What's the deal with status conditions?

[Russell-Bowman]

I always did find it strange that there wasn't a Freeze equivalent to Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp and Hypnosis, as in a status move that just freezes the target without doing damage first. I also don't get why Confusion and Infatuation don't have a healing item, such as a "Confuse Heal" or a "Love Heal". There's the Persim Berry for Confusion, but no actual healing items other than the Full Heal (Is there a berry which cures Infatuation?).

 

[AzumarillAquaJet]

I always did find it strange that there wasn't a Freeze equivalent to Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp and Hypnosis, as in a status move that just freezes the target without doing damage first. I also don't get why Confusion and Infatuation don't have a healing item, such as a "Confuse Heal" or a "Love Heal". There's the Persim Berry for Confusion, but no actual healing items other than the Full Heal (Is there a berry which cures Infatuation?).

There is certain herb I think that heals it when held during a battle.

 

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

I always did find it strange that there wasn't a Freeze equivalent to Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp and Hypnosis, as in a status move that just freezes the target without doing damage first. I also don't get why Confusion and Infatuation don't have a healing item, such as a "Confuse Heal" or a "Love Heal". There's the Persim Berry for Confusion, but no actual healing items other than the Full Heal (Is there a berry which cures Infatuation?).

Actually there is a good reason why there is no move that gives the freeze status 100% of the time.

Because unless the frozen Pokémon is attacked by a fire-type move or scald, or is in sunlight, you're screwed.

There is literally nothing you can do.

 

[fitzy909]

Actually there is a good reason why there is no move that gives the freeze status 100% of the time.

Because unless the frozen Pokémon is attacked by a fire-type move or scald, or is in sunlight, you're screwed.

There is literally nothing you can do.

Oh Arceus, an ice type version of thunder wave would devastate. Freezing is the most uncommon status, but that is good. It is very hard to deal with and you can remain frozen for a long time. I should know I once won a competitive battle with a Hippowdon (my last pokemon) thanks to its ice fang freezing their Rotom-w, Tyranitar and something else. It was amazing and showed that getting frozen can be devastating.

 

[Afrodisiac]

Lol, how many conditions can a pokemon have? Lets says poisoned, infatuated, leech seeded, and confused. Any more?

Also Cursed.

 

[Disaster_Lord]

Also Cursed.

Ant trapped/Restricted by a binding move.

 

[castlewars]

Because unless the frozen Pokémon is attacked by a fire-type move or scald, or is in sunlight, you're screwed.

There is literally nothing you can do.

A lot of the info here is fake. Using Scald on a frozen Pokemon doesn't thaw it out - it only gets thawed if it uses Scald. Also, weather conditions have no effect on the time you remain frozen, so intense sunlight won't help. When you're Frozen, you're effectively relying on the RNG to hope you don't get frozen for the whole time, and that you do thaw out.

TL;DR: You can be frozen for 20 turns unless a Fire-type move is used on you, even in the Sunny weather condition.

"Love Heal"

LOL that's so funny! It would be nearly impossible to be healed from love! Well, there is one item, the Mental Herb, that does it.

Also, here's a list of status conditions that I managed to devise, that lists them in order of their severity, starting with the least severe. Burned appears twice because it affects the Attack stat, and isn't really that much of a threat to special sweepers. Feel free to criticise it:

1. Identified
2. Heal Block
3. Embargo
4. Poisoned
5. Burned (special attackers)
6. Partial trapping
7. Leech Seed
8. Tormented
9. Disabled
10. Cursed
11. Trapping
12. Badly Poisoned
13. Perish Song
14. Infatuated
15. Encore
16. Taunted
17. Confused
18. Asleep
19. Paralyzed
20. Burned (physical attackers)
21. Frozen

 

[Hidden Power]

Also, here's a list of status conditions that I managed to devise, that lists them in order of their severity, starting with the least severe. Burned appears twice because it affects the Attack stat, and isn't really that much of a threat to special sweepers. Feel free to criticise it:

1. Poisoned
2. Burned (special attackers)
3. Cursed
4. Leech Seeded
5. Badly Poisoned
6. Infatuated
7. Confused
8. Asleep
9. Paralyzed
10. Burned (physical attackers)
11. Frozen

Bulbapedia has the full list of volatile and non-volatile statuses. Some of the more crucial ones you've missed out would be perish song'd, flinched, encored and taunted.

As for ranking, I'll personally put Asleep right above Frozen, followed by Paralyzed, then Burned. Asleep is basically a mini-Frozen, but it's still much more detrimental than getting Paralyzed to the point where it's still susceptible to abuse if not restricted by metagame rules. Paralyzed is a mini-mini-Frozen, but at least you get to move 50% of the time with reduced Speed, with the latter being of little concern if your Pokemon is the slow and bulky kind. For Burned, even if you're a physical attacker you can still deal 50% of your normal damage output every single turn, or use other status moves if your Pokemon is playing a mixed support/offensive role, which is much more flexible than Paralysis, Sleep or Frozen. And if your Pokemon hasn't taken heavy damage yet, a Sword Dance can also provide a quick-fix until it goes down.

