Update: it’s definitely something with the AI. Even the supercomputer intelligence of Turo decided that the best way to deal with Ice Face was to have his Iron Bundle use Snowscape…five times in a row.
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The dumbest thing the AI has ever done?
- Thread starter TheGamedawg
- Start date
Lol might as well fight until the very end, not take the easy way out
Giacomo's car refused to attack and just spammed a stat changing move for almost the whole battle until he finally did one attack with almost no hp left and then died.
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Truly on some galaxy brain shit trying to make Ice Face too heavy to move with all that snow.
This literally just happened now.
Champion Steven sent out a Claydol. I swapped into Gyarados predicting Earth Power. Earth Power was used.
On the very next turn, Claydol is standing there. It sees that Gyarados is in front of it. This is a Gyarados. Physical attacker. It's about to ddance and sweep. What does it do?
Claydol used Light Screen! Yeah Reflect definitely was not the right move there...
Champion Steven sent out a Claydol. I swapped into Gyarados predicting Earth Power. Earth Power was used.
On the very next turn, Claydol is standing there. It sees that Gyarados is in front of it. This is a Gyarados. Physical attacker. It's about to ddance and sweep. What does it do?
Claydol used Light Screen! Yeah Reflect definitely was not the right move there...
I don't entirely know how the AI functions, but I bet it doesn't read enemy attacking stats; why would it need to when it never switches. I do know that in some (if not most?) of the games the trainer AI's actions are heavily informed by whether or not it sees a move that can KO, and suspect it went roulette in that instance.
As a general comment about the AI, I think it's interesting to note that this element of randomness (I assume Light Screen and Reflect are weighted pretty evenly in the AI decision tree regardless of the opposing Pokemon) can sometimes serve to smooth out the playing experience for players of different skill levels. Suboptimal moves give less knowledgeable players a bit of breathing room, while also preventing the AI from being completely predictable (and therefore exploitable by more advanced players).
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Adventures in horrible move combos, Violet-style:
- Wild Espathra uses Hypnosis, then immediately follows it up with Uproar. While this is technically it picking the moves at random, I'm including it because it was the Terastallized one near the mountain, and why does it even have both those moves?
- Montenevera Gym. Gym Trainer Lani has her Haunter and Misdreavus out against my underleveled Arcanine and Morgrem. She has Haunter use Hex on Arcanine for about half damage, then immediately has Misdreavus double into it with Pain Split, healing up Arcanine for about 25% and hurting itself. I can see why using it could have been a good idea if she thought the Misdreavus would take damage first, but this is probably either a) the AI not knowing what Pain Split does or b) the AI somehow not knowing it's faster than both of the Pokemon I have out.
- Wild Espathra uses Hypnosis, then immediately follows it up with Uproar. While this is technically it picking the moves at random, I'm including it because it was the Terastallized one near the mountain, and why does it even have both those moves?
- Montenevera Gym. Gym Trainer Lani has her Haunter and Misdreavus out against my underleveled Arcanine and Morgrem. She has Haunter use Hex on Arcanine for about half damage, then immediately has Misdreavus double into it with Pain Split, healing up Arcanine for about 25% and hurting itself. I can see why using it could have been a good idea if she thought the Misdreavus would take damage first, but this is probably either a) the AI not knowing what Pain Split does or b) the AI somehow not knowing it's faster than both of the Pokemon I have out.
A sublime example of AI stupidity today.
One of my apprentices in the Emerald Battle Tower uses a Shedinja on his team and something hilarious just happened when I chose to partner with him for the hell of it (wasn't a serious streak). Both of my Pokemon fainted in the sixth battle, leaving his Shedinja alone against the last Pokemon: Forretress.
...which knew Explosion, Giga Drain, Earthquake, and Zap Cannon. Well, none of those can damage Shedinja so it's a foregone result!
Forretress clearly agreed, as it went straight for Explosion.
I just... why?!
One of my apprentices in the Emerald Battle Tower uses a Shedinja on his team and something hilarious just happened when I chose to partner with him for the hell of it (wasn't a serious streak). Both of my Pokemon fainted in the sixth battle, leaving his Shedinja alone against the last Pokemon: Forretress.
...which knew Explosion, Giga Drain, Earthquake, and Zap Cannon. Well, none of those can damage Shedinja so it's a foregone result!
Forretress clearly agreed, as it went straight for Explosion.
I just... why?!
Either two things happened:
1. The game detected all Moves are immuned thus no Move is more effective than the other, so it chose randomly and just so happened to select Explosion.
2. Could be, when a Pokemon has Explosion, they're programmed to use as a "last ditch effort" Move. And not just if its low on HP, but also in Move effectiveness. In the unlikely case all others Moves are immuned, use Explosion. Doesn't matter if Explosion also will do no damage, Explosion will still initiate which is all what the game cares about.
