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POWER or ACCURACY?
- Thread starter Yoko Rains
- Start date
Always acuracy, because I have the worst hax EVER. The Random Number generator hates my guts, so I miss everytime.
Draco Meteor AND Dragon Pulse. xD
To be honest, the extremes are useless really. You don't see anyone using Swift/faint attack/etc., but even if you lifted 1hko clause you wouldn't see many running those moves either. Generally starting from swift, people are willing to trade accuracy for power up to a point until a certain point, at which point they aren't willing to trade any further.
You could say there is a Marginal Return on Power, and a Marginal Return on Accuracy, and that taken to extremes, both face Diminishing Returns to Scale.
You could make a graph depicting this having accuracy on one axis and power on another (Say Accuracy on Y-axis and Power on X-axis). The set of points in the graph would be all possible attacks with varying balances of power/accuracy, and each attack that already exists would be a point in the graph. Moving up and right is of course favorable, those being attacks with more accuracy and power power. In this graph will be an infinite number of bent indifference curves with the bend pointing towards the origin. In this graph, Bubble would be on a lower indifference curve than Bubble Beam, and both would be on a lower indifference curve than Surf. Hydro Pump though, might be on the same indifference curve, and for many it probably is, depending how much they weigh the value of power or accuracy. Hydro Pump would be located to the right of surf but also farther down, which would make it possible for the same indifference curve to run through both.
Stone Edge and Rock Slide would be similarly related, but given the amount of marginal power added for a very small trade in accuracy, most would see Stone Edge as being on a better indifference curve than Rock Slide. Depending on player's preferences though, indifference curves will be differently shaped, with risk/power loving players facing much higher returns to scale from additional power than players who love accuracy.
Actually we could make a Cobbe-Douglas indifference function:
Y = Utility from using an attack
A = Accuracy
P = Power
a = alpha, the wieghted preference for accuracy
1-a = weighted preference for Power
where,
0 < a < 1
Y = (A^a)(P^(1-a))
By asking a player about their preference for attacks, it would be possible to find the values for that players alpha, and thus calculate the slope of his indifference curves and . . .
ok, maybe I should get back to my Economics Homework . . . >_> But talking about power, accuracy and ass kicking is so much mor fun than talking about labor, capital and production . . .
Depends. I usually go for accuracy, though, due to the fact that while in some cases, moves will have almost exactly equal damage output (take Aqua Tail vs Waterfall - with acc factored in, Aqua Tail actually has 81 base power compared to Waterfall's 80. Of course, Waterfall also has flinch chance, but I'm ignoring this for the example), but a 100% accurate move will always have the ability to KO a foe in KO range, while a move that's powerful enough but doesn't have 100% acc may miss.
That didn't come out as clearly as I wanted, but the gist of what I was sayings is this: Depends on the situation, but usually accuracy, since often an opponent will be in KO range from one move but not others, and if you don't have 100% acc you'll still have a chance to lose that matchup.
That didn't come out as clearly as I wanted, but the gist of what I was sayings is this: Depends on the situation, but usually accuracy, since often an opponent will be in KO range from one move but not others, and if you don't have 100% acc you'll still have a chance to lose that matchup.
It depends. Accruacy is usually the way to go unless you need to KO something specifically. For example, if you had a Pokemon with Ice Beam that did like 93% Max to a Salamence, you may want to run Blizzard just for that specific KO, and more power towards other dragons, basically risking the accuracy.
I think it depends. I agree with Twilight :) and pretty much everyone else who was talking about KOing specific targets.
One power/accuracy problem I have is focus blast. Pokemon like alakazam and gengar really don't have another choice besides hidden power fighting which isn't even close to the same amount of power and is much harder to acquire.
One power/accuracy problem I have is focus blast. Pokemon like alakazam and gengar really don't have another choice besides hidden power fighting which isn't even close to the same amount of power and is much harder to acquire.
