Cotton Down - Ability ID 238

In-Game Description

"Lowers the Speed of all foes by one stage when hit."

Extended In-Game Description

For use in Elite Redux extended ability UI (IMPORTANT: exactly 280-300 chars counted WITH spaces)

Cotton Down triggers when the Pokemon is hit by any damaging move, lowering the Speed of ALL opposing Pokemon by one stage. This affects all enemies on the field in doubles, singles, or multi battles regardless of position. Helpful for speed control support.

Character count: 295

Detailed Mechanical Explanation

For Discord/reference use

Cotton Down is a defensive ability that activates when the Pokemon takes damage from any move that hits. When triggered, it lowers the Speed stat of ALL opposing Pokemon by one stage (-1 stage = 50% Speed reduction).

Key Mechanics:

• Trigger Condition: Must be hit by a damaging move (contact or non-contact)
• Target Selection: Affects ALL Pokemon on the opposing side(s)
• Stat Change: -1 Speed stage to each target
• Doubles/Multi Effect: Hits both opposing Pokemon simultaneously
• Failure Cases:
  • Targets with already minimum Speed stats (-6) are unaffected
  • Does not trigger if the user faints from the hit
  • Targets that are absent/fainted are skipped

Battle Implementation:

The ability uses the onDefender hook and calls BattleScript_CottonDownActivates, which:

1. Loops through all opposing battlers
2. Attempts to lower each one's Speed by 1 stage
3. Shows appropriate messages for successful stat drops or immunity
4. Respects stat drop immunities (Clear Body, etc.)

AI Considerations:

The battle AI rates Cotton Down with a score of 3 and properly evaluates the Speed drop effects when deciding whether to attack the Pokemon with this ability.

Pokemon with Cotton Down:

Several Pokemon have Cotton Down as either a regular ability or innate ability, including various fluffy/cotton-themed Pokemon like Mareep line, Swablu line, and others. It's often paired with Fluffy as an innate ability for thematic consistency.