pkmnlab

Light Screen

Psychic · Status · 23 Pokémon in Reg M-B
Psychic
Light Screen
TypePsychic
CategoryStatus
Base power—
Accuracynever misses
PP30
Priority0
PokémonTypes Its usageCarries it
Whimsicott 22.5% 4.2% Archaludon 14.3% 0.2% Grimmsnarl 10.4% 84.7% Rotom-Wash 3.8% 13.7% Sableye 3.4% 65.4% Rotom-Heat 0.80% 2.3% Tinkaton 0.79% 3.3% Meowstic 0.77% 12.8% Dragapult 0.73% 28.5% Hatterene 0.67% 4.2% Klefki 0.43% 28.9% Espathra 0.38% 2.1% Audino 0.27% 5.4% Mr. Rime 0.23% 4% Malamar 0.22% 3.5% Rotom-Mow 0.19% 4.2% Serperior 0.17% 27.5% Alcremie 0.15% 12.9% Alakazam 0.08% 11.7% Musharna 0.06% 10.8% Froslass 0.03% 14% Florges 0.02% 20.1% Glalie 0.01% 86.5%

What it does

For 5 turns, the user and its party members take 0.5x damage from special attacks, or 0.66x damage if in a Double Battle. Damage is not reduced further with Aurora Veil. Critical hits ignore this effect. It is removed from the user's side if the user or an ally is successfully hit by Brick Break, Psychic Fangs, or Defog. Lasts for 8 turns if the user is holding Light Clay. Fails if the effect is already active on the user's side.

Who carrys it

23 of the 282 Pokémon measured on the Regulation M-B ladder carry Light Screen. The one that matters most is Whimsicott, which is on 22.5% of teams and carrys it on 4.2% of its sets. The full list is above, ordered by how much of the format each one is.

What it hits

As a Psychic move it is super effective against Fighting and Poison, resisted by Psychic and Steel, and does nothing at all to Dark. 11 other Psychic moves appear in this format: Trick Room, Psychic, Reflect, Calm Mind, Psychic Fangs, Psyshock and others.

Who could and does not

95 Pokémon legal in this regulation can learn Light Screen at all, against the 23 that actually bring it. The gap is the interesting number: it is the set of Pokémon that have the option and decline it. The most-played of those are Farigiraf, Sylveon, Gholdengo, Venusaur, Milotic and Toxapex — each of them measured on the ladder, each of them leaving this move on the shelf.

How concentrated it is

Across the ladder, Light Screen accounts for an expected 0.13 of the six slots on an average team, which makes it the 42nd most-brought of the 126 moves this format runs. 7% of that comes from Whimsicott alone, so it is spread across the field rather than propped up by one Pokémon. Its carriers are mostly Fairy (7), Psychic (7) and Grass (3).

Where these numbers come from

Usage is Smogon's published statistics for the Regulation M-B VGC ladder, and the description is the one shipped in the Pokémon Showdown data set. Both are regenerated on every build rather than written by hand, so this page follows the format instead of trailing it. Take any of it to the team builder or the damage calculator.