Battle Palace Natures Explained

In the Battle Palace your Pokémon choose their own moves, and their nature decides how. Every nature has its own odds of picking an attacking move, a defensive move or a support move, and those odds change once the Pokémon drops to half HP. This page explains the system and gives the exact odds for all 25 natures, taken from the game’s code.

For Spenser’s teams and general Palace strategy, see the Battle Palace guide.

How a Pokémon picks its move

Every turn, the game does three things:

1. Rolls for a move group using the nature’s odds: Attack, Defense or Support.
2. Picks a move from that group. If the Pokémon has more than one move in the group, the game’s battle AI chooses the best of them for the situation.
3. If the Pokémon has no usable move in that group, it picks one of its other moves instead, and then there’s a 50% chance it does nothing that turn (“appears incapable of using its power”). If none of its moves can be used at all, it always wastes the turn.

So a Pokémon only wastes turns when its nature asks for a group it has no moves in. Fill the groups your nature uses and that never happens.

Which moves are in which group

The game sorts moves by who they target and whether they do damage:

Group	What’s in it	Examples
Attack	Every damaging move	Surf, Earthquake, Thunderbolt, Return, Explosion
Defense	Moves that target the user, its side or the whole field	Protect, Recover, Rest, Swords Dance, Calm Mind, Reflect, Rain Dance, Haze, Perish Song
Support	Non-damaging moves aimed at a foe, moves that hit the foe’s side of the field, and Counter, Mirror Coat and Metronome	Toxic, Thunder Wave, Hypnosis, Leech Seed, Taunt, Spikes, Curse

Two surprises catch people out:

• Counter and Mirror Coat are Support moves, not attacks, because of how they choose their target.
• Curse is always a Support move, even on a non-Ghost Pokémon, where it raises the user’s own stats.
• Weather moves, Haze and Perish Song are Defense moves, because they affect the whole field rather than one foe.

What changes below half HP

At the end of a turn, any Pokémon at half HP or less that isn’t asleep switches to its second set of odds. The game shows a message when it happens. Which message tells you roughly what the nature is about to do:

Message	Natures
“A glint appears in its eyes!”	Lonely, Adamant, Naughty, Relaxed, Hasty, Gentle
“…is getting into position!”	Brave, Bold, Impish, Jolly, Modest, Calm
“…began growling deeply!”	Lax, Timid, Mild, Rash, Sassy, Careful
“…is eager for more!”	Hardy, Docile, Serious, Naive, Quiet, Bashful, Quirky

Once a Pokémon has switched, it stays on the low-HP odds for the rest of its time in battle, even if it heals back above half with Recover or Rest. A sleeping Pokémon doesn’t switch until it wakes up.

All 25 natures

Each cell gives the chance of Attack / Defense / Support, in percent. “Healthy” means above half HP.

Nature	Stats	Healthy (A / D / S)	Below half HP (A / D / S)
Hardy	Neutral	61 / 7 / 32	61 / 7 / 32
Lonely	+Atk −Def	20 / 25 / 55	84 / 8 / 8
Brave	+Atk −Spe	70 / 15 / 15	32 / 60 / 8
Adamant	+Atk −SpA	38 / 31 / 31	70 / 15 / 15
Naughty	+Atk −SpD	20 / 70 / 10	70 / 22 / 8
Bold	+Def −Atk	30 / 20 / 50	32 / 58 / 10
Docile	Neutral	56 / 22 / 22	56 / 22 / 22
Relaxed	+Def −Spe	25 / 15 / 60	75 / 15 / 10
Impish	+Def −SpA	69 / 6 / 25	28 / 55 / 17
Lax	+Def −SpD	35 / 10 / 55	29 / 6 / 65
Timid	+Spe −Atk	62 / 10 / 28	30 / 20 / 50
Hasty	+Spe −Def	58 / 37 / 5	88 / 6 / 6
Serious	Neutral	34 / 11 / 55	29 / 11 / 60
Jolly	+Spe −SpA	35 / 5 / 60	35 / 60 / 5
Naive	+Spe −SpD	56 / 22 / 22	56 / 22 / 22
Modest	+SpA −Atk	35 / 45 / 20	34 / 60 / 6
Mild	+SpA −Def	44 / 50 / 6	34 / 6 / 60
Quiet	+SpA −Spe	56 / 22 / 22	56 / 22 / 22
Bashful	Neutral	30 / 58 / 12	30 / 58 / 12
Rash	+SpA −SpD	30 / 13 / 57	27 / 6 / 67
Calm	+SpD −Atk	40 / 50 / 10	25 / 62 / 13
Gentle	+SpD −Def	18 / 70 / 12	90 / 5 / 5
Sassy	+SpD −Spe	88 / 6 / 6	22 / 20 / 58
Careful	+SpD −SpA	42 / 50 / 8	42 / 5 / 53
Quirky	Neutral	56 / 22 / 22	56 / 22 / 22

