Pokemon Champions Makes an Interesting Change to Super Effective Attacks

Pokemon Champions will use the term “extremely effective” to describe attacks that hit a Pokemon’s quadruple weakness to specific types. This terminology change for Pokemon Champions was done to make certain moves stand out from being just “super effective” hits that the Pokemon series has used since its first generation.

In short, Pokemon Champions is a modernized Pokemon battle simulator slated to launch globally on Nintendo Switch consoles on Wednesday, April 8. Pokemon Champions will launch on iOS and Android devices later in 2026. Like its predecessors, which include Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Battle Revolution, Pokemon Champions is focused on multiplayer gameplay. However, Pokemon Champions will allow for all battle gimmicks, such as Mega Evolution and Terastallization, to be utilized as trainers see fit. Despite being a spin-off title, Pokemon Champions will be the exclusive home of the Pokemon Video Game Championships (VGC) competitive format once the game is released.

Pokemon Champions Adds New Type Effectiveness Terminology

Although the April 8 console launch of Pokemon Champions is not far off, some fans have already noticed a small but notable change that will mark a first for the Pokemon series. On the Pokemon subreddit, a Pokemon fan named Benhurso shared an image of a Heracross taking damage from a Pidgeot. While the term “super effective” is used to indicate that an attack has exposed a Pokemon’s weakness, the term “extremely effective” will be used in Pokemon Champions to indicate when two weaknesses are hit. As a Bug and Fighting dual-type Pokemon, Heracross has a quadruple weakness to Flying-type moves. Ergo, any Flying-type attack from a Pokemon like Pidgeot would deal extremely effective damage to the Single Horn Pokemon. In the Pokemon series, attack calculations for weaknesses and resistances are multiplicative. Given that super effective moves deal double damage, extremely effective moves will deal four times the damage, which almost assures a knockout against most Pokemon, including Heracross.

The updated terminology of Pokemon Champions will also apply to Pokemon type resistances. Along with weaknesses, type resistances have been a Pokemon series stable since the first generation. The term “not very effective” has long been used to describe an attack that does only half its damage to a target, such as a Rock-type Pokemon being hit with a Normal-type or Fire-type attack. However, some users stated, based on some hands-on previews of Pokemon Champions, that the term “mostly ineffective” will be used to describe attacks that only deal a quarter of their standard damage. For example, if a Rock and Steel dual-type Pokemon like Aggron were hit with a Normal-type move, the attack would be mostly ineffective and deal barely any damage to Aggron. Given that the terms “not very effective” and “super effective” have been used for so long to describe any attack that deals low or high damage, respectively, the addition of “mostly ineffective” and “extremely effective” is a first for the Pokemon franchise.

Pokemon Champions Will Shake Up The Competitive Scene

However, Pokemon Champions will bring more than just some new terminology to the competitive format. Pokemon Champions will see the Power Point (PP) costs of most moves adjusted, with a cap of 20 PP on attacks and moves that would usually have more than that in mainline Pokemon games. However, some staple Pokemon moves like Protect have been nerfed by the PP change. Although Protect usually has a minimum of 10 PP in mainline Pokemon titles like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Pokemon Champions has cut Protect’s usage down to 8 PP.

Though these changes may require an adjustment period, Pokemon trainers looking for more strategic battles should find no shortage of them in Pokemon Champions. Given that Pokemon Champions will be the official game of the VGC format moving forward, it remains to be seen which competitive Pokemon teams will rule the metagame once the spin-off title arrives.