How does confusion work?

Question

I looked on some faqs and what I've found is that a confused pokemon has a 50% chance of hurting itself. But, what determines how much it damages itself? Is it a set amount or is it based of the the confused pokemon's attack and defense, or is it based on something else entirely?

Answer 1

Confusion is a base 40 attack with no typing.

with this formula:

[(((2A/5 + 2)*B*40)/C)/50] + 2

A = the confusion victim's Level
B = the confusion victim's Attack
C = the confusion victim's Defense

That's why pokemon like steelix with high defense don't take much damage from confusion... sucks for you if you have pokemon like hitmonlee or rampardos.

Comments

Wow, thanks!  I didn't realize that the formula was so complex.

Then are the formulas for regular attacks with and w/o STAB and super-effective similar?  Or is this exclusive to a pokemon damaging itself?

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There is a formula for damage when a pokemon attacks.

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Wow DT you are SMART! O_O

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The damage taken appears to be proportional to Attack ÷ Defense, in other words if the difference between attack and defense is higher, confusion does more damage.

Answer 2

Its defense vs its attack calculates how much it hurts itself, I think. Plz don't vote me down if im wrong