Every Pokemon can learn up to four moves, which have types of their own, and moves are more or less effective on certain types of Pokemon. However, this is not the only measure that determines strength of moves. Every Pokemon has a roster of six stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Sp. Atk (Special Attack), Sp. Def (Special Defense), and Speed. Every time a Pokemon gains a level, it gets its stats boosted. The stats raised and the amount that they are raised by depends greatly on the Pokemon as well as you're training methods, but an average is 2 to 8 stat points per level. You already know that HP is the health of the Pokemon, and when it goes to 0 the Pokemon faints. You might not have known that every move is one of three categories: Physical, Special, or Status. The Attack and Defense of a Pokemon affect Physical moves: the higher the Attack, the stronger the Pokemon's physical moves will be, and the higher the Defense, the more it will be able to resist Physical moves used on it. It is the same for Special Attack and Special Defense: They affect special moves instead of physical moves. So, if your strategy involves keeping your Pokemon with only special moves, then there is no reason to have a high Attack because it will not affect any moves.
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Another game mechanic is abilities. Every Pokemon can have one ability, which is a passive affect that occurs whether or not you want it too. Most abilities are positive and help you, but some are negative; for example Slaking has a very high attack stat, but its ability Truant restricts Slaking to moving only once every two turns. As of now there are 191 abilities.
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