Why didn't hypnosis work?

Question

I had a Carbink without status of anything, and the other persons mega Gengar couldn't hypnosis it. It either misses or fails.

Comments

was this on Pokemon showdown?

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Wait, did it miss?

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It either misses or fails.

^ quoted from the question

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I didn't think that made too much sense, but whatever.

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They mean that the move either missed, or it hit but the text said it failed.

Answer 1

There are certain moves or abilities that prevent sleep, most of which are covered here, but most likely it is because Carbink used the move Safeguard, a move it learns by level up (and by tm)

Safeguard is a move that protects the user's team from status for five turns. As such, no Pokemon on Carbink's team, Carbink included, can be forcibly put to sleep during those five turns, and as such, Hypnosis failed.

There is another possibility that this was on Pokemon Online or Pokemon Showdown, where Sleep Clause was in affect and you already had one sleeping Pokemon, and as such hypnosis failed to put Carbink to sleep

Hope this helps

Comments

Well, no I didn't have safeguard on Carbink. My team was Carbink, gothitelle, granbull, hawlucha, azumarill and aegislash. I wish I had saved the battle as proof but I deleted it because it was stally. It was actually a 6-6 wifi battle. Maybe Pokemon wifi now has their own sleep mechanics.

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Was sleep clause on? Sleep Clause prevents multiple Pokemon from being put to sleep (by the opponent) at the same time. So if Sleep Clause was on and one of your other Pokemon was already asleep, I wouldn't know what else to suggest.

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Maybe, if Pokemon X/Y has sleep clause. I just found it weird and something I needed to prepare for since I didn't understand myself, but I guess the next time it happens I'll save the video.

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Might also be possible that Worry Seed had been used, changing Carbink's Ability to Insomnia.  Another alternative is Electric Terrain, which prevents all Pokemon touching the ground (AKA non-Flying non-Levitating) from falling asleep.