pkmnlab

Psyshock

Psychic · Special · 9 Pokémon in Reg M-B
Psychic
Psyshock
TypePsychic
CategorySpecial
Base power80
Accuracy100%
PP10
Priority0
PokémonTypes Its usageCarries it
Farigiraf 20.2% 5.6% Mega Delphox 8.6% 46.8% Mega Gardevoir 2.3% 36% Armarouge 0.70% 2.9% Hatterene 0.67% 11.3% Mega Alakazam 0.16% 6.6% Mega Chimecho 0.08% 12.6% Slowbro-Galar 0.05% 14.5% Raichu-Alola 0.01% 26.8%

What it does

Deals damage to the target based on its Defense instead of Special Defense.

At 80 base power it is the 27th strongest of the 40 damaging special moves that appear in this format.

Who carrys it

9 of the 282 Pokémon measured on the Regulation M-B ladder carry Psyshock. The one that matters most is Farigiraf, which is on 20.2% of teams and carrys it on 5.6% 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, Light Screen, Reflect, Calm Mind, Psychic Fangs and others.

Who could and does not

37 Pokémon legal in this regulation can learn Psyshock at all, against the 9 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 Sylveon, Gholdengo, Ninetales-Alola, Gallade, Meowstic and Clefable — each of them measured on the ladder, each of them leaving this move on the shelf.

How concentrated it is

Across the ladder, Psyshock accounts for an expected 0.06 of the six slots on an average team, which makes it the 68th most-brought of the 126 moves this format runs. 18% of that comes from Farigiraf alone, so it is spread across the field rather than propped up by one Pokémon. Its carriers are mostly Psychic (9), Fire (2) and Fairy (2).

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.