved order of moves within a priority bracket; moves with higher priority are still performed before ones with lower priority. Some held items and Abilities also affect a move's resolution within its priority bracket (ignoring Trick Room), but not the priority itself.
===Special priority===
Certain events will always occur before any moves (besides ) can be performed. The messages for the activation of Quick Claw, Custap Berry, O-Powers, and are always shown before anything else. Switching out, rotating, using items, escaping, and the charging messages for , , and are displayed or performed next. stallizing happens immediately afterwards. In Generation I only, NPC Trainers do not have priority when using items or switching, while in battles against other players, switching can be performed even if the other player hasn't made their move yet. In Generation II, a wild Pokémon fleeing does not have its own priority and will instead use the priority of the move the Pokémon would have used had it chosen not to flee. In Generations II and III, players always switch before NPCs do. In Generation III, if two players switch in the same turn, then 'player 1' will always switch before 'player 2' does. Mega Evolution and Dynamaxing generally occur at the beginning of a turn but after any switching has occurred; however, if a Pokémon is Mega Evolving or rotating in and then using on a Pokémon that is switching out, the Mega Evolution or rotation always happens before the Pokémon uses Pursuit (and therefore before the other Pokémon's switch).
 is a special exception to the general rules of priority, due to its effect. Switching fundamentally happens before any moves can be performed, but when Pursuit is targeting a Pokémon that switches out, it will hit the Pokémon before it can switch, meaning that it will go before any other move, no matter its priority. If multiple Pursuits are targeting the same Pokémon and the Pokémon switches out, if the Pokémon faints before all of the Pursuits have executed, the remaining Pursuits will execute at their normal priority.
Additionally, a few moves and Abilities can cause a Pokémon to act outside of its normal priority.
===Abilities that increase priority===
These Abilities increase the priority of certain moves used by a Pokémon that has one of these Abilities.
Name	Affected moves 	Increase	Generation
 	Status moves 	+1 	V
 	moves (if HP is full)	+1 	VI
 	Healing moves 	+3 	VII
===Effects that block priority moves===
These effects prevent the use of priority moves.
Cause 	Notes 	Generation
 	In Generation V, does not affect moves that become priority moves due to	V
Pokémon	Immune to foes' moves that gain priority due to 	VII
 	Only protects grounded Pokémon 	VII
 	Protects Pokémon and its allies 	VII
 	Protects Pokémon and its allies 	VII
 	Protects Pokémon and its allies 	IX
===Effects that can break priority===
These effects can make a Pokémon act at a different priority than it normally would.
Name	Description 	Generation
 	The user helps the target and makes it use its move right after the user. 	V
 	The user suppresses the target and makes its move go last. 	V
 	The user instructs the target to use the target's last move again. 	VII
 	Whenever a dance move is used in battle, the Pokémon will copy the user to immediately perform that dance move itself.	VII
===Effects that dictate precedence within a priority bracket===
These effects can force a move to go first or last within a priority bracket regardless of its user's Speed (unless multiple Pokémon are forced into the same "spot") or .
Name 	Notes 	Generation
Quick Claw 	20% chance to go first 	II
Custap Berry	Moves first (when HP falls below 1/4)	IV
Full Incense	Always last 	IV
Lagging Tail	Always last 	IV
 	Always last 	IV
 	30% chance to go first 	VIII
 	Always last when using a status move 	IX
===Effects that depend on move order===
These are effects that have conditions based on going before or after others.
Name	Notes 	Generation
 	Fails if the target has already acted 	IV
 	Fails if the user acts first 	IV
 	Attack power doubles if the user acts after the target 	IV
 	Fails if the target has already acted 	V
 	Only activates if it is the last Pokémon to act 	V
 	Fails if the target has already acted 	VI
 	Attack power doubles if the user acts before the target	VIII
 	Attack power doubles if the user acts before the target	VIII
 	Fails if the user acts first 	IX
==Move priority==
===Generation IX===
Priority	Moves
+5 	
+4 	, , , , , , , ,
+3 	, , ,
+2 	, , , , ,
+1 	, , , , *, , ,, , , , , ,
0 	All other moves
-1 	None
-2 	None
-3 	, ,
-4 	
-5 	,
-6 	, , , ,
-7 	
*: has increased priority only if used in .
