Do choice bands boost special attack in Generation 3?

Question

Normally I would just believe what it says on Bulbapedia, but I have two reasons to suspect that it was wrong. First, there are no choice specs in Generation 3. I wouldn't say that an item that boosts a stat without a physical/special counterpart is impossible (assault vest), but it would be very unusual. Second, the in-game descriptions in the Generation 3 games never mention "attack" or "physical". They only say that it powers up moves. Can somebody cite a more reliable source that confirms or disproves Bulbapedia?

Answer 1

In Generation 3, Choice Band will only boost Attack, not special attack.

Source: Smogon's ADV damage calculator and prior competitive knowledge.

• In this screenshot, it shows a Swampert with no item:
  
• In this screenshot, it shows a Swampert with a Choice Band:
  
• As you can tell in the second screenshot, its physical attacks do more damage after equipping the Choice Band, and its special attacks are not changed.

One thing to note however:
Since you're playing Generation 3, Physical and Special attacks are split. I'll provide a list of them here:
Physical:
Normal
Fighting
Bug
Ground
Rock
Poison
Flying
Steel
Ghost
Special:
Fire
Water
Grass
Ice
Electric
Psychic
Dark
Dragon

An easy way to remember the split is that every special attack type has an evolution of eevee tied to it (besides Dragon, which you'll just have to remember).

Hope this helps. :)

Comments

You proved that choice band boosts physical attack, not that it doesn't boost special attack. What if it boosts both?

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It doesn't. In the screenshots I posted, Swampert has both Physical (Earthquake and Rock Slide) and Special attacks (Ice Beam and Hydro Pump). The first one shows the base damage both Physical and Special would do without a choice band, and the second one shows the damage of both Physical and Special types with a Choice Band. If you compare the two, only the Physical attacks received a boost.

To answer the question directly again: It isn't both. It only raises physical attack, not special attack.