Critical hit

A critical hit (Japanese: ) is a (generally) random event that multiplies the damage of a damage-dealing move. When one occurs, the game will display the message "A critical hit!" (Japanese: Hit a pressure point!) after the damage is dealt.
==Generation I==
===Damage===
When a move lands a critical hit, the attacker's level will be doubled during damage calculation, which approximately (but not quite) doubles the damage dealt. A rough approximation for the damage multiplier is \frac{2L + 5}{L + 5} where L is the attacker's level; as a result, lower-leveled Pokémon have a smaller critical hit boost than higher-leveled Pokémon. For example, a level 5 Pokémon will inflict about 1.5× damage on a critical hit, while a level 20 Pokémon will inflict 1.8× and a level 95 Pokémon will inflict 1.95×.
Critical hits use the attacker and defender's original stats with no modifications. This means it is possible for a critical hit to deal less damage than a non-critical hit if the attacker's stat modifications were high enough and the defender's were low enough. If the player's Pokémon has ed, its untransformed stats will be used (but enemies use the stats of their transformation).pokered/core.asm at bbb0e7e82deb6741f75a12b48f81076d92f5d9dc · pret/pokered · GitHub (Critical damage calculation: party data like wPartyMon1Defense is not affected by Transform)
===Probability===
Whether a move scores a critical hit is determined by comparing a 1-byte random number (0 to 255) against a 1-byte threshold value (also 0 to 255). If the random number is strictly less than the threshold, the Pokémon scores a critical hit. For a given threshold value T, the probability of scoring a critical hit is \frac{T}{256}.
If the threshold would exceed 255, it instead becomes 255. Consequently, the maximum possible chance of landing a critical hit is 255/256. (If the generated random number is 255, that number can never be less than the threshold, regardless of the value of the threshold.)
====Core series====
In the Generation I core series games, the threshold is normally equal to half the user's base . If the move used has a high critical-hit ratio (, , , or ), the move is 8 times more likely to be a critical hit (up to a maximum of 255/256). If the Pokémon has used or a Dire Hit, due to a bug, the user is 1/4 as likely to land a critical hit.
The threshold has the following values, depending on the move used and whether the user is under the effect of Focus Energy or a Dire Hit. The probability of landing a critical hit is simply these values divided by 256.
 Threshold
 	Normal move 	High critical-hit ratio move
Normal status	\left\lfloor \frac{BaseSpeed}{2} \right\rfloor	\min \left(8 \times \left\lfloor \frac{BaseSpeed}{2} \right\rfloor, 255\right)
Focus Energy 	\left\lfloor {BaseSpeed \over 8} \right\rfloor	4 \times \left\lfloor \frac{BaseSpeed}{4} \right\rfloor
====Pokémon Stadium====
In Pokémon Stadium, the threshold is normally equal to 19 plus one quarter of the user's base . If the move used has a high critical-hit ratio (, , , or ), the move is 8 times more likely to be a critical hit (up to a maximum of 255/256). If the Pokémon has used or a Dire Hit, the user is more likely to land a critical hit (the exact increase is slightly complicated).
The threshold has the following values, depending on the move used and whether the user is under the effect of Focus Energy or a Dire Hit. The probability of landing a critical hit is simply these values divided by 256.
In Pokémon Stadium, the threshold value T is determined by a different formula. If T would exceed 255, its value instead becomes exactly 255.
 Threshold
 	Normal move 	High critical-hit ratio move
Normal status	\left\lfloor {{BaseSpeed + 76} \over 4} \right\rfloor 	\min \left(\left\lfloor {{BaseSpeed + 76} \over 4} \right\rfloor \times 8, 255\right)
Focus Energy 	\left\lfloor {{BaseSpeed + 236} \over 4} \right\rfloor \times 2	255
==Generation II onwards==
===Damage===
From Generation to , a critical hit deals 2 times the normal damage. From Generation onward, a critical hit deals 1.5 times the normal damage.
In Generation II, when a move scores a critical hit, all stat stage modifiers, the halved Attack from burn, and the defensive boosts from screens ( and ) are ignored if the target's defending stat stage ( or ) is greater than or equal to the attacker's attacking stat stage ( or ).
From Generation III onward, when a move scores a critical hit, the attacker's negative stat stages, the defender's positive stat stages, and the defensive boosts from are always ignored. However, the halved damage from physical moves due to a burn is no longer ignored.
;Examples
* If the attacker is using a physical move and is at +2 Attack stages while the target is at +1 Defense stage...
** Gen II: a critical hit will not ignore either stat. (Damage with a critical hit will have an 8/3× modifier.)
** Gen III-V: a critical hit will ignore the Defense boost. (Damage with a critical hit will have a 4× modifier.)
** Gen VI+: a critical hit will ignore the Defense boost. (Damage with a critical hit will have a 3× modifier.)
* If the attacker is using a physical move and is at -1 Attack stages while the target is at -2 Defense stage...
