One of the most difficult mechanics to face in the Pokémon series is Evasion, an in-battle stat that determines how likely a Pokémon is to dodge incoming attacks. This used to be connected to a Pokémon’s Speed stat in Pokémon Red & Blue, but nowadays, it’s more of a battle-specific stat with fewer ways to utilize it.
Nonetheless, this mechanic returns in Pokémon Sword & Shield with a wide variety of moves, items, and abilities that can modify it. Whether you want to avoid encountering this stat in battle or wish to utilize it more, there are several methods of increasing and decreasing the Evasiveness of your Pokémon.
13 Bright Powder
There are only two items in this game that can affect a Pokémon’s Evasiveness, and strangely enough, they’re essentially identical. The first, Bright Powder, a held item that improves the wielder’s Evasiveness by ten percent.
For any Pokémon that you wish to avoid attacks, this item is a must-have as it gives you much more opportunity to evade attacks without even using a move that increases your Evasiveness, and it stacks with your other stat changes. You can find one in Glimwood Tangle, at the end of a long path below a Chef trainer.
12 Lax Incense
As a battle item, the Lax Incense is essentially the same as Bright Powder. It too increases the holder’s Evasiveness by ten percent, and is a great tool for any Pokémon you wish to avoid opposing attacks right away.
The main difference, however, is that this item is intertwined with the Wobuffet family, as Wobuffets holding the item can breed the younger form Wynaut with compatible parents. It’s also significantly easier to find than the Bright Powder, as there’s an unlimited supply that you can purchase from the Incense Shop in Hulbury.
11 Sand Veil
Besides items, the other static way to maintain a high Evasiveness stat is through abilities. A few of these provide the boost without an associated weather condition, but turning on weather is easier than ever through Max Moves and it can often help your partner become invincible when combined with moves and an item.
The first of these is Sand Veil, which increases the user’s Evasiveness by one stage while in a sandstorm, essentially helping you dodge a quarter of all attacks. This ability is on several Pokémon, but in Pokémon Sword & Shield it can only be learned by the Dugtrio, Heliolisk, Stunfisk, and Sandaconda families.
10 Snow Cloak
Snow Cloak functions nearly the same as Sand Veil, providing an extra stage of Evasiveness only when the user is in a hailstorm. Once again, this can be easy to activate by using an Ice-type move on a Dynamaxed Pokémon, or by having an Alolan Ninetales or Abomasnow in your team to activate it when it enters battle.
Unlike Sand Veil, most of the Pokémon with this ability do appear in Galar. These include the families featuring Mamoswine, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales, and Beartic. There are also some Pokémon that have the ability while its other evolutions don’t, including Froslass and Glaceon.
9 Tangled Feet
If you want a more roundabout way to improve your Evasion, the ability Tangled Feet features a much stranger requirement. Rather than being in a specific weather condition, Pokémon with this ability will gain a stage of Evasiveness whenever they are confused.
This is more often a rare scenario, though, since few moves can intentionally make the user confused. Currently, the only Pokémon in Galar with this ability is Mr. Rime, who lacks this ability and probably isn’t going to be an Evasive threat without a teammate or foe confusing it first.
8 Double Team
Double Team is a far more traditional example of an Evasiveness move. Up until Pokémon Sword & Shield, it was learnable by several Pokémon as a TM, but nowadays it’s a much rarer attack that’s usually reserved for Pokémon capable of moving at extraordinary speeds.
While it’s not the fastest way to increase Evasiveness, it’s a quick and efficient way to start building Evasiveness when combined with an item and ability. As a result, Froslass is the best user of this move, as it can hold a Bright Powder while hiding in Hail thanks to its Snow Cloak ability.
7 Minimize
Far less common a move is Minimize, which will increase the user’s Evasiveness by twice the amount of Double Team. With just three uses, it will maximize a Pokémon’s natural evasiveness, meaning only a third of its opponent’s attacks will ever land.
Thanks to its scarcity, there are few Pokémon with this move who also have abilities that improve Evasion. Nonetheless, its users include defensive Pokémon like Clefable that already have high defensive stats, and Sandaconda, who also is lucky enough to have the Sand Veil ability to improve its Evasiveness further.
6 Acupressure
Acupressure is less of an Evasion move compared to the other attacks on this list, but still is one of the few moves that can increase it. This move is meant to poke at a sensitive part of the user’s body, giving it a sharp stat boost to increase a random stat by two stages, including Evasiveness.
However, since it’s a random effect, those wishing to maximize their Pokémon’s Evasiveness should probably look elsewhere. Maximizing any specific stat with this move is pretty much impossible, so avoid this move unless you feel extremely lucky.
5 Defog
While all the moves, abilities, and items so far have increased the user’s Evasiveness, there are also many ways to decrease it. This can benefit you by making less-accurate moves far more effective, and are extra effective in Double Battles as most affect all opponents.
The first prime example of this is Defog, a move that not only removes a Pokémon’s Evasiveness, but also several barriers and environmental effects like Light Screen and Stealth Rock. Besides its primary purpose, it’s a great multipurpose tool for supportive Pokémon.
4 Sweet Scent
Sweet Scent is far more direct than Defog, decreasing the Evasiveness of all opponents by two stages. While Defog is more specific to Flying-type Pokémon, Sweet Scent remains mostly exclusive to Grass-type Pokémon, as many are able to produce flowery scents to distract foes.
Unlike Defog, this lacks any sort of secondary effect, meaning it’s far less practical. As a result, this move is fairly useless unless you’re determined to hit your opponents with inaccurate moves.
3 Gravity
Gravity is much closer to Defog in terms of practicality, but its effects are far more unique compared to other status moves. This move creates an environmental effect that brings Pokémon closer to the ground, and in doing so reduces the Evasiveness of all Pokémon by two stages for five turns.
Beyond that, this move also can eliminate Ground-type resistances, particularly that of Flying-types and Pokémon with the ability Levitate. It also will prevent several moves like Fly and Bounce that require the Pokémon to move vertically, while improving the damage of heavy moves like Grav Apple.
2 G-Max Tartness
One of the newest ways to decrease a foe’s Evasiveness is through a brand new move exclusive to the new Dragon-types Flapple and Appletun. What sets this decrease of stats apart is that it’s stapled to a large amount of Grass-type damage, being a secondary effect of their Gigantamax forms’ unique move G-Max Tartness.
This only decreases the stat by one stage, but it’s also the only move that affects Evasiveness while also dealing damage. As a result, this can be far more practical than the moves mentioned earlier, especially in Double Battles as it can take down one foe while making future inaccurate attacks far more effective.
1 G-Max Gravitas
While G-Max Tartness may be powerful, it isn’t the only way to deal damage while decreasing Evasiveness. This is because Orbeetle gains its own G-Max Move called Gravitas, which causes a Gravity effect to take over the battlefield.
Just like the move Gravity, this environmental condition will decrease the Evasiveness of all foes by two stages until it disappears. As a result, it completely knocks out G-Max Tartness as the most powerful method of removing a foe’s Evasiveness.
NEXT: Pokémon: The Difference Between Attack And Special Attack (& 9 Other Questions You Were Afraid To Ask)
