Does Instruct work on Z-Moves?

Question

Let's set the scenario: My Garchomp uses Devastating Drake on the first turn of a Double Battle, then my Oranguru uses Instruct on Garchomp. Will Garchomp use Devastating Drake again, will Garchomp just use the original move (eg. Dragon Claw), or will it just fail? To put it simply: does Instruct work with Z-Moves? I could never get my head around it, and I don't have the games so I can't experiment it myself. Any help is much appreciated! :)

Comments

Again, last time I checked, Z-Moves have 1 PP only so I guess it would fail, much like the use of Encore into a move with no PPs. But I can't tell for sure.

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some z-moves have more than one pp

Answer 1

As you can see in this replay, the pathetic and weak Kyurem-Black goes up against the two strongest Fairy types in AG, Cleffa and Igglybuff. during the battle, Kyurem stupidly decides to use Devastating Drake against Igglybuff, which results in a failure due to Fairy types resisting Dragon moves. Then, not thinking straight due to being in a state of fear, Oranguru uses Instruct on Kyurem, which failed. Cleffa and Igglybuff, with the opportunity to do so, OHKOed the opposing Kyurem and Oranguru with their signature moves, Splash and Work Up. That's probably how the battle went, I think.

TL;DR: Instruct doesn't work on z-moves

Comments

Igglybuff is terrifying. Needs a nerf in Gen 9.

Answer 2

Instruct will fail if the target has not made any move; the target is in the middle of Bide, Focus Punch, Beak Blast, Shell Trap, or a consecutively executed move; the target has been picked up by Sky Drop (even if one of the Pokémon has No Guard); the instructed move's PP is depleted; the target does not know the move that would be instructed (e.g. if the last move it used was due to Dancer, or it has leveled up and replaced that move since it used it); or the target is a Dynamax Pokémon. It will also fail if the target's most recent move is Instruct itself, Bide, Focus Punch, Beak Blast, Shell Trap, Sketch, Transform, Mimic, King's Shield, Struggle, a move that requires recharging (such as Hyper Beam), a move with a charging turn (such as Dig or Skull Bash), a move that calls another move (such as Metronome), a Z-Move, or a Max Move.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Instruct_(move)