This article was updated by Andrea Trama on 1 April 2026, with community findings highlighting another change in attack effectiveness. It was first published on March 31.
Pokémon Champions will use the term “extremely effective” to describe attacks that hit a Pokémon's quadruple weakness to specific types. This terminology changes for Pokemon champion was made to make certain moves stand out from just being “super effective” hits like Pokémon the series has been used since its first generation.
In short, Pokemon champion is a modernized Pokémon battle simulator scheduled to launch globally on Nintendo Switch consoles on Wednesday, April 8. Pokemon champion will launch on iOS and Android devices later in 2026. Like its predecessors, which include Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Battle Revolution, Pokemon Masters is focused on multiplayer games. However, Pokemon champion will allow any battle tricks, such as Mega Evolution and Terastallization, to be used as trainers see fit. Despite being a spin-off title, Pokemon champion will be the exclusive home of the Pokemon Video Game Championships (VGC) competition format when the game is released.
Nintendo Switch 2 has four major games releasing in April 2026
Thanks to major third-party releases, Nintendo Switch 2 players have four big games to look forward to in April 2026.
Pokemon Champions adds new type of efficiency terminology
Although the console launch on April 8 of Pokemon champion is not far away, some fans have already noticed a small but notable change that will mark a first for Pokémon series. On Pokémon subreddit, a Pokémon fan named Benhurso shared a picture of a Heracross taking damage from a Pidgeot. While the term “super effective” is used to indicate that an attack has exposed a Pokémon's weakness, the term “extremely effective” will be used in Pokemon champion to indicate when two weaknesses meet. As a dual-type Bug and Fighting Pokemon, Heracross has a quadruple weakness to Flying-type moves. Ergo, any flying type attack from a Pokemon like Pidgeot would deal extremely effective damage to the Single Horn Pokemon. In it Pokémon series, attack calculations for weaknesses and resistances are multiplicative. Given that super effective moves deal double damage, extremely effective moves will deal four times the damage, almost guaranteeing a knockout against most Pokemon, including Heracross.
Pokemon Champions fans on Twitter/X reported another change that went unnoticed with how effective an attack is. Based on the strength of the attack, determined by the attacker's stats, the defender's stats, and the move's base power, animations will play that push the defender more and more, depending on how high or low the total damage is.
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The updated terminology for Pokemon champion will also apply to opposing type Pokemon. Along with weaknesses, type resistances have been one Pokémon series stable since the first generation. The term “not very effective” has long been used to describe an attack that only does half its damage to a target, such as a Rock-type Pokémon being hit with a Normal or Fire-type attack. But some users stated, based on some hands-on previews of Pokemon championthat the term “mostly ineffective” will be used to describe attacks that deal only a quarter of their standard damage. For example, if a Rock and Steel dual-type Pokemon like Aggron was hit with a normal-type move, the attack would be mostly ineffective and barely deal any damage to Aggron. Given that the terms “not very effective” and “super effective” have been used for so long to describe any attack that deals low and high damage, respectively, the addition of “most ineffective” and “extremely effective” is a first for Pokémon franchise.
Pokemon Champions will shake up the competitive scene
However, Pokemon champion will bring more than just new terminology to the competitive format. Pokemon champion will see the Power Point (PP) costs of most moves adjusted, with a cap of 20 PP on attacks and moves that would typically have more than that in mainline Pokemon games. However, some cool Pokemon moves like Protect have been nerfed by the PP change. Although Protect usually has at least 10 PP in mainline Pokemon titles like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Pokemon champion has reduced Protect's usage to 8 PP.
Although these changes may require an adjustment period, Pokémon trainers looking for more strategic battles should find no shortage of them Pokemon champion. With that in mind Pokemon champion will be the official game in the VGC format moving forward, it remains to be seen which competitive Pokémon teams will rule the metagame when the spin-off title arrives.