If I had to guess I'd say that point 1 is probably closer to the mark. I don't think it chose randomly though, the AI most likely rationalised that - all other things being equal - it should use the highest-powered move. I don't think it thinks in terms of "last ditch effort" or otherwise. Everything I've learned about it points to the AI simply wanting to get the maximum possible yield out of each turn - i.e. a KO (or more than one if it's a double battle). Generally when the AI has four offensive moves and none are super-effective against the target it will default to using the highest-powered move unless there's some drawback (like low accuracy or recoil) or one of the other moves comes with a benefit (such as a guaranteed stat drop/raise or status infliction).
What doesn't tally with that though is that you'd think Explosion's suicidal effect would count as a drawback. Forretress was the last Pokemon which you'd think would deter the AI from using it, but a double knockout means the player loses so I'd expect it would quite happily self-KO if it were capable of knocking me out too.
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Hey look at that, two in a row!
In the Battle Subway, using Gyarados and Marowak against Emmet. He sends out Eelektross as his last Pokemon. It uses Thunderbolt...
...but it gets nullified by Marowak's Lightningrod.
Okay then, rationalises Eelektross. I'll just use Gastro Acid on Marowak to remove Lightningrod!
Very clever indeed. But you know what'd be even more clever?
Using Discharge!!
In the Battle Subway, using Gyarados and Marowak against Emmet. He sends out Eelektross as his last Pokemon. It uses Thunderbolt...
...but it gets nullified by Marowak's Lightningrod.
Okay then, rationalises Eelektross. I'll just use Gastro Acid on Marowak to remove Lightningrod!
Very clever indeed. But you know what'd be even more clever?
Using Discharge!!
Bet the logic under the hood here is:
-Discharge would hit Gyarados, but would also do nothing to Marowak. AI probably prioritizes single target moves in this scenario
-Discharge, in addition to doing nothing to Marowak, would also deal less damage to Gyarados. AI loves prioritizing more damage
-Discharge would also power up marowak!!! That Marowak could be throwing out fire blasts and ice beams!
You'd think so, but what I've read (on here and elsewhere) seems to go against this:
-The AI (allegedly) prefers spread-damage moves, even when they're less effective.
-The AI doesn't seem to be able to "see" Lightningrod: Subway opponents will invariably use Electric moves, sometimes repeatedly, when Marowak is on the field next to something Electric-weak. So I don't think it considered the negative aspect of Lightningrod powering Marowak up - it wouldn't anyway, as the Ground-type immunity takes precedence over the ability.
The only credible reason I can come up with is a line in Smogon's Subway article noting that the AI apparently takes the presence of its partner into account, even after they faint. So it may have been factoring in "avoid hitting Chandelure with Discharge" - if Marowak wasn't immune, perhaps it would have been more willing to use Discharge at Chandelure's potential expense.
Relatedly, another point that article (correctly) notes is that the AI prefers to use a move its partner is immune to: I've noticed that AI Pokemon will frequently use Earthquake to hit Marowak when they have an airborne partner, even when my other Pokemon is Gyarados, and even if they've suffered an Attack drop from Intimidate. The "benefit" of not hitting their partner seems to take precedence over using any other move.
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My guess as to what happens here is that, just like in Gen 4 doubles, the AI heavily discourages any spread moves that would damage its partner (and significantly encourages spread moves that don't damage its partner).
This applies even if the partner is fainted. So unless the Pokemon that was most recently active next to Eelektross was his Excadrill, it was vulnerable to discharge.
So what I see happening is that the AI thinks that Discharge would hit its ally Haxorus/Chandelure, failing to realize that it can't be hit by Discharge if it's fainted.
I know this because something similar happened to me when I was doing Battle Factory Doubles in gen 4. My last remaining Pokemon was a very low-health Skarmory, the AI's last was Slowbro2 (ZHB, EQ, Aqua Tail, Avalanche). Because the AI's second-to-last Pokemon was a Weezing, it proceeded to spam Earthquake as I whittled it down.
This applies even if the partner is fainted. So unless the Pokemon that was most recently active next to Eelektross was his Excadrill, it was vulnerable to discharge.
So what I see happening is that the AI thinks that Discharge would hit its ally Haxorus/Chandelure, failing to realize that it can't be hit by Discharge if it's fainted.
I know this because something similar happened to me when I was doing Battle Factory Doubles in gen 4. My last remaining Pokemon was a very low-health Skarmory, the AI's last was Slowbro2 (ZHB, EQ, Aqua Tail, Avalanche). Because the AI's second-to-last Pokemon was a Weezing, it proceeded to spam Earthquake as I whittled it down.
During my Bug-only run of Violet, a trainer had their Azurill use Tail Whip three times... and then Water Gun. They then sent out their Houndour, which used Ember. The Houndour also spammed Howl and Leer and the end of the battle while I slowly killed it with Tackle. The AI just really likes spamming status moves, don't they.