 

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

A lot of the info here is fake. Using Scald on a frozen Pokemon doesn't thaw it out - it only gets thawed if it uses Scald. Also, weather conditions have no effect on the time you remain frozen, so intense sunlight won't help. When you're Frozen, you're effectively relying on the RNG to hope you don't get frozen for the whole time, and that you do thaw out.

Alright, I was wrong when I thought sunlight will help.

But I really thought it could because logically strong sunlight melts ice.

 

[Watchog]

Poison worsens over time. Freezing, I can't believe it hasn't been buffed yet... You have spore hypnosis etc. but still no freezing move? …………

 

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

but still no freezing move? …………

The reason for that is because it's almost impossible to get out of that status condition.

Paralyze also can't be cured without help of special move or item.

But at least you can sometimes attack while paralyzed.

With the frozen status, nope.

It'd be unfair if there was a move that freezes 100% of the time.

 

[Watchog]

How is it different from falling asleep? It's only unfair that such move hasn't even been considered.

 

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

How is it different from falling asleep? It's only unfair that such move hasn't even been considered.

It's different because a sleeping Pokémon can and most likely will wake up at any moment.

With the frozen condition there is a limited amount of ways around that.

 

[Watchog]

A frozen pokemon will melt the same way. Time don't matter.

 

[Hidden Power]

A frozen pokemon will melt the same way. Time don't matter.

Not the smartest to say when you don't understand the underlying mechanic and math behind Sleep and Frozen status buddy. Frozen doesn't melt the same way, and time does matter.

When a Pokemon is Asleep, the game code assigns a number from 1-3 to the Pokemon, which means that in the best scenario your Pokemon wakes up after one turn, and at worse after three turns. And because it's always 1-3, if you've been switching your sleeping Pokemon in and out to use up those turns (in Gen VI sleep counter doesn't reset if you switch out), you can be assured that if the Pokemon doesn't wake up on the first two turns it will definitely wake up on the third. There's an assigned cap to how long Sleep can last.

When a Pokemon is Frozen, it only has a 20% chance of getting unfrozen. Reversing that it means a 80% chance of remaining frozen. There is essentially no way to predict when your Pokemon wakes up, and if RNG is against you, meaning you always land on that 80% probability field, your Pokemon can remain asleep for many, many turns. Just by the odds alone, taking 0.8^5 x 100%, there's a 32.7% chance that your Pokemon remains frozen for 5 turns.

 

[Bakphoon™]

Status Conditions, hmm.. The only thing I want is a move that freezes instantly. The chances of getting a freeze nowdays seems too less to me.

 

[castlewars]

Freezing, I can't believe it hasn't been buffed yet... You have spore hypnosis etc. but still no freezing move? …………

Actually, if there was going to be a move that automatically inflicts the Frozen status, the status itself shouldn't be buffed, but nerfed, otherwise it would be the most broken move ever. As well as using an Ice Heal, a Fire-type move, Scald, or having the Magma Armor Ability, a Pokemon can avoid the Frozen status entirely if it has Shield Dust, which prevents secondary effects of moves. As Frozen is always a secondary effect, this means it's impossible to freeze a Pokemon like Beautifly.

 

[xerxes]

Not only would a Hypnosis-like freezing move be absolutely broken, I think it would completely destroy the charm of the frozen status. I like how it's like, what? the only status effect that can't be guaranteed? That way it always causes unexpected anger or joy when it actually occurs since it is never planned.

For poison though, I suppose normal poison is underpowered but bad poison as it is right now is fair game. Increasing damage every turn AND having a stat halved would be just stupid.

 

[Ancel3]

I think the best thing to do with Freeze is to give it a move like Hypnosis, then change it to have a max of 5 turns with a 20% chance to thaw each turn.

 

[BipolarComorant]

Anyone asking to straight up buff Freeze should never be a game designer ever. Where as sleep is set to guarantee one free turn and never lasts more than three, Freeze has a low chance of thawing and doesn't have the same limits Sleep does, meaning you could either thaw out instantly or get stuck being frozen for 10 turns.

In other words, no. The way i see it, the way to balance Freeze while having more reliable Freezing methods is:

1) Limit Freeze to a set number of turns, setting it to always Freeze for 3 turns.

2) Have Freeze be able to thaw while the Pokemon isn't in battle, making it useful for forcing switches. It basically takes a Pokemon out of commission for 3 turns but doesn't force them to stay in battle to thaw.

3) Limit any Freeze version of Hypnosis or Thunder Wave to Pokemon who NEED the buff. Give it to Pokemon like Glaceon or Articuno, Ice type Pokemon who don't do well in competitive play and have the bulk, recovery, and support tools to tank hits and freeze

That's my two cents on it though.