Unnerve desync glitch: Difference between revisions

The '''Unnerve Cheek Pouchdesync glitch''' is a [[natural glitch]], occurring in [[bp:Generation VI|Generation VI]], [[bp:Generation VII|VII]], and [[bp:Generation VIII|VIII]]. It results from the smoothed-out manner in which animations play when multiple Pokémon take damage from the same move, in combination with the Berry-suppression effect of Unnerve being lifted at an unusual time.

In order for this glitch to occur, battle animations must be enabled. One trainer should have a Pokémon with a held Berry (and possibly also the Cheek Pouch ability), which hasit takenshould abe smallin amounta ofposition priorto damage--atconsume leastright 1away, but less than 1/3 of its maximum HP missing. This Pokémon should hold a Berryexcept that heals a status condition, while one of its opponents has the Unnerve ability to prevent that Berry from being usedhappening. The Cheek Pouch Pokémon should then be inflicted with the status corresponding to its held Berry, and then one of two options needs to happen:be eithermissing theat Unnerveleast Pokémon1 uses Self-DestructHP, Explosion,but Mistya Explosion, Final Gambit, Mind Blown, or Steel Beam to knock itself out and dealsmall enough damageamount tothat knock outbetween the CheekBerry's Pouchown Pokemoninnate as wellhealing (theif simplest way to do this is by having a Mewtwo from the Virtual Console Generation I games learn Self-Destruct from TM36 there, then send it to Pokémon Bank where it will receive Unnerve as its abilityany), and/or ifCheek the battle is a Double or Triple BattlePouch, one of the Unnerve Pokémon's teammateswould canbe useable ato multi-targetrecover move to hitbeyond its teammatecurrent (whichmaximum is processed first)HP, thenif thesuch Cheeka Pouchthing Pokémon,were dealingpossible. enoughThere damageare toseveral knockcombinations outthat bothcan ofachieve them.this:

If battle animations are off, the visual representation of events in this case will show the Unnerve Pokémon faint before the Cheek Pouch (or Oran Berry) Pokémon takes any damage. The Cheek PouchBerry Pokémon will immediately use its Berry to heal itseither HP or a status condition, as appropriate, and if Cheek Pouch is present, that ability will restore its HP to full (which, cruciallynecessarily for the glitch, involves healing less than the full amount the ability isand/or Berry are capable of, because healing is capped at the maximum HP). The damage of the incoming attack had already been calculated by that point, and was similarly capped by the amount of remaining HP that the Cheek PouchBerry Pokémon had at the beginning of the move, so only that much damage will be dealt, leaving the Cheek PouchBerry Pokémon with remaining HP equal to the amount that abilityit was able to heal before it bumped into the maximum.

On the contrary, if battle animations are on, the visual sequence will show the Cheek PouchBerry Pokémon take enough damage to drop all the way to 0 HP, but not faint yet. After all HP changes have been shown, the Unnerve Pokémon will faint, which then causes the berry-eating animation to play. (and if Cheek Pouch willis thenused, popthat upability itspops up messageafterward), making the Pokémon appear to heal fromthe 0appropriate HPamount backfrom upa tostarting 1/3point of its0 maximumHP, but in this case, there is sufficient space to holdgain the entire 1/3 gain, soamount. Cheek Pouch and/or the Berry will then be depicted asshown gaining thattheir muchfull amount, even though it's more than the amount that was healed in the animations-off case. Experience points will then be given for the Unnerve Pokémon fainting, if the player's side is the one with the Berry Pokémon and it's an in-game battle in which experience is capable of being earned.

At this point, the behavior with animations off is a more accurate representation of the game state: the Cheek PouchBerry Pokémon does not actually have itsthe full 1/3 HP allotment remainingthat afterits thehealing abilitymethod popupwas capable of, it has some lower amount instead. However, by playing with animations on, the HP total will not be corrected as long as the battle is still going. If the Pokémon takes enough damage from a later attack in the same battle to knock it out from the HP total that would have been shown with animations off, the animation will show the Pokémon losing only that much HP and being left with a positive number of HP equal to the difference between the two figures. Then it will faint, still with that positive HP total shown--thus it will hereafter be referred to as the "undead Pokémon".

Other than the initial menu to replace the undead Pokémon, the trainer whose team it's on will have the option to switch to it on a later turn while it's still undead, and this switch, if the trainer chooses to make it, will not fail. In a Single Battle, if it's ever sent out again, the game is effectively stuck: the player will still receive an action menu at the beginning of each turn, but any actions they select from that menu will be skipped, including selecting moves, switching Pokémon, using items from the Bag in battles that allow it, running away or forfeiting, or attempting to call upon Mega Evolution or Dynamax. The opponent will still be able to use moves, but any move that targets the undead Pokémon will be treated as though there's not actually a Pokémon there, and will fail as a result. Notably, this includes Struggle, so the opponent will not be able to hit with Struggle and will not damage itself with recoil, meaningand the player with the undead Pokémon does not have the potential for a win condition of waiting for all the opponents to faint from Struggle recoil (unless every single one of them has Explosion or a similar move). The only ways for the battle to end at this point are by turning off or resetting the game, or in the case of a link battle against another player, waiting for the match timer to run out.