They clicked a normal move into my hzoro not once but fucking twice
Magneton uses HP ice on an AI Sceptile in the battle frontier.
AI checks for a switch (i.e. if it has a mon in the back that both resists my last move and can hit SE).
AI thinks that, despite just having been SE on a grass type, that Hidden Power is still a Normal move.
AI switches in Rhydon.
Rhydon gets 2HKO'd by HP Ice before getting to act.
AI checks for a switch (i.e. if it has a mon in the back that both resists my last move and can hit SE).
AI thinks that, despite just having been SE on a grass type, that Hidden Power is still a Normal move.
AI switches in Rhydon.
Rhydon gets 2HKO'd by HP Ice before getting to act.
Was your Zoroark disguised? If so, that's a common pitfall the AI has to face, which is exactly why Zoroark/Zorua can solo things like Ultra Necrozma.
recently in ultra moon i was facing dexio's espeon with a drifblim, and it outsped and used power swap before i used calm mind. next turn, it used power swap again, stole my boosts and my attack did less damage. with my boosts stolen, it... used power swap a third time, returning my boosts and fainting to my second attack. huh.
Kieran’s Furret at the Paradise Barrens against my underleveled Kommo-o:
Tidy Up -> Tidy Up -> Super Fang
Tidy Up -> Tidy Up -> Super Fang
Facing off against Gentleman Glenn on my Nuzlocke run of Sword, which is the second-last battle of Victory Road before going up against the Champion Cup.
He leads off with Darmanitan, which nearly wiped me the last time I had a run get this far. This time I'm prepared and send in Gyarados as the lead to Intimidate it (I have no Ice-resists on my team at this point other than a somewhat underleveled Toxapex that can't really do anything back to it), figuring I can get some damage off before switching out to a closer to take it down.
Darmanitan is faster than Gyarados, and if Icicle Crash lands it'll do massive damage even after the Intimidate and possibly proc a flinch.
Darmanitan uses Taunt.
This Darmanitan has the Gorilla Tactics ability (basically an automatic Choice Band).
Choice-locked Taunt, new meta folks. The only possible explanation I can think of is that the AI somehow isn’t programmed to know it has Gorilla Tactics.
He leads off with Darmanitan, which nearly wiped me the last time I had a run get this far. This time I'm prepared and send in Gyarados as the lead to Intimidate it (I have no Ice-resists on my team at this point other than a somewhat underleveled Toxapex that can't really do anything back to it), figuring I can get some damage off before switching out to a closer to take it down.
Darmanitan is faster than Gyarados, and if Icicle Crash lands it'll do massive damage even after the Intimidate and possibly proc a flinch.
Darmanitan uses Taunt.
This Darmanitan has the Gorilla Tactics ability (basically an automatic Choice Band).
Choice-locked Taunt, new meta folks. The only possible explanation I can think of is that the AI somehow isn’t programmed to know it has Gorilla Tactics.
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A couple days ago, I was playing through a bunch of the PTCGP single player battles that I hadn't done yet to get the hourglasses from them. I forget the exact pokemon at this point, so sorry about that.
The AI has Vaporeon (the one that can move as much water energy as it wants to itself) out, and has a strong pokemon with 2 water energies in the back, as well an unevolved mon.
The pokemon I have out can survive an attack from Vaporeon, but not from the strong pokemon, so I take a risk by keeping it out, predicting that the AI uses Vaporeon's ability to move the 2 Water energies to itself, and give itself a third energy, so I can survive, kill it next turn, and leave the rest of the team helpless.
Instead, it simply uses Misty (for those not familar, this card flips coins, and for every heads it flips until a tails appears, it gives that amount of water energies to any pokemon you want). The ai lands SIX heads which is crazy......and gives it to one of the unevolved pokemon???
Instantly after this, it then uses Vaporeon's ability to move ALL six energies over to the Vaporeon, going through the animation and everything every single time. And then switches into the unevolved pokemon and ends its turn.
What was it cooking???
The AI has Vaporeon (the one that can move as much water energy as it wants to itself) out, and has a strong pokemon with 2 water energies in the back, as well an unevolved mon.
The pokemon I have out can survive an attack from Vaporeon, but not from the strong pokemon, so I take a risk by keeping it out, predicting that the AI uses Vaporeon's ability to move the 2 Water energies to itself, and give itself a third energy, so I can survive, kill it next turn, and leave the rest of the team helpless.
Instead, it simply uses Misty (for those not familar, this card flips coins, and for every heads it flips until a tails appears, it gives that amount of water energies to any pokemon you want). The ai lands SIX heads which is crazy......and gives it to one of the unevolved pokemon???
Instantly after this, it then uses Vaporeon's ability to move ALL six energies over to the Vaporeon, going through the animation and everything every single time. And then switches into the unevolved pokemon and ends its turn.
What was it cooking???