The odds don’t follow the stat changes. Modest boosts Special Attack, but a Modest Pokémon attacks only about a third of the time. Check the table, not the stat arrows.

The best natures for a Palace team

Attackers

You want natures that attack most turns, healthy or hurt:

• Hasty: 58% Attack healthy, 88% when hurt. The best choice for a fast sweeper. Give it one Defense move (Protect or Substitute) for the 37% Defense rolls while healthy.
• Hardy: 61% Attack at any HP. The steadiest attacker, but it rolls Support 32% of the time, so it needs a Support move.
• Docile, Naive, Quiet, Quirky: 56% Attack at any HP, with the rest split evenly. Naive raises Speed, Quiet raises Special Attack. Give them one Defense and one Support move.
• Impish and Sassy: 69% and 88% Attack while healthy, which is excellent early in a battle, but both become passive below half HP. Good on bulky Pokémon that stay healthy for a long time.
• Gentle, Lonely and Relaxed: they rarely attack while healthy, then attack 75% to 90% of the time once hurt. Usually not worth it.

Defensive Pokémon

• Bashful: 58% Defense at any HP. Pair it with Recover, Rest or a setup move.
• Calm: 50% Defense, rising to 62% when hurt. A good fit for a bulky Pokémon with recovery.
• Brave and Jolly: both turn strongly defensive (60%) below half HP, which suits a Pokémon with Recover or Rest.

Support users

• Serious, Rash and Lax pick Support more than half the time. Only worth it on a Pokémon whose main job is Toxic, Thunder Wave or Leech Seed.

Building movesets around a nature

1. Look up the nature’s odds in the table.
2. For every group above about 10%, give the Pokémon at least one move in it.
3. Put your strongest moves in the group the nature uses most.
4. Avoid moves that are only good at the right moment, like Dream Eater, Focus Punch or Explosion: the Pokémon will use them at random times.

For example, a Hasty Salamence might run Dragon Claw, Earthquake and Rock Slide (Attack) with Protect (Defense). It almost never rolls Support, so it doesn’t need a Support move.

A Bashful Milotic might run Recover and Rest (Defense), Surf (Attack) and Toxic (Support).

If you’re unsure about one of your Pokémon, the Nature Girl in Battle Frontier Lounge 5 can tell you how it likes to battle.

FAQ

What is the best nature for the Battle Palace?

For attackers, Hasty or Hardy. Hasty is the most aggressive overall, and Hardy attacks 61% of the time at any HP. For a defensive Pokémon, Bashful or Calm.

Is Adamant good in the Battle Palace?

Not as good as in other facilities. Adamant attacks only 38% of the time while healthy, rising to 70% below half HP, so an Adamant Pokémon spends its healthy turns on Defense and Support moves.

Why did my Pokémon do nothing?

Its nature rolled a move group it had no usable moves in. It then tried a random other move, and half the time that fails. Give it at least one move in every group its nature uses.