Fainting

**Fainting** (FNT) is a status condition in which a Pokémon is no longer able to battle.

During a battle, if all Pokémon in a Trainer's party have fainted, the Trainer loses that battle.

## In the game

Fainting occurs when a Pokémon reaches 0 HP, causing the Pokémon to leave the battle with a slowed or distorted cry. A Pokémon which has fainted is unable to battle or gain experience points if it would have until it has been revived. However, it can still evolve after battle if the required criteria were met (unless the player blacks out if the Pokémon evolves by leveling up) and it is still able to use field moves, such as Fly. When the player's party is viewed, any fainted Pokémon will have a red FNT status bar.

Pokémon will faint instantly if hit by a one-hit knockout move, such as Guillotine. Destiny Bond and Perish Song can also cause a Pokémon to faint. The moves Self-Destruct, Explosion, Memento, Healing Wish, Lunar Dance, Final Gambit and Misty Explosion cause the user to faint. If the user does not have enough HP, Curse (when used by a Ghost-type Pokémon) and recoil moves can cause the user to faint.

If all Pokémon in the player's party have fainted, they black out and lose some money. In Trainer battles, the money is paid to the winner, whereas in battles with wild Pokémon the money is dropped in panic. The amount of money given or dropped is determined by the level of the Pokémon in the player's party and are the same amount as each other.

### Fainting through indirect damage

Fainting can also be caused through indirect damage, including status conditions.

When a Pokémon has been poisoned or Burned, it will lose HP during battle, which can cause it to faint. A confused Pokémon is at risk of hurting itself, which can make itself faint. A Pokémon affected by Leech Seed may faint from the resulting HP loss at the end of each turn.

Field effects, such as weather and entry hazards, can damage Pokémon and consequently make them faint.

### Effects of fainting

Fainting will cause a Pokémon to lose friendship and may grow to resent its Trainer if it faints often and spends a lot of time unconscious.

If all of the player's Pokémon faint, then the Trainer will lose the battle and Black out. The player will then be warped back to the last Pokémon Center they visited and lose money.

#### Reviving

Normal items, such as Potions or status condition healing items, will not work on a fainted Pokémon. Instead, they either have to be healed by talking to a character, usually at a Pokémon Center, resting in a bed, depositing in a PC or brought back with Revival Blessing or a reviving item.

Rare Candy can also be used to revive a fainted Pokémon due to the HP gained upon leveling up.

### Avoiding fainting

There are many ways that fainting can be avoided, with the most straightforward being to simply remove a Pokémon from battle while it is still healthy. If a Pokémon uses Endure, attacks will leave it with 1 HP. The held items Focus Sash and Focus Band can also ensure that a Pokémon does not faint. In addition, if a Pokémon with Sturdy is hit by an attack which would cause it to faint while it has full HP, it will survive with 1 HP.

**The following items can prevent a Pokémon from fainting:**

## Trivia

* In an interview, Satoshi Tajiri explained that Pokémon were designed to faint instead of die to avoid children developing an abnormal understanding of death and dying, as he felt they do when playing other video games, and to encourage children to treat death with respect.