Leech Seed failed against Tentacruel?

Question

I fought a Tentacruel online yesterday using my Ferrothorn.

I tried to use Leech Seed three times in a row and every time it said "It failed!". I then gave up and used another move.
I was wondering why Leech Seed failed..

I know that it cannot affect grass type Pokémons. Is Liquid Ooze possibly to blame?

Thanks!

Comments

It wasn't Liquid Ooze, http://www.smogon.com/bw/abilities/liquid_ooze

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What about Safety Goggles?  Does Leech Seed fall under the category of "Powder"?

Answer 1

No it wasn't Liquid Ooze. If it was Liquid Ooze then Tentacruel would of been hit by Leech Seed and still lost 1/8 of it's HP per turn, although the user of Leech Seed (Ferrothorn) would also lose 1/8 of it's HP per turn instead of gaining it back.

All that I can think of is that may be either:

Tentacruel was hit with Forest's Curse. If it was hit with Forest's Curse it would become a Grass type and be immune to Leech Seed.

Tentacruel was behind a Substitute. Leech Seed will not hit a target behind a Substitute.

Tentacruel used Reflect Type changing it's type to the same as Ferrothorn's Grass/Steel. If Tentacruel used this move and changed to the same type as Ferrothorn it would be immune to Leech Seed.

Hope I helped :)

Comments

"Substitute will not alter the execution of Bide, Counter, Disable, Haze, Leech Seed, Super Fang, Transform, or partial trapping moves, nor will it absorb crash, recoil, or recurrent damage". I suspect that this applies to Pokémons that were seeded _before_ they went behind a Substitute. Do you have a source saying that Leech Seed cannot be used on a Pokémon behind a Substitute?

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Yes it does and here is the source: http://www.smogon.com/bw/moves/substitute
This is a Generation 5 link but the effects of Substitute are the same in Gen 6 as in Gen 5 for Leech Seed :)

Answer 2

No. It was 1 of 2 things:

1. It already had Leech Seed on.
2. It just kept missing.

And maybe:

1. It was glitching.

Answer 3

Okay, in gen 1 and 2, haze will mess up leech seed. Yes, liquid ooze results in the opponent losing life instead of gaining life from leech seed. They will remain seeded until they switch out or use something like rapid spin to remove it.
Hope I helped!

Comments

The funny thing about your (good) point about Haze in Gen 1 and 2 is that He's using Ferrothorn who wasn't introduced until Gen 5.

Answer 4

I'm guessing you probably just got really unlucky and missed three times in a row. All liquid ooze would have done if you had gotten leech seed to work is make it so instead of you being healed every round by leech seed you would have been hurt by it.

Comments

If he had missed it would have said "Ferrothorn missed" or "Tentacruel avoided the attack!"

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I am 100% certain that the message did not mention "missing" or "avoiding" but was "But it failed!".