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Protections and hindrances
Protect, Safeguard, Light Screen, Taunt, Perish Song… Besides its status, a Pokémon can carry several passing effects, good or bad. What each one does, how many turns it lasts, and which move sets it.
In short
- 47 passing effects, which stack with each other and with the status.
- Each lasts a few turns, runs down at the end of the turn, and is wiped when you change floors.
- Protections help whoever carries them; hindrances hamper them. Wild Pokémon set as many as you do.
How it works
A status (asleep, poisoned…), there is only one at a time. Protections and hindrances, however, stack: a Pokémon can be under Protect, under Light Screen and taunted all at once. Each has its duration in turns; the badges on the Team screen show them with what they have left. When you change floors, everything is wiped.
A protection is most often set by a move: on yourself or on the team for support moves, on the target for hindrances. The Dew Garden’s elixirs set some too: an Immunity against certain status conditions, a Guard that halves hits of certain types.
All of them, in detail
| Protection or hindrance | What happens | Duration | Set by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protect protection | No hit gets through. | 2 turns | Protect, Detect |
| Endure protection | Keeps at least 1 HP, whatever the hit. | 2 turns | Endure |
| Safeguard protection | No status condition takes hold. | 8 turns | Safeguard |
| Magnet Rise protection | Floats: Ground-type moves no longer reach it. | 8 turns | Magnet Rise |
| Light Screen protection | Special hits received are halved. | 8 turns | Light Screen |
| Reflect protection | Physical hits received are halved. | 8 turns | Reflect |
| Mist protection | Its stats can no longer be lowered. | 8 turns | Mist |
| Lucky Chant protection | No more critical hits against it. | 8 turns | Lucky Chant |
| Aqua Ring protection | Regains HP every turn. | 10 turns | Aqua Ring |
| Lock-On protection | Its next hits cannot miss. | 3 turns | Lock-On, Mind Reader |
| Helping Hand protection | Its moves hit harder next turn. | 2 turns | Helping Hand |
| Grudge protection | Whoever knocks it out loses the PP of the move that did it. | 5 turns | Grudge |
| Destiny Bond protection | Whoever knocks it out goes down with it. | 3 turns | Destiny Bond |
| Substitute protection | A substitute takes the hits in its place, until it breaks. | 20 turns | Substitute |
| Charging protection | Charging up: the move fires next turn. | 2 turns | — |
| Counter protection | Returns the next hit it takes. | 2 turns | — |
| Bide protection | Takes the hits, then gives it all back at once. | 3 turns | — |
| Stockpile protection | Stockpiles, to release all at once. | 12 turns | — |
| Barrier protection | A shield of scales absorbs the hits. | 20 turns | Scale Shield |
| Echo protection | Sends back part of the hits it takes. | 3 turns | Echo Back |
| Guard protection | Stands guard: hits meant for its neighbours land on it instead. | 3 turns | Guard’s Sacrifice |
| Lure protection | Draws every wild Pokémon’s attention. | 3 turns | Lure |
| Rampaging protection | Rampages: attacks several turns in a row without choosing. | 4 turns | — |
| Rage protection | Every hit taken raises its Attack. | 10 turns | — |
| Charge protection | Its next Electric-type hit is twice as strong. | 5 turns | — |
| Immunity protection | The elixir protects it from certain status conditions. | 10 turns | — |
| Guard protection | The elixir halves hits of certain types. | 10 turns | — |
| Last Breath protection | Holds its last breath for whoever brings it down. | 3 turns | Last Breath |
| Imprison hindrance | Can no longer use its moves. | 6 turns | Imprison |
| Taunt hindrance | Can only think of fighting: no more support moves or items. | 6 turns | Taunt |
| Torment hindrance | Cannot use the same move twice in a row. | 6 turns | Torment |
| Embargo hindrance | Can no longer use items, and its held item stops protecting it. | 6 turns | Embargo |
| Attract hindrance | Every other turn, it just gazes at its target. | 5 turns | Attract |
| Insomnia hindrance | Can no longer fall asleep, nor yawn. | 10 turns | Worry Seed |
| Nightmare hindrance | While asleep, loses HP every turn. | 8 turns | Nightmare |
| Perish Song hindrance | Countdown: at zero, it falls. | 3 turns | Perish Song |
| Disable hindrance | One of its moves is blocked. | 5 turns | Disable |
| Encore hindrance | Forced to repeat its last move. | 4 turns | Encore |
| Gastro Acid hindrance | Its titles (its abilities) are neutralised. | 8 turns | Gastro Acid |
| Recharging hindrance | Catching its breath: loses the turn. | 2 turns | — |
| Exposed hindrance | Can no longer slip away: hits find it. | 10 turns | — |
| Spared hindrance | Spared by a hair: it listens more readily when spoken to. | 12 turns | — |
| Marked hindrance | Marked by the hunter: suffers more and no longer heals. | 5 turns | Hunter’s Mark |
| Eroded hindrance | Crumbles: its Defense drops with every hit. | the whole floor | — |
| Flinched hindrance | Flinches: loses its turn. | 2 turns | — |
| Future Sight hindrance | A hit from the future is about to strike it. | 2 turns | — |
| Grounded hindrance | Grounded: no longer flies and takes Ground-type hits. | 8 turns | — |
Held items
Two held items protect from a status as long as you wear them, with no duration: the 
Insomniscope against sleep, the 
Pecha Scarf against poison. Under Embargo, the held item no longer protects.
Eight turns without any status: set right before entering a Monster House or a boss arena, Safeguard shelters the team from the worst at the moment when everything falls at once.
See also
- BattleStatus conditionsAsleep, poisoned, paralyzed… A status condition changes what a Pokémon can do for a few turns, for it as for the wild Pokémon. Here are the game’s nine status conditions, what they really do, how long they last and how to get rid of them.
- BattleTurn by turnEvery step is a turn, and the wild Pokémon act after you. The possible actions, the ranges, what makes up damage, the regular attack, and natural HP recovery.
- ItemsHeld itemsEach Pokémon on the team can hold one item, just one. It no longer weighs in the bag, isn’t lost when you faint, and acts as long as it is worn: stats, protection, recovery, experience, recruitment or Belly for the whole team.