** Gen II: a critical hit will not ignore either stat. (Damage with a critical hit will have a 2.64× modifier.)
** Gen III-V: a critical hit will ignore the Attack drop. (Damage with a critical hit will have a 4× modifier.)
** Gen VI+: a critical hit will ignore the Attack drop. (Damage with a critical hit will have a 3× modifier.)
===Other effects===
If a Pokémon with the Ability gets a critical hit, the damage dealt will be multiplied by an additional factor of 1.5.
If lands at least three critical hits in a single battle, it evolves into at the end of the battle.
===Probability===
The probability of landing a critical hit is no longer based on the attacker's base Speed, but rather is based on a fixed formula for all Pokémon. Similar to stats, there are temporary in-battle stages used to determine the probability that a particular move will be a critical hit.
Stage 	Chance of critical hit	Chance of critical hit	Chance of critical hit	Chance of critical hit
Stage 	Gen II 	Gen III-V 	Gen VI 	Gen VII onwards
+0 	17/256 (≈6.64%) 	1/16 (6.25%) 	1/16 (6.25%) 	1/24 (≈4.17%)
+1 	1/8 (12.5%) 	1/8 (12.5%) 	1/8 (12.5%) 	1/8 (12.5%)
+2 	1/4 (25%) 	1/4 (25%) 	1/2 (50%) 	1/2 (50%)
+3 	85/256 (≈33.2%) 	1/3 (≈33.3%) 	Always (100%) 	Always (100%)
+4 and above	1/2 (50%) 	1/2 (50%) 	Always (100%) 	Always (100%)
If a Pokémon has maximum affection (Gen VI-) or friendship ( onward except ), the probability from above is multiplied by 2.卡璞波波 on Twitter
====Stage modifiers====
An attacking move will start out at stage 0, but there are several ways to increase a move's stage as detailed in the table below.
Change 	Attack property 	Held item	Ability	Getting pumped 	Other
+1 stage 	(Gen II: +2 stages)	<ab>Razor Claw
Scope Lens</ab>	 	(when used on a non- Pokémon)	
+2 stages	<ab>
 (when used by )()</ab>	<ab>Stick/Leek (for or only)
Lucky Punch (for only)</ab>	—	<ab> / Dire Hit
 (Gen II: +1 stage)
Dragon Cheer (when used on a Dragon-type Pokémon)
 () (for three turns)
Lansat Berry
Z-, Z-, Z-, Z-, Z-
 (Wonder Launcher only)</ab>	—
+3 stages	— 	— 	—	(Wonder Launcher only) 	—
Only a single instance of the getting pumped effect can be applied at once, so causes within that column will not stack (including with itself).https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sword-shield-battle-mechanics-research.3655528/page-45#post-8440929 A Pokémon may acquire the effect of a Lansat Berry even if it is already holding another item, through the use of , , , or ; or by obtaining another item after consuming the Berry, such as via or .
====Moves that cannot score a critical hit====
In some early battles, the games prevent all moves from scoring critical hits:
* In , during the first battle with /.
* In , during the first battle with at Lake Verity.
* In , during the first battle with .
* In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, during the first battle with Nemona.
Generations II and III introduced a handful of moves that cannot score a critical hit. They are denoted by the ✔ symbol in the table below.
Starting in Generation V, all damaging moves, except and confusion damage, can score a critical hit.
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====Other factors====
The Abilities and prevent Pokémon from landing critical hits on the Pokémon with that Ability. prevents Pokémon from landing critical hits on the Pokémon it is protecting for a span of five turns.
Pokémon with the Ability will always score critical hits on Pokémon (unless prevented by one of the above effects).
The moves , , , , , and , along with any move used by a Pokémon that is under the effect of , will always result in a critical hit (unless prevented by one of the above effects).
In Pokémon Colosseum, the move has an additional 90% chance to land a critical hit when the user is in Hyper Mode. Failing that, it has the usual 6.25% chance to land a critical hit regardless, for overall a total of a 90.625% chance to land a critical hit.
Moves with increased critical-hit ratio are granted a further increase by 1 stage when performed in the strong style. Conversely, when performed in the agile style, their critical hit ratio is reduced by 1 stage.
==In side-games==
===Pokémon Mystery Dungeon===
====Rescue Team and Explorers====
There are some differences from how critical works in main series:
* Critical hits do only 50% more damage, unless the Pokémon has , in which case it will do double damage.
* Male or gender unknown Pokémon will have the move's base critical hit rate multiplied by 1.5×.
* Scope Lens, Patsy Band, Sharpshooter IQ skill and add a flat modifier to the move's critical hit rate (30% in Red/Blue Rescue Team, 15% in Explorers). 
* Type Advantage Master will set the critical hit rate to 40%, ignoring all other effects. 
* Focus Energy will guarantee critical hits, provided the critical hits are not prevented by exclusive items, , Critical Dodger IQ skill, or .
Moves 	Chance of critical hit
, , , and 	1%
, , , , , , , , , and 	2%
 	3%
Other moves 	12%/8%
Moves with a high critical-hit ratio	50%/30%
===Pokémon Masters EX===
Here are some notable qualities of critical hits in this game:
* Critical-hit rate is treated as a stat like Attack or evasion, except critical-hit rate can only be raised to a maximum of three stat ranks (or to +3) and can't be lowered below 0. A few moves, such as , can reset target's critical-hit rate to 0 unless that target has Steady Aim .
