Moves

Moves menu

Moves are attacks or skills that Pokémon can use in combat. Pokémon have access to four move slots that can be filled with moves based on the Pokémon's learnset.

A move can be used by holding its corresponding key (, , , or ) and then pressing . Pressing alone will execute the basic attack, which has no type, does not make contact, and cannot land as a critical hit. Moves can also be used, forgotten, and moved to a different slot from the moves menu ( → Moves), either by clicking and dragging the move name or using the Shift Up/Down options.

When a move key is being held, a grid of yellow tiles will show the range of the move. One or more tiles of the grid will turn red on valid targets, and the grid will stop at the first target if the move does not pierce.

Variables

Like the main series, all moves have factors that can differ between each other. Some of these factors are unique to PMU.

• Type - Every move has a Pokémon type, which can deal increased (super effective) damage, or subsequently less damage, to other certain types. If a Pokémon is immune to a move type-wise, it will still take some damage akin to the first two games in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. Moves deal more damage if they have a type of the Pokémon using it.
• Category - PMU moves follow the standard categorization, having the same three categories: physical, special, or status. Physical and special moves deal damage, while status moves can deal damage indirectly or only apply certain effects to Pokémon.
• Power - Power determines how strong a damage-dealing move is. Power can be a set number, or vary depending on different factors.
• Accuracy - Accuracy determines how likely the move will hit. Some moves will never miss, and a move with 100% accuracy can still miss with a lowered accuracy stat from an Ability, an enemy with boosted evasion, or due to having a large range.
• PP - Short for Power Points, the maximum amount of times a move can be used without item help. The name of a move will turn red when the PP reaches zero. If the PP of all a Pokémon's moves is at zero, Struggle will be used when attempting to execute a move.
• Range - How far a move can hit in tiles. The formation of the tiles depends on range type.
• Cooldown - "Hit time" internally; how long until another move can be used, sometimes called attack speed. The cooldown can vary slightly between moves even of the same range, but generally move cooldowns will be categorized into either fast, normal, or slow.
• Glide - "Hit freeze" internally; whether a move can be used while moving without stopping your movement.
• Pierce - Whether a move can go through multiple targets rather than stopping on the tile of the first one in sight.

The damage category, base power and accuracy of moves are in line with their data in the main series' games. Move effects and mechanics in PMU generally function the same between the main series and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, but some may be altered due to differences in gameplay.

Priority in PMU tends to correlate to move range. Moves with an increased priority also ignore hitstun. "Multi-hit" moves other than moves that always hit twice are rapid-fire attacks that have large amounts of PP and a short cooldown.

Range Types

• Area of effect
• Line of sight
• Spray
• Self
• Special

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While range is determined by the amount of tiles it reaches, there are different range types that determine the shape the tiles form.

• Area of Effect - Move hits around you (square formation).
• Line of Sight - Move hits in front of you (line formation).
• Spray - Move hits in a cone in front of you (triangle formation).
• Self - Move affects only you and/or the Pokémon you're on the same tile as.
• Special - Has a special effect.

Piercing sprays and area of affect moves will have their base power and accuracy lowered by specific percentages the bigger their range is in tiles.

Sprays

AoEs

For example, the move Earthquake is an area of effect move with a range of 8, so the power and accuracy would be reduced to 70% and 75% respectively. Moves with a base accuracy below 75% will not have a reduction in accuracy.

Learning Moves

Most Pokémon will naturally learn moves through level up, and can learn moves through the use of TMs and HMs and move tutors.

Learnsets of every Pokémon follow this standard:

• Level up and egg moves are taken from the Pokémon's last game appearance
• TM moves contain every TM the Pokémon could learn starting from Generation 4, as well as every move that was previously an HM that it could learn
  • Moves that can be taught as a TR can be taught if they have a TM equivalent in PMU.
• Tutor moves contain the Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon BP moves, and the tutor moves available in both Sword and Shield and its Expansion Pass.

Other moves a Pokémon could learn in a previous generation or through events can be obtained with a Legacy Token.

List of Moves

For a list of move data within the context of Pokémon Mystery Universe, see Moves/List of Moves.

Trivia

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• Unlike in PMD, Pokémon are able to move while using moves such as Bounce, Dig, Dive, Fly, and Phantom Force.
• Area of Effect and Spray moves used to have a set debuff of 25% in damage and accuracy for Area of Effect moves larger than 2 tiles and 20% in damage and accuracy for Spray moves larger than 2 tiles. However a scaling debuff scale was added on September 8th 2021.
• Learnsets were updated from Generation 7 to Generation 8 and 9 on October 12th, 2024.