===Generation VIII===
Priority	Moves
+5 	
+4 	, , , , , , , ,
+3 	, , ,
+2 	, , , , ,
+1 	, , , , *, , ,, , , ,
0 	All other moves
-1 	
-2 	None
-3 	,
-4 	,
-5 	,
-6 	, , , ,
-7 	
*: has increased priority only if used in .
===Generation VII===
====Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!====
Priority	Moves
+5 	
+4 	
+3 	
+2 	,
+1 	
0 	All other moves
-1 	, , ,
====Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon====
Priority	Moves
+5 	
+4 	, , , , , , ,
+3 	, , , ,
+2 	, , , , ,
+1 	, , , , , , , ,, , , , ,
0 	All other moves
-1 	
-2 	None
-3 	, ,
-4 	,
-5 	,
-6 	, , ,
-7 	, fleeing
===Generation VI===
Priority	Moves
+5 	
+4 	, , , , , ,
+3 	, , ,
+2 	, , ,
+1 	, , , , , , , ,, , , , ,
0 	All other moves,
-1 	
-2 	None
-3 	
-4 	,
-5 	,
-6 	, , ,
-7 	
===Generation V===
Priority	Moves
+5 	
+4 	, , , ,
+3 	, , , ,
+2 	,
+1 	, , , , , ,, , ,
0 	All other moves,
-1 	
-2 	None
-3 	
-4 	,
-5 	,
-6 	, , ,
-7 	, , , fleeing
===Generation IV===
Priority	Moves
+5 	
+4 	,
+3 	, , ,
+2 	
+1 	, , , , , , ,, , ,
0 	All other moves
-1 	
-2 	None
-3 	
-4 	,
-5 	,
-6 	,
-7 	, fleeing
===Generation III===
Priority	Moves
+5 	
+4 	,
+3 	, , ,
+2 	None
+1 	, , ,
0 	All other moves, fleeing
-1 	
-2 	None
-3 	
-4 	
-5 	,
-6 	,
===Generation II===
Priority	Moves
+2 	, ,
+1 	, ,
0 	All other moves
-1 	, , , ,
===Generation I===
Priority	Moves
+1 	
0 	All other moves
-1 	
==In animation==
===Pokémon the Series===
In , priority is rarely mentioned, though priority moves such as are frequently used.
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The concept of priority moves was first mentioned out loud in A Grand Fight for Winning!, where commented on the subject while watching the Contest Battle between and Zoey in the final round of the Sinnoh Grand Festival, during which Zoey's Glameow used and caused Dawn's Piplup to flinch, making him unable to use .
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In All Eyes on the Future!, explained how Olympia's male 's Ability allows his support moves like to always go first.
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Priority was demonstrated a couple of times during the Masters Eight Tournament in . In Pride of a Champion!, Diantha's outsped Lance's Gyarados's with ; in Battling as Hard as Stone!, Ash's Pikachu's Quick Attack went ahead of 's 's ; and in Bewitch, Battle, and Bewilder!, used her 's to land hits on before they could attack.
==In the manga==
===Pokémon Adventures===
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The concept of priority was mentioned in Entranced by Entei. After his had been hit by a from Chuck's , acknowledged that Vital Throw is a move that lets the opponent attack first in exchange for .
==Trivia==
* Since has a higher priority than , , , , and , they are unable to break the focus of a Pokémon using Focus Punch. They and Focus Punch are therefore the only six attacks that can strike a Pokémon in the same turn as it successfully uses Focus Punch, without the use of or .
* can learn more moves with non-zero priority than any other Pokémon, with 14 and 2 decreased priority moves.
* Since charging Focus Punch had a higher priority than switching in Generation III, in a Double Battle, if the player selected Focus Punch then cancelled the selection, then switched that Pokémon out, it would still begin charging Focus Punch before switching. Its high priority also gave it the odd effect of occurring before the opponent used their items or Pokémon were switched out.
* All moves that have ever had -7 priority have the word "Room" in their names.
* No move has ever been assigned -2 priority despite higher priorities having been assigned.
* , , and are the only moves to have their priority changed twice.
* In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, due to the inability to apply the concept of priority because the Speed stat did not exist prior to Super Mystery Dungeon and does not determine the attacking order, damaging moves with increased priority in the core series games become moves that have a range of 2 tiles.
==In other languages==
Priority move
==References==
Category:Game mechanics
de:Priorität
es:Prioridad
fr:Priorité de capacité
it:Priorità
ja:優先度
zh:优先度