Beginners

Published on July 16th, 2012 | by bearsfan092

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The Fake Out Guide

If you’ve had any experience playing VGC, you’ve probably run into Fake Out users that disrupt your strategy.  Fake Out’s a peculiar move in that it behaves like Quick Attack with an enhanced +3 priority (the same as Rage Powder and Follow Me) and a 100 percent flinching effect that is blocked only by Pokémon with the Inner Focus ability.  However, the trade-off is that Fake Out is only successful the first turn a Pokémon is on the field.

Because of the nature of double battling, tempo and move order is essential.  This is what makes Fake Out such an attractive move, as it nearly guarantees the disruption of the opponent in some form as they flinch, use Protect, or switch.  From there, you can use the disruption to set up your own strategy, thereby putting yourself in a position to win.

When Should You Fake Out?

Fake Out’s utility is so great that more often than not, you’ll want to fire off a Fake Out in most situations.  If any of the following situations apply to you, odds are you should Fake Out:

1. You have uncontested Fake Out control over the field.  This means you have the fastest Fake Out user or the only Fake Out user.  At  the very worst, you get a turn where nothing happens provided the opponent doesn’t switch.

2. You need to KO one of your opponent’s Pokémon, but his or her other Pokémon threatens to KO you first.  You can momentarily halt the threatening Pokémon, giving you an opportunity to make the kill.  Keep in mind that the opponent might use Protect to nullify the gains from Fake Out.  See situation 4 of the next section for more details.

3. You need time to set up a certain move.  Fake Out can give you the safety to set up Trick Room, weather, Substitute, and other moves.  I will cover this more in depth later.

4. You need to switch in a Pokémon.  You can nullify a threat to that Pokémon to give a safe switch in.

When Shouldn’t You Fake Out?

Generally, it’s a bit more difficult to know when not to use Fake Out.  Although the connection might not be clear, you need to have at least a basic understanding of how to switch and how your opponent might switch.  Generally, switching is harder for new players, causing them to Fake Out when they shouldn’t.  With proper situation recognition, you can stop yourself from falling into this trap.  If you’re looking at one of the following situations, you probably should avoid using Fake Out:

1. The opponent is using an Inner Focus user.  Obviously using Fake Out on this Pokémon would be a wasted turn.  You should consider using another move or switching into a more favorable situation.

2. You have the slower Fake Out user.  You’re just going to waste a valuable turn where at best you both end up flinching each other’s non-Fake Out user.  At worst, the opponent uses Fake Out on your user and opens it up to be KO’d by the partner.  Again, you should switch into a Pokémon that gives you a better matchup.

3. You can’t disrupt the opponent enough by using Fake Out.  This one is a complete judgement call, and different players will react differently according to their playstyle.  If you have an unfortunate lead matchup where both opponents can KO your Fake Out user and your teammate can’t do enough damage to either opponent or gain enough of an edge by setting up, you should consider saving your Fake Out user for later.  However, some players will instead elect to sacrifice their Fake Out user to grant safe entry to another Pokémon.  Ultimately, the decision is yours.

4. If facing a situation similar to # 2 of the previous section, the opponent might use Protect to mitigate Fake Out’s effect.  If you Fake Out into a Protect in this case, you’ll be in a situation where the other Pokémon will simply KO yours first on the next turn.  If this situation might occur, you should consider any switches you can make that would put you in a better position.

Of course, this list of when to Fake Out or not  may not cover every situation.  In the end, your own logic and judgement should be the deciding factor in using Fake Out.

Combining Fake Out with Other Moves

On its own, Fake Out doesn’t do much other than grant some free damage.  It truly shines when you utilize Fake Out with another move.  Here are some common ways to utilize

Fake Out + Damaging Attack: You’ll undoubtedly find yourself in situations where both you and your opponent can make a kill, but your opponent is faster.  With Fake Out, you can hold off the faster Pokémon, allowing you to get a KO using your teammate.  This is the simplest use of Fake Out, but it’s also the most general, fitting nearly every team type.

Fake Out+ Tailwind/Trick Room/Weather: Fake Out can be essential for teams looking to get up moves that alter attack order or set up weather.  For example, a fast Fake Out user can attack a slower  Fake Out user to ensure that the Tailwind or Trick Room user has the freedom to use a set up move.  When doing this, it’s generally useful to have your Fake Out user be useful in your environment of choice.  Weavile might be able to guarantee that you get up Trick Room, but it becomes a burden after Trick Room goes up due to its high Speed.

