Does Pure Power Affect Power Trick?

In Pokémon battles, some moves and abilities stand out for their sheer power and dominance over opponents. Two examples are the Pure Power ability and the Power Trick move. Pure Power doubles the physical attack stat of the Pokémon, making physical attacks extremely strong. Power Trick switches the Pokémon’s attack and defense stats, allowing special attackers to hit with incredible physical might. Understandably, players wonder if combining these can create an unstoppable sweeper. This analysis aims to explore the viability of pairing Pure Power and Power Trick. With proper counters and checks, there are ways to handle even this daunting combination. However, in the right circumstances, the synergy between these effects could overwhelm unprepared teams. Examining ideal users, possible counters, and sample team builds will demonstrate when and how these powers can be smartly implemented in competitive play.

Table of Contents

Pure Power Ability

The Pure Power ability is an exclusive ability that doubles the Pokémon’s Attack stat. This boost applies at all times, even if the Pokémon’s stats get lowered. Pure Power essentially allows the Pokémon to hit twice as hard physically as it normally would.

Some of the most notable users of Pure Power include:

Medicham – Medicham’s Attack stat gets doubled from 60 to 120 thanks to Pure Power, making it quite the heavy hitter.
Azumarill – Azumarill is already quite bulky, and Pure Power allows it to hit very hard as well with its base 50 Attack getting doubled to 100.

Power Trick Move

Power Trick is a move that swaps a Pokémon’s Attack and Special Attack stats for the remainder of battle. This allows Pokémon with naturally high Special Attack but low Attack to hit much harder physically. The move was introduced in Generation 4 and can only be learned by a few Pokémon.

The most common and effective users of Power Trick are Porygon2 and Porygon-Z. Porygon2 is known for its high defenses and ability to set up with moves like Calm Mind. By using Power Trick, it can become a threatening physical sweeper as well. Porygon-Z has incredible Special Attack, among the highest in the game, so Power Trick lets it put that amazing attacking power to use on the physical side.

Using Both Together

Pure Power and Power Trick have excellent synergy when used together on the same Pokémon. Pure Power doubles the Pokémon’s Attack stat, while Power Trick swaps it with the Defense stat. This allows you to turn a high Defense into an insanely high Attack.

For example, Shuckle naturally has a monstrous 230 Defense but only 10 Attack. With Pure Power and Power Trick, its effective Attack becomes 460 while its Defense drops to 10. Even with no investment, Shuckle would hit incredibly hard thanks to that 460 Attack stat. Its signature move, Power Trick, lets it capitalize on its massive Defense in an offensive way.

Damage calculations illustrate the power of this combo. An Adamant Shuckle using Gyro Ball against a Skarmory after Power Trick and Pure Power will deal 226-267% damage. Anything slower than Shuckle will get obliterated by its boosted priority move. This strategy transforms Shuckle from a passive tank into an offensive dynamo.

Other Pokémon like Dusclops and Steelix can also utilize this combination quite effectively. Overall, the synergy between Pure Power and Power Trick allows certain defensive Pokémon to become formidable sweepers. With their natural bulk and access to recovery, they can boost up while taking hits then demolish opponents. This creative strategy is viable for ranked battles and can catch opponents completely off guard.

Counters and Checks

There are a few effective ways to counter the pure power + power trick strategy. Here are some of the best Pokémon and moves to deal with it:

Pokémon with Intimidate like Landorus-Therian and Incineroar lower the attacking power of pure power users. Their Intimidate ability weakens the physical Attack stat by 1 stage when they enter the battle, mitigating the power boost from pure power.

Will-O-Wisp users like Rotom-H and Grimmsnarl can inflict a burn to halve the Attack stat of physical attackers. This helps weaken the damage output of pure power Pokémon.

Priority moves let you attack first before the powered up attacker can hit you back. Strong priority like Mach Punch from Conkeldurr and Aqua Jet from Azumarill can pick up surprise KOs.

Bulky Pokémon that can take hits like Toxapex, Tangrowth, and Ferrothorn may be able to survive one or two hits while statusing or wearing down the opponent.

Faster Pokémon can try to knock out the pure power user before it can do too much damage. Strong special attackers like Hydreigon, Volcarona, and Dragapult can overpower them.