Depends, though I'm leaning towards accuracy>power.
usually accuracy over power, but sometimes power is more important than accuracy in some situations, usually when accuracy is reduced slightly. such as 85-90 acc.
I normally prefer power. I almost always use stone edge and fire blast over rock slide and flamethrower. Between surf and hydropump, I would decide if my pokemon needs the extra pp from surf, if not i would use hydropump. However, even with the extra power, blizzard and thunder miss too much to be useful without weather.
Generally I go for power if the accuracy isn't too bad(80+). Fire Blast and Hydro Pump > Flamethrower and Surf respectively. In a case like Aqua Tail vs Waterfall, I go for Aqua Tail for my Life Orb Gyara as then I can 2HKO Cresselia.
Although, even if the more powerful move doesn't turn a 3hko into a 2hko or something of that sort, I still prefer it because it bangs things up more. It may not seem like it, but going from 95 to 120 BP is quite the difference in power. I generally don't factor in accuracy in the sense that Aqua Tail's average damage is actually 81 because 90 * 0.9 = 81. In reality, it isn't hitting for 81 bp, it's hitting for 90. That's more of an average damage. I'm probably not making any sense at all lol.
Also Agahnim, I don't think anyone uses Rock Slide anymore :D
Although, even if the more powerful move doesn't turn a 3hko into a 2hko or something of that sort, I still prefer it because it bangs things up more. It may not seem like it, but going from 95 to 120 BP is quite the difference in power. I generally don't factor in accuracy in the sense that Aqua Tail's average damage is actually 81 because 90 * 0.9 = 81. In reality, it isn't hitting for 81 bp, it's hitting for 90. That's more of an average damage. I'm probably not making any sense at all lol.
Also Agahnim, I don't think anyone uses Rock Slide anymore :D
Actually, there are a fair few people that do, it's been talked about already in at least one post, and is recommended as an option over Stone Edge in some of the analysis threads.
That said, I'll go for accuracy over power unless there is a specific situation where I'd benefit for going for that extra power, such as OHKOing, 2HKOing or sometimes even 3HKOing a Pokemon where normally I would not.
Very situational. For Hydro Pump, I decided to calculate the average damage over 100 turns (120 * 80/100) and I got a few points higher than Surf, which made more sense to me. Stone Edge and Fire Blast are more clear-cut good moves.
Running the same psuedo-math for Focus Blast gets 84 avg. power for it, making it more attractive than HP Fighting.
Running the same psuedo-math for Focus Blast gets 84 avg. power for it, making it more attractive than HP Fighting.
Its true that fire blast/hydro pump get more power on average than flamethrower/surf, but thats not the entire story. Being able to reliably calculate how much damage you do is far more important if you're using a relatively frail pokemon. A one in 5 chance of missing is simply unacceptable for a pokemon as weak as infernape, so flamethrower is almost always better. Meanwhile, weezing benefits more from fire blast because he can afford to take a hit, and his weaker special attack benefits from the increase in power.
actually tbh, most things switch out of infernape so you're pretty safe using some risky moves
I also think it depends. Some Pokemon might need that extra bit of a powerful attack (ie, Hydro Pump > Surf on Swampert and stuff), and some may have enough power or not need the extra power and need consistency instead (ie, Surf > Hydro Pump on Vaporeon).
Furthermore, there is usually an "acceptable" threshold of accuracy people are comfortable with I think; many people will usually risk something with 70% accuracy at the most, like with Hypnosis and support moves like that. 80% I think is usually the lowest people will go with attack moves, like Stone Edge (though there is an exception here if you like Focus Blast).
Furthermore, there is usually an "acceptable" threshold of accuracy people are comfortable with I think; many people will usually risk something with 70% accuracy at the most, like with Hypnosis and support moves like that. 80% I think is usually the lowest people will go with attack moves, like Stone Edge (though there is an exception here if you like Focus Blast).