Fake Out+Substitute: The basic premise is that you have a Fake Out user paired with a Pokémon that uses Substitute.  Ideally, the Substitute user should be threatening at least one of your opponent’s Pokémon.  This also works to a lesser degree if the opponent can’t do enough damage to your Substitute user with one of their Pokémon.  In the first case, you should Fake Out the opponent’s Pokémon that is less threatened by your Substitute user with the hope that the other Pokémon might use Protect.  This allows you to set up your Substitute, giving you a safety blanket to attack with.  In the second case, you should use Fake Out so that the Pokémon who can’t touch your Substitute user is free to move.  This will cause them to run fruitlessly into Substitute, giving you the advantage.

Fake Out+Stat Up Move: The combination of Fake Out with a Stat Up move like Swords Dance plays similarly to Fake Out+Substitute.  With Fake Out, you can buy a turn to augment the stats of one of your Pokémon.  This is especially deadly with moves that boost Speed like Quiver Dance, as it can allow you to move before an opponent that would previously outspeed you.  However, set up moves differ from Substitute in that you can’t block status effects like Paralysis or Burn, so keep that in mind.

Fake Out+Encore: Another lesser-seen combination, but it can be absolutely lethal if pulled off.  Unlike the other combinations, Fake Out+Encore is not meant to be used in the same turn.  Rather, they are used on consecutive turns.  The goal is to force a Protect using Fake Out.  From there, you need a relatively fast Encore user (notable mentions go to Whimsicott, Alakazam, and Infernape) who can force them to repeat the Protect.  To pull this off, you can try switching in your Encore user as the opponent uses Protect.  Alternatively, you can pack both Encore and Fake Out on the same set.  However, this takes up half of your moveslots, so consider that before using the combination.  If successful, you’ll force your opponent to use up at least one turn as they switch and multiple turns if they decide to stay in and try to wait out the Encore.

Dealing with Opposing Fake Out

Eventually, you’ll find yourself in a situation where your opponent has Fake Out leverage over you.  If this is the case, there are several things you can try to do:

1. If your opponent is trying to combine an attack with Fake Out, sometimes all you need is to buy a turn to wait out the Fake Out, allowing you to counterattack.  In this case, all that’s needed is to use Protect on one or both of your Pokémon.

2. If your opponent is trying to set up something like weather, Trick Room, or Tailwind, there’s a good chance you’ll be looking at Fake Out support.  Rather than taking the flinch and being in poor position to act in your opponent’s environment, you should switch out the likely Fake Out target for something more viable for the situation.  This way, you minimize your losses and give yourself a fighting chance.

Common Users of Fake Out

hitmontop weavile scrafty infernape ludicolo sableye

  • Hitmontop: Intimidate encourages hit-and switch mentality to reuse Fake Out.  Technician boosts its power.
  • Weavile: Fastest Fake Out user.  Threatens key Pokémon like Latios with STAB attacks afterwards.
  • Scrafty: Fits on a Trick Room team.  Moxie turns it into an offensive juggernaut after Trick Room is set up.
  • Infernape: Very fast and threatens the opponent with STAB attacks.  Also has access to Encore.
  • Ludicolo: In Rain, it is the fastest Fake Out user.  A premiere Rain threat with two great STABs.
  • Sableye: Very disruptive. Fake Out complements Sableye’s Prankster ability — ruining set-up or just annoying the opponent.

This list of Fake Out users is far from comprehensive.  By referencing a list of Pokémon that can learn Fake Out, it’s likely you can craft an unsuspected Fake Out set that can throw off an opponent.  After all, you wouldn’t expect Dewgong to be such a disruptive force, but with Fake Out and Encore, you’ll find yourself behind the eight-ball if you’re not careful.

Hopefully this guide has put you in the right mindset about how to think about Fake Out, whether it be used by you or your opponent.  If you can master how to use it, Fake Out will greatly improve your chances of executing your strategy successfully, allowing you to dictate the flow of battle.


About the Author

is an avid lover of Jigglypuff and all things VGC. He also runs a youtube channel named "bearsfan092drums", which hosts a series of RNG abuse tutorials. He recently won the 2012 Philadelphia Fall Regional for VGC.



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