Why do people use Body Slam > Return in competitive play?

Question

Been watching a few singles battles lately, and I noticed people use Body Slam over Return on Pokemon like Snorlax and Miltank. Why? return has higher base damage by a decent amount, and honestly does the 30% Paralyse chance really matter that much?

Answer 1

It Does.

Paralysis not only randomly inhibits a move for a turn, but it also cuts downs the Speed of the Pokemon to almost about 25%!

This makes defeating it much, much easier, as Speed is a game-changer in the meta-game.

The maximum difference between Return and Body Slam is about 22, which, quite frankly can not be commented upon, because it is a border-line difference. It may mean the difference between a KO or not; it may not.

That said, common Body Slam-ers generally have an Ability like Serene Grace (Jirachi) to help out with the probability.

Comments

I'm not an idiot, I know that paralyse puts your speed down to 25% xD xD.

Idk, I just feel like the 22 points of more damage are better. :/

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On Normal types (like the ones you listed), the STAB would make Return even more powerful than Body Slam (Return goes to 160.5, Body Slam to 127.5 (not sure how the rounding works), giving it 33, or just under 25%, more power. I like the paralysis chance with Body Slam more myself, though.