Overall, lowering Attack power, outspeeding, status conditions, priority attacks, and bulk are the main ways to effectively counter this strategy.

Notable Users

This strategy of combining Pure Power and Power Trick has been used successfully by top competitive Pokémon players like Wolfe Glick and Aaron Zheng. Here are some examples of how they’ve utilized it:

Wolfe Glick’s Regigigas

At the 2016 Pokémon World Championships, Wolfe Glick used a Regigigas holding a Normalium Z with the Pure Power ability and the move Power Trick. This allowed Regigigas to hit extremely hard. For example, against an Amoonguss, Regigigas used Power Trick turn 1 to swap its Attack and Defense. Then on turn 2, it used Continental Crush (its Z-Move) which did over 90% damage thanks to the boost from Pure Power.

Aaron Zheng’s Slaking

Aaron Zheng is known for using Slaking with Pure Power and Power Trick to devastating effect. With max investment in HP and Attack, Slaking’s Giga Impact is calculated to do over 75% damage to Pokemon like Incineroar after the Defense/Attack swap from Power Trick. This has allowed Aaron to pick up KOs consistently despite Slaking’s Truant ability.

By combining the effects of Pure Power and Power Trick, players like Wolfe and Aaron have been able to turn normally situational Pokemon into dangerous offensive threats.

## Sample Team Builds

Here are some sample Pokemon teams that take advantage of the synergy between a pure power user and power trick:

Trick Room Sweeper

Azumarill @ Normal Gem
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
– Belly Drum
– Play Rough
– Aqua Jet
– Protect

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
– Trick Room
– Tri Attack
– Thunderbolt
– Ice Beam

Musharna @ Mental Herb
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
– Trick Room
– Psychic
– Dazzling Gleam
– Protect

This Trick Room team takes advantage of Azumarill’s huge power after using belly drum and power trick. Porygon2 sets up trick room while Musharna provides psychic terrain support.

Bulky Offense

Azumarill @ Normal Gem
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
– Belly Drum
– Play Rough
– Aqua Jet
– Protect

Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
– Soft-Boiled
– Seismic Toss
– Thunder Wave
– Stealth Rock

Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Swords Dance
– Leaf Blade
– Sacred Sword
– Night Slash

This bulkier balance team utilizes Azumarill’s power after belly drum, supported by Chansey and Kartana. Chansey provides wish recovery and phazing while Kartana sweeps late game after a swords dance.

Viability Analysis

This strategy of combining a Pure Power ability with a Power Trick move has middling viability in the current VGC metagame. While the damage output can be high under the right circumstances, it faces stiff competition from other popular strategies.

Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing have overtaken Power Trick as the primary way to boost damage output. Setting up with Swords Dance, Dragon Dance, Nasty Plot, or other stat boosting moves is also common. Additionally, many of the most popular Pokemon have ways to boost their damage output without sacrificing coverage.

The fragility of Pokemon locked into a single attack also hinders the viability. Opponents have many switch-in opportunities to counter a one-dimensional threat. Bulky Pokemon and priority moves can also easily stop a Power Trick sweeper.

That said, the strategy can still work on the right team. Pairing a Power Trick user with redirection support and other win conditions makes it harder to stop. It remains a viable surprise option, but should not form the core strategy.

Conclusion

In summary, the combination of a Pure Power ability with a Power Trick move can be highly effective under the right circumstances. Power Trick provides a substantial boost to the power of physical attacks, which pairs nicely with the raw power provided by a strong special ability like Huge Power or Pure Power. This combo enables Pokemon to hit extremely hard and OHKO opponents.

However, it does have some drawbacks. The strategy is highly vulnerable to priority moves that bypass the speed drop from Power Trick. Ghost types are immune to Normal attacks boosted by Pure Power. There are also common checks like Assault Vest and Rocky Helmet that limit the viability. Additionally, Power Trick teams often struggle with setting up and maintaining offensive momentum.

Overall, the viability of a Power Trick + Pure Power strategy depends heavily on team support, meta threats, and having the right checks/counters dealt with. When built around properly, it can be very potent in the right metagame environment. But it also has flaws that prevent it from being universally effective. Proper team building is critical to make the most of this high risk, high reward tactic.