Learned vs. TM Attacks

[Dan the Pokeman]

An aquaintance of mine from Great Britain tells me that an attack that a Pokemon learns naturally is stronger than an attack taught to the Pokemon via TM.


He quotes Nintendo Magazine, UK version, Special Edition #5 as the source of this information.

I've never heard this before, and I'm wondering - is this true? Has anyone else ever heard of this before?

[shineyaltaria]

Never heard that one.

[RareHunterX]

first i've heard of it too...i don't see how they can be stronger

[Venusaur1]

Never heard of it maybe the source is somewhere online. But i wouldnt be suprised if thsi is true.

[wobmaster]

its probably something like if you teach a starmie thunder and doesnt get STAB.

[Venusaur1]

I think it means its more beneficial for level up attacks then all tehse tms everyone teachs them.

[BusterBladerLord]

Like letting a fire poke learn flamethrower would make the flamethrower stronger than if taught by the TM?

[Venusaur1]

Like letting a fire poke learn flamethrower would make the flamethrower stronger than if taught by the TM?

Thats what i think

[Absol]

totally untrue...

he might be getting this confused with STAB...

[Venusaur1]

so how do you no?

[Absol]

because STAB means an increase in power for attacks that are the same type as the pokemon... most attacks learned by pokemon are their own type (i.e. a Fire pokemon will learn Ember, Fire Spin, and Flamethrower usually)...

TMs can be stronger, but some, like Rock Tomb, are incredibly weak...

[King Politoed]

i dont think so either, if a pokemon like gardevoir learns psychic naturally and it can also learn it by tm the psychic it got from lvl up will have the same attack and accuracy, that guy is full of bull-plop

[AshMistyMayfan]

[I taught Grovyle rock tomb, and it wasn't that hot. Yet when I taught it to Anorith, it was great. I think it has something to do with the Pokemon's attack or defense power, and the Pokemon itself. Grovyle was a grass Pokemon and Anorith is a rock/bug Pokemon.

[Absol]

it was because Anorith is a Rock pokemon... it gets STAB... it also has to do with their attack power and the defense of the opponent's pokemon...

Rock Tomb is a terrible attack though... average damage with STAB is only 60...

[Venusaur1]

even with treecko bullet seed sucks

[Noelor]

yeah, i have that issue of that magazine, its a R/B/Y guide, and i honestly dont know why they said that, it is bull$%£*, either that or they just got confused with STAB

[Venusaur1]

is the article anywhere online because i would love to read it.

[Noelor]

doubt it, its really old and besides which, its not an article its a whole special edition issue of the magazine

[Venusaur1]

if you have it can you type it?

[Noelor]

what, you mean the whole thing!?!?! (insert old popping-eye smiley here)

[Venusaur1]

how long is it?

[Noelor]

like i said, its a whole magazine issue, unless you meant the little bit within the guide that says that about TMs :confused:

[Dan the Pokeman]

like i said, its a whole magazine issue, unless you meant the little bit within the guide that says that about TMs :confused:

It would be pretty unreasonable of us to ask for the whole magazine; could you just post whatever the magazine says about learning attacks/TMs, STAB, or might be relevant to this topic.

Thank you very much!

[Noelor]

Found It!!! :D !!!
and it doesnt actually say that they are weaker, here's exactly what it says in the RED/BLUE guide:
"Poke Tip:before you teach a TM to a pokemon, check their status card in this guide there is no point in, say, teaching Gyarados Hyper Beam, 'cos he'll learn it eventually through levelling up. teach it to another pokemon"
so what it is actually saying is to conserve your TMs, as at the time you couldnt breed TM moves
EDIT: oops, kept looking, and it actually does say that:"When a pokemon learns a new move through levelling up, it'll be more powerful than the TM version of that move. It's best to level up and get the most powerful attack possible. TMs are good for teaching moves your pokemon will never learn."
so its not even as if they are confusing it with STAB, they obviously just dont know their stuff, heres another choice quote i found:"Pidgeot and Fearow's Mirror Move is cool. When facing a fearsome Dragonite who uses Hyper Beam, use Mirror Move. You'll hit the pokemon with its own attack, good on Dragonite as dragon attacks are super effective against this fiery fiend"
now unless i am reading this wrong, or i just dont know what im talking about, not only are they saying that Hyper Beam is a dragon-type attack (or is when used by Dragonite), but they are also saying Dragonite is fire type! (although they may not actually mean that that way, IDK)
PS these DB problems are really annoying, i only encountered them when i first tried to edit this, but they really are!

[King Politoed]

treecko with bullet seed helped me alot when i was in trouble

[Cooltrainer Josh]

It looks they are saying that if you learned a move naturally, it'd be stronger than if through a TM. Who knows, maybe it was like that in R/B/Y. As for the Mirror Move stuff, they really don't know what they're talking about: 1:Pidgeot
and Fearow are faster than Dragonite, and Mirror Move would fail.LOL ! 2:Hyper Beam isn't dragon-type. 3:Hyper Beam would probably knock those 2 out even if they were slower.

[Noelor]

oh yeah, i forgot that they are faster as well
and i hadnt thought of the possibility that it was like that in R/B/Y