PokéBase - Pokémon Q&A
8 votes
2,168 views

I'm mostly asking about Frisk, but the answer probably applies to other item-revealing methods as well.

If a computer opponent had a Pokemon with Frisk and saw your Pokemon's item, would it impact the move it chooses? Some examples:

  • Type-reducing berries (e.g. would a Chikorita with Tanga Berry still prompt Yanma to use Bug Buzz, or would it choose the now-stronger Air Slash?)
  • Weakness Policy (would the computer stay away from using super effective moves?)
  • Item-swapping moves (e.g. would a computer refuse to use Trick if it would give itself a harmful item like Black Sludge or Sticky Barb?)
  • Conversely, would the computer prioritise Trick if it saw a helpful item like a Sitrus Berry?

I'd like an answer for the postgame battle facilities, but any other instances are welcome.

Thanks in advance.

by
This is still going to be unanswered in 2028, isn't it?
It's a medal of honour if sumwun of all people says your question is hard to answer.
You've taken more than your fair share of questions from the unanswered list. It's about time you gave back.
This could probably be testable with Lance in HGSS, who has one of the smartest computer AI in the main series. After Skill Swapping (and maybe Hypnosis) with Stantler, open with a Dragon type with a Dragon-reducing berry to fish for Gyarados's Dragon Pulse, or a Weakness Policy for Ice Fang. This wouldn't satiate the final two points but it would nail the top two
Damn, this is the first question I'm genuinely not sure about. I know in many ROM Hacks this would be the case, but I'm not sure if it also works like this in vanilla. Also, it obviously depends on the game and the trainer, as each one has a different level of AI. I'll give an answer based on what I've seen, but don't take my word for it, I'm not sure how it works in each specific game.

1) Type reducing berries is what I'm not completely sure about in vanilla, as I've seen and used this strategy many times before, specifically in Pokemon Vintage White, whose AI I am pretty confident is unchanged from vanilla. Though this was against the Elite Four, so they would have the highest/almost highest level of AI.
I also think this might be gen 5 specific, though again, I'm not sure
2) Here I can pretty confidently say no. No Pokemon AI is smart enough to do that.
3) Again, almost sure that's not the case for the same reason as before
4) Same thing

I also don't know how the AI levels work numerically, so I won't try to convert it to the post game facilities as you wanted, though it's not that hard. Every trainer has an AI level built in which can be accessed by certain ROM hacking tools.
This is unfortunately as close as I can get to giving you a "correct" answer, I'm sure there's an AI pro out there who can correct me.
Heheheheh I shall attempt to answer this difficult answer! So. Basically
**Yes and no**
(That is like my catchphrase now)
Most tough Ai in Pokémon already know your stats they know your hp and already know your item. So regardless of if they had frisk they will be able to counter you.
Although you will not find this hard of Ai normally in Pokémon. The best place I can think of is in the gen 4 battle tower. Ok I forgot to add this source. Thanks sumwun for reminding me. https://pokemow.com/Gen4/TrainerAI/ Basically if you read the overview it tells you in one of those paragraphs that gen 4 battle tower opponents already know your hp and item.
How do you know this?
atp imma have to get my hands on an original catridge and try and reverse engineer the code or sm sht
Do you know the answer for other generations, like gen 5 or gen 6?
One more thing: trainers in gen 1 and maybe a few of the other older ones would have their Pokèmon use totally random moves.
There aren't held items in gen 1, and I don't believe there's any way to identify items in gen 2.
Was able to find a Frisk Pokemon (Trevenant4) in the Battle Tree in Ultra Sun and did some mock battles. Putting this comment so I don't forget. Here's what I have so far with the computer having a Frisk Pokemon:
1. For the type reducing Berries, this one depends on the Pokemon who has the type reducing berry. For example, vs a Rindo Berry Jellicent, Trevenant4(Which has Trick Room, Focus Blast, Shadow Ball, Energy Ball) will go for Shadow Ball. However, vs something like Rindo Berry Gastrodon, Trevenant4 will still go for Energy Ball since it is still its strongest attack vs Gastrodon, as the Tree AI tends to go for its most powerful move when attacking.
2. For Weakness Policy, the AI will not stay away from super effective moves, as Tree AI goes for its most powerful move vs a Pokemon when attacking.
Unfortunately, there aren't any Frisk Pokemon who have a move like Trick or Switcheroo, so this one I may need to get creative to figure this one out or find a Pokemon with Trick (like Reuniclus4) and hope the AI kind of just knows what item I am holding. I feel like that the AI doesn't need Frisk to confirm what item you have, as the AI seems to sort of know what item you have. For example, I did some mock battles with things like Kebia Berry Azumarill vs Venusaur, and Chople Berry Pangoro/Scrafty vs Chesnaught. For the Chople Berry one, Chesnaught would use Hammer Arm at first, but after exiting the battle and starting it over, Chesnaught would go for Wood Hammer instead of Hammer Arm. For Azumarill, Venusaur went for Energy Ball vs Kebia Berry Azumarill instead of Sludge Bomb, though this one was vs Red, so I wonder if Special Trainers have better AI that sense what item you have without using something like Frisk. :P

...Keep in mind this is for Gen 7. I can test for Gen 6 (and 8 if I get around to that and if I remember if Gen 8 can let you save battles to mock battle them), but only after I find a Pokemon with Frisk in the Battle Maison to mock battle there. Don't have Gen 5 or Gen 4 games, so I can't test those gens, someone who has those games would need to test.(Also they don't let you mock battle your Battle Replay xd, which is really useful to help test this out)
This is really great info, thanks! The Battle Tree is my main concern so no worries if you can't get to everything else.

Did you test the Jellicent without a Rindo Berry? E.g. if it didn't have a berry, in theory Trevenant would use Energy Ball and Shadow Ball a roughly equal amount.
I don't think I tested without Rindo Berry on Jellicent, but I feel like it will just use Energy Ball and not Shadow Ball just because Energy Ball would do more damage.
252+ SpA Trevenant-4 Energy Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Jellicent: 104-126 (59.4 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Trevenant-4 Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Jellicent: 92-110 (52.6 - 62.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Please log in or register to answer this question.