Do moves that have no effect always hit?

Question

In Showdown, I know that if you were to use Sheer Cold on an ice type, it hits but has no effect. I want to know if this happens in-game and other instances.

Comments

I don't think this is answerable. The move doesn't "hit", because then it would actually do something. The game checks for if the move works before checking accuracy, so if you use a move that has no effect, it won't have had accuracy checked. This can be seen on Showdown if you Magic Bounce a move with no effect (like Magic Bouncing Will-o-Wisp on a Fire Type, or Block on an already trapped mon). Instead of "hitting", the animation simply...won't be there. I've decided to flag this for being unanswerable.

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If the above is accurate, then it is one answer to this question. It's totally fine to just say the premise of the question is wrong.

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Sorry for lack of clarification, as I have been busy irl. What I mean is if you were to get a move to the lowest accuracy and use it on a Pokemon who normally isn't effect (counting abilities like storm drain or volt absorb), would it hit, or would it still miss. I want to know which moves would still hit regardless of immunities. Sorry if this is unanswerable. I can always hide this question.

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**It will always hit.**

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexag-1325910358

In this replay I use Incinerate (A 55% accurate move with victory star) eight times on a Heatran, who is immune from it because of an ability and none of them miss. Eight Zap Cannons (Also a 50% accurate move) against Arceus-Ground, who is a ground type and naturally is immune to Electric type moves, and none of them missed. Because of this, I think that a move where the target is immune will always hit.

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The question is if it hits in-game

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Ignis sniped me I was like about to comment the same thing lol

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The animation doesn't have to play, the move just can't miss.

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Is just one game example good enough? Because then I can answer. Probably it should

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Commenting on the info I found:
Moves that have no effect on another Pokemon will not miss.
3 examples I did:
Example 1: Sheer Cold Lapras vs Alolan Vulpix: I used up all of Sheer Cold's PP and the only message I got when I used Sheer Cold was "it doesn't effect the wild Vulpix...". I never got the message "the wild Vulpix avoided the attack!"
Example 2: Fissure Hippowdon vs Oricorio: Same results. I only got the message "it doesn't effect the wild Oricorio..."
Example 3: Toxic Vaporeon vs Ekans: I wanted to see if this happens with moves with a little higher accuracy. (Probably not the best example) Same results as examples 1 and 2. If anyone wants to use any of these examples, go ahead. :P

Answer 1

Moves that have no effect will always hit

I did 3 examples for this in Ultra Sun:

Example 1: Sheer Cold Lapras vs Alolan Vulpix: I used up all of Sheer Cold's PP and the only message I got when I used Sheer Cold was "it doesn't effect the wild Vulpix...". I never got the message "the wild Vulpix avoided the attack!"
Example 2: Fissure Hippowdon vs Oricorio: Same results. I only got the message "it doesn't effect the wild Oricorio...". I never got the message "the wild Oricorio avoided the attack!"
Example 3: Toxic Vaporeon vs Ekans: I wanted to see if this happens with moves with a little higher accuracy. (Probably not the best example) Same results as examples 1 and 2. I only got the message "it doesn't effect the wild Ekans...". I never got the message "the wild Ekans avoided the attack!"

Therefore, moves that don't have effect will always hit.

Source: Experience

Hope this helps.

Comments

If anyone wonders why I answered see this:
https://pokemondb.net/pokebase/meta/12184/rules-for-users-with-connected-accounts?show=76500#c76500

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Okay thanks. This helps a lot.