Newly introduced in Pokémon X and Y, these unique battles offer new ways of battling or catching Pokémon.

Horde Battles¶

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Run because he doesn’t have a mult-targetting move!

In certain Routes, there’s a chance you’ll encounter a horde of Pokémon when moving through grass. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, you can even encounter a horde of Pokémon trainers (although they are very rare).

When a horde battle occurs, you’ll be beset by not one, not two, but five Pokémon at once - typically of the same species. These Pokémon will be weaker than usual, so no worries about getting overwhelmed.

To make Horde battles a breeze, be sure your Pokémon has wide-area moves like Surf or Earthquake. If you want to catch a Pokémon from its horde, you’ll want a fairly durable Pokémon too who can withstand up to 5 (albeit weak) attacks or ailments per turn.

You can force a Horde battle by using the Sweet Scent move (learned by certain Grass-type Pokémon) or Honey item provided you can encounter Hordes in that location in the first place (and it’s not raining).

The benefit(s) of Horde battles may not be obvious at first, but here are some reasons to like them:

• Pokémon in Hordes are more likely to have a Hidden Ability (previously possessed by Dream World Pokémon in Black and White).
• Since you encounter 5 Pokémon for the price of 1, you can earn 5 times the EVs (Effort Values) per battle, vastly speeding up EV training.
• For the same reason, your rate of finding a Shiny Pokémon is multiplied by 5 too. The rate will still be very low, but it’s better than nothing, right?

Inverse Battles¶

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Volcarona takes 0.25x damage from Rock moves, instead of 4x!

Towards the east side of Mauville City, you can speak to Inver inside the Inverse Battle Stop once a day to participate in unique Inverse Battles.

In these battles, the Type Match-Up charts are reversed , so moves that are normally super-effective (x2 damage) are now not effective (x0.5 damage) and the other way around. Additionally, moves that originally did no damage now do normal (x1) damage.

By flipping Type Match-Ups upside down, your game plan will change drastically and you’ll have to be very mindful of your moves and Type choices. For instance, who would have thought there’d be a day when Fire/Flying Talonflame would be double-weak to Bug Pokémon!