HP

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HP (short for Hit Points) is one of the main statistics in the Pokémon games, especially the core series.

Description

HP is a value that determines how much damage a Pokémon can endure. When a Pokémon's HP is completely down to 0, the Pokémon will faint. HP is the most frequently affected stat of them all, as depleting HP is the key factor in winning a battle. The average base HP for a Pokémon is 68, while the average base HP for a fully evolved Pokémon is 80.

HP is depicted as a long, horizontal bar that changes color according to how much HP the Pokémon has left along with numerical values showing the current and total HP. When a Pokémon's HP is full or above 50%, the bar will appear green. Below 50% but above 20% will cause the bar to appear yellow, while below 20% it will appear red up to reaching 0%. In earlier games, while the HP bar is red, a warning sound plays throughout the battle, but since Generation VI, four beeps play instead.

Prior to Generation V, likely due to mistakes in programming, the warning colors would kick in considerably sooner than the simple, round numbers of 50% and 20%. For example, in Generation I, the color of the HP bar was based on the number of pixels remaining on the HP bar, causing it to go yellow starting at 56% rather than 50%. In Generation IV, the HP bar turned yellow at 52.1% and red at 20.8%. This meant that 53/105 and 54/105 were erroneously displayed as yellow even though these fractions are bigger than half. From Generation V onward, this was fixed so that the HP bar turns yellow and red at exactly the intended percentages, so for example, 52/105 is displayed as yellow and 53/105 is displayed as green.

From Generation V onward, the background music becomes more suspenseful if the player's Pokémon is low on health from their health bar being in the red zone.

Determination

A Pokémon's total HP stat is calculated using a formula, invisible in the games but can be found within the program code of the games. The HP stat is the only stat whose value does not depend on the individual Pokémon's nature. Disregarding individual values and effort values, the HP stat is equal to 110 plus twice the species' base HP stat. Aside from Shedinja, whose HP is locked at a constant value of 1, a Pokémon's HP stat is calculated as follows:

HP = floor(0.01 x (2 x Base + IV + floor(0.25 x EV)) x Level) + Level + 10

This formula means that, with the obvious exception of Shedinja, the lowest total HP a Level 50 Pokémon can have is 60, and the lowest total HP a Level 100 Pokémon can have is 110.

Due to the parallels between this formula and the similar formula for the other five stats, the HP stat grows at the same rate as a non-HP stat that is 50 base points higher. For example, Venusaur's base HP stat of 80 is equivalent to a base stat of 130 on a non-HP stat, both having a base growth rate of 2.6 points per level. The HP stat will always be five points higher than the corresponding non-HP stat, however, due to having a constant term of "+10" instead of "+5".

Experience points

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Each time a Pokémon levels up, their HP increases by a few, along with their other statistics.

Loss

Moves

A Pokémon loses its HP mainly from an opponent's attacks, or even one from its allied partner in Double Battles or Triple Battles. The target Pokémon always loses at least 1 HP from an opponent unless they are invulnerable to this. The only exceptions are False Swipe and Hold Back, which never cause the target to fall under one HP and therefore faint as result.

Certain moves involve the use of HP in some way. Some moves cost HP to use, such as Substitute, Clangorous Soul, Belly Drum, Mind Blown, Steel Beam, and Curse (the latter being usable by Ghost-type Pokémon only), but such moves fail if the Pokémon is defeated by it. However, some moves are very powerful but have the side effect of inflicting recoil damage to the user, causing them to lose all HP and possibly faint, unless they have the Rock Head ability. If either Jump Kick or High Jump Kick does not hit the opponent, the uses loses half of their maximum HP instead.

The move Endure allows the user to survive any attack with at least 1 HP remaining. The Focus Sash has the same effect, except multi-strike moves such as Bullet Seed can continue hitting after activating the Focus Sash, so further hits will KO the Focus Sash holder. After this, 1 HP is treated internally as a normal value; for example, if a Pokémon at 1/320 regains HP from the effects of Grassy Terrain, it will be restored to 21/320 and not 20/320, nor will it stay at 1/320.

Abilities

Certain abilities can cause a Pokémon to lose their HP. Both Rough Skin and Iron Barbs are very similar abilities that cause the user to lose 1/8 of their maximum HP if their move makes contact with a Pokémon, though in Generation III, Rough Skin results in the user losing 1/16 of their maximum HP. If the user has the Bad Dreams ability, their opponent loses 1/8 of their maximum HP each turn if they are under the effect of the move Nightmare.

