What would cause a move with 100% accuracy to miss?

Every now and then while battling a wild Pokémon, there will be times where a move with a 100% accuracy will miss multiple times in a row under (what seems to be) normal conditions. This has also happened to a few trainers I know

When this happens, I know that:

• My Pokémon was not hit with a move that reduces accuracy
• The wild Pokémon did not use a move that increases evasion
• It is not foggy (since that reduces accuracy for most moves)

With that, what would cause a move with 100% accuracy to miss? Is there some sort of hidden mechanic that will reduce it?

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2 Answers

There are definitely evasion-boosting abilities in regular Pokémon video games; look at Bulbapedia's Stat Modifiers section, there is:

• Snow Cloak
• Sand Veil
• Tangled Feet

While abilities are not implemented in Pokémon Legends: Arceus explicitly, it's possible there is some behind the scenes things going on to keep things consistent with how they work in the regular game. I don't have a moment to test this but will in the next few days if nobody else is able to. My hypothesis to test would be if certain Pokémon whose first or second Ability or Hidden Ability are these three abilities, and in particular their first ability, will have a distinctly lower chance of a 100 accuracy move hitting them.

If it's not related to abilities from the main game, then there's no obvious mechanic - it would have to be something specific to Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and might or might not be intentional. I've also seen these "streaks", and it's not been obvious then for me either, but I didn't think to note which Pokémon it was.

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According to different Reddit users (like here), lower level Pokemon have slightly higher stats than in the main series games, which makes levels not matter as much.

This behaviour is noticeable when battling random weaker wild Pokemon that can rarely be oneshotted.

If this is true for Defence and Attack, it could be true also for Evasion. That will explain those 100% accuracy moves that inexplicably miss (without fog or other negative status).

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Just for clarification, I know that Evasion is not a stat itself. Stats, in main games, are affected by a modifier:

When a stat is used in a calculation in battle, a number of modifiers may be applied during the calculation. The modifiers conferred by most moves operate on a sliding scale of stages. When a given stat is raised or lowered, its current stage is increased or decreased by the amount dictated by the move. A given stage corresponds to a given multiplier that will modify the stat when it is used in battle calculations.

So low level Pokemon could receive above-mentioned bonus on Evasion.

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