There have been many deviations from the Pokemon series formula in Pokemon Legends Arceus, such as how you arrange your party and captured Pokemon, evolution via trading, and how you can get Poke Balls. But a more subtle set of changes has been those done to Status Effects, and fleshing out mechanics already present in other Pokemon games. Read more in our guide on What New Status Effects Are in Pokemon Legends Arceus!
Pokemon Legends Arceus: What New Status Effects Are There?
While we’ve already covered the subtle changes to Sleep and Freeze for this game, there are some more Status Effects that, while not prominently shown like the classics, were always present, the additions being Fixated, Primed, and Obscured. These, much like traditional Status Effects, are brought about by using moves in battle, but with these, in particular, they’re self-inflicted and similar to stat buffs. These effects will be declared in the text box during battle.
Fixated Status is when your Pokemon uses a move that, if they were to use it again, would do more damage but in return, the Pokemon would take more damage from enemy attacks while they remain fixated. It’s witnessed as early on as with Bidoof using Rollout, which in previous games would instead just result in your Pokemon being locked into having to use that move for multiple turns. Other ways to bring about this effect are the move Outrage or feeding your Pokemon a Choice Dumpling, which replaces the effects of the held Choice items like Choice Scarf or Choice Specs.
Primed Status is much like Fixated, but without the penalty and affects any of their moves, increasing damage dealt by 50% for 4 or 5 turns, the downside being that you must essentially spend a turn to get it. This status is self-inflicted via the Double Hit move, which while in previous generations was just another Normal-Type multi-hit move, it instead bestows Primed status and is much more useful. Heavy hitters like Scizor are among the ranks which can use this. Additionally, Hisuian Lilligant deserves a mention during this, as their signature move, Victory Dance, not only has the same effect as Primed but also raises offensive and defensive stats by a stage (+50% of base) on top of that. As a result, Lilligant can claim a spot among the absolute best Grass-Types in the game, boasting excellent Attack and Speed.
Finally, Obscured Status is a refinement on classic moves which boost evasion for 4 or 5 turns. Moves like Mud Bomb, Mud-Slap, or Hisuian Goodra’s Shelter (which also increases defensive stats) are great examples, increasing your Pokemon’s survivability against potentially stronger foes. Pokemon like Croagunk and its evolved form Toxicroak are great examples of Pokemon that naturally have access to these moves and benefit greatly from them.
All of these effects are more subtle but far more tactically viable than before, and what’s more interesting is they are better-suited for particular Pokemon over others. Despite this game being focused on single-player, that does not stop fans from being able to play the game however they wish. This concludes our guide on What New Status Effects Are in Pokemon Legends Arceus! Be sure to check out the links below for other helpful guides to this game and more!
