Any Pokemon player can tell you that not all moves are equally useful. Still, one particular Fighting-type option is under scrutiny, being dubbed the “most infuriating move” in the entire game: Focus Blast.
Introduced in Gen 4 alongside the Physical/Special split, Focus Blast is a Special Fighting-type move with 120 Power. Given that most Fighting-type moves are Physical and a wide range of Pokemon have access to the attack, Focus Blast seems like a great option.
However, as YouTuber False Swipe Gaming lays out, Focus Blast’s issues stem from one major flaw: its 70% accuracy.
As they explain, Focus Blast’s accuracy means you have just a 49% chance of landing a hit twice in a row – and in a competitive Pokemon battle, every miss is a big deal.
False Swipe Gaming puts Focus Blast’s accuracy into perspective by comparing it to the Water-type move Scald, which has a 30% chance to burn an opponent. Focus Blast has the same odds of missing as Scald does of burning, but the latter has the benefit of still dealing damage even if it doesn’t trigger that secondary effect.
Making it worse is that there isn’t really a good alternative to Focus Blast. Most Pokemon that rely on it to counter super-effective foes – such as an Alakazam using Focus Blast against a Dark-type – can’t learn another Special Fighting-type move like Aura Sphere.
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That also means if Focus Blast misses, the user will likely be KO’d before they can attempt the move again.
This creates a situation in which both players mainly depend on Focus Blast’s accuracy to determine the outcome of a battle.
The video’s comments are filled with players agreeing with False Swipe Gaming’s frustrations, with a top comment saying, “Fire Blast’s 85% accuracy feels like the minimum I can tolerate without closing my eyes and praying whenever I have to click the button.”
Another pointed out the move’s ironic naming in Spanish, sharing “In spanish, the move was AWFULLY translated as ‘Onda Certera’, which means….. ‘Accurate Blast’….”
While the low accuracy is meant to balance a very strong move when it hits, it seems pretty clear that players want things to change in future Pokemon games, whether that means raising Focus Blast’s accuracy or making Aura Sphere more widely available.