** Attack moves passively have their base critical-hit rates set to 0, which means that using one with its user's critical-hit rate raised to three stat ranks yields an 100% chance to land a critical hit (per target).
** Damage-dealing sync moves and max moves have their base critical-hit rates set to -1, which means that using one with its user's critical-hit rate raised to three stat ranks normally yields an 80% chance to land a critical hit (per target).
* Some effects allow critical hits to land more easily [from attack moves like Slash or Spacial Rend, sync moves like Moonlight Leaf Blade, or skills like Zero In 1, Soften Up 1 (only for sync moves), Dire Rain 1, etc.].
** Attack/Sync moves with this effect passively have their base critical-hit rates set to +1. Sync moves with this effect no longer have -1 critical hit-rate penalty.
** Each skill with this effect is always accompanied by a one or a two, and if that skill's conditions are met, then it passively raises critical-hit rate by that number.
* Applying the Critical Hit Next effect on a sync pair guarantees that their next attack/sync move will be a critical hit, except in certain circumstances.
* Critical hits do ×1.5 damage, which can be further enhanced by having Critastrophe [X] (for sync moves) or Critical Strike [Y] (for any attacks) skills; in which case, it will do even more damage by a factor of +(X × 10)% or +(Y × 10)%, respectively. (X and Y are numbers between one and nine.)
** Multiple copies of such multipliers stack additively. For example, if a sync pair has Critical Strike 9 (+90% damage) and Critical Strike 2 (+20%), then the skills will stack to become a factor of +110% (or ×2.1).
* Critical hits ignore effects of physical damage reduction (from Reflect etc.) and special damage reduction (from Light Screen etc.).
* Critical-Hit Defense effects temporarily protect all pairs in its field of play from critical hits. The move removes this effect from opposing fields of play.
* Skills such as Vigilance protect their users from critical hits. A few moves, such as , and a few skills, like Piercing Blows, bypass these effects.
*Chances to land critical hits with attack moves, ignoring certain circumstances, are as follows:
Stage	Chance to land 
critical hits
-1 	Never (0%)
+0 	1/8 (12.5%)
+1 	1/2 (50%)
+2 	4/5 (80%)
+3 	Always (100%)
===Pokémon UNITE===
In , critical hits are a mechanic. It is very similar to the main series games, in that an attack that inflicts a critical hit deals double the damage to the opponent that it would normally. Critical hits are indicated by a symbol resembling a thick arrow appearing next to the damage numbers displayed by an attack, and said damage numbers appear larger than they otherwise would. 
Some Held items, moves and Abilities, such as the Scope Lens and can increase the chance that critical hits occur. causes all attacks that hit a single opponent to be critical hits, but prevents attacks that hit multiple opponents from being critical hits.
In the Prize Machine, a Unite Ball that causes the progress meter to fill by three or five points displays the same arrow symbol by the visual of the added points, implying that this is also considered a critical hit of sorts.
==In animation==
===Pokémon the Series===
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In Bad To The Bone, Otoshi's used to heighten its chances of landing a critical hit, which it did when it knocked Ash's Bulbasaur out with a single attack. Jessie's Arbok also took a critical hit from Marowak in the same fashion.
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In the Japanese version of From Brags to Riches, Morrison's 's was referred to as a critical hit when it defeated Gavin's , despite the fact that a one-hit knockout move can never land a critical hit. This was corrected in the English dub.
In Shocks and Bonds, during 's match against Clark in the Ever Grande Conference, Ash's Glalie defeated Clark's with a critical hit from , giving Ash the victory.
In Choose It or Lose It!, during Ash's Full Battle against Morrison in the Victory Tournament portion of the Ever Grande Conference, Ash's Corphish knocked Morrison's out with a critical hit from .
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In Pursuing a Lofty Goal!, during the second match in the Squallville PokéRinger, Paul's used in conjunction with its Ability to land a critical hit on Provo's and knock it out.
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In A Rival Battle for Club Champ!, Trip's used in conjunction with its Super Luck Ability to knock Ash's Oshawott out in one critical hit. Later on in the match, Tranquill defeated in the same manner, this time having its damage also boosted by .
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In Beyond Chivalry… Aiming to be a Leek Master!, during a World Coronation Series , Ash's landed three critical hits on Rinto's with , causing the to evolve into a .
In A Battle of Mega Versus Max!, Bea's Gigantamax Machamp attacked Ash's Mega with . While Mega Lucario survived long enough for Machamp to turn back to normal, it retained the enhancements that it received from using its signature G-Max Move, allowing it to pinpoint Mega Lucario's weak points.
In A Flood of Torrential Gains!, 's landed a critical hit on Ash's Gengar with during their Masters Eight Tournament battle, resulting in Gengar's Gigantamax state ending prematurely.
==In other languages==
==Related articles==
* Same-type attack bonus
* Damage
==References==
Category:Game mechanics
de:Volltreffer
es:Golpe crítico
fr:Coup critique
it:Brutto colpo
ja:急所
zh:击中要害