Unseen Fist - Ability ID 260

In-Game Description

"Contact moves strike through protection."

Extended In-Game Description

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

Unseen Fist allows all contact moves to bypass protection moves like Protect, Detect, Baneful Bunker, and Spiky Shield. The attacking Pokémon will ignore the protective barrier and strike directly, though status effects from moves like Baneful Bunker still apply normally.

Character count: 299

Detailed Mechanical Explanation

For Discord/reference use

Unseen Fist is a powerful offensive ability that negates the defensive utility of protection moves when using contact attacks.

Core Mechanics:

• Contact moves completely bypass protection from Protect, Detect, King's Shield, Spiky Shield, Baneful Bunker, Obstruct, and similar moves
• The protection effect is ignored, allowing damage to be dealt normally
• Secondary effects from protection moves (poison from Baneful Bunker, stat reduction from King's Shield/Obstruct) still apply
• Only affects moves that have the "contact" flag in their move data
• Shell Side Arm is specially coded to work with this ability when damage category is swapped

Battle Implementation: In the game code, Unseen Fist is checked in the ProtectionOverlap function in battle_util.c. When determining if a move is blocked by protection, the game checks if the attacker has Unseen Fist and the move makes contact. If both conditions are true, the function returns FALSE, meaning protection is bypassed.

Strategic Applications:

• Excellent for breaking through defensive strategies that rely on protection moves
• Particularly effective against stall teams and defensive Pokémon
• Allows setup sweepers to maintain momentum without being stopped by protection
• Pairs well with high-power contact moves like Close Combat, Flare Blitz, or Brave Bird

Related Abilities:

• Final Blow: A combination ability that includes Unseen Fist + Fatal Precision effects
• Both abilities share the same protection-bypassing code in the battle engine

Counters and Limitations:

• Only works with contact moves - special attacks and non-contact physical moves don't benefit
• Doesn't bypass immunities (Ghost immunity to Normal/Fighting, etc.)
• Status moves and non-damaging contact moves also bypass protection but don't deal damage
• Opposing Pokémon can still use evasion, type immunities, or abilities like Wonder Guard for defense

This ability transforms contact-based attackers into reliable offensive forces that can't be easily walled by protection spam.