Items

Some items cause an opponent to lose a set amount of HP if they hit the user. If the user is holding a Rocky Helmet, the opponent loses 1/6 of their maximum HP if their move makes contact. If the user is holding a Jaboca Berry, any physical moves inflicted upon them by an opponent takes away 1/8 of the opponent's maximum HP; the same occurs with the Rowap Berry, but for special moves instead.

Some held items can damage the user themselves. The Sticky Barb deals 1/8 of the user's maximum HP, but it can be transferred over an opponent without a held item if they use a move with contact, in which case the opponent begins to take damage instead. The Life Orb takes away 10% of the user's HP each time they use a physical move, to compensate for the physical move dealing 30% more damage. The Black Sludge item is intended for Poison-type Pokémon in particular, because for other Pokémon, the item deals only 1/8 of the user's maximum HP at the end of each round.

Status conditions

Various status conditions take away HP from a Pokémon each turn, most commonly poison or burn, the former even occurring outside of battle. If a Pokémon is confused, there is the chance of them attacking themselves or an ally, taking away their own HP instead of an opponent's. A Pokémon affected by Seeding loses 1/8 of its maximum HP each turn (1/16 in Generation I).

Weather

Certain weather such as Sandstorms and Hail can take away HP from a Pokémon in battle. An ability can negatively affect a Pokémon during certain weather, such as the Solar Power and Dry Skin abilities costing the user 1/8 of their maximum HP during harsh sunlight each turn.

Restoring

HP can be restored in a variety of ways. Typically, if the player's Pokémon is either low on HP or has fainted, the player can go to a Pokémon Center to have both the HP and the PP of every Pokémon in their party restored for free. If all of a player's Pokémon runs out of HP in battle, they automatically show up at the nearest Pokémon Center for all of their Pokémon's HP and PP to be restored.

Moves

There are a variety of moves that restore HP, either to the user's directly, such as with Rest or Synthesis, or from damaging an opponent. If the user is currently affected by Heal Block, they cannot heal. Prior to Generation VII, any Pokémon that know Milk Drink or Soft-Boiled can use the move to take away some of their HP to restore some of another Pokémon's.

Abilities

Certain Pokémon have abilities that restore their HP in a given situation.

Items

The HP of a Pokémon can be restored by certain items, with the amount of HP depending on the item. Any such item can be applied by the player. Certain items can be used if held by a Pokémon itself, such as berries. One of the main items for restoring a Pokémon's HP is a Potion, which is usable by only the player, like with man-made items in general. In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon, if the Pokémon is at low HP, the Rotom Pokédex detects this automatically and asks the player if they want to heal it with an item.

An HP-restoring item cannot be used on a fainted Pokémon, but a Revive can bring back a Pokémon with half of its HP restored. The item has an upgrade named Max Revive, which can restore a fainted Pokémon's HP entirely. The Sacred Ash can restore the HP of every Pokémon in a party if at least one is fainted. Other items that can restore the HP of a Pokémon are as follows:

Any of the items that can be held by a Pokémon can be used even if it is being affected by Heal Block. As of Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version, this is not the case for Leftovers and Black Sludge.

Appearances

Spinoff

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness, boss Pokémon, such as the Groudon illusion at Steam Cave peak, tend to have inflated HP stats that are far higher than those of normal in-dungeon enemies, though the other stats remain the same. Aside from the Koffing and Zubat in Chapter 1 and the Drowzee in Chapter 3, all bosses have much higher HP stat than a Level 100 Kecleon, which has 340 HP, and no other in-dungeon enemy comes even close to that number. For recruitable bosses, such as Uxie and Regice, the Pokémon has an inflated HP stat for the duration of the battle, but once recruited, has a normal HP stat for its species and level.

If a Pokémon on the player's team falls below 25% of its maximum, it is considered to be at critically low health, indicated as "Low HP! Situation critical!" in the status screen. This status condition also causes Overgrow, Blaze, Torrent, and Swarm to double the damage when using moves of their respective types (the same types these abilities affect in the main series).

The dialogue text when talking to a team member in a dungeon depends on the percentage of its HP that it has when talked to.

Trivia

• Overgrow, Blaze, Torrent, and Swarm increase the power of Grass, Fire, Water, and Bug type attacks, respectively, by 50% when the user is at one-third of their maximum HP or less.