Dangerous moves.
One of the worst nightmares of any trainer is the thought of a Pokémon knocking itself out with one of its moves, before it can be successfully captured, especially while shiny hunting. Almost everyone has heard a story of how a shiny Graveler, or Electrode, used explosion to end the battle, and, if you have been around for enough time, it may even have happened to you. With a spark, they appeared, and with a spark, they disappeared.
Failing to catch a shiny Pokémon may be bound to happen at some point (especially in the Safari Zone), but our current focus is to keep avoiding this as long as possible. Keeping track of all the movesets in every game is a tedious task, so this tool will lend a helping hand in making this process a walk in the park.
The following sections show more information about these moves and other extra information.
List of dangerous moves.
| Move | Type | Category | Danger | How to counter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brave Bird |  |
 |
Recoil - 1/3 of damage dealt. | Using a high-defense Pokémon of a resistant type, such as Aggron. |
| Chloroblast |  |
 |
Recoil - lose half of max HP (rounded up). | Using the Sap Sipper ability. Using Shedinja with its Wonder Guard ability. |
| Double-Edge |  |
|
Recoil - 1/4 of damage dealt. | Using a ghost-type Pokémon. |
| Flare Blitz |  |
|
Recoil - 1/3 of damage dealt. | Using the Flash Fire ability. |
| Head Charge | |
|
Recoil - 1/4 of damage dealt. | Using a ghost-type Pokémon. |
| Head Smash |  |
|
Recoil - 1/2 of damage dealt. | Using a high-defense Pokémon of a resistant type, such as Steelix. |
| Submission |  |
|
Recoil - 1/4 of damage dealt. | Using a ghost-type Pokémon. |
| Take Down | |
|
Recoil - 1/4 of damage dealt. | Using a ghost-type Pokémon. |
| Wave Crash |  |
|
Recoil - 1/3 of damage dealt. | Using the Water Absorb, Storm Drain, or Dry Skin abilities. |
| Wild Charge |  |
|
Recoil - 1/4 of damage dealt. | Using a ground-type Pokémon, or the Lightning Rod, Motor Drive, or Volt Absorb abilities. Using Shedinja with its Wonder Guard ability. |
| Wood Hammer | |
|
Recoil - 1/3 of damage dealt. | Using the Sap Sipper ability. Using Shedinja with its Wonder Guard ability. |
| Explosion | |
|
Causes the user to faint. | Using the Damp ability. |
| Final Gambit | |
|
Causes the user to faint. | Using a ghost-type Pokémon. |
| Memento |  |
 |
Causes the user to faint. | Using Taunt. |
| Self-Destruct | |
|
Causes the user to faint. | Using the Damp ability. |
| Roar | |
|
Ends the wild battle. | Using Taunt or Ingrain, or the Suction Cups or Soundproof abilities. |
| Teleport |  |
|
Ends the wild battle. | Using Taunt or Mean Look, or the shadow tag or arena trap abilities. |
| Whirlwind | |
|
Ends the wild battle. | Using Taunt or Ingrain, or the Suction Cups ability. |
| Circle Throw | |
|
Ends the wild battle. | Using a Pokémon with a higher level than the user or a ghost-type. If there are more than one wild Pokémon, the battle won't end. |
| Perish Song | |
|
At Perish count 0 the Pokémon will faint. | Using Taunt or the Soundproof ability. |
| Curse |
|
|
The user loses 1/2 of their HP. Can cause them to faint. | Using Taunt or changing the opposing ghost-type Pokémon's type to water with Soak or psychic with Magic Powder. |
| Thrash | |
|
Causes the user to become confused after a few uses. | Using a ghost-type Pokémon. |
| Outrage |  |
|
Causes the user to become confused after a few uses. | Using a fairy-type Pokémon or Shedinja. Lowering the Pokémon's attack stat. Giving it Leftovers with Trick. Heal Pulse. |
| Destiny Bond | |
|
Causes the user to become confused after a few uses. | Using Taunt. It will only be dangerous in a situation where it could mess up your catch strategy during a double or horde battle by having the non-Shiny Pokémon use it before fainting. |
As a side note, even though Healing Wish also makes the user faint, it will fail if it's used by a wild Pokémon.
Extra notes.
Special cases.
There are some situations where it's required to pay special attention to your strategy, like when a Pokémon has multiple of these moves at the same time, or a combination with their ability that makes them difficult to approach. One example of this is Cottonee in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire. Thanks to the use of the Dexnav, wild Pokémon encountered through this mean have the chance to have some egg moves in their moveset, and Cottonee, in this case, may appear with the combination of Memento and Prankster.
This is a deadly combination that can catch any unprepared trainer off-guard, and there are few options to counter it. Luckily, the Dexnav usually shows memento as a highlighted move before encountering the Cottonee. It isn't until Generation 7 that dark-type Pokémon are immune to Prankster-boosted moves, so the only option here is to use a higher-level or faster Prankster user with Taunt to disable it before it can do anything.
Something similar can also be said about Riolu in Generation 7. Through a S.O.S. chain, Pokémon have a chance to appear with their hidden abilities. In this case, Riolu learns Final Gambit at level 50, has Prankster as a hidden ability, and can appear at levels 52-55 in Poni Grove. The best way to counter this is by doing the chains with a Decidueye.
Memento or Final Gambit + Prankster give Cottonee and Riolu a chance to faint with a +1 priority move.
Metronome is also a move to be wary of. It's not as immediately dangerous as some of the others, but the chance to randomly use any of them can be quite risky. The easiest way to shut it down is using Taunt.
Metronome can result in the use of other dangerous moves like Teleport or Self-Destruct.
With the introduction of its regional form, the Weezing line also got a new ability, Neutralizing Gas, which deactivates all the other Pokémon's abilities in battle. This means that your Damp strategy won't work, and Koffing or Weezing will be able to blow up with Explosion. There's also the chance that they know Memento in the wild, as is the case in Generation 9 on Kitakami, where Koffing can appear up to level 66. Luckily, a Golduck with the Damp ability can still use it while holding an Ability Shield, which prevents Neutralizing Gas from removing it, while also being able to stop Memento thanks to Taunt.
Neutralizing Gas disables Damp and lets Self-Destruct or Explosion be normally activated.
Always make sure to not carry these moves on yourself, just in case a shiny Ditto decides to surprise you with Transform.
Struggle.
When a Pokémon runs out of PP, it will start using Struggle to attack. This recoil damage has changed through the generations. In Generation 1, the user takes 1/2 of the damage dealt. In Generations 2 and 3, it's lowered to 1/4 of the damage dealt. In Generation 4 and after, this was changed to always deal 1/4 of the user's maximum HP.
Getting to the point where a Pokémon struggles is difficult in most scenarios, but it sometimes happens, especially against legendaries. The only semi-reliable way to keep the wild Pokémon healthy is by using Heal Pulse. Another strategy that may help is giving the Pokémon Leftovers by using Trick, although this is very unreliable and only recommended in Generation 3.
Shadow Pokémon.
In Pokémon Colosseum, all Shadow Pokémon have a special move only available before being purified, Shadow Rush. When this move is used, the user will lose 1/16 (6.25%) of their HP, regardless of the damage they deal to the opponent. Rock Head does not prevent this damage. It's important to keep this move in mind while shiny hunting them, using any strategy that keeps their HP low for a better catch chance.
This move got reworked in XD: Gale of Darkness, where the recoil damage was removed. On the other hand, the introduction of new shadow moves also added one that hurts the user: Shadow End. This time the Pokémon will lose 1/2 of their HP with every use, which goes a few steps further than Shadow Rush. The 5 Shadow Pokémon to look out for are Exeggutor, Marowak, Rhydon, Snorlax